(Penny)

It felt like a really long, lust filled weekend. We hung out, talked, ate, drank, and had sex. We went room to room in his apartment. Any silence opened the door for us to go at it. We kept just to ourselves, ignored anyone who tried to bother us, and the only time we opened the apartment door was to let delivery drivers bring us food and beer.

We were acting young, wild, and free.

But we really were anything but that.

I woke up one morning and found Noah sitting on the edge of the bed. I was naked - big shock. He was naked too. His muscular back was something to look at. The curve of his ass pressed against the bed and he ran his hands through his hair.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Our time is up,” he whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“This whole thing. We’ve been hiding out, Penny. It’s been long enough.”

“Okay,” I said. “So what happens next?”

Noah looked back at me. “I haven’t figured that part out yet, honey. I’ve been sitting here for two hours trying to play it all out. What I have though is what I know for sure. And that’s who Marcos is. What his family is. The way he killed Seth…” Noah shook his head. “And then this detective situation with you.”

“Tell me what happened, Noah. About his brother.”

“I already confessed to you. I’m a murderer.”

I hated hearing that. I didn’t believe it. Yet he was saying it to me. “What does that mean?”

Noah curled his lip. “Stop trying to build me up inside your head. I’m not who you think I am.”

“So then tell me exactly who you are,” I said.

Noah stood up. “No.”

His ass was so perfect. It wasn’t fair for him to be doing that to me. I sat there trying to figure out my emotions and my thoughts and he had to be right there, a few feet away, completely naked.

“So then what’s the plan?” I asked.

“How far are you willing to go to survive?”

“What’s the right answer, Noah? Am I supposed to say I’ll do anything or go anywhere? Because I think we both know that most of the time that’s bullshit. Nobody actually feels that way. We all have our limits.”

“Have you hit your limit?”

“I’ve hit… something. Being here with you…”

Noah looked back at me again. “We shower. We eat. Then we get out of this apartment. We need a plan to try and make this work. I think we should pay a visit to your boss.”

“Andy?”

“Yeah. Maybe there’s something about him and Erik we could figure out and take to Marcos. Try to create some kind of value to your life.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “My life is worthless.”

I exhaled and stared down at the bed. Why did it hurt so bad to acknowledge that?

Noah turned and walked the length of the bed. My eyes couldn’t look away from between his legs. Even soft and calm, he was impressive. Long, defined, and I knew what it could look like in a matter of seconds. How it felt when he was hard and thrusting inside me.

A hand touched my face, forcing me to look up at him.

“Eyes up here, honey,” he said with a half grin.

“What?”

“You’re not worthless. Your life is not worthless. I wouldn’t be doing what I am right now for you if I felt that way. Understand that?”

“I’m sorry about all this, Noah. This is my battle. I wanted to stick my nose in these fights.”

“Yeah, I know. But someone wants me dead for something that happened a long time ago. So we both have to stick together on this.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be than right here,” I said. “I swear.”

“I believe you. I don’t do the whole woman-in-my-place kind of thing. But I kind of like having you here, Penny.”

Was that him being romantic?

His hand stroked my cheek. My body ached and burned in all the right places. I caught my legs moving under the blankets, opening, the back of my legs tightening and pulling. My instinct was to start rocking my hips, seeking relief. I felt so turned on and pathetic. I had gone, what, months without sex before meeting Noah? And now I couldn’t go hours.

Then again, he was standing in front of me, naked.

I reached out and touched his leg. My fingers gently slid up and touched his cock. He let out a shuddering breath and his grip on my face tightened.

“I’m going to protect you,” he said. “Whatever else you have to tell me, I want to know.”

“And I want to know your story,” I whispered, my fingers slowly cascading down his thickening shaft. I rolled my thumb over the head of his cock and then had a firm grip on him. “Please, Noah. I just need to know what happened…”

Noah gritted his teeth. He leaned down toward me. All I wanted was for him to take me again. Hover over me with his hands devouring me as much as his eyes and body.

Yes… right now…

Our lips touched for a second and then there was a thundering boom at the door to the apartment.

Noah pulled away, eyes wide, changing from sex to survival.

He said one word to me.

“Hide.”

* * *

His dick was half hard as he hurried to grab for a pair of jeans. I sat there in shock watching as he climbed into his jeans and had to force his cock into them. He zipped up and stood there, looking fucking gorgeous.

“Penny, now,” he said.

“What if it’s just that guy you help?” I asked. “Dalton?”

“Then you’ll know and you can come out,” he said. “Hurry. Now.”

He moved to the door. I called for him.

“Noah, what if I get caught…”

He shook his head. “You know the answer to that already.”

He disappeared from the bedroom.

Of course I knew the answer. If I got caught, we both would be killed.

I scrambled out of the bed. I found my bra, my shirt, and pants. That was good enough to get dressed with for now. I grabbed my bag off the floor, zipped it up, and then opened the closet. I looked up and knew the top shelf was best place to hide it. I tossed the bag to the shelf and then moved some of Noah’s clothes around it to make it blend in.

I stepped back and tried to listen to outside of the bedroom. I wanted it to just be that Dalton guy. We had gone days without any trouble. Nobody calling. Nobody bothering us. It was almost like we were on some hidden vacation together. Just me and Noah.

I took a chance and peeked around the halfway open door. I saw two men enter the apartment. They were big men. Before I could make another move, Noah took a swing. I saw and heard his fist connect with the guy’s face. I had seen a lot of fights, but this bothered me. This wasn’t supposed to be a fight. This truly was for survival.

As I moved back, I could still hear them fighting. Grunting. Punches landing. Thuds. My heart was torn in half, wanting to help Noah. I knew better though, I couldn’t help him by going out there. I wasn’t strong at all. I couldn’t fight.

I could only hide.

I dove at the closet, knowing it was the only place I could hide.

I moved to the furthest corner, tucked behind Noah’s shirt. The closet smelled of him. Danger all around and there I was, hugging a buttoned down flannel shirt, smelling it.

I waited for what felt like hours. The fighting stopped and I heard a strong voice carry through the apartment, into the bedroom, into the closet.

I had never heard the voice before, but my gut told me exactly who it was. It could only be one person.

It was Marcos.