Chapter Nine
Daniel
I leave Briar’s place feeling the best I’ve ever felt. I have my health. I have my woman. What else is there? Oh, right. The final piece of the puzzle. Letting the people who said I couldn’t do this see how wrong they were. Once the company realizes I’ve developed a medication with truly life-saving effects, they’ll have to put Regenermax into production. Sure, the sexual side effects are something to consider. Maybe it will need to be given under medical supervision for the thirty-day treatment period. We can do that. We can probably even find ways to relieve the tension. Maybe robot prostitutes.
I laugh to myself. Did I really just think of robot prostitutes as a medical aid? I wonder if we can get insurance to cover them. Hmm. Maybe we can. Increased libido is no joke. The energy has to go somewhere. I’ve probably got about four, maybe five hours before I have to come again.
The drive for sex has become more like the drive for food. Start getting rumblings three or four hours after the last meal. It’s possible to ignore it and skip, but as time goes on, the hunger only grows.
I go back to Edison Enterprises. Not to the lab. To room 42 A. To find the man who tried to crush my dreams. I find him in his office, being mediocre. He looks up, surprised to see me and mumbles something about not having any appointments.
“Remember me?”
“Can I help you, sir?”
He doesn’t remember me. Being healthy is as good a disguise as any superhero costume.
“I’m Doctor Daniel Knight. I developed Regenermax. You were telling me my treatment wouldn’t work on humans. Well, it does. And I’m the proof.”
I expect him to stammer some kind of stunned apology and promise to put the drug into trials. That turns out to be a seriously naive expectation.
“Shut the door.”
I do as he says, not entirely sure why I’m taking orders from this guy. He takes off his glasses and gives me a sharp, pitying look. God, I hate pity.
“I’m afraid you’ve made a mistake, Doctor.”
“What do you mean?”
“We said we weren’t prepared to deal with the side effects. That no human trials could take place. You had no legal right to take that preparation, Doctor. You’re going to need to be quarantined.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re under the influence of a powerful sexogenic compound.”
“Sexogenic? You just made that up.”
He sighs.
“You think you’re the first researcher to come up with a compound like the one you made? You’re not. There are a dozen patents on drugs that enhance growth across all human systems. Regenermax isn’t even unique. What you’ve stumbled on is a compound first synthesized in the sixties.”
“Then why isn’t it on the market? Why aren’t people being treated?”
“The military own the patent. Because you’ve taken the drug, I’m required to inform them. And you’ll be required to go into quarantine in one of their facilities.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“The drug is their property. You took it. Therefore, you become their property.”
“That is not how the law works.”
“Tell that to the men with guns.”
My mind races. Can they do this?
I can’t actually think of a reason why not. The truth is, law only applies when the people responsible for enforcing it want it to apply. When your military decides you’re their property, there is no due process.
“It might not be so bad,” he says. “If they determine what you have is something they already have, they probably won’t keep you any longer than a year or so. Of course, they might want you to progress your work through them too. Who knows. Maybe this will turn out to be a net positive for you, Doctor Knight.”
“A year?”
“We’ve already forwarded them your research information,” he says. “We did it around the time we were considering the clinical trial. They would have been interested in meeting you anyway. Now they more or less have to. Can’t have a man running around in general civilization under that kind of influence. You’ll be a danger to yourself and others.”
This is my fault. I didn’t have to come here and tell him this. I didn’t have to rub it in his face. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I considered that there could be some kind of legal consequences, but I figured they might try to sue me, which wouldn’t get them very far because they don’t pay us enough for it to be worth suing us over. I did not expect this.
“I’m not interested in working for the military.”
“You might get interested,” he says. “The confinement could become quite tiresome if you don’t.”
“I’m leaving.”
“Good luck, Doctor Knight,” he says, picking up the phone to betray me.
I leave Edison Enterprises in a rush, trying not to panic. I do not want to be involved with the military. Their historical treatment of scientists and test subjects suggests I will regret it. I have two choices left to me.
I can stay, and wait for the military to come find me. Bad choice. Or I can get the hell out of here while I still can.
It’s not even a difficult decision to make.
I rush home, pack what I need. The rest of the Regenermax, and not much else. I go to the ATM, cash out my savings. It’s enough to get by if I stay in cheap motels. Then I remember Briarlee. Fuck. What am I going to do about Briarlee?
I decide to tell her the truth.
I was going to call her, but it’s safer to just throw the phone away. They can track that. Fuck. I don’t want them getting into it, so I take a hammer and I pound it until it’s just plastic dust on the bench.
My laptop, I’m taking. Turn the wireless off and they can’t find me. I need the data on it. I’d need a laboratory to synthesize Regenermax again, but I could never do it without my research notes.
I walk out of my apartment. I don’t bother to lock the door. That will save them breaking it down later.
I head straight to Briarlee’s place.
“Hey,” she smiles as she greets me at the door. “Ready for dessert?”
God, she looks good. I fist her hair and pull her in for a deep kiss. She sighs into my mouth, a perfect little fuck angel.
Before I know what’s happening, I have her on the floor, legs spread, pussy wrapped around my cock. The front door isn’t even all the way closed. I don’t care. With her legs wrapped around me, I’m in heaven, plunging in and out of that perfect pussy that is mine, all goddamn mine.
“Wow,” she pants when she’s once more filled with my cum. “It gets hotter every time. I think I have rug burn though.”
“Sorry,” I rumble, turning her over onto her stomach. She does have a little red rash on the crowns of her cheeks. It’s kind of cute. “Nothing to worry about,” I tell her with a little slap that makes her yelp. I deal with that by kissing her thoroughly until all complaints turn to soft little breathy moans.
“I didn’t expect you back so soon,” she smiles up at me. “Used to be a day or more before you’d come to ravage me.”
“I had to come,” I say. “I…”
Oh, god. I had almost completely forgotten why I came here.
“This is serious,” I say, sitting her up in my lap as I sit cross-legged on the floor. “The company is sending the military after me. They say my treatment is owned by them.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“They wanted me to wait and be picked up. Told me I was property of the government now, because of the treatment and, shit, I don’t know, Briarlee. But I’m heading out of town. I’m not going to tell you where I’m going because they’re probably going to work out that you know me and they might ask you some questions. I don’t want you to get caught in the middle of this. You should go and stay with your mom and dad.”
“What?” She scowls. “I’m not going to my mom and dad’s house. I’m coming with you.”
* * *
Briarlee
What he said sounds like bullshit. I don’t know if I even believe him, except for the fact that Daniel, in any form, has never lied to me. Not even when we were kids. He looks serious too. Not scared, just determined.
“The military aren’t going to know what hit them if they take you,” I smirk.
“I’m stronger than I was,” he says. “But I’m not bulletproof. I don’t know what they’d do with me once they took me, but I don’t really want to find out. It doesn’t feel good to be referred to as property.”
“Well, sometimes it does.” I smile up at him.
“You’re different,” he smirks, kissing me again.
“I’m yours, so take me with you.”
“This could be dangerous, Briar. Really dangerous. It’s not just the military. It’s me. The treatment still isn’t at its peak. I could be your worst nightmare. And they could arrest you for criminal conspiracy, or something, I don’t know.”
I don’t care.
“I’ve spent the last fifteen years wishing you hadn’t sacrificed so much for me,” I say. “That drunk driver would have hit my side if you hadn’t turned the car. You took the impact for me.”
“I was fifteen, I panicked. I wasn’t brave or…”
“Yes, you were,” I say. “You knew exactly what you were doing. You looked at me and you pulled the wheel.” I remember everything that happened that night. I remember how brave he was. I remember how I teased him when he picked me up because he’d had to sneak out and was still in his superhero-themed pajama pants. He was a real hero that night, and he’s been heroic every day since. It’s my turn to be brave.
“Briarlee, I am not going to let you put yourself in danger. I’ll be in touch.”
“How?”
“I’ll call you.”
“And give yourself away? If the military is really after you, they will tap my phone. They’ll read my emails. They’ll see you interacting with me.”
His expression darkens. He knows I’m right.
“If you want to go on the run, let me go with you. Let me be the Clyde to your Bonnie.”
“Bonnie was a woman.”
“You know what I mean,” I snort.
He doesn’t like the idea, but I can already feel that he’s going to say yes.
“You’re going to need to fuck someone,” I add. “And it better be me.”
Daniel breaks into a smile, his handsome face lighting up. “Oh, is that right? Am I not the only possessive one here?”
“Nope,” I say, grabbing his shirt and getting up nose to nose with him. “You can be a big mean fuck monster, but you better be my big mean fuck monster.”
He lets out a laugh and the tension is broken. “Alright,” he agrees. “You can come. But we need to go now. And you have to pack light. We can’t carry suitcases around. If you have a backpack, it’s only what can fit in it.”
Just like that, he’s barking orders.
“You sure you don’t want to go with the military? You sound like a drill sergeant.”
“I do not,” he smirks, pushing up to his feet and taking me with him. “Get packed. Now.” He swats my ass hard enough to make it sting, and sends me heading for my wardrobe.
“Can I at least grab a shower first?”
“Two minutes. Get wet. Get out.”
“So shower like you fuck me? Got it.”
I giggle as he growls.
“You need to take this seriously.”
I know I should, but it doesn’t really feel real. It feels more like we’re going away for a spontaneous road trip. I can’t wait to be alone with him somewhere remote. I’m picturing a log cabin in the woods, maybe near a lake. I’m thinking of making love by an outdoor fire. I’m imagining the whole world feeling like it’s just the two of us in it.
I get into the shower and wash the sex off me. The sheer volume of his cum is impressive and seems to be increasing by the day. My inner thighs are smeared in it, my pussy is coated with it. I’m going to have to start shaving myself bare down there just to make clean up a little easier.
A banging at the door startles me. “Hurry up, Briar!”
Frowning, I turn off the water. He’s getting very bossy in his old age. Uber dominant. I can still feel the remnants from when he used his belt on my ass. He’s the same Daniel I’ve always known, but there’s more to him.
“Briar!” He opens the door. “It’s been five minutes. Get your little ass out of there now.”
I emerge from the shower to find him waiting.
“I packed for you,” he says, shoving a bag at me. “We have to go.”
I look in the bag. There’s a few of my bras and underwear, but not the comfortable ones I’d wear on the run. He’s picked the sexiest ones, the laciest ones, the ones I don’t ever actually wear except if I think I’m getting laid. Maybe they’re appropriate. I mean, I’m definitely getting laid on this trip.
“Let me grab some things.”
I grab the stuff a man wouldn’t think to grab. Tampons, comfy undies, a tube of concealer, my favorite mascara, a couple extra pairs of shoes…
“Briar!”
He’s yelling again. Goddammit.
“Calm down. I’m coming.”
“You do realize this isn’t a weekend away,” he growls. “You do realize I’m running for what might be my life, and yours.”
I take a long look at him, the serious expression transforming his face as he tries to impart the gravity of this situation.
“You’re right,” I say. “I’m going to need different shoes.”
* * *
Daniel
I want to whip her ass. I will. Later. Right now, I need to get her out of here. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, taking her with me might be the smart move. If she’s gone, they can’t go to her and get information about me. They can’t make her life unpleasant. And, unlike me, she has a car.
“Come on, girl,” I say. I have my pack in one hand. I bend down and hoist her up over my shoulder. She makes some squeaky noise about needing this, that, or the other thing. We’ve wasted enough time. I hand her bag to her as she dangles over my shoulder, and I grab a set of keys that have been hanging over her kitchen bench for as long as I’ve known her.
Briarlee squirms and gasps as I haul her out of her apartment, lock the door, and carry her cute little ass down the stairs. I am spooked by the prospect of becoming the property of the military. I am angry that I am being forced to run, after not being told that my research was approximating an already held patent. But having her with me is already calming me. She’s a distraction. A naughty, bratty, fuckable distraction. She’ll soothe me when I need to be soothed.
We get down to the basement car park. The car used to be her father’s. A canary yellow 1987 Acura Integra. I used to admire that car so much when we were teenagers, though it was already getting old then. Now it sits in the parking spot that came with Briarlee’s apartment looking dated.
She used to have about 110 horsepower. Who knows how many of those horses have bolted over the decades. It doesn’t really matter. We just need to get on the road.
“Get in the car,” I say, swinging her down to her feet. She pouts, but does as she’s told. I pop the hood. Check the oil. Check the water. To my surprise it actually has both. The battery is probably dead though. I hope not.
I get into the car, turn the key. It starts. I can hardly believe it. That battery has to be ten years old at least, but it has enough to get the starter motor going and as the gauges all start registering their various levels, I see we have gas too.
“You looked after this,” I say.
“Yeah,” Briarlee says. She’s sitting in the passenger seat. The bags are in the back. So far, so good. I put the car into reverse and swing out of the parking spot. It’s been a while since I’ve driven a car. After the accident, I didn’t like driving much. My hands would get sweaty and shake. My throat would get dry. I’d be so damn nervous I could barely concentrate on the road, let alone the traffic. In the end, I gave up and just used public transport. More environmentally friendly.
I don’t feel any of the fear now. The wheel beneath my hands connects me to the power of the engine. It’s mine to use as I see fit. I almost don’t feel as though I’m on the run. I feel like I’m driving toward a new future. There’s not much left in the city for me. I’ve done what I needed to do here. I fixed my ills. I got the girl. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to get out now, take to the wilds.
“Where are we going?”
“This is a big country,” I say. “We can go anywhere.”
* * *
Briarlee
He flashes me a reckless, devil-may-care smile and I feel a rush of happiness and freedom. We hit the highway and we drive. He has one hand on the steering wheel, the other on my thigh and the world is opening up before us, expanding from the ribbon of tarmac like an endless plain.
His concern seems to be fading. The purr of the four-cylinder engine isn’t what I’d call powerful, but it’s lively. For these sweet, precious moments, it almost feels like we’re teenagers again. There’s possibility, rebellion, desire, all mixed up together.
“Do you remember when we ran away together because I was mad at my dad?”
“Uh huh,” Daniel grins. “I put you on the handlebars of my bike and we went to the woods for an afternoon.”
“I thought we were going to live there. Until I got hungry,” I laugh. “I was such an idiot.”
“No, you weren’t,” he says, his tone suddenly serious. “You’ve never been an idiot, Briar.”
“That night I drank I was.”
Everything seems to come back to that night. I don’t know if we will ever escape it. That one mistake has sent ripples through my existence, and even though sometimes it feels like things are getting peaceful, another wave comes to tell me that I was wrong.
“Plenty of teenage girls and guys make that same mistake,” he says. “Most of them don’t define themselves by it forever.”
“Yeah. Most of them don’t almost kill their best friend in the whole world.”
“You didn’t do that.”
No matter how many times he tells me I didn’t, and no matter how much I intellectually know it was the man coming the other way who hurt us and wounded Daniel so terribly, I can’t stop believing that it’s my fault. The guilt has been a burden for so long it’s just a part of me. I don’t even know what I’d be like without it.
We fall into silence as the road flashes by. It’s strange to think just how much road there is in this country. It feels like we could drive forever, almost never encountering the same stretch twice.
“Do you really think the military are going to come for you?”
“I think my old boss told me they would, and I think I don’t want to be beholden to the military.”
“Beholden,” I repeat. “That’s a funny word.”
“Is it?” He flashes me a smile and pats my knee.
“Beeehoolldeen,” I say, letting it swirl around my mouth.
“You’re silly,” he smiles.
“And that’s why you love me.”
“Mhm. That, among a lot of things.”
I fall silent. He loves me. I know he does. I’ve always known that he always has. It’s time he heard the words he deserved to hear a very long time ago.
“Daniel?”
“Yes?”
“I love you too.”
His smile is so broad it makes my heart flutter. I can only see the side of his face, because he’s keeping his eyes on the road, but I can sense his joy as I make that admission.
“I’m sorry I’ve never said it before. I’ve been a selfish, spoiled… I’ve just been awful.”
“You’ve done your best,” he says.
“If this is my best, wow. I’d hate to see my worst.”
“You’re sacrificing your time and your job search to help me out,” he says diplomatically. “You’re doing great.”
“I’m on the run with a drugged-up ex,” I smirk at him. “We’re going to probably stay at dodgy motels where the doors open right out onto the parking lot and where you have to check the pillows for needles.”
His lip curls. He doesn’t like that idea.
We swing into the next town and head for the outdoor store. I don’t ask what we’re doing. To some extent I don’t care. The rules have been broken. The world has been transformed by this exciting new development. All I had planned was spending the rest of the day looking for a job online, coming up with reasons not to apply, and then drafting an email to ask my dad for more money.
I’m Daddy’s little girl. I’ll never have to want for anything. I’ll never have to amount to anything either. He used to be so proud of me. I don’t think he is anymore. Graduating college was the peak. It’s all been downhill since then. I was supposed to be married by now. I was supposed to have a family. He might have tolerated me becoming a career woman, but I haven’t done that either. I’m a comfy socks and sweatpants woman. Or at least, I was, before Daniel transformed into this creature who ravishes me and possesses me and gives me hope that things can be different. If he can change this much, maybe I can change too.
“We’ll go camping,” he says as we walk through the store. “Maybe we make that living in the woods thing come true. No need to worry about needles in the bed.”
“No, just bears,” I say. “Do they have any bear-proof tents here?”
“I’ll get some bear spray.”
“I always thought bear spray sounded incredibly silly,” I comment. “I mean, fly spray sure. You can spray away a little fly easy. But bear spray? How big would the can have to be?”
He shoots me a look. I giggle and he breaks into a smile.
“You’re still goofy as hell sometimes, Briar,” he smirks as he picks his way through what’s on offer.
We make our purchases, head out of town, and get on the road toward the mountains. This country is so big, and once you head into the wilds, they feel endless. We pick a spot that seems to be fairly remote on the map and make our way to it.
There’s a spot to park and to camp. Daniel sets up the tent. I cook noodles over a little gas cooker. This is fun.
After we eat, he wraps me up in his arms and we sit beneath the stars and it is almost as though I can feel the world turning. It’s so perfectly calm and quiet. The stars gleam in their full glory. You can see some stars in the city, but not thousands upon thousands of them. Not like this great hazy trail across the center of the sky.
“I need you.”
He rumbles the words in my ear, and I know they’re true. He doesn’t just want to fuck me. He has to. Without sex, he is wilder than anything lurking out there in the bushes.
“Then have me…” I whisper back.
He pulls my leggings down and bares my ass. Easy access.
If we were in a seedy motel, we’d fuck on the bed. Instead he takes me on the ground. Face down. Ass up. Pussy displayed.
He pushes inside me and I let out a yowl. His cock is definitely getting bigger. Every time he takes a dose it gets a little thicker and a little longer. It was big to begin with. Now it demands I give him more, stretch wider for him. Now it makes the juices of my pussy slick the head of his cock and I am already at what feels like my capacity as the flare of the head begins to slide inside me, slow and strong, making me accommodate him.
“It’s so big,” I gasp.
His response is nothing but a growl. He’s possessed by lust. He has to be inside me, and so my body stretches wider, lets him in, my pussy gets wetter because it has to. He needs to fuck me, and I need to be fucked.
I am sprawled on the ground, my bare ass raised high into the air as he plunges inside me, fucking me with loving, rough strokes. It feels incredible to be taken this way, by a man who I have always loved, and whose need for me never went away, even when I was so shallow and so stupid as to think I could do better.
There was never any better. There was only a string of grunting, humping men who used me and threw me away, maybe because they sensed I could never love them. Maybe I even chose men who couldn’t love me. I don’t know, but right now, with my nipples rubbing against the rocky ground through the thin fabric of my top, my pussy stretched wide around his ever growing cock, I am complete.