Seth cursed again and Jess impatiently ran both hands through her bright pink hair, before nibbling at the chipped nail polish, blue on one hand and red on the other. She knew better than to ask again. He’d told her to fuck off last time. The mid-morning sun beat down on her black jeans and orange shirt, her splash of color in the green prompting Seth to have called her stupid once or twice just today. He was always insulting her, but that’s how guys were, she thought. Or at least the kind of guys who had any interest in a girl like her. She twirled the nose ring stud she wore, her square face bunched in a frown, her poorly tweezed eyebrows scrunched. People only looked at her a second time so they could stare unflatteringly, which had hardened her bitter heart.
Finally, Seth lowered the black telescope in his grimy hands, dirt under his fingernails like usual. “They’re at the house,” he said, his voice nasal through his pug nose.
“Hers?”
He shot her a look, beady black eyes narrowed. “Yeah. What the fuck do you think I’ve been looking at all this time?”
“Well how the fuck should I know?”
“Stupid bitch.”
From behind them, where he stood on a rock, Mark asked, “Who’s at her house?”
“The cops,” Seth answered, scratching his thin goatee. He didn’t have enough facial hair to grow a real one yet. Greasy, uncombed black hair fell to his ears. “And the fucking Kendalls.”
Jess asked, “The Kendalls? How the fuck did they get involved?”
“How the fuck should I know?” Seth yelled.
Mark said, “You two need to chill.”
Seth and Jess glanced over their shoulders at him and said in unison, “Shut the fuck up!”
Mark looked at them sulkily, tired of being treated like shit by both of them. He was the third wheel in their relationship and knew it. He was also annoyed that neither of them had asked him how his nose was doing since Sophia had broken it. Two pieces of white tape held down the splint bridging his nose. His cheeks were a little swollen under clouded blue eyes, and he’d soon have a blonde mustache to go with his close-cropped hair, since he couldn’t shave under the broken nose very well. He was better looking and taller than Seth, who’d made him shave the full goatee he’d once grown, out of resentment that it came in all the way. His clear skin contrasted with Seth’s pockmarks and continuing zits, just as his broad shoulders contrasted with Seth’s narrow ones. Some who watched them interact wondered why the two were friends at all, but Seth’s bullying had charted the course of their relationship from grade school, and Mark lived the life of an abuse victim, afraid to stand up for himself for fear of punishment.
“What are we gonna do?” Jess asked.
“I’m
thinking
,” said Seth. “I can’t go home, not that I give a shit. She knows it was me. You two will get me supplies if I need ‘em. Use your car. Mine’s gotta stay where it is.” Though he couldn’t see his Challenger from their position, he glanced down to where he’d hidden it just off one of the few roads on the mountain. He’d set up the camouflaged location long ago for his camping here, but now staying in the hideout would help evade the cops, too. The road had almost no traffic, but someone could report the car once the cops told people to look for it. He’d leave it there until he found a chance to grab Sophia again. The next time he’d use the stun gun or something. She deserved a good smack in the head for that last stunt. That sort of thing kept Jess in line.
Now he had to figure out where to take Sophia once he’d gotten her. With the police looking for him, previous plans were done with. Maybe he’d bring her here. She might enjoy a night under the stars. And under him as he thrust into her. His cock stirred at the thought.
The best thing to do, though, was take her away from here. They could be together somewhere safe, away from prying eyes. Judging by the trashy romance books he’d seen in her eBook reader, she liked a man in control, maybe even some bondage. That was good, because he was planning to tie her up anyway. She’d enjoy that.
He lifted the telescope again, the sight of Quinn’s big red truck at Sophia’s house sending a new jolt of fear through him. And that made him angry. He knew better than to mess with the big guy, or God forbid, Riley. Nobody fucked with those two. Connor was a pussy, though. So was that asshole Tristan.
Back when they were kids, Seth had looked up to Tristan and tried to do some stunts on his dirt bike, hoping to impress the older, larger boy. It had backfired when he’d lost control of the bike, crashed it, and broken his collarbone, all while Tristan stood there cackling at his stupidity. He flushed at the memory. He’d stick it to those fucking Kendalls while he was at it with this Sophia business, especially if they were keeping her from him. He had half a mind to burn down the fucking inn if that’s where she was staying. Or better yet, their house.
As if reading his thoughts, Jess said, “We know she didn’t go back last night.”
“Yeah. So she stayed somewhere.”
“The inn? Or at their house?”
“Don’t know. Didn’t see her car last night at the inn. Need to see where she goes. Can see the inn from here, too.” Seth aimed the telescope at Sugarloaf Inn but didn’t see anything of interest. The white tent for weddings blocked his view of the rear driveway, where her car could’ve been, though he’d checked last night in his drive by, when he’d seen Connor. He turned back to Sophia’s house, seeing her get into a cop car with Connor and Kris. When they drove out of sight, he trained the scope on her bedroom at the front corner of the house. He’d spent many hours up here peeping at various people, but Sophia had been his favorite. She was the first girl he ever saw naked, and the only one he’d ever seen masturbate. The memory made his cock stiffen. He turned to look at Jess with an expression she recognized.
“Come over here, girl,” Seth said in a voice that he imagined to be sexy but which wasn’t. “Service my cock.”
Jess smiled and got up, lifting off her shirt to be topless in the sun, her little tits jiggling. “That all you want?”
He smacked her bottom as she knelt before him. “Fuck no. You watch, Mark. Maybe you can have sloppy seconds again when I’m done.”
Mark’s heart clenched at the words and the sight of Jess eagerly undoing Seth’s pants. For all the kindness Mark showed Jess, she only scorned Mark, and yet for all the meanness Seth showed her, she loved Seth. So much so that she’d have sex with Mark because Seth told her to. So much so that she’d help Seth kidnap a girl he loved instead of her. For all that they thought Mark was a loser, he wasn’t half as far gone as either of them.
He stood eyeing the fist-sized rocks nearby, wanting to bash in Seth’s head. It sometimes took an effort to keep the desire from his eyes for fear that Seth would see it. Seth had, more than once, and liked causing it. Mark stifled it now. He stifled it all those times when Jess made it clear she was only fucking him for Seth. He stifled it when Seth sat there watching them do it, smirking. He stifled it every time Seth reminded him that Mark hadn’t been able to get an erection when Jess had been trying to take his virginity at Seth’s direction. He was tired of stifling himself. Of being stifled. He wanted to be free, and more and more it looked like the only way to do that was to pick up a rock and smash it through Seth’s sneering face.
Chapter 8 – Respite
As late afternoon descended over Sugarloaf Inn, Sophia sat on the family-room couch, leaning against Connor, eyes closed. She was more emotionally drained than exhausted physically, and just wanted to sit in peace with her man, breathing in his musky scent through his shirt.
Giving a formal statement at the Comus police station had taken forever. They’d snapped photos of Sophia’s bruised knuckle, another bruise on her arm, and documented the small bump on her head from the refrigerator. Connor’s thoughtfulness in getting the blood out of her shirt had ruined most of that evidence, but Sheriff Ryan had seen the blood on her kitchen floor; it would tie one attacker to the scene.
When asked who else might’ve helped Seth, Sophia hadn’t known who to suggest, so a look into his known associates was underway. It didn’t surprise her when Ryan’s background check revealed a few prior arrests for Seth, who at the very least was about to have his third-strike conviction. The police came and towed her car away to process it, and Tristan volunteered to stop by her mother’s house every day and take care of the cat, who’d come away from the incident unscathed.
Sophia and Connor had been sitting together a while when he realized she’d dozed off. He squeezed her hand, feeling affectionate, and let her sleep. The sweet, innocent snuggling felt so at odds with the terrible events that had brought them together. He swore that this was her future, not the sickening one Seth had in mind.
Sophia groggily came awake as Kris finished preparing dinner, the smell of fresh rolls, ham, and sweet potatoes making her stomach growl. The increasingly familiar scent of Connor stirred her arousal and she snuggled her nose against his shoulder, peeping up through her lashes to see him smiling into her eyes. She almost wondered if she was still dreaming. She felt surprisingly refreshed and could get used to all of this pretty quickly.
“Hi,” he quietly said.
“Hi,” she replied. With one hand, she squeezed his warm thigh, where the blond hairs tickled her fingers. She slid her hand up, touching the soft bulge under the shorts as if by accident before settling her hand on his belly, her eyes going to his lips. Connor’s pulse raced and he leaned down, brushing his lips across hers. She leaned up into his mouth and their lips tenderly but firmly pressed together. A sense of well-being and comfort radiated throughout their bodies down to their toes, which wiggled involuntarily as if luxuriating in pleasure. Neither heard Kris’s discreet coughing to get their attention, much less her calling them to eat.
Eventually, before the food got too cold, they joined Riley and Kris for a slow dinner. His Harley and her car sat out front to get the point across to any passersby that Sophia and Connor were not alone, if Seth figured out Sophia was here. The siblings would be staying the night. The Marine had done a perimeter sweep outside, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
Sophia’s age had been revealed to the Kendalls at the police station but none of them cared and let her drink the white wine they were having. She seemed responsible enough, and if she was old enough for the crap she’d endured the last day, she was old enough to have earned a drink or two. Kris and Riley kept up a steady stream of stories about Connor, some embarrassing, others funny, but most painting an endearing picture. Then they watched
The Princess Bride
, Connor and Sophia feeding each other popcorn and feeling like they were on a chaperoned date but not minding. The simple pleasures that evening were a nice change from the heavy emotions of the day. With the movie over, they set the alarm and went upstairs for bed, Riley and Kris taking rooms at the other end of the house from theirs, after Riley left Sophia’s suitcases in the hall.
When Connor brought Sophia and her belongings to the hall’s end, his bedroom on one side, hers on the other, she stopped and looked at him. “Where should we put my things?”
Catching her meaning, Connor’s breath stuck in his throat, but he said only, “Wherever you’re most comfortable.”
“Well, I’m definitely the most comfortable with you, and I wouldn’t want to wake you up after an hour or so again tonight, just to protect me.”
A number of responses went through his head, but what he said was, “Maybe you should sleep with me tonight.”
“Maybe I should.” With a wink, she headed into his room. Connor followed, feeling light-headed as he closed the door behind them. He placed her bags in one corner, wishing he could ask her to unload them into a drawer, as if she was staying for good.
“Well, Connor,” she began with a smile, “I’ve been trying to get you to myself all day.”
“Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?”
“What are my options?”
“Whatever you want,” he said earnestly.
“Really?”
He approached, taking her chin in one hand and tilted her face up to him. “Whatever you want.”
She put her arms up around his neck, running fingers through his hair. “What I want is for you to sleep beside me all night. In your bed. Like you did this morning.
But
, I don’t want you to try anything. Well, I
do
, but…”
Sophia laughed a little, as did Connor before he let out a slow breath, his heart pumping loudly in his ears. “As you wish,” he said, quoting the dashing pirate Westley from
The Princess Bride
. She’d always loved that character for his charm, loyalty, and bravery.
She beamed at him. “Okay, one more thing. No more flirting like that until tomorrow or I will tear your clothes off myself.”
“Not much incentive! Then you can’t flirt either or I will not be responsible for my behavior!”
“Fair enough.” Grinning, she knelt by her suitcase and felt a rush of pleasure at her next words. “I’m gonna get ready for bed.”
“No lingerie, either.”
She winked and disappeared into the bathroom for thirty minutes, making him wonder what she was doing in there, but a girl’s gotta get ready to spend the night with the man of her dreams. She took a quick shower to shave her legs and maybe something else. Then she spread lotion all over, dabbed perfume on several places, and donned a pink sleep shirt that buttoned down the front and reached her knees. That was far enough to prevent any accidental reveals, as she wore nothing under it.
She exited the bathroom to find him sitting up in bed, wearing only shorts, a soft glowing from the light in the ceiling fan glinting in the blond hairs scattered across his bronze skin.
“Are you ready for me?” she asked.
He pulled back the sheets and patted them, eyes bulging at the form-fitting cloth stretched across her hips and proud breasts, but he quickly looked away. She got in beside him, pulling the thin sheet up to her waist before scooting close, wanting to kiss his bare shoulder but settling for running her fingers through his hair. The kiss might heat things up when she didn’t want that yet.