Then it bursts free.
“Shit,” James mutters as I sob pathetically beneath him.
Try as I might, I can’t seem to stop.
I can’t stop the crushing, agonizing, pain of becoming a person who matters again.
James’s weight leaves me.
His warmth, his protection, gone.
For a fleeting second, I miss it.
Then it’s back.
Arms wrap around me, pulling me up, and blindly, I follow them.
“It’s okay… It’s okay…” James mumbles while awkwardly patting my back.
It’s not okay.
Nothing will ever be okay again.
But I’m safe.
Finally, I’m safe.
In the arms of yet another strange man.
That thought causes another explosion of uncontrollable sobs.
“Fuck it,” James says and stops patting my back.
I watch him pull away through a blur of tears and feel even shittier for putting him in this position.
From the way he’s dressed, I’m pretty sure he works in some branch of law enforcement. It would explain how he knows my father, and why he was so hesitant to give me anything more than his name.
My father probably pulled some strings and got one of the bureaus involved in my disappearance.
Angrily, James rips the Velcro straps off his vest, pulls it off, and tosses it away.
Then he grabs me and pulls me close.
Crushing me against his warm chest.
“Shh, it’s okay. Everything’s okay now,” he breathes against my hair. “I’m here.”
His arms tighten around me.
“I promise you those motherfuckers will never hurt you again.”
I shake my head and mentally try to push away, but my damn fingers won’t stop grabbing at his shirt.
Grabbing at the only man who hasn’t tried to hurt me.
Yet.
Still trying to comfort me, he murmurs, “They’re fucking dead. I killed them. I fucking killed them.”
Not all of them, I think with dark despair.
He only killed two of them.
There’s still at least a dozen more who tortured and abused my friends and me.
Oh god…
“My friends!” I cry out and pull back enough to look up at him. “We have to save my friends!”
The moonlight catches James’s face as he looks down at me, highlighting his sharp bone-structure and solemn expression. “Already done.”
“What?” I gasp, confused and not sure I heard him right.
“There are men retrieving—I mean, rescuing the others as we speak.”
Are we talking about the same people?
Needing to know, I ask, “You’re rescuing Amanda and Beth?”
“Yes,” he answers, the expression on his face unwavering.
Hearing that, the pendulum of my emotions swings in the opposite direction.
My friends are safe. Beth and Amanda are safe.
So much relief and gratitude overwhelms me, I can’t handle it.
“Thank you!” I sob, but this time it’s a happy sob.
“You’re welcome.” James smiles sadly at me.
Even sad, the smile makes him even more incredibly handsome.
The sudden urge to kiss him hits me out of nowhere.
And without thinking, I give into it.
Stretching up, I press my lips against his lips and feel him stiffen.
I realize my mistake instantly.
Shame, embarrassment, and more confusion warms my face as I pull back and stumble out an apology. “Oh god, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me…"
Fuck, I’m a stupid mess. My emotions are all over the place… and I don’t even know why I just did that.
James stares hard at me for the longest moment.
His eyes so intense it feels like he’s slicing my soul in half.
Then, with a soft growl, his mouth crashes into mine in a crushing kiss.
Shocked, I freeze up. Stiffening as his hand finds the back of my head.
But his lips are so soft, so gentle after the initial crash, it’s not long until I find myself unexpectedly falling into his kiss.
His fingers lace through my hair, tighten, and pull me closer.
And I know I should pull away.
I should put an end to this.
It was a mistake.
A stupid, silly mistake made in the heat of the moment.
But it’s been so long since I’ve felt anything but cold terror…
And he’s making me feel warm and alive again.
His mouth coaxes mine into matching his rhythm, and I push closer. Seeking more of his comfort.
Needing more of this life he’s breathing back into my lungs.
It’s a kiss. Just a kiss.
But it’s also validation.
Validation that I’m more than nothing.
I’m here.
I’m important to someone.
I exist.
He pushes back, deepening the kiss. His lips becoming more demanding and persistent as he wraps an arm around my waist and presses his warm palm against my bare back.
Knowing deep down what he’s asking for, even if my brain hasn’t figured it out yet, I open for him.
His tongue sweeps into my mouth, finding and stroking against my tongue.
My mind completely blanks out for a second.
Then it feels like I’m hit by a bolt of lightning.
My blood buzzes with an electrical current.
Over and over, he strokes his tongue against mine.
Pushing me closer to combustion.
Moaning, I become completely lost in the kiss.
So lost, I never sense someone approaching.
A man sighs then says coldly, “Really, James? Molesting the Chief’s daughter in the middle of Elim Park? Even I expected better of you.”
At the sound of the cold voice, I immediately turn into stone.
Petrified that one of the men who kidnapped me have found us.
Tearing his mouth away from mine, James growls, “Fuck off, Simon.”
The fact that he seems to know the man calms my panic a little.
Still holding me, James turns me, as if trying to shield me from the other’s eyes.
I hear the man, I’m assuming Simon, sigh again. “Normally, I would. The Devil knows I have better things to do than to watch you carry out your twisted little perversions. But you called for assistance… and here I am...”
Turning his head, James glares at Simon. “Well, your assistance is no longer needed. I’ve got everything under control.”
“Under control?” Simon repeats incredulously. “I hardly think deflowering the Chief’s daughter out in the open is under control.”
Red begins to creep up James’s neck. He sputters for a second then he sneers. “Deflowering? Seriously, Simon? Is that what you think this is?”
“I don’t know what this is, and I don’t want to know,” Simon says firmly. “I’m here to escort Miss Cronin home.”
James’s arms tighten around me, and I feel extremely grateful when he says, “I’ll escort her home.”
I don’t know who this Simon guy is, but from the way he talks, especially about me, I already don’t like him.
Somehow Simon’s tone becomes even colder as he says, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Honestly, Simon?” James laughs. “I don’t care what you think.”
I lean to the side to peek at Simon. Standing only a couple feet away, it’s easy to make him out in the moonlight. Tall, with dark hair, glasses, and a charcoal suit, he’s an ominous presence in the shadows.