Jessica Clare - Last Breath

“There is no other way,” Petrovich argues.

I look at Regan because right now she’s the only one who matters. I don’t want to leave my sister in the hands of Hudson, but I can’t send Regan back to be raped again. I won’t. There’s another way. I have to figure it out.

Regan

DANIEL ’S GOT AN AWFUL LOOK on his face. It’s the look of despair, of a man who’s backed into a corner and has no way out.

He can either send me in to Hudson’s hell in the hopes of getting his sister or he can forget about her. Either way, he’s miserable. He shakes his head again at Mendoza. “Fucking forget it, man. I just got Regan out of there. No way in hell am I sending her back to that sadist.”

The big Russian, Vasily, only looks over at me, as if waiting for me to interject. To him, I’m another playing piece, one that is obviously only useful on my back. He’s not wrong, though. I’m the one mucking up all the works, here. I’m the one who slowed Daniel down. If it wasn’t for me, would he already have his sister back?

“How long?” I ask.

“Regan, no,” Daniel’s voice is furious. “I’m not sending you back in to be raped—”

I move to his side and pat his arm, trying to soothe him. He’s practically bristling at my suggestion, and I know he hates it. “We didn’t come this far to turn around, Daniel. I can do this.”

After all, what’s one more rape in my logbook? I don’t say that out loud because I know if I do, Daniel will shut down entirely. I want to do this for him. For him and for his faceless sister who’s stuck in the same hell I was in for so long. I can’t let her stay there, just like I can’t let Daniel give up.

“Fighter, no,” Daniel’s telling me in a soft voice. He touches my cheek, oblivious to the eye roll Vasily is sending our way. “You don’t have to—”

“I know,” I say softly and bite the tip of the thumb he strokes across my lip. “But you’re going to come get me, right?”

“I’d fucking die before I left you in there,” Daniel says, and the intensity in his eyes tells me it’s the truth.

“Then we do this,” I say. I turn back to Mendoza. I’m still surprised to see that the man running this weird military compound full of families and children is young and handsome, but he could be on the cover of GQ. Well, maybe more like Guns and Ammo, but he’s still pretty. He’s thick with muscles and deeply tanned, his hair a dark buzz against his scalp. His eyes are this fascinating shade of amber I’ve only seen on models.

My friend Becca would eat him up.

Then again, fuck Becca.

Mendoza regards me for a long moment, waiting to see if I’m going to lose my shit. When I return his gaze, calm and easy, he nods. “A day at the most.”

“A day?” Daniel explodes. “A full day? No. Absolutely not—”

“What is plan?” Petrovich interrupts, his accent thick and calm. “Send her in with poison?”

I swallow hard. I’m supposed to kill someone? “I don’t know that I could do that.”

Mendoza cuts him off with a wave of his hand. “We can put a GPS on her. Send her in. Even if she’s immobilized, she’ll be placed in a location that hasn’t been discovered through my sweeps. I’ve sent in caterers, repair techs, pool people, but we can’t locate the safe rooms. I’m guessing they’re downstairs, but we haven’t been able to get down there. We’ve got the technology to make a map based off Regan’s movements.” Mendoza grins at me, and I return a weak smile. “I’ve wanted to shut it down for a while but have been waiting for the right moment. We will go in, fetch the women and the man you want to retrieve, come out, and destroy everything in our wake.”

I nod. “So I go in and try to get to as many places as I’m allowed, look for an American blonde named Naomi, look for a hacker, and sit pretty. I can do this.” I glance over at Daniel, but his face is like ice. He’s not happy, but he knows we’re stuck. “But if you send me in with Gomes, how do we know he’s not going to warn the others that it’s a trap?”

“He has a car, does he not?” Mendoza says. “We send you in his car with a note. Gomes said it’s Hudson’s birthday tomorrow. We send you in as a present.”

I shudder at the thought. “All right.”

“When do we do this?” Vasily asks. “Every hour we waste is another hour he can find out what we’re up to and slip away.”

“We start in the morning,” Daniel says. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner I get Regan out of there.”

I nod, concealing the trembling in my hands. I’m terrified, but it’s a risk we have to take. “Let’s do this.”

Daniel

THE PLAN IS SIMPLE BUT so flawed. There are so many things that can go wrong, but if we don’t let her go . . . There has to be another way, but if Mendoza’s men have been in more than once and can’t find the hideaway then sending Regan in with a GPS tracker might be our only chance.

I try not to make love to her that night like it’s our last time together. As I move my hand over the curve of her waist, down over the hill of her ass, to the hidden crease between her legs, I’m memorizing the path only because it’s beautiful and erotic and every man should have a physical memory like this. When I dip my head to her chest and suckle and bite the tender flesh as she grips my hair and breathes out my name like a benediction, I close my eyes and try to imprint this moment in my mind only because the soundtrack of my life should only be the soft cries of arousal followed by screams of completion.

“Daniel. Daniel. Daniel,” she chants as I move lower between her legs. I take my time here, licking her in long slow movements. So good. Her taste on my tongue is an aphrodisiac. My cock becomes harder, swells bigger as each droplet of excitement hits my mouth.

I bury my nose into cunt and breathe deep. This is the only scent I ever want in my head. Inside her channel there’s more of her essence, and I spear my tongue inside, trying to devour her. My fingers stretch her opening wide so that every inch of the delicate flesh is exposed to my ravenous appetite. My tongue and lips and teeth work every inch of her pussy and clit until she is drenching them with her arousal.

“Come all over my tongue,” I growl. Her thighs quiver with the force of her orgasms as she obeys, and I lap every bit of her liquid up. My cock is wet from my own small release. I spread my pre-cum down the sides and then hold up my palm to her face. “Lick it.”

She does more than lick it. She mouths each finger and then laves my palm with the flat of her tongue. I’m groaning and panting at how her fucking tongue on my palm makes me want to come all over her. With enormous effort, I pull away so I can slide two fingers inside her, where I scoop out her moisture and lather it on my straining organ.

“I want you all over me,” I whisper. With one hand I rub my cockhead against her opening, flicking her little clit until her hot little body is shaking all over with want. I glide in slowly, my teeth gritted, enjoying each pulse of her cunt walls against my dick. The tendons of her neck stand out in sharp relief as she tips her head back in answer to my first thrust inside her. I pull almost fully out of her and then shallowly pump so that she hugs just the head. It’s a tease for both of us, but I want this night to last forever.

“God, Daniel,” she half sobs, half laughs and then rises on her elbows to pin me with a glare. “Stop tormenting me, dammit.”

I lay a hard palm on the top of her pelvis and drive into her with one swift motion until I’m fully seated. She falls back with a scream.

“Is this how you want it?” My voice is so hard and rough that I barely recognize it.

“Yes,” she snarls back. “I want it harder, faster. I want more.”

My hips move with such force that she’s sliding across the mattress. Her hands and feet are scrambling for purchase as she seeks some way to push back. I grab her around the hips and pull her toward me. I may have started out with gentleness, but my self-control has left me and there’s only one way out of this maelstrom. Her hands latch on to my wrists. As if there’s a jackhammer driving through my spine, I thrust inside of her relentlessly. My fingers are leaving bruises on her skin, but the way that she’s clawing at my arms tells me she is with me all the way.

“I’m close. Soooo close,” she cries. I maintain my rhythm, hard, fast, and steady until she’s exploding. Then I lean over, one hand braced by her head, both her legs over my shoulders, and I hammer furiously into her wet tight glove until my orgasm comes.

“I’ve got you,” I shout. “Let go.”

When I’m spent, I collapse by her side, pulling her into my arms. We rub each other’s backs and arms and spread soft, drugged kisses over the skin available to us.

“I love you,” she whispers in between caresses. No matter what happens tomorrow, we’ll have this. I clutch her body closer so I can feel her heartbeat against mine.

Regan

I’M PRETTY GOOD AT LYING to myself, it seems.

I told myself that after I left the brothel, I never wanted another man to touch me. Lies.

I told myself that I’d never be vulnerable again. Lies. I’m vulnerable every time Daniel looks at me with that wicked grin on his face and my heart jumps in response.

I told myself I’d never go back to the brothel. But here I am, volunteering to go to Freeze’s house because that’s where Naomi is and I’m what we need to get her out. I know Daniel wouldn’t judge me if I chickened out. He doesn’t want me to go. But I need to go. If not just for Naomi, for all the other girls that have been stolen and disappeared behind those walls, never to appear again. It’s not just for Daniel.

But . . . there I go again, lying to myself.

I smooth my hands down his spine, enjoying the feel of his sweat-slicked skin against my own. In Daniel’s arms, I’m whole. In Daniel’s arms, the world is safe.

And I’m leaving his arms for the enemy tomorrow. I shiver and burrow my face into his neck, breathing in his sweaty scent.

“You okay?” Daniel asks, running a hand down my arm.

“If things go bad tomorrow,” I ask in a soft voice, “you’ll come and find me, right? No matter what it takes?”

He props his body up on his elbows and gazes down at me, all relaxation gone from his body. He’s practically vibrating with tension now. “Nothing’s going to go wrong, Regan.”

“It’s just . . .” I swallow hard. “Hudson’s not right in the head. I don’t think I could deal with two months with him. I lived through two months in the brothel, but I don’t think I could do it with him. If you can’t come get me, I’ll figure out a way—”

“A way to what?” Daniel’s voice is harsh.

“To make them shoot me,” I say. But my voice is very small in the face of his anger.

“No,” he growls, and he grabs my chin in his hand and forces me to look at him when I avert my eyes. “You think I won’t come after you? You think I’d let that fucker touch one hair on your head while I’ve still got breath in my body? You don’t do anything but what we outlined in the plan, Regan, because I swear I will fucking come and rescue you like some goddamn knight in shining armor. And you don’t believe otherwise until they roll my dead body at your feet, all right? Because the thought of you killing yourself because you don’t have any hope left eats at my fucking gut, and I’m not going to be able to let you go in there if that’s even on the table.”

“All right,” I tell him softly. “All right.”

“It’s not all right.” There’s a fierce possessiveness in his eyes as he pulls me close and begins to press feverish kisses to my skin. “You’re mine, Regan Porter. You don’t get to decide if you die or not. Because if you do, you’re destroying me, too.”

“It was just a suggestion,” I say and drag my fingers through his messy hair. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

But there I go, lying to myself again.

Regan

IN THE MORNING , I’VE BEEN trussed up like the present I’m supposed to be. One of the ladies in the favela took me aside and gave me a white shift to wear that’s practically see-through. Underneath, I’m wearing a white lacy panty and bra set. I don’t know how they managed to get these things in such a short period of time, but Mendoza’s people are incredibly efficient. Once I’m dressed, the woman curls my hair, fixes my makeup, and then works a GPS tracker the size of a pearl into the seam of my bra cup. It’s utterly invisible, but I can feel it there, and it makes me anxious. I wish I had my gun, but I’m not allowed that. I’m not even allowed shoes.