Page 31 of Rushed

Keenan

“We have to go. Please come with me, I’m scared. I need you. Please.” I hear her voice waver and falter as she panics. The air is pungent and cloying at my lungs as the smoke curls around our faces.

“I can’t—we can’t. They said not to go, Gail. Just wait here, and they’ll come and get us. I know they will.” I hunker down against the wall, waiting for the movement to stop, the sounds to stop…everything to stop. I can’t handle this.

“Can anyone hear me?” I squeak. It sounds pathetic, even to my own ears. In the background, I can make out scuffling noises and moans.

“Hello?” I try again, hoping that I can be heard. Again, no answering call.

Where am I?

I wake up, screaming loudly.

“Keenan! Keenan, it’s okay, honey, it’s okay.” I hear my name over and over as someone rocks me. I’m in bed, curled up in a ball, as Lincoln is cradling me tight to his chest. I can’t seem to speak; my voice is caught in my throat. I’m crying uncontrollably.

He holds me carefully, like I’ll crack. I don’t want him to ever let me go. I can’t face that memory, it felt so real. I felt like I was there—right there—feeling the moment. It was so strong, it was like falling in a dream when you jerk and shake from the edge of consciousness. I curl into his body, accepting the feel of him, relishing in his warmth. I sob so wretchedly, I pass out.

?????

Opening my eyes some time later, I awaken to the sound of a quiet, low voice.

“No. I’m telling you, Max, I won’t be in today, or tomorrow. She needs me here, and I’m not leaving her for a second.” Looking over, I see him pacing back and forth in his bathroom with the phone to his ear.

“Feck, Max!” Resting his hands on the sink, gripping it tightly, he attempts to control his temper. “If he wants the title, it’s his. I won’t leave her like this. She’s important to me, he’s not.” He’s arguing with Max over his training. “No, I don’t care. The money means nothin’. I’ll talk to ya tomorrow.” He hangs up the call and turns to me with an expression of panic and worry.

“Hey. I hope I didn’t wake ya. Are ya feelin’ better?” He walks towards me as I pull the covers back. I motion for him to join me in the bed, wanting his warmth.

I try clearing my throat; it’s dry and scratchy. Linc hands me a glass of water and I down the whole thing before trying to compose myself enough to speak.

“It was my nightmare, but different. I mean, the part where I wake up in rubble is the same—it’s always the same—but there was more this time.” Lincoln tucks against my body so that we’re facing each other, twisted like two snakes entwined. “I know her name now, the other woman. Her name is Gail. She was so afraid. I could breathe, but the air was thick with smoke, and everything was just so loud.”

“Did ya see things differently? Where ya in the same space as before?” He’s stroking my hair, which has a calming effect on me.

“I can’t say where I was. Did it feel different? Yes. But it was like I was reading a script, where I don’t see the action, I just hear the words.” Rush isn’t pushing me to learn from it. “I heard you on the phone with Max—”

“Screw Max. He doesn’t need me and ya do. I won’t argue with ya, love. Ya are the only one I will be with today, and any day ya need me. I was tellin’ him the truth. If Mick wants the feckin’ title, it's his. I was only doin’ this for Troy, and he’s okay with it—with me backing out, that is.”

“I’m not okay with it, for a few reasons.” I look him straight in the eyes and hope he understands how serious I am. “You won it, and he shouldn’t take it by default. Also, he took something from Troy that can be won back in some small way. You can vindicate yourself of the guilt you carry for those things that were out of your control. Most importantly, you deserve it. Max is right. Mick is not allowed to take it from you.”

“But—”

“No buts. You worked your ass off to be the machine I get to enjoy infrequently, in every way. I want you to get in that cage and fuck his shit up so that he and his hedonistic father can’t make anyone do it again. You will keep that trophy on the wall by your hard work, and not because some fuck thinks he can take it by default on my account. If I have to drag you kicking and screaming like a little girl by your dick to the doors of that gym every day, I will.” By the time I’m done, Lincoln is laughing, deeply. Grabbing me around the waist, he picks me up like a bag of flour and rests me across his now rock hard erection.

“Kitten, I don’t know what I did to deserve ya in my life, but I will feck the nightmares out of ya if I have to.” He kisses the top of my head, my cheeks, my nose and my chin, all before planting a soul deep kiss on my lips. “I will kiss every square inch of this glorious body to make sure ya beg me to forget the bad things. I will make the boogeyman go away. Now, Miss Keenan, I have the mornin’ off, and I want ya wrapped around my cock.”

“How cananyonesay no to that?” I say sarcastically, taking his cock inside of me. Groaning at his size, I can’t help but love the way he hits the edges. It feels like nothing and everything, all at once.

“Fuck me. I can’t say no to you, Lincoln Moore.”

“I intend to, darlin’.” Lincoln rocks back to pull all the way out, and thrusts back into me.

“And when I’m done,” he groans, “we’re goin’ to see your friend Jon about Gail.”

Shit, I thought that might happen. Oh well. No time like the present to deal with the past.

?????

“Jon, I’m telling you that’s her name. I know it’s true.” We’d met Jon at the hospital so we could inform the doctors.

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