Whipping Girl by L. Jacobs
Chapter 7 – Alexander - 5 years ago
Missing: Allyanna May Kline
Age when abducted: 6
Age Now: 15
Light Blonde hair and green eyes.
Last seen while vacationing with family in Florida. If you have any information please contact...
I stop reading and stare almost unseeing at the age progressed photo of Ally, it seems so surreal, it looks almost exactly like what she looks like right now. Technology is a wonderful thing but right now it makes me want to punch something. Her parents never stopped looking for her. They still want her back... but she’s mine, they didn’t protect her and they could never love her the way I do. I would never let someone take her from me, it’s their fault because they didn’t take care of her. I tell myself over and over that they don’t deserve her because of what they allowed to happen on their watch, I tell myself that there is nobody else in this world that could take better care of her than me. I repeat it all in my mind while I sit in this hole in the wall coffee shop, I repeat it until I believe it, until I am positive that throwing away the flyer is the best thing I can do for her. I don’t even look back at the garbage can after I’ve thrown it in.
Allyanna is mine. That’s the end of it.
It’s pure coincidence that I ended up in Ally’s home town, I almost laughed when they told me that I needed to fly to Seattle for a new contract, Ivan shot me a look of disapproval but smirked when I told him the story. Once again though, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Zeke was contracted to work beside me this time and I’m grateful for having him here, I don’t know if he and I would be considered friends but we definitely work well together, there isn’t anyone that I trust more to have my back on these kinds of high profile contracts.
I feel on edge as I reach our hotel, the flyer hasn’t left my mind and it feels as if my blood is boiling inside my veins. I’m angry at myself for allowing it to get to me like this but as with all things Ally I can’t always turn it off.
“Hey. Thanks, man.” Zeke says as I hand him his coffee and a couple of donuts, there’s a machine in the room for the coffee but I don’t know anyone that likes that cheap shit. Zeke appears in my door way after I blow past him, he’s looking at me in confusion but I ignore him, grabbing my suitcase, I open it up and pull out some clothes for this evening. Black suit, black button up shirt, black socks and shoes. I used to hate black, being forced to wear it every day will do that to a person, we don’t need to wear the color on a contract, it just needs to be expensive and make us look good but I always seem to pick it subconsciously, I guess it’s a comfort now.. plus it hides blood stains. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” I spare him a quick glance before continuing with my task.
“You’re agitated. I need to know if it’s going to fuck up our contract.” I shoot him a glare at his statement. He should know better than that, I’ve never fucked up anything in my life.
“Remember who you’re fucking talking to, Zeke.” I remind him of our ranks. We’re on the same team but I’m ranked higher than him, he answers to me and I never tolerate disrespect. He puts both palms out in a surrendering gesture but I keep my eyes narrowed on him trying to decide if I should say anything or not, none of us have ever really had any kind of personal relationships toward each other not like we do with our Gifts. We don’t talk about our girls very often and we sure as shit don’t share our personal feelings with each other but it might not be a bad idea to get his input.
“This is Ally’s hometown.” I pause to gauge his reaction but there isn’t one. “I found a missing persons flyer with her name and picture on it.” Zeke’s eyebrows go up in surprise at that, his face looks about the same as mine did when I saw it.
“Wow, even after all this time? What do you plan to do about that?” He asks.
“Nothing.” I finally look away from him and continue to go through my suitcase.
“Nothing? There are people out there that love and want her back and your answer to that is a monotoned ‘Nothing’?” He asks in an accusing tone that pisses me off.
“What am I supposed to do? Knock on their door and tell them I know where their daughter is? Tell The Guard that people are looking for her? What if this is just another test on my part to make sure that I’m loyal? You know Link would love it if I fucked up just once.” Link still has it out for me even after all this time. He loves testing me, like he’s just waiting for one little fuck up just so he can punish me for it. I have never understood what his problem is but it has never mattered anymore, I don’t need his approval and I’ve made sure that I’m the best that he’s got.
“I don’t know, man. It just seems fucked up, that’s all... but it’s your business, I guess.” He shrugs like he didn’t just try to put more shit in my head. I should have kept it to myself, this is why I hate people.
“You don’t get it, Zeke. Even if she were to somehow go back to her parents and The Guard just suddenly decided to leave her be and not go after her... I would. Ally is so ingrained in everything that I am that I have no life without her, I would do anything for that girl, but I’ll never be able to let her go.” I don’t know why I’m explaining myself to him, I don’t need justification for keeping her, she has always and will always be mine.
“Alright, Alex.” He looks down to the floor before looking back at me. “I just- don’t you ever wonder if maybe there might be someone out there looking for us too?” My eyes narrow in contemplation as I search his face, he’s never said anything like this before and the vulnerability on his face is something I’ve never seen coming from him.
“No.” I answer simply. I really don’t think about it but it wouldn’t matter to me if there were people looking for me, I already have the one person that I need in my life.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He blows out a long breath. I turn to walk into the bathroom so I can prepare for this evening but I stop and turn back to him when he says my name. “Alex... I hope I get to love someone someday even half as much as you love Ally.” I’m not sure what to say to that so I just give him a small nod before turning back to the bathroom.
“Did you memorize the file?” I ask Zeke quietly as we ride the elevator to our Targets’ floor.
“Of course, Brian.” He calls me by the name that I was given for tonight. The client or clients in this case, have hired us to do away with their spouses. Cheating, money and high society never go well together, it doesn’t matter that their husbands are probably doing the exact same thing, all that matters is that it could potentially harm their reputation and status. I hate doing these kind of contracts, I’d much rather take out the scum of the earth but Zeke and I are often chosen for these things because women like the way we look.
The mirrored wall of the elevator shows the both of us standing side by side, we look good, expensive, like the high class escorts that we are supposed to be, there is no doubt about that but I couldn’t give a shit less what these women find attractive about me. Zeke on the other hand seems to love these kinds of jobs, he craves the attention of the women and gets off on how they worship his “Godlike good looks” -his words not mine- he’s about an inch shorter than I am so probably around 6’2, his skin is mocha colored and he’s got a muscular build just like the rest of the team, short black hair and dark brown eyes, women love him… until he has to kill them of course. All part of the job. We reach our floor and walk toward the penthouse suite, putting on our fake personas before knocking on the door.
“Oh my.” I recognize her from the picture in our file, this is Ember, the 53 year old wife of Senator Brandnor. “Please come in.” She almost swoons as she opens the door and elegantly waves her hand in the universal signal for us to enter. I give her my most sultry grin, walking past her to the open sitting room and finding our second target. Misty is a 49 year old, two time widower, her third husband just so happens to be Senator Brandnor’s closest friend and political associate, Cale Riddley. It’s too bad that these ladies’ husbands got to talking one night and decided that their “girl’s weekends” were becoming a little suspicious, they had the women followed and found out about their affinity for male prostitutes. Enter us.
I walk right up to Misty and wrap an arm around her waist, bringing her right in to my chest before kissing her on the cheek and whispering in her ear. “You’ll never have another night like the one I’m going to give you.” I mean that quiet literally but she takes it as the dirty talk that I had meant for her to, she shivers slightly at my tone and licks her painted lips seductively. “Why don’t we have a drink, get to know one another?” I give her the grin that I know woman love.
“Yes, I’d love for us to get to know each other a little more personally.” She’s almost breathless as she speaks, her enhanced breasts start rising and falling quickly under the red dress as she tries to get enough air in her lungs. Like I said, there is a reason they send Zeke and I, I’ve barely touched her and she’s already practically panting for it.
I look back toward Zeke as he places a hand in the middle of Ember’s back and leads her toward us in the sitting area so we can all “get to know each other better”. I think I hate this part more than having to fuck them, women like to talk a lot but this is what we need from them, their husbands want answers. Why? How long? How many? I always wonder why it matters, why would anyone want those specifics? But my job isn’t to judge, I only follow the orders that I’m given.
The night progresses exactly as it’s supposed to, Zeke and I are both charming, attentive, the perfect example of what a gentleman should be and when it’s time to move on with our night we part ways with a quick glance in one another’s direction. I show Misty exactly what I had promised, I give her a great ending. I spoon her from behind and run my fingers up and down her arm as I ask my seemingly innocent questions, she answers completely honest and unaware of my intentions, probably thinking there was no harm in telling a stranger about her secrets. She seemed like a very nice woman, it’s too bad that she’s a cheater, I even show her a mercy that I rarely ever give, after she falls asleep, I simply snap her neck. She didn’t feel a thing.
I meet Zeke in the living room, after we release a spray that The Guard has created to help eliminate DNA and we casually leave the hotel. It’s as if we were never there. Zeke is already on his laptop as we cruise through the streets of Seattle, I drive while he taps into the hotels security and erases video and changes a bunch of shit around. It’s always more fun when you can fuck with the investigation, we leave everything so scrambled that it usually takes weeks or even months for the police to get to the actual investigation. They should be grateful, we are providing them with job security.
When we get to our room, neither of us says a word as we walk toward our own rooms, there’s really nothing to say but I look towards his door after he closes it, wondering about his earlier words. Candace is a fucking bitch, I don’t think anyone actually likes her, including Zeke. I can’t imagine living the life that we do without having Ally to bring me back down after jobs like this, she centers me and keeps me from becoming more animal than human. What chance does Zeke have without that? I know he wasn’t trying to piss me off earlier with his questions, he genuinely wanted to know. I make a silent promise to start looking out for him a little better, everybody needs someone, I have Ally but he has no one. I shower and scrub my body thoroughly before finally going to bed, I will only get a few hours of sleep before I need to get up so I can catch my plane.
Zeke and I have separate flights the next morning so I say my goodbyes at the hotel and anxiously leave for the airport. Every thought that I have is on seeing my girl, we’ll have more time together than usual because of my ranking and the heavy contract load that I’ve been carrying. All of them have gone off without a hitch. It’s always something that I have strived toward because of Ally, each and every accomplishment is rewarded with her- you could call me an overachiever. When I finally arrive at The Guard I am practically stalking through the halls to get to her, I finally find her in the cafeteria with a few of the other girls. It’s frowned upon for me to talk to them so I simply nod in their general direction as I take Ally’s arm and pretty much drag her through the halls to our room while she giggles at my impatience.
After shutting the door behind us I scoop her into my arms, placing my face in her silky hair and just breathing her in, she always feels like coming home, I don’t care where I am as long as she is with me.
“I’ve missed you so much.” She says quietly after a few moments of just holding each other. She pulls away but grabs my hand and leads me to the bed, laying down then pulling on me until I lay down on my back so she can curl her body into me.
“I’ve missed you too, Angel.” I say softly while I stroke her hair, it’s gotten so long over the last several years, it was down to her butt before I finally relented and let her cut it to the small of her back. I love it long but it is so much softer when I allow her to keep it trimmed a bit. She suddenly sits up then leans over me, placing one of her arms on the opposite side of my head so she’s propped up over me.
“I mean, I really missed you Alexander,” she breathes. I tuck a few stray hairs behind her ears as I search her eyes, the last year of our relationship has changed in a few ways. Ally is now very aware of her body, she’s gown into a very beautiful young woman, she has breasts now and she purposely tries to get me to notice them. I know she’s been wanting more from me, more physicality from our relationship but she doesn’t know how to ask for it and I’ve never told her because I don’t want her growing up too quickly. She’s been a lot more needy since she hit puberty and I won’t pretend that I don’t love it, I just wish she were closer to my age so I wouldn’t feel so fucking guilty about wanting the same from her, it feels wrong because she’s 15, I’m only 19 but I feel like I’m about a 100.
“I really missed you too, Angel,” I mock with a smirk that I know she loves. She stuns me by leaning her face down to mine and pressing her soft lips to mine. I’m fucking shocked. Too stunned to move as she softly kisses me, her sweet warm breath flowing over my face, making me wish I could devour her. Never in a million years did I think that she would be the one to make the move on our first real kiss. I close my eyes so I can truly savor the moment, every feeling, sound and smell associated with it, wanting it all ingrained in my mind for the rest of my life.
I open my eyes when she slowly pulls away and searches my face, she looks shy and fearful, probably worried that I’ll reject her so in my weakness for her I lift my head and place another gentle kiss on her full, beautiful lips. All at once she swings a leg over my hips, I’m dumbfounded for only a second then I grab her hips, stopping her before she can feel the hardness that she created with her sweet innocence. I keep her there as we breathe each other’s breath, panting in one another’s faces. It has never been like this between us, I always imagined it would be eventually but I want her to be older, I just want to keep her young for a little while longer so she won't have any regrets about this when we’re older. I don’t want to take advantage of the only person that I’ve ever had. It’s unfair really, this maddening love that I feel for her borderlines on obsession, there is nothing that I want more than to show her exactly how I feel by using my body to worship hers, she’s mine and I want to show her exactly what that means in every way imaginable.
“What?” She breathes into my face. “What?” She asks again when I don’t answer.
“What’s gotten into you?” I ask genuinely confused. Ally is not the first move type of girl, this is completely unlike her.
“Obviously not you.” She says haughtily before lowering her face to kiss me again, I turn my head this time then roll out from under her. Standing beside the bed, I narrow my eyes at her, showing her that I do not appreciate the tone or her insinuating language.
“Who do you think you’re talking to? Since when do you say shit like that to me?” My nostrils flare with my annoyance, I know exactly who is teaching her that language and I want to fucking kill her for it. Fucking Candace.
“Do you think that I don’t know that you want me? I felt it, you know… in the mornings.” I tilt my head to the side as I take in her words, I know she’s talking about my cock, there have been several times I’ve woken up with it pressed up against her, I just had no idea she had noticed. I don’t like the words that are coming out of her mouth though, all I can fucking hear is Candace.
“You’ve felt it?” My lip tips in the corner in a half smirk, little girl wants to play this game? I’ll play. “What have you… felt?” I lean over her, forcing her to lay back on the bed. Her eyes widen as I lay back down on the bed forcing her legs apart with one of mine. She’s so damn small that I’m dwarfing her with my frame but it’s actually adding to my arousal.
“Y-your… thing.” She stutters as I bend my face into her neck, I gently graze my lips along the soft skin, just barely touching her.
“Thing? You’re going to have to be more specific, Angel. What thing have you felt from me?” I continue with my torturous half touches as she nearly hyperventilates in my arms. I don’t want to scare her, I just want her to see that she’s not ready for the next step in our relationship, that she doesn’t yet know who she’s playing with. I’ve always treated her like she’s made of glass, maybe the kid gloves need to come off.
“Your penis.” I nearly laugh at her wording but I give her props for saying it. “Candace says that it gets hard because you have needs that I should be fulfilling and if it’s not me that’s doing that for you then you're getting it from someone else.” She blurts out, tears thick in her voice as she nervously twists her necklace.
I lift my head from her neck but I can’t look her in the eyes. I want to die, right here on the spot so I don't have to have this conversation.
“Allyanna…” I start slowly but she interrupts, her tears flowing freely now.
“She says that she and Zeke have been doing it for a year, they all have. They looked at me with pity when I had no idea what they were talking about,” she sobs. I roll on to my back and bring her with me, pulling her as close as I can while she rips my heart out with her words. “Do you not want me? Am I ugly?”
“Stop. Don’t ever say or think those things again, you’re the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on, Angel.”
“But you don’t want me?” I close my eyes tightly at her question, trying to figure out how to word my answer so she will understand.
“Candace and the other girls are older than you are, Ally, and I’m older than the other guys. You and I have four years between us, that won’t be such a big difference when we are older, but right now you are… a lot more innocent than I am. I just don’t want to take something from you that you are too young to understand,” I say slowly, mentally pleading for her to agree and let this go.
“But I’m ready!” She lifts her face once again, her green eyes are shining with emotion making me feel further like shit. When I don’t respond she looks down at my chest and starts drawing patterns on my shirt, it’s her go to response when she’s trying to avoid showing me her emotions. “Are you…with someone else?” Her question almost stops my heart. I’ve been trying to avoid this question for three years.
“I’m with you,” I answer, my raspy tone not sounding quiet like my own. She looks up from my chest with her saddened emerald eyes, it’s the first time I’ve ever felt like I’ve completely failed her and there’s not a fucking thing I can do to make it better.
“Have you been sleeping with other women?” My heart is thundering in my chest and when I swallow it feels like it echoes around the entire room.
“I’ve only ever slept with you,” I breathe out. I know what she’s asking, I know what she wants to hear and I can’t lie to her but I’m not going to volunteer the information either. I could cheat a polygraph and get away with fucking murder time and time again but I can’t lie to a 15 year old girl. I squeeze my eyes closed with her next question, wishing that my heart would just stop.
“Have you had sex with anyone?” Please, God… just fucking take me.
“Ally-“
“Answer the question!” She says more forcefully than I have ever heard from her.
“Yes.”