Page 36 of Meet Me In The Dark

“I love you,” she said immediately.

“Again.”

“I love you!” she cried.

“Good. I love you, baby.”

He thrust into her again as a reward, but his words were reward enough.

“Okay, we’re done,” Marcus called. “Feel free to continue.”

“Out,” Micah barked.

“Since you’re obviously in a different mindset than usual, I’ll let your tone slide this once. It won’t happen again,” Marcus said. “And you owe me?—”

“A favor. Yes. GET OUT.”

Nothing else was said. The door opened and closed again, and everyone else—living or dead—was gone.

Micah used that moment to pull out and then shove his cock and finger back inside her holes, setting his teeth back where they’d been. That’s all it took. Kara catapulted over the edge, shaking, almost blacking out as she came. With a roar against her shoulder, Micah followed her over, filling her with his come. And Kara, desperate to claim him too, bit him right back.

She loved him. He knew now. They had the coordinates, they had each other, and soon…soon…they’d have Luke and Conor back as well.

She’d make sure of it.

9

You don't get to play the martyr. You don't get to die. You're not my hero, you never have been. Don't start acting all gallant and sacrificial now.

Laying on his back across from a silent Conor, his left arm cuffed to the steel wall, Luke had replayed Kara's final words so many times, they were burned into his brain. He heard them, over and over, as Christopher’s men kicked him in the ribs, pulled his fingers backward until one of them snapped, and shoved their fingers in his small wound where the bullet had grazed him. None of it had broken him. Luke had been trained to withstand pain. They taught SEALs meditation and self-hypnosis, so the SEALs in turn were able to handle torture by distancing themselves from it, as if they were somewhere else, just observing it, not experiencing or participating at all. And Christopher’s men had gone easy on him. For now. Luke didn’t kid himself: he knew that was just the prelude.

But then, he’d been prepared for torture when he’d taken Micah’s place.

He pulled on his restraints. They were reinforced this time; Christopher and his men weren’t taking any chances.

You're not my hero.

Kara’s words should’ve hurt. Instead, they proved Kara desperately wanted him to be a villain because she didn’t want to lose him. Villains, after all, didn't sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Villains burned down the world to save the people they loved.

Especially when they had a plan.

This wasn't the first time Luke had been taken by the enemy. He'd been trained to withstand dehydration and discomfort and even torture, to be willing to die for “the greater good.” But he'd never been trained to be the one with the escape plan. That was—had been—Micah's role in their threesome. Things had changed when they'd taken Kara, and Luke was glad for it. He only hoped he could do his absent partner proud.

But first he had to check in on his other partner, who was busy imitating a large boulder. Conor had always been stoic, but this was frightening.

He glanced over at Conor, taken aback by his other lover's dead-eyed, thousand-mile stare.

“Boss, I don't know where your head’s at right now, but you need to snap out of it so we can come up with a gameplan.”

Conor laughed.

“Gameplan. Right.”

Jesus.

Eyes on the door to their cell, Luke decided to outline his plan, hoping to wake Conor up. “We wait until they come next, overpower them, take Christopher hostage, find the plane, and get our asses out of here and home. Sound good?”

Silence.

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