Relentless Liberation (11 page)

The wet sounds of their meeting flesh filled the room and
her ears and she moaned into his mouth at the erotic music they made. He yanked
her ass to the edge of the counter and spread her out wider, going deeper.

She had to rip her mouth away from him then. “Oh God, yeah,
right there,” she gasped and he moved to hit that perfect spot harder. “Uh…fuck
Tyler…don’t…I can’t…”

“Yeah you can, baby.” His thumb found her clit, adding just
the right amount of pressure. “I’m right here so just let it go.” He slammed
into her and rotated his hips and it set her off. The pleasure sparked behind
her eyes as her whole body shook. The shock wave of her orgasm was so intense
it bordered on pain and her head fell back as she cried out.

His release was only a space behind hers and they rocked
together until the storm passed and the tremors stopped.

At long last, he cupped her face in his hands and locked his
gaze with hers. “Jesus,” he whispered, kissing her lips softly. “You’re so
beautiful, Mina.”

And the way he looked at her then. The reverence and wonder
that shone in his eyes tugged at her heartstrings. She didn’t know how the hell
she was going to let him go when he inevitably got sick of her. She could feel
herself getting way too attached but there wasn’t anything she could do about
it.

A low hiss and sizzle snapped her out of her haze. She
jerked her head toward the timer on her oven and found that it had gone off
eight minutes ago and she hadn’t even heard it.

“Shit!” She pushed him away and jumped down from the
counter. His low laughter filled her ears as she tugged on her oven mitts and
pulled the pan out of the oven to rest on the stove. She shot a glare over her
shoulder. “I hope you were in the mood for crispy chicken.”

Turing to face him, she was just in time to see him tugging
his jeans up over his lean hips, zipping up but not bothering with the top
button. He shrugged before coming forward to kiss her lips. “The burned parts
will give me sexy flashbacks.”

She pinched his side and he danced out of her reach with a
scowl. But his eyes raked her body and it was then she realized that she was
standing in the middle of her kitchen completely naked except for a pair of
oven mitts. She felt her skin flush ten shades of red.

A slow smile spread his kiss-swollen lips. “Yeah, it was
totally worth it.” He sauntered back to the table to grab his beer, but not
before she saw him rubbing the patch of skin where she’d gotten him.

Yeah
, she thought with a smile.
It totally was
.

“So Adam thinks that his dog’s deaf now,” Tyler was saying
as he and Mina left the café.

Of course this random bit of information had absolutely
nothing to do with what they had been talking about only a second before and it
had her stopping short to utter a confused, “what?”

“Yeah, he called me last night all freaked out about it,” he
said as he held the door open for her.

“Well, that could actually be kind of serious, Tyler. Why
does he think that?”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “He said he thinks so because Captain
Weenie keeps trying to run away and he won’t come back when he calls for him.”

“Wait.” She stopped walking to look up at him. “He named his
dog Captain Weenie?”

“Yup,” he said without missing a beat. “Anyway, so Adam keeps
trying to sneak up on the poor thing and yell to see if the noise startles him.
That’s his test to see if the Captain really is deaf.”

Clearing her throat to stop the laugh that was about to
escape, Mina said, “Right. I’m sure Captain Weenie is just hard of hearing. I
can’t imagine any other reason that dog might not come when he’s called.”

The corner of Tyler’s lips twitched as he gazed down at her
and she couldn’t contain a small laugh. This had him snorting, which made her
giggle, until they were both howling outright at Tyler’s ridiculous brother.

She was wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye when
she realized someone was calling her name.

At first she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her,
but the closer the woman speaking to her got, the more she realized that there
was nothing wrong with her vision. The laughter died on her lips as dread ran
down her body in icy spikes and her stomach churned.

“Mina? Oh my God, is that you?” The tall, leggy brunette
coming toward her looked better suited for the runway than for the sidewalk
outside the small bookstore.

Mina croaked a little before stammering, “What…what are you
doing here?” And more importantly, how had
she
found her?

“Oh Mina, still eloquent as ever I see.” She tilted her head,
sending her long hair to cascade over her shoulder. She rolled her eyes in a
forgotten move so familiar it dumped Mina right back into the skin she’d worn
when she’d last seen it.

“I’m sorry,” she said automatically before she could think
better of it. This woman didn’t deserve the sentiment. “But really, what are
you doing here?”

“My cousin Ruby actually lives here, believe it or not.
Anyway, she just had a baby so I was obliged to visit.” She waved that away and
pursed her lips as though her cousin had the audacity to create new life
without consulting her schedule first. “Well, don’t you look just the same.” She
raked her steel-blue gaze down Mina’s frame with a disdainful smirk on her
lips. Then her hawklike eyes caught sight of Tyler standing next to her and lit
up with sudden interest. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

No, she really didn’t want to, but there was no socially
acceptable way of getting around it. So she gritted her teeth and made the
briefest introduction possible. “Daisy, this is Tyler. Tyler, Daisy.”

Dark eyes narrowed. “Oh so you’re Daisy.” There was interest
in his tone but Mina knew it wasn’t the type of interest Daisy was used to or
expecting. Still, it didn’t stop the self-satisfied smile that crept onto
Daisy’s face.

“Oh of course Mina’s told you about me.” As if Mina had
nothing better to do than go on and on about how wonderful Daisy was to
everyone she came in contact with.

An evil little smirk touched Tyler’s lips. “Yeah, I’ve heard
about you. Daisy the Twat.” He cocked his head to the side and gave her an once-over.
“I gotta say now that I see you? You clearly suffer from delusions of grandeur ’cause
you’re not nearly as hot as I know you think you are.”

Daisy’s pretty mouth dropped open in shock before snapping
closed in outrage. But before she could say a word, Tyler shrugged, then turned
to Mina as though Daisy was no longer there. “I gotta get back to the bar,
baby. But I’ll see you tonight?”

When she nodded, almost as speechless as Daisy seemed to be,
he cupped her face in his hands and bent down to kiss her like it was his job.
He tilted her head back to get a better angle as he conquered her mouth, and
when he pulled back, she felt dazed and maybe even a little weak-kneed. “See
you later,” he murmured against her lips before giving her another quick kiss.
And with that he turned and walked to his car, again ignoring Daisy as though
she didn’t exist.

Mina fell just a little bit more in love with him as she
watched him walk away.

“Who was that asshole?” Daisy snapped and brought Mina’s
attention back to her.

“That was my boyfriend,” she said using the b-word just to
rub it into Daisy’s face, even if it wasn’t quite true. “And I’d appreciate it
if you didn’t call him an asshole.”

Daisy raised a surprised eyebrow and let out an unladylike
snort. “Yeah, I guess we’ll see how long that lasts.”

Mina scowled but just being in Daisy’s presence again was
causing her to revert to some of her old, timid behavior. This visit was so
unexpected that all of the scathing things she’d fantasized she’d say if she
ever saw Daisy again went right out of her head. Instead all she could do was
stand there and let Daisy’s huge personality steamroll right over her.

“But seriously, how strange to run into you after all this
time. And here of all places,” she said with a saccharine-sweet smile, Tyler’s
insults apparently forgotten. On the surface anyway. Mina knew her well enough
to know that her blood would be boiling over what he’d said for a few days. But
ever the good actress, she didn’t let it show. “Whatever are you doing here?”

This was an opportunity. She could say that she and Tyler
were visiting too and indeed what a strange coincidence that would be. This
disastrous reunion could still be salvaged. Daisy never had to know that Mina
was a permanent resident of this small town she that found so abhorrent.

She had just opened her mouth to make up some story when
Mary, a middle-aged coworker of hers, walked out of the store. “Hey, have a
good night, Mina. I’ll see you on the early shift tomorrow, right?”

Frozen, all Mina could do was nod. Mary smiled and ambled
away, unaware of what she’d just done.

“Oh my God, don’t tell me you work here?” That deviant light
that Mina had had nightmares about lit up Daisy’s eyes and she could practically
see the wheels turning in her calculating stare.

Shit
. She had to tell her the truth now. “Yes, Daisy,
I work here.” Didn’t mean she had to elaborate.

“Thatcher, Doug and I had wondered what happened to you and
where you went after you dropped out our sophomore year. Doug tried to find you
for the longest time, you know.” Her perfect features turned reproachful.

Yeah right. As though Mina should feel contrite for dodging
his efforts to find her. That bastard was lucky evading him was all she did.
She didn’t even know why he wanted to find her so badly. The last time she’d
seen Doug was
that
night.

After what happened between them she would have thought that
he would have been glad she’d left. No witnesses to incriminate him. Besides,
he’d never cared for her. All he and Daisy had ever done was tear her down.

“Well, looks like you’ve found me.” Her anger over the
entire situation, for all the years that Daisy kept her under her thumb, was
finally starting to surface and make itself known. She didn’t owe Daisy a damn
thing and wouldn’t get into details about where she had been for the last four
years. Daisy more than likely knew where she’d been anyway up until now, though
it wasn’t any of her business.

Willing the conversation to end and for Daisy to move along
and leave her alone, Mina turned to walk into the store.

Unfortunately Daisy didn’t get the hint. Or, probably more
accurately, she did but didn’t care. She was never one to just be dismissed by
anyone, so she ignored Mina’s subtle clues and followed her.

“It really has been too long since I’ve seen you. You were
like a sister to me growing up.” The overload of syrupy sweetness in Daisy’s
voice, along with the feigned sincerity, was enough to make Mina gag. “What
happened to us that you just ran away, Mina?”

Now
that
was unbelievable, so much so that Mina could
only spin around to face her former friend and gape incredulously. The
self-satisfied smile gracing her lips made Mina want to punch her. She snapped
her jaw shut and narrowed her eyes as she took a page from Tyler’s book and got
up in her face. “You know exactly what happened, you cold-hearted bitch, so
stop acting like an innocent little idiot.”

The wide-eyed look on Daisy’s face filled Mina with a
modicum of satisfaction but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough unless
Daisy could feel the kind of pain she’d inflicted on her. But, Mina thought
with a sneer, you could only experience the intensity of such a thing if you
were capable of human emotion and Daisy was far from human.

Just then Chloe rounded the corner and spotted them. She
knew Mina well enough to know that something was very wrong with this situation
and Mina had never been so grateful to have a real friend in her corner than at
that moment.

“Mina, everything okay?” Chloe stepped forward, concern
written all over her features.

Daisy once again regained her composure and that insidious
smirk returned to her face. “Well, Mina, I won’t keep you. I know you’re busy
and have a lot of
work
to do.” She laughed as though the idea of
actually working was absurd. “Doug will be so interested to know where you’ve
disappeared to. The four of us will definitely have to get together soon and
catch up.”

Mina recognized it for the threat it was, and for the first
time in months, white-hot fear slithered down her spine. But she refused to let
it show and give Daisy any more enjoyment. So instead she straightened her
spine and said, “Looks like you still have yet to get a life. But do what you
want, Daisy, because it sure as shit doesn’t affect me.”

With that she turned her back on her, no longer caring if
she decided to take the hint and leave or stood there until the end of the
world. Mina was done with this conversation.

Based on Chloe’s next question, though, Daisy must have
sauntered off. “Who was that self-important bitch?”

“Just some stupid girl I used to know.” Mina’s hands were
shaking with a combination of fear and anger as she walked to the back of the
store. She knew more questions were coming, so she headed Chloe off and said,
“If it’s all right with you, I need a minute outside. Would you mind covering
for me?”

The concern never left Chloe’s face but she nodded. “No,
sweetie, I don’t mind. Go ahead.”

It was like she had tunnel vision as she made a beeline
straight for the back door. Once outside, she took in much-needed gulps of
fresh air and concentrated on slowing her heart rate. There was no way Daisy
wasn’t going to tell Doug where she was. If Mina had ever had any hopes that
the two of them hadn’t kept in touch, they had been eviscerated by Daisy’s
parting comment. The only question now was what to do about it.

It wasn’t that long ago when the answer would have been
simple. Pick up and find another town. In the past, she’d never formed any
attachments, so it had been easy to just leave. But now? Here? There were
people who genuinely seemed to care about her. She couldn’t just leave them
behind without any explanation. Especially not Tyler. He deserved better than
that.

Daisy’s threats weren’t hollow and Mina knew that if she
didn’t run, they would find her and there would be a reckoning. But this time
she wasn’t without support. Maybe she could finally stand up to them. Maybe
this time it would be okay.

But it would be nasty when Doug finally found her. It had
taken him years to finally give up searching for her. Back then she had been so
scared that he wouldn’t ever give up. So she’d moved from place to place until
finally he had stopped sending messages.

For the longest time, it had seemed like no matter where she
went or how often she changed her phone number, he had had the uncanny ability
to find her. He would start by calling her, and at first the messages would be
soft and pleading. But when she didn’t answer him, he would get angrier and
more obscene.

Then, after a few weeks, he would start sending things to
her home. Flowers and love letters. But the tone of the messages was always
off, always disquieting, with an underlying feeling that he was mocking her.

So then she would move and be in a new place for a few
months when the process would start all over again. Until her latest move. She
had lost him when she’d come here and it had been such a relief. Lord knew she
had suffered enough because of him.

And Daisy. Who now knew where she was.

God, why had it taken her so long to realize what a
manipulative user Daisy was? In Tyler’s words—what a twat.

Tyler
. Just thinking about him made her feel better,
safer. Even though, for whatever reason, he wouldn’t commit to her, she knew
that he cared for her. No matter what happened, he would stand by her. He’d
told her often enough he enjoyed taking care of her. And even though he
couldn’t tell her what his demons were, it was time she confided in him and
told him hers. She didn’t have a choice now and he needed to know.

So it’s settled
, she thought with a deep breath,
somehow feeling better just for having made the decision. Tonight after the
fight she would tell Tyler about Daisy and Doug. The whole story. He was
different—what they had was real, even if it never got past great friendship.

She just hoped like hell her instincts about him weren’t
wrong.