Though I had to admit there were better ways of approaching our incredibly stupid moves, locking us in our rooms had been very useful.
Until I'd figured out how to break the bars off our windows without setting off the alarms. Then Nishelle and I, sometimes with others but especially the two of us, had gone on all-night benders. We'd followed the police scanner, listening for trouble and racing off to watch the heroes we looked up to so much as they defended the city.
The same city we hoped we would defend some day, too.
No matter how much the cafeteria around us looked like home, it wasn't. Thomaston had plenty of people to protect it, but Yarborough was in the grip of a madman. Maybe it was in the grip of my mad cousin's ghost; which, if that didn't tell you what my life was, I don't know what could. Or maybe there was someone else behind all of it all along.
Our city needed us, the kids who had come to the PTB Alliance hoping to change the world. It was our one chance and I wasn't about to let it slip away. We'd fought aliens, villains, and so many others who had hoped to tear apart our little city, claim it as their own, or kill everyone that resided in it.
What was one more?
Even if it was Scribe.
I took my tray off to the cleaning window, tipped out the chicken bones, and offered it to the dishwashers. They snatched it from me and I nodded at them, then headed for the door. Something clattered behind me and I heard Nishelle's brisk "thank you" as she dropped off her tray, too.
"Strikes, can I have just one minute of your time really fast?" she panted.
I blinked at her, then looked back at the rest of my group. Nate waved me on and I took it as permission. Everyone was suspect, but Nate seemed normal enough. Nishelle, though? I didn't know. We'd only had one chat since she'd come back, one -real- chat, anyway, and it had ended in a fight.
I didn't like that, but I wasn't going to turn her down.
I nodded, offered my hand out to her, and waited. She slid hers into mine and we left the cafeteria together, our steps echoing the empty hallways.
Chapter 9
I had no idea how I was going to tell her. That I had done what I did, that I was responsible for so many things. It was madness.
But I'd only just remembered that I'd done it.
Did that count? Everything had been a haze for so long, I hadn't known up from down or left from right. The world sucked when you were in and out of the Dream constantly, but so much was returning to me after the Clarks had pulled me out the most recent time.
And there were too many things that I couldn't trust to anyone but Cassie.
We walked the length of the hallway, took an elevator to the top floor, and Cassie entered the passnumber into the little pad on the door. What opened before us was a room the size of a thousand basketball courts, decked out in all the latest trendy bullshit. I only knew because I'd stolen a march on my civilian doctor's magazines, but I was impressed in spite of myself. Yarborough didn't have anything like -that-.
"What's up?"
I turned to look at Cassie as the closed, locked, and barred the door. We weren't to be disturbed, though I wasn't entirely certain the others would be so understanding. It had been a long day, everyone was exhausted, and I was certain that they would want to flop down on that soft as hell couch over there and take a nap.
But there were more important things. I sat on the armrest and folded my hands on my knees. "Has it occurred to you that I might not be exactly what I seem to be?"
"Swear to God, if you say you're some kind of weirdo clone or you're not actually Nishelle, I am done," Cassie sighed, coming to lean on the table next to me.
I smiled at that. "I'm me. But there's more to it than that. When Scribe found out I was back, he approached me about something. He wanted me to spy on you; all of you, and figure out what was going on between you four."
"Since when does he give a shit about my relationships?" Cassie asked.
He'd cared more than I wanted to tell her. Hell, I'd befriended her because he'd told me to, originally. She'd been an odder duck in a sea of odd enough already ducks. I'd already been attracted to her, but his encouragement had made our entire life together happen. "He always has... to some extent. But he wanted to know if it was something authentic or if it was just a bunch of friends hanging out."
"He wanted you to spy on us."
I shrugged. "He wanted me to spy on you. I told him no."
Cassie stepped closer to me, looming. My breath caught in my chest, the hair on my arms standing straight up. I looked up into her eyes, so close, and felt a shiver climb my spine.
"Why would you do that?"
Her voice was like fresh caramel; sweet, sticky, and a little too hot. I knew that anger, I understood it, but I had to bring it forward. "Because I love you. Idiot."
And she was on me. Together, we fell into the couch and her lips caught mine in a kiss I hadn't expected. I knew she valued loyalty, but I hadn't thought it would mean so much to her. Reckless, to hell if anyone managed to get through the door, I kissed right back and tore her away from me by her hair.
"Fuck you, Emb," she snarled, clawing at my hands. "Lemme go!"
I sneered at her and pushed her back, peeling her off of me and throwing her into the armrest instead. That flicker of pain shot lightning through her eyes for a brief second, then died and left her smoldering, waiting for me. I wanted to make her suffer, like I had. How long had it been? She'd had her men. She'd had -companionship-.
All I'd had was a shitty apartment and an overflowing bank account. And all I'd wanted had been her.
We wrestled for the top for a brief moment before I won, catching her in an armlock she'd perfected on me all those years ago. I kissed the back of her neck and she stilled, giving in to the inevitable.
"You're a sore winner. What are you going to do to me? Turn me in? Beat me up? Maybe pull out the handcuffs and play bad cop?"
Her voice turned the last question into something out of a porno. I laughed and dropped her. "What if I don't do a goddamn thing and I just let you lay there and writhe? Let you imagine what I might do to you if you were a good girl?"
Wide eyes looked back at me as she turned over. "That's dirty pool."
"You started it."
"Did not."
Her legs whipped up around my neck, but I caught her left ankle with my forearm and spread her wide, laying across her chest-first and slowly rolling up her body. "Did. Too."
She flushed as I crawled up from her groin, empty hands reaching to pull me into another kiss. I slid away and pecked the tip of her nose.
"If you want me so bad," I whispered. "You're going to have to ask for it."
"Jesus Christ, Emb, come on," Cassie shivered.
"Ardent."
"Nishelle."
I grinned. "I missed hearing that from you."
"I missed a hell of a lot of things coming from you," Cassie growled.
She reached for my shirt and I batted her hands away once, twice, and smirked. Frustrated, she tried to take me down again. It was the same game we'd played for years, always a little different but the core of it the same. One of us would attempt to free ourselves while the other wound them up inside. And then? The bliss. The pure, searing passion that erupted between us, leaving us breathless and usually on the floor.
Cassie was hell on furniture, but what can I say? I only torched a bed once.
The past had distracted me long enough that her arm came up around my neck and dragged me into the couch with her. She caught me in a kiss and off we went to the ground, my elbow clipping the coffee table. The surge of pain didn't do to me what it did to Cassie, but it was enough to make things interesting.
My shirt landed on the same table that savaged me. I took my own damn bra off, because ladies can do for themselves sometimes. And sometimes they can't. Cassie's shirt was tossed across the room, but she was too damned slow with the bra and I ripped the little curls of wire off, breaking that damn thing and letting it lan
d wherever it did.
I pushed her back to the ground and kissed her again, skin touching skin after so long apart, like it was welcoming the other back and... and...
She drew her head back and looked up at me, worry in her eyes. "What about the boys?"
"What about the boys?" I asked.
I reached for her right breast and she, gently, grabbed my hand. "Nishelle, I can't deal with this if it's a one-off thing. We've always been all fire and passion, but I need this to be real. If it's not, I need to stop." Fuck, she wanted to talk about our long-term prospects -now-? I tried to kiss her again, tried to get her back in the spirit, but she moved her head away from mine and eyed me. "I'm serious."
"God damn it, Strikes. I don't know. I'm not exactly jealous," I sighed. "I just don't know what they do for you that I can't."
Cassie blinked. "It's not like that."
"It's exactly like that. I was more than enough for you before."
Her head tilted, like a curious puppy. "You're still more than enough for me. I love you. That's never changed. I just fell in love with others, too. This isn't about you versus them. It's just about how you feel. How I feel."
"You love me?"
" 'Course I do, Emb."
I swallowed and lay down atop her, resting my chin just above her breasts. "It's just complicated. And kind of confusing. I always knew you had a thing for Nate, but Edwin? Adam?"
"I didn't expect it either," she said. "But it happened, and I love them, too. It doesn't make me love you any less."
It was like cool water on a burn. I slid my arms around her and just held her for a moment before speaking. "You really sure it doesn't mean that? Because if it doesn't, that changes everything."
"Does it?" There was hope in her voice.
Nestling her collar bone, I closed my eyes. "Yeah, it does. Because it's the difference between just being there and being -yours-."
"Emb, you've always been mine," Cassie murmured, stroking my cheek.
I leaned toward her hand, the heat in me replaced with warm fluff. "Then I don't see any reason for this to be a one-time thing."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah. I'm positive."
She twisted beneath me, pushing me to the bottom of the pile. Her head lowered, hot lips touching the hollow of my throat and slowly trickling downward. I tipped my chin up, hissing as she paused at my chest to draw my left nipple into her mouth, roll her tongue over it, then release it to the chill of the room.
"Lower?"
Her mouth touched my belly, just above my navel, her thumbs tugging at either side of my belt hooks. I rolled my shoulders back against the couch, just enough to see her, and swallowed. "Me first?"
Cassie narrowed her eyes at me and bit the button on my fly. I stared as she opened it with her teeth, gripped the zipper, and peeled it down. Then she kissed the soft spot just above my groin and whispered the same question again. "Lower?"
"Please," I breathed.
My pants, my underwear, were pulled away as one. I kicked off my shoes as she went, knowing they would only slow her down, and tried to help her get rid of my remaining clothes. She didn't need that help.
We'd been apart so many years, but she still remembered how sensitive my legs were. Her nails caught on the outside of my thigh, sending a quiver through me that felt as though it would never stop. Warm, familiar hands with a few new scars pulled my hips closer and she dove down, down, down.
The first stroke of her tongue was almost too much to bear. I curled my fingers in her hair and put one heel on the couch. You don't exactly get time off for carnal exercises when you're stuck in the Dream and my body remembered how starved it was.
Thank God Cassie was hungry.
I writhed as a finger entered me, slowly at first and then curling, looking for my sweet spot. Once, twice, and she brushed over it, drawing a low, sweet moan from me. Encouraged, she flicked the tip of her tongue over my clit and hummed while she did it.
The vibration drove me crazy. I shuddered and bucked, trying to hold myself back. It was one thing to cum for your lady, it was another to do it right after she got started. A second finger joined the first and the pads of both slid deep within, touching that spot again.
"Cass," I whispered. "Cassie, God, honey, you're gonna-"
She mmm'd? at me and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from falling over that wonderful edge. I tried not to yank on her hair, but it was so good and I knew she didn't mind; not really. We'd worked that shit out years ago after she'd accidentally pulled one of my braids out: some shit just goes down when you're eating your girlfriend out.
I didn't have much time to consider that, remember her yanking on my hair. Cassie's teeth grazed me, her hands tight on my ass as I whimpered, loud and long. I scrabbled for purchase on her head, trying to squirm toward her and kick away. It was too complex, too much for me to take. Panting, my chest heaving, I choked out a cry as she replaced her fingers with her tongue and sped her thumb over my clit.
My head tipped back as I fought, trying to think of anything but the mounting fire in my belly. I shot a hand up and grabbed one of the couch cushions, dragging it back down so I could bite it. The other remained firmly entangled in her hair. Then, the cushion was pulled out of my mouth and tossed off with the rest of our clothes.
"I want to hear you," she told me.
And then she went right back to her work, tasting me thoroughly. I strangled off another moan, not wanting to wake up the whole damn Alliance building. But then she hummed against me again and I couldn't. I just couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, the world fell to shards around me.
Everything got hazy, a blinding source of wonderful heat pouring through my veins. I bucked against her, my toes curling, cramping, the pain biting into all the rest of it. My hands tightened in her hair and I know I tugged, but you just can't help some things.
The exhaustion hit me like a truck. I reached for her and she came to me, crawling up my body to rest her head on my chest. My arms encircled her as I fought to breathe, coming down from my first conscious orgasm in forever. I wrapped one leg around her hip and kissed her forehead. "Give me... a minute or two. God, you're so good. So... so..."
"You're dead on your feet and you aren't even standing," Cassie murmured. "You sure you're up for it?"
I didn't want to say no. I didn't. But we'd always tried to be honest with each other. I gave her a miserable look. "Maybe if I have a nap first."
She smiled and kissed my chin. "It isn't like this is a one-time thing."
"Yeah," I smiled right back.
We fell silent there, just being with each other. I drifted off for a little while; I know I did for all I was fighting it, too. I sure was losing a lot of battles, but I was done out. Cassie was, too. A blanket had been draped over us, our clothes piled neatly on the couch. Ah, well. It wasn't like it was the first time the others had seen my ass naked or Cassie, either. And it was nice of them to tuck us in like that.
I turned my head and realized there was a pillow beneath me. The floor wasn't the most comfortable bed, but it was well worth it with Cassie fast asleep on top of me. I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
But the world doesn't stand still for anyone. And there's always bullshit waiting just around the fucking riverbend.
My phone rang out into the dead silence of the penthouse suite. I flinched and grabbed it, turning the volume off in that instant. Cassie stirred but I shushed her even as I answered it.
"What?" I growled.
He snorted. "You're late with your report. I didn't expect you to be timely, given what you were doing but-"
"You've got spies on spies?"
I could hear the roll of his eyes in his voice. "The whole penthouse is wired for spying. It doesn't take a genius to break into the Thomaston network and watch."
And I was certain he had watched. I tried not to gag. He was probably still watching. Protectively, I hugged Cassie just that little bit closer to me. And I waited h
im out.
There is some saying that goes a bit like whoever speaks first, loses. It's relevant in business and those sorts of things. What I'd been doing for... longer than I wanted to admit, what I planned to do to fix it, was irrelevant.
I just wanted to piss Lamar off.
And he did. He broke first. "Fine. It's not for me to watch you do whatever. But you're late with your report. Are they coming for me or not?"
"I don't know."
"What the fuck do you mean you don't know?"
Allied: A Superhero Reverse Harem Romance (The PTB Alliance Book 3) Page 8