by Pinki Parks
My skin was on fire and I was his to consume.
“I look at you like this and there’s no better vision of loveliness. The way you are gripping me is hard not to think about what it would be like to be deep inside you.” I found enough energy to lock my ankles behind his head.
I was forcing him to come closer giving me that last inch of his tongue. My whole body convulsed and began writhing. I was caught in the wave of an orgasmic tsunami. I came with my limbs flailing in every direction. I felt him pick up the pace with quick and determined strikes to get him to the finish line. The wet and sloppy sound of his tongue fucking me was too much to take. Holding back the flood of endorphins was futile.
“I want you to cum again.” His words played over in my head until I found a little bit of restraint in reserve.
I wedged my legs underneath him and used my feet to push against his chest to release him from my hungry grasp. His tongue popped free at the moment of my imminent discharge. He wasn’t even touching me. The color of his dangling cock was this angry purple looking for satisfaction. I had enough semblance of mind to stop him before he made me pass out.
We stared at each other with no need for words. I was bathed in the warm afterglow from my neck all the way down to the apex of my thighs. I moaned in the grasp of an orgasmic aftershock. It wasn’t as strong as the others, but it was enough to leave me spent and exhausted. I was lying there looking up at him with this dreamy expression on my face.
“Chase, I had to stop you or we might have done something more.” The date on the calendar was mocking me on the wall circled in a bold black marker.
***
I loved him more than my own life. Colby was my brother before he was taken well before his prime. He had a best friend. They watched each other’s back. He never mentioned his name. I often wondered the reason why he didn’t come and see me. I looked for him at the funeral, but nobody stood out. There was one man dressed in black, but his slicker was over his head. He was there one minute and gone the next.
“I feel you are out of my league. I can’t help but wonder if maybe you’ll be better off with somebody with less baggage. I need to leave this room.” I felt like there was an unnamed elephant in the room. The wedding ring caught my eye and he saw me looking at it.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for anything long-term. It’s been quite some time since I’ve been with a man. I don’t want to start something up with a man who can’t let go of his ex.” Almost two years and he still wore his wedding ring. It necessary to get him out the door as fast as possible.
“Damn, why do you have to be so delicious? It can be quite addictive.” He picked up his shirt which was rumpled from lying on the floor.
I handed him his belt and he put it on without cinching it closed. I didn’t think it was a mistake, but I was in no position to argue. He had made up his mind to want to leave. I found he was the type of guy to hold true to his moral compass.
“You can sleep downstairs on the sofa until the roads are passable. Don’t wake me up when you leave.” I was sick to my stomach with this need to scream at the top of my lungs.
“I’ll be gone before you get up. There will be coffee brewing when you come down for breakfast depending if the power is back.” His magic words made the lights flicker back to life.
He didn’t even bother looking at me when he left the room and closed the door behind him.
I waited and then I stumbled my way into the bathroom on unsteady legs. I put on the shower and stood underneath the hot spray washing away my sin.
The black and white marble motif was my own design. This was a do it yourself project. I was proud to say it was by my hand.
I was tempted to go downstairs, but I jumped under the covers and threw them over my head. The oral sex was phenomenal.
Chapter Eight
Chase
“I didn’t want to say anything, but you haven’t exactly been yourself.” Mason was talking to me while he was pacing the floor nervously.
There was the telltale stain of sweat underneath his arms. He was usually confident and carried himself with distinction. I wanted to question him further, but I felt it was necessary for him to come to me when he felt he was ready. I was never one to stick my nose where it didn’t belong.
“I won’t bother you with the boring details. You know I’m here when you want to talk. I will never force you to say anything against your will.” I couldn’t stop thinking about Gail and the way she quickly changed gears.
It was a memorable moment, but I was just getting my second wind. I could’ve made my name scream from her lips many times over before the crack of dawn.
The sofa wasn’t very comfortable and my legs hung over the other side. I got up a few times and stood at the stairs willing myself to go up to join her. I thought I heard her crying. I was afraid something I did hurt her emotionally. I decided it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. Discretion was the better part of valor.
“Is it that fucking obvious? I’ve been debating whether or not I should involve you. Somebody is coming after me. I don’t have any concrete proof, but there have been some odd discrepancies in the books lately.” He was never one to worry about trivial details.
“Are you sure you’re not overreacting? We have that meeting with the military in the next couple of days to finalize the contract. They require some off the books work done. The thought is they will have plausible deniability if something goes wrong. The stress alone has to be driving you up the wall.” I was rubbing my knee and feeling stupid about missing a few rehabilitation sessions.
“I can’t seem to shake this feeling someone is trying to ruin what I have built from the ground up. I got this stupid e-mail the other day and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was somehow attached to some legal documents. I questioned the lawyers, but they vehemently denied having anything to do with it.
“Why is this keeping you up at night?” I was leading him with questions to loosen his lips.
“It was such a strange thing to receive. Never mind, it doesn’t matter and the only thing we need to contend with is the contract signing. I have accounting working to find out if there’s anything to the discrepancies in the books. I would like you to personally oversee their progress.” I couldn’t tell him about Gail. But this meant I would be spending more time with her.
“You know I will do whatever I can to get to the bottom of this. I can’t help you if I don’t know all the facts.” There were times during the day I found myself daydreaming about her.
“I don’t know why it bothered me so much. I get silly emails from friends all the time with attachments of animals doing the strangest things. Crude jokes and inspirational sayings are more an inconvenience than anything else. This one was different. It literally sent a cold chill down my spine.” My curiosity was piqued and I looked at him with my eyes narrowed holding his gaze.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look and give you my honest opinion?” We were in a staring contest to see who was going to blink first.
“I’m going for a cup of coffee. Close the door behind you when you leave.” This was my brief window of opportunity.
He stormed off, looking frazzled and probably making snap judgments of those looking at him the wrong way. I waited with the clock ticking on the wall as my only companion. It had the logo of a Canadian hockey team. I had got it for his birthday.
I slipped seamlessly from the chair in front of his desk to the command position. I swiveled to look out at the gray sky. It was threatening snow, but there wasn’t even a flake to be seen. I wanted to have a white Christmas. I loved throwing snowballs. Flying down the hill at a breakneck speed was a thrill when I was younger
Being a bit older, I had turned my attention to big boy toys of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. I had one of each in my shed gassed up and ready to go. I lived off the grid with no Internet access. My cabin was my grandfather’s pride and joy where I
had found refuge from the world within its walls.
I tapped the keyboard in front of me and scrolled through his open e-mail cachet. I knew his lawyers by name and I found five pieces of correspondence with their signature attached to it. I opened each one and found nothing out of the ordinary.
It was the last one which made me push back with the chair smacking against the wall behind me. I was staring at the image of the scorpion lying upside down in the snow. I moved a little closer, shuffling forward until my hands were flat on the oak surface of his desk. It was a message from my past. Someone was calling me out to play a deadly game of cat and mouse.
I saw something clutched in its claw and then moved the cursor until I was able to press on it. A letter was attached to the attachment in plain sight. I was reluctant to read the letter. I didn’t want him to have any power over me. It wasn’t going away. I was debating on whether or not I should call somebody, but everybody who was there was dead. I was the last one standing.
The mission was buried under so much red tape it would have taken a master manipulator to get their hands on it. I forgot Washington, DC had people with influence and power in the palm of their hands.
I spun around to face the window looking out and almost imagining the scope of their rifle zeroed in on my forehead. The windows were reinforced with bulletproof glass. The only thing anybody would accomplish by firing off a round would be alerting us to their position.
I scanned the rooftops looking for anything to resemble a perch for a sharpshooter. It was pretty damn obvious they were following me. Anybody I came in contact with was in danger of losing their lives. It was a good thing Gail had put the brakes on when she did. I would’ve only pulled her down into the mire with me. I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to her. It was better to keep my distance until the dust settled.
I took a deep breath and resigned myself to the fate of reading what could’ve been a manifesto. I didn’t need anybody holding my hand. I was wasting all of this time knowing full well I was going to open the letter.
I took my head out of the sand long enough to press the letter winking at me with encouragement. It unfolded before my eyes with the sound of paper crinkling like it was something tangible in my hands. The parchment was yellow with bold red ink. Technology had come a long way.
"You’re not the only one who knows what happened that day. Not everybody died, but I sometimes wish I did. I thought you were an honorable and noble man of conviction. It took me a long time to come to terms with what happened. I won’t ruin the surprise by signing my signature to the document. I will admit you don’t follow any known habits. It’s been interesting getting to know you. Leaving me behind was the worst mistake of your life. I’m going to take everything from you and make the people around you wish you were never born.” I read the words several times letting them sink into my consciousness.
I immediately without thinking deleted the letter and then emptied the digital waste basket. There was an e-mail address for me to correspond with my would-be tormentor. I committed it to memory.
Mason was standing at the doorway with two cups of coffee. I’d no idea how long he was there, but his expression was of concern.
“I didn’t think there was anything to worry about until I came back to see you as white as a ghost. Please, for the love of God, tell me you’re not dragging me into something that’s going to make me regret bringing you on board. I told you the past has a funny way of raising its head. You may as well tell me what this is about so that we can get ahead of it.” I didn’t know how to sidestep his accusing eyes.
“I’m probably making more of it than I should. Let me do some investigating and find out if there’s any reason to raise the red flag. In the meantime, I believe accounting is waiting for me to help go over a tedious amount of paperwork concerning these discrepancies.” He probably would have tackled me to the ground to get the truth, but he got a phone call which demanded his undivided attention.
Chapter Nine
Gail
The day after the anniversary of my brother’s death was a wakeup call. I had done the unforgivable and I had no idea how to make amends. The wedding ring didn’t help either but what matters most is that he isn’t married. Kicking him out of the bedroom was a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe I used Chase’s sculpted body and his experienced tongue to forget about my grief. My head is in a tailspin. I felt like I should explain over dinner at my house.
The brownstone was an architectural masterpiece with those traditional touches. I bought the place and found my home within the walls.
I didn’t sleep around for the sake of getting some. I vetted potential suitors. I had to find out if they had any skeletons in their closet before even venturing any further than a goodnight kiss. My time with Chase was merely scratching the surface. I wanted more.
“I know this might be intrusive, but it wasn’t my idea.” My back got rigid and my shoulders stiff from his voice whispering into my ear.
“It’s good you are here. I need to explain what happened. I don’t even know where to begin.” He placed his index finger against my lips to silence what I was about to say.
“I’ve been known to come on strong and that’s something I’m working on. It was one of those things and we don’t need to discuss it. Mason requested I help go over the discrepancies.” I was already neck deep into the problem and I was the one that brought it to Mason’s attention.
“I’m grateful for the help. I thought I was going to do this alone. I’ve been pulling out my hair trying to make sense of this. It appears somebody is working to undermine this company by planting false evidence of fraud and embezzlement. It’s rather ingenious and disturbing at the same time.” I showed him what I had.
He didn’t seem all that surprised like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something was on his mind and I recognized how it was a steel trap. Getting him to open up was going to be like pulling teeth.
“We have to make sure there isn’t any merit to these discrepancies. We need to find out the origin of these made up allegations. I believe I heard somebody mention something about being able to track IP addresses. Is this something we are capable of doing?” I had considered going down that road, but it meant getting other people involved.
“We do have an amazing IT department. I’m hesitant to show them any of this in case there is a leak. Letting them dig into this might be exactly what is expected.” I held onto the hope this could be cleared up, but the evidence against Mason was piling up with each keystroke.
“I’m sure you’ve been here long enough to know who you can trust. Think about it and tell me one name that comes to mind.” Ethan James was a young kid beyond reproach in my opinion. I had seen him pick up a man’s wallet and run half a block to return it to him.
“Ethan James is a genius with anything electronic. His walls scream his accomplishments with diplomas from several different schools.” He would most likely be suspicious of leaving the others in his department in the dark.
“I have a few people in the military which I believe I could reach out to. But for now, it might not be a good idea to involve anybody outside the inner sanctum of this company. We are already under the microscope by the military. We need to hide this until we get to the bottom of it. I’m not suggesting we sweep it under the rug.” I was afraid for a moment I had stepped into something that would leave me missing in action.
“I can transfer everything we found to a file that only the two of us can access. I can write up some fake documents and plant them to make it seem like everything is on the up and up. It will only stand up to a casual look. Anything more in depth and the ruse will be discovered.” I didn’t feel very good about hiding evidence, but it wasn’t like I had made it disappear.
“We should go over this where the walls don’t have ears. I will be happy to follow you back home and take you from there to my place after work. I promise to be on my best behavior.” Those discrepa
ncies weren’t easy to find, but I prided myself on my work ethic. I left no stone unturned.
“I should contact Ethan and have him join us, but we can always bring him into this when the moment is right. It’s probably better we leave this between the two of us for the time being. This has to be on a need to know basis.” I was using military jargon not realizing how strange that might sound coming from a civilian.
Henry was the only one that knew about my brother and he was there for me when I was falling apart. I put on a brave face and went back to work the very next day after the funeral. I wasn’t very chatty around the water cooler. I felt it was important to separate my personal life from my professional obligations.
“It might be a good idea for you to contact him and get him to track the IP address. It’s my understanding there’s always digital breadcrumbs to follow.” He had been with the military long enough to know technology was taking over.
“I will do what I can to get him to look into this discreetly. He’s pretty much by the book, but maybe I can sweeten the deal with a couple of tickets to the Black Eyed Peas.” I had two tickets and I was going to ask Henry to join me.
“That’s a pretty big sacrifice for a company you have only been working for a few years. Don’t look surprised. I have to go over everyone’s file. I’m a little anal with the people he hires. I make sure there aren’t any wolves in the henhouse.” I felt violated, but I understood what I was signing up for.
Nobody was above suspicion in an environment where secrets were par for the course. I should’ve known they would have dug into my past to see if I was hiding anything that could come back and haunt them. I didn’t know how extensive the research into my life was. I really didn’t want to know.
