by Alta Hensley
I want to apologize over and over if this is my penance.
Further words are lost as his kisses turn into licks and nibbles. The sting of his bites on my inner thigh makes me want to beg for mercy yet also leaves me wanting more. Moaning, gasping, whimpering, I close my eyes and give myself up to the moment… to Christopher and his show of forgiveness.
He pauses a moment, rubbing his hand along my heated flesh. Dipping his finger down the crease of my butt, he presses past and rests his finger at the entrance of my tight rosebud, teasing me with the unknown of what’s to come. Slight pressure is added, but not enough to break past and enter fully. Slowly, he lowers his other hand to my silky folds, wet with desire.
A deep moan rumbles in his chest and escapes as he thrusts his finger into my hungry sex. I buck against his hand, moaning in pleasure. Dizzy with the need for more, I do everything I can not to beg to be fucked right then and there.
I don’t want Holly and Violet to hear from outside, but at the same time, my body doesn’t care. I need Christopher. I need him now, and my body and soul nearly scream out in desire.
His finger is soon followed by a second as he pumps in and out of me, demanding my complete surrender to his touch. Trying my best to remain quiet but failing miserably, I can do nothing more but allow the climax to build. And when he removes his slick finger and presses it into my anus without warning, the orgasm rocks my body at an intensity that has me screaming out.
Submission, passion, and animalistic need for more explodes through my body like the crack of lightning during a desert thunderstorm. Moaning, I press against his hand, driving his finger deeper into my forbidden channel, his touch entrenched within me as I melt against him.
With one finger buried in the taboo, he places the palm of his other hand on my wet and needy pussy, continuing on with the stroking and caressing. One, two, three fingers are pushed inside my pussy, and I mewl as the erotic bite sends me to the edge once again. My breath catches in my throat as I hold back a cry of lustful yearning. I can’t focus, lost in a fog of bliss. Pleasure and pain weave themselves together, escalating until I cry out his name in a husky whisper that doesn’t sound like my own voice.
After the final orgasmic wave leaves my body, he cups his hand over my pussy, using it to adjust my body until I’m tucked snuggly into his arms. Instinctively, I nuzzle my face against the warmth of his neck, and my body melts to his. The feelings, the emotions… nothing can describe them.
Other than safe.
I’m safe with Christopher.
It’s the only time in my life I truly feel this way.
Safe.
“Tell me that you’ll never leave me again,” he whispers into my hair as he follows the command with a kiss to my head.
I pause, because I don’t want to promise things I can’t keep. I don’t know what happens next. I don’t know if I can do what he wants.
Can I simply leave?
Can I walk away from Holly and Violet?
Can I go back to the life in which I didn’t belong?
Instead of saying what he wants to hear, I pull away enough so I can kiss him.
The only thing I can promise right now is to always love him. That much will always be true.
“I love you, Christopher. I love you so much.”
I kiss him again, driving my tongue into his mouth, hoping my answer will do for now.
13
Ember
* * *
I’ve wanted this.
I’ve lied to myself, pretending that I didn’t.
I want Christopher.
I’ve always wanted Christopher.
And now that I have him, I’m never letting him go.
“Take off your clothes,” I say, my strong will coming back.
I feared I lost this part of me. The strong woman who asks for what she wants.
He does as I demand, his eyes locked with mine the entire time. He then slips his hand around my waist, repositioning us so he’s on top of me fully. Fingers laced, thighs rubbing against thighs, my breasts molded to his torso, his cock resting at my entrance—heavy and hot.
Not wasting another moment, he moves to kneel before my face and places his hard dick to my lips. I look up and into his eyes. No words need to be said. I open up my mouth and allow his cock to lie against my tongue. My natural instinct is to pleasure him. It’s always been the one thing I want to do to him more than anything else.
Pleasure him.
I’m good at this.
I thrive at this.
I’m proud that I can do this so well.
Watching bliss blanket his face fills me with a purpose I didn’t know existed before I met this man, and I wonder if I will ever get to experience it again in my lifetime if indeed Christopher and I have to part ways. As I suck up and down his ready dick, I fully submit to an old hope for the future that now renews.
Maybe… just maybe… we can have a happily ever after.
Maybe he can rescue me from this mountain, and we can have it all.
Maybe I can truly be free and not captured in Papa Rich’s web.
Maybe… just maybe.
Up and down, I move my mouth until I’m rewarded by my name escaping his lips in the most passionate of ways. My name never sounded as good as it does the moment it slips from his mouth.
I add my hand and begin to pump his cock while licking all around it. His body shakes and tenses, and he pulls me away as he takes a deep breath.
“I’ve missed your kiss,” he says, his gaze dipping to my lips. “I’ve missed everything about you and what you do to me. But mostly, I miss the way you make me feel. I was so scared I’d never be able to tell you this. I was so scared we’d never be like this again.”
His moment of vulnerability only spurs me on. I need it. I need it to regain my strength, to take hold of my confidence, to return to the Ember I was working so hard to be.
Reflexively, I slip my tongue across my mouth, waiting for his to make contact.
Slowly, he pulls me up to him.
We kiss, soft, romantic, and pure.
Husband and wife blocking out all the bad around us.
He slides his hand to the wetness of my sex, driving my thirst for him to be inside me to a whole new level. I approach the edge, wanting desperately for more. “Please, Christopher. I need you.”
Christopher cups my face and plants a slow, deep kiss on my lips. His mouth blazes a path from my lips to the base of my neck. I let a sensual moan escape regardless of how quiet I’ve been trying to be, hoping to encourage him to keep going.
Skimming my fingers down his rippled stomach, I simply moan and wait. I know he’ll give me exactly what I want if I just wait. I can count on him. I can rely on him. Always.
“You’re mine, Ember. Mine forever, no matter who tries to get in the way of that.”
I gasp at the sensation of his cock pressing against me at the end of his declaration.
Closing my eyes in ecstasy, I dig my fingers into his shoulders as he presses beyond the tightness, entering me completely. The delicious sting is quickly replaced with an erotic pleasure that captures my breath.
He continues to place gentle kisses all over my neck and face while his thick shaft probes deeper within. The contrast of soft and hard manages to push me toward that familiar edge. Sparks, electricity, pure primal need washes over me, drowning me in pleasure as we both rock each other into completion.
There is nothing else but us.
Christopher and Ember.
I don’t know how long we lie there, but I take the time of silence to focus on his breathing and the beating of his heart. I touch the tiny curls on his chest and trace my fingertip over the ridges of his stomach. I’m hypnotized by the feeling of contentment and security, but I also know we can’t stay in this little euphoric bubble forever.
“I’ve missed you so much, Ember. I’ve missed the feel of you in my arms,” Christopher murmurs into my hair.
“I missed y
ou too. More than I thought possible.” I smile at him as I pull away from his warm embrace, and I put on the last of my clothing, wishing we could be naked in each other’s arms forever. But I have Holly and Violet to think about. Not to mention the storm is still raging outside, and the biting wind is forcing its way inside the chapel. They’ll be back from the barn soon simply because they will have no choice.
“I want us to leave the minute this storm allows,” he says, the determination in his eyes as unrelenting as the tone of his voice. It’s clear the reality of our situation has hit him again, and his moment of sex-induced amnesia is gone. “I want you back in my life, and I want us to forget this place and any future places Richard offers.”
When I open my mouth to protest, Christopher cuts me off. “And I don’t give a fuck what wedding vows Scarecrow made you say, or the fact that they think you are now his wife. No fucking way. Do you hear me?”
“It’s just…”
I look at the pulled curtain offering us the limited privacy we needed—faded and worn—knowing what’s on the other side.
My new life.
A life that now involves other people. Though I have just met them in actual days, if feels like a lifetime. They get me, I get them. We walk the same path in life and always have. When I look at them, it’s like looking in a mirror.
“It’s not that simple,” I finally say.
“Yes, it is,” Christopher says, sitting up and reaching for his shirt. “This isn’t open for discussion, Ember. I don’t want to be an asshole, but I will if I have to be. We’re leaving this place, and it’s final.” He then stands and puts on his pants. “I get it. We have shit to work out, but we’ll work it out together. I’m going to get you as far away from this madness, and I’m never going to let you come this close to those sick fuckers again.”
“Except this ‘madness’ also includes two women who I’ve become close to. I can’t just leave them here. And I get the feeling they are determined to stay.”
“Then we’ll allow them to do what they want. But you will not stay. Period.”
“I can’t leave without them. It’s not an option. What do you think Papa Rich and Scarecrow will do to them when they return and find me gone?”
“What Richard and Scarecrow will come home to find is the police waiting to arrest their asses.”
I sigh deeply. “You say that. But the police haven’t exactly been much help since the day we left Hallelujah Junction. I don’t really have faith in them.”
The truth of the matter is I don’t really have faith in anyone. Which I suppose is sad. Funny how I saw life in such a happier way when I was being told lies and mentally being held captive in a schoolhouse in a ghost town with a serial killer as a “father.”
Maybe Louisa was right about me—I’m broken. Just a freak. And the reality is… I belong here with Holly and Violet. They get me. They are me in a sick and twisted way.
“Ember….”
I lean forward and give him a quick, avoiding-the-topic peck. “I hear footsteps in the snow outside. Holly and Violet are here.”
14
Christopher
* * *
It’s been twenty-four hours since I arrived, and I’m going freaking crazy. Cabin fever is truly a real thing. The snow is falling softer now, but it dumped overnight and most of the day, and I’m not sure how easy hiking down the mountain is going to be for any of us. The women don’t have warm clothing, or at least not warm enough. They go out into the elements to collect wood with nothing but crocheted shawls over their thin dresses that hang off their narrow shoulders. At least they all seem to have rainboots to slip on and off when they do go out, but even those may not be good enough if we are sinking to our knees with every step.
Holly and Violet also seem to be malnourished, and though their strength and energy seem to be up, I still worry if they will have the stamina it will take to make it to the makeshift tarmac in the valley I was dropped off on.
The other concern I have is their respiratory system. Both women have a hack when they cough. Neither seems sick, but after staying in the chapel for one night, I clearly see the culprit. The fire is releasing too much smoke in the chapel. Though they have worked on a chimney of sorts, it’s neither completed nor all that effective. It’s blocking the snow from extinguishing the flames, but the amount of smoke now being trapped inside is downright dangerous. And based on their coughs… this is something they have been dealing with for a while.
Violet stands from where she’s been sitting and staring at the fire in silence for the entire day. “I’m going to get us some more wood.”
The rate we’ve been burning the wood to keep warm is keeping us up all hours and having to recollect to stoke the fire. And it’s going to be another cold one tonight.
“I’ll go,” I offer, needing to get up and stretch my legs anyway. Plus, my eyes are starting to burn from all the smoke.
She pauses, nods, then sits and stares at the fire some more. She has barely spoken since her conversation with me near the cliff. It’s very clear I am not one of her favorite people, and though I feel for her situation and am trying to be sensitive to her feelings, I will pick her up and carry her down the mountain if I have to if it means Ember agreeing to leave with me.
Ember has agreed, but I see her wavering. I think it depends on the moment for her. One second, she wants to run away with me this instant, but the next minute, she wants to stay with the sisters and feels obligated to keep them happy with whatever they need.
I’m scared that the longer we stay, the harder it will be to convince any of them to leave.
I walk over to Ember, who is peeling some potatoes, and kiss the top of her head. She stops to look at me. “Do you want some help?”
“I’m fine. It’s too cold for any of you to be out there without the proper clothing,” I say, reaching for my coat and hat hanging by the fire. “I’ll be right back.”
I need to check out the path I took up here to see if it’s even possible for us to leave anytime soon. I also reach for my satellite phone again in hopes that maybe, just maybe, I can get a signal.
I’m right in worrying about us sinking to our knees in snow, because the minute I walk out of the chapel, that is exactly what I do. I suppose it could be worse—it could be to our thighs.
Trekking through the snow, I walk all around the area with my arm up, hoping I can catch a signal if I just turn the right way. The snow has stopped falling for the time being, and the evening sky is peeking out from the clouds. Maybe it will warm up some, and the snow will start to melt tomorrow. I can’t even see where I hiked up, so I’d have to carve a new path for us, which I’m prepared to do.
Giving up on the phone, I pocket it and head toward the barn that is holding the firewood. When I make my way in that direction, I hear a rustling in the dense forest to my left. I freeze, wishing I had brought a weapon with me so I could hunt whatever animal is nearby. But when I steal a glance, I swear it’s not an animal I see. It’s human.
Whoever it is quickly scurries away, but I know without a doubt it isn’t a deer or a bobcat or any other woodland creature.
It’s them.
It has to be them.
They are watching. Waiting. Planning.
I run toward the edge of the forest, not truly thinking my actions through. I have absolutely nothing to defend myself with, but if it’s Richard or Scarecrow, I’ll kill them with my bare hands if I have to.
“Richard!” I shout toward the forest. “You fucking coward. Come out and face me! I know it’s you. Scarecrow? Can you hear me? I’m here with your wives! They’re mine now. Mine. Do you hear me? How does that make you feel? Get your one-legged shithead self out here and fight for what’s yours!”
Silence.
“Fucking cowards!”
Silence.
I run toward the exact location I saw the movement and don’t see any footsteps in the snow. But I do see disruption. They’re covering their tracks
behind them as they run away. I know I can follow the tracks… and I may, but first I need to get back to the chapel and prepare the women. I also need to grab my gun that I packed. I didn’t plan on using it unless necessary, but if those assholes are here… it’s necessary.
Ember must have heard me shouting, because she comes running out of the chapel, wide-eyed and calling my name.
“Go back inside,” I say as I run toward her.
She doesn’t do as I ask until I reach her, but we both run inside together as I slam the door behind me.
“Richard and Scarecrow are here. They’re in the forest,” I say, winded from my run in the deep snow.
Holly and Violet both stand up quickly, panic on their faces.
“What? You saw them?” Ember asks, her hand over her mouth, terror in her eyes.
“No,” I say. “I didn’t get a good look, but I know there was someone.”
Holly and Violet look at each other and then back at me. “It could be an animal,” Holly suggests.
I charge toward my pack and pull out my gun, turning off the safety and preparing to use it. “It was a man. I know it was.”
“I swear I saw someone watching us too,” Ember says. “I worried it was them as well.”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Violet says. “If it’s Richard and Scarecrow, why wouldn’t they come inside? Why would they stay in the woods with no shelter? Especially all night in a storm.”
“Because they’re insane! They’re sick motherfuckers with no rhyme or reason to what they do!” My voice booms throughout the chapel, and I realize I’m losing control.
I have to keep my control and wits about me to defeat them. I can’t let them get inside my head so that I make poor decisions. They’re playing a game of cat and mouse, but this time the mouse will tear the cat to shreds.
Violet runs to the window by the door and peers out. “I don’t see anything.”
Ember joins her to look. “I don’t think you should go out there. What if that’s what they want you to do? They might have guns too.”
