Pandora's Box

by Camilla Porter

  "What the fuck?" I mutter as I walk back into the kitchen and put the mail down on the counter. Isaac has been dead for six months. What the hell could this be?

  I pour myself a glass of white wine sangria and lean against the counter as I stare at the envelope not able to bring myself to open it just yet. I drink about half the glass before I pick up the envelope again and begin examining it more carefully, finally noticing a familiar symbol in the corner on the back. It's the exact same symbol that the program on the computer has.

  "What in the hell?" I murmur.

  Opening the package I pulled out a small flash drive and a note that reads:

  Hey Sam, if you are reading this then, as you know, I am already dead. I bet that leaves you wondering a lot of things. Well, here are the answers to all of your questions. And please, tell Travis I love him.

  Always, Isaac

  Before I can really process any of this I hear a familiar voice call my name.

  "Hey," she says as she comes into the kitchen.

  "Hey," I answer flipping the flash drive between my fingers.

  "What's that?" she asks standing across from me on the other side of the island.

  "It's a - it's from, uh..." I stop myself as I suddenly get an uneasy feeling. "It's... not important. At least not now," I say as I stuff the flash drive and note back into the envelope and put it into the drawer of the island. "So, what brings you here?" I ask as I lean back against the counter and sip more of my wine.

  "I don't know," she says with uncertainty as she runs her hand absentmindedly over the counter as she walks towards me. "I think I just missed you."

  "You missed me?" I laugh softly. "It's been less than twelve hours..."

  "I know! Crazy right? But honestly? I just can't stop thinking about you."

  She walks over until she is directly in front of me and puts her hands on the counter on either side of my waist. Her smell and the heat of her body automatically begins driving me crazy. I can feel my center growing slick, but this can't happen right now. We need to talk. But she makes it so hard to think.

  "Elena," I breathe as she begins moving closer to me. "We can't. We need to talk," I manage to get out as I feel my body tense up.

  "I know we do. But not right now. Where's Travis?" she asks as she begins slowly running her fingertips up and down my sides.

  "He's outside playing with his friend. I'm supposed to be making him dinner. But I have questions," I say trying to get my head right as she continues making me feel dizzy with her touch.

  "I saw you today. At Upton Sinclair's. What were you doing there? And who was that guy you were arguing with? Was that the same man from the diner? How do you know him?" I ask in rapid-fire succession as I feel her hand move under my shirt and skim across my stomach.

  "Sam," she interrupts as my abs clench and she moves her other hand up and puts her finger against my lips, silencing me.

  "I know you have questions. And I have answers, but I just need more time. Can you trust me? Please?"

  "Mommmmm??" I hear Travis yell from the deck.

  "Yes honey," I answer as she moves her finger off my lips but slides her hand to the back of my neck.

  "Can I go over Daniel's for dinner? His mom is making a lasagna!"

  "Sure baby," I shout back. "Make sure you're home by seven!"

  "Okay, mom! I love you!"

  "I love you too! Make sure you lock the back door on your way out!"

  As soon as she hears the back door click shut she begins kissing and licking my neck.

  "Elena, I - ... "

  But my thought process is shot to shit. The tension leaves my body and I feel it begin to soften as I reluctantly give in.

  "And to repeat my question from before: just how much time do you need baby?"

  "Oh I don't know... about an hour?" she answers as she brings her hand back up to my face and rubs her thumb across my bottom lip. Almost instinctively I slip my tongue out and lick at her thumb before capturing it in my mouth and sucking it gently.

  "Better make it two," she corrects as she pulls her thumb from my mouth and replaces it with her tongue.

  Chapter Ten

  Elena

  I know I have to tell her. I know she saw me at Upton Sinclair's and that it won't take her long to put two and two together. But I need to be with her first even if it might be the last time. And if it is I want to make sure that she never forgets me.

  We are still standing in her kitchen, just millimeters away from each other. Our mouths barely touching. I'm not sure what we're waiting for but I'm just savoring everything about her. I bring my hand up to her cheek and brush it with my thumb as she turns her head and kisses my palm softly. My other hand goes to her neck and I pull her to me kissing her slowly, deeply tasting every inch of her sweet mouth. Her tongue swirls around mine and I pull back just a little bit sucking it gently. The way she moans when I do this causes little electrical shocks to shoot through my middle.

  I hold her face and she holds my wrists as I kiss her and move my leg between hers as I start to move against her, her back pressed into the counter. The slight friction is making me crazy but I'm in no rush. I want to savor this. We continue to just kiss slowly... sensually, causing our breathing to become ragged as sweat begins beading on our foreheads and chests. I pull away and press my forehead against hers, just taking a minute to catch my breath. Kissing the corner of my mouth she moves to my cheek before whispering "I'm so wet" into my ear.

  I tilt my head back looking at her. "Show me," I demand gently.

  Putting my hands on her hips I pull back slightly, giving her just enough room to unfasten her shorts. I lock eyes with her and lick my lips as she moves her hand down her pants, and while I can't see it I know she is fingering herself.

  "Show me," I tell her again in a low voice as I grip her hips tighter. Slowly removing her hand from her underwear she brings her hand between us and shows me her two slick fingers. I can't help myself as I grab her wrist and bring her fingers to my mouth sucking them a little roughly making sure I get all of her in my mouth.

  "What are you doing to me?" she moans as I continue sucking on her wet fingers.

  Keeping her fingers in my mouth I reach down and grab the back of her thighs picking her up so her legs are around my waist.

  "What am I doing to you?" I ask as I release her fingers. "I'm fucking you that's what."

  We make our way onto her bed in her bedroom and I hover over her, straddling her thighs, my hands on either side of her head, as we continue our kissing from the kitchen. I just can't get enough of her lips and tongue even though other parts of me clearly want more, but part of me is waiting for her to take control. Her hands push up my skirt exposing my bare thighs and she begins squeezing and rubbing them, getting dangerously close to my center but always pulling back at the last second making me insane.

  I kiss her with feverish intensity as I begin tugging her tank top up to her chest revealing her bare breasts. My hands close over them, rubbing and massaging the perfect mounds of flesh before tugging her hard, sensitive nipples with my fingers. Breaking our kiss I lower my head and capture her taut, aching breast in my mouth. I lavish her nipple with the tip of my tongue before gently nipping it with my teeth then sucking it strong and deep into my mouth. Her moans cause me to hum as I suck her soft flesh and she grasps the back of my head and holds me even closer.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sam

  I wrap my hands in her thick curls as she sucks and teases one nipple and then the other. My skin is on fire and I'm feeling dizzy and breathless as she has her way with me. I sensed when we first started that she was holding back on me, but now it feels like she is finally letting go. I have no idea what is happening to us. I have never felt this strongly about someone in my entire life. But I have an uneasy feeling about this. Between the envelope I got in the mail from Isaac and the man at the diner and her being at Upton Sinclair's...

  "Uhhhhhh!" I moan loudly as she sucks
the hardened pebble then pulls it between her teeth biting just enough to make me forget what I was just thinking about. Jesus Christ she was going to be the death of me. Releasing my nipple from her mouth with an audible pop she moves down and begins tracing irregular patterns all over my stomach while she moves between my legs and tugs my shorts and underwear down my thighs. I pull my legs back helping her take them off and then she pushes my thighs back spreading my legs. The feel of her hot, damp mouth on my inner thigh causes me to shiver but the scrape of her teeth and the swirl of her tongue is what makes me gasp. Up one thigh, down the other, several times over both legs until I want to squirm but I can't because of how she is holding my legs. Finally, she presses the flat of her tongue against my opening then burns a sensuous path all along my slit until she settles on my clit, sealing her hot wet mouth around it and sucking hard causing me to cry out and strain my hips. Over and over she laps at me and sucks at me until the pleasure steals my breath and a low throb begins in my belly and spreads down into my center and I am cumming hard, pressing her harder into me and calling her name. A hot shot of liquid squirts out of me and she laps it up just as fast as it begins to leak. She stays with me, licking and swirling my clit until it becomes too sensitive and I pull her on top of me.

  We lay like this for a long time before I am finally able to regain my senses and then I strip off all her clothes and generously return the favor. I take her body like I never have before and I make her cum over and over and over again until she finally becomes too sensitive and can't take anymore. And then, as we are lying side by side, both breathless and limp, she finally looks at me and says, "I think I'm falling in love with you. But I have something to tell you. I'm not who you think I am."

  Chapter Twelve

  Elena

  I pace nervously back and forth next to the bed as Sam pulls a t-shirt on and leans back against the pillows.

  "I uh, I don't know quite where to start," I stutter as I pull on my shirt before I pick up my skirt and pull it on.

  "You could start at the beginning. I think that would be best," she says a little harshly. I know that she is growing impatient as I have been stalling ever since I dropped the bombshell on her. Why couldn't I have just kept this simple? I just had to fuck her and get the information off of Isaac's computer onto the flash drive. Hell, I didn't even have to fuck her. That was never part of the plan. But I wanted to. And once I started I couldn't stop and that just fucked everything up.

  "I um, work for a computer company. One of the biggest ones in the world actually," I state as I run my fingers through my hair. "But we also have other things that we do. It started out as a competition between the area computer companies: who could hack into the most protected web sites and companies in the world. But then it got bigger. You see uh, there is an underground network of um, hackers. And there's a lot of money on the line. None of it is legal of course but that's part of the competition. To not get caught. And it's not just people that work for the tech companies that are involved with this anymore. Everyday people, with everyday jobs, are involved: postal workers... teachers... carpenters... lawyers... cops."

  "Are you saying? Isaac..."

  "Isaac was one of the biggest hackers we had. They called him The Black Hat because he could hack into anything. How do you think he was able to afford this house? The savings account for Travis? No accident could afford him this kind of cash flow unless he was disabled or dead and he was neither."

  "So Isaac was a criminal?"

  "Isaac was a hacker. A very competitive one at that. Upton Sinclair is the company that put up some code for anyone to try to crack. It was a huge payday: twenty-five million. This was unheard of. Most of these races were big change but nowhere near that. I think the largest I had ever seen was fifteen grand. So when Sinclair put out this payday Isaac quickly got to work."

  "Did you know him? Isaac I mean..."

  "No, but I knew of him. Everyone did. We actually had a side pool and he was my choice to be the first to break it. But whatever it was, it cracked into was something that Isaac wanted no part of. He took the information and hid it in a program on that laptop he gave you. No one knows what he found because he was killed before he could give the information."

  "Was he killed because of this?"

  I look at her sadly and shake my head. "I really don't know. It's possible."

  "So where do you fit into this equation? Were you using me?" she asks as she moves to sit on the edge of the bed and locks eyes with me.

  "I um, ..." I lean against the dresser as I really have no idea how to explain this. So I just decide to be honest.

  "The story about my past wasn't bullshit. Everything I told you was true, including how sick my mom is and that she really is in a nursing home. A nursing home I can't afford. I make good money at Juniper, but some months my account goes into the negative because of her care. So when they came to me and asked me to do two simple tasks with a million dollar payout how could I say no?"

  "And what were the tasks?"

  "I had to switch your phone out with a replica that had a tracking device, and I had to try to hack the program on the computer and get the contents onto a flash drive. Each task was worth 500,000 each."

  "So you used me?"

  We sit in silence as I try to figure out how I want to play this. My hands grip the edges of the dresser as I debate about just how honest I want to be with her. Fuck it, I finally decide.

  "Yes. But it became so much more than that. I wasn't supposed to sleep with you. I wasn't supposed to get this close. I wasn't supposed to..."

  "You weren't supposed to what?" she says through gritted teeth.

  I don't answer her as I look away unable to make eye contact with her anymore. She stands up in front of me and grabs the back of my head making me look at her. I can feel her breath on my lips, and it's distracting and arousing and intimidating. Even when it feels like she hates me my body responds to her, and it makes me insane. But I still can't bear to look at her.

  "You weren't supposed to do what?" she asks me again this time pushing her body close to me so I can feel her breasts and pelvis against mine. I hold the dresser so tight that my fingers turn white, and finally, I turn to look at her.

  "Fall in love with you," I almost whisper.

  I feel her hazel eyes staring intensely at me to the point that I feel like they might burn a hole in me. She doesn't say anything, but I watch as tears pool in her eyes and her jaw twitches as she clenches it.

  "Can you say something? Anything? Sam?"

  "Get the fuck out," she spits as she lets my hair go and walks away from me across the room.

  "Sam, I..."

  "I said get the fuck out. Now."

  I look at her and see that she is serious. I can't force her to hear me or to understand what I did so I choose to respect her wishes. I grab my shoes and head down to the kitchen where I get my purse, but not before I take out the flash drive and leave it on the kitchen island with a sticky note.

  Sam -

  I never meant for any of this to happen.

  I'm sorry.

  Love, L.

  As I open the front door I run head-on into a woman that I had never seen before.

  "Is Sam in? "she asks. There is an edge of concern in her voice that makes me start to feel nervous.

  "Um, yeah can I help you?"

  "And you are?"

  "A friend," I explain.

  "My name is Sandy. I live two houses over and her son Travis was over playing with my son. I just wanted to make sure he got home safe."

  Just then Sam makes her way down the stairs.

  "Hey Sandy, Elena was just leaving. What's up?"

  "Uh, Travis left about 20 minutes ago. I don't know why but I kind of had a weird feeling when he left so I just wanted to make sure he got back here okay. Is he here?

  I look over at Sam as the color drains from her face, and I think to myself we are so screwed.

  Chapter Thirteen

>   Sam

  "What do you mean he went home 20 minutes ago?"

  "He was trading cards with Daniel, and he said that he needed to run home to grab some that he forgot. When he didn't come back right away I figured he just decided to stay home, but like I said I had an uneasy feeling so I just wanted to make sure he got back. And now you're saying he didn't?"

  "Do me a favor? Go home and make sure he didn't go back the back way. And if he's not there just sit tight and keep an eye out. I'll call the station and then I'll go check down by the beach. Sometimes he likes to hang out by the pier and look for shells."

  "Okay, will do," she answered as she headed back out the front door.

  I walk over to the closet by the bathroom and punch in the code for the lock box on the top shelf. I take out my service pistol and check it to make sure that it is loaded.

  "Sam? What are you going to do? Sam? How can I help?"

  "You can get the fuck out of here like I told you," I spit out as I walk towards the front door. She stands in my way refusing to move.

  "Get out of my way Elena!" I shout.

  "No! Let me help! Please! Let me do this!"

  "Let you help? Let YOU help? This is YOUR fault! If ANYTHING happens to my boy so help me God... " I yell waving my gun around without even realizing it.

  She puts her hands up as I lean closer to her face, red-faced and angry.

  "They would have taken him anyway," she says in a calm and quiet voice.

  "You don't know that!" I shout.

  "I DO know that! They told me that if I didn't cooperate that was their next course of action. They were going to take Travis until they got the laptop from you."