You've Got Tail (10 page)

I wanted to wrap my arms around Babel and comfort him, but I wouldn't be able to explain to him why I felt he needed it. Not in a way that wouldn't earn me a trip to the funny farm.

Now more than ever, I had to find Chav. She'd discovered something horrible and terrible, and that something had caused her disappearance.

I gazed at Babel, barely able to meet her eyes. “I'm fine, this happens all the time,” I said unconvincingly. “How long was I out?”

“Just a little while. I was going to call Doc Smith if you hadn't come to by the time I got you to bed.”

“Trying to get me in bed, huh?” I smirked. Yes, I was flirting. It was hard not to while being held in his fantastically strong arms, and besides, he was grieving, even if he didn't know it. I could afford to be kind.

He growled, a low rumble emanating from his chest. “Don't tease, Sunny. I'm not a strong man.” His mouth quirked in a half smile, but his blue eyes were dead serious.

“Got it. Don't tease the mountain man.” I patted his shoulder. “Okay, big fella. You can put me down.”

“You sure?”

“Don't I look sure?”

My foot hit the landing wrong when he lowered me. I fell sideways with a “Yikes!” Babel caught me and yanked me close to his chest. As my fingers slipped inside the buttons of his flannel, a much softer “yikes” came out.

What was I doing?

Babel chose that moment to claim my lips.

The next thought:
Why wasn't I doing
?

His tongue swept across mine, his mouth incredibly warm. I felt my knees give way beneath me, but Babel kept me upright. What harm could a little quicky bring? After all, the man had just lost his brother. Besides, he was young. Too young to be considered a serious suitor. Right? Just a little bit of fun. It could be a whole no-strings-attached kind of affair.

I leaned my head back. “I'm not looking for a relationship.”

“You want to talk about this now?”

“Look, I think you're a nice guy and all.” Translation: Damn sexy mutha-friggin' hot! “But I'm not emotionally available right now for, you know, more than something…Physical.” Translation: I want to boff you raw and have you leave before the lights go out.

His chewed his lower lip. His eyes narrowed. Then he shrugged. “No.”

“Yay!” I said with the expectation that he'd jump at a casual fling. Then followed with a, “What?”

He pushed me against the wall. Leaning forward, he grabbed my thigh with his big, meaty hand and pulled it up onto his hip. “I don't want you
no strings attached
. I want you, Sunny, in a way that makes me ache like I've never felt before. I know it's wrong. It has to be. But I don't care. I don't fucking care.” He pressed his entire body tightly against mine and claimed my mouth with his once again.

Have mercy!
The way he kissed me made me think he wanted to enter my body through my tonsils. I vibrated against him as he ripped my shirt over my head. “Pink bra must go,” he said.

With one little click of his fingers, the bra snapped open, releasing the girls for his eager hands. I moaned as he lifted me off the floor. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist, grinding my sex against the growing bulge in his jeans. He tore away from the kiss, his mouth nibbling and nipping the skin along my jaw and neck, until his lips found my right nipple. He worked the nub between his teeth, his tongue laving it until it stood tight and erect before he moved to my left side and gave it the same attention. I fisted his hair with both my hands, moaning as I ground myself against him. Wet heat blossomed between my thighs. Goddamn! I was going to have an orgasm without ever taking off my pants.

His hand cleverly rubbed over the middle seam of my jeans, finding just the right pressure to make me groan and tremble with pleasure. “Oh, hot damn. Hot damn,” I murmured, grabbing his flannel shirt and yanking the front apart. Plastic buttons hit the hardwood floors. I'd always wanted to do that, and damn if it wasn't as sexy as I thought it would be.

“I think you need to be punished for that,” he said playfully.

My eyes widened. “Bring it on.”

He threw me over his shoulder and gave my ass a slap.

Kicking and giggling, I let Babel carry me through the apartment to the bedroom. He tossed me easily onto the bed. I landed with an unflattering bounce, but it didn't matter at all. He stripped the damaged shirt off first, giving me the full-on benefit of his wide chest and ripped abs.

I whistled low and soft, “There ought to be a law.”

He snarled, not mean-like, but oh-so-mind-blowingly-hot. “There is.”

I laughed. Until his pants dropped to the floor, along with my jaw. Soft, he was big—hard, he was super-sized. And yes, I'd seen it the day before, but not in this context. The context where he was planning on inserting it into me. “Holy schmoly.”

“It gets better.” He grinned.

“As long as it doesn't get bigger.” As it was, I wasn't sure if it was going to feel really, really good. Or really, really bad. “Don't break me. I may need my shit at some later date.”

He retrieved his wallet from his pants and pulled out a condom. Funny enough, it didn't bother me that he carried them around. I was actually glad the gorgeous slut practiced safe sex! I swallowed hard as he rolled the condom down the length of his shaft. It didn't quite reach the base. I swallowed hard again.

“I'll be gentle.” His low voice caused my belly button to feel like someone had tied a string to it from the inside and tugged. I was so wet and ready, gentle or otherwise.

He crawled up the bed with the confidence of a predator stalking its prey. His shoulder-length hair falling forward, giving him that primal something-something that made my thighs quiver with anticipation. He started at my ankles, tenderly licking and nipping, making the nerves in my body raw with excitement.

The farther up he went, the more my legs spread to accommodate his wide shoulders until his tongue met my…

“Ah,” I grunted as his mouth found the sweet spot. His hands reached up to my breasts, caressing and tweaking. The simultaneous stimulation made my back bow, raising my body to meet his every manipulation.

My sex slick with heat, my throat thick and heavy with desire, I muttered, “I want you in me.”

Babel growled his own eagerness as he raised his body over mine. He entered me slowly, inch by languid inch.

“Oh, God,” he rasped. “You're so tight. I don't want to hurt you.”

It felt too good and we'd gone too far to stop. I raised my hips to meet his, taking him all the way in. A moan fell from my lips unbidden. I could feel the pressure mounting inside me as his thick shaft slid deep and withdrew in a slow, easy rhythm.

He arched his back, taking my nipple into his mouth again, teasing it with his tongue. My hips thrust upward, driving him deeper inside me.

Babel's growls and moans only heightened my excitement. His rhythm quickened. I rocked my lower body, meeting every hard thrust with the same enthusiasm. The musky scent of his skin added to the wild feeling growing inside me like a ticking time bomb. A burning rapture of ecstasy exploded through my body. I cried out, the intensity overwhelming all my senses.

Suddenly, I was on the street outside the restaurant.
A large dog—again with reddish-brown fur, but not the one I'd been hallucinating—jumped on top me, its lips pulled back in a snarl as it growled and bared its teeth.

Screaming, I scrambled backward, its hot breath licking at my skin. I shut my eyes tight, waiting for it to tear into me.

The bite came, the teeth digging into the flesh of my shoulder. Searing pain ripped through me.

I screamed again, and didn't stop until the vision ended and I was back in the bedroom, Babel shaking me as he shouted my name.

“Stop. I'm okay. I'm fine.” I was panting, breathless with fear. I was anything but fine. When he released my shoulders, I could feel the tears burning my eyes. I brought my hands up to cover them. “Oh, God. It was horrible.”

“Sunny, what happened?”

“I don't know why. I don't know when,” I managed through the shock. “But I'm going to be attacked soon.”

“L
et me get this straight,” Babel said for the sixth time. “You think you're psychic?”

“I don't think I'm anything.” I was beginning to feel a little bit like Bruce Banner. He was making me angry, and he wasn't going to like it if I got angry. “I
know
I'm a psychic.”

He made a “pah” noise. (Irritating.) Then shook his head. “Prove it.”

If it were possible at the moment, I would have turned green and started busting muscles out everywhere. “What about your clothes? How did I know that your clothes were in the walk-in freezer?”

“You could have stumbled on them when you were looking around.”

“Okay, I didn't want to go here, but I
know
that skank Sheila made those scratch marks down your back.” Which, come to think, were remarkably healed for just one day.

He had the good sense to look embarrassed. “Lucky guess?”

Hands on my hips, I harrumphed. “Fine! How about the fact that she cold-cocked you with a bottle of cheap whiskey after you finished doing the nasty!”

His eyes widened than narrowed. “You talked to Sheila. Easy explanation.”

I blamed Babel completely for what came next. He'd left me no choice. “I saw your brother…You were much younger.”

Babel sat down on the bed, eyeing me wearily, the rawness of his pain nearly forcing me to stop. But I had to make him believe.

“He didn't want to…integrate.”

Babel's so-serious face grew hard. He grabbed my arms and pulled me close. He stared accusingly. “What do you know of integrating?”

“Nothing.” I consciously slowed down my breathing to belie the panic. “I only know what I see. He said something to you. Something about being what you are.”

“Stop, please, stop.” Babel could no longer look at me. “How? How can you know this?”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to see your past. I can't control the visions. If I could, I'd use them to find Chav. But they don't work like that. They take me back and they take me forward, but they don't always make sense, and I can't see things just because I want to. This curse of mine…I feel fucking useless. Chav knew. She understood and helped me. I wish I could control it, but I can't. But the important thing is that my visions are always true. That's why I know I'm going to be attacked by an animal. Right out in front of the diner.”

Babel stood suddenly and grabbed my arms, his expression fierce as he kissed me. “It'll be dark soon, Sunny. Lock your doors. Double-check your windows. Don't go outside. Whatever you do. Don't. Go. Outside.”

I think I'd seen this scene in a horror movie. It was the one that occurred right before the hapless female who, moments after having sex, is hacked into tiny pieces of gore.

“I have to go now.” He kissed my cheek, tenderly, carefully. “Be safe.”

Before I could ask him what the hell was going on in this town, he took off out of the apartment.

“Great.” I sighed. “I'm going to be attacked by a vicious animal and he leaves me alone.”

I sighed again, but did what he told me. I went downstairs, locked the door, made sure the windows were all locked down, then went back up to my apartment to wait out the coming storm.

Three hours later, around eight-thirty in the evening, I watched through the cracked shutters in my bedroom as the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon came up in the east. The sky, clear of clouds, made me wonder what kind of storms they had in Missouri? It looked like a beautiful night out.

Suddenly, howls and yaps sounded in the distance, making me shiver. I rubbed my arms, trying to ward off the feeling of foreboding. While the defiant part of me had been determined to stay in Peculiar, the chicken-butt side of me wanted to jump into my truck and head for the sunny coast of California.

I checked out the window again.

What I saw frightened me as much as the howls.

Deer, opossums, raccoons, and all sorts of wildlife skirted the street, running as if their lives depended on it. I read about animals acting weird when a storm was brewing, but what the hell kind of weather would make them all to run through the middle of a human-populated town?

Not watching was impossible. I hadn't experienced this much craziness since the night a friend drunk-dialed me at four in the morning to ask me if she could date my cheating ex. (Totally breaking girl code—thou shall not date thy friend's ex ever.) I never forgave her.

A fawn ran out from between the general store and the antique place right into the stampede. My heart thumped in my chest as it wove itself into the fray. I thought about Ruth's little boy, running around his house with his father's antlers clutched to his head.

My anxiety upped a notch.

Biting my fingernails, I watched it stumble and couldn't hold back a gasp. This was worse than when Bambi's mother got shot.

A raccoon whacked the fawn in the side, sending the creature tumbling to the ground outside in front of my building.

It was horrible! Even the squirrels were running it over. Its little mouth opened as if to scream.

I couldn't watch anymore. I know I'd been warned to stay inside, and the logical part of my brain told me the move was TSTL, but I had to do something to help the poor baby animal.

I hit the stairs running and nearly tumbled myself. Sliding across the restaurant floor, I grabbed the keys off the hook near the door and unlocked the deadbolt. The noise outside had grown to a roar. Keeping myself pinned against the building, I waited for a small break then dashed out into the road and grabbed the fawn's leg.

The damned thing kicked the shit out of me with its back legs as I pulled it to safety around my 4X4 truck. As soon as I had it cleared of the chaos, it jumped up on all fours and bounded off down the street without a glance at me.