Beyond the Call of Duty (8 page)

He slid his fingers between her thighs and heard her gasp as he slowly pushed one long digit deep inside her wet pussy. He used his thumb to find her clit and began to torture her. His touch was too light, and she pressed further down against him. He heard her cry out.

The cry was one of frustration, and it made him smile. He gave her what she wanted, pushing inside her, rubbing his thumb in tight circles around her clit. He found the small patch of roughened flesh inside her cunt and heard her cry out once more.

“Is it good?” he asked.

She didn’t answer right away. Her hand was still circling his penis using the smoothness of her thong, still wet from her juices, to jack him off. When he reached out, slapping her bare ass with his palm, she jumped. “Yes, it’s good.”

“It’s good?”

* * * *

Lexi gasped. She didn’t think he’d take this game so far and even now, when her body seemed so close to exploding, and the thought of him moving his hand away made her growl, she couldn’t say that word. She bit her lip, glaring up at him and wanting nothing more than to slap him when he began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” she growled.

“You are, pet. I’d never force you to call me Master. You can call me whatever you want, as long as it’s respectful.”

“Gabe, you can be a huge dick sometimes.” She decided to give him some of his own and pulled her thong from his body. Before he could protest, she licked her way up the side of his dick, swirling her tongue around the wide tip. She took all of him that she could, and she knew he felt her gag.

He reached down, pushing her hair around her ear and over her head, giving him the perfect vision of her mouth filling with his cock. It was obviously erotically stimulating, watching a woman with Lexi’s beauty and class face fuck herself with his prick. “Oh yeah, pet. Keep that up.”

He was hot and heavy in her mouth, the taste of him bitter and salty. She couldn’t get enough. She wanted to force him to get off in her mouth, to fuck him until he realized who the boss was in this relationship. He used his free hand to stroke her hair and then went to the back of her head, beginning to guide her strokes until he was fucking up into her mouth, going deeper and deeper.

“I’m going to cum,” he growled, his hand shaking. “Swallow it, baby. Swallow all of it.”

Spurt after spurt of his hot cum jetted into her mouth, and she swallowed every bit, running her tongue over his shaft to be sure she hadn’t missed a drop. She let his cock pop out of her mouth and her head fell to rest against his thigh, his fingers moving ever faster inside her. “Please,” she rasped, her body beginning to shake as it got closer and closer to her own orgasm. “Gabe, make me cum.”

She felt him lift her and slid her head up from his thigh, his soft cock now in front of her face. He parted her thighs, drawing her down so she straddled his face. The first long, slow tickle of his tongue had her moaning and wanting more. “God, Gabe, do it, please, do it, baby. Make me cum.”

He searched her soft folds, lapping at the sweetness of her juices. He found her clit, capturing it in his teeth, using his tongue to tease her to madness. She placed her hands on his sides to help her sit up, and then she was grinding against his chin, crying out every time his tongue brushed over her clit.

It hit her like a freight train, suddenly, unexpectedly, plowing her until she fell against his stomach. She couldn’t catch her breath, she couldn’t move. It was the hardest she’d ever cum, and even as she fought her lungs for air, she wondered when they would be able to do this again.

“Gabe—”

There was a pounding on the door, and she moved so he wouldn’t sound muffled. He let her move, but not out of his arms or out of his bed. “Yeah,” he called. She was grateful he remembered to lock the bedroom door when they’d come in.

“We need to speak to you and Lexi. As soon as possible, okay?”

Chapter Six

They walked down the stairs together, Gabe’s arm wrapped negligently around Lexi’s neck. To anyone watching it looked as if she was helping him down the stairs. Walking into the kitchen, she sat him down on a chair, scowling at him when he acted as if he were going to pull her down on his lap.

“So what’s the problem, Jack?” She went to the cupboard and pulled down a cup, pouring coffee that didn’t look like motor oil this time. She took a sip before she got down another cup and poured more coffee into it, turning to hand it to Gabe.

“You’ll be moved this afternoon.”

She turned, raising one eyebrow Jack’s way. “Where?”

“Lavender Heights,” Jack said, naming a ritzy suburb of Monroe City. “You know the house, Lexi. It’s the one we got in that drug bust a couple of months ago. The marshals have requisitioned it, and we finally got the go ahead. You two should be pretty well set up there.”

“The Traegers run that section of town,” Gabe said, setting down his cup with a bang. “You’re putting us in the lion’s den.”

“You’ll be safe,” Luke said. “We wouldn’t put one of our own in danger, if there was anyway to help it, Gabe.”

“No, Gabe, wait. He’s right. Putting us in Lavender Heights is the best thing to do. Where would they be least likely to look for us, but right under their noses? It makes the most sense.” Lexi glanced over at Gabe and watched as he finally nodded.

“Fine, I’ll go along with you. How are you getting us there?”

Jack looked at Luke who turned and looked at Molly, who threw her hands up in the air. “You two are fucking wimps, you know that?” Taking a deep breath, she turned toward her boss. “You’ll be riding in the cargo space in the SUV. We will be taking you from garage to garage so you won’t be in anyone’s line of sight. It may not be the most comfortable ride, but it will keep you both safe.”

“Makes sense to me,” Lexi said, sipping her coffee. She turned around and found the box of doughnuts she knew Luke would have stopped to get and pulled out a custard-filled, chocolate-topped doughnut. Taking the box to Gabe, she set it down on the table in front of him and tore a sheet off the roll of paper towels, and then sank down in the seat next to him and looked up at Luke and Molly.

“Does anyone know who the man was that broke into the office and jumped out an eighth-storey window without leaving a trace? I mean, that was an impressive maneuver, and I would love to know how he managed it.” She began picking apart the doughnut, tearing off small pieces and eating them.

“No signs of blood or body matter anywhere, Lexi. I watched this documentary on television about the damage it does to bodies and at what distance would most likely be fatal. Our guy should have been smashed into the concrete, and his brain popped out of his skull. He should have been little more than mush.”

“However, we know he isn’t, because mush doesn’t usually get up and walk away. Any strange fingerprints? I mean, he was looking in the filing room. It had to be where he was coming from when I heard him.”

“We got prints, but no details. They look like he was wearing extra-fine-grained leather gloves.” Molly went to her briefcase, opening it and pulling out a file. She handed it to her boss. It was a lot easier letting her read about the crime scene than answering the hundred and one questions she would have about it.

“So we have absolutely no idea who it was that broke into my office. I could be stuck in a safe house when there is no reason for me to be there.” Lexi stared blankly down at the papers until Jack slid another file under her nose. She opened it and read the top report. “My apartment too? Did they take anything?”

“A few files, a couple of pieces of jewelry. There was more out-and-out damage done, Lexi, than a true robbery. It’s like they ransacked the place to hide what they really wanted to take. Did you have anything there that was pertinent to this case or any of your others?”

“No. Any work I take home gets put back in my briefcase when I get done with it. I haven’t been home enough recently to even open my briefcase. They took my grandmother’s locket?” The thought of other peoples’ hands in her possession made her nauseous, and she dropped the rest of her doughnut onto her napkin, pushing it away from the files while she took a long hard look at what had been taken from her apartment. “My dad’s lighter?” Each thing she read about made her more upset until Jack finally took the file away from her.

“You’re insured, right?”

“That’s not the point, Jack.” She got up and paced around the room, growling when someone stepped into her path. “The things they took held sentimental value. How do you put a price tag on a lighter that I got for my dad fifteen years ago? He even lost it in the woods one winter and the next spring found it near his deer blind. My grandma’s locket held pictures of my grandparents and a tiny lock of hair that was from her head. Those are the only pictures I have of them.”

She spun in a circle and looked around. “I’m going upstairs.”

* * * *

“We’ll get you up in time for the move, Lexi,” Luke called. “Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this upset.”

“She’s never been put into the position of being one of her own protections,” Jack said softly. “This case is going to tear her up inside. She’ll either get through it or she’ll find a new line of work when this is over with. I know she’s had offers from the FBI and the NSA.”

Gabe sat listening to the agents talk, learning more about Lexi than he found out from her in a year. When he finally rose from the table, Luke and Molly glanced at him as if they’d forgotten he was there. “Stay away from the windows,” Molly called when he went into the living room.

Gabe waved his hand at her and sat on the couch, hunting for the remote. He finally found it and turned on the news. The top story was the car bombing across the plaza from the justice building. They showed a picture of Lexi when she was a lot younger and more carefree. He wished he’d known her then, before the stress from her job had gotten to her.

Jack walked into the living room and sat down across from him just as they were giving a list of all the good works Lexi had done in her life. They gave out the time for her funeral and the location.

Gabe looked at Jack. “Is this another ploy to find out who is after her?”

Jack nodded. “He hasn’t found what he wants yet, and he’ll keep looking for it unless we can stop him first. I know Lexi’s upset about the things they took, but she will realize one day that’s all they were; just things. Her life is so much more important than a keepsake. It will just take time. How are you holding up?”

“Green pastures,” he said. “Did anyone find out if Teri Milner was okay? She was Tony’s mistress and a pretty tough girl.”

“Teri Milner? I haven’t heard anything about her.” Jack pulled out a cell phone and dialed in a number. When it was answered, he didn’t identify himself, just asked the question. “Do we have a twenty on a Teri Milner? She could be tied to the Traeger case.” He listened intently for a moment. “Are you sure?”

“No, I’m not doubting you. I just need to know you are sure about this.”

Gabe’s eyes widened as he watched Jack. His heart was thundering in his chest, and he could feel the sweat starting to bead across his forehead. When Jack hung up the phone, he didn’t say anything for a moment.

“What’s your relationship with this Teri Milner?”

“She’s a friend, Jack. I used to get calls from her when Tony couldn’t call me directly because his family was around. Teri was...is a good person.”

“Teri Milner was the person who set Tony Blandon and his entire family up to be killed, Gabe. She sent out the call that let them know the family was in the house. You were just a bit of a bonus.”

Gabe sat forward, dropping his head into his hands. “No,” he growled. “She wasn’t like that. She loved Tony, and she was one of my best friends. She wouldn’t set us all up to die...she just wouldn’t!” He got up and began pacing, one arm wrapped against his ribs.

He was working the problem over in his head. He could feel the tension in his shoulders and the anger in his step. He barely looked up when Lexi came into the room.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking from Jack to Gabe.

Gabe turned at the sound of her voice and pulled her into his arms. He buried his face into her neck and let his tears fall against her skin. She stroked his back slowly, still looking at Jack. “What’s wrong, Jack?”

“Teri Milner,” Jack said, only to hear Gabe roar in anguish. He watched as Lexi rocked the big man as if he were a hurt child. “She set up the Blandons and Gabe to be killed. She also managed to get herself a swanky new house and a whole passel of servants. The girl’s not wanting for anything right now.”

“Are you sure, Jack? Absolutely sure?”

“I’m as sure as I can be, Lexi. She’s a tall, leggy brunette with just a touch of a hick accent. She’s seeing Caleb Traeger now. There’s been talk of weddings.” He got up and put his hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, man.”

Gabe nodded, but didn’t let go of Lexi. Instead, he stayed in her arms where the whole world seemed to disappear and anything bad that happened didn’t happen to them. He closed his eyes and ran his hands over her back.

“Gabe?” she whispered softly. “Are you all right?”

* * * *

He lifted his head, and she could see the effect his tears had taken on him. “As long as you hold me, nothing will ever hurt me.”