“I have not seen him naked, if that’s what you mean,” I told him shortly. “He’s a perfect gentleman, not some animal.”
“He’s a man, Little Lily, of course he’s an animal,” Dana smiled, assuming the position I was beginning to see as common for him, leaning against the front of his desk.
“Just give me back the key, Dana,” I snarled, holding my hand out. He smiled and shrugged, folding his arms over his chest.
“No.”
“I can’t take care of him if you don’t give me the key.”
“I’ll come take care of him for you,” he told me with a smirk. My stomach turned over at the thought of Dana coming to my house on a regular basis. I ground my teeth together and lowered my hand.
“What do I have to do to get the key back?”
Dana’s eyebrows went high and he chuckled.
“You’re starting to sound a little more like the people I normally work with,” he laughed. “But you are out of your weight class, Little Lily.”
“I’m not ignorant. I know what I was implying.”
“Oh, really?” Dana smiled. “What do you think I want from you that could give you that key?” Dana challenged. “Do what I do. Try and figure out how to get what you want out of me without me knowing.”
“That’s not possible.” I stepped forward, standing in front of him, steeling myself to tease him again. My heart was beating fast. My body’s recent taste for pleasure made me easily excited, and Dana’s sparking energy made my skin tingle. “I already know you want to have sex with me.”
“I do.”
“What’s the normal price for an exchange like this?” I asked, reaching up and unbuttoning the button he had fixed earlier. He smiled at me knowingly.
“Depends on the person. But…the last time you did this, you left me hanging.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, leaning closer, “but I bet you loved it. So many people just roll over and spread their legs for you. I bet you don’t have many who actually make you work for it.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had to work for it, so to speak, yes,” Dana admitted, watching me as I pulled the jacket away, fisting his coat pockets to feel for the key as I pulled the coat away from his waist. I felt the smooth, round pocket watch he always kept on him but, otherwise, his pockets were empty.
“You strike me as the type that likes to be teased,” I smiled, leaning even closer, sliding my hands up the front of his vest, once again feeling for pockets. When I encountered none, I slipped my hands under his jacket at his shoulders and began pushing the coat from him. I expected him to stop me, the same way he had stopped my mother from undressing him, but he remained still with a cocky smile, watching me push the jacket to his elbows, though he refused to move his hands off his desk to remove the article of clothing completely.
I was beginning to get nervous. He had warned me before about teasing him. I was dangling meat in front of a lion and not expecting him to bite my arm off.
Still, I leaned closer, expecting him to close the gap between us and kiss me. I figured if I could distract him long enough to slip my hands into his pant pockets, I could find the key and then leave quickly before he got too excited.
But when my mouth was only a few centimeters from his, he did not move, refusing to meet me.
“Well?” I asked.
“Well, what?” he pressed, testing me, seeing how far I would go. “Are you going to continue?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want to see what you think up on your own,” Dana grinned darkly. “If I need to, I’ll instruct you as you go.”
My stomach twisted at the thought. He was really going to stand there and just watch. I needed him distracted.
Carefully, I leaned closer and flinched when our lips brushed. Even then, he did not move.
“You said that Mykail did not know anything about giving pleasure to a woman,” I whispered against his mouth. “You have me intrigued…”
“Do I?”
For the first time, I initiated the kiss. I felt guilt settle in my chest at the way I was betraying Mykail. As long as Dana initiated the kiss, I could say that my body’s reactions were from the unnatural power he had, but when my body shivered at the intensity of kiss, I knew that it was entirely my fault.
I felt Dana smirk and, finally, one hand came to my face, gently cupping my cheek, but his fingers were firm, holding me still as his lips carefully worked against mine, his tongue parting my lips.
That was when I realized that he was teaching me how to kiss slowly.
I played along, groaning gently, my hands settling at his waist as I pressed my body forward, only slightly pretending to be intoxicated by our kiss.
My fingers dropped down his hips and I hooked two fingers in his pockets, pressing my thumb against the bottom seam to feel for the key.
One of my hands went into his pocket as I pushed my tongue against his, trying to keep him distracted. However, my hand came across nothing at all. His pockets were empty.
Suddenly, his hand was on my wrist, his other hand twisting in the hair at the base of my neck as he broke the kiss and smiled at me.
“Eager, aren’t you?” he leered.
“I was not trying anything.”
“I know,” Dana smiled. “You were looking for the key. Do you really think I’m that stupid? I wouldn’t make it that easy for you, Little Lily.” He pushed my hand deeper into his pocket and I became very afraid. “I don’t have it on me…”
“Let me go.”
“Why? You were the one who went reaching into my pockets. Do you have any idea what that does to a man?”
“It’s not too difficult for me to guess,” I snarled, trying to pull my hand away. I managed to get it out of his pocket and then twist it out of his grasp, but I felt the pinch of pain in my wrist. I retreated and he smiled, still looking like he was in complete control, even leaning back on the desk with his jacket bunched around his elbows.
“I’m sure it’s not,” Dana breathed, his voice thick with something that set my body on fire. “I’ll give you the key, if you really want to work for it.”
“Fuck you, Dana,” I growled, backing away a few more steps.
“You’re intensifying the chase, Little Lily,” he told me. “I’m not the kind of man who likes to be teased too often.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you’re not a man at all,” I snarled. “You’re some kind of monster with no respect for anyone but yourself.”
“Please, you give me too much credit,” Dana chuckled darkly, his eyes hardening. “I don’t even have respect for myself. Why do you think I’m so good at what I do?”
I glared and turned, storming away, holding my left wrist, trying not to cringe in pain. I threw the door open as Dana’s laugh followed.
“Let me know the next time you want to search my pockets,” he called. “We’ll turn it into a strip search.”
I slammed the door behind me, shutting out his laughter.
I hated him, and I really hated myself in that moment.
I walked with my head down, rubbing my wrist as I made my way back to the conference rooms. I turned a corner and was startled by a voice.
“Miss Sandover?”
I saw Sean walking toward me.
“Sean,” I smiled, relaxing a little.
“Are you alright?” he asked, glancing at my wrist. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“Not exactly…” I said slowly, glancing in the direction I had come from. Sean followed my eyes and when he focused on the door I was glaring at, he sighed and turned back to me, his eyes apologetic.
“Did he hurt you?”
“He wouldn’t let me go,” I said, allowing Sean to pull my wrist away from my chest and rotate it to check for damage.
“He has a vice grip,” Sean nodded. “He’s even stronger than he looks.”
“He looks pretty strong.”
“I know.” Sean glanced at me quickly before tur
ning his attention back to my wrist. “Come on, I’ll get you some ice.”
He led me to the break room that I had only ever been in to use the restroom. No one was there, so Sean had to turn on the lights before stepping into the room, moving toward the refrigerator as I followed quietly.
Sean opened a cabinet drawer and grabbed a bag and a cloth, reaching for the freezer to get ice.
“I want to apologize for Dana’s unexpected visit last night,” Sean told me as he prepared the icepack. “I tried to keep him down here, but he was intent on leaving.”
“How long had he been down here without leaving?” I asked, leaning against the counter next to Sean.
“Oh, he gets out every day, but he’s been carted back and forth between here and Central Hall. He was getting restless,” Sean explained. “I did not really expect him to bother you, but when he disappeared, I figured I would try your home first.”
I fell silent, thinking about the conversation with Dana the previous night.
“Did you have a nice walk last night?” I asked stupidly. “I thought it was kind of cold to be outside…”
“Dana and I had a bit of a disagreement,” Sean murmured, focused on his work. “I left before I pulled my gun on him.”
I blinked, shocked at the confession.
“Why didn’t you?”
Sean laughed and paused in his work, turning to me with an amused expression.
“I’ve pulled a gun on him before,” he said. “And every time, he finds something very…creative to do with it.” Sean turned back to the ice he was putting in the bag as I tried not to let my imagination run wild with possibilities of what Dana could do with a gun. “I really wasn’t in the mood for a wrestling match with him, so I walked out to cool off and calm down.”
“Is he stronger than you?” I asked, looking over Sean’s impressive stature.
“Yes,” Sean admitted. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “His body has been altered for strength and speed. He can win in a fight with anyone…hell, he might even win a fight with a bear if he found himself in the situation.”
“And with Eyna?”
Sean thought about that for a few moments.
“I don’t know about that, actually,” he admitted. He fell silent, sealing the bag and wrapping it in a towel. He turned to me as a blurted out a question I should not have asked.
“Have you had sex with Dana?”
Sean halted immediately, his eyes wide with shock at the question. I felt embarrassment burn at my cheeks and I looked away, coughing once in an attempt to dispel the awkwardness, but I made no attempt to take back the question.
The head of security was silent as he reached for my wrist again and wrapped the ice in the towel around it. I flinched at the cold.
“Keep this on your wrist.”
“I’m sorry, Sean, I shouldn’t have asked…”
“It’s alright,” he said mechanically, but he offered no response to my question. “I hope Dana wasn’t too horrible last night…”
“Actually…” I murmured. He looked up at me quickly, worried. “He was…very different last night.”
“Different how?”
“He was quiet…calm,” I answered, glancing back at the head of security, seeing him relax. “He was like a different person.”
“His Dormant State,” Sean nodded knowingly.
“His what?” I chuckled.
“That’s what I call it when he gets like that,” Sean explained, leaning on the counter next to me. “He kind of goes half asleep when he’s like that, so I call it his Dormant State.”
“Does that happen often?”
“No,” Sean shook his head. “Not often at all. Actually, that says a lot about what he thinks about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dana doesn’t just run constantly like a machine,” Sean explained. “When he’s alone, he’s very quiet, slow moving, and even gentle. But anytime someone enters the room, it’s like that person gives a shock to his system and he becomes…almost electric, the way you normally see him.” His eyes focused back on my face. “If you can come into the room and he stays dormant, that means that he can control himself around you.”
“Wait, normally when he’s manipulating people and playing with people like he does, he’s out of control?” I blinked. Sean shrugged and sighed.
“He’s never out of control,” he corrected. “But he gets excited when someone comes near him. I guess kind of like a child given a new toy. But when he can show you his calm self that means that he’s interested in more than just playing with you.”
“So…he’s even more dangerous?”
“Exactly,” Sean nodded. He lifted the icepack gently off my wrist and then replaced it. “Miss Sandover…whatever game Dana and you are playing, it’s going to end badly.”
“Game?”
“I know Dana very well,” Sean whispered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out three very familiar keys. “And I know that he’s toying with you. It might seem appealing to toy back, but trust me…he always wins.”
He handed me the keys and I looked at them in my palm.
“What can I do, though?”
“Stick with me, and stay with Mark,” Sean answered. He looked at me with a small smile. “Mark likes you. He’ll take care of you.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, a little worried by Sean’s statement. I was not sure if Sean knew Mark’s ability to understand English, or that he was planning to take down Dana alongside me and Clark, but with the way he had spoken, I was beginning to think that he might have known Mark’s secret.
“Well…” Sean said, lowering his head, his smile turning sad. “I’m sure he looks at you like a little sister. And since he can’t see his own little sister any more, you fill that part of his life.”
“He has a little sister?” I gasped.
“She’s in the holding cells.”
“How do you know that?”
“They have the same eyes. And Mark refused to leave her when he was being taken as an experiment. He actually attacked Dana, biting and scratching when Dana tried anything with her. He’s very protective of her.”
“But, she’s still alive,” I said seriously, deciding immediately that we needed to break her out of the holding cells.
“Yes,” Sean affirmed. “Dana almost killed her and Mark’s response was to nearly break Dana’s leg. Everyone agreed that it was safer to keep her alive and safe. Because Mark is as strong and fast as he is, we keep her safe in the back. As long as Mark does his work and stays loyal, she remains alive.”
My heart fell. Mark was still willing to risk going against Dana even though his little sister was being held as collateral for his loyalty. I cleared my throat, trying to keep the tears that had risen to my eyes at bay.
“What about you?” I asked. “Do you see me as a little sister? You’re pretty protective…”
Sean smiled and nodded slowly.
“A little,” he admitted. “My own sister died about a year and a half ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Sean. I didn’t…”
“No, it’s fine,” Sean assured quickly. “I knew it was coming for a while. She was very sick.” He smiled and nodded down to the ice pack. “Ice that on and off for the rest of the afternoon and try not to lift anything heavy with that hand for a few days. It should feel better in no time.”
* *** *
Wednesday and Thursday passed and finals week rounded out with me failing just about every class. The part of me that cared about my grades was long gone and I didn’t devote attention to finals week. I only considered it another week that brought us closer to the time when our override codes would be changed.
On Thursday, as Mark was driving us home, he passed a piece of paper into the backseat and when I saw the message on the paper, my stomach flipped in apprehension and excitement.
“Next Thursday. 20:20”
That was when we were breaking prisoners out
.
The thought that our act of terrorism would be occurring in only a week made the reality of the situation finally hit me. We were going to break out over one hundred people, or we were going to be found and killed or taken into the back of the Commission to become experiments ourselves. I had a small panic attack in the back of the car that I tried to hide, but I was pretty sure that both Clark and Mark felt the same way. There was a lot at stake and if we were not anxious, we were foolish.
When I told Mykail that we had a date and time determined, we started planning for Mykail’s role as I cleaned the wound he had obtained on his wing from smashing the lock of his door so that it would no longer work. I knew that as soon as my parents returned from Europe, they would replace the door but Mykail and I had already made plans to tamper with the bars over his window to allow him a way out even if the doors were locked.
It was a late night project that we did when the neighbor’s lights went out across the backyard. Mykail would help me climb to the roof below his window and then he would carefully fly to the same spot as I tried to keep myself from being thrown with the force of his beating wings.
I slept like a log Thursday night, but woke up feeling better and I went through my last day of finals week running around with excited energy, telling everyone who was part of the plan what time and day we were going through with the breakout.
Again, everyone involved had a bit of apprehension, but they agreed to help. I reminded them of their roles and to remove their tracers before Clark and I finally relaxed in the conference room, no longer worried about school.
Clark told me what would happen with our after-school Commission trips now that school was dismissed for winter break. He explained that I would carpool with him as I had been and go to the Commission every day for practically the entire day. We were expected to bring things to entertain ourselves, though I was not sure how Dana could possibly expect us to find a way to entertain ourselves cooped up in the Commission.
But I was not going to raise a fuss, knowing that being down there would allow us time to finish the final details of our plan, discreetly, of course.
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