Between Love and Hate - Chapter 4
Title: Between Love and Hate
Author: sue
Rating: PG13 (for the moment at least)
Show: DA
Pairing: M/A? we’ll see..
Genre: Major Angst (considered yourself warned)
Type: Work in Progress
Summary: Anything and Everything’s sequel. Will Alec finally remember who Max was to him?
A/N - Tada!! New chapter! And it takes me less than a year to update too, right Alana84? Haha Have fun, enjoy, and hope you all like this chapter :)
A/N 2 - All trouts and cherries belong to Syrai. Especially the cherries.
A/N 3 - Again, a humongous thanks goes to Alexis, my wonderful beta :D Where would I be without her?
A/N 4 - I just find out that Lynn from Gumbootmafia has put up Anything and Everything for Recommendation *blushes and wipes tears* hee! Thank you soo much Lynn *licks Lynnsie because she’s such a pimp* Heh
Chapter 4: Red, Fire, Heat and Flame
With a sigh, Max stepped out of the door. She wiped the sweat from her brow, grumbling under her breath at the lack of air circulation or whatever that contributed to the raising heat.
You cannot pack a room full of people and not expect the need to lower the temperature a few degrees.
‘What a cheapskate,’ she muttered, feeling the tendrils of sweat sliding languidly down her neck.
The night air blew a cool breeze her way but for some reason, she was still feeling hot and restless. She lifted her heavy hair from her neck, exposing it to the comforting cold air as she made her way to her bike. Before she could take another step, a group of men suddenly surrounded her, making her stop dead in her tracks.
‘Hey, what’s up?’ she smiled, but her muscles tensed unwittingly.
‘Remember me?’ Tattooed-arm emerged from behind the men, grinning foolishly.
Before Max could even rolled her eyes in response, his gap-toothed friend interrupted, ‘And me.’
‘Didn’t I just knock you two senseless ten minutes ago?’
‘We were feeling gentlemanly then. Let’s see if you can handle us now. All of us.’
‘Look, I’m in the middle of something and I really don’t have the time to play with all of you now. Sorry guys.’ She made it as if she was leaving and they took a step forward, closing ranks on her.
The word great hadn’t even left her lips yet when they surged forward, all at once. She grabbed one guy by the neck, wrapping her arms and squeezing tightly as he gasped for breath. As she did so, she tried to fend off a couple of guys by kicking one man right on the ribs, winding him instantly.
He crashed into two more men, groaning at his broken rib. At that very second on her right, another man rushed, hoisting an iron bat in her direction. Max pushed her captive man towards the man with the bat and the one second he took to avoid his flailing ally was the one she needed to kick the bat from his hand.
The bat cluttered noisily but before anyone could dive in to seize possession of it, Max cried out as an iron bar hit her just above her left elbow. She didn’t see that one coming.
She turned, and a flash later, the man with the bar was now lying unconscious on the ground. Her eyes darted wildly around, assessing the current situation but she failed to observe that her old buddy tattooed-hand Tony was taking out something that glinted threateningly from his knee length boot.
Max was busy fending off a few of the men to notice anything fishy. She has just planted a nice kick on one man’s chest when someone fired a round of shots. Panting, she stood still, to see that the one left standing was holding a gun, the smoking end was trained eerily to her head.
Her heel lifted a fraction of an inch as she readied herself to blur in his direction and in her preoccupation, she failed to realize that Tony was not in front of her anymore. Her vision was bombarded with an explosion of lights.
Tony had snuck in from behind and presented a very juicy punch in the jaw. And before the firework display even ended, her nerves were assaulted by something else. She turned her head hazily and saw the black hilt of a knife that Tony had planted just below her ribcage.
‘Good work, Tony.’
‘We do work well together, Freddy. We should do this more often, dude.’ Tony grinned.
Max pulled the knife quickly, groaning as blood sprayed out from the wound. She took a quick sip of air before flicking the knife towards the smirking Freddy. He toppled down after the knife had plunged itself above the collar bone. The arterial spray added a reddish background as the dead man’s fingers twitched, emptying the gun erratically.
Tony watched, horrified at this turn of events. Most of his buddies were lying on the ground haphazardly, either dead or fainted. He took a step back, suddenly terrified.
Max blurred, brought up her elbow to his temple with a loud crack and he crumbled, mouth askew. Max fell down on her knees, her head swimming as her fingers felt the gushing wound. It was not too bad but she didn’t have the time to stitch it up now.
Groaning, she pushed one hand hard against the right side of her abs as she struggled painfully out of her jacket. Using her nails and teeth, she ripped the lining off before wrapping it tightly over the wound.
Painful gasps hissed from between her clenched teeth as she tightened her makeshift bandage. She sat still among the fallen men for the next couple of minutes, waiting until her heartbeat slowed down and the pain had dimmed somewhat.
After she judged the pain as bearable, she struggled to her feet before putting her ripped jacket back on with a degree of difficulty, hiding the wound from view. She staggered to her bike and after she wiped the sweat and drops of blood off her face, the bike roared to her next destination.
-*-
An unnaturally high shriek filled the air as someone tossed a large bowl and it didn’t smash where it was suppose to. At one area of the room, one man was cornered by Missy’s loyal men. He took another step back and felt the wall’s hard surface with the heel of his boot and that made him stop.
Around them, chaos erupted throughout the room, where everyone was dashing out of the men’s reach. They knew who those men worked for and deep in their guts, they were glad that they were not in that lone man’s shoes.
At the bar, a man with red hair and full beard was busy grabbing his prized bottles from the rack behind him, stashing those away.
Out of sight, out of danger’s reach.
From somewhere, Missy took a step forward, her fair hair gleaming under the lights, and she smiled in approval. He leaned back, one hand wiped the blood from the corner of his lips while the other reached behind him, unseen as he tried to find something… anything to his advantage.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw that she was coming towards him. He blinked as the vision wavered. A beat passed and he shook his head, hard, and he could see that Missy was near, only a few steps away.
His fingers found some sort of tray that was built right into the wall and after a few experimentally pushes, he concluded that the tray-like ensemble can move. He was just about to rip it from the wall when a wave of vertigo assaulted his senses.
Breathing hard, he leaned his body against the wall, giving his suddenly trembling legs some sort of support. Bright lights flashed over his eyes and again, he shook his head hard, as if he could shake the dizziness off with the gesture.
What the hell…?
Seeing their opponent’s sudden hesitancy, one of them let out a short laugh. They didn’t need to see Missy’s gleeful agreement of the situation as they closed in on him.
-*-
The air whizzed past the small frame as the black ninja streaked past the deserted road, a tail of fumes and smoke in its wake. The stretch of road was mostly deserted, throughout the short journey she had yet to meet other people but that was not a big problem in her mind. Her sharp eyes caught sight of a flicker of light just above the horizon and she sped her bike towards it.
Within minutes, her previous solitary journey ended, people were passing by her by the throng. A small hiss sneaked past her lips as her jacket shifted and rubbed against the makeshift bandage. She shifted her position slowly in response and before she could do anything else, something big and monstrous suddenly appeared in front of her vision.
The famed trout… and it’s cherry.
The ensemble statue was so huge it undoubtedly cast its shadow over to the building next to it. However, since it was nearly dark, there was no shadow involved. But the bright lights emitted a festive light over the huge fish and the dancing beams bounced merrily over the trout.
Max felt her eyebrows rise on their own accord at the rainbow fusion of lights that were playing over the statue and the rowdy crowd underneath it.
She saw the heavy crowd and sighed. The sight of the huge mass of moving bodies started to feel unbearably hot to her and as if agreeing with her thoughts, she could feel the river of sweat sliding down her back. Max scraped the heavy hair from her sweaty neck and quickly tied her hair up, sighing as the breeze brushed against her heated skin.
She ran her fingers over her face and took another look at the heavy crowd. She had a quick impulse of just leaving, but something held her back. Feeling restless, she tried to blow off the hair that was stuck on her sweaty forehead and grumbled as they refused to budge.
Max jumped from the bike and gritted her teeth against the sudden surge of pain.
‘God, I forgot about that.’ Her fingers clutched over the crude bandage, breathing heavily. She swiped the drops of sweat from her forehead and took another deep breath. She’ll drag herself to bed after she was done with this place.
Walking quickly into ‘The Shack’, she groaned at the rising temperature. She took one step in and stopped dead in her tracks.
A full bar fight was happening right in front of her. People were running and screaming hysterically all around her. Max blew out an annoyed breath at the insanity of some people and shook her head. Her heel lifted half an inch as she turned around; there was no way she’d get herself involved in this god-only-knows-why fight. She can only put her nose in so many things already. And what had she got for it? A knife stuck on her side. So, yeah, thanks for the pain, dude.
Still grumbling under her breath, Max turned on her heel, one hand already pushing the door behind her when something stopped her, again. She blinked, disconcerted and slowly she turned her head around, the end of her ponytail smacking against her clammy nape. She stopped breathing as she eyed the chaotic room, trying hard to pinpoint the source of her preoccupation.
Her wide eyes stumbled across people running left and right, and suddenly she seemed immune to the sudden loud crashes that reverberated all over the room and the scream that was teetering over insane decibels. Sound ceased to exist for her except for her rapid labored breathing. The sound bounced erratically around her heavy head.
The hand that was still on the door behind her tightened as her eyes slide over strangers and mayhem.
What? What was it?
And for some unknown reason, the crowd shifted for a minute and from the sudden gap she saw something…
Or rather, someone.
Someone that sent an immediate punch to her heart.
Him.
Alec.
Even with the distance between them, she could see the blaze in his eyes, glazed with something she had never seen before. And before she could even force in some air inside her flaming lungs, the crowd moved again, and he disappeared from her view.
A half cry and half moan erupted from her dry throat as she took an unconscious step forward and before another thought could form, she was running forwards, pushing bodies away… rushing towards him.
-*-
His breathing was coming in rapid succession, while sweat was glistening on his skin, sliding slowly down with the pull of gravity. His vision swam… again, and he shook his head in frustration.
What the hell was going on? From the corner of his eyes, he saw a glint of gold and turned his head towards it, attracted by the lightness of it. Even though in his state, he could see the satisfied smile lurking over the full lips of Missy and something sank in.
‘Listen lil Missy. I’m not interested in doing anything right now. I’m not interested in talking to anybody right now. I have no interest to flirt with you, to kiss you or to sleep with you. All I want is to finish this drink, is that okay?’
As he was talking, her hand slipped into her purse and when it reappeared, she was clutching something.
‘Okay,’ she smiled agreeably, ‘let me pour you this one.’
Before he could say anything, she poured his drink and two little white pills clinked noiselessly into it, vanishing almost instantly.
She must’ve put something in his drink, there was no other explanation. Having no time and no energy to berate himself for letting something slip past his guard, he forced his sluggish unresponsive body to move. He had to get past Missy’s boys if he wanted to leave with his limbs intact.
Suppose to be a breeze for him but thanks to a certain blondie, may she rot in hell, it was near impossible to even stand, let alone coming up with a plan. He breath heavily, eyes darting wildly for something… anything, and they jumped towards him.
He blocked one fist with his arm, forcing his heavy hand to move because survival was something as instinctive as breathing. Manticore did take care of its soldiers in a way. He grabbed the hand before twisting it the wrong way up.
Before he could even turn his head, pain roared angrily as a sturdy former chair made a very intimate encounter with his ribs. He fell to his knees; one shaky hand was the only thing between him and the cold dirty floor. Sweat pooled around his trembling palm and he lifted his blurry eyes towards his attackers.
This is it, I’m done for.
In the distance, he imagined he saw a dark haired girl running towards him. One thought blazed through the fog clouding his mind.
Help me… Max.
-*-
He’s bleeding.
He’s down.
He’s cornered.
Those thoughts darted wildly through her head in a rapid succession as she blurred over to his side. She pushed and shoved bodies that got between her and him, not hearing and certainly not caring about the scream and the crash that followed. She had her eyes trained on one place and no force on this earth was able to stop her from being there.
Max grabbed one of The Rock look-alikes and pulled him towards her. She relished in his bewildered look at the sudden movement and the next second her fist had reassembled his jaw line. Eyes gleaming, she pushed him away, not caring about the sweat dripping down her own jaw.
Sensing a new threat, the remaining guys turned their attention from the fallen man on the floor to face her.
‘What do we have here?’ one them sneered as his shaven head gleamed under the lights, obviously overlooking how one of them was out cold, lying just a few feet away.
‘Pretty,’ smirked another, his gold tooth twinkled in between his split lips. ‘Our new toy for tonight?’
‘Ooh, I do love muscles on my man, but too bad. You all look like you just smashed your face on the nearest wall. Did it just happen or you’re born like this? Sorry, you’re not my type, baby.’ Her smile was as chilly as a frozen lake.
She walked towards the muscles, noticing from the corner of her eyes that one man was huddled under the bar, clutching two bottles protectively against his chest, his red hair was sticking up all over the place, his frightened eyes wide in his pale face.
Behind the muscled men, she saw glimpses of him, moving in and out of her vision. That enraged her even more, to the point that rational thoughts left her and she moved with nothing but pure instinct to guide her.
Ignoring the muffled moan behind her, she grabbed baldie by the collar, bent her knees and tossed him behind her. That guy hadn’t even hit the floor yet when she blurred to another, blocked his right fist, danced out of his reach before flinging herself backwards, over a few heads, out of his reach towards the slumped body in the corner.
She ran the back of her hand slowly over her lips, wiping away blood and sweat, unconsciously shielding Alec from the enemy with her own body. In the distance, she saw one blonde girl yelling herself hoarse at the men to get their act together and in reaction, she planted herself more firmly in front of him.
As she took a deep breath, Missy’s scattered and fallen boys had picked themselves up and regrouped, closing in on them angrily.
They were pissed. They were mad and they were itching to get a piece of her.
And that was just fine and dandy with her.
The one nearest to her spit out blood from his cracked lips and laughed, cracking his knuckles menacingly as he glared at her. His gold tooth was stained with blood. She acknowledged the invitation and went to him first.
Ruthlessly, she aimed for his ribs with her boots but she miscalculated his reaction to pain. He lashed out, and his elbow smashed just below her ribcage, right over her wound and she screamed, almost blacking out in pain.
Max stumbled backwards, one hand grabbing her blood soaked midriff. With the instinct of hunters, they all saw the opening and tried to join in the fun. She knew she had to bail out, or both of them are gonna end up dead, or worse.
She looked around, her wide eyes darted wildly, trying to find something… anything. Her eyes widened even more when she spied something that was almost hidden behind shelves full of bottles lining the wall.
The fuse box.
Now or never, she thought and grabbed a large bowl before tossing it towards the men before she jumped on top of the bar. She grabbed one bottle from the shelf and quickly scanned the label.
The Balvenie Cask 191 by William Grant & Sons. Speyside Single malt Scotch whisky
Max tossed it aside and grabbed another, ignoring the barman’s cry of horror as the bottle smashed on the floor. He was pulling at his red hair in terror at the state of his bar.
No, not this one either. I need rum, she thought desperately and jumped to the floor, scanning the bottles on the lower shelves.
What most people don’t know was that whisky, even a vintage like The Balvenie, when tossed on something does nothing except for being sticky and leaving a hell of a stain. While rum has a more volatile reaction… it’s flammable.
And then she saw it. The second shelf from the floor. Bottles and more bottles of rum. She reached up and tore the black fuse box open, exposing all the multicolored live wires.
Then she grabbed two bottles of rum for good measure and then she saw the bartender’s mouth and eyes had turned to huge O’s of fear as he realized what she was going to do.
Ignoring his shout, she threw the two bottles of rum over the exposed wires and voila, chemistry 101.
Without wasting time, Max threw herself over the bar, grabbed Alec and draped herself over him, protecting him from the mini-explosion above them.
The very instant the alcohol touched the live and exposed wires, sparks erupted that ended in a huge ball of fire.
After the fiery burst of lights, came the total darkness before hot flame started licking its way across the room. The screams turned a couple of notches higher on the pitch scale. Max peeled herself from the feebly stirring body underneath her, grabbed him under the arm and hauled him up, ignoring the screaming pain on her side.
‘Come on Alec, we have to go. Are you with me?’
‘Yeah,’ he mumbled.
She avoided Missy’s men who were still unconscious, knocked out by the explosion. Aided by her night vision, she dragged him to the door. Both of them trudged as fast as humanly possible, half stumbling in the smoke and fire as she tried to haul his almost lifeless body.
All around them, most people had staggered out of the place and there was only a handful left as they scurried to find a way out, screaming and yelling in the panic.
Max almost broke down and cried as she saw the huge trout-tossing-cherry statue, so glad that they had made it outside. However, in her mind, only one thought kept repeating itself in her head like a broken record.
Run. Take him. Run. Take him. Run!
She clenched her jaw as she manhandled him towards her waiting bike. With a lot of difficulty, eyes full of fear and determination, she managed to prop him somewhat awkwardly behind her. Immediately, he slumped forward, his head resting on her shoulder and instinctively she tugged his hands around her, trying to keep him on the bike.
With her heart fluttering fiercely in her throat, she sped off into the darkness.
-*-
Long stretches of colour.
Big splotches of contrasting hues.
Almost invisible shadows sneaking through the bold colours.
Wide chocolate eyes that pulled him towards it.
He felt disembodied… floating… as if he was in some sort of Manticore-like experiments they concocted on a whim. The only thing that was rooting him to reality was the glittering brown eyes and the beautiful scent that his muddled brain pulled from his scratchy memory. He remembered his last thought before he finally succumbed to the irresistible pull of the drug.
Help me… Max.
Max.
He dragged himself from the tug with willpower he didn’t know he possessed and his suddenly painful throat told him he had somehow stopped breathing for a while but that was insignificant.
Max.
Max with the gorgeous brown eyes that haunted his dreams. Now he knew her name. He remembered that sudden moment of clarity, watching those dark eyes turned black in anger before she came rushing towards him and he knew for some unknown reason, she was there because of him.
Then the blurry limbs as she fought past the boys in black. His breathing had sounded unnaturally loud in his ears as he forced himself to stand.
The comforting heat when she pressed herself over him as another terrifying wave of fire erupted above them. Her small trembling hands as they ran over his head and torso. Her fear that was coming off her in great waves even as she dragged him out of the burning place.
Huge maroon splotches that stained the blazing orange background. At that moment, he was almost ready to give in to the persistent pull of the nearing cloud, but her red hot fear kept him rooted to her for some unknown reason.
Cool blue breeze that whispered over them as they raced to safety. He remembered feeling safe with her in his arms, her dark hair fluttering crazily over his cheeks. He must’ve passed out at some point because when he opened his eyes again, they were surrounded by trees. Huge tall trees framed the road on both sides, the black shadows weaving softly through the darkened night.
Her surge of relief splashed to him as her bike screeched to a stop in front of a deserted house, the windows hanging crazily from its hinge, flapping slightly in the breeze.
Together, they stumbled towards the door, and once inside, she dropped him into a dusty chair. He forced his eyes to open and the first thing he saw was her in front of the window, trying without much success to close it.
He shook his drowsy head, trying to clear the cobwebs that clung stubbornly in his mind. He forced his sluggish brain to form some sort of thought, preferably a coherent one. He took a deep breath and stood unsteadily. He could see a table and a door leading to another room.
‘I need to talk to you,’ he rasped.
Max turned, startled by his voice. ‘You’re ok,’ she smiled hesitantly as she eyed him warily. The sting from their last conversation at the hospital hadn’t quite healed, even now.
His response was to stare at her silently, running his gaze over her, trying hard to organize his thoughts. There was something about her…
Max squirmed under his gaze and forced a chuckle. ‘Being on the road for so long, I thought you’d improve on your hand-to-hand. You still need a girl to bail you out, huh?’
The end of his lips turned into an unconscious smirk. ‘At least I don’t fight dirty, like you.’
‘We do what we have to do to survive,’ she shrugged but a second later she stiffened. ‘You remember… Do you remember everything? Me?’ She stare at him, hope blossomed wildly.
‘No. But you look like you fight dirty,’ he replied dryly.
‘Oh.’ Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
‘So do you?’
‘Do what?’
‘Fight dirty?’
‘Don’t we all?’
Both of them were silent for a while.
‘What did you do to make them so mad at you?’ she took another stab at it. ‘You’re trying to sell them illegal stuff or what?’
‘Some girl didn’t like it when I said no.’
‘A girl?’ She bristled immediately. ‘What are you doing, fooling around with a girl?’ When he didn’t answer, she took a step forward irritably, fire in her eyes. ‘How could you? Just because you didn’t remember, doesn’t mean you can hit on every available girl you see.’
He continued to study her in silence, frowning at something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. In a daze, he took several steps towards her.
And Max, seeing that, stopped moving, her heart started racing all of a sudden at the peculiar light in his eyes. ‘What… What are you doing?’
The air crinkled uneasily as Alec stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes sharpened instantaneously but a beat later, those hazel eyes were tinted with a whole new sheen. The tip of his tongue flicked out at the corner of his lips to taste the air, an unconscious reaction as he studied the girl in front of him. He took one measured breath and the exotic scent of her bombarded his brain and he almost took a step back because of it.
Almost… but that didn’t happen. The violent urge was to go towards her, to be as near to her as possible and distance was something unthinkable at a time like this. Slowly, he scrutinized her as his heart pumped the scent of her all over his body until he felt he was one with her.
He saw the rosy blush that tainted her cheeks, the drops of perspiration that clung to her creamy skin, the quick intake of breath, the rapid fluttering of her chest, the wild-eyed look in her eyes… and he growled inwardly that she was harboring thoughts of fleeing. No, that was absolutely out of the question.
‘Alec, please…’ Max stuttered, frightened to the core at his sudden changes. No, that was only part the truth. Half of her was scared, yes, but the other half clearly was basking in his heated glances. ‘No, Alec. Don’t come any closer. I don’t know what’s gotten into you but we’ll…’
‘Nothing’s gotten into me,’ he interrupted and that smile sent shivers running up and down her spine in a frantic dance.
‘No, seriously,’ she croaked as she stumbled a step back. Because of the way he was looking at her, she learnt that even an instinctive act like breathing can be quite hard. ‘I mean it! Don’t you dare take another step!’
He just cocked his head in response to her hysterical words. Max desperately took it as a good thing and sipped cautiously at the thinning air. Her heart was beating so fast, her head was dizzy from the rush of blood and her fingers sought blindly for a steady place to hold on to. Her trembling hand found a sturdy shelf and she grasped it as it was her lifeline.
Without blinking, he continued to study her terrified retreat as the need to close the gap between them grew exponentially. His fingers twitched to feel that silky smooth dark hair as much as he yearned to feel those sweet lips of hers. At this moment, she had never looked as ravishing… or delectably delicious.
‘Max,’ he smiled and took a step forward. Never breaking the eye contact, his steps were slow but decisive.
As she stared into the twirling pool of emeralds, her resolve wavered considerably and the husky tone of his voice continued to hammer at her fragile and crumbling determination.
‘Max.’
That one syllable, the sound of her name on his lips, to hear it in his voice; that was one of the reasons she went to look for him. Her heart broke sweetly and she smiled as one foot lifted towards him but a beat later she froze. No, something wasn’t right.
The heat of passion was apparent in his eyes. Hell, she was burning with desire just to watch him look at her. Her heart stopped for a few horrifying seconds. Yes, she could feel the desire to feel him, to touch him, to run her fingers all over him just lurking beneath her heated skin. The fine hair at the back of her neck prickled uncomfortably and her eyes widened in horror.
Heat.
She tried to shift her weight around in an attempt to gain some distance between them, to clear her head so she could think better but she was a tad too late. He already had his arms around her to block her attempts to flee.
‘No sweetheart, you know you don’t want to do that.’
‘Alec, please,’ she pleaded, wide eyed, ‘You have no idea what’s happening. This isn’t the real you.’
He ignored her frantic appeal as his hungry eyes roved over her face. His fingers pushed some stray strands away and the gesture rekindled her faint embers.
Max knew she was still in the early stages of heat, hence the ability to analyze the situation, although sluggishly.
‘Alec, please… You don’t want this.’
She could see the fire blazing heatedly in his eyes and she knew without a doubt that she was the reason for that. That alone would be enough of a reason for her to kiss him senseless, but not in this particular situation. She could tell without hesitation that after her heat was over, the feelings they both had might not be mutual. His feelings might not mirror hers.
And that hurt enough for her to push him away today.
The fingers that were playing with her hair stopped at her last sentence. ‘On the contrary, my love,’ he leaned forward and whispered against her flushed skin as he nuzzled her ear. ‘I want this… so bad. And so do you. I know you do.’
Her breath stuck painfully in her chest and she closed her eyes as his warm breath caressed her skin.
‘No!’ she gasped, trying to push him further from her, ‘I can’t let you do this. I won’t!’
‘I’ll let you do all the work,’ he smirked and Max almost groaned at how devilishly good he looked at the moment. How very Alec of him. Almost, but not quite.
She growled instead. ‘Alec, you’re not listening.’ She mustered up the remaining of her fleeing sensibilities and tried to reason with him again. Apparently, he was really not listening because he started nibbling his way up her neck.
‘Alec!’ she yelped, almost jolted out of her skin at the hot rush of pleasure his touch had ignited. She forced her hands to push his chest away, her palms firmly placed over his torso.
‘I’m in heat,’ she declared breathlessly, pinning the hazel eyes with her brown ones. ‘That’s the only reason you’re acting like this.’ Okay, if this didn’t work, maybe I’ll knock him on the head or something.
Max’s eyes roved wildly over his shoulder for something to knock on his head and she missed the brief glint. And she also forgot she still had her hands on him.
‘Really? No, I don’t have any problem with that.’
‘Right now you won’t,’ she retorted back. ‘Wait till my heat’s over, I bet you’ll be saying something else.’
‘I doubt it,’ he put his hands on her hips and slowly he slide one hand upwards. His movement was so slow and so tender, she almost didn’t feel it. But when he spread his long fingers over her ribcage, she gasped and she couldn’t do anything but moan when he caressed one particular spot with one thumb.
‘Alec, stop…’
He ignored her breathless plea and placed his other hand at the back of her neck before pulling her towards him so their two bodies were almost fused together from chest to hips. His warm breath whispered tantalizingly over her exposed skin and she shuddered with anticipation. All prior thoughts dispersed from her brain, leaving her blessedly void of thought.
‘No Alec, don’t do this. Please,’ she whispered, trying to wriggle free from his hold.
His reaction was to tighten his arms around her, backing her into the near wall, muffling her protest when he crashed his lips into hers.
The moment their two lips met, the rest of the world shimmered behind a veil of black velvet before it disappeared from view, leaving only the two of them in its center stage. Time stood still, watching the two with curious eyes.
Even as her heart was screaming for the future heartbreak, her body was turning a deaf ear. Without her heart’s consent, her fingers fisted themselves in his jacket while her lips tasted the flavor of his eagerly. Max didn’t realize a lone tear was sliding down her cheek, as his hard body pushed her against the wall.
His agile fingers were stroking her to oblivion and now she wouldn’t want it any other way. The force of her heat was coming in stronger now and she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head lower towards her waiting lips.
When he felt her wet cheeks, he pulled back, startled. Frowning, he wiped it slowly.
Max closed her eyes at the gesture, breathing deeply. The inner war that was raging earlier was over. Her body with her damned feline DNA had won and her heart trembled at the coming events. But as she opened her eyes and faced him, none of it was visible on her face. The hands that were on him tugged him closer, nearer to her.
‘Who am I?’ she whispered, her lips a mere breath away.
‘Max,’ he murmured, his eyes were turning dark in passion.
‘Tell me again.’
‘Max,’ he kissed her, hard, bruising her lips. ‘Max.. You’re mine.’
-*-
The man at the counter yawned widely, rubbing his tired eyes. At the end of the room, a girl rolled her eyes. ‘Hey Pete. If a girl walks in and sees you do that, she’ll run in the opposite direction faster than you can say oops, baby.’
The moment she finished her sentence, the door jingled and Peter closed his mouth with a snap. He turned himself towards the door instantly and smiled. When he saw that his new customers were two men in black suits, his face fell instantly.
Pete thought he heard a muffled giggle from Penny’s direction and he glared at that insufferable sister of his. He narrowed his eyes at her and Penny turned to the storeroom, laughing all the way. He huffed and turned around, almost jumping out of his skin. The two men in front of him stared silently.
Peter forced a smile. ‘Yeah, what can I do for you guys today?’
‘We’re looking for a man,’ one of them said.
For some reason, Peter could feel something crawl uneasily all over his skin. ‘A man? We have a lot of those coming through.’
‘We’re not here for jokes,’ the other growled and Peter shifted uncomfortably.
‘Have you seen someone like this around here?’ He pulled a picture from the inside of his jacket and held it up for Peter to see.
Peter stared at the picture and frowned. For some reason, he recalled the hot girl who was also trying to find a man. He glanced at the picture again and his gut feeling told him those two were the same person. He turned to the two waiting men and something crawled up his spine. There was something not quite right about those two.
‘No, never seen him before.’
‘Are you sure? Take another good look at the picture again.’
‘Do you think I sit on my ass all day with my eyes closed, huh? If I say I never saw this dude before, that means he was never here.’ Peter glared, hoping these two won’t see past his bluff.
They were both quiet for a few minutes before they turned without a word and left.
Inside the store, Peter took a deep breath of relief. His eyes followed the two men. He seemed to remember that Penny had told the hot brunette the guy she was looking for had headed east.
Their store was actually at the junction of the main road before the road forked into two, one going to the east and the other going to the west. As he watched their black car glide down the street, he suddenly prayed that the car wouldn’t turn east.
The other way. Go the other way.
For some odd reason, his heart sank when it turned east.
To be continued..
To Chapter 5
Author: sue
Rating: PG13 (for the moment at least)
Show: DA
Pairing: M/A? we’ll see..
Genre: Major Angst (considered yourself warned)
Type: Work in Progress
Summary: Anything and Everything’s sequel. Will Alec finally remember who Max was to him?
A/N - Tada!! New chapter! And it takes me less than a year to update too, right Alana84? Haha Have fun, enjoy, and hope you all like this chapter :)
A/N 2 - All trouts and cherries belong to Syrai. Especially the cherries.
A/N 3 - Again, a humongous thanks goes to Alexis, my wonderful beta :D Where would I be without her?
A/N 4 - I just find out that Lynn from Gumbootmafia has put up Anything and Everything for Recommendation *blushes and wipes tears* hee! Thank you soo much Lynn *licks Lynnsie because she’s such a pimp* Heh
Chapter 4: Red, Fire, Heat and Flame
With a sigh, Max stepped out of the door. She wiped the sweat from her brow, grumbling under her breath at the lack of air circulation or whatever that contributed to the raising heat.
You cannot pack a room full of people and not expect the need to lower the temperature a few degrees.
‘What a cheapskate,’ she muttered, feeling the tendrils of sweat sliding languidly down her neck.
The night air blew a cool breeze her way but for some reason, she was still feeling hot and restless. She lifted her heavy hair from her neck, exposing it to the comforting cold air as she made her way to her bike. Before she could take another step, a group of men suddenly surrounded her, making her stop dead in her tracks.
‘Hey, what’s up?’ she smiled, but her muscles tensed unwittingly.
‘Remember me?’ Tattooed-arm emerged from behind the men, grinning foolishly.
Before Max could even rolled her eyes in response, his gap-toothed friend interrupted, ‘And me.’
‘Didn’t I just knock you two senseless ten minutes ago?’
‘We were feeling gentlemanly then. Let’s see if you can handle us now. All of us.’
‘Look, I’m in the middle of something and I really don’t have the time to play with all of you now. Sorry guys.’ She made it as if she was leaving and they took a step forward, closing ranks on her.
The word great hadn’t even left her lips yet when they surged forward, all at once. She grabbed one guy by the neck, wrapping her arms and squeezing tightly as he gasped for breath. As she did so, she tried to fend off a couple of guys by kicking one man right on the ribs, winding him instantly.
He crashed into two more men, groaning at his broken rib. At that very second on her right, another man rushed, hoisting an iron bat in her direction. Max pushed her captive man towards the man with the bat and the one second he took to avoid his flailing ally was the one she needed to kick the bat from his hand.
The bat cluttered noisily but before anyone could dive in to seize possession of it, Max cried out as an iron bar hit her just above her left elbow. She didn’t see that one coming.
She turned, and a flash later, the man with the bar was now lying unconscious on the ground. Her eyes darted wildly around, assessing the current situation but she failed to observe that her old buddy tattooed-hand Tony was taking out something that glinted threateningly from his knee length boot.
Max was busy fending off a few of the men to notice anything fishy. She has just planted a nice kick on one man’s chest when someone fired a round of shots. Panting, she stood still, to see that the one left standing was holding a gun, the smoking end was trained eerily to her head.
Her heel lifted a fraction of an inch as she readied herself to blur in his direction and in her preoccupation, she failed to realize that Tony was not in front of her anymore. Her vision was bombarded with an explosion of lights.
Tony had snuck in from behind and presented a very juicy punch in the jaw. And before the firework display even ended, her nerves were assaulted by something else. She turned her head hazily and saw the black hilt of a knife that Tony had planted just below her ribcage.
‘Good work, Tony.’
‘We do work well together, Freddy. We should do this more often, dude.’ Tony grinned.
Max pulled the knife quickly, groaning as blood sprayed out from the wound. She took a quick sip of air before flicking the knife towards the smirking Freddy. He toppled down after the knife had plunged itself above the collar bone. The arterial spray added a reddish background as the dead man’s fingers twitched, emptying the gun erratically.
Tony watched, horrified at this turn of events. Most of his buddies were lying on the ground haphazardly, either dead or fainted. He took a step back, suddenly terrified.
Max blurred, brought up her elbow to his temple with a loud crack and he crumbled, mouth askew. Max fell down on her knees, her head swimming as her fingers felt the gushing wound. It was not too bad but she didn’t have the time to stitch it up now.
Groaning, she pushed one hand hard against the right side of her abs as she struggled painfully out of her jacket. Using her nails and teeth, she ripped the lining off before wrapping it tightly over the wound.
Painful gasps hissed from between her clenched teeth as she tightened her makeshift bandage. She sat still among the fallen men for the next couple of minutes, waiting until her heartbeat slowed down and the pain had dimmed somewhat.
After she judged the pain as bearable, she struggled to her feet before putting her ripped jacket back on with a degree of difficulty, hiding the wound from view. She staggered to her bike and after she wiped the sweat and drops of blood off her face, the bike roared to her next destination.
-*-
An unnaturally high shriek filled the air as someone tossed a large bowl and it didn’t smash where it was suppose to. At one area of the room, one man was cornered by Missy’s loyal men. He took another step back and felt the wall’s hard surface with the heel of his boot and that made him stop.
Around them, chaos erupted throughout the room, where everyone was dashing out of the men’s reach. They knew who those men worked for and deep in their guts, they were glad that they were not in that lone man’s shoes.
At the bar, a man with red hair and full beard was busy grabbing his prized bottles from the rack behind him, stashing those away.
Out of sight, out of danger’s reach.
From somewhere, Missy took a step forward, her fair hair gleaming under the lights, and she smiled in approval. He leaned back, one hand wiped the blood from the corner of his lips while the other reached behind him, unseen as he tried to find something… anything to his advantage.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw that she was coming towards him. He blinked as the vision wavered. A beat passed and he shook his head, hard, and he could see that Missy was near, only a few steps away.
His fingers found some sort of tray that was built right into the wall and after a few experimentally pushes, he concluded that the tray-like ensemble can move. He was just about to rip it from the wall when a wave of vertigo assaulted his senses.
Breathing hard, he leaned his body against the wall, giving his suddenly trembling legs some sort of support. Bright lights flashed over his eyes and again, he shook his head hard, as if he could shake the dizziness off with the gesture.
What the hell…?
Seeing their opponent’s sudden hesitancy, one of them let out a short laugh. They didn’t need to see Missy’s gleeful agreement of the situation as they closed in on him.
-*-
The air whizzed past the small frame as the black ninja streaked past the deserted road, a tail of fumes and smoke in its wake. The stretch of road was mostly deserted, throughout the short journey she had yet to meet other people but that was not a big problem in her mind. Her sharp eyes caught sight of a flicker of light just above the horizon and she sped her bike towards it.
Within minutes, her previous solitary journey ended, people were passing by her by the throng. A small hiss sneaked past her lips as her jacket shifted and rubbed against the makeshift bandage. She shifted her position slowly in response and before she could do anything else, something big and monstrous suddenly appeared in front of her vision.
The famed trout… and it’s cherry.
The ensemble statue was so huge it undoubtedly cast its shadow over to the building next to it. However, since it was nearly dark, there was no shadow involved. But the bright lights emitted a festive light over the huge fish and the dancing beams bounced merrily over the trout.
Max felt her eyebrows rise on their own accord at the rainbow fusion of lights that were playing over the statue and the rowdy crowd underneath it.
She saw the heavy crowd and sighed. The sight of the huge mass of moving bodies started to feel unbearably hot to her and as if agreeing with her thoughts, she could feel the river of sweat sliding down her back. Max scraped the heavy hair from her sweaty neck and quickly tied her hair up, sighing as the breeze brushed against her heated skin.
She ran her fingers over her face and took another look at the heavy crowd. She had a quick impulse of just leaving, but something held her back. Feeling restless, she tried to blow off the hair that was stuck on her sweaty forehead and grumbled as they refused to budge.
Max jumped from the bike and gritted her teeth against the sudden surge of pain.
‘God, I forgot about that.’ Her fingers clutched over the crude bandage, breathing heavily. She swiped the drops of sweat from her forehead and took another deep breath. She’ll drag herself to bed after she was done with this place.
Walking quickly into ‘The Shack’, she groaned at the rising temperature. She took one step in and stopped dead in her tracks.
A full bar fight was happening right in front of her. People were running and screaming hysterically all around her. Max blew out an annoyed breath at the insanity of some people and shook her head. Her heel lifted half an inch as she turned around; there was no way she’d get herself involved in this god-only-knows-why fight. She can only put her nose in so many things already. And what had she got for it? A knife stuck on her side. So, yeah, thanks for the pain, dude.
Still grumbling under her breath, Max turned on her heel, one hand already pushing the door behind her when something stopped her, again. She blinked, disconcerted and slowly she turned her head around, the end of her ponytail smacking against her clammy nape. She stopped breathing as she eyed the chaotic room, trying hard to pinpoint the source of her preoccupation.
Her wide eyes stumbled across people running left and right, and suddenly she seemed immune to the sudden loud crashes that reverberated all over the room and the scream that was teetering over insane decibels. Sound ceased to exist for her except for her rapid labored breathing. The sound bounced erratically around her heavy head.
The hand that was still on the door behind her tightened as her eyes slide over strangers and mayhem.
What? What was it?
And for some unknown reason, the crowd shifted for a minute and from the sudden gap she saw something…
Or rather, someone.
Someone that sent an immediate punch to her heart.
Him.
Alec.
Even with the distance between them, she could see the blaze in his eyes, glazed with something she had never seen before. And before she could even force in some air inside her flaming lungs, the crowd moved again, and he disappeared from her view.
A half cry and half moan erupted from her dry throat as she took an unconscious step forward and before another thought could form, she was running forwards, pushing bodies away… rushing towards him.
-*-
His breathing was coming in rapid succession, while sweat was glistening on his skin, sliding slowly down with the pull of gravity. His vision swam… again, and he shook his head in frustration.
What the hell was going on? From the corner of his eyes, he saw a glint of gold and turned his head towards it, attracted by the lightness of it. Even though in his state, he could see the satisfied smile lurking over the full lips of Missy and something sank in.
‘Listen lil Missy. I’m not interested in doing anything right now. I’m not interested in talking to anybody right now. I have no interest to flirt with you, to kiss you or to sleep with you. All I want is to finish this drink, is that okay?’
As he was talking, her hand slipped into her purse and when it reappeared, she was clutching something.
‘Okay,’ she smiled agreeably, ‘let me pour you this one.’
Before he could say anything, she poured his drink and two little white pills clinked noiselessly into it, vanishing almost instantly.
She must’ve put something in his drink, there was no other explanation. Having no time and no energy to berate himself for letting something slip past his guard, he forced his sluggish unresponsive body to move. He had to get past Missy’s boys if he wanted to leave with his limbs intact.
Suppose to be a breeze for him but thanks to a certain blondie, may she rot in hell, it was near impossible to even stand, let alone coming up with a plan. He breath heavily, eyes darting wildly for something… anything, and they jumped towards him.
He blocked one fist with his arm, forcing his heavy hand to move because survival was something as instinctive as breathing. Manticore did take care of its soldiers in a way. He grabbed the hand before twisting it the wrong way up.
Before he could even turn his head, pain roared angrily as a sturdy former chair made a very intimate encounter with his ribs. He fell to his knees; one shaky hand was the only thing between him and the cold dirty floor. Sweat pooled around his trembling palm and he lifted his blurry eyes towards his attackers.
This is it, I’m done for.
In the distance, he imagined he saw a dark haired girl running towards him. One thought blazed through the fog clouding his mind.
Help me… Max.
-*-
He’s bleeding.
He’s down.
He’s cornered.
Those thoughts darted wildly through her head in a rapid succession as she blurred over to his side. She pushed and shoved bodies that got between her and him, not hearing and certainly not caring about the scream and the crash that followed. She had her eyes trained on one place and no force on this earth was able to stop her from being there.
Max grabbed one of The Rock look-alikes and pulled him towards her. She relished in his bewildered look at the sudden movement and the next second her fist had reassembled his jaw line. Eyes gleaming, she pushed him away, not caring about the sweat dripping down her own jaw.
Sensing a new threat, the remaining guys turned their attention from the fallen man on the floor to face her.
‘What do we have here?’ one them sneered as his shaven head gleamed under the lights, obviously overlooking how one of them was out cold, lying just a few feet away.
‘Pretty,’ smirked another, his gold tooth twinkled in between his split lips. ‘Our new toy for tonight?’
‘Ooh, I do love muscles on my man, but too bad. You all look like you just smashed your face on the nearest wall. Did it just happen or you’re born like this? Sorry, you’re not my type, baby.’ Her smile was as chilly as a frozen lake.
She walked towards the muscles, noticing from the corner of her eyes that one man was huddled under the bar, clutching two bottles protectively against his chest, his red hair was sticking up all over the place, his frightened eyes wide in his pale face.
Behind the muscled men, she saw glimpses of him, moving in and out of her vision. That enraged her even more, to the point that rational thoughts left her and she moved with nothing but pure instinct to guide her.
Ignoring the muffled moan behind her, she grabbed baldie by the collar, bent her knees and tossed him behind her. That guy hadn’t even hit the floor yet when she blurred to another, blocked his right fist, danced out of his reach before flinging herself backwards, over a few heads, out of his reach towards the slumped body in the corner.
She ran the back of her hand slowly over her lips, wiping away blood and sweat, unconsciously shielding Alec from the enemy with her own body. In the distance, she saw one blonde girl yelling herself hoarse at the men to get their act together and in reaction, she planted herself more firmly in front of him.
As she took a deep breath, Missy’s scattered and fallen boys had picked themselves up and regrouped, closing in on them angrily.
They were pissed. They were mad and they were itching to get a piece of her.
And that was just fine and dandy with her.
The one nearest to her spit out blood from his cracked lips and laughed, cracking his knuckles menacingly as he glared at her. His gold tooth was stained with blood. She acknowledged the invitation and went to him first.
Ruthlessly, she aimed for his ribs with her boots but she miscalculated his reaction to pain. He lashed out, and his elbow smashed just below her ribcage, right over her wound and she screamed, almost blacking out in pain.
Max stumbled backwards, one hand grabbing her blood soaked midriff. With the instinct of hunters, they all saw the opening and tried to join in the fun. She knew she had to bail out, or both of them are gonna end up dead, or worse.
She looked around, her wide eyes darted wildly, trying to find something… anything. Her eyes widened even more when she spied something that was almost hidden behind shelves full of bottles lining the wall.
The fuse box.
Now or never, she thought and grabbed a large bowl before tossing it towards the men before she jumped on top of the bar. She grabbed one bottle from the shelf and quickly scanned the label.
The Balvenie Cask 191 by William Grant & Sons. Speyside Single malt Scotch whisky
Max tossed it aside and grabbed another, ignoring the barman’s cry of horror as the bottle smashed on the floor. He was pulling at his red hair in terror at the state of his bar.
No, not this one either. I need rum, she thought desperately and jumped to the floor, scanning the bottles on the lower shelves.
What most people don’t know was that whisky, even a vintage like The Balvenie, when tossed on something does nothing except for being sticky and leaving a hell of a stain. While rum has a more volatile reaction… it’s flammable.
And then she saw it. The second shelf from the floor. Bottles and more bottles of rum. She reached up and tore the black fuse box open, exposing all the multicolored live wires.
Then she grabbed two bottles of rum for good measure and then she saw the bartender’s mouth and eyes had turned to huge O’s of fear as he realized what she was going to do.
Ignoring his shout, she threw the two bottles of rum over the exposed wires and voila, chemistry 101.
Without wasting time, Max threw herself over the bar, grabbed Alec and draped herself over him, protecting him from the mini-explosion above them.
The very instant the alcohol touched the live and exposed wires, sparks erupted that ended in a huge ball of fire.
After the fiery burst of lights, came the total darkness before hot flame started licking its way across the room. The screams turned a couple of notches higher on the pitch scale. Max peeled herself from the feebly stirring body underneath her, grabbed him under the arm and hauled him up, ignoring the screaming pain on her side.
‘Come on Alec, we have to go. Are you with me?’
‘Yeah,’ he mumbled.
She avoided Missy’s men who were still unconscious, knocked out by the explosion. Aided by her night vision, she dragged him to the door. Both of them trudged as fast as humanly possible, half stumbling in the smoke and fire as she tried to haul his almost lifeless body.
All around them, most people had staggered out of the place and there was only a handful left as they scurried to find a way out, screaming and yelling in the panic.
Max almost broke down and cried as she saw the huge trout-tossing-cherry statue, so glad that they had made it outside. However, in her mind, only one thought kept repeating itself in her head like a broken record.
Run. Take him. Run. Take him. Run!
She clenched her jaw as she manhandled him towards her waiting bike. With a lot of difficulty, eyes full of fear and determination, she managed to prop him somewhat awkwardly behind her. Immediately, he slumped forward, his head resting on her shoulder and instinctively she tugged his hands around her, trying to keep him on the bike.
With her heart fluttering fiercely in her throat, she sped off into the darkness.
-*-
Long stretches of colour.
Big splotches of contrasting hues.
Almost invisible shadows sneaking through the bold colours.
Wide chocolate eyes that pulled him towards it.
He felt disembodied… floating… as if he was in some sort of Manticore-like experiments they concocted on a whim. The only thing that was rooting him to reality was the glittering brown eyes and the beautiful scent that his muddled brain pulled from his scratchy memory. He remembered his last thought before he finally succumbed to the irresistible pull of the drug.
Help me… Max.
Max.
He dragged himself from the tug with willpower he didn’t know he possessed and his suddenly painful throat told him he had somehow stopped breathing for a while but that was insignificant.
Max.
Max with the gorgeous brown eyes that haunted his dreams. Now he knew her name. He remembered that sudden moment of clarity, watching those dark eyes turned black in anger before she came rushing towards him and he knew for some unknown reason, she was there because of him.
Then the blurry limbs as she fought past the boys in black. His breathing had sounded unnaturally loud in his ears as he forced himself to stand.
The comforting heat when she pressed herself over him as another terrifying wave of fire erupted above them. Her small trembling hands as they ran over his head and torso. Her fear that was coming off her in great waves even as she dragged him out of the burning place.
Huge maroon splotches that stained the blazing orange background. At that moment, he was almost ready to give in to the persistent pull of the nearing cloud, but her red hot fear kept him rooted to her for some unknown reason.
Cool blue breeze that whispered over them as they raced to safety. He remembered feeling safe with her in his arms, her dark hair fluttering crazily over his cheeks. He must’ve passed out at some point because when he opened his eyes again, they were surrounded by trees. Huge tall trees framed the road on both sides, the black shadows weaving softly through the darkened night.
Her surge of relief splashed to him as her bike screeched to a stop in front of a deserted house, the windows hanging crazily from its hinge, flapping slightly in the breeze.
Together, they stumbled towards the door, and once inside, she dropped him into a dusty chair. He forced his eyes to open and the first thing he saw was her in front of the window, trying without much success to close it.
He shook his drowsy head, trying to clear the cobwebs that clung stubbornly in his mind. He forced his sluggish brain to form some sort of thought, preferably a coherent one. He took a deep breath and stood unsteadily. He could see a table and a door leading to another room.
‘I need to talk to you,’ he rasped.
Max turned, startled by his voice. ‘You’re ok,’ she smiled hesitantly as she eyed him warily. The sting from their last conversation at the hospital hadn’t quite healed, even now.
His response was to stare at her silently, running his gaze over her, trying hard to organize his thoughts. There was something about her…
Max squirmed under his gaze and forced a chuckle. ‘Being on the road for so long, I thought you’d improve on your hand-to-hand. You still need a girl to bail you out, huh?’
The end of his lips turned into an unconscious smirk. ‘At least I don’t fight dirty, like you.’
‘We do what we have to do to survive,’ she shrugged but a second later she stiffened. ‘You remember… Do you remember everything? Me?’ She stare at him, hope blossomed wildly.
‘No. But you look like you fight dirty,’ he replied dryly.
‘Oh.’ Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
‘So do you?’
‘Do what?’
‘Fight dirty?’
‘Don’t we all?’
Both of them were silent for a while.
‘What did you do to make them so mad at you?’ she took another stab at it. ‘You’re trying to sell them illegal stuff or what?’
‘Some girl didn’t like it when I said no.’
‘A girl?’ She bristled immediately. ‘What are you doing, fooling around with a girl?’ When he didn’t answer, she took a step forward irritably, fire in her eyes. ‘How could you? Just because you didn’t remember, doesn’t mean you can hit on every available girl you see.’
He continued to study her in silence, frowning at something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. In a daze, he took several steps towards her.
And Max, seeing that, stopped moving, her heart started racing all of a sudden at the peculiar light in his eyes. ‘What… What are you doing?’
The air crinkled uneasily as Alec stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes sharpened instantaneously but a beat later, those hazel eyes were tinted with a whole new sheen. The tip of his tongue flicked out at the corner of his lips to taste the air, an unconscious reaction as he studied the girl in front of him. He took one measured breath and the exotic scent of her bombarded his brain and he almost took a step back because of it.
Almost… but that didn’t happen. The violent urge was to go towards her, to be as near to her as possible and distance was something unthinkable at a time like this. Slowly, he scrutinized her as his heart pumped the scent of her all over his body until he felt he was one with her.
He saw the rosy blush that tainted her cheeks, the drops of perspiration that clung to her creamy skin, the quick intake of breath, the rapid fluttering of her chest, the wild-eyed look in her eyes… and he growled inwardly that she was harboring thoughts of fleeing. No, that was absolutely out of the question.
‘Alec, please…’ Max stuttered, frightened to the core at his sudden changes. No, that was only part the truth. Half of her was scared, yes, but the other half clearly was basking in his heated glances. ‘No, Alec. Don’t come any closer. I don’t know what’s gotten into you but we’ll…’
‘Nothing’s gotten into me,’ he interrupted and that smile sent shivers running up and down her spine in a frantic dance.
‘No, seriously,’ she croaked as she stumbled a step back. Because of the way he was looking at her, she learnt that even an instinctive act like breathing can be quite hard. ‘I mean it! Don’t you dare take another step!’
He just cocked his head in response to her hysterical words. Max desperately took it as a good thing and sipped cautiously at the thinning air. Her heart was beating so fast, her head was dizzy from the rush of blood and her fingers sought blindly for a steady place to hold on to. Her trembling hand found a sturdy shelf and she grasped it as it was her lifeline.
Without blinking, he continued to study her terrified retreat as the need to close the gap between them grew exponentially. His fingers twitched to feel that silky smooth dark hair as much as he yearned to feel those sweet lips of hers. At this moment, she had never looked as ravishing… or delectably delicious.
‘Max,’ he smiled and took a step forward. Never breaking the eye contact, his steps were slow but decisive.
As she stared into the twirling pool of emeralds, her resolve wavered considerably and the husky tone of his voice continued to hammer at her fragile and crumbling determination.
‘Max.’
That one syllable, the sound of her name on his lips, to hear it in his voice; that was one of the reasons she went to look for him. Her heart broke sweetly and she smiled as one foot lifted towards him but a beat later she froze. No, something wasn’t right.
The heat of passion was apparent in his eyes. Hell, she was burning with desire just to watch him look at her. Her heart stopped for a few horrifying seconds. Yes, she could feel the desire to feel him, to touch him, to run her fingers all over him just lurking beneath her heated skin. The fine hair at the back of her neck prickled uncomfortably and her eyes widened in horror.
Heat.
She tried to shift her weight around in an attempt to gain some distance between them, to clear her head so she could think better but she was a tad too late. He already had his arms around her to block her attempts to flee.
‘No sweetheart, you know you don’t want to do that.’
‘Alec, please,’ she pleaded, wide eyed, ‘You have no idea what’s happening. This isn’t the real you.’
He ignored her frantic appeal as his hungry eyes roved over her face. His fingers pushed some stray strands away and the gesture rekindled her faint embers.
Max knew she was still in the early stages of heat, hence the ability to analyze the situation, although sluggishly.
‘Alec, please… You don’t want this.’
She could see the fire blazing heatedly in his eyes and she knew without a doubt that she was the reason for that. That alone would be enough of a reason for her to kiss him senseless, but not in this particular situation. She could tell without hesitation that after her heat was over, the feelings they both had might not be mutual. His feelings might not mirror hers.
And that hurt enough for her to push him away today.
The fingers that were playing with her hair stopped at her last sentence. ‘On the contrary, my love,’ he leaned forward and whispered against her flushed skin as he nuzzled her ear. ‘I want this… so bad. And so do you. I know you do.’
Her breath stuck painfully in her chest and she closed her eyes as his warm breath caressed her skin.
‘No!’ she gasped, trying to push him further from her, ‘I can’t let you do this. I won’t!’
‘I’ll let you do all the work,’ he smirked and Max almost groaned at how devilishly good he looked at the moment. How very Alec of him. Almost, but not quite.
She growled instead. ‘Alec, you’re not listening.’ She mustered up the remaining of her fleeing sensibilities and tried to reason with him again. Apparently, he was really not listening because he started nibbling his way up her neck.
‘Alec!’ she yelped, almost jolted out of her skin at the hot rush of pleasure his touch had ignited. She forced her hands to push his chest away, her palms firmly placed over his torso.
‘I’m in heat,’ she declared breathlessly, pinning the hazel eyes with her brown ones. ‘That’s the only reason you’re acting like this.’ Okay, if this didn’t work, maybe I’ll knock him on the head or something.
Max’s eyes roved wildly over his shoulder for something to knock on his head and she missed the brief glint. And she also forgot she still had her hands on him.
‘Really? No, I don’t have any problem with that.’
‘Right now you won’t,’ she retorted back. ‘Wait till my heat’s over, I bet you’ll be saying something else.’
‘I doubt it,’ he put his hands on her hips and slowly he slide one hand upwards. His movement was so slow and so tender, she almost didn’t feel it. But when he spread his long fingers over her ribcage, she gasped and she couldn’t do anything but moan when he caressed one particular spot with one thumb.
‘Alec, stop…’
He ignored her breathless plea and placed his other hand at the back of her neck before pulling her towards him so their two bodies were almost fused together from chest to hips. His warm breath whispered tantalizingly over her exposed skin and she shuddered with anticipation. All prior thoughts dispersed from her brain, leaving her blessedly void of thought.
‘No Alec, don’t do this. Please,’ she whispered, trying to wriggle free from his hold.
His reaction was to tighten his arms around her, backing her into the near wall, muffling her protest when he crashed his lips into hers.
The moment their two lips met, the rest of the world shimmered behind a veil of black velvet before it disappeared from view, leaving only the two of them in its center stage. Time stood still, watching the two with curious eyes.
Even as her heart was screaming for the future heartbreak, her body was turning a deaf ear. Without her heart’s consent, her fingers fisted themselves in his jacket while her lips tasted the flavor of his eagerly. Max didn’t realize a lone tear was sliding down her cheek, as his hard body pushed her against the wall.
His agile fingers were stroking her to oblivion and now she wouldn’t want it any other way. The force of her heat was coming in stronger now and she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head lower towards her waiting lips.
When he felt her wet cheeks, he pulled back, startled. Frowning, he wiped it slowly.
Max closed her eyes at the gesture, breathing deeply. The inner war that was raging earlier was over. Her body with her damned feline DNA had won and her heart trembled at the coming events. But as she opened her eyes and faced him, none of it was visible on her face. The hands that were on him tugged him closer, nearer to her.
‘Who am I?’ she whispered, her lips a mere breath away.
‘Max,’ he murmured, his eyes were turning dark in passion.
‘Tell me again.’
‘Max,’ he kissed her, hard, bruising her lips. ‘Max.. You’re mine.’
-*-
The man at the counter yawned widely, rubbing his tired eyes. At the end of the room, a girl rolled her eyes. ‘Hey Pete. If a girl walks in and sees you do that, she’ll run in the opposite direction faster than you can say oops, baby.’
The moment she finished her sentence, the door jingled and Peter closed his mouth with a snap. He turned himself towards the door instantly and smiled. When he saw that his new customers were two men in black suits, his face fell instantly.
Pete thought he heard a muffled giggle from Penny’s direction and he glared at that insufferable sister of his. He narrowed his eyes at her and Penny turned to the storeroom, laughing all the way. He huffed and turned around, almost jumping out of his skin. The two men in front of him stared silently.
Peter forced a smile. ‘Yeah, what can I do for you guys today?’
‘We’re looking for a man,’ one of them said.
For some reason, Peter could feel something crawl uneasily all over his skin. ‘A man? We have a lot of those coming through.’
‘We’re not here for jokes,’ the other growled and Peter shifted uncomfortably.
‘Have you seen someone like this around here?’ He pulled a picture from the inside of his jacket and held it up for Peter to see.
Peter stared at the picture and frowned. For some reason, he recalled the hot girl who was also trying to find a man. He glanced at the picture again and his gut feeling told him those two were the same person. He turned to the two waiting men and something crawled up his spine. There was something not quite right about those two.
‘No, never seen him before.’
‘Are you sure? Take another good look at the picture again.’
‘Do you think I sit on my ass all day with my eyes closed, huh? If I say I never saw this dude before, that means he was never here.’ Peter glared, hoping these two won’t see past his bluff.
They were both quiet for a few minutes before they turned without a word and left.
Inside the store, Peter took a deep breath of relief. His eyes followed the two men. He seemed to remember that Penny had told the hot brunette the guy she was looking for had headed east.
Their store was actually at the junction of the main road before the road forked into two, one going to the east and the other going to the west. As he watched their black car glide down the street, he suddenly prayed that the car wouldn’t turn east.
The other way. Go the other way.
For some odd reason, his heart sank when it turned east.
To be continued..
To Chapter 5