Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series (39 page)

The first touch of his tongue makes me groan and work harder at his cock. I want to please him the way he’s pleasing me. His fingers dig into my ass as he pulls my clit into his mouth. He sucks and sucks and my eyes roll back with the delicious sensations flowing through me.

He smacks my ass, then caresses the sting before lifting his hand and slapping again. I sit up and ride his face, grinding harder than I probably should have.

I fumble in the bedside table for a condom and rip it open, rolling it down his length. His tongue is inside me now, licking and searching. I don’t want to stop this, but I’m desperate to have him inside me.

Crawling down his body, I hover over him. His hands grip my hips. I reach between us and lift him, centering at my entrance. Then I lower and take in his tip. I lower more, until he’s fully sheathed.

I lean back and this angle is heavenly, rubbing his cock at that delicate spot inside. I reach down and touch my clit, rubbing and pressing while rocking back and forth. I cry out when I come.

Too weak to move, Ken sits up and then tosses me onto the bed. He’s back, between my legs, my feet on his shoulders. He thrusts, hard and deep. He reaches down and pinches my nipples.

“Oh.” I cry out again as he takes me with such force. My breasts bounce with each crushing thrust.

I love it and urge him on. “Harder. Please harder.” He looks down at me, his brown eyes on mine and crashes into me again and again.

I feel him thicken, watch his face tighten, he’s getting close. I’m almost there too.

I tighten around him and he roars with a final thrust. I watch his face, the pleasure that looks like pain. He jerks involuntarily before collapsing down on me. I welcome his weight.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he heaves out, his heart pounding against my breast.

I wrap my legs around him and hold him tight. Today is our last day together. He goes back to work tomorrow. I hold him close, wishing we could stay like this forever.

Chapter 8 - Jerome

Crossing another day off my calendar, I rub my hands together. Payday’s coming soon. I log into my online bank account and wince at the pitifully low amount that remains there.

Fuck. Only quarter of a million left.

How did I blow through that much cash so quickly? Complete stupidity.

My phone beeps. It’s another text from Anna. Why can’t that bitch leave me alone? I take a deep breath and tap the screen:
Wire twenty grand to my account. Must pay delivery boys☺

Do this. Do that. It’s a never ending string of demands.

I’m immediately ashamed. No one has ever supported me like she has, helped lift me up to achieve my goals. Stephanie did, sure. In a way. But she wasn’t smart like Anna. Steph didn’t have the long term vision.

Anna’s tough. Street wise. Heartless.

Steph is sweet. Tender. Innocent. And worth a fucking bundle. Who knew blonde hair and green eyes were all the craze?

Beth the Bitch won’t come close to the price we’ll get from Steph. I’ll be sure to tell her that her skanky ass was sold on discount, practically a ‘buy one, get one’ if truth be told. I might even tell her that while I fuck her myself. Teach her to reject me years ago.

I absolutely want one more shot at Steph. Show her what’s she’s been missing. Anna’s taught me a lot. About control. Stamina. How to really please a woman. How to please myself and get what I want.

Maybe I’ll fuck both of them together. Make them lick each other while I’m at it. They might as well get used to it. In the future, they might have to please men or women. According to Anna, many people at once.

Tapping up another computer screen, I pull up Stephanie’s new phone number. It hadn’t been easy to crack the cheap disposable the firefuck had purchased. Believe it or not, it was even harder than busting into the encrypted phone the freakin’ feds gave her.

I open another tab and log into the proxy server. India it is. Less than a minute later, I’m blasting past the security walls of Stephanie’s school. I want to do her a little favor before she’s shipped overseas. I snicker… she’ll be a highly paid whore, but at least she’ll have a stellar GPA.

It still amazes me how easy it is to break into servers. Even in this day and age of ‘heightened’ security. Your kid’s birthday, come on, make it difficult for once. Of course, even the difficult ones are relatively easy with the technology I’ve created. I really wish now I hadn’t sold it to ComTech; other countries pay much better. Of course, my new design makes the old technology geriatric. Korea really wants it bad. So does China. I like the idea of a pricing war.

Back at the task at hand.

login: jstarnes

password: 13109

A few minutes later, Stephanie’s grades flash upon the screen. I cluck my tongue against the roof of my mouth. Current GPA: 2.3

I laugh. “Come on, Steph. You can do better than that.”

I don’t want to make it too obvious, but a 3.8 would be good. Let’s see, the F I’d given her on the last capstone test, I’ll change to a B to look more natural. Shit, I’m even going to raise a few bad quizzes. It’s probably my fault she blew those. Okay, 3.7—that will work.

Shit, shit, shit. What about Beth? I’m tempted to leave her 1.9 alone, serves the bitch right. I never liked her smart mouth.

Eenie Meenie Miney Moe

Beth Richards is a little ho.

But… I probably should raise it. Not a 3.7, but maybe a high B. Not that it will help her where she’s going.

If she hollers make her pay,

With a cock stuffed in her every which way.

I adjust a few grades until the final GPA reads 3.2. Good enough. I’m tempted to make it a 2.9, still a B, but realize I’m spending too much time of this. I have other things to do.

Before I close out of the system, I notice another name: Margaret Fletcher.

Margie Margie pudding pie.

Kissed Jerome and made him cry.

Marge Fletcher was another girl who could have been mine. I remember her clearly. A little gothy, but that was the thing back then. I really liked her, until I found her fucking a jock.

Just for fun, I reduce her 3.1 to a 2.1. Ha! Take that, bitch.

Then I log out and go through the process of covering my virtual tracks. Whoever tries to find out who did this little hack will be taking a tour around the world.

Ding dong.

I wait. And wait and wait.

I’m not supposed to press the doorbell again, but I can’t help myself.

Ding dong.

I’m tempted to beat on the door. I need her. Why doesn’t she see that?

The door jerks open and she’s there. In
that
robe. The robe I fell in love with her in. She doesn’t look pleased to see me. “Yes, Jerome. Why are you here?”

I’m crestfallen. Then I piece it together.

“You… you’re working?”

She looks annoyed. “Of course I am. A VIP client. What do you want?”

“I just got scared and missed you.”

Finally, her face changed and softened. “Darling. You know I planned to be there tonight.”

“I know. I just needed to see you now.”

She lifted a brow. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re having another attack of conscience.”

My face grows hot, contradicting my denial. “No. Maybe. Isn’t there another way? And the firefuck? I want him dead. When I think of him alive, it makes me…” My hands clench at my side and my body shakes with the hatred I have for him. “I want him gone.”

“Are you really willing to lose a hundred grand that easily?”

I nod, vehemently. “Yes. It’s a small price to be able to piss on his grave every day.”

“And the girls? Surely you don’t have second thoughts about them too.” She tapped a manicured finger against her lip. Silent. Contemplative.

Yes.

No.

I don’t know.

One moment the idea is perfect. The next moment it is as horrid as hell. Selling people. Sex slaves. I can’t even believe I’m considering it.

“It just seems too lifelong brutal.”

Anna sighs and walks closer. “There is and always has been a market for sex. For pleasure and control. The demand is great all over the world. And it’s not that bad for the girls. They are fed, they have rooms of their own. If a sheik makes the purchase, they are treated like gold, for a while.” She lifts a finger to my throat and traces it down and over my Adam’s apple. “Darling, either we fill the demand or someone else will. It’s simple economics.”

She makes it sound so simple. So innocent. It really wouldn’t be that bad. But…

“My new software will be ready within the year. I expect five times the price of the old one.”

Anna smiles. “That’s perfect. A very nice payday for all your hard work. Too bad you’ll be completely broke by then. Of course, do this one little thing, darling, and you’ll have enough money to live on for months and months and months.”

I process all she’s been saying.

She isn’t finished. “Plus, you get to exact your revenge on the people who have hurt you. Remember how hurt you were? So lost? You were a cowardly little boy when you first came to see me. Now look at you. Look at the strong man you’ve become.”

Desire flares with me. She’s right. I’m a different man because of Anna. She helped me be strong. Courageous. Looking into her blue eyes, I know I can’t let her down.

“Yes, you’re right. I just want this over. When she’s gone, I’ll never think of her again.”

“You’re so smart. I knew you’d do the right thing. Such a brilliant mind. A stunning body. You deserve someone who appreciates every aspect of who you are and all that you can achieve.”

“Is that person you?”

I need to hear her say the words.

“Yes, darling. I’ve told you before, I see such wonderful potential in you.” She pushes my hair away from my forehead. I lean my face into her palm. “I’m your devoted servant, darling. You serve me and I’ll serve you.”

I lift a hand to the guard of my gated community. He bows his head and ushers me through. I drive down the street to my home—MY home. Who would have ever thought a foster kid like me could have anything this nice.

I punch the garage door opener and ‘bay one’ opens and I slide the Jaguar in. The Jag is my favorite, a cherry red rag top I keep open most of the time. I park next to the black Range Rover I purchased for drives into the mountain. Next to it is a Harley I’m still learning how to drive. Since Steph seems to like Harleys now, I thought she’d like this one.

I shake my head. Stop thinking about her. Stop it! That part of my life is over.

I step from the car and head into the kitchen. I stop, as I always do, to take a moment to simply enjoy the gleaming luxury before me, nearly forty-five hundred square feet all my own.

Stripping as I walk from the kitchen through the dining room and into the sunroom that leads to the pool, I’m down to my boxer briefs by the time I’m back outside. I slice into the water, bidding it to slice away my anxiety. It’s back, like spiders crawling under my skin. I wish it were spiders, then I could rip the invaders out.

I swim until exhaustion overtakes me and then I turn, face up, to look at the sky. I go over the plan again in my head. The delivery boys have been paid—check. Firefuck’s last ride—check. Getting our hands on Stephanie—no check. That’s the difficult part. She has security 24-7 now. My contact within the local police unit told me they’re starting to piece the whole picture together. That one contact alone has been worth the couple hundred grand I’ve spend on him.

How to get her?

How to get her?

She’s a rescuer by nature. The first one to volunteer to lend a helping hand. That’s her weakness. It must be exploited. But how?

Before or after I snuff the fireman? Ha! I’m so clever. Snuff. Fire. I crack myself up. She could be more docile if she knows the fireman is dead. Grieving. I scoff at the word. Grieving is for idiots.

Then again, she could fight harder. She’d surprised me with how she’d jumped onto Abram and fought even while she was taking some pretty hard hits herself. I can’t underestimate the power of adrenaline. And hate. I know exactly how much strength hate can give a person.

As I stir the possibilities around in my head, over and over and over again. I realize Anna is right, Beth is the answer. Stephanie would do anything for her friend.