|
A summer storm was gathering outside. The distant rumblings of thunder unnerved her, so much had happened - Chris, the fight, the confrontation ... Nykki felt as though all her strength had been drained from her. She settled into the cocoon of blankets and fell asleep. She sat up screaming, her hands over her ears. Her whole body trembled. Lightning crashed again and she very nearly leapt out of her skin. Nykki didn't hear the door open and close as Chris walked to her bed. "Quiet. You're safe now. Be still. No one is going to hurt you," he said as he pulled her into his arms. He held her like a child, and she buried her face in his bare shoulder. He could detect the slight swell of her bound breasts against his chest as she breathed. Chris rocked her against him and stroked her hair. "Tell me about it. What did you dream about?" She shook her head and clutched desperately at his arms. The dreams had never been so real before, the continued rolling of thunder sounded like gunshots, she had relived the entire episode again. I can't tell him. Her thoughts had a desperate edge to them that scared her. A flash of lightning lit up the room and she jumped up in fright. Christopher looked at the trembling girl in his arms. "I think it's time we really talked," Chris said as he lifted her in his arms, keeping a blanket twisted about her. Nykki shook her head mutely. He carried her down the darkened hallway into his room. He set her in an armchair and poured her a glass of sherry. If what she had said earlier was true, the strong alcohol would go straight to her head. It did. When he saw her begin to relax, he took the empty glass from her, refilled it, and placed it on the table by the chair. He poured another glass for himself. Then he lifted her and sat back into the padded chair, holding Nykki close to him, the blanket across them both. The storm outside made them seem especially isolated in the dark room. "Now, tell me about your nightmare," Christopher coaxed gently. Nykki shook her head again, unwilling to respond. "Forget it then. Tell me something else. How was your childhood like?" He was answered with another shake of the head. His brow furrowed in consternation. Chris handed her the glass of sherry again. He didn't like getting her drunk, but it was the only way to get her to talk. He had seen the pain flash across her eyes, before it was barricaded behind walls of silver. He tried again. "Why did you come here?" "Be... because Nick was coming. Uncle Mal didn't want to take the chance," Nykki whispered, almost inaudibly. He strained to catch her words. "To take what chance?" "He didn't want those people to find us..." her voice trailed off. "What people?" he asked. "I don't know... they've been coming after us for so long. They killed Mum and Dad... no, Dad wasn't killed, Uncle Mal told me he's been in a coma." "When did it happen?" "Eight years ago, it was raining heavily, there was thunder and lightning... Gunshots woke me up, Nick and I went to see what had happened..." Nykki lapsed into silence again. Christopher stroked her hair back from her forehead, the silky waves damp with perspiration. "Go on," he prompted. "We ... we saw Mum and Dad lying... lying on the bed, and they were... there was blood everywhere. I'll... I'll never forget those blood-red sheets... and that man who was there. I keep dreaming about... about that scene... I can't forget it... It comes back every other night. I wish it'd just go away and leave me alone... I've been having the same dream for years." She was quiet as he digested her words. The same dream, plaguing her for eight years. No wonder she woke up screaming and trembling. Tenderness welled up inside him, as he pulled her closer. "Was it only one man?" Chris asked gently. "No... but... when I screamed, he turned to look at me with a look of on his face... it was as though he enjoyed killing... killing people." She swallowed the lump of bile in her throat. "You said those people were following you." "They kept after us, we had to keep moving from state to state, yet... they still continued to follow us doggedly. Nick decided to join the academy like Dad and Mum, Uncle Mal agreed but said that I had to enter also. He signed me up as a boy, so that me and Nick could... stay together." "Your parents were FBI agents?" She nodded. "Do you know why Nick was kidnapped?" "Dad came out of the coma two months ago. Those people found out and decided to take Nick to keep themselves safe. They want a... tape that Uncle Mal... no... he gave it to me. They want to destroy it so that they won't have it hanging over their heads." "Where's your father now?" "Uncle Mal said he's in Washington... said that Dad promised to contact him... I wish he'd come soon..." her voice was much softer, scarcely more than a whisper. She was falling asleep. He carried Nykki to his bed and tucked her in. He sat by the side of the bed looking at the sleeping girl, his head whirling with the information he had just received. He laid his knuckles at her cheek, feeling the soft skin beneath. She was sleeping comfortably, the lines of tension were gone, but somehow, she was still in complete control. Her face was a carefully controlled mask, even in sleep. He settled in his armchair and tried to get some rest.
Nykki woke up to find a pair of vivid blue eyes looking at her and elephants dancing to Swan Lake in her head. She rubbed her temples and blinked several times trying to clear her vision. "You're awake." She heard the satisfaction in the familiar baritone. The events of the night before cleared and sharpened in her mind. "Do you know that the headache I have now is due to your excessive generosity with wine?" she told Christopher wryly. He grinned widely. Then, her tone turned serious, and her silver gaze held his. "Thank you." "For what?" he asked quietly. "For what you did last night." Her tone was gruff, but he heard the gratitude in her voice and warmed to it. "But not," she added teasingly, "for the hangover." "Why, you brat," he feigned anger. "After what I do for you..." He didn't have any chance to go on, because she hit him with a pillow. That attack engendered a wrestling match which he - although with an injured shoulder, but who was still heavier and stronger, was bound to win, unless she resorted to tactics which would have ended any further friendship between the two. But it was a great deal of fun while it lasted - more so because she discovered his one weakness, and turned the contest into something much more even. He was ticklish. Very ticklish, especially down both sides and on the bottoms of his feet. She managed to get his socks off while tickling his sides. Protecting one meant that the other weak point was vulnerable, and the moment he curled up into a ball, she grabbed his feet and ran her nails along the soles. When he thrashed helplessly and got his feet away from her, his sides were exposed. Before long, she'd turned the tables on him. She tickled him unmercifully, until they were both laughing so hard their sides ached, Finally neither one of them could breathe, and they tumbled together on the bed, completely unable to move. "You -" he panted, " - cheat." "No such - thing," she replied, trying to brush a strand of her out of her eyes with one hand while she held onto his bare foot with the other. "Just - obeying what Robert Finch said." "Exploiting the enemy's weakness? That was what my judo teacher said after every lesson." He was getting his breath back faster than she was, and he managed to eel around so that her head was in his lap. "But Nykki - I'm not your enemy." "Aren't you?" she began, but was stopped by his actions. Chris put his fingertips beneath her chin and tilted her face up for his kiss. He gazed unto those luminous eyes of hers, and a kind of softness began to unfold within him - a sensation that he thought had been lost to him until he met this unpredictable, intriguing and enigmatic girl. His lips took hers in a gentle caress, then his mouth slanted over hers with fierce tenderness. His hand curved around her nape, his fingers stroking her sensitive skin, his other arm encircled her waist, moving her up and closer towards him. Nykki slid her hands hesitantly over Christopher's shoulders. By their own volition, her fingers curved around his neck, sliding into the soft, thick hair at his nape. Desire exploded in his body, and automatically, he deepened the kiss, his mouth moving with hungry, persuasive insistence on hers. He kissed her long and lingeringly, then he touched his tongue to her trembling lips, coaxing them to return his kiss, insisting. She felt his swift, indrawn breath when she tentatively did so. His tongue slid between her lips, filling her mouth. His hand shifted from her back to her midriff, sliding upward toward her breasts. Perhaps it was the clock ringing shrilly next to her on the table or the sudden realization that her mentor was becoming physically aroused that snapped her senses back to the present, or perhaps it was the shouts from somewhere in the building and the sounds of the campus coming to life after a night of rest. Whatever the cause, she put her hands against his shoulders and exerted pressure, but it took an unnatural effort for her to move, and her shove was pathetically puny at best. Panicked by her inexplicable lethargy, Nykki shoved harder. "Chris, stop it!" she protested softly. "Stop it!" Her protests somehow penetrated his aroused senses, dousing his desire and dragging him reluctantly back to reality. Chris dropped his hands to her waist and shook his head, staring into her face, unable to believe the passion she had unexpectedly evoked in him. "I have to go and change. It's already very late." Nykki slipped out of his arms and was out of the door, before Chris knew what had happened.
|