A Lost Love

by Jennis Slaughter

  Standing, Laurel smiled before she went around to dry Alex’s back, pausing to kiss between the shoulder blades as she moved down to place a kiss against the gentle swell of her perfect ass.

  Alex turned so that she was facing her, then reached to start loosening the buttons of the shirt that currently stood between her and the silky skin of her soon-to-be lover. Pushing it from her smooth shoulders, she tossed it in the direction of the other clothes before removing the rest of Laurel’s clothes and reaching out for the other towel to dry the petite woman.

  Once finished, she dropped the towel and before she could move, Laurel wrapped one arm around her back even as her other was reaching up to pull Alex’s head down. Mouths pursued and found one another in open, steamy, dazzling kisses. Hands slid over satin skin, memorizing every curve and indentation. Breath mingled and twined as the two of them fell toward the bed and Laurel, ensuring that she ended up on top, straddled Alex.

  Leaning back, she gazed at the woman beneath her—mahogany hair splayed out against the sheets, alabaster skin with tiny bumps erupting from the trail of her finger. Taking control, Laurel pinned Alex’s hands above her head, leaving her open and vulnerable.

  Alex reveled with the feeling of tender restraint and the heat from Laurel’s gaze pulsed in time with the wet heat between her legs. A moan was torn from her throat as Laurel leaned down to take a hard, aching nipple between her lips and into the moist, hot cavern of her mouth, her hair whispering across her chest.

  Moving her head, Laurel repeated the action, and another moan let her know that Alex was pleading with her. She let go of her hands and slid them along the heated curves of the taller woman until she reached her hips.

  Stroking Alex’s inner thighs, she spread her lover’s legs and moved even lower, settling herself between them. She kissed the trembling abs and gently nosed the damp curls. She blew a gentle breath of a kiss against the glistening opening and was granted another groan.

  Alex fisted the sheets and arched her back as a delicate touch slid across slick heat. “Mmm...” floated up to her ears.

  Without warning, Laurel laved her tongue along the swollen, glistening folds of Alex’s sex. ‘God...it’s like honey,’ she thought, before taking it into her mouth and sucking gently.

  Eyes rolling back in her head, Alex cried out. One hand continued to fist the sheet as the other went to hold Laurel right where she was.

  Laurel though, had other ideas. She nipped at the tender skin where leg met hip before kissing her way up Alex’s body, her hand taking the place of her mouth. She teased and circled, coating her finger in the wet heat before entering her with two fingers, and then three.

  Reaching out, Alex drew Laurel’s mouth to hers, tasting herself...the kiss was hard and needy. Both women moaned at the sensation as the blonde straddled Alex’s thigh, straining against the quivering muscle, easing some of her own need. Matching the thrust of her lover, Laurel filled Alex, using her thumb to tease the swollen flesh.

  Alex clung to Laurel, barely aware of where she ended and the blonde began. She was lost against the unrelenting touch of her lover, awash with sensations that crept up over her body, shaking with a need she didn’t know she had. She was helpless to stop the wave of her climax and realizing this, Laurel increased the force of her thrusts, driving her over the edge.

  Her breathing erratic, Alec felt the bonds of the earth rip free, leaving her floating among the stars. Her body reached toward the sky and a guttural moan was ripped from her throat as she fell off the cliff, knowing that Laurel would be there to gently catch her.

  Slowly removing her fingers, Laurel drew out the last of Alex’s quivers before sliding up the sweaty body to hold her new lover tenderly.

  Laurel’s heartbeat beneath Alex’s ear, steady as the emotion that she now had for her love.

  Kissing Alex’s forehead, she let her lover slowly come back to herself. She let the spent woman slow her breathing and thrumming of her heart.

  “Wow!” was all she could say. Her heart was too full of emotion and she knew if she said more, it would be too soon.

  “Yeah,” Laurel whispered, stroking damp strands of hair from Alex’s forehead before leaning down to kiss it. “That was amazing.”

  “You are amazing,” Alex breathed as she let her fingers trace along Laurel’s back, following the dips and curves, exploring her lover’s body even as she was rolling them over so the older woman was on her back.

  Looking into dark green eyes, Alex held the gaze as one hand ghosted over shoulder blades and went lower to cup a full breast. The sharp intake of breath and the tip of Laurel’s tongue was the woman’s reward. She could feel the quickening of her heartbeat against her own breast and that filled her with a new need—one that desired to see this woman trembling, breathless, and pleading under her.

  She moved lower, placing her thigh between Laurel’s, feeling the slickness and knowing how ready the other woman was. Blowing a cooling breath across a quivering nipple, Alex took it between her pearly teeth, nipping at it gently before drawing it into her warm mouth.

  Crying out, Laurel arched up against the gentle onslaught and pressed herself against Alex’s thigh, looking for relief, but finding none. She reached out to her lover and was given a blistering kiss even as two fingers teased and circled her clit.

  Moving her lips over Laurel’s jawbone, she sucked gently against a pulse point, taking care not to leave a mark. Going lower, she licked and kissed each rib and the subtle swell of her belly. Alex’s hand stroked the tender skin of her inner thigh and the legs spread even wider as she settled herself between them.

  Laurel was swollen and glistening with need. Gently holding down her hips, Alex took a slow, deep swipe with her tongue and moaned at her first taste; she was now addicted. She moaned once more against the trembling nub and rejoiced in the sounds that were coming from above her. Pulling away slightly, Alex thrust three fingers inside her, and began to move quickly. She held on even tighter when Laurel arched off the bed.

  Wanting to make sure that the older woman felt as good as she had, Alex took the bundle between her lips and drew it as deeply into her mouth as she could, flicking her every so often with her tongue.

  Screaming her release, Laurel sagged into the mattress, her body limp with a sated glow. One final gentle lick and then she was gently held as she slowly came down from her high.

  Pressing her body as close as she could to her lover’s, Alex drew the sheet over them and placed a gentle kiss against Laurel’s forehead.

  Laurel grasped the younger woman even closer and was at a loss for words. She felt that she should say something, but was soothed by the gentle words that floated down to her ears. “Sleep...I’ll be here in the morning.”

  Alex had watched her close her eyes and swiftly fall in a sated, deep sleep.

  Wiping at her face that was wet with tears, Alex looked at her watch and swore. Laurel had less than four hours of air left at the most. She reached for her phone, not really knowing why she did. Unlocking the face, she stared at the applications that covered the home page.

  GPS. Those three letters stared back at her. “Fuck me!” she exclaimed. Turning around, she ran to find Detective Walters.

  “Check Dawn’s phone. Trace where she was. Hell, check her GPS in her car. It should show where she’s been all day,” she shouted.

  His head whipped around to stare at her, swearing, he thought, ‘She was right, and I didn’t even consider it.’ He was reaching for his desk phone when it rang.

  * * * * *

  The box was now being lit with a glow stick, while the air was barely moving. The battery was almost gone and Laurel was now coming to grips with the realization that she was probably going to die. She had yelled, screamed, and kicked her feet earlier, beating her fists against the wood until they bled. Tears and sweat mingled on her face, tracking dust down her cheeks, which dripped onto the wood. She reached into her back pocket and drew out the piece of paper that she had
doodled on, what seemed like years earlier, and underneath the writing she wrote with the blood from her hands: Alex, I love you.

  There was so much more that she wanted to say, but the note and the doodling said a lot. Carefully, she folded the paper and placed it in her shirt pocket.

  Moving around, she tried to get comfortable. Ever since she kicked her feet, she had felt a lump under her right thigh and she figured that her jeans were bunched up. She reached down to try to straighten it out and her fingers touched plastic instead. Her phone! She had slipped it into the side pocket that morning. She pulled it out and pressed the home key. She had a signal! It was only one bar, but it was there.

  Sliding a finger across the screen, she pulled up the phone app and punched 911. Holding the phone to her ear, she said a quick prayer and waited.

  “911...what is your emergency?” a woman’s voice came through.

  “I need help! My name is Laurel Taylor and I’ve been buried. Please help me!” she sobbed. Maybe, just maybe there was a chance that she was going to get out of this alive, and her voice broke as she heard the woman answer her.

  “Ms. Taylor, do you know where you are?”

  Laurel shook her head even though she couldn’t be seen. “No, I have no idea. Please help me!”

  “We will, ma’am. Please don’t hang up. I’ve already let my supervisor know that you’ve called in and they are attempting to locate your signal now,” the woman’s voice remained calm and reassuring.

  Wiping at her face, Laurel answered, “I won’t, but I just have one bar left on my phone, so I don’t know how long I have. Would you do me a favor please? If I lose you, please tell Alexis James that I love her.”

  “Laurel, I’m going to stay positive and say that you can tell her when you see her,” the dispatcher said. Laurel heard her speak with someone, “Call Walters and let him know.”

  Saying another prayer, Laurel now waited to be rescued.

  * * * * *

  “Walters...Say that again...Alright, keep her on the phone and try to triangulate her position.” Hitting the disconnect button, Walters paused for a brief second before releasing it and calling the department garage, “Check Lorrayne’s GPS in her vehicle for her locations for the past month. We need to know everywhere she’s been.” Hitting the disconnect button again, he called a judge to get a warrant so they could look into the location tracker on Dawn’s phone.

  Hanging up once more, Walters turned to Alex. ‘Finally,’ she thought.

  “Ms. Taylor called 911 and they’re attempting to triangulate her location now,” he said even as he was reaching out to gently grasp Alex’s arm as she started for the stairs. “They’re in a different building. By the time you get there, we may have the location and you’ll be there instead of with us when we find her. I promise you, they’ll call me if they figure out where she is.”

  She stopped and took a deep breath before nodding her head. Alex understood. It was the idea that Laurel was out there and she wasn’t doing anything to help. She turned back to him and sighed, “I know, it’s just....”

  “You have the need to do something, I know.” Walters started to say something more when the phone rang again. He picked it up. “What...did you get a general location...okay, send me the coordinates...good work.” Hanging up the phone, he turned and stated, “The call was lost. Laurel stated that she barely had a bar left when she called in, but they got it down to maybe a fifteen-mile radius.” His phone beeped and he looked at the message before going over to the map. Picking up a black marker, he drew a circle to identify the area. “I want the patrols in this area to start looking at any vacant lots, empty buildings, and construction sites. As soon as we get the coordinates from the car, we’ll be able to narrow it down even more.”

  The room was suddenly loud and busy. Walters took Alex to a quiet corner where she took a deep breath and nodded her head, indicating that she was calm enough to hear whatever he had to say. “The 911 operator said that Laurel sounded in good spirits, but it was getting harder to breathe. The battery evidently has died, but she has a couple of glow sticks so she is not entirely in the dark.”

  She nodded her head, grinning, “She sounded good? That’s great...That’s really great.” She leaned over at the waist, her hands on her knees, and her still damp hair hanging like thick ropes.

  Walters patted her on the back before heading to his desk, giving her the time that she needed. He was hopeful that they would find Laurel Taylor in time, but knew there was still a chance that they would be too late. He had been on the force for over ten years and had seen the best of people and the worst. He wished that he could be sure that Alex was prepared for the worst, but he knew that some people held out hope until there was none left.

  Finally standing up straight, Alex turned and looked around. Seeing the map, she went to take a closer look at the marked location. Looking at the street markers, she quickly identified the area. “No, she couldn’t be that twisted, could she?” She muttered, “Yeah, she could.”

  She was just about to call Walters over when he appeared by her side, “The garage called with the coordinates from the car.” He leaned in to mark the spots on the map and it confirmed what she had figured out.

  “I know where she is,” Alex pointed to a location that he had just marked. “This is my address and there’s an empty lot next door. The bitch buried her next to my house.”

  The detective didn’t even ask if she was sure, he just turned and started shouting out orders with Alex following right behind him. They headed outside at a full run and Walters directed Alex to get into his car.

  * * * * *

  Laurel wiped at her face, erasing the tears and trying to refrain from screaming. She had started crying when the connection had been lost with the 911 operator who had just let her know that she had people on the way and was advising her to keep as calm as possible to conserve her air, when the phone died.

  The light from the glow stick slowly dimmed and silently sputtered out. She took a shuddering breath while tears pooled again in her eyes and she felt around for the final glow stick. Activating it, she said a quick prayer that it would last...as would the remaining air...until she was found.

  Interlacing her fingers, Laurel rested her hands on her stomach, closed her eyes, and listened. Crickets and frogs could be heard so the young woman guessed that maybe she was near a lake or stream. No...not a stream, she didn’t hear any running water. The noises weren’t really loud so she guessed that she was maybe two to three feet below the surface.

  Throughout the day, she had had plenty of time to yell, to pray, and to dream about what she was going to do once she got out of this damn box. What she wanted to do most of all was to tell Alex that she loved her and she hoped that they could make a life together. She was ready to try love again and knew deep in her heart that Alex was the one.

  Wiping again at the sweat that beaded on her face, Laurel couldn’t wait to take a long, relaxing bath. Her clothes and hair were drenched. She tried licking her lips, but she was so dehydrated that this was becoming increasingly harder to do, and her breathing was becoming more difficult with each passing moment. Maybe if she tried to sleep, her system would slow down and she could give herself an edge to survival. Saying a quick prayer, she did just that.

  * * * * *

  Police cars screeched up to the curb in front of Alex’s house with an ambulance closely following. Officers and paramedics piled out and started looking through the scrubs.

  Detective Walters angled his car so that the headlights shone onto the lot, highlighting bushes and trees.

  Getting out of the car, Alex took the flashlight that Walters offered her and flicked it on. She started towards the lot even as the detective was shouting out orders, “Okay, look for signs of freshly dug earth. And there should be an exhaust pipe coming out of the ground. Spread out everyone.”

  Though it felt like a lifetime, it was only a short minute before a shout went out and Alex went ru
nning over to the spot where men were rapidly clawing at the earth with their hands and shovels.

  Alex shouted out, “Laurel...hang on...I’m coming.” She fell to her knees, clawing at the dirt.

  Finally, a part of the Plexiglas came into view and everyone saw Laurel’s legs. One of the officers brushed the dirt away from the top and as he did so, the rest of Laurel could be seen.

  The woman was bathed in sweat, her clothes and hair were drenched. For a brief moment, everyone paused as they saw that her eyes were closed and she didn’t appear to be breathing.

  “NO!” Alex screamed as she continued to claw at the dirt, trying to get into the case. “LAUREL...WAKE UP!”

  Walters physically picked her up from the ground and moved her aside as the paramedics and other officers attacked the case with screwdrivers.

  It took the men less than a minute to get the case open, but to Alex it was a lifetime. Once the screws were free, the cover was removed and the hands of the paramedics and officers reached down and gently brought Laurel out, placing her on a stretcher. The paramedics immediately got to work.

  “She’s not breathing...” That sentence froze Alex’s blood. She couldn’t comprehend life without Laurel, not now, not when they were so close to being back together. Surely God wouldn’t be that cruel.

  There was the whine of a charging defibrillator, followed by the sickening thunk of the pads hitting Laurel’s chest, and then...the most amazing sound of all time...the anguished cry of oxygen-hungry lungs.

  Alex tried to twist out of Walters’ grasp, but he held her tightly, making sure that there was plenty of room for the paramedics to work on Laurel. “Give them just a few more minutes to get her stable and then you can ride with her to the hospital,” he said firmly. “Just hang on.”

  Once Laurel had an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose, the paramedics headed towards the ambulance. Walters released Alex and she ran to catch up. Without a word, she climbed in after Laurel was loaded up, and the look on her face had the paramedics holding their tongues. She sat behind the stretcher, out of the way, but kept one hand on Laurel’s shoulder the entire trip.