Otherwise Unharmed

Chapter 7—Desired Refuge

The apartment Lia had been living in was little efficiency in a crappy area. I might not have had cash on me for a CTA ticket, but there was no way I was going to let her stay here another night. There wasn’t even any fucking security on the building door. The inside was okay, just small and cramped. I had no idea what her financial situation was, but it was obvious from her accommodations that she wasn’t well-off.

I was going to have to change that—sooner rather than later.

Odin peeked around the corner of the bed, saw me, and jogged over with his tail wagging. I was beyond happy to see the big guy, especially considering I had a brief moment during my arrest when I thought they might have taken him out. I dropped down to one knee and took his shaggy head in my hands. I scratched at his neck and back and tried to keep my balance as he nearly tackled me and started to lick my face.

“Disgusting,” I told him with a grin. He sat back on his haunches and appeared to be smiling back at me with his tongue lolling around his face. Then he jumped up and ran back to the side of the bed to retrieve his rubber bone. There wasn’t really any room in the tiny place to throw it, but we made do anyway.

“I need to go to my apartment,” I said after a few minutes of fetch.

“It still has crime scene tape all over the door,” Lia said softly. “At least it did when I was last there.”

“Fuck that,” I growled. “If there’s anyone there trying to keep me from my shit, I’ll fucking kill them.”

The words were honest and genuine—far too much so. When I glanced up at Lia, she was biting her lip and had her brow all screwed up. I inhaled deeply and then let the air out slowly through my nose. I was going to have to start watching my words.

“Figuratively,” I said unconvincingly.

Lia continued to look at me with a lot of doubt on her face. Her legs were tensed like she was thinking of running out. When I stood and gave Odin’s bone one last toss, she took a step back.

“You afraid of me?” I asked.

“Not of you,” Lia replied. “For you, yes, but not really of you.”

“Not really,” I repeated. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue—she was starting to see who I was now that we were in my city, my element. “You don’t know me very well.”

“I know a lot. I’m still waiting for you to tell me the rest.”

I laughed. She had no fucking idea what she knew and what she didn’t know.

“So tell me,” she requested.

“No,” I replied quietly. I reached out and placed my finger under her chin, tilting her head up a little before kissing her lightly. “You don’t want to know all the shit in my head.”

“I do,” she insisted, “but I’ll wait until you’re ready.”

“Not gonna happen.” I moved my lips across her jaw and down the side of her neck, hoping to distract her completely from the line of thinking she seemed so hell-bent on. Her hands ran up my sides and gripped my back as I moved up her ear.

“I need to know,” she said quietly.

“Bullshit.”

“Evan,” she sighed and pulled back a bit. It wasn’t enough to let go but enough that I couldn’t keep distracting her with my lips. “Don’t you think I deserve a little information at least?”

“For what?” It was a stupid fucking thing to say, but I’m a guy and we say stupid shit like that.

“For what?” she snapped back. “Seriously? Let’s start with searching for you for months, finding out you’ve been through a ridiculously difficult time, and then when I finally find you, you’re in the process of trying to blow up an entire park! How about seeing you dragged off in cuffs, and the only thing you manage to do is apologize again, and then ask me to take care of your dog?”

Well, all right—she had me there.

I huffed out a breath, looked over her shoulder for a minute, and then looked back.

“You’re right. You want me to just take him and go now?”

“No, for goodness’ sake, Evan!” Lia pulled one of her hands back and slapped me slightly on the shoulder. “Do you think I’d come all the way here, do all of this, and then just leave?”

“You should.” Part of me hoped she would, but it wasn’t a part I wanted to acknowledge. Even as I suggested it, it felt like a hole was burning through my chest.

“Well, I’m not.”

“Maybe you need to think about it.” More words I didn’t mean, but there they were anyway.

“Is that what you want me to do?” she asked.

I hesitated but ultimately shook my head.

“I only want time to think about…about all of this,” she responded as she took my face in her hands and placed her lips to mine. My body was immediately lost in the feeling, but my mind continued to struggle.

“You need to just get out of Chicago…get away from me,” I said. Though my voice was sure and strong, my arms tightened around her as the words left my lips.

“I’m not leaving you alone,” Lia replied.

“You should.” Again, my grip on her tightened, and the feeling of her body pressed tightly against my chest was divine. “I’ll end up hurting you or…or worse.”

“You won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that.”

She pulled back again and glared at me.

“Did you really think I had no idea that there was something...not quite right? When I first saw you, you were in the middle of the desert, rocking on a front porch, holding the scariest gun I've ever seen. The hottest guy I've ever met in my life, sitting alone in a cabin, apparently for months, with his dog and enough paranoia to spare. I may not have your powers of observation, Evan, but I'm not blind!”

I had to admit, I hadn’t considered how all of that had looked. At the time, I had been more concerned about whether or not she had been sent from Chicago, and then later my concern was more about getting into her pants.

“I may not know what’s going on,” Lia continued, “but I know there’s a lot more here than it seems. At some point, you’re going to have to tell me.”

“Have to, huh?” I was trying hard not to be shitty, but she was hitting far too close to the truth for her own good. I was also fighting hard against the desire to tell her everything there was to know, even when the information would likely end up with her telling me to get the fuck out—not to mention some of the information could get her killed. It was too much for most people to handle, and I didn’t want to put her in that position.

Was it even avoidable at this point?

“Whatever happened, I can handle it.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. She didn’t know what she was asking, and I wasn’t even sure that I could handle it. Figuring she was as likely as any chick to respond to a little emotion, I went with delay tactics.

“I…I can’t, Lia,” I pleaded to her eyes for understanding. “I…I want to, but not yet. I can’t do it yet.”

Her fingers brushed over my jaw.

“All right,” she said quietly. “I can wait, but not forever.”

Mission accomplished though there was no telling how long I could hold her off. For now, I just needed to keep her occupied with other things.

“Thank you,” I whispered against her ear, then moved down her throat. I slid my fingers up her sides, wrapped them in the hem of her shirt, and pulled it up and over her head. My mouth moved down to kiss the tops of her breasts as I reached around and unhooked her bra.

Her fingers grabbed at my belt and the buttons of my fatigues, then pushed them off my hips as I discarded my shirt and then her skirt. I picked her up, took three steps toward the bed, and tossed her in the middle of it.

I was on her a second later, pushing her legs apart to give me access to the Mecca of all pussies. I found her first with my fingers—I still felt a little bad about how quickly I’d taken her the last time—and explored between her outer lips. I slowly inserted my middle finger inside of her, curling it slightly as she arched her back to me. With my thumb rubbing circles around her clit, I felt her body slicken and ready for me.

With my free hand, I pushed her leg out and up, spreading her a little more and giving me both optimum position and optimum view. I slid another finger inside of her, moved them both back and forth for a moment, and then pulled them out and ran them up over her clit.

Lia’s hands reached down, and her fingers locked around my forearms with some kind of death grip. I took it as an invitation, and with my cock in my hand, I closed in on my target and thrust forward. Lia gasped, and her legs jumped as I bottomed out, balls-deep inside of her.

Her arms dropped to her sides, and she pushed her palms against the bed as she arched her hips with a moan. I wrapped my arms around her legs for a better grip and began thrusting quickly into her as my eyes locked with hers.

So beautiful. So perfect.

I leaned forward and took one of her nipples in my mouth, biting down gently on it until her hands wrapped around my head. I sucked it farther into my mouth, and my tongue ran over the edge in a circle. I switched to the other one, nuzzling it lightly with my nose before I took it between my lips.

Lia moved her hands to the sides of my face and pulled me up for a kiss. Our tongues met, caressed, tasted, and felt as I thrust into her with my cock. I felt her hips press up against me with every downward movement, and it was like Christmas morning.

I wanted more.

“I want to watch that backside while I’m fucking you,” I told her as I pulled back, grabbed her by the waist, and flipped her over on her stomach. “Get that ass up and spread those legs.”

“Jesus, Evan.” Lia breathed heavily as her forehead pressed into the mattress. She complied, pulled her knees up close to her body, and moved them apart.

“That’s it,” I murmured. My hands ran up the backs of her toned thighs and up over her rounded ass. I didn’t think I’d ever seen an ass as perfect as hers, and as much as I wanted to spread her cheeks and find out just how it felt, my cock played divining rod and moved straight to her pussy.

I wrapped my hand around my shaft and rubbed the head up and down a few times before pushing back into her with a grunt. Lia turned her head to the side and reached up with her hands to grip the sheets.

“Better hold on tight,” I advised. I leaned forward over her back, kissed her spine, then pulled back and slammed into her again.

She gasped, and her fingers tightened around the sheet as I started a hard, fast pace. I nearly pulled out with every stroke and rammed into her so hard she had to tense her thighs and ass to stay up on her knees.

Just what I wanted—to watch her ass squeeze and tighten as I fucked her. I swallowed and gripped her hips as I kept up my furious movements, and Lia began to cry out with each thrust.

“You love that, don’t you?” I growled. “Being hammered by my cock…you must think you’re in…fucking…heaven.”

Punctuation by cock thrust—the very best kind.

Her moans were the only response I heard and the only encouragement I needed. Tightening my own ass muscles, I rocked my hips against her over and over again. My legs were threatening to give out on me, but I wasn’t about to let them. With closed eyes, I leaned over her again, and sweat dripped from my brow to her back.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I whispered against her neck as I slowed down to keep myself from coming too quickly. “I can’t get enough of you…will never have enough of you.”

“Evan!” Lia cried, and I felt her ass shake and her body clench around me as I shoved into her and held myself there, rotating my hips a little as she cried out again. Her moans quieted as her legs gave out and dropped her to the mattress, making my cock pop right out of her in the process.

“No way,” I told her. “I’m not done with you yet.”

I pushed her legs farther apart with my knees as my hand reached between her thighs. I fucked her slowly with two fingers until she was writhing under me, then positioned my cock back at her entrance and thrust forward.

It wasn’t an easy position for deep penetration, but her body was wrapped around my cock, and I still had a fabulous view of her luscious ass, so I didn’t care. I fucked her with short, quick strokes as my balls began to tighten and throb. The buildup was as intense as it had been against the brick wall between the office buildings.

“Oh, shit…yeah…” I poured into her as I accented my own grunts with powerful, fast thrusts until my cock ran dry. Unable to move any more, I collapsed on top of her and panted hot breath on her shoulder.

Several minutes later, I regained enough composure to kiss her neck and then get my weight off of her. She shuddered as our bodies parted, then rolled to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“You’re going to kill me,” she whispered.

I tensed.

Her tone was benign and joking, but her words still sent a ripple of terror through me.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked.

“Fuck, no!” she replied with a laugh. “You’re…you’re fantastic.”

I let a breath out through my nose and tightened my hold on her. Closing my eyes for a minute, I tried to shake away images of blood and splattered brains and concentrate instead on the woman in my arms. Her fingers crawled up my neck and cupped my face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said automatically. “I’m just…still a little tired. I think I could really use a shower.”

“I have one of those.” Lia smiled.

The shower felt wonderful, even if it was one of those tiny little stalls with barely enough room to turn around. It was still better than a group shower in prison. Before I had managed to wash the soap off, Lia joined me. I wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass, so I grabbed her by the thighs, held her against the cheap shower wall, and fucked her again.

Much better than prison.

We had to take another shower to clean off.

Lia had the makings for sandwiches in her mini-fridge, and I devoured two of them quickly.

“Hungry?” she asked, amused.

“Do you have any idea how much prison food sucks?” I asked with a grin. “These are fucking awesome.”

She giggled, and my cock responded. I polished off the last couple of bites and then crawled over to where she sat and thanked her with my mouth. I took her again on the floor and then let her change into pajamas, which she wore just long enough to get into the bed before I tore them off and tossed them across the room.

I couldn’t get enough of her.

Sometime around midnight, I started to feel tired. It didn’t make any difference though. My body continued to demand more of hers.

My mouth pressed against her stomach as my hand moved up her side. With a light touch, I brushed over the tops of both her breasts as I kissed up the center of her body.

“Again?” Lia giggled. “Do you ever run out of energy?”

“Eventually,” I admitted. “Fucking you just makes me want more though. I'm trying to see if I can make it to round six before I pass out.”

“I'm going to be sore,” she said.

I maneuvered over the top of her, nudged her legs apart with my knee, and looked down into her eyes.

“Does that mean you'll feel it all day tomorrow—feel it constantly, no matter what you’re doing, and think about my cock inside you every minute you’re awake?”

Lia's breath quickened, and she stared up at me for a moment before she swallowed hard and nodded her head.

“Probably.”

“Good.” I wrapped my hand around my shaft and drilled into her.

I felt whole again.

It felt too good to last.

I woke up in ecstasy.

At first I thought I had to be dreaming, but I quickly remembered that my dreams were never so pleasant. The feeling through my skin, my muscles—my entire body—was like lying in a cool meadow with the springtime sun blanketing me. My mind was relaxed and calm in a way it hadn’t been in years. There was only one word to describe it.

Peace.

It was nearly enough to bring tears to my eyes.

My cheek rested on Lia’s abdomen, and I felt her hand against the back of my head, cradling me to her body. I had my arms wrapped around her center, and I held her close against my chest as I lay beside her on the small bed that reminded me too much of the one in the cabin.

I didn’t move. I only inhaled deeply to embrace the scent of her. It was her own, sweet fragrance combined with the smell of our activity from the night before. I curled my fingers around her hip, touched my nose to the skin against her belly, and I inhaled again. My fingers reached up to briefly touch the quarter on its chain around her neck. I had to pee pretty badly, but it wasn’t worth disconnecting myself from her flesh, so I didn’t.

I don’t know how long I stayed that way, eyes closed and just reveling in the sensations around me. At some point, Lia’s fingers twitched, then slowly started massaging my head, which caused me to moan out load.

Lia’s soft laugh filled my ears.

“You like that?”

“Mmmhmm,” I replied as I snuggled against her stomach and tightened my grip on her. “Feels good.”

She kept it up, slowly dragging her fingertips from the top of my head, through my hair, and down to the back of my neck before she started all over again. I lifted my head and shifted up until I was face to face with her and wrapped both arms around her shoulders to hold her against me. Lia’s hand stroked my cheek, and I watched her eyes as she gently traced the veins in my arms.

“I could wake up like this every day,” I said.

“Me, too. You’re gonna have to let me up, though.”

“Why?” I protested. “I don’t want to.”

“I have to go to the bathroom!” Lia laughed.

“So do I.”

“Well, this time would be a lot worse of a wet spot than what I put up with last night, so you better move.”

Something about the crudeness of the remark amused me to no end.

“Come right back,” I ordered as I held in a laugh.

“Yes, sir,” she responded with a grin that made my cock twitch. “Now let go.”

I sighed but rolled away from her so she could get up. True to her word, she curled right back up with me when she returned and started to run her hands up and down my arms again as I tucked my head against her chest. I dozed off briefly, and when I woke, she was propped up on an elbow and just looking at her fingers wrapped around my bicep.

“What?” I questioned.

Lia smiled and looked away as her cheeks tinged with flowing blood.

“Nothing,” she said softly.

“Tell me.”

Her eyes met mine again.

“I just…I feel so safe with you, like nothing could ever happen to me as long as I was with you.”

I wanted it to be true so much. Maybe I went ahead and believed it on some level. After pondering a moment, I leaned back and repositioned myself so I was lying next to her and looking up at her face.

“What is this?” I asked tentatively.

“What is what?” Lia stifled a yawn with her hand and then turned her head back toward mine.

“This,” I said as I tightened my grip and held her body more firmly against my own. “Us. What are we?”

She eyed me for a moment.

“What do you want this to be?” she asked quietly.

I thought about it for a minute, but I really wasn’t sure how to answer. Whatever this was, it was foreign to me. I didn’t know what to call it.

“What are my options?”

Lia raised both eyebrows at me and tilted her head a bit. I only shrugged in response, so she tapped her finger against her bottom lip as she answered me.

“Well, you could buy me a giant diamond and be my fiancé.” Lia dropped her finger down and tapped her chin instead. “Or we could just go to Vegas and have Elvis or maybe Darth Vader marry us. If commitment isn’t your thing, we could just be fuck-buddies.”

She turned her eyes back to me and smiled softly as I raised my eyebrow at her.

“Then again, maybe we should just try the boyfriend-girlfriend thing for now and see what happens,” she suggested.

“It seems a little more…realistic than the other ones,” I admitted. I took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. “I’ve never done this shit before.”

“What? Dated?”

“Have we been on a date?”

“I guess not.” She eyed me with a cynical gaze. “What do you mean, then?”

I didn’t even know what I meant, which was part of the problem.

“I’ve never put a label on a…a relationship,” I said. “I don’t even know what that means—boyfriend. Should I go get flowers and chocolates now?”

“That doesn’t seem your style,” Lia snickered. “Have you ever bought a girl flowers before?”

I licked my lips and considered the daffodils I had yanked out of a window box for Bridgett. Since they were neither bought nor ever delivered to her, I had an honest answer.

“Never bought a girl flowers. Bought a few other things, I guess.”

“Such as?”

“Is this normal girlfriend-boyfriend conversation,” I asked, “me telling you what I’ve bought for other chicks? What did William get you for your last birthday?”

Lia’s throat bobbed up and down as she looked away from me.

“Fine, you made your point.”

The tension in her face and her refusal to look at me told me enough.

“I must be a boyfriend,” I said. “I’m already pissing you off.”

She looked back at me, and her face relaxed as she cracked a smile.

“That isn’t a requirement,” she said, “just in case you were wondering.”

“Duly noted. All things considered, though, I’ll likely piss you off again.”

She looked at me for a long moment.

“I just want to know more about you,” she said. “I still want to know what happened to you.”

I shook my head.

“I need to get to my apartment,” I said. “You also need to get your shit out of this little hellhole.”

“It’s not that bad,” she said as she looked around.

“Yes, it is.” I untangled my limbs from her body and stood up to take a piss and pull my clothes on. I shifted a little bit in the pants—they were starting to get a little rough on my ass from the lack of clean underwear. I definitely needed to get to my place for supplies.

Odin followed me into the bathroom and sat there as I dressed, wagging his tail with his bone hanging part way out of his mouth. I grabbed it, ordered him to drop, and then tossed it to the other side of the room.

“I can’t really afford anything else at the moment.” I glanced in Lia’s direction and watched her pull her shirt on over her head. “I haven’t even found a job here yet.”

“You don’t need one,” I countered. I grabbed the bone back from Odin and threw it again.

“Of course I do,” she said. “I only have enough to cover rent and utilities for another month or so.”

“You don’t need any more.” I was dismissive in my tone but didn’t want to come right out and tell her just how much money I had stashed away in various places.

“Well, then I guess I’ll be staying in this hellhole.”

I watched her for a moment, trying to judge her mood. She certainly sounded pissy, but her posture was casual.

“I’ll take care of you,” I finally said.

“Evan, you just got out of jail, and we don’t even know when your hearing will be or anything yet.”

“There won’t be one.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I cupped her face in my hands, placed my lips against hers, and kissed her deeply.

“I’m going to take care of it all,” I promised. “Then we’re going to leave Chicago altogether.”

“And go where?”

“I have a few options.”

“You’re being very vague.”

“Yep.”

“Evan!” She took a step back from me and placed her hands on her hips.

“Lia,” I mocked back. I smiled warmly to try to break the building tension. “I can explain more later. Right now, I just need to get back to my apartment and assess the damage.”

With minimal additional protest, we collected Odin and his stuff, and I called a taxi from Lia’s phone.

“That’s going to be expensive,” Lia remarked.

“No one’s going to let him on a bus,” I said, nodding toward the dog. “A big tip goes a long way with a taxi driver.”

“I don’t have that much cash.”

“We’ll take care of it when we get back to my place.”

When we did get there, the apartment was a disaster.

The scene was almost enough to remind me of a warzone, but not quite. There was still crime tape up on the door, but I tore it away and shoved the door open to reveal most everything I owned spewed out all over the floor.

Papers, boxes, even dishes and shit from the cabinets in the kitchen were lying all over the floor, the counters, and the dining room table. My desk drawers were all pulled out, and papers were everywhere. All the cords and shit for my laptop were there in a heap, but the machine itself was gone.

“Wow.” Lia breathed out the word with a huff of air. “This is a mess.”

“I’m going to guess the housekeeper hasn’t been by recently,” I joked. Nothing about it was funny to me, but I didn’t want her to see just how irate I was. I was pretty particular about my place and my things. Seeing them just…everywhere was increasing my blood pressure by the minute. I wondered what was missing besides the laptop.

The back of the closet in my bedroom, which should have contained my firearms and a couple duffel bags filled with around eighty grand in cash was empty.

“Fuckers,” I mumbled as I moved over to my dresser. All the drawers had been pulled out and dumped, but no one noticed the envelope secured to the underside of the dresser’s top. I pulled a few bills out of it, ran down to pay off the cab driver, and then returned to check out the rest of the mess.

Odin was standing by the sliding glass door to the balcony, staring at his upturned dog bed. I used my boot to shove the crap on the floor to the side, righted the bed, and put it back in its usual spot. He sniffed at it, climbed inside, and spun around a few times before curling up and placing his head on his paws to watch us.

I went around to all the places where I had cash and weapons hidden. Most had been found and presumably taken as evidence, but I did come up with a few thousand in cash—no weapons, though, which pissed me off. My phone was also missing.

“I need to make a side trip.”

My Mazda was gone from the garage, presumably impounded pending my trial. With my CTA pass in hand and Lia staying at my apartment to start cleaning up, I headed over to Moretti’s office. I watched all around me as I approached, but I didn’t see any familiar cars in the parking lot and no one visible walking around. I made my way to my Audi—still hidden behind the dumpster from the night I’d killed Terry and Bridgett. Under the driver’s seat was a Beretta PX4 Storm .40—my backup handgun. In the trunk, hidden under the spare tire, there was another, larger envelope of cash.

I shoved the piece down my pants and felt myself relax at the familiar feeling of the barrel against my back. There was also a shoulder holster for it, but I didn’t want to take the time to put it on in the parking lot. I looked around quickly, then got in the car and headed to the nearest place where I could get a phone set up without a contract or anything like that. I kept looking over my shoulder, but no one appeared to have noticed me, and no one seemed to be following me. Still, I took a random route back to my apartment building.

All was quiet in the parking garage, so I made my way upstairs and back to my unit.

Lia was inside, folding clothing that had been dumped all over the place and neatly stacking it in piles on the bed.

“I wasn’t sure which drawers you used for what.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt a little weird and maybe embarrassed to have her doing something like that for me. It seemed very…intimate. I didn’t think anyone other than I had handled my laundry since I was a kid.

I grabbed the dresser drawers off the floor and inserted them into their slots, then picked up a couple stacks of shirts and laid them down in their rightful drawer. It didn’t take too long before we had at least managed to straighten out the bedroom to where it didn’t look like a recent tornado had been hanging out there.

The rest of the apartment was a much bigger disaster, and it took us most of the day to get it cleaned up. About the time we were done, when Lia had gone to take some spoiled food to the dumpsters outside, Odin started to growl.

I looked up at the door.

“Having fun?” Trent asked as he leaned against the wall.

Nothing could have pissed me off more than seeing him at my door.