by E V Darcy
‘—it, there’s … here. We … … thing —apse!’
Casey’s head shot up at what sounded like a distant muffled voice.
‘Did you hear that?’ Paige asked, her voice filled with shock and wonder, and Casey knew it hadn’t been his imagination. He gently dislodged her from his lap, and on hands and knees, they scrambled towards the avalanche wall, ignoring the sharp press of grit and small stones against their skin.
‘There’s light up there!’ Paige said excitedly as they got closer to the fallen masonry. ‘We’re being rescued!’
The tiny pinprick of light far above them, allowed them to pick out the crack in the debris. It was like a single candle trying to light a cathedral, but it was definitely there.
‘Hello!’ Casey shouted up through the thin opening. ‘Can you hear us?’
‘Let’s do it together,’ Paige suggested after they received nothing but silence. Not even the scraping noise assailed their ears. ‘After three…’
‘Hello!’ their joint voices called up. ‘Can you hear us?’
There was another awful moment of silence. His shoulders sagged. They’d been so close—
‘Hello?’ a faint voice called down. ‘Is someone down there?’
‘Yes!’ Paige practically squealed back, making Casey jump. ‘Thank God you’ve found us!’
‘Fuck! Just stay calm. We’ve got Survivors here! Shit sorry, hang on—’ They heard whoever it was shouting to someone else, but Casey couldn’t make out what he was saying. ‘Is there just you?’ Their saviour came back to them.
‘There’s two of us,’ Casey called up. ‘One man, one woman.’
‘Okay, the rescue team is on it’s way, they’ll do whatever they can to get you guys out,’ the voice reassured them. ‘I’ll be right back. I’m not leaving you.’
‘Thank you,’ Casey called back to the stranger before he turned towards Paige. ‘We’re going to be rescued,’ he said disbelievingly. He’d talked of rescue, but hadn’t really thought it was possible. ‘We’re actually going to be okay.’
Paige laughed in nervous excitement before she threw her arms around him. ‘We’ll be okay,’ he said again as he returned her hug. ‘We’re going to get out of this alive—’
His words were cut short by her kiss.
8
It had taken hours before the rescue team was able to safely reach Casey and Paige within the wreckage that had once been part of the hotel. Hours of waiting, of biting their nails as their rescuers determined the safest way to get to them—if they even could!—and wondering if it would all go wrong at the last moment and whether they’d still be snatched away by the angel of death that had settled in the far corner of their little room. Right now, it was merely observing them, biding its time. But, every so often, Casey felt its cold fingers brushing against him, sending a chill down his spine as it checked if he was still within its reach.
The team of firefighters and construction workers had slowly cleared the debris from the top of what Casey and Paige had called to as the cavern, allowing sunlight to slowly trickle inside. Paige and Casey’s eyes strained to catch as much of the light as possible, taking turns to press their eyes to the lump of concrete as they tried to see their rescuers coming. Paige had cried, weeping with relief when the first of the squad finally reached them and their fingers had brushed hers.
It had taken even more time, but their rescuers had eventually managed to find a way to shift the fallen masonry, enough for them to wiggle out of their little hidey-hole. Now Casey sat just inside the cavern, the little hole they’d managed to make to their den at his feet, as a paramedic checked him over.
He felt a right idiot sitting there, covered in dirt from head to toe, stinking of sweat and God knew what else, wearing Ray-Bans—something their saviours had insisted upon as soon as they broke into the safe-haven—and sipping a perspiring bottle of branded mineral water.
Secretly, Casey was grateful; even with the darkened specs, it was bloody bright after being holed up in the dark for five days.
‘Just put your legs in the loops,’ one of the firemen told Paige as she stood in the middle of the opening, feet bare after losing her shoes somewhere in the dark. She was fidgeting with the hem of her dress, stepping from one foot to the other and Casey smirked; he knew exactly what was making her hesitate—
‘I’m not wearing any panties,’ she confessed. He choked on the water he had just taken a mouthful of—he hadn’t expected her to just come right out and say it. Maybe to him, but not to all these strangers!
‘Um…’ the firefighter looked at her, rapidly blinking as he processed that tidbit of information, and Casey knew the man was dying to glance downward. Casey held back no such reservation and looked straight at her arse, wishing that there was a little breeze to lift her dress up. He’d spent the last four nights imagining it, he’d love to finally see the real thing.
The other man, however, had a little more decorum and cut his gaze away to his colleagues who stood behind Paige, ready to help her into the weird contraption that hung from a crane high above.
‘Is there a reason you’re missing your underwear, ma'am?’ asked one of the female rescuers stepping forward. While her question was directed at Paige, her eyes were narrowed towards… him!
What the actual fuck! He might be a womanising rogue, but he wasn’t a fucking rapist.
‘Yeah, I rode his dick’—his eyes flew back to Paige, who was pointing at him—‘like a pogo stick and lost them in the dark.’ The whole crew fell silent at her declaration, completely unsure if she was being true or not. ‘I can demonstrate for you if you’d like—I’ve always fancied someone watching.’
‘Mr. McManaman are you okay? Get the oxygen,’ said one of the paramedics seeing to him, and he realised that he’d stopped breathing. Fucking hell, the girl was far kinkier than he gave credit for, feistier than he’d realised, and he hoped to God that he had a chance to get to know her after all this bullshit was over. He’d quite like to play with the fire, see if he really would get burnt.
‘No, no,’ he said to his medic as he heaved in a huge, refreshing breath of air. ‘I’m good.’
‘Um, no, that’s okay,’ the first fireman hurried to interject, to stop Paige from actually walking over to the wide-eyed man behind her and pulling out his slowly hardening cock and hopping on. Damn, Casey couldn’t believe he was actually getting turned on by the idea of screwing her in public—that was one thing he had never done.
‘Cunningham!’ The woman who had accused him of molesting Paige snapped to attention. ‘Help the lady in, please,’ the leader rescuer said.
‘Yes, sir!’ She jumped into action at the command, helping Paige step into the loops, tucking her dress around her to stop any potential embarrassment. When she was strapped up to the weird-looking harness seat, the woman stepped back and the guy in charge of it all asked if Paige was ready to go up.
She blinked at the man for a moment before gazing upwards. She gave a little shake of her head and then—
‘Casey!’ she screamed, looking around in blind panic. He was on his feet in a heartbeat, climbing over the rubble to get to her as quickly as he could. She was twisting and turning in the contraption, causing the wire of the lifting mechanism to swing back and forth. ‘Casey!’
He stumbled the last step, grabbing onto her arm to steady himself and suddenly found himself engulfed by her tiny frame as she threw her arms and dangling legs around him. Her legs wrapped around his waist, while her arms pulled him closer as she tried to bury her head against his chest.
‘Whoa, baby.’ He kept his voice low, as he held her in his own arms, his head dipped so only she could hear his words. ‘Hey, c’mon now, you’re alright. We’re both going to be okay.’
‘Casey, don’t leave me.’ Her voice trembled, her eyes were wet with tears, and her breathing was far too fast. She was having a panic attack, and who could blame her? He certainly didn’t. For almost a week, they’d had no one but e
ach other for company, distractions, stimulation, comfort, reassurance… They had literally been each other’s world for those few days.
‘Don’t leave me,’ she murmured again, rubbing her nose against his t-shirt, right across his heart.
‘Hey, I’m not going anywhere… yet. But you’re going to get out of here—’
‘Why can’t you come with me?’ She sounded so young, so vulnerable, and Casey felt his manly alpha side—as Tanya had called it—surface. He just wanted to bundle her up, hide her away in his home, keep her safe from everyone and everything, and of a night—or a day—have her writhing in his bed in pure ecstasy.
He pulled himself back slightly, tilting her face by her chin, ever so gently so that he could see her Irish green eyes. He pressed a chaste kiss to her nose, before telling her, ‘Because I’m too heavy to go with you, but I’ll be right behind. As soon as they get you out of this thing and send it back down, I’ll be strapped in, just like you, and up I go!’
‘To me?’
‘To you.’ He smiled at her, before dipping his head and bestowing upon her mouth a soft kiss. Her eyes fluttered shut at the contact, a whisper of a sigh leaving her lips as they parted to allow him to deepen the kiss. But he couldn’t, not here, not in front of all these people—no matter how kinky Paige might find it.
‘Are you going to be a good girl then?’ he asked as he nudged his nose against hers.
‘Yes,’ she huffed and tried to recapture his lips, but the hand at her chin stopped her achieving her goal. She pouted when she realised she couldn’t get him back, but the star merely smirked.
‘I promise so much more than just a kiss when we’re out of this crapfest,’ he told her, pulling her back into his arms for a quick hug. ‘But we’re not going to get out if you don’t go up there first.’ He felt her nod against him and he held a thumbs-up to the rescue workers behind her back.
He sneaked another kiss to her forehead before stepping away.
‘Promise me you’ll be right after!’ she said, her voice still tinged with panic as the machine began to slowly take her up. ‘Promise me!’
‘I promise, my little sex-kitten, I’ll be right behind, chasing you.’
Their gaze didn’t break as she was lifted high into the sky, not until she was swung away from the hotel and disappeared behind the still-precarious hanging slabs of what used to be hotel room floors.
Casey closed his eyes the moment she was out of sight, trying to settle his racing heart. His head was spinning and he felt hot and slightly faint… He willed the crane to get back there ASA-fucking-P. He was not dying there after being so close to freedom.
9
For fuck’s sake. How the hell could someone so hot, be so bad at giving head? He glared down at the nurse currently nuzzling his wilting erection. His doctor—the miserable old git—had confined him to bed for the last three days and it was driving him mad. Apparently, lying to Paige about how much water he was drinking to ensure she had enough had not been a good idea, and the result had been severe dehydration, causing him to collapse after Paige had been lifted from the building remains.
Luckily, Marc had popped in once or twice, but Tyler and that woman he’d met at the convention—Ella, Ellie, or something like that—were leaving today, heading back to LA, which meant no more visits to keep him sane.
He sighed and leaned back into his bed as Nurse-Bad-Blow-Job sloppily shoved her mouth over his now soft cock.
‘Just leave it,’ he said with a push to her head. Her mouth made a horrid slurping sound as she let his penis fall from her lips. ‘Clearly, I’m not yet well enough.’ He fucking was. It was just she was terrible. Paige would have had him up and coming so quickly and so loudly the staff would have thought he was dying.
That thought amused him slightly; maybe Paige could have had her fantasy fulfilled.
‘I need a shower,’ he said gruffly as the nurse climbed off him.
‘I can give you a bed bath?’ she said with a raised brow and a sexy smile. Damn, her figure was bloody spectacular and her face gorgeous; how could she be so terrible at what her body was clearly designed for?
He shook his head and the woman frowned. ‘Are you serious?’ Her voice was no longer soft and husky, but angry and disbelieving. She’d probably never been turned down by anyone before.
‘Deadly, sweetheart. Now piss off before I call my doctor and tell him that you’re harassing his sick patient.’ She left in a mood and Casey climbed out of bed headed towards his bathroom.
He’d have a quick scrub-down, then he was getting out of his damned room. Perhaps he’d go and hunt down his little firecracker…
They had been the only ones.
Paige was still finding it difficult to process that out of everyone who had been on their side of the hotel, she and Casey were the only ones found alive in the wreckage. So far, they’d found dozen of bodies battered and crushed by the ruined building, but it was the few they’d found hidden away, in little pockets like she and Casey had been, who had suffocated or died of dehydration; that had really hit home for Paige. Without those few packets of cookies and their precious bottles of water, she and Casey would also have been brought out in body-bags.
And for what? What had been the point of all those innocent people losing their lives? There was still no clear indication of who had caused the explosion or why.
There were reports of Luc Truman being involved somehow, and fans were up in arms as to whether or not he’d done it, and if he had, had he done it willingly or been coerced into it? His wife, Linda Truman, was adamant that he’d been kidnapped, that there was no way he’d leave her, and the fandom was trying to desperately cling to that hope. The hope that their number one guy hadn’t become a domestic terrorist, hadn’t willingly caused all those deaths; that instead he was being held hostage somewhere, all alone and terrified.
Paige shuddered at the thought of one of her favourite stars in some dark and dingy hellhole—an abandoned warehouse or basement dungeon—going hungry, wondering why he had ended up in such a situation. She could certainly relate to such an experience.
Her eyes stared up at the blank, white ceiling tiles of her private hospital room as she pictured all the places the star could be held, and what his captors were doing to him.
Christ, she watched too much TV. She also had too much time on her hands, doing nothing, but watching that damned thing since they’d brought her in and hooked her up to the IV filled with saline, vitamins, and anything else her doctor felt she needed. Paige read that as anything else they could get away with charging her for. She squeezed her eyes shut at the thought of what this was going to cost her. She didn’t want to think about it right now, another thing to add to her list of Fuck My Life.
She didn’t want to think of anything other than getting out; she’d never been a fan of hospitals and hated how alone she was even with all the people scurrying around through the corridors, the constant noise of beeping machines in other rooms, and phones ringing somewhere down the hallway.
She wondered where Casey was. He was somewhere in the hospital, apparently; she’d heard the nurses talking about him, giggling away at how he flirted with them. Two of them were betting on who could get in his bed first. Bitches.
She ground her teeth, at the thought of someone else being wrapped in his arms, of feeling his lips on theirs, his long, hard length pushing inside of them—
Ugh! She slammed her hands down on the bed and pushed herself upright. Screw them! They weren’t getting their hands on her star. She was going to have him fuck her so hard the bodies in the morgue would start complaining of the noise.
She’d walk out afterwards, look them straight in the eye and tell them to stay the fuck away. She’d pee around him if she had to. She scoffed at her own thought, knowing if she told Casey her thoughts he’d merely give her a smug grin, before saying they had to have a round two so they were absolutely certain she was the only one who could blow his mind like that.
She swung her legs off the bed and pulled the line out of the… whatever that was in her hand. She wasn’t dragging her IV around with her while she looked for him—she didn’t want it to appear too obvious she was up to something she shouldn’t be. She giggled at herself, at the sheer thrill of the illicitness of her actions.
God, the sex was going to be the best she’d ever had, she already knew it.
She crept to the door, trying to bite back her smile—she couldn’t look deranged out there either—while thinking of all the ways he could have her in his room… The positions the beds went in would certainly help. She’d be able to show him exactly how bendy she still was at thirty-six! That gym membership had been worth it after all!
Just as she reached for the door knob, it twisted and the door swung open.
She jumped back, a small squeak of surprise escaping her, making the other person freeze at her unexpected presence behind the door.
Paige blinked as she took in the man before her.
‘Daniel?’
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she asked as she turned and headed back towards her hospital bed. She’d call for the nurse and get rid of the man quickly, before he killed off her libido. Mind you, angry sex was always good too, although she’d never been angry at someone else when she’d had it…
‘Why would you even need to ask that? I came as soon as they contacted me.’
She stopped in her tracks and peered over her shoulder towards him. They contacted him? Why the hell would they call him? He smiled at her, soft and sweet, and so fucking condescending she wanted to smack the grin right off his face. Had it always been like that?