by Linde, K. A.
“Leave the shoes.”
She raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at him.
“I like them.”
He leisurely trailed his hand back down to her ass. Around her cheeks and down the backs of her thighs. A map of all the things he liked that the heels accentuated.
“Bend over.”
“What?” she whispered.
“Bend. Over.”
She swallowed. Her core pulsed at the thought of what she was about to do. She was wet. His commands making her so hot and bothered.
With exaggerated slowness, she leaned forward until she had enough balance to bend over and grasp the footboard of the bed. Her ass was in the air and completely on display for him.
His hand slipped back up her thighs and then he was opening her wide for him, pressing two fingers in her already soaked pussy. She groaned at the movement. He slicked another finger through her lips and then circled the wet digit around her clit. She bucked against his hand, but he held her steady. He slowly finger-fucked her, drawing out her pleasure until her legs trembled and she thought her legs might buckle and she might come.
“Becks,” she pleaded. “Please.”
“What would you like, Little One?”
“Fuck me. Get inside me.”
“Don’t move,” he said.
He withdrew and she nearly fell over at the absence. But she somehow managed to stay upright. She heard his jacket fall to the floor along with the rest of his tux. Then he had his cock in his hand and it replaced his fingers. She moaned his name, seeing stars as he thrust deep inside of her.
They moved in tandem, taking and giving. This was primal. A claiming. She was Beckham’s. And Beckham was hers. They belonged together.
Her body exploded on the last thrust. She cried out, tightening around his cock still buried deep inside of her. She could be claimed by Beckham Anderson any day of the week. All days that end in y—and all days that don’t, for that matter.
He pulled out and she would have hit the floor if he hadn’t been there. He picked her up into his arms, lying her across the bed. She reached for him again.
“More,” she breathed.
He grinned that insufferably attractive smirk that had her hot all over again. Then he pushed into her. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer until their lips almost touched.
Their breath mingled.
Their eyes met.
The world stopped.
“Bite me,” she whispered.
“Reyna,” he groaned.
“I’m not like all the other girls. You’re different. I’m different.”
He slowed his movements. “I don’t want to get carried away like last time.”
“Then don’t.”
“I can’t promise…”
“I want all of you, Beckham,” she said sincerely, wrapping her legs around his powerful body. “And I want you to have all of me too.”
He started to push into her again. She knew the minute he decided to give it a try. His breathing slowed. His pupils dilated. His fangs flashed.
She felt the prick on her neck and sighed with sweet relief. Endorphins flooded her system. And she felt incredible. Beyond incredible.
This was nothing, nothing at all, like what it was like getting venom through an IV. She’d gotten too much in her system every time. She floated away and couldn’t have cared about anything.
But this was pure bliss. It was heaven. It was Beckham.
Nothing else could ever compare.
Her body ignited and she came apart a second time. She felt him release his hold on her as he too climaxed. She saw blood glisten on his fangs. His eyes were closed and his face was contorted into ecstasy. Blood dripped down his chin and landed on her chest. It should have terrified her, but all it did was heighten her orgasm. She could have gone a third time with the rush pushing through her system and him bellowing his triumph over her.
He slowly returned to himself. His eyes sweeping her naked chest dotted with her own blood. He eased out of her tenderly.
“Are you all right?”
“I have never been better.”
He tilted her head to assess her neck. “Those should heal quickly.”
“Mmm-hmm,” she mumbled.
“I stopped.” He seemed shocked that he’d done it.
“I knew you would.”
“We should get you cleaned up.”
“Wait,” she muttered, “I have something for you.”
“I think you gave me everything.”
“Stay here.” She wandered in her closet quickly, wiping the blood off of her with a towel. Then she extracted a carefully wrapped present. “Here.”
He’d found a tissue to clean up his face and slung his boxer briefs back on. She passed him the gift.
“What’s this?”
“A Christmas present.”
He frowned and then opened it. Inside was a stretched canvas print of the city skyline that she had taken when she was with him on that rooftop all those months ago. It was the night they had first really known they’d had feelings for each other. It was also the first night that Beckham had told her about the rebellion, about looking from a different perspective, about seeing Visage as it was and not just how it appeared.
His eyes were wide with wonder and consideration. “From the rooftop?”
She nodded. “I thought it would look nice in your apartment or at work. To have a piece of me in the heart of the beast.”
“You already have my whole heart.”
Chapter 31
Reyna entered the cafeteria bleary-eyed the next morning. Beckham had slipped out at some odd early hour. She’d been dead to the world and all she remembered was a kiss on the forehead before he was gone. She grabbed a tray and piled it up with eggs, bacon, and orange juice before finding a place to sit. Drew and Gregory were sitting together in a corner and she headed that direction.
She plopped her tray next to Drew.
“So,” she said in greeting.
Drew widened his eyes. “Hey, Rey.”
“When did this happen?” she asked, pointing her fork between Drew and Gregory.
“It kind of…just happened.”
Gregory arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, it kind of happened when you moved in.”
“That was weeks ago!” Reyna cried. “Why didn’t you tell me before then?”
“I’ve never had a boyfriend before,” Drew said.
“You’ve never really had a girlfriend before either. Doesn’t mean your sister doesn’t get the details!”
“All right. All right. My bad,” Drew said.
“Brian and Laura still locked in their room?” she asked.
“As far as I know. Brian has to come out sometime. We have to leave once the sun goes down.”
Reyna frowned. She’d tried not to think about the mission her brothers were going on. She knew that they were going to check out the site and try to discover if it was really set up like a human feeding camp. They’d been on plenty of missions like this before, but it didn’t make it any easier to see them leave.
“Make sure you and Brian come and say bye before you go.”
“Will do.”
Reyna finished up her breakfast, listening to the adorable banter between Drew and Gregory. Jodie showed up at the tail end as Reyna was returning her tray to the front.
“Reyna!” Jodie cried. She was holding a piece of paper as she jogged over to where Reyna was standing.
“What happened? What’s up?”
“We found something!”
“About June?” she gasped.
Jodie nodded. “An address.”
“Oh my God! Where?”
“Here in the city. It’s not verified, but it looks like she lived her
e at some point. All we have to do is get them to approve us to go into the city to check.” Jodie’s eyes were lit up. Reyna had never seen her look this excited or happy. Not in the entire time she had known her.
“Then we should go!”
“Meghan is on it.”
Reyna pulled Jodie into a hug. “I’m so happy for you. I hope that you find exactly what you’re looking for.”
“It might be a dead end, but at least it’s a start.”
“Definitely.”
Jodie followed Reyna out into the hallway. “What are your plans for today? I’m so anxious. I don’t think that I could go back to my room.”
“I actually think I’m going to the medical wing.”
Jodie stopped in her tracks. “Why?”
Reyna faced her. “I promised that I’d help out.”
“Why?” she repeated.
Reyna linked arms with Jodie and forced her to start walking again. “Because there’s something wrong with my blood.”
“Duh. You and I are peas in a pod, sister.”
“But I mean…more wrong. Beckham can sense me.”
“Kinky.”
Reyna snorted. “Not like that. I mean he knows where I am from long distances and when I’m awake. He can actually sense me. He’s worried that if he has the ability, Harrington might also have it. He thinks it’s something in my blood, and we’re checking it out.”
“Whoa. That’s freaky.”
“Yeah. It’s fine if Becks has that capability, but I don’t want anyone else to have it. It’d be like having a freaking beacon over my head.”
“True. So, you think you can figure out what’s happening?”
“There’s a doctor here who is looking into it. I thought I’d check on his progress. He said I could come anytime and be his assistant.”
“And you trust him?” Jodie asked skeptically. “I wouldn’t want to step one foot in that medical wing. No matter what Meghan says or does for me.”
“Beckham trusts him. And I trust Beckham.”
“Let’s hope vamp boyfriend knows what he’s doing.”
Reyna nodded. She understood Jodie’s fears. They mirrored her own. She was still having panic attacks and flare-ups of her PTSD from what she’d endured. The thought of donating blood, of working with her blood, of any of that nonsense made her sick. But she couldn’t keep running from her fears. She needed to face them if she wanted to get answers. And answers were what she was after.
Despite Jodie’s reaction to the medical wing, she followed Reyna into the empty med bay. It was so sterile and silent. Only the slow whir of machines and the air-conditioning kicking on broke up the stillness. Reyna headed to Washington’s office. The door was propped open and the room empty. She moved from there to the lab where she had last seen him. Success.
He was standing inside wearing his usual white lab coat. He was staring into a microscope. Petri dishes and graduated cylinders and pipettes and tongs and a bunch of other equipment were scattered all around him. She was sure there was some order to it, but she couldn’t begin to navigate it.
“Dr. Washington?” she said, rapping on the door to announce their entrance.
His head popped up and he smiled brightly. “Ah, Reyna! Have you finally come to help me with all this work?”
“Yeah. And I brought Jodie with me.”
Reyna gestured to her friend, but when she looked up into her face, she was pale with terror.
“Jodie?”
She shook her head. For once words failed her.
“What’s wrong? What’s going on?” she asked, reaching for Jodie.
Jodie shuddered away as if she were in a very far-off place.
“Miss Gardner,” Washington said. He took a step forward.
Jodie took a step back. “Don’t.”
Her voice rasped and she withdrew even farther.
Reyna’s head moved from one to the other. “Do you know each other?”
“You’re a fucking monster,” Jodie said savagely. “How dare you stand there as if you’re part of this rebellion. And if you fucking are, then this entire thing is a sham. I knew it was all too good to be true. How could I have ever believed this wasn’t going to end exactly where it started.”
“Jodie,” Washington said. A look of absolute despair crossed his face.
“Fuck you! Just fuck you!” she spat and then fled the room.
Reyna’s eyes widened and she dashed after Jodie. She was already out of the medical wing and down the hallway before she caught up with her.
“Jodie!” She grabbed her shoulder and hauled her to a stop.
Jodie slapped Reyna’s hand away. “Don’t touch me. Just…don’t touch me.”
“What happened? Tell me what happened. You know Washington?”
“Know him?” Jodie hissed. “He was the monster who started the experiments on me!”
Reyna froze. Of course. She should have put two and two together a long time ago. Washington had said that he knew about the other people at the facility. He’d given Meghan the information to get her out in the first place. It made perfectly horrible sense that he’d worked with Jodie at some point if she had been at Visage for ten years.
“How long has he been here?” Jodie asked. “No. Fuck it. It doesn’t matter.”
Then she kept walking down the hallway. She took the stairs instead of the elevator down to the floor where she still shared a room with Meghan.
“Jodie, what are you doing?”
“Getting the hell out of here.”
“You’re leaving?” Reyna asked.
“Well, I can’t fucking stay. If that man is a part of Elle, then this place is no better than that hellhole.”
“Jodie, I know that Washington worked with Visage in the past. He invented the blood type cure in the first place, but that doesn’t mean he’s still the bad person he was before. I have to believe that.”
“Well, you do you, then.”
“If Beckham can change, then Washington can too.”
Jodie faced her, stuffing a pair of tennis shoes into a backpack. “That’s the difference between me and you, Reyna. I don’t believe that anyone can change. Let alone two bloodthirsty vampires who are our enemies.”
“They’re not our enemies.”
Jodie snorted. “They are and always have been our enemies. They feed off of us. They drink our blood. They want to kill us. Nothing changes that. Nothing.”
“I understand why you feel like that. I know many people who feel like that. But it’s just not true.” Reyna sighed. “Maybe it would be easier if this whole situation were truly black and white and not gray. Because then we wouldn’t have to come to terms with a more nuanced world. We wouldn’t have to realize that there are good and bad vampires and good and bad people. That people we hate can change. That people make bad choices and regret it. That those people can decide to work on the side of good. They know they can never clean the red off of their ledger, but that doesn’t mean they should stop trying.” Jodie stopped putting clothes in the backpack and looked at Reyna thoughtfully. “Running is a lot easier than seeing the reality of the situation. That we live in a fucked-up prejudice world. A world we’re trying to change.”
“He’s a monster, Reyna,” Jodie whispered pleadingly.
“I believe that he was to you. And I’m sorry for what he’s done.” She walked over to where Jodie was standing and took the backpack out of her hands. “I’m sorry for everything that happened to you. That happened to both of us. But running away isn’t the answer, Jodie.”
“Then what is the answer?”
“Stay and fight. Change the world with me. We all deserve a new world. I’m not saying forgive him or forget what he did to you. You don’t even have to work with him or donate your blood or anything. But just don�
��t leave.”
Jodie chewed on her lip and stared into Reyna’s eyes. After a second she sighed. All of the tension left her shoulders.
“Okay. Okay.”
“Thank you.”
“Just…be careful when you’re working with him,” Jodie said. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I will,” she promised and prayed that Washington never proved Jodie right.
* * *
—
Later that day after the sun set, Reyna stood with Laura as Brian and Drew prepared to leave. Laura had silent tears running down her cheeks. She buried her head in Brian’s shoulder and clung to him. There was nothing to say though. The mission was imperative. They had to know what was inside those camps. If they were really what Everett said they were. But it didn’t make it any easier to see them go.
A part of Reyna wished that she was going with them. She hated sitting on the sidelines. It wasn’t in her nature. But there were too many reasons for her not to be out there. Besides the fact that nobody wanted her in the security crew, she still didn’t know if Harrington could sense her blood and, if she got injured, there was no other blood to save her. She was actually the only person they knew of alive who had Rh null negative blood. So she stayed behind. And prayed that nothing happened.
Drew pulled her into a hug. “We’ll be back soon. It will only be a couple hours.”
“Be safe, okay?”
“No problem.” He nudged her and grinned that playful smile.
Laura finally released Brian, wiping away her tears. She tugged Drew in for a hug next and Brian moved to Reyna.
“You’re all making such a big fuss,” he said with a laugh.
“I don’t like where you’re going or what you’re doing,” she said softly.
His eyes moved to Laura’s. The information was sensitive and she didn’t know exactly what they were doing tonight. “It’ll be fine. Come here, kid.”
“I’m not a kid anymore,” she said, falling into his arms.
“I guess not.”
“Just be careful, okay?” she repeated what she’d said to Drew.
“All right, Rey.”