Dreamweaver (Hell Yeah!)

by Sable Hunter

  As she hurried to her car, she took out her phone and tried Loren’s number once more. This time, she got through. “Loren!” When Loren didn’t say anything, she clarified. “This is Pepper. I’m dating Zion’s friend, Judah.”

  “Oh, yes, hello.”

  “Hey! I’m so glad I caught you, I was wondering if you’d like to get together soon. Zion talks about you all the time and I’m sure we have a lot in common.”

  Loren seemed hesitant. “Well, I don’t know. I’m pretty…busy.”

  “I understand, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. We could meet for coffee or something.”

  “Well, all right,” she agreed. “But I can’t today,” she rushed to say. “Maybe tomorrow or the next day.”

  “Tomorrow’s good.”

  “I can only do it early. I have some place to be.”

  Pepper was willing to do anything to make it work. “Seven?”

  “Seven’s good. Mozart’s on the river? They open early.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there.”

  “Great! I’ll be the dorky looking blonde with long hair.”

  “Oh, Zion says Judah thinks you look like the Disney princess Rapunzel. I’ll find you.”

  Pepper blushed. “Judah may need glasses.”

  When she returned home, she was excited to tell Judah all that had happened. After unlocking the door, she called him, “Judah! Judah! I’m home!”

  “Good, I’m glad.” He reached around a corner and grabbed her. His lips claimed hers, kissing her voraciously. Hers parted in welcome as she kissed him back with a desperate, hungry moan.

  Kiss followed kiss and he slowed only the time necessary to rip her clothes from her body. Judah was torturously aroused, his balls ached with pent-up longing and his cock was hard as steel, furious in its famished lust. Panting for breath, he pushed his hand between her legs and found her slick and hot – for him.

  God, he was going to miss this.

  Miss her.

  As he pushed two fingers deep into the lush heat, he found her tight and ready. He growled as she flexed around him.

  “Judah, Judah, please, please,” she chanted.

  Judah would please her.

  One last time.

  Lifting her in his arms, he carried her to the bed and gently laid her down. Standing before her, he wordlessly held her gaze and peeled his clothes off. He never said a word, he had no words to say. When he was nude, he placed a knee on the bed and pushed her legs apart, fitting himself between them. The need to fuck nearly drove him insane.

  No, wait – FUCK! – he was already there.

  Judah shuddered with agonized need. Grasping his cock, he fit the throbbing purple head to the weeping well of her womanhood. As he slipped inside the gates of ecstasy, he bellowed at the perfection of their joining.

  “Kiss me more, please,” she whimpered, “I need you so.”

  He gave her what she needed, covering her lips, allowing himself to revel in the feel of her beneath him. Slowly he pushed in, memorizing the exquisite pleasure of her pussy opening for him, knowing she loved this as much as he did.

  How would he go on without her?

  As he thrust in and pulled out, his hips pumped, his dick tunneled deep, working its way in as she arched beneath him in delight. Over and over, he claimed her mouth, his tongue delving between her lips in concert with his cock penetrating the sweetness between her thighs.

  Pepper cried out with the pleasure. Judah was taking her places they’d never gone before. As his hands grasped her hips, anchoring her as he went to his knees, he lifted her bottom to rest on his thighs. She was helpless to resist the hard, driving pace that he seemed to crave.

  Judah shut his eyes as a rumbling growl rose from his chest and sweat popped out on his forehead as the glove-tight sheathe of her pussy clenched and fluttered around him. He drove deep, an unending momentum, cherishing every stroke, as he gave the woman he loved everything he possessed.

  His heart. His soul.

  And love enough to let her go.

  Pepper dug her fingers into the bed cover, fighting for purchase, anchoring herself to the bed and to reality as she spiraled out of control with every pounding thrust of his body into hers. She’d never known such urgency, a desperate fiery longing that threatened to consume her, scorching every part of her until she cried out his name. “Judah!”

  She begged, she pleaded, she bowed her back and held out her arms to him as a climax erupted within her in a blazing firestorm of sensation.

  Holding him in her arms, Pepper thought it was over – thought he was replete – but he wasn’t. With a whisper of her name, he helped her turn over and lifted Pepper to him, entering her from behind. Once he was seated, he took her with jackhammer strokes, groaning his satisfaction. Not content until he held her against his heart, he pulled her upright and she twined her arms behind her head, clasping him around the neck.

  “I’ll never get enough…never…” His hands moved all over her, soothing, caressing, stroking her sides, her thighs, palming her breasts and milking her nipples. And all the time he bucked inside of her with continuous thrusts. Fire sparked between them – through them – the air became alive with their moans of ecstasy.

  Awash with pleasure, Pepper undulated in his arms, rocking against him, working her hips, riding his cock. “Oh, Judah,” she whimpered as he kissed her neck, the rasp of his beard raising frissons on her skin.

  “What do you want?” he whispered in her ear as he filled her again and again.

  “You. Always you. Only you.”

  Judah felt her trembling in his arms, shivering with a need that he could meet. He might not be able to give her forever, but he could give her this. As he possessed her, forging a place for himself deep within her soul, he slid a hand down to cup her mound, dipping the tips of his fingers into her warmth to rub circles around her clit.

  The tension rose anew, Pepper felt a euphoric tide begin to rise as he made her body sing – thrusting harder and faster, holding her tighter and tighter as they submitted to the irresistible, inevitable detonation of uncontrollable pleasure. “Judah!” She writhed in his arms, suspended in a sea of bliss.

  Judah hid his face in her neck, breathing in her essence as he surrendered, spilling his seed inside her. Stunned with white-hot relief, he held on to her as the rapture ebbed, their breath mingling in sated pants as she reached up to fuse her lips with his.

  Judah gave her one long, heartfelt, yearning-for-forever kiss.

  And then he let her go.

  …Pepper lay on the bed, a smile of pure joy on her face. “Judah, I’m meeting Loren bright and early in the morning for coffee at Mozart’s. Isn’t that great?”

  He didn’t say anything.

  She’d heard the shower turn off and water running in the sink. “I need to get up too,” she murmured. “I forgot to bring home the Chinese food, dang it.” Raising her voice, she spoke to Judah, “We’ll have to order in, I got all excited about the job fair. Is that okay?”

  Still no answer.

  Was something wrong?

  Rising to her feet, she grasped the sheet to hold around her. “How did your meeting go?”

  Still, he said nothing.

  When she came to the bathroom, Pepper found him staring in the mirror, a look of supreme sadness on his face. “What’s wrong?” she cried out in concern.

  “This isn’t going to work.”

  “What isn’t going to work?”

  “Us. This. You need to go home. Go back to your family. Back to Highlands.”

  His stark words ripped her world asunder. “Why? What did I do?”

  Judah couldn’t seem to meet her gaze in the mirror. He looked past her, over her, anywhere but at her. “I need more than you can give me. I want you to leave. Now.”

  When she just stood there, as beautiful as an angel, her long blonde hair flowing around her shoulders, staring at him with sad, heavenly blue eyes, Judah felt the most agonizing pain in the world. He w
anted to double over in anguish. He wanted to scream in frustrated despair. He ached to pull her in his arms and hold her until eternity ended – but he couldn’t.

  “I’m leaving.” He pushed away from the vanity, edging past her, his whole body shaking with emotion. “Be gone by the time I get back.”

  With a breaking heart, he fled his loft. He needed to get away, far enough he couldn’t see the hurt and disappointment in her eyes. Far enough that he couldn’t hurt her if that demon in the white T-shirt came back and made demands he couldn’t resist. Judah didn’t think he’d ever listen, Judah couldn’t imagine ever acting on those thoughts – but he never imagined having those thoughts in the first place. He couldn’t risk it, she was too precious.

  “I was wrong. Wrong. Wrong,” he said as he flung open the door of his car. “I never should’ve drawn her into my hell. I pushed her away once for her own good and like a fool I drew her back for my own selfish reasons.”

  With tears streaming down his face, he gunned the Challenger out into the street and ran two stop signs getting out of town.

  * * *

  Pepper did as he asked. In a daze of pain and confusion, she gathered her things. Mechanically. Lost in a maelstrom of misery, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. He’d made love to her, there was no other way to describe what they’d done. It hadn’t been sex, it hadn’t been a satisfaction of animal urges – their spirits had merged in a sacred bonding. They were no longer two, they were one. Despite her yielding to his request, Pepper didn’t believe him when he said he wanted her to leave.

  That what they had wasn’t working. That he needed more than she could give him.

  No, something was wrong. Something had happened while he’d been gone. This felt too much like what had happened before. This wasn’t real.

  Letting her eyes rove around the room, she tried to think of what could’ve transpired to make him react this way. “I’m not giving up,” she whispered. “I’m never giving up on you.” She set her belongings back down in a pile at her feet.

  She would wait for him, that’s what she would do.

  Sitting down on a chair facing the door, she wrung her hands together, her eyes clouded by tears. “He didn’t mean it, something’s wrong. I just know it.” Needing to talk to someone, she took her phone and called Ryder.

  “Pepper?” Ryder asked, seeing her sister’s name on the display.

  “Oh, Ryder, I’m so hurt. Something’s wrong with Judah. Something’s happened. I don’t know what. He asked me to leave. He told me to go.”

  “Pepper, are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m waiting for him. I love him so, I can’t leave. I just wanted to talk to you. I’m scared…”

  She was about to tell Ryder she was scared for Judah, when she heard a noise at the door.

  “I’m coming after you, Pepper,” Ryder called out to her.

  “No, no, don’t,” she cried. “I’ll be okay. I think he’s come back.”

  Holding the cell at her side, Pepper ran to the door. Before she could reach it, the door was thrown open, but it wasn’t Judah who waited on the other side.

  It was a man. A man she didn’t know. A man with sandy brown hair, wearing a white T-shirt, with evil in his eyes. He held a key up in his hand. “Looks like the copy she made worked.” He lunged at her, grabbing Pepper by the arm and shoving something in her face.

  Pepper screamed.

  On, the phone, Ryder screamed too. “Pepper! Pepper! Are you all right? Pepper!”

  …A few miles away, Judah drove aimlessly. His phone kept ringing, but so far he’d ignored it. Austin’s laws on cell phone usage while driving were strict. He shook his head, how stupid, as if the threat of a traffic ticket could even compare to the turmoil in his heart. When he stopped at a light, he grabbed the phone. Checking the ID, he saw it was Zion. Had he hoped it was Pepper? God, he’d hurt her again. His whole being rebelled at the thought that he could’ve hurt her so much worse if he didn’t protect her – from himself. “Yea, I’m here.”

  “I’ve been calling and calling. What the hell happened to you in that meeting?”

  “I’m losing my mind, man. I’m losing it.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Driving around.”

  “Meet me at your loft.”

  “No, I can’t. Pepper’s leaving, I don’t want to see her now. I can’t bear it.”

  “What the fuck? Why is she leaving you?”

  “I told her to go.”

  “Are you crazy?” Zion exploded. “She’s the best goddamn thing that ever happened to you.”

  Judah didn’t answer. He couldn’t argue with the truth.

  “Meet me at Ace, then. We need to talk and clean out our stuff there, anyway.”

  “Really, why?”

  “I’ll explain things when you get there.”

  Judah made the block and changed directions. He wondered if Pepper would ever be able to forgive him.

  … “No! No!” Pepper struggled, striking out blindly. She was finding it hard to breathe, there was something toxic on the rag he jammed into her face. In a terrified panic, she fought to keep her nose free of the cloth, kicking and punching – fighting with all her might.

  Gradually, her movements became weaker and less coordinated. Her cries died down, until she was limp in the arms of her attacker.

  “Pepper! Pepper!” Ryder screamed. She’d heard her sister yell, she’d heard furniture being knocked over. “God, he’s killing her,” she wailed. Hanging up the phone, she dialed 9-1-1, giving them the address where Pepper had been staying. “You’ve got to hurry. I think Judah James has hurt my sister!”

  …At Ace, Zion was standing near Judah’s reserved parking spot when he pulled in. Judah felt sick to his stomach. When his friend threw open the driver’s side door, he slowly got to his feet, feeling more defeated than he ever had before. “So, why are we clearing out today?”

  Zion studied Judah’s face, there was a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but they’d deal with one thing at a time. “Oh, that’s right, the crap hit the fan after you hightailed it from the meeting.”

  “What do you mean?” They walked slowly toward the elevator.

  “Reese saved the day. He kept looking at the date you supposedly signed that contract until he thought to check your calendar. The day they said you appeared before a notary public to sign that five-album contract, you were at a clinic in San Francisco for your testing. He challenged Ace and accused them of fraud. The lawyers backtracked and Ivana threw a fit, she started making wild accusations, saying that if she couldn’t have you nobody would. Before it was all over, Ace washed their hands of Mickey and Ivana. I guess they figured we were all more trouble than we’re worth. As of today, we’re free agents again.”

  This should’ve made Judah happy, but he could find no joy in anything. “I’ll never be free, Zion. I’m a prisoner in my own mind.”

  After riding the elevator, they made their way to the office suite they’d been assigned at Ace. “What’s going on with you? Do you feel worse? Did you and Pepper have an argument?”

  Judah sat down on the edge of his desk. “I’m afraid I’m going to hurt her.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  He told Zion about his visions. “You know I’ve hallucinated people before. Even Pepper. This time was different. I saw this same dude several times. I’ve never seen such an evil expression on a human being’s face. I saw him first on the street, then in the parking garage. He followed me up here, once he even faded into nothingness against the wall.”

  “What did he do? What did he say?”

  Judah glared at Zion with tortured eyes. “He told me to hurt her. He told me to kill her.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Yea,” he agreed. “It definitely is. I’ve never had thoughts like that before. I didn’t know I was capable of having those types of thoughts. But this manifestation, this crazed looking guy in a white T-sh
irt kept telling me I needed to get rid of Pepper.”

  “Wait,” Zion held up his hand, “hold on.” He measured in the air. “Was he about this tall? Sandy brown hair? White shirt and ripped jeans? Nike athletic shoes?”

  “Yea, that’s him.” Judah looked at Zion with a puzzled expression on his face.

  “He wasn’t a vision. I saw him in the building this morning. I saw him following you down the hall as you left.”

  Rap! Rap!

  Judah didn’t have time to react to Zion’s news. A knock on the door caused them both to turn. Two policemen stood there with guns drawn. “Are you Judah James?”

  Judah stood. “Yes, I’m Judah James. What’s wrong?”

  “You’re under arrest for the assault and abduction of Penelope Elizabeth McCoy.”

  While Zion protested, one of the policeman read Judah his rights.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “No wait, you don’t understand. When I left Pepper, she was fine,” Judah declared loudly as the cop turned him, handcuffs at the ready. “If she’s been hurt and kidnapped, it wasn’t me. I know who did it. You’ve got to help her.”

  “You can tell your story at the station, Mr. James.”

  “No, she’s in danger and I need to save her! I know where she is!” All he could think about was that idiot telling him to get rid of Pepper and how to do it. Judah was desperate, but the policemen just looked at each other with a knowing expression.

  “We’ve heard about you, Mr. James. We know all about your problem.”

  Zion tried to step between them. “He’s telling the truth. If Pepper’s in danger, it’s not from Judah.”

  “The detectives will sort it all out down at headquarters.”