Protagonized

by Shannon Myers

  I nodded and held onto the wall for support. He wrapped my hair around his hands. “Now, what was the move you were doing in the hotel room?”

  I thought back to last week. “A wide…” His teeth moved down to my neck. “Um, a wide leg forward fold.”

  He released me and began unbuttoning his shirt. “Do it.”

  I let my dress fall to the floor and clasped my hands behind my back before stretching down toward the floor, doing my best to ignore the decidedly unsexy walking boot.

  Jake cursed and kicked off his shoes and pants before bending down next to me. “The first time we did yoga, all I could think about was the ways I would bend and stretch your body around mine.”

  My muscles lost their tension and I fought to hold the position as he placed his tie around my wrists, knotting it lightly. He rested one hand against my rib cage, letting his thumb stroke against the lace of my bra.

  “You know what else I’ve been dying to do?” He yanked the lace panties over my thighs, and I moaned loudly as his teeth sank into the soft flesh of my ass. His thumb continued teasing my nipples and I arched my back, trying to relieve the ache.

  “No, no. You’re not in charge here,” he whispered before pulling me upright. The sudden change in direction left me unsteady and he kept his arm around my waist until the waves of dizziness passed. Despite my arms being bound behind my back, he managed to unclasp my bra and his hands roamed freely over my breasts, caressing the sensitive skin.

  I hadn’t even touched him yet, but I was getting high off of his rough exhales as he trailed his lips down my neck.

  “Do you think,” he paused to catch his breath. “Do you think you could do that back bend thing if I held your foot?”

  I grinned. “I think you might need to untie me too, don’t you?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, that. Can you do it?”

  I let my bra fall to the floor and stretched my arms over my head as soon as they were free. My foot protested the stretch and after several tries, I realized there was no way it was going to work. “I—can’t,” I sighed.

  “I’ve got another idea,” Jake growled before scooping me up and carrying me to the bed. My head hung off the side, putting me at eye level with the dick straining to break free from his boxer briefs.

  I lifted my head up and watched as he forced my panties down to my knees and spread my thighs. His tongue lapped at my stomach before coming to rest on my tattoo and my skin raised with a shiver. He let his mouth trace a circle around it before gasping, “Goddamn, I love your cattoo.”

  When his mouth moved between my thighs and his finger dipped inside my body, my head fell back, and I groaned incoherently.

  He let out a soft curse and added another. “You’re so wet, baby.”

  I nodded shakily and opened my eyes to see that my entire body was covered in Jake and I suddenly had a wicked thought. I reached up and snagged the waistband of his boxers, dragging them down toward his thighs. His cock sprang free and I didn’t hesitate before guiding it into my mouth with my hand.

  He made a small sound of praise and rolled his hips forward, urging me to continue. I moved my grip up and down, letting him in a little bit at a time. He was so thick and hard that I wondered how on earth he was going to fit inside me.

  Why hadn’t I noticed this back at the hotel?

  My mouth became greedy and I relaxed my throat to accommodate all of him, lightly digging my nails into his ass cheeks to anchor him.

  Not one to be outdone, Jake began using his mouth and hand simultaneously and I whimpered against his cock before coming with a full body shudder.

  He thrust forward and held himself deep in my mouth, causing my vision to blur around the edges. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes and I sucked in a ragged breath when he pulled back.

  “Baby,” he growled. “Can I fuck you now, please?”

  I nodded, completely intoxicated, and he kicked out of his boxer briefs with a smug grin before sliding a condom over the hard ridge of his cock. I followed his lead and threw my panties onto the floor.

  He dragged me to the edge of the bed and lined the head of his cock up against my pussy. “Say it. Say you want this,” he demanded. His full lips were coated in a light sheen that I knew was all me.

  I’d marked him.

  “Hayden.”

  I nodded. “I want it. I want you.”

  “Once this happens, there’s no going back.”

  His words were ominous, and I should’ve heeded the warning and tapped out. Instead, I stared at his magnificent body and realized that he’d been right; there wasn’t one part of him that was soft.

  I made my decision. I was going to forget the fact that someone wanted me dead. I was going to forget that he was going to be leaving me soon. I was going to forget everything but this moment right here, with Jake trying to hold himself back with everything he had.

  I used my hand to hold his cock steady before guiding it slowly into my body with a hiss of pleasure. Jake growled my name in a warning before thrusting his hips forward and spots danced before my eyes as my body stretched. I wrapped my uninjured foot around his lower back and pulled him closer, wincing at the twinge of pain as he moved deeper.

  He stopped moving and breathed out, “Baby?”

  “Don’t… don’t stop.”

  He wrapped fistfuls of my hair up in his hands and tightened his grip before bringing his mouth roughly down over mine. I couldn’t move; I was completely filled up and pinned down with him.

  I’d never written it, but I’d often wondered about how Jake was as a lover. I imagined him as forceful or even degrading, but never like this. He was the culmination of every fantasy I’d had. He moved and shifted against my body, knowing exactly what I wanted.

  What I needed.

  He lapped at my breasts and sucked a nipple in between his teeth, holding me in place. I began meeting his thrusts with my own, forcing his mouth down harder on my sensitive flesh.

  “You can’t be real,” I gasped.

  I’d been so wrong.

  That was what he meant by there was no coming back from this. This was a once in a lifetime thing and I was never going to experience anything like it, or him, again.

  My hands scrambled against the sheets and I groaned his name as I came. Not satisfied, he placed his palm right above my pelvic bone, forcing my body to grip him tighter and my orgasm to stretch into the next.

  “That feels pretty fucking real, doesn’t it?” When I didn’t respond, he lifted his hand.

  I moaned something incoherent before pulling his hand back to my body. “Jake,” I panted.

  “Yeah, baby?” His teeth grazed the shell of my ear. “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want.” My breath came in short, desperate little bursts as his thrusts increased. “I want you to shut the fuck up and do that again!”

  He chuckled softly and obliged and I lost count of where one orgasm began and the other ended.

  “I- I don’t understand how you’re this good. I made you.”

  His hips surged forward brutally. “You didn’t make me, baby. I made me.” With that, he pushed in as deep as he could go and growled my name as he came.

  I’d assumed that he was the type of man who left once he got what he wanted, not the type of man to collapse in bed beside me. Not the type to pull me up against his sweaty body and press soft kisses against my forehead. And absolutely not the type to whisper, “I knew you’d fit me perfectly.”

  I was so wrong.

  The realization almost forced the air from my lungs. I was catastrophically in love with him.

  Twenty-Two

  I opened my eyes and let them adjust to the early morning light. The mountain next to me inhaled deeply before rolling over. Even in his sleep, his hands reached out for me.

  “I find that it takes me most of the night and into the morning to get what I need to ‘complete my investigation.’”

  I’d lost count, but judging by the ache betwee
n my legs, that assessment had been accurate.

  I slipped out from underneath his arm and stood watching him sleep. It was perfect like this. We could almost pretend that we were a normal couple.

  I mashed my fist against my mouth and hobbled toward the bathroom. The apartment suddenly felt too small for the both of us and I hastily threw on a pair of sweats, fighting to get the material around my cast.

  Jake sat up in bed, bleary-eyed. “Babe, what are you doing? Come back to bed.”

  I nodded. “I will. I just need a minute, okay?”

  His eyes drifted closed as he nodded back at me, already on his way back to sleep. I blinked away the tears and softly closed the door behind me.

  Bootsy was curled up under the dining room table, still watching Bob Ross. I didn’t want to know how she’d gotten past the Are you still watching? check-ins.

  I pulled my down jacket off the back of one of the chairs and stuffed my cell phone into the pocket. The air outside was so cold it almost took my breath away.

  Gone was the balmy fifty degrees from my birthday. Now, the sky was dark and heavy with snow. I forced myself to walk faster down the stairs in spite of the air biting through my jacket and settling into my bones, never mind the ache in my foot.

  Just like the sleet that was blowing through the breezeway, my mind was a vortex of thoughts.

  I slept with Jake.

  I knew his M.O. and I was just another in a long line of women. It didn't mean anything, no matter how desperately I wanted to believe the opposite. He’d called me his girl, but that was something he probably said to every one of them. I bet it made them feel as special as it had me.

  I loved him.

  I doubled over in agony on the stairs at the reminder, wanting to scream at the unfairness of it all. His entire reason for being here was to get back to his story. He wasn't going to stay, hadn't I told myself that? Tears froze to my lashes as I remained bent in half, grieving something I never had.

  How had I even considered that I could sleep with him and keep my feelings in check? I’m yours for as long as you’re here? What the fuck was that?

  Eddie’s door opened with a crack and he peeked through. “Hayden?”

  I rubbed the back of my hand roughly across my eyes. “Hey, Eddie, I’m just going on a little walk.”

  His eyes widened as he took in the precipitation. “The dumpster. We have to tell the dumpster.”

  I patted him lightly on the arm and shook my head. “Okay. Have a good morning.”

  I continued my descent. I couldn’t second guess myself now. I’d made my bed and now I had to lie in it.

  “I know,” I mumbled under my breath. “I’ll just… I’ll just get him back into the story and then we can pretend that this whole thing never happened.”

  I’d lost my damn mind, but Jessa was close. I knew it. The second woman on the balcony that night. She was the key in all of this. From the way she stuck out with her formal dress—as if trying to emphasize the fact that she was a woman.

  Go where the money leads…

  Aaris had said that before, but it hadn’t made sense. No one would profit off of Jake’s death, except for one person.

  Someone who had taken Addison out in an attempt to get to Jake. Someone who could come and go from crime scenes without being noticed.

  I froze at the base of the stairs.

  That was it.

  I knew who the killer was. It had been staring me in the face the entire time. I knew who pushed Jake. All that was left was to determine who wanted me dead.

  Well, not dead, but inconvenienced.

  I limped briskly through the small park connecting the buildings as the sleet gave way to fat flakes of snow.

  First, there was the door. The glass had been broken by a brick, not bullets, which indicated that it had been a warning and not intended for anyone. The Detective Hopkins novel seemed to support that theory.

  Then, there was the email, demanding that I return what was stolen before the next full moon. It hadn’t made a damn bit of sense because I hadn’t stolen anything.

  At the club, the mirror had been shattered from one side to the other. The curse is come upon me note was found later. Max had determined that the note was a line from the Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson for all the good it did.

  That brought me to the poisoned cupcake.

  I frowned. It was right there—something I’d stolen that needed to be returned… the curse is come upon me.

  Whoever was behind this wasn’t actively trying to kill me or they would’ve succeeded by now.

  There was a connection between all of them. I sank down on a park bench, letting the ice soak through my sweatpants. Ignoring the cold, I pulled my phone out, tapping in the curse is come upon me, only to see results we’d already researched. I tried again but added cracked mirror to my query. Similar results popped up, with the exception of one.

  Agatha Christie had written a novel, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. It was a detective novel based upon the poem, featuring the unforgettable Miss Marple investigating the murder of a woman who drank a poisoned cocktail meant for someone else.

  While it wasn’t a poisoned cocktail, Jake had eaten a poison cupcake intended for me just like the main character in The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side.

  Once I knew what I was looking for, the next piece of the puzzle fell into place. Return to where it came from before the next full moon was a line from The Adventure of the Western Star. It was the infamous detective, Hercule Poirot, investigating a case of stolen jewels.

  They were using plot devices by the late Agatha Christie as a way of intimidating me into… doing what exactly? I was supposed to return something before the next full moon… a jewel, if the text was any indicator.

  What did I have that was precious?

  I gasped when it hit me.

  Jake.

  I was supposed to return Jake to his story before the next full moon. The use of Agatha Christie novels, the half-assed attempts made on my life; I wasn’t dealing with an upset reader.

  Only a few people knew that I was trying to rewrite him into the story. I was up against someone who knew that he was here. Someone whose idea of intimidation relied heavily on the books that they’d read.

  Someone who had no idea how the real world worked.

  I wiped the flakes of snow from my face and struggled to tie up the last loose end. Whoever considered Jake a jewel had obviously never seen the man eat.

  “Maybe it’s—” I exclaimed just as the back of my head exploded in a blinding flash of pain. The last thing I saw was the snow-covered ground as it came up to meet my face.

  I groaned and rolled to my side. Instead of Jake’s pouty smirk, I was met with my brother’s terrified face.

  “Reid?” I croaked. “Where are we?”

  He shook his head from side to side and whimpered in response.

  I rolled my eyes and hissed, “Jesus Christ, Reid. Words! Use your words!” My head ached something awful, but I pushed myself into a sitting position to see that we were in a bedroom.

  A bedroom I’d never seen before in my life. My sweatpants were still damp from the snow, so I hadn’t been here long.

  I glared at him. “Did you do this? Is this your idea of payback for last night? If so, Jake was right. You really are a fuckboy.”

  He continued shaking his head and I watched in sick fascination as a tear rolled down his cheek. I’d never seen Reid cry before. Usually he was the one causing tears, which meant one thing. He wasn’t here voluntarily.

  “What happened?” I dropped my voice to a whisper, just in case our captors were listening in on us.

  He hiccupped. “…Took me. I can’t—”

  “They took you? Why? You’re worthless.”

  Obviously, this was about me and my books; there was no reason on earth for involving Reid.

  And if they thought for one second that they could use him as leverage, they were sorely mistaken.
They could use him for kindling as much as I cared.

  “Emily.” He moaned from the fetal position.

  “What?” I barked. “Did they hurt Emily? Damn it, Reid, why didn’t you sacrifice yourself for her?”

  My head ached with every movement and I didn’t trust that I could stand without tipping over. I moved onto all fours and began crawling toward a grimy window in the corner. From what I could gather, we were in an abandoned cabin. Either that or the homeowner was in desperate need of a good contractor.

  Maybe an intervention by HGTV.

  I wiped a small section of glass with the sleeve of my jacket and peered out. The trees were so thick that I couldn’t make out any definitive landmarks.

  Okay. So definitely in an abandoned cabin in the woods.

  “Reid,” I sighed. “Do you know where we are? It’s important if we’re going to get out of here and save Emily—”

  The door swung open and I began clapping. “Emily! Thank god Reid didn’t screw up and get you killed. Now, it’s going to be up to the two of us to get out of here because he’s gone bye-bye.” I twirled my index finger around my throbbing temple.

  She held up a gun and it took my brain a good fifteen seconds before I realized that she wasn’t here to help.

  “How was your nap?” she asked, her eyes damn near twinkling with excitement.

  Reid whimpered again and scooted back against the wall. He kept looking to me, silently pleading for me to rescue him.

  I rocked back on my knees. “Is this because of last night? You’re upset because we made a scene at Reid’s big merger party?”

  Emily threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, Hayden. You never did catch on, even when the answer was sitting right in front of you. I thought the glass of wine would do the job and I could just smuggle you out of your parent’s house, but you didn’t drink it, did you?”

  “Um, no?”

  “Do you know how much Genetistry crap I had to listen to just to get close to you? Two years of my life wasted, Hayden. Do you know what that feels like?”

  I shook my head, eyeing every potential exit in the room. “No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”