by J. K Harper
Leah was surprised she could take all of him. He knew what he was doing by getting her so wet beforehand. Why did I wait? This feels so fucking good. She lost herself in the rhythm of his cock as he had his way with her. Bobby rubbed her clit faster to match the speed of his thrusting. She felt him nibbling harder on her shoulder and knew it meant he was about to come. She tightened her grip around his shaft, and the added friction caused her to come again. Her moans of pleasure sent Bobby over the edge. He bit down on her shoulder even harder as his body shook from ecstasy. Leah felt every throb as he released deep within her warmth. Bobby held her tightly, kissing her neck and cheek as he gave his body a few moments to recover.
“You’re right,” he said between breaths. “It’s bad to date your friends.”
She laughed and sent her elbows into his ribs. “Don’t make jokes when you’re still inside me. I’ll break that shit right off.” As Leah lay in his arms, she could practically hear the pieces of her life falling into place. “This isn’t what I was expecting?”
“You didn’t enjoy yourself?” The disappointment was evident in his voice.
“Are you insane? That was incredible. I’m referring to my life. This doesn’t match the outline I’d created when I was a young girl in Naples.”
“That’s what you get for trying to plan instead of going with the flow.”
“I felt such a pull towards those boys, you know what I mean? My heart aches for them.”
"I know. The sad thing is they're just the tip of the iceberg, but if you can reach just one…"
“I want to help you with your program.”
“Really?”
“Permanently.”
“What does that mean?” He tried to sit up, but his cock remained resting inside her and impeded his movement. Bobby slowly turned, bringing them both to their left side. “I’m going to disengage.”
“My vagina is not the space shuttle … although you are a bit like a rocket.”
He laughed as he slowly pulled out, shuddering as his soaked cock felt the cooler air for the first time. “It felt much better in there.”
“Feel free to visit whenever you like.”
“Yeah?” He brought his knees up to spoon her and softly kissed her back and shoulders.
“Yeah. Open door policy. I’m curious, though. How many of you can I have?”
“Excuse me?”
“Crazy cat ladies usually have several … no, dozens of cats.”
“You little –”
He reached around and tickled her, wrestling her onto her back.
“Just me,” he said, leaning down to kiss her lips. “I’m the only one you need.”
She hesitated, kissing him repeatedly as he waited for her answer. “I’m okay with that.”
“So … permanently? You didn’t explain what that means.”
“I don’t have an exact definition,” she said. “I’ll ‘go with the flow’ as you recommended. I just know I see a lot of children in our future.”
“Lots?”
“Tons.”
“We better get busy then.”
Epilogue
David Dennison lost his leg mid-calf. The snare had dug in too deep, causing gangrene and eventual amputation. It was only fitting for a murderous man who hated the stench of death to have a rotten limb attached to his body. The inescapable perfume of decay followed him with every move. Even after the amputation, he swore the scent still lingered. He was also slapped with a $50,000 fine and initially sentenced to a year in jail. The authorities confiscated his guns and truck in the process, but no one believed he had learned his lesson. He told anyone who would listen about the cat that got away and could not stop dreaming of ways to catch the panther. He was determined to return one day and finish what he started. As his year-long sentence was nearing completion, his bravado got the best of him, and he bragged to his cellmate about everything, including what he’d done to his mother. Even criminals have a code and he had broken all of them. The inmates made sure he would never harm any human or animal again. The punishment they exacted was slow and painful, just as he deserved.
The Birdland Rangers brought the house down with their Christmas show and were rewarded by a fresh flurry of snow just in time for the holiday. They believe their singing had something to do with it. The sledding was fast and furious as the group reunited at Sally’s Place for celebratory pancakes and a repeat performance.
Bobby found a cabin close to Leah’s, although they spent so much time together, they really only needed one. They both went through training to become foster parents and were able to welcome Tyler within the year. More foster children followed in both their home and the Birdland Rangers program. Bobby and Leah love the family they have created and hope to add to it one day the old-fashioned way. She was right about mentioning “tons” of children in their lives. They didn’t have to be biological.
Tyler, Wyatt, Ruben, and Diego continue to thrive and are eager to tell anyone about the day they saved a panther. Tyler still maintains she smiled and winked at him. Until he gets a little older, they will keep the truth and Leah’s gifts hidden, but they will always reassure him that he is indeed a superhero.
Father Shiftmas
by Edith Hawkes
Chapter 1
Cora
“Please, stop. It’s Christmas!”
Another pile of clothes landed next to the two meager wrapped presents on the sorry excuse for a front lawn. It was only a small strip of dry grass, but it had been mine, well, ours really. A place where the baby could play and crawl around while I sat and watched. A few minutes with the sun on my face where I could dream that everything was all right within my world. But now the grass was gone, covered with yesterday’s just-laundered clothes. The saved-up nickels and dimes that I’d scraped together from doing odd jobs for the old lady across the street to do the washing were now wasted, down the drain. The rompers and my t-shirts were coated with dirt.
My knickers blew in the wind, and I went to snatch them up, baby in one arm, the other desperately trying to hold onto my dignity. But it was too late; people were already staring.
“Please, just give me one more week. He’ll be back. I promise.”
Mr. Buckley, not one who was known for his soft side, stomped through the wide-open front door again. His meaty arms were filled with the remainder of my belongings, clothes still on their hangers that he’d ripped from the flat-pack wardrobe I’d spent hours putting up on my own.
Hunter hadn’t been there to help me then, and he sure wasn’t here now. I couldn’t count on him for anything, and yet I still hoped he would turn up and help me out with the mess he’d put us in.
“You can’t promise anything of the sort. Hunter’s been gone what, eight weeks now? He’s not coming back. And you haven’t paid me a damn thing!”
“I can get it. Somehow, I’ll get it. Just don’t do this. Don’t kick us out.”
I looked into his eyes, pleading with him, trying to hold him to the spot and get him to change his mind before he could go back into the small house and continue his quest to tear my life to shreds.
“Cora, my decision is final. I gave you a warning last week—do you have the money? No, you don’t. I have bills to pay of my own. I can’t let freeloaders squat in a perfectly good house.”
“You know I’m not a freeloader! You know I’ve been trying my best, getting work when I can, but it’s never enough… I’m barely eating.”
I’d tried everywhere to get a job, short of selling my own body. Going door-to-door to each and every one of the town’s remaining stores, the ones that hadn’t been boarded up yet. But it was useless; there were no jobs to be had. The owners themselves were feeling the pinch due to the relatively large supermarket chain that had opened up a town over, leeching their customers. Only the time of year kept their small businesses afloat.
Feeling desperate, I’d walked the seventeen miles to the big store hoping that they’d have something for me. But I
wasn’t the only one who had had that idea. They’d all been hired in preparation for the Christmas rush, and there wasn’t even a cleaning job to be had.
“Cora—”
“Please, think of the baby… Or at least please wait till after Christmas? Then if I can’t come up with the money I’ll go willingly.”
Murmurs were coming from the gathering crowd, nosy neighbors watching a real-life soap opera unfolding right on their doorstep. I tried to ignore them, tried to keep my head on the task of winning Mr. Buckley over, but I couldn’t hold on anymore. My strength was waning under the scrutiny of their stares. The baby started to cry, her little lip trembling at first before she started to squirm, and my own eyes started to prickle with tears. If he didn’t agree to let us stay a few more weeks, we’d be truly in trouble, for we had no where else to go…
“Please?” I added again, hoping one last attempt would push him over the edge into letting us stay. It was only a few weeks after all. Did he really have a queue of people lining up to rent this rickety, two-bedroom townhouse on the outskirts of a dead-end town? Not like the place was a buzzing metropolis. Far from it. It was a quiet little place, overshadowed by a looming mountain range, practically on the edge of nowhere, without even a cinema to its name. For that you had to go two towns over. Regardless, it wasn’t like I’d ever had the time or the money to go to the movies; that was an indulgence I couldn’t afford.
“I’ve made my decision, Cora. I’m really sorry, but this is the way it has to be.”
Rage managed to find its way through the feelings of helplessness and horror at what my life had become. How could he be so cruel? Three days before Christmas and he was going to put a single mother and her four-month-old baby out on the street. We’d freeze to death.
“You’re not sorry! You don’t look sorry at all. You look like you are enjoying this. Evicting a mother and child a few days before the holidays, you heartless bastard!” I shouted, startling the baby even more, making her cry. But I was crying, too, unable to stop the tears anymore. “Don’t you understand? I don’t have any where else to go! I don’t have the money to get halfway across the country…” He ignored me and kept on emptying the house.
There were a couple of gasps from my neighbors at my little outburst, and I swung around, the anger overwhelming me to the point where I just didn’t care how crazy I sounded or looked. “And what are you lot sniggering about? Enjoying the show, are you? You should be ashamed of yourselves, too!”
A couple of them tutted and shook their heads at me, but at least a few of them had the decency to retreat into their houses, not wanting to witness my meltdown.
The front door slammed shut, and I stood, unable to move, watching as Mr. Buckley first locked it then proceeded to fit a new latch with a large padlock on the frame. Even if he hadn’t taken my keys already, there was no way I was going to be able to get back in now. I could probably smash one of the windows around back and sneak back in that way, but I wouldn’t put it past any of my neighbors to rat on me and phone the cops. And instead of spending Christmas homeless but with my child, I would be in a jail cell, stripped of the only precious possession I had left.
I hugged Ava to me. How could I have let her down so quickly in her short life? One day I would make it up to her.
Done with his task, the double lock firmly in place, Mr. Buckley advanced towards me. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“Then let us stay?” I said weakly, the fight in me almost gone. He’d made up his mind, and there was nothing I could do to make him change it—short of robbing a bank and giving him the spoils.
“I can’t,” he replied. I nodded, knowing as much. “Make sure you remove your things from the front lawn before tomorrow. Otherwise they’ll be going in the trash. And please don’t try to get back in… I don’t want to have to call the sheriff on you, too.”
I turned away from him, not wanting him to see me cry anymore, and walked over to sit on the curb.
Behind me I could feel his hesitation. Perhaps he was regretting his decision, but all he said before getting in his car to leave was, “You know where to find me if you do get hold of the money.”
The street was quiet now. The show was over, and everyone had gone back inside their paid-up houses while Ava and I sat on the cold curb. I swore I would make it up to her, but how I was going to do that I had no clue. My first step, I knew, would be to get her somewhere warm. Somewhere where we could both be safe. I wracked my brain trying to think of where, of who might take us in locally, if only for a few days but the list kept on coming up short. I could try knocking on my neighbors’ doors, but I knew it would be a pointless endeavor. I’d never been social enough to get to know any of them, and if they’d wanted to help, someone would’ve offered by now. They’d seen the show of me getting thrown out, after all.
No, I was alone—both Hunter and Mr. Buckley could go to hell—and I would have to figure this out for myself. I’d never let anything defeat me before, and I wasn’t about to start a new trend. I would do anything for Ava, and in these desperate times, if I had to break the law to make sure my daughter was safe for the night, then that’s what I would have to do. I would just need to avoid getting caught, is all. But I was smart enough to know I would need to find another place other than the one behind me to break into. People would be watching.
I wiped away the tears and bounced Ava on my lap, a plan forming in my mind. There was only one real place that I could think of going—my aunt’s—but it was too far away, almost unreachable, and we needed a place now, not in a few days. A second idea filtered in… a place so big that we probably wouldn’t even be noticed. It might not be warm, but at least we’d be dry from the forecasted snow that was due to arrive at any moment.
I looked at my watch, the one thing of any true value that I had left, and noticed the time: a quarter past two. I had time. I got to my feet; we could do this. Hastily I found a large duffel bag on the lawn, one of Hunter’s old ones, and started to fill it with some of our belongings, essentials only. Everything else was just pointless stuff that wouldn’t help me and wasn’t of any real value. I wouldn’t be able to carry the rest, anyway, and without looking back and with Ava in my arms, I left it all behind, walking as fast as I could to the nearest pawn shop.
“Are you sure you want to sell it? It’s not worth much.”
I bit my lip and nodded, shushing Ava as she squirmed, tired of being bounced around.
“I can only give you twenty bucks for it.”
“Is that all? It’s worth more than that—fifty at the very least.” The watch had been a Christmas present from my dad long ago, and I’d resisted the urge to pawn it previously as it was the last thing he’d ever given me before he died. Besides it wouldn’t have been enough to pay the rent anyway… but at least now, though it would hurt selling it, it would give me the money to get Ava someplace safe.
The fat man behind the counter shook his head and continued to examine the watch in his hands. “There’s scratches all over the face… and the engraving doesn’t help matters.”
“But—”
“I have to think of the resale value and, well, if you haven’t noticed, I got a shit-load of old watches already just sitting right here,” he said as he gestured to the row of timepieces encased in the glass cabinet beneath the counter.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I knew I needed at least twenty-five for the bus fare.
“Thirty-five,” I countered and stared him down. I wasn’t going to leave his shop until I got what I wanted.
His bushy eyebrow twitched. “Fine, only because it’s Christmas, I’ll give you thirty, and so you stop giving me that pitiful look.”
I beamed at him. “Deal.” It was hard to keep back the tears that were brought on by the mini victory, a bittersweet moment as I silently said goodbye to the last piece of my dad that I had. “Just do me a favor?”
“Another one?” he asked, his patience wearing thin.
<
br /> “Don’t sell it unless you really have to, okay? I’ll be back for it.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
Chapter 2
Joseph
“Joseph, you know you really should eat better,” Jayne said as she scanned my two microwave meals and an energy drink through the checkout.
“Those things have all a growing boy needs… Meat and some vegetables, not to mention there’s no cleanup. What else do I need?” I stared at my ready meals encased in plastic. Okay, so they weren’t that tasty or fulfilling, but I really couldn’t be dealing with the hassle of cooking for a nightshift at work. It took too much time, and besides, a few hours before they were due to close up, the store always discounted the ones that were about to expire, so I figured I was helping. They would go to waste otherwise, straight into the bin when so many people around the world were starving. It was shameful, really.
Jayne shrugged and rolled her eyes at me. “Fine, but you don’t know what you’re missing. Will you be buying a Christmas ready meal, too?”
“Maybe… and so what if I do?”
“Nothing,” she sighed, knowing I was a lost cause. We had this conversation practically every week. Jayne was in her late fifties and had been working at the new store since it opened a few months ago. Somehow, due to my regular visits to the store to grab a meal before my night shift as the security guard, I’d become a sort of surrogate son to Jayne. She was always trying to get me to eat better—fattening me up, or commenting on the state of my un-ironed work shirts. Some men would’ve told her to mind her own business, but I didn’t mind her motherly affections, so I indulged her criticisms. After all, it was the least I could do.
Jayne’s own sons, twin boys who’d signed up to serve their country, hadn’t come home. The bucketful of love that she had for them had nowhere else to go, so I let it spill onto me from time to time.
