As he unwrapped both long subs, she was suddenly starving.As soon as he handed her the one he’d gotten for her, she bit down into it and moaned.It was like a bit of heaven, she thought, with just enough spices to make her happy with his choice.She looked at him when he stopped moving and asked him what was going on.
“You moaned.”She said that the sub was good.“Yeah, I guess so.”He sat down, bit into his own sandwich, and did the same thing that she’d done.Moaned.It moved through her body like he owned her with it.Squirming around on the bed, she was surprised that her ankle didn’t hurt again.But for now, she didn’t care; she was hungry.
“I went home to talk to my parents for a little bit.They said that it sounds like we’re mates.I don’t know what Grandda was talking about when he left, but I’m sure now as I’ve ever been.They told me some things that we might experience or not.I guess it’s different for each couple.”She asked him about compulsion.“I don’t know why not.Stranger things have happened in the last few hours for me.Grandda mentioned that he was sure.Is that why?You were able to make him do something that he might not have been able to do before?”
“I guess I made him tell me about us being mates.He didn’t seem all that happy about it.”He told her that he’d get over it.“There are some things I have to tell you as well.It’s my job, my boss sent me here.”
~*~
Aaron listened to what she had to say about his brother and what was going on with the missing women.How she was sent here to get the information needed about the missing women and to report it back to her boss.She even told him how he wanted her to be healed again by this coming Friday.His sub forgotten, he listened to her every word.
“What do you think is going on?”She said that she didn’t believe that he was selling off the women at all, but that they’d gotten out of a bad situation on their own and ran away.“That’s some of it.What else are you guessing about?”
“What do you mean that’s some of it?What do you know about this?Am I looking at the wrong brother?”He shook his head.“Use your words.I know you can’t lie to me, but I don’t know if that counts with just shaking your head.Tell me what you meant.”
“My family has been helping move people; it’s not just women who are abused out of the state for decades.We give them a little money and set them up with a job and a place to live.For the first few months, we make sure that they have everything they might need and then let them go about their own business.They can’t ever return here, nor can they contact anyone from this life.They get a new identity and assume a new life away from their abuser.”She stared at him with her mouth open.“I help when I can, but since I’m usually out on calls that are different than my brothers, who are police officers, they handle that end of it.What I mean by that is they get the women to press charges, and while their abuser is in jail, they move the person out and beyond.”
“Do they approach you, or do you just move them out?”He said that since his brother and dad work at the hospital, they can tell who is being abused and lets the rest of them know.“What if they come back and tell people what you’ve been up to?What do you do then?”
“Nothing.It’s our word against theirs, and to be honest, it’s never happened.We’re not worried about anyone coming back on us.We do them a great service to get them out of town, and they usually are more grateful than anything.”She asked him how it worked.“I don’t know beyond them leaving here.There is a network of people, and when someone leaves here, we make a single call.After that, the person who is in line calls the next person.We know not where they’ve gone nor where they end up.It’s better that way.”
She nodded, and he watched her.He hadn’t thought that he’d have to get into this right now, but was glad that he had the answers that she needed.As she continued to ask him questions about it, he realized that he really didn’t know a great deal about it after the first call was made.The network worked better that way in that only two people would ever know where she was going and where she ended up.
“Sometimes we take them to the next drop off, and sometimes we just put them on a bus or plane.Whatever is needed at the time.Once we have them leave, we call the person on the list that comes up, and then when they get her, they call the next person on their end.And so on until they’re safe.”She asked how they were funded.“My family is very wealthy, and it’s not really a great deal ofmoney that we hand over to them.A couple of thousand dollars and that’s all.If she gets more from some point down the line, we have nothing to do with that.The places that we set them up in could be a rental or an outright home that someone owns.We never get that far, so we have no way of knowing what happens at the end.”
“But you know that they’re safe somehow.”He told her that he did after nodding to her again.“How can you be sure they’re getting what they need in the way of a safe place?”
“Because we only use tigers that are in the network.Tigers that don’t understand humans at all and their need to beat someone they’re supposed to love.”She asked again how he would know.“I don’t.I’m just taking it on faith that they are safe and get what they need.But I have to trust that they do, or what are we doing this for?”
They then continued to eat their dinner, with only a few questions being asked of him.He had some of his own, too, but didn’t voice them until she was settled into knowing that what he was telling her was the truth.When she seemed satisfied, he asked her what kind of job she had that she was watching over his brother.
“I work for the FBI.I’m an agent in an all-man world that gets me the shit jobs when something comes up.”He told her he was sorry that she had to deal with that.“Not as much as I am.I worked really hard to get there, and now all I do is run errands and make coffee.I don’t even like coffee.”
“I don’t care for it either.I don’t mind a glass of tea once in a while, and I don’t drink hot tea.But I do drink a great deal of milk.Two gallons a week when I don’t have cereal.Then it’s more.”She said she wasn’t a big fan of tea either, hot or cold, but she liked water.Just plain water without lemon in it.“I read once about lemons that they use for water and tea.It says that the bar usually has them, and they’re not very clean.You have no idea who has sliced them up or even if they have washed their hands when they’re making drinks.So I avoid them at all costs.”
“That’s disgusting.”He agreed with her and started to clean up the mess they’d made with their sandwiches.He handed her the second bottle of water that he’d brought up for himself, and she thanked him.“What do we do now?I’m assuming that there is something that binds us together other than sex.”
“Sex will bond us.Just being a couple has given you magic and myself more.Not that I use it all that much.Being a detective, some of the things that I have are useful for me, but for the most part, I just ignore it unless I’m alone.But not even then so much.I don’t want to be caught using whatever I have because I forget about it.”She asked him what he’d noticed that she had.“I’ve only known you since we were mates, so I don’t know what you could do before.I was going to ask you about your ankle, and you have answered that for me.You’ve not once said it was hurting you like before.I can only assume is that I healed you with some of my magic.”
“Now that you mention it, it doesn’t hurt at all.Not even when I bend my toes.”She showed him her toes wiggling, and he laughed.“What’s funny?I’m sure you’ve seen toes before.”
“Not with bright yellow paint on them.”She hid her toes under the blanket, and that made him laugh all the harder.“You don’t have to hide them, I’ve seen them now.Your toes are cute.So tiny.Mine are huge in comparison.I love them.”
They exchanged information like they’d had an accident and were swapping information on their driver’s licenses.He knew her birth date and where she lived, as well as that her parents were alive.She had two brothers that she didn’t care for but never saw, so it didn’t matter.
He told her how he had one set of grandparents and that she’d met his grandda and that his grannie ruled the house where they lived.He told her about his parents and brothers and what they did for a living.
They talked well beyond the time for him to leave, and she gave him such joy that he was happy that she was his mate.They seemed to have a lot in common, too, like food.She liked her food spicy hot, and he did as well.However, he didn’t care for desserts, and she loved cupcakes.
“It’s the frosting-to-cake ratio that I love.There is so much more frosting on a cupcake than there is on a cake.And what girl doesn’t like frosting?”He told her that he preferred fruit over sweet stuff,and then she made fun of him.“You’re like a kid that likes his grapes cut in half, I bet.Just so you don’t swallow them whole.”
“I prefer them cut up, yes, but only because they last longer that way.There are more halves than wholes that way.Also, I like my strawberries cut up without the stem on them before I will eat them.I’m guessing you like to pull one off the vine and eat it like a savage.”She laughed so hard that he knew he was going to love the sound for the rest of his life.“Also, I forgot about this.When I have to have dessert, I prefer vanilla ice cream over any other flavor.It’s just perfect that way.”
“You’re a dork.”She laughed again so loudly this time that one of the nurses came in to see what was going on.“We’re just getting to know one another.That’s all.Just having a bit of fun at the others’ expense.”
“Well, can you keep it down to a general laugh?We have other patients who need their sleep.”The nurse looked at him.“Your brother is in the hospital.I can give him a call if you want to see him when he’s finished.”
“That’s all right.I need to be getting home anyway.I have to work in the morning.”He stood up and looked at Mac.“It’s been great getting to know you.I don’t know when I’ve ever had so much fun.I have an hour for lunch, and I’ll bring us something to do with pasta tomorrow if I’m not busy.I’ll make sure that you know when I’m working.”
