"Nothing about your world scares me. Makes me nervous, yeah, I’m human. But scared? Not so much.
"Sure, it’s freaky learning that your mother-in-law broiled another dude’s dick, and do I want to know what happened to it? Of course I do. I have many questions. Did you throw it in the trash? Put it in the corpse soup Cruz made? But the point is, if you keep me in the dark, the only thing you’re going to encourage is me sneaking around and finding out in my own way.
"You can’t keep me from the truth because the truth is the only thing that keeps my monsters at bay," I yelled, tightening my grip and hauling him forward. "You can’t expect a kid to see someone being killed and then think they’ll just erase that from their memories.
“My sister was kidnapped, we know she was raped, and I know she had an abortion because she got pregnant—Aidan, I live in a messed up world too. I have coping mechanisms for a reason. The way I cope is to know exactly what’s going on and when.
"So, I won’t go looking for things to be curious about. I won’t seek shit out. But when your father invites everyone to a fucking party and tells people that he’s going to enable an amnesty for Sparrows in his midst, you bet your ass I need to know how many fuckers you’ve had hiding in your ranks."
Forty-Nine
Savannah
I was breathing hard by the time I was done, which was when he pushed a button. That button worked just as he grabbed me by the waist and hauled me onto his lap.
At first, I had no idea what he was going to do, then his mouth was on mine, tearing into me, our tongues not just thrusting together, but tangling, encouraging me to fight back. His hands were everywhere, where mine just went to his hair, and I was happy with that because we were both eating each other alive.
Tearing, ripping, shredding into one another, fighting fire with fire, blasting each other with our annoyances and grievances.
His hands cupped my ass, molding the cheeks, before he pulled back and snapped, "Why do you always have to wear fucking pants?"
I smirked at him, then hauled my ass over to the passenger’s seat. It was awkward, and I was very grateful for the stretch of private road, but I shucked out of my pants, well aware that we could have just driven to the estate, but neither of us wanted that.
Naked from the hips down, apart from that goddamn bandage he still insisted I wore on my upper thigh, which irritated more than it helped, I scuttled over to him, and rested my ass on his lap.
When his mouth reached for mine again, his fingers delved between my legs at the same time as I reached for his fly and unfastened the zipper.
With his cock in my hands, my pussy already molten hot, I pressed him against my slit and welcomed him home.
I tore my mouth from his as I gasped the second he started filling me, and that was when he pressed a kiss to my throat, his tongue sliding along the sinewy arches before he reached my ear and whispered, "Twenty-four."
I blinked at him, dazed, groaning as gravity pushed me onto him.
Then, I remembered what he was talking about, and I retorted, "No fair."
"Nobody ever said that I’d be fair," he countered, and his hands started to encourage me to ride him.
I did.
But not at the pace he insisted upon. I took it faster, slamming onto him because I knew pleasure was within my grasp. One hand went to the back of his neck, and I pressed our mouths together before I slipped my fingers down and started rubbing my clit.
A couple minutes later, I screamed out my pleasure, and my hoarse cries entwined with his roar of satisfaction.
It was hard, it was fast, and it was mean.
Much like this world I was diving into.
There were laws I’d never understand, some I’d come to learn, but he was right. It wasn’t the orgasm that let me see the woods for the trees, either.
We’d only survive if we were a team. If we were united against the world. And we couldn’t do that if I undermined him and went behind his back.
With that in mind, I murmured, "I’m not like your ma."
Panting, his nose crinkled. "Do we have to talk about her right now?"
I grinned at his squeamishness. "I’m not the little wife, the woman who’ll be happy to make Christmas dinner for the family when a perfectly good caterer can be hired to do the job.
“I’m not going to sit back and let this world tear me to shreds. I’m a fighter, Aidan. You know that. That’s why you’re here, sitting in the wet spot. You wouldn’t be doing that if you didn’t want me to be me.” I bowed my head, pressed a kiss to his lips, a softer one, then murmured, "I love you. Thank you for telling me the truth."
He grunted, his head rocking back against the rest, as he stared up at me. "I love you too."
And if that wasn’t the verbal equivalent of a signature on a new contract, I didn’t know what was.
Fifty
Maxim
Three days before New Year’s Eve
When we set off from my new Brighton Beach compound, satisfaction filled me as I stared out onto the world with a view from between the driver and passenger seat.
Now, I sat in the backseat.
Now, someone drove me.
Five minutes into the journey toward the Irish-owned warehouse, I got a notification on my phone.
Arson attacks attributed to the New World Sparrows on one of New York City’s most beloved landmarks.
When I clicked into it, I read some of the article.
Today, as the city still reels in horror from the brutal attack against an intrinsic part of our culture, the country waits for more news of this ever-pervasive group of people who have wormed their way into our republic.
With the world watching, Savannah Daniels will be live today on Channel Four, detailing how she discovered the traitors who have riddled our society like a cancerous tumor.
As I was reading, another news notification pinged.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court arrested for ties to the New World Sparrows. Dramatic footage shows the moment the keystone of our justice system was arrested under The Patriot Act.
I arched a brow in surprise at both news’ items. I knew the Irish were working hard to take down the Sparrows, wasting precious resources on something that wasn’t their business, but that the Chief Justice was a Sparrow came as a surprise.
Yet another notification had my phone buzzing.
A stunning reel of names exposed by Savannah Daniels, reveals the extent of the NWS’ infiltration into our democracy. The Speaker of the House, Andrew Litten, Generals Ozarc and Lindenstein from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the Head of Homeland Security, Secretary Robert Pansen, were all arrested under The Patriot Act.
Amused, I barked out a laugh.
"America says it is so democratic," I mocked, calling out to Kirill, my new Obschak. "And yet, it’s keystones are all fucking Sparrows." I cackled my glee at the aftershocks these revelations would have on the nation, and then, before I could celebrate too much, my phone rang.
The second I saw the name on the Caller ID, I hit the privacy button so Kirill and Tima, my Sovietnik, my security man, wouldn’t be able to hear me, and hit the ‘connect’ button.