Romance MF: A Suspense Story With A Dark Hidden Secret (romance short story, suspense romance, romantic short stories, adult romance Book 1) (6 page)

              “You have
no
idea what you’re saying, Shane. Stop it,” she said, and took another step back. “You don’t know who I am or what I’m capable of. I only hurt people…”

              “That’s not true. You saved your sister,” he said.

              “By abandoning her!” she almost yelled, and he suddenly understood where her real feelings of regret came from. It had been the ultimate dilemma. In order to save her sister, she had had to completely leave her sister. He closed his eyes – it was an unimaginable task.

              “You’re stronger than anyone I’ve ever known.
No
one could have done what you did for her. You did the only thing you could.”

              “And I’m paying for it, Shane. I pay for it every single day. You don’t want that kind of life,” she said, and shook her head vigorously, unbundling the dreads that had been bunched at the back of her head. They fell down over her back like streams of silver. “My life is hell. I am always on the run, always alone. You can’t imagine that, and I can’t let you fall into it.”

              “That’s my choice, isn’t it?” he said, with a coy smile.             

              “You’re crazy right now. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You need to go, before the cops come. Before I ruin things for you.”

              “I’m not going anywhere, I told you,” he said, and his voice became a low hum, “I’m not going to abandon you. I don’t care if I just met you. I feel like I know you better than anyone. You can’t tell me you don’t feel… something.”

              She turned away from him. “I… I don’t.”

              Shane froze and saw her back quiver as she hid her face from him. The sound of a passing semi zoomed past outside. He took several steps toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder, gently swiveling her toward him.

              “You’re so used to protecting others and yourself, that you don’t remember how to let someone else protect you,” he said so quietly it was a whisper.

              “I’ve never had anyone to protect me,” she said venomously.

              “Now you do,” he said, “because I love you.”

              He put his other hand on her other shoulder and felt her muscles relax under the warmth of his fingers. Her eyes were still wet and wide with too many things she wanted to say and couldn’t. It was terrifying to let someone in, all the way. She had grown so accustomed to keeping a friendly distance. Anything more in her rapid transient life was a burden, something expendable that could compromise her.

              He gently ran his hands up her shoulders and the sides of her neck, and cradled the sides of her head between his palms. All the while she kept gazing at him, her blue eyes flashing back and forth like some sort of prey that had been hunted for so long it could barely recognize its own kind. He wiped at her cheek with one thumb and drew his face towards her, and she brought her hands up to brace his own.

              They kissed and he felt her become something almost animal under his fingers. She gripped at his head and her lips swam up against his, and then he felt the darting organ of her tongue against his. He lowered his right hand and flattened it against the small of her back, felt the shirt ride up and the blazing funneled heat of her skin against his.

              She kissed him harder, almost ferociously, and both her hands pulled at his neck. He squeezed her bodice tightly against his chest and held her there in their frantic embrace. She grappled with him almost desperately, and he could smell the sweetness of her skin, the dark animal of her writhing against him.

              She didn’t need to say anything to him. He felt it in the way she clung to him, that she truly loved him as well, even if there wasn’t a language to express it. She had never had in her life someone to rely on – she had become used to surviving on her own, but survival wasn’t enough, and now the promise he had given her was almost unbearable. She started crying as she kissed him, until finally her whole body was sobbing and he simply held her against his chest as she wept.

              For the first time in her life, she wasn’t alone anymore. It was like a weight had been lifted from her chest. Finally they pulled away from each other, but Lily continued to hold onto this arms.

9.

              “You’re nothing but trouble,” he teased, and she smiled through her tears.

              “I know.”

              “Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

              “Oh boy. Okay, I need to freshen up. Can you… I know it’s shitty complimentary tea but I need something to settle my nerves. Can you make some tea?” she said, pointing to the plastic tray with individually wrapped cups on the hotel’s desk.

              He nodded and she went to the washroom, returning later with a towel that she used to dab her face. He offered some of the chamomile tea and she slurped the piping hot beverage gratefully.

              “Chris should’ve been back by now,” she murmured finally, and Shane’s eyes flew to the shotgun again.

              “You’re right,” he said.

              There was a beeping that startled Lily and she almost spilled her tea as she reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the Nokia. She flipped it open and her smile fled. She looked up at Shane and he understood the gist of it before she said a word.

              “They’re here,” she said, and ran to her backpack.

              “They? Who’s they?” he said, jumping to his feet.

              “I dunno, cops. Federal guys, or something. Chris said they almost saw him, but he ducked into an alley. They’re canvassing all the hostels and hotel, we don’t have much time. They’re going to be here in a few minutes. Shit!”

              “Okay, what do we do?” Shane said. He had never been in this kind of situation before and felt his adrenaline already skyrocketing.

              Lily slung her pack over her shoulders and went to the door. “No one’s there, we’ll take the fire-escape,” she said, and then turned back to Shane, “listen, this is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. It’s the end of your life as you know it, if you’re sticking with me. I can’t ask you to do that, Shane, and I won’t. It’s not fair.”

              He swallowed and his eyes flashed around the room. He had never experienced a moment like this. He knew the ancient Greeks had a word for it.
Kairos
. It was the idea of a pivotal moment, a way of perceiving time – not as a chronological sequence of events, but as individually important moments. This was his
Kairos
, a moment of decision that would alter his life, probably forever.

              He had only a few seconds to consider, but everything piled up in a single instance. His life, his education, his job as an accountant, all of it weighed against this one woman with bleached white dreadlocks on the run from the police. He took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Everything was clear, crystalline.

              “I told you,” he repeated with a shrug, “I’m not abandoning you.”

              She gripped his hand and they both left the hotel, her leading and Shane following close behind. Clearly she’d done this before, he guessed, as she pulled up the window in the hallway and slide through onto the steel grate of the fire escape. He followed after her and shivered as a cold wind bit down.

              At the bottom rung Lily jumped and landed and he jumped after her. The impact of his feet on the cement was jolting and he felt a sharp pain in his heel that ran up his legs, and swore under his breath.

              “C’mon, we have to hurry,” she said.

              “Wait, let’s take my car, they aren’t looking for me,” he said, “you stay here, and I’ll drive around.”

              She hesitated for a moment as if taking into account all her options, and finally nodded. “Okay, but hurry,” she hissed and crouched up against a green steel industrial garbage container behind the hotel.

              Shane tried to walk as normally as he could around the hotel and saw that there were two cop cars parked outside the hotel already. There was a marshal holding up a picture to one of the guests who was smoking cigarette on the porch, and several more officers were inside questioning the freckled acne-faced kid behind the counter.

              He held his breath as he walked past them and toward his Toyota that had been parked on the street just down the block. He thanked his lucky stars that none of the police seemed to notice him as he pulled around and tried to slowly make his way behind the hotel. Lily was waiting for him and threw herself into the backseat.

              “Stay down,” he warned, “there’s two cop cars, I don’t know how many more.”

              “Shit,” she said, plastering herself to the floor of the Toyota as Shane pulled back around and passed the hotel parking lot. He saw one of the officers raise his head and peer at him from behind black sunglasses, and it was enough to freeze his blood.

              As they pulled onto the main street, he kept his eyes on the rearview mirror, but for all intents and purposes he was confident they’d made their escape. He didn’t stop driving until he reached a small rest-stop, just before the turn-off back to the cabin. He stepped outside and leaned over again, his hands on his thighs, and waited for the spell of nausea to pass.
I can’t believe I just did that
, he wanted to shout. He felt alive – it was horrifying, scary, stressful. But it was also
real
.

              Lily appeared behind him and put a hand on his back. “Are you okay?”

              “Just… overloaded, y’know?”

              “Yeah, I do. Believe me.”

              “I don’t regret it,” he said, trying to reassure her, “anyway, we need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

              She nodded. “Chris dumped the Volvo, but he has another friend in Port Angeles. He sent me a text saying he wants to meet up. We should wait for the police presence to die down though, they’ll probably be watching the highways. There’s another village, if we keep following his road. It’s right at the end, we can camp out near a lighthouse. For now we should find somewhere to lie low though. After that…” she waved her hand as if to indicate that anything was game.

              “Okay,” he said, picking himself back up.

              “You sure you’re okay?” she asked.

              “I thought that was my line,” he said, hopping back into the driver’s seat. “I guess I don’t have to worry about work tomorrow.”

              Lily smirked. “Still could, if you wanted to,” she said.

              “No. Actually the idea of work now feels… ridiculous.”

              “Funny how running from the cops can put things in perspective, huh?” she said.

              “It is funny,” he agreed, “I can’t wait to see the expression on my boss's face when he realizes I’m not coming to work anymore. Not even resigning or quitting, just… just gone.”

              “Think he’ll be pissed?”

              “Oh god! I hope so,” Shane said, “hey, open the glove box.”

              She did and he indicated the small Pentax camera. “I think we should celebrate our getaway, commemorate it with a picture, don’t you think?”

              She laughed and turned it on, and then, leaning in close to him raised her two fingers in a peace sign and took a selfie of both of them. “I almost want to get this one framed,” she thought to herself.

              Shane took the turn off that led back up to the cabin and Lily wordlessly acknowledged that it would be for the best. The police wouldn’t think to look up in the cabin, it was far enough off the grid and off their radar to function as an adequate hideout for the time being. As they pulled into the familiar meadow and made their way back to the cabin, Lily’s fingers twined between his own.

              They found a few eggs, some extra bacon, and the last few vegetables from the grocery box. Lily also picked a handful of dandelions, and found several big handfuls of blackberries growing wild beside the cabin. It was a meager meal, but for some reason it tasted better than any Shane had ever had. Afterwards they simply left the dishes in the sink and Lily set up a fire again, and showed him the best way to light it without using any paper. She gathered several handfuls of tinder in varying degrees of width and in moments the fire was blazing again.

              Shane sat down next to her and put the blanket over her shoulders, and she smiled and leaned against him.             

              “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” she asked.

              “Yes,” he agreed, but both of them knew he was really talking about her.

              “I… I’ve been alone for so long, Shane. I don’t really know how to… how to be with another person,” she admitted.

              He shrugged and rubbed the top of her head. “If it’s any consolation, neither do I. I’ve been isolated for so long I don’t really have a clue myself. But I don’t think we have to worry. We just… go with it, and see what happens.”

              “That sounds very unlike you,” she said, amazed.

              “I know, right? I think you must be rubbing off on me,” he said.

              “I like that idea, then,” she said and leaned up and kissed him.

              He kissed her back and their silhouette danced in the shadow of the fireplace.

              “I love you too,” she finally said, her voice quivering.

              He smiled and leaned down and she folded herself out on her back. He kissed her again and his hands ran up her shirt, over her navel and against the bridge of her ribs, until his palm was cradling the naked rise of her breast. She wasn’t wearing a bra and she moaned as he pulled her shirt off and massaged her chest. Lily lifted her arms above her head and raised her chest toward him, as he kissed her neck and made his way down, felt the rough nub of her nipple brush against his chin.             

              “Shane,” she murmured with another moan.

              He smiled and pulled off his own shirt and his hand found the zipper of her jeans. Gently he unzipped it and snuck his fingers under the lip of her panties. She made another bucking motion with her hips as his fingers trailed over her pubis, the thin mane of hair suddenly warm and soft under his touch.

              “Touch me,” she whispered into his ear.

              He kissed her chin and his hand went lower, found her ready as his fingers probed the soft labial folds of her vagina. There was a sticky wetness already there as he smoothly inserted her finger. Lily gasped as he went deeper, the rough pad of his fingers brushing across her clitoris and she sighed.

              She opened her eyes and he stared down into their blue wells again, and she gave him a sleepy and happy look of amusement.

              “I love you,” she repeated, and kicked off her jeans.

              She sat up and fiddled with the belt on his pants and in moments he had shed them too. She gripped at his manhood, already hard with the effort of their kissing, and he bent down between her legs.

              “Ready?” he said, and she nodded.

              He felt her hand guide him inside her and the muscles in her jaw tightened as he plunged against her insides. She made another gasp, half in pain and half in pleasure, as he pulled in and plunged again, and her legs opened wider for him.

              “I love you so much,” she repeated, and tipped her head back, her lips half open in a silent cry of desire as he folded his hands behind her back and lifted her into him, her breasts rising toward his mouth like succulent fruit.

              She gripped at the back of his neck as he ground his loins against hers, until at last she let out a small whimpering scream and stiffened, the muscles in her legs quivering with the mutual orgasm, and her fingers digging in the back of his neck. He dipped his head toward her and slipped his tongue between her lips and both of them sighed into each other, exhausted and sweaty in front of the fire.             

              She kept her hands tightly wound around him, even after the climax had faded and they were both lying there, naked and content in the simple warmth of one another.

              When she finally opened her eyes again she stared at him sleepily. “That was amazing… I can’t really do that by myself,” she joked.

              “So there is some benefit to letting others help you once in awhile.”

              “Just you.”

              “I can live with that,” he replied, and kissed her forehead again.

              “Tomorrow,” she began, “tomorrow is going to be tough, for you. I think. It was tough for me. The first time I realized I couldn’t go back to a normal life. It’s not easy for anyone.”

              “I know,” he said, “but I’ve lived a normal life for so long. I think I’m ready for a change. I know that’s a bit of a simplistic answer, but… I’m going to be okay. Are you?”

              “Yeah, I think so.”

              “Your sister, Lacey. Does she help you out a lot?”

              “No, not really,” Lily said, rolling over toward the fire. “Partly because I won’t let her. She has a good job. And she’s a really good cop. She’s going to try to make detective next year. I can’t stop her from helping me, but… I don’t want to her to feel guilty either. I did what I did for both of us.”