Page 14 of Dark Flame

Flip gave a low growl, and Kat just laughed, picking up the dishes and storing them in the cooler. With the fire doused and everything packed up again, the team headed out on the road and toward their new home.

Home.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The woman stretched her long tanned legs and flinched slightly at the tugging of the sutures around her many artfully hidden scars. The luxury cabana behind her was quiet, her private nurse the only person in residence other than herself. Well, other than herself and the half-dozen bodyguards milling about the property. She smiled as the ocean waves lapped against the white sand of the beach, the aquamarine waters glistening in the sun, the sound almost lulling her to sleep.

Almost.

Instead, her mind was racing in a million different directions, multi-millions, to be precise. There was no need to stress, no need to feel rushed. She had millions of dollars readily available. She could survive for the rest of her life on the money she possessed.

Yet she couldn’t help but feel the anger rise at the thought of the millions of dollars those freaks took from her. The burning need for revenge filled her chest as she thought of not only the thieves but the man who walked away from her. No man left her. NONE!

She picked up the hand-held mirror on the table beside her and glanced at her unrecognizable face once more. The bandages were still tight around her face, and around her nose. Her ears even had bandages. After all, when you’re doing a full reconstruction, you can’t forget even the littlest of details, like the ears.

Her once bleached blonde hair was now a soft subtle brown. She set the mirror down and glanced at her body. Her legs, still covered in bruises from the surgeries, her slim, tight thighs stretched before her. She ran the palm of her hand over her flat stomach and up to the once D cups, now B cups, so perfectly shaped and perched on her chest.

The old letch loved her hanging her big tits in his face as they fucked. He’d loved her big tits since she was just a teenager. It helped to fulfill his fantasies with the young girl, her taut body and need for power and pain matching his own.

He’d plucked her from abject poverty, helping all her fantasies come true. What did it matter if she had to fuck the old man in the process? He’d loved her teenage body, and she loved seeing the power she possessed with it. It was as if the whole world suddenly opened for her. It had never occurred to her that she could use her body as a weapon, as a tool.

That’s exactly what she did. Anything she wanted, anything she needed, she learned the art of seduction made all the difference in the world. Make an incident in school go away? No problem. Spread your legs for the principal, or suck his cock. Have a problem with a police officer? No worries. Get in the back seat and take off your panties. It was so ridiculously easy.

As Moore got older and needed more help, she would intentionally bounce harder, making her breasts bounce like rubber balls against her chest so he would get off faster. That way, she could leave to spend time with one of her many side distractions. He couldn’t do anything without a lot of pharmaceutical help, but he enjoyed touching. She played along because she had to.

Almost twenty-five years now, she’d played the game. All so that she could control the ultimate army. An army, that once in her possession, she would kill. What Moore never fully understood was that the children, now adults, were uncontrollable. She knew that little detail and kept it from him. They were of absolutely no use if they were unable to be controlled.

The records of the children swirled in her head. One thing they couldn’t fix was her memory, and it was fading. She reviewed every file in Moore’s possession, but the memories of those children and their gifts were fading for her. That damned fire-starter burned every record kept.

She smiled up at the young cabana boy as he set her morning smoothie on the table beside her. His tanned, lean body rippled in the sunlight. He couldn’t be more than eighteen or nineteen, but he was eager and hungry, just like she wanted.

“Thank you, Raoul,” she grinned.

“You are most welcome,señorita,” he smiled as she rubbed a palm over the front of his shorts.

He knew how to play games as well. His cock stretched the fabric taut, and she rubbed her legs together like a praying mantis, feeling the wet slickness of her opening. He unzipped his shorts, his cock bouncing free, and she kissed it sweetly.

Opening her legs slightly, he knelt down and buried his head between her thighs. She gripped his dark hair as his tongue lapped against her. The youthful muscle penetrated in and out, his firm grip making her new nipples painful.

But her cool demeanor acted as if nothing were happening, staring intently at the crashing waves, the gulls diving and flying high once more in time with Raoul’s young, strong tongue plunging inside her body and then out again.

She sipped the cold concoction as her mind swirled. William Groome. Her one-time sex toy and whipping boy. Bastard! He’d left her when they could have teamed up and had it all. He might remember. He might remember things she could not.

Time. Time was what she needed now. Healing time and time to plan. She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling the sun against her skin and Raoul’s tongue inside her.

Time.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kane stepped out onto the porch and greeted the trio and their haul. The day was clear and cool, a crisp nip of fall air in the mountains. He was glad to see his friends had returned safe and sound. Although they were in constant communication, he worried the same as if they were his blood family. He pondered that thought. Family. They were his family. Everyone here was family now.

“How was the trip?” he asked, bear-hugging Flip and then Spook.

“Relatively uneventful,” said Flip, looking at Nat.

He knew she wouldn’t want them to say anything, but Kane was good at what he did, and he would get it out of them one way or another. His senses would immediately pick up on something and pry it out of Nat.

“What does that mean?” said Kane suspiciously.

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