Chasing Shade Part 7

Pleasure she was creating. It thrilled her down to her toes, made her even wetter between her thighs. She liked that she had that kind of control over him. The same kind he had over her. Betsey craned her neck and he moved forwards for just an instant to help her. He let her suck the tip of his c.o.c.k into her mouth, swirl her tongue, pull at him, her hand gripping his a.s.s.

He thrust very gently. Not too fast or too hard or too much. Just enough to catch her breath in her lungs and make her eyes p.r.i.c.kle with water. She sucked harder, letting her tongue play along the silken rigidity of his c.o.c.k, feeling every tiny nuance with her lips.

'Betsey, Betsey, Betsey...' He said it like a prayer and something in her chest hitched and she felt like she might cry.

She wouldn't allow it, so she focused on what she was doing. What it had been ages since she'd done. She stroked his hip with her fingers and swirled her tongue over the head of his c.o.c.k, tasting a small burst of salt on her tongue from pre-come, she guessed.

Her p.u.s.s.y thumped in time with her pulse. It was a constant reminder of how badly she wanted him in her. How much she wanted to surrender to him all over again and what they managed to make each other feel.

She was able to get her tongue low enough to drag a wet pattern over his b.a.l.l.s and he grunted. 'That's it. That's it. Clothes off,' he said breathlessly. But not before she moved her head, held fast to his a.s.s and slid her lips low on his c.o.c.k once more. Wetting him and tasting him, relishing the animal growl he let out.

'OK, now. Now clothes off,' she whispered.

They both stripped off their remaining clothes with short breaks for kissing. When she stroked him again, jacking him with her fist, he sighed and dropped on to his back. 'You, Betsey. You on top. I want to see you.'

He reached out towards her nightstand and she put her hand on his forearm. Liking the feel of the bulk and muscle in it. The way it flexed beneath her trapping fingers. 'We don't need that...unless you want it,' she quickly added. Heat flooded her cheeks. How could she so easily be utterly naked before him but get embarra.s.sed asking this? He fl.u.s.tered her, she realised. And it was intoxicating.

He smiled, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. 'Of course I'd prefer it without but, Betsey, I don't want you to make any fast decisions. Once was one thing, in the heat of the moment, but I thought maybe this time you'd prefer '

She moved her body against his, grinding her wetness along the length of his c.o.c.k. His words died away and he exhaled slowly.

'I would rather not,' she said, softly. Her voice didn't want to come but she forced it. She rotated her hips again, pressing her p.u.s.s.y lips to the hard line of his erection. Finding the right pressure to grind her c.l.i.t to him. Pleasure unfurled brightly in her pelvis. Her c.u.n.t flexed, warm and wet. It was her turn to exhale slowly.

Her nipples had pebbled into hard little knots and Archie watched her, this time in the muted sunlight, as he stroked first one and then the other. She shut her eyes at the sensation and he pinched, forcing her to draw in a fast rush of air.

'Tell me,' Archie said. His voice low. So commanding, compared to his normal speaking voice, it nearly sounded malicious. It sent a shiver through her.

'I'd rather...feel you,' she forced herself to say. 'Bare.'

Archie nodded once, his eyes darker blue, his lids lowered halfway. He looked intent and in tune with her. He reached down between them and simply stroked her swollen c.l.i.t with his thumb. When she tried to move away, he brought a hand up behind the small of her back and held her fast. His thumb moved a bit faster, a bit rougher. Betsey gripped his shoulders, holding on now. Holding on for dear life as he played her perfectly. His own little mid-afternoon instrument.

'Archie ' she said, breathing out as she came. Her body trembling over his, her fingers tight against his arms.

'Come on, then.' He moved her hips once her trembling had subsided. He rubbed his c.o.c.k against her slick opening and then Betsey sank down on to him. Inch by inch. Taking her time.

When he was filling her, she stayed perfectly still. Archie placed his hands on her hips. He didn't urge her on or try to make her move. He simply held her there, his fingers moving lazily at times, stroking her. Betsey's entire being had been narrowed down to where they were joined. She could feel her pulse deep inside and imagined she could feel Archie's in tandem. The urge to move crawled through her but equally strong was the need to stay utterly still and let this moment last as long as possible.

Inside her wetness, his c.o.c.k flexed and that broke her resolve. She said his name on a breath as she began to move. The rocking, sliding friction was overwhelming. Betsey found herself holding her breath until he reached up and pulled her down to him. His hand strong against the back of her neck. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed to the warmth of his chest even as her hips continued to rock and move against him. Every motion brought a slick firm kiss of his flesh against her now tender c.l.i.t. Archie's lips pressed hers, his tongue bullied hers, and she found herself clutching at him, on the verge of coming again.

'I love the way you feel, Betsey,' he said against her cheek. Before she could respond, he kissed her again.

Archie moved up beneath her, thrusting hard. She sobbed softly, a sound that startled her because she hadn't been aware it was in her to begin with. And then she came. Another soft cry rushing out of her.

'That's my girl,' he muttered. His fingers clutched her hips harder now. She framed his face with her hands and kissed him deeply.

'Will you...'

He thrust up hard again and it stole her breath for an instant.

'What?'

'Will you...can I be under you?'

She felt safer that way but didn't know how to explain it. Because just saying it that way felt silly. How being under a man could be safer than being on a man made no sense. But inside her, in some battered broken place, it did to her. She needed to feel him covering her. Sheltering her. Because she found, in that moment, that she trusted Archie Rader implicitly. Even with her truths.

He studied her, his blue eyes dark and intense. Then he nodded once and flipped her. Flipped her so fast she let out a strangled little cry and then found herself laughing. But under him. Blissfully, perfectly under the bulk of him.

He took it one step further, warming her heart. He knocked her legs a little wider and then pushed her arms above her head and held them down with a single strong hand. His free hand drifted up and down her side, tracing her ribs, making her skin shiver. Archie plunged into her, driving deep, rotating his hips and stalling not only her breath but his own.

'This won't last long, Betsey, not with you beneath me. I'll lose my resolve to hold on.' He chuckled.

'Why?' She sincerely wanted to know. She wanted to know what was in his head.

'I like the feel of you beneath me. I like the feel of you next to me. I just like the feel of you. h.e.l.l ' he stalled for a minute, still filling her but not moving ' I like the idea of you in this world, Betsey.'

Tears streaked, unexpected and annoying, from the corners of her eyes. She tried to turn her face away but he grasped her chin gently and made her look at him. 'Don't run from me, OK? I thought it was amazing to stumble over someone nice,' he said, grinding his hips, keeping her primed. 'Someone nice who helped me find a job and a home...what a f.u.c.king miracle, right?'

She could only nod, her throat now so thick she couldn't speak.

'But then last night...and today...I realised...' He shook his head and then kissed her. His fingers bit into her wrist, his chest crushed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, pushed her meagre breath out of her, but G.o.d, was it perfect. 'I realised that you are the miracle, Betsey. Not what you offered me.'

He buried his face in her hair and moved into her and when he said her name, his lips pressed to her ear, she came with him. Their bodies moving together in release.

Chapter 11.

Archie pulled her to him. His heart still banged but there was something else some warm rush of emotion he'd never felt before. He brushed her hair back, feeling the silken softness between his fingers. He had a thing for her hair, apparently. Constantly touching it, stroking it, twisting it around his fingers.

'I was abducted when I was younger,' she said softly.

He couldn't help it. His body went rigid and he felt hers go the same in response. It had trapped his breath in his lungs, that handful of words. His heart broke for her.

The name change. The nightmare. The things she'd said the night before. He hadn't expected her to talk to him about it. He'd tried to let her think he hadn't heard. But here she was talking again and he wanted her to, because clearly she needed to.

He wrapped his arms tighter around her. Holding her close. She let him, but just for a minute. Then she pulled free.

'Betsey,' he said, reaching for her. He didn't want her to feel like she had to run away.

'Shh,' she said. She wasn't running away, he saw. She was just getting comfortable. She rolled on to her belly and rested her head on his chest. Her fingers danced along his skin, circling a nipple. He chuckled and moved like it tickled. It made her laugh.

'I was seventeen. I was on my way to school. He followed me. Somehow that f.u.c.ker managed to find a time when no one was really around.' She shrugged. 'It was foggy that morning. I guess a lot of kids got rides to school, but I didn't. Everyone had already left for work.'

He traced lines up and down her back with his fingertips. He could feel her body relaxing, melding against his. It thrilled him to soothe her.

'He followed me and I could tell he had followed me. So I took a left where I normally went straight. Which was a mistake. I forgot it was a dead-end street. It bottomed out with a chainlink fence that backed up to a junkyard on the other side. I started to run I just had this...feeling. It came off him in waves. A bad feeling. A sense of evil.'

He felt her growing tense again. Archie kissed the top of her head but said nothing.

'I had to run past him, obviously, to get out. The two houses at the end of the street were abandoned. Another bad thing for me. Anyway, he timed it. I ran and he waited until just the right moment and threw his door open. Stunned me with it.'

He could feel his chest getting wet. She was crying. He wrapped her more securely in his arms but said nothing. He didn't want to break the spell. She needed to get this out.

'It was all so f.u.c.king stupid,' she whispered. More tears. He felt them rolling across his skin. He traced his name on her back. Kept his mouth shut. Listened. 'How it happened. How he got me. But he got me. I had put it together by the time he got me in the car, that he was the guy they were looking for. Three other girls had been abducted. And he was the guy. They were missing, the girls. No one had seen him, no bodies had turned up.' She shivered.

Silence. It stretched out for a while and he wondered if she was done. Or even if she'd fallen asleep. He was just about to move when she started talking again. 'I was his fourth victim. But I became famous...'

'Why?' he asked. She clearly wanted him to.

'I was the one who got away. And got him caught.'

He smiled. 'Why am I not surprised?'

'Oh, it was luck. Or just stupidity. I think, almost every day of my life, how it could have turned out different. How he could have just turned around and shot me. Killed me right there. But he didn't. I think I stunned him.'

'What did you do?'

'We pulled up to a stoplight. He'd told me if I spoke or anything he'd kill me. He'd also...' A watery sound that wasn't quite sob, wasn't quite laugh, erupted from her. He brushed her hair back, tilted her head up, kissed her.

'Go on, Betsey.'

She inhaled, steeled herself obviously. 'He'd also set the child safety locks on. I couldn't open the doors from the inside.'

Archie repressed a shudder.

'Anyway, we pulled up at a stoplight and I just...lost it.' She lay there, her head on his chest, breathing softly. His heart sped up. Archie wondered if she could feel it, or hear it even. 'You ever seen a kid at a store or just...out...lose their s.h.i.t? Have a full-blown meltdown?'

'Sure.'

'Ever wonder if they're in trouble? Maybe something's up? Ever call the cops?'

He had to be honest. 'No.'

She nodded, kissed his belly just above his belly b.u.t.ton. The muscles there rippled appreciatively. 'Lucky for me a very nosy woman did.' She laughed. 'At the stoplight, I started to scream. I screamed and I screamed and then, and I think this is what saved me, I started to beat my forehead against the back window.'

Archie heard himself gasp.

She stroked her fingers along his belly, but kept talking. 'He tried to act as if I were...I don't know, maybe disabled or mentally ill. Whatever. He tried to play it off, but I just kept screaming, just kept banging my head, until there were streaks of blood and traffic was backed up and people were beeping and that woman. That nosy mother of four thank G.o.d she called the police. He pulled off but she had got his plates. We got picked up a few minutes later. Me, b.l.o.o.d.y, hysterical, terrified but alive. Him, he was busted. And those girls were found and freed. And me? Overnight famous. "The Girl Who Got Away". Instant celebrity, just add trauma.'

'Who was he?'

'Denton Jackson Miller. A mailman. Who took girls along his route. According to him, he watched them until he couldn't stand it any more. Then he took them. The voices told him to,' she sighed.

'And you were on his route.'

'Yep. I saw him almost every day. Sometimes to accept a package, sometimes just a shadow pa.s.sing by after the clink of the mailbox. But yeah. Almost every day.'

'Why did you get that feeling then?'

She shrugged again. Kissed his belly once more. He wanted her all over again. Both because of the l.u.s.t that rose up in him and because of the pain she seemed to be in. He wanted to make it all go away for her. Replace the sadness with pleasure. 'Something about the look on his face. It just read wrong.'

'So you escaped,' he said. 'Jesus.'

'Yes. I was an overnight celebrity. The one who got away. The one who escaped. I went from b.l.o.o.d.y and frantic in the back of his car to on every morning show for weeks.'

'I think I remember this,' he said softly.

'I'd be surprised if you didn't.'

'You were strong.'

'I was,' Betsey said. 'Was being the operative word. It was actually the beginning of my undoing.' She laughed. It had a bitter quality to it though he couldn't see her face. It made him want to protect her.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, after that '

A high-pitched beep followed by a gravelly vibration followed. They both froze and then Archie sighed. 'My beeper.'

'Do people even have beepers any more?' She grinned at him and he felt lighter for it.

'If they work for Charlie Booth they do. Look, Christ, Betsey, I'm sorry '

She stretched up and kissed him. Her tongue stroked over his briefly and then she pulled back, all smiles and wild honey-coloured hair. 'Go, I don't want you to lose your new job and your new hovel. I want you to hold on to that miracle of yours.'

He grabbed her hard enough to make her gasp and pulled her down. Archie tangled his hands in her crazy bed head and kissed her for all he was worth. Kissed her like he'd miss her. Because he would. Though he felt silly for it considering she'd be less than a quarter mile from him. 'I will. I'm holding on to her right now.'

He was still b.u.t.toning his jeans as he left. And wondering what the h.e.l.l he was getting himself into, falling for her so fast. Because that was exactly what was happening. But he had to hurry a resident had an emergency of some kind, and he could worry about his heart later.

Betsey watched him go, wondering what a nice guy like Archie would think when she told him the rest. She was kind of trying to warn him off her. She was no good for a nice guy like him. She had a long, chequered past and often her days were spent holding tightly to her sobriety. It was no life for a guy like him. He was just on a pit stop between a c.r.a.ppy past life and a shiny new one. She'd have to make their affair short and sweet.

She'd made a huge mistake sucking him into her drama.

She heard a car's tyres popping and crunching across the gravel outside her trailer. She didn't know why but it turned her mind to the letter out on her makeshift desk. She peeked out the window and saw a stranger. A middle-aged woman driving an old white Lincoln. The woman pushed her aviator gla.s.ses up and stared at Betsey's trailer as if trying to decipher if she was in the right place.

Betsey pulled her jeans on. Suddenly missing Archie more than she thought possible and feeling more worried than seemed logical.

At the door she waited. A fine tremor had started in her hands. She felt claustrophobic and suddenly anxious to the point of irrationality. It was one of those moments when Betsey missed it all booze, pills, weed. In moments like this, she'd take any of it. Any of it at all. So she shut her eyes and focused on her breathing. She reminded herself that she could get through this. That she could be weak and still come out strong.

She'd managed to slow her racing heart so when the knock came it startled her and she jumped.

After her heart ceased thumping the cage of her breast she leaned towards the door. Cold November air rushed in around the seal. She made a strange mental note to ask Archie to help her replace the weather stripping. Her frantic mind had wandered and when the second knock came she made a startled little bird noise and quickly covered her mouth with her hand.