Chapter 16 #2
He lavishes attention on my other breast before releasing the puckered bud and pushing me onto my back.
He makes quick work of my pants, my underwear.
I kick off my boots. His pants come off next, and his cock springs into my eager hand, hot and thick and ready for me.
He only allows one stroke, one squeeze of my hand, before he nudges me away and his lips are suddenly trailing over every inch of my body.
Sucking and tasting and teasing until he finally kisses his way between my legs.
“Have you missed me?” His voice is low, with just a hint of mocking.
“Mmmm.” That soft, pleading noise is all I’m capable of making.
“What did you miss the most?”
Oh my God. He’s decided to torture me.
“Everything,” I mumble.
“Did you miss my mouth?”
He brushes his lips over the inside of my thigh, and I shiver in anticipation.
“Answer me.” Cross lifts his head, a wicked smile on his face.
“Yes,” I choke out. “I missed your mouth.”
“What else?” He kisses dangerously close to where I crave him the most. “How about my tongue? Did you miss that?”
When I nod wordlessly, he licks a hot stripe along my inner thigh, and my hips eagerly jump off the bed. Chuckling, he turns his cheek and starts kissing my other thigh.
The teasing is unbearable. My heart is pounding so loudly, it drowns out everything else, even Cross’s rough voice and the sexy words he’s whispering.
When his tongue finds my aching core, he groans, “Yes,” and damned if I don’t hear that.
I thread my fingers through his hair and keep him there before he can try to escape. His answering laughter vibrates through my entire body.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he promises before proceeding to lick me into sheer oblivion.
Every stroke of his tongue brings me closer and closer to the edge, and I’m a mindless pile of need and desperation by the time he climbs up and pushes his cock inside me.
We both groan with abandon. Cross hikes my leg up to his hip, driving deeper, fucking me hard enough to rob me of breath.
I didn’t come here for this, but I’m not complaining—
Who am I kidding? Of course I came here for this.
I missed him.
I’m feral for him.
He thrusts into me. Fast, deep, relentless.
With our lips fused in the hottest kiss I’ve ever experienced, I rock up to meet each deliberate plunge of his hips.
This angle is divine, his body rubbing my swollen clit, putting pressure on it with each downstroke.
The pleasure gathers, building in my core, tingling in my fingertips, my toes, but I fight it, wanting to prolong the sensations for as long as I possibly can.
As I try to stave off my climax, my teeth clamp down on Cross’s lower lip, nearly drawing blood.
His voice echoes through my head. “Let go, Dove. Come for me.”
I shatter, gasping for air as waves of bliss pulse through my body.
“Fuck. I’m coming,” he groans out loud, and there is no sexier sight than watching Cross Redden chase his pleasure. Shuddering as he finds his own release, pressed deep inside me.
We’re both breathing hard as we recover. He rolls onto his back and pulls me on top of his warm, trembling body, his arms wrapped tightly around me, his lips against my shoulder.
“I’ll never get enough,” he says.
I know exactly how he feels. I’m consumed by his presence, by his voice, by the way he laughs. And I constantly feel like I’m losing control when I’m with him. This connection between us is too powerful. Too dangerous.
Nobody should want someone as much as I want Cross.
We have sex again.
And then we have sex again.
It’s funny, because it’s only been a few weeks since the last time—and before that, we went most of our lives never having sex—but now that we’ve seen each other naked, it’s like a sexual dam has been broken.
After the third time, he collapses on his back and groans. “Holy fuck.”
I prop myself on my elbow and peer at him, grinning at the sheen of sweat on his perfect chest and abs. God, he’s sexy.
My satisfied smile fades when my watch comm beeps. I’d set an alarm to alert me when it was almost time to go.
Shit. I’m due to meet Gray in thirty minutes, and Cross and I haven’t talked about anything.
As Cross lies there catching his breath, I collect my clothing and start getting dressed.
“So that’s it?” he says in amusement. “We’re done here?”
“We’re done with that,” I reply. “It’s time to talk.”
“You’re probably right. I had to lose three tails to get here tonight. I don’t know when we’ll be able to talk in person again.”
“What tails?” I ask suspiciously.
Cross snorts under his breath. “Travis thinks I haven’t noticed he has me under surveillance, but I’m not a fucking amateur.”
“You’re being watched?” Wariness creeps through me. “What if you were followed here?”
“ ‘Baby,’ ” he mimics, “do you honestly think someone followed me tonight? I don’t know if I should be offended by that.”
“How did you lose them?”
“Does it matter as long as the job got done?”
I swallow a moan. “God, why did that turn me on so much?”
He grins at me. “We’re not fucking again. You wanted to talk.”
I walk to the small mirror over the dresser and smooth out my hair, which is rumpled from Cross running his fingers through it. He hops off the bed and pulls his underwear on, tugging the black fabric over his taut ass before reaching for his pants.
As he stands before me bare-chested, my attention is once again drawn to the colorful patchwork of bruises marring his flesh.
“I can’t believe they beat you. Why didn’t you fight back?”
His biceps flex as he grabs his discarded shirt. “I needed to let them feel like they were punishing me.”
“And that’s all it took? Chain you up for a week and now you’re back in the trust circle?”
“Not quite.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not running Elite anymore.”
The admission hangs between us as I stand there agape. Cross, meanwhile, is unruffled, slipping his shirt over his head as if he hadn’t just revealed he’d been stripped of his command.
“Who’s in charge then?” I demand.
“Radek,” he says, referring to Silver Block’s administrative captain.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“I tried.” He gives me a pointed look. “Every time I’ve tried linking with you these last few days, you haven’t been able to talk.”
Guilt pricks at my stomach. He’s right. He has reached out. But I’ve become so ensconced in life at the Dagger that I haven’t been as present for him. I feel like a fucking asshole.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly. “If I’d known how important it was, I would’ve been there—”
“It’s not important,” he interjects.
“Cross.” I stare at him. “Silver Elite is your unit. Losing it can’t feel good.”
“Nothing about the current state of the world feels good,” is his gruff response.
I bridge the distance and loop my arms around his shoulders, running my fingers through his cropped hair. “Talk to me. Tell me what happened after your brothers let you out. What are they planning?”
“Travis is taking his new role as General seriously. Total power trip. And Roe’s really milking this lieutenant rank. Travis is letting him assemble his own unit in Silver Block. Roe calls it his hunting party.”
My back stiffens. “Hunting what?”
“What else? Mods and Faithfuls.”
His flippant tone bothers me. “And you’re just…okay with that?”
“Of course not. But I doubt it’ll amount to anything. Roe’s not a leader. Nobody’s gonna follow him.”
“Then why give him his own unit?”
“I think Travis just wants the kid out of his hair, so he’s giving him a distraction. Like handing a toddler a toy to distract him from the other thing he really wants. In Roe’s case, that’s total control over the wards and the systematic killing of anyone who opposes the Company.”
“And what does Travis want?”
“At the moment, to crush the Aberrant Uprising.”
“Aberrant?” I echo, frowning at him.
“Mods. Silverbloods. You know what I mean, Wren.” He sounds tired now. “Travis isn’t quite at Roe’s level of bloodlust yet when it comes to Mods, but I fear he might get there eventually. I’ve been hammering the point that we need them for labor.”
I shake my head bitterly. “Slave labor.”
“They can be slaves, or they can be dead. Which would you prefer?”
“So what do we do? How do we stop your brothers?”
“I’m in no position to stop anyone. I didn’t just lose Elite. I lost all the power I had to keep shit in check. I still have my rank but it’s in name only. Travis won’t even let me attend Intelligence briefings. All I know is what they’re willing to tell me, and that isn’t much.”
“You were the captain of Silver Elite,” I remind him. “You know how to gather intel. You don’t need Travis and fucking Roe, of all people, to throw you crumbs.”
He doesn’t answer, which has me searching his expression. It’s shuttered. Impossible to decode. I suddenly wonder if we’re on the same page, because right now, it doesn’t feel that way.
“What’s your goal?” I ask slowly. “How do you see this ending?”
His blue eyes darken. “You mean us?”
“No, of course not. I mean this war. Because it’s going to have to end eventually. And when a war ends, that usually means one side loses.”
“I’ve been in the military my entire life. I understand how war works.” His shoulders are stiff as he steps out of my grasp.
“So which side do you want to be on when that happens?” I push.
“Which side do you want to be on?”
“I’ve chosen my side. The Modified. The network.
That’s where I need to be. That’s where you should be.
” I reach for his hand, forcibly intertwining our fingers.
“You can’t possibly be keen with what your father’s done—the Silverblood Purge, taking Mods as slaves, killing them.
And now your brother is doing the same thing. ”
“I’m not keen with it.” His voice is rough.
“But can you honestly tell me the Uprising will be any better to their enemies? Because one of the people you’re working with destroyed a man’s mind without batting an eyelash.
” He takes his hand back, and my heart clenches because it feels like a rejection.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? He’s my father.
And now he’s brain-dead. Because of your new friend Adrienne. ”
“You hated your father.”
“That’s oversimplifying it. And my feelings about him have nothing to do with the fact that the Uprising corrupted his mind. Do you realize how sick that is?”
“And what the Primes are doing to Mods is any less sick? My best friend has slave tattoos around her wrists,” I say angrily. “She’s locked up in a fucking salt mine. What Adrienne did, she did in order to save people like Tana from your father.”
“I get it, all right? And it doesn’t fucking escape me that I’m the one who put your friend in that position.
” He drags both hands through his dark hair, visibly rattled.
“I saved her from a firing squad, yeah, but you think I don’t wish I could’ve done more?
Now I can’t even do that. I don’t know how long it’ll take to convince Travis to trust me again.
All I know is…” He groans, trailing off.
“All you know is what?”
He steps toward me, those strong hands resting on my waist, this time pulling me closer instead of pushing me away. He smooths my hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. His touch is gentle.
“I know I want to protect you. And I can’t do that when I’m here and you’re there.”
My breath catches. “Are you asking me to stay?”
If he is, I don’t know if that’s something I’m willing to do.
“No. You’re wanted for treason and concealment. If you’re caught, the orders are to kill you on sight, and I won’t be able to stop it.” He lets out a ragged breath. “But I don’t trust the people you’re with, either.”
“Well, I do. They’ve welcomed me into their ranks, given me a place to live, a place to train. Soon I’ll be running missions with them. I’ll be able to rescue Tana, and her dad, and everyone else the Company is holding in camps.”
“And if they find out about your parents?” he says flatly. “What happens to you then?”
I falter. “I…I’m hoping if that happens, by that point I will have proved my loyalty to them.”
“You’re willing to bet your life on that?”
“Am I any safer in the wards? No. We’ve just established that. So all I can do is hope I’m able to earn their trust.” A lump rises in my throat. “Come with me. Please.”
“I can’t.”
“But—”
“Come on, Wren. If they don’t kill me, they’ll just put me in a cell next to Xavier.” He slants his head. “Unless they’ve decided to show him mercy?”
“No. Not yet.” I bite my lip. “It’s my fault he’s in that cell.”
Cross runs his fingers along my jaw, his thumb stroking my lip, freeing it from my teeth.
“Hey. Stop. It’s not your fault. He chose to help us.
Nobody forced him. Ford’s too loyal. And now he’s hellfucked if he steps foot in the Point.
He’s got a red threat on his head, too.” Cross sighs.
“He can’t come back here. Make sure he knows that. ”
Another silence falls. We haven’t reached an understanding, haven’t formulated a plan, and time is slowly ticking by. Counting down to the moment I have to say goodbye to him again.
“I have to go,” I tell him. “If I miss my pickup, I’ll be stuck here.”
Cross tugs me forward and our lips meet in a fleeting kiss before he takes my hand, pressing it directly over his heart. The steady thumping vibrates against my palm.
“You feel that?” he says.
I nod.
“A few bumps and bruises don’t mean shit, Dove. As long as this thing keeps beating, I’m alive. I’m fine. You didn’t have to risk your life to come here—”
I’m about to protest when he finishes that thought.
“But I’m glad you did.”