Marked. Part II: Becoming Noah Baxter (14 page)

Chapter 21

Tuesday, March 25

8:53am

My eyes flutter open to find Jay staring back at me, face inches from mine. I start to smile and ask him if he was watching me sleep, but pause after I take in the sadness he's conveying through his eyes.

I think I know what that look means, causing my expression to mirror his. We soak the other in, memorizing all that we can.

I manage to get up the courage to speak, already knowing the answer, “You're sending me home today.”

“
Yeah,” his gravelly morning voice confirms, fingers running along my lips.

His eyes are killing me right now. The tortured sadness behind them is almost more than I can bear.

“This sucks.”

He pulls me into him, “I wish I didn't have to.”

“I know,” I murmur along his neck. “Can I say goodbye to Ben and Arianna first?”

Jay nods against my head, holding me tighter to him. We stay this way a long time, silent tears falling down my cheeks.

We break apart and mournfully go make coffee together, cuddling on the couch while we drink it.

“
I don't want it to be like last time,” Jay confesses. “I don't want it to hurt like that.”

“
How can it not?”

“
Let's get out of here for a few hours, go for a drive and have some fun.”

I try not to get excited, “Really?”

Jay combs his fingers through my hair, “I'm hoping it will take some of the sting out if we have some fun first.”

I jump up, “Okay! And let's pretend I'm not leaving, we're just two people in love and spending time together.”

He grins, “I like it.”

I hurry to the bathroom to wash up and brush my teeth. I go back to the bedroom area and pull out the summer dress Arianna gave to me last night (so I would have something else to wear besides what I came here in).

Jay's coming out of the bathroom and walking towards me as I'm making sure the end is pulled down and not stuck in my underwear.

He places a hand on the chest of drawers and the other over his heart, letting his knees bend a bit as though the sight of me has knocked him off balance, “Where the hell did you get that, and where can I buy you more?”

“Arianna,” I smile, loving his reaction and wanting to get a thousand more dresses just like it.

“
I officially approve of your friendship.” He crooks a finger at me and I eagerly come closer. He lifts me so I'm sitting on top of the dresser, nudging my legs open so he can come between them. His hands trail up my bare thighs, lifting the dress up with them, sending a zing that starts at my head and another at my toes, causing them to crash together and flutter my stomach.

“
I've got it bad for you, Lily,” Jay confesses, as though he shouldn't be feeling this way, watching his hands roam further up. “I didn't know it would be like this.”

“
So consuming,” I whisper more to myself than to Jay, knowing what he means.

“
Yeah,” he breathes, peering up at me, “It's intense, huh?”

“
Yes,” I answer honestly, hoping the more I give to him the more he'll give back, “and scary, but at the same time it couldn't be more wonderful.”

“
Or perfect,” he adds, his mouth and tongue meeting my collarbone.

I want to agree, but his thumbs have slipped between the elastic of my panties and started stroking and teasing. I grab hold of his biceps, scooting us closer, pressing his hard cock against me, rubbing against his hands so I feel all three. My body lets out a shiver of pleasure.

“Why can't you say the words anymore?” I ask, knowing he understands what I mean.

“
I don't know.” Jay places his forehead to mine, continually playing with me, and I'm barely able to concentrate on what he's saying, “Last time everything was happening so fast, and I wanted to make sure you knew I was feeling everything you were. I think now...” he sighs and softly kisses my lips. “I'm afraid that somehow I'm cursed, and if the universe hears me something will happen and you'll be taken away from me again.”

How does he always manage to break my heart in more ways than I thought were possible?

“I do though. You know that right?”

I nod, not wanting to get choked up if I try to speak.

“Good,” he gruffly lets out, his hands sliding around to get a better grip and tugging me so I slam right up against him. He brings his lips to my ear, “I'm going to fuck you into oblivion now.”

10:53am

We're in the private parking garage a block down from the bank. I'm watching Jay do a sweep of a black Aston Martin DB9 (I read it on the back), making sure it's safe after two guards did the same. 

When we went to get the keys, Ben was back to being friendly and caring towards me, even giving me a tour of his office, which to my disappointment was just an office, but this one had windows all around and the only elevator that takes you to the top floor. I literally had to bite my tongue to stop myself from asking what the top floor was.

I think I scared Ben when I hugged him goodbye. He stiffly patted my shoulder in response. I made him promise to call me if something happened I needed to know about.

“I'm surprised you're not worried about something happening,” I admit.

Jay closes the trunk with a smug smirk on his face, “It won't be a problem,
I'm
driving.”

Cocky bastard, but damn if I don't want to fuck him over the hood of this car right now.

He opens the passenger side door and motions for me to get in. I sink into the leather seat in pure luxury heaven. This has to be the sexiest car I have ever been in, probably because it's also the most expensive car I have ever been in (or will probably ever be in again).

Flipping his shades down, Jay pulls out into city traffic.

“Do I ever get to find out what's on that file Ben desperately had to have?” The only thing I know about it is the seven numbers used to identify it.

“
Honestly, Lily,
I
don't even know. Vault's a private man, but from what I gather it's a list of every bank that's similar to Vault's and their top clients. You hungry?” He adds on, signifying he's done with this conversation.

I nod, slouching down, bummed.

“Good. There's a great place that has amazing eggs benedict. Does that sound good to you? They have a bunch of other stuff too.”

“
That's one of my favorites.”

Jay smiles broadly at me, “For being so completely different, I love how many things we have in common.”

“That's because we were made for each other.”

I expect him to laugh at my response and how cheesy it is, but his smile widens. He relaxes back into his seat, taking my hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

We drive out of the city and towards the coast, Jay's hand stroking the bare skin on the inside of my thigh. I think he likes to feel the goosebumps that form from his touch and the occasional tremble my body lets out.

I roll down my window to take in a deep breath of salty sea air. This moment is perfect: the sun is shining, the waves of the ocean are calm and rippling, Jay carefree as he drives. A content sigh slips out. 

I don't allow myself to think about my departure; I want to enjoy the moment, because I'm not sure when I'll see him again.

My throat forms a lump and tears burn the back of my eyes.

Crap, this is exactly what I don't want.

I turn on the satellite radio, searching for a station that plays the latest hits. I force Jay to listen to me sing as loud as I can, making him laugh at how I can never seem to get the words right.

I can't wait for the day we can do this whenever we want, with no impending doom hovering over us. When we can just be a couple.

“
Fuck!” Jay cries out, startling me. His hand comes out to shove me against the seat at the exact moment a car hits our rear. I would have whipped forward if he wasn't restraining me. He curses some more, working the clutch and shifting to a higher speed, “Hold on.”

He pushes a button on the steering wheel and the inside of the car rings from a phone. The minute it clicks he speaks, “I've got someone on my tail. Track us and send men out.” He pushes the button again. “Lily,
for once you're going to need to listen to me.”

Jay points to the glove box, “Take the gun in there.”

With a pounding heart I do what he asks.

“
Are things about to get danger–” I don't get the chance to finish because the car behind us plows into us again, lifting up the back end of our car. I bite my lip to hold in a scream, knowing that's not going to help the situation.

My head jolts as the back end bounces back into the road, Jay keeping control of the car.

“What's going on?” I try to come out smooth, but I'm freaking out and there's no way of hiding it, “Is that him?”

“
I don't know,” Jay grits through his teeth. “Their face is shadowed behind the visor.” He slams his hand on the steering wheel, “FUCK!”

I take in deep breaths, hoping to calm my nerves down. My heart is straining to burst out of my chest.

“I can't catch a fucking break,” he mutters under his breath.

Our car has gained some distance from the other thanks to Jay's driving skill. We got lucky that nobody is out today and the roads are clear. Or maybe we didn't.

A long stretch of road is before us and Jay slowly releases the gas.

“
What are you doing?!” I screech, my side mirror showing the other vehicle catching up to us.

“
I need to find out who I'm dealing with so I know how fucked we are.”

My stomach knots and I distract myself from going into hysterics by inspecting the gun, becoming familiar with the weight of it.

The other car takes the bait and pulls along side of us, trying to swerve us off the road. I keep one hand on the “oh shit” bar and the other around the gun.

Jay remains in control, not letting the car move us too much, “I need to focus, can you see who's in there?”

I lean forward and actually sigh with relief, because it's some forty year old looking guy with a bad comb over, “It's not him. It's only some other guy.” It's only some other guy? How can I sound so casual about it? He's still trying to get us. I shake my head, finding amusement over the fact that this brought me a smudge of comfort.

“
Thank God,” Jay exhales.

The other car slams into our side, Jay having a harder time controlling it. I'm just thankful we are not on the other side with the cliffs. Our side has hills, but I'd rather crash into those than go over an edge.

“Okay, up ahead is a turn. I'm going drift it so you face his front. Do you think you can handle shooting a tire or two?”

“
You're shitting me, right?” Now it's my turn to be cocky.

Jay guns it and grins, successfully getting ahead of the car again, “That's my girl.”

I double check that the gun is ready to go and roll my window all the way down, “I'm going to need to unbuckle.”

Jay swipes his head, “Shit, Lily, that makes me way too fucking nervous.”

“Worry about driving, not me, okay?”

He takes in a gulp of air, expanding his chest, and nods his head while letting it all flow out.

“Pretend I'm Charlie or something.”

“
Charlie wouldn't wear that kind of dress, it doesn't have any pink on it.”

I can't tell if he's messing with me or not and I don't have time to figure it out.

I sit on my knees to make it easier to lean part of me out the window, waiting to aim until Jay begins turning the wheels into the corner. The minute the back end drifts behind us my arms extend, finger on the trigger.

Trying to focus with the wind blowing my hair into my face while we're drifting around a corner is almost impossible.

The first bullet that leaves the muzzle hits the rim. I curse, take a deep breath, and remind myself to concentrate and shut the world out, knowing the opportunity will be lost any second as Jay comes out of the turn. I fire again, successfully hitting a front tire just before our car straightens out. I twist my body to better see out the back window.

The other car spins out of control, only stopping when it smashes into a guard rail, it's side lifting up. I hold my breath expecting it to flip all the way over, but it lands back down with a thud, glass shattering.

Jay turns the car around to drive back towards the vehicle, parking a yard away from it. He pulls out another gun and gets out, “Stay here.”

I watch him creep over to the other vehicle, gun aimed.

“What if it's a bomb?” I shout out the window.