Justin (22 page)

Justin’s fingers licked it for her. His broad fingertips rubbed from his balls upward, the tip jumping as he reacted to the pressure. The cock ring was strangely erotic, circling him at the base, making the shaft even darker.

“I wish you were with me, baby,” he said. “This would be your hand on me, you stroking me off.”

Yes, it would be. Deanna remembered when she’d rushed into his apartment to find him leaning against the wall, doing himself, how her blood had tingled, how she’d itched to touch him.

“I want you here sucking me,” he said. “I want to see my cock going into your pretty little mouth, you closing your lips over me.”

Without noticing she did it, Deanna lifted her first two fingers and slid them into her mouth.

Justin flushed. “Yeah, like that, sweetheart. Suck me now.”

Deanna started to suckle, mouth working, her fingers wet, while Justin squeezed his cock in his fist.

“You’re so beautiful with something big in your mouth,” he said softly. “Did you know that, Deanna? You’d be even more beautiful if you played with your clit at the same time. Will you? Pretty please?”

Deanna removed her fingers from her mouth with a little popping sound. “I’m supposed to be commanding you.”

“I know. I can’t help it. Shareem like to control.”

“No kidding.”

Deanna had abandoned drab coveralls and sunblocking robes on mild Ariel, buying herself colorful silk tunics, leggings, and sheaths. They were wisps of almost nothing, and amazingly cheap. She and Katarina had gone a little crazy.

She untied the tunic and let it fall open to reveal her unfettered breasts then unfastened the leggings and let them drop. The brush of silk as it slid down her legs was sensuality itself.

“Oh, yeah,” Justin whispered. “You’d better bring some of those home and wear them for me.”

“I will.”

He stilled his hand. “You are coming home, Deanna.”

It wasn’t a question, but she heard the uneasiness in his voice. “Of course, I am.”

“If you don’t, I’ll have to spank your ass.”

Her skin tingled, remembering his warm hand slapping down on her backside. “What about if I do?”

Justin smiled, slow and dark. “I’ll spank you even harder. For right now, though, I want to watch you, while you watch me.”

Deanna dipped her finger to her clit, bringing it back up to show him how it glistened with her need. Justin’s eyes filled even more with blue as she raised her finger to her mouth and licked it clean.

His moan drifted through the speaker. “You are wonderful, Patroller.”

Deanna slid her hand back down to her very wet pussy. With the balls still inside, her nipples as tight as could be, she rocked on her fingers, close to coming.

She feasted on the vision of Justin, thighs parted, cock huge, his eyes on her as he stroked himself.

Deanna rubbed herself faster in response. Justin did likewise, until they were both panting, making little noises of longing.

“Aw damn,” Justin said, his bound hands moving swiftly. “I’m gonna blow, baby. Oh . . .
gods
.”

He kept pumping, his body moving on the chair, it creaking under his weight. A stream of white suddenly fountained up from his cock, falling back down over his hands, his balls, the cock itself.

Justin was right, watching was wonderful—as long as she was watching
him
. Deanna’s pussy clenched over her fingers, ecstasy spiraling through her.

Everything went dark except the beautiful image on her monitor—her hot, naked Shareem, bringing himself off for her.

“Justin!” she said, then her cry of release rang across the stars.

*** *** ***

“I miss you,” she whispered a while later.

Deanna had removed the little balls and dropped them into her sterilizer. Justin was still bound, his hands unmoving now as he caught his breath, but the ring remained around the base of his cock. He grinned at her, eyes losing the wild blue, but he was still hot, still aroused.

“I miss you too, baby.”

She liked this, smiling with him while they both calmed. Deanna wished she could be in the room with him, lying on his naked body and feeling him gather her close.

“But I’m glad I came,” Deanna said, settling back into her chair. She didn’t resume the tunic. Why should she? Her lover liked looking at her, and he made her feel that her body was beautiful. “My mom’s so much better,” she went on. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you and Katarina, and what you’ve done. I’ll pay you back . . .”

“Shh,” Justin said. “No paying back. I’m glad I found a good thing to spend my money on.”

She let her smile grow sinful. “I’ll find some way to show you how grateful I am.”

Justin laughed, brushing his hair from his eyes with his bound wrists. “I’m looking forward to it.”

They were quiet again, never mind the astronomical cost of the planet-to-planet interface.

“I need to tell you,” Deanna said softly after a time. “Sybellie still hasn’t tried to get in touch with me. I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right. It doesn’t matter.”

Deanna knew it damn well
did
matter to him. “I’ll try to contact her again.”

“That might not do any good. She and her friends aren’t meeting at that coffeehouse anymore. I don’t know where she goes now.”

Alarm flitted through her afterglow. “Justin, you aren’t still going up to the Vistara, are you?”

Justin avoided her gaze. “Discreetly.”

“You know that your pardon was only good for the one time. If you’re arrested again, even Brianne might not be able to free you.”

“I said
discreetly
, as in, no one sees me.”

“Just don’t. Please. Stop going. When I get back, we’ll figure this whole thing out.”

Justin didn’t answer. Deanna seethed in frustration about the light years between them. She couldn’t change his key codes and lock him into his house from the distance of Ariel.

Of course, she’d quit her patroller job, so she wouldn’t be able to do it even on Bor Narga. But at least on Bor Narga she’d be able to stand next to him and yell at him.

“Justin.”

“Yeah?” He looked up from whatever distracted place he’d gone to.

“Remember, when I told you I loved you?”

“Yeah.” His worry left him, and his face softened with his smile. “I remember. Why? Want to take it back?”

“No,” Deanna said. “I wanted to tell you, I meant it.”

*** *** ***

Discreetly
, Justin had said. That meant he wore plenty of clothing and sunblocking robes and took a tinted-windowed car up to the Vistara. He had Elisa hire him a different one every day—Shareem couldn’t hire cars themselves—so no one would report the same vehicle lingering on the streets.

Justin looked every day for Sybellie, but he never spotted her. Not at the coffeehouse, not on the campus, not in the shops around it. He knew where her house was, thanks to Elisa’s information, but she must be staying with a friend, because she didn’t go home. Or, Sybellie might have gone home when Justin was back in Pas City—Justin couldn’t afford to stay too long each day.

Deanna was right, though. He needed to be careful. He had something to keep himself free for now.

And then, the day after he did his self-bondage session for Deanna, Justin found Sybellie.

His daughter walked along the street on the edge of the university’s campus, a little pack at her side for her handheld and whatever other devices she carried. She was alone, her friends nowhere in sight.

Justin couldn’t stand it. He turned off the car, unsealed the door, got out, and walked quickly to the campus.

He was covered from head to foot, sunblocking material over his nose and mouth. As soon as he stepped onto the campus, he felt the air cool, the protective shielding shutting out the worst of the sun’s heat.

Sybellie strolled along, her head down, mind on wherever she was going.

Justin stepped in front of her, and she stopped.” Excuse me,” she said politely.

Sybellie started around him, and Justin stepped in front of her again.

Now Sybellie looked up in alarm, mouth open to call for help. Justin unwrapped the material from his face and said, “Sybellie.”

“Oh.” She looked relieved but puzzled. “Mr. Justin, right? You’re friends with that patroller.”

“Yes.”

He didn’t move, and Sybellie frowned. “It’s nice to see you Mr. Justin, but I have a class.”

“Can you talk to me for just . . .” Justin swallowed, his voice not working. “Just a minute.”

Please, please, just a minute to let me look at you.

“Did Deanna send you to persuade me to call her?” Sybellie asked. “Can you tell her I haven’t made up my mind yet? I still have to think about it.”

“No.” Justin clenched his hands at his sides. “Deanna didn’t send me.”

“I shouldn’t be talking to you about it then.”

She turned slightly, and Justin stepped in front of her again.

“Sybellie.” He loved the sound of her name. “Deanna didn’t send me.”

“You’ve just said that.”

“She’ll want to kick my ass when she finds out.” Justin couldn’t stop himself putting his hand on Sybellie’s slim shoulder. “But I couldn’t wait anymore. I had to see you.”

Sybellie frowned, her mouth forming the
wh
of
Why
?

Then she stopped, her mouth going slack. She looked at him,
really
looked at him, and took a step back.

“It’s you,” she whispered. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

Justin could only nod, his throat closed too hard for him to speak.

“How can it be?” Sybellie asked. “Who
are
you? I don’t even know your name. Your entire name, I mean.”

Justin smiled a little. “It’s just Justin.”

“But . . .” Her eyes filled with sudden tears, and she shook her head. “This isn’t fair. I have a class. But I have to talk to you, I have to ask you . . .
everything
.”

Justin squeezed her shoulder, wishing he dared pull her close, but too many people walked across the busy campus. “I’ll wait. I’ll wait here for you, and we’ll talk. I’ve been waiting twenty-five years.”

“Oh, gods, this is so not what I thought it would be like.” Sybellie wiped her eyes. “Damn it, I have a class.”

Justin started to laugh, but his laughter was drowned by a sudden and sharp-pitched siren. Sybellie’s eyes widened. “Sandstorm!”

So the nice people on the Vistara got a warning siren, did they? In Pas City, the wind simply howled through the streets, and the people dove for the nearest shelter.

Sybellie fumbled for her breath mask. “So much for class. And the shelter is all the way over there.” She pointed down the artificial green of the campus.

“The campus is shielded, isn’t it?” Justin looked up at the sky through the shield, where not even a stray speck of dust yet marred the blue.

“Against the sun. Not sandstorms. Crap, we won’t make it.”

Justin saw it now, a wall of dirt pouring down the wide avenues toward them. The far buildings on the campus were already engulfed.

“My car,” he said. “Run!”

“Your car’s shielded from sandstorms?”

Justin grabbed her hand and propelled her into the street. The heat and wind struck them with force as soon as they left the protected campus.

Justin unlocked the door and shoved her inside, sprinting around to the driver’s side. Now to see if he could start up and get the hell out of there before the sandstorm flipped the car over and ground it to a pile of metal.

The doors sealed, shutting out the smell of dirt.
Warning
, the car’s computer told him as soon as he brought it to life.
Approaching sandstorm.

“No shit,” Justin said.

Nearest shelter at seventeen degrees.

“Fine.”

Justin hit the “Accept” button, which would let the car calculate wherever the hell seventeen degrees from their position was. The car obediently started to move, but too slowly for Justin’s peace of mind. He’d just found his daughter and had dragged her into the path of a killer sandstorm . . .

She sat next to him, eyes wide as she watched the storm come, her hand gripping the handholds. Her breath came quickly, but she wasn’t screaming in panic or screeching at him to do something.
She seems to have a lot of sense,
Deanna had said. He was so proud of that.

The shelter was a low building about a block away, whose doors started to slide back into concrete and steel walls when they reached it, again, too slowly for his comfort.

The sandstorm hit them. One moment, Justin was looking at the steel doors in white walls, the next, he couldn’t see them at all.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He hit the accelerator, screw waiting for the car to calmly drive itself into the shelter.

The car leapt forward, brushing the still-moving doors with a metallic shriek. A blast of sand-laden wind picked up the rear of the car and slammed it forward, spinning the car around.

Justin saw the dim interior of a small, single-car shelter whirling before them, then the sand pouring in at them, then the automated shelter doors as they met and closed.

The doors sealed. The sand that had blown in smashed itself against the car and the walls of the shelter, then dropped harmlessly to the ground.

Justin shut off the car and twisted to face Sybellie. “You all right?”

Sybellie pulled off her silk veils, flapping sand out of them. Her hair glistened in the car’s weak interior light, brown streaked with gold.

“I’m fine. Just dirty. Do you always swear in front of women?”

Justin grinned. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Sybellie grabbed her handheld. “Let me tell my parents I’m okay.”

“Sure.”

Sybellie quickly typed a message, then tossed her handheld, her pack, and her veils into the back seat and let out a long breath.

“Well,” she said. “I guess we have time to talk now.”

Justin’s fingers shook as he set the car’s internal air controls. “I guess we do.”

“All right then. Who are you, who is my mother, why did you have me, why did you give me up, and why did it take twenty-four years for me to be able to ask you these questions?”