Madison Layle - Falke’s Captive

Reidar punched Kelan in the arm and shoved his head up against the car door’s window. “Talk,” he said between clenched teeth.

Rarely did Reidar’s temper flare, so Kelan knew his brother was as scared as he was. He grabbed Reidar’s wrist. “Let the fuck go.”

Reidar gave him a hard nudge and, with a hiss, sat back in his seat, slashed his hands through his hair and let out a deep breath.

The words that came out of Kelan’s mouth were as much a surprise to him as to his brother, if Reidar’s expression was any judge. “She slapped me last night.”

His brother turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Kelan. “Yeah, so?”

He wasn’t sure why he needed to voice this now, but it seemed to all come out. “Instead of pissing me off, it turned me on. Okay? The last chick to slap me was Stacy Hills in tenth grade when I tried for third base.”

“I remember her.”

Kelan blinked slowly, remembering the pain he’d felt more than a decade—a lifetime—ago.

“Yeah, well, I thought I was in love with her, but when she slapped me, I walked away and never looked back.”

Reidar frowned. “I don’t really understand. What’s getting slapped have to do with the situation we’re in right now?”

Kelan sighed and dropped his head back against the headrest. “I was being a total bastard last night. Beth had every right to slap me. Hell, I wouldn’t have held it against her if she’d slugged me.

But even when she was ready to rip my head off, I could feel her desire, as if she were testing me.”

“Weren’t you doing the same? Testing her?”

Kelan took a deep, steady breath. “Maybe I was, but women don’t test me—us. Ever. They fall at our feet and beg for more.”

“She did beg for more,” Reidar reminded him. “Watching you fuck Beth against the wall turned me on to the point of pain, but you needed it, and obviously so did Beth, so I waited for you to finish.”

“That’s just it. Any other woman would’ve stayed angry. Or she wouldn’t have been defiant in the first place. When I told her it wasn’t a game, I saw that she understood. And she wanted to be part of it.” He shook his head and looked Reidar in the eyes, wondering if his confusion showed. “Maybe she is the one . I don’t know, but if she is, there’s not a goddamn thing we can do about it. She poses a threat that could bring our entire family down, have us all locked up like lab rats. So how could she be the one ? I keep asking myself that, but…” He shook his head. “There’s no solution. We have to think of the family. And now there’re babies on the way.” His tone grew more anxious. “And there’s a vial of my blood somewhere, possibly with someone who could destroy us. And it’s all her fucking fault! ”

“But you still want her,” Reidar said softly.

“Yeah. Goddamn it, I want her…so bad, it fucking hurts.”

“I do too.” After a pause, he added, “Maybe we should go talk to her.”

“And what? Ask her where the blood is? We can’t do that.” Kelan sighed. “I just don’t see this ending well.”

Reidar shook his head. “We have to do something. She’s our link. She’s the only one who can stop this from getting out of hand.”

“Look around, bro. It’s already out of hand.” Kelan fastened his seatbelt, started the car and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened. “I swear that woman’s been a total nuisance from the moment she came to town. It would’ve been better if I’d never laid eyes on her.”

“You go ahead and keep lying to yourself. Maybe someday you’ll believe it.”

“I just…I want to spank her.”

“You want to love her.”

“Shut the fuck up before I hurt you.”

“If you want to scrap it out, fine. Let’s go home and get it over with. I wouldn’t mind kicking your ass right now, but at least be honest with yourself. And don’t expect me to believe you care nothing for her. Not even your heart is that cold.”

Kelan had to concentrate on backing the car down the narrow, rutted dirt track, or he would have gladly punched his brother right in the nose.

A knock on the door brought Beth out of a deep sleep. When she glanced at the window and saw how low the sun was, she jumped out of bed and practically leaped across the room to open the door. And there stood Tim, just turning to walk away.

“Hey, you are here,” he said, frowning at her. “I thought you might be out with—uh, just out.”

“Okay. No, you caught me.” She forced a laugh to hide her embarrassment and stepped aside to let him in.

He came into the room, looking wrinkled and not smelling all that great. “Caught you what?” He set her laptop case on the table and looked around as if he expected her to have company.

“Napping. I fell asleep waiting for the post office to open after lunch.”

“Oh.” His frown grew, but he didn’t comment further. Then he gave her a hesitant smile. “I got that software installed. There’s an icon on the desktop called LabCam. All you have to do is click on it, and it’ll link you up to the server that hosts the data backup. You can search by date and time and whatnot.”

“Thanks, Tim. I appreciate it.”

“Are you feeling all right?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I…uh…” What could she say? She’d been awake all night being fucked by two men so she was exhausted and…She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Seven. She’d lost all day. Eight full hours. “Wow, I didn’t realize it was so late. I guess I needed more sleep than I thought.

Don’t tell the professor.”

Tim smiled. “Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t usually ‘tattle.’” Beth gave him a light shove on the shoulder, making him laugh. “Thanks.”

He shrugged. “What are friends for?”

“I’ve just been so nervous and worried about the research project and writing my dissertation.”

“You should probably eat,” Tim said. He was looking at her as if she had a second nose or third eye. “When was your last meal?”

It took a moment for her sleep-fogged brain to kick in. She was hungry, she realized. “Breakfast this morning.” Had she been in that greasy diner only that morning?

“Why don’t I buy you din—” His words were interrupted by another knock on the door.

Please don’t let it be the professor. Please don’t let it be the professor . She turned around and grabbed the doorknob once again.

“Hey, Beth,” Reidar said, standing next to Kelan.

Relief or excitement—she didn’t care which—made her grin when she saw them in the hall.

“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you two here tonight.”

“Disappointed?” Kelan asked.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Reidar pulled Beth into his arms and kissed her. She didn’t fight, didn’t try to pull away, and he kept it gentle. Against her lips, he murmured, “We came to see if you wanted to grab some dinner.”

“Mmm,” was her response as she leaned into him and then sighed. “I’d love to, but I really need a shower.” She wouldn’t admit she needed one to fully wake up. She felt a little groggy, a little drugged.

Her internal clock was way the hell off. Now she’d be up all night, but at least she should be able to get some work done on her dissertation.

“A shower…hmm?” Reidar hummed then nipped her ear, giving her goose bumps.

Tim cleared his throat.

Without looking at him, without even pulling away from Reidar’s embrace, she said, “Oh, um… guys, this is a colleague of mine from the university. Uh…Tim, these are the Falke brothers.” She smiled, knowing her cheeks were probably cherry-red. “Or at least two of them, Reidar and Kelan.”