Queen of Hearts

Julian leads me upstairs into my room, bundles me into the shower, pinning me to the tiles as he lifts me. I wrap my legs around his hips and without a single word spoken between us, he fucks me again.

The way he thrusts into me is wild, without abandon as if he can’t get enough, mouth biting at my skin, fingers pinching and dragging as he tries to devour me once again. All his frustration and anger flows between us, as I call out his name, lost in waves of pleasure and pain.

He comes, filling me up like it was his life’s mission to pump so much cum into me that it started spilling out of my mouth. He held us in place against the wall, forehead against mine as his breathing returned to normal. After a few minutes, he lowers me down carefully, and does something unexpected. He washes my hair, carefully shampoo and conditioning it, before washing my body tenderly.

When we leave the bathroom, he wraps an arm around my waist. “Your turn.”

“Hmmm?” I reply, sleepily after being railed twice and having the most amazing shower.

With a grin, he tosses me on the bed and pulls away my towel. Parting my legs, he kisses up my thighs and gives me the second-best orgasm of my life, ripping it from me as I scream his name and clamp my legs around his head. Afterwards, he tucks me under the covers and slides into the bed beside me. Curling his big, warm body around mine, he holds me firmly against him as he drifts to sleep.

Once Julian is snoring softly, I untangle myself from him and make my way downstairs, being careful not to disturb him. When I first arrived here, he had confiscated all my belongings, apparently for his safety and to continue the ruse that he’d killed me, but there were still some calls I needed to make. And one person who needed to know that I was still very much alive.

Yesterday, I’d managed to swipe the gardener’s phone when I was talking to him about the roses planted near the pool, it didn’t require skill, simply nimble fingers and a sweet smile. Afterwards I tucked it away in a plant pot in the main lounge, waiting for a quiet moment where I could use it. With Jay upstairs, worn out from the multiple rounds of sex and working out some of our aggression towards one another, there wasn’t likely to be a better opportunity.

Like always, my heart thumps in my chest, every bad thing that could have happened running through my mind as I wait for her to pick up. The phone rings five times before she answers and I exhale with relief.

“Gunpowder. Gelatin. Dynamite,” I say, keeping my voice low as I curl up on the sofa with my legs beneath me, a single lamp casting out a dim glow in the room. We’d established code words and phrases for situations like this, it was just a way to ensure we were safe and free to talk if we’d been separated for more than two days.

“Hmmmm, guaranteed to blow your freaking mind,” a sleepy voice replies, before Lola yawns. “Oh, you’re still alive then?”

I snort softly, looking around the luxurious room I was currently hiding in. I wasn’t just alive; I was living in absolute heaven. “Of course I am.”

I can hear her rustling around, getting out of bed on the other end of the line. I could just imagine her, padding to her kitchen in her pajamas to grab a bottle of flavored water from her fridge before curling up on her loveseat. “He hasn’t killed you yet then?”

“Obviously,” I drawl, doing a Snape impression. Twisting a curl in between my fingers, I groan. “There’s more than one way to die, Lola.”

Silence down the line.

Lola sniggers, “You totally fucked him, didn’t you?”

“He fucked me, thoroughly.” I sigh dramatically, wiggling in my seat as I feel the burn between my legs and bruises on my skin from his fingertips.

“That sounds like dangerous territory Ro,” Lola’s voice softens, and I know she’s worried that I’m in over my head. She’s always worried when it comes to Julian. She seems to think he’s my Achilles heel or something.

There’s more silence, this time mine. And I know there’s a million things happening in those spaces. Words that should be said. Words that can’t be said. Words that hurt.

Eventually, I exhale. “I know.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Looking down at the shirt I’m wearing, a loose thread catches my eye and I pull on it. I tug and tug at it until more of it unravels. “No, what’s the point? Once he finds Daniel and we find out who’s trying to frame me, I’m out of here. I’ll probably have to lay low for a while again. But that’s nothing new.”

On the move again. Sofa surfing. Relying on my connections, my reputation or my body for a safe place to stay. It used to be exciting, I used to feel like I was being a genius, outsmarting Jay at every turn. Now it felt like I was running away.

Lola must sense the dip in my mood as she changes tactics. “What’s it like there then? His house?”

Glancing around the large room again, there’s an ache I don’t want to acknowledge. Instead, I start bragging, focusing on the silver linings of this little kidnapping. “It’s like an all-inclusive holiday! I have free reign of his mansion and all the surrounding grounds. He has a pool, beautiful garden and Lola, the kitchen is amazing. It’s fully stocked and all I’ve done is bake, swim and fuck.”

She sighs, “Sounds perfect.”

“Yeah.” It does. There’s that ache again.

“Well, at least when you leave, Julian will be fifty pounds heavier and completely enthralled with your pussy.” She chuckles, and stifles a yawn. Glancing at the clock above the fireplace, I can see it’s almost 4am, and Julian had to be up at six most days.

“Mmm. Are you and Cato alright?”

With my death being spread through The Family, I worried about them. We tried to keep our friendship hidden, meeting in private spaces or crowded ones like The Blue Caterpillar where we could hide in plain sight, but nothing was ever truly safe, not when there was a bounty on your head.

“I haven’t seen or heard from them.” There’s a pause before Lola speaks again, sounding nervous. “I’ve been thinking, I might leave town for a while, just a little bit.”

I stiffen. “Is everything okay? It’s not the stalker, is it?”

“Yeah, my past has just come knocking finally and it’s time to deal with it. Y’know? It’s nothing to do with Dante.”

“Ooooh, Dante?” I tease. Swallowing, I try to hide the worry I can feel unfurling in the pit of my stomach. Lola was a badass, like me. She could handle herself and a gun but that didn’t mean I didn’t worry about her. If she was telling me like this, instead of just dealing with it and then catching me up on the details later, it meant she thought there was a possibility she might not come back to Newtown. Or back to me. Closing my eyes, I tilt my head backwards, letting a tear run silently down my cheek. “Be safe.”

“Always.”