by Lane Hart
Thankfully, Tessa hears me. She jogs down the steps and comes right over to the crumpled body on the floor.
“This one of them?” I ask in a rush.
She reaches up to cover her mouth and then nods once. “Yes. He was…I think he was the driver, but he still got a few turns later, at the storage facility. After he left…teeth marks on my breasts and made me bleed, he helped them…put me in the…stocks.”
“Shh. It’s okay,” I say, taking her hand as she starts to cry. “That’s over, and I’m sorry I made you think about that again. I just wanted to be sure before…”
She nods again, unable to speak. Letting my hand go, she uses her T-shirt to dry her face. “Go ahead and do what you need to do.”
“He’s, um, he’s not quite dead yet,” I admit. “You may want to turn around for this next part.”
“What?”
“I did choke him out, just not long enough. Give me a minute.”
“Oh,” she mutters in understanding as I look around the room and find a towel. Taking it over to Leroy, I kneel down beside his head and then place the towel over his mouth while pinching his nose with my gloved fingers.
When the man’s arms suddenly shoot up, Tessa screams at the top of her lungs, which is so painful to hear, I would rather be stabbed.
“I’ve got this.” I tell her as I lean my face back as far as I can while keeping my hands on the guy’s face. “You can wait upstairs if you want.” I suggest over the man’s muffled protests. A few seconds later, all the fight goes out of the struggling asshole. I don’t let up on suffocating him, not until a few more minutes pass to be sure this time.
Finally, when I’m certain enough time has passed, I remove my fingers from his nose and place them on the side of his neck. Finding nothing there, I exhale in relief, still panting as I hang my head in exhaustion. We really should’ve got some sleep last night. Now the fatigue is catching up with me. “It’s over. He’s dead.”
“Thank you,” Tessa say with her own sigh.
I have no clue how she’s feeling, if she’s happy or second-guessing our plan. But I for one am glad that these two men I killed for her today won’t ever be able to hurt anyone else. Of course there’s a twinge of guilt for taking their lives, but I’m too relieved at the moment, knowing that they will never be able to touch Tessa again.
“Just give me a second and I’ll take him to the other room,” I tell her.
“Okay,” she easily agrees. “You should, ah, probably throw the towel in there with him.”
“Yeah,” I say while still on my knees. My body isn’t taking orders yet, refusing to give me enough strength to get to my feet. It feels like an elephant is sitting on my shoulders, holding me down. “Keep an eye on the door?” I suggest to Tessa.
“Sure.”
“Upstairs,” I add because I think I need a few moments alone to collect myself before I do what needs to be done to finish this part. As Tessa starts up the stairs, I tell her, “I’ll be up as soon as I’m done.”
Chapter Eight
Tessa
* * *
I wait upstairs for about fifteen minutes before Verek joins me in the hallway that leads to the side door. I immediately notice that his body looks heavier than it did when we came in as he walks slowly toward me. He has to be so tired and ready to get some sleep, while I’m feeling wide-awake. Guess that’s because I didn’t have to do any of the physical work.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Yes. The parking lot is still empty.”
“Good. That’s good. Let’s get back to the hotel and clean up,” he suggests.
Verek is quiet the rest of the way to his motorcycle, and then it’s impossible to talk over the roar of the engine.
I almost ask if we should maybe get out of town, just in case someone saw us, but I can tell Verek definitely needs some rest before we leave.
After he parks his bike at the back of the hotel, we walk around to our room, Verek somewhat staggering. As soon as we’re safely inside, he grabs the wall and says, “I don’t feel so good. Think I’ll rest a minute and then, ah, get a quick shower.”
I’m so keyed up that I don’t really want to be alone. But I understand he wants to get cleaned up. I’m also glad when he pulls a small black flip phone from his pocket and tosses it on the closest bed before he sits down on the other one. “Call Charlotte if you want, just don’t tell her where we are.”
“Thanks,” I reply when I go over and grab the device. Punching in her number that I know by heart, I put the phone to my ear and hope she picks up her cell phone.
“Hello?” Charlotte answers on the first ring.
“Hey, it’s me,” I say as I walk over and sit on the other bed.
“Tessa! Where the hell are you? Do you know how worried we’ve been?” she asks, making me wince.
“I’m sorry. I just, I couldn’t tell you where I was going, or you would’ve told Roman.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
“That’s good. Now, where are you?” she demands, her tone growing sterner as it changes from concern to anger.
“I can’t tell you that. I just wanted to call and let you know I’m okay.”
“Are you with Verek? Roman’s been trying to find him all day, and he appears to have gone MIA too!”
“Yes, he’s here with me.”
“Are you two eloping? I mean, what else would have you sneaking out of the house, apparently in the middle of the night, and refusing to tell me!”
“We’re just…handling some business.”
“Business?” Charlotte repeats. “Does this business have to do with the names of the men Roman’s been waiting to hear back from before his phone went missing?”
“Yes.”
“He wants to talk to you,” she says.
Before I can even protest, Roman’s gruff voice is on the phone. If I thought Charlotte was pissed, it’s nothing compared to Roman’s ire. “Are you out of your fucking minds?” he asks.
“Maybe,” I answer honestly.
“Let me talk to Verek.” he orders.
“Okay. Just a second.” I get up and take the phone to Verek, who is already holding out his hand expectantly. I’m sure he could hear Roman yelling through it from across the hotel room.
“Yeah?” he says as he falls backward on the bed and stares up at the stained ceiling.
Roman is still so loud that I can clearly hear his voice through the phone when he yells, “What the fuck were you thinking? I don’t know if you’re on a suicide mission or what, but do you really want Tessa to end up serving life in prison for this stupid-ass decision of yours?”
Verek closes his eyes before he answers. “That’s not going to happen.”
“You’re an idiot trying to do this on your own, you know that, don’t you? It’s going to bite you both in the ass, and then the rest of us will have to figure out how to pick up the pieces!”
“It’s done now, and everything went smoothly,” he says, even though that’s not the full truth. We still have one more stop to make.
“That’s what you think!” Roman yells. “If you had been patient, we could’ve done this right and made sure we all stay clear, especially Tessa! I don’t know if this was supposed to be some sort of romantic gesture or what, but you have royally fucked everything up, not to mention bailing on your goddamn job at the club last night!”
“I asked Leo to cover for me every night I’m gone. He was fine with that. And Tessa and I wanted to keep the heat off of the Kings. We’ll be on the road before anyone here is the wiser,” Verek says calmly.
“You’re done! You know that, right? Not only did you disobey my direct order, but you’re supposed to be running the nightclub! Get your ass back here now! Send your cut in with Tessa when you drop her off at my house, and then your dumb ass better not ever step foot in my city again!” Roman demands before the phone line goes silent.
Verek sits up and closes the ol
d flip phone, then tosses the device down before he jumps up and makes a run for the bathroom.
I slap my hand over my own mouth when I hear him heaving over and over again. When the horrible sound finally stops, I yell, “Are you okay?”
“Getting a shower,” comes his muttered response just before I hear the water cut on.
Restless, I get up and turn the television on while he’s washing up, pacing around the small room, waiting for him to come out so I can see if he’s okay. Of course he’s not okay. After what we did, it made him physically ill!
Half an hour passes, then forty-five minutes while I grow more and more concerned, and yet the water still doesn’t cut off. Steam is steadily pouring out of the bathroom and into the room since Verek left the door open.
After it’s been an hour, I finally give in and go to check on him.
“Are you okay in here?” I ask when I see his profile through the clear, fogged-up shower curtain and try to tell my eyes to look away. But his body is just too perfect to not stare at. His palms are braced above his head flat against the shower while his head hangs between his strained biceps. There’s not an inch of fat on any part of him, just lean muscles down his front and backside, down to his round ass and strong legs.
At first, I think it’s the sight of him that has me roasting, but then I realize it’s the temperature in the bathroom.
“Verek?” I ask. “You think you’re almost done?”
“I-I don’t think I’ve started yet.”
What?
“You’ve been in here an hour, and the water temperature seems a little high.”
“I think it’s burning me,” he says calmly.
“Then turn it off!” I exclaim at him, but he doesn’t move.
Taking a deep breath, I march over and reach into the side of the curtain closest to the faucet and turn it back toward the middle. I wasn’t going to look at him, I swear I wasn’t, but there’s so much of him that it’s impossible not to. My eyes land immediately on the V carved into his hip bones before dropping to his thick cock hanging between his legs. Embarrassed by my gawking, I quickly lift my gaze to his chiseled abs that are even etched in his side, under his ribs. I take in his defined pecs a second as I make my eyes lift to his face. His sad eyes look more gray than blue in the fog of the shower and are looking right at me.
Finally, he moves. Removing his hands from the wall, he shoves them through his short, soaking wet hair and then turns his back to me, tilting his head back into the stream as he says, “Before…you couldn’t stand for me to touch you no matter how much I wanted to, but I knew it wasn’t my fault. Now, after what I did, I doubt if you’ll ever want to touch me. I hate that this is my fault.”
“After what you did?” I repeat, my voice hoarse either from his words or all the steam. “Verek, you’ve helped me, more than anyone! I owe you…everything,” I tell him, but he doesn’t acknowledge my words which is so infuriating.
That’s apparently why I’m standing in the dry bathroom one second, and the next, I’m climbing over into the shower, standing under the warm water that’s pouring down on me as I reach forward and place my palms on Verek’s tattooed upper back and lean forward to press my lips between them right on his spine, right along the bottom of the inked crown of his huge Savage Kings tattoo.
I feel his body stiffen under my hands and lips before he says, “Tessa…sweetheart…what are you doing?”
“Thanking you. Touching you, because I want to, if that’s okay?” I kiss another spot on his spine as my palms slide down to his lower back where the skull king ends.
“Don’t stop” is his gasped response as he reaches for the shower bar over the soap box with one hand and presses the other to the wall in front of him.
Grabbing the soap, I start rubbing it slowly over his tense back and shoulder muscles and work my way down until I’m low enough to watch the suds run down the slopes of his amazing ass. Then, I head back up to rub the soap down the length of one of his strong boulder-sized biceps, then the other before reaching around to scrub his chest. To get at the front of his body, I have to press mine closer to his back so that my pelvis is pressed to his round bottom. My hand with the soap moves lower, over each and every one of the indentions of his six-pack of abs while my other hand rests on his hips, my fingers dipping into the sloping V. I place another kiss to his back, this time higher, right near his neck, making Verek shiver, causing the soap in my hand to jump and touch another part of his lower body.
I hesitate for a second, waiting for his reaction. When he doesn’t even flinch at the accidental contact, I rub his cock with the soap and go down to his balls before heading back up again to his shaft. He’s long and thick and obviously getting hard. For the first time in a very long time, I’m actually aroused too. Not enough to do anything about it, but I do want to lend a helping hand to Verek. It’s the least I can do for him after what he’s done for me, but also because I want to make him feel good, even if I can’t let him touch me.
I put the bar of soap back on the box and then reach around, taking his shaft into my hand and tightening my fingers around it, making Verek grunt as his hips punch forward. He’s grown even thicker if that’s humanly possible.
“Please,” he groans as his head tips forward to watch my hand moving up and down on his still-lengthening cock.
A trail of water runs down the center of his back, and without thinking, I stick my tongue out and lick it off of his body. I hear another grunt from him as his breathing picks up, his back moving with the more urgent pace of his lungs.
“Ah, yes, sweetheart,” he whispers when I lick another drop of water from his shoulder while riding the bucking motion of his body from behind.
The liquid warmth that feels so foreign but is so familiar fills up my belly, causing the throbbing a little lower to demand my attention. It’s a part of my body that I’ve ignored for months, unsure if I would ever feel even a hint of desire again. Now that I have, I can’t resist giving in. With my free hand, I undo my wet jeans and then slip my hand down into the front of my panties, gasping aloud and losing my rhythm on Verek’s cock as I stroke my fingertips over the aching bundle of nerves that have missed being touched.
“Are you touching yourself?” Verek asks me through gritted teeth. He could just as easily look over his shoulder to find out, but he doesn’t.
“Yes,” I answer breathlessly.
“Oh fuck. Fuck…I’m coming!” he warns just as I feel his shaft thicken even more and then pulse in my fist. I keep stroking him as his body trembles through his release, and I chase my own.
The pleasurable waves that eventually crash over me are foreign but welcome. I had forgotten how good it could feel to sate the desire that I wasn’t sure I would find again. I bask in the warmth coursing through my veins and the instant mellow happy endorphins that follow, making my limbs heavy and limp.
Chapter Nine
Verek
* * *
What the hell just happened?
I’m not complaining, I’m just shocked and a little overwhelmed.
One thing is for sure, all that guilt that was slowly but surely weighing me down is suddenly lifted off my shoulders now that I have something else to think about.
More than the deaths by my hands, I think I was worried that despite Tessa’s assertions that she was okay with all of this, that afterward she would change her mind and see me differently. That she would be even more revolted by me than before.
At least I could tell myself that it wasn’t me personally making her feel that way but the result of her surviving one hell of an ordeal.
Now, to know that after everything, she laid her hands and her lips on me in such a fiercely intimate way, in what was possibly the sexiest experience I’ve ever had with a woman, I’m ecstatic.
I know I can’t turn around and touch her the way I want, but she’s given me something even better.
“Thank you,” I say into the silence that was filled by th
e shower raining down on us. Well, mostly on her.
“For what?” she asks quietly. “That was…it wasn’t much…”
“It was everything,” I tell her, unable to look at her right now because my self-control may snap with the need to wrap my arms around her. “Was that the first time you’ve…”
“Yes,” Tessa answers my unspoken question about her first orgasm since the kidnapping. “I’ll, um, I’ll dry off and get out of your way,” she says. I hear the slide of the shower curtain going back before it’s replaced, then her retreating footsteps.
She’ll need time to get dried off and changed in the other room, so I take my time, soaping myself up again, although it doesn’t feel nearly as good as when Tessa did it, then finally turn off the shower, dry off, and get dressed, leaving my shoes and shirt off. I don’t think my partial nakedness will bother her since she seemed perfectly fine with my full nudity.
Before walking out of the bathroom, though, I ask, “Is it okay if I come out?” because I’m certain she would have a problem with me seeing her undressed. Even in the summer, she wears more clothing than is necessary in what I assume is an attempt to hide her body.
“Yeah, sure,” she responds.
I step out and find Tessa lying under the covers of the bed furthest from the door, her eyes barely open. Seeing her apparently triggers my body into demanding its own rest because I only have the energy to make it to the opposite bed where I collapse face-first.
“We should get a few hours of sleep and then get out of here as soon as possible,” I mutter into the pillow.
“Okay,” Tessa agrees. “Mind if I join you?”
She wants to sleep in the bed with me? I thought she made it clear that we should each have our own bed. I won’t second-guess her, though. Tessa knows better than anyone what she can handle and what she can’t.
“Sure,” I reply as I roll to my side facing her since I’m not sure I could move even if she asked me to come to her bed. Okay, that’s a lie. I would summon the energy from the depths of my soul and crawl over there if necessary. But thankfully, Tessa throws the covers back and then walks around to the empty side of my queen bed where she climbs in under the sheets while I stay lying on top of them.