by Dee J. Adams
“I love when you beg for it, baby. You know how hot that gets me.” He licked her ear and she nearly gagged. “Beg for it,” he whispered.
Bile rose in her throat and her heart continued to pound so hard she thought she might stroke out. “Please, put the knife down.”
“Beg me to fuck you, Casey. Go on. Do it. I know you want it.” He loosened the grip on her hair, but slammed her face into the floor and pain ruptured in her cheek. Her vision blurred.
“Let me turn around so I can see you,” she said. She had no way to defend herself on her stomach. She needed her hands, her knees, anything to lay a blow. She’d hurt his right wrist, too, so she had to aim for that first. Or his eyes…or that tiny dick in his pants.
He lifted up and she turned, but he grabbed her wrists and held them above her head in one meaty hand. Stupid. She hadn’t counted on him pinning her like this. The knife clattered somewhere out of her peripheral vision and his free hand roughly roamed her body.
Casey held back the revulsion and wiggled beneath him. “Let go, Jeff. I can’t touch you without my hands. You know how much you love my hands on you.” She used his strategy against him.
He laughed. “You’re right about that, baby. I do love those hands of yours. I love your mouth even more. You know what you’re going to do with that mouth?” He rubbed against her harder and Casey’s T-shirt rode up her stomach. Slowly, straddling her, he inched up her body, using his free hand to unbutton his jeans.
No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening. There had to be a way out of this. “I need my hands, Jeff. C’mon.” What would convince him? “You know I’m not strong enough to hurt a guy like you.”
The vile intent in his crazy eyes went hand in hand with his conceit. “I’ll make you a deal, baby. You suck my cock like a good girl and I’ll let go of your hands when I’m done with you. The second you do something I don’t like is the second I use that knife to cut your throat. You understand me?”
She swallowed back bile.
“Take the zipper down with your teeth,” he told her.
Not in this lifetime. She was dead no matter what, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him rape her before he killed her.
His face distorted with a nasty frown as he cupped her jaw and forced her mouth open. That was all she needed.
Quick as a snake striking its prey, Casey jerked her head, latched on to his nasty thumb and bit down with everything she had.
Jeff screamed and she tasted blood. He released her wrists, which was what she needed. She grabbed his dick with one hand as she poked at his face with the other, aiming for his eyes, but having a hard time because of the way her head was angled. Instead of trying to deflect one of her attacks, he punched her hard on the side of her head. The explosion of light and pain nearly crippled her. She didn’t know how, but she managed to keep her teeth clamped and her hand tight on his crotch, twisting even harder. If she let him go, she was definitely dead.
He screamed at the top of his lungs as he pulled his fist back about to hit her again. Casey closed her eyes, and waited for impact, biting down even harder while she still could. If he broke her jaw she’d have zero leverage with her mouth. More noise filled the room, a roaring different than the drums pounding in her head and chest. A split second later, Jeff’s weight disappeared.
Casey scrambled back at the same time she realized Brendan had returned. Relief barreled through her like a locomotive, but it quickly disappeared as the two of them struggled in the den. Jeff didn’t seem as if anything fazed him. Not the bite to his thumb or the pain that had to be emanating from his tiny pecker.
The men traded nasty punches until Jeff landed a blow to Brendan’s shoulder that sent him to his knees.
She had to do something! There, on the floor, she spotted the knife she’d wanted so badly. Casey crawled toward it, dizzy and sick to her stomach as Brendan got to his feet. Before she reached it, the guys crashed and rolled over the coffee table. Watching in horror, Casey could do nothing as Jeff landed on top and went after Brendan with a viciousness and strength she’d never seen before, hitting him over and over.
Enraged and terrified for Brendan, Casey jumped on Jeff’s back and wrapped her arm around his neck, choking off his air and screaming in his ear, doing anything and everything she could to distract him. The ploy worked…maybe too well.
Jeff got to his feet, trying to force her off him, but she stuck to his back like a monkey on its mama. He slammed her against the bookshelf and pain exploded in her back. Everything on the shelves fell around them. She tried to tighten her hold, but he slammed her one more time, sideways. Blinding pain burst in her side. She wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. There had to be a weak spot.
Jeff struggled against her, choked on the little air getting to his lungs.
“Brendan!” she screamed. Brendan slowly got to his feet and stumbled over to them, his face bloody and swollen.
Jeff attacked him even with her still attached to his back. Casey adjusted her grip and climbed his back enough to get leverage. She brought her elbow down hard on the side of his head at the same time Brendan let loose with a massive right hook to Jeff’s cheek.
The combination stunned him. Like a darted animal, Jeff collapsed in slow motion… First to his knees—where Casey jumped off him—before he fell sideways and rolled to his back.
Sirens wailed outside.
“Sure, now the cops come,” Brendan mumbled, wiping blood from his lip as he landed on his knees. Casey joined him on the floor, every part of her in pain.
“You…okay?” she asked, shaking and out of breath. The stitches had burst open and blood seeped through his T-shirt. His face was a mess with a cut lip and cheek, his nose bloody. On the upside, Jeff looked just as bad.
“I’m okay,” Brendan said. He inspected her cheek. “What about you? That looks nasty.”
Her cheek throbbed with every heartbeat. “I’m okay.” She studied his concerned eyes. “I’d be dead…if you hadn’t come back.” She leaned forward and reached for the ever elusive knife, making sure it wasn’t anywhere near Jeff.
“I forgot my—”
“Wallet,” they said at the same time.
She turned to him, still trying to catch her breath. “I know. I found it when I was making the bed. I hoped to hell you’d realize it and come back.”
Brendan looked at the front door. “He just busted in?”
She nodded and swallowed, her heart still racing. “Pretty much. I have no idea how long he’d been watching us. You won’t believe what he told me about Mitch.”
The cops stormed in, weapons drawn at the same time an unholy sound rumbled from Jeff’s chest. Out of nowhere he jackknifed forward and flew toward Casey like a missile. Bullets popped in the air, blood blossomed on his chest, but nothing stopped him. Without thinking, Casey gripped the knife tighter in her hands and lifted it straight into Jeff’s oncoming chest. Brendan’s block shoved him off before his dead weight collapsed on her. Blood covered her trembling fingers and splattered across the floor and her clothes. Casey stared in horror at the knife lodged in Jeff’s chest and the multiple bullet holes that bled profusely.
In the next instant, she was in Brendan’s arms as he pulled her away from the gruesome sight. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he soothed softly in her ear. “It’s over. It’s all over. I’m so proud of you, Case. You kept fighting. You never gave up. You never gave up.”
Yet she’d almost given up on Brendan. Casey squeezed him as hard as she could, considering her side throbbed like a bitch. Her knees shook so hard, she didn’t think she could stand up. “Thanks…for coming back,” she whispered and she didn’t plan to let him go anytime soon.
Epilogue
Three months later
A whisper soft stroke along her spine woke Casey. She shifted, letting her legs slide between the cool sheets as Brendan glided a calloused finger down her bare back. “Mmm,” she purred. Not a bad way to wake up. She cracked a sleepy e
yelid and saw Brendan’s oak dresser in the darkness and a stack of moving boxes that hadn’t been emptied yet. His bedroom in his apartment. Actually, their bedroom in their apartment. She grinned. “You’re horny again?” she mumbled into the pillow. They’d already fooled around enough to make her sore. Not that she was complaining. Nope. Not her.
He moved closer, tucked her next to him and she felt the undeniable answer to her question growing between her butt cheeks. “Can’t help myself. You’re too sexy.” He brushed his lips over her hair, searching for her ear. “Mmm.” He found it and awakened all those little sex gremlins previously asleep.
Casey rolled over and smiled at him. “Can’t sleep, huh?” Their excitement was the reason they’d exhausted themselves with sex. At least they’d tried to. Clearly it wasn’t enough for Brendan.
He shook his head and played with a lock of her hair. “Nope. Too nervous.”
A couple hours ago they’d downloaded their respective albums from the Internet. They’d been traveling like crazy, performing, doing interviews and generally promoting their music. Casey never would’ve imagined that they’d release on the same day. That was an accidental happening and it conspired to keep them apart. They’d both arrived back in town yesterday after three brutal weeks apart.
Three weeks of texting, Skype and phone calls. Three weeks of some of the most fabulous phone sex Casey had ever had. But it didn’t compare to the real thing. She wrapped a leg over his thigh and snugged up tight, loving the warmth of his skin, the way his strength made her feel secure.
Seger had come up with a plan and approached Miles with it. To Casey’s shock, Miles actually agreed, so starting tonight, Casey was opening for Seger’s new tour. Headlining with Seger was none other than Brendan St. John.
“This is crazy, right?” She eased a hand through his long, thick hair. “Just a dream? I’m going to wake up any minute and realize it’s all just a dream.”
His grin brightened the darkness. “It’s a dream coming true maybe, yeah. I have no problem with it.”
She didn’t either, but the reality scared her. “It’s going to be really hard,” she said. He rubbed against her and she felt exactly what was hard. She laughed. “Not you, you big goober. Juggling all this is going to be hard.” Her fears reared up and smacked her in the face. “This is just the beginning. What happens when we’re apart for three months at a time or longer?”
His smile faded and he pulled her closer. “First, we make a deal that no matter what, we’ll figure our schedules so that we won’t go that long without seeing each other. Seger and Ashley make it work.”
“Yeah, but she’s not a musician on her own tour.”
“No, but she’s a famous artist and someone’s always commissioning her to paint a mural on some massive wall somewhere. She doesn’t travel with Seger as much as she used to.” He nibbled her lips then leaned back, his grin returning. “The best part is the next six months on tour with you.” He flopped to his back. “I could kiss Seger for making this happen.”
Casey rolled onto his stomach. “You’d better not. You do not want to see me jealous. The only person you’ll be kissing i—” His lips shut her up. Then he rolled her to her back and continued to keep her quiet. Well, unless someone counted the sighs, moans and all those yeses coming out of her mouth.
At this rate, their stash of condoms wasn’t going to last very long.
Casey gasped as Brendan pushed in to the hilt with one smooth glide and didn’t budge…with the exception of his mouth. He devoured her lips with single-minded determination, exploring with seductive forays of his tongue. His weight felt delicious as he pressed her to the bed. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she urged him to move, but he didn’t.
“A little while longer,” he whispered. “Just like this. Want to be inside you for as long as possible.”
Oh, God, he made her so hot when he talked like that. Feeling him inside her, stretching her, hitting all those sensitive spots made her crazy. Seconds turned into minutes and still he didn’t move. He just drugged her with long slow kisses that decimated her. Every bit of attention focused on the spot where they connected. She felt every throb, every twitch of him inside her and it built the need to a breaking point. “Brendan, now. Need you so much,” she said, against his mouth. “Can’t wait.”
“A little longer,” he whispered back and kissed her again. More minutes ticked by until Casey thought she might explode with wanting him.
“Now? Please?” His devious smile wrecked her. He rubbed against her without pulling out and the slide nearly brought her to orgasm. “Oh, God, Bren. Please. I’m dying.” She rubbed against him, silently begging for more.
A low growl rumbled in his chest and he finally pulled out and pushed back in. Casey came in a blinding rush, the intensity of the orgasm surprising the breath right out of her. She froze as each delicious wave powered through her. Brendan tensed above her, groaned and she felt the undeniable throbbing of his climax deep inside her. Wrung out, Bren collapsed over her for a heartbeat before he shifted to his side, pulling her with him. They lay there, sweaty and satisfied, in a sex haze.
When Casey’s brain started working again, she adjusted her pillow and got eye to eye. “I feel a little weird. I mean it took Blake a year to move in with his girlfriend and here I am moved in after only a few months. Your parents must think I’m super easy.” Her parents sure did. Although they had definitely warmed to Brendan, so there was still hope for them. The fact that she’d actually released music that the general public seemed to like had, sadly, astonished them. But they were finally seeing their youngest daughter in a new light and Casey didn’t mind that at all.
“Want to know a secret?” he asked, rising up on his elbow and looking down at her.
“Sure. What?”
“Blake proposed to Abbey last night.”
Casey sat up, a wave of happiness bursting through her. “No way! And? What did she say?”
“I’d have heard from him if she’d said no, so I’m guessing they’re in good shape over there.” Brendan’s smile beamed bright. “I mean he did move in, so I imagine she knew this was coming one day.”
“That is so sweet. I’m so happy for them.” Casey had met Abbey right after Jeff died.
The St. Johns had arranged a press conference where Casey and Brendan both made statements and answered questions from the press. Their bruises verified much of the tale. News outlets had already reported the stash of cocaine in Jeff’s Hummer and the rental he’d driven to Casey’s apartment. It was the last straw needed to crumble the political life of the Bauer family. More interesting to Casey was discovering that Jeff’s drug problem started two years ago. Exactly the time he started his personality change.
Casey’s parents, sister and all the St. Johns had been at the press conference, including Abbey. Casey had heard a lot about her, but hadn’t realized she was the Abbey Washington from Dance ’Til You Drop, a dance show competing with Dancing With The Stars. Abbey’s star had been burning brightly the past year. She’d actually parlayed her dance job on the show into a big part in a new dance movie due to be released next year. Blake and she were obviously in love. It was evident in the way they looked at each other, and the way they laughed and touched each other.
It baffled Casey that she hadn’t noticed all these things missing when she was with Jeff. But she berated herself less and less as time wore on, and she soaked up Brendan’s love like a dry sponge and gave it back with her whole heart.
“You know Blake and I have always kind of run on the same clock,” he said, sitting up and running a hand through his long hair.
“You mean because of the twin thing?” she asked, adjusting to rest her head on his shoulder. She loved running her hands along his chest. It was nice to have him healthy and strong again with no sling and no movement issues. He was back to a hundred percent.
“Probably. Don’t know. I mean, it’s not like we do everything together anymore obviously, but we
still tend to think alike.”
“That’s nice.” Casey yawned, hoping to sneak in a few more hours of sleep before the day started. They had to be at a local morning radio show to promote the new album. In a marketing risk, they’d combined efforts to promote themselves and each other so even though they spent so much time apart, now they’d get to spend even more months together as they promoted and toured their music.
The duet Seger and Brendan released as the first single had debuted at number one and already the buzz was high for the record. Brendan’s future was all but sealed.
Casey’s single was still climbing the charts, but she realized she didn’t have a name like Seger Hughes attached to her, so her success wasn’t as guaranteed as Brendan’s. Not that anything was guaranteed in this business, but he had a leg up since he’d initially won the show and had Seger in his corner.
Brendan shifted under her and clicked on the bedside lamp. Light busted in on her much needed darkness. “So, Case, I need to ask you a question.”
“Mmm.” She kept her eyes closed against the light, figuring he’d shut it off after he found what he needed in the nightstand.
“You know how much I love you, right?”
“Mmm-hmm. I love you too.” Casey heard a little pop. A tiny sound, but for some reason it made her heart thump harder. She squinted her eyes open a fraction to let in some of that light and see what Brendan was up to.
“Because I love you, and I know beyond a doubt that you’re the one for me, I want to make it official.”
Casey rubbed her eyes as she sat up, forcing her fuzzy brain to wake up. “We made it official months ago, remember?”
“Not like this.” He paused for a fraction of a second. “Case, will you marry me?”
Her eyes flashed open, wide awake now. She met his gaze then looked down at the unbelievable sparkly diamond ring sitting in a black velvet box. Her heart lodged someplace in her throat.