by Silla Webb
“My family’s house was up in flames, and I wasn’t there to pull them to refuge. By the time I arrived at the house, the other crew was on scene, and the police were waitin’ there for me. The flames were too thick to save them.” Luke stifles back a tormented cry.
“I can still hear them, their screams, beggin’ to be saved. I was there Carly, and I couldn’t save them. I would’ve died there, right along with them, but they wouldn’t let me go to them. I may not have physically died that night, but my soul did.” He keeps his face pressed in the crook of my neck, silently releasing his tortured agony. I just let him cry, because I don’t think he has ever had this kind of emotional release since experiencing such a tragic loss.
Luke looks up into my eyes, and my heart breaks a little more for him, now that I understand why he is so broken. He wraps his large, warm hands around may face, and pulls me closer to him, looking deep into my soul. “Angel, I knew when I looked into your eyes, I saw that your soul reflected mine. I always thought you were so beautiful, but now, you’re just beautifully broken. I hate seeing you hurt, but damn if I don’t want to heal your heart, while you heal mine,” he breaths against cheek, before capturing my lips between his.
My brain is in an alcohol induced fog, impaired by the overload of heartache that we have both shared here tonight. But Luke’s touch courses through my body, heating me from head to toe. I kiss him passionately, and let go of all of the thoughts that are cluttering my mind. My only focus is Luke, and this tantalizing kiss he has pulled me in. Luke trails warm kisses down my neck and across my shoulder.
He slides his finger through the strap of the cami, sliding it down my arm, exposing my breast. I arch my back, pressing my breast forward as he feathers delicate kisses across my nipple. I run my fingers through his hair, tugging his brown locks, as he flicks his tongue around my nipple. My sex clinches at the sensation of his velvety tongue against my flesh. Luke wraps his arm tightly around my waist, lifting me as he stands, carrying me up the stairs. Our gaze never breaks, as he carries me to my bed.
He slides my body down his slowly, and I can feel his hardness pressing against me. He slowly undresses me, sure to keep his intent stare with my eyes. Once I’m naked and exposed in front of him, I trail my fingers up his chest softly, and he moans at the contact. He strips from his clothes, and tangles me in his arms, his lips crashing into mine instinctively. He backs me up against the bed, laying me back gently, before baring his weight on top of me. With his body pressed against mine, I feel protected, and safe.
Our tongues dance delicately together, before he pulls away from my lips, trailing sweet kisses down my chest and across my navel. He rubs his hand against my thigh, willing me to part my legs. He caresses my thigh, slowly working his way up to my sex. His fingers softly caress my swollen heat, trailing the pads of his fingertips around my clit, teasing me with light thrusts. A slight whimper escapes my lips, and I just want to taste him more. He wraps his arm around my waist, rolling so that he’s under me. He pulls my lips to his, and slowly licks along the bottom of my lip, with the tip of his tongue.
“I want to watch you, love me. My beautifully broken beauts.” He breathes against my lips. I could melt at his words. He is so sensual, and affectionate with each touch. I kiss across his pecks, and down the center of his abs, gripping his cock and stroking him softly. His eyes roll back, and a guttural moan escapes his lips.
I continue to stroke his cock, wrapping my lips around him, sucking from hilt to tip. A low rumble rattles deep in his chest, the harder I suck. I lick the length of his cock one last time before guiding it between my wet, creamy thighs, thrusting myself onto him.
Luke grips my hips, slowly grinding against my sex. I rock up and down, gliding his cock in and out of my core. The waves of ecstasy are building with each rock of my hips. Luke raises up, wrapping his arms around me, our sweaty bodies tangled tightly together, as we ride the pleasurable wave out together. He grips his fingers into my hips, spilling himself into me, as I come around his cock.
He tangles his fingers into my hair, pulling me into a deep lust-filled kiss, before falling back against the mattress with me tangled into his arms.
Chapter 34
I tighten my arms around his strong chest and breathe his scent in deep. His scent is different than the fresh ocean breeze I’m used to, this is more of a spicy, woodsy scent. I trace my fingers across his chest and my breath hitches when finger tips graze smooth skin. Colton’s chest is thick and hairy, not smooth. Colton smells like the ocean, not like the woods. I peek one eye open to see his chiseled chin turned up, caramel brown hair a disheveled mess a top his head, and that scar above his right eye.
“Shit!” I scream, tearing away from his embrace, and jumping from the bed. Luke jolts up from the mattress at my screams, dropping the sheet from his waist, springing his rising erection free.
“Damn, beauts what’s the matter?” Luke asks, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Put your damn cock away, Luke! What the hell is your naked ass doing tangled up around me, in my bed?” I yell, trying to hide the shakiness of my breath.
“Honey, don’t ya remember? You were hurtin’ last night and asked me to stay with you. I guess once we both had a little liquid courage flowing through us, one thing lead to another and we ended up makin’ love.”
“Hell no. Nope. Didn’t happen, ain’t no damn way in hell that I let that happen!”
I cry out, racing to the closet in search of clothes to cover my naked body with. Luke freezes in his stance, not sure what move to make next. I get dressed, then toss his clothes at him before padding down the stairs.
In the living room I find two shot glasses and an empty bottle of Jack turned over on the coffee table. I sit down on the couch, pulling my face to my hands and take a deep breath, trying to remember anything that I can about last night. That’s when the brunt of it all comes crashing down on me.
Colton’s accident, the secret he hid from me, calling Luke to take me home, then the alcohol induced stupor I drank myself in. I remember telling Luke about my past, and him sharing his past with me. I remember when comforting my friend, turned into a lustful retreat, one that I regret more than anything in this moment. I can relate to Luke’s heartache, but how did sleeping with him mend the pain, at all?
I hear Luke’s heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, and I can’t even lift my head to face him. No, it’s too unbearable. He calls my name, but I ignore him, whimpering soft cries into the palms of my hands. The cushion sinks beneath his weight and he pulls me beneath his arm and begins to trail his finger up and down my bicep. “Doll face, why are ya cryin’?” he asks me with a softened tone.
“Because none of this should have happened last night, Luke. I’m sorry.” I manage to get out, stifling back the tears.
“We’ve both hurt too damn long. It was just one night, Carly. One damn night that we both got to forget the pain, and feel love.”
“I’m sorry. But it can’t happen again.”
Luke kisses my forehead, but doesn’t say anything else. He just holds me tight in his arms, letting me cry. I don’t understand really, why I’m crying. We did nothing wrong. Just two damaged souls who connected, making love, helping each other to forget the pain we’re suffering. But the guilt is as strong as the pain I’m suffering with.
“I think you should go. I need to get ready for work.” I whisper, pulling away from Luke. I stand, and walk to the stairs, wrapping my arms around myself, waiting for him to leave. He doesn’t argue, or question me, he just kisses me on the forehead before walking out of the front door.
After a long hot steaming shower, I tousle my hair with some gel, letting the waves fall loosely down my back, and put on some makeup. Gotta hide the red puffy welts. I pull on a pair of loose fitting jeans, a red camisole, a black flannel and boots. My car is still at Colton’s, so I go to Daddy’s study to find the keys to his old truck, before heading out the door.
When I get to t
he mines, Shelly informs me that there is a MSHA investigator waiting in my office. I had hoped that Mack handled everything yesterday, freeing me of the stress over these damn investigators. I walk into my office, and introduce myself to the old man.
“Thanks for meetin’ with me, Ms. Simon. Your mine foreman, Mack handled all of the accident reports yesterday, but I’d like to do a walk through underground with ya before I go, if that’s all right.”
“Underground? Why? I thought the details of the accident were pretty cut and dry.”
“Yes ma’am. There’s just some safety issues that I’d like to make clear with you while I’m here.”
“Sure, let me change, and I’ll meet you out by the man trip. Just give me five minutes.”
The investigator leaves my office as I walk into my private bathroom, and begin pulling my only set of mining stripes from the closet. Damn, I’d hoped and prayed I’d never have to crawl my ass back through this mines. But I guess this is my debt of being the CEO. I change quickly, lacing the boots up tight and grab the mining hat and light from the closet before leaving my office.
I meet the investigator by the man trip within five minutes, just as I had promised. He is standing in the portal of the mines with a small box in is hand, waving it through the air.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes ma’am, just checkin’ the methane levels before we head underground.”
We climb into the small, open buggy, and begin our descent into the depths of the mines. I’m totally out of my element, and fear trembles up my spine as the darkness surrounds me, the only light guiding us is the dim light that flickers on the front of the man trip. The only noise filling the air is the gears rotating on the man trip, pulling us deeper in to the tunnels. The investigator, Curtis I believe he said his name is, flicks on the lamp on his mining hat.
“First time underground, Ms. Simon?” He asks out of curiosity. I nod, chewing on the bottom of my lip, trying to get a grip on the anxiety that is attacking me.
It seems as if the ride to the face of the mines takes forever, but I’m not sure, time could have stood still and I’d be oblivious to it. Curtis pulls the man trip to the side of a break, and gets out, hunkering his back, sure not to scrape the low lying roof. I look up at the roof, shocked as I reach my hand up, and brush my fingers across the top of the mine. I’m munchkin size, five foot three inches tall, and the roof of the mines is well within my reach without straining. Taking a deep breath, I climb from the buggy. The fresh air surprises me. I figured it would be stuffy, and suffocating. But it’s not. It’s crisp and refreshing.
I follow Curtis into a lit up section where the sound of loud machinery is echoing from the mountains around me, piercing my ears, as the dust particles floating about the air constrict my throat. Men are working in every direction. Curtis walks a few feet ahead of me, and I try to follow closely behind, but each sound has me turning my head, intrigued to see what’s happening. Curtis stops and shines his light up to the roof.
“This here is where Weston’s glove got stuck beneath the plate as they were pinnin’ the roof. From my understandin’, the pinner man was under the influence of prescription drugs at the time of the accident.” I nod in agreement. He takes a few steps forward, shining his light against the roof of the mines again. “But here is where the accident could have been lethal, Ms. Simon. This entire row you see here, hadn’t even been pinned. Pinner man skipped it, maybe he was too high, I don’t know. But that could have very easily caused a roof collapse. Luckily, once the accident happened and the mines was thoroughly checked, we found the error and your dayshift crew came in and bolted the roof.”
“But it’s safe now?”
“As safe as can be expected. It is an underground coal mines, after all.”
“You mentioned some other safety issues you wanted to go over?”
“Yes, just follow me, it won’t take long and we can get you back to surface.” Curtis smiles, patting me lightly on the back.
I follow Curtis around for thirty minutes, taking notes on the safety issues he mentions. I remember most of this from the underground mining class I took, but unless you work in this atmosphere every day, it’s like smelling the number nine. Impossible. I’ll just pass this little list off to Mack and let him handle the issues.
After Curtis finalizes his investigation, we head back out of the mines, and back to the surface of the earth where we part ways. I shake what coal dust I can from my stripes, before climbing the stairs back to the office.
Passing by her desk, I ask Shelly to call Mack into my office for a meeting. He handled the MSHA investigators yesterday after Colton’s accident, and will need to find new miners to replace Dave and Eric.
“Yes ma’am. Would you like for me to order your lunch today, or will you be going out?” She asks, smiling politely.
“Just order in today. I’ll be in my office. Gonna try to get cleaned up before Mack makes it in.”
I walk into my bathroom and turn the faucet to a searing heat, before stripping myself of the coal covered uniform. I look in the mirror, my eyes are all I can see clearly, the rest of my skin is smeared with coal, and the smell itself churns my stomach.
I wash my face and hands, removing the soot from my skin, but the stain it leaves behind is still noticeable. I shake my hair loose, letting my waves fall freely down my back, and watch as tiny crystals of coal hit the floor. I get dressed quickly then return to my office and wait for Mack. He arrives a short while later. Stained with black soot and a sweaty brow, he tosses a file on the desk.
“That’s copies of the reports I filed for Weston’s accident. Everything’s there. MSHA investigator talk with ya?”
I pick the file up from the desk, and begin to thumb through the reports. “Yeah, he did. Told me that Eric completely forgot to pin an entire row of roof, and that could have caused a roof collapse. I hate that any accident happened, but I’m glad it wasn’t tragic. By the way, do we have replacements lined up for Eric and Dave, yet?”
“Yeah, got a few boys comin’ in this afternoon to be interviewed.”
“I’d like to see their applications prior to the interviews, and don’t hire anyone without my approval.”
“You got it, boss.” He nods, making his way to the door.
“Mack?”
He turns to me, with questioning eyes, “Yeah, boss? What’s on ya mind?”
“What are we gonna do with Weston?”
“Eh, he ain’t gonna be on leave too long. Doctor told him two months just for rest and physical therapy purposes, but he’ll be back within a week I’m sure.”
“Mack, he suspected that Eric was using drugs, and he did nothing about it. I’m seriously considering demoting him back to general labor, and I definitely want him out of the main mines. So when he’s ready to come back, handle it for me.”
He sits down in the chair in front of the desk, scratching his chin at my request. “Carly, what’s really goin’ on here?”
“He screwed up. That accident could have been tragic! He could have prevented all of it from happening if he would have pulled his head from his ass, and thought about the company, and not about some damn druggie.”
“Listen, I know Weston real good. He’s been on my crew since he started with Simon Energy when he was still wet behind the ears. He was in Eric’s shoes once, ya know. That’s why he handled the situation the way he did.”
“You know about that?”
He nods, pulling a pack of Marlboro Reds from his shirt pocket. He taps the pack against the palm of his hand a couple times, then shakes a cigarette loose from the pack, pulling it to his old weathered lips. “Girl, Big John trusted Weston, and he trusted you. Weston is the best frickin’ superintendent Simon Energy has seen in a long ass time. You’d be crazy to demote him, and you sure as hell won’t find another like him. Boy’s got coal runnin’ through his damn veins.”
“So what reprimand do you suggest I take in regards to this royal screw up?�
� I sneer. He pulls a long drag from the cigarette, releasing a puffy grey cloud in the air that causes my breath to catch in my throat. Damn cigarettes, freakin’ disgusting!
“Ya done done it girl.” He nods, like I know exactly what he means, but I’m confused.
“Done what?”
“Carly, I’m an old man, I ain’t stupid. You two kids have been playin’ this same damn game for as long as I can remember. When the hell are you gonna grow up, and just let the man have your heart? You know it’s his already, but you just keep on fightin’ it. Now I know I ain’t ya Daddy, but it’s time to stop the games, before ya cause the both of ya more pain than can be forgiven.” And with that, the old coot stands on his feet, and leaves my office.
Well it seems everyone is seeing through cloudy vision but me. I don’t trust well. Colton knows this, and he still betrayed my trust by handling this situation with Eric so negligently. He should have come to me and informed me of what he suspected, if he wasn’t comfortable making that judgment call. Hell, he’s been a miner with Simon Energy for eight damn years, and he knows the dangers that lie underground. One mistake. That’s all it takes before lives are lost.
Chapter 35
Luke has been calling my phone non-stop since Monday, when I asked him to leave my house. I know he worries about me, but I really need to sort my thoughts on my own. I should have never asked Luke to stay with me Sunday night, but I was in a bad place, and needed comforting. Fueling my emotions with alcohol was bad enough, but that alcohol encouraged the sex that Luke and I shared, and that was all so wrong.
I keep rejecting his calls, sending them to voicemail and not returning any of his texts messages. Should have known that would lead to him showing up where he knew he could find me…Simon Energy.
Shelly ushers him into my office, where he takes a seat in front of my desk. I smile up at him, before turning back to my work.
