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Kristina
One trailer door opens and sunlight filters in. I keep my eyes down and silently pray we won’t be seen, but it will be a freaking miracle if they don’t.
“Damn it. I can’t see a thing. Jimmy, you got a light?”
Too scared to even try to catch a glimpse of the owner of the gruff voice, I bury my face in Hayden’s chest and squeeze my eyes shut.
“We’re wasting time. They’re not here. If someone else catches them before we do, we ain’t getting the reward,” a second man adds.
“Here, Jimmy.”
“Thanks, Kevin.”
“What do you want my lighter for?”
“To check inside, of course. What else would I use it for, you idiot?”
“Kevin, will you tell Jimmy that those damn kids aren’t in there? They took off on foot and while we’re wasting time here they’re getting farther and farther away from us.”
Hayden wraps both arms around me as I begin to shake. They’re going to check the inside of the trailer. We haven’t been in here for more than five minutes and they’ve already caught up with us.
“Will you just chill, Hector? Even if they took off on foot they couldn’t have gone far,” the owner of the second voice spits out in frustration. “Jimmy, get in there and check already.”
“Fine, fine. There’s no need to bark orders at me. I was going to check things out, anyway.” A series of grunts invade my ears as I assume the guy called Jimmy climbs inside the trailer. “Man am I out of shape,” he huffs.
“Hurry up and check!” the second voice commands.
“Get off my back already.”
Hayden moves toward the corner, carefully, swiftly pulling me along as he inches as far away from the crates as the cramped space will allow, as a set of footsteps approach. Though I don’t look up to see, I sense the man is not too far away and getting closer.
“Kevin, I can’t see a thing. This lighter isn’t enough. You don’t have a flashlight on you?”
“Do I look like I’m going camping or something?”
“Shit! Hold on. I think I see something. ”
Hayden’s arms tighten around me. I struggle to keep still and not whimper as the possibility of being uncovered, cowering in the corner, runs through my head. They are so close, literally feet away, and their presence forces my brain to go into overdrive. The what-ifs are many. The scenarios where we both end up dead play out over and over again in my mind.
I’ve been in trouble before. I’ve never been a saint, but this being this close to death changes one’s outlook on life. Now that everything has been taken from me, I have a higher appreciation for family and all the things I’ve always taken for granted. If I ever make it out of this mess, I’m going to make sure not to let any opportunity go by, and grab each one when they come.
“Well?” an exasperated voice asks.
“Well, what?” The man inside the trailer is a mere few feet away from where we’ve taken cover behind the crates, closer to the floor than moments before. His proximity is revealed by the closeness of his voice.
God, please don’t let these idiots find us.
“Do you see something?”
“Nah, nothing here but a bunch of crates.” Footsteps begin to retreat in the opposite direction. “Let’s get going before they get farther away. Gerard is offering a pretty penny for those two and I ain’t aiming to lose that bonus.”
I can still hear them talking even after the man called Jimmy jumps out and allows the trailer door to fall into place with a bang.
“They are debating where to go. Hold still,” Hayden whispers near my ear.
I nod into his chest.
We wait for what seems like hours before Hayden releases me. “They drove off.” He starts to pick himself off the floor, pulling me along with him. “They will be cautious and on the lookout for us.”
“We should probably stay here for now.” I get to my feet and hug myself. It looks like there’s a higher force looking after us, but for how much longer will we run with luck?
“They won’t go too far. Not yet. It will take a while for them to figure out we either duped them or have gotten out of the area.”
“As soon as they sun sets we should hightail it out of here,” I add with a shaky breath.
Hayden strolls to the crates he piled one on top of the other to form a pyramid that nearly reaches the ceiling, and begins to remove them, one by one. There’s a wall of wooden crates aligned right in front of us. The ones Hayden packed crowd the narrow, open space left by a missing single line that, for some reason, never got organized into a row along with the rest. This imperfection allowed us to hide to behind the single column.
He finishes quickly, without making a sound, and finally settles his gaze on me. “Kristina? Are you okay?” Hayden hurries toward me and takes hold of my wrist again.
“I’m fine. A little spooked but okay.”
He lets go of me so that he can pick up all three of our bags. “Let’s settle down for now.” He then turns to me and says, “Grab on to me. I’ll lead you out to the front.”
My fingers curl around his sweatshirt and I follow him to the front of the trailer. “You sure they’re not in the area?”
“Positive,” he responds, dropping the bags on the floor next to my right foot. “Can you take out a flashlight?” He bends to the ground and picks something up. Strolling over to the door, he pushes it open slightly, and slips something in between. Light filters in through the gap left by the propped door. “We’re alone for the meantime.”
I drop to my knees, retrieve the flashlight from within the bag, turn it on, and set it on the floor, with the light pointing to the ceiling, before taking out the lunchbox and Thermos. “Are you hungry?” We have to maintain our strength since we might end up having to hike out of this place. While it’s true the men left, the possibility of them returning is there, along with the probability of them being somewhere nearby.
Hayden joins me on the floor, taking a seat to my left. “Yes.”
We sit and eat a couple of sandwiches and gulp down a few cups of hot cocoa. Once we’re eaten our fill, I put the lunchbox and Thermos inside the largest of the three bags, take out a blanket, and wrap it around my shoulders. Though I welcome the sunlight filtering in through the gap, the cool breeze makes me rethink my need for a little sunshine.
“It’s going to rain,” Hayden announces.
“How can you tell?” I take the flashlight and set it against the wall of the trailer so the artificial lighting illuminates the opposite wall. It brightens the obscured interior a bit more and thus helps me feel less claustrophobic.
“There’s an atmospheric change in the air.”
I settle with my back to the trailer, legs spread out in front of me. “I hope it stops raining by the time the sun sets.” I hate driving in the rain. I hate driving in the snow. Fall and winter are my least favorite seasons.
Hayden takes a seat next to me. “You’re worried.”
Laying my head on his shoulder, I shut my eyes and listen to his breathing. “There is no point in denying it, is there? It’s frustrating, being scared all the time, I mean. Is this what life was like for you at the Institute?”
“Nothing compares to what I endured in the Institute. Not even everything we have been through in the past two days.”
I search for his hand. Locating it a moment later, I entwine our fingers. “I’m apprehensive about finding out what you mean, exactly.”
“That much is clear,” he whispers next to me.
“Am I that obvious?”
“Although you try, I can sense how uneasy you are.” He nuzzles the side of my head with his nose. ” “Your fear of the unknown is more powerful than your desire for answers.” He sighs.
“I’m sorry, Hayden. It’s wrong of me to be so nosey.” I’m such an insensitive idiot. He’s been through so much and here I am, trying to wrap my head around the images inadvertently popping into my mind. What I saw was more than enough information. He doesn’t need to describe an entire picture for me to grasp how badly he was treated.
“For what I gather, it’s common human behavior to be inquisitive. I do not find you at fault for it. In any case, I could be accused of the same. I have wanted to learn more about you every day since we met.”
I smile into my arm. “Then we’re even.”
Silence fills the room. I listen to the sound of his breathing instead, because it helps me relax. The encounter with the minions from hell has had an adverse effect. I’m numb inside, but Hayden’s presence somehow makes things better. Frankly speaking, learning how to cope with each incident is essential for my survival and mental state. I cannot allow those men to break me. I won’t let them. I’ve seen what it has done to Hayden.
“You’re strong of character, Kristina,” he says as if he’s just read my mind.
“I kind of have to be now.” There’s no use in lamenting the chaotic mess my life has turned into. I figure there will be plenty of time for regrets once I’m safe. If that ever comes to pass. “Do you have any weaknesses?”
He thinks over his response a moment before offering a reply. “Starvation.”
I recall how hungry he looked that first morning Grandma Rose offered him breakfast. He ate with such gusto. Like he hadn’t eaten in a while.
“Is that one of the ways Gerard controlled you? By starving you?” I look at him expectantly.
Thanks to the little light filtering in through the propped door, I see the dark shadow that crosses his face. “One of many methods,” he says.
The treatment he received must have been horrible. Inhumane. Traumatic.
“I’m sorry, Hayden. Did my question upset you?”
His fingers tighten around mine. “That’s not it. I worry about how the details will affect you.”
After everything he’s been through, he’s still more concerned about me? “You’re the most enigmatic guy I’ve ever met.”
“What does ‘enigmatic’ mean?”
“Puzzling. Confusing. Baffling. Mysterious.”
“I’m all of these things?” He raises an eyebrow at me.
I laugh softly. “You’re different, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“I was made to think otherwise.” He sounds a little confused.
“Well.” I lay my head on his chest. “To others, maybe. But it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
He tenses. “There’s a lot about me I have deliberately left in the dark.”
“That’s okay. I don’t have to know every single detail.” I’m sure there are things about his life he would rather hide, but they don’t seem important right now. Survival is the goal here. The rest will be revealed later, if it comes.
Hayden untangles our fingers to wrap his arms around me. “I want to protect you,” he whispers in my right ear. “Keep you safe.”
Nuzzling the base of his neck, I lift one hand so my fingers can glide along his jaw line. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, either.”
He plants a quick peck on the side of my face. “Kristina, I want to kiss you.”
I look up at him. “For the record, you don’t have to ask permission anymore.”
His head lowers, his resolve deeply emphasized in his eyes. “I’m going to kiss you, then.”
“Yes.” The word comes out in one long breath as I tilt my head and wait for him to deliver on his promise.
When at last our lips meet, I suck in some air and hold my breath. I’m amazed by how quickly he’s learned how to tempt me with the mere contact of our mouths. It’s riveting and unnerving. I feel as I have no control over myself. My body screams with a mind all of its own as he gently coerces my lips apart, his hand exploring up my arm to my shoulder, then stopping at the base of my neck.
Entranced, I hold still as his thumb outlines the curvature of my collar bone over my sweatshirt. I’m not sure how he can tell where it is under the bulkiness of my clothes, but the sensation that courses through me is the same as if he’d touched my bare skin.
I’m on fire. I’m craving skin-on-skin contact, and secretly hoping he will do more than explore over my garments.
As if my thoughts had been read, his palm moves up my neck, where his thumb explores along my jaw line. He carefully caresses the side of my face to my cheek, drifting toward my ear and down again. His kiss grows more demanding as his touch becomes bolder.
I’m lost in a whirlpool of sensations. All worries and fears vanish with each stroke of his tongue. I’m no longer aware of the world, of life outside of this trailer. It could be only the two of us left and it wouldn’t matter. My heart beats a mile a minute. I’m captivated by him, lost in waves of bliss awakened by him. Each sweet demand of his lips draws me deeper into a hazy cloud of lust and passion, the likes of which I’ve never experienced this strongly before.
Abruptly, Hayden tears his lips from mine, eyes smoldering with a heat I can both see and feel. “Kristina...?” A look of confusion settles on his face. “I don’t...” his voice cuts off, as if he’s unsure of what to say.
I bury my hand in his thick, black hair. “What is it?” I pry.
He nips at the shell of my ear, forcing me to break out in goose bumps. “Is this what if feels like to be passionately attracted to someone?”
“You’re familiar with the term?”
“Only by description.” He shoves the blanket off my shoulders. “It meant nothing to me until now.” His lips descend on mine yet again. This time, however, there’s an added fervor to his actions.
I tear myself away from him, coming up to my knees to strip off my sweatshirt and cast it to the side. Encumbered by one less garment, I reach for him, my hand waiting for his to join mine. A flicker of emotion registers in his eyes. I’m unsure of what it is, but as he kneels in front of me, his fingers circling around my own, the importance of what I can’t read diminishes.
Hayden removes his sweatshirt and discards it.
I slip my palms under his shirt, deliberately exploring up his abs to his pectorals. Every inch of him is well-defined, sculpted almost to perfection, as far as I can feel. Warmth greets my fingers as they caress his chest, gently massaging every ripple up and down.
Hayden sucks in some air, keeping his arms to his sides though I suspect he craves to put his hands on me, too. His gaze is all over the place, one moment on my face, and the next lowering to peruse the rest of me. Curiosity transforms into desire. He’s quiet, but the slight translucency in his eyes reveals exactly what’s going through his head.
A moment later, he’s bare-chested in front of me, eyes hazed over with lust. I take in every little bit of exposed flesh, realizing how handsome he really is. Human or not, there’s no denying the beauty of his masculinity.
“Kristina.” His voice is heavy, husky.
In response, I circle my arms around his neck and crush my breasts against his chest. Our lips touch and all reservations fly out the slightly open door behind me then. He’s as eager to comply as I am to kiss him, meeting each of my demands with hot, passionate caresses of his own. He breaks free to remove my shirt, and I watch as it lands on the floor next to my sweatshirt. For a fraction of a second, I’m self-conscious of my state—kneeling in front of him with nothing but a black bra keeping him from laying eyes on my bare flesh, but the uneasiness vanishes as soon as his lips find their way to my cleavage.
His lips are suddenly on every part of my torso where my brassiere doesn’t prohibit him from coming in full contact with my skin. Every kiss awakens in me a longing, a craving so intense I’m glad to be on my knees, otherwise they would have buckled under the building pressure. A hunger tears through me, the epicenter of it buried deep inside my abdomen, yet expanding slowly upward with every passing second.
Moaning, I tilt my head and drown in the sensations coursing through my body. A quick flick of his tongue over my heated skin sends me deeper into a state of total arousal and complete abandonment. I’m consumed by this selfish desire to live this moment as if it were the last. I can only feel, savor both his hands and mouth on me, working me into a frenzy.
Uninhibited, whether from my reaction or by the sense of freedom he now possesses when it comes to the physical liberties he can take, Hayden coaxes me to lie on the blanket left abandoned on the floor. I hold his gaze as his eyes burn with a light of their own, the irises now a golden brown. It’s the first time since we met that I can clearly see the predator in him.
Oddly enough, I’m not afraid. A little caught off guard, yes, but not scared. Somehow, I’m aware he has no intention to hurt me. It’s not even a possibility I’m open to considering.
As he rests his weight on his elbows and forearms above me, our faces a scant three inches from each other’s, his bare flesh grazing the exposed skin of my abdomen, all inhibitions melt away. His mouth descends yet again, our lips joining in a frantic need to connect in more ways than one.
Hayden is one gentle learner, fondling and kissing as he goes along, exploring every curve on my body with slow determination, as if wishing to commit them to memory. He doesn’t exhibit any impatience nor does he give any indication that he’s as inexperienced in this as I know he must be. He arouses my senses with one kiss, one brush of his hand over my body, as he moves quickly to strip me off the rest of my clothing, pausing only to give himself a moment to undress before joining me on the floor.
His golden brown eyes radiate heat as our bodies finally meld together as if they had always been one. He studies me with an intensity he lacked before. I think he seeks my full approval. Or maybe he’s uncertain of what’s going through my mind, but I leave no doubt as to what I want when I wrap my limbs around him, encouraging him to take what I’m so freely giving him.
The mood changes quickly then, going from sweet and romantic to hot and fiery. We get lost in an all-consuming passion that overpowers everything else. We lose ourselves to the glorious act of physical lovemaking, becoming a mass of entangled limbs and sweaty bodies. There is no future nor a past to look at. Only this moment exists. Only us, as we surround ourselves with the vocal confirmation of our pleasure, which echoes softly across the trailer, and the need to both give and take from one another.
With my head tipped to the side, I lose myself in the throes of pleasure. I empty my mind of the disasters that have marked my life in the past few days, and revel in his ardor. Hayden becomes my world, my rock, my solidarity, the most caring yet passionate lover I’ve ever had. Closing my eyes, I dig my fingers into his broad back and let him carry me away into a storm of sexual gratification and satisfaction, to which he follows soon thereafter.