Defiance (New Adult Romance) (Isaac & Maya) (10 page)

13

Isaac

Fuck, these contacts are hard to get in. This really sucks, how do people do this every day? My heart pounds as we wait in the parked van for visual confirmation. Why is it taking so long? If Luke isn’t where he’s supposed to be tonight, I’ll fucking snap.

Logically, I know that Jace isn’t wrong about this being a horrible idea. But it feels so fucking right on an instinctual level. I can’t ignore the impulse anymore and I refuse to dull it. I’m giving in and I can’t wait to make Luke pay.

But I have to because the fucker doesn’t show up for ten minutes and when he does, there’s a girl on his arm. Jace asks me if I recognize her. I lie and say that I don’t, but he clearly doesn’t believe me. It doesn’t matter anyway, I won’t do it until she’s gone. I’m not in this to terrify some poor woman in the night, especially one unfortunate enough to belong to Luke.

Bile rises in my throat when he disappears into her apartment because I know what he’s doing to her, but I have to remind myself that she actually likes it. Maya didn’t.

“Fuck!” I exclaim, leaning back in my seat. “This will take about an hour.” I just want to get on with it already.

“You can’t just think of what he did to Maya, you need to think about going home to her,” Jace reminds me.

“I am.”

“And whatever you do, don’t fucking talk.”

“Luke doesn’t know my voice that well.”

“Isaac…”

“I’ll just use my townie accent,” I assure him, laying it on so thick he can’t help but laugh.

Despite spending the rest of the hour cracking jokes in this horrible accent to put Jace and Oliver at ease about my relatively stable mental state, by the time Luke emerges I’m seething, though hiding it well. I told Maya I’d probably be back by now, I know she’s worried. And disappointed. Probably a little scared, too. Jace calls the backup crew to verify that Luke isn’t being followed and seems a little disappointed that he’s not.

The moment that piece of shit steps onto the sidewalk, the guys stop pretending to idle on the corner and start following him. Jace tries to give me one last reminder, but I can’t hear him anymore. Luke looks over his shoulder at the sketchy group coming up behind him right as he passes our van, just like I was hoping he would.

Everything slows down. By the time I pull the mask on and get the van door to open, it’s been so long I’m expecting him to be farther ahead, but he’s right there just waiting for me. His head turns, his confused eyes locking with mine for a moment before I lunge at him and we tumble to the ground.

I’m not exactly sure what you’d call this horrifying sound I’m making, but I’ve never made it before and it feels so fucking good as it rips out of my throat. Not quite as satisfying as the sensation of Luke’s jaw breaking beneath my fist or the sound of his head cracking off the sidewalk. The way his ribs give out under my foot really hits the spot too.

These fingers left marks on her for weeks, they’ve only just now faded away. So stomping on his hand over and over until it turns to mush seems fitting. I wish I would have brought pliers so I could rip out the fingernails that cut her. He’s pretty limp at this point and his screaming has turned into a pathetic moaning, but I’m not fucking finished yet.

All I can see are Maya’s fearful eyes. The way those tears were constantly rolling down her cheeks when I first met her, she didn’t even notice it anymore and it took a million kisses until they finally stopped falling. I see her young innocent face grinning excitedly as she sneaks off to go make out with an older guy and the blank, confused look on it afterward. I see that van and the terror he had in store for her. No one even cares because they think the love of my life is a dirty whore. I hear her screaming in her sleep in the middle of the night as she dreams of things she’ll never have the heart to tell me about, I feel her trembling and thrashing in my arms when she wakes up and doesn’t know where she is.

My eyes can’t focus enough to see Luke clearly, but I can feel my hands wrapped around his throat like he would wrap his
around Maya’s, even after she told him not to.

“Let’s see how you fucking like it!” I howl. Then I realize just how much his dick enjoyed it when he made her cry and that I might not have punished that particular offending part of his anatomy yet.

I can’t see Maya in my mind’s eye anymore, I can’t feel her. The entire universe is just… red.

14

Jace

That most certainly was not a townie accent, but at least it didn’t sound like Isaac. It barely sounded human.

“What the hell do we do now?” Oliver asks.

“I don’t know.”

My guys keep trying to pull him off, but they can’t. I sigh in relief as one of them finally gets a good hold right before Luke passes into the next life. Unfortunately, Isaac twists around and knocks him out in one punch.

“Fuck!” Oliver and I exclaim.

The other guys are now more concerned with their friend than the client that is raging out of control, not that I can blame them. Isaac is one slippery son of a bitch. I’m probably the only person that can get a hold of him at this point.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Oliver says as I go for the door handle.

“I have to stop him.”

“But…”

“I seriously doubt Luke is capable of recognizing me at this point.”

“I seriously doubt he’s even alive at this point.”

I push that thought out of my head as I fly out of the van and pounce on Isaac. He screeches when I get a good shot at a pressure point in his armpit and wrestle him into a choke hold. Isaac can’t stand being immobilized, it can throw him into a panic attack, but I don’t have a fucking choice.

“You have to stop,” I whisper into his ear.

He just roars and tries to squirm away. Then the asshole digs his knuckles into my hip just like I taught him too and I yelp.
I didn’t want to do this…

I choke him, dragging him backwards toward the van as my guys stare on in shock. Isaac starts to panic and thrash, but then he relaxes and taps my arm. Does that mean he’s back? I can’t take the chance, but the confusion and guilt loosen my hold a little.

Motherfucker!
That was a big mistake. I realize that the bastard tricked me as I’m gasping for air and trying not to puke because he kicked me in the balls. That seems to be a theme for this particular beat down, a rather fitting theme I suppose, though at this point Isaac is probably just stomping on the testicles of a corpse.

Luke groans and I realize hope isn’t completely lost yet, but I can’t get up because my strength hasn’t returned. My crew has fled the scene, which is probably a good idea, but now it’s up to me to stop this alone and my fucking nuts are on fire. I hear the door slam behind me as Oliver comes to help, but when I look up at Isaac, he isn’t beating on Luke anymore. He’s just crouched over him watching him squirm. I guess that’s a good sign?

“Get back in the van,” I say hoarsely, pulling myself to my feet.

Isaac glances up at me and grins triumphantly. Fuck. The lights are on, but I don’t think anybody’s home.

“If you
ever
touch Maya again, I will fucking kill you,” he snarls into Luke’s ear. “She’s mine now.”

Did he just say that? Holy fucking shit, did he
seriously
just say that? He spits on Luke’s face and gives him one more kick to the gut. My pulse is racing as Isaac finally takes a step toward the van. I drag him inside to speed up the process when I realize that he clearly is not hearing the sound of sirens approaching us.

Oliver drives for a few blocks and pulls into the parking garage just like we planned. We all get out so we can move to the real getaway vehicle. I climb into the back seat of the car with Isaac as Oliver switches out the license plates
and applies semi-permanent vinyl logos for a nearby carpet steaming company because the cops will be looking for a plain white van. Holy shit, I really hope that part works. I’m glad I was so fucking paranoid.

Isaac is starting to come back. He pulls off the mask and looks at me. It’s so weird to see his face with different eyes. “Fuck,” he murmurs, his lips trembling. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,
fuck
,
FUCK!
”

“It’ll be okay.” I try to sound convincing, but there’s really no point. That was a complete disaster and he knows it. “He was probably too out of it to hear that.”

“To hear what?”

“Dude, you… you fucking told him that you’d kill him if he ever touches Maya again because she’s yours now.”

“Oh my God,” he whispers, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Holy fucking shit.” Isaac’s breaths get faster and shorter as his thumb starts that telltale tapping against his thigh.

“Take something.”

“No!”

“
You
are going to have a panic attack or a seizure or both, and
I’m
the one that has to tell Maya. Fucking take something,” I yell at him.

Nodding, he searches his pockets and comes up empty handed. “I don’t carry my vial anymore. Glory gave it to me for my seventeenth birthday. I got rid of
it as soon as I remembered,” his voice cracks and gets a little higher, reminding me of an Isaac from a long time ago.

“Here.” I hand him a bar of Xanax that I always keep on me when I’m around him now.

“Thanks,” he replies, chewing it up. Unfortunately, it’ll be a few minutes before he gets any relief and he just has to deal. “Jace…”

Oliver starts the car and we all glance around nervously as he pulls out onto the street. “It’ll be alright, we’ll figure something out,” I say.

“Aw fuck,” Isaac chokes, slumping down in his seat. “Holy fuck, how could I have been so stupid?”

“It wasn’t stupid,” I tell him, even though it really was. “It was inevitable and that prick fucking deserved it.”

“Yeah, he did, but I probably just got Maya killed.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. I have to get her out of here, we have to run for sure now.” He slams his fist against the door. “Fuck!”

“Isaac, you can’t lose your shit right now. It’s fine. No one could tell it was you.”

“Carl will know.”

That’s right. Shit. “He was okay with it, I’m sure he knew what could happen. And he helped you do it, so his hands aren’t exactly clean.”

“Yeah, I guess…” He takes a deep breath, leans back and covers his face with his hands. “Did those guys say anything about Christina? Because that will lead them—”

“They didn’t.”

“Good, but… Goddammit! The entire point was to make him less fucking interested in Maya.”

“Isaac, stop saying that. It isn’t true and it didn’t happen so it doesn’t fucking matter.” Manipulating Luke into valuing his other girlfriend more was never the purpose. It was always about Isaac. Of course he wants that asshole to know he’s been replaced. Who wouldn’t? It was only a matter of time. “You feel better, don’t you?” I insist. Isaac doesn’t answer. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yes, I feel a lot fucking better.”

“And I bet Maya will feel a whole lot safer,” I say. He answers me with that crooked, cocky grin chicks love so much. “Then it was worth it. I know you have a plan to deal with the fallout, you always do.”

Isaac nods. “More or less. Maya’s not going to like it, though.”

So that’s the real reason he waited so long. Figures. “Take out those fucking contacts, man. They’re freaking me out. We’re almost there.”

15

Maya

He should have been back over an hour ago. There’s no way Isaac is seeing his lawyer right now, he probably had to visit Gloria and just didn’t want to tell me. He should have said something, I wouldn’t have been angry, not that he could possibly know that. We never talk about her.

This bodyguard seems nice enough and she’s impressively buff, but I still want her to leave. Relaxing is impossible with her here, though falling asleep was surprisingly easy. I should have known he was up to something when he ordered these vintage Erector sets to keep me busy. It’s been a long time since I’ve played with toys like this and I think it might rekindle my interest in this nerdy hobby. It would be a lot more fun if Isaac were here with me. I miss him like crazy. When is he coming home? And what the hell is he really doing?

Lisa gets a phone call telling her that she can leave because he’s in the building. There are no words for how excited I am to get my hands and lips on him. This is the longest we’ve been apart since our reunion and it reminds me too much of how he used to leave and I had no idea when or if I’d ever see him again. By the time that door finally opens, I can barely breathe.

I’m running toward him like I always do, ready to jump so he can catch me, but I stop mid step when I get a decent look at him. Something is wrong. Our eyes lock for a moment and I notice that one of his is bloodshot before my gaze drops down to his hands. His knuckles are all cut up and it looks like they’re starting to swell.

“What happened?” I gasp.

“It’s okay,” he answers vaguely as he strides toward me, smiling.

“Are you sure?” I resist the urge to further interrogate him when he wraps his arms around my waist and sinks his head into my shoulder, holding me close and breathing deeply. The urge to comfort him becomes the only thing that matters and my fingertips start playing in his hair as I kiss his stubbly jaw. “I missed you,” I whisper into his ear.

“Me too.” He pulls his face from my neck to kiss me, long and slow, as his fingers link with mine. “Did you have fun with your toys?”

“I did.” I pull his hand to my lips and kiss it.

“How did you like the bodyguard?”

“She was nice. Very professional, so a little distant, but I liked her. And she really looks like she could kick someone’s ass, too.”

“Apparently she can,” he laughs. “She’s wiped the floor with Jace a few more times than he’d like to admit.”

“How is he?”

“Not great, but he’s hanging in there,” Isaac replies, pecking my forehead.

“Did you eat?”

“No, but I’m not hungry.”

“So what do you want to do? I just woke up from a nap,” I inform him. That should make him happy.

“You aren’t going to ask me again?”

“No. Does that mean I should? I suck at this communication thing sometimes.”

Isaac chuckles and shakes his head. “Me too.”

“So… um, don’t worry about it. Let’s just—”

“I lied to you,” he blurts out, taking a few steps backwards.

“That’s preferable to beating up your lawyer, I suppose.”

“I detest lying to you. I mean, I fucking
hate
it.”

“It’s okay, Isaac.”

A confession sits on the tip of his tongue, just waiting to jump off. I wait for a few moments until he finally says, “I just beat the shit out of Luke.”

My eyes widen. “
Oh my God, are you serious?” That probably wasn’t the best idea, but I can’t say I’m disappointed.

“I’m relatively sure that I did
not
kill him,” Isaac clarifies, “which is technically what you asked me not to do.”

“Relatively sure?”

“He’ll definitely be in the hospital for a while.”

“Isaac…”

“Don’t be mad at me,” he says quietly, glancing down. “You can go to school now. You don’t have to worry about him showing up.”

“Will you get in trouble for this?”

“No.” He’s not sure about that part, I can tell. “I was smart about it. Ski mask, back up, Jace even made me wear brown contacts.”

“But—”

“He would have killed you,” his voice cracks. “Or worse. You would have
died
thinking that I betrayed you, that I let you down, that I didn’t love you enough to protect you.”

“Those wouldn’t have been the last thoughts I had about you.”

“I would have murdered him. Slowly. He would’ve hurt a lot more than you did before I let him slip away. He got off easy tonight.” Isaac’s eyes grow darker as he stalks toward me. I swallow, my heart thudding as his fingers graze my cheek where Luke hit me. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad.”

“No, I’m sorry that I didn’t do it before you woke up with him in your bed.”

So he hasn’t stopped blaming himself. I shouldn’t be surprised. “What happens now?” I ask.

“I don’t know yet.”

Because it was an incredibly stupid move and we’ll probably pay for it. I should be angry at him, furious that he’d do something so reckless and impulsive, scared about what it means for the future. But I’m not. I’m relieved. Flattered. And extremely turned on.

Isaac’s fiery eyes keep staring into mine, his thumbs sliding across my collarbone. I bite my lip at him, dropping my chin as his shoulders square. I know exactly where this is headed and I can’t wait. Shuddering, I inhale raggedly as one of his hands slides up the back of my neck and makes a fist in my hair. Isaac cocks his head to the side, his brow pinching in uncertainty.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” I whisper, running my fingers along the flexed muscles of his forearms.

“But does it scare you?”

“You never scare me, Isaac. I love you.”

“I love you, Maya,” he rasps, jerking my head back to expose my throat.

Snarling, his ravenous mouth devours the flesh on my neck. He used to get like this when I took that collar off and I know he that needs to leave a mark of his own where it used to be, just like he did then. I gasp, reaching out to him for balance as he dips me back and continues to claim me. I love when he does this, it drives me crazy. And it’s been so, so long.

My head spins as he lets my hair go, his mouth clamping onto mine as he picks me up and starts carrying me toward the bedroom. When he sits me down, I move to take my shirt off but he grips my wrists and pulls them upwards, leaving my arms stretched over my head. I keep them there when he lets go and enjoy the rush of him pulling my shirt over my head. I’m so fucking glad I didn’t wear a bra.

Gripping my ass, he leans down to latch onto one of my nipples, biting down slightly with his lips rolled over his teeth so he doesn’t hurt me. He uses his bare teeth on the other one and I yelp, my clit throbbing. He hasn’t let himself be rough like this since we’ve been reunited. I’m ready for him to stop holding back and I hope he is too.

With a grunt that makes my knees wobble, he pulls my pants to my ankles and kneels, kissing my navel before he rips my panties down to my thighs with his teeth and lets them drop to the floor. Holy shit. My hands are screaming to touch him, but I keep them up as he takes a step back to rake his eyes over my bare body. The tilted smile that crosses his face is intoxicating as he pulls his own shirt over his head, every muscle in his perfect torso flexing deliciously. My fingertips tingle and I whimper.

“You can touch me,” he says, unbuckling his belt.

Reaching out to him, I step out of the pile of fabric at my feet shakily. Our eyes lock as he bends down to strip off his pants and I run my fingers over his bicep, my pulse racing as my other hand savors his pecs. His muscles are hard and full, the way they get right after he works out, but he wasn’t just at the gym. My mouth waters at the sight of his battered hand before it disappears behind me and finds its place in my hair. His other hand grips my wrist and pulls it lower, letting my hungry fingers explore that belt of muscle across his hips and linger on that scar. He inhales sharply as his eyes roll back. It’s sensitive now, just like the rest of them. He likes when I lick it almost more than I do.

But that’s not the scar he wants my lips to pleasure right now. Forcing his tongue into my mouth, he pulls me to the floor with him as he drops to his knees, pushing mine apart as his fingers spread my slit. They circle my aching clit a few times before they move farther back and drive inside me harshly. I squirt all over his palm and he lets out that cocky chuckle that warms my entire body. Curling his fingers
to create that incredible pressure, his lips trail kisses from mine to the responsive spot below my ear as I moan his name. He makes sure I’m panting and wriggling before he pulls his hand away, bringing it to his mouth and licking me off his fingers.

Smirking playfully, he rises to his feet and nods down at me. My eyes lock with that scar on his hip and I attack it with my tongue, wrapping my fingers around him. He grips my hair and pulls me back, shaking his head and raising an eyebrow.

“Maya, you know what I want.”

I lick my lips and kiss the tip of him, but Isaac doesn’t like to be teased. His thumb lands on my chin and pulls it downwards, opening my mouth as he slowly pushes his way inside. That scar drags across my tongue when I latch onto him as he bucks forward, grunting. I start to suck him, but the fist in my hair tightens and stills me. He wants to do it himself.

“Put your hands in your lap,” he breathes raggedly.

I comply, looking up at him through my eyelashes and making sure my muffled groans sound whiny and bratty as he fucks my mouth. His eyes roll back as he goes deeper, holding my head steady as the rest of me squirms. It’s not hard to pretend because I know what’s coming next and it certainly isn’t me. I’ll be begging for a long time tonight.

It doesn’t take him long to finish in my mouth, heat and saltiness covering the back of my tongue as he shudders and grits his teeth. There’s always a few moments to enjoy the sweet Isaac after he comes. Breathing heavily, he falls to his knees as I swallow him. My stomach flutters as he kisses my face everywhere, unclenching his fist so his fingers can play with my hair. I’m allowed to move my arms now and I wrap them around his neck as he pulls me to his chest, murmuring how much he loves me into my ear as his hand rests on the small of my back.

Sweet Isaac never sticks around long after he recovers. The gentle kisses on the square of my jaw get hungrier and suckle their way to the ball of my shoulder as he starts to grope my breasts. I gasp when he lifts me to the bed and lays me down, interlocking his hands with mine and guiding them over my head.

“These stay here now, Rookie.”

“Isaac…” I whine. “Please.”

“Please already?” he laughs heatedly against my breast as he pulls my nipple into his mouth. “You are really in for it. Hold still.”

I groan and resist the urge to kick my feet as his tongue and fingers works their magic on my nipples. Isaac lifts his face when I’m at the brink to give me that cocky smile as I beg. His arrogance is a little infuriating when he does this, but every time I see it, my groin swells and my pulse concentrates in my clit as things I never thought I’d say flow out of my mouth. God, he’s fucking hot.

My eyes savor the sight of his shoulders flexing as he pushes my knees apart roughly, looking down at my desire spread out and throbbing for a moment before he pounces on it. That tongue. I don’t know how he does it. I start to shudder when he dips his fingers inside me and curls them. Sighing, he pulls them out right away and his tongue leaves my clit screaming and twitching. I’m close,
so
fucking close. I buck upwards, my body begging for more, I just can’t help it. He waits a while for me to relax before dipping down to flick me with his tongue. I try to trick him and keep my panting under control, but he knows, letting out an admonishing chuckle as he brings his head up from between my legs. I’ll pay for that.

Isaac is hard again, rising to his knees to drive inside me for just a few hammering thrusts before he withdraws. If he lays a finger on me, I’ll explode and he knows it. So he just watches as I writhe and squirt and beg until I start to whimper in frustration. Sometimes I get lucky and these noises will tug at his heart strings and he’ll give in, but not tonight. It just encouraged him.

It goes on like this for a while, fingering me while I beg him to lick me, licking me while I scream for him to fuck me, toying with my nipples as I plead with him to do anything he wants below my waist. Then he climbs on top of me but doesn’t enter, prying my hands from their grip on the headboard so he can hold them in his.

We lay like this for a while, his lips dancing around mine, skimming across my cheeks, my nose, my throat. I love it when he’s tender and dominant at the same time, I need it. My fingers trace patterns on his palms as my body relaxes, finally accepting the reality that I’ll get my pleasure when he wants me to have it and not a heartbeat before. He senses my surrender and kisses me, wrapping his arm around my hips and pulling me upwards slightly so that my legs open wider to receive him.

I’m dripping, swollen and ready when he drives inside, but the intensity still shocks me, just like he wanted it to. I draw in a breath against the skin of his shoulder as he fucks me, rough and greedy. There’s something different about his scent, something primal, something feral that I have to taste, so I give him a little bite of my own as his fingers wrap around my forearm and squeeze until my hand throbs. He wants to leave his own mark where Luke did, he just can’t help himself. I need it, too.