Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.Org
ARCHIVE: No
This is a stand-alone story following the events of Max Allan Collins' DARK ANGEL novels SKIN GAME and AFTER THE DARK, and incorporating information revealed in D.A. Stern's THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER. -- author's note
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Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.Org |
*****
One month earlier
(How it began)
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Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.Org |
"Alec ..."
About to take a bite of egg roll, 494 paused, holding the Chinese delicacy in mid air, something about the way she'd just said his name setting off a mild alarm.
She wants something from me, a little voice in his head warned -- and whatever it is, it'll undoubtedly be either dangerous, painful, cost me money, or worse -- all three of the above.
"Max ..." he returned cautiously, one eyebrow rising.
She shifted in her chair across the table from him, fidgeting. "Is it hot in here?" she asked, fanning her face with the menu.
"Not really," Alec said, perfectly comfortable in his t-shirt, jeans, and grey leather jacket. "Max, are you okay? You haven't touched your food, and this place ain't exactly cheap. I know you wanted us to be able to talk away from TC, but the dock or the park would've done just fine by me."
"I need something from you," she said in a rush.
I knew it! the little voice crowed. "And that would be?"
She looked away, out the window. "I need you," she said quietly.
"For what?" Alec asked, still not understanding. "Max, you're gonna hafta be specific here. You want me to do a job? A mission? Give you a back rub? What?"
"Pretty much the latter," she said in a voice Alec -- if he didn't know Max better -- would have called shy. "And more."
"You want me to give you a back rub?" he clarified, putting down the egg roll. Cocking his head to one side, he regarded her quizzically. "Feelin' a little tense are we, Maxie?"
"You could say that," she said, looking him straight in the eye now. "Alec ..."
"Spit it out, Max," he said, tiring of the game they always seemed to be playing. "What'd I do now? I'm in trouble, right?
"No," she said quickly. "Not at all. It's just-- You know me and Logan broke up awhile back."
"We all know that, Max. It's not exactly a secret that old Eyes Only wanted his transgenic lady love to abandon her people."
"He didn't want me to abandon TC," Max said defensively. "He wanted me to come live with him away from Seattle ... in the country ..."
"Livin' the dream," Alec said, his voice falling flat. "Same difference. He wanted you to be ordinary. And he wanted you away from the rest of us."
"He thought he was losing me to the cause. He felt threatened."
"Rightly so, I'm thinkin'," Alec said. "You did, afterall, dump the guy when he told you to choose. But what's this got to do with me?"
"Nothing," Max said. "Everything ..." She looked up at him, brown eyes defiant. "I'm in heat."
"I know."
"You know?"
"I can smell you."
Max blushed, and looked at her hands. "I didn't realize ..."
"Don't worry. It's just cause I'm X5 too. And I know how to be a gentleman. I won't bother you."
"What if I want you to bother me?"
Alec rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "Max, come on. Quit playin' around. You don't want me. You never have."
"I didn't ... not when I was with Logan," she conceded. "But now--"
"You're still in love with Logan, Max. You always will be."
"Stop putting words in my mouth!" she said hotly. "I'm over him, Alec. I need to move on."
"With me?"
She shrugged. "It's a place to start. Afterall, we're already friends ... or at least we usually are. And it's not like either of us would want a commitment. You're used to one night stands, and I used to be too."
"Why not just go fuck a stranger?" Alec asked bluntly. "Why drag me into it?"
"Because I don't want to fuck with a stranger," Max said, her eyes disturbingly honest. "But I do wanna fuck, preferably with a decent lookin' guy."
"Why Max, you callin' me handsome? What? Did your eyesight finally improve? Or no ... lemme guess. You've lowered your standards."
"It's been a long time, Alec," she continued, ignoring his sarcasm. "I'm tired of locking myself in the bathroom for a week every time my damn heat cycle comes around." Then a thought obviously occurred to her -- and not a pleasant one. "Why? You involved with someone?"
"No," Alec said, so quickly he surprised even himself, suddenly not in the mood to tease any more. "There's no one -- at least no one important. But I think this is a really bad idea, Max. Nothin' fucks up a friendship like fucking."
"That sounds like something Mole would say."
Alec smirked. "Maybe he did. Or maybe I made it up all by myself. It's just that-- sleepin' with my boss sounds risky."
"Risky?" Max said. "Or risque?"
"Both."
"Since when did a little danger ever interfere with your sex life?"
"Since it could ruin something that's pretty important to me -- as in our friendship."
"Nothing will be ruined," Max said. "I promise I'll still respect you in the morning."
"What if I don't respect you? In the morning, I mean."
"Then I'll kick your ass. Come on, Alec," she cajoled, standing up and holding out her hand. "I need to get laid, and I have a feeling you do too. It's been awhile for you hasn't it?"
"How'd you know I'd tired of the ladies of TC?" he groused, getting to his feet as well and tossing a 20 dollar bill down on the table.
She beamed a brilliant satisfied smile at him. "I didn't," she said nastily with a flippant toss of her head. "Until now. Or could it be that they just got tired of you?"
"Never in a million years," the X5 replied as he followed her out of the restaurant.
*****
They rode their motorcycles back to Terminal City and walked the short distance to Max's quarters, their mutual silence tacit to agreement. More than once on the way Alec was tempted to back out ... but then he found himself standing alone with 452 beside a very comfortable looking bed.
She was watching him closely, probably sensing he was about to bolt. And then, before Alec could think over think the situation, her arms were around him and her lips were devouring his mouth. "Take off your clothes," she breathed between kisses.
Alec closed his eyes and nodded, unable to deny the rapidly stiffening hard-on in his jeans.
The sex was beyond fantastic ... a surprise, in fact, to them both. Alec bred her for hours ... until he finally fell into exhausted slumber, only to be awakened by her fingers and mouth at dawn to satisfy her needs yet again. By the time the sun came up, both X5s knew every inch of each other's skin ... every orifice and fluid ... every sexual quirk and craving ...
Their intimacy with one another was complete. Never had a woman explored his body the way Max had ... made him lose control like that ... made him cum so many times ... made him cry out with pleasure and beg for more ...
"Max ..." Alec said as he stood by her apartment door, dressed and ready to leave ... dismissed. "Max, I--"
Standing wrapped in a blue robe beside him, she touched fingers to his bruised lips. "Shhh," she cautioned. "No commitments. Just a one night stand, remember? But don't worry, smart ass. We're still friends ... and now we're also something more."
Alec nodded, not because he agreed, but because he knew that was the way she wanted it.
He spent the next few days carefully treating Max just as he had before so no one in TC would suspect, and his nights lying awake in bed (not always alone, but still lonely), staring at the ceiling, wanting what he figured he would probably never have again ...
But he was wrong. She approached him once more a week later, then a few days after that, and soon they couldn't deny that they did, indeed, have a "relationship," undefined and unconventional as it was, with each and every time supposedly just a "one night stand" until that phrase actually became a little joke between them.
"Hey, Alec. You 'up' for a one night stand?"
"Always."
June 18, 2022
Max never, ever missed meetings that she, herself, called. But it was almost midnight and she was over an hour late.
Alec chewed on the side of his finger as he glanced impatiently up at the clock on the wall. He'd had plans tonight, too. Someone was waiting for him ... a very pretty someone as in the new X5 who'd arrived a couple of weeks ago. Lana was blonde, perky, and extremely well stacked, not to mention a transgenic after his own heart -- one who liked to have a good time with no strings attached. She'd been coming on to him for days now, and -- Max being in one of her "let's blame Alec" moods lately and subsequently pretty much ignoring him -- he'd finally met the new girl halfway. Right now 438 was back at his place -- ready, willing, and with luck very, very able.
A cell phone rang and Dix picked up. He spoke a moment into the receiver, then called out, "Meeting's off guys."
"Says who?" Alec asked.
"Says, the boss lady. Max isn't feelin' well. Said she wants to be alone tonight."
Alec knew he should be glad that he'd just been let off his leash by TC's leader. The night was still young, and Lana probably already had her clothes off. But first, he knew he had to check something out.
"Where the hell's he goin'?" Mole wondered as the X5 snatched up his leather jacket and booked out of the room at a run.
Luke just smiled.
*****
Max wasn't in her apartment. He was certain because he had a key and let himself in. She'd told Dix she wanted to be alone, which meant--
Alec looked out the window at the Seattle skyline and the Space Needle, then sighed thinking about all those stairs.
*****
"Hey, Max. I thought I'd find you up here."
"I want to be alone, Alec," she said without turning around. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be somewhere? I heard you had a date."
"I did have a date," Alec said tightly. "Which, 'cause of you, I'm apparently standin' up."
Max shrugged, still looking off into the night. "I didn't ask you to come up here, pretty boy. Go home. I'm sure Lana's still waiting." She looked back at him. "It is Lana, isn't it? Blonde, blue eyes, big tits she likes to show off to the guys?"
"Max, what's wrong?" He sat down beside her, scooting to the edge of the Needle's roof where it dropped off into the abyss below, the cat in him completely unfazed by the dizzying height.
She shot him a dirty look. "Nothing's wrong."
"Yes, it is." Brow creased in puzzlement, he took a wild guess. "Max, are you jealous?"
She laughed at that, although the sound was more bitter than funny. "You always think it's about you, don't you, Alec. Why would I care who or what you're fucking?"
"Because I care who -- or what -- you're fucking," he threw right back at her. "And it occurred to me the feelin' might be mutual."
"You sayin' you wanna go steady? Make this ... whatever it is between us exclusive? I'm not in love with you, Alec. In spite of our recent afternoons of mutual fun."
"Never said you were. But we're good together, Max, and that's gotta count for somethin'."
"Yeah, it means were two of a kind," she said, the bitterness sharper this time. "Neither one of us knows how to have a real relationship ... how to commit ... we're not hardwired for it ... so we fuck like animals just for the brief pleasure and knowing there won't be any emotional consequences. You're a good lookin' tom, Alec. You can have anyone you want. You don't need me, and I certainly don't need you."
The words comin' out of your mouth are sayin' one thing, Max, he silently thought, but your eyes are tellin' a different story. You're confusing me ...
Acting on an impulse, Alec suddenly reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair away from Max's face, then tucked the errant lock behind her ear. It was an extremely intimate gesture ...
She stared at him, started to say something, then seemed to change her mind. "Lana's waiting for you isn't she?"
"Let her wait. You need a friend right now, Max." Then he took a deep breath and pushed it a step further. "You need me."
"I don't need you, Alec," she replied scathingly. "I can't need you. You're too unpredictable ... undependable ... I can't trust you or count on you or--
That hurt. (But then Max was always hurting him.) Now, it was Alec's turn to look away, not knowing how the pain had flashed in his eyes ... not knowing she'd seen it ... "I'll leave you alone then," he said coldly, getting to his feet. "But if you expect me to stay celibate 'cept for you, you're way off target, Maxie."
"I never said that. You're free, Alec. Sleep with whomever you want. I don't care."
Brushing his hands off on his jeans, he smiled down at her, his cocky mask falling into place, not showing her how she'd just pierced his armor .. that she hadn't said what he wanted to hear. "I guess love still sucks, doesn't it?"
"Guess so," Max agreed as he walked away.
*****
Lana was, indeed, waiting for him, and she should have been a decent lay. She was naked two minutes after he got to his place, and a minute after that he was on top of her -- just the way 494 liked his real one night stands (or so he told himself) -- hot, juicy, and fast -- no fancy foreplay of the verbal kind necessary. But for all of 438's sexually unabashed talents ... for all of her fellatio tricks and tempting positions ... Alec found himself forcing his arousal ... hardening only with effort as she grasped his ass and pulled him inside her too-willing pussy.
And when he finally did cum ... when he closed his eyes, reared his head back, and grunted as he gave that one last thrust... it wasn't a plump blonde bitch beneath him in his fantasy, but rather a dark wisp of a girl who satisfied him in ways this whore couldn't even imagine.
He sent his "date" home soon after, even though Lana's blue eyes were batting at him and pleading to stay. 494 didn't sleep in the arms of any woman ... except for one.
"You're nothin' special," the female X5 snarked as she pulled on her panties.
"No," Alec said to the closed door after she left. "Guess I'm not."
*****
July 5, 2022
"Rafer!" Alec snorted. "Who the hell's this Rafer?"
"Max's date tonight," Dix said without looking up from the morning newspaper he was reading. "Again."
"Never heard of him," Alec grumped as a popped a bite of pancake into his mouth. "What is he?" he asked as he chewed. "X5? X4 maybe? Somebody new?"
"He's an ordinary. One she's known for a few years," Joshua chimed in as he lapped syrup dog-style from his own plate.
Alec scowled at his friend's manners, shaking his head, knowing Max wouldn't approve. Chagrined, Joshua put aside the dish and picked up a cup of coffee instead. 494 then set down his fork, the scrambled eggs on his own breakfast plate forgotten. "An ordinary?"
"That's what the dog boy said, didn't he?" Mole replied from where he sat at the end of the table as he re-lit his cigar and primed it with several healthy puffs. He grinned a lascivious lizard grin. "Wanna bet that's why the lady's not down for her doughnuts yet this morning?"
Alec tried to smile the remark off, and didn't quite manage it. Gem's hand on his shoulder made him look up.
"Max told me he's a guy she dated a couple of times back before Logan," the X5 said. "She ran into him downtown last week and he called and asked her out."
Last week? Alec thought, his mind backtracking. But last week she and I were-- But he hadn't been with her for the past few days. They'd both been involved with serious TC problems and-- Is she mad at me again? Dark blond eyebrows drew down as he scratched his head.
"Fine," he then said, forcing another smile as he stood to go, his appetite completely gone. "Good for Max. Maybe if she's finally gettin' some she'll be in a better mood around here."
"Gettin' some?" Mole said with a knowing glance at Dix. "Don't you mean gettin' more."
"Shut up," Alec growled under his breath as he pulled a 5 dollar bill from his jeans pocket and left it on the table.
Mole, Joshua, Dix, and Luke all looked at one another after their X5 friend had left.
"What the hell's goin' on?" Mole groused. "Princess almost acts like he's jealous. But that would mean he and Max had really ... you know. I mean, I was just jokin'."
"Been gettin' busy?" Joshua said, innocently making a crude gesture with his fingers.
"Nah," Mole sputtered, waving a hand dismissively in the air. "Alec's got more sense than that. Don't he? 'Sides, Max has made a career outta not trustin' the guy. She's always on his ass about one thing or another ... always pickin' him to pieces. Personally, I don't know why he puts up with her."
"Maybe she's on his ass more than we know," Dix said. "They were designated breeding partners back at Manticore. Which would explain why both of them get their claws in the ceiling whenever one of them scores a date."
"Then why the hell don't the two of them get together for real?" Mole exclaimed. "Why all this sneakin' around and playin' games?"
"Because they're afraid," Joshua said simply.
"Afraid of what?" Luke asked.
"Of falling in love."
*****
They were at Crash -- Max and her "date."
Of course he hadn't gone there looking for them ... hadn't even talked to Max that day, and of course he had no way of knowing she and Rafer would be here. He was just thirsty and happened to be in the neighborhood.
"Whoa!" O.C. said, grabbing hold of Alec's jacket sleeve as he started toward the bar where Max and a good looking dark-haired ordinary were laughing together. "What do you think you're doin', sugar? Stakin' a claim? Goin' all transgenic territorial?"
Alec looked down into a pair of bright, blue-eye-shadowed eyes. "Of course not," he whined defensively. "I just wanna say 'hello'."
O.C. regarded him with disbelief.
Alec shrugged away, holding out his hands. "Okay. I admit. I'm curious. I wanna meet his guy. She is my sister after all -- or so she keeps sayin'."
"Sister my fine African ass," O.C. snorted. "And didn't anyone ever tell you that curiosity killed the cat?"
How about "There's more'n one way to skin a cat?" Alec silently thought, a sudden very pleasant vision of Max naked flashing through his mind. But out loud he said, "No one's gonna get killed -- especially not me -- 'least not tonight."
"Max'll have your family jewels if you mess up her evening," the dark skinned girl warned.
"I won't mess anything up," Alec promised. "I'm just bein' social."
"Okay, then," O.C. gave in, shaking her dark curls. "Don't say I didn't warn your sorry ass."
Alec squared his shoulders and tried to act casual as he sauntered up to the bar beside the dark-haired guy. Smiling at Hummer, the bartender, he said, "Scotch. Neat."
"Your usual, eh, Alec," Hummer said, pouring the drink. "Nice to see you back."
Alec smiled, then turned his head and found himself looking straight into a pair of eyes so brown they were almost black. Then he glanced over Rafer's shoulder and saw another pair of brown eyes -- but these were burning with fury.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Max exclaimed.
Confused, Rafer looked from his date to the Scotch drinker, not understanding.
"Can't a guy get a drink?" Alec asked innocently, holding up his glass.
"Alec, if you've followed me--"
"Now why would I do that?"
Max started to answer, but Rafer was watching her closely and she closed her mouth instead.
"I go by 'Rafer'," the dark-haired guy said, holding out a hand.
"Alec," Alec replied, returning the shake firmly. "I work with Max."
Eyebrows rose. "In Terminal City?"
"Yeah."
The other man regarded him more closely. "Hey," he suddenly said. "Aren't you that transgenic who got elected to city council? The one who goes in and makes the big wigs look like the ass holes they are even though you never seem to really accomplish anything? You know, ever since I found out about you guys," his eyes went to Max, "I've been fascinated by your whole dealio -- supersoldiers turned entrepreneurs."
Accepting the back-handed compliment gracefully, Alec smirked. "One and the same. Just call me Mr. Let's Make a Deal."
"Good going," Rafer said, clapping him on the back. "You're fuck authority in those council sessions, Alec. And I hear you're the main brains behind that art mall too."
"Yeah," Max growled. "Alec was a yuppie in a previous life." She grabbed hold of Rafer's arm. "Come on," she said. "I want to go."
"Go where?" Alec said quickly, then biting his lip because he knew he had no right to ask that.
"To dinner," Rafer said. "I was gonna take Max to my favorite Italian place -- Luigi's down on Maple Avenue."
There was a long silence.
"You ... uh ... wanna join us?"
"Rafer!" Max practically shrieked.
"Hey," her date said. "Alec seems like a good guy, and I'd like to hear more about those council meetings."
Alec beamed a smile at Max, ignoring her thunderous frown. "Glad to ... uh ... Rafer was it? Italian's one of my favorites."
*****
"So," Rafer said as the spaghetti arrived. "You're part cat, too?"
Alec nearly choked. It wasn't just that the question had caught him by surprise, but the casual way Max's boy toy had broached it. "I'm mostly human," he said a bit defensively, and with a quick look at a still fuming 452 who'd been staring daggers at him all evening.
"But I bet the girls love it -- the whole feline thing?" Rafer made a ridiculous clawing motion in the air with one hand along with a "Rowrrrr" noise.
Alec cleared his throat, truly at a loss for a response to that.
"Girls 'love' Alec for a lot of reasons," Max said through clenched teeth. "Ask him about the notches on his bed post and the string of broken hearts he's left behind."
"A real Lothario, huh?" Rafer said, not trying to disguise the admiration in his voice. "Man, that whole macho-transgenic supersoldier thing must be such a chick magnet."
"Yeah, it is," Alec agreed. Until it gets the chick killed, his conscience whispered.
"And you were made in a lab, like Max?"
"Don't you read the tabloids, man?" Alec asked, his smile a little bit less friendly this time. "Just consider me shaken, not stirred." This guy's getting annoying.
"I buy 'New World Weekly' every Monday," Rafer declared happily, as if that was a good thing. His voice dropped to a conspiratorial tone. "That's how I know so much about Max and you ... the whole human/cat hybrid thing and your super powers."
Max was beginning to look a little bit sick.
Alec raised one eyebrow. "Really?" he said, his eyes going to 452 who answered him with a deep scowl, and wondering how come he'd ever been so worried about this clown. "Maxie, what's wrong? You haven't eaten much."
"Lost my appetite," she snapped. Then she turned to Rafer. "Can we leave?" she asked.
"But I wanted to ask Alec--"
"His designation's X5-494," Max said in a rush. "Remember? 'Cliff Notes' version -- he was an assassin back at Manticore and he's got the amoral manners of an alley cat. You can't trust him. He'd turn on his own mother for a ten dollar bill -- if he had a mother that is. He's a liar, a cheat, a skank, and an all around pretty bad guy not to mention an opportunistic show-off who I only keep around 'cause he's better than nothing and I can use him for sex . Don't believe anything he says. I know I don't." This last was vented with a chilling look in Alec's direction. "He probably should have died a long time ago, and I don't want you near him," she concluded, at the same time forcibly pulling a rather flabbergasted Rafer out of his chair.
Alec was staring at Max, his mouth slightly agape at her cruelty, for once in his life struck totally speechless.
"Hey!" he yelled as she dragged Rafer away toward the door. "Max! A skank?"
But she ignored him as she physically shoved her date out of the entrance, leaving Alec not only with a lump in his throat, but with the restaurant bill.
*****
He went to her Terminal City apartment later that night just to torture himself, knowing Max had undoubtedly gone home with Rafer. When she opened the door at his knock, he was genuinely surprised.
For a very long moment he just stood there, looking directly into her eyes, silently asking "Why?" But he knew the answer.
"I'm sorry I was such a jerk tonight," he said, knowing contrition was usually a good opening ploy with a livid Max. "I'm sorry I messed up your date." He craned his neck slightly, making certain Max hadn't thrown caution to the winds and brought Rafer home with her after all, although he didn't think she'd risk exposing the ordinary to TC's contamination.
"Don't worry," Max said in a rather strange tone of voice. "I'm alone."
"I scared him off?" Alec said, then mentally kicked himself because that had come out sounding hopeful.
"No," Max said dully. "He left, but not because he was scared."
"How come then?" Alec asked, puzzled now in that way Max seemed to make him all too often.
"Because he said it was obvious I was in love with another guy, and that he didn't have a chance with me."
Alec did a doubletake at that. "Who the hell does he think you're in love with?"
For the first time she smiled ... just a little bit. "With a cold-blooded, opportunistic show off who'd turn on his own mother for a ten dollar bill," she said softly.
Alec swallowed hard. "You forgot skank."
"Rafer said it was plain as day ... that no girl would get that worked up over a guy unless she loved him ... and that no guy would follow a girl on her date and make such an ass of himself unless he loved her."
His heart turned over in his chest. Then he gave a nervous laugh. "And you told him he was crazy, right?"
Max held his eyes with her own. "Right," she said quietly. "I told him we were just friends."
Alec nodded, relieved but at the same time feeling something inside of him break. "I should go," he said.
"No," Max said, catching hold of his wrist. "You shouldn't." And then she pulled him inside and closed the door.
*****
July 6, 2022
The sight of his hard muscular forearms for some reason sent sexy shivers down her spine ... as did the smell of him ... the taste of him ... the feel of him ... Damn it, I'm not in love ... It's just physical ... meaningless ... nothing ...
The last time Alec's weight had rested against her all warm and solid like this had been the night before. "You're not too heavy for me," she'd whispered when he'd started to roll off, apparently worried she was uncomfortable. Then her legs had possessively wrapped around his waist, and she'd drawn him close, cradling his head against her naked breasts until -- still inside her -- he'd fallen asleep, his breath soft and rhythmic as it caressed her skin ...
But this time was different. This time there was blood ... hot X5 blood ...
"Alec," Max said his name gently, choking back tears and at the same time giving his shoulder a shake. "Come on. Stay with me. You can do it. Doctor Carr's meeting us just outside the city. Just ... hang on."
But those beautiful hazel-green eyes stayed closed.
She'd nearly died herself, seeing him fall to his knees just outside the Art Mall, hit by a barrage of gunfire when the deranged freak-hating ordinary with a hunting rifle had struck ... after hearing him cry out in pain ... after watching, helpless, while he clutched his side and looked up at her, silently begging for help she was too late to give.
If it hadn't been for Joshua's strength they would have lost him. But the Big Fella had bravely rushed forward and scooped his comrade up in his arms, getting Alec to safety before the human could re-load. A bullet from Mole's gun had then ended the situation -- decisively.
Now ... there was too much blood. Alec had been hit low in his left side, the high-powered slug lodging in his body. Max knew that -- beyond the blood loss -- there could be organ damage ... kidney ... liver ... intestine.
494 needed expert medical help immediately, which is why she'd called Sam Carr, the only person she knew who would help her man without question.
Her man? Yes, Alec technically was one of her "men" -- one of the warriors whom she commanded. But he was also her friend ... her confidante ... and, since she and Logan had split apart, the only male who'd satisfied her sexual needs ... truth be told the only male she wanted.
And now he was probably dying.
You destroy everyone who loves you, 452, Renfro's cruel but true words rang in Max's mind. And now, you've destroyed Alec ...
With a sob, she lowered her head and buried her face in his soft hair, praying to an unseen God to not take him from her ... praying she'd have just one more chance to let him know how much he really meant to her.
But promises made in the heat of emotion are rarely kept ...
*****
One month later
"If you don't smile pretty soon, I'm gonna hafta tickle you."
"Tickle me and I'll kick your ass."
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Now that's the Maxie I know and love."
"Love?" She sniffed. "There's a word I never thought I'd hear you use, especially with regards to me.
In reply, Alec rolled over, the length of his warm naked body covering her -- the front of his legs ... his chest ... his groin ... matching her own anatomy in near perfect synchronicity.
Protesting mildly, Max started to shove him off, but his hands clasped hers and he held her pinned ... immobile ... hazel-green eyes challenging.
Max sighed, and gave up, shifting her hips for him so their fleshly bond could be complete -- which made Alec grin.
"You never answered my question," she said awhile later, after they were done, the lightness of her tone disguising the seriousness of the words. "Do you love me, Alec?"
"Of course not," he snorted. "Why would I ever let myself do that?"
"Good," Max said too quickly. "I mean--"
He was watching her closely, the hand that had been kneading her breast and playing with a nipple suddenly still. She tried to read the expression in his eyes, but couldn't.
"You mean what?" he asked.
"I mean, it would be bad ... if you were falling in love with me or me with you. That's not supposed to happen. We both know how awful those kinds of things always turn out for us, right?"
"Yeah," Alec agreed. "Like you and Logan."
"And you and Rachel."
They both just looked at each other for a long moment. She was surprised when he spoke first, Alec not being one to "just talk" very often.
"Me and Rachel," he said. "I don't ever wanna hurt like that again, Max. Damn, it was nearly the end of me, and I'm not talkin' about the punishment I took from Manticore afterwards. I don't think I could survive another round, if you know what I mean."
"Exactly," she replied softly. "It was the same with Logan. When I realized it wasn't going to work I felt as if my world had just come apart." She regarded him through slightly narrowed eyes. "And you, of all people, certainly aren't someone I'd trust my heart with."
Alec shifted his weight on the bed, loosening his hold on her ... moving away ... and Max instantly regretted what she'd just said. Acting instinctively, she reached out and grabbed hold of his hand tightly. "Don't go," she whispered. "Don't ever go."
"Max," his deep voice caressed. "It'll never work out between us. You know that. It can't."
"Why not?" she asked, amazed at herself for voicing that question ... amazed at what she was considering.
*****
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Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.Org |
THE END