CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I awake in the dark basement again. I’m bound, as always, to this chair in the middle of the unfurnished room. I grit my teeth, determined. I’m going to get out this time, no matter what it takes. My head is pounding, my pulse is rushing, my face is flushed as I pull at my restraints, desperately trying to loosen them. After what feels like an eternity, I stop struggling and slump back into my chair. I need to find a way to cut myself out of these restraints. Pulling won’t work. The heavy metal door opens, and when I see who it is, tears start streaming down my face. My chance to escape has slipped away, and despair overtakes me. If only my restraints had been looser. If only I’d tried harder.
Jack Nelson comes to stand in front of my chair, but I avoid looking at him. He doesn’t like this. He angrily pulls my chin up so that we’re staring at each other and I can’t avoid eye contact. “Hello, bitch,” he sneers. I whimper in response, my courage from earlier a distant memory now. “Are you ready to play?”
Everything around me starts to fade, and I slip out of consciousness.
***
“Kelsey.” Shake. "Kelsey, wake up, baby." Liam was crouched over me when I open my eyes, concern etched on his face. I wiped my face, surprised when my hands come back wet. Had I been drooling? "Kelsey, it's okay."
I sat up straight, looking over at Liam. "What? What's wrong?"
"You tell me. You were tossing around and sobbing in your sleep," Liam said, smoothing my hair back from my face.
“I was having a nightmare. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“You keep having them, though, and it seems like they're getting worse. That can't be good for you." Liam tugged my arm, and I slid over so that I was sitting on his lap. Liam wrapped his arms around me and put his chin in the crook of my neck. "Want to tell me about it?” I shrugged, not wanting to get into the gory details of it. “Okay. If you ever become ready to talk about it, I’m here to listen.”
“Thank you," I said, cuddling closer. I ground my hips, smiling when Liam groaned. "Time for a change of subject."
“Kelsey, you can’t just distract me with sex when things get hard,” Liam said, frowning.
“I can try. Isn’t that what you do when things get hard, anyway?" I bent down to kiss him, and he gave in with a sigh. The kiss grew deeper, hotter, and Liam growled. He gripped my waist, holding me tighter to him as he pumped his hips up. In one motion, he flipped us so that I was flat on my back now and looking up at him. I bit my lip and smiled. Liam kissed my nose. "What are you smiling about?" he asked softly.
“You look pretty sexy right now.” I waggled my eyebrows at him.
“Thank you. You look pretty sexy yourself, baby,” Liam said, biting my lower lip.
I pulled away, pointing downward with my eyes. "I know a place that you'd look even sexier."
Liam took the hint with a carnal grin. "Yes, ma'am." He kissed his way from my collarbone to my breasts, lavishing attention on each nipple before working his way downward. He ran his tongue down the valley between my breasts and my belly button, making me giggle when he tickled my wet skin with his breath. My laughter died in my throat when Liam grabbed my legs and hauled them over his shoulder. He closed his mouth down on my center, molding his lips to me. He pulled back and held me down as my hips bucked, gazing wickedly at all the intimate bits that were exposed to him.
I squirmed impatiently as he stared at me with a smirk. "Make sure to scream loud for me, baby. Don't worry, no one can hear you." He winked, then kissed the insides of my thighs. He dragged his lips to the area just outside of where I wanted him, dropping tiny kisses all over it. I whined softly, urging him to get to the point, to go where I was craving him. Liam obliged willingly, taking my clit into his mouth and sucking.
“Oh, FUCK," I moaned. "Just like that." Liam grabbed me by the ass and held me in place again as he ground his mouth into me, driving me wild. I was so close to coming just from his mouth, but I needed something else to get me over the edge.
As if he'd read my mind, Liam moved one hand further around my ass so that he was holding me close to his mouth with only one arm. He inserted two fingers into me, and I was done for. I came with a scream, trembling as I floated back to earth, passing the moon and the stars on the way down.
“You’re good at that,” I said once I was coherent again, tugging the comforter up so it covered both of us. “My turn to send you to outer space.”
“What?” Liam laughed.
I ducked under the covers and stopped at the sight of Liam's cock straining to be free of his boxer briefs. I peeled these off and flung them to the side, then turned my attention back to the task at hand. Liam tugged the comforter up so that we were both under it, creating a makeshift sex fort. I pulled the length of him into my mouth, reveling in his sharp intake of breath. I pulled up and looked into his eyes through my eyelashes sultrily. "Time to make you scream my name." I went back down on him, working the shaft quickly as I bobbed up and down. Anticipation made quick work of this blowjob, and it wasn't long before Liam was shouting his release. I swallowed smugly, then moved back up his body, wiping my mouth discreetly.
Liam placed a kiss on my brow as I snuggled into his side. “You’re good at that, too,” he said. I laughed softly. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of making you scream my name, baby. I could listen to that for fifty years and still wake up wanting to hear it one more time.”
“The pleasure's all mine, believe me." I smiled but despaired internally. I hoped he would steer the conversation into more comfortable waters. I didn't want to deal with the whole "what are we?" conversation just yet, not when I still wasn't sure of what I wanted. I mean, I liked Liam, of course, but my track record with relationships was not very impressive. I was a little concerned that our domestic situation was making us commit to too much, too soon.
“Hey,” Liam said. “You still in outer space over there? What are you so pensive about?”
“Nothing,” I lied, faking a smile.
“You look pretty troubled for someone who’s not thinking about anything. I don’t like seeing that look on my girl’s face,” Liam pressed.
“You must've been imagining it," I said, sitting up. "Let's go cook some breakfast." Liam shot me a look but didn't push the issue. He followed me into the kitchen, shuffling behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist.
Shrugging out of Liam’s embrace, I put the heavy skillet over the flame to preheat it. “Eggs or pancakes?” I asked, rummaging through the cabinet for some cooking spray.
“Both. Hang on. I've got to take this." Liam picked his ringing phone off the kitchen counter and answered. "Sullivan here." Liam covered the mouthpiece on his phone and mouthed the word "McIntyre” to me. I nodded and turned back to the stove. I wasn't interested in hearing a progress report about how Jack Nelson has continued to elude the Marshals.
“The Bahamas? Really? How reliable is that lead?” I turned back around, interested now. Liam shook his head in disbelief. “Obviously, this means we're closer to catching him. This is great news, sir. I will let the witness know. Yes, we'll continue to keep our heads down. Thank you, sir. Goodbye.”
I leaned against the counter, eagerly waiting for Liam to confirm what I'd just overheard. Liam put the phone down on the counter after McIntyre hung up. He turned to me with a huge grin. “What is it?” I asked. “Tell me.”
“Jack Nelson has been spotted in the Bahamas in the town of Freeport. That means he's a considerably smaller threat to you right now and is in a prime position for us to get him. We can't stop being vigilant, of course, but now I don't have to worry that you're going to get yourself killed every time you run off to the village willy-nilly." I frowned at this and nudged Liam's shoulder. His expression turned sober. “This may all be over soon, Kelsey. Then we can go home and stop worrying.”
Home. That’s what I wanted. Right?
***
Later that day, we were hanging out on the couch that had long since stopped being Liam's bed. We sat with our feet in each other's laps, lazily reclining and not paying attention to the television droning on. The fireplace was crackling and roaring. The tree we had picked out together was sparkling with string lights that we'd found in the hallway closet, buried in a box of tablecloths. It was a picture-perfect afternoon. I was glad that Jack was close to being caught, I really was, but a little part of me didn't want to have to leave our bubble here and go back to Hampton Roads, where things would get complicated and labeled, and stop being so shiny and new.
“Okay, Kelsey, snap out of it. You’ve been standoffish all day,” Liam said. “Tell me what you’ve been thinking about. Is it still that nightmare?”
“No, it’s not that,” I said.
“Well, what is it then? Aren’t you happy that we’re almost out of here?”
“That’s just it. Is it bad that I don’t want to leave here? We have loads of free time, an awesome fireplace, and a sex fort in the bedroom.”
“The sex fort is admittedly cool, but it's cold here, and the power keeps flickering on and off. All our friends and family are back in Virginia. We have to go back to the real world somehow." I wrinkled my nose at this and Liam laughed. "We can see each other when we get home. I promise to build you a sex fort there. And we can do normal things too, like go on dates in public without me bringing a gun."
I froze, then slowly hugged my knees to my chest. “You want to take me on dates?”
Liam nodded, looking at me like I was crazy. “Of course. Isn’t that what guys normally do with their girlfriends?”
Girlfriend?! Warning bells sounded in my head.
"Okay, now you look like I suggested that we eat sewer rats for dinner tonight. It's kind of hurting my feelings," Liam said slowly. He sat up straight.
I winced, trying to find the words that wouldn't hurt Liam, but also wouldn't trap me into a relationship. "It's just that we haven't discussed what our situation is yet. There's no need to define this right now and make it a whole thing, right?"
Liam cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “I'm sorry. I just assumed that after a month of sleeping together and living together, we were, by definition, in a relationship. I see now that I was mistaken by turning it into a whole thing.” Liam stood up, avoiding looking me in the eye.
“Oh come on, don’t be like that,” I said. “I’m just not looking for a relationship right now. Like I said, let’s not define it. We can be friends with benefits.”
“Friends with benefits?” Liam spat out with distaste. “I think you just defined it perfectly, Kelsey. Message received.”
“Liam, let's not fight, please. You're making this a big deal,” I said, trying to calm him down.
“I’m going to walk around outside for a bit. Don’t follow me.” Liam stormed out of the living room and pulled on his coat, slamming the door shut behind him.
I dropped my face down and scrubbed my hands over it. I had not handled that well at all. I hadn't meant to hurt his feelings, honestly. I was trying to spare him the disappointment and the pain somewhere down the road when our relationship eventually crumbled under the pressure of the real world. I just hadn't done it so eloquently.
I waited on the couch for Liam to come back in for what felt like forever. I stared blankly at the television, not taking anything in. Liam stormed back into the living room, startling me out of my reverie. He stomped the snow off his boots, then came back to stand in front of me in the living room. We stared at each other silently, and I waited for Liam to speak. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I asked warily. “Okay what?”
“Okay, if you want to be fuck buddies, we can do that. I’ll just deal with it,” Liam said.
I knitted my eyebrows. “Fuck buddies is a harsh term.”
“I call it like I see it. You don’t want to be in a relationship, but you still want to fuck.”
“Still. It’s a harsh term,” I said. Despite Liam’s seeming acceptance of the situation, I was uneasy. It couldn’t actually be as easy as he was making it.
“I think we’re going to have to start sleeping separately, though, for my sanity. I need some space to clear my head and get me out of a relationship mindset. No more snuggling, no more being around each other all day,” Liam said gruffly.
My heart sank. "Liam, I didn't mean that I want us just to have sex and ignore each other the rest of the time. I suggested we be friends with benefits. Friends hang out. Why are you trying to change what we have going on when it wasn't broken?"
“Well, you can’t have it both ways, Kelsey. You can’t do all the things people in a relationship do, but not call it a relationship because you’re too chickenshit. I’m not wired that way, and honestly, I’m not sure if I want you if you’re wired that way.”
Okay, that hurt. "I don't do relationships. I don't want to lose what we've got by labeling this and then crashing and burning somewhere down the line."
“Ever the optimist. What makes you so sure that we're going to crash and burn?" Liam challenged.
“We met under crazy circumstances, Liam. Our whole relationship is absurd and unrealistic,” I said, waving my arms in exasperation.
“I don't think it is. I think you need to move out of your comfort zone and give us a shot," Liam said, dropping to his knees in front of me. "I can't just be your friend, Kelsey. I thought we'd been through this before."
“I don’t want to lose you, Liam, but I can’t promise that I can be in a relationship with you,” I said forlornly.
“I'll wait until you're ready." Liam kissed my hands and stood back up. "Don't pretend there aren't feelings here, though. It's insulting. I'm going to leave you alone to think about it for a bit. Just don't dismiss me out of hand." I nodded reluctantly, and Liam's face brightened. "You're not going to regret this, Kelsey." He disappeared into the bedroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts. What had I just agreed to?