Chapter 13
Liv didn’t know what set her off. Maybe his matter-of-fact air, as if he were taking what was due to him. He wrenched the covers down, scattering the stuff Miles had bought over the floor, and caught her under the armpits, tossing her onto the middle of the bed. He shoved her thighs wide, mounted her.
“Hey!” She shoved at his chest. “I didn’t say you could do this!”
He fitted the broad, blunt head of his sheathed penis to her opening, and nudged it inside. “Nope,” he said. “You didn’t. So?”
“What do you mean, so? So stop it!”
“No.” He shoved himself inside her, wedging deep. His body pinned her to the crumpled bedclothes, breathlessly big and hot and heavy. His chest pressed against her breasts, squishing them flat.
He just went at her, that huge thing of his plunging and sliding, making her hot and frantic. His hard, heavy strokes jarred her across the bed, jolting her up until she was crammed against the headboard and had to reach up and brace herself. “Stop it,” she hissed, wiggling and squirming. “Get out of me. You’re making me crazy.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “You love it.”
Relax. Hah. She wrenched her hands free, swatting at his face.
Sean caught her arms again, and pinned them to her chest, hips pulsing sensuously against her. “What the hell is the matter with you?” he demanded. “Is it the position? Do you need to be on top?”
“No!” she yelled. “It’s the look on your face that I can’t stand!”
He looked startled, and stopped moving, staring down at her with a frown. “Uh, that’s a tough one,” he said warily. “I don’t even know what look was on my face, baby. Being as how I’m behind my face.”
“Do not smart-mouth me.” Her voice shook. “It’s that ‘I’m entitled to this’ look. Like, you saved me from T-Rex, so now it’s your God-given right to fuck me, however, wherever, whenever you want, right?”
He looked horrified, and withdrew instantly. “Whoa.” He rolled to the side, still holding her. “I didn’t mean to make you think about him. I’m sorry.”
Her face dissolved. She covered it with her hands.
Sean leaned closer and nuzzled her, kissing the side of her face over and over with soft, pleading kisses. They stayed that way for a long time, silently cuddling, until she managed to speak.
“He was going to cut me,” she whispered. “He was going to do horrible things to me, and then stick my dead body in the ground.”
His arm slid around her. “Yeah, but he didn’t. Because you’re strong and brave and quick. He’s in my sights, believe me. I’m sorry he got near you. I’m sorry he breathed the same air as you.”
“No.” She shook her head violently. “Don’t make me out to be some big heroine. I’m only alive because you came after me. Not because I’m so great or smart or brave. That’s bullshit.”
He petted her hair. “Wrong. I saw you bite that guy when he was holding a gun to your head. You don’t fool me for a second.”
“You don’t understand.” Her voice quavered, broke. “I was so scared. I would have told him anything. Anything, you get me? I told him I brought Kev’s note to you. I could have killed you by doing that.”
He pried her hand off her wet eyes and frowned, earnestly. “Babe. Everyone breaks under torture. Read my lips. Everyone. Human beings are not designed to withstand that kind of abuse. Don’t bother feeling guilty about it. It’s a big waste of time.”
She yanked her hand back, hid her face again, shook her head.
“I caved, when it happened to me,” he said. “In a nanosecond.”
She jerked up onto her elbow, startled. “You? What? How?”
“See these?” He lifted his arm, and pointed at the silvery lines slashing along his ribs. “That was in Sierra Leone. I had a job guarding a diamond mine. There was this rival warlord who wanted to…well, to make a long, boring story short, this was done with electrical wire.”
She gasped. “Oh, God. Oh, that’s horrible.”
“It pretty much sucked,” he agreed. “I’m not much of a stoic, to tell the truth. I was crying for Mama in no time. I fucking hate pain.”
That was so ironic, after having witnessed his outrageous heroism in action, that she started to shake with laughter, eyes watering.
“Gee. I’m glad that my heart-wrenching tale of physical and mental anguish is so amusing for you,” he said dryly.
“Shut up, you idiot,” she wheezed, between peals of laughter.
His smile creased the sexy crinkles around his eyes. “That’s much better,” he said. “You’re scolding me. It’s kind of comforting.”
She laughed herself right back into tears again and rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in the covers. The storm moved through her, leaving her exhausted, but somehow cleaner. She lifted her head.
The white-hot anger in his eyes chilled her to the bone.
“I’m going to hunt down that sadistic piece of shit and rip him to pieces for doing that to you,” he said evenly.
She was unnerved. “Um, isn’t that vigilante justice?”
“Yeah.” His eyebrows quirked up. “So?”
“It has no place in a civilized society,” she said.
He leaned back and folded his muscular arms behind his head. “If civilization is civil to me, I’m civil to it.”
She thought for a moment. “I’d rather kill the bastard myself.”
He gave her a wary, sidelong glance. “Ah. I’m afraid I can’t make any promises about that, babe. We’ll see how it goes, OK?”
She snorted. “See how it goes, my ass.”
He smooched her butt. “It’s a wonderful ass,” he said.
“Don’t try to distract me with sex.” A fresh blaze of anger flared up, and she rolled over and lashed out at him, swatting at his face.
He parried the blow easily, and all the ones that came after it. She lost it completely, and flung herself at him, in a frenzy of frustration.
He pinned her onto the bed and held her squirming body down.
“You want me to teach you to fight? For real?”
“Yes!” she shouted, writhing. “You bastard! Get off me!”
“It’s a long, slow process,” he warned. “I’m a tough teacher. I kick ass. Just ask Miles. I taught him. Me and my brothers.”
She heaved and bucked beneath his weight. “I said get off!”
“You’ll always be at a disadvantage in a fight with a man,” he went on. “No matter how hard you train, no matter how good you get. It’s a fact of biology, muscle mass, upper body strength. The one thing I can promise is that you’ll have more of a chance than you had before.”
She collapsed, panting. Tears of frustration leaked out of her eyes. “Yes,” she said, swallowing hard. “Yes. I want more chances.”
“Done,” he said.
“Guns and knives, too,” she added.
He looked alarmed. “Uh, OK,” he said. “If you say so.”
“Bombs, too. They say you know all about bombs. I want to know everything that you know. Everything.”
He stared at her, wide-eyed. “You’re scaring me, baby.”
“Good. Be scared.” Her eyes dropped to his erection. “I see fear doesn’t affect your sexual enthusiasm.”
He glanced down at himself. “Right,” he agreed. “Do you want me to fuck you now, Liv?”
She stared up into his face, and tugged, in vain, at her hands, still pinned against the bed. “No,” she said. “I want to fuck you.”
“Uh…what exactly do you mean by that?”
“I want something I can’t have!” she yelled. “I’m sick of being tied up and jerked around. I want to throw you on the bed and show you who’s boss. I want to fuck you until you learn some goddamn manners!”
He looked perplexed. “So does this mean you want to be the boy? Or what?”
“Don’t be so damned literal about it,” she grumbled.
“You want to strap on a big, scary dildo, and bend me over and—”
“No!” She jerked up on to her elbows, her face going hot. “For God’s sake. I told you I wasn’t into that kinky weird stuff. Ick!”
“Just trying to get the parameters straight.” The dimple flickered in his lean cheek. “You just told me you wanted to kill a man, and learn how to build bombs. What’s a strap-on dildo compared to that?”
“Stop teasing me,” she snapped. “I imagine you’ve done it all?”
“No,” he admitted. “I like being on top. But when it comes to you, I’m flexible. I’ll take turns. I’ll submit, to a sublime sex goddess like you. Maybe not all the time, maybe not for very long, but…sometimes.”
“Oh. I see.” Her face felt like it was on fire.
“I would go to incredible lengths to satisfy you,” he said, his voice silky. “I would bend over backwards. Or even frontwards.”
She exploded into shaking giggles. “Gee, thanks. I doubt I’ll take you up on it, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“Just be gentle with me, princess. Go easy, OK? Take it slow.” He shot her a sideways look. “I hate pain, remember?”
“Shut up, you clown.” She grabbed the pillow and swatted him.
He grabbed it back from her. “The problem is right now.”
“And why is now a problem?” She tried to yank it back, in vain.
“Because after that fight, and that suckfest, and this incredibly weird conversation, my cock is about to explode. And I’m not feeling submissive. At all. I know you want to fuck me, but I want to fuck you first. And I’m bigger.” He flipped her onto her belly. “So deal with it.”
She wriggled. “That’s not fair!”
He knocked her thighs apart, fitted his penis to her, and drove inside, with a deep, jarring thrust. “No, it isn’t,” he said. “Try to buck me off, if you can. It’ll be fun.”
She did, and it was. He pounded into her, deep and hard. She struggled against him, her hot face pressed hard into the pillow to muffle the shrieks that jerked out of her with each heavy, slapping lunge. He rubbed over a secret spot deep inside her that bloomed hotter and brighter with each stroke. She shoved back to meet him, reaching.
The climax was long and wrenching. He nuzzled her ear as it jerked through her, endlessly. “I want to try something,” he whispered.
She was barely able to turn her head. “What?”
“Something I’ve never tried before.” He eased out of her and rolled her over, pulling her up. No small task, she was such a wobbly rag doll.
“Come on, babe,” he coaxed. “Just one little thing. Just for fun.”
She squinted at him, suspicious. “What could you possibly have never tried that I would be willing to do?”
“You gave me the idea yourself. Being as how you’re a dominating bitch goddess who wants to fuck good manners into me. Thing is, I’d have to take off the condom, and we haven’t had that conversation yet.”
“What conversation? Oh, wait. You mean—”
“The safe sex conversation,” he supplied. “So let’s get that part of it over with. I’ve been very sexually active, no denying that.”
“That’s for sure,” she muttered sourly.
“But I’ve always been safe. I swear, I shrinkwrap myself every time. Religiously. Never done it without latex. Never done IV drugs. Rigorously hetero. Always tested negative for HIV, and everything else floating around out there. Plus, I don’t propose coming inside you—”
“So what the hell are you proposing?” she demanded.
“Let’s finish the tough, awkward part of this conversation first, and then move on to the fun, sexy, erotic part. Your turn, sweetheart.”
“Oh. I’m fine,” she admitted. “I haven’t been with anyone for two years. I’ve had bloodwork since then, for my annual exam. Negative.”
“Great.” He rolled the condom off, tossing it into the trash beside the bed. “Then do that excellent thing you were doing before. Put your hand on your pussy, and press your fingers down so your clit pokes out. Wow! You’ve got such a gorgeous, aggressive looking clit.”
She did as he asked, struggling not to giggle. “So? And?”
“A clit is like a vestigial cock, you know?” he said. “And yours has got a hard-on right now. So fuck me with it.”
She still didn’t understand, until he slid his hand the length of his penis, letting just the broad flared tip poke out of his clutching fist. The slit at the end glistened with a shining, slippery drop of pre-come.
Her neck, her face, all went even redder and damper than they already were. She swallowed, tried to get a grip on herself. “What makes you think this is a vestigial penis?” she demanded. “It depends on your point of view. We could as easily say that you’ve got a ridiculously oversized clitoris bouncing around in front of you.”
A slow, delighted grin spread lazily over his face. “So this is, like, a lesbo fantasy? Wonderful. Girl on girl—I go for that.”
“Shut up, you dog. I do not want to hear about your depraved previous sexual adventures. They make me want to beat you.”
His eyes widened. “Mmm. Scold me,” he murmured. “Show me who’s boss.” He grabbed her free hand, wrapped it around his thick shaft, and brought it up, presenting it with an exaggerated sigh of surrender. “Go for it. Teach me some manners, sweetheart.”
She pressed the tip of her clit against his penis, slid it inside.
They both gasped. It was a tiny movement. Intensely erotic and tightly focused. Their bodies shook. The stimulation was almost too intense to bear, but Sean was groaning, his big shoulders shaking. He liked it. So did she. She ground his glans harder against herself. Her excitement coiled up, tightening to a sharp, shivering point.
Sean leaned his damp forehead against hers. He shook with laughter, and excitement. “Take me,” he whispered.
She dissolved into giggles right as her orgasm pulsed through her, wrenching through every limb. He grabbed her other hand and wrapped it around his penis, squeezing her hand beneath his own. Hot jets of semen spurted over their clutching hands, onto her breasts, her belly.
He rested his hot forehead on her shoulder, trembling violently.
The creamy liquid seemed to burn her skin. Liv stared down at it, touched the white drops with her fingertips. She felt breathless, moved.
Semen had always struck her as an unfortunate and somewhat comical by-product of sex. Something sticky and icky to deal with. Usually safely contained in latex and conveniently ignored.
This was so different. This was his body’s offering. A tribute to life, poured out on an altar of passion and desire. A magic potion.
She wanted him to fill her with it, feel it trickling hot between her thighs. She wanted him to give her a child with it.
She’d been in free fall ever since she’d seen him standing in the ashes of her bookstore. Her chest ached and throbbed like her heart had been torn apart. He could destroy her with a wave of his hand.
He raised his head. She kept her watery eyes averted. She couldn’t bear to look at him. She extricated her hands from his strong grip and clambered off the bed. “Have to wash,” she mumbled.
When she swept the shower curtain aside, Sean stood there waiting. She felt melted and blurry, unfit for scrutiny. She stepped out of the tub, tried to walk past without looking at him.
“Goddamnit, Liv.” He spun her around and kissed her.
It was a dominating kiss, but her need flared right up to meet it. She clung to him and kissed him back. He lifted his lips from hers. “Don’t do that. Tear me to pieces, and then give me the cold shoulder.”
“What do you think you did to me last night?” she flung back.
“Let’s make a deal. You don’t do it to me, and I won’t do it to you.”
It’s never that simple, she wanted to scream.
“Let’s kiss on it. Look me in the eyes, Liv. And kiss me.”
“We just did,” she pointed out. “Very thoroughly.”
“That was before we made our deal.” His voice had that soft, unguarded tone that tugged at her heart. She couldn’t resist him.
She put her hands on his hot, scratchy cheeks, and stood up on her tiptoes, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.
“Promise?” His voice was hoarse.
“Promise,” she assured him.
He dragged her out of the bathroom, stretched out on the bed and held out his arms. It felt so sweet and perfect, sliding into them. She hid her face against his chest, let the deep thudding of his heart soothe her.
She must have slept. Bizarre images paraded through her mind, from the violent to the erotic. She woke to find Sean gazing into her face. His expression brought her to instant wakefulness. “Yes? What?”
“Tell me everything T-Rex said to you, Liv,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry to make you think about it, but I have to know.”
She closed her eyes, and tried to remember the sequence, the wording. “He told me that he saw me in his rifle scope that day that I met Kev,” she said. “He recognized me from a TV interview I did when the bookstore opened. That’s how he found me. He saw Kev give me that sketchbook. He wants the tapes. What tapes?”
He shook his head. “Kev mentioned tapes in his note. He must have coded the information into his sketches, but he coded it too well. He overestimated us. We couldn’t crack it. We tried. For months.”
“Where is that notebook now?” Liv asked.
Sean rolled onto his back. “My brothers ripped out the pictures and framed them. Davy said he’d be damned if he’d waste Kev’s last sketches. I didn’t take any. Can’t even stand to look at them when I go to visit. Those guys are made of tougher stuff than me.”
She kissed his hard belly. “You’re plenty tough.”
He grunted. “You should see my brother Davy. Talk about tough.”
She frowned. “Is he the one who gave you those bruises?”
“Oh, don’t blame him. I provoked him on purpose,” Sean said absently. “Davy’s a pain in the ass, like any McCloud, but he’s great. You’ll like him. And Margot, his wife, is fabulous. You’re going to love her. Con’s wife, Erin, too. I can’t wait for you to meet all of them.”
That gave her a warm, tingling glow in her chest.
“Tell me again exactly what Kev said to you,” Sean said.
“Not much,” she said regretfully. “That he was being chased. That some guys wanted to kill him. He scribbled that coded note, and told me to take it to you and run like hell, or they’d get me too. Scared me half to death.” She shrugged. “That’s all. I wish I could help you more.”
He nodded, his eyes miles away as his brain crunched data.
“What was in Kev’s note?” she asked. “I’ve wondered for fifteen years.”
Sean’s gaze flickered away. He let out a sigh, as if he were bracing himself. “It said if you didn’t disappear that night, you were dead meat.”
She stared at his averted face. The silence in the room swelled, as his meaning sank in. “Wait. You mean to tell me the horrible things you said were to drive me away? You did that deliberately? To protect me?”
He nodded. She slid off the bed, onto legs that would barely hold her. Stared at him as if she’d never seen him before.
“That’s not possible.” Her voice shook. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head.
Fury, grief, built up inside her like steam. She covered her shaking mouth. “You bastard! How could you do that to me?”
“I don’t know.” His voice was flat. “Still don’t. It almost killed me.”
She lunged towards him, and slapped his face. He barely flinched.
“For fifteen years I thought it was just a crazy fuck-up,” he said. “But if I hadn’t done it, T-Rex would have killed you. You’re alive, right? I have that much satisfaction. I did the right thing.”
“The right thing?” Her voice cracked with outrage. “Did it occur to you for one second to tell me what was going on? Did it occur to you to trust me? It didn’t cross that thick rock that passes for your mind?”
He shook his head. “You would have resisted. You wouldn’t have wanted to leave me in the lockup. You might not even have believed me. I made an executive decision. But I hated hurting you.”
“An executive decision. To totally destroy me, emotionally.” She let out a peal of hysterical laughter. “Wow. Cool as a cucumber.”
“It was the only way I could be sure you got on that plane,” he said. “I was locked up, Liv. I couldn’t protect you. There was no one to call for help. Davy was in Iraq. Con was on a stakeout somewhere. Kev was in trouble. The police were already pissed at me. I did what I had to do. And for the first time in fifteen years, I can stand by that decision.”
She pressed her hand against her face, like it might fall off. “It never occurred to you to contact me after?” she whispered.
“Only every single fucking minute of my life,” he said savagely. “First I thought it was safer not to get near you, while we were puzzling it out. Convincing ourselves that Kev had gone nuts was a long, gradual process. I looked for you after, but you were in Europe. Then I ended up going into the military. I looked for you when I was on leave. I saw you, once. You were out with some guy you were seeing. In Boston.”
“Oh, God.” She covered her face, shaking her head.
“I followed you around for a while, like your standard obsessed maniac,” he went on. “Then I got embarrassed at myself, and left.”
“Without ever contacting me,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “Didn’t seem right. To freak you out, disrupt your life, after years had already gone by. I figured you’d be furious. That you hated my guts. And that you’d hate them even more when I explained what I’d done. Surprise, surprise. Looks like I was right.”
She couldn’t get her quivering throat to calm down. “My whole life, my parents have jerked me around. When I met you, I thought, finally someone who’s straight with me. How ironic. When it comes to lying and manipulating, you give my mother a run for her money.”
“I’m sorry you’re so offended.” His voice was clipped. “I thought you’d be glad to know that all the nasty shit I said wasn’t true.”
“Oh. Yeah. That.” She shook with painful, ironic laughter. “Like, the pool you had going with the construction crew? Did you invent that right off the top of your head? Like, how bored you were at the prospect of deflowering me?” She grabbed the phone, dialed for an outside line.
He yanked the receiver out of her hand. “Who the fuck do you think you’re calling?” he snarled.
“A cab,” she shot back. “I’m out of here. I’ve had enough of this.”
He slammed the phone back, and shoved her down onto the bed. “I did what I did because I loved you. Does that count for anything?”
She shivered, staring into his fierce gaze. “If that’s what it means to be loved by you, I don’t know if I can survive it,” she whispered.
He shook with tension. “No. You promised you wouldn’t go cold on me. I hold you to that goddamn promise. You owe me that much.”
It was an impossible demand. He couldn’t hold her to that stupid promise. Feelings were feelings. Anger was anger. The past could not be changed. “What are you trying to accomplish by squishing me flat?” She demanded, struggling to keep her voice from shaking. “Using sexual intimidation to bully me into not being angry?”
“Sexual intimidation is as good a plan as any I can think up,” he said. “Would it work? I’ll do anything that works.”
The blaze of predatory energy from him took away what little nerve she had left. She shook her head. “Won’t work,” she whispered.
“Let’s see.” He pushed her thighs apart, fitting himself to her tender opening, and shoved himself deep inside her. “Does this work?”
She turned her crumpled, tear-blurred face away, but her body answered to his, helplessly, instinctively. Opening, yielding, rocking.
“It sure feels like it’s working,” he muttered, against her ear.
She shook her head against the crumpled wad of sheet. She would have screamed, but her throat vibrated too hard. The charge was already building, stoked by his hard, pounding rhythm. The molten eruption burst through her, wrenching jolts of dark pleasure.
Her lungs couldn’t expand, she realized, when she could think again. The solid weight of him was collapsed across her body.
She shoved at him. “Air,” she croaked. “Can’t breathe.”
He rolled off. The air was cool on her body, where the sweat had glued them together. She struggled up, reached between her legs.
Whoa. Holy crap. She was a lake. They hadn’t used a condom.
Or, to be fair, he hadn’t. She hadn’t had a thing to say about it.
Sean shot her an uneasy glance. His eyes slid away. “I didn’t mean to do that. I never…fuck.” He sounded almost bewildered.
Liv slid off the bed, struggling to remember how long it had been. She’d gone without sex for so long, she’d stopped paying attention to her cycle. She was somewhere smack in the middle. Right in the danger zone. Great. Another element of uncertainty to jazz up her life.
She felt big hands behind her, hoisting her up to her feet. He swept her up, which made her squeak with alarm, but he held her against his hard, sinewy chest as easily as if she were a child. He set her down on the tub, grabbed the detachable showerhead and set the water running. He pushed her legs apart, lathered her up. Apologizing with his hands. She stared at the top of his head, relaxing into the soothing, tender caresses. “I don’t know what to think,” she said. “Fifteen years of nothing. Then my life falls to pieces, and you come out of the woodwork, and get all intense about me. I don’t know what to feel.”
“Me neither.” He blotted her dry with the last remaining hand towel. “I think I got imprinted by you, or something. You know, how some dogs bond with one person, and that’s it? No one else will do?”
She snorted. “Um, yes, you do have many doglike qualities.”
“What?” He grinned. “Loyalty? Steadfastness? Selfless courage?”
Yes, and yes. “I don’t think you’re imprinted, though,” she said crisply. “I think you made do just fine.”
“Because I slept with other women?” His voice hardened, and his hands stopped moving. “Do you think for one instant that what’s happening between us is not important to me? It rocks my world.”
“I’m not on the pill,” she blurted. “I could get pregnant.”
He kissed her hands. “For some reason, that doesn’t scare me.”
She pried her hands away and covered her face with them. “Don’t say stupid things like that. It’s irresponsible. It messes with my head.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You turn my brain into mush, you know.”
“Oh, my. How gratifying to have such a powerful effect on a man. Don’t you think the timing is bad? On the run from a bloodthirsty murderer while urping with morning sickness. Cool.”
“We can talk about it more rationally if we eat something,” he said. “Anyway, there’s that morning-after pill, too. But you’re wiped out. You need fuel.”
The first bite that hit her mouth made her gasp with delight. It was just a honey-nut granola bar, but it tasted like heaven. So did the crackers with peanut butter, the oily sardines, the can of warm Coke. They sat cross-legged on the bed together and went at it like wolves.
“I can’t believe I’m eating this crap,” she said. “It tastes so good.”
“Convenience store haute cuisine.” He handed her another loaded cracker. “Stick with me, babe, if you want to live large.”
“So what are we doing here, anyhow?” she asked. “We can’t hide in this room eating crackers and having wild, crazy sex forever.”
“Wish we could,” he said, sounding wistful. “But I have a friend we can crash with. She’s expecting us late tonight.”
Liv went tense, and was angry at herself for being so. “She?”
Sean lifted his hands defensively. “Not an ex-lover, as God is my witness. I would never dream of getting it on with Tam. She intimidates the living bejesus out of me. She’s just a really unusual, ah, friend.”
“Intimidated? You?” She snorted. “Oh, please. Get real.”
“I’m kind of a wuss, if you want to know the truth,” he confessed.
“Right. Big lily-livered wuss.” She rolled her eyes. “Unusual how?”
“You have to meet her to understand. Tam is indescribable.”
“Whatever,” she said. “I need to contact my parents first.”
“Davy’s done that. They know you’re safe,” he said.
She shook with a burst of dry laughter. “Um, no, Sean. They know that I’m with you,” she corrected. “They don’t know that I’m safe.”
He handed her his cell. “Be my guest. If you have the strength.”
She took a deep breath, and dialed the number of Endicott House. It was snatched up on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Mother?” she asked. “It’s me. I’m—”
“Oh, my God, Livvy. Have you gone insane? Where are you?”
“I’m with Sean,” she soothed. “I’m fine, I’m safe.”
“How could you do this to me? Come home this instant!”
“Um, actually…no. I’m going to disappear for a while. I—”
“The police need to talk to you, Livvy! That man is dangerous!”
Huh. Her definition of dangerous had gotten a sharp adjustment lately. “You’ve got the wrong idea,” she explained. “Sean rescued me.”
“Are you trying to punish me, Livvy?” Her mother’s voice cracked. “When will it be enough pain to satisfy you? When will it stop? When?”
Liv swallowed back all the rest. No point. Nobody was listening. “Give Daddy a hug for me,” she said. “Bye, Mother. I’ll be in touch.”
“Livvy! Stop! Don’t you dare hang up that—”
Click. She broke the connection and stared down at the phone in her hand. She felt empty, light. She could float away, like a dry leaf.
“Well,” she whispered. “I’ve done my duty. For what it’s worth.”
She set the phone down. Sean was rifling through his big, heavy olive green duffel bag full of mysterious equipment. “There’s something I need to tell you,” she said. “Something that’s going to be hard to hear.”
He went motionless for a moment, then straightened up, gripping the mattress on either side of him. “Yeah?” he said warily.
“Remember how you told me that everyone breaks under torture?”
He jerked his chin in assent, and waited for her to go on.
“It’s not always true.” She tried to swallow over the stone hard bump in her throat. “T-Rex said…that Kev never told them anything. Where the tapes were, where the notebook was. Who I was. No matter what they did to him. He didn’t tell. So…I owe my life to him, too.”
Sean looked away. He got up and circled the bed. He sat down with his back to her and sagged forward, leaning his face on his hands.
Liv crawled across the bed and draped herself against his back.
They stayed like that for a long time, waiting for night to fall.