Chapter 8 #2
It was no more than a blip with a few businesses, including a gas station, bar and small hotel. It was the kind of place where Cormac and that scar would stand out like a neon sign. Not a place he’d go unless it was an emergency.
The biggest town in the area was Missoula, but it was hours away by car. Days on foot. Maybe he’d hiked the backcountry to get to that larger town. Maybe not.
Where was he? Where would he go?
I had no idea why, but my gut told me to stick to Quincy. So I turned around and headed back, bypassing the hotel once more to stop at the grocery store.
My stash of breakfast and hiking snacks was dwindling. So I walked through the store’s double doors, tugged a basket from the stack and wandered down the aisles. I was studying my options for protein bars when a woman passed the end of the aisle.
She disappeared with a flash of red hair.
My heartbeat stuttered. My muscles tensed. The response was involuntary.
Red hair reminded me of Cormac. Of the girls. In my mind, I knew there was no possible way he was in this grocery store. That one of the girls was out shopping for ice cream or Lucky Charms.
Still, part of me wanted to follow that woman. See her face. Rule it out. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d followed a redheaded stranger.
But it was just red hair.
I dragged a hand over my face, shaking it off. How many years would it take before I could see a redhead and not do a double take?
If I didn’t find Cormac, maybe forever.
He was the ghost haunting my everyday life. He was the past I couldn’t let go. Until he was found, there’d be no peace.
So I grabbed five boxes of granola bars, enough to last me this week, and returned to the hotel.
My shower was long and hot. I let the steam work the tension from my shoulders and thighs. I’d covered some rough terrain today that would have been steep on a good day, but with all the rain, it had been slippery, adding to the challenge.
My energy was waning, but if Lyla came over, I’d find a second wind.
By the time I finally shut off the water, my skin was raw and red. I stood at the sink, my ears trained for the door, hoping for a repeat of last night. For Lyla’s soft knock. But there were no sounds beyond this room, so I dried my hair with the towel and tugged on a pair of sweats.
With nothing else to do, I grabbed the TV remote, about to turn on a game or something.
And there it was.
The knock.
My dick swelled as I crossed the room, not bothering to check the peephole as I whipped open the door.
Lyla stood in the hallway, out of breath. Her cheeks were flushed like she’d just raced up the stairs. It was a Sunday. Eloise and Jasper hadn’t been here today, but Lyla had still likely tried to escape notice from the front desk clerk.
“The coffee shop is closed,” she said. “I don’t want to go home.”
“Then don’t.” I opened the door wider.
She stepped inside. “I—”
I sealed my lips over hers, stopping whatever it was she was going to say. My tongue stroked the seam of her lips, savoring her sweet taste.
She parted for me and I swept her inside, devouring every inch of her mouth. Then I did exactly as I’d planned earlier. I took off her scarf and dropped it on my floor.
Her hands trailed up my chest, her nails digging into my flesh. This woman liked to leave her mark, and I fucking loved it. If she came at me with her nails like she had last night, my shoulders would be shredded by morning. I didn’t give a damn.
I stripped her out of her clothes while she shoved my sweats off my hips. Then I picked her up and pinned her against the closest wall. “Are you wet for me?”
“Yes,” she panted as I licked her throat. Her legs wrapped around my waist.
I pressed against her center, feeling that slick heat against the crown of my cock. Another night, I would have tasted her sweet pussy, but I was too impatient. So I lined up with her entrance and thrust home. “Fuck.”
“Vance.” With one arm, she clung to my shoulders as she stretched around my length. Her other hand dove into my hair, her short nails scraping my scalp and tugging at the roots. “Fuck me.”
“Say please.”
Her head lolled to the side, her eyelids fluttering closed. “Please fuck me.”
I pulled out and slammed inside. Hard.
Lyla cried out, her inner walls already beginning to pulse.
“Give me that blue.”
It took her a moment but I waited, buried to the hilt, until she opened her eyes, locking them with mine.
I kept her firmly against the wall, holding her jeweled gaze as I fucked her. Stroke after stroke, I lost myself in her lithe body.
“Oh God.” She came faster than I’d expected, a gasp escaping her lips like it had surprised us both. The grip on my hair tightened and there was a real chance she’d have a clump torn from my scalp by the time we were done.
I savored the sting, the pain, and kept driving into her tight heat as she pulsed around my shaft. That delicious squeeze triggered the build at the base of my spine. Then I was coming on a roar.
“Fuck, Blue.” My release quaked through my bones. My vision blanked, and all I felt was her.
When I finally came down, Lyla had collapsed against my shoulder, her body still pulsing around me as she clung to my frame, boneless.
I peeled her off the wall and carried her to bed, ripping the covers back and setting her on the sheets. Then I went to the bathroom for a warm cloth to clean her up.
Her eyes opened as I pressed the washcloth between her legs. “You make me forget.”
“You make me forget too.”
Forgetting wasn’t an option, not with what I’d come to Quincy to do. But that didn’t stop me from hitting the lights and climbing into bed.
Or from spending the rest of the night making sure we both forgot.