by Nicole Fox
“You ready to start recording?” Dane asked Charlene. “I have a feeling we don't have much time.”
“Uh, yeah,” Charlene said, digging in her bag and pulling out her phone. She sat down in a chair adjacent to Emily and fiddled with the device for a moment. She held it up in front of her, saying her name, the date, and where she was recording. With it still recording, she focused the phone on Emily. “Ready when you are. Go ahead, state your name and who you are, so there's no question on authenticity.”
Emily leaned forward, still taped up. “Emily West, current CEO of BioSphere.” She looked to Dane.
“Me?” he whispered.
“You're the one at the center of this, aren't you?” Charlene asked, as she trained the phone's camera on him. “You might as well be on record here, too.”
He ran a hand through his hair and scratched at his chin. “Dane Bishop, former Air Force Lieutenant.”
Charlene moved the camera back to Emily. “Go ahead, Ms. West.”
Emily took a deep breath, going back through her memory and organizing all her thoughts into as succinct a story as possible.
“It all started, I think, about a week ago, when Mr. Bishop showed up at my office. At least, my part in this did . . .”
Over the next few minutes she retold the story, more or less, as they had told Jas the day before. She left out all the kidnapping details, all the sex, and the other minor events, like the dog collar. From the point of Jas on, though, the story aligned close enough to reality that there were no hitches in her story at all.
“You're contending that Edward Barker, the head of sales, and the board of directors, are setting you up to take the fall for Hymalete, and its poor performance?”
“As far as Edward Barker has said,” Emily reminded her, “the directors are involved, or at least have knowledge of what is going on with that specific product line. Have I been able to see any direct evidence? No. But, the evidence on the drug trials themselves, I think, speaks for itself. And I have plenty of that.”
“Where?” Charlene asked.
“My personal email. I have the files.”
“Anything else?” the reporter asked, eying them both very carefully, glancing down to Dane's pistol still in his hand.
Emily shook her head, then changed her mind. “Actually, one thing. I want you to understand that Dane's not a bad man. Not at all. He's doing this out of love—”
“Okay,” Dane said, as he brought the gun up and pointed it at Charlene. “We're done here. Time for you to go. You tell Edward Barker to get the money together, and get ready for a phone call from me.”
To her credit, Charlene just glanced down at the barrel of the gun, slowly blinked twice, then refocused her gaze on Emily. “Can I have that email info, so I can log in from home?”
The women exchanged information. Charlene jotted down the email address and password.
Dane grimaced as he thought of all the guns pointed at the house and of the kind of danger he'd put Emily in. They were going to come in after him. They were always going to, and he'd known that from the start. Benton’s voice came to him from a great distance, reminding him that the longer he stayed here, the longer Emily was in harm's way.
“Got it?” Dane asked. “You have what you need?”
Charlene sighed and capped her pen with finality. “Yes, I have what I need. It's a fantastical story, you know. I hope the facts back you up.”
“They will,” Emily and Dane said the same time.
“Let's go,” he said, gesturing with his pistol for her to move along.
This position was untenable, and Dane knew it. He needed to get her out, one way or another. Either out of the house, or out of danger's path. He wasn't sure which, yet. But, one way or another, he was going to have to remove the cops from the equation. There had to be away.
And, right now, the easiest way to do that might be to just remove himself.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dane
Emily's home phone rang minutes after he'd safely ushered Charlene from the home and out into the arms of the surrounding police and SWAT.
Dane picked up the receiver.
“This Dane Bishop?” the officer on the other line asked.
“Sure is. Who's this?”
“Det. Moore. Stephen Moore. Fine if I call you Dane?”
“Mr. Bishop will do, Detective. Are you getting my list of demands together?”
“Listen, it's going to take some time for everything you've asked for, Mr. Bishop. There’s quite a bit you're asking for, here.”
“Well, let me help you out by speeding the timetable along. You call Edward Barker, BioSphere's head of sales. You tell him he has four hours to get the money together, and that I'll be meeting him at their home office.”
“Mr. Bishop, I don't-”
“I'm walking out of here with Emily West as a human shield, so if you guys want to pull that sniper bullshit on me again, you'll be shooting up a Fortune 500 CEO on international television. Got it, Detective?”
“This is—I can't agree—”
“Get off the phone,” Dane said, his voice cold and level. “Call Edward Barker. Now. Her life's in your hands.” He slammed the phone down into the cradle and headed back over to Emily, who was still taped to the chair. He bent down and began to cut through her bonds.
“What's going on?” she asked.
“I'm getting you out of danger, that's what,” he said, cutting through the straps binding her ankles.
She was suddenly frantic. “How, Dane? How are you getting me out of danger?”
“By leaving here, and taking the cops with me. If anything happens, and I don't think it will, I don't want you around it, okay?”
She bit her lip and tightly closed her eyes. “Dane,” she whispered, “I don't want to lose you.”
He frowned and bent to her wrists, slicing the bonds surrounding first one, then the other. “I don't know how I can stay,” he said, as he sliced through the last one. “I can’t stay and keep you safe at the same time, Emily.”
“I don't want to be safe, if it means you're not here,” she said, reaching out for his hand that held the scissors. She wrapped her lithe fingers around his larger hand and squeezed. “I want you, not all this.”
Dane took her hand in his and looked her square in her weeping eyes. “It doesn't matter what we want. I want you, too. But I've still got a mission to protect Benton, and to protect you now, too. Okay?”
She frowned and nodded as she sniffled back some of the heavier tears.
“Good,” he said. “Now, help me out. I gotta make a pile of trash bags look as beautiful as you.”
# # #
Emily
Tears in her eyes, and loss in her aching heart, Emily helped Dane dig through her closet for clothes that would be suitable. They needed to both stuff the garbage bags and clothe the makeshift dummy.
“This isn't going to work,” she groaned, sniffling as she pulled her clothes down from the hangers and handed them to him.
“Of course it will,” he said, his voice infinitely more confident than she was feeling. “Most distractions are all flash and bang, with no substance. That's what this will be about. I'm not walking out of here with your double. I'm leaving in the car.”
Dubious, she looked at him. “My car?”
“Right out of the garage,” he soothed. “They'll never see me coming.”
She pulled down a couple Edward Jacobs dresses she really loved, sighing as she dropped them into the growing pile at her feet. “I just don't understand why you have to go out this way,” she said, trying to fight back the real water works.
He came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. He pulled her close to his chest and leaned down to nuzzle her neck. “Do you trust me, Emily?” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.
She sniffed. Did she? Even after all this week and after the days in the closet? “Yes. I mean, I've let you . . .” She sniffed again. “Yes, I trust you.”
“Do you think I'd ever hurt you for no reason?”
That was a tricky one. He had masterminded this whole thing on a whim, after all, as he desperately searched for a way to help his brother. But, deep down, she knew he'd come to care for her, as crazy as that all sounded. If he'd asked her these same questions just six days ago, she probably would have had a very different answer on her lips.
But, this wasn't six days ago. This was today. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I know you wouldn't.”
“Then I hope you understand why I have to leave. If I stay here, I'm putting you in harm's way. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
“But what about me?” she said, her voice taking on a desperate whine she hadn't wanted to be there. “Why should you take that burden, and leave me without a choice in the matter?”
“Because you agreed to the rules, Emily,” he said, his voice perfectly even as he squeezed her tightly in his embrace. “Didn't you?”
She sighed as she saw Dane's peculiar brand of weird logic in all this. “Yes, sir, I guess I did.”
He released her and, with that settled, they silently went about stuffing the bags that would become her ‘body double.’
“It won't win any awards,” he admitted, as he put the double together and stuffed an empty silk pillowcase over the misshapen head,” but your windows are pretty heavily tinted.”
Emily chewed at her lip, shaking her head. “No, it definitely won't.”
He turned to her. “Now, once I take off, the cops are going to follow me. Don't leave the house till they take off, okay?”
Still worrying at her lip, she nodded.
“After all of this is said and done, you can go on with your life. Okay? That's what I want for you, after I show that Edward and the board are to blame for this.”
She nodded, her face turned away so he couldn't see the tears.
“You got it?” he asked, touching her shoulders, gripping her more roughly than before. “Huh?”
She nodded, more forcefully than before. “Yes,” she said. “I understand.”
“I just want the best for you,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. “You know that, right?”
Through red-rimmed eyes, she glanced up at him. “I know,” she replied, her voice as quiet as his. “I know you do.”
They stared into one another's eyes, their gaze not breaking, their eyes not glancing away.
Emily could feel the emotion between them like a palpable tension that hung in the air, a pregnant feeling that filled the room. She wanted to tell him how much she cared for him and how she didn't want to see him hurt, but she couldn't put her thoughts and emotions into words.
He broke their moment first, pulling her into his arms again, his strong, controlling, gentle, brutal arms wrapping themselves around her and pulling her close. He pressed her head to his chest. “I . . . I love you, Emily West,” he whispered.
“I'll never testify against you,” she replied, as she encircled him in her arms, clinging desperately to him. “Never. They can threaten me with whatever they want, but I'll never do it.”
Dane laughed quietly, the sound a knowing one that had more depth than Emily could understand. “Oh, Emily,” he said. “They have more on me, I'm sure, than what you could give them. And I know it. But it's okay. As long as I know you're safe, I'll be fine.”
Emily, though, didn't have that luxury. How could she ever be happy, knowing he was the one taking the fall for her?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Emily
Dane was the one to break the embrace, letting her go reluctantly. “We need to start preparing this.”
“You said Edward had four hours,” she replied, as she put her arms around his neck and forced him to look down at her. “It's not that far to the office.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed him lightly, softly, warmly.
He returned her kiss, his lips insistent, but gentle.
“We have time,” Emily whispered, as she broke the kiss, her voice low and brimming with desire.
He nodded, a faint smile coming to his lips. They began to slowly strip each of their clothes, their lips passionately finding each other’s whenever they could.
Soon, they were on the bed together, a tangle of limbs and searching hands. Emily explored Dane's body, her hands running over his hard muscles and soft skin.
His hands caressed her breasts, her flat tummy, her hips, and her ass as she moved against him, writhing under his touch.
She pushed him back onto the bed and kissed his neck and chest, her hands finding his lengthened manhood. She wrapped her fingers around him, stroking him as she kissed his nipples and his abs.
“Oh, Emily,” he whispered, his hand entangling in her hair, but not pulling. This was a gentle love-making, with none of the roughness and darkness of before. Here there were just wet kisses, determined hands, and warmth.
She lowered herself to his rod, ran her tongue around his crown, and bathed him all over. Eyes closed, Emily pressed her lips to the underside of him, massaging him up and down as she gently squeezed his sack. With her sad eyes on him, she took him into her mouth, wetting him.
He stroked her hair as he watched her pleasure him, his eyes half-closed from the sensations. He brushed the bangs from her face and stroked the back of his finger down her cheek.
Smiling wistfully, she took him from her mouth and crawled up his body. She threw a naked thigh over his waist, straddling him. She reached between them, her fingers encircling his tool, and guided him in. They groaned together as she settled down onto him, the fingers of her petite hands splayed on his chest.
“Oh Dane,” she moaned, her eyes rolling back as he filled her.
# # #
Dane
He cupped her breasts, his thumbs gently teasing her nipples as she rode him in long, languid movements. She would rise almost all the way off of him, till just his head was inside, then slide slowly back down.
She was a perfect fit for him, as he was for her, and she was like a silken glove stroking him.
He let his head roll back and allowed the pleasure to overtake his world. He didn't think he'd ever felt this way about another human, as she became the center of his world.
She leaned forward, kissed him, and purred into his mouth as he lightly scraped his nails up and down her back. She arched under his touch, pressing her breasts into his chest as she continued this final ride.
“I'm cumming,” she groaned, as she settled down on his cock, her body shaking.
He pulled her close, holding her, his fingers massaging and passing over her skin as she trembled in his arms.
She moaned wordlessly, kissed him again, then, between pants, moaned some more. “Oh, Dane,” she groaned. “You're the one for me.”
He began to move his hips, thrusting himself into her. With each thrust, he felt his body moving closer to his own little death. He held her tightly in his arms, her muffled moans coming faster.
“I love you, Emily,” he whispered again, as he felt his body stiffen. He grabbed her ass, squeezed tightly, and began to cum inside her. “I love you so much.”
She smothered his moan with a kiss, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. They continued like that as the pleasure washed over them both, their bodies moving in perfect sync.
Then, like all wonderful moments, that one came to an end. It was a sad moment, made all the sadder by the perfect union they'd just experienced.
They lay there on the bed together, their bodies cooling under the breezy air of the circling ceiling fan, breathing as one as Dane began to soften and slide out of her.
“Don't go,” she whispered. “You don't have to. We can just call this off.”
Dane smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I have to. You know that. I'm so close to getting Benton out. I can just feel it.”
“We could be happy, though,” she said. “You and me.”
“I know, babe,” he replied, kissing her soft b
londe hair again, “I know. But I have to see this through. He's my brother, and he doesn't deserve to be in there. This is my only chance.”
They lay there in silence for a few minutes more. Soon, Dane realized the light drops of water falling on his chest weren't beads of sweat. They were drops of tears.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dane
He tied her to the dining room chair again, leaving her in the living room.