Within minutes I'm ready to come and afraid he's going to stop again. He wraps my hair around his fist, and pulls my head back. Our lips meet, and he kisses me with desperation.
His fear pours into me, while mine evaporates. Besides the euphoria zapping through my nerves I feel an overwhelming sense of belonging and peace.
The noises we make are obscene. Our grunts and moans drown out the music. The bed squeaks and scrapes against the floor. If that wasn't bad enough, the sound of our skin slapping against each other can still be heard over that.
He lets go of my hair and kneads my breasts. First one, then the other, taking time to pinch and roll my nipples. I'm closer than I was during his teasing, and my entire body feels like it's pulsing with electricity. The pleasure stings, but still I chase it.
Sin moves his hand to my throat. He doesn't squeeze, but just holds me in a way I feel owned. I shudder violently, and the hand on my hip snakes around to apply pressure to my clit. All of the sensations are too much, and the most powerful orgasm I've ever had tears a scream from my throat.
Wave after wave of painful pleasure courses through my body. Just as I feel like I might come down from the high, I feel him swell inside of me. His movements become frantic, and the control he's held on to snaps. He takes me harder and faster. My throat has grown hoarse from screaming. With one final thrust I feel his hot release as he shouts my name.
In the back of my mind I remind myself to be embarrassed, because I will be, but my eyes refuse to stay open, and everything I should be concerned about shuts down.
Despite being on the run, and hiding in a converted warehouse, I feel an overwhelming sense of being home.
"I love you," I murmur and my eyes flutter closed.
28
Ambush
Sin
I love you, she whispers just as her eyes flutter closed. Pulling back the covers, I pick her up and settle her in before I slide in next to her.
Wrapping my arms around her, I place a kiss on the side of her head. "I love you too," I whisper. Maybe someday I'll be able to tell her when she's awake.
I allow my eyes to drift shut knowing Lucien is on watch downstairs.
Minutes or hours later someone shakes me awake. "What's going on?" I ask trying to force myself alert.
"Lucien needs you. He says it's urgent," Ford whispers. I tuck the blankets around Raven so she isn't exposed when I climb out of bed.
Grabbing my pants I pull them on then my t-shirt. Once my shoes are back on, I follow him down the stairs. He takes me to the office, where Lucien is examining the tracking devices we've downloaded on all Damien's soldiers tech.
"They went back to the Fallen Angel about thirty minutes ago. I don't like it. Since they showed up at the apartment looking for us, it's clear they've linked Jess to us."
"We already figured that out. Why did you get me out of bed?"
"I don't want to miss anything. Why are they going back to the club?" Lucien ponders aloud.
"Fuck!" I run out of the room. There's only one thing of value left in the club as far as we are concerned.
Bursting in the door of the room they're holding Jess, I pat her down. Nothing, except her sweat drenched clothes.
Ted pokes his head in the room. "Did she have anything with her when you grabbed her?"
"A bag. I think she left it in the car," he answers.
"Take me," I demand.
We hurry out to the front where they parked the truck. Sure enough her tattered bag sits on the floor. I search through it and find her cell phone.
Ted and I exchange a look. "They'll connect that back to her in no time. A halfway decent hacker will be able to lock on the location within an hour."
"That's bad news for us. Lucien and I are better, but nearly every team has some computer skills."
Ted rocks on the balls of his feet. "I've got a suggestion, but it's extreme. A block up there's another industrial complex, but it's completely abandoned. The layout is the same as this building before the renovations."
"Are you suggesting we set up an ambush?"
He smiles. "Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"
I really misjudged Ted, but it doesn't bother me as much now. Lucien is right, I innately trust him to have our backs.
"Go grab Ford, and I'll start gathering supplies," I tell him.
A few minutes later he returns with Ford, Shane and Lucien in tow. "I think I know why Damien's team went back to the club."
"Why?" Lucien asks.
"Employee records. Jess probably listed her cell phone as her primary number," I explain.
Lucien slaps his hand against his forehead. "Which means they will have the ability to track it."
"And we're going to be ready for them. There's a warehouse a block over. We're going to leave the phone and set up ready to attack them," I explain.
"But if we leave here, and they already have the location, the girls are going to be vulnerable," Lucien argues.
"That's why we're sending them away," I state.
"No," Raven says from the door.
I glare at her, but she holds her hand up to stop me. "I'll stick by your side, but if I go with Jen and Amber they could be more at risk. Besides, I am capable with a weapon. I'd rather have a fighting chance than be a liability."
"You promised to listen," I remind her.
Her chin tips up in defiance. "I did, but you'll be worried about me the entire time we're separated. How does that help either of us be safer?"
"She makes sense, and we saw what she can do with weapons," Ford takes her side.
Lucien claps his hand on my shoulder. "We don't have time to argue this. We need to move out."
"Shane, take the girls and go," Ted orders.
He nods, and heads to get Jen, Amber, and Jess. The latter is tied up and gagged before unceremoniously being dumped in the cargo bay of his SUV.
Raven starts strapping knives and guns to the holsters on her tactical pants. I'm not sure where she got the change in clothes, but it's good someone thought ahead. Next she straps a quiver of arrows and the bow she used the other day to her back.
Silently, we move up the block toward the warehouse Ted mentioned. Lucien continues to monitor their progress on his cell phone.
"They've left the club and are heading straight for us. I think they took the bait."
"Can you tell how many are coming?" Ted asks.
"It looks like two teams, which is about six people. Sin and I are the only ones who work as a pair."
Grabbing Raven's ponytail, I bring her face to mine and kiss her firmly. My rules were all to prevent the kind of terror I'm feeling right now. "You stay with me," I demand.
She gives me a quick jerk of her head. "I promise."
Ford passes out kevlar vests. I strap mine on and help Raven with hers. "What exactly did you think would happen at this shelter you're starting?"
"I grew up with an abusive drunk who I'm pretty sure tried to murder my mother. I expect there's very little an abuser won't do to his victims," he answers.
"They're pulling out front," Lucien whispers.
We all move into position. Lucien moves to the shadows in one corner while Ted and Ford take the others. Raven and I move to the upper level. We can hide behind a half wall, while seeing the entire floor. Given her choice in weapons, it makes the most sense, and also helps me keep her as far from the action as possible.
Never in any of the missions I've gone on have I been as terrified as I am now. Losing my life seemed inevitable, and I was fine with it. It wasn't like my life held anything worth living for. Until now, and I'm finding my will to live is directly tied to the woman taking position next to me.
Lucien and I would have entered the building as stealthily as possible. These idiots certainly didn't study our attack methods. They kick in the door on one side and crash through the window on the opposite side.
Ted and Lucien take out two of Damien's soldiers instantly. The remaining four try to take cover and
return fire. A shot rings out from the direction Ford is positioned.
One of the guys flips over a table, having figured out the location where the shots came from, and starts to fire in the general location. Lucien returns fire and moves to a spot with better cover. Ford is pinned in the corner, and he’s vulnerable. His gun is clicking and is obviously jammed. Ted's gun skitters across the floor, followed by the fleshy thuds of fists hitting a body.
One of the stairs creak, and I prepare to face the third soldier. Meanwhile, Lucien continues to draw fire to buy time for Ford to grab a different weapon. In short, everything is fucked. Yeah, we've got more firepower and will be able to eventually prevail, but the likelihood someone is going to be at a minimum seriously injured has jumped exponentially.
Forcing myself to focus, I stalk forward toward the person climbing the stairs. I take out the large hunting knife, so I don't alert them to my presence by the sound of the gun loading a bullet. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the soldier behind the metal table train his weapon on Ford.
Raven pops up, having notched an arrow, and hits him in the middle of his back. Gurgling sounds come from his mouth, but he's still alive.
The move distracts the one Ted is fighting, and the unmistakable sound of a neck snapping ends that fight. Unfortunately, the only surviving threat is moving steadily toward us.
At least, I thought it was the last remaining threat until windows explode on either side of the upper level and two more soldiers zip line into the building from adjacent warehouses. More men pour into the lower level, and our chances of anyone surviving this fight decrease to nearly zero.
Lucien roars, and I force myself to stay where I am. I've never not had his back before, but I can't leave Raven. There are three gunmen on this level with us.
"I've got the girl," one of them shouts, wrapping his arms around her and trying to pull her toward the stairs.
She manages to stomp on his instep, use her body weight to flip him, and with a kick sends him over the wall to the cement floor below. His head makes a sickening crack on impact, and the spreading pool of blood confirms he's no longer a threat.
Several shots ring out on the lower level, but I can't lose focus to see if anyone of our guys have been injured. We've lost the element of surprise, so I re-sheath the knife and draw one of the guns holstered to my body. Faster than they can react, I've shot both the man who came through the window and the one climbing the stairs.
Looking over the wall, I see bodies sprawled all over. A few took direct hits to the face, and since everyone is wearing dark clothing it's hard to tell whose side took the hit.
"Sin, I see more people on the roof of the warehouse across the alley," Raven warns. Sure enough, there's at least another team preparing to use the zipline to come into the building.
I whistle a tune Lucien and I use to alert each other and check in. He responds with the coordinating tune. "Heads up," I shout before I hear sounds of more men entering the lower level.
"Time to blow some shit up," Raven mumbles. She takes out a rag, wraps it around the end of one of her arrows, then douses it with lighter fluid.
She quickly ignites the end, notches it, and aims at something I can't see. A large boom shakes the building. The room floods with an orange glow, and I see the building is engulfed in flames.
"Who puts a propane generator on a roof?" she mumbles.
The line that allowed the other guy to zipline in snaps with a high-pitched ping.
She repeats the process of loading an arrow. "Let's see if that propane tank is filled, yeah?" she asks me. I nod.
"It's not on the roof, but this one is much larger." Her aim is dead on again, and another explosion rattles the building. This time more glass shatters.
"We've got to get moving," Lucien shouts. "The fire is too big, and this place is a giant tinderbox. Plus, I think we've probably drawn at least the attention of the fire department by now."
I keep Raven close to my back as we move down the stairs. Ted has a busted eyebrow and blood running down his fingers. Everyone else seems to be covered in blood, but judging by the way they are moving it's probably not theirs.
"Keep on the lookout as we move out. There could have been more here and they've only fallen back," I warn.
"Sin, we've killed twelve men. My father only has twenty well-trained fighters, eighteen if you don't count the two of us, because I don't. The rest are still in training. If there are six more men waiting out there for us, that means he's vulnerable."
"Is it safe to go back to the gym?" Raven asks, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
"I don't know," I reply. If it were just Lucien and I we would return and fortify it as best we could.
"Shane took the girls to a motel. I had him take some cash we had in the office. They should be out of the city by now," Ford answers.
"We have to go back and get the car. Let's pack up quickly and join them," I suggest.
We're on the road in under fifteen minutes, and even that feels like an eternity. Raven is holding up well considering she killed two men and set two buildings on fire. The warehouse we used for our ambush caught fire once we were halfway down the block. Hopefully, any evidence we left behind would be destroyed in the flames.
We check in to two more rooms on either side of the one Shane rented. Thankfully, it's another no questions asked establishment. Someday I'm going to take Raven to a place with room service and mints on the pillows. She won't live the rest of her life covered in blood and gore.
Things are still strained between us and Lucien, so he decides to room with Ted, leaving Ford to room with us.
"How is he?" I ask, remembering the blood trickling down his arm back at the warehouse.
Ted's face gives no information. "It's nothing," he says , while Lucien works to cut away his shirt.
The ruined material falls away and reveals a deep cut in his shoulder. "I'll go get Jen," I say and turn for the door.
"Don't," Ted says. He lifts up what's left of his shirt and shows scars on his abdomen. Lucien and I both have similar stories mapped onto our skin. "I've had worse."
"How exactly did you explain that," I gesture to his collection of scars, "to your girlfriend?"
He shrugs. "They assumed my mom and I fled an abusive home, and since they weren't exactly wrong, I never filled in the rest of the information."
I'm anxious to get back to my room where I left Raven alone with Ford. "If you don't want me to get Jen, what are you going to do? That bullet might have only grazed your shoulder, but it's deep. It needs to be cleaned and stitched closed."
Lucien opens a first aid kit. "You know I can handle this. I've stitched you up a few times, as I recall."
"Can't say I'd have let you if there was an actual nurse handy," I mumble.
"I don't want to put any more trauma on Jen and Amber. This situation is fucked up enough without Jen having to close a bullet wound on a friend," Ted insists and closes his eyes.
"Let me know if you need any help. I'm going to my room."
"Give me about a half an hour and then meet back in here. We've got stuff to go over before we call it a night," Lucien informs me.
Inside my room Ford and Raven are sitting staring at the television. Neither of them seems to be aware they're watching an infomercial for car wax. This was why I didn't want her to come with me. Of course, I was worried she would be hurt. Any of us could have caught a bullet, like Ted did. Raven proved she is capable with weapons, but that doesn't mean I want her to actually have to use them. Even if her skills with a bow and arrow did save our asses tonight, I still wish she wasn't there.
I grab her hands and pull her up from the bed. "Let's take a shower."
Ford snaps out of his fog and throws a pillow at me, hitting me in the back. "Don't take too long. I've got brains in my hair."
"Gross," Raven mutters.
Ushering her into the bathroom, I close the door behind me. "He'll live. Now go get your ass in the shower."
>
She cranks the water on and we both peel off our clothes. The water is still cold when we get under the spray, so I turn us so it falls on my back. Blood runs off our bodies, creating a pool of pink water around our feet. Even though she managed to kill two men without getting any of their blood on herself, I was not quite as efficient.
I squirt some of the sample size shampoo in my hand and start to wash her hair. She moans as I massage her scalp.
"Please stop making noises like that," I whisper. "I just want to take care of you."
We take turns washing each other clean of the grime of violence. Every touch reminds me she's here with me, safe.
"Then take care of me." Her lip trembles, and she stares down at her hand. "It's like I can still feel the arrow leaving my fingers."
Taking her hand, I put it over my heart. "We're alive because of what you did. It probably won't take the guilt away, but Ford would have died if you hadn't done it."
Her hand slides up my chest and wraps around the back of my neck. Needing to reassert control I grab her other hand and looped it around my neck to join the other one. Picking her up, I slide into her.
"This is going to be fast," I warn her.
"Kiss me," she begs.
Our lips meet, and everything else fades away. Years unfold in front of me of the life I could give her if we can manage to survive the trials in front of us. There are so many obstacles we need to navigate, but for the first time in my life I have hope that maybe there's a future for us not bathed in blood.
Despite my initial urge to drive into her hard and fast, one kiss and I want to hold her forever. I'm drowning and I don't want to come up for air.
Her fingers thread through my hair, nails scratching lightly against my scalp. The simple touch sends tingles down my spine. Lifting her, I press her back against the wall.
Raven wraps her leg around my waist. "You promised me fast," she hums.
The earlier urgency snaps back. Lifting her other leg around my waist I pull her down on my erection. The water sluicing over her body leaves her slippery in my hands, and I dig my fingers into her hips to hold her steady and use the wall for leverage.
Pretty Monsters Page 21