Eve Vaughn (4 page)

Grasping the sides of her face, he pressed his tongue against the seam of her lips.

Bella relaxed within his hold and sighed into his mouth, granting him access to her sweet depths. She tasted sweet, tangy, and absolutely delicious. Bursts of incendiary

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heat shot through his body. Dar thought he’d die of pleasure when her tongue pressed forward to meet his in acceptance.

She wanted this too.

Pushed back were the thoughts of how wrong this was. Bella placed her hands on his shoulders, pressing her pebbled nipples into his chest. His cocks strained to break free from the restraint of his pants -- begging for it.

He could smell the faint scent of her arousal and knew she’d be slick and ready for him. Dar dropped one hand on the tight patch of curls nestled so lovingly between her silken thighs.

As though sensing his silent command, she parted her legs, welcoming his intimate touch. Dar slid a finger along the length of her damp slit, testing how wet she actually was. Bella was literally dripping with cream. Sliding his middle finger into her cunt, he was satisfied to get a throaty groan from her.

She threw her head back, exposing the graceful line of her white neck to his hungry gaze. He planted kisses along the column of her throat as he finger-fucked her.

Bella wiggled and writhed in his lap, obviously enjoying this as much as he was.

He never wanted this moment to end -- Bella in his arms, him tasting and touching her.

Only when the panic alarm went off did he come to his senses. Reluctantly, he pulled his finger out of her gushing pussy and gently moved Bella to the floor. He quickly got to his feet.

She shot him a bewildered look, her cheeks turning bright red. He couldn’t meet her gaze. Turning his back to her, Dar retreated from the room and quickly punched in the code.

Self-disgust filled him. Though he had no doubt she was an intelligent, sentient species, she was still in captivity and he was in a position of authority over her. He couldn’t let this happen again. As he raced toward the distress call, Dar couldn’t help bringing his still dew-soaked fingers beneath his nostrils, remembering what could have been, but wasn’t meant to be.

Holly paced the living room of Sydney’s high rise condominium, her panic increasing with each step. Two weeks and not a single word. She hadn’t seen Bella in fourteen days. Three hundred thirty-six hours. Twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes! She was going crazy with worry.

After the first couple of days, Holly figured Bella needed some time to cool off before calling, but after several unreturned phone calls, her concern grew, especially since Sydney hadn’t heard from her either. Now another week had passed with no word and no one had heard from her.

The school Bella taught at had told her that she’d requested some leave, but they’d been very vague about the whole thing. Holly then decided to pay a visit to the clinic Bella was supposed to have her appointment at. They said they hadn’t seen her, had no record of her even setting up a consultation with them at all.

Something strange was going on, and she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that her friend was in some kind of trouble. Holly didn’t trust those Cyrellian doctors as far as she could throw them. They were definitely hiding something. Where there was smoke there was fire, and the damn building was about to burn down.

“Girl, if you walk across my carpet anymore, you’re going to wear a trail in it,” Sydney drawled.

Holly stopped, turning around to meet her friend’s bored gaze. “How can you just sit there so calmly when we haven’t seen or heard from Bella in days? What if she’s hurt out there somewhere? What if the Cyrellians did something horrible to her? This experiment they wanted to try on her sounded too good to be true. And another thing, I did some research and found nothing on this procedure. Why would they single Bella out?”

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“Maybe because they thought she would make a good candidate for the surgery?”

“Or maybe to do something far more sinister.” Sydney lifted one perfectly arched dark brow. “You’ve already mentioned what the school said that she put in a request for some time off. Has it occurred to you she’s on vacation? She’s an adult, and doesn’t have to report her every move to us.”

“I realize that, but it isn’t like her to disappear without a word. Furthermore, I ran into another one of her co-workers who wasn’t aware she was taking any leave.

Now who am I supposed to believe? Why am I getting conflicting stories?” Sydney shrugged. “I haven’t a clue. Maybe that person isn’t on a need to know basis about Bella’s comings and goings. She loves that job. Why would she abandon it?

I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”

“Her co-worker told me they’ve lost several students in the past few weeks. They simply dropped out. Explain that.”

“I’m sure there’s some logical explanation.”

“Only the deaf students? Something screwy is going on.”

“In your mind.” Sydney huffed her exasperation. “Why not stop worrying? It won’t do you any good one way or the other. I’m sure Bella is fine and we’ll hear from her shortly.

Holly stomped her foot in frustration, wishing she could get it through her friend’s thick skull that something was terribly wrong. “How can you be so callous?

Our friend is missing and all you can say is everything will be okay?”

“It’s better than making myself sick with worry. Bella has gone off before without notifying us. Why is this time any different? Look, Bella is a big girl, who’s quite capable of taking care of herself. I wonder if you’d be so concerned if I took off somewhere for a little bit without calling.”

“Of course I would. Why would you even imply that I wouldn’t?”

“Because I’m not deaf. You treat Bella differently, always trying to protect her when she’s doesn’t want you to.”

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“I do not! I… I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”

“Sometimes we have to fall to get back up. You can’t always be there for her,” Sydney said gently.

“That’s what friends do; we look out for each other. Not everyone has their head stuck in the sand like you do. And furthermore, you’re probably not interested because this subject doesn’t revolve around you.” The second the words were out, Holly regretted them. Arguing wouldn’t bring Bella back any sooner, and that attack wasn’t called for.

Sydney uncurled her long legs from the sofa she’d been reclining on and stood up, her dark face remaining impassive. She strode over to the balcony window and stared outside. Though she didn’t say a word, Sydney’s hurt was evident in her rigid stance and stony expression.

Holly knew she’d gone too far. Her anger and concern for Bella had gotten in the way of her judgment. Maybe a little of what she’d said had sprang from jealousy.

Sydney was used to being the center of attention, but not by design.

She was a rare exotic beauty -- stunning. Men fell at Sydney’s feet when she walked down the street. With rich coffee-colored skin, which was a startling contrast to her tilted light brown eyes, she possessed features many women would kill for and others spent money to attain.

She wore her hair cut closely to her scalp in tiny natural curls that emphasized the highness of her cheekbones, and regality of her oval-shaped face. She was tall and slender with curves in all the right places, the exact opposite of Holly’s short dumpy body.

Whenever Holly stood next to Sydney, they looked like the number ten. She supposed she couldn’t blame Sydney if all the attention did go to her head but it didn’t.

Taking the attention all in stride, sometimes it seemed like the way men treated her annoyed rather than flattered her.

“I’m sorry, Syd. It’s just… I… well, my temper… actually, there’s no excuse for what I just said. It was totally unnecessary.”

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The other woman shot her a faint smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You said how you felt at the time. I can’t fault you for that. We all say things we don’t mean in the heat of the moment.”

“But I shouldn’t have said it regardless. It was a bitchy thing to say.”

“Forget about it. Look, if we’re both being honest here, I’m starting to get a little worried too, but I also know from experience Bella doesn’t like it when she’s hovered over. I know you have a mothering instinct, but you have to let her fend for herself sometimes. I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of this operation she wanted either, but she was so happy when she told me about it. I didn’t have the heart to crush her hopes.”

This was news to Holly. “You never mentioned it before. You should have voiced your concerns. It wouldn’t have hurt to tell her what was on your mind.” Sydney turned around to meet her gaze. “Here we go again! Would you stop for a moment and listen to yourself? This is something she wanted badly. How can you tell someone not to try for their dream when it means so much to them?”

“But what if --”

“What? If they can’t perform the operation? From what you just told me, the clinic has no record of her visit. She probably changed her mind, and you got your wish after all.”

“That’s if the Cyrellians can be trusted.”

“Please, let’s not get into any more of your weird conspiracy theories. Maybe she was so rattled after you tried to talk her out of it that she didn’t go. And this is exactly why she wasn’t going to tell you about the procedure in the first place.” Holly gasped. “Why not?”

“Because she knew you’d try to talk her out of it -- which it seems you did.”

“So why did she change her mind and tell me?” Sydney didn’t say, but her silence spoke volumes.

“You convinced her to tell me?”

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“Well, it would have been awkward keeping this a secret from you. We both know how mistrustful you are of the Cyrellians, even though they’ve made this society livable again. A hundred years ago Earth was a wasteland. They’ve restored it to something great. Why do you think so badly of them? What happened, because at one time you sang their praises?”

“When something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Why hasn’t anyone noticed there are no elderly people?”

Sydney snorted in derision. “Of course there are. There’s a nice couple who live down the hall from me, both in their seventies.” Holly folded her arms across her chest. “Only a couple? I’ve noticed none in the past few months. When was the last time you saw your neighbors?” Sydney furrowed her brows together as though deep in thought. “I’m pretty sure I saw them a few days ago. They were talking about going on a trip to see their grandchildren, so there. I guess that shoots your theories to dust. What do you think the Cyrellians are doing to the older people, sending them to be euthanized when they reach a certain age?” Sydney laughed.

“This isn’t funny. I’m serious.”

“And so am I. I think you probably need a vacation.”

“I have more proof.” Holly refused to be talked down on this subject.

“And what is it?”

“The news,” she declared full of conviction.

Sydney stretched, clearly bored. “What about it?”

“Haven’t you noticed there’s a lot of Cyrellian propaganda lately? There used to be a public access program that addressed concerns about what was happening to our society, but it’s no longer on the air.”

“Probably because no one was watching. Anyway, does all this really matter?

You sound like one of those crazy rebels, hell bent on fighting the system. You know what they said in the old days don’t you? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

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Holly wanted to strangle her. That was the problem with everyone. They were far too complacent with the way things were to open their eyes and see the truth.

“Maybe those rebels aren’t so crazy at all.” Sydney threw her arms up in the air, as though she’d given up. “Who are you and what did you do to my sane friend Holly?”

“I wish you wouldn’t make light of my concerns.”

“I’m not. I don’t know how we’ve gone off on this tangent in the first place. We were talking about Bella, remember?

Holly groaned, so caught up in her passionate beliefs about Cyrellian rule she’d momentarily forgot Bella. “You’re right, but I don’t have a good feeling about things.

Something is wrong. I can’t put my finger on it, but please trust me on this.” Sydney gave her a long hard look before relenting with a sigh. “Do you truly believe in your heart that something is the matter?”

“Yes!”

“Okay. You win. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if we checked her condo. I have a spare set of keys. The truth is, I planned on going there tomorrow to check on things.”

“Then what are we standing around waiting for? Let’s go.”

“And then when we see that she’s okay, will you let this anti-Cyrellian crusade you’re on go? You can be banished from the city if the wrong person hears you spouting that rhetoric.”

“Why? I’m only speaking my mind. There was a time when free speech was allowed.”

“We do have a free speech, with restrictions maybe, but the rules are for our own protection.”

“I can’t believe you buy that bullshit. As outspoken as you normally are, why do you support a system that denies us the right to say what we want, when we want to?

These new laws they’ve enacted lately make no sense, and you weren’t too happy about some of them either, unless something has changed between then and now.” Sydney lifted her chin defiantly. “I’ve landed a job with Cryo Cor.”

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“You what!” Holly squawked with disbelief. “You know how I feel about that place. There’s something unnatural about their products.”

“I think you’ve said enough. Are we going to Bella’s condo or what? Standing here and arguing isn’t going to help her.”

Holly was furious. How could Sydney go behind her back and apply to Cryo Cor knowing how she felt about that particular company? “I haven’t said half of what’s on my mind. Why did you do this? Something isn’t right about that place and before you say I’m talking about crazy conspiracy theories again, I felt this way about them before I began to question Cyrellian rule. It has a bad vibe about it and, furthermore, why are their labels written only in Cyrellian, a language they never taught us.” Sydney’s nostrils flared. “You accused me of being self-centered earlier, but the only person I see with that particular trait is you. I don’t know what happened a few months ago to cause you to act like this, especially after the Cyrellians have done so much and continue to do more for this planet. They may not have created a perfect society, but it’s damn near close to it. And as I’ve already said, I’m finished talking about this with you. A word of friendly advice though, you had better be careful because people will start talking and think you’re unbalanced.”

“Do you?”

Sydney didn’t answer but she didn’t need to, and that hurt far more than any words could.

“I see,” Holly said quietly. “I appreciate your support, friend --”

“And I’d appreciate yours, but I guess that’s not going to happen,” Sydney shot back.

Holly sighed. “Haven’t I supported you in all of your ventures?”

“Then what makes this so different?”

“You know,” Holly muttered stubbornly.

“I don’t.”

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“Then I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.” Holly raked her fingers through her hair. “Maybe I am crazy, but I hope you’re right about Bella being okay because God help us all if you’re not.”