Otherwise Unharmed

Chapter 6—Intense Reconnection

I couldn’t even pretend to be surprised when Masterson came to my cell and informed me that I had been let out on bond. He’d only been told of an unscheduled hearing which went favorably for me, but I doubted the meeting had even taken place. Trent’s resources were on the ball, no doubt about that.

I was going to have to play all of this really, really carefully.

First things first.

“Can I make a call?”

“It’s not my fucking decision,” Masterson grumbled as he led me out of the unit. “You can ask the warden.”

The unit supervisor let me call while my things were brought out of their storage area. The phone only rang twice before I heard a familiar voice on the other end.

“Mark Duncan.”

“Hello, it’s Evan Arden. I need a favor.”

“Of course, Evan—what do you need?”

“You remember the girl who came here?” I rolled my eyes at myself and shook my head. I was the deranged one; of course, he would remember. “I was just hoping you had her contact information. I don’t have my phone here.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Could you call her and ask her to come and get me?”

“Get you?” He paused before continuing. “Evan, where are you?”

I could practically see his face as he contemplated whether or not I had escaped and was now on the run. I wondered if he was picking up his landline to call the cops on his escaped patient.

“I’m still at the MCC,” I told him. “I’m being released.”

“Released?”

“Yeah.” I never understood people’s desire to repeat words like that, but I tried not to let it annoy me. It was probably the last thing he was expecting to hear from me. “Can you call her?”

“Yes, I can,” he said. “I just can’t believe no one contacted me. When was this?”

“Just a little while ago, special hearing or something. I don’t know. I just know I want out.”

“I can get you.”

“No, really—if you could call her and have her come, that would be great. I need to sleep, but I’ll come and see you soon.”

I wasn’t going to, but he’d figure that out soon enough.

With the phone handed back to some woman behind a desk, I was taken to a small room and left alone with a cardboard box containing everything I had on me when I was brought in. I reached in and pulled out the Marine-issue fatigues. I didn’t want to put them back on, but I couldn’t exactly go out still wearing prison orange, so I quickly removed the jumpsuit. I wasn’t about to put on the underwear I had been wearing at the time, so I left it in the box and pulled on the tan, camouflage-pattern pants commando-style. My watch was next, then a pale grey T-shirt followed by the socks. For some reason, the idea of dirty footwear didn’t seem as nasty to me as the boxers. My boots and hat were in the box as well, and when I pulled them out, something dropped to the floor with a metallic clang.

My dog tags.

I picked them up and ran my finger over the raised letters.

ARDEN

EVAN N. USMC

047289

A NEG

CATHOLIC

I took a deep breath and tried to push away the plethora of memories the cool metal tried to conjure. For the most part it worked—the tags only evoked pleasant memories. The only real regret I had was labeling myself as Catholic, though as a seventeen-year-old, the response to the question had been automatic.

If there was a God, He didn’t have any love for me, so fuck Him.

I slipped the metal chain around my neck and tucked the tags inside my T-shirt before I laced up my boots, donned the hat, and left the room. I had to sign a few more papers, but the process didn’t take that long. I hoped that Lia had received my message by now and also that she wasn’t waiting for me for too long.

Without any other direction, I headed outside. I looked up and down Van Buren Street but didn’t see any sign of Lia parked anywhere. I walked to the corner of Van Buren and South Clark, but I didn’t see anyone there, either. There didn’t seem to be any actual parking on the street close to the entrance, so it was hard to tell where she might have to go to park a car.

I dropped my ass to wait on a cement wall used as the foundation of a flower garden.

And wait.

After a while, I was beginning to get a little nervous. Would Trent have already taken action, believing that I wouldn’t follow through with my end of this deal? Would he have grabbed her and detained her just to have more leverage over me?

I leaned over, took off the hat, and dropped my head into one hand.

How long would it be before Rinaldo knew I had been released? How long after that before he came looking for me? At what point would he realize I wasn’t coming to him, send out a search party of sorts, and realize I was batting for the other team?

That was the most difficult part of all of this: he would have no idea that I was doing this to protect him. There wasn’t going to be an easy way to get that message to him without alerting both Greco and Trent.

“Hey, Marine!”

I flinched, glanced to my right, and saw a guy in jeans and a sweatshirt approaching. He reached down and grabbed my arm to shake my hand.

“I just want to thank you for your service,” he said in a thick southern accent. “My cousin was a Marine, and you guys are the best!”

I didn’t have much time to react before he was off across the street, so I shook my head a little and watched, wondering if he had any idea what he was really saying, and if he’d still thank me if he knew everything. When I first returned from active duty, a bunch of people said similar things to me, and I still I didn’t understand why they did. I figured most of it was because I was in Virginia at the time, and they kept putting my picture up on television.

I needed to get the fuck out of these clothes.

There was a trash can near the wall where I sat, and a noise coming from it caught my attention. A small rat made its way up a plastic bag and sat along the rim of the can, looking at me.

“Getting takeout?” I asked it.

The rodent looked to the sound of my voice before it scurried back down into the bottom of the can.

Looking up and down the sidewalk and the street, I still didn’t see any sign of Lia. I checked my watch. It had been a full forty minutes since I had contacted Mark to call her. I wondered how far away she lived and if she had been caught in traffic or something.

Maybe she’s not coming.

It was more than possible that she had thought better of hanging out with a fucked up lunatic like me and refused to show up. If that were the case, Mark would have contacted me—I was sure of that. He would have at least called into the main office and had someone step outside and look for me. Hell, considering how dedicated he was, he’d probably just show up here and offer me a ride.

How long was I going to wait? An hour? Two?

I wasn’t used to waiting for someone—depending on someone. It just wasn’t a good idea. I hadn’t relied on anyone since Corporal Martinez, my spotter during a mission in Afghanistan. It had been cut short. He was called back home, and I never saw him again. Three weeks after that, during the last mission I was on, I was in charge and everyone was depending on me. It didn’t do them any good, either. All of that seemed like another lifetime ago despite how close it was in my sleep-time memories. Since then, I hadn’t depended on anyone.

Not until now.

I didn’t like it, not in the least. What if she had decided I wasn’t worth the effort? As much as I might have agreed with her, the thought pissed me off. Rinaldo was right—bitches weren’t worth the trouble. Look at where I was now and what I was considering because of her. If it weren’t for her, Trent would only have prison to hold over my head.

“Fuck it.” I stood up and decided to start walking east on Van Buren. I didn’t really know where I was going to go at this point and figured I might as well just walk to my apartment. I had no idea what condition it might be in, or if the door was locked, or if the whole place had been cleaned out. I also didn’t have anywhere else to go. I gripped my fingers against my palms and tried to get some clarity in my head.

“Evan!”

I turned to the sound of my name and saw Lia walking quickly up the sidewalk from the other side of the building. The relief I felt was frightening. I felt my heart speed up in my chest at the very sight of her. My arms ached to reach out and bring her close to me, and my cock throbbed at the possibilities her presence presented.

So much for not depending on anyone.

I unclenched my fists and turned around to move down the sidewalk to meet her. The lunch crowd was milling around us, and as much as I might have wanted to pretend they weren’t there, rush up and pull her into my arms, I knew that wasn’t the least bit cautious, and I needed to be cautious.

I hesitated in my steps, stopped a couple feet in front of her, and just stared for a long moment. The wind picked up some loose strands of her hair and blew them around her neck, drawing my gaze that way. I recalled the salty taste of sweat in the same place as my cock moved inside of her, and thoughts of kissing her left my head as the desire to fuck her on the street grew in their place.

She took a step forward and began to reach for me, but I stopped her with a shake of my head.

“Not here,” I said quickly. “Too many people. We need to get out of the open. Where are you staying?”

“I’ve got a place rented on the west side of the city,” Lia said. “It’s not great, but it’s affordable. It’s close to Rehm Park, so I have a good place to walk Odin.”

“Where’s your car?”

“I don’t have one.”

Shit.

“How did you get here?”

“The train.”

The one time I wanted to avoid public transportation, there wasn’t another option. Fucking Murphy’s Law.

That did explain what took her so long. Without many choices available, I grabbed her hand and led her over to the nearest Blue Line entrance.

“Shit,” I grumbled as we approached the station.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have my wallet or anything,” I said. “My transit pass is in there.”

“I’ve got it.”

We had to go to the convenience store next to the station to get a one-day pass for me, then headed back toward the trains. We waited for only a minute or two before the next train stopped, and I pulled Lia behind me as we slipped through the doors before they closed.

The car was crowded but not completely full. There were two available seats facing the center of the car. Riding sideways wasn’t my favorite position on a train, but it was better than facing backwards, which made me nauseated.

As soon as we sat, I could feel the tension in my body begin to rise again.

I noticed the similarities between this time and when Lia had first lain beside me in the cabin. My heart was pounding in my chest, and even my skin felt tight around my muscles. I tensed the muscles in my thighs as my brain was flooded with memories of her soft skin and the way she smelled in the morning—a combination of something sweet-tasting, laced with my own scent over her skin. Back then, I had attributed the feelings I had toward her to just wanting to fuck because it had been a while, but I couldn’t think of it the same way now. This time, it hadn’t been months since I had been with someone—only a couple of weeks.

“Yeah, and you killed her.”

“What was that?”

Shit.

“Nothing,” I muttered. I silently thanked no one in particular for train noise. Lia looked a little confused but didn’t press, so she must not have heard the words I said.

I looked from her eyes to her mouth and tried to remember exactly what she had tasted like when I kissed her. The memory was there but not as vivid as some of the others. I wanted to remind myself how it felt to press my mouth against hers and how her hair felt in my hands.

I wanted to relive every cum-covered moment—that’s what I wanted.

The train screeched, stopped, and the doors opened up. People got off and others got on. With a lurch, we were headed back down the tracks again only to go through the whole stop-start scenario over and over. Each time, there were more people getting on than off, and the car quickly became standing room only.

“What stop again?” I asked her.

“Oak Park.”

Seven stops away. I wasn’t going to be able to wait that long.

“Come on,” I said as the train slowed to a crawl and the doors slid open once more.

“Where are we going?” Lia asked as I dragged her from the train and through the station.

My eyes darted from left to right, trying to find any place even remotely suitable. There wasn’t anything inside the station, so I led her out onto the street and toward a nearby office park. Slipping between two buildings, I turned abruptly, grabbed her, and shoved her against the red brick.

My mouth covered hers, and my hands grabbed at her waist to pull her against me. I felt her hands move up my shoulders, and her arms wrapped around my neck as she moaned into my mouth. As I tasted her tongue, I was immediately transported back to our small, cramped, hot sanctuary in the middle of Arizona. My cock pressed tightly against my fatigues as it felt the warmth of her body so close. It obviously didn’t want to waste any time leaping out and doing exactly what needed to be done.

It was a matter of sanity.

“You still want it like this, don’t you?” I breathed against her lips as I broke our kiss. My hands moved up her sides, then back down around to grip her ass. “Hard and fast—right here against the fucking building.”

My hand found its way underneath her skirt, and my fingers slid up her thigh. I could feel the edge of her lacy panties and quickly wrapped my fingers into the fabric.

“Evan…” My name on her tongue was a protest, so I stopped.

Leaning back slightly, I looked at her flushed face. Her eyes were dilated, which made them appear almost black against her pale features. Her eye makeup was smeared a little, and her breath was coming in gasps. As I stared at her, her tongue darted out and over her lips as her eyes focused on me.

“You don’t want me to stop,” I stated. “You need it like this.”

She barely had the chance to nod before my hand yanked down sharply and tore her panties off her body. A moment later, my pants were undone and my cock was out and ready. I took a moment to lick the palm of my hand and rub it over the head and shaft of my dick.

“Get your legs around me,” I commanded as I lifted her by her ass with one hand and positioned my throbbing cock with the other. “You still on the pill?”

“Yes,” she breathed as her thighs wrapped around my waist and her heels dug into my backside.

“It’s a good thing.” I slammed into her and remembered what home was.

It was everything I remembered and more. The feeling of her body encompassing me was beyond the sensation of the flesh—far beyond. It was incomprehensible, fantastic, and terrifying. It was everything I knew I wanted and needed but had refused to pursue because my life was far too fucked up for anything like this.

I didn’t deserve it, and I had convinced myself I didn’t want it or need it.

I did, though. I knew I did, and now that I had it, I was going to do anything and everything I could to keep it.

She wasn’t completely ready for the intrusion into her body and moaned against my shoulder as I penetrated her, balls-deep, in one swift motion. As much as I probably should have slowed down and let her get used to me inside of her again, I couldn’t. My body was on autopilot—searching for the one connection that held meaning for it.

I pulled back and slammed into her again, and again she cried out.

“Lia,” I whispered as I tried to hold myself steady inside of her. My voice was strangled, pleading, and my dick continued to throb inside of her, demanding more.

“Don’t stop,” she said. “Harder—please!”

“God, woman…”

Her words heated me up more, and even with the cold wind on my ass, my skin felt like it was boiling. I shoved into her again, pulled back, and continued to hammer into her as I held her against the wall. She felt so warm wrapped around me; I almost lost it far too soon.

I took a breath, covered her mouth with mine, and slowed down for a moment. Sliding in and out of her, my hands wrapped around the globes of her ass and pulled her down over me. I felt sweat trickle between my shoulder blades as I familiarized myself with the taste of her tongue once more.

“You feel fucking perfect,” I growled against her mouth. I pulled back, almost all the way out, and then pushed forward sharply with my hips as I brought her down on me. She cried out again, and I placed one hand against the wall behind her for more leverage as I increased the pace again.

It wasn’t enough. It felt like it would never, never be enough.

Lia’s breaths came in pants as she tried to keep up with my pace. At that point, I couldn’t have slowed down if I tried, and I wasn’t about to try. I needed to feel her like this—against the wall, fast, hot, furious. Her fingers gripped my shoulders, and her voice rose in pitch as she gasped and cried out my name.

Her body gripped my cock, squeezing it and pulling it deeper inside of her. It was more than I could take, and I felt the pressure from my balls spread out through my legs and down my cock in an explosion of sensation.

“Uhhhgh!” I cried out, the sound only partially muffled by Lia’s shoulder, as I filled her. I felt myself shudder from my shoulders down to my thighs. I tightened my grip on her luscious ass and slid in and out a few more times as my breath steadied and my heart rate decreased. As I came down from the orgasmic high, I found her eyes with mine. She seemed to be a bit in shock, and I wondered if I had taken it too far.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Couldn’t wait.”

“Don’t apologize,” Lia responded. Her hand moved from my shoulder to the side of my face, and I leaned against the touch. “It’s probably a good idea to get out of here before someone finds us, though.”

I couldn’t argue, so I pulled back, lowered her carefully to the ground, and fastened my fatigues. Lia straightened out her skirt, shirt, and hair before she took a deep breath and looked to her torn panties on the ground.

“I guess I’m going to have to keep an extra supply of underwear when I’m around you, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I wasn’t, but I figured it was polite to say. As far as I was concerned, she could just go without panties for the rest of eternity. I smiled a little at the thought.

“You’re really quite proud of that, aren’t you?” she said.

I smirked back at her, raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. Lia shook her head slightly as her hand reached up to fiddle with the quarter around her neck.

“Let’s get back to my place,” Lia said. “I have the feeling we should probably have an actual conversation here at some point.”

Lia reached out to take my hand, and we made our way down the street and back to the train stop. I wasn’t sure if I was looking forward to what kind of talk she had in mind, but I knew I wasn’t going to be leaving her side until she was far from harm’s way. I’d put up with whatever she wanted as long as I could keep her safe.

Nothing was going to keep her from my side.