by B. B. Hamel
I walk slowly back toward the dunes, kicking the sand as I go. It sticks to my feet as I walk, clumping up behind me. I can see the dunes just ahead, and as I approach them, there’s a noise in the distance.
At first, I think it’s an insect, some kind of flying cicada or something like that. It’s a buzzing noise, but quickly I realize it’s the sound of an ATV in the distance, getting closer.
I pick up my pace. The light’s just a pinprick but it’s getting larger. My heart starts beating fast. I don’t think I’m anywhere near a Hunter-controlled area but I can’t be sure. He shouldn’t know I’m out here, but then again, I didn’t have a good feeling about that Alex.
Up the other end of the beach, there’s another ATV. I start to panic, realizing they’re coming from both directions. I start to run, scrambling toward the dunes, but the ATVs are getting closer. They’re moving fast, way too fast for some casual riders out at night. They’re heading right in my direction and I think I might be screwed.
I barely reach the dunes and start scrambling up, ignoring the signs telling me not to. Screw that, I need to get away from these ATVs, and I don’t have time to run over to the path twenty feet away. The ATVs are almost right on top of me.
I turn, looking over my shoulder. The ATVs come into sight, moving toward each other. I can’t make out what the riders look like. I’m nearly at the top of the dune, heart hammering. They’re going to see me.
Just as the ATVs come screaming to a stop, a pair of hands grab me, one palm over my mouth to stifle the scream that jumps from my throat, and I fall back down into the darkness.
17
Julian
“Don’t move,” I whisper into her ear. I can hear the guys getting off their ATVs down on the beach as I press Kaylee tight against the sand. “Stay still.”
She stares at me with wide eyes but nods. I move my hand off her mouth and she takes a breath. I scared the shit out of her but that’s fine, at least I think they didn’t see her.
I can’t hear what they’re saying, but they don’t stay long. They talk briefly before getting back on their ATVs and driving off in opposite directions again.
I sneak up to the crest of the dune and look over. I can’t really make out what they’re wearing, but there’s no doubt in my mind that they’re Hunter’s guys. They must be patrolling the beach every night and I bet someone spotted Kaylee and called her in. Or maybe someone from the damn bar called us both in, and these guys are just out searching every inch of the beach while they can.
Either way, they nearly fucking got her.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She nods a little, lying on her back. “Shit. That was close.”
We’re in a little valley between the main dune and the smaller dune separating us from the houses that line the beach. Nobody comes back here, since the dunes are supposed to be off-limits, and we’re basically invisible to anyone in the houses or anyone walking past. That’s why I chose to follow her and watched her from this spot, which was pretty fortunate, since she ran right to me.
“Was that them?”
I nod, sighing and rolling onto my back. She’s right next to me, shoulder to shoulder on the dune.
“I’m pretty sure, at least.” I sit up on an elbow and glare at her. “You ran away again.”
“Yeah,” she says softly. “I did.”
I loom over her, eyes staring at her lips, her body. “Why do you think you can keep doing that?” I whisper. “You never seem to get away.”
“No, I don’t.” She squirms under my gaze. “I just had to think.”
“Did you figure it all out?” I let myself give her a small smirk.
“Maybe,” she says. “Maybe not.”
I reach out and take her hair in my hand. She gasps a little, bites her lip. “I’m not the one you want to run from.”
“You can be pretty scary.”
“Maybe.” I lean closer to her, my lips against her skin. “But you like my kind of scary.”
“You think you know me so well.”
“I do know you.” I kiss her neck and she lets out a little groan. “I know everything about you, little Kaylee. You want to start over now that you’re sober, but you don’t know how. You’re afraid I’m going to drag you back down with me, back down into whatever pit I came from.” I laugh softly as her eyes go wide. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t know what I want,” she says softly. “But maybe you’re right.”
I grasp her hair tighter, pulling it toward me. She gasps and I kiss her, full and sweet. She tastes so fucking good, especially when she’s angry, especially when she thinks she hates me.
Especially when she’s afraid of me.
I luxuriate in that kiss before slowly breaking it off. “You don’t have to keep lying to yourself, trying to pretend you’re something you’re not.”
“What am I, Julian?”
“I told you before. Broken, beautiful, perfect.” I kiss her again and reach down to unbutton her jean shorts as I move over on top of her.
She groans and lets me tug them off. Her panties are small and purple as I kiss her, hands roaming her skin. I tug her panties off, her skin glowing pale beauty in the moonlight.
She pushes me onto my back and rolls over. I help her get my jeans off, and my cock’s already hard as she pulls my boxer briefs off. I wrap my fingers in her hair as she slowly takes my cock in her mouth. I reach down with my other hand to find her pussy dripping wet, glistening in the dark. I slide my fingers along her slit, teasing her clit before pushing them inside her.
I love that she moans with my cock in her throat. It’s the fucking sexiest thing I’ve ever experienced. She sucks me faster as I rub her wet little pussy, making her gasps and moans come muted, stifled, wet with my cock. She moves faster, faster, pleasure sliding all through my skin.
I pull her hair back, pulling her off my cock. She moans and gasps as my fingers sink inside her pussy.
I grab her hips, rolling her toward me. She straddles my hips and slides her ass back, slowly moving down my shaft. She groans as I fill her, deep inside her wet, hot little cunt. I wrap my arms around her body and slowly fuck her like that, the moon bright and full.
We’re in our own little world, out alone on the dune. The ocean’s loud not far away, down at the other end of the beach. There are silent houses nearby, big dark sentinels, probably full of sleeping people. Neither of us cares about them. She rides me, slow and deep at first, and I pull her shirt up over her head. Her breasts are beautiful and full as she pushes back, each time my cock slides deeper she lets out a sexy little grunt.
I slap her ass, wanting her to fuck me faster, but she’s taking her time. I want to taste salt on her skin, sand in her hair. I slap her ass again, and again, and thrust inside her. She groans, burying her face against my shoulder.
I grab her hair and hold it tight as I thrust inside of her. She lets me fuck her like that, breasts swaying to the rhythm, her big ass riding along with her hips. I love every inch of her skin, every fold of her muscles. I sink my teeth into her shoulder and she gasps at the pain but it only makes her hips move faster. I run my hands down her muscular back, feeling the effort as she works along my shaft.
It feels so fucking good to let her ride my cock like this. I can smell the ocean and her skin mingling together, her gasps and grunts in my ear mixing with the breaking of the waves. I taste her lips and tongue, and I can taste salt and sand. She’s pure for me, incredible for me, sexual in an almost primitive way. I want every inch of her pressed against every inch of me, and I want this intense pleasure to keep blooming inside of me.
“Don’t stop,” I whisper to her. “Don’t slow down. I want to feel it.”
“Yes,” she gasps. I’m sweating, and I can taste it on her, too.
“This is how you get better,” I whisper. “You let this happen. You give yourself completely, your whole body, everything. You let me fuck you, fill you, make you come so hard you c
an’t remember your own name.”
“Julian,” she whispers, tone lost in the miasma of rolling bliss. “Oh, fuck, Julian. I won’t run away.”
“I know you won’t.” I pull her hair tight, fuck her pussy harder, thrusting up inside of her. She’s so fucking sexy as she leans back, her hands on my legs, hips writhing. I support her back and hips, releasing her hair, and I fuck her like that, pushing up inside of her.
She’s moaning with wild abandon now and I know she’s not far. I keep one hand on her lower back and my other thumb finds her clit. I rub it softly as she runs her hips faster, voice carrying across the sand, desperate and intense.
I push her down and rub her clit, let her ride me, her whole body writhing and sweating and her face lit in ecstasy. There are just our bodies, the moon, the ocean, the sand. We’re in our own valley between dunes, lost to the world, and I can’t feel anything but her.
She comes first, her muscles tensing. She grabs onto my legs hard as it overwhelms her. I take over, thrusting up inside her pussy, fucking her hard through it. I love watching her come, love the faces she makes, the noises, the way her pussy tightens around my cock. It pushes me over the edge, tips me over into the beautiful abyss, and I’m coming before I realize it.
I explode deep into her pussy. We come together, writhing in a pleasurable agony, neither of us totally aware of anything in that moment. It doesn’t last long, but it also lasts forever, and feels too good to deny. Slowly we finish, and she moves back up toward me. I pull her tight against my body, cock still buried in her. We stay like that, intertwined in the dunes, until the wind picks up and the night gets too cool to stay naked.
We dress in silence, and walk back down off the dunes together. I hold her hand until we get back to the sidewalk, and I only let it go before we have a lot of walking to do. She smiles at me, and I smile back.
Nothing’s resolved. Nothing’s fixed. That doesn’t matter right now.
18
Kaylee
We don’t talk on the way back, or when we finally get into our room. I strip down and shower before climbing into bed, and he showers when I’m finished. We go to sleep together, not talking, not really even touching. There’s like an unspoken truce between us.
In the morning, he gets up first. He dresses quietly and leaves. I stay in bed and watch him, and I wait for him to come back with breakfast. He brings coffee, eggs, pancakes, toast, and a few strips of bacon.
“Decent breakfast,” he comments as he sets it all out on the table.
I join him, sitting down to chew on a slice of bacon and sip my coffee. He watches me, not eating.
“We should talk,” he says finally.
“I know.”
He grabs a pancake and eats it like a Frisbee. I gape at him.
“What are you doing?”
He shrugs. “Easier this way.”
“You’re an animal.”
“You like it.”
I sigh and sip my coffee again. It’s hot and I like that it nearly burns my tongue. “Only sometimes.”
He smiles but we can both tell that this little flirtatious back and forth is somewhat forced.
“How can we find another way?” he asks me bluntly.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. But I don’t trust Alex and I don’t want another death on my hands.”
He clenches his jaw. “Now you don’t trust Alex?”
“I don’t know her,” I point out. “And she was way too eager to try and murder this guy.”
“They have a history.”
“I’m sure they do.”
“A bad history. The sort of history… you kill someone over.” He sighs, shaking his head. “It’s complicated.”
“I know,” I say softly. “It’s always complicated. But, Julian, it doesn’t have to be.”
“Tell me how.”
I look down at the floor. “We had drugs.”
He laughs softly, nearly a cough. “Yeah, I’m aware.”
“No, I mean, left over from that shipment that Leo was trying to sell.” I meet his gaze and he raises an eyebrow.
“I thought he shot it all up.”
“Not all of it. Just enough to put us in a hole.”
“Hm,” he says, frowning. “How much was leftover?”
“I don’t know exactly,” I admit. “Less than half, but still a lot.”
He grunts. “Where is it? Your apartment?”
“No, that’s the problem.”
“Of course.”
“I mean, what do you want from me? We didn’t know this was going to happen.” I can feel my frustration boiling over.
He holds up his hands. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Where is it now?”
“Buried on the beach,” I say. “Like ten blocks north of where we met.”
He stares at me, doing the math, and groans. “You’re shitting me.”
“It was Leo’s idea. He wanted to bury it before we met up with you. He thought some shit might go down, he was really on edge, and so we buried it. He said to keep it safe.”
“Fucking hell,” he says softly.
“We were high, okay? It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“That’s his beach. His family controls that stretch.”
“I know.” I must sound as miserable as I feel because he doesn’t chastise me again.
“I’m guessing you want to go dig it up and use it as a bargaining chip.”
“Maybe we can offer the drugs plus our word that we’ll leave forever and never come back. Maybe he’ll take that.”
I bite my lip, watching him carefully. He stares down at his coffee and takes a sip, clearly considering.
“I don’t know,” he says finally. “I’m guessing the whole drug thing left him in a bad position if he was willing to kill Leo over it, but I don’t know how much he’d be willing to give up to get some of that investment back.”
“It’s worth a shot anyway, right?” I feel myself getting eager, almost excited. “We wouldn’t have to kill him. Nobody would have to get hurt. It’s worth a shot. Right?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s really not. We should just kill him and move on.” I feel a jolt run through me as he sighs. “But we’ll try it anyway.”
“Really?” I ask, blinking with surprise.
“Really. Fuck, Kaylee. I’m not even sure we can kill Hunter, even if we both wanted to. We might as well give this a try before doing something dangerous.”
I laugh softly. “Of course. You’re just being practical.”
“I’m just trying to get us out of this alive.” He glares at me, but he smiles and shakes his head. “Anyway, I know what you mean, about what you said last night.”
“About… coming back from this.”
“And trying to be better.” He picks up some bacon as I feel my stomach rumble for what feels like the first time in a long time. I’ve been so afraid for so long that I’ve been neglecting myself.
“It doesn’t all have to be bad.”
“No, it doesn’t. Just right now, it looks that way.” He eats the bacon in two big bites and chews it as I start to pick at some eggs. “One thing, though. We’re going to need Alex.”
“Why?” I ask him. “You wanted her to get us close to Hunter so we could kill him, but we don’t need her for that anymore.”
“Getting onto that beach won’t be easy. You saw last night, they’re patrolling all over. There’s no way we can dig something up in the middle of their territory.”
“How can Alex help?”
“Well,” he says softly. “Alex is Hunter’s second cousin.”
I gape at him. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me about this... but I guess it makes sense. I wouldn’t have gone to that meeting, let alone listened to her at all, if I had known. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“No, I’m not. And she hates him more than I do, which is saying something. She can clear the beach for us, or at least I think she can.”
“What
about her condition? She wants to be the one to kill Hunter.”
“We’ll figure that out.” Julian reaches out, takes my hand. “We’ll try it your way, okay? But if things go wrong…” He trails off.
I squeeze his fingers. “I know you’ll do whatever you think is right.”
“Yeah.” He lets my hand drop, face blank. “I will.”
We eat together in silence. My stomach’s doing flips but at least I’m happy with what we’re trying to do. I don’t want to be a monster, not anymore. I don’t want to go down that path.
We’re trying to be better together. It’s just a matter of whether or not the world will let us.
19
Kaylee
The Ferris wheel turns slowly as another rollercoaster car shoots around the first big loop. I glance over at Julian and he’s watching the action with a straight face, barely interested in what’s happening.
I’m busy feeling paranoid as hell. Every big guy, every lurking shadow, heck, even loud little kids could be working for Hunter, here to track us down and kill us. We’re in the middle of a crowded amusement park on the boardwalk of Wildwood, but I still feel like we’re at risk. Although it’s the public and there’s a ton of cops all over the place, I still think Hunter could take us out if he wanted to.
It’s totally irrational. Hunter’s family has a lot of money and power, but they can’t just murder two people in a crowded place in broad daylight. Nobody has that kind of power, not even in a corrupt place like this.
Besides, we’re not on his turf, which is the whole reason we’re here. His influence doesn’t extend here, or at least not directly. We set up a meeting with Alex, and initially she wanted to see us someplace in Avalon, but I pushed for Wildwood. It’s a pain in the ass, coming all the way out here just to talk, but I feel safer. Julian wasn’t totally thrilled with the idea but he backed me up.
