Page 153 of Magic or Madness

This is about her, somehow, and we need to get to the bottom of it. I run through different scenarios in my head, trying to find a reasonable solution where Fallon isn’t the center of this, but I come up empty.

This started after Jacksonville, and the surveillance photos of us at the storage unit back that theory up. Fallon and Jacksonville are the two factors here, but we need that middle piece, the one that ties it all together.

“Listen to me, Bambi.” I spin her around and look into those doe-like eyes that feel like home, finally feeling connected to her after everything we’ve been through. I press a kiss to her forehead and take her face in my hands.

“We are going to figure this out, but your safety is all I care about. You’re not coming back into the War Room, or knowing what our jobs are, and that’s non-negotiable, okay?” I say, and she takes a moment to process what I’m saying before nodding in agreement.

“But, you and I, we have a side mission. I want you to write down everything you remember about the client, and where you were held, no detail is too small. We’ll make timelines, cross referencing when things overlap and narrow down a list of suspects. You’re in charge, and we do it your way, but it stays right here in this room, between us, until we have something concrete.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes,my beautiful girl. Like I said, I’m not punishing you. But nobody needs to know what we do, not right now. On the outside, we need to appear compliant, and it’s best if the guys don’t share the same suspicions we do. Can we agree on that?” Ioffer a compromise, the only thing I can do, and she immediately agrees.

“Okay, Ozzy. You and me,” she says, reaching to touch the necklace I gave her, but a sadness crosses her face when she realizes it isn’t there.

My heart cracks again, this time because I know how much the silver piece means to her. I pull the necklace from a zippered pocket in my pants, and her face softens, the tears slipping down her cheeks.

“Where did you find that?” She asks, taking it in her shaking hands and rubbing her thumb over Athena.

“They sent it to me in a box.” I take the chain from her, and fix the clasp around her neck, letting it dangle in the place where it belongs, her sadness slowly washing away.

“I love you, Ozzy,” she whispers, resting her head on my shoulder and letting out a deep sigh.

“You know what I thought about when you collapsed today?” I wonder, and she shakes her head. “Acorns.”

She reaches up, running her hair through my curls, her eyes closed like she’s finally at peace, and I too, let my body reach a state of relaxation for the first time in days.

“Why acorns?” She questions, her voice barely above a whisper, and her breathing has finally calmed down to normal.

“The day by the river, when you had an anxiety attack, I told you random facts about acorns to calm you down. You told me they were the fruit of an oak tree,” I remind her, and a small smile creeps across her face.

“I remember, but why is that what came to your mind?”

“Because I know you, and I knew what was happening to you. I tried so hard not to be angry, to make the exchange without anyone getting hurt, but when you fell, I snapped,” I say, and she nods, sighing against my neck.

“I understand, I would’ve done the same thing if it were you,” she tells me, and I believe her.

Today, I saw exactly what Fallon is capable of. Arguably, everything that we’d been through together led her to that moment, and something was already inside her that made the act not as devastating to her psyche as I thought it would be.

“I know everything about you, and I can read you like no one else can. I thought about a lot when you were gone, recalling every single moment we’ve shared, and it only brought me back to one conclusion:I love you. More than all those stars you said are out there, more than all the fancy words there are for you to teach me, and way more than anyone else has ever loved a person before.You’re inside me, Fallon. I would kill to protect you, and die to preserve you. You’re my perfect match, my other half, and my soulmate.” My voice is low and vulnerable, but when I look down at Fallon in my arms, her soft features glowing under the light, my heart swells, solidifying everything I said as a promise.

“You’re getting better than I am at this, I fear,” she laughs, pulling me down to her lips and kissing me slowly, taking her time.

I tangle my hands in her hair, bringing heat to her passion, and she sighs, parting her lips to let me in.

Time slows down, just for us, and our kiss feels like a million fireworks going off all at once, signaling that we’ve always been made for each other. I take her bottom lip between my teeth, lightly adding pressure until she moans, and I pull her up, resting her on my lap.

She adjusts her legs to straddle me, and I wrap a hand around her throat, staring into her eyes before bringing her lips back to mine. It’s rougher this time, our tongues fighting for dominance, and she slowly rocks her hips on me.

I need her right now, so desperately in a way that I never have before, and I break my lips off hers, tipping her head back and sucking on the delicate flesh under her ear, the spot that drives her fucking wild.

“Ozzy.” She moans my name, and I leave bites on her neck in response, claiming her in every way I can.

Her pace picks up as she grinds on my crotch, and I quickly lift her ass and yank her leggings until they’re far enough down her thighs so she can kick them off one leg at a time.

She reaches her hand down to my jeans, slowly undoing the zipper, never breaking our eye contact. It’s intense, consuming, and mesmerizing.

Her hand reaches through my boxers until she springs my cock free, rubbing her hand up and down my length as she positions herself perfectly over me, slowly sinking until I’m buried inside her.

---