My cock stirred at the sight of her standing in only a white lace bra, her silky hair disheveled, and her fair skin reddened by my grasp, telling me what I would and wouldn’t do. She was infuriating in a way I’d never known.
I couldn’t remember any other woman to walk out on me after sex, to tell me to clean up. That was my modus operandi. I made demands. I gave orders and they were carried out.
Araneae wanted answers, and I’d give them to her, just not all at once. She might think she was ready to learn all her secrets, but she wasn’t.
I’d screwed up when I mentioned the plane crash. That was what she did to me. So fucking defiant, turning her back to me and talking on the phone without the speaker, I was hard in the living room just watching her.
From my angle all I could see was that long yellow hair lying over her slender sensual shoulder. As she spoke, my mind was elsewhere, with her on her knees, my cock buried in her throat as I fisted that ponytail. It was why I couldn’t resist twisting my fingers in her silky locks the moment I took her lips with mine.
Damn, she tasted so sweet.
I shook my head. Araneae wasn’t all sweet. Yes, her lips, tongue, and essence were, but the woman herself was a fucking hellion. The way she came at me, ripping off my shirt, was like nothing I expected. Her fire pushed me in ways I wasn’t used to being pushed, and all it did was make me want her more.
I’d been upfront with her about my desires. And I would have her, in every way possible. Of that she could be certain. After this morning, I was more eager than ever. Her little display showed me that despite her hesitation, she wanted it as much as I did. The fire when we touched was a mere candle compared to the roaring inferno when we were joined together.
Together we could decimate the forests surrounding this cabin for miles and miles.
Tucking her panties into the pocket of my jeans, I reached for my phone and sent a quick text to Patrick. I wanted more information on the pilot’s sudden demise. I didn’t care that the office reeked of sex or that the papers he had organized were now on the floor. Patrick could deal with that later when Araneae and I went for the walk I promised.
My hope was that being surrounded by crisp clean air and the beauty of this place would ease a bit of the heartache my words—her secrets—would inflict.
A knock on the door refocused my attention. Slipping my shirt back over my head, I pushed it into the waist of my jeans and answered, “Patrick, come in.”
Araneae 25
This time when I reached Sterling’s office, in fresh jeans, underwear, and a t-shirt covered with a light jacket, I didn’t hesitate. I also didn’t knock. I’m not sure if that was what Sterling expected; however, from the stares I received from both him and Patrick, walking in and declaring it was time for us to talk was also not what was expected.
Whether it was or not, it did the trick. A few minutes later, we were out of the cabin.
The fresh, warm breeze blew my hair as we stood at the crest of the hill and peered down toward the lake. Was his cabin built upon a hill or a small mountain? I couldn’t be sure. Either way, with our eyes covered by sunglasses, we took in the spectacular view. Greens and blues dominated the scene as wildlife flew and scampered about.
“We could walk,” Sterling said, “but you were right about the hike up. It takes almost three times as long as the hike down.”
“Unless we’re being chased by that mother bear,” I said with a grin. “I’m pretty sure I could find some speed.” I turned to Sterling. “I ran track in high school…well, back in Chicago.” Looking off to the distance, I added, “You probably already knew that.”
Sterling reached for my chin, bringing me back to his gaze. “I didn’t. Thanks for sharing.”
“I wasn’t that good, but I believe a bear would be the proper motivation.”
“I have a better idea,” Sterling said as he took my hand and led me away from the crest, back toward the cabin.
I peered back over my shoulder. “I thought we were going to the lake. We’re headed the wrong direction.”
A deep chuckle filled the air. “And here I thought you weren’t perceptive. We’re going to the garages. How are you at driving an ATV?”
“Kick-ass, actually.”
Sterling stopped and turned my way, his lips agape. “Seriously?”
“Wow, two things about me that you didn’t know. Hell yes. I love to go with friends up into the mountains and ride. It’s especially great above the tree line. No obstacles.”
He shook his head. “I believe you. I do. The thing is that there are a lot of obstacles here. How about we ride together?”
“Okay.”
He led me around the other side of the cabin. The cobblestone driveway created a circle with a sidewalk that led to an entry, complete with two grand extra-tall doors.
The garages were a series of outbuildings off to the side of the cobblestone driveway, connected by a gravel service road. We came to a stop outside of one building as Sterling entered a code into a security pad. The garage-style door opened to a large concrete space, and as my eyes adjusted to its contents, I sucked in a breath. There was an assortment of all-terrain vehicles as well as minibikes and other recreational vehicles. As my eyes adjusted, I zeroed in on one model, silver with air control suspension, Fox air assist shocks, heavy-duty bumpers, and 14-inch tires. “Oh my God. You have a Can-Am Outlander MAX 1000 Limited,” I practically squealed as I hurried toward the limited-edition ATV.
When I looked up, Sterling was staring at me like I’d grown an additional head.
“What? Didn’t you believe me?”
Shaking his head, he walked away toward a cabinet near the back of the garage before returning with two helmets.
“Here, Evel Knievel, no stunts on today’s drive.”
“You’re no fun.”
His grin quirked as he ran a finger over my cheek. “I believe I could argue that you weren’t saying that an hour ago.”
No, I could barely talk an hour ago. Shrugging, I didn’t say that. I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.
As I secured my helmet over my head, he flipped a switch on the side that just as in the helicopter, gave us an audible connection.
After tugging at my chin strap, he stepped forward and swung his leg over the wide seat of the model I’d just ogled and with his hands on the handlebars gestured behind him. “Jump on, sunshine. We’ll take this one.”
Placing my fists on my hips, I tried to ignore how hot he looked straddling the king of the beast machine, wearing sunglasses, jeans, boots, and the same gray t-shirt that earlier I’d ripped from his toned torso. “When you said ride together, I thought you meant I’d be driving.”
Sterling’s laugh was the most genuine I’d heard since I met him as he shook his head. “No way. Get on and hold on tight.”
A sexy, quick move with his feet, kick-starting what I knew could be done with a button, and he revved the engine.
After the roar of the motor filled the space, I climbed onto the rear seat. A large hand landed on my knee as his raspy tenor came through my helmet. “Squeeze those legs tight. I like having your legs around me.”
The ATV bucked as Sterling hit the gas, causing me to scream as I wrapped my arms around his torso. “You did that on purpose.”
My comment was met with another laugh.
Leaning forward with my face against his back and my arms around his waist, I closed my eyes and inhaled his masculine scent: spicy cologne as well as the faint aroma of fresh air and musk.
After taking a quick lap of the property high on the hill, Sterling pulled to the front of his cabin. Waiting on the porch in front of the giant doors was Rita with a basket in her hand. Before I could ask what it was, Sterling had the Can-Am Outlander in neutral, was off the seat, and securing the basket behind me. “Thank you, Rita,” I heard through the helmet. As he got back on, he gave me a wink. “Lunch. I know that after my morning activities I could use some sustenance.”
“Asshole,” I muttered.
Once again the ATV bucked and I held on tight.
My seat had a back, and once Sterling stopped bucking the ATV and maneuvered us to a partially overgrown path, taking us between giant conifers, I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride. The way to the lake was mostly quiet, minus the roar and vibration of the machine between our legs. Occasionally, the path would lead to open fields. When that happened, he’d increase the speed as wind and sunshine bathed our faces. Along the way, occasionally Sterling slowed to point out different species of birds and other wildlife. There were deer, moose, and a variety of smaller mammals—wolverines, pika, rabbits, and squirrels. Luckily, at no point did he show me a bear.
As we got closer to the shore, the breeze picked up and the scent of fresh water overpowered the pine from within the trails in the forest. Once we stopped, I waited as Sterling pulled out a blanket from the basket and covered a soft area of long grass, smashing it down and creating a more comfortable place to sit.
“How long are you going to make me wait?” I asked as he handed me a bottle of water.
“Araneae, if I could, my answer would be forever.”
“Why?”
“Because I like you the way you are right now. I don’t want that to change. I thought I did, but now that you’re here…” His large hand reached out to cover mine, the connection sparking as it had since the first time. “Now that you’re mine completely, I don’t want to ruin it.”
A lump formed in my throat as I took him in, really looked at him. “Sterling, what are you going to tell me?”
“I’ve been debating.”
I sprang to my feet. “What the hell are you debating? My life is covered in a veil of secrets, and you have the ability to rip it off, to shed light on what I’ve never known.”
“What if it isn’t light? People are determined to silence you. The plane crash I didn’t tell you about…”
I nodded as I sat again.
“There were a few more serious injuries. A few broken bones from the landing and evacuation, but overall, it could have been much worse.”
“I heard someone say that the pilot died? He was hit in a subway tunnel.” I didn’t want to remind Sterling of my eavesdropping, but at this point it was water under the bridge.
“The day of the crash, his wife filed for divorce. She also received a large financial infusion into an offshore account. She has a small business and without going into a lot of detail, that business is connected to a shell company. The thing I can’t understand is that you didn’t fly on the flight we’d booked a week earlier.”
“No, I flew on your plane.”
“Not officially. Officially, you’re still in the United States. The ticket for that particular flight wasn’t purchased until Wednesday morning.”
“How can you do that, make it appear that I wasn’t here?” Queasiness tugged at my stomach, as anxiety brought my small hairs to life. “Why would you do that?” I scooted away from the man in front of me. “No one knows I’m here.” Panic grew as my fingers came to my lips. “Oh God, are you…? Was my mom right?”
Sterling reached out and took my hand, stopping my retreat. “That’s a lot of questions.”
“Sterling Sparrow, look me in the fucking eye.” I ripped off my sunglasses as moisture overflowed my lids and waited for him to do the same. Once he did, I went on, “Are you the one targeting me? Are you going to… am I ever going home?”
His dark eyes fluttered closed as he took a deep breath, his nostrils flared, and the cords of his neck pulled tight.
“Am I targeting you? I have been for a long time.” He reached for my knee. “Not to kill you. That’s not me. And for your second question, I suppose it depends on your definition of home.”
“Boulder.”
“Then, no.”
“The United States?” I asked, my voice less steady.
He nodded. “The first time I ever saw you I was about thirteen. You said it was fucked up that Rita was calling you McCrie. Imagine what it’s like to be called into your father’s office. I don’t mean the one at the firm, the one with the fucking windows with the view of Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan. I mean the one in our house, the one where he met with the real people who made the Sparrow name mean power as well as wealth.”
Sterling 26
Nineteen years ago
“Get over here, boy. Pick one.”
The office reeked of smoke and stale whiskey as if every old book on each regal shelf had taken those scents and infused them within their pages. The windows were covered with heavy drapes as the main source of light came from my father’s computer screen. He was putting on a show to the room full of men who worked the Sparrow outfit.
I didn’t like being around my father, much less the men who worked for him. There was something about them that made my skin crawl. The way they looked at me in a way I knew they shouldn’t. I was too young to realize that I was a threat. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me. My mother didn’t like me to be around them either, but even she couldn’t stop a direct summons from Allister Sparrow.
At thirteen years of age I was beginning to develop, to mature. My shoulders were growing wider. I was six inches taller than at the beginning of school the previous year. Lifting weights in football helped with the muscles as well as my strength. I could bench-press double my weight, one of the few accomplishments my father ever praised.
I was pretty sure I would need to start shaving soon, but my mother only laughed when I mentioned it. My face wasn’t the only place that hair was growing.
None of that made me feel grown up in this den of wolves. No, I was keenly aware that I was a pup compared to each one of them as their beady eyes watched, and they took amusement at my plight.
My mind scrambled with what this summons was all about. The large monitor on his desk hummed. Swallowing my fear and showing none—because even at thirteen, I knew animals like the ones within his office had the ability to sense fear as easily as blood—I walked proudly around my father’s desk to view the screen of his computer. My back may have been straight and my expression cool, but with each step, my gut somersaulted.
“It’s about time, Allister,” a man I knew as Rudy said. “Kid’s a teenager now. Time to wet his dick.”
“Question is… what does he want?” another man asked as the room roared with laughter.
“Doesn’t matter when money’s no object.”
“Hey, Allister, you could get him one of each.”
I’d lost track of who was speaking, trying to ignore the comments as I swallowed the bile and looked up to my father’s stare bearing down on me.
His large hand landed squarely on my shoulder. “Boy is a Sparrow,” he said to the room, “he’ll choose wisely.”
My father then slid the computer mouse my direction, his crest ring reflecting the light from the small desk lamp that created a circle of illumination on his ink pad and the folder lying there.
Though I’d never done any of the things they were talking about, I wasn’t naïve. I was street-smart enough to understand what their snide comments and laughing in the smoke-filled room was all about. I’d watched a video or more on websites that I could find. I’d seen my friend’s dad’s magazines. I’d jacked off in the shower.
I’d done it in bed once, but the maid told my mother, and I was determined not to repeat that conversation.
When I clicked the mouse, the screensaver disappeared, and my father’s screen came to life.
The first picture was a naked woman. Not a rarity, as I’d soon learn they were all naked. This one, though, was a woman, probably in her twenties, much older than me, with huge breasts, her legs spread, and one hand teasing the bare place between her legs. The lady had long, wild red hair and she looked as if she were in pain—I’d later learn it was an expression of pleasure. The picture was like the ones in my friend’s dad’s magazines but different because I was viewing it in front of my father and his friends.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t alluring. Even at thirteen, my dick moved. Not thinking, I reached down to hide my reaction, only to be met with more laughter.
“Boy, you’re not ready for the likes of her,” my father said with a laugh. “Besides, she’s all mine and a handful at that.”
“Two handfuls,” someone chimed in.
The glint in my father’s eye told me he wasn’t joking. This woman, who wasn’t my mother, was his, and from that moment on, it would be a secret I was meant to bear.
Wanting to make that woman disappear from the screen, I clicked the mouse.
The next picture wasn’t erotic. It turned my stomach. The picture on the screen was of a much younger girl. She didn’t have the same look on her face as the older woman. This girl was naked, her breasts barely developed and her pussy bare. I wasn’t noticing any of that as much as the utter terror in her eyes. Quickly, I clicked. I clicked again and again, but the pictures were all similar. Young girls, posed to be attractive, perhaps even alluring. In some of their stares there was fear, in others, nothing—like black eyes on older dolls I’d seen at the museum. They were lifeless, dead. Each photo filled me with more and more disgust.
And then the young girls were gone. The next screen filled with a young boy. I turned to my father.
“Don’t tell me, boy, that you want one of them.”
“Told you, Allister, one of each,” a deep voice boasted. “That’s what my old man gave me. Made me fuck them both the same night. Great lesson too…”
I tried to block out the voice as more laughter filled the room, and the food I’d eaten stewed in my twisting gut. “No, sir,” I replied truthfully.
My answer didn’t affect the sequence of photos. The next ten or so were of young boys. Based on the kids I’d helped coach in Y10 football camp, if I had to guess, these boys were seven or eight years old. They hadn’t grown any hair down there, and the ones who forced a smile had the giant front teeth with smaller ones behind. Each one was posed as the girls had been, their private parts visible, and their eyes equally as filled with terror, or dark and dead.
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