Last Call (Stranded in the Stars Book 1) (10 page)

He moved a hand from her hair and slid it down, groping her breast before moving it down between her legs as he forced his hand between them. The pressure made her want to scream as the tension reached a crescendo.

“I’m going to take care of you.” He took her mouth again. “Do you trust me to take care of you?”

The question startled her as she hadn’t thought about it. She sat back and looked into his expectant eyes.
Should I trust him?
It brought reality down around her shoulders. Her tongue felt thick as she strived to answer his question.

She jerked up when the hand between her legs cupped her sex and lifted her. The next thing she knew he was towering over her and the aura of his domineering presence pushed her back into the stone ground.

“I think you want to trust me.” Jack trapped her as he whispered the sentiment into her ear. “I think you’re aching to trust me.” His finger prodded the entrance to her core, pushing the damp fabric into her.

She squirmed as his finger massaged her in slow, agonizing circles.

“What are you going to do?”

“You need to shatter. You need to break apart into a thousand electrifying pieces.” He breathed into her ear, making her toes curl. “And then you need to be remade.”

***

He lifted away from her, snaking down her heated body, trailing her skin with his breath until he was between her tense legs. She was driving him mad with desire. His dick was hard enough to tear through his belted pants.

I want to take her innocence like it was the last thing I would ever do.
Jack bit his tongue at the thought. He could hear the roars of the violent mating wurms in the background, he could smell the carnage from the battle the two females wrought, and he could tell that Allie was strummed tighter than a live-wire before him.

When she had answered his question about what her perfect man would be and she had said Cyborg, Jack nearly lost his control, his restraint. He wanted to harness his reaction and make her feel it like he had. He wanted her to break like he had almost done.

She’s going to lose her naive innocence to me. She’s going to lose her innocence to a Cyborg.
The thought was erotic and wrong in his head as he dug his finger into her pussy. Hard enough to make her shiver but soft enough not to tear the flimsy, damp fabric of her clothing.

“Trust me?” He ground out.

“Y– yes.”

“Good girl.” He slipped her covering to the side and slid his finger into her.

Her hips flew upward and she shrieked. “Jack!” He laid his other arm across her stomach and pushed her back into the ground. Their eyes caught. He smirked at her uncertain expression as he began to thrum her secret spot.

“Let go, Allie.” He pushed a second finger as he kept eye contact with her lust-clouded pupils.

“I can’t.” She gasped.

“You can.”

Her legs bent up and widened around him as she struggled against his fingers. He noticed her nails scratching at the rock on either side as her body tried to retain the tension he was coaxing out.

“I can’t, Jack.” Her gasp turned into a cry.

“Trust me to pick up the pieces”

The tremors from the mating beasts behind them became tremors of her own at his words. Her body followed his order and convulsed into his hand. Jack lifted his arm off her stomach as she undulated.

“Good girl.” He whispered again as he held her and she writhed into him. “It’s not smart to tease me.”

It was some time before the tension passed. He settled himself next to her and pulled her into his chest. He never once let her go as he ran his fingers back through her disheveled hair and put her back together.

Chapter Eight:

---

J
ack held her for the rest of the night. Listening to her breathing, lulling him into a state of calm awareness as the night lightened into dawn. The wurms had ceased their interactions several hours prior.

He was a tornado, a myriad of emotions, none of them easy to weather– or fun to deal with. His life had been straightforward a week ago, several days ago. His life had revolved around the missions he took up and the reputation he wanted to maintain. He was the best bounty hunter in this galaxy and many galaxies over and it had always been stiff competition to be so.

Just two days ago, his thoughts were consumed with the capture of Pirate Captain Larik, of turning him in but also of his revenge; which now seemed petty. The pirate was wanted for crimes against humanity, against Earthians, and most of all against women. At least that was what the council argued.

Jack knew that Larik only transported willing women, women who wanted a different life, women who specifically sought him out. It made him wonder about the man who had piloted the crashed transporter that Allie had been on many years ago.

What was his reasons for helping the fleeing females from their fate? He knew he would never know. But boy did he love to speculate.

The sun was beginning to crest but he was still lost in thought. Thoughts were like light and shadow, sunrise and sunset, always there, always eternal but fleeting. Yet his thoughts had yet to desist.

He was a Cyborg. A bounty hunter. A hardened warrior created for a war that was not his own. Could he also be more? His logic felt uncomfortably silent with the question.

The one thing he did know for certain was that he wanted to be off this planet. Whether it was with Allie or not, he was still unsure. He knew he couldn’t leave her here, not anymore. Not even if she begged.

That fate would have been cruel especially when the universe held so much more. He was convinced that his strange need for her would come to an end, as all things did. That the insanity that had set in his mind would dissipate.

Once he felt in control again and this situation became part of his past.

Jack would get the parts he needed for his ship and he would keep his end of the bargain. He would also collect his bounty for Larik’s capture and then he would move on. He thought all of this as he looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms; giving her a small squeeze.

He would take care of her as well.

“Allie, wake up.” He gently squeezed her again as the sun detached itself from the horizon. She shifted in his arms at the prompt.

He watched as her mind and body slowly awoke before his eyes. The rays of sun hitting her skin, making her glow like an ethereal jewel. He could sense her heart rate gradually increase as her awareness returned.

Jack shifted upward as she pulled herself away from his chest and into a sitting position. Her fingers grasped the cloak over her breasts.

“Good morning, Allie.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. He watched as she replayed what had transpired between them last night.

“Jack.” She said warily, sitting further back, creating more distance between them.

“I meant what I said last night.” He stared at her, waiting on her next move. She seemed to either be at a loss for words or thinking about her response.

After several more moments passed she said, “I meant it too.” The tension growing thick again with her response; his smile growing wider. Not only was his wild girl proud but she was also bold.

He casually got up, feeling great all of the sudden. He reached down to pick up her top that he pulled off her last night and reluctantly handed it over.

“I would prefer that you remain topless but since I’m such a gentleman, I’ll let you decide.” Jack watched, bemused as she snatched her top away and proceeded to tie it on under her cloak.

She got up and rubbed the dirt off her skin. Realizing that she didn’t have any supplies with her but her food, he pulled out a nano-cybotic cleaning cloth from his pack and handed it to her. “Wipe this over your skin. It will clean you up better than soap and water. It just won't feel as good.”

“Thank you.” She blushed, taking it from him. He turned to give her some privacy as she bent down to clean herself up. He strapped his weapons on instead and secured the pack to his back– ready to start the day.

When she was done he took the cloth back while she shyly grabbed his hand and led him away.

Jack looked down at their joined hands. The connection was innocent but it burned a path as fast and as hot as wildfire to his robotic heart. He pushed the odd feeling away and disengaged himself.

They were back on their way towards the shipwreck just as dawn transformed to day.

The morning passed by in a companionable silence. The tension that lingered between them from the previous day gone for now. The sun had ascended above, raising the temperature to an uncomfortable itch. It wasn’t long before Allie shook the cloak off. He took it from her without a word and bundled it into his pack.

The crags slowly turned into the base of the mountain, the jagged rocks now more of a dip into large rocky valleys. The trek became more of an upward crawl, climbing out of pits.

At several points, he had to take out his rope and help her over the worst of the ledges. He didn’t need help himself, scaling the escarpment without a thought but always wary of his companion’s fragility.

She had no armor, no protection but he could tell that she was used to the inhospitable environment. She never flinched when landing hard on her feet or gaining another unintended scratch. It was over the course of the morning that he noticed that she sported tiny, faded scars over her delicate skin, not unlike his own.

She’s not afraid of pain.
It was probably a common occurrence in her life.

Good thing he had everything he would need to heal her wounds.

They remained along the base of the mountain, following it as a guide. Jack knew that they were closing in on their destination; the dead structure becoming a prominent fixture in his mind as he surveyed their location. It was larger than he had originally thought but his most recent readings had been consistently muddied. It seemed that the closer they got to it the harder it was for him to focus on it.

He didn’t like it but he could attribute it to an unknown technology or mechanical structure– maybe radiation. Whatever it was he logged his readings away on his personal hard drive to upload it later to the central hub for research. Other Cyborgs may know why he was having such difficulties with it.

At the pace he and Allie had been traveling, they wouldn’t arrive at their destination until after dark. He could have been there already and gone if it was just himself but that would have put a kink into his other, more personal mission. He turned his eyes to look at her.

She wasn’t much of a talker but still… she hadn’t spoken in hours– and she must be getting hungry. Just as he was going to suggest taking a break, she reached into her threadbare pouch at her waist and pulled out roots to chew on, eating them while she walked.

He waited and willed her to suggest taking a break but she just kept walking.

Jack let her take the lead as he stewed.
She barely speaks and isn’t making any inclination to stop and rest.
How was he going to gain her trust if he couldn’t even talk to her? Being friendly and conversational were qualities that he did not have.

If she could just pretend– for five minutes– that she needed him desperately, to save her from this place, to supply her protection, or even just wanted to
talk
to him, he could progress his side mission. But no, she kept walking forward in grim silence as if every step led her to an unwanted, inevitable end.

Her thoughts were elsewhere and he didn’t like it.

***

The day had started off nice. Allie woke up warm and relaxed in Jack’s arms. She still couldn’t believe what had transpired between them the night before and she only hoped that they would have the chance to touch each other like that again.

But the morning had faded and so had her good mood. The once comfortable silence now felt like a void, making her ears want to pop under the pressure.

She knew why she felt this way– she always did the closer she got to her past. But she had hoped that having a warrior, like the Cyborg next to her, would embolden her resolve enough to face what was ahead with courage.
It’s not working.

Every step felt like she was descending further into her own personal Hell. Glancing at the man next to her she could tell that his mood wasn’t holding up either.

It was always like this. She could tell him but she was smart enough to know that he would find her warnings ridiculous, unbelievable. Anyone, anywhere would who had never seen the darkness like she had and not just any darkness, like the natural absence of light but a deeper, terrible darkness not of this world.

That darkness was a part of her now and she tried hard to keep it buried deep– hiding it from herself and from the world. It fed off her guilt and her shame… and sometimes when the tremors stopped at night, when her fears became thick, it would seep into her cave, her thoughts, and tugged at her soul.

She had seen the darkness blanket out the light around her until she was trapped in an endless abyss. The heavy press of it crushing. At the worst moments, she could hear distant screams, quiet cries sneaking up behind her.

But it never lasted. It would vanish as quickly as it had appeared. Allie wasn’t sure it was just her sanity becoming unhinged or a waking nightmare.

Allie hadn’t been back to the ship in what seemed like years. At first, after her arrival here she had stayed near it, hoping for rescue but as the days turned into weeks, the ship had begun to morph before her eyes.

The smell of burnt flesh and cooked metal never fading away.
      

During her time near the ship she had tried to bury as many bodies as possible but her strength gave out knowing there were parts of the ship she couldn’t access. Those bodies had been left to rot, to become bones, until even those bones disintegrated into dust.

Unable to find her friend’s body amongst the dead still haunted her to this day. It was because of her that made Allie ultimately stop coming back to the ship.

She had once crawled through the remains for supplies, for familiarity, and for the desperate hope of rescue. She had also stayed near it because she didn’t know how to survive and the monsters that came out at night frightened her.