Beyond the Veil

by Erin Lee

  “In more than a friend way.” Her brilliant ruby lips spread into a smile, and her shining gaze locked onto mine. “I want you.”

  “Why?” I said when I managed to remember what words were again.

  Her eyes darted to my lips. “You’re beautiful, funny, and there’s a certain darkness in you that lures me in. Like a moth to a flame.”

  I could have laughed. I held back. Me? The flame? Pfft. Please.

  “Do you want me?”

  I was shocked. For a second, she looked vulnerable as she waited for me to reply. “I’ve never...”

  “You don’t want this?” she asked.

  Warmth spread between my legs and my breaths quickened. “I...” I moaned as her lips met my neck. Her lips danced with expertise down to my white blouse. Carefully, she unbuttoned it and unhooked my bra.

  My heart pounded so hard that she must have felt it.

  She cupped by breast and brought her lips to my nipple. Her other hand unbuttoned her own top. Once undone, her tits bounced free. I hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t been wearing a bra. I tried not to look at her stomach but couldn’t take my eyes off. She was gorgeous. Her baby would be too. I now knew for sure what he saw in her.

  A need came over me, a need to feel her again.

  I grabbed her breasts as I felt her bite down on my nipple, and a surge of pleasure shot through me. She brought herself down on top of me and released my nipple which was now red and a little sore, but it felt amazing. Her lips brushed against mine. She wrapped her hand under my body and pulled me against her.

  Her breasts felt amazing against mine. I stuck my tongue in her mouth and finally let go of everything I had been holding back.

  “I want you!” I said and reached down to her pants, unbuttoning them. I pushed my hand down to her panties and felt the sticky wet seeping through the lace material. “Oh fuck, Kate.”

  “Stick your fingers inside me,” she begged.

  I pulled her panties to the side and thrust two fingers inside her. I felt twinging around my fingers as she fucked my fingers.

  “My Mary,” she said through moans. “Mine.”

  I wondered if, by that, she meant ‘not his.’ I was okay with that.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Hudson, one week later

  Things will be different this time. I’ll listen to Mom and lead Mary’s ass on. Fuck, I’ll go to the therapist with her if I have to. It’ll be cheaper this way and Kate isn’t exactly cooperating. I don’t bother to call. Instead, I pull into my driveway and am relieved to see Mary is home. I made my bed and need to lay in it. My family is furious that I’ve disrupted my vows. Brown is livid too. With my job on the line and Kate in the child support filing line, I have nothing to lose. In a way, I know things will work out. Mary never wanted a baby. There’s no way she’s really pregnant. Kate probably gave the positive test to her. There’s no way Mary wants a kid running around.

  ...But maybe I can have both. A man has rights too. I can visit Daisy on weekends. I can take her out and do the things my stepfather did for me. I won’t be like my biological father. That isn’t up for negotiation. Sure, I’ve fucked things up, but it doesn’t have to stay that way either.

  I knock twice only out of politeness, before barging in through the foyer. Spotting Mary’s favorite shoes, I smile. I can’t say I haven’t missed her. There’s a part of me that never really gave up on her. I’ve just been lost. She’ll see that. Marriage is hard. Our history will save us like it has so many times before. Even Ingrid West will agree with that – I’ll have to tell her.

  Looking around the empty kitchen, I’m surprised to see a pile of dishes. It’s not like my wife to let things get messy. Mary was so uptight, she’d peak at Christmas presents the minute they hit the tree and rewrap them to make sure they were just right. She could never keep her hands of anything. For her, perfection was always key. Set on the idea that she’s likely upstairs researching Jack the Ripper and writing about stupid Ingrid West, I vow to ask her about it. She’ll like that. She might even be glad to see me. If there’s one thing that will put a smile on Mary’s face, it’s talking about her favorite protagonist. I’ll even humor her when she talks about the USA Today bestseller’s list.

  Moving through the front foyer toward the fat, big-mouth staircase, it’s not lost on me that Mary’s changed just about everything. Gone is the coat rack where I used to hand my suit coats. She’s replaced it with her grandmother’s old grandfather’s clock. The thing doesn’t even work. At its feet sit only women’s shoes. I wonder what she did with my cross trainers. I could probably use the exercise. I tilt my head when I spot a pair with tiny purple daisies on the toes. I don’t remember Mary owning those. They seem too, well, young. Shaking my head and using my palm to grip the bannister, I take the steps lightly but two at a time. I’m halfway up the steps when Milo comes bounding out of the guest room where he’s always slept wagging his tail. Great. Any second, he’ll start barking and it’ll piss off Mary.

  Shut up, you stupid mutt. Don’t do it. I put my finger to my lips and move quicker to get to him. If I can pat his head, I can shut him up before he gets wound up. Then again, I’m not sure why I’m sneaking around. Mary left the door open. She’s surely changed the locks by now and it really still is my house. If she flips out or calls the cops, I’ll just walk out. It’s not like she’s dating yet. She’s obviously not over me if she’s still calling Mom and strategizing against me with my mistress.

  I grab the dog at the top of the stairs. While I’ve never really liked the mutt, he’s been a brave tester all these years of my bitter wife’s wretched meals. I owe him for the time she put a laxative in my soup. “Hey bud,” I say, scratching his head. “Daddy’s home.” He licks my face and turns in the direction of the bedroom; his ears perking up. That’s when I hear it: moans. At first, they are soft, but as they grow louder, so does the thumping of my heart. My wife is not alone.

  Unsure of whether I should leave and scratch the whole thing or kick the living shit out of the guy banging Mary in my old room on the California king that I paid for, I freeze. I remind myself of Kate, Daisy, my mother, Brown, and, hell, an entire reception worth of people who do or will see right through me. I’m not exactly innocent. Karma has found me and brought me to this place. It’s not like I don’t deserve it, even out of Mary. But deserving something and being able to live with it are very different things. I put the dog down and ignore him as he claws at my leg. Quickly, I make my way down the hall as the moans grow louder; somehow familiar and foreign at the same time. Mary never moaned like that with me.

  I grip the handle the best I can with a bad thumb, and pull the door open; my free hand balled into a fist and ready for just about anything. My jaw drops. Sheets fly and the moans change to – laughing? Kate? Mary? What the fuck is happening?

  “Hudson, you looking for me?” a woman’s voice says. I can’t be sure whose...

  Epilogue

  Mistress Death

  For as crazy as she is, Mary was right about one thing. Hate has a twisted blade. And while she didn’t have the fortitude to carry out what I, on pure instinct and no thinking, could have done myself, fate does have a way of working out. Love does too. Heeding warnings on whether or not to peek at a Christmas present or even peek at a cheating spouse’s browser history makes no difference at all. Semantics are overrated. It’s the big choices, the ones you can’t take back, that make the difference. The big emotions too.

  I smile down on Hudson as he sits at the edge of the lake just outside Peak View. I won’t intervene. He will either release the emergency break for a final Escape—poetic that he came to his hometown to end it all—or he won’t. That’s where Mary and Ingrid had it all wrong. Yes, I, Mistress Death, am here to usher lives and even relationships to the grave. But the buck stops there. I’m not the believer in karma that Ingrid or Hudson are. I don’t care about happy or even sad endings; either are optional to me and the universe on a whole. I believ
e in the process. I’ve seen too many times beyond the veil.

  Decay. That’s what fascinates me. Watching the transformation of souls, lives, and states of living and death are the very things that amuse me. I’m lucky in that way. I can see what mere mortals cannot see. The green a corpse turns as a cold body surrenders to finality is the most beautiful thing if you look hard enough. There will come a day, long after Mary and Kate decide they’ve surrendered to revenge and something not meant to be, that they’ll see this too. I will watch on, waiting for signs of decay and seeing the beauty in change.

  For now, Hudson has it right. He, like the cliché, has the wisdom to know what he cannot change. He’s surrendered. Yet, as sweat collects on his brow, he forgets something: he possesses the power to slap fate in the ass and send it reeling in a whole new direction. Where he allowed himself to sit in a waiting room at a funeral parlor with his marriage, he does that now, too. They all do, in Escape, Colorado. Still, I believe in his last minute ability to turn things around. That’s what love is; the opposite of hate. It too, twists and turns. Now it is up to him alone which direction he will choose. Happy endings are always up for the taking. Mary knew that. Ingrid and Kate knows it too.

  My job here, for now, is done. While I don’t yet have a funeral to attend, it’s coming soon. I turn away, lowering my black veil and flattening my pale hair, able to allow him the free will it will take to decide. I chuckle, thinking of Mary’s frantic lists turned fictional stories and Hudson’s frantic bouncing between the women in his life. Walking away: I can do that now, because I’ve come to realize that nothing is ever really final. An ending is a beginning and the preface always the first words a journey to the end. ‘Beyond the Veil.’ It’s the expression people use for life after death – the mysterious place they linger when they inevitably vacate the earthly world and float off into world next. It’s the beginning of something too.

  About the Author

  USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Lee, who also writes as EL George, is a dark fiction/reality/speculative author and therapist chasing a crazy dream one wild story at a time. But she is adventurous enough to delve into multi-genres including sci-fi, romance, YA, vampires, fantasy, and paranormal.

  She is a prolific author, as this list attests. Diary of a Serial Killer Series: Just Things, Jimmie’s Ice Cream, Thing Fifteen, Momma, Cotton Candy, and Lizzie. Psychological/Thrillers: Lola Party of Eight Series: Alters, Host, and Merge; 99 Bottles, The Cell, Dare, Kept, Dangerous Games, Hangman, Twisted Things, and Midnight Kiss. Horror/Dark reads: The Ranch, Moving On, The Cabin, and Daddy’s Girl. Circus Freak Series: Circus Freak, Some, Being Martha, The Contortionist, Star, and Blenders. Escape Reality Series: Greener, Circus Freak, Soul-Less, and Apryl’s Fools. YA/Teen/LGBT: Freak, Scary Mary, and Pretty Bones—the prequel to Boned, and The Ghosts Who Raised Me. Horror: Lizzie, The Haunt, Wendigo, Rotten, Soul-Less, Vegan, When Darkness Whispers, and Pawn Takes All.

  Romance/Dark Romance/Paranormal Romance: Something Blue, The Morning After, White Antelope, No Shame, Risking Destiny, Bella Amore, and Unsuitable Companions. Social Work/Family books: Losing Faith, Take Me as I Am, Losing Faith, Wave to Papa, Goodbye Unicorns and Fix Me by EL George. New Adult: Nine Lives, From Russia, With Love, To Hell with Russia, and Boned. Mythology/Fantasy/Other: The Curiosities of Seafoam: An Erin Lee Short, Once Upon A Reality: Twisted Spins on the Classics, Twice Upon A Reality, Third Time’s A Charm?, Crazy Like Me, Love Like Crazy, Shrink Rap, and It’s a Rap? Poetry: Between the Cushions.

  She has stories in these anthologies: 13: An Anthology of Horror and Dark Fiction, 13: Déjà Vu, 13: Night Terrors, 13: Resurrection, Carnival of Fear, Carnival of Nightmares, Slashing Through the Snow, Unconditional—ASPCA Charity, Fractured Fairytales: Book One, Craving: Secrets, Craving: Security, Craving: Christmas, Craving: Forbidden, Classic Twists, Wings of the Wicked Box Set, Beyond Oz, Beyond Wonderland, Seven: Virtue, Love (Still) Sucks, What Lies Beyond the Shadows, Desperate Measures Box Set, Love Rocks Box Set, Night, Night Sleep Tight, Shopping List, Volume 2, Beautiful Tragedies Poetry, Mirror, Capture, Insane Insomnia, Unmasking the Ripper, Siren’s Lullaby, After Ever After, Villains Ever After, Freaky Fetish, The End?, Beyond Wonderland, Beyond Oz, Classic Twists, and Infamy.

  Lee has a master’s degree in psychology and works with at-risk families and as a court appointed special advocate. When she isn’t busy dissecting the human experience, she enjoys escaping from reality through reading and a myriad of crazy adventures that will probably one day get her killed. She’s cool with that.

  Follow Erin Lee at:

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gonecrazytalksoon/

  Fan Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CrazyInklings/

  Web: www.authorerinlee.com

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_erin_lee/

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13994843.Erin_Lee

  Amazon: http://amzn.to/2vgAePW

  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/erinlee1974/

  Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/erin-lee

  MeWe: https://mewe.com/profile/5ad803cea5f4e567a900dc8e

  To join her Facebook street team and fan club group, look for Crazy Ink Events and Promo, Crazy Inklings and/or The Outsiders Street Team.

  Follow Author EL George at:

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorELGeorge/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrazyLikeMe2015

  Erin Lee is the founder of Crazy Ink Publishing:

  Booksprout: https://booksprout.co/author/4302/erin-lee-crazy-ink

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrazyInkPub/

  Crazy Ink promo group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CrazyInkPub/

  Crazy Ink website: www.crazyink.org

  Cover design group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/435293913643991/

  Swag: https://www.facebook.com/CrazyCreationsCI/

  Online store: Crazy Inklings @CrazyCreations: crazy-inklings.myshopify.com

  Erin Lee’s Released &

  Upcoming Titles

  (Multi-genre because it takes all kinds of crazy.)

  Serial Killer/Crime

  Just Things

  (Diary of a Serial Killer Book 1)

  Jimmie's Ice Cream

  (Diary of a Serial Killer Book 2)

  Thing Fifteen

  (Diary of a Serial Killer Book 3)

  Momma

  (Prequel to Diary of a Serial Killer Series)

  Cotton Candy

  (Sequel to Diary of a Serial Killer Series & Book 15 of The Ice Cream Shop series)

  Lizzie

  Psychological/Thriller

  Alters (Lola, Party of Eight Book 1)

  Host (Lola, Party of Eight Book 2)

  Merge (Lola, Party of Eight Book 3)

  99 Bottles

  The Cell

  Dare

  Kept

  Dangerous Games

  Hangman

  Twisted Things

  Midnight Kiss

  Horror/Dark

  The Ranch

  Moving On

  The Cabin

  Daddy’s Girl

  Circus Freak Series

  Circus Freak

  Smoe

  Being Martha

  The Contortionist

  Star

  Blenders

  Circus Freaks Box Set/Full novel

  Lizzie

  The Haunt

  Wendigo

  Rotten

  Soul Less

  Vegan

  When Darkness Whispers

  Pawn Takes All

  Escape Reality

  Greener (Escape from Reality Series Book 3)

  Apryl’s Fools (Escape from Reality Series)

  (Circus Freak & Soul Less)

  YA/Teen/LGBT

  Freak

  Scary Mary

  Pretty Bones – the prequel to Boned

  The Ghosts Who Raised Me

  Romance/Dark Romance/Paranormal Romance

  Something B
lue

  (Happy Endings Resort Series Volume 28)

  The Morning After

  White Antelope

  No Shame

  Risking Destiny

  Bella Amore

  Unsuitable Companions

  Social Work/Family

  Losing Faith

  Take Me As I Am

  Losing Faith

  Wave to Papa

  Goodbye Unicorns – EL George

  Fix Me – EL George

  New Adult

  Nine Lives

  From Russia, With Love

  To Hell with Russia

  Boned

  Poetry

  Between the Cushions

  Abuse/Self Help

  One Good Reason

  Crazy Ink’s ‘I am Enough’ Journal Series

  Crazy Ink’s Quotes 2 Inspire Coloring Book

  Mythology/Fantasy/Other

  The Curiosities of Seafoam: An Erin Lee Short

  Once Upon A Reality: Twisted Spins on the Classics (Reality Series Book One)

  Twice Upon A Reality

  (Reality Series Book Two)

  Third Time’s A Charm?

  (Reality Series Book Three)

  Crazy Like Me

  Love Like Crazy

  Shrink Rap

  It’s a Rap?