Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Aside from being rushed over by his emotions, Jarod was also confused. Why was she so upset about her own mother’s plan?
“What if I have? I don’t plan on risking lives, unborn or grown up.”
“Jarod, are you even aware of the difference here? Between the unborn and Ryan or yourself?”
She sighed once more before she could continue. “For the unborn, well, maybe it could work. Maybe my mother’s idea has some merits. I’m sure medicine has come quite a way with that. I don’t even wanna know the details, but if you found a way to …to. Hell I don’t even know what to call it! Let’s call it ‘dampen’ the pretender gene, then do it. Then the unborn children, destined to be ‘special’, would never even become endangered.”
Parker saw that Jarod wanted to say something in return. Raising her left hand, she pointed her index finger at him.
“But Jarod, don’t you even start to think about playing with breathing humans like Ryan, Emily…” she trailed off and her voice became almost inaudible, but she finished with “or yourself!”
With one pat she hit him with her flat hand on his chest. It was not meant to hurt him. It was simply a try to break through, to emphasize her words.
“Damn it Jarod!” Yelling at him again now, Parker added, “Playing with the DNA on the breathing! Hasn’t the Centre done enough of that? Whatever my mother had planned, think about it genius! She had lived at a time when altering genes was little more than sci-fi. And she had seen what happened to children the Centre had tampered with! She could never have wanted it that way!”
With her last sentence she again placed her hand on his chest for just a matter of seconds. Not in a caring way, but not hitting this time either. Jarod looked down at her hand and right into her face when she had taken it away.
The emotion running through him during those few seconds exceeded the feeling of an electrifying jolt. He had to control his every cell not to grab her hand and embrace this woman. After a few controlled breaths he was able to concentrate on the matter at hand again.
“Parker, if I could get the message across that we are useless, the Centre would have no interest in us anymore! We’d be free! We could live a normal life, damn it!”
With a low voice barely above a whisper, she replied:
“Aside from the fact that this is not entirely true, and you know that Jarod, what do you know about being ‘normal’? Nothing! You were born special, raised special, you lived your whole life like that. Now you wanna change forty years of your history, of your life?”
He could hear and feel the accusation as well as the compassion in her aggravated tone.
With another more violent slap on his shoulders she continued, again yelling:
“Playing around like that would change who you grew up to become, who you ARE. And I’m not even talking about possible fatal consequences here. I’m talking about what that could mean for YOU!”
Enticingly beautiful as she was, her words had hit a sore spot in him. Jarod was completely focused on his reply now. “I don’t wanna be special anymore!”
“I know.”
“I never wanted it in the first place!”
She knew better than anyone how true that was. He had never lied to her, and he had no reason to start now. But Parker reminded herself that he was determined to follow his mother’s wish. Desperate to break through, she continued.
“Jarod, were you even listening to what I said to you the other day?”
“What has that got to do with this?” he growled at last, trying to look as determined and not give away his own reservations at the gene-experiment, nor his hurt at the memory of New York.
“Everything. I told you that you cannot, no matter what, pretend your past away. Being a pretender is your past, your present and your future, like it or not. What you do with your gift in the future is up to you, but it is there. If you choose, it can be an ability that will lie dormant in the back of your mind. But don’t tamper with it! If you lose that….,”
Parker trailed off. It took her some time to regain her composure to finish what she wanted to say.
“Let’s say you’re mightily successful, and no side-effects turn up, what will it mean to lose that part of yourself? What will it mean for Ryan? Maybe Emily would not feel any difference, since she never was a trained pretender, but what about that innocent young man? You saved him from the worst in time, and now you’re not only ready to endanger him, you’re going to rip away a part of his life?”
“Why do you even care? Why does it matter to you what happens to Ryan, Emily…or me?”
She took a deep breath and looked right into his brown eyes. Again she had to fight with her emotions. Parker was now faced with what he had not only once, but many times issued to her: an expectation to get an honest answer. In his opinion - and in hers too - the least thing a friend could expect.
“I care … because I think that Ryan deserves a better life than the one we had. I care because I liked a little boy I’ve met almost three decades ago. And, though you might not believe it, I care because I also like the man this little boy has become. All of him. Smart-alleck, pain-in-the-ass genius and all. It’s all … essentially YOU.”
Jarod was caught off guard by her answer. He not only knew that this was the most honest she had been to him in a very long time. Her whole expression, her aggravation and her welled up eyes told him how much she really cared.
Parker was also right with her concern about the experiment. He had his own problems with the concept. But his mother had been so sure that Catherine’s plan could be extended for all of their good.
And he also had doubts about what really would happen afterwards. What about the secrets he had revealed over time? What about all those horrible facts that he and his family knew about the Centre? And, of course, he still had the DSA’s the Centre wanted back almost as desperately as they wanted him. Even if he would succeed, and neither he nor Ryan were ‘real’ pretenders anymore, they would still have reason enough to hunt them.
“It will never end, will it?” he asked devastated, sounding almost defeated.
“I told you Jarod. Disappear. Go into hiding and they’ll never find you. As long as you are still the genius, you’ll always be a few steps ahead.”
In an attempt to counter his last statement, to make the obvious not as unbearable as he may feel it, she added, “Maybe you cannot end the hunt, but you can end the game.”
He wanted to ask her what this would mean for her. How she would end her servitude to the house of horrors, but he knew she would not answer him, at least not to his satisfaction. Because the only answer he wanted to hear was that she would come with him. And he saw in her eyes that that still wasn’t her intent. But he wouldn’t give up. All he needed was a little more time.
“Parker, it’s getting late. Let’s check into the motel down the road and get some rest. We could all use it, most of all Ethan.”
Parker had wanted to stay the night at Ben’s anyway; she had planned to take the first plane back in the morning.
***********
Willie continuously knocked on the front door. When the Psychologist finally opened, and realized who had disturbed his little time of peace, he was more angry than surprised or scared to see a sweeper. Syd was too old and he was in this business far too long to be scared anymore by a Centre minion.
“Willie, what a surprise!” Sarcasm was dripping heavily from his words. In a fake sweet tone Syd asked, “What can I do for you?”
“Doctor, did Miss Parker tell you where she wanted to go today. She is needed at the Centre immediately. She is not answering her cell-phone, and her brother needs to talk to her ASAP.”
“Well, have you called her at… no, if she had turned off her cell-phone she wouldn’t pick up that one either. Maybe you should try this ‘house-call’ at her place, not mine.”
“She isn’t at home,” Willie said before he realized that he had never intended to reveal that much. But it was too late now. “If you hear from her, tell her Mr. Lyle wants to see her.”
With that the sweeper turned and left. On the way to his car he was wondering what to tell Mr. Lyle.
Sydney waited a few minutes, then he went into his studio to retrieve his ‘emergency’ mobile. It was the first time he used it, and it was the first time that the recipient’s phone would ring. A few months ago Broots was ordered to acquire three mobiles registered under fake names. Just in case she had said. She had become more and more suspicious that their phones where tapped.
The doctor pressed one of the two speed-dials installed.
****************
The three unlikely travelers drove down the road to the Bed and Breakfast. It was already dark and all three of them felt the fatigue. The day had been a long one with a lot of traveling and heavy in emotions.
Obviously, they got two rooms: one for Miss Parker and one for the ‘boys’. The owner explained with an apologetic look that only one of the rooms was equipped with a bathroom. Without batting an eye, Parker grabbed for the keys, turned and left her two companions behind. They couldn’t help but smile at her attitude. Apparently they got the room with the bathroom in the hall. No surprise there.
Already halfway up the staircase they heard her commanding voice telling them ‘goodnight’ and to be up and ready at 6h30.
Parker came out of her bathroom; she wore only her underwear and put on her blue silk bathrobe. Thankfully she always had a small bag with ‘emergency-overnight-equipment’ in the trunk of her car. It was a bit colder than she had expected and she was shivering. Parker turned on the heating only to realize that it didn’t seem to work. Cursing at her bad luck she decided to go downstairs to ask the owner about it.
On her way down the hall, another door opened and Jarod stepped out barefoot and clad only in his jeans. He carried his shirt and socks in his hand. A green towel was wrapped loosely around his neck. The two people in the hall stopped in surprise -- both feeling out of place at this more than awkward moment. Jarod was the first to collect his wits.
“Did you need anything, Parker?”
“I… The heating isn’t working. I wanna go down and ask about it.”
“Maybe I could take a look at it.”
The last thing she wanted or needed at this moment was Jarod in her bedroom. Like this, only wearing pants, his enticingly beautiful male body for her to look at.
“No, I can take care of it myself. You go and get….” Before she could finish, he had passed her and was already entering her room. “…dressed.”
“Or not.” She sighed and followed him.
Jarod was already bent down at the heater when she entered. Parker shut the door behind her and walked up. She tried to look anywhere else but at his body.
Tucking rather nervously at the covers of the bed, she explained: “I turned on the thermostat, and the heater is on full force. I really think there isn’t much that you can do here, genius. Not without tools anyway.”
“There is,” Jarod replied, still crouching on the floor. “Usually an additional switch, which has a winter-summer kind of purpose. They probably haven’t changed it yet…. Maybe you could turn on the big lights? Ah, never mind, there it is.”
‘Click’ and suddenly the water started running, with some air-bubbles audible inside the pipe. Jarod rose and flashed her a victorious smile.
Exasperated, she smiled back. “Thank you.” She walked up to guide him to the door when she suddenly stopped, frozen by the look he gave her.
Jarod was completely caught at the sight. Parker was illuminated from the back, the bedside lamp was the only light in the room. And she looked incredible in that light. Her dark hair shimmered slightly red. The dim light that surrounded her, made her look more like an angel than ever before. Her dark eyes shone like stars about to fuse. Never in his life had he seen so much beauty.
They locked eyes, both of them aware of this extremely weird situation. While his mind told him to turn and leave, his body could not follow. The need to touch was unbearable. Slowly, very slowly, he dared to take one of her hands in his and lifted it to his face. Not moving his eyes from hers, he kissed the inside of her palms ever so slightly. The now familiar jolt of electricity ran through his whole body again. It was a heavenly experience.
Parker gazed surprised into his dark eyes, but she did not withdraw her hand. While a million warning bells rang in her head, she chose, just once, to ignore them and give in to the moment – weakness be damned. Almost involuntarily, she moved her hand from his soft lips and caressed his cheek.
Jarod closed his eyes at her tenderness. He wanted all his senses to focus on the more than welcome touch. He completely succumbed to his feelings and leaned into her hand.
Grateful for this silent moment of tenderness he re-opened them a moment later. While his left hand was still covering hers on his face, Jarod raised his other to brush softly with the backside of his fingers over her face. From her temples down to her cheeks to her neck and back up again.
Parker saw his chest muscles constrict, and she felt the need to touch. Her hand moved down from his face to his neck and reached his chest. In soft circles she moved from the left to the right and back again. Jarod’s hand, the one that had covered hers on his face, had fallen sideways when she had moved. They were still at arms-length from each other. And then he couldn’t hold back anymore.
His hand came forward and rested on her waist, but only for a few seconds. When he saw no resistance in her eyes, he wrapped it around her to cup her slightly. Then, more forcefully, he drew her closer until their whole bodies crushed into each other. Her hand on his chest was crunched in-between. Jarod felt her breasts touching his through her thin garment. Breathing heavily now, he couldn’t suppress a light moan. He could feel her arousal, and was sure she felt his just the same.
Parker felt both their bodies reacting. Her breathing had become labored as well and she also emitted a soft moan.
For a brief moment her mind wandered off to think about how many minutes had passed and how long it took for them to stand like that. Touching, feeling each other. To a woman like her – usually ‘getting it on’ rather quickly - it almost seemed comical, only it didn’t. It was a totally sensual thing, bordering on erotic. And she trembled.
Jarod’s eyes had darkened with need. “I’ve waited….we’ve waited half a lifetime for this. Please, don’t push me away. Not this time. Not now.”
The thought of pushing him away was a concept so common to her, but she usually did it out of necessity - or out of habit. Never out of want. And now she didn’t want to either. And she wouldn’t.
When she didn’t move away, his heart made a jump and he felt as if a million fireworks were going off in his head simultaneously.
Jarod watched her closely, waiting for a sign. And a sign he got. A mischievous smile appeared on her lips, almost undetectable, but not to him.
And with a smile in return he closed in to finally kiss her. The kiss that carried thirty years of friendship turned quickly into a kiss that portrayed thirty years of trust. Thirty years of love.
As the soft touch became more intense, she opened her lips to invite him in; their hands as well as their bodies followed the intensity suit. Touching, grabbing, probing until they realized that they were still half-dressed.
When her cell phone rang, both were caught off guard as if struck by lightening. Parker closed her eyes briefly to collect herself, trying to catch her breath.
It was not unusual for her to answer the phone in a rude way, but her “What?” portrayed all the anger and annoyance she felt to be disturbed here, now. There were only three people who would call her at this time and one of them was standing just a few steps away. Then Parker realized that this was not her ‘regular’ phone ringing. So this could only be either Sydney or Broots.
“Sydney,” she sighed. “What do you want?” Unconsciously she gazed at the bedside clock; it was 9:30. “Where I am is none of his damn business.” Parker listened and put on an evil smile. “Oh, goody. So the bastard still has me under surveillance. All you need to know is that I’m in good company. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” Before she shut her phone she added in a softer voice: “Oh, and Syd? Don’t get into any trouble, ok!”
Parker disconnected the line and started to dial a number. She had thought of this kind of emergency, and she had come with a plan. While waiting for the answer, she walked into the bathroom and kicked the door shut without paying attention to the flabbergasted but still panting pretender.
“Parker here. Listen, I know it’s kind of sudden, but I really could use your help with something.” The person on the line had been surprised but more than happy to agree.
When she was finished, she made another call, this time she called the airport. Parker made a reservation for the 11h30 plane to Dover.
Before Parker was able to exit the bathroom again, she had to stop a moment to recollect herself. She leaned with her forehead against the door and stared at the floor tiles. Her bathrobe was open; he had already been all over her skin with his hands. And it had been a spectacular experience. How the hell did that happen? Why didn’t she stop it? But she knew the answers. It happened because she had wanted it to. And now, yet again, necessity dictated her to stop it and push him away.
It would never end. She had to end the game too.
Back in the room, she quickly started to grab all her things together while explaining.
“Jarod listen, they are looking for me. Lyle is playing his games and I need to go back now.”
“Parker!”
“No, Jarod don’t! You know how it is. Syd and Broots need me there. So don’t act as if it was that easy. I gotta go.”
Without giving him another look, mostly to hide her emotions from him, she shouldered her bag and opened the door. Knob in hand she hesitated a moment. Not turning around, knowing he was watching her intensely, she said softly:
“Promise me Jarod. Promise me to think about what I said. Go back and take care of Ethan and your family and end the game.”
“I will think about it. But could you just ….”
Finally, she turned to look at him once more. Fighting back her tears she admitted:
“I wanted it Jarod. I wanted it too.” Her voice faded with the last words. Unable to hear any other reply, she turned and left. The door closed behind her and the lone pretender fell back on the bed. The sadness that overwhelmed him was ripping at his heart. He understood her motives, but that didn’t alleviate the pain he felt.
***********
The tall waiving man in the crowd was hard to overlook. He stood out from the rest. Smiling in a catching way, dressed in dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a blue-white striped shirt hanging loosely over it, he looked devastatingly beautiful. He was unshaved but apparently he had been under the shower before he got to the airport to pick her up. His hair, a bit longer than the last time, was barely dry and looked tumbled. He had probably only ruffled through it with a towel. It fit him.
Daniel approached her and gave her a short but intense kiss. Parker realized the difference immediately. What a difference a kiss could make. The one a few hours earlier had made her knees almost buckle. This one was … well, not having the same effect.
She explained her ‘problem’ on the way to her car. She wanted him to drive her home since there was someone who had her house observed and she needed to appear completely drunk. And she wanted it to look like as if they had spent the evening together.
Daniel wondered what this was all about. But he didn’t ask questions. He told himself that it was probably a jealous wife who had her observed. This woman was a mystery to him and full of secrets. But he was caught by her spell from the first time he had laid eyes on her. And if this whole thing meant he could spend time with her, he would do as she asked.
In the car Parker was completely silent, grateful that her companion didn’t interrogate her about this weird situation. She knew she had to follow her ‘emergency-plan’ through. And that would mean that Daniel would come with her and stay the night. Thinking about the man she had just left behind and the things that were about to occur in that motel room, she suddenly realized that for the sake of being safe she not only had sold her soul a long time ago to that place. That night she would also sell her body.
“What if I have? I don’t plan on risking lives, unborn or grown up.”
“Jarod, are you even aware of the difference here? Between the unborn and Ryan or yourself?”
She sighed once more before she could continue. “For the unborn, well, maybe it could work. Maybe my mother’s idea has some merits. I’m sure medicine has come quite a way with that. I don’t even wanna know the details, but if you found a way to …to. Hell I don’t even know what to call it! Let’s call it ‘dampen’ the pretender gene, then do it. Then the unborn children, destined to be ‘special’, would never even become endangered.”
Parker saw that Jarod wanted to say something in return. Raising her left hand, she pointed her index finger at him.
“But Jarod, don’t you even start to think about playing with breathing humans like Ryan, Emily…” she trailed off and her voice became almost inaudible, but she finished with “or yourself!”
With one pat she hit him with her flat hand on his chest. It was not meant to hurt him. It was simply a try to break through, to emphasize her words.
“Damn it Jarod!” Yelling at him again now, Parker added, “Playing with the DNA on the breathing! Hasn’t the Centre done enough of that? Whatever my mother had planned, think about it genius! She had lived at a time when altering genes was little more than sci-fi. And she had seen what happened to children the Centre had tampered with! She could never have wanted it that way!”
With her last sentence she again placed her hand on his chest for just a matter of seconds. Not in a caring way, but not hitting this time either. Jarod looked down at her hand and right into her face when she had taken it away.
The emotion running through him during those few seconds exceeded the feeling of an electrifying jolt. He had to control his every cell not to grab her hand and embrace this woman. After a few controlled breaths he was able to concentrate on the matter at hand again.
“Parker, if I could get the message across that we are useless, the Centre would have no interest in us anymore! We’d be free! We could live a normal life, damn it!”
With a low voice barely above a whisper, she replied:
“Aside from the fact that this is not entirely true, and you know that Jarod, what do you know about being ‘normal’? Nothing! You were born special, raised special, you lived your whole life like that. Now you wanna change forty years of your history, of your life?”
He could hear and feel the accusation as well as the compassion in her aggravated tone.
With another more violent slap on his shoulders she continued, again yelling:
“Playing around like that would change who you grew up to become, who you ARE. And I’m not even talking about possible fatal consequences here. I’m talking about what that could mean for YOU!”
Enticingly beautiful as she was, her words had hit a sore spot in him. Jarod was completely focused on his reply now. “I don’t wanna be special anymore!”
“I know.”
“I never wanted it in the first place!”
She knew better than anyone how true that was. He had never lied to her, and he had no reason to start now. But Parker reminded herself that he was determined to follow his mother’s wish. Desperate to break through, she continued.
“Jarod, were you even listening to what I said to you the other day?”
“What has that got to do with this?” he growled at last, trying to look as determined and not give away his own reservations at the gene-experiment, nor his hurt at the memory of New York.
“Everything. I told you that you cannot, no matter what, pretend your past away. Being a pretender is your past, your present and your future, like it or not. What you do with your gift in the future is up to you, but it is there. If you choose, it can be an ability that will lie dormant in the back of your mind. But don’t tamper with it! If you lose that….,”
Parker trailed off. It took her some time to regain her composure to finish what she wanted to say.
“Let’s say you’re mightily successful, and no side-effects turn up, what will it mean to lose that part of yourself? What will it mean for Ryan? Maybe Emily would not feel any difference, since she never was a trained pretender, but what about that innocent young man? You saved him from the worst in time, and now you’re not only ready to endanger him, you’re going to rip away a part of his life?”
“Why do you even care? Why does it matter to you what happens to Ryan, Emily…or me?”
She took a deep breath and looked right into his brown eyes. Again she had to fight with her emotions. Parker was now faced with what he had not only once, but many times issued to her: an expectation to get an honest answer. In his opinion - and in hers too - the least thing a friend could expect.
“I care … because I think that Ryan deserves a better life than the one we had. I care because I liked a little boy I’ve met almost three decades ago. And, though you might not believe it, I care because I also like the man this little boy has become. All of him. Smart-alleck, pain-in-the-ass genius and all. It’s all … essentially YOU.”
Jarod was caught off guard by her answer. He not only knew that this was the most honest she had been to him in a very long time. Her whole expression, her aggravation and her welled up eyes told him how much she really cared.
Parker was also right with her concern about the experiment. He had his own problems with the concept. But his mother had been so sure that Catherine’s plan could be extended for all of their good.
And he also had doubts about what really would happen afterwards. What about the secrets he had revealed over time? What about all those horrible facts that he and his family knew about the Centre? And, of course, he still had the DSA’s the Centre wanted back almost as desperately as they wanted him. Even if he would succeed, and neither he nor Ryan were ‘real’ pretenders anymore, they would still have reason enough to hunt them.
“It will never end, will it?” he asked devastated, sounding almost defeated.
“I told you Jarod. Disappear. Go into hiding and they’ll never find you. As long as you are still the genius, you’ll always be a few steps ahead.”
In an attempt to counter his last statement, to make the obvious not as unbearable as he may feel it, she added, “Maybe you cannot end the hunt, but you can end the game.”
He wanted to ask her what this would mean for her. How she would end her servitude to the house of horrors, but he knew she would not answer him, at least not to his satisfaction. Because the only answer he wanted to hear was that she would come with him. And he saw in her eyes that that still wasn’t her intent. But he wouldn’t give up. All he needed was a little more time.
“Parker, it’s getting late. Let’s check into the motel down the road and get some rest. We could all use it, most of all Ethan.”
Parker had wanted to stay the night at Ben’s anyway; she had planned to take the first plane back in the morning.
***********
Willie continuously knocked on the front door. When the Psychologist finally opened, and realized who had disturbed his little time of peace, he was more angry than surprised or scared to see a sweeper. Syd was too old and he was in this business far too long to be scared anymore by a Centre minion.
“Willie, what a surprise!” Sarcasm was dripping heavily from his words. In a fake sweet tone Syd asked, “What can I do for you?”
“Doctor, did Miss Parker tell you where she wanted to go today. She is needed at the Centre immediately. She is not answering her cell-phone, and her brother needs to talk to her ASAP.”
“Well, have you called her at… no, if she had turned off her cell-phone she wouldn’t pick up that one either. Maybe you should try this ‘house-call’ at her place, not mine.”
“She isn’t at home,” Willie said before he realized that he had never intended to reveal that much. But it was too late now. “If you hear from her, tell her Mr. Lyle wants to see her.”
With that the sweeper turned and left. On the way to his car he was wondering what to tell Mr. Lyle.
Sydney waited a few minutes, then he went into his studio to retrieve his ‘emergency’ mobile. It was the first time he used it, and it was the first time that the recipient’s phone would ring. A few months ago Broots was ordered to acquire three mobiles registered under fake names. Just in case she had said. She had become more and more suspicious that their phones where tapped.
The doctor pressed one of the two speed-dials installed.
****************
The three unlikely travelers drove down the road to the Bed and Breakfast. It was already dark and all three of them felt the fatigue. The day had been a long one with a lot of traveling and heavy in emotions.
Obviously, they got two rooms: one for Miss Parker and one for the ‘boys’. The owner explained with an apologetic look that only one of the rooms was equipped with a bathroom. Without batting an eye, Parker grabbed for the keys, turned and left her two companions behind. They couldn’t help but smile at her attitude. Apparently they got the room with the bathroom in the hall. No surprise there.
Already halfway up the staircase they heard her commanding voice telling them ‘goodnight’ and to be up and ready at 6h30.
Parker came out of her bathroom; she wore only her underwear and put on her blue silk bathrobe. Thankfully she always had a small bag with ‘emergency-overnight-equipment’ in the trunk of her car. It was a bit colder than she had expected and she was shivering. Parker turned on the heating only to realize that it didn’t seem to work. Cursing at her bad luck she decided to go downstairs to ask the owner about it.
On her way down the hall, another door opened and Jarod stepped out barefoot and clad only in his jeans. He carried his shirt and socks in his hand. A green towel was wrapped loosely around his neck. The two people in the hall stopped in surprise -- both feeling out of place at this more than awkward moment. Jarod was the first to collect his wits.
“Did you need anything, Parker?”
“I… The heating isn’t working. I wanna go down and ask about it.”
“Maybe I could take a look at it.”
The last thing she wanted or needed at this moment was Jarod in her bedroom. Like this, only wearing pants, his enticingly beautiful male body for her to look at.
“No, I can take care of it myself. You go and get….” Before she could finish, he had passed her and was already entering her room. “…dressed.”
“Or not.” She sighed and followed him.
Jarod was already bent down at the heater when she entered. Parker shut the door behind her and walked up. She tried to look anywhere else but at his body.
Tucking rather nervously at the covers of the bed, she explained: “I turned on the thermostat, and the heater is on full force. I really think there isn’t much that you can do here, genius. Not without tools anyway.”
“There is,” Jarod replied, still crouching on the floor. “Usually an additional switch, which has a winter-summer kind of purpose. They probably haven’t changed it yet…. Maybe you could turn on the big lights? Ah, never mind, there it is.”
‘Click’ and suddenly the water started running, with some air-bubbles audible inside the pipe. Jarod rose and flashed her a victorious smile.
Exasperated, she smiled back. “Thank you.” She walked up to guide him to the door when she suddenly stopped, frozen by the look he gave her.
Jarod was completely caught at the sight. Parker was illuminated from the back, the bedside lamp was the only light in the room. And she looked incredible in that light. Her dark hair shimmered slightly red. The dim light that surrounded her, made her look more like an angel than ever before. Her dark eyes shone like stars about to fuse. Never in his life had he seen so much beauty.
They locked eyes, both of them aware of this extremely weird situation. While his mind told him to turn and leave, his body could not follow. The need to touch was unbearable. Slowly, very slowly, he dared to take one of her hands in his and lifted it to his face. Not moving his eyes from hers, he kissed the inside of her palms ever so slightly. The now familiar jolt of electricity ran through his whole body again. It was a heavenly experience.
Parker gazed surprised into his dark eyes, but she did not withdraw her hand. While a million warning bells rang in her head, she chose, just once, to ignore them and give in to the moment – weakness be damned. Almost involuntarily, she moved her hand from his soft lips and caressed his cheek.
Jarod closed his eyes at her tenderness. He wanted all his senses to focus on the more than welcome touch. He completely succumbed to his feelings and leaned into her hand.
Grateful for this silent moment of tenderness he re-opened them a moment later. While his left hand was still covering hers on his face, Jarod raised his other to brush softly with the backside of his fingers over her face. From her temples down to her cheeks to her neck and back up again.
Parker saw his chest muscles constrict, and she felt the need to touch. Her hand moved down from his face to his neck and reached his chest. In soft circles she moved from the left to the right and back again. Jarod’s hand, the one that had covered hers on his face, had fallen sideways when she had moved. They were still at arms-length from each other. And then he couldn’t hold back anymore.
His hand came forward and rested on her waist, but only for a few seconds. When he saw no resistance in her eyes, he wrapped it around her to cup her slightly. Then, more forcefully, he drew her closer until their whole bodies crushed into each other. Her hand on his chest was crunched in-between. Jarod felt her breasts touching his through her thin garment. Breathing heavily now, he couldn’t suppress a light moan. He could feel her arousal, and was sure she felt his just the same.
Parker felt both their bodies reacting. Her breathing had become labored as well and she also emitted a soft moan.
For a brief moment her mind wandered off to think about how many minutes had passed and how long it took for them to stand like that. Touching, feeling each other. To a woman like her – usually ‘getting it on’ rather quickly - it almost seemed comical, only it didn’t. It was a totally sensual thing, bordering on erotic. And she trembled.
Jarod’s eyes had darkened with need. “I’ve waited….we’ve waited half a lifetime for this. Please, don’t push me away. Not this time. Not now.”
The thought of pushing him away was a concept so common to her, but she usually did it out of necessity - or out of habit. Never out of want. And now she didn’t want to either. And she wouldn’t.
When she didn’t move away, his heart made a jump and he felt as if a million fireworks were going off in his head simultaneously.
Jarod watched her closely, waiting for a sign. And a sign he got. A mischievous smile appeared on her lips, almost undetectable, but not to him.
And with a smile in return he closed in to finally kiss her. The kiss that carried thirty years of friendship turned quickly into a kiss that portrayed thirty years of trust. Thirty years of love.
As the soft touch became more intense, she opened her lips to invite him in; their hands as well as their bodies followed the intensity suit. Touching, grabbing, probing until they realized that they were still half-dressed.
When her cell phone rang, both were caught off guard as if struck by lightening. Parker closed her eyes briefly to collect herself, trying to catch her breath.
It was not unusual for her to answer the phone in a rude way, but her “What?” portrayed all the anger and annoyance she felt to be disturbed here, now. There were only three people who would call her at this time and one of them was standing just a few steps away. Then Parker realized that this was not her ‘regular’ phone ringing. So this could only be either Sydney or Broots.
“Sydney,” she sighed. “What do you want?” Unconsciously she gazed at the bedside clock; it was 9:30. “Where I am is none of his damn business.” Parker listened and put on an evil smile. “Oh, goody. So the bastard still has me under surveillance. All you need to know is that I’m in good company. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” Before she shut her phone she added in a softer voice: “Oh, and Syd? Don’t get into any trouble, ok!”
Parker disconnected the line and started to dial a number. She had thought of this kind of emergency, and she had come with a plan. While waiting for the answer, she walked into the bathroom and kicked the door shut without paying attention to the flabbergasted but still panting pretender.
“Parker here. Listen, I know it’s kind of sudden, but I really could use your help with something.” The person on the line had been surprised but more than happy to agree.
When she was finished, she made another call, this time she called the airport. Parker made a reservation for the 11h30 plane to Dover.
Before Parker was able to exit the bathroom again, she had to stop a moment to recollect herself. She leaned with her forehead against the door and stared at the floor tiles. Her bathrobe was open; he had already been all over her skin with his hands. And it had been a spectacular experience. How the hell did that happen? Why didn’t she stop it? But she knew the answers. It happened because she had wanted it to. And now, yet again, necessity dictated her to stop it and push him away.
It would never end. She had to end the game too.
Back in the room, she quickly started to grab all her things together while explaining.
“Jarod listen, they are looking for me. Lyle is playing his games and I need to go back now.”
“Parker!”
“No, Jarod don’t! You know how it is. Syd and Broots need me there. So don’t act as if it was that easy. I gotta go.”
Without giving him another look, mostly to hide her emotions from him, she shouldered her bag and opened the door. Knob in hand she hesitated a moment. Not turning around, knowing he was watching her intensely, she said softly:
“Promise me Jarod. Promise me to think about what I said. Go back and take care of Ethan and your family and end the game.”
“I will think about it. But could you just ….”
Finally, she turned to look at him once more. Fighting back her tears she admitted:
“I wanted it Jarod. I wanted it too.” Her voice faded with the last words. Unable to hear any other reply, she turned and left. The door closed behind her and the lone pretender fell back on the bed. The sadness that overwhelmed him was ripping at his heart. He understood her motives, but that didn’t alleviate the pain he felt.
***********
The tall waiving man in the crowd was hard to overlook. He stood out from the rest. Smiling in a catching way, dressed in dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a blue-white striped shirt hanging loosely over it, he looked devastatingly beautiful. He was unshaved but apparently he had been under the shower before he got to the airport to pick her up. His hair, a bit longer than the last time, was barely dry and looked tumbled. He had probably only ruffled through it with a towel. It fit him.
Daniel approached her and gave her a short but intense kiss. Parker realized the difference immediately. What a difference a kiss could make. The one a few hours earlier had made her knees almost buckle. This one was … well, not having the same effect.
She explained her ‘problem’ on the way to her car. She wanted him to drive her home since there was someone who had her house observed and she needed to appear completely drunk. And she wanted it to look like as if they had spent the evening together.
Daniel wondered what this was all about. But he didn’t ask questions. He told himself that it was probably a jealous wife who had her observed. This woman was a mystery to him and full of secrets. But he was caught by her spell from the first time he had laid eyes on her. And if this whole thing meant he could spend time with her, he would do as she asked.
In the car Parker was completely silent, grateful that her companion didn’t interrogate her about this weird situation. She knew she had to follow her ‘emergency-plan’ through. And that would mean that Daniel would come with her and stay the night. Thinking about the man she had just left behind and the things that were about to occur in that motel room, she suddenly realized that for the sake of being safe she not only had sold her soul a long time ago to that place. That night she would also sell her body.
