Whiskey Lullabye (Southern Heartbeats, Vol. 2)

by Jennifer Rebecca

The music builds once more and Angie is walked down the aisle with a look of pure bliss on her face. Tears roll down her face, but her smile never wavers as she walks towards Cody. Her arm woven through her father’s, holding her bouquet, her other hand is clasped tight in her Aunt’s. She looks like a fairy princess getting all of her wishes come true. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it. I look back at Cody and see his own eyes twinkle with tears, but his face is split with the biggest smile I have ever seen him wear. Yes, this is Cody’s dream come true as well.

  “Who gives this woman away?” the judge asks.

  “Her Aunt and I do,” Mayor Hart answers.

  “And do you come to this marriage freely to do so?” he asks Angie.

  “I do,” her voice quivers.

  “We may begin.”

  Mayor Hart walks Mable over to their seats on the other side of the aisle. I take a deep breath and look to Liz and see her do the same thing. She is beautiful. So fucking beautiful that it makes my heart hurt.

  “Dearly beloved,” the judge starts. “We gather here to Join Angellica and Cody in the bonds of Holy Matrimony, but first, they wish to acknowledge those who could not be with us here today,” he says as a ship’s bell is rung four times. Once for Angie’s mom. It rings twice and then a third time for Harper and Sarah, and lastly, the bell rings once for Sam. Cody had asked me what we could do besides a rifle volley and I told him a ship’s bell could be rung in their honor. So they have.

  “Marriage is not a shelter for the faint of heart. It is not always easy, but if you choose to give your whole heart, devote your whole lives to your partner, and that is what you are in this life, partners, your life will take on more meaning and importance than you ever thought possible,” the Judge invokes.

  I can’t help but feel what he says is true. My love for Aliza has not been easy and it will never be smooth sailing, but maybe...Just maybe, it’ll be okay. I can’t help but look to her again with new eyes, a new purpose. Aliza’s eyes meet mine and I can tell whatever she sees in me startles her. Yes, I have a new purpose. I will have to go slow, be as gentle as I can, but Aliza, She is mine.

  “Do you, Cody, promise to love and cherish, to protect, and to hold Angellica above all else?”

  “I do,” Cody says firmly.

  “Do you, Angellica, promise to love and to honor and to obey Cody as your husband, above all else?”

  “I do,” Angellica says on eyes that narrowed with the words to obey and I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my lips.

  “Goodluck, buddy,” I stage whisper.

  “The rings, please,” the Judge asks Liz and I. I pull Angie’s delicate little ring covered in a row of tiny little diamonds and the second ring of rose gold that is completely covered in little bits of sparkly pink diamonds, a surprise for Angie from Cody, out of my trouser pockets.

  “With this ring, I promise you my love, my honor, and my fidelity until death parts us,” Cody says as he places the wedding ring on Angie’s finger. “And this ring, for the daughter you carry, because you and she are by far the very best things to have ever happened in my life. I will forever be grateful for the hit that I took in that last bowl, because the pain that it caused lead me to find you, and you, my Angel, have brought me nothing but sheer beauty.”

  I’m not going to lie, there was not a dry eye in the house after Cody’s surprise for Angie, including Angie’s, Cody’s, and yes, even mine. I want that beauty, and I think maybe, just maybe, I might have found it. Liz hands Angie a much larger metal band and takes her bouquet in exchange.

  “Cody, I give you this ring, as a sign of my love and fidelity. My heart is already yours. Forever and always, until death parts us,” she says. And I look to Liz, she is looking directly at me. Can she feel it too? What we have. And is she willing to reach out and grab it? To work for it? God, I hope so. “I love you,” Angie speaks the words I am thinking in my heart. Does Liz feel them too?

  “By the Power vested in me by the State of Florida, from this moment on, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride,” the Judge declares. And kiss her Cody does. Someone in the crowd whoops and whistles and I can’t help but throw my head back and laugh. I look to Liz and her eyes dance with laughter and merriment.

  Before I know it, Angie takes her bouquet back from Liz and they walk arm and arm together towards their forever to the cheers of those who love them best. I step to the middle of the aisle and Katy and Liz each take my arm. I kiss Katydid’s cheek and she winks at me and tips her head in Liz’s direction. Could she know? I turn my head and look down at Liz, and can’t help but hear the words of the song again in my head. Yes, from this moment on, things are changing for Liz and me. Things are definitely changing.

  At the end of the aisle, Katy lets go of my arm and moves along, but I wrap my arm around Liz before she can escape and press my face to the top of her head, kissing her hair. I inhale deeply, taking in all that is my girl, and she is mine. I’m beginning to think Aliza knows it too.

  “That dress brings out your eyes, sweet Liz,” I whisper in her ear. “Like you were kissed by the fairies.” I tell her before I kiss her cheek and let go of her. Hopefully, giving her something to think about. Silently daring her not to run, but I think now we both know that if she does, I’ll happily chase her down.

  CHAPTER 16

  Holt

  It’s pushing past midnight and there is still no possible way for me to get any sleep. Cody and Angie’s wedding went off without a hitch. And Mable and the Mayor pulled out all the stops. This tropical island paradise is perfect. Romantic. Sexy, even. And I am alone.

  Speaking of Mable and the Mayor, there is something going on there. The whole night, I could have sworn they kept sneaking off together. Then Mable would appear mad about something. The last time she popped back up, I swear her dress was on backwards and her lipstick was smudged. Not to mention the Mayor had a smirk on his face that said he was pretty pleased with himself.

  You know who is not pleased with themselves? This guy. I am drawn to Aliza like a moth to a flame. Always have been. But she is still avoiding me like the plague. I see her watching me when she thinks no one is looking. I can’t help but feel there is a change in the wind.

  Speaking of Aliza, that dress. Jesus. When she walked down the aisle, barefoot, in that short gray number with the twisty pleats around her full breasts. I’ve been hard as a rock ever since. I grip my dick and will it to go down. I’m about to pull down my zipper and start my one man, one act show, when I hear someone outside my window.

  I watch as Aliza stumbles down the path towards the beach. I know she’s drunk. Hell, she has been since Sam and the girls died. I can’t say I blame her, but it’s no way to live the rest of her life. I need her to see what she’s doing to herself. To me.

  I tuck myself back in my tan cargo shorts and zip up. I head out the door of my little villa and move towards the beach. When I get there, Aliza is waist deep in the ocean, still in her gray dress from the wedding. She has pulled the pins from her hair and her soft, dark blonde curls hang free around the most beautiful breast I have ever seen. Her chest heaves as she chucks her bouquet into the ocean.

  “Why?” she screams at the ocean. “Just tell me why and maybe I can understand,” she slaps the water in anger. She’s so damn angry and I don’t know how to fix it.

  “Just give me a sign, Sam,” she says so softly I can barely hear it. “Just show me what to do. I promise, I’ll listen,” she turns to me when she hears the sounds of the waves lapping against my body as I wade out to her. I’m close when she throws her hands above her head and screams, “Anything but that!” at the cloudless sky.

  She stumbles and I catch her, pulling her close to my body. Aliza draws in a shuddering breath before crashing her mouth to mine. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I kiss her back. Thank you, Jesus. I slide my fingers into her hair and pull. When she gasps into my mouth, I lick into hers and she goes wild. Aliza wraps her legs aroun
d my waist grinding into my hard cock.

  We are all tongues and teeth and hands. Kissing and biting. Groping and grabbing for more. She moans as she rocks into me again. I grip her ass in my other hand and squeeze. Hard. She rubs herself up and down my dick.

  The waves are splashing around our waists and licking up to our chests. I take my hand from her hair and push the top of her dress down exposing her breasts to me. I slide her up my body so that I can run my nose down her neck and over her breasts. Biting her all over as I go. I pull her pink nipple into my mouth and suck deep.

  “Holt,” she says as she rakes her nails down my abs over my t-shirt.

  Aliza grabs my shorts and pops the button free under the water. She slides my zipper down, freeing me under the water. And grips me tight in her small hand. She strokes me again and again and I can’t take it. I grab her panties in my hands at her ass and rip them. Without thinking, I shove the torn lace in my back pocket. I run my fingers down over her belly and further. Even in the cool water, I can tell how warm and wet she is. I push down on her clit and she bucks against my dick.

  “Please, Holt,” she tells me as she rocks against my fingers, my cock gripped in her hands. “I need…” She moans.

  “Tell me what you need,” I growl. I will give her anything. Anything at all. Even if it kills me. Until I have nothing left to give her.

  “You,” she says. “I need to feel you. I need to feel,” she says as she pushes her body down on my cock. I groan as she moans. Wrapping her arms around my neck, Aliza pulls up and then slips down, gripping me in her tight heat.

  “Aliza,” I say as I grip her ass in my large hands and squeeze each globe so tight she arches into me. I use my grip to pull her up, but not off. And slam her down on my cock. Hard. I do it again. And again. She drops her head back on her shoulders. Her free breasts bouncing in time as I slam her down on my cock over and over. She moans. And I’m so close. My climax is burning at the base of my spine.

  “Holt,” she breathes. “I’m so close. Make me feel.” The water is violent around us as I fuck her. Harder. This woman that I love has pulled me into the darkness that surrounds her. Our emotions are swirling like the dark water around us.

  “Is this how you want it?” I thunder as I pull her down on my cock. Harder and faster than before. I’m angry that this is all she wants from me, for as long as I have wanted her. This is as far as she will let me love her. So unwilling to follow me out of the darkness of her grief. But if this is all I will ever get, Then I sure as fuck am going to take it. And then some. Until one or both of us breaks.

  “Yes,” she breathes. “Harder. I need it,” she cries out.

  “This is how you want me?” I growl.

  “Yes. I want you,” she breathes as I slam her down on my cock again. “Oh God, I want you,” she cries. She is so close. I can feel it. How tight she grips me, pulling me into her body deeper and deeper.

  “Whose cock do you want to fuck you?” I growl. “Say it. Say it,” her nails break the skin on my back, as I slam her down again and again.

  “You. I want you, Holt. I always have,” she screams as she comes. And does she come. Again and again on my cock. I slam her down one more time and come with the force of a freight train. She holds me tight, her face tucked into my neck. For moments we just hold each other tight. Trying to catch our breaths.

  I run my hands up and down her back gently. I can’t stop touching her. I need to touch her. I push my large hand into her tangled hair and pull. Not as hard as before, but enough to get her to look in my eyes. She opens hers slowly and looks at me. Really looks at me. For a moment I wonder how much she sees. Does she know how much I love her? How I have always loved her.

  Aliza seems to have come to a decision as she places her palms on either side of my face and kisses me softly. Sweetly. I kiss her back with the same tenderness as I wade through the water. I make my way back to shore with my dick still deep in her body and I love it. I want to burrow in deep and never leave.

  Aliza drops her feet to the sand and slides down my body. My dick slips free and I can’t help but feel a little sad. Aliza reaches behind her and slowly unzips the gray dress that wet dreams are made of before letting it fall to the damp sand and pool at her feet.

  And just like that, I’m hard again. Like hard hard. Normally, I could maybe get hard in an hour give or take. It’s like I’m sixteen again, not thirty six. Aliza runs her hands down my chest and around my sides to my ass. She pushes my shorts to the ground and I step out of them before leaning over to kiss her again. I pull back just enough to look at her beautiful face. Her eyes still closed and she looks at peace. She looks…happy. God, if only I could make her happy. It’s all I have ever wanted. Even if it meant being married to someone else.

  I lift her naked body up in my arms and then drop down to my knees. I lay her down on the hard damp sand and lean my larger body over her small one. When she opens her eyes, she smiles at me. And I push forward, my cock filling her all at once.

  I kiss Aliza softly as I slowly rock in and out of her body. This time there is no hurry. There is no anger. No sadness. Just Aliza and me. She runs her hands up and down my arms before linking her fingers behind my neck. She arches her neck back, inhaling deeply. She’s building again, a slower climb, but she’s burning nonetheless. I rock in and out. Loving her the way she deserves. Loving her the way I want to. She cries out as she comes and I push my cock deep one more time before following her over the edge.

  I roll to my back taking her with me. Wrapping my arms around her as she settles on my chest. My body still connected to hers. Aliza holds my heart in her hands as her breathing slows and she drifts off to sleep. I let my fingertips skate up her spine once, twice, before letting my palm rest in the small of her back. Holding her to me, before I feel the tension leave my body and I too, drift off to sleep.

  CHAPTER 17

  Aliza

  Burning House

  I run through the woods. My feet are bare. The twigs and leaves and branches cut into my feet but I don’t care. I can’t care.

  I swipe the low hanging branches out of my face when I can, the others lash at my face. But I can’t stop moving.

  I see the beach up ahead of me when the woods clear. The moon is hanging low over the water. The happy face of the man in the moon is stained red. Blood on the moon.

  I keep running. I know I can’t stop, but I don’t know why. The salt of the ocean stings the abrasions on my feet, but I keep running. I have to get there in time. Only, but where?

  Just up ahead, in the eerie glow of the moon, is a house. I can just barely make out the shape. So I push my body faster, make myself move closer to the house.

  “Aliza!” I hear my husband shout my name. “Aliza, over here!”

  His voice is coming from the house. I’m almost there now. The house is really a small cabin, just like the one we always said we would buy when we saved up the money.

  When I reach the house, I see it’s glow isn’t the moon, but fire. The house is on fire, the flames licking up the side.

  “Aliza, over here,” I move towards the sound of my beloved’s voice.

  I run to the front door of the house. Sam, my sweet husband, is looking at me with sad eyes through the window in the front door. I try the knob which is warm to the touch and it’s locked.

  “Aliza…” he says as he places his palm on the glass of the window.

  “Sam,” I scream. “Help me! It’s stuck,” I plead. In the distance, I hear a baby cry. My baby. No, no, no. My babies can’t be in this house. I try the doorknob again and this time it’s hot to the touch, it burns my hand.

  “Aliza, come to me,” I hear another voice over my shoulder. I would know that voice anywhere, but I have to get Sam and the girls out of this burning house.

  “Aliza,” Sam says as I rattle the door one more time.

  “God Damn it, Sam!” I scream, panic clawing at my thoat, “Fucking help me! Get out of there!” I wail.
<
br />   “Liz,” Holt calls again from behind me.

  “Aliza,” Sam says calmly, the sadness seeps into his voice. “You have to let go before you burn up with me.”

  “No,” I scream. “I’ll never let go.”

  “Let go, Now!” my husband shouts, as the baby cries again. My sweet, Harper. Why can’t I get to her. Where is Sarah?

  “Liz, please…” Holt pleads, but it’s too late. I close my eyes as I feel the sweet sting of the fire as my body catches flames licking up my feet, my legs, my chest, my arms, as I burn up in flames. My breath catches in my throat and I open my eyes…

  And see Holt’s cropped black hair and chiseled jaw, not the floppy brown hair of my Sam and his goofy smile.

  “Liz,” Holt mumbles in his sleep beside me on the beach. We’re both naked and I feel a different ache in my body as I remember the way I gave myself to him on this very beach last night.

  The sun is just coming up at the far corners of the water. My dream still lingers. In my mind I know I am on a precipice, but in my heart, I know that I have failed my Sam.

  I take one last look at Holt before gently rolling away from his strong body. I grab his boxer briefs and pull them on, then his t-shirt. The salt and sand chafe my skin, but it’s the price to pay for the wrongs I have committed. I snatch up my dress from the wedding last night and with one look back at the life I can’t have, the man I do not deserve, I walk away.

  CHAPTER 18

  Holt

  The sun is shining bright, burning against my eyelids and there is sand in interesting places. You can draw your own conclusions. Aliza is nudging my shoulder. I stretch my arms over my head and smile. My cock is as hard as ever and standing straight up from my prone body like a flagpole. I would say it’s morning, but it has always been Aliza for as long as I can remember.

  “Good morning, baby,” I say, my eyes still closed but the smile on my face is obvious.

  “Good morning to you too, handsome,” Cody’s deep voice says from above me. I open my eyes and come face to face with my asshole best friend. I scowl and turn my head side to side as I reach out and come up with nothing but sand.