Chapter 7

"Xander…mmm. You"re distracting me."

"I thought you wanted me to distract you. I mean, why else would you walk out here in that little tank top. You trying to make me come in my pants, Rabbit?" He palms my breast and squeezes the mound hard enough to have me arching off the bed.

"No, I"m trying to make up for all the time lost. I didn"t know it could… I didn"t know you could…"I can"t even finish my sentence before he pulls me back down and attacks my mouth.

Over the past few days, I thought falling into a boyfriend and girlfriend routine would be strange for us, but it"s as natural as breathing. Pretty much everything is the same, except instead of just avoiding touching each other, we can"t keep our hands off each other.

I thought for sure that he"d jump straight into the having sex part of the relationship since the man knows almost everything about me. To my surprise, he"s been treating me like any true gentleman would. He took me out to dinner. He bought me flowers. And even though we already live together at the end of the night when neither of us can keep our eyes open, he always makes sure we make it into our own rooms.

It"s like he was trying to take it slow, even though we"d been in the slowest relationship ever. It"s taken ten years to reach second base. I want him and I know he"s going to treat me good.

I"m ready.

"Please, Xander. We can do more." I say, desperately wanting him to give in tonight. It never works.

"No, I told you already. Stop trying to throw yourself at me. You"re not just some cheap thrill, Mel. Don"t treat yourself like one." He leans down and kisses me one more time, "Besides, I need to meet with my father anyway. He and my mother are flying in before they set back off to Mexico."

"Wow, they"re serious about renewing their vows, huh?" Since we got to college, the Gerard family haven"t been in the states for longer than three days at a time. Once Xander got into college, they took their newfound spare time to do all the traveling that they forgot to do when they were younger. I envy them. I wish I could hop on a plane and go wherever I want. I"d love to just disappear like that.

"That"s true. I don"t want this to be a quick thing. I specifically remember you telling me you were going to take all night with me." I lift one foot out of the cover and let the sheet ride up my thigh. His dark eyes zero in on the motion, and I swear I hear him snarl under his breath. He"s really doing a good job keeping his willpower intact when it comes to not taking me.

After a few seconds of torturing him, I pull the sheets back over my body. "Go on, tell your folks I said hi."

"Hmm, yeah. I will. Are you staying in tonight?" He asks, making sure for the third time in a row that I won"t go anywhere without him. If he weren"t so smooth about it, he"d be the world"s clingiest boyfriend.

"Nope, I"m staying right here. I need some good sleep." I admit and snuggle even further into my bed.

"Alright, I should be back before midnight. Be good, Rabbit."

"Always."

* * *

It didn"t take long for me to drift off into a deep sleep after he left me in the room, wound up and needing release. Nowadays, the only place that I can find it is in my dreams. I feel Xander"s hand running up my thigh, and I turn over to give him better access. He"s never done this before, but I"m glad he"s finally let go of his self-control a bit.

"What made you change your mind, Xander? I thought you wanted us to wait a little longer?" I ask and pull the cover down to look into his face.

"I don"t know who this Xander prick is, but I"m not waiting for anything."

"No!" I scream, but he jams something in my mouth so hard it feels like he"s cracked through my teeth. Two men I"ve never seen before wrestle with me and yank me out of bed.

What the hell? What do they want? I kick my legs out, but they wrap them up with some type of rough rope along with my arms.

"I can"t believe it took us this long to find you. I guess it"d make sense you"d hide out in this big city, but still, you had to know that Luke was going to come looking for you. What your parents did will not be forgiven. You must pay the price." A man with black hair and green eyes says.

His accent is so heavy it makes me feel like I need to ask him to repeat himself, so I can hear everything he"s saying. I shake my head over and over to let him know that I didn"t know what they were talking about, but they refuse to take the gag out of my mouth. I try to scream loud, but no one will hear me. This is New York; no one ever sees or hears anything in this city.

They carry me over their shoulder and shuffle their way down the fire escape with me between them. I don"t know how they managed it, but they didn"t seem nervous about it. It was almost like they had snuck people out of their houses via the free escape before. Like they were professionals.

I pray with everything I am that some will look out their window, but when the men toss me in the back of a white van and close me in the darkness, I know that my chances of being found have just dropped drastically. The only person who might have even had a chance at finding me would have been Xander, and he"s visiting with his parents. He"s not going to be my superman today.