There were five of them. One in the hall, one in the living room, another facing the kitchen and one, to my utter horror and humiliation, in the bedroom. We tried to remove the cameras, but we couldn't. They were anchored into the walls. So instead we covered them, attaching towels or pillowcases, or whatever else we could to find to cover the lens to keep out prying eyes.

Chuck announced after it was all over and we were back in our room, lounging on the bed, that our actions would most likely cause them to come barging in on us pretty quickly.

It was a good thing we had the rest of our plan in place already. It was a sketchy, thin plan. But it was a plan and that was more than we had the last time the men came.

So we quickly grabbed the rest of our preparations and went to the bedroom.

It was the only closed-off room in the space other than the bathroom and we decided it was the place best suited to give us a tactical advantage.

We shut and locked the door, knowing that would do nothing to keep the men out if they really wanted in and appreciating that it would at the very least buy us some time. Then we lifted the mattress up on its end and leaned the top against the wall, creating a space between the bottom of the mattress and the wall for us to hide in. I felt like a kid in a homemade fort as I slide into the little hole and felt Chuck slip in behind me.

His arms came around my waist and he yanked me into his chest. " All this cloak and dagger stuff is kind of exciting, huh ?" He rasped into my ear moments before his tongue slid along my jaw.

" I can't believe you're turned on by all this, Bass." I told him as I tried to pull away.

He just held me tighter and continue to explore my neck. " I'm always turned on when you're around, Waldorf. Everything you do makes me want you. And I've been watching you for three days now, not able to do anything about it."

" There are men coming to beat the life out of one of us very soon and you want me now ?" I asked incredulously.

He was unimpressed by my protests. " They know we're planning something. They won't come immediately. They'll want the element of surprise on their side." He explained smoothly. " We have time."

" You're still hurt." I continued to protest even as I turned in his arms and ran my hands through his hair.

He kissed me soundly as his hands found my breasts and began to massage them through my thin t-shirt. When his thumb raked over my nipple I gasped against his lips.

" I'm not that hurt." He announced in a low throaty whisper as his mouth descended to my neck.

I ached my back into his and let my hands fall to his shoulders. His tongue danced over my skin, stopping only occasionally to nip or suck.

I was writhing in his arms, praying that the lights weren't about to go out and holding on to him for dear life.

I knew what he was doing. I knew what the sudden burst of lust was really about. He was afraid the plan wasn't going to work, though he'd never let me see that. He was all full of confidence and bravado on the outside, but I knew him better than anyone in the world. He wanted to be as close to me as he could, one more time, in case things went badly. I understood that. I sympathized with it. I needed him as badly as he needed me.

When he yanked my shirt up and tossed it to the floor behind us, his eyes fell on my heaving breasts and rested there for a long moment, as if he were trying to memorize every detail. He continued to stare at me so long it almost made me uncomfortable. He was still, his hands resting at my waist and his eyes glazed over as they scanned me carefully. Then finally he gave a slow, mesmerizing smile and met my gaze with his. " I love you." He whispered into the silence that had fallen over us.

" I love you, too." I answered automatically as I reached for him.

He held himself back and moved his hand to my hair. " I love absolutely everything about you." he said, running his long fingers through my tresses. " I love your hair." Then he moved his hand to my shoulder and brushed his fingertips over the curve and up the side of my neck. " I love this part. The part where your neck connects to your shoulder. It's perfect." He leaned down and nuzzled the place he mentioned for a moment before moving on. His mouth moved over my shoulder, tasting my skin almost delicately. " I love this curve. It's the most exquisite shoulder I've ever seen." I squirmed in his arms, wanting to kiss him, wanting him to do more than just barely brush my skin, but he refused to give in to my attempts. He glided his lips over my shoulder and down my arm, stopping to suck and bite on the inside of my elbow.

I gasped. No one had ever done that before. I had no idea that elbows were such sensitive places, but as his mouth attached to the soft skin there, I felt my toes curl at the sensation. " I love your elbows. God has never created more delicious elbows." He told me before kissing his way down to my wrist. Again, he stopped there and sucked and nipped at the pulse point on the inside of my wrist. And again I was startled by the tingle in my entire body that it caused. He stayed there for a long moment, sucking at my wrist while cradling my hand in his much larger one.

I decided right then I was the luckiest woman alive. Some men have a natural innate ability to paint beautiful works of art. Some men have a natural talent for writing the most heart-rendering, soulful music. My Chuck was a master at sex. This was his art and he was passionate about it.

As his lips finally strayed down to my palm, where he paused again, I was completely caught up in watching him devour me that I forgot about everything else. I forgot where we were, that we were in impending peril, that our lives were in jeopardy. Nothing else existed beyond him and what he was doing to me with his mouth and his tongue and his teeth. I was spellbound as he took each of my fingers into the warmth and wetness of his mouth. I almost forgot he had been making a running dialog of everything he loved about me until he let my thumb slip from his lips and he smiled at me. " I love your hands. So small and delicate, yet capable of bringing me to my knees with hardly any effort at all. Just like the woman they're attached to."

"Chuck" I moaned as I grabbed for him again. He let me this time, finding my mouth with his and dragging his tongue over mine so sensuously that for a moment I forgot how to breath or the fact that I needed to. The burning my chest was the only thing in the world that could have caused me to pull away. And even then it was only long enough to make it stop, then I was right back at his mouth, kissing him again.

He pulled away finally and dropped his head to my throat. He took a few moments to rest his tongue against the pulse that was throbbing there. " I love the feel of your heartbeat racing against my tongue. I love knowing that I'm the one causing it to beat so hard and so fast." He practically sighed the words. His arms wrapped around me splaying over my back and holding me tightly into him. I was nearly sitting in his lap and every move he made pulled me even deeper into him. I sighed and threw my head back, letting him indulge himself in whatever he wanted to do to me.

He laid me back against the floor so gently it as if he thought I was suddenly breakable. His movements were tender and soft and not at all the normal for him. This wasn't Chuck's style. It wasn't his way. And it certainly wasn't how I wanted what could be our last time together to be like. I wanted normal Chuck. I wanted lust-filled, crazed, standing on the edge of reality Chuck.

So as soon as my back hit the floor, I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him down to me. He grunted as his weight shifted and tried to regain his balance so not to crush me with his weight, but his weight was what I wanted. I wanted to feel him smothering me with it. I wanted all of him pushing into me. I raised my hips and ground myself into his groining and he was gone.

He jerked away from me so abruptly I lost my breath and let out an impatient, whimpering noise at suddenly being without him.

He reached down and cupped my breast in his palm, reassuring me that he wasn't going far, while he yanked his shirt over his head and away from him. I grabbed his hips and jerked him forward so I could reach the button and zipper of his jeans.

Something about the thought of Chuck Bass wearing worn, dingy, tattered jeans suddenly seemed so erotic and intoxicating to me. I had seen Humphrey in jeans before, I'd even occasionally seen Nate in jeans, albeit, they were designer jeans, but I had never before seen Chuck low-rate himself by donning denim of all things. The site of the waistband, that had been previously hidden by his shirt, riding so low on his lean hips was beyond amazing. I just stared for a moment, unable to do anything else. Then, instead of undressing him, I let my fingers slide through the trail of hair that covered the middle of his stomach and disappeared into the rough material of his pants.

Chuck might have been only seventeen years old, but he had the body of a full grown man. Just like the inner man, he was far more mature than his limited years.

He was completely still, kneeling over me as he let me explore his chest at my leisure. That was also a measure of the man. Most seventeen year olds were too impatient to just sit there like that. Not Chuck, he was always so controlled and restrained right up to the moment when he wasn't. But that moment took a long time to come around. His self possessed, indulgent tolerance of my need to experience everything when we were first together was something that I would always love him for.

When I had my fill for the moment of his skin under my fingertips, I slide the button of his jeans through the material and slowly pulled the tab of his zipper down. When I did, my hand brushed against the evidence of his arousal. He sucked in a quick breath and I could tell he was fighting the urge to thrust himself more firmly into my hand.

I gave him what he wanted and took his length into my hand through his jeans, rubbing it softly at first then much more firmly as he quit fighting and pushed himself into my palm.

I turned slightly, maneuvering myself around until I was able to run my tongue down the center of his chest. His jeans were still hanging on his hips, unfastened and begging to be slid off. I grabbed his hips again and brought my mouth over his hardness, still through his jeans.

I heard him groan something about God and when I glanced up at his face, his eyes were closed and his head was thrown back in abandon.

I slide his jeans off an inch at a time, letting my fingers glide through the hair that covered his thighs as I did. He was still muttering under his breath quietly right until I slid my tongue over his length, then his exclamation was anything but quiet. In fact, I was pretty sure the outside world could have heard him despite where we were. That was when I finally understood the words he was mumbling. He was saying ' I love you' over and over, like it was a mantra. I didn't think he was even aware that he was saying it out loud.

That was THE moment. Years later when I thought back to the moment I really, truly believed that he meant what he was saying, that he understood exactly what he was saying, it would be this moment. There was absolutely no question, no hesitation. The emotion accompanying the exclamation was beyond doubt. And I had never felt more loved in my life.

I forgot what I was doing, or what I was about to do and lunged for him, pulling his lips to mine and covering them completely. I wished that there was some way I could give him what he had just given me. I wanted him to not just hear how I felt about him, but feel it, like I just had.

But before I could say anything, before I could tell him any of that, he spun me around in his arms and covered my breasts with his hands.

His mouth attached to the back of neck as he leaned us slightly forward and then before I even knew what was happening he was completely inside me, sliding in so easily and quickly that I gasped out loud.

We rocked against each other while he continued to nip and suck at my throat and the spot right below my ear. I was so totally out of control I lost track of everything besides where we were and what he was doing to me, how he was making me feel.

There was no gentleness now, no tenderness. And I was grateful and empowered by the fact that I had pushed him beyond his self restraint. Knowing I could make the Great Chuck Bass so utterly lose control was the best high I had ever been on in my life.

I reached behind me and clutched at his thighs where they rested firmly against the backs of mine. The hair of his chest tickled my back and sent wonderful tingles all down my spine.

His hands were busy massage my breasts, pinching my nipples between his fingers just hard enough to be on the brink of pain.

" I love you." He rasped into my ear. I was beginning to think it was the only thing he was capable of saying anymore.

I let my chin flop to my chest as his mouth moved to the nape of my neck. Again, it was another spot I was completely unaware of until he nipped gently at the skin then began to suck on it feverishly.

Then suddenly he lunged us both forward and I just barely had time to bring my hands out in front of me to brace myself. His hands went to my shoulders, pushing me into him as his body moved forward, enabling him to reach depth we never had before.

I was very grateful that we were so totally alone because the sounds we were both making could have woken an entire apartment building. I had a fleeting thought about how we were going to manage to stay quiet when we returned home and were no longer so alone. An image of my mother and Cyrus pounding on my bedroom door demanding to know what we were doing flashed through my mind and I almost laughed out loud.

I came back to the present just as Chuck stopped moving behind me and pulled away. I moaned out in protest until his arms flipped me effortless around so that I was staring into his eyes.

" I needed to see you." he panted in way of explanation as he laid me down, not so gently this time and entered me once again.

When his hips were resting completely against mine and he couldn't possibly get any closer he paused and took a moment to push a stray curl of my hair from my face. " You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He whispered against my lips as he began to move again.

He was being gentle now, pushing into me with long, slow, leisurely thrust that went as deep as he possibly could, only to pull nearly completely away from me before once again plunging back inside.

His lips never left mine and his arms were curled around my shoulder, holding me so tightly I could barely breath. I was helping by locking my legs around his hips and my arms around his waist.

We kept up the lingering pace until neither of us could stand it any longer. My muscles were turning to jelly we had been at this so long and I could feel his legs shaking with exhaustion where they rested against my body. Then, just when I didn't think he had any energy left, he pulled his mouth away from mine and leaned up, giving himself better leverage and began plunging into me so hard and so quickly that it left me breathless once again. Every muscle in my body suddenly convulsed so hard I thought I was having a seizure. I tightened so hard and so abruptly he grabbed my waist and plunged as deeply as he could before he yelled my name to the ceiling and toppled over onto me.

I thought for a moment I'd killed him. He was totally still and quiet for so long.

Then finally he lazily raised his head and kissed me tenderly, before grabbing me to him as he rolled to the side and pushed more of my hair from my face.

" That very well may have been the very best sex I have ever had." He panted as he played with my hair. Then he chuckled deep in his throat and gave me his smile. " And for me that's saying a lot."

I laughed and batted his shoulder, though in my exhausted state it was more like brushing against it with my fingertips. " I bet you say that to all the girls."

He kissed my forehead. " Ah, but you get the distinct honor of being the last one I'll ever say it to."

" Again, you're just saying that because you think we're going to die any moment now." I teased. I hadn't meant anything by it. I really hadn't and I certainly hadn't expected the reaction my playful banter got.

He sat up all at once, finding some reserve of strength somewhere and hauled me into a sitting position beside him. "It doesn't matter if we die in ten minutes or fifty years, Blair. I am never letting you go again."

The look on his face was scary. His dark eyes were blazing with sincerity and determination. His mouth was set in that way that said there was absolutely no room for argument in his words.

" Chuck," I started as I reached up and smoothed his furrowed brow, easing the lines from it with my fingertips. " I'm not going anywhere. Not in ten minutes or fifty years. I'm never leaving you. You don't have to worry."

He grabbed me and held me against him so desperately. " Promise me." His voice, his demeanor reminded me instantly of the night right after his father died, the night I'd spent just holding him while he cried in my arms.

I pulled away from him and gave him the best smile I could muster. " Of course I promise."

But apparently that wasn't good enough for him because he still looked so lost, so boyishly frightened. I didn't know what I could possibly say to make him understand that there was nothing in the world that could ever drag me away from his side again.

" I want..." his voice trailed off as if he were searching for the words that would explain how he was feeling. He studied my face intently and my breath caught in my throat at his expression once again. "I can't do this now. This isn't right."

Blinking in surprise I gave him a look that told him I had no idea what he was talking about.

Then he shook his head. " I've spent too much not saying what needed to be said or doing what needed to be done."

I was still blinking at him. It was like he was arguing with himself out loud and I was only getting one side of the conversation. I couldn't possibly keep up.

Then he suddenly took my hands in his and held them tightly, almost painfully. " I wanted to wait. I mean we're only seventeen years old. We're so young and our entire life is stretched out before us. We have no idea where we're going or how we're going to get there. I feel stupid even saying it now."

" Chuck, I have no idea what you're talking about here." I admitted. " But whatever you have to say to me, I promise I won't think it's stupid. Just tell me whatever it is. I'll listen."

He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. I was expecting some kind of heartfelt confession. I was expected something terrible, what came out was about as far from what I was expecting as it possibly could have been. " Marry me." He blurted out so quickly I almost didn't hear it. When I didn't say anything because I was too stunned he plunged on ahead as if his request required an explanation.

" I was planning on asking you on Valentine's before the bastards grabbed me. I made a ring out of a cardboard wrapper but I can't find it now. I guess I lost it upstairs. That was your surprise. And I don't expect us to get married as soon as we get free. I know, like I said we're only seventeen years old and this isn't Alabama or Tennessee. But after college. I just want to know that's where this is going. I want to know that this is forever with us."

I stopped him with a kiss. It was the only thing I could think of doing. " Of course this is forever." I told him when we pulled apart. " We're Chair. Nothing is ever going to change that. I'd marry you right this minute if I could."

His smile, what I caught of it, was brilliant and wider than I'd ever seen it. Of course I only got a glimpse of it because it was at that moment that the lights went out.