Sandy Sullivan (24 page)

Expecting
her life to flash before her eyes, she wasn't prepared to open them and see a
large stain of red spreading across Ari's chest. She shot him? With her eyes
closed? Her dad always told her to keep them open when she shot at targets as a
kid.

His
eyes were wide as he looked down at his chest, dropped his gun, and then slid
to the floor.

Her
hands started to shake, causing her to drop the gun on the floor beside her.
The quake spread to her whole body. She started to fight when strong arms
pulled her in.

Her
father whispered, "It's all right, now. Everything is over with. He can't
hurt anyone again."

"Daddy?"

"It's
me, sweetheart."

"I
shot him."

"No,
you didn't. The sheriff did when he came in the room behind Armand. You didn't
shoot anyone."

"Thank
God. I couldn't live with myself if I'd taken a life."

He
pushed her back and looked into her eyes. "You would have done what had to
be done to protect your family. You didn't have to though."

She
grabbed his arms and hung on tight. "Help me outside, Dad. I need the air
on my face."

"Sure,
honey."

Together,
they made their way toward the door.

"I'll
need statements," the sheriff said.

"We
aren't going anywhere.
Just outside."

"Okay."

She
couldn't look—didn't want to look at the body sprawled out on their living room
floor. That could have been her or her father. Why did Ari have to go to this?
Why was he so insistent? Nothing made sense.
Crazy doesn't make sense.

"I
need to call Marcus. He'll be worried sick or on his way home to find out
what's going on."

"Here
is my cell phone."

"You
had it in your pocket?"

"Yes,
but I couldn't get to it without alerting Ari."

"I
know, Dad. Thanks for being there."

"I
didn't do anything, sweetheart. I wish I would have been able to protect
you."

"You
couldn't with a gun on you." She took the cell phone and punch in Marcus'
number with shaking hands.

"Hello?
Mitchell?"

"It's
Elizabeth."

"Oh
thank God. Are you all right?"

"I'm
fine. Ari is dead. The sheriff shot him before I had to."

A
heavy sigh reached her ear. "You're safe. Everything else can be worked
out."

"I'm
a little shaky. I wish you were here to hold me."

"I'm
getting dressed right now."

"You
can't leave the hospital, Marcus. You need to stay there."

"No,
you need me. I'm taking a cab from here."

"It's
a two hour cab ride."

"I
don't care, baby. I need to be there with you."

"All
right, you stubborn man."

"You
know it. I'll be there in a few hours. Until then, remember, I love you."

"I
love you too. See you soon." She clicked the phone shut and handed it back
to her father. "He's leaving the hospital and coming home."

"Why
am I
not surprised."

"He
shouldn't be, Dad. He should stay there."

"He's
a man in love, sweetie. He needs to reassure himself that you're all
right."

They
sat in the rockers on the porch. She took several large breathes to remove the
smell of gunpowder and blood from her nose. Blood shouldn't bother her. After
all, she's a physician, but she had to fight with her need to help Ari or let
him die like the dog he was.

"You
couldn't have helped him. The sheriff's bullet killed him instantly."

"Thanks,
Dad. How did you know I had a conflict going on inside of me?"

"I'm
your father. I know you well. I know you want to fix things. It's why you
became a doctor. Even if the sheriff hadn't killed him, I think the man was
beyond help, except for psychiatric help."

"The
look in his eyes…" She shivered again. "I'll never forget the look.
He truly had lost his grasp on reality."

The
sheriff came out onto the porch. "We'll remove the body when the coroner
gets here. I need to ask you two a few questions."

For
the next hour, they went over step-by-step how things went down. She gave
detail after detail of her relationship with Ari, how his phone number showed
up on the cell phone belonging to the cowboy, what his expressions and words
were during the time he held the two of them at gunpoint and his demands.

"We
won't have to do any kind of investigation since you didn't shoot him. Your
bullet went wide and hit the wall. I shot him."

"Thank
you for helping us."

"Make
sure you thank Doctor Melton. Without his call from the hospital in Billings,
we wouldn't have known to be out here."

"I
plan to."

The
coroner's van pulled up. Within several moments they removed the body.

"You
two are free to go back inside if you like."

"Thank
you. I need to get the blood out of the carpet before it dries," she said,
thankful for having something to keep her mind occupied until Marcus arrived.

"You
don't have to clean up, Elizabeth."

"I
need to, Dad."

She
grabbed a bucket and filled it with cleaning solution and water. The carpet he
landed on was a throw rug so they could get rid of it if the blood wouldn't
come out. She wanted the rug clean though. It was one of her mother's favorite
woven Indian rugs. No way would she let the crazy man ruin something so dear to
her mother. Pass after pass with the
brush,
little by
little the blood slowly came out. She didn't realize tears streamed down her
cheeks until someone took her arm and lifted her to her feet.

"It's
okay, darlin'."

"Marcus.
Oh God, Marcus," she sobbed into his uninjured shoulder.

"It's
okay. It's over. You're safe. Your father is safe and he can't hurt anyone
again."

"I
should have protected Dad. I had the gun. I closed my eyes. If the sheriff
hadn't shot him, he would have killed me or Dad."

"You
aren't a killer, Elizabeth. You're a healer."

"But
it's my fault."

"It's
not your fault. He was crazy. Stop blaming yourself."

"I…I
can't. If I would have never got involved…"

"Come
with me." He took her hand and led her to her bedroom.
"Across
my knees."

"What?
You can't be serious."

"I
said across my knees, sub. What do you say to me?"

"Yes,
Sir."
She dropped her pants and underwear to
her ankles before lay across his knees, balancing herself on her hands so her
ass pointed in the air.

"I
can't hold you down so you'll leave your hands on the floor until I'm
done."

"Yes,
Sir."

The
slap of his hand on her ass stung, but the self-loathing she felt wouldn't
dissipate.

"I'm
going to do this until you realize none of this was your fault. Your ass will
burn long before my hand tires."

His
hand rained down on her until pain sizzled from her butt cheeks. Still she
couldn't
let
 
go
.

"Let
go, darlin'. It wasn't your fault."

"But…"

"I
can do this all night."

Tears
burned her eyes and dripped onto the floor. Her heart finally opened up for her
to realize she couldn't control what Ari did. Yes, she got involved with him,
but she couldn't have known how possessive he would become when she walked out.
He cheated on her. The light in her head clicked on and she sobbed
uncontrollably.

"There
you go. Let it out."

The
rain of blows stopped but still she cried. She cried for losing control of her
life. She cried for Marcus being hurt. She cried for losing her mother even
though she felt her presence on a regular basis. She cried for all the things
in her life she felt she'd dropped the ball on. When the firestorm subsided,
she felt cleaner. "Thank you, Sir."

"You're
welcome, darlin'," he said, helping her stand so she could pull up her
jeans.

"How
did you know?" she asked, taking a seat next to him on the bed.

"Sometimes
a sub must let go of the feelings bottled up inside. A good spanking can be a
trigger to help you release those emotions you wouldn't normally show. A Dom
takes that control out of your hands and allows you to face those issues. You
now realize you needed to release those things to heal."

She
sniffed, wiping her face until he pushed her hands out of the way, doing it for
her. "I hadn't even really cried over the death of my mother. I just
stepped in and tried to be the woman of the house after she died.
Hard to do hundreds of miles away."

"But
you realize now those emotions were crippling you."

"Yes."

He
kissed her lips as he tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry. I
should have picked up on those earlier."

"Everything
okay in there?" her father asked through the door.

"We're
fine, Dad. I needed a firm hand is
all.
"

"In
more ways than one," Marcus whispered, raking a thumb over her left
nipple.

"Good
thing Marcus was close by," came from behind the closed door. "I'll
get lunch started."

"I
want to make you come so bad." He grabbed a tissue from the bedside table.
"Do you know what those tears do to me?"

"What?"

"They
make me hard as a rock for you. I want to comfort you, but I also want to lick
your pussy until you scream for me."

"Spanking
makes you horny?"

"It
makes you horny too. Shall I dip my fingers into your pussy so I can find
out?"

"I
can tell you what it does to me, but you'd want to find out for yourself."

"Take
your boots off. Drop your jeans and panties. I want to see your pussy."

"Can
I suck your cock?"

"Did
I tell you to?"

"No,
Sir."

"Then
do what I told you. I don't like repeating myself."

With
a huge grin on her face, she stood and unbuttoned her pants, dropping everything
to the floor. She toed off her boots so she could shimmy the rest of the way
out of her clothes.

"Lie
down on the bed."

On
her back with her legs together, she waited for his next instruction.

"Spread
your legs and hold open those sweet lips."

He
dropped down on his knees between her thighs, his mouth level with her pussy. A
squeak left her lips at the first touch of his tongue. God, she wanted
this—needed this—needed him to make her feel alive again after the events of
the morning.

With
a kiss to the insides of both thighs, he swiped his tongue from slit to clit. A
deep moan escaped her mouth as he began quick figure eights right on her clit.
He wasn't going to bring her up slowly. It would be fast and furious from horny
to climax. The moment he sucked her clit between his lips, she exploded in
shards of light as her climax washed over her like a wave crashing against the
shore.

He
shoved two fingers into her pussy and then curled them up to reach the soft,
spongy spot behind her pelvic bone.

"You'll
come again for me, darlin'."

"I
can't, Marcus, please. Fuck me." The tips of his fingers rubbed over her G
spot. She shot straight up to immediate arousal.
"Oh
God."
Her breath came out in short, agonizing pants.

"Come
for me, babe. You can do it." He sucked her clit into his mouth before
biting down on the little nub slightly causing her body to go bow tight. She
lost her grip, spinning out of control as another climax blindsided her.

She
quickly grabbed the pillow from beside her head and screamed into it, muffling
the sound as he chuckled.
"Bastard."

A
quick slap to her inner thigh told her he heard her.

Trying
to catch her breath, she lay boneless on the bed. She vaguely heard him
unbuckle his belt and drop his jeans to the floor before the head of his cock
pushed at her opening.
Finally!
She
tossed the pillow aside to look up into his eyes as he stood over her.

"I
love you."

"I
love you too," she said.

"Play
with your nipples for me." She reached up, pinching both nipples. "Roll
them between your fingers. Pull them until they are hard. I want to lick
them."

With
his arm in a sling, he couldn't do these things for himself as he pounded into
her flesh. One hand braced on her hip, he slid in and out bringing them both to
clawing need within seconds. His cock rode her G spot, drawing out the desire
to oh-my-God proportions. Her own fingers pulling at nipples seemed wrong, but
so sexy, she couldn't help but feel a little naughty.