Charity's Warrior (15 page)

Now that there is a reason, my heart begins to pound.

He isn't moving, just leaning against the wall. The dark opening of the hoodie is aimed right at me, as if he is just waiting for the taxi to get out of the way.

Justin finally answers.

Panic threatens to overtake me.

I need you. Please be home!

"Are you home? Tell me you're upstairs?" I begged. It was obvious from my voice that I wanted help.

"Yes, I am. What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm downstairs, outside; I think the guy that attacked me is here." I heard a familiar beep, recognizing it as the sound of the elevator buttons. He was already on the way. "I have the taxi driver waiting, so I'm not alone."

"Good! I'm coming!" he said. "Stay on with me."

"I will—I am. Just hurry," I demanded.

"Do you still see him?" Justin asked.

"I wasn't watching, I was trying to act
normal
," I replied.

Justin's voice is cracking with anger. "Look! It's okay, just look and see if he's any closer. Just a quick peek."

I did what he asked, but didn't see anything, so I did it again, longer this time.

"I don't see him," I said. "I think he's gone."

"Okay, just don't do anything yet. I'm almost down."

I can hear the elevator beeping as it drops by floors and the chime when the doors open.

"I'm here," was all he said as he hung up. The front doors behind me burst open and Justin ran to my side.

"Where?" he demanded.

He is a chest-heaving, fists-clenched, lips-curled mass of raw, protective emotion. If I wasn't so scared right now, I'd be ripping his clothes off.

I pointed across the street. "He was there, but he's gone now. I think between the taxi waiting for me, and me being on the phone, he got freaked and took off."

Justin put himself in front of me, grabbing my wrist to make sure I stayed safely behind him as he eagerly studied the crowd. There is nothing to see, but I think he wants there to be, then he could get his hands on someone and displace his anger.

"What did he look like?" he asked.

"A dark hoodie was all I got again. He was there, and he was definitely watching me," I said.

The taxi driver got back out of the car. "Are you okay now, you need to pay."

I started to move toward him, grabbing my bag to get money, but Justin, still holding my wrist, tugged me back. "I got it," he said. "Let me know if you see the guy again."

It pisses me off that he won't let me pay, but I love that he doesn't care and takes care of me anyway.

He took a single step before jerking to a stop and turning. "Are all these bags yours?" he asked, making me laugh.

"Yes. I signed the lease today," I answered.

He paid the driver and began picking up my things as the taxi pulled away. "Come on, I'll help you bring this up. I'm sure the guy was scared away."

"If it was the same guy," I said.

Justin shrugged. "Doesn't matter either way, whoever it was, they're gone, but I'll feel much better when we get you off the street."

I realize he is still doing his best to block me from the street, keeping himself between me and where my stalker had been. His eyes darted from person to person, car to car. It touched me that he was so concerned. That first time at the bar it may have just been his sense of decency, but tonight I could smell the raw emotion on him, there was much more to it now.

We were able to get every bag. I don't know how I would have managed if he wasn't here. Most likely, I would have had to tip the doorman to help me. We stuffed ourselves into the elevator and rode it to my floor.

"I can't believe I'm unlocking my own door in New York City," I said excitedly as I twisted the key.

"Wow, I get to be the first man in your apartment," Justin jokes, the stress now gone from his face.

I laughed. "I have to warn you, it's going to look very familiar."

We pushed into my living room and dropped the bags. Justin shook out his sore hands as he glanced around.

"Yep, exactly like mine, reminds me of my move in day."

I'd offer you something," I said, "but I don't have anything but tap water, and no glass to put it in."

Justin laughed. "When are you moving in officially?" he asked.

"Saturday, my bed and furniture gets delivered in the am. I'm getting all the utilities and internet turned on, and getting all my shopping done all week until then."

There was nothing else to do here, I was simply dropping off my stuff, and that was done. We looked around silently for a moment.

"You're going back to the hotel?" he asked, turning to me.

I nodded.

"I'll go with you," he said.

I like that he didn't ask, he told me he was coming. I haven't yet fully convinced myself that tonight was just a coincidence, just a guy in a hoodie with his own things to do, and I didn't want to be alone yet. Justin was not going to make me ask for it. He knew exactly what I wanted, what I needed.

He walked over to me and put his arm around my back on my waist. "Let's go, Warrior."

Really, I don't know what it is about taxi rides with Justin. I think it's just the idea of being in a backseat with him, but it wasn't long before all I could think about was ripping his dark polo off of him and unzipping his jeans with my teeth.

Maybe I need a doctor. I love orgasms, but I was never addicted to sex the way I am with Justin.

Maybe his cock shoots heroin!

I laughed at myself and Justin looks at me, wanting to be in on the joke. "Just something about the girls from work," I said, blowing it off. I needed to change the subject. "What do you do, exactly; you've never mentioned your work?"

"Insurance," he said.

In the glow of the street lights, I turned and looked at his face. He looked right back at me, smiling.

"Yes, it's boring and that's why I never bring it up," he said, laughing.

I was still giggling when I said, "Then tell me something not boring about you." I grabbed the inside of his thigh with my hand and used it as leverage to pull myself closer.

"Okay," he started, "how about the fact that you just slid a little closer to an ex con?"

I don't know what to say to that.

Justin laughed at me. "Got you stumped now," he said. "Don't worry, it was a stupid thing I did as a kid. I was going through some stuff."

Thanks to Lena, I believe I knew exactly what he means by that.

"What did you do?" I asked, secretly excited that he was opening up to me.

He sighed. "I beat up my cousin—but I promise I had a good reason," he said quickly, defending his actions. "I was living with my aunt and cousin at the time. My father had recently passed away, and I was having an extremely rough time with it. He was all I had, my mother was a failure, and she was gone. My dad, that was hard."

I squeezed him, letting him know it was alright.

"My aunt was the only family around, so I was sent to live with her and her brat. My cousin and I had already hated each other by this point, but I didn't have a choice. I suppose he didn't either, but that was no reason for what he did, the things he said to me. I could take him talking about my mother, but he had no right to put my dad down, none at all," he said.

The sadness was still in him, flowing in his veins. It breaks my heart.

"He could have just left me alone," Justin continued. "I was afraid of him. He was older and bigger, he went his way and I went mine, and I liked it that way, but this time he went out of his way to get me. The day he called my father a quitter, said he was in hell where he belonged, I lost it. He was in the hospital for a week, ended up needing reconstructive surgery on his broken cheek. I saw him not too long ago; his eye on that side still looks crooked."

"He deserved it," I said, taking up for Justin. "He asked for it and he got it!"

"See, that's what I said," Justin added, smiling, and glad I saw it as he did. "But my aunt and cousin, and the police, they didn't see it like that. I was close enough to seventeen to be charged as an adult, but since my aunt kicked me out, and I had no prior record, they sent me to a boy’s home and then a city group home until I was eighteen."

"I'm so sorry," I told him. "You were down, and they kicked you."

The oddest expression settled on Justin's face. If not for my talk with Lena today, I wouldn't have had a clue what it was—relief! He'd just exposed a side of himself he kept hidden from everyone, a test to see if I would handle it, which I did without bringing his world down around him.

Now was not the time to pry for more, he had exactly what he needed from me, so I changed the subject.

"If you're around tomorrow, I may need help bringing in all my kitchenware. You came in pretty handy tonight," I teased.

He dropped his hand into my lap. "Handy, really? I'll have to see what else I can do for you tonight."

The driver pulled over in front of my hotel and yelled the price back to us. Once again, Justin wouldn't let me pay. I argued, but he was not having it. He paid and I led him into the hotel, crossing the lobby with my hand tucked in his.

At the reception desk, I glanced and caught the woman at the counter smirking at me. She's been watching me come and go alone for the last three weeks. She knows exactly what I’m doing tonight. I ignored her and headed for the elevators.

Justin brushed my hand away from the buttons, not letting me press to go up. He hit the down arrow instead.

"Have you seen the garage they have under here?" he asked.

"What are you talking about? Why does the garage matter?" I asked, annoyed that he is wasting our time.

An elevator arrived and he pulled me on, ignoring my questions and pressing “G3.”

The doors closed. "Justin, what are you doing?" I asked again, secretly curious at his surprise.

He smiled devilishly. "Just what I said, showing you their garage."

The doors were opening already, into a dimly lit parking garage as promised. Beyond the elevator doors on the left, the wall was painted green with a huge, white "G3" in the middle of it. Justin led me out, the clapping of our shoes echoing almost endlessly in the quiet space. There was no one else down here, unless they were sleeping in their car, otherwise we would hear them.

We wound through the rows of cars on a mission that I didn't yet understand. I have no clue what he is looking for, but he hasn't found it yet. When we had reached the furthest wall, the most private corner down here, he slowed, still ignoring my pleas. His eyes are on the cars, searching.

Finally, he stopped. "This will do," he said, pulling me in between a Chevy Silverado that looked like it was three feet off the ground and a white Alfa Romeo 8C Spider. He pulled me all the way in against the wall at the front of both vehicles, pressing me up against it lightly.

"And what do you think we can do here?" I asked, my voice screaming with excitement and lust despite my words. I don't know what he's thinking, but I desperately want to.

"I think you liked it in the bathroom at the grill," he said. "I think this place is a perfect mix of private and public to see how much you really like sex in a public place. And I think you need to prepare that warrior in you, because in a few minutes your screams of pleasure are going to echo and fill this entire room. You need to be ready because you're about to be fucked on the hood of a strangers Alfa Romeo until either you or the car break down."

Justin suddenly reached under my dress with both hands and yanked my underwear down. He bent to pull them completely off and on his way back up he grabbed me by the legs and lifted me onto the hood of the Silverado, my dress up around my waist. He pushed me back across the hood and I felt his face fit between my legs, his tongue delving forward.

My moans echoed around the floor as his tongue dipped into me and carried the taste of my juices back into his mouth. His tongue found its way up to my clit while I lay exposed on some stranger’s truck, trying to slow my pulse. I was hoping to feel his fingers in me next, but instead he stopped. Justin takes my legs and rolls me over to my stomach, my legs hanging over the side of the truck helplessly.