Danica Cortez had endured a lot in her life and stress often rolled off her slender shoulders with ease, but this was something unlike anything she had encountered previously.
 As she stared at Xave’s pale face, his breathing shallow, her heart was pounding out of her chest.
 Who is this guy? She wondered. Danica had barely managed to pull him onto the uncomfortable mattress, using every ounce of her strength. Nothing could revive Xave from wherever he had fallen.
 She lay at his side, stroking his black hair, silently praying for him to wake up.
 “Come on, Xave,” she whispered. “You can’t fail me now. We have to keep moving.”
 But one hour passed and then a second, Danica’s anxiety growing to epic proportions.
 She rose, beginning to pace the room.
 I could run, she thought suddenly but she knew the thought was ridiculous. Something had led her to Xavier. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, she was as good as dead without Xave. They needed each other to escape whatever mess they had found themselves in.
 What could Oculus possibly want with him? Did the group somehow know that Xave and I would meet one day?
 The idea was farfetched but suddenly Danica didn’t know what to believe.
 Laying a few feet away from her was a man who could stop time with his mind. And she had helped him bury a body. And now her best friend was dead. Oh my god, what the hell is happening?
 Nothing made sense anymore.
 It was surreal and for a few moments, Danica entertained the thought that she was in a dream.
 It would certainly make more sense if I was in a dream, she reasoned, slipping back into the bed with Xave. If I was in a dream, Twila would still be alive.
 She felt a stabbing pierce of pain in her heart.
 “Come on, Xave,” she begged him. “Wake up. We’re sitting ducks. I feel like they’ve already found us.”
 Still, there was no response and Danica flopped back against the flat pillows, wondering why she had been so drawn to this mysterious man from the first time she had laid eyes on him.
 Think, Danica, think. You have to find a way to get him out of here without calling attention to yourselves.
 The problem was, she had no idea how serious Xave’s ailment was. She had no sense for how long he would be out or if he would ever recover.
 The thought that he would not snap out of whatever state he was in filled her with terror. Swallowing, Danica knew that there was nothing else she could do but wait.
 But wait for what, was the question.

  The television was on low but the news broadcast was alive with reports about the missing NBA star.
 Danica glanced at Xave as if she expected him to bolt awake by the mention of Clark Jameson, but of course he didn’t stir.
 “…has been missing from his Austin, Texas home since Tuesday night. His credit cards have not been used according to authorities and his friends and family are assuming the worst. Several women have come forward in the days following his disappearance to accuse the celebrity of sexual misconduct. The police have not confirmed or denied if foul play is suspected in Mr. Jameson’s abrupt disappearance.”
 Danica’s brow furrowed.
 The guy was a pig, she thought, chewing on the insides of her cheeks. Did Xave know that about him before he agreed to get rid of the body?
 Suddenly, she thought she might see an entirely different side of the stranger lying beside her. If Jameson was as much of a monster as the women were accusing him of being, then maybe the world was a better place without him. Had Xave known what kind of person Jameson was? Maybe Xave wasn’t as cold as he seemed. The fact that he hadn’t shown any remorse for what had happened had bothered Danica a bit. She didn’t feel threatened herself, but someone had died, and if it was a tragic thing, then she would expect the people who knew to show at least signs of sadness. Maybe Xave had known what kind of person Jameson was all along. 
 She wondered if maybe it was true that he had a generous, protective heart which had been scarred badly somewhere down the line.
 We’re all victims of our circumstances, she thought ruefully. Even the toughest of us.
 Danica hit the mute button on the television and curled her frame into Xave’s, wanting to be as close to him as she could.
 Her lips grazed the soft pulse of this throat and she inhaled his scent deeply, wondering how much longer they had to be with one another.
   Tears welled in her eyes and she silently willed him to wake up, her mouth kissing against him lightly, covering his cheeks and neck softly.
 She wanted the emotion she felt for him to rouse him from sleep. Her mouth grew warmer as if her caresses would be the kiss of life she needed to revive him.
 Come back to me, she called to him. Stay with me. I need you.
 He stirred slightly and her heart leapt. It’s working! Her mouth traveled lower, pulling his black t-shirt from his lean but muscular frame.
 Gently biting at his nipples, she thought she detected his heartbeat speeding up a bit. Her heart hammering violently in her chest, she swept her hands gently over his rock hard abdomen. His breath hitched as her hand brushed over his cock, and it gave Danica encouragement. He didn’t stir as she pulled his pants down, her movements becoming frantic as she worried that she was losing his emerging consciousness.
 In her mind, she knew she could bring him back if she tried hard enough.
 Danica’s mouth closed around his shaft, her soft hands gripping it tightly. Her tongue and fingers massaged him in unison, her mind pleading with him to give her another sign as her strokes grew longer and harder.
 A low moan filled the room and she looked up in surprise, hope filling her as he swelled in her mouth.
 She did not slow her pace, her hands growing firmer.
 Again, Xave released a noise, his eyes fluttering open and suddenly Danica could feel his aura returning, coming back from wherever it had gone on hiatus.
 Xave’s fingers spread into her mass of chestnut curls, quickly becoming firmer as he guided her lower onto his unit.
 She felt a rush of heated moisture between her legs.
 Pulling her head back, she climbed atop him, straddling his waist as she stared at him with wide, worried eyes.
  “You’re awake,” she murmured.
 He smiled slowly.
 “Are you sure?” he breathed. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”
 Danica pressed her lips to him, biting on his lower lip as she shimmied to remove her pants and then slipped out of her top. She slid his staff inside of her, reveling in the stretch, the sensations shooting through her while a small gasp escaped her. Enjoying the connection, both physical and almost spiritual, she slowly raised herself before slipping sensually back down his cock, trying to not rush the moment.
 Instead, she wanted to relish every second, feeling him pulsating in her core.
 Their eyes locked as they fell into a steady but slow rhythm.
 There was no fear, it was as if they had forgotten about everything affecting them on the outside. They were lost in each other, living in the moment that had brought them together at long last.
 “You’re beautiful,” Xave murmured, his eyes hazy and hypnotizing. His words only served to bring her to higher levels of desire.
 She was floating, but tangled in his naked devotion to her.
 Smoothly, Xave grasped her hips, jerking upward and Danica felt a tension building in her. She bit on her lower lip, knowing that she was close to climax.
 “Yes! Please…,” she pleaded. “I want us to cum together.”
 He growled softly, his jaw clenching, as he angled his hips to connect with that special place deep inside her. Her passion continued to climb, the intensity building inside her.
 Danica cried out, gasping as the climax overtook her. The waves kept crashing over her, not surrendering, holding her in a blissful prison that she never wanted to escape from.
 Her body shook as the tremors continued and she fell forward, her hands landing on either side of his face, their mouths inches apart.
 Xave grunted, his strong arms crushing her to him as his hips continued their driving thrusts into her core, impaling her over and over again. She bit his neck sharply, enjoying the taste of him, man and sex together, and the sharp bite of her teeth pushed him over the edge. 
 His back arched and a deep groan escaped his chest as he spilled inside her, caught up in the maelstrom of orgasm. He tightened his grip on her briefly, squeezing till she couldn’t draw a breath. Then his mouth found hers and his tongue delved deeply inside, as if he needed to be joined even more permanently with her. 
 He moaned softly again, thrusting into her gently now as she buried her face in his neck, never wanting to let him go.
 What would it take to stay like this forever? She wondered. Can we ever find peace like this again?
 She was certain that their happiness was limited.

  The lay naked in each other’s arms, talking.
 Danica found herself telling Xave things that even Twila didn’t know about her. Yet as they talked, she felt like she could tell him anything. It felt as if the words would not stop flowing. 
 “Why did you leave home so young?” he asked and Danica chuckled mirthlessly.
 “Dad was a drunk. Didn’t think twice about putting his hand on my ass when he wasn’t beating on my mom. I got tired of listening to her excuses. I figured I had a better shot on my own at fourteen than wondering if he was ever going to ‘accidentally’ wander into my room one night and blame the whiskey.”
 Xave’s mouth tightened into a fine line of anger.
 “He molested you?” he growled. “And your mother did nothing?”
 “No,” Danica said quickly. “He didn’t exactly cross the line of molestation. Anything he ever did could be explained away as harmless touching.”
 “That’s not harmless touching!” he snarled, furiously. “And your mother is just as responsible for not doing anything about it.”
 Danica cocked her head and stared at him, half-smiling.
 “My mother could not take care of herself. How was she going to take care of me?”
 “Yeah,” Xave said bitterly. “I had a mother like that too. She liked heroin too much to feed me properly. I would scrounge through dumpsters in Harlem for food. That’s where child services picked me up,” he mumbled.  “Spent my entire childhood in foster care more or less.”
 She peered at him pensively.
 “Where was your dad?” she asked, her brow knit in sympathy.
 “I think you mean, who is my dad?” Xave replied dryly. “Couldn’t get a straight answer out of Sonia about him. She probably had no idea who he was.”
 He seemed to hear the bitterness in his tone and he pulled back, both physically and emotionally.
 “It doesn’t matter. We’re alive and that’s all that counts, right?” he continued, trying to smile through his resentment, but Danica could read the disappointment in his face.
 When we get out of here, we’re going to start over somewhere else. We’re going to have a white picket fence and a dog named Max. We’re going to walk away from this danger and live a straight and narrow life where no one will ever threaten us again, she promised herself.
 “What are you thinking about?” Xave asked, shattering her unlikely daydream. Embarrassed, she shook her head.
 “Nothing,” she mumbled. “Just thinking about how we’re going to get out of here.”
 Xave leaned in and kissed her on the mouth sweetly.
 “Let me rest a while longer and we’ll keep moving. The cops probably won’t still be looking for us at the bus station. We can take a bus ride anywhere.”
 “We can’t do that without money,” she reminded him and he nodded.
 “I know,” he sighed. “We’re going to have to sneak on the bus or steal some money to get us through.”
 She studied his face pensively.
 “No,” she said slowly. “You can’t keep using your ability. It’s draining you, isn’t it? We have to find another way.”
 “It’s the safest way to do it without getting caught,” he replied. “But we’ll worry about that later. Let’s rest while we have this room. Who knows when we’ll get another chance to rest.”
 Danica nodded her head in agreement, nibbling on her lower lip.
 Yeah, a white picket fence, my ass. We’re going to be running, living hand to mouth for the rest of our lives…but at least we’ll be together. It was her last conscious thought before falling deeply asleep.

---

  “Help is coming,” Xave said and she nodded.
 “I know.”
 “You don’t need to be afraid anymore. I will always protect you.”
 “You can’t protect me against Oculus,” she told him. “No one can protect us from Oculus.”
 “Yes,” Xave argued. “There is someone who can protect us but he must find us before they do.”
 “Who?” Danica demanded.
   Xave smiled enigmatically.
 “My father.”
 She blinked uncomprehendingly.

  “I thought you didn’t know who your father was,” she said in confusion. “How can your father be coming?”
 “He has sent me a message.”
 “How?”
 “In my dreams.”
   “This is a dream, Xave. We are dreaming right now.”
 He nodded in agreement.
 “Yes,” he replied. “But these dreams are real.”
 She did not know how to respond or what she was supposed to say. Nothing made sense and yet she believed him. Somehow, deep inside, she accepted what he was saying.
 Help was coming. He was speaking the truth.
 “Where is your father?” she asked. It made no sense and yet it did.
 “He’s coming.”
 She opened her eyes and saw that the room was enveloped in complete darkness. Danica still lay atop Xave but he was as fast asleep as she had just been.
 Her immediate reaction to waking was a deep feeling of relief as the strange conversation they seemed to have had subconsciously replayed in her mind.
 Could that dream have meant something? Is his father genuinely coming for us?
 It seemed so far fetched, and as the final wisps of Xave’s words disappeared from her mind, the temporary sensation of ease she had felt was replaced by instinctive fear.
 Something was wrong. She could feel it in the air.
 They’re here, she thought, panicking as she sat up. Oculus found us.
 She could not reconcile how they had been located. No one knew they were in the motel room, not even the desk clerk but that did not change the fact that she could sense danger near them.
 As her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room, she could see that they were still alone but Danica could not shake the sense that they were being watched.
 “Xave,” she whispered urgently. “Xave, wake up.”
 He moaned quietly as he seemed to be leaving the realm of his own dream, green eyes opening slowly.
 “What’s wrong?”
 Xave sat up, looking around instantly as he took stock of his surroundings. As Danica studied his expression, she could tell that he felt it too.
 “We have to get out of here,” she murmured anxiously. “I think they’ve found us.”
 He did not respond but he nodded, grabbing for his black jeans and slipping them over his waist.
 “What are we going to do?” Danica asked, following his lead and dressing quickly. “I feel like they’re standing right outside, ready to kill us.”
 “I don’t know who they are or what they want, but they aren’t going to cause bloodshed in a public place.”
 “Why not?” Danica muttered angrily. “They set my house on fire and killed my best friend. They have no scruples.”
 She froze suddenly, sniffing the air.
 “Oh shit!” she muttered. “Shit! Do you smell that?”
 Xave turned and stared at her, nodding slowly.
 “I guess that’s their MO,” he said with a smoldering fury. “Setting things on fire.”
 He grabbed her hand and they flew toward the door but as he reached for it, the flames on the other side erupted, the wall of fire covering the whole side of the motel where their door was located. The heat coming from just standing close to the window and door was almost unbearable.
 Yelping, he jumped backward, pulling Danica with him.
 “Out the bathroom,” he choked as the cheap walls quickly started to melt and smoke with the heat.
 They hurried towards the tiny washroom, but even before they could enter, the sound of glass shattering and a whoosh of explosion met their ears.
 Danica stared at him in horror, black smoke billowing into the room.
 “Oh my God,” she choked, falling into a hacking cough as they realized they were trapped. “We’re dead. They’ve trapped us.”
 At that moment, the flames at the door and window were extinguished with a powerful blast and the door was kicked inward. A man stood at the threshold, his silhouette barely discernible.
 “Danica, come on!” Xave shouted, grabbing her hand and rushing toward the fresh air.
 “No!” Danica screamed, digging in her heels. “Don’t go with him!”
 Xave paused to stare at her as if she was crazy, but she pointed, tears streaming from her burning eyes.
 “Danica, we have to get out of here! Let’s go!”
 But as she opened her mouth to yell out again, she saw the pistol in the man’s hand, aimed directly at her.
 “He’s Oculus!” she cried. “His name is Jessup.”
 “Come with me, Xavier. Then Danica can go free,” Jessup said coaxingly. “There is no need for anyone to get hurt.”
 “Put the gun down and let us out!” Xave yelled but Danica knew then that she was not meant to live through the rest of this night.
 “Come on Xavier,” Jessup called again. “Soon you will both be unconscious from smoke inhalation anyway. Just come with me and I promise that Danica will be fine.”
 She looked at him and suddenly realized that he was trying to stop time but he had no control over his ability.
 He made a split-second decision, running toward Jessup.
 “Fine, then take me,” he yelled. “Take me and let her go!”
 Jessup’s condescending smile widened.
 Grabbing onto Xave’s arm and using some fancy martial arts move, he thrust him out into the parking lot and out of Danica’s view.
 Turning back so quickly that Danica didn’t have time to react, he raised the gun and pointed it at her.
 “Sorry about this, Danica. I always liked you.”
 She didn’t have time to run, plead, or shout, as three shots rang out.
 All she could hear was screaming after that.
 It took her a few seconds to realize she was the one doing it.