by Tia Siren
Maybe breakfast in bed, as well.
I feel lucky.
Epilogue: Sarah
One Year Later
I arrive first.
The jellyfish are exactly as I remember them: ghostly and weird, almost glowing in the low light. I wonder if these are the same ones, from when we first met—how long do jellyfish live? Aren’t there some that can technically last forever? Not the most romantic symbol of the everlasting, I’ve got to say. Not sure the engagement jellyfish will ever be a thing.
It’s been a year since our cabin adventure; almost three, since our paths first crossed. It feels fitting to reunite here. I thought about bringing us both coffee, but that felt too much like tempting fate. Plus, you’re not really supposed to have it in here.
I’ve been thrumming with excitement since yesterday. Barely closed my eyes, the whole twenty-two hours between Melbourne and here. Think I drove my seatmate crazy, with my fidgeting. Must’ve checked my flight tracker app a million times, played a million rounds of Candy Crush. Anyone would’ve thought I’d been away three years, not three months.
And now, I’m here, and it’s time, and every second’s stretching to eternity. The jellyfish are taunting me, with their mindless serenity. In a minute, I’ll—
I feel a tap on my shoulder.
My heart leaps.
“Sam!”
“Sarah!”
I pull him in for a hug. He spins me around, heedless of the looks we’re getting.
“Missed you so much,” I murmur, in his ear.
“You look great, though.” He sets me down, and gives me the old once-over. “Never seen you this tan.”
“Oh, it was hotter than a crematorium over there! We were all burning alive, running around in these ridiculous Indiana Jones hats, drowning ourselves in sunscreen.”
Sam gives me a considering look. “You’d make a hot Indiana Jones. That boss of yours, on the other hand....”
I laugh. “Oh, he was miserable. Threatening to transfer to Antarctica, till the bitter end.”
“You’d look hot in a fur-lined parka, too.”
“Been a bit lonely, have you?”
Sam gives me his best puppy-dog eyes. Must’ve picked that up from Boone. The translucent shadow of a jellyfish ruins the effect by swimming across his face. I opt not to make fun of that, in favor of bigger things. Better things.
“I come bearing good news,” I tell him.
“Hmm, let me guess...you’ve tamed yourself a dingo?”
“Ha-ha. Better.”
“You’re pregnant?”
“Not that good!”
He taps at his chin, making a show of deep thought. “You’re home for the rest of the year?”
I smile. Can’t help myself. “How about the rest of forever?”
“Really?” Sam’s holding back a grin, like he can’t quite believe what he’s hearing. “Say you’re not pulling my leg right now. If you’re pulling my leg—”
“Accepted a year-round teaching position last week.”
“Oh, yes!” He sweeps me into another hug, so long and so tight a nearby granny clears her throat at us. I give him an extra squeeze, and a little grind, just to spite her. Nothing, no one can ruin this moment. “So, this means—“
I nod. “We can finally move in together.”
“I feel like we already have,” he says. “Your dog...is very hairy. My cleaning lady stopped me on the way out the door yesterday to let me know I had an entire second dog static-clinging to my ass.”
“That’ll happen.” I steal a quick kiss. “Thanks for looking after him. He and Boone still getting along?”
“Inseparable.”
We wander through the aquarium, checking out the fish. We’ve been meaning to do this since we met, but with his job and mine, there’s never quite been time. That’s why we decided to meet here instead of at the airport. I should be tired from my long and sleepless flight, but I feel like I’m floating. There’s something surreal about the soft glow of the tanks, the silent drama of the fish.
A huge turtle swims by on its side. I stop to watch. The markings on its shell remind me of sunlight on the seabed, all waving lines and ripples.
When I turn away from the turtle, I catch Sam watching me, all pensive. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“So, I was thinking, instead of one of us moving in with the other, we could, y’know....” He glances at the turtle. “Look for a house together? Something between your work and mine? Something that’d be ours?
I very much like that idea. I do a quick survey of the room, to make sure the disapproving granny isn’t trailing us, and treat him to a very non-aquarium-appropriate kiss.
“My next movie,” he gasps, when we break apart—“The Naughty Professor.”
“That...sounds more porn than sci-fi.”
“It could be....” Sam tips me an exaggerated wink. I reach out and mess up his hair. Haven’t had a chance to do that for a while.
By mutual accord, we take the scenic route home. Sam takes us through this neighborhood and that, pointing out houses he likes. I’m relieved, but not surprised, to find that he goes for the classics over the McMansions: comfortable places. Places you could live your life, raise your family, make your memories.
Wait—is that what we’re doing?
Did he just—?
“I know I haven’t officially asked you yet,” he says, as though reading my mind. “But it’s been a year, and, I mean...we’re pretty much deliriously happy, right?”
I nod. There’s suddenly...something in my eye. Something that’s also catching in my throat.
“So, you’ll be Mrs. Lee? Professor Lee? Dr. Lee?”
“Any of the above,” I manage, still blinking back tears.
This is shaping up to be the best day.
The afternoon’s starting to fade into evening. It occurs to me that we’re literally riding off into the sunset—only, instead of this being the end, like in a movie, it’s the start of something new. A lifetime of dreams and adventures and Christmases at the cabin.
Couldn’t have pictured it, the first time we met, or even the second, but now, I can’t imagine any other future.
What Lies Beneath
Ali Parker
1
Something woke me dead out of my sleep. A sound. Someone calling me.
"Mason, please? Please baby?" The voice so soft I almost ignored it. "Mason!"
I jerked up in the darkness and reached for my wife. "Evie. What's wrong, baby?"
Moving toward her, I pulled her around and shook her softly. She looked like a goddess, her hair a fucking dark mess, her lips swollen from me sucking and licking at them during our long lovemaking session earlier that night. The tight white tank top she wore was turned enough for half her tit to be hanging out the side. Lust burned through me at the sight of her. She had way of making me want more than I should. Scary enough, she usually spoiled me with anything and everything. Especially her affection.
"Mason?" She reached for me and turned over, her voice sleepy. "I had a nightmare."
"It's all right. I'm right here." I pulled at the covers and moved on top of her, taking my favorite spot - between her legs. "I'm not going anywhere, Angel."
"I thought you were back with Down and Dirty, racing those fucking cars again." She wrapped her taut arms around my neck and pulled me in for a long, probing kiss.
I reached between us and gripped my half-erect cock, coaxing it into her tight body. Something about dominating her in the bedroom kept us good outside of it, especially when life threw us curve ball after curve ball.
"I'm not going back to racing. You know that." I slid my hands between the bed and her warm, soft skin until I gripped her ass tightly. It wouldn’t take more than a few thrusts, and she'd be wet and ready for me. The woman was insatiable and had been since we were in college. The day I met her, I knew that she was supposed to be mine. Ten years later, not a goddamn thing had changed.
"That fe
els so good," she moaned her words as her nails traced down the outside of my spine, pressing in a little. "I'm still sore from last night."
"Good. You should always be sore between your thighs. If you're not, I'm not doing my job right." I licked up the side of her neck and rolled my hips, massaging her pussy down deep where she liked it. "No more bad dream, hm?"
"Just don't stop." She lifted her hips and pulled back, stroking my dick and teasing the tip. "I want a family. Come a few more times for me?"
"Anything you want, Angel." I squeezed her ass one more time before moving up to press my hands into the bed and work her. The headboard beat against the wall as she moaned and gripped the sheets below me. Her tits jiggled with each thrust, and I wanted to move back down and lick and suck on her nipples, but she'd just push me back up. She was obsessed with getting pregnant for some reason. It'd only been about a week since the madness started, but I wasn't going to complain. The woman was on my cock twenty-four seven. I was even getting a little sore.
It was fucking awesome.
"That's it," I mumbled and reached up to the headboard as I lifted up even higher. Her moans grew into whimpers, and she locked up tight as her first orgasm hit. The sound of her scream lit me on fire. Never in a million years would I love another woman the way I loved her. She was mine forever, and it was the only relationship, outside of my friendship with Benji, that stood the test of time.
"Here. Stay here with me." She reached up and slapped the side of my face just hard enough that I was forced out of my head.
"Turn over. I wanna touch your ass." I moved back, pulling my swollen shaft out of her wet body. "And moan louder like a good girl."
She laughed and swatted at me. I couldn't help but smile as she did as she was told. Fierce and independent, and yet she knew when to bow down to me. Funny enough, I responded much the same as she did. There wasn't a thing in the world I couldn't get for her if she asked.
"Spank me a little." She pressed back, rolling her hips, and rubbed her ass down my shaft.
I ran my hand up her back and grabbed a thick handful of her black hair. "From good to bad in a matter of seconds. You always keep me guessin’, Angel."
"Am I an angel?" Her tone darkened, and my balls tightened.
She wasn't just one thing, but many. Each part of her drew me in deeper.
"Not at all." I gripped my cock and pressed the thick head of it into her pussy before thrusting forward. I impaled her and bumped my hips against her thick ass, loving the way it shook as I rode her slow and deep.
"Fuck, Mason," she whispered and arched her back hard.
I pulled on her hair, forcing her into a submissive position before popping her ass hard and thrusting again. "Come for me."
"I am. I will. Make me." She tucked her hips and milked my dick as I gritted my teeth. The little bitch was going to have me bent over shaking if I wasn't careful. She had that power, and for it, she was a goddess to me.
"Not a problem." I leaned over and pressed my cock back into her as I licked my way up her spine to where my hand gripped her hair. I jerked hard, and she whimpered and turned her face as I wanted her to. "Play with your clit for me."
"Yeah." She pressed back against me, bobbing on my dick as her fingers danced around the top of her slit. They grazed the base of my cock a few times as I pumped my hips forward over and over again. It was more than enough to have my eyes rolling back in my head and my body aching for release.
Surely, there was nothing left to give her seeing that I'd released ten times in the last two days inside of her, but she seemed to think differently.
"God, baby." I moved back to my knees and released my hold on her hair. I pressed my short nails into her back and grated her skin lightly as I moved back down to grip both of her thick ass cheeks, one in each hand. I pulled a little, opening her up and picked up my pace, fucking her hard and fast like she liked it. Her sweet back entrance tightened and released as if beckoning me to have a little fun with it too.
I moaned and brushed my thumbs over her ass, pressing in just a little each time to tease her.
"Mason!" she screamed as she thrashed against me and came—hard.
"Joining you, baby. Don't stop. Milk that fat cock for me, Evie."
"Fuck." She pressed back and fucked me right over the edge. The world blew apart around me, and nothing existed but my beautiful girl, moaning and whimpering, her body my playground, her heart my home.
Life couldn't have been better.
"Mason."
I jerked back up and gasped. "What? What's wrong?"
Evie stood beside the bed in a yellow sundress, her smile sweet, her eyes loving. "I have to go. I left you a surprise in the bathroom."
"What?" I lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "Not like the surprises that Ben leaves in the bathroom at the office, right?" The bastard loved to fuck with me and not flush the toilet after a big shit. He was gross. We all were.
"No!" She swatted at me and laughed. "I love you. Check it out when you get up. I'll see you later today, okay?"
"All right, baby." I reached up and pulled her down for a long kiss. "I hate that you had a nightmare last night, but wake me up anytime it happens. I got just what you need."
She smiled against my lips. "You're corrupt."
"I once was, but you saved me." I kissed her again before falling back into the bed. I watched her go as my heart swelled in my chest. I'd given up everything for her, most of my friends, my street racing team, my hood life, and drugs. She was my saving grace and the reason I was a good man. Or pretended to be.
The idea of a surprise in the bathroom had me getting up almost the minute I heard the door click shut. Was she pregnant?
I jogged into the bathroom and found the little pregnancy test strip. Picking it up, my heart almost stopped in my chest. Pregnant.
"I'm going to be a daddy?" I glanced up and looked in the mirror. My own father hadn't been a part of my life, ever. He'd chosen to live a life of crime and drugs until the cops finally caught up with him. A life sentence for killing a man. I never wanted to be him, or have my son be raised by another man. Not ever. "I'm going to be a daddy."
The realization that Evie might still be in the parking lot had me hustling on a pair of pants and running for the door. I wanted to pull her into my arms and spin her around. We were going to be a family. It had been her dream for a long-ass time, and here it was.
I flung the door open and raced out into the hall of our apartment complex only to stop short as I stepped on something sharp. Tweezers. Shit was scattered everywhere, the contents of someone's purse. My eyes moved to the end of the mess, and I realized whose purse it was.
Evie's.
"Baby?" I tore off down the hall and stopped at the stairs to peer out into the parking lot. "Evie? Evelyn?"
Nothing.
Turning, I raced down the stairs and almost busted my ass. Luckily enough, I caught myself and made it to the bottom floor with nothing more than a scraped toe. The pure panic that filled my chest was far more painful. It was impossible to breathe. Who the fuck had my wife?
"Evie?" I screamed and raced out into the parking lot. Her Toyota Camry sat in its usual spot, but she was nowhere to be found. I ran around, screaming her name as people started to come out of their apartments. I glanced up as my voice shook.
"Have you seen my wife? Five foot, three inches, probably a hundred and fifteen pounds? Black hair and she was wearing a pretty yellow sundress. Anyone?" I had to have looked like a madman.
No one had seen a thing.
I raced back up to my apartment and grabbed a shirt, shoes and my phone. I called the only person I knew to call.
My best friend. Ben.
2
"Calm down, dude. Tell me what happened." Ben's voice barely held any calm in it. He knew what Evie meant to me. All I'd given up for her because of how fucking much I loved her.
"I'm not calming down. I need to find her. Her goddamn purse was slung all over the floor o
utside the apartment, Ben." I ran my hands down my face as bile rose in my throat. I had a lot of enemies from my days of running the streets. There were a lot of people who would pay good money to see me suffer, and the best way to make that happen was to mess with the one thing I cared about. My wife.
"I'm going to grab Danny. We'll see what we can figure out. You take your ass up to the precinct. Talk to Roy. He'll help you out. Call your brother, Owen too. Get him involved, Mason."
"Maybe." I turned down a side street and hit the gas. My souped-up GT Mustang took off, leaving a cloud of smoke behind me. "You know my brother isn't going to help. I burned that bridge a long time ago."
"It's worth a try. Explain the situation to the little prick. He liked Evelyn. We all did."
"Do!" I yelled into the phone as fury burst through the center of my chest. "You fucking do like her. She's fine." I choked on my words as my heart shattered in my chest. "Fuck, Ben."
"Dude. What are you not telling me? I know this is fucked up, but you're close to losing it. I can hear it in your voice, Mason. What happened?"
"She's pregnant, man. She took a test this morning before she left and we're going to be a family." I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to pull myself together. I hadn't cried since I was a kid getting my ass kicked all over the house by my mother. I wasn't going to start now.
"Shit." He let out a long sigh. "I'm going to let you go. Call me later. I'll check in if I find out anything. We'll start searching, okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks." I dropped the call and turned left into oncoming traffic. I hit the gas and pulled in front of a hoard of cars stuck in traffic. Seeing that I was going nowhere fast, I figured it was time to call my brother. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but he was the DA for New York. The little shit had power and friends in high places. He could help.
