Explicit Instruction (13 page)

‘
Me on top? Are you worried I’ll be too slow?’

‘I’m worried I’ll be too quick,’ he said. ‘After that last performance.’

‘I told you that was the best I ever had,’ she said. ‘A man like you doesn’t lose control, knowing in whatever small way I helped you lose it... it’s flattering.’

‘You like playing with fire, don’t you
, Kitten?’

‘What happened to Red?
’ The first thing he’d noticed about her was her hair colour.

‘Collar doesn’t match the cuffs
, Sweetheart, it’s not natural.’

‘No,’ Flick
said, feeling the burn on her cheeks. ‘It’s not.’

‘And that was before I got acquainted with your pussy, and that’s
all natural.’

‘You call me Kitten in reference to my vagina?’ she asked, he half shrugged.

‘Walking pussy, right?’

‘Rushe!’

Sliding his hands up her shins and to her thighs, he lay above her. ‘Ah, I’ll eat you out in the shower, make you feel better.’

From
she knew not where Rushe produced the key to unlock her, and she took her hands to his hair.

‘Rushe,’ she asked
, keeping him in place. ‘Will you remember me?’

‘The fake red head with a great rack who can’t
follow instructions? I’m sure you’ll stick in my head for a couple of weeks.’

With his
teasing, he lifted Flick off the bed, but he had to put her down so they could cover up for the journey to the shower, the Kid at least would still be out there.

So this was it, her last night in captivity. If someone
had told Flick eleven nights ago that she’d be sorry to see the back of this cabin she’d have laughed and thrown something at their head. But now that the end was here Flick knew she’d miss it, miss him. But there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to prevent it... much like ending up here in the first place.

As soon as
all of the shack dwellers were awake they moved out. Packing everything into the truck Flick sensed that while this was a conclusion for her, the men were at the opposite end of their journey. Unable to imagine what lay ahead for them Flick could tell their trip would be gruelling.

With
Shiv absent, Rushe made Skeeve sit in the front of the car. It turned out that Skeeve and the Kid had come back in the vehicle belonging to the deceased woman, and now it lay abandoned at the back of the building. Subtly committing the licence plate to memory Flick vowed to phone in an anonymous tip to the police when she got back home.

The only concern she’d had was implicating
Rushe. But after he had gone on at her for half an hour about the need to remove fingerprints from the shack, Flick was confident that he wouldn’t be traced or linked to the crime. But it wasn’t right that Skeeve and the Kid got away with murder – literally.

Committing some landmarks to memory Flick tried to decipher where they were
, but by the time they rolled into a town more than an hour later she knew they were far from the shack, and her sense of direction was awful.

After being in
seclusion, it was unsettling to see people going about their lives. They passed fast food places, shops, and banks, everything that anyone would expect of a town. Flick hadn’t considered such basic things in her time away from civilisation.

Glen
drove them down an alley to a shadowed parking area. All of the men got out, but Rushe ordered her to stay put. The gang stood in a huddle outside, and Flick wondered when she should make a break for it. Wearing only Rushe’s thick socks because she had nothing else to put on her feet, Flick didn’t imagine that she’d manage to outrun the men without any shoes. She wore the jeans Rushe had bought her and his black and red check shirt, not exactly one of her more put-together looks.

Glen
peeled off and walked away with Skeeve scuttling on not far behind him. Rushe stayed talking to the Kid until Skeeve and Glen were out of sight. Then the Kid ran off in the opposite direction from the other two. Rushe stood with his back to the truck, waiting it seemed for nothing. But eventually he turned and came back to the vehicle. He opened the back door and gestured for her to exit.

‘Y
ou got the money?’ he asked. Flick nodded. That morning he’d tucked it into her sock and made her hide it under her jeans. ‘Go through that door.’

He poin
ted in a third direction. ‘Ok.’

‘Walk through the store, go out the west entrance, it’s the cosmetics department. Directly outside there’s a cab line. Get
in; tell them to take you home, that’s it.’

‘Straight home?’

‘Change cabs a couple of times if it makes you feel better, but no one will come looking for you.’

Rushe
closed the truck door at her back. ‘No one?’ she asked, touching her fingertips to his abs.

Flick heard the hope in her voice
, and she cringed knowing that Rushe would hear it too.

‘Do me a favour
, Kitten,’ he said. ‘Do what you’re told. I won’t be around to pull you out the next time.’

Flick nodded
again and swiped tears from her cheeks. ‘I’ll try.’

‘Good girl... now go away.’

Flick hooked her hands into his jeans pockets, and pushed up as he lowered to her. While he accepted her kiss he didn’t allow her to prolong it, and all too soon he straightened.

‘Thank you
, Rushe.’

‘Get,’ he mumbled without moving his lips.

Everything in Flick wanted to stay at his side, but time was running short and he wouldn’t be able to keep looking after her. No matter how much he denied it Flick knew that he cared about her. But in his profession having any weakness could leave him open to manipulation.

Touch
ing the stubble on his cheek, Flick smiled. ‘You’re a good guy, Rushe. I owe you my life... goodbye.’

This really was goodbye
. The finality of having to walk away made more tears fall. Following his instructions thus far had kept Flick out of trouble – or if she’d followed them they would have. So she walked past the truck, across the alley, and toward the brown door he’d pointed out. Flick might have told herself not to look back but she was always going to.

In the shadows of the surrounding
buildings, the truck was decipherable but his silhouette was harder to define. Flick knew he was still there. Just like on that very first night. His form eluded her but she could hear him, though today he said nothing at all.

This would be the last moment in time
that they would share. So with fresh tears in her eyes, and a weight around her neck, Flick turned away and followed his instructions.

The funny thing about getting back to her life was that it was exactly the same; except she wasn’t.

All through her trip home
, Flick expected something to happen. An accident, being run off the road by a crazy-eyed Skeeve, or a vengeful Shiv. At one point, she imagined the driver pulling over and demanding to see her breasts – he didn’t.

Her time in that shack had
trailed her through so many emotions that her head still spun from the ordeal. Never had Flick experienced so many extreme emotions in such a short time. From her initial terror, to the trust she built with Rushe, through to the panic at being caught naked in the shower, all of it whirled in her mind like a melancholy mirage.

The things she had done with Rushe, the sex, the union of their bodies wasn’t one she’d thought herself capable of. Through all the dates she’d been on in her life not one man had brought her to ecstasy with words and actions in the way Rushe did. Flick was glad that she’d stepped out of her comfort zone and consented to have sex with him. All of the misgivings she had about being with him, about her own shortcomings, had been dashed by Rushe’s confidence. Flick had pleasured him, she had been a part of him, and he had desired her.

Something inside her was different. The stirrings of her connection with Rushe had awoken it. But getting through the ordeal had changed her. Flick felt stronger, more sure of herself. For all the negatives, the fear and the anger, she was still here. Despite being unsuccessful at her escape she had tried to free herself. Though that poor woman had perished Flick’s intention was to help. Skeeve had pulled the trigger, which he likely would’ve done when he was finished with the woman anyway.

But
Flick still felt the burden of guilt over how things had happened. Standing up to Skeeve despite the situation showed Flick that she had a courage in herself that she hadn’t had to access in the past, but now she knew it was there.

Who in their life had been assaulted and kidnapped? How many people were held against their will and then found themselves in the clinch of passion with the man who had kept them safe? People didn’t know what was in them until they faced it.

Flick tried to escape, she tried to stop Skeeve from causing harm, and she had held her head up. Most people never got to see what was inside them, what they were capable of. But Flick had seen it and she was proud that she’d come through it, although she did admit to herself that Rushe was the one who had given her the chance to see those things, he’d kept her alive in the first place.

The journey home
ended up being uneventful. After a brief conversation with her building superintendent, he let her into her apartment, and she requested a copy key. Flick hadn’t seen her purse since the night she walked into Dell’s.

W
hen she found herself alone in her own home, Flick didn’t know what to do with herself. There were no rules to follow, no men to fear, no one to have sex with. But it all seemed hollow. This normality now felt surreal, which Flick knew contradicted traditional notions much like being unable to sleep without a criminal to lie on.

Flick
went through the motions of cancelling cards, then dunked herself in her bathtub. Everything was the same, everything but her.

Flick had been tempted not to go back to work at all
, because she didn’t know what to say in explanation for her absence. Much as she loved working with information, and finding out new things, a lot of the personnel left Flick cold.

But the following morning she got u
p and went in to face the music. Geoffrey gave her a dressing down, and Tamara certainly delighted in watching Flick get bundled into the office.

Using the
excuse of being unwell and unable to get to a phone was farfetched even to her own ears, especially in this day and age. But Geoffrey eventually accepted it. Then again, short of outright calling her a liar he had little choice.

She
couldn’t have used the truth even if Flick had wanted to, because there was no proof of it. No police came looking for her. The only messages on her home voicemail were from Geoffrey and from Hayden. The latter had called about the date she’d stood him up for, on the night her cab broke down, leading her to walk into Dell’s, and set all events in motion. Flick had almost forgotten about Hayden entirely.

B
ut no one had noticed she’d been missing. There had been no official reports made – just as Flick had told Rushe there wouldn’t be.

Tamara spent the rest of Wednesday filling Flick in on
the latest gossip, but at the National Library there wasn’t much to miss; it was hardly a buzzing social hub. Her time in the research department had given Flick an insight into a variety of subjects. Students, professors, journalists, and writers made up most of their traffic. Law enforcement were also regular customers, but more at the state and federal level than the local guys.

By the following Friday Flick hadn’t found her groove again. She wondered where Rushe was, what he was doing, and who
m he was doing it with. By releasing her Flick hoped he hadn’t increased his chances of getting hurt, because the danger in his life was very real. But just like he’d said no one had come after her.

‘You’re away in one of your dreams again,’ Tamara said
, propping herself against the front desk of the research department that Flick was currently manning.

‘Wha
t?’ Flick asked the tall blonde.

‘You’ve been all over the place this week, what’s up?’

‘Nothing,’ Flick said, doubting the sincerity of Tamara’s interest.

‘Do you know what would help?’

‘I’m fine.’

Tamara carried on regardless. ‘Double date tomorrow night. I’ve been seeing this guy, well we haven’t actually been on a date yet but he has a roommate
, and he said if I could come up with a friend for his friend... you know.’

Flick
had never considered Tamara a friend. Maybe giving her colleague a chance could prove positive. Rushe had been the one to point out that he wouldn’t be around if anything bad happened in the future. So it could be wise to incorporate some people into her life who would notice if she went missing.

Although
given what she had just been through, Flick imagined the statistical chances of finding herself exposed to that situation in the near future were astronomical. Then again she’d had her purse snatched twice, but these things tended to come in threes.

‘What’s he like?’ Flick asked.

Tamara pushed away from the desk with a widening smile; someone had caught her eye. Flick recognised the flirtatious aura and so went back to work, knowing that she’d get nothing out of her co-worker until the male was out of her crosshairs.

‘Hello,’ Tamara drawled. ‘How can we help you today?’

Flick kept typing away, giving the pair an illusion of privacy. ‘You are one beautiful woman,’ the man said. Flick fixated on the keyboard.

‘Why thank you,’ Tamara said with false modesty. ‘You’re a very handsome man yourself. How can I help you? Tell me all of your research needs.’

‘I need some information,’ he said.

‘You came to the right place.
’

‘I work for a man nam
ed Victor.’

Flick
’s fingers stopped and hovered over the keys. Though she didn’t lift her head Flick knew the stranger’s eyes were on her. Trying to figure out what to do, Flick’s mind raced for a clue as to how to proceed, how she should deal with this unexpected development.

‘That’s nice to know,’ Tamara said with no idea what was going on. ‘But what can—‘

‘I’ve got this,’ Flick said.

‘Uh no, I’m already—‘

‘Toddle on beautiful,’ the man said, and with a clueless air Tamara walked away.

‘What do you want?’ Flick whispered trying to draw
on the confidence and detachment that she knew she should use to deal with this situation.

‘You need to come with me.’

Flick looked at him now, right into his ice-blue eyes. ‘Do you think I’m going to get up and walk out with you?’

‘I think that’s your only option,’ he said. ‘
Victor wants you...’

‘For what?’ How
Flick craved Rushe’s counsel now.

‘I’m not telling you that.’

‘I really don’t want to screw your boss.’

‘I don’t think that’s what he wants,’ the stranger said. ‘I walked in here because I thought we could be civilised. If you’d rather be snatched off the street—‘

‘This has nothing to do with me,’ she said. ‘I haven’t called the police. I’m no threat.’

‘Rushe is in trouble.
Come with me and there might be something you can do about that.’

‘Why sho
uld I believe you? If I walk back into that and you’re lying—‘

‘Why would I be lying?’ he asked. ‘I want you to come with me
, and I’m going to take you to Victor. Don’t you think I’d have come up with a better lie than that to convince you if my motives were sinister?’

‘Why didn’t Rushe come?’

‘Like I said, he’s in trouble.’

Flick couldn’t believe that this man was telling her the truth
, but wriggling out of going with him would be tough.

‘I think if I show up I’m going to be in trouble,’ she said.

‘Victor won’t hesitate to hurt Rushe.’

‘Do you think he’s afraid?’ Flick said with a smirk
that Rushe would be proud of. ‘You can come here and threaten me all you like. You can threaten Rushe. You can try to strong arm him, but he’s never going to fear you, or your boss.’

‘He’s not invincible,’ the man said. ‘And neither are you.’

Flick had told Rushe she would be a liability, and he’d agreed with her. It wouldn’t matter that Rushe’s feelings for her didn’t run deep; Flick was under no illusion about that. But convincing this stranger would be tough. This guy was here to complete one task, and she doubted he concerned himself to look at any reasoning beyond that.

‘He
won’t care if you hold me for ransom.’

‘But will yo
u care if we hold him?’

And
that was the kicker, because Flick did care if they hurt him, especially if she could in any way prevent his pain.

‘What is it you want?’ she asked. ‘Is this about money?’

‘I’m here to pick you up,’ he said. ‘My sole responsibility is to get you to Victor.’

‘And if I refuse?’

‘You’re my sole responsibility,’ he said again. ‘If I have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming I will.’

‘My colleagues will call the cops.’

‘And by the time they get here we’ll be long gone.’

Kicking and screaming could lead to others getting hurt. ‘Are you alone?’

‘Do you think you can take me?’ he smiled.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Call me John.’

‘That’s imaginative,’ Flick
said.

‘I’ll tell my
mother you said so. Now get up, we’re leaving.’

Rushe woul
d kill her for complying, but Flick didn’t want him being held for ransom just like this John guy had said.

‘Ok,’ Flick
said while she rose from her seat. ‘I have to speak to my boss and—‘

‘No,’ John
said losing all good humour. ‘You’re gonna come out from back there and walk out with me, now.’

‘But—‘

John’s hand came up still in his pocket, and she noticed the suspicious slope of a gun. ‘You don’t want anyone to get hurt, do you Flick? Where did your pretty colleague go? I could shout her over, she’d come running. How many people have to die before you do what you’re told?’

Flick glanced past him at the group of
smiling college kids coming through the front entrance. John followed her line of sight.

‘They’re young,’ John said. ‘How many of them do you want me to take out?
You’re going to do it anyway, one way or another I’ll get you to Victor.’

It appeared she’d u
sed all of her turns. Maybe that wasn’t a gun his pocket. But knowing what she did about Victor’s men Flick wouldn’t want to take the risk.

Without h
er purse or personal effects, Flick rounded the front desk with little choice of doing anything else. John immediately caught hold of her arm, jerking her to his side, and with the gun now prodding her ribs they began to move toward the exit.

‘We’re gonna walk out
of here nice and slow,’ he mumbled. ‘If you get any ideas about running just remember it’s Rushe’s life you’re gambling with.’

Flick hadn’t forgotten
, and she wouldn’t. Rushe had risked his safety for hers, and so it was only right that she return the gesture. Still, when John pushed her head down to force her into the once white Ford idling at the roadside Flick knew one thing – Rushe was going to be absolutely furious with her.