Castles Burning Part One

by Nicole Ryan

  “Baby…” Aden whispered as he took my hand into his.

  “It’s ok.” I finally managed, “It’s just a little bit of a shock.”

  “I know. I… I thought it’d just be bar sex you know? Fuck, I’m sorry baby.” He held my fist to his chest.

  “No, please don’t be. We weren’t together. I was seeing someone then too.” I reminded him, trying to cling to that one detail myself, for my own sanity.

  “It’s not the same,” he said firmly, as he glared at me, “and you know it.”

  “I know.” I sniffed. “But I have to believe in something right?” I whispered.

  Aden stared intently at me, I knew he wanted to talk more, but I didn’t want to. I needed to let it go.

  “Christie wants Alex to be taught.” I said, wiping my nose with the back of my hand.

  “So does he.” Blue eyes still bore intently into mine, but I refused to talk more about her until I had control over myself.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  “I love the idea. But I’m not sure how I’ll feel in the moment.” He admitted.

  “Only one way to find out.” I tried to joke, still fighting the tears.

  “Amber… please.” Aden said, leaning over and resting his forehead on mine, his hand cradling one side of my face as tears began to flow. “Don’t, please don’t cry.”

  Aden’s mouth began to seek out my tears, kissing them away, as he leaned over me and positioned himself between my legs. Taking my face into his hands he brought me to him, kissing my lips with gentle determination, dragging his hands down my throat, over my breasts making me arch from the bed. He captured my hips in his hands as he kissed my belly, each hip, crawling up my body to my breasts.

  “I love you.” He said between kisses.

  As Aden came to lie behind me, he slipped one arm under me, turning me so my back was resting against his as his fingers slid down my side, and came up over the swell of my hip to pull me against him as he planted a kiss just below my ear. With his hand that was under me he gripped my tummy, holding me tight against him. His other hand moved my hair from my shoulder, and he kissed my back, dragging his soft lips across my flesh to my neck, his breath tickling my ear.

  “I love you.” He whispered.

  His hand came up into my hair, burying it there as he slowly slid inside of me, moving the hand that held my tummy to my sex; he began to gently massage me. When he slid his hand down to rest at the base of my throat, I let my head fall back to rest on his shoulder. I turned my lips to his stubbly jaw, closed my eyes, and inhaled the clean smell of him. Enfolded in his arms like this, I felt so warm. I felt completely, wonderfully… safe. As I gently found my first release, Aden moaned against my neck, inhaled deeply, and I felt wetness slip down the back of my shoulder. Grasping my jaw in his hand he turned my face to him, looked down into my eyes and moved within me, slow and deliberate. As I felt myself climbing, I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of him and me as one.

  “Open your eyes baby,” he said, as he softly stroked my jaw with his thumb, “look at me.”

  Aden broke away from me to reposition himself between my legs again, which were shaking with yearning, and exhaustion from the evening. He pulled my left leg up, and gently kissed the sole of my foot, and then the inside of my knee, before resting my ankle on his shoulder. Gently he rubbed his burning hot head against me once more, before gently pressing himself inside me. A small moan escaped me, and gripping Aden’s thighs with my ankles, I pressed against him, wanting all of him. I needed this, I needed this so much. I needed to know that not only was I his but he was also mine, once again.

  “You’re so beautiful baby,” He said as he kissed my nose, “You’re so special,” his hand slid up to lightly grip my jaw, caressing the side of my face and neck, “You mean everything to me.”

  I came apart at his words, clawing at his arm. “Oh, my God.” I whimpered through gritted teeth as he stared into my eyes, his gaze nearly too intense for me to hold.

  “Yes baby.” He whispered, his thrusts faster.

  “Right there.” I said as his angle changed slightly, perfectly reaching my sweet spot.

  “There?”

  “Yeah.” I sighed.

  “You’re so sweet, God you feel incredible.” He growled, lifting my knee to graze it with his teeth. “I want you to come baby.”

  “Yes, just like that baby, keep going.” I whispered, clawing at his hips.

  Aden brought his fingers to my clitoris again and began circling gently. I held him tightly, my legs shaking with exhaustion from the day, but needing him so desperately.

  “Come for me baby.” He said softly as he brought his hand up to caress my face, and sweetly, kissing my lips, took me over the edge.

  ***

  The next morning proved that the rain had not stopped; I was wrapped in Aden’s arms. The view of the ocean from our room looked like the view from a houseboat; I stared at it in wonder, trying to figure out where all the water had come from. As if Aden saw what I had at the exact same moment, he leapt from the bed to pull on his sweat pants, muttering curses to himself about the weather and ran from the room yelling for Alex to get up.

  “What is it?” Alex asked as he rushed from the room. Christie, who was following quickly behind him, came to stand next to me, her hands clenching and then unclenching nervously.

  “We need to get sand bags set up; just in case the water get’s high enough to come in the house. Come help me in the garage. We need to move the truck too.” Aden said as he pulled on a pair of rubber boots that came up to his thighs from the closet beside the door. He tossed another pair to Alex, who shoved them on in a hurry, a half smoked cigarette hanging between his lips.

  “What should we do?” I asked.

  “Stay inside.” Aden said as he kissed me and hurried out of the house.

  Finally, I took a moment to look out the big windows in the great room. It still looked dark, but it couldn’t have been, it must be close to noon by now. The patio furniture had been slid around a little by the wind, and everything was drenched, and being whipped back and forth by the wind, which was creating a howling sound around the house. I looked at Christie who looked concerned, and very frightened.

  “What the hell is going on? Wasn’t it supposed to be nice this weekend?” She asked.

  “I don’t know I didn’t look at the forecast… I assumed one of you guys did.”

  “Shit. It’s really bad, look the water is already coming up to the patio!” She cried, dragging a shaking hand through her hair and turning to grab one of Alex’s cigarettes from his pack on the pool table.

  We stood by the sliding glass door and watched the storm. Suddenly Aden and Alex came heaving through the water, one at a time, piling sand bags from the garage to the sliding glass door. When they finished they sloshed through the water and around to the back of the house. As they burst through the door, completely soaked, they heaved sandbags into the house and closed the door.

  “Come help us put these up.” Aden called to us.

  Rushing to their side, Christie and I hefted the bags together and piled them up the front and back door as the boys showed us, they were heavier than I had expected them to be, we ended up helping each other lift them.

  As thunder rolled somewhere close, the room grew darker, until we could barely see. I ran my hand along the wall, searching for the light switch that was located behind one of the couches across the room from the pool table. When I found it finally, it was covered with something thick, and sticky. I quickly switched it on, revealing the brown mess, and I wondered how the mud had gotten there. I helped Christie heft the last sand bag, there was no mud on her hands. Aden had left the room and Alex was heading for his room. I quickly made my way to our bedroom.

  “Aden!” I cried. When I found him in the bathroom, he was stripping off his wet clothes, his eyes looked worried, but his hands were clean.

  “What is it?” He asked as he sat down on the b
athtub ledge, and pulled on fresh clothes.

  “Look,” I held out my hand to him.

  “Did one of the bags rip?” He grabbed my hand and ran his thumb along my palm, smearing the thick mud along my skin.

  “No, it was on the light switch.”

  Aden stared up at me, his brow furrowed. I held his gaze for a moment as I watched his reaction carefully.

  “Do you think someone else is in the house?” I asked my hand at my throat as I tried to swallow, not wanting to bring up the obvious.

  Suddenly standing, he rushed past me, hollering for Alex, who was now also changed into dry clothes. They stood beside the pool table, Aden speaking in low tones to Alex. Alex looked down and his face dropped as he brought a hand up to his mouth before saying something to Aden with exaggerated facial expressions. Reflexively he fished a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, taking a shaky drag. Aden was still speaking too low for me to hear, and his back was to me, so I couldn’t read his face, but I was frozen. All along, I supposed I’d known that he would show up one day, we all did, we just never thought it would be so soon.

  Fear gripped my heart as I remembered sitting in the courtroom with my best friend, holding her hand in place of the dear twin sister she had lost, as her father was pronounced guilty of aggravated assault, and sentenced to three years. We were all shocked because we thought he would be gone forever. Christie’s fraternal twin sister Erica was jogging one evening before going out on a date with a man that their father didn’t approve of. He had followed Erica to the Centennial trail and drove alongside her, yelling at her to get into the car. When she didn’t listen, he’d jumped from the car and tackled her to the ground, intending to take her to the car, but on the way down Erica’s head had struck one of the wooden rail road ties along the trail, and then landed on the concrete; she was later pronounced dead at the scene.

  During the trial Christie had confided in me that her father had been jealous from the moment Erica started to date. It was as if he wanted Erica all to himself, and Christie suspected that he had molested her sister as a child. On the weekends when they stayed at his place, Erica would go to Christie’s room and sleep in her bed. Christie tried to ask her what was happening, but her sister never confided anything to her, and would shut her down if she ever asked directly.

  “I asked her one night when she snuck into my room.” Christie once told me over a bottle of wine, a week or so after Erica’s death. “She crawled into my bed, we were about fourteen. I asked her what had happened but she just shook her head no, and went to sleep. She would never tell me why she came to my room; she never did it when we were at mom’s house... not since we were maybe nine or ten. I think he was touching her.”

  Christie had been asked to speak about this during the trial, but the evidence was still not substantial to put him away for more than three years, they didn’t have proof that Erica’s death was intentional.

  Aden looked at me; removing me from my memories, and I looked at Christie who was clenching her sleeves in her fists, her shoulders were hunched up, and she was shifting her weight from foot to foot. I went to her and put my arm around her, trying to give her some sense of comfort.

  “It’s ok Christie.” I said, squeezing her shoulder.

  She nodded as her eyes remained locked in front of her, not focused on anything. As we stood there for a moment, the lights suddenly all cut off. When I glanced at the digital clock above the stove it was out too. We’d lost power. There was a strange scuffling noise and I heard both Aden and Alex hurry in the direction of the sound, both fumbling in the dark to stay close to one another. I grasped Christie’s hand in mine.

  ***

  “Aden!” I called in the darkness after moments of silence. No response. The storm was howling outside, rain was falling in sheets; the sky was an ominous gray.

  “What’s happening?” Christie whispered next to me before starting to sob. I searched the shadows in front of me desperately, looking for signs of movement but found nothing.

  “Christie it’s ok!” I whispered harshly. “You have to stop. I can’t think when you freak out, I know you’re scared but so am I!” I hollered at her. “I have to go find Aden.”

  As I walked from the room Christie’s sobs began to dissipate and I heard her heaving deep breaths into her lungs to calm herself. I held my hand out in front of me, my eyes started to adjust to the darkness as I made my way to Aden and my room. My heart was pounding as if it would come through my ribs, I was frightened.

  “Aden?” I called, my voice came out shaky, it sounded unfamiliar to me. My bottom lip began to quiver. Taking a deep breath and holding it for a second, I collected my thoughts. It was just a storm, I told myself, just a storm. But I knew it wasn’t. Someone was here.

  Christie was still in the same spot I’d left her, I took her hand again and we went to her and Alex’s room. The wind howled outside as we walked down the hall.

  “What’s happening?” She asked me.

  “I don’t know.” I breathed as we came to the door of the room.

  I held my fingers an inch from it, afraid of what I might find if I opened it. I pressed them to the hard wood, and shoved it open. As we walked into the room I was yanked down to the ground by a strong hand, before I could scream Aden’s hand was around my mouth, and I was against his chest. I could make out Alex’s eyes beside me and watched as Christie sat down next to him and Aden took his hand from my mouth.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  “Someone is here.” Alex said, “We don’t know who it is, or where they are, but there is someone in the house.”

  Christie began to whimper. I nodded, and took a deep swallow. Glancing around the bedroom for something to wield, I saw that Aden and Alex were a step ahead of me, beside Alex was a wooden baseball bat.

  “It’s him isn’t it?” Christie whispered.

  I looked at Aden who held my gaze intensely. Tears began to prick under my eyelids and fear gripped my heart as we heard the unmistakable sound of boots on the hard wood floors in the great room. Christie’s eyes widened and Alex pulled her to sit between his legs, his finger to his lips, eyes locked on hers. As the foot falls came closer, it felt as if my chest were constricted. I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs, panic was setting in, and I clung to my knees, watching the door, listening to the approaching footsteps. Everything seemed like it was in slow motion, one footfall, blink, see Aden. Another step, blink, Christie is shaking. Step, Blink Alex gripping Christie’s shoulders. Step, Blink, Aden gripping the baseball bat, and as the black toe of a work boot appeared before my eyes, Aden was away from me in a flash, the baseball bat still in his hand.

  “Go!” He ordered me, I grabbed Christie’s hand and hauled her to her feet and dragged her behind me as we heard the sound of the bat connecting with a body. We ran through the double doors to the bathroom, and escaped through the second door on the opposite side of the bathroom, which lead into the kitchen.

  “We can’t leave them!” She screamed at me, yanking her hand from my grip, her deep green eyes wild with panic and she searched my eyes madly. She was standing before me, poised as if ready to attack, her hands balled into fists at her side.

  “We don’t have a choice!” I told her.

  “He will kill them!” She shrieked. “You don’t know him.” She sobbed, pleading with her eyes, her hand clawing at her wrist.

  She was like a caged animal, her eyes were so intense yet, they almost appeared to be empty. Aden and Alex were still putting up a fight in the other room, I could hear things crashing and breaking, grunts of attack, and pain, and then a sickening thud.

  Not sure what to do or how to respond, I tried to remember if I’d seen anything in the house that would serve as a real weapon. Had this been a hunting cabin, and not a fishing cabin we would be set, I was the top shot in my boot camp division, never missing a mark. I searched the kitchen drawers recklessly as the cries and grunts in the next room grew louder, my hands shook
as I went through every drawer searching through silverware and odd kitchen utensils, finally finding a carving knife and a steak knife.

  Christie and I ran into the room, the man was in a large black coat, black work boots, and a black baseball cap. He was filthy. Alex was lying in the corner, a lamp turned over behind him, and upon seeing this, Christie let out a small cry and ran to him. Aden was lying behind the bed, all I could see were his feet, but they were moving, which relieved me. He’s not dead, I told myself.

  The man turned slowly, revealing a crazed look in his eyes, which were dark, and had big black circles beneath them. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in decades. His clothes were drenched, his skin dirty, and streaked from the rain runoff. In his left hand he held a gun. Just get the gun, I thought.

  “Erica?” He asked as he took a step toward me, his eyes darkening more.

  “No.” I said and put my hands in front of me.

  “Where have you been, girl?” He asked me, swaying a little, as if he were drunk.

  “I’m not Erica.” I said firmly. I watched Christie behind the man as Alex opened his eyes slowly, and put a hand to his head, which was bleeding. Christie was crawling slowly to Aden, who was no longer moving.

  More terrified than I had ever been in my life I lunged at our attacker, taking him to the ground. Christie began to yell Aden’s name as I imagined her shaking him, tears streamed down my face. No. No, please no.

  The man grabbed my throat as I straddled him, and turned me over so he was staring down into my face, both hands circling me like a vice grip. I clawed at his strong fingers for a second, before I noticed he’d dropped the gun in his craze. I reached for it with all of my strength as my vision began to darken into a tunnel. The gun slipped into my fingers just in time for me to swing it up and hit him with the handle of the pistol. When he gripped the side of his head I hurried to my feet, and pointed the gun at him. He grinned at me, and a dark laugh began to erupt from his throat.

  “What a brave girl you are. You were always daddy’s little fighter weren’t you?” He asked.