Bad Girl Lessons (12 page)

“Don’t do this! At least cut me loose and give us a chance!”

He shook his head sadly, “It’s a shame, Ms. Harper. You’re a very lovely woman. More of a lady than your late cousin could have ever hoped to be.”

Evie watched him walk away, her head reeling and her stomach on the verge of heaving. When the door closed, the sound of the lock snipping into place spurred her into action. Sawing the ropes back and forth on the bedrail, she trembled when she heard the splash of gasoline and smelled the familiar, overwhelming odor.

“Fuck it hurts to get shot,” he hissed.

Relief washed through her at the sound of his voice. “Jackson! I thought--” she couldn’t bring herself to finish.

Jackson knew what she had thought. Since blood was literally pouring from him, he knew that it wasn’t out of the question. He grabbed the cord of a broken lamp and pulled it toward him. He smacked it against the floor until another piece of the glass broke off. Taking the shard in his hand, he pulled himself over to the bed and placed it between Evie’s fingers. The broken glass was infinitely quicker than the rusted bed rail and within seconds, the frayed ropes snapped. He smiled, but felt his eyes closing against his will. A sharp slap to his face pulled him back to consciousness and to Evie’s irate form struggling to pull him to his feet.

“There’s a window in the bathroom that if we can get it open, we might be able to get out,” she panted brokenly.

Somehow, she got him upright. It had to be sheer determination on her part, he thought, cause he’d been no help at all. Still, he leaned against the wall and tried to stay in that position as he ignored the burning pain in his ribs and the blood that was trickling freely down his side. He felt her arms sliding around his chest, supporting his weight, as she struggled to get them to the other room. Flames were beginning to lick along the front wall of the motel room.

In the bathroom, he leaned against the filthy shower wall as Evie fought with the window that had been painted shut decades earlier. He would have offered to help but knew that at the moment he was more of a hindrance. The blood loss was taking a toll and it was all he could do to remain upright. As he listened to Evie cursing the window, he smiled.

“I don’t think you need any more bad girl lessons, Evie. You’ve got the lingo down pat.”

“Now, Jackson Cope, is not the fucking time!” she shouted. Spying the remnants of the shower curtain balled up in the corner, Evie grabbed it and tried to ignore the dirt as she wrapped it around her hand. She said a quick prayer as she punched the window with all the strength she could muster. Smoke was already filtering into the bathroom when the glass cracked under her fist. She hit it again and the glass shattered. Pulling in lungfuls of the clean air, she grabbed Jackson and pushed him toward the window.

“You’re going out first,” he said.

“No, I’m not! If I go out first there’s no way in hell you can make it out on your own. Now just shut the fuck up and climb.”

Jackson followed her orders because he was simply too weak to do anything else. Using his uninjured side, he levered himself up on the window sill and shimmied through the narrow opening. His landing was less than graceful and he hit the hard packed earth with an impact that made him sea stars. He watched from the ground as Evie hoisted herself up and out of the window. She landed in a heap beside him.

For the longest moment, neither of them said a word. “Phone,” he finally managed. “Reed’s close by.”

Evie got to her feet, and once again was pulling Jackson up with her. She didn’t have the strength to get him around to the front of the motel, but she at least wanted him further away from the building. Half dragging and half carrying him, she took in the pallor of his skin and began to panic anew. Tears were choking her when she heard the sound of Reed’s voice calling out.

“We’re here!” she screamed. “Behind the building! Jackson’s been shot!”

Reed appeared at the side of the building and rushed forward. He lifted Jackson onto his shoulders in a fireman’s carry and pulled Evie with him to the front lot. She could hear the wail of sirens in the distance. Lowering Jackson to the ground, Reed ripped Jackson’s shirt off of him and pressed it to the wound. He placed Evie’s hands over it, “Hold that! Put as much pressure on it as you can!”

Evie didn’t hesitate. She just nodded and watched as Reed ran toward the road to wave the paramedics over. With the debris cluttered lot, it would have taken precious time for them to locate them. Time ceased to have any meaning. Evie was only barely aware of the noise around her, of the men screaming instructions to one another and to her. She simply held on to Jackson and prayed with everything she had in her.

It was Reed who pulled her back. He grabbed her arms and lifted her bodily away from Jackson as the paramedics loaded him onto a board and into the back of the ambulance. “We’ll meet them at the hospital.”

“I need to stay with him!”

“Evie, it’s bad. Really bad. They need the room in the back to work on him in case--”

“In case he dies on the way?”

“Yes, Evie. Let’s go. I’ll get you there. I promise.”

Numb, she allowed Reed to lead her to Jackson’s truck, where he pulled a spare key from the wheel well. She kept her eyes trained on the ambulance in front of them, fearing that at some point during the drive they would turn off the sirens, signaling the end. By the time they reached the hospital, tears were streaming unchecked from her eyes, but she hadn’t made a sound.

Reed helped her from the truck and led her inside. Jackson was rushed straight into surgery and she was taken to a small cubicle in the Emergency Room where her cuts and abrasions were catalogued and recorded as evidence before being treated and were then photographed again. The ropes that were still tied around her wrists were bagged as evidence and her clothes were taken as well. Marginally cleaner, she was given a pair of scrubs to put on and returned to the surgery waiting area where Reed still sat stonefaced and silent. Her mother and father were there, as well. Phillip rose and pulled her into his embrace, and Evie finally snapped. The silent tears gave way to great hiccuping sobs.

“Evie, my sweet girl! I could kill Trevor for this!”

“I don’t think you’ll need to,” she said on a watery sigh. She told them about Tony Davano and that the police had already taken him into custody after rescuing Trevor from the trunk. Reed had filled her in on that as soon as they arrived at the hospital. She recounted the entire sordid tale as they waited. When it was done, they all fell silent and stared at the waiting room walls. It seemed like hours passed before the surgeon came out to update them.

“For right now, he’s in critical condition but he’s stable. The bullet didn’t pierce any major organs but it did nick an artery. He lost a lot of blood and has a few broken ribs for his trouble. The blood loss is really the key issue here.”

“When can I see him?”

“They’re moving him to recovery now and from there, he’ll go to the unit. When they get him settled in recovery, I’ll give you a few minutes with him, but once he’s on the unit, you’re at their mercy.”

Fifteen minutes later, Evie was standing beside Jackson’s hospital bed, looking down at his incredibly pale face and noting the brackets around his mouth. She couldn’t stand the thought that he might be in pain. “I’m so sorry! This is all my fault!”

His eyes fluttered open, “I will spank you for that... soon as I’m able.”

Evie laughed, but it turned into a sob. “I shouldn’t say it. I know it’s stupid and you’ll probably never want to see me again, but I love you.”

He smiled then. “I loved you first.”

Epilogue

The nights had given way to cooler, Fall-like temperatures and Evie was savoring the sensation of lying on the rug in front of her new fireplace. She had bought the house with her father’s help after getting the mess Trevor had created taken care of. Hearing Jackson’s footsteps in the hall, she smiled. Rolling to her side, she let her robe fall open, revealing the black lace nightie that she knew he would love. When he entered the living room and stopped dead in his tracks, she greeted him, “It’s about time you got home.”

“Coaching high school football is hard work,” he said, unzipping his jacket and tossing it onto the stack of boxes that still sat in the corner. His shirt followed, and then he was kicking off his shoes and sliding his jeans down his long legs.

“Well, your work is far from done, Jackson Cope. I suggest you get over here and earn your keep.” He crossed the room and joined her on the rug, but Evie quickly turned the tables on him. She rose up over him, straddling his lean hips. “The first rule,” she said, reaching for a length of satin ribbon that was lying beside the rug, “Is that a kept man must follow orders.”

Jackson narrowed his eyes at her. “What exactly are you planning, Evie?”

Evie leaned forward and grasped his wrists, looping the ribbon around them, “I am planning to teach a few lessons of my own.”

Jackson allowed her to loop the ribbon around his wrists. He even submitted to the big giant bow she tied the ribbon with, his only response was one raised eyebrow. “You’re the Martha Stewart of dominatrixes now?”

“I’m not as mean as Martha,” she said with a grin as she shrugged the robe off her shoulders, revealing creamy, white skin and black lace.

“Lord, you’re gonna be the death of me,” he said.

Evie kissed him then, not taking his mouth, but pressing soft kisses to his jaw, his neck, tugging at his ear lobe with her teeth. All the while, she touched his chest, her hands skimming over the hair roughened skin, toying with the flat discs of his nipples. With his cock nestled in the juncture of her thighs, she could feel his response. His cock was so hard and every harsh breath and gutteral groan that escaped him was her reward. The ribbon merely gave her the illusion of control, she knew, but she was enjoying the fact that Jackson was willing to play along.

“Dammit, Evie!”

Evie slid further down his body, her mouth moving sensually over his stomach. She paused, her lips poised just inches from his cock. “I could always stop if you really wanted me to.”

“No...for the love of God, no,” he said, his breathing labored.

Evie laughed as she dipped lower, her lips gently brushing the glistening crown. She didn’t take him into her mouth, but skimmed her lips and tongue over every inch of his cock. She could feel the tension coiling in his body as the anticipation built. Slowly, she licked his cock, starting at the plum shaped head and working down his shaft, until she reached the tight spheres of his balls. With teasing licks, she drove him to the brink before taking the head of his cock into her mouth. Relaxing her jaw she worked her mouth over him, taking as much of him as she could. His thighs were straining with tension, his hips thrusting upward. Slowly, she began to move, feeling the glorious slide of his cock over her tongue as she withdrew, only to tighten her mouth and pull him in again.

“Christ, Evie! I can’t take it anymore!”

Evie relented, working her mouth back up to the tip of his cock before letting him go with one last lick that had him shuddering. “Then tell me what you want, Jackson.”

“I want to be inside you,” he said.

She moved over him, her hips straddling his and the wet slit of her pussy teasing the crown of his cock. “Oh, no... You don’t get off that easy. You have to tell me precisely what you want and you have to use the dirtiest words possible.”

Had he not been in agony, Jackson would have laughed at having his own lessons tossed back in his face. His voice was harsh with lust when he answered her, “I want to slide my cock inside your pussy. I want to feel how wet and tight you are for me. I want to feel every ripple of your cunt as you cum for me.”

Evie shuddered. “That’s not playing fair.”

“Bad boys don’t play fair,” he reminded her.

Evie grasped his cock in her hand and guided him inside her, her body clenching hotly around him. With a gentle, teasing undulation of her hips, she took him deeper and deeper until he was seated to the hilt. Without moving, she began to clench her pussy, massaging his cock with the rhythmic contractions of her sheath. Jackson’s breath hissed out between clenched teeth.

“Bad girls don’t play fair, either,” she said.

Jackson raised his bound hands, looping them behind her head and tugging her down to him for a ravishing kiss. He stroked his tongue boldly into her mouth as he thrust his hips forward, tunneling into her with reckless abandon. He moved his hands down over her back, cupping her ass, holding her to him as he drove into her again and again. He felt her shuddering against him and swallowed her cries as she came. Unable to hold back any longer, he thrust into her welcoming heat one last time, his body shuddering as he came.

Afterwards, Evie lay draped over his chest, her head nestled against his shoulder. Both of them were too replete to move. But there were pressing matters to attend to, Jackson thought. “Are you planning to untie me sometime today?”

“Maybe...When I can move,” she replied with a satisfied smirk.

Jackson raised his arms and used his teeth to grasp the ribbon and untie the bow, before dropping it to the floor beside them. “We’ll hang on to that for later.” Evie protested when he turned them over so that she was flat on her back on the floor. “I would tell you not get your panties in a twist,” he said, “But you’ve given up wearing them.”

“You’re a bad influence,” she retorted.

Jackson rose and walked over to the stack of boxes, where he retrieved his jacket and carried it back with him. He dug in the pockets for a second before producing a small, black velvet box. “Well, seeing as how I’ve thoroughly corrupted you, the least I can do is marry you, right?”

Evie sat up and stared at the box in utter shock. When Jackson lifted the lid to reveal a large diamond in an antique setting, she felt tears burning her eyes. “You want to get married?”

“I want to get married to you,” he replied with emphasis. “You’re it for me, Evie. You always have been. I’ve been in love with you since we were kids. I can’t imagine ever wanting to be with anyone else.”