Behind the Mask Ch. 19

All characters are at least 18 years old.

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So. My boyfriend had almost killed himself. I'd given him a proper chewing out afterwards, and like before he apologized profusely. It seemed he was feeling better now about the whole situation with Jordan. He had freaked out when he thought that many emotions were stemming from Jordan and not himself, and I'd finally opened up to him and talked about my relationship with my cousin.

It was cathartic, much like when I'd told Coco. This time, though, I was telling it to the person that had a part of Jordan inside him. August realized how similar he and Jordan were, that anything he was feeling wasn't necessarily foreign. He wanted to see how he would handle any intrusive thoughts or feelings now that he was armed with the knowledge of where they came from, but he made me promise to love him for him, not for Jordan.

I smiled. The two of them might have been the best of friends. How I felt about them now was different. It was so hard to describe. Maybe the One didn't exist. It really was possible to love another as deeply, without pushing them to fit the hole the other had left. Leon had certainly overcome that hurdle. His words came back to me. It's accepting the person as they are. I realized I'd already passed the point of trying to mold August into Jordan. I loved him for him. God, this was so corny.

"Alex?" said the little girl on my lap. "Are you okay?

"Hm? Yeah, sorry. Where were we?"

"The big bad wolf was just visiting the first piggy."

Outside, a car pulled up to the house, and I peeked through the curtains. Two people, a man and a woman, presumably returning from a date. They couldn't go out in public, and they weren't going to my club, so it made me wonder just where they'd whisked themselves off to. I grinned, shaking my head at my own curiosity.

"Ah, yes." I patted the girl's head and continued the story. "So the big bad wolf went to the first piggy, who had built his house out of straw. And he called out and said, 'Little pig, little pig, let me come in!' 'Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!' said the first piggy." I could hear movement in the house now, footsteps approaching the room. "And so the wolf said, 'Then I'll huff, and I'll puff--'"

The door opened, and Senator Barnes stared at me, his eyes near bugging out of his head. The woman with him, Krista, gasped and almost rushed forward, but I fixed her with a stare so cold that she froze. I pulled their daughter closer to me, adjusting the storybook in my hands.

"'--and I'll blow your house in!'" I finished, closing the book. "We'll finish later, okay Lisa?"

"Okay!" she said cheerfully. "Hi mommy! Hi Uncle Bill!" She waved to the two adults, cute as a button. "Alex said she was your friend!"

"What are you doing in my house?" Barnes growled, holding Krista steady.

I let an innocent smile spread across my face. "I just came to play with little Lisa here. She was so alone, especially after her babysitter left." Immediately, Krista took out her phone and began dialing, either to the cops or to the babysitter. "Ms. Barnes." She looked at me with wide eyes, which darted to her daughter and then back to me. I leaned down, putting my face right next to Lisa's. "Let's not be hasty, alright? We wouldn't want to do something we all regret." Terror wreaked her face, and I sighed. "Don't worry. I'm just here to have a little chat with your brother. He's a very difficult man to get ahold of. Could we have a moment alone?"

Krista gulped and nodded, then held out her hands as she crouched. "Come on, Lisa. Mommy's going to--"

"Can't you see Lisa and I are having fun?" I raised a brow, and Krista began trembling.

"Please. She's just a child."

Ol' Billy Barnes pulled his sister to her feet, whispering in her ear. "Just give us a moment, babe." With great reluctance, Krista continued down the hall, and we heard her door shut.

"Wonderful," I declared. "Wow, it's been a hot minute since we saw each other, Bill! Can I call you Bill?"

"No," he said stiffly, entering Lisa's bedroom and closing the door behind him.

"You see, Bill, we had a deal. Do you remember that? Either you agreed to terms, or you walked away. If we'd left it at either of those choices, we'd still both be sitting pretty right now." I pulled Lisa closer into my lap, and she seemed to enjoy the cuddles. She was bouncing her head gently off my boobs and giggling, which suited me just fine. Better that she wasn't really listening to our conversation. "But instead I had to speak to our mutual friend. You know the one, right?"

Barnes swallowed and nodded. "And where is our mutual friend right now?"

"Well, the fact that I'm here and he's not should give you some idea, shouldn't it?" I sneered, pushing the curtains aside to gaze nonchalantly out into the night. "But if you want specifics... Lisa, do you like nursery rhymes?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Alright, well you probably remember this one, right? Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall." I made eye contact with Barnes, who was visibly sweating. "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again." I gave him a humorless smile. "He's probably a can of chili con carne by now." Barnes stiffened, clenching his jaw. "Yeah. You bet on the wrong horse, buddy."

"So what do you want?" he almost whimpered.

"I want what we agreed upon," I said casually. "Except throw in the other half as a late fee. I'm a forgiving person, but after everything that's happened, I don't think you should be governor after all. We need to set a good example for your... niece, don't we?"

After a moment's hesitation, and after glancing at Lisa on my lap, he finally said, "Fine. My people will be in touch. We'll have payment sorted soon enough."

"Oho, it's not so simple, Bill. That's what you said last time. If I don't get my money in twelve hours..." I turned Lisa around to the side so she could look at me, and I turned my voice cheerful. "...then Uncle Bill gets to be on the news!"

"Yay! Uncle Bill, can I be on the news too?" she exclaimed.

"No! No." Barnes held his hands out, breathing heavily. "You... You wouldn't. You'd get exposed too. You said you wouldn't risk your patrons."

"Ah, but you see, Bill. I've changed the contents of my Pigeon," I announced. He looked at me quizzically. I covered Lisa's ears with my palms. "If I don't get my money in twelve hours, the story that goes out to the press isn't that you fucked your sister and had a bastard incest daughter. It's that you've displayed sexual misconduct toward three of your aides."

"...But I've never--"

"It doesn't matter, Billy Boy. You know the times we live in now. The media will dig and dig and dig. And maybe some women might speak out and lie to get their five minutes of fame. Depends on how much of an ass you are, I suppose. But what the media will find is Lisa, and everything her mom and Uncle Bill have been up to." I sat back, shrugging. "And my club and I will remain completely untouched, because even if you snitch, nobody is gonna believe a word you say. Just some fairy tales spun by the disgusting incest senator."

He was thinking of any way to get out of this, and I watched the cogs spinning in his head. "There's no way you come out of this unscathed," he muttered. "If I ever go down, you're going down with me."

I just smiled and uncovered Lisa's ears. "Lisa, do you know how to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider?"

"Yeah!" she chirped.

"Okay, let's take turns! You go first."

"Okay! The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout," she sang.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out," I continued.

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain."

I looked at Barnes again, no longer smiling. "And the itsy bitsy spider just climbs up the spout again. Of course, if I just get my money and we go about our business, my Pigeon stays caged up and nobody is the wiser about your family." I hefted Lisa off my lap to stand, then bent down and playfully squeezed one of her cheeks before patting her back to coax her out of the room. "But part of me does hope you don't pay your dues. I've never had to use a Pigeon before. Kind of excited to see what kind of shit storm it could kick up. And besides, Lisa wants to be on TV," I added with a smirk, louder so Lisa could hear and cheer in agreement. "I'll see myself out."

Barnes ushered Lisa to Krista's room, standing between me and the door. Suddenly, he reached into his coat and pulled out a gun. It was a nice shiny six-shooter, and from the looks of the man, it had never been fired before. But credit where credit was due, he had it trained squarely on me, not wavering at all.

"You hold it right there, bitch," he snarled. "You come into my house and threaten me with my daughter? Gotta hand it to you, you've got guts."

"Oh wow. You carry a gun on you. Seems you've made quite a few enemies, eh?" I sighed, shaking my head. "Damn. Made the same mistake our mutual friend made, didn't I? Walked right into the lion's den."

Barnes chuckled once. "I suppose if you don't learn from others' mistakes, you have to learn from your own."

"And speaking of our mutual friend," I continued, wagging a finger at his gun. "Y'know he did this exact same thing. But the thing is, I'd filled his belly with sleepy juice, filled his lungs with sleepy gas. His aim was all over the place. But not you. You have a nice, steady hand."

A bullet flew through the window and pierced Barnes in the wrist, making him scream and drop the gun. Lisa almost came running, but from the sounds of things, Krista scooped her up and retreated back to her room. Barnes was on his knees now, clutching his bloody wrist and putting pressure on it.

"You bitch!" he spat. "I am a United States senator!"

"For now," I agreed forebodingly. "Let's keep it that way. You know what I want. You know what happens if I don't get it."

"God damn it, you shot me!"

"Well, technically it wasn't me," I pointed out with a shrug. "But I get your meaning. Probably should get going though, so many veins in the wrist. You'll live if you get help straight away." He growled at me and I patted his shoulder as I walked past. "See ya 'round, Bill."

I walked through the dark house, feeling satisfied. Finally, some closure to this whole affair. Now I could focus on August. Speaking of, I tapped the earpiece I was wearing as I stepped out of the house.

"All done?" came his voice over the wire.

"Yeah. That was clean. Thanks for the backup," I murmured.

"Of course, baby." I bit my lip and hoped he wasn't still following me on his rifle's scope. "I'll see you in a bit?"

"Don't be late," I lilted, then removed the earpiece as Alain pulled up along the curb. I got in the car and sighed as he began driving to pick August up.

"Everything as you planned, mademoiselle?" he asked, eyeing me in the rearview mirror.

"He'd have to be extraordinarily stupid to mess this up," I muttered, looking out the window as the dark suburbs rolled by. "We have all his modes of correspondence tapped, right?" He nodded. "Then we should be good. Let me know when the money's in. Remember, it's gonna be double what we were expecting."

We fell into silence as he drove, and I rolled the coming conversation around in my head, reluctant to start it because of the shame I felt. Was I justified? Kinda. But August had been right. I still should have trusted my judgement of him. He had always been by my side. And I believed in his reasons.

"Alain... I'm sorry."

He gave me a surprised look in the mirror. "For what, mademoiselle?"

"I didn't know what to believe. All this was such a big secret, and it was so close to me... I freaked."

"It's alright. I may 'ave felt the same, in your shoes."

"You know I actually had a panic attack when I thought I'd lost you?" I was panting a bit just thinking about that time.

Alain's eyes turned gentle, tinged with sorrow. "The others told me. But you will not lose me, mademoiselle. I will always be right by your side."

I nodded, swallowing. "I--"

The car stopped, and August opened the trunk to put away his rifle, then got in next to me. "Thanks for picking me up," he said. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. And you don't need to worry, the woman and the kid are safe." His main concern with this plan had been my safety, and I'd had to assure him that Barnes wouldn't just shoot me without giving me some kind of speech. His second concern was shooting through a wall and hurting Krista or Lisa.

"Good, good," he sighed. "Gotta say, I'm not sure how to feel about playing vigilante."

"You're telling me it didn't feel good shooting that piece of shit senator non-lethally?" I laughed.

He grimaced, inhaling sharply. "See, that was the satisfying part. Just can't let my C.O. know about any of this."

"Hell of a shot, by the way," I remarked. He chuckled, and I watched him before continuing in a softer tone. "Hey. You keep so calm through all these crazy situations. Hurting people... killing people. How do you do it?"

"Well, I was trained by the best. At least something useful to come of our military industrial complex." He sighed, looking out his own window. "I just think about the people important to me, every second of it. Trick myself into believing what I'm doing is right, and hope it doesn't change how they look at me."

"Why would that change? You're still you." I put my hand on his and he turned back to me, smiling half-heartedly.

"That's super relevant in my case, huh?" he joked, and I smiled.

"Take us home, Alain," I said, and August looked at me in surprise. I began playing with my hair, and his eyes darted around, trying to figure out where this was going. "So I was thinking... You know I'm a pretty transaction-oriented person."

"Sure?"

"So I was wondering what I could give you for helping me with Barnes," I continued, switching to a purr. This cute boy of mine actually gulped and shifted in his seat, and I smirked while scooting over to him.

"You don't need to give me anything," he stammered.

"So there's nothing you want?" I whispered, my face inches from his.

"I didn't say that," he breathed, and I touched my lips to his. He responded by enthusiastically pulling me into his lap and pulling my head closer to kiss me more deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck and moaned, and I heard the window separating us from Alain slide up into place. Tactful as always.

We made out until the car glided to a stop. Barely breaking apart, August opened the door and maneuvered us out, princess carrying me to my front door. I finally had to pause to unlock it, and then we were back at it, slowly stumbling around in the dark as he navigated us to my bedroom. Leaving the lights off, he set us down on the bed with me draped over his chest as we continued kissing. But this wasn't the reward I was talking about.

I worked my way down his body. And his abs... Shit. Having a fit body was never one of my requirements, but goddamn was it sexy. Don't judge me. I may have lingered a bit longer than was polite, before finally arriving at my destination. We took a moment to awkwardly remove his pants before I could admire him in all his glory.

Power. That was what every girl should feel when giving a blowjob. When done right, a girl held complete dominion over the guy. Of course, this obviously didn't apply to skull-fucking. That was a separate matter altogether.

As I took him into my mouth, he groaned and threw his head back onto the pillows. With a little giggle, I started painting his entire rod with saliva. His knees bent to keep from quivering as I worked on him, giving special attention to his frenulum. He was muttering incoherently, which was a good sign. When you could turn even the smartest men into babbling idiots, you knew you were doing it right.

I wrapped my lips around him and began pumping them up and down, my tongue coiling around wildly. He gripped the sheets in fistfuls, writhing around in ecstasy before looking up to watch, panting in short breaths. Time for the coup de grâce. I swallowed his cock as deep as I could, and he gripped my head to hold me down. Then I turned my head, throat still impaled on him, doing a quarter-twist. He groaned loudly, and I suddenly ripped myself off him. Maybe that was a mistake, because I almost choked when it felt like my throat slammed shut from the sudden vacancy.

Immediately, August thrust his hips up, and I gripped his member to aim it properly. He coated my face with everything he had, and I moaned as some of it landed on my tongue, more dripping from my nose into my mouth. As prescribed, I viciously sucked the remnants out of his cock, and he whimpered before sighing in satisfaction.

We stayed like that while he recovered, and not to sound like a slut, but feeling his warmth on my face was so fucking hot. After a minute, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, admiring his handiwork in stunned silence. His dying erection gave a final few throbs at the sight of me.

"I'll go get you a towel," he murmured, rising to his feet.

"Thanks." While I waited, I scraped his cream off my face and sucked it off my fingers, getting used to his taste.

When he came back, I was already mostly cleaned off. "Oh..." he breathed, deducing that I'd already swallowed his cum. His manhood throbbed again, and I took the damp towel from him to wipe my face, not wanting any residue drying and giving me a stiff mask in the morning. I handed it back to him, and he left it in the bathroom before climbing back into bed with me. I undressed and lay down, and he pulled me into his arms.

"Good reward?" I asked as he spooned me, my voice teasing.

"The best," he admitted, before kissing the back of my shoulder. "Lexi?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

I closed my eyes and sighed in contentment. "I love you too, August."