Dark Matter: SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE

by Jessica Loft

  Hands sweaty with anticipation, Sally walked the short distance to the motel next to the library and made her way to the reception area. All the while thinking it was hard to believe in only moments she would see Jackson again. She didn’t expect to find him waiting for her at the reception desk and was pleasantly surprised.

  He looked even better than she remembered. Jackson strolled over and immediately wrapped her into a hug. The two remained that way for a while, happy tears falling from her eyes.

  “I missed you like crazy!’’ he whispered in her ear as they hugged. Overcome with emotion, Sally could only nod in agreement. Finally they stepped back to get a look at each other and from then on there was no stopping. She was as anxious to tell him all about her stay as he was to update her on how he had been getting on.

  “Let’s sit in the restaurant for a while. It seems there’s so much to talk about,” he said to her. When finally they were done catching up and finished with their coffee, Jackson invited her to his room upstairs. She realized it was what she wanted and she went along without a word.

  The room was plain, with only a bed and a telephone on the table. A small television set sat in the corner for lack of anywhere else. He invited her to take a seat on the bed. She sank in, taking off her shoes in the process. There were not many words between them now as emotions ran high. He joined her to sit on the bed, all the while regarding her closely. It was magic for the two of them, and it was finally a chance to be alone together. Slowly Jackson reached to touch her face, tracing a finger around it.

  “I’ve dreamed of seeing you like this. Nearer to me and even close enough to touch,” he said, his voice deep and raspy. He couldn’t keep away much longer, and pulling her into his arms took her lips in a passionate kiss. It was a hot and searing kind of kiss as the two of them were eager to take it farther. She did not resist, instead, she opened her mouth, inviting him to explore.

  Wordlessly he went on with the onslaught, causing her to whine with pleasure. His lips momentarily left hers to explore further down her neck. She felt her pleasure rise, falling back into his arms in complete surrender. He took her cue and continued exploring with his lips down her body taking off clothes as he went. Sally felt him everywhere and put up no resistance. He hesitated when he got to the core of her being, but she urged him on without hesitation.

  It would be some time before she emerged from the room, way after darkness had fallen.

  He led her to the parking area not wanting to let go of her hand. He gestured to a waiting a cab and leaned in to tell the driver the address of where to take her home. But not before he whispered in her ear. “You are amazing. See you tomorrow morning.” Then she was gone, back to Aunt Jane’s house. During the drive, thoughts of what had happened with Jackson ran through her mind, and she felt nothing but delight. Finally, she understood what it meant to give herself to someone, and she knew she would never be the same again. When she arrived, it was to find Mike waiting for her in the living room, an anxious look on the face.

  “I thought you got lost or something. What took you so long?” Mumbling an excuse to him, she made her way to the kitchen to find dinner was already cooked.

  “I went ahead and made dinner and ate, since the rest aren’t here yet. I’m off to bed, I’ve got an early day tomorrow.” He said. Leaving her alone with her thoughts. She was thankful for the time to delve deeper into her memories of the afternoon.

  Chapter Eleven

  It had been almost two months since she went to live with Aunt Jane. Now that it was time for her to go back home to start college, she felt sad that she was leaving. Her mother had come to visit as she promised, but only for a couple of days. After her mother left, Sally knew it would only be a matter of days until it was time for her to leave, also. It had been a good stay for her, one that had given her a chance to learn a lot about a new place outside of her small town, and to not be lonely all the time. They were all good to her, especially Mike, who had been her confidant and friend. As they all sat together for breakfast the last day, she looked around the table at the smiling faces. She would miss them, she realized, and only one thing motivated her to go back home.

  The weekend Jackson had come for a visit had not left her mind. She had gone through each moment over and over again, hoping to have it imprinted on her mind. Now that she was going back home, they could be together more often. A half smile crossed her face thinking about it. Mike took notice of her dazed look but kept eating.

  “It was great having you here with us, Sal. You gave me a taste of how it feels to have a girl around the house. We will all miss you when you are gone,” Aunt Jane told her as they ate.

  “I will miss you all so much. I had great fun seeing all the sights too. It was great of you to have me here,” she responded.

  After eating she went to her room to grab the little things she had had time to pack while Mike went to get the car. She hugged her Aunt tightly. Thanking her individually for being a wonderful host. Then it was off to the Mike’s car for the start of her journey back home.

  “Take care of yourself and come back to visit anytime,” Aunt Jane called out as they drove off.

  Mike spoke up, when they were alone in the car, while driving her to catch the bus.

  “The place will not be the same without you, Sally,” he told her.

  “I will miss you all so much, too. Especially you, Mike, my partner in crime,” she told him, giggling. When they arrived at the bus station Mike carried her bags to the bus and turned around to hug her close. Sally told Mike to come visit in Ohio, and with a rueful glance his way, she climbed on the bus and made her way to a seat in the back.

  The bus took off after a few minutes, taking her homebound, back to the home she grew up in. Back to her parents. Sally was glad she would be going away to college only two weeks after she arrived. She would enjoy freedom to be her own person in college, away from the prying eyes of her parents. Lured by the hum of the engine, she fell asleep in her seat soon after.

  Things seemed different when she got off the bus. Luggage in hand, she looked around for a cab to take her home. She did not notice that someone was watching her every move until he came forward to meet her. Her eyes lit up when she saw Jackson walking toward her. Dropping her bags, she fell into his arms, happy to see him there.

  “I had no idea you would be here. Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, too happy to care.

  “I didn’t want to miss a chance to see you, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

  He hailed her a cab and walked her to it, promising to see her later on. The thrill of seeing him was back again and now she had even more reason to want him close. They were no longer strangers to each other as she now knew him better than ever before. Their hug was warm as he left her to go climb on his bike.

  “Call me as soon as you can. We have a lot of catching up to do,” he told her, giving her a wink and a smile.

  Everyone was home when she got there, and she was especially glad to see her brothers come out to meet her. Her parents stood there smiling as she exchanged hugs with the boys.

  “Welcome home, Sally. We are so glad to have you back. Did you enjoy your stay over there?” mother inquired, hugging her close.

  “It feels good to be back, but I did have a great time with Aunt Jane and her family. They were all very nice to me,” she told her.

  “That’s nice. We missed having you here.” Her father replied.

  “Why don’t you go freshen up then come back down. Your mother held over some lunch for you.”

  From her room upstairs she could see the street below. She thought she heard the familiar sound of a motorbike speeding down the street. She could be wrong, but it was comforting to know she would be hearing it more often now. She went down to eat so that she could relax the rest of the day. Her family sat around the table anxious to hear all about her visit to Aunt Jane’s.

  “There was so much to see there. Everywhere you look there is something inter
esting,” she began, excitedly. They sat listening to her recount the experiences of visiting the zoo, the museum, the park and all the other places she had been to in Indiana. Mother nodded along as she heard details about places she had not known existed before. Sally explained about all she had done while she was there, pausing only when she thought of her meeting with Jackson at his motel. That would remain her secret. Finally, exhausted, she retired to her room, to lay in her bed contentedly.

  Distracted, she thought of the worries of the future. Would her parents ever accept Jackson? Would she do well in college? Would her relationship with Jackson thrive while she was in away again or wane? And, what of Jackson, would he choose to be baptized into the Amish community and give up his modern ways, or would he leave his family and live the life of an Englischer? Finding it all too much to consider, she turned her thoughts back to remembering what it felt like to be safe and secure in his arms.

  Now Enjoy The Next Story Below Or Choose One From The Table of Contents

  Guardiana: The Aftermath

  CHAPTER 1

  On Earth

  The few remaining men huddled together under the shadows of the networks of caves in the desserts of Arizona. If there was anyone left across the ocean alive there was no way to tell. Their lines of communication had all been cut, along with nearly every other power source. The world was all but gone, and they were looking for someone to blame.

  “Who did this?” Aaron snarled; his usually white face smeared with dirt and sand. Though he knew very few of the men, he was ready and eager to fight them. In the back of his mind, he knew it would be useless; a futile display of masculine strength. But the thought of hurting something appealed to him greatly. The last few days had been hell on Earth. The glowing blue aliens had taken their women captive, swept through their military, and had left the planet a vapid and desolate place. Out of the two billion men on the planet, there were only a little over ten thousand men left. They had been talking about retaliation, but first and foremost, Aaron wanted to know who it was that betrayed them.

  “How do you know that it was a fault of ours?” Richard Octen, the former President of the United States asked. With the help of his secret service he had been able to escape the fiery pit that was once the White House. However, now that there was no country for him to be president of, he was now just an ordinary man in a ruined Armani suit.

  “I don’t know, but we nearly destroyed our planet on our own before the aliens arrived. So we decided to colonize the moon in hopes that that could rehab our planet, and yet we still refuse to take responsibility for our own destruction?” Someone replied, clearly not a fan of the former President’s politics.

  “Their ships were here for days,” Aaron added, standing up. “You made public announcements stating that we shouldn’t worry, despite the fact that we’ve never had contact with an alien race, and our women started disappearing. Where are they? What has happened to the moon colony? My girlfr- I mean, my ex girlfriend was on that colony. You know more than what you’re telling us, and I suggest you start sharing.”

  Aaron rolled up his sleeves, and the majority of the men hiding in the cave stood up with him. They were tired of hearing lies and political propaganda. It was time for the truth. The few secret service members guarding the former president stood up meekly in an attempt to protect him, but quickly folded when the disgruntled men began to move towards them.

  “All right!” Richard shouted, holding his hands up. He had somehow survived an alien attack. He wasn’t about to die now by the hands of angry human men. He sighed, and loosened his mud-slathered tie. “I’ll tell you everything. But let me start by saying this: it wasn’t just me. All of the world’s leaders were in on it.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Clara fiddled uncomfortably in her chair as she tried her hardest to not think about her intense dream. She had awoken right as she climaxed, making the pleasure equally laced with the pain of reality. Her dream was by far the most erotic thing she had ever experienced both in and out of her mind. It made her grumpy to realize how sexually unfulfilled she was, and after a night of fantasy infused sleep, she was in a particularly bad mood.

  “Look lively,” Twila whispered, appearing in the room. “The King is on his way!”

  Sighing, Clara stood up and smoothed her hands over the dress she had made out of her bed sheet. The other dress was in need of washing, and she was not quite ready to walk around naked like, according to Twila, the other ‘slaves’ and citizens did. Despite her look of irritation, her heart was beating hard and fast in her chest. The last three days had felt terribly long, and she had actually missed his company.

  Riordan appeared in the room looking as brooding and sexy as ever, his dark eyes seeming to ignite and spark, as he looked her over from head to toe. Today he wore a pair of black leather pants, just like he had in her dream. Under his simple crown, his dark hair was sticking up in tufts, as if she’d actually been pulling on it the night before. Clara’s blush climbed high and quick into her cheeks as she thought back to it, and suddenly felt weak in the knees.

  The King stopped in his tracks glaring at her clothes. “What is it that you’re wearing?” He scowled in way of a greeting.

  Clara lifted her chin up high, cocking her eyebrow in a gesture full of sass. “A bed sheet that I made into a dress,” she replied, her voice holding an edge of challenge.

  “Do you have a problem with it?”

  Riordan nodded his head. “I do.”

  He strolled over to her, and only stopped when there was a mere few inches between them. Clara caught the scent of his manly musk, and it took all she could not to fall into his arms and beg for release. When he pulled the box from behind his back, it only made it harder on her.

  “That dress, if you choose to call it that, will not do,” he told her, lifting the lid of the box. “Perhaps this will be more suitable.”

  He let the box drop to the floor and paid no mind to it as the floor absorbed it. Between his fingertips he held up the thin spaghetti straps of a light blue dress, for Clara to inspect. Clara’s eyes grew large. It was a beautiful dress, the color of the Earth’s mid day sky. Unlike the first white gown, it was not transparent. Though the fabric was buttery and light, it was solid.

  “Thank you,” Clara breathed, as a small smile crept across her lips. She let the fabric fall into her hands and massaged it with her fingers. Though she hadn’t been offered any makeup, she’d been given the opportunity to keep her face clean and her hair brushed. As far as treatment of prisoners went, she could have definitely been dealing with a lot worse.

  “It’s no trouble,” Riordan replied. He turned his back and waited. When Clara realized he had no intention of leaving the room while she changed, she sighed in irritation, and quickly dropped the sheet.

  “A little privacy would be nice,” she grumbled, tying the strings of the dress as fast she could. It gracefully fell to Clara’s feet, and dipped low between her breasts in an almost Greek fashion.

  “You’ve had three days of privacy,” Riordan replied simply, shrugging his massive shoulders. “Besides, you will have to become accustomed to your body being exposed.”

  “About that,” Clara fumed. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’m not ready to be your whore.”

  Riordan’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he turned to her, not caring if she was ready or not.

  “My Whore?” He asked, emphasizing the word. “Who told you that you would have such a position?”

  Clara blushed, and turned her emerald eyes to the King. A sense of shame, desire, happiness, and disappointment all swirled around inside of her.

  “I’m-I’m not going to be your um-your play thing then?” She asked, her voice small.

  “Being a courtesan to the King is a high honor,” Riordan retorted.

  “They receive the highest education, have a universal visa, and live in a luxury that even the queen does not get. However, you already have an intelligent mind, and
though some days back in a cell might do you some good, I’ve decided to keep you here in your own room. But to go back to answering your question though, no. You are not going to be my courtesan.”

  More surprising disappointment than Clara would ever admit to filled her heart, but she smiled up at him and nodded her head. “What will I be doing then?”

  Riordan looked over her for a long moment. The woman’s attitude annoyed him endlessly, but he admired her moxy. He’d never seen a slave speak to royalty the way she spoke to him- and it was refreshing. She spoke to him as if he was a normal being; an equal.

  “Come,” he commanded, turning away from her before she could see his smile. He began to walk out the door, not waiting to see if she would follow or not. At first, Clara stared at the quicksand-like doorway, wondering if it would actually let her through. She had tried several times when she was left alone, but it had been like willingly running into a wall over and over again.