Marc (8 page)

“And I get no say in this? How is that
even lawful?” His dad laughed, and she glared at him. “Laugh it up, buddy, and
I touch you without his permission.”

His mom burst out laughing when his
dad’s mouth snapped closed. “Oh, I like you. You’re going to do just fine with
this family. Come along, dear; let’s go into the kitchen and let these two
wonder what we’re going to poison them with. Have you ever heard what saltpeter
does to a male? You should hear what it does to a panther.”

He looked at his dad as he watched the
women go into the kitchen. There was something very frightening about two women
talking about your demise. His dad slowly turned to him.

“You really don’t think they’d do that,
do you?” Khan looked at the kitchen door, then back as his dad and shrugged. “Maybe
we could just order in. That way we could give them a…a break from cooking? Do
you know if Jonny can even cook?”

“I don’t know if she’s ever even been in
a kitchen before this.” Khan stood up, then sat back down. “We should go in and
help. I can cut things up for them.”

His dad nodded, and they both stood again.
“Course, they could be kidding. We could just be putting ourselves out there to
have to help in the kitchen more often.”

Khan nodded. Yes, they could be. But
there was something bigger going on here, and he grinned at his dad.

“Could be, but that would mean that they
didn’t kill us. Sorry, Dad, but I like that a hell of a lot better than
not
having to help out in the kitchen once in a while because I’m dead.”

His dad nodded and followed him. “Yeah,
I do want to live a while longer. And if we show them that we’re willing to let
this go, then maybe they—”

“Dad, why don’t you let me do the talking?
I’m pretty sure that you’ll get all of us murdered in our sleep or enough
saltpeter in our food to make it difficult for us for some time to come.” Khan
winced at his poor choice of words as did his dad. “I’m gonna help.”

As they walked to the kitchen, his dad
patted him on the back. “Good thing you’re leader, son, I’d hate to have to
deal with Marc when he comes back and he finds out I touched his mate.”

He stopped moving forward and his dad
bumped into him. “You said you talked to him. You said you got permission.”

“Well, I knew he was busy and I got some
information that we didn’t have before. I don’t think he’ll mind overly much.”

Khan had a feeling his brother was going
to mind a great deal. His dad might have just started a war, and probably knew
it, too. They walked into the kitchen. His dad then started telling his mom and
Jonny that he’d come up with a brilliant plan and they were ordering in. Khan
sat at the table and tried to figure out how to keep Marc from killing him and
their father.

Chapter 8

Marc wasn’t thrilled with the plan, but
Caitlynne assured him that simple was better. He hoped the hell so, because
this one was as simple as it got. He walked to the next house, two before the
Thomas household, and this time Dylan knocked. When the door opened, he went
into his practiced spiel.

“Hello, we’re in the neighborhood today
selling magazine subscriptions. We were wondering if you had a moment that we
could—”

The door slammed in his face this time. “At
least you got to speak. Last three times I didn’t even get ‘hello’ out before
they were slamming the door. And that other woman…sheesh, Dylan, what the
fuck?”

She’d let them in and then proceeded to
try and seduce them. She’d gone into the kitchen to get them a drink and had
come back fucking naked.  Marc shivered again. He looked at Dylan as he
laughed.

“She was something. I never meet this
kind of interesting people as a teacher. Of course, I do run into an occasional
mother who wants to up her kid’s grade by blowing me, but I can’t say that any
of them came to a parent-teacher meeting buck-assed naked.”

The next house brought them to the
neighbor of the Thomases. They knocked and waited and Marc looked around. Caitlynne
had told them that there were two cars on the street that didn’t belong there
and she had a hit on one of them, as he was the grandson of one of the
residents. The other was coming back as a rental car.

“It could be nothing, but I’m thinking
that rental cars don’t usually have two people sitting in them for eight hours
at a time before someone else comes to sit in it. Those men are who we’re
watching.” Caitlynne had told them this as she put bulletproof vests on them
under their jackets. “Just in case.”

He’d worn them before, but this seemed
more…scary. He hoped to Christ that the Thomases were home. He heard a small
ding in his ear before Caitlynne spoke to them. The earpieces had been her idea
to keep in contact with them.

“There are two people in the house. One
in the kitchen and one in the upper room. Probably the bathroom, as it seems to
be in the center of the house.” Marc heard the door in front of him open as
Caitlynne continued. “I’m contacting Jonny now to get her ready to call if they
need her to confirm you’re who you say. Stay with the program, guys, or they
could be tipped off.”

He said “hello,” and the door slammed in
their faces. He took in a slow breath and let it out as the moved to the next
house. He had his clipboard ready, and when he knocked on the door, Dylan said he
was ready. As soon as the door opened, Dylan touched the hand of the woman
standing there.

“Hello, we’re in the neighborhood
selling magazine subscriptions and wondered if you had a few moments that we
could talk to you. Here is what we’re offering today.”

She took the clipboard just as who Marc
assumed was John Thomas came down the stairs. Dylan put out his hand, and the
man took it automatically. The woman paled when she read the note on the pad
he’d handed her.

“May we come in?” She nodded at them and
handed the clipboard to the man behind her. As soon as the door shut behind him
and Dylan, Marc put his finger to his lips and handed them a second note. He
took the first one that said,
Jonny is safe and with us. She wants us to
bring you to her. Let us in.

The second note was a little more
detailed.
Don’t say a word about what we’re doing here. We have a plan that
will get you both out safely, but you have to trust us.

Mrs. Thomas, Erma, nodded and sat down. “What
sort of magazines are you selling? I must confess….” Her voice stammered a
little as she continued. “I must confess it’s been a long while since I’ve read
one.”

Marc nodded. He handed her a notepad and
pen. Dylan spoke to John as Marc talked to Erma. Both of them were doing a
great job, and he thought he knew where Jonny got her integrity.

Is she all right?
He nodded at
the note.
Those men came here two days ago. Are you with them?
He shook
his head and wrote his own note.

I’m her mate. Do you know what that
means?
Erma nodded.
She’s safe at my brother’s house. Would you like to go there?

She nodded and wiped at her tears. He
nodded and took the notepad from her.
Pack only what you can’t live without.
Once you’re both gone they will destroy whatever you left behind. Do you have a
fireproof safe that you can store valuables in for now?

She nodded and pointed to the floor. She
stood up and announced she was going to make some tea, would they like any per
the script he’d handed her. Both he and Dylan told her yes. John watched his
wife move up the stairs, and Marc handed him the note he’d given his wife.

While they were both upstairs, Dylan
went to the kitchen and Marc sat in the living room reading the script. It was boring
and long and told about each of the magazines that they were supposed to be selling.
Dylan came in twice to read his part but for the most part Marc was alone while
Dylan made noises in the kitchen like he was brewing up some tea. When the
Thomases came down with three suitcases, he nodded for them to sit.

“Do you have any questions?” The last
note he handed to John when he asked the two at the bottom of the paper. He
looked up after reading it and smiled. The man was going to be just fine. Marc
followed him into the kitchen, where he was going to hit him.

John braced himself against the counter.
When he closed his eyes, Marc decided that this was by and far the hardest
thing he’d ever done. Drawing back his fist, he hit the man and let him fall to
the floor. As he tumbled forward, he grabbed onto the plates that had been on
the counter and took them with him. Marc hurried back to the living room.

“John? Are you all right?” Erma went into
the kitchen and screamed. She picked up her phone and Marc handed her the phone
number. She screamed in the phone that her husband had fallen and he wasn’t
breathing. Caitlynne, on the other end of the call, told her that they’d send
an ambulance right away.

Five minutes later, their ambulance
pulled up. Monica got out of the back, along with Walker, and Reed stood by the
ambulance with the doors opened. And just like Caitlynne had said, every
neighbor on the street came out to see what was going on.

When John was brought out of the house
on a stretcher, Marc helped Erma into the back with her husband. In the cases
that the “medics” loaded was everything they had packed. Walker was with John
as Monica came out with the last of the equipment. Marc stood by, panicky, when
one of the men from the car approached her.

“What happened? Is he dead?” She bumped
against him and looked up at him. “He’s dead, and the woman might be having a
heart attack too.”

Monica looked over at him and winked. She’d
just made the man from the car believe that John was dead and that Erma might
be close behind. He nearly laughed out loud, but just barely managed to stop
it. When they drove off, the ding in his ear sounded.

“Now, if you and Dylan would be so kind,
I’d very much be happy if you got the fuck out of there before someone notices
that you’re still hanging around. Simply walk to the next street over, and, if
no one is following you, I’ll pick you up.”

“And if there is someone following us?”
he asked her. He heard her laughter before she spoke.

“Then I’m afraid you’re royally fucked.”
Marc decided that he didn’t much care for his sister-in-law at that moment and
thought that if he ever got the chance, he was going to get back at her.
Grinning, he thought that he’d most definitely live longer if he just let it
go. Besides, she’d done him a huge favor today, and he always paid his debt.

~~~

She was sitting in the big overstuffed
chair, reading a book to one of the children, when Corrine came back into the
room. She looked so excited that Jonny didn’t ask who was on the phone when it
was handed to her. She said hello and waited for someone to speak.

“Jonny? It’s Mom, love. We’re safe. He
got us out, we’re coming to you.” Jonny sat up in the chair, completely
forgetting about the little bodies sitting next to her.

“You’re fine? Roy didn’t hurt you this
time?” Her mom said no. “Mom, I’ve been so worried. They said it would work,
that I didn’t have…. You’re really coming here? Now?”

“Yes.” She heard her mom sob, and she
cried too. The little boy hugged her hard, and she hugged him back. When he
handed her a stuffed dog, she wasn’t sure what to do with it, so he took it
from her and used it to wipe her tears. Her dad came on the line while she was
laughing at little George.

“That’s what I needed to hear. Just you
laughing made that sock in the jaw well worth it. Are you doing okay, honey? Your
mom is blubbering a mile a minute.” She nodded, then spoke.

“I’m fine now. So fine.” She smiled,
then remembered what he’d said. “Who hit you? They said you wouldn’t be hurt. Tell
me who hit you.”

“Now, Jonny, it was necessary for that
young man to make me fall and hit my head. It had to sound real if they were—”

“You hit your head too?” Jonny took a
deep breath. “Dad, let me talk to Marc, please? I’d like to have a few words with
him.”

Marc came on the line and started
talking before she had a chance to ask him. “I was supposed to make it look good.
I think your dad actually enjoyed it. That is up until he hit his head. He
wasn’t supposed to grab the plates either, but he said it had better sound
effects than him just falling like he was supposed to do, and Walker said the
cut should heal pretty nicely. The bump looks a lot worse than it is, but again
Walker said he’d be fine.” He stopped talking, and she had to smile when he
spoke again. “Jonny, are you going to hurt me when I get home?”

“You deserve it. What the hell were you
thinking hitting a man, a human man like that?” She smiled when he started
again. “I’m kidding. I’m so grateful that you all made it out that I can’t…I
don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. We
actually…Dylan and I have decided that we’re never going to sell magazines door
to door again. Women are…someone tried to seduce us. She came out of her
kitchen naked.” She laughed and sat down again holding the little animal while
he told her what had happened with getting her parents out.

“You all really are fine?” He told her
that they were. “I don’t know how to thank you and your family for what you did
for me. I feel so much better knowing that they’re safe from him.”

“It was my pleasure.” She heard him say
something to someone else, and then a door close. “We should be landing in
about an hour. The pilot said that there is a good wind behind us.”

“Khan said I couldn’t come to meet you
in case Roy is watching the house. Once my parents come through the gate here, he
won’t know that they’re here either. He said that staying here will keep them
safer.” She leaned back in the chair when Corrine took little George for his
bath. “I had a talk with your brother and your dad while you were gone. They
said that you and I are connected and that when I leave, you’ll be able to find
me. Is that true?”

He was quiet for a few seconds. “Do you
want to leave me, Jonny? Because I don’t want you to. I need you in my life,
and the thought of you even thinking about leaving is tearing me apart.”

“I’m not cut out for being a domestic
cat or human, Marc. I can barely boil water without having four pots involved. You
saw what I ate all the time. It was cheap, sure, but it was all I trusted
myself to cook.”

“I can cook. Besides, we can hire
someone for that part. It’s the other fringe benefits I love about having you
around.” She asked him what kind of benefits. “Well, there’s the fact that you
can wash my back for me in the shower. A man can’t have a too clean back. Then
there’s the little fact that you smell really good. Especially when you’re wet
for me. Do you have any idea how much I love that scent?”

“You make me wet just by talking to me
in that low, rumbling voice. And when you touch my skin…Marc, this isn’t a good
idea. I’m going to need to take a cold shower if we don’t stop this now.” He
growled and she felt her pussy soak.

“My cock is hard right now. And I can’t
wait to get home to take you. I don’t even care if it’s in a bed or in the hall.
Slide your fingers into your pussy and tell me how wet you are, and I’ll try
not to come all over my hand when you do.” She looked around the room to make
sure she was alone before she slid her fingers over her soaking crotch. She
moaned in the phone.

“I’m very wet. My jeans are wet all the
way through.” He growled at her to go to their bedroom they were using while
they were at Khan’s. She ran up the stairs and locked the door behind her. Telling
him to hang on, she stripped down and got on the bed.

“Where are you?” She told him. “Christ,
I wish I was there. Touch yourself for me, Jonny. Tell me how you feel.”

“Wet. And hot. My fingers are coated
with my juices, and my clit is hard.” She brushed against it and moaned. “Marc,
I’m going to come like this. Will you come with me?”