Alexis scowls.

"I call the shower," May announces, and heads for the stairs. "If I can find the bathroom."

It turns out there's two, one on each floor. The house has a master suite on the second floor, with its own full bathroom.

"I'll wait my turn," I announce. "I'll take this room across the hall."

Alexis just looks at me.

"Get in here."

I pull the bedroom door shut. It's a big room, with a four poster bed, though it's not made up. Blankets and sheets rest, folded neatly, at the foot of the bed. Alexis steps out of her shoes, then slips the broad straps of her dress of her shoulders and it falls to the floor, leaving her blouse draped down just low enough to cover her hips.

She unb.u.t.tons that next and peels it off, looks at me with an almost nervous expression, and takes off her bra. Then she slips her underwear down, lifting one leg at a time to take them off, and walks into the bathroom, trembling all the way. It's the cold making her shake, must be. Already shirtless, I strip out of my suit pants and shoes and follow her in. The bathroom is as dated as the rest of the house, odd colors and funky 70s wallpaper with little roses, but it's clean even if it's cramped.

Alexis, buck-a.s.s naked, bends over in front of me and leans on the edge of the tub as she turns on the water, and lets it flow on her wrist. Gooseflesh stands up on her arms. As she stands, I savor the sight of her body, the lush swell of her hips, the sweeping arch of her back, a hint of her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s from behind as she stands and watches the water flow. It feels like cheating to glance at the mirror and see her soft nipples starting to harden from the chill, or maybe they're getting hard because of me. I step closer behind her and she leans into my chest as steam starts to swirl around us. I put my arms around her waist, and feel her stomach under my palm. She holds her hand out and grabs a bar of soap from the holder. The water turns pink as she scrubs her hands clean. I take it and clean mine.

Lifting one foot, she steps into the tub, under the hot spray, and turns to face me, water cascading down her body, streaming from her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, wetting the soft dark hair between her legs. I step in after her and pull the curtain around us, surrounding us with the hot steam.

Outside hot humid air is torture, but in here it fills my nostrils with every breath and I start to feel clean. Alexis steps beside me to stand right under the spray and I stand behind her, letting the water flow down her back and onto my chest. She gasps as she feels me getting hard against her back, and I sweep my hands up her stomach and cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Alexis molds against me and breathes softly, her hair growing heavy with water.

"Wash my hair," she says. There's a bottle of shampoo on the shelf, next to the soap. I take it but she says, "Wait."

She turns off the water and turns the lever, turns it on again and starts to fill the tub.

I sit down, and Alexis lowers herself to sit in front of me, my c.o.c.k sliding along her back as she settles against me and lays back, and the tub starts to fill. Now that the water is off, we both start to shiver, Alexis quivering against me. The water rises almost too hot around our legs, then over her chest, and she reaches up with her foot and shuts it off with her toes. She sits up and leans forward, then I sit up behind her and squeeze out a big handful of shampoo and start working it into her hair.

She closes her eyes and makes a soft contented sound as I work my fingers over her scalp. Her hair is so thick and rich, even when it's wet. I take my time, until the shampoo has thoroughly worked in, and let it sit while I knead and ma.s.sage her shoulders. I can feel the tension in her muscles. She yawns and leans back, and I start pulling the shampoo out of her hair with long strokes of my fingers and use a plastic cup to pour water over her head, taking my time to rinse it out.

Alexis shivers every time I touch her.

After what feels like hours, her hair is clean and soap floats on top of the water. She lets the stopper out and stands up, water streaming off her body. After she steps out I rise and follow her, taking a towel from the shelf to wrap around her. She sits on a little bench by the door and I use another one to dry her hair, ignoring the water clinging to my own body. As I scrub the towel on her head, Alexis turns and looks up at me, leans over, and takes my c.o.c.k in her mouth.

I freeze, a shock running down my legs. She just holds the tip between her lips and sucks a little, then gently lets it slide free of her mouth, putting a little kiss on the very tip before she leans back. She stands and her towel slips to the floor, and walks out of the bathroom naked.

I follow, and watch. She spreads the sheets on the bed, stuffs the pillows into their pillowcases, all the while nude, then rolls onto the bed and lays there, legs spread wide, and arches her back as she slips her arms behind her head and looks at me expectantly.

I dive onto the bed and kiss her, hard, slipping my arms around her. She's so hungry, her kiss anxious and demanding, moving to keep our lips together as I pull back, meaning to break the kiss and go for her soft silky throat, feel her skin on my lips. Instead I settle my weight on top of her and feel her breathing. It tickles my lips as I slide my tongue over hers and she makes soft, contented sounds. I could do this for a while, just feel her still damp skin on mine, the soft press of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the heat of her stomach against the underside of my shaft. Her hand snakes between us and her delicate fingers wrap around my c.o.c.k, and she lets the skin slip through her grasp, stroking me.

"Careful," I murmur. "Don't want it on your stomach."

"I know where I want it," she purrs.

"Not yet," I whisper, and kiss along the curve of her jaw. "I want a taste first."

"I'm ready now."

"I know. I want to taste it."

She groans as I shift my weight down, and lay wet kisses on her shoulders, tasting the warmth of her body. She looks so fresh and beautiful with her damp hair spread out on the bed and her pale skin growing flushed with heat as her arousal grows. I take my time, working down her arm, hinting that I'm going to go for her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and not delivering. I look up at her and see the antic.i.p.ation in her expression as I press my lips to her side, just along the outer curve of her breast, working my way inwards. I look up and savor the way her head lifts from the pillow and the open mouthed look of need as I delicately take her nipple between my lips, running my tongue around it, feel it stiffen even more.

She grabs my head and holds it still as I suck a little harder, a little harder, then hard enough to make her gasp and her legs jerk under me. A little groan bubbles out of her throat. An eager, naughty look on her face meets my gaze as I look up at her and begin kissing down her stomach, pressing her legs apart.

All at once I slip down and open my mouth over her p.u.s.s.y and slowly, very lightly pull my tongue over her lips, tasting the heat of her arousal. Alexis moans and bucks her hips, but I pull back, keeping my touch light. Then I do it again, and again, and she starts to writhe in time with my motions, her arms spread on the bed, her head pressed into the pillow. She closes her eyes and I slip my hands under her a.s.s and squeeze as I lick harder, faster, savoring the taste and the wet on my chin. I have her legs pinned down and I feel them tense, trying to lock around me, keep me from leaving. No need for that, I'm not going anywhere.

"Oh, Hawk," she purrs, slipping her fingers into my hair.

Her voice spurs me on. I feel her opening up, growing hot. I press my face into her mound and lick faster, her taste overpowering on my tongue, driving me onward. I slip my finger inside her, a shudder pa.s.sing through me at the wet, tight heat surrounding my finger, pulsing with her pleasure.

"Hawk, do it now."

"Not yet."

"Please!"

"Not yet."

She moans and tugs on my hair with both hands, but I fight free and keep licking. She's growing closer, I can feel it. She gets her legs out from under me and puts her feet on my back, squeezing her thighs around my head, her stomach tensing as she sits up, her body curling around me.

I push loose of her strong legs and throw myself on top of her, meeting the look of shock on her face with my own hunger, kissing her with her juices on my chin as I thrust inside her. I ram it into her tight, hot p.u.s.s.y to the root, bury myself all in one fast, rough stroke, and Alexis moans into my mouth and her body grips me hard as she digs her heels into my thighs and scratches the back of my neck.

She twists loose from my kiss and licks her lips.

"I love you. Now f.u.c.k the s.h.i.t out of me, you big lummox."

I f.u.c.k her so hard I fear I must be hurting her, but she eggs me on with her heels, her lips, her teeth. She bites my shoulder and moans in pleasure as I thrust harder in reply, the strength of my body driving into her, my c.o.c.k a raging red hot bar, filling her blazing silken walls, tightening around me. One bite isn't enough, she mauls my shoulder, trailing red hot bites towards my neck, and draws long, red scratches down my back that drive me to ram into her harder until the headboard thumps into the wall and I feel like I'm going to f.u.c.king explode. She bucks under me, ramming against me.

"Get on your back."

I roll over and pull her with me. She rises up, rakes her nails down my chest and bounces, rising and ramming herself down on my c.o.c.k, leaning forward as she closes her eyes and her expression pinches in a pleasure almost like agony, her breath in ragged gasps. I pull her down and begin thrusting into her from below, faster, deeper than before, holding her against me, her body rippling with heat and pleasure, and she cries out into my shoulder.

I can't f.u.c.king take it, but somehow I hold back, a crushing pressure in my own body as she thrashes and thrashes and thrashes, and just when I think she's going to go calm, she bucks and breaks loose of my embrace, rises, and pushes down on me hard, grinning and turning her hips in slow circles.

I can't help it anymore. I explode inside her, rising up, lifting her off the bed so she has to grab my arms to steady herself. It's like it goes on forever, unleashing a hot wet torrent inside her. Alexis grins and sits hard in my lap, holding my pulsing, throbbing rod inside her as I grip the sheets and she squeezes me dry.

I spread out on the bed. Alexis flops forward and lays on me, but doesn't move. I'm still inside her.

"You bit me," I sigh.

"You love it."

"Yeah, I do."

"When I bite you, you start f.u.c.king me harder."

"You like that?"

"Yeah. We should have done this before."

"I know. It wasn't your fault you had to leave."

"I wish I could believe that."

She's all sweaty again. We need another shower. I'm in no hurry. I slide my fingers through the sweat on her back and she rests her head on my chest.

"I like this," she says. "I'm still mad at you."

"I know."

"I don't care." She sighs. "I should've tried to find you as much as you should've come back to me."

I say nothing.

"We need to get away and start over again. We can make it like it was. I'll go anywhere, I don't care as long as I'm with you."

"Same. We do need to pick a place, though."

"Here's good for a while. Until this is all over."

She sits up, then slides off me and lays on the bed, and I can't take my eyes off her sweaty body. Then she stands and walks into the bathroom and the shower starts.

"I could go again," she calls from the bathroom, "but let's save our energy. If we're going to be here all week or whatever..."

Grinning, I follow her in.

When we're both cleaned up again, we dress. The clothes in the dressers are the wrong sizes but they'll get the job done.

May is in the kitchen, heating up a can of spaghetti and meatb.a.l.l.s. She sees us and dumps a second and a third can into the pot.

"It's not home cooking, but it'll do," she says. "I know you two must be hungry."

"Right," I say.

"Because you were f.u.c.king."

"May!" Alexis snaps.

"Oh Hawk," she mimics, stirring the pot. "Harder!"

"Shut up," Alexis snaps, but there's no heat in her voice.

May sticks her tongue out at her sister.

Then something about the size of a baseball crashes through the front window. I stare at the little round metal ball in dull surprise for a moment, and then the grenade goes off.

Alexis Now I turn to May and start to say something I will never finish. There is a sound of broken gla.s.s, like chimes, and a dull thud of something heavy hitting the floor and rolling across the carpet in the living room. Then the world goes white and a thunderous sound stabs into my ears, and I can't tell which way is up until I hit the floor. I know I'm screaming, but I can't hear myself.

I think I'm dead until Hawk's hand closes around my wrist. I can hear his voice as an echo, distant like a memory half heard.

"Flashbang!"

I don't know what that means, what's flashbang? I hear boots, but I feel them more than hear, thuds rolling through the wooden floor. A high shrill sound that drills painfully into my skull, and I think it's May screaming. Hawk's hand tears away from my wrist and suddenly I'm floating, carried away, something crushing my wrists and my calves, the world sawing under me.

Hot air hits me and I land on something soft that smells like p.i.s.s, and cold cuts into my wrists and I think I'm going to bleed out but I move my arms and I feel steel bracelets constrict my movement, and more snap on my ankles. A heavy thudding sound might be a car door, and it leaves a ringing, burning sound behind it. When I open my eyes there's only purple shapes, the vague outline of what might be the front seat of a car, but there's something floating in front of it. A pattern.

It's wire. Wire embedded in gla.s.s. The light is like daggers but I can see again, and I throw myself up, sitting upright, trying to swing my legs around but they've cuffed them with shackles and my hands are locked behind my back. There's someone sitting in the front seat. It takes me a few seconds of blinking to realize it's a Paradise Falls cop. I think I've met him before. His name is Jackson or Johnson or Jameson or something like that.

My own voice sounds tinny, distant.

"What's happening?" I shout, or maybe whisper, I can't tell. "I didn't do anything."

"Shut up," his voice is far away and m.u.f.fled.

I blink my eyes a few times and spot May as they haul her into another car, shoving her into the back seat.

Jesus Christ, Tom is here. He's talking to someone, a cop. There must be fifty of them.

They carry Hawk down the back stairs by the arms. There's bruises on his face, his lip is split, and his feet are dragging as they carry and finally drop him on the ground. Tom walks over and stands over him as he looks up. They talk but I can't hear.

Tom kicks dirt in Hawk's face, turns, and walks my way. He strides over and opens the pa.s.senger door to the police cruiser, opens it, sits inside. He closes the door and nods at the cop and the cop starts the car, backs it around, and drives away from the house. I twist to watch it recede in the background.

"What are you doing to him?" I shriek.

"You don't need to worry about him," Tom says, very calmly, very softly.

"Where's May? What did you do with my sister?"

"She'll come along with us. Don't worry, she'll be fine."

'Tom, don't hurt Hawk, please!"

He sighs. "Alexis, do you have any idea how disappointed I am in you? I thought you'd earned my trust, that you'd come around and started to understand the future and your place in it. Now you run off with Howard and Lance tells me you were doing something with my computer, and you encouraged Howard to beat him."

"That's not true," I shout, panting for breath. "Lance attacked me."

"Why?"

"He... he's a perv, I-"

"Because he caught you tampering with my computer. What were you doing?"

"I wasn't, I swear! Tom-"

"Dad," he says, very softly. "Address me properly."

"No," I snarl, "No! f.u.c.k you! You're not my father and I hate you. You hear me? I hate you and I hate Lance and you're going to prison, you sick s.a.d.i.s.tic b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I know what you did."

"Stop," he says.