Jessa Ch. 12

Jessa's head was pushed at an uncomfortable angle against the wall, and about all she could manage was to roll her hips from side to side in an attempt to evade Arnau. Her fingers were working furiously at the cloth of her gown, trying to free it from the cord he had bound around it. "Say you don't want this," Arnau murmured against her pussy lips, though he was beginning to breath hard from the exertion of trying to hold her still.

"I don't want this, you asshole!" She yelled.

"What? I can't hear you. Your voice is muffled," he replied, then redoubled his efforts to make her come despite herself.

Jessa wailed in frustration, though it could have been a wail of sexual desire for all the distinction in tone. She gave one last mighty roll, and found herself on her belly, realizing belatedly that it was way to easy. Arnau had disappeared for a moment, then crashed back down on her as she lay, much more easily pinning her in that position. Whether it was luck or if he had foreseen her defensive move didn't really matter. She could feel his cock pressing against her opening and she was in a much worse position to fight him this time. Her hands were now caught tightly in the twisted fabric and, like her head, pressed hard against the wall. She sought desperately to find the knot where he had bound the skirt, but she could only inch her fingers along, searching for what she had lost, even as she felt Arnau's cock pressing into her. She held her breath, sure he would slam into her as deep as possible from the awkward position. Then it became clear he wasn't reaching for her depths at all, but rather that sensitive nexus where every nerve in her belly came together. And she obligingly gasped when he found it, giving him all the impetus he needed to begin pounding the head of his cock against just that spot. His hands grasped her waist and he pushed himself up to put as much of his weight behind that grasp as possible to hold her still.

"Arnau," she screamed.

"I love to hear women call my name as I fuck them," he muttered, concentrating on the task at hand. "Scream for me again, Jessa."

"Fuck!" She screamed.

"I am," he replied, speeding up his thrusts until she was wailing, her hands fisted against the wall, through the cloth, as she tried not to come and lost the battle. The moment Arnau felt the waves of her orgasm, he slid down slightly and dropped his full weight on her, plunging as deep as he could before shuddering in his own orgasm. "Say you don't want this," he whispered in her ear, taunting her.

"Get off me, you fucking asshole!" She hissed hoarsely.

Something in her voice warned him as she hadn't been able to earlier, or perhaps the exertion had sobered him up. He rolled away, fastening his pants and jumped to his feet as she sat up, ripping at the fabric that covered her arms, head and torso. She stretched her arms over her head, pulling hard against the knot in the cloth and succeeding in swinging the clock belonging to the fabric-binding cord into her tortured skull until stars joined the blackness edging her vision. Still, she freed the cloth and pulled the now tattered gown away, finding and glowering at Arnau as he backed toward the bedroom door. Fortunately for him, she stumbled when she tried to stand and clutched at her head, legs spread wide, willing her balance back. When she looked back toward him, he was already halfway out the bedroom door.

He held his hands out toward her, placating, but defensive. "You wouldn't have come if you didn't want it."

"Get out," she snarled, starting toward him.

He turned and all but ran from the apartment.

****

The next afternoon, Raza and Jessa were headed out of the apartment building to do some more gourmet shopping. Jessa had promised to show Shay some French cuisine and techniques. She was asking Raza if they should drive or walk when she saw a bright but shy smile spread on the girl's face. She turned to look and saw Arnau, leaning against his car, his driver ostensibly polishing the hood of the car but stealing glances at Raza. Jessa scowled, her blood boiling as she stared at Arnau. He straightened, trying to look chastised. She put a hand on Raza's arm. Can you fetch the car?" She asked.

"Of course," Raza agreed, looking from Jessa to Arnau as she hurried to comply.

Jessa strode down the stairs and straight up to Arnau, glowering. The driver was doing his best to ignore both of them. "I just wanted to apologize," he said quickly. "I was out of line, and, as you so rightly pointed out, drunk. It will never happen again, Lady Jessa," he pronounced formally, reaching for her hand to kiss her knuckles. Jessa let him take her hand and he raised it toward his lips. Just short of their destination, though, she bent his hand painfully back at the wrist, grasped the inside of his elbow with her other hand and shoved his forearm down with all her strength, even as her knee rose, twisting his hand at the last moment to line the bones up just so. The sweet sound of his ulna snapping against her thigh greeted her ears.

He doubled over, gasping in pain and she leaned to whisper in his ear. "If you ever come near me again, it will be your spine that I break. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, my Lady," he rasped, clutching his arm.

Jessa glanced at the driver to make sure he took note of Arnau's deference. He was staring at them both, his mouth open, all thought of discretion gone. Satisfied, she walked behind the car to where Raza waited, also with her mouth open and eyes wide. Jessa slid into the front seat, waiting until the girl collected herself and turned toward her mistress. When she had her full attention, she spoke, coolly and calmly. "Arnau and I had a misunderstanding. It's been cleared up now. Raza, if you tell Torah, he will kill Arnau. That would be an... overly extreme reaction. And unwarranted. I was foolish to trust Arnau. My trust led him to believe he could take certain liberties. I have now dissuaded him of that belief. The matter is concluded. Do you understand what I am saying? If you tell Torah, he will feel obliged to take further action. Raza? Do you understand?"

The girl swallowed hard. "Yes, my Lady."

"You were fetching the car. You didn't see what occurred between me and Arnau." Jessa supplied the ready lie. "Torah will hear. He will ask. You tell him that."

"Yes, my Lady," Raza repeated and Jessa suspected the girl was now looking at her the same way she did Torah. Still, it couldn't be helped. Like it or not, Jessa was learning how to be duplicitous from some excellent teachers.

They were on the way to the food markets when Gemma finally returned her call. Jessa almost squealed in delight at hearing a friendly, familiar voice. "Please, please tell me you've heard something," Jessa begged.

"I've run into a brick wall," Gemma replied grimly, "But that doesn't mean that I'm through trying."

"I don't understand," Jessa said softly.

"I don't either," Gemma agreed. "I expected some of the 'We've never done it that way, therefore it won't work.' I came to the conversation with precedents, even if they weren't exactly the same, or as long-term as what we're proposing. I came with your resume of course work, which was even more impressive than Torah led me to believe. I've played Council members against scientists, and vice-versa. There's something deeper going on here. I've asked Torah to meet with me. Don't give up hope, Jessa. I just can't give you more than hope right now until I figure out what the real roadblock is, and get past the excuses they are fabricating."

"Will you keep in touch?" Jessa asked forlornly.

"Of course," Gemma agreed.

"Gemma?"

"What is it?" The woman asked, sounding like a kindly favorite aunt.

"Is there something special about me?"

"I think so. You put up with Torah, for one thing," Gemma joked.

"I mean besides the fact that I can bear children, you know, that I have good genes."

There was silence on the other end for a moment. "I'm not sure what you mean," Gemma answered, her tone serious now.

Jessa closed her eyes, and replayed Gemma's response in her mind, searching for evidence of guile. She couldn't find it. "I'm not sure either," she answered wearily. "Thank you, Gemma."

"It's always my pleasure, Jessa. But most especially if it irritates Torah," she added, back to her joking tone again. "Goodbye."

After a couple of hours of picking out fresh herbs and vegetables and even goose liver pate, Jessa made a few more random purchases of things she didn't really want or need; merely because that seemed to constitute socializing in Torah's lexicon, and she urgently wanted him to believe she was following his directives with the utmost obedience. When she finally settled into a bistro chair of uncomfortable wrought iron, there was little time left to spend on her notepad, and so much to seek in a frustrating ether of dark matter. She started again by looking for that tantalizing glimpse she had found regarding her and Torah and their unique genetic makeup.

The page, of course, hadn't magically reappeared, but she was able to find what appeared to be an associated page that may have been missed in the hasty erasure of the single, tantalizing thread she'd found earlier. This page was an extensive probability analysis, and she could easily see that it had to do with a number of specific gene pairings occurring concurrently. It appeared to conclude that the probability was one in nineteen. What she didn't know was the nature of the genes that appeared to be under consideration, but that was easily solved, surreptitiously, during her microbiology work in the morning. The probability analysis seemed straightforward, too, and accurate as far as her quick estimation could determine. She didn't want to take precious time away from her untraceable search to do the calculations over, though the empiricist in her screamed. Besides, what was most significant about the page was in the footnotes, not the text. At the bottom of the page, Torah was clearly listed as subject one, and she was listed as subject two. The sources of the original genetic material upon which the probability calculations were based.

Jessa glanced around at the surrounding populace. Not seeing any familiar faces, she turned her attention back to the notepad. And then broke her hard and fast rule to leave no traceable evidence on the gadget. She took a screen shot of the web page. Then, cringing inwardly, she hovered over the rare link on the page. The page it led to referenced stem cells. Jessa took a deep breath and tapped. Unsurprisingly, the link was broken, the page gone missing, just like the first one she'd stumbled on. Jessa stared at the 'Page not found' error for several minutes, her mind racing elsewhere.

Somehow, her eyes managed to get a message through to the dark place her thoughts had gone. Arnau was walking her way, though still several businesses away. Snapped out of her darkness, Jessa flipped the cover on the notepad and tucked it into her bag, waving at Raza. She stood and realized their car was in the same direction as Arnau. And he had clearly spotted her now, if not before. Jessa had a moment's satisfaction to see his arm in an immobilizing splint.

When Raza reached her, Arnau was that much closer, and Raza saw him and gasped. Jessa ignored her. She continued to glare at Arnau, as if they were engaged in a staring contest. He didn't flinch, and Jessa decided to see if her threat carried the weight she hoped. She started directly toward him. His chin raised as if in defiance, but then suddenly he was diverting, calling to someone in warm greeting and crossing the street to talk to them. Jessa tried to keep her smile to herself as they proceeded down the block, though she distinctly heard Raza's very soft giggle, once they reached the security of the car.