Battle: BWWM Dystopian Interracial Sci-Fi Romance (Betwixt Chocolate Book 2) (4 page)

“That was amazing,” he said.

“I bet you tell that to all the women,” I teased.

He laughed. “Not at all. Trust me.”

I traced a circle on his stomach with the tip of my finger. His cock, quickly getting smaller, twitched a few times. All I wanted was for the good feelings to continue, but in my mind the self-doubts and worries were already surfacing. I pushed them back, tried to box them up and hide them away.

“I’m leaving to find Doc Chang tomorrow,” he said after a few minutes of silence.

“Be safe.”

He craned his neck to peer at me. “You’re not coming?”

“After the ravager attack and what you said, I didn’t think you would want me coming.”

“I can’t control you. The fact you’re so independent and can think for yourself is why I’m falling in love with you.”

“Twenty-one days since starting to fall in love with you.”

“Still not there, huh?” he asked, feigning being upset.

I smiled, moved up his body and kissed him on the lips.

“I’m here. Hopefully forever.”

“We have a lot of work to do, but I think we have a chance.”

I settled into a comfortable position next to him in the bed.

“Goodnight, Tony,” I said, not feeling sleepy.

“Goodnight, beautiful.”

“Already? You’re not going to disagree with me?” I teased.

He rolled over on his side. We kissed. I tugged his cock back to life. His hands moved all over my body, touching me in just the right places. When he was completely hard, I pushed him on his back. With my palms pressed against his chest, I straddled him. I arched my back as he reached up and massaged my breasts with his rough, strong hands.

Ever so slowly, I lowered myself on him. He penetrated me completely. Once he was inside my tight, wet hole, I leaned forward, pressing my breasts against him. We kissed again. I lifted myself slightly and he pulled back before pushing into me again. Our rhythm came back quickly as our bodies moved as one. He stared into my eyes when I sat back up, still riding him hard.

My second orgasm of the evening was even better than the first. After what seemed like hours or even days of pure pleasure, he pushed me over the edge into orgasm-land. I screamed out in pleasure, not caring who heard. We were in love, and that was all that mattered to me in that moment in time. A minute or two later, he cried out as his cock throbbed inside me.

“Yes…” I hissed, scratching his chest with my fingernails.

When his body finished shaking, I slipped off of him.

“It’s a good sign when it gets better the second time, right?” I asked.

He laughed then leaned over and kissed me on the lips.

“Okay, you,” I said. “We need to sleep so we’re ready to leave tomorrow.”

“Everything is packed. We can leave whenever we want.”

“The people are planning to wish us good luck before we leave, so we need to get up early.”

“I never agreed to that,” he said.

“I thought it was a good idea.”

“Very well.”

I snuggled closer to him.

“I love you, Tony.”

“I love you too, Ree.”

This time, we both fell asleep.

Six

Ree

In the morning, I awoke to the sound of the alarm bell ringing. Tony jumped out of bed, still naked. He put a leg into his pants. I got up and grabbed a shirt. After we were dressed, we ran out of my sleeping quarters and toward his office. Screams could be heard as we ran out of the building. Cricket, tired and weary, stood near the gate. When he saw us, he ran in our direction.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked as we ran.

“I have no idea, but it doesn’t sound good,” he replied.

We made it to his office in record time.

“You’re back?” I asked Cricket. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Bad attack. Gonna lose.”

“Ravagers?” I asked.

He shook his head. “House Ballmore.”

Did I hear that right?

Tony put his hand on Cricket’s shoulder. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah Gov. Many fighters.”

“Are they here for me?” I asked Tony.

“I have no idea. We need to go.”

“Go where?”

“Out of the factory-city.”

“Run again?” I yelled, not believing my ears.

“Run today. Fight tomorrow,” Cricket said.

“Go gather as many people as you can and meet us back at the warehouse by the underground tunnels.”

Cricket took off running. Tony turned to me.

“We’re not ready for a real attack. Those ravagers the other day were nothing.”

I frowned, knowing he was right.

“I am going to find out what I can. You get to the warehouse with as many people as you can and wait for me. If we can’t hold the city, we’re going to leave.”

My heart beat quickly in my chest. I said, “Okay.”

He gave me a peck on the lips then took off in the opposite direction Cricket had gone in. I turned and headed toward the warehouse. On the way, I grabbed as many people as I could, telling them we had to leave or we would die. When I got to the building and went inside, Cricket and a few others were stacking boxes of chocolate and food by our escape route. I helped get as much stuff ready as possible.

About ten minutes later, Tony ran into the warehouse. Blood ran down the left side of his face. I rushed over and brushed his hair back.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“There’s too many of them,” he said gravely. “We need to go or they’re going to kill us.”

“Did you see my brother?” I asked.

He walked toward the others without answering. I frowned but followed him. A little over two dozen of us, men and women, whites and blacks, climbed down into the sewer. After all the boxes of chocolate and supplies we could carry were lowered, Tony closed the opening.

“It’s so dark!” someone yelled.

“Are we going to die?” someone else asked.

“Settle down,” Tony said, taking charge. “This is going to be tough, but it has to be done. They surprised us, and they have about ten trained veterans for every single person on our security team. If we want to live, we need to go. It’s not the best solution, but it’s the only one we got.”

“Bleak that, you said…”

“Shut-up!” Tony yelled in an angry voice I’d never heard before.

It scared me.

“Let’s not fight amongst ourselves,” I said to the crowd. “We need to remain calm and get moving.”

As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we walked down the tunnel.

“Is this where we go up?” someone asked.

“Not yet. Too soon,” Cricket warned.

Our group continued trudging through the damp darkness. No light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

“Are you okay?” I asked Tony in a voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m fine.”

“But the blood…”

“I’ll tell you later,” he interrupted.

The only sound was our footsteps and the occasional splashing of water. When we got far enough down the tunnel, Tony went up the ladder to make sure it was safe for the rest of us. Cricket helped others up while I glanced down the tunnel in the direction we’d come from to make sure no one was following. Once the others were up, I climbed the ladder and emerged above the ground.

In the distance, I heard the battle continue in the factory-city we had never even named. As usual, Tony took charge of the situation and got us moving away from the situation, hopefully to safety. I admired him as he got the people motivated. Everyone was tired and hungry, but we had to keep moving to stay safe. Cricket scouted ahead and found a decent sized building where we could regroup and take stock of the situation.

“This is crazy,” I said to Tony as we stood near the door.

He put his hand on my arm. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I know, it’s just…Well, we were so close.”

“We’re not defeated yet,” he said optimistically.

Cricked walked over, his long, thin arms hung at his side.

“Good to see you, Cricket,” I said.

“You too,” he replied with a smile.

“What happened? Where’s Mercy and Melvin?” Tony asked.

Cricket lowered his head. “Long story.”

“We have a bit of time. Are they okay?”

A million thoughts ran through my mind.

“Double cross. They no good,” he said, looking at Tony then me. “True story.”

“They double-crossed you?” I asked, still confused.

“All of us. They made deal. Governor Felix.”

Spit it out, man! I thought but kept it to myself.

“Are they okay? Were they tortured?”

I couldn’t see them turning against our growing community.

“They gave plans. Gate and walls. They live good. We have hard times.”

“Sounds like they made a deal with your father.”

“Governor Big Anthony too.”

A look of surprised flashed over Tony’s face. “What?”

“They team up. We’re done for good. Bad times.”

“Bleaking bleak!” I said, a little too loudly.

Some of the two dozen stragglers looked in our direction. They depended on us.

You have to be strong, I told myself. With Tony around, it would be a bit easier.

“Well,” I said, looking at the bright side, “At least we’re still alive and free.”

“Yeah, but for how long?” Tony asked then turned to Cricket. “Can you check on our chocolate supply?”

He nodded once then went to count our inventory.

“It’s not going to be a lot, is it?” I asked.

The man I loved shook his head from side to side slowly.

Are we out of all hope? After everything else?

I watched Tony pace back and forth, deep in thought.

What’s he thinking?
I wondered, willing to give anything to know.

Seven

Tony

About a mile away from the factory-city, we came upon an abandoned building with a lot of rooms. The first floor was in decent condition. If we were lucky, the walls and ceiling wouldn’t collapse on us. With the way everything else was going, I wasn’t about to hold my breath. I looked around as the couple dozen men and women tried to get settled. Over half of them were children or elderly.

“What are we going to do?” Ree asked to my left.

I turned to her. “I’m not sure yet.”

She leaned forward and kissed me on the lips.

“Together, we have strength,” she reminded me.

“I know, but it’s still going to be tough. I mean, look at all these people.”

I waved my arm at the group as they tried to settle in.

“They’re counting on you. On us.”

“And you think you’re ready for it?” I asked, still a little angry at her father.

“Do you remember the day we first met?”

“Yeah, of course I do. Why?”

“Because I took a chance on you when I left House Ballmore behind. And that’s not something I do lightly. I gave it a lot of thought, and I truly believe you’re the type of man who can make the world a better place.”

She reached out and touched my arm. I resisted the urge to turn and run away.

“Have I told you recently you’re an amazing woman?”

A smile spread over her face. “Not in a while.”

“Well, you are bleaking incredible.”

We kissed again, briefly.

“I know what we have to do,” I said.

“We can start a new life somewhere else.”

“No, we’re going to stay. The only way to be safe is to show our strength. We need to counterattack and retake the factory-city.”

Her face showed no emotion as she stared at me.

“It’s going to be tough, but…”

“My brother is in there,” she interrupted.

“He’s an evil man.”

“I agree, but you want to kill him? We let your father go.”

I sighed. “It’s the only way, Ree.”

“No, it’s not,” she said.

I watched as she turned and stormed off toward the others. The decision would not be popular with them either, but it was the only way we could guarantee our survival. Without a source of chocolate, we would end up quickly turning on each other until we were all dead. That was exactly what Adam and the rest of House Ballmore wanted. As I pondered what to do, Cricket walked over.

While young, he saw how the world worked. After so many years in the wastelands outside the factory-cities on his own, he had a unique way of looking at situations. It was one of many reasons I valued his input. The look of hope on his face was hard to disregard. We stared at each other in silence for a moment or two. He spoke first in his thin and frail voice.