Survival Games (13 page)

After Ty cleaned
up the room, he found himself standing in front of her door. He turned away,
taking a step toward the control room and stopped, turning back. He leaned with
his hands on the doorjamb, fighting the urge to enter and just take her, take
her in bed and take her out of there.

He reached for the
doorknob and hesitated. He wanted to be with her tonight and that urge won out.
He stepped in the room, gently closing the door behind him.

He met her guarded
gaze, blowing the air out of his lungs. Silent, he crossed the room like a lion
cornering his prey, taking her face in his hands and kissing her.

She put her hands
on his wrists and pulled away. “Don’t,” she whispered. She didn’t know if Frank
was watching or not and she didn’t want him to see her melt in Ty’s arms.

“I want you,” Ty
said in that low sexy voice, slowly moving the straps of the dress off her
shoulders, kissing her neck. The dress drifted to the floor and he ran his
hands down her arms.

“Please don’t.”

He knelt down,
slipping her heels off one foot after the other and ran his hand up the outside
of her legs, over her hips and behind her back as he stood. He leaned in to
kiss her.

“He’s watching,”
she whispered.

Ty stopped and his
brow creased. “Who?”

She leaned in to
whisper in his ear. “Frank.”

Ty stood up
straight and looked in the glass; his sharp blue eyes stared back, daring the
image beyond. “He better not be.” The warning in his tone clear. He inhaled and
brought his gaze back to her fawn colored eyes. He waited for a minute and then
leaned in to kiss her again.

“Ty, no,” she said
and stepped back. She looked up at the cameras and crossed her arms over her
bare breasts.

“No one’s watching,
Jess,” he said.

“Then turn the
cameras off,” she whispered.

He hung his head
and took a deep breath. “No,” he said and stepped toward her. She backed into
the glass but this time when he kissed her, she kissed back, melting into him.

Her fingers
trembled as she navigated the buttons of his shirt, opening it and placing her
hand on his bare chest, feeling the strong beat of his heart against her skin.

His hand reached
down between her legs, stroking, teasing, heating her to the core, and her kiss
deepened, her arms slipping around his neck. He broke the kiss, grazing her
cheek, moving his lips to her graceful neck. His tongue ran down the line from
her ear to her collarbone and her skin transformed into a landscape of goose
bumps.

He swept her off
her feet, bringing her to the mattress on the floor. “Tell me you want me,” he
said holding her in his arms.

“You know I can’t
do that,” she whispered and slid her hand up his chest.

“Tell me…” He
started to speak and she put her finger on his lips, stopping him.

“Shut up and kiss
me.”

Ty leaned in,
pausing a breath away from her lips, allowing a brief smile, meeting her hungry
gaze with his own. “You want me to kiss you?”

Without saying the
words, she closed the distance and took his lower lip between her teeth,
sucking it gently before kissing him full on the mouth, playfully flicking her
tongue and drawing his into her mouth. A low rumble of contentment formed in
his throat and he laid her out on the mattress without breaking the kiss.

Passion, hot and
urgent, pulsed through his skin, her body molding to his, her arms wrapping
around his neck, and the kiss, God, her kiss stopped time. He ran his hands
into her hair, increasing the intensity of the tongue dance, eliciting a soft
moan in response.

Shifting, he
shimmied out of his pants with her help, tossing them aside and settling back
down between her willing legs. He slid inside her already damp canal, her legs
entwined with his and heaven’s door opened, blinding him with unusual emotions.

Emotions long forgotten.
Joy. Bliss. Ecstasy.

He stopped the
slow grinding of his hips and broke the kiss, pulling away far enough to stare
in her soulful brown eyes. Words alone could not express the tirade of feelings
sweeping through him and he sighed, slowly curling his lips in a smile, letting
passion take precedence once again.

“Roll,” she said.

He tilted his
head, the smile morphing into a grin. “You want me to roll?”

“For the love of…”
She rolled her eyes. “Just roll over.”

His light laugh
filled the air sending tingles up her spine and he wrapped his arms around her,
rolling over on the mattress. Jessica tossed her hair aside and stared into his
smoldering blue eyes. His gaze sparked a heat in her soul, a heat so consuming
she forgot she was a captive in his prison.

She grabbed the front
of the silk dress shirt he still wore and yanked him into a sitting position,
stripping the garment off his glorious form, slipping it on herself. His
distinct scent clung to the fabric, male musk accented with a long faded hint
of Ralph Lauren. Smiling, she rolled up the sleeves and swung her hips in slow
circles.

He leaned back on
his elbows, his gaze locked with hers and a playful smile flirting on his lips.
When he reached for her, she caught his wrists, pinning them on the mattress by
his head and smiled at his sudden inhale.

He pressed his
lips together closing his eyes and blew a slow stream of air before he opened
his eyes to her again. This time his eyes were no longer smoldering, they
flashed into an inferno.

“I kind of like
you being in control,” he teased, his low raspy voice adding to the roaring
fire consuming her.

Her lips trailed
down the line of his neck, tasting, nipping at the salty sweet taste of him.
Smiling at the nuance of change in his breathing and the muscles flexing in his
arms, she moved to the other side of his throat, licking her way up the line of
his neck. She chuckled at his low moan when she gently bit down on his earlobe.

“Jessie,” he
whispered with eyelids at half-mast. He surrendered completely, allowing her to
set the pace, matching her rhythm, their bodies in sync like lifetime lovers.

She found his
mouth, nipping at his lower lip, tasting remnants of the wine from dinner
before swirling her tongue with his. Her hips quickened, a tsunami of pleasure
cresting until the wave broke and she arched, pulling away from his lips,
moaning his name.

The wave abated,
still churning, waiting to reform and overtake her and she slid her grip,
lacing her fingers in his. A light sheen of sweat stood out on his forehead,
evidence of his desperate need to keep control and make this last. His eyes
searched hers, and he broke her clasp, sliding his hands down the length of her
sides, his hot palms a sharp contrast to the cool fabric settling in the wake
of his touch. She shivered, flipping her hair out of the way again, studying
the intensity of his gaze. Her entire life forgotten, the images of her dreams
prevailing, converging to the moment with him kneeling in the snow before her,
the diamond sparkling in his shaking hands, the cold ocean breeze filtering
through her hair and overwhelming joy encompassed her.

“Tell me you love
me,” she said.

He wrapped his
arms around her and rolled, pinning her under him. He held her face kissing her
passionately, slamming his full length into her over and over and she arched
into him with the same force each time. He pulled away from her lips and
whispered in her ear the words she wanted to hear.

“Oh God,” she
cried and arched, the tidal wave overtaking both of them until they lay spent
and trembling in each other’s arms.

He rolled again;
content to let her snuggle on his chest while he smoothed the hair away from
her face. The suspension of reality that over took them came crumbling down,
their situation as dire as the concrete walls surrounding them and they both
exhaled.

“Ty,” she sighed,
closing her eyes and listening to the strong beat of his heart.

He ran his hand
over her back, lazily back and forth through the fabric of his shirt she still
wore. She lifted her head. His glossy eyes took her in, his lips pressed
together in contemplation.

“You really are an
angel sent to save me, aren’t you?”

“I’m not an angel,
Ty.”

“I never knew,” he
started and stopped, struggling with forming words. “I never thought,” he tried
to continue. He closed his eyes in frustration, because he couldn’t find the
words. He drew in a shaky breath.

She waited with
the steady thrum of his heart resonating in her fingertips.

His eyelids rose
and he tried again. “When my mom died, there was just the three of us.” He took
a deep breath “God I felt helpless. My stepfather beat the shit out of me
regularly and occasionally hit Chris, but the things he did to Anna were worse.
I used to hear her cry at night after he left her room.” He closed his eyes and
squeezed her tighter before he continued. “She was sixteen when he killed her.”
A tear slipped out of the corner of his eye. He absently wiped it away.

“When I came home
from school, he was sitting on the side of the bed next to her body. I had
never seen so much blood. It covered the bed, the walls, even spots on the
ceiling.” He shook his head and bit his lower lip, meeting her gaze. “I killed
him, Jess. The knife he used was on the ground near the foot of the bed and I
picked it up and planted that sucker into his back all the way to the hilt.”

Ty trembled as the
memory came flooding back. “I kind of freaked out, I was only twelve but I was
smart enough to wipe the knife. I made sure I didn’t have any blood on me and
left the house. I went and waited at the bus stop for Chris like I did every
day.”

Ty paused looking
at the ceiling, tears sliding down, pooling in his ears. “The police pinned
both murders on Anna’s boyfriend and that’s the day I became just like the son
of a bitch.” The tears continued to fall and he looked at her. “Everything that
was good in me died that day,” he said. “I didn’t believe I was capable of
feeling anything but anger until…” he trailed off and inhaled. “Until you.” He
pulled her lips to his and kissed her. “Until you,” he whispered again.

* *
* *

Jessica touched
the scar on his face and looked into his eyes breaking away from the kiss. Tears
blurred her vision and she pulled away, getting to her feet. “I’ll be right
back,” she whispered and headed to the bathroom.

She put her fist
to her mouth, silencing the sob that threatened and turned on the water,
splashing her face, washing the tear tracks. When she took the towel away from
her face and glanced at her reflection, her son stared back.

Eric’s eyes
widened. “You need to fix him before the bad man comes.” Eric pointed behind
him towards the concrete bedroom. “He will protect you. Tell him not to go,
Mom, make him stay.”

“Ty?”

Eric nodded. “Fix
him. He’ll protect you but you have to make sure he stays.” He held his arms
out for a hug and she leaned in, feeling his butterfly kiss on her cheek.

“Please,” Eric
whispered and he disappeared.

* *
* *

Ty put his jeans
on and sat on the edge of the mattress with his head in his hands. His mind
going over every option again and again.
How the fuck am I going to get her
out of this building away from Frank?

His head snapped
up.
Frank. Fuck. I need to get to the tape before he does.
He was
halfway to the door when she stepped back in the room. His heart skipped
another beat at her pale cheeks and he stopped, turning toward her. “Are you
okay?”

She nodded but her
eyes, her eyes had changed to that dark violet from the night she danced and
when she looked down at his arm, he followed her gaze to the bloody bandage. His
eyebrows rose when in one fluid movement, she ripped the dressing from his skin
and leaned forward, pressing her lips to the oozing wound.

Pain, searing and
furious snaked up his arm and he sucked his breath in, yanking his arm away
from her grip.

“Jesus Christ!”

He shook his arm,
droplets of blood springing off, splattering on the floor and he tore his gaze
away from her bloody lips and haunting eyes to the fading burning sensation in
his skin. He froze, his eyes popping in their sockets at the vision before him.
The cut closed like a zipper, mending, healing until nothing was left, not even
a faint scar under the bloody sheen.

“Jesus, Mary,
mother of God,” he whispered and looked up at Jessica.

She took a step
toward him and fell in a dead faint. Ty caught her, staring at the stark
contrast between his blood smeared on her lips and her pale, corpse-like face. Fear,
feral and savage, ravaged him, turning his legs to liquid and he sank to the
ground with her in his tight grasp.

“Jess?” He shook
her. “Wake up, please God, wake up.” He leaned down and sighed with relief when
her light breath grazed his cheek.

Her eyes fluttered
open, still that unearthly violet and they locked with his. “What happened?” she
asked and her tongue ran over her lip followed by a grimace. She wiped the
tacky blood away with the sleeve of his shirt.

Dear God,
whatever she did changed her eyes.
He shook the thought out of his head and
glanced down at his arm. “I have no idea,” he said and raised his eyes in
disbelief. He helped her to her feet, speechless and in awe.

He blinked and
glanced at the ceiling, the cameras recording their every move, their every
word.
The tape!
“Jessie, I have to go take care of something. I’ll be
right back.”

“Stay with me,”
Jessica whispered.

“I promise I’ll be
right back,” he said. He had to get to that tape before anyone else did. He
didn’t even glance back when he left the room and was in a full sprint by the
time he rounded the corner.