Lockdown: A Veiled Alliance Story Page 6

  Gillian came up on her knees and flung back her head, but he was already slamming his hips against her ass, fucking so deep, so hard, her entire body shuddered with his strokes. “Don’t you dare come too fast!” she groaned.

  “Shut up! It’s my goddamn turn,” he growled.

  She widened her legs, tilted her ass higher, inviting him to thrust deeper, relishing the slap of those heavy balls against her clit.

  But he was coming, hot liquid spurting inside her as he drove his cock harder, deeper. At last, he held himself against her, jerking in spasms as he groaned, and she let out a mournful moan. She’d just missed it.

  He came out, flipped her to her back and hitched up her legs beneath his arms, then slid his still rigid cock inside her. “Play with your clit. Let me finish it,” he gritted out.

  Her fingers slid down her belly into the top of her folds, and she found the hardened kernel easily. As he began to pound her again, she couldn’t take her eyes off the juncture of her thighs where his glistening, reddened cock sank again and again.

  “Billy…” she gasped, as her orgasm unfurled. She toggled harder, closing her eyes tight. She felt the hard, unrelenting thrusts tunneling deep, tapping her womb, the tightening curl of her orgasm cramping her belly. And then she unraveled, shouting as she came. Darkness engulfed her, and her body went limp. Billy fell over her, blanketing her with heat.

  They lay like that for long moments afterward, gasping, clutching each other close. She nuzzled his neck and wrapped her arms around him. His arms came under her, and he cuddled her against his chest until the need to draw a deep breath had her pushing him away.

  He relented, reluctantly, groaning as he rolled to the side. He brought her with him, still holding her.

  While their breaths slowed, and their caresses soothed, she realized she’d never felt so cherished. So alive. Worse, she didn’t want the feeling to seep away, which made her afraid.

  He’d gotten to her.

  Billy felt the tentative connection break between them. Her body stiffened inside his embrace. He slowly eased his arms from her, allowing her at last to move away. She lay on her side, faced away, while he watched her shoulders square and listened to her breaths grow even.

  “I have to get ready,” she said quietly.

  He knew what she really meant was that he had to leave. He should have felt relief. It wasn’t like he’d ever meant to be more than a convenient fuck for her. “We have time,” he said, stubbornly.

  “Look, I can’t do this part.”

  “What part’s that?”

  “I can’t be your girlfriend,” she said, sounding surly.

  “Why not? It’s not like I’m fucking anyone else. Are you?” He knew she damn well was, but couldn’t let on he knew, because then he’d have to do a whole lot of explaining. Now wasn’t the time. Besides, he was jealous. Bone-deep, snarling jealous of Gabriel’s dream-stealing.

  Her breath caught. “I don’t sleep around. There’s only you. But I don’t want anything more than this.”

  “So…I’m okay to fuck, but not good enough to be with?”

  “Don’t do this, please.”

  Billy rolled to his side and came up on an elbow. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t be pissed.”

  “If you demand more, I can’t do this with you anymore. I don’t have anything more to give you.”

  “Tell me why. Or don’t you think I deserve to know.”

  She turned slowly back. Her eyes were haunted, disturbingly hollow. “I don’t want to fall in love with you. And I know it could happen.”

  He had to touch her, had to soothe the shadows in her eyes. He settled for cupping her cheek with his palm. “Tell me why,” he said, insisting this time. “Maybe I’ll understand and back off.”

  She shook her head, tears beginning to well in her brown eyes.

  “Tell me,” he whispered, coming closer.

  “Believe me, you don’t want to know. It’d spoil the moment.”

  “We’ll have other moments.”

  She drew a long, ragged indrawn breath. “Billy, I’ve lost everyone I ever loved. And I’m okay being alone. I can’t ever let myself feel that much again.”

  He nodded, pretending her expression, so stark and lonely, hadn’t gotten to him. “So, you don’t want to love me. Who says that’s what I want? But you’re damn well not alone.” And because she didn’t want to tell him more, and because he wasn’t all that sure he was ready to take on her pain as his own, he pulled her close, taking her soft shuddering sighs against his chest.

  Maybe this would be enough. And maybe he wasn’t falling in love with her. Talk about bad, bad timing.

  “I didn’t become a prison guard because I had an itch to be an inmate’s favorite fantasy, you know,” she said, her words muffled and thick against his skin.

  “Didn’t think that. Even for a moment.”

  “And I’m not here, after what happened, because I like being sliced and diced.”

  “You’re not a masochist. I get that, too.”

  She cleared her throat and leaned back, meeting his gaze. “My brother’s an inmate. Not here. Back in Texas. I thought maybe I could figure out what happened to him. Why he did it if I met more…like him.”

  Something he already knew. “What did he do?”

  Her lips trembled. “He murdered my sister and my parents. And he would have done the same to me, but I was away at college. When I saw him, in jail, it was like he wasn’t even there. Someone else was inside him.” she closed her eyes. “His gaze was flat. Soulless. And he snarled at me like an animal. Evan wasn’t like that.” When her eyes opened, they swam in tears.

  “Something happen…to change him?” he asked softly, petting her cheek.

  “I don’t know. But the things he did to them…weren’t right…weren’t what a human being would ever do to another. He devoured them.”

  Billy shut his eyes, already guessing what had really happened. People didn’t snap. They didn’t turn. If the seed of evil wasn’t born in them, evil entered them.

  She had a right to know the truth.

  Chapter 6

  “The Deputy Warden wants to see you.”

  Gabriel was pulling on a clean coverall when the officer poked his head inside his cell to deliver the news. He fell into step beside the guard as he made his way out of the barracks and into the main building, careful that his relief was wiped from his face. He hadn’t had a chance to slip a message to Billy since he’d arrived, and he felt like he was sitting on a time bomb waiting for the cheap watch to tick to detonation.

  Kalicek was sitting behind his desk. The door closed behind Gabriel, and he glanced back to see Billy who gave him a guarded smile.

  “So, Vlahos. You have anything for me?” Kalicek said. “Are there demons infiltrating the prison, or is this whole operation a bust?”

  Gabriel took the seat in front of his desk and let out a deep sigh. “Means found something today at the site.”

  Kalicek’s eyes narrowed. “Well? What’d he find?”

  “I don’t know. But it was metallic. Silver. It didn’t belong there.”

  “And you let him take it?”

  “Not much of a choice. It was that or bust my cover. Even if I got my hands on it now, it’d be like the sword hilt. We wouldn’t be sure what it was for.”

  “So, we’re going to do what? Wait for him to take the prison? Let him eat another man?”

  “I convinced him that it would be too dangerous for another man to disappear. But he wants blood.”

  “How you gonna do it?” Billy said, crossing his arms across his chest.

  “I’ll have to show him some skills. Something he can put to use. But I’ll need a shank.”

  Kalicek walked to his file cabinet, unlocking the bottom drawer and pulling it out. He waved a hand toward the contents. “I have a collection. Don’t choose anything fancy, or he might recognize the work.”

  Gabriel carefully rifled through the stash
of makeshift weapons, discarding sharpened wedges if Plexiglas, nails embedded in thick slivers of soap, and chose a razor blade which was chipped away to form a point and embedded in the end of a toothbrush. “You prepared to lose an officer for a while?” he asked, lifting his gaze slowly to the two men.

  “Which one?” Billy said, his body tightening. “Want me to take a fall?”

  “No. I’m going to need you.” He drew a deep breath. “Priest. I want her out of there.”

  “Fuck,” Billy swore softly. “There has to be another way. She can’t go through that again.”

  “What’s it to be? Let her go down with a little slice that will put her out of commission for a while? Or do you want to wait and see what your Wizard has up his sleeve. ’Cause I’m telling you, anyone’s who around him when it goes down is gonna be dead.”

  “Do it,” Kalicek said softly. “Scare the hell out of her while you’re at it. I don’t want her back until this is over.”

  Billy’s lip curled in a snarl. “Don’t do this, man.”

  “What?” Gabriel said, lifting a brow. “Did you already fall for her? Didn’t think you’d let yourself be led by your dick, or I never would have given her to you in the first place.”

  “Gabe,” Billy said, his eyes imploring. “Not her. Please.”

  “Sorry. You’re gonna thank me, later. If you make it out alive.”

  “You really think this thing’s gonna get ugly?” Kalicek asked.

  “Hell on Earth. Fire and brimstone stuff. He’s a goddamn reptile. Cold-blooded mother-fucker.” He gave Billy a quick glance, noted the tension in his body and the quiet fury in his gaze. “Kalicek. Make sure Billy here is in the tower the first half of the shift.”

  Billy’s eyes widened, and he took a step toward him, his fist swinging.

  Gabriel ducked under it, grabbed his arm and swung him into the wall. “You know I’m right, buddy. You know I don’t have any other choice.”

  “Let go of me,” Billy said, his voice low and tight. When Gabriel released him and stepped back, Billy turned, rubbing his arm. “Promise me, you won’t hurt her any more than you have to.”

  “I like the girl, too. I don’t want to do this. You know that, don’t you?”

  Billy nodded, his features still stark and taut.

  “And this way, she never has to know.”

  A deep inhalation lifted Billy’s chest, and his gaze dropped away. Gabriel clapped his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Escort me back?”

  * * *

  Gillian finished her first round on the floor and headed to the booth for a cup of coffee. Billy had tower duty. Before he’d left he’d passed her in the hall outside the barracks, sweeping close to brush his hand against hers. Their fingers had connected, twining for just a second. “See you later,” he’d said in a low, gruff voice.

  She’d smiled as she walked away, liking that he didn’t seem able to stay away. That maybe he was just as eager as she felt to make it through the shift and slide into bed together again. They had the next three days off. She bet she wouldn’t be wearing a thing for longer than it took to grab a meal the entire time.

  She had wicked plans for his manly body.

  The hot cup of coffee-scented sludge was a poor substitute for the warm thing she wanted to wrap her hands around.

  “The lieutenant tryin’ to break you two up?” McPhee said slyly behind her.

  “Pardon me?” she said, her gaze rising to his.

  “Hedron doesn’t do tower duty like a newbie. The LT must have figgered out he’s sweet on you.”

  “Sweet on me?” A rush of pleasure, sweet and hot suffused her body. She pulled on a frown. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, McPhee.”

  “I see things…” he said, pointing two fingers toward his eyes. “Hedron’s been like a bull in china shop ever since you came. Never takes his eyes off you.”

  She stilled. Not good. She didn’t like the thought that her private life was so transparent, but worse, it was just plain dangerous for Billy not to keep his eyes where they belonged. Watching prisoners. “I’m sure you’re wrong.”

  “Right. You just keep telling yourself that, little lady. Won’t be long before we have two Hedrons walking the floor.”

  “How about we drop this conversation right now,” she said, her stomach knotting.

  “Want some advice?”

  “No.”

  “Quit. He’d take good care of you. Nice-looking girl like you should have little ones swinging on her tits.”

  Gillian narrowed her gaze, furious with the grinning man. “Goddamn it, McPhee. Shut the fuck up.”

  He snickered. “It’d be quite a sight, all right. Almost wish I was young enough to make a run at you, too.”

  She slammed her cup on the console, aimed a deadly glare his way, and turned to leave, but Wilkins, another of the guards, stood in her way. “The LT wants you two to shake down some cells.”

  “Me, with him?” she said, shaking her head. “You sure about that?”

  “I’m to man the booth.”

  “Fine,” she said, her voice clipped. She eyed McPhee, warning him silently that their conversation was over.

  “Loverboy’s gonna be jealous,” he murmured as they made their way down into the barracks.

  “Why me?” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s just get this done. Got the list?”

  “Yeah,” he said, holding it up. “First stop’s eleven-thirty-two, Vlahos and Ames.”

  She clamped down the shiver of excitement that radiated from her belly and shivered toward her breasts and pussy. No time now to think about those sexy dreams.

  Gabriel watched as Gillian Priest and old man McPhee made their way up the metal stairs. Taking a deep breath, he glanced at his cellmate and approached the cot where Ames lay on his side, reading a book.

  Furtively, Gabriel palmed the shank Kalicek had given him, and then he closed his eyes and reached for Ames, felt his mind separate from his body and hovered for a moment over the other man.

  While delving into Ames’s subconscious, he dropped the makeshift knife on the bed, watched as Ames’s gaze swung toward him, a frown drawing his eyebrows together.

  Then Gabriel was inside, punching through. He felt Ames’s gasp as he slid deep, felt his cellmate’s resistance as he forced him to pick up the small shank and cup it in his hand to hide it. And then, he strode toward the back of the cell, waiting for the two officers to arrive.

  From inside Ames and from his post at the back of the cell, he watched as Priest stepped into the cell. “I need you both against the wall. You know the drill. We’re shaking down this cell.”

  Ames shook his head, moaning, but his hand remained around the shank. I’m not gonna get burned for your goddamn weapon! he shouted inside his mind.

  That’s the least of what you’re going to do for me now, Gabriel replied, keeping his inner voice a quiet, monotone. Take a deep breath. It’ll be over in a second.

  Then he forced Ames off the cot. Ames’s feet hit the floor, and he launched himself toward Priest. His arm, held close to his side, curled upward with the shank aimed at Priest’s belly.

  No, no, no! he screamed, but Gabriel held him with an image. Priest wasn’t the one in front of him now, the man who’d fucked his girlfriend, the man he’d killed when he’d caught them rolling on the bed together was standing in front of him, a leer on his face, his body naked, his cock still glistening with his girl’s juices.

  Ames’s fury exploded, and Gabriel pulled back. Ames’s arm rammed toward Priest.

  “Watch out!” McPhee shouted, and shoved her aside.

  Ames’s arm continued forward, striking McPhee in the side and sinking deep.

  Gabriel cursed under his breath and slammed his hands against the wall, turning his back, because he couldn’t be caught up in the takedown.

  So, things hadn’t gone as planned. The woman wasn’t out of the way, but at least, he’d given The Wizard blood.

>   Gillian had only a moment to haul herself off the floor where McPhee had pushed her. Adrenaline spiking through her veins, she whirled and launched herself at Ames, whose arms was rising again to strike at the old man.

  She tackled him, barely registering McPhee’s tight voice as he keyed his mike and called for all available officers.

  She slammed into Ames, taking him to his back and wishing she had more room to roll him to his stomach, because he was too big and too hyped up to hold for long by herself. She straddled his waist and reached with both hands for the one holding the shank and pounded it on the concrete. But he was already rolling her back, taking her under him.

  No way was she going down again. With McPhee bleeding out beside her, urgency pumped through her body. The officers rushing toward them might be too late for the two of them. She had to do this herself.

  Ames’s body stretched over hers, his teeth pulled into a feral snarl. His gaze looked maddened, his pupils so tiny, she wondered what he’d taken. With both hands still wrapped around his, she shoved her chest at him, wriggled like an eel, and finally got one thigh between his and arched hard, lifting him just enough to get her knee up and connect hard with his balls.

  He grunted, lifted his free hand back, and slammed her jaw.

  Pain exploded, but she shook it off. The knife…the knife was what she had to watch. She kept her hands glued around his wrist, but he was pushing it down, aiming at her neck, and she was weakening. Two hundred pounds of muscled menace was just too much.

  And then she felt something inside her shift…another rush of adrenaline? Something lent her body strength, and she bucked beneath him, the heels of her boots digging into the concrete. A long, deep growl squeezed between tight lips and slowly, she forced him over, onto his back. Again, she straddled him and slammed his hand against the floor, trying to loosen his grip on the shank.

  In the distance, she heard the bellows of officers closing in, booted feet thudding on the metal steps, and then she was lifted, tossed to the side while three officers piled on top of Ames and, at last, subdued him.