Jessa Ch. 05

Jessa was sitting in a chair in the bedroom, watching Torah sleep. It felt so odd. Except for that awful day at the villa, he had always awakened before her, or the moment she moved. The only difference at the villa was that he knew he had her locked in. And apparently had no concerns for his own safety, at least as long as no weapons were available, she thought to herself with a soft scoff. She had checked the apartment door. It wasn't designed to lock people in, just out. Maybe he thought he had scared her sufficiently with his talk of the cruelty of the Council or the mention of 'enemies.' Maybe he had, because here she sat. She was sure that he wasn't accepting her compliance at face value any more than she was taking his protestations of love at face value. He may be in lust, but she didn't think he had any concept of what love was.

She ran her fingers through her hair. She had showered, and used her new shampoo and conditioner to tame her tresses. But then she had used the hairdryer for the first time in her life. She quickly discovered it wasn't as easy as point and blow. The whole idea of unrestricted electric usage was beyond her comprehension. It had never even occurred to her to think of electricity as an affordable extravagance. She couldn't decide if her world had been turned upside down, or if she was in an entirely different world.

She looked at the brand new cell phone in her lap, and the card that Gemma had given her yesterday with her phone number. Jessa had gone back and forth since waking on whether to call Gemma, or ask Torah's permission first. She liked Nice Torah much better than Angry Torah and if her continuing compliant behavior kept Nice Torah hanging around, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Even if he said no, it wasn't like she couldn't sneak a call in to Gemma the next time an opportunity presented itself.

She looked at Torah again, wonder which one of his personalities was going to wake up this morning. Her hand went to her belly without conscious thought. The pain was definitely better today. Perhaps he would want to return to the villa. She couldn't help but feel there was more she wanted to learn here in Dusseldorf. Her boundless curiosity had always been a troublemaker. But, then, Nice Torah had seemed almost eager to show her pieces of this side of his life. There was also the issue of his enemies. He hadn't seemed concerned with security at the villa, although there was the armed gate and electrified fence. But if he worked for the Council and this was a Council Seat, how could he have enemies here? And what the hell did he do for the Council?

He looked so relaxed in sleep, young, even. She suspected he was only a year or two older than her, though when he was awake, the weight of his world seemed to age him. The sheet had pushed down to his hips. Her eyes traced down his broad chest, his taut stomach muscles. Peaking out under the sheets, she could see the head of his semi-hard cock. She licked her lips without realizing. Something deep in her belly quickened. She remembered that first night with him. She had wanted him, then, and that same feeling had invaded her belly, but when she had tried to be rational, smart, he had taken her; made her give in to her desires. She had labeled that personality Domineering Torah. It made her adrenalin flow, made her pussy overrule her brain. Nice Torah gave her orgasms. Domineering Torah gave her ORGASMS. She squirmed in the chair and his cock twitched.

"Like what you see?" His voice was low as if trying to match to that spot low in her belly where a warm ache was spreading. Her eyes flew up to his face. The brightening window was behind him, casting his face in shadow, making his gaze seem even darker as he rose up on an elbow and studied her. "Come here," he said, again in that low, seductive pitch.

She wavered for a moment, but then sternly reminded herself that compliance was the key to keeping him kind and gentle. She put the cell phone aside and stood, walking over to the side of the bed. "Take off your robe. I want to see you." She was slow to respond, and she saw a flash of irritation race over his features. Her fingers worked at the knotted belt of the robe, until she had it free and shrugged out of her only covering.

He threw the sheets back further and, unbidden, her eyes slipped down to his cock again. Even semi-hard, he was so large it was no wonder that he had done damage in his anger. "Suck it," he commanded. "Make it good and hard." Her focus flew back to his face. His eyes were narrowed, probing. He was testing her compliance, daring her to defy him. And she was sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she did defy him, Angry Torah would return. Domineering Torah might put up with reluctance, but out-and-out defiance was a sure trigger for his anger persona. Slowly, she climbed onto her knees on the bed, then crawled toward him. She reached out tentatively. She had never touched him there with her hands and certainly not her mouth. She wrapped her long fingers around him, felt his cock leap to life, just at her touch. She went down on her elbows and reached out with her tongue to taste him. When she slid her tongue along the underside and worked her lips around the head, he groaned. She slid further down his shaft, sucking gently and working the head with her tongue. "Oh, Jessa," he gasped, lying back on the bed. She sucked harder, pulling back to give her tongue more room to work.

Suddenly his fingers were laced in her hair, holding her head, pulling her gently but inexorably farther onto him. She moaned softly, remembering the last time he had twisted his hands in her hair and then, just as suddenly he was pushing her away. She gasped, fearing she had made him angry, but then he was pushing her down on her back and diving between her legs. He knelt over her, his cock dangling just out of reach of her lips. She swiped at it with her tongue and after a few minutes of delivering delicious torment to her with his own tongue, he relented and let her take his cock back in her mouth. He kept pulling away each time it became too intense, obviously having something else in mind to finish with. She, however, had no escape from the intensity of his probing tongue. He held her thighs clutched tightly, spread wide. When she began squirming, he dropped his weight on her, pinning her, nestling his cock between her breasts, pushing even deeper into her with his tongue. Then his hands shifted. He dropped his left elbow against her thigh and captured her other thigh with his left hand, freeing his right hand to join his tongue. Fingers slid into her pussy, gliding through her wetness, stretching her. Just as she was about to come, the fingers disappeared, and his tongue disappeared to be replaced by a gentle stream of air blown on her clit.

"Torah!" she cried out in frustration, and she heard him chuckle. One of his juice-slicked fingers was probing at her asshole at the same time his thumb pressed into her pussy. She tried to squirm away, but she was pinned so firmly, all she could do was clutch at the sheets. She was making incoherent noises as the finger and thumb buried themselves in her and his tongue returned to torment her clit so exquisitely. The combination of unfamiliar sensations and intensity threw her over the edge, and she was screaming, still incoherent, as he drew out the orgasm until she was sure her heart would stop in surrender. At some point, he had flipped around and was looking down at her.

"Jessa, how is your pain? How are you feeling?" She rolled her head from side to side. "Jessa, answer me!" he commanded.

She finally managed to get her eyes open and look up at him. "It's better. It's okay," she said, and he immediately threw her over onto her belly, pulled her hips up and plunged into her from behind. She grasped the headboard and pushed back against him, feeling herself helplessly building to another orgasm, even after barely surviving the last one. Then it was on her, wave after wave, perfectly timed to his thrusts. Jessa was too overwhelmed even to scream, this time. She would have melted into the mattress, save he still held her hips, pulling her back to meet his driving cock. Then he was reaching with one hand, twisting her hair, pulling but not painfully, as he lost his rhythm and began gushing inside her. His orgasm seemed to last as long as hers before he finally collapsed, half on top of her and half on the bed, breathing raggedly.

****

"Torah?"

"What?" he asked pulling a tee shirt out and covering up the chest she had been admiring.

"I want to talk to the doctor. To Gemma."

"Why! You said you were okay," he said with a flash of anger.

"No, not about that. I am. Really. I've always healed fast."

His eyes softened ever so slightly. "Then what?"

"Woman things," she said shyly.

"Call your mother," he said, sitting to put socks and shoes on.

Jessa rolled her eyes. "She's not really very good at this. Please, Torah?"

He stared at her, trying the see between her words. She met his gaze steadily. He finally waved his hand. "Then call her, it may be hours before she can get back to you, but you can take her call on the road."

Jessa wrung her hands. "I was really hoping I could sit down with her."

"Gods, Jessa. She's one of the few gynecologists in a city full of Circle women desperate to get pregnant. Do you have any idea how lucky we were to see her last night? I want to get home before I get called in again."

"Can I at least ask?" Jessa begged in a soft, little girl voice.

"Fine. Ask," he said. "And then give her your new cell phone number because I can guarantee you the answer will be no."

He strode angrily from the room and Jessa cringed, wondering if she had initiated a persona change. But she picked up her new cell phone and after a few minutes figured out how to place a call with it.

'Gemma," an impatient voice answered.

"Gemma?" Jessa asked, not expecting to reach her.

"I'm on my way in to see a patient. What's this about?"

"This is Jessa. You said if I needed to talk to you..."

"Jessa. What's up?" All trace of impatience was gone.

"I know you're really busy but I was hoping I could talk to you..."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I feel fine. I need... want to talk about something else."

There was a pause, then she said, "I take my lunch at 12:30. My office is in building 5. Torah knows where it is."

"Thank you," Jessa said, then realized the call had already been disconnected. She looked out of the bedroom door, wondering which Torah was out there. Steeling her courage, she went to find out.

****

Torah was irritated, and very impatient as he led Jessa to Gemma's office, but at least not angry. Jessa had appeased him by packing her new possessions quickly and efficiently so that they could leave as soon as she finished with Gemma. He knocked on the office door, then entered without awaiting permission. Gemma looked up from her desk where she was eating a salad, reviewing a patient file and doing something else on her computer.

"See what you're interrupting, Jessa," he said, waving at Gemma.

"I'm sorry," she started, but Gemma waved her to a chair.

"Nice to see you, too, Torah. Now leave and let us girls talk."

Apparently, Torah hadn't counted on being dismissed. Jessa could see his jaw working, but apparently, Gemma's rank did count for something, because he turned on his heel, slamming the door as he left. Gemma snickered softly. "It's so easy to get his goat." She looked at Jessa. "So what's this about? It was obvious he had beaten you. And raped you?" she added with a raised eyebrow. "But I'll tell you right now there's not much I can do about that." She spread her hands. "All he has to do is say you resisted. That's how bad things have gotten nowadays. How desperate the Circles are."

Jessa was wringing her hands again. "I sort of deserved it," she said softly. "That's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Girl, no one deserves that, but we'll save that discussion for another time. Come on, spill. What's on your mind?"

Jessa took a deep breath. "You're a doctor. How... I mean, I thought women couldn't, you know..."

Gemma looked at her for a long moment. "By the time I was thirty, it was determined that I was incapable of bearing children or of providing viable eggs for someone else to carry. When I asked to train as a doctor, there was no objection. Disease and chemicals can't damage what's already worthless. Is that what this is about? You want to be a doctor?"

"Not exactly."

"What, then? Exactly?"

"I want... wanted to be a biologist, or biochemist. I thought, you know, if I didn't have a husband, wasn't expected to bear children, I could... would be allowed to do lab work. I dreamed of preventing the next pandemic."

Gemma sat back in her chair, studying Jessa. "Theoretical isn't good enough for you?"

"Theoretical doesn't cure anything. Test tubes, clinical trials, patients," she waved vaguely. "Isn't that why you wanted to be a doctor?"

"Don't haul me into this," Gemma said grumpily. "Especially not in front of Torah. He's already enough of a pain in my ass." Jessa tried to hide a sympathetic smile. "There is no way they are going to let you anywhere near a lab. You've been flying under their radar out in the backwoods of Parvil, but that's over. They know you, they know your genes and they are not going to let go of you. Hell, Torah's not going to let go of you. Whatever else, it's a matter of pride for him. He found you, he's not about to lose you to some First Circle wipe ass."

Jessa stared at her, her mouth hanging open. Gemma laughed at her. "Being a valuable commodity gives you a certain leniency. A gynecologist with my surgical skills makes me rare and precious. Your genes make you rare and precious. And while I refuse to say there is anything rare and precious about Torah, he has an astounding lack of genetic damage for being born in the Circle, especially given that both of his parents had genetic issues. That's why he and a handful of others have been sent to fetch you and other Elite wives."

"Me?" Jessa asked in a small voice.

"Well, they didn't know it would be you specifically. Just the best possible new blood for the Circle. If it works, they will search out more Elites."

"So I'll never get to become a scientist," she said softly.

"You can wait, till your past childbearing years," Gemma suggested.

"That seems like forever," Jessa said, rolling her eyes.

"Or..."

Jessa froze, holding her breath. Gemma shook her head, and Jessa thought she wasn't going to finish her thought. "Or?" she pleaded.

"What if you could direct others doing the test tube stuff, as you say? What if you were the one saying which genetic maps to run, which antibodies to search for?"

Jessa jumped to her feet. "You could do that for me?"

Gemma held up her hands. "Whoa now, I just said what if. No promises. And you'd have a hell of a lot of convincing to do. Resources are thin. Lab techs, let alone facilities, certainly aren't a dime a dozen. But..."

"But what?" Jessa was holding her breath again.

"It just might be worth it if it would get under Torah's skin," Gemma said with a wink. "I'll look into it."

"I can give you my new cell phone number," Jessa said, pulling it from a seam pocket of her gown.

"Good Gods, girl!" Gemma scowled at her. "Don't get that damn thing anywhere near your ovaries. Valuable commodity, remember?"

"I'll remember. I promise."

Jessa checked the number and gave it to Gemma, then practically skipped out into the hall. Torah was waiting there, arms crossed, leaning against a wall, with a deep scowl on his face, but his mood lightened somewhat when he saw how happy she was. "Are you pregnant?" he asked hopefully.

"What? No. I mean, it's too early to tell."

"Then what the hell were you talking about?"

"Um, can we talk about it later? I know you want to get on the road."

He was still scowling, but apparently the offer to talk about it later appeased him. He took her arm and led her back down to the waiting car.

****

Once they'd left the vicinity of Dusseldorf and he wasn't checking the rearview mirror every minute or two, he looked over at her and said, "So?"

She smiled at him. "I liked Erich."

"Everybody likes Erich. He's a goddamn teddy bear. What did you talk about with Gemma?"

She was wringing her hands again. She forced herself to stop, but then she was clutching the sides of her seat with white knuckles, and of course Torah's eyes flicked down and saw. "I talked to her about my dream," she said softly.

He looked over at her for so long, she was glad there was no other traffic on the road. "You said that was dead and buried. Whatever the hell it was," he added, with a touch of both bitterness and curiosity.

"Well, she convinced me that I might be able to resurrect it," she braced, not sure how he was going to react.

When he glanced over at her, his brow was knit with puzzlement. "All this would make more sense if you told me what it was. Why ask Gemma? I told you I would do anything in my power." When she didn't answer, he glared at her. "Jessa, talk to me," he commanded.

She shrank a little bit in her seat. "Because I thought you would say no, without even hearing me out. I knew you would say no," she added more strongly.

"So you think Gemma saying yes will make it happen?" he snapped.

She shook her head. "She had an idea. That's all. A little bit of hope."

"All right! Enough riddles. Tell me what this is about!"

Jessa wilted. Angry Torah was back. "I asked her about becoming a scientist," she whispered.

For a long time, he drove in silence and she was reminded of the time on the hilltop, when he had walked away to get his anger under control. Finally, when he spoke, all he said was "No." But she could hear the volcanic miasma roiling beneath that one word.

She took a deep breath. "Torah?"

"End of discussion!" he snapped.

"Don't you even want to hear her idea?" Jessa pleaded.

He slammed on the brakes and glared at her. "Do I have to beat this nonsense out of you!"

She cringed back against the door. "No," she whispered, not daring to meet his eyes.

He stared at her for a long moment. She could feel his eyes burning like lasers. Then he was out of the car, slamming his door. Jessa was terrified that he was coming around for her, but when she dared look, she realized he was pacing back and forth across the roadway, arguing on his cell phone with someone. As she watched, he made several more calls, and she desperately hoped he was calming. That hope was destroyed when he shoved his phone into a pocket, walked over to the car and slammed a fist into the fender. As if he felt nothing, he rested both hands on the hood, his head down, breathing hard. Jessa could see blood running from his knuckles. She looked at their surroundings. There were stubbly or overgrown fields, and fences in places. She knew the only way she could hope to outrun Torah was on the road, but he would only chase her down in the car. Anyway, her brand new running shoes were in a suitcase in the trunk. Desperately trying to look for a weapon, yet not draw attention to herself, she peered into the back seat then tried the glove compartment. She stifled a gasp and looked quickly up at Torah. He was now resting his fists on the hood of the car, but other than that hadn't moved. She looked back into the glove compartment. A heavy handgun lay there, with a clip in the handle and two other clips beside it. Jessa began to reach for it, and glanced at Torah again. He was moving toward his door, looking straight at her. She grabbed, holding it with both hands, and still it shook.

Torah opened the door and climbed into the car. "What do you think you're going to do with that?" he asked, his voice cold and flat. He was staring out the windshield.