Just Cause: Revised & Expanded Edition (22 page)

“It was very sweet of you to offer to come along. I don’t even know how long we’ll be gone. Maybe just a couple of days.”

“You should probably check the briefing,” he offered.

“In a minute.” Sally surprised herself with her conviction as she reached up, grabbed hold of Jason’s sweatshirt hood and pulled herself up to his face level. His arms encircled her legs to support her gently with muscles that could bend girders. She kissed him hard and tasted his lips and tongue with hers. He staggered backward, caught his leg on the couch, and jarred her loose as he sat down hard.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Clumsy.”

“That’s okay,” she said, her voice shrill. “It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

He rubbed a hand across his jaw and smiled through a deep blush of his own.

Sally turned away quickly and slid into the chair by her computer desk. “I better check that briefing… see how long we’re going to be gone.”

“Shorter would definitely be better.” Jason moved over to her and knelt down so he could read over her shoulder. He used the proximity as an opportunity to nuzzle her neck.

She gently slapped him away. “Stop.” She tried to be authoritative. “I’m working.”

“Mmm.” He blew a gentle breath on the back of her neck, right where her two braids parted. It made her delicious and shivery inside.

Sally sped through the mission briefing. As Doublecharge had implied, there wasn’t much: try to locate Destroyer; try to find a positive connection to the Antimatter Woman; try to find a positive connection to Heinrich Kaiser; objective is to gain intelligence, not to engage; projected mission length of two weeks.
Two weeks?
 

“That’s crazy,” she said aloud. “I can’t spend two weeks down there.”

Jason spun her chair around to face him. “Maybe she’ll let you come home on the weekends. How long would it take you to run that far?”

Sally fiddled with her hands because she didn’t know what to do with them. “It’s south of Mexico. That’s a long way.” She draped her restless hands around his neck, which immediately felt better. “Furthest I’ve ever run in one stretch was from Phoenix to Anaheim.” She smiled wistfully. “I went to Disneyland.”

“Well, look at the bright side,” Jason said. “You get to take an extra-long Spring Break in the tropics a month before everyone else does.”

Sally kissed him again and rested her forehead against his and drank in the scent of his skin. It was nice. “Do you want to stick around for awhile?” She felt her skin prickle from a ferocious blush.

“Sure.”

“Good.” She covered his mouth with hers.

They kissed for some time. Sally wasn’t quite sure when they wound up on the couch. He leaned back and rested his head on the overstuffed arm, and she half-laid, half-sat on him. He reached a tentative hand under her blouse to caress his fingertips across her back. The heat rose off them in palpable waves and made her feel like she was back in Phoenix. Without stopping herself to think about it, she lifted her blouse off completely. This was better, but she wanted to feel his skin too, and helped him yank off his sweatshirt. Little golden curls of hair dotted his massive chest and washboard abs.

Back at the Hero Academy, she and the other girls in the dorm sat up many late nights and compared notes on who were the hottest boys, who would be the best kissers, and what really happened when you had sex. Only one girl had actually hooked up with a boy in school, or at least admitted to it. At the time, Sally had been convinced that she would never want to have a boy do that to her. Now, though, she felt desire quiver through her that could only be fulfilled by giving all of herself to him.

Sally felt like taking a chance. In one definitive motion, Sally slipped her sports bra over her head and sat up to allow Jason to drink in the sight of her. “I want you.”

He nodded, his eyes as wide as saucers. “Should I, uh, run back to my room for a minute? I gotta get, you know, something.”

“It’s okay. I’m on the pill.” Her mother had lost her virginity at Woodstock, when she was only fifteen. She’d put Sally on the pill as soon as she left for the Academy. I know you’ll be smart, she had said, but I don’t want to take any chances.

She lifted his hands up to cup her breasts. He caressed them and brushed his fingertips across her nipples with curious delight. “Are you sure?”

“Mm… yes,” she said. “You know what to do, right?”

“Um, I think so. I mean, of course.”

“Good.” She bent forward and kissed him again, hard. “Because it’s kind of my first time.”

They shed their remaining clothing and scattered it about the room. Sally rolled onto the floor, Jason matched her every move. He supported himself on his arms so he wouldn’t crush her.

Sally’s perceptions flipped into full acceleration to allow her to experience every nuance of sensation. She immersed herself in the sensuality of touch, from the initial sharp pain to the waves of pleasure that followed. Musky, exciting scents swirled around her and made her gasp. She hadn’t known something could feel so good. If she had, she reasoned later, she’d have been having sex a lot earlier in her life. His muscles felt like iron sheathed in velvet, his breath hot in her ear, stubble on her cheek. She felt something building up and wrapped her legs around Jason’s back to pull him even closer. His muscles clenched, he closed his eyes, and stopped moving. Sally could feel him, hot like a steel ingot, and then… nothing. It was like a door starting to open then shutting in her face. She gasped again, but from an overwhelming sense of disappointment.

“I’m sorry!” Jason panted. “Did I hurt you?”

She squeezed her arms and legs tighter around him as she tried to regain that sensation of going up the roller coaster hill, but to no avail. “No,” she managed to whisper at last.

The look of concern on Jason’s face was so earnest and honest that she broke into giggles. “Sally?”

She hugged him, and then realized she was crying even while laughing. She felt a sudden panic starting to creep in around the edges. “I’ll be right back.”

“Sure thing,” he said as he pulled on his briefs.

Sally retreated to her bathroom and locked the door. She gulped down a glass of water and then cleaned herself up. She felt a twinge of disgust at the smear of blood on her thigh. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and glared at her reflection. She should have been feeling sexy and glowing. Instead, she felt a little sick to her stomach and shocked that she’d just given up her virginity. “You’re a superhero, stupid. You faced Destroyer. You can face this.” She scolded her reflection. She wrapped her bathrobe around herself.

Jason lay on the floor, wearing only his shorts, with his hands behind his head. He yawned. “Anything in your fridge? I’m starving.”

“No, silly. I only eat in the cafeteria, because I don’t cook. I’ll burn a pot of water if you give me half a chance.” She made herself calm down, to bring back a semblance of normalcy.

“Really? I’ll have to cook for you one of these days. You like jambalaya?”

“That’s Cajun, right?”

“One of my many specialties. I’m a closet chef, but only for a few select friends. And for my girlfriend.”

“Is she prettier than me?” Sally asked. “I’m kidding,” she said as she saw an expression of mock hurt cross his face.

Somebody knocked at her door. Jason grabbed his pants and made a discreet exit into the bedroom.

“Salena? It’s Harris. Got your luggage for you.”

She opened the door and smiled nervously at Harris. The short, balding man held up a nondescript black pull-along suitcase. “Custom bag for your trip. Were you sleepin’? I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

Sally’s hands flew to her head of their own accord. One of her braids had come undone, and the untamed hair flopped about. She began to plait it again as a way to burn off her tension. “Uh, yeah. I was. Sleeping, that is.” She forced a yawn.

“Sure,” said Harris. “Everyone else has one of these but you. It’s for when you gotta travel incognito. There are two complete costumes in special compartments here… and here.” He pointed out two nondescript pockets. “One’s all black for night work. They’re vacuum-packed and compressed into the smallest possible space. I’ll personally guarantee that you won’t raise any suspicions at any airport security, no matter where you go. You open one up, you better plan to wear it because you’ll never crush it back into place once you break the seal.”

Sally nodded and hoped he’d wrap up his spiel as quickly as possible so he’d just leave.

He glanced past her into the darkened room beyond. She imagined he’d seen everything, and felt herself flush. She yanked the case from his grasp. “Thanks very much, Harris. I’ll get busy packing right away. Goodbye.” She backed into her room and shut the door as fast as she dared. She dropped the valise on the floor and stepped into the bedroom.

Jason had stretched out on her bed, his hands behind his head and his eyes shut. She thought he might be asleep but he spoke without opening his eyes. “Harris?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“The man’s a menace. Hell of a quartermaster, but has the worst timing in the world. He’s always showing up at just the wrong time.”

Sally climbed onto him and straddled his waist. Just being close to him again was enough to start her tingling all over once more. “You think he knows?”

“Probably. He’s pretty sharp. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, you know? Secrets don’t stay secret long in this place. We all gossip like old ladies.” As he yawned, he lifted her knees off the bed from his chest expansion.

“You’re tired?” she asked, incredulous.

“A little. It’s a guy thing. Aren’t you?”

“I guess.” She leaned forward to rest her cheek on his chest and listened to the patient thumping of his heart.

“Might as well sleep now. You might go kind of short the next two weeks.” He rolled onto his side. She squealed with glee and dove under his arm to wind up holding his hand against her chest with her back pressed against him. With his arm around her she felt safe, warm, and suddenly drowsy as well.

“I guess I could take a nap.” A deep vibration rattled behind her and she smiled to herself.

Jason snored.

Chapter Seventeen

‘Tis a far, far cry from the “Minute-Men,”

And the times of the buff and blue

To the days of the withering Jorgensen

And the hand that holds it true.

‘Tis a far, far cry from Lexington

To the isles of the China Sea,

But ever the same the man and the gun—

Ever the same are we.

-Edwin Legrand Sabin, “The American Soldier”, July 1899

February, 2004

Denver, Colorado

Sally awoke with a start. Jason was still sprawled on her bed. His snores had subsided to low rumbles like a tiger purring. Her clock read
2:24
and she realized they had slept through dinner. She felt jittery and a bit out-of-sorts with herself, like she’d drunk strong coffee for too long. She carefully disengaged herself from Jason and slipped out of the bed.

She still felt restless. She went into her bathroom and brushed her teeth, then brushed her hair until it snapped with static electricity. She glared at it in the mirror and considered how it would look if she acceded to her mother’s wishes and cut it short. Right now she looked like a walking haystack, she thought. She stuck her tongue out as she rolled the mass of hair into a haphazard pile balanced on top of her head and stuck long pins through it more or less to hold it in place.

She still wore her robe. She found a pair of cotton leggings and pulled them on, and then slipped her freezing feet into her moccasins. She still felt odd and decided a walk might help clear her head.

The corridor was quiet, the lights darkened for nighttime. She strolled up to the deserted recreation room. None of the chairs felt comfortable, and she knew because she tried all of them twice to be sure. She ambled back down the passageway and stopped in front of a door—not her own room, but Sondra’s.

She agonized for several minutes about whether or not to knock, but finally her need for some company won out and she tapped on the door. In a minute, she heard some movement behind the door and Sondra slid it open a few inches, rubbed her bleary eyes, and held a robe up to her chest.

“Sally?” she whispered. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Sally said. “I can’t sleep.”

“Do you want to come in?”

“Yeah.” She stepped into the darkened room. Sondra clicked a lighter and lit a candle, which filled her living room with a warm orange glow. Sally curled up on the end of the couch, drew her feet up under her, and wrapped her arms around her knees.

“I hope you don’t mind.” Sondra fumbled with the robe. “I’m not usually dressed at this time of morning.”

“That’s okay.” Sally dropped onto the couch beside her friend.

Sondra looked at her with compassion, her dark eyes finally clear of sleepiness. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Sally opened her mouth to say she was, and tears just started to run down her face. As Sondra curled one arm and wing around her, Sally buried her face against Sondra’s shoulder and cried. Sondra whispered soothing nonsense into her hair and stroked her arm.

After a few minutes, Sally’s tears stopped as quickly as they had started, and she shivered a bit.

“Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Hot chocolate”

“Hot chocolate. I’ve seen what you call coffee.” She smiled just a little and sniffled.

“Chocolate it is.” Sondra went to the kitchenette. She fluttered her wings slightly to realign the feathers. “Want to talk about it?”

“Yeah.” Sally wiped her eyes.

Sondra returned in a minute with two ceramic mugs filled with thick chocolatey goodness. She sat next to Sally and arranged her wings so they’d be out of the way. “So what’s going on?”