The Light of Day

A faint light has begun off to the east, creeping its way slowly across the dark fields of wheat and corn. The light reaches the side of a single level ranch style home. There is a small tear in the screen of the kitchen window that has been left open. A lazy, fat horse fly makes his way through the tear and into the kitchen, gliding over the yellow formica countertops, and landing on one of the dark stained cupboard doors with worn brass handles. The morning sun streams through the kitchen window illuminating the clean but worn area. Upon entering the kitchen John rolls up the morning paper and smacks the lazy horsefly, it falls to the countertop and John sweeps it into the trash bin. 

He opens one of the cupboards doors, pulling out a tin of Folgers coffee and goes about filling and starting the Mr. Coffee 12 cup coffee pot that he and Ann received last year form Lucy as an anniversary present. Lucy being Ann’s much younger sister by a full sixteen years, had just received her first paycheck from her after school job, and wanted to get John and Ann something that they could use everyday. John poured himself a cup, tossed some sugar and half & half in and took a seat at the kitchen table to skim the morning paper before heading out to the Henderson’s Ranch to get started for the day. Ann entered the kitchen wearing her faded pale blue bathrobe. “Morning.” She said before coughing and clearing her throat. “How are you feeling?” John asked. “OK, just have this nagging cough that doesn’t seem to want to go away.” Ann said pouring herself a cup of coffee. “You can always give Dr. Baker a call, I’m sure he would do a house call for you.” He said rinsing out his coffee cup and grabbing his keys from the hook on the wooden plaque that says ‘KEYS’ that is hung on the wall next to the backdoor. Ann shrugged. “We’ll see how the day goes.” John kissed her on the cheek and walked out to his 67’ Chevy pickup that Clive Henderson had sold to him for a decent price. It wasn’t much to look at but it was reliable, and being out in farmland away from town that’s what mattered.

Ann made her way into the living room, with her coffee, shuffling her bare feet over the shaggy green carpet and taking a seat in the brown easy chair, with worn arms. She sat back pulling on the wooden handle to extend the foot rest. When she was comfortable she found herself a copy of Redbook and thumbed through the magazine, as she sipped her coffee. 

Ann awoke to a violent coughing fit. She managed to get herself up, out of the easy chair, making her way down the hallway leaning against the dark wood paneling, and into the bathroom. Her coughs shook her body, causing her eyes to water, and her nose to run. She spit into the bathroom sink, the phlegm was a dark yellow. Ann gagged, dropped to her knees and leaned over the toilet, she held her long dark hair back as she expelled her morning coffee. She sat on the bathroom floor taking slow deep breaths.

Dr. Baker knocked on the door at a quarter past one. Ann had showered, dressed and straightened up the house, in anticipation of his arrival. “Ann, how are we doing today?” Dr. Baker said stepping inside as Ann held the door open. “I’d be better if this cough would go away.” She said showing him into the living room. He took a seat on the faded burgundy couch, putting his doctors bag down on the oak coffee table. “Have a seat, I’ll take a listen.” Ann sat beside him, as he took out his stethoscope. Dr. Baker held the stethoscope to Ann’s chest. “Deep breath. And again.” He said. “OK, now your back.” Ann turned her back towards him. “Deep breath.” He said listening as she exhaled. “And again. And once more.” He said listening to each side of her lungs. He put the stethoscope down and took her wrist, he watched the second hand of his watch as he took her pulse. He then looked into her eyes, as he ran his fingers down the side of her neck and over her collarbone. He retrieved a small flashlight from his bag. “Say ahh.” Ann cleared her throat and said “Ahh.” Dr. Baker shined the light into her mouth. “OK, good.” 

He put his stethoscope and flashlight away and took out a small notebook and pen. “Just a few questions. How long have you had this cough?” He asked. Ann thought about it for a second. “Hum…Let’s see. It was after Easter. So maybe three months now.” She said. He made a few notes and then asked. “Do you smoke?” Ann shrugged her shoulders. “I do have one or two of John’s Winston’s, once in a while.” He nodded his head making another note. “On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you feel today? Ten being the worst.” “I would say maybe an eight for the last few days.” She said. “I think you have a case of acute bronchitis, drink plenty of water, rest and eat soups. I’ll leave you some cough syrup with a pain reliever.” Dr. Baker said gathering his things. Ann walked him to the door. “Thank you for coming out.” She said. “No, problem. Give me a call if you need anything else, and give this to John when he gets home.” He said handing her a folded note.

Ann put the note for John on the kitchen table and opened the pantry doors. She glanced over the assortment of canned goods, grabbing herself a can of Campbell’s chicken noodles. She warmed up the soup and made some toast. After eating she looked at the bottle of cough syrup, poured a spoon full and swallowed. “Eww..” Ann said twisting her face at the bitter taste.

The house was dark and quiet when John got back from the Henderson’s Ranch, he read over the note Dr. Baker had left him while sipping on a bottle of Coke. 

John,

Ann has a bad case of bronchitis, see that she gets plenty of water, and rest. I left her some cough syrup that should help her when resting. Let me know if her condition changes. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Baker           

John finished off his drink and went to check on Ann.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Three Weeks Later 

John sat at the kitchen table fidgeting with the pen in his hand. Ann wasn’t getting any better, Dr. Baker had been back out to see her, he examined her, took more notes and was going to discuss it with a colleague of his in Topeka. That was ten days ago. Ann was no longer able to leave her bed for more than an hour or two, before she would become winded and over come with a deep, harsh coughing fit. 

John straightened the blank piece of notepaper in front of him. “How do I even start this letter?” He mumbled to the empty room. He got up and walked into the living room, he stood staring at the framed piece of artwork. The ‘Singing Cowboy’ by Gary Patterson, he found it strangely calming with it’s faint yellow undertone. John went out onto the porch, it was late and the moon was full. He lit a cigarette and took a long deep drag, exhaling slowly. It was just him and Ann, out here among the corn and wheat.

Dear Lucy,

I don’t even know where to begin in making this request to you.

Ann isn’t getting any better, and I fear she is not going to be with us much longer.

It pains me to have to write this to you. 

Can you please come, for Ann.

Always, 

John  

~ ~ ~ ~

Lucy stood at the front door to the single level ranch home. There was a note on the door addressed to her. Lucy let yourself in, Ann is in her bedroom. We’ll talk when I get back. John  

Lucy let herself in, taking her bag to the spare bedroom. The house was stuffy and in need of a good once over. Lucy tapped on Ann’s bedroom door before opening it. “Ann?” She said entering the room. “Lucy? Is that you?” Ann asked clearing her throat and trying to sit up. “Yes, dear.” Lucy said taking her sisters hand in hers. Ann let out a sigh, before engaging in a coughing fit. “Let’s get some light and fresh air in here.” Lucy said heading over to the window. She pulled back the heavy gold colored drapes and opened the window. “That’s better. Now I’m going to make you some food, then straighten up.” Lucy said heading towards the bedroom door. “Lucy.” Ann said in a hushed voice as not to cough. “Yes?” “Thank you for coming.” Lucy gave her a smile and headed to the kitchen.

John opened the backdoor entering into the kitchen, as he hung up his keys the best smell hit him. “Damn, that smells good.” He said taking a seat at the kitchen table. “Thanks, it’s beef stew with lots of veggies.” Lucy said pouring a ladle of stew into a bowl for him. She set the bowl down in front of him and returned to the oven, pulling out hot fresh rolls. She poured two tall glasses of ice tea, tossed the rolls into a dish and took a seat at the table.

John ate like he hadn’t eaten in days. “Thanks for this, and that.” He said nodding towards the now clean living room. “You’re welcome, and that’s what I’m here for.” She said giving John’s hand a quick squeeze.

John and Lucy spent their days attending to Ann, spending time talking with her when she was able and reading to her while she rested. Lucy would sit with her during the day while John was out working on the Henderson’s Ranch, and John would sit with her in the evening, telling her about his day out on the ranch.

During one of their evening chats, as the three of them were in Ann’s bedroom reminiscing about school days past, laughing and enjoying each others company. Ann said. “I want the two of you to promise me something.” “What would that be?” Lucy said still giggling from the previous conversations. Ann cleared her throat. “I want the two of you to take care of each other, when I’m gone.” She said. Lucy looked at her sister, it felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. It was the first time Ann had said anything about it being the time after. Lucy swallowed hard trying to regain her voice. John got up and leaned over Ann, kissing her on the forehead, and left the room. “Do you want to add to that?” Lucy said. “Not really, I think the two of you will need each other. You know after.” Ann said.

~ ~ ~ ~

Lucy found John out on the porch. “Would you like one?” She asked holding a bottle of Whisky. “Yeah.” He said wiping the back of his hand across his cheek. Lucy opened the bottle and took a drink. She then handed it to John, he took a long pull from the bottle. “That was…ugh…out of left field.” Lucy said taking the bottle back from John. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting her to say that.” He said. “Have you thought about after?” She asked, taking another hit off the bottle. John looked at her and lit a cigarette. “Have you?” He asked. Lucy took the cigarette from in between John’s fingers, and took a drag. “Not really.” She answered handing back the cigarette.

Lucy went back inside. When John came back in she was standing in front of the ‘Singing Cowboy’ “What is it about this picture? It’s strangely comforting.” She said. John scoffed as he headed to bed.

The following days bleed into each other, cooking, cleaning, attending to Ann’s needs. The end was coming quickly. It was a Saturday morning in early September, the summer heat had let up and the rains had begun. Lucy went into Ann’s bedroom to open the drapes, like she had done every morning for the last three weeks. She opened the drapes and window, looking out at the steady morning downpour. “Morning Ann.” She said as she turned to face the bed. She looked at Ann laying there on the bed, tears started to run down her cheeks as the realization set in. “John!” She screamed. John came rushing into the bedroom. “What?” He looked at Ann’s bed and then at Lucy. He walked over to the bed, closing Ann’s eyes and covering her with the bed sheet. He then walked over to Lucy, pulling her into a hug and taking her out of the room.

“Drink this.” He said handing Lucy a glass of Brandy. John downed a glass, cleared his throat and picked up the phone.

~ ~ ~ ~

One Week Later

“It’s a nice headstone. Ann would have approved.” Lucy said. John nodded as they stood in the rain looking down at Ann’s resting place. Lucy placed a bouquet of white lilies next to the single red rose that John had left. “So are you staying?” John asked, not looking up. Lucy took his hand, interlacing her fingers with his. “As long as you want me to.” She answered. 

Book Covers and FREE Ebooks

**Edited Note there will be FREE ebooks August 12th and 13th on Amazon. and as always Thank You All -Megan**

*A huge THANK YOU to all of you that let me do this, I enjoy the creative passion that is writing. – Megan*

‘Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’

but yet

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’

Conflicting advice there. When I make a cover for my ebook cookbooks or my fictional short stories I try to keep the theme or season relevant. At least to the best of my ability. I like my book covers I have eighteen of them now and I feel that each of them relates in some way, to the content of the book. I also appreciate nature and simplicity.

 

Five of Edna’s Kitchen ebook cookbooks are FREE August 1st to August 3rd, snag a copy, check them out, leave a rating or review if you feel moved to do so. (I do appreciate them)

Also let me know if there are any food theme’s you would like Edna’s Kitchen to cover.

 

Now on to fiction, as some of you may or may not know I write short stories, usually in the erotic, mystery, thriller genera. Some are more mystery, thriller, noir featuring Detective James Andrews and crew, in Detective Stories. Some are straight up fiction like After the Glory. I think that my book covers for the short story collections are relevant to their content, all be it in a subtle way.

Four of my short story collections are FREE August 4th to August 6th, please grab a copy enjoy a story and leave a rating or review. (Please and Thank You I do appreciate all of you that continue to read and enjoy my rambling words of fiction)

 

And of course I get to mention A Land Without Mirrors: A Collection of Fantasy and Surrealism which is an anthology that my short story Walter is featured.

Edna’s Kitchen Presents: Sweet and Savory

*recipes featuring wings, pizzas and desserts*

Table of Contents:

Wings:
Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Wings with Bourbon Barbecue Sauce
Beer-Brined Buffalo Wings
Sticky Ginger Garlic Chicken Wings
Baked Chicken Wings
Hot and Spicy Chicken Wings
Slow-Cooker Mole Chicken Wings

Pizzas:
Mexican Chicken Pizza with Cornmeal Crust
Garlic Butter Crusted Margherita Pizza
Mediterranean Pizza
Buffalo Chicken Beer Bread Pizza
The Cheesy ‘Shroom Pizza
Roasted-Vegetable Pizza

Desserts:
Strawberry Shortcake Poke Bundt Cake
Easy Triple Berry Cake
Layered Fruit Flag Salad
S’mores Brownies
Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars
Coffee Swirl Yogurt Cake

 

Wings:

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Wings with Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
Chicken
¼ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
3 lb chicken wingettes and drummettes
12 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise

Bourbon Sauce
½ cup ketchup
½ cup bourbon
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Steps:
Heat oven to 425°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with sides with heavy-duty foil; spray with cooking spray.
Sprinkle pepper over chicken. Wrap each chicken piece with a half slice of bacon.
Place bacon-wrapped chicken pieces on cookie sheets, bacon end down. Bake uncovered 30 minutes; turn chicken; rotate cookie sheets in oven. Bake 20 to 30 minutes longer or until golden brown and juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut to the bone (at least 165°F).
Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, mix Bourbon Sauce ingredients; heat to simmering over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.
In large bowl, toss chicken with half of the sauce. Serve warm with remaining sauce on the side for dipping.

Beer-Brined Buffalo Wings

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon coarse salt
1 bottle (12 oz) beer
2 lb chicken wings (12)
1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
1 ½ teaspoons paprika
¼ cup butter
¼ cup red pepper sauce

Steps:
Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheet with foil.
In large bowl, beat brown sugar, salt and beer with whisk. Add chicken wings; toss gently to coat. Refrigerate 30 minutes to brine.
In large resealable food-storage plastic bag, mix onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. Drain chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Discard brine. Add chicken to bag; toss until evenly coated. Place chicken on cookie sheet.
In 1-quart saucepan, melt butter. Stir in pepper sauce. Heat to a simmer. Pour mixture over wings.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut (165°F). If desired, shake extra pepper sauce over wings after baking. Serve with Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing for dipping.

Sticky Ginger Garlic Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
Glaze
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons grated ginger root
1 Tablespoon Sriracha hot chili sauce, or ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Teaspoon soy sauce

Chicken
3 Tablespoons red pepper sauce
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
5 lb chicken wing drummettes
1 cup all-purpose flour

Steps:
In 1-quart saucepan, combine all glaze ingredients; bring to a simmer, stirring frequently over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.
In 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag mix pepper sauce, oil, salt, pepper and chicken. Seal bag; shake to coat. Add flour, seal bag and shake until chicken is coated with flour.
Heat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with heavy-duty foil; spray with cooking spray.
Place chicken on cookie sheets. Bake uncovered 30 minutes, turn chicken over and rotate pans. Bake 20 to 30 minutes longer or until golden brown and juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.
In large bowl, toss chicken with glaze.

Baked Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken drummettes (24)
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons ketchup
1 Tablespoon red pepper sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Paprika
⅔ cup ranch dressing

Steps:
Heat oven to 350°F. Line a jelly roll pan, 15 1/2×10 1/2×1 inch, with aluminum foil. Remove skin from chicken.
Mix honey, ketchup, pepper sauce and Worcestershire sauce in resealable plastic bag. Add chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate, turning occasionally, at least 15 minutes but no longer than 24 hours.
Place chicken in pan; sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until crisp and juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Serve with dressing.

Hot and Spicy Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
1 cup cayenne pepper sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
24 chicken drummettes
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup baking mix
¾ teaspoon onion salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Blue cheese dressing

Steps:
Stir together hot sauce and garlic salt until blended. Pour over drummettes; cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.
Heat oven to 450°F. Melt butter in jelly roll pan, 15 1/2×10 1/2×1 inch, in oven. Stir together baking mix, onion salt and peppers. Remove chicken from sauce; discard sauce. Coat chicken with baking mix, mixture. Place in single layer in pan.
Bake 25 minutes; turn and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and juice is no longer pink when centers of pieces are cut. Serve with dressing.

Slow-Cooker Mole Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
Chicken
3 lb chicken wingettes and drummettes
½ teaspoon kosher (coarse) salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Glaze
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes, well drained
½ small onion, chopped (about ½ cup)
3 Tablespoons honey
1 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate (about 2 Tablespoons)
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon kosher (coarse) salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Toppings
3 Tablespoons roasted salted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 lime, cut into wedges

Steps:
Set oven control to broil. Spray 3 ½ – to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Spray broiler pan rack with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place on rack in pan.
Broil 3 inches from heat 10 to 12 minutes or until browned, turning halfway through broiling time. Place chicken in slow cooker. In a medium bowl, place Glaze ingredients in bowl of food processor. Puree until smooth; about 30 seconds; pour over chicken. Stir to coat.
Cover; cook on Low heat setting 3 hours. Serve with glaze for dipping. Garnish with pepitas and lime wedges.

 

Pizzas:

Mexican Chicken Pizza with Cornmeal Crust

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons regular active dry yeast
¼ teaspoon coarse (kosher or sea) salt
¾ cup warm water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
⅓ cup yellow cornmeal
Additional cornmeal
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend (8 oz)
1 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes or plain diced tomatoes, drained
½ medium yellow bell pepper, chopped (½ cup)
¼ cup sliced green onions (4 medium)
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Steps:
Heat oven to 450°F. In a medium bowl, mix ¾ cup of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Stir in warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on high speed 1 minute. Stir in ⅓ cup cornmeal and remaining ¾ cup flour to make a soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray; sprinkle with additional cornmeal. On cookie sheet, press dough into 14×10-inch rectangle; prick with fork. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges just begin to turn brown.
Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese blend. Top with chicken, tomatoes and bell pepper. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake 6 to 8 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and edges are golden brown. Sprinkle with onions and cilantro.
Tips:
Use a rotisserie chicken, shredded for easy topping.

Garlic Butter Crusted Margherita Pizza

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
½ teaspoon chopped roasted garlic or chopped garlic
½ teaspoon salt
1 can refrigerated classic pizza crust
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 Tablespoon chopped roasted garlic or chopped garlic
8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
¼ cup fresh basil strips

Steps:
Heat oven to 400°F. Grease large dark or nonstick cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray; set aside.
In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add tomatoes, ½ teaspoon roasted garlic and salt. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 to 15 minutes or until tomatoes are thickened, stirring frequently. Set aside; cool slightly.
Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Press out dough to 15×10-inch rectangle. In small bowl, mix butter and 1 tablespoon roasted garlic. Spread over dough. Bake 7 minutes; remove from oven.
Evenly distribute tomato mixture over partially baked crust. Top with mozzarella cheese.
Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. Sprinkle basil strips over pizza before serving.

Mediterranean Pizza

Ingredients:
Crust
2 Tablespoons cornmeal
2 ½ cups baking mix
1 package fast-acting dry yeast
½ cup plus 3 Tablespoons warm water (105°F to 115°F)
Topping
½ cup basil pesto
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained, cut into ½ -inch pieces
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
1 package (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese (1 cup)

Steps:
Heat oven to 425°F. Lightly grease 15x10x1-inch pan with shortening or cooking spray. Sprinkle with cornmeal, tapping off any excess.
In large bowl, stir baking mix and yeast. Add water; stir until dough leaves side of bowl. On work surface dusted with additional baking mix, lightly knead dough 1 minute. Roll out to 15×10-inch rectangle. Place dough in pan; crimp edges, forming a rim.
Spread pesto over dough. Sprinkle tomatoes, artichokes, mozzarella cheese and feta cheese evenly over top.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.

Tips:
Look for basil pesto in glass jars in the pasta aisle or in the refrigerated pasta section in plastic containers.
If you’re an olive fan, top the pizza with sliced ripe olives or Greek olives to continue the Mediterranean theme.
Garnish with chopped fresh basil after baking to add more color to this pizza.

Buffalo Chicken Beer Bread Pizza

Ingredients:
Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 package regular active dry yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse (kosher or sea) salt
¾ cup lager beer, such as a Boston lager, warmed to 105°F
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Buffalo Chicken Topping
¼ cup Buffalo Wings Sauce
2 Tablespoons lager beer, such as a Boston lager
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1 ½ cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
1 cup shredded provolone cheese (4 oz)
⅓ cup crumbled blue cheese
2 Tablespoons sliced green onions (2 medium)

Steps:
Heat oven to 450°F. In a medium bowl, mix 1 cup of the flour, sugar, yeast, baking powder and salt. Stir in ¾ cup beer and the oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on High speed 1 minute. Stir in remaining 1 cup flour to make a soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover; let rest 30 minutes.
Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray. On cookie sheet, press dough into 14×10-inch rectangle; prick with fork. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges just begin to turn brown.
While crust is baking, in a medium bowl, mix wing sauce, 2 tablespoons beer and the melted butter. Add chicken, and toss to coat.
Remove crust from oven. In a small bowl, mix shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese. Sprinkle crust with 1 cup of the cheese mixture. Top with chicken mixture; sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese mixture and the blue cheese. Return to oven; bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is deep golden brown. Sprinkle with green onions.

The Cheesy ‘Shroom Pizza

Ingredients:
1 can (13.8 oz) refrigerated classic pizza crust
1 Tablespoon olive oil
½ clove garlic, finely chopped
1 ½ cups shredded Gruyère cheese (6 oz)
½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 cup sliced fresh baby portabella mushrooms
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh basil leaves, if desired

Steps:
Heat oven to 425°F. Spray 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Unroll dough; place in pan. Starting at center, press out dough to edge of pan.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat oil and garlic with whisk. Brush oil mixture on top of partially baked crust. Top with Gruyère cheese. Drop dollops of ricotta cheese by teaspoonfuls on top. Top with mushrooms; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and lightly golden brown. Garnish with fresh basil.

Roasted-Vegetable Pizza

Ingredients:
1 medium bell pepper, cut lengthwise into eighths
1 medium yellow summer squash, cut into ¼ -inch slices
½ small eggplant, cut into ¼ -inch slices
1 package (8 ounces) whole fresh mushrooms, cut in half
2 Tablespoons roasted garlic-flavored or regular vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 package (10 ounces) ready-to-serve thin pizza crust
1 cup shredded provolone cheese (4 ounces)
1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves

Steps:
Heat oven to 425°F. Spray jelly roll pan, 15 1/2×10 1/2×1 inch, with cooking spray.
Spread bell pepper, squash, eggplant and mushrooms in single layer in pan. Brush with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes, turning vegetables once, until vegetables are tender.
Place pizza crust on ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with ½ cup of the cheese. Top with vegetables. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup cheese.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with basil.

Tips:
Roast the vegetables for this recipe ahead of time and refrigerate until needed.

 

Desserts:

Strawberry Shortcake Poke Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup milk
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 eggs

Strawberry Poke Mixture
1 ½ cups sliced fresh strawberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Cream Cheese Glaze
¾ cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 oz cream cheese, softened
1 to 2 Tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Garnish
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

Steps:

Heat oven to 325°F. Generously spray 10- or 12-cup bundt cake pan with cooking spray with flour.
In large bowl, beat Cake ingredients with an electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly. Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes, and pour batter into pan.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, puree Strawberry Poke Mixture ingredients until smooth; transfer to 4-cup glass measuring cup, and set aside. While still in pan, poke holes in cake with end of wooden spoon at ½ -inch intervals going almost to bottom. Use a wet paper towel to wipe ends of spoon after each poke. Carefully pour poke mixture over holes in cake, using spoon to direct mixture into holes. If necessary, poke existing holes to make room for more mixture.
Cool 40 minutes; refrigerate in pan 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator, and run metal spatula around outer and inside edges of pan to loosen cake; turn upside down onto serving platter.
In a medium bowl, mix Cream Cheese Glaze ingredients with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. If too thick, add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency. Glaze cake as desired; garnish with strawberries.

Tips:
Slice and refrigerate strawberries ahead of time, and your cake will be ready to garnish when it’s time to serve your guests.
Keep cake refrigerated until ready to serve.

 
Easy Triple Berry Cake

Ingredients:

1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
¾ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
⅓ cup butter, melted
⅓ cup sour cream
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups fresh mixed berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and coarsely chopped strawberries
Sweetened whipped cream, if desired

Steps:

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray. In small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In large bowl, beat ¾ cup sugar, the melted butter and sour cream with whisk until well blended. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of the berries. Spread batter in pie plate. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup berries and 1 teaspoon sugar over top.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes. Cut into wedges; serve with whipped cream.

Tips:
To make 1 ½ cups whipped cream, place medium deep bowl and beaters in freezer or refrigerator to chill. Place ¾ cup heavy whipping cream and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar in bowl. Beat on low speed until mixture begins to thicken. Add ½ teaspoon vanilla; beat on high speed until soft peaks form.
To ensure success in baking, measure ingredients accurately using the right measuring equipment for the ingredient being measured. For best results, add ingredients in the order they are called for.

 
Layered Fruit Flag Salad

Ingredients:

2 cans (8 oz each ) pineapple tidbits in juice
2 medium bananas, sliced
3 pints (6 cups) fresh strawberries
3 containers (6 oz each) yogurt lemon burst
1 ½ cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
4 cups cubed (½ to ¾ inch) cantaloupe, well drained
1 ½ pints (3 cups) fresh blueberries
2 cups miniature marshmallows

Steps:

Drain pineapple, reserving juice in small bowl. Pat pineapple dry with paper towels to remove any excess liquid. Toss banana slices in pineapple liquid; drain well, discarding liquid. Reserve 18 to 20 strawberries for flag stripes; cut remaining strawberries into quarters.
In a medium bowl, mix yogurt, whipped topping and powdered sugar until well blended and smooth.
In ungreased 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish, layer cantaloupe and quartered strawberries. Reserve 50 blueberries for flag stars. Layer remaining blueberries over strawberries. Top with bananas, pineapple and marshmallows. With pancake turner, press fruit lightly to even out top. Spread yogurt mixture evenly over fruit. If desired, at this point, salad can be covered and refrigerated up to 4 hours.
If serving salad immediately, add toppings; if salad is refrigerated, add toppings up to 1 hour before serving. Sprinkle reserved blueberries in corner to resemble stars of flag. Cut reserved strawberries into quarters. Arrange strawberries in rows to resemble stripes of flag.

Tips:
You could vary this salad to suit your taste. Why not add or substitute red or green grapes, raspberries or honeydew melon? Chopped pecans, walnuts or pitted dates are also delicious in the salad.

 
S’mores Brownies

Ingredients:

1 box (16 oz) original brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box
2 cups miniature marshmallows
8 graham cracker squares, broken into small pieces
2 bars (1.55 oz each) milk chocolate candy, broken into 1-inch squares

Steps:

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom of 9-inch square pan with shortening or cooking spray. Make and bake brownies as directed on box. After removing the pan from oven, set oven control to broil.
Immediately sprinkle marshmallows and graham crackers over warm brownies. Broil with top 4 to 5 inches from heat 30 to 60 seconds or until marshmallows are golden brown. (Watch carefully; marshmallows and graham crackers will brown quickly.) Sprinkle with candy. Cool on a cooling rack, about 3 hours until chocolate is set. Cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

 
Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

Crust
1 pouch sugar cookie mix
½ cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Filling
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
2 eggs
⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh raspberries

Steps:

Heat oven to 325°F. Spray bottom only of 13 x 9-inch pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, mix Crust ingredients with spoon until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven to cooling rack; cool 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon peel with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl frequently. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just blended. Beat in lemon juice. Reserve ¼ cup filling; set aside. Spread remaining filling evenly over cooled crust.
In a small bowl, mash raspberries with fork. Push mixture through small strainer with back of spoon to make ¼ cup raspberry puree. Stir puree into reserved filling. Drop tablespoonfuls raspberry mixture on cream cheese layer. With knife, carefully swirl into top of cream cheese layer.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until filling is set. Cool 30 minutes on cooling rack. Refrigerate for about 2 hours or until cooled completely. Cut in 6 rows by 4 rows.

 
Coffee Swirl Yogurt Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
¼ cup international instant coffee mix (any flavor)

Steps:

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bottom only of loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
Mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder; set aside. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture alternately with yogurt, beating until smooth after each addition.
Remove 1 cup of the batter; stir in dry coffee. Pour half of the plain batter into pan. Drop coffee batter by spoonfuls onto batter in pan. Add remaining plain batter. Swirl batters deeply with handle of wooden spoon for marbled design.
Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour, before slicing.

 

More of Edna’s Kitchen on Amazon:

Welcome to Edna’s Kitchen

I suppose it’s a good time for a formal introduction: Hello all my name is Megan and I came up with Edna’s Kitchen as a tribute to my Great Grandma Audrey and my Grandma Patricia. I started with a handful of recipes that I remembered from growing up and then expanded into new ones that I came across. The idea of this came from a short story that I wrote called ‘After the Glory’ which is loosely based on my Grandparents life after World War II.

A little something from ‘After the Glory’:

Mrs. Rachel Darling sat in front of her typewriter working on her next column for The Daily Star, the local newspaper for the area. Her column Ask Edna had recipes, gardening advice and household tips and tricks. Rachel also covered the upcoming community event section.
She enjoyed her job as a freelance writer. She still used the Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter her parents had given her when she decided to take up writing as a career.
Now that the war was over and food rationing had laxed a bit she could use some of her favorite recipes. She pulled out a handmade book that had a picture of a girl running through a field of wildflowers. It was a recipe book she had put together with her mom a lifetime ago. Rachel thumbed through it, soups & salads, main dishes and desserts.
This week’s recipes from Edna’s kitchen, Three Bean Salad, Stuffed Green Bell Peppers and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Rachel typed away.
Rachel had thought about putting together her own cookbook, she entitled it Recipes from Edna’s Kitchen. She thought it was cute.
With the beginning of fall just around the corner your Victory Garden needs tending to. She typed writing up the gardening advice for this week.
Rachel Darling had been married to Jim Darling for sixteen years until his untimely death three years ago. Jim was a banker a nine to five guy, everyday in a suit and tie, Monday through Friday at the office, he had passed away of a heart attack. Their daughter Susan was away attending nursing school.

Onto the recipes.

Table of Contents:

Appetizers
Spinach Dip
Hot Artichoke Dip
Roasted Garlic
Deviled Eggs

Beverages
Blackberry Mint Juleps
Cranberry-Mint Iced Tea
Lemonade Iced Tea
Sangria
Hot Chocolate
Hot Spiced Cider
Hot Buttered Rum
Cranberry Zombie
Hot Toddies
Christmosas
Candy Cane Kahlua Hot Chocolate
Snuggler Peppermint Hot Cocoa
Traditional Eggnog
Wassail

Salads
Classic Coleslaw
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Bow-Tie Pasta Salad
Cucumber Salad
Grilled Garlic Steak Salad
Gyro Salad
Artichoke-Pepper Pasta Salad
Sour Cream-Honey Fruit Salad
Poppy Seed Fruit Salad
Raspberry-Banana Yogurt Salad
Three Bean Salad
Cucumber Salad
Creamy Cranberry Salad
Waldorf Salad

Soups
Italian Meatball Minestrone Soup with White Beans
Bacon Beer Cheese Soup
Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup
Bean with Bacon Soup
Vegetable Soup
Butternut Squash Soup
French Onion Soup
Split Pea Soup
Chili​

Stews
Chicken Stew
Guinness Beef Stew with Cheddar Herb Dumplings

Quick Breads
Pepper Jack Cheese Quick Bread
Apple-Bacon Mini Loaves
Sweet Potato Spice Bread

Breads
Cranberry Nut Bread
Zucchini Apple Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Banana Bread
Corn Bread
Zucchini Bread

Muffins
Apple-Cheddar Muffins
Streusel-Topped Cranberry Coffee Cake Muffins
Banana-Blueberry Muffins

Breakfast
Easy Bacon Pie
Easy Mini Breakfast Sausage Pies
Easy Breakfast Bake
Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
Breakfast Skillet
Potato and Bacon Hash with Fried Eggs
Potato, Bacon and Egg Scramble

Quiches
Mini Quiches
Ham and Tomato Quiche
Italian Pepperoni-Vegetable Quiche
Three Cheese-Vegetable Quiche

Side Dishes
Honey Ginger Carrots
Green beans and Bacon
Roasted Root Vegetables
Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
Roasted Cauliflower with Shallots, Orange and Thyme
Simple Roasted Vegetables
Broccoli with Sweet Red Pepper and Garlic
Sugar Snap Peas and Rice

Casseroles
Sausage, Dried Cranberry and Apple Stuffing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Tomato and Zucchini Casserole
Beef and Bean Taco Casserole
Italian Sausage Lasagna
Green Bean Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese
Frito Pie Casserole
White Bean, Sausage and Spinach Casserole

Main Dishes
Oven Roasted Chicken and Vegetables
Chicken Pot Pie
Sesame-Peanut Chicken Lo Mein
Sheet-Pan Honey-Balsamic Pork Chop Dinner
Chicken-Bacon-Ranch Pasta Bake
Stromboli Squares
Grilled Inside-Out Southwestern Cheeseburgers
Meatloaf
Beef Stroganoff
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Spaghetti and Meatballs

Slow Cooker Meals
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Slow Cooker Baked Ziti
Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Sweet Treats
“Berry Good” French Toast Bake
French Toast Roll-Ups
Monkey Bread Minis
Everything Bagel Mini Monkey Bread

Cookies
Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
Snickerdoodles
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Russian Tea Cakes/ Snowball cookies
Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
Ginger Crinkle Cookies
Cranberry Honey Walnut Drops
Lemon Glazed Caraway
Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
Chocolate Mint Cookies
Thumbprint jam cookies

Bars
Lemon Bars
Snickerdoodle Blondies
Shortbread Bites
Toffee Bars
Reindeer Bait
Chocolate Peppermint Fudge
Gingerbread Fudge
Seven Layer Bars
Pumpkin Spice Bars

Desserts
Peppermint Chiffon Cake
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Pumpkin Pie
Summer Citrus Fruit
Yogurt and Banana Frozen Dessert
Fruit-Topped Almond Cake
No-Bake Lemon Icebox Pie
Apple Crisp
Pineapple Upside-down​ Cake
Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Edna’s Kitchen e-book cookbooks available on Amazon:

Also a handful of short stories by me in e-book form on Amazon:

All priced at $.99 cents or free with Kindle Unlimited

 

A Rambling Blog About Books

I am by no means a constant or avid reader, if a book holds my attention then I will read it. However this doesn’t occur often. That being said, what follows is a brief list of authors and books that I have read recently.    

Richard Chizmar

https://richardchizmar.com

A Long December

Gwendy’s Button Box

I stumbled upon Richard Chizmar’s work because of his collaboration with Stephen King. I am glad that I did he has a raw talent for twisting the narrative of a short story. I devoured A Long December and am looking forward to getting my hands on The Long Way Home.  

 

Cori Lynn Arnold

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5807555.Cori_Lynn_Arnold

Northern Deceit

Scalding Deceit

I know Cori Lynn Arnold from college, I know her in passing, one of those friend of a friend acquaintances. It took me awhile to get around to reading her work. But when I finally did I was not disappointed, I started with Northern Deceit and it sucked me in, the environment, characters and the fact that she wrote about where we had grown up was strangely nostalgic for me. I then read Scalding Deceit which was also entertaining and gave more backstory for the characters.          

 

Ken Bruen

https://www.goodreads.com/series/50920-jack-taylor

Jack Taylor Series

Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor Series is also something that I stumbled upon while hanging out at libraries and thumbing through the mystery/thriller section. There are now fifteen Jack Taylor books the last one set to be released in November of 2019. I have read eight of them, so far, enjoyable, immersive stories that you can get lost in.   

 

Chad A. Clark

https://twitter.com/ChadClarkWrites

Tracing The Trails: A Constant Reader’s Reflections on the Work of Stephen King

Then there is this, I consider myself a ‘Constant Reader’ of Stephen King’s works, so I figured I would check this interesting take on King’s works by Chad A. Clark. I consider it an indepth look at all of King’s works. Personally I don’t dissect fiction on such a level, writing, especially fiction, is a form of artistic expression, in my opinion. Open for interpretation, so what you get out of it, isn’t what I get out of it. All Art is Subjective. That being said, Chad A. Clark’s take on King’s work is interesting enough to read, (honestly one of those things I read when I couldn’t sleep.) I just don’t agree with some of his conclusions.

 

Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales

Edited by Bev Vincent

http://www.bevvincent.com/

This was an outstanding collection of short stories all with the running theme of  ‘while on a plane’ I enjoyed all seventeen stories. I highly recommend this collection, just may not want to read it while flying.

 

To close this rambling post about books and authors I am going to list some of the other wonderful storytellers I have discovered over the last few years,  I recommend checking them out.

Marc Watson

https://twitter.com/writewatson  

Death Dresses Poorly

Catching Hell

A Land Without Mirrors: A Collection of Fantasy and Surrealism by Fluky Fiction

 

J.M. Sullivan

https://twitter.com/jmsullivanbooks

Alice (The Wanderland Chronicles #1)

Second Star (Neverland Transmissions #1)

 

Scott Thompson

https://twitter.com/sthompsonauthor

Eight Days

The Confederate  

 

Paige Lavoie

https://twitter.com/MrsPaigeLavoie

A Girl Called Monster

Confidence: The Diary of an Invisible Girl

 

Mark Lumby

https://twitter.com/marklumby1

Most of Me

Bag of Buttons

Rats in the Loft

 

Neil Christiansen

https://twitter.com/WriteGavinGayle

http://www.gavingayle.com/

Murder Ballad

Bishop Church

 

Alex K. Logan

https://twitter.com/AlexKLogan

Thor’s War

 

Some of my other blog posts about reading and writing.

https://cch217.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/special-guest-jm-sullivan/

https://cch217.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/question-of-the-hour-why-do-you-write/

https://cch217549678581.wordpress.com/2018/04/24/history-of-a-constant-reader/

Megan Hinde

 

One Hour at a Time

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”  Well not quite, although being on ‘something’ would make going back into retail work at 42 years of age a little easier. Before we dive into this I think we need a little backstory. I have worked in the retail industry before, many times before over the last 21 years, however working a part-time sales associate position in your early twenties is a whole different ball game than in your forties. You do it the first time for the experience so that you have more than ‘Babysitter for Aunt Kathy’ on your resume while finishing school, be it High School or College. Honestly my first experience working in retail was not bad, I learned a lot, had good managers and I enjoyed my co-workers. I was offered a Department Manager position and gave the, “I am going back to school next semester, to finish, so no thank you.” answer, of which I did go back for another year I just didn’t graduate from college. Now after being out of circulation for the better part of fifteen years, because I was able to stay home and raise my family, I have gone back to work, into the same type of job that I had during my first time as a sales associate in retail. Since going back I have come up with many questions revolving around why do people choose to work in retail. Now before I go into my thoughts and feelings on this, I do appreciate the people that work in the retail and service industries, it’s something that I can do, and I have done, I just don’t like doing it.      

I now give you…

100 days in retail hell-aka- sucking your life away one hour at a time

Every retailer has a different set of ideals or ‘rules’ this is one such set up:

Our Culture/Values and Behavior are as followed:

Service to the Customer

Respect for the Individual

Strive for Excellence

Act with Integrity

It’s all well and good, as long as you realize that it’s not going to be followed or up heald one hundred percent of the time.

A few of the questions that are on my mind:

Why choose to live and die by the clock?

How does one stay in one place for a lifetime?

The wear and tear on one’s body and soul, is not worth minimum wage, part-time hours, with no benefits.

I am all for hard work however, at what expense-injury/exhaustion/loss of family time.

In the beginning-it was good, learning the ropes, finding out the rules, responsibilities and expectations. They have a good sales pitch, I will give them that although after being part of the daily grind for 90 days you start to see it. There are people that work in one position, the ones that comes in same time, same day for so many years. I get it they are comfortable, it’s predictable they know the routine and what is expected of them and they don’t see any reason to advance any further. Personally I can’t do that, that’s like living in a cage and doing the exact same thing over and over again, it would drive me crazy. Then there are the people that start at the bottom and move up quickly into a management or supervisor position. These are your ‘bossy’ playground children, that enjoy directing traffic and telling others what to do. I also don’t think I could do this. I am the middle person, the one that knows what’s going on, knows how to answer the customers questions and can get the stupid little tasks done for each day. I work the floor so I know where everything is, or where it should be, and I don’t mind my job. It’s enough to keep me busy without having to much responsibility.

With all that being said, here are some of the customers questions that I have had:

Do you have earring backs?

Do you have jewelry boxes?

Will this stainless steel gold plated necklace turn my neck green?

Can you fix this:

Replacing watch batteries

Links in watch bands

Pins in watch bands

Can you resize rings?

Are simulated diamonds real diamonds?

If I buy this tennis bracelet will others have the exact same one?

Where are your:

Wallets

Handkerchiefs

Bandannas

Scarves

What size should I get a 7 year old girl?

Why isn’t there a boys size in between a size 16 husky and men’s size 29?

I need the earrings for migraines in a 16 gauge, don’t you have those?

Do you have those things that you put on your ring so that it doesn’t fall off?

And of course:

Do you do nose/bellybutton piercings?

I do have a smart ass, inappropriate answer for just about all of these. But there is that whole Service to the Customer and Act with Integrity thing so, if you want me to post my answers in the comments let me know.

And as always I thank you all for reading my incoherent rambling of words.

*I’m pretty sure I have lost a bit of myself by going back to work in Retail Hell*  

 

One Hour at a Time-Part 2

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. -Oscar Wilde

Here is a breakdown of my typical day in Retail Hell:

I clock in at 12:51pm, (because I can clock in nine minutes early for my scheduled shift) I go walk the floor, straightening clothing racks and picking up things that are in the wrong place as I go. I see whos working and what’s going on for the day, sometimes there is new stuff to be put out, other times it just ‘clean up, straighten, and process returns’.

I get handed the Jewelry counter and Fitting Room Keys and am for the most part left to ‘do my thing’. Sometimes I am called up to cashier, because that’s fun. I’m supposed to take two 15 minute breaks, one around 3pm and the other at 7:45pm, as well as a one hour lunch off the clock usually around 5:30pm. For my first break I have to wait till someone comes in at 3:30pm to give them the keys, I have to take my lunch before the five hour mark, (I’m scheduled to work 1pm to 9pm) so five hours in is 6pm. At 6pm I am locked out from using the cash register and I get flagged if I don’t clock out by 6:09pm for lunch. Which means I get half a point on my attendance record. Quick education on the attendance policy, if you call out for any reason you get 1 point against you. If you clock out late, which for me is 9:09pm you get half a point, if you are late coming back from lunch or going to lunch you get half a point. If you call out on one of the ‘Event Days’ (which is any holiday, New Years Eve, New Years Day, Valentines Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, ect…) you get 2 points against you. If you get 5 points against you in six months you are fired, for violating the attendance policy. If you are sick you are not allowed to go home, if you are injured on the job, you are not allowed to go home, till the end of your shift. They will assign you ‘busy work’ if you can’t do your regular job.

Back to my point, I’m a Sales Associate in apparel, which covers the Jewelry counter, Accessories, Women’s, Men’s, Boy’s, Girl’s, Infant’s and Shoes. (That is a lot of things to know about each department) I help customers find things, answer questions and sell Jewelry, as well as watch over the fitting rooms and process returns, and I now know how to replace watch batteries. Which is a skill that I never wanted. (Quick note on returns it is policy to always put anything back on the floor for sale regardless of condition) So unless it’s covered in blood it goes back on the floor for sale, just think about that for a second before you go shopping at your local ‘Big Box Store’. I also have to do anything that a Department Manager, Assistant Store Manager or Store Manager tells. Which is usually be a cashier, or go clean or straighten other departments within the store.

My point to this is that I am usually the only one on the floor covering all of apparel and I am constantly being paged to be in three places at once, which sucks. But I digress. I’m 100 days in to working this lovely retail job, my biggest problem is the fact that I am paid to clean up the same mess all day everyday, and I find it very asinine. Yes, I know ‘but it’s job security’ I am also real tired of hearing that from my Department Managers, (that appear to do nothing all day, but tell me what to do)

Am I burned out, cynical and negative? Fuck yes, I wasn’t when I started in November, I was helpful, open minded, ambitious, I worked 8 weeks straight at 40 hrs a week, (which included Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve) and never called out. But 100 days in Retail Hell has made me more aggressive and negative about everything. (and I hate that. I am a non-confrontational, laid back person) I have called out a few times, because my sanity (and need of sleep) is more important than the $64 I earn a day.

I am going to attempt to wrap this up a lighter note, so here are my sarcastic answers to the questions that I am asked on a daily basis.

Do you have earring backs? Yes if you purchase any of the thousands of earrings in front of you.

Do you have jewelry boxes? No, that would make to much sense.

Will this stainless steel gold plated necklace turn my neck green? Fuck if I know.

Can you fix this:

Replacing watch batteries. Sometimes, who the hell still wears a wrist watch.

Links in watch bands. Not really.

Pins in watch bands. Sometimes, depends on the age of the watch.

Can you resize rings? No, but we can send them out and you can get them back in four to six weeks.

Are simulated diamonds real diamonds? Seriously how is this even a question. Or I don’t know is simulated sex and real sex the same thing.

If I buy this tennis bracelet will others have the exact same one? Only if you hang out with others that buy overpriced, low quality jewelry from China.

Where are your:

Wallets.

Handkerchiefs.

Bandannas.

Scarves. The answer to all of these is go fucking look and you look with your eyes not your hands.

What size should I get a 7 year old girl? Kinda depends on how big or small she is, next time bring her in.

Why isn’t there a boys size in between a size 16 husky and men’s size 29? No fucking idea, bring your child in and have them try things on. Or buy a tape measure and take some measurements.

I need the earrings for migraines in a 16 gauge, don’t you have those? No this is not Target.

Do you have those things that you put on your ring so that it doesn’t fall off? No, there this thing called Amazon. Or Try buying a ring that fits.

And of course:

Do you do nose/bellybutton piercings? Only if you would like a free staph infection to go along with it.

Ok that’s all I have. I wish you all a wonderful Morning/Day/Evening/Night.

 

One Hour at a Time -Part 3  

You all ready for this…

Walmart’s net worth is just over $386 billion.

I tried to find a quote to open with, however every approach I was taking felt overly negative. We all know that consumerism, advertising, retail work is all a vicious game of Work, Eat, Sleep, Pay Taxes and Repeat. I want to wrap up this little series of articles by sharing my experience of working in Retail Hell. (Yep, I lasted only 110 days)

So here we go, during my last week of working Monday through Friday from 1pm to 9pm as a Sales Associate in apparel I became exhausted, dehydrated, stressed out, unfocused, and lacking nutritional food, sleep, and self-care, I was done. All these factors lead to me becoming sick, the kind of sick that requires a doctor and a prescription for antibiotics. By Thursday and Friday of my last week I could feel that something wasn’t right, I was unfocused, irritable, grumpy, I felt off, I also kept dropping things, which is flat out annoying. By Monday morning I knew I was sick, I had a fever/chills, pain in my lower abdomen and pain in my back, around my kidneys. Now to be exact I had an Urinary Tract Infection, which is painful, uncomfortable and annoying as fuck. So I treated the symptoms with over the counter meds, drank a ton of water and 100% cranberry juice. Managed to find a clinic, and see a Nurse Practitioner by Wednesday afternoon, was diagnosed with a UTI and given a prescription for antibiotics, (which I paid for out of pocket) The thing that I find asinine is that I work to earn money, (to better my daily life) which makes me exhausted and sick so that I have to then go pay a medical professional to prescribe me drugs to combat an infection I shouldn’t have ended up with in the first place. If my working conditions were to provide free drinking water, (the germ laced water fountain doesn’t count) and better access and availability to the restrooms. (side note, almost every time I took a break to use the restrooms, the custodian had it blocked off and closed for cleaning, and of course there aren’t any ‘employee’ restrooms only the public ones) My bottle of 14 pills cost me four hours of work, fyi I was making $12.50 an hour. I am sure that I am rambling a bit, but my blog my words. I am feeling better but it will take another full week, complete cycle of antibiotics, and rest to get back to being myself. As life is always an unforeseen series of adventures, I get to go deal with the fact that we don’t have any hot water and that there is standing water in the basement of the house that we rent. So wish me luck and have a good day.

 

One Hour at a Time -Conclusion

I have gone back and forth as to if I was going to wrap this up in anyway or just walk away from it completely. Since I am back to more of myself since leaving the world of Retail Hell I will finish this up.

“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride…and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well…maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.” – Hunter S. Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I got sick violated the attendance policy and assumed that I would be fired. Since they made such a huge deal about the new attendance policy. Apparently not, after missing seven shifts the HR person called me. After thinking this through for a while, I was an adult and called her back. It was a lot of blah, blah, blah from her side, ending with can you come in today. Seriously they are so hard up for bodies at work, they rolled my attendance violation back to 4.5 points, so that I would come back. So I gave them three days a week, I wanted Tuesday-Thursday 1pm-9pm, they gave me Wednesday-Friday 1pm-9pm.

I went back to work for two weeks. By the second Friday back I was beyond done. Upon my going back almost no one spoke to me, (unless they needed me to do something) not the Department Managers, not the Assistant Store Managers and most of my coworkers all gave me the cold shoulder. Now not that I was friends with any of them, but it went from a daily civil ‘Hi, how are you.’ to nothing not even eye contact. Which then leads me to question why in the fucking world would I continue to be here.

So when it was time to take lunch on Friday I got my jacket, cleaned out my locker, clocked out for the day and left the building. On the Friday of Spring Break, and a payday week. After missing another six shifts the HR person called me again, this time I didn’t return her call. Funny side note I have an app for my work schedule, (because of course there is) they post the schedule two weeks out, so this last schedule has me Tuesday-Thursday 1pm-9pm. WTF people. Needless to say I’m done. I hope you have all enjoyed my trip back in to Retail Hell, I do thank all of you for following, reading and commenting. I look forward to continuing my journey of Weaving Words of Fiction.

Reflection

All About Me

It was a dark and stormy night…

I was born in Pullman Washington, the day after Mother’s Day, May 10, 1976. There were compilations, I had two seizures and spent two weeks in an incubator.

My parents…

My mom was born and raised in Seattle and my dad grew up in Wenatchee WA. They meet at Washington State University in Pullman WA in 1973. They were married on June 22, 1974.

My dad worked in radio he had a BA in journalism and communications. I have a photo of him performing in a play called “Under Papa’s Picture.”

My mother has a masters degree in early childhood development and has mainly worked for non-profits as a case manager testing children’s learning abilities.

My brother was born January 14th 1980, a healthy baby boy named Chip. In May of 1981 my parents moved to Alaska. McGrath AK, in the middle of nowhere.

Where my dad ran the public radio station KSKO 870 am and my mom worked for various social work agencies. She also tried running her own daycare for a while. Needless to say it was a isolated, structured upbringing, school, work, activities ect..

My youngest brother was born November 12th 1982, Marcus. In 1988 we moved to Fairbanks AK, where my dad was unemployed for two years while my mom worked (he wrote a sci-fi novel) while unemployed. Side note I never got to read it and it’s lost forever, at least to me.

In 1990 my dad went in for an interview at a radio station, and ended up  being News Director of KTVF an NBC affiliate in Fairbanks. My dad suffered his first heart attack in September 91.

In April of  1992 I got to travel to New York and sing in Carnegie Hall with my high school choir, I was 15 years old.

In November of 92 my mom moved out, she left. She also let a con-man of a boyfriend move in and bleed her dry financially and emotionally. He ended up marrying some girl he met online after spending five years with my mom.  

My dad got remarried May 22, 1995 to a strange German lady he met pen-pal style that was from New York. On Tuesday June 13, 1995 after returning from his honeymoon my dad was having chest pains and went to the hospital. He refused treatment and signed out AMA Wednesday afternoon, on the morning of Thursday June 15 he suffered a massive heart attack and passed away around 1:15 am. My dad’s widow was nice enough to hold his funeral on Father’s Day.

The insurance was a mess, because I was an adult, (I was 19) and my brothers were minors and my mom was divorced. My dad had never added his new wife, I got my share in cash and my brothers were set up with a guardian account my mother being the guardian. The money let me go to school and move away from my mother.

I went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, (the piece I wrote called Tripping Through My Memories is the first semester after my dad died) I didn’t finish, I ran out of money and didn’t see a point in it at the time. I also meet Mike at UAF. He helped convince me to move out and live my own life. (with him)

For a while Mike and I both worked, we had friends, roommates came and went. In August of 1998 Marcus got sick, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that was already consuming his neck and lungs. My mom took him to Seattle’s Children’s Hospital and they resided in the Ronald McDonald house. My mother never spoke to me directly about what was going on, I heard everything second hand through Chip or my Grandmother. He passed away April 30 1999.

On December 13 1998 I got on a plane by myself and flew standby into Tulsa OK, a friend from high school lived in Stella MO and I went to stay with her. In February I got Mike to also join me in Missouri.

We worked, then I got pregnant with Christopher and flipped out, (mainly from the morning sickness.) We drove to Michigan to see Mike’s parents. Ended up living in Michigan for seven months, both of us working part-time and making no money.

Mike had a friend on-line that said come to Colorado there’s better work. So March 2000 we (me at eight months pregnant) drove to Denver CO. We made things work in Denver for two years, moved outside of Denver to Greeley. Where roommates made things worse and we went back to Michigan. November 02 to November 04 we made it work in Michigan, Mike working me taking care of Christopher, we hung out with Mike’s parents they were bowlers.

November 04 we moved back to Denver (in with the same friend from 2000) and made it all work once again for three years. Side note February 13, 2005 Mike’s dad passed away and we took a quick trip driving back to Michigan for the funeral. November once again in 06 we left Denver and drove to Kansas City, Kansas, which is where Mike’s younger brother was at the time.

At this point I do realize that we have a pattern of moving on average every 2 years 10 months. Optimism that the grass is greener on the other side or that there is something more or different to experience. We hung out with Mike’s brother for two weeks it was crazy and strange, we ended up back in Stella, MO (of all places) We needed shelter and that was the only friend I had at the moment. (the friend from the Reach piece with the cats) So more craziness, that lasted till March 07, at that point we pack up and drive west, thinking Seattle but making it to Ogden UT, and re-evaluate. Mike’s dad was Navy so he has lived everywhere even overseas and in Iceland. When he was 14 his dad was stationed as a recruiter in Grand Junction CO. So we ended up there March of 2007. First time we were homeless and had to learn things as we went.

I learned a few things the hard way but it all ended up ok, Mike got to work and we had a decent apartment. Grand Junction CO a small 60 thousand ish population, college town, boom bust town because of the oil and gas industry. Mike was making good money and we were stable, then the bottom dropped out. April of 2009 everyone every where was laid off, we made unemployment work and I worked at a assisted living facility as a residential aid, I lasted a week.

June 2010 we could no longer pay rent and drove to Denver, thinking we had one more unemployment payment, (we didn’t) we had to sleep in our Jeep, I found a family homeless shelter program, we did four week in that program, during the second week someone hired Mike to help paint fences and do landscaping and odd jobs.

We moved into a motel, with weekly rates $220 a week. It was gross, bed bugs and all. Crazy people ect… We lived there for two years. (WTF why did we stay so long) Mike worked in the tire industry almost always in the 20 years I’ve been with him, and it takes a toll on you, physically. He has also gotten hurt quite a few times on the job. Another factor to moving so many times always looking for something not so strenuous.

June 2012 we left Denver and drove back to Grand Junction, getting on our feet a little quicker this time because we knew what needed to happen. Once again making it work for three years, then burnout and exhaustion of putting up with stupid people we moved to Seattle.

*I haven’t updated this and probably won’t*

 

Looking Back

It’s my Birthday and it’s my blog so I am going to ramble a bit about life. When I was born on May 10, 1976 my dad made sure to keep the Newsweek magazine of the same date. He put it in my baby book and it’s still there. Full of cigarette, alcohol, and car ads, a piece of history.

A couple other things I have from my dad, are two copies of the weekly newspaper that he helped put out when we lived in McGrath Alaska and he was manager of the radio station KSKO. The two copies that I have I was given by my Grandma when my Great-Grandma passed away, they were sent to her by my mom, they have pictures of the 4th of July parade that me and my younger brother Chip participated in. The other issue has pictures of me and my 4th grade classmates from a class trip to Anchorage Alaska. I don’t remember a whole lot about that trip except that they took us out for a nice Chinese dinner and then took us to the carnival. That’s a bad combination, for a handful of  10 and 11 year olds, a few got sick.

I also have a few postcards and a letter that my dad wrote me while I was away at Girl Scout Camp, yes I was a Girl Scout for a few years. My mom was our troop leader, we sold cookies, earned badges and I attend Summer Camp two years in a row. Camp was interesting, first year I had a counselor that read us Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye, which was a short story titled General from his Night Shift collection. The second year I managed to fall, trip down a hill and smack my right hand into a tree, thus spraining three fingers. I am not really one for outdoors.

The other letter I have from my dad was one he wrote for my choir teacher, she had all the freshman choir students do a sleepover and had the parents write letters. My dad’s letter to a 14 year old me is one of my prize positions.

Then there’s the prom picture and graduation photo. The guy I went to prom with is the guy I lost my virginity to, also the graduation photo had to be airbrushed because I had a hickey. Then there was high school graduation, I don’t recall a whole lot from the actual ceremony, except that my cap fell off while the senior choir members, me being one of them, were performing.  

The the last two photos are of me and my Grandpa, one of the only pictures I have of the two of us. And my self portrait that I did for my photography class in college, which is me in my dorm room.

Like I said rambling to you all as I flip through a box of memories.   

 

Reach

I am just going to start and we will see how this ends up, I keep some notes I wrote while being homeless last summer, so here it goes.

How to be homeless—find all the resources you can 211 information line is a wonderful start. You will need a phone book, (I stole one out of the motel we stayed in) and a detailed street map. (Had to buy one for $7 at a Fred Myers) Find a shelter program get all the local information possible. Things like where to shower and where you can use the bathroom.

Salvation Army feeding programs, hot meals or bagged lunches. Locate food banks and church pantries. Some shelter programs have communication issues between their staff and volunteers. Day Shelter vs Overnight Shelter- Rules know all the rules, find out the rules. Especially if not told up front, don’t break the rules. Engage the staff learn the routine.  

Sitting at a park, because hello, public bathrooms, which are very important to the lost wanderer. Listing to the constant traffic, planes taking off and landing repeatedly and the buses that run every 10 minutes all day every day. The city is loud, since being here I haven’t heard any silence. ( I miss the quiet)

Why do we –people make life changing decisions based on emotion? Where does that deep seeded feeling of wanting to find something better come from? You’re here it’s stable live your nine to five day job life and be grateful for what you have. Even if your not happy or healthy.

Nope- there are those of us that jump without a safety net, maybe we are delusional or crazy, or we just haven’t found where we are suppose to be. Maybe we have to venture out of the box to know that existing in the box is OK.  

It’s the little things, like privacy, getting to be naked in your own space, being able to cut your hair or toenails, without an audience of strangers around. The bathroom- that you take for granted- is the place you miss the most. I give props to this particular public park for its upkeep. Although having the bathrooms closed on the 4th of July was a bit annoying.

So you pack up your life into your vehicle, one of the things that you own outright and you drive. You have a point B in mind however the point B is never what you expect it to be. How is it that people that are given, a stable life ie- a house, money, a place to come back to, squander it. I am sorry but you have a house- that is now trashed, with stuff.

Two cases first a girl I meet in Jr. High now lives out in the middle of nowhere, because that’s where her parents retired to, was given land to put her home on and she managed to bag an internet husband. (I know harsh, but seriously) So he works she stays home and sleeps almost all day every day. In a nice four bedroom two bath house that is completely trashed, because she’s depressed, a pack rat (hoarder) and then there are the animals (oh my god the fucking animals) To many cats to count, a hand full of dogs and some full size aquariums all living inside.

All I want is four walls, a ceiling, floor and plumbing that works. A place that I can be safe, happy and clean. To raise my family in and to be able to enjoy our life.

Second case- eight years after witnessing the sad state of the first friends living conditions, we ventured out to our point B once again someone I knew back in High School that I had reconnected with over the lovely world of social media during the last few years. So we stop by and once again here is a house- totally trashed- by laziness, hoarding and depression. This person has two kids, a few cats, a dog, and her mother all living in what use to be a very nice house, with tons of potential.

Crazy, maybe I am missing something, are there more people living this way than I am aware of? Or am I just a little too OCD- with wanting the daily functions of life to be clean and organized.  I am not making labels for every shelf but I am wanting laundry done, dishes done, floors clean, general straightening up of the living space, and a clean bathroom.

But NO I am the one sitting on hard, cold metal bleachers, looking out at a softball field, listing to the constant traffic trying to figure out how to get back to a status of OK.  

 

Poetry

Clarity of Thought

What does it mean,

to think, to understand,

to reflect, to learn.

Why does your heart lean one way

and your mind the other.

good and evil,

right and wrong,

clarity of thought.

Understanding the feelings that pulse through my mind,

Why is one right and the other wrong.

I can’t clear my mind enough to get the time that I need to catch my breath.

My body is tired and rundown, exhausted.

But my mind is awake to everything.

Ready to pounce upon anything that comes it’s way.

How can my mind be so energized and my body so tired.

I have no clarity of thought.

I don’t know or understand why my feelings are so mixed and conflicted.

I am mad at the world but at the same time I want everyone’s sympathy and compassion.

 

Never

I have never seen a sunrise over the ocean.

I have never kissed a sweet loving kiss, that tasted of warmth.

I have never been loved with the love only found in a peer.

To be all these things is my only request.

That before my dying day I find trust and love.

To kiss to have the warm breath of another against my lips.

As sweet as honey, yet as pure as a cool breeze on a hot summer day.

To feel his warmth move through me, to have his lips linger upon mine.

Like the morning dew on the petal of a rose.

To hold his hand in mine, firmly but gently.

Protecting me from heartache.

The love I’ll find within him.

If only he’d let me.

Friend

Why I consider you a friend,

You are always there to listen,

Not to judge and criticize.

To enjoy the good times,

And to get through the bad.

You’re the only one who hasn’t left me.

And when you do leave for various periods of time,

You always come back.

I feel that you’re the only one who cares,

About me for who I am,

And not what I’ve done or might do.

You have helped me unlock and open,

So many hidden doors.

Thank you for being a friend, I love you.

You’ve shown me more compassion and trust,

As well as showing me more of what life has to offer,

Than anyone else.

His Eyes

His eyes are the color of the wide open sea.

His deep yet sententious voice,

Has the power to captivate me,

His hair shines like gold beneath the warm midday sun.

Be it through the gates of heaven,

Or the red hot flames of hell,

It is him that I follow.

And without his love, compassion and friendship.

I would have been lost.

He holds me safe from the cold cruel world.

He fills my soul full of life,

And my heart full of love,

That it sends me soaring like a dove.

He is honest with me,

And I am true to him.

I shall be his and he shall be mine,

For now and for all time.

Life is Like

Life is Like…
A dozen roses, all standing straight,

Full of beauty, an arousing aroma of peace,

A symbol of love and respect.

But only stay for a short while,

It brings feelings of happiness to a lonely heart,

Then fades away, so quickly to remind us

How limited our time is.

It fades away, losing a little more beauty each day,

From a bright bold color,

To a darker duller stain of color.

Its leaves dry and crumble to the surface of a table,

To be brushed away.

Its petals wither, curling the corners,

To shrink slowly in the midday sun.

Till it drops, fallen over, given up on itself.

Allowing gravity to take over,

And finally it dies.

Showing how soon we forget about time,

And the value of our own lives.

No More

I use to be happy and carefree,

But then something happened.

Something that made me not want to feel anything anymore.

My father died and everything changed.

From the moment the phone rang at 12:45 am,

My world was put on a roller-coaster.

All I felt from that point on was hurt and sorrow.

I am tired of feeling all these feelings of pain,

It has made me numb to any and all other feelings.

All I want is to be able to depart from this roller-coaster.

That all started the night the phone rang.

To have no more sadness and no more pain.

To have a time that is quiet and calm to be able to sort these feelings out.

To find my balance and clarity of thought.

Who am I…

Who am I?

Why am I so sad, why do I need to be held and comforted?

Who am I to ask such a selfish question?

I have always taken care of everyone else around me,

So why does this person, this stranger want to help me?

Someone not worth helping, I don’t deserve anyone’s help.

All I want right now is my dad,

I want him to hug me and to say that he loves me.

Why am I left to suffer from his selfishness?

He left me for his own happiness.

I don’t ever want to hurt someone that way.

Which is why I am always taking care of those around me and not myself.

I am afraid that if I stop to take care of myself and am happy,

That I may be hurting someone else with my happiness.

So where do I fit in? When will it be my turn to be happy?

Who am I and where do I belong?

Grace’s Story- by request

Grace Ann

In a farmhouse surrounded by acres of sweet corn on a warm summer’s day in late June, Grace Ann Chapman came into this world screaming.

Local paper birth announcements:

The community of Ridgeville Nebraska would like to welcome Grace Ann born June 22nd, 1974 to William and Martha Chapman. Congratulations on your healthy baby girl. Martha clipped out the announcement form the Daily Sun Newspaper and taped it into Grace’s baby book.

William Chapman worked the land that had been handed down to him from his father. It was hard daily grueling work to keep the corn crops heath and on schedule for harvest. He took pride in what his family had established over the past three generations of Chapman’s and did his best to keep it going. With the birth of his first child, Grace Ann he knew that there would need to be more children, he loved and adored his daughter but knew that a son would be needed to keep the farm in the Chapman name.

Grace Ann was a sweet helpful child that was always full of questions. Always asking why this or why that. When her brother William Joseph was born five years later, Grace became a little quieter, but still helping Martha clean and cook, just not asking as many questions. Two years later Grace’s youngest brother was born, Jonathan Michael was a loud baby he cried and screamed about everything. Grace tried to be helpful, but Jonathan’s constant crying wore on her, she stopped asking questions all together.

Grace had a few classmates that she considered friends, although she wasn’t close to any of them. Shawna Wilson was a round faced, dark haired girl that talked all the time. She was what Grace called bossy, she was always directing how people should play. Grace and Shawna would walk to the general store after school and then over to Shawna’s house to play. On a particular spring afternoons after school they walked over to the general store as usual, Grace always had a few dollars from her allowance in her backpack, Shawna dared Grace to “Just take it,” Grace knew it was wrong to steal but she had a strange need to want to please Shawna. To fit in, to be accepted. So Grace did it she slipped the Kit Kat into her jacket pocket and they walked out of the store.

The girls split the Kit Kat while they walked to Shawna’s house. It being Friday Grace was going to spend the night at Shawna’s, after having dinner with Shawna and her family Grace felt ill. She asked if she could call her dad and go home. Grace’s dad came and picked her up from Shawna’s house.

“So what’s wrong, why didn’t you want to stay the night at Shawna’s?” he asked as they drove home.

“If I tell you, will you promise not to tell mom?”

William looked at his daughter, thinking this request over.

“Yes, it will be between me and you,”

“She made me steal a Kit Kat from the general store, I didn’t want to…but I couldn’t tell her no, I’m sorry dad,” tears welled up in Grace’s eyes the whole thing made her stomach hurt.

“Well, that is something, you know that even though it’s hard, you can’t let others, even friends make you do things that you know are wrong,”

“I know,” Grace dropped her chin to her chest and took a deep breath. A weight had been lifted, she now understood the concept of confession.

Grace’s first crush was on a boy in her class named Matt, she spent a lot of time daydreaming about running her fingers through his wavy brown hair, and wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Grace kept her fantasies to herself, playing scenes over and over in her mind. When she did find it within herself to talk to Matt he treated her as a friend, wanting to know if she thought that Tamera was “into him,” her daydreams of Matt came to a quick end.

During the summer of Grace’s thirteenth year she meet and spent a lot of time with Jenny Donovan and her older sister Rebecca they had a lot to tell Grace about anatomy and sex. Grace found it enlightening, especially since her parents didn’t really go into detail about “the birds and the bees.” When Grace got her period for the first time her mother pulled out two books from way back when, one titled Where Babies Come From and the other one explaining the joys of your first menstrual cycle it was blue and had a rainbow with the figure of a girl dancing around on it. Grace read them and had a light bulb moment, the biology of life made sense, she kinda wished her mom would have been able to just tell her. Jenny and Rebecca explained and sometimes demonstrated, the how, where and what of sex.

Grace spent her time going to school, helping out around the house and working at the general store. She kept things simple, family, school, friends and work. Towards the end of her last year of high school things changed quickly. She started for a lack of a better word dating a nice guy from school named James, he was cute, kind and ignited something within Grace. She couldn’t keep her hands off of him when they were together, his smell, his look, how she got butterflies in her stomach when he touched her. She loved it all, the anticipation of getting to see him, the adrenaline rush when he touched her, and ultimately the orgasm when he fucked her. She was hooked, and sex was the drug.

Once awakened sexually Grace had an inability to stay faithful. She enjoyed getting to know new people on a sexual level. She worked with a guy named Kyle and after many weeks of inappropriate flirting, she found herself with him in the back store room making out. Grace found that each person she was sexually involved with had something new and different to offer her.

When Grace turned twenty one she made a decision, she would take the money that she had saved up from working at the general store and go see the world. One early morning in July of her twenty first year she told her family goodbye, boarded a bus and left Ridgeville Nebraska.

 

Intertwined

Grace

Grace sat on the patio and lit a cigarette, she took a deep drag and exhaled. The first light of day had begun to show, it had been a long night. She looked down at her hands looking past the dirt she noticed that a few of her manicured nails were broken.

“I’ll have to trim them all down.” she thought as she poured a glass of Jack and downed it.

Finishing her cigarette and letting out a sigh, she arose from the patio chair. She wandered inside and up the stairs. Taking her clothes off and dropping them into the hamper. Standing in the bathroom she took out the fingernail clippers from her make-up bag and trimmed her fingernails. She stepped into the shower and turned on the water.

Tears started to stream down her face as she slid down and sat in the corner of the tub, crying.

“I am so sorry, it should have never turned out like this.”

She pulled on her robe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door and crawled into bed. She fumbled for a bottle of water on her nightstand, sat up and drank. She laid back down and fell asleep.

Grace awoke to the beeping of the answering machine. Sunlight streamed through the window. She wondered how long she had been asleep. She got up and stumbled into the bathroom.

Catching her reflection in the mirror, her hair a red stringy mess, dark circles under her eyes and a pale complexion. She splashed cold water on her face and tried to become conscious.

She dressed in dark jeans, a conservative blue blouse, grabbed a pair of tan flats and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

She poured herself a cup of coffee. Added two spoonfuls of sugar, a splash of cream and grabbed a cranberry muffin from the counter-top.

She pushed the blinking red button on the answering machine.

The first message was from her husband’s assistant.

“John it’s 9 am and you’re not here, where are you? Please call me,”

The second was from John’s boss.

“Hey John, it’s 4 pm on Monday and no one has heard from you since Friday. Let us know what’s up before we send a search party after you,”

Grace sighed and got ready to go.

As she entered the garage and got into her car, she glanced over at John’s car.

“I’ll have to deal with that later,” She thought to herself.

She drove downtown and parked in a parking garage and walked over towards the police station.

 

John

It was 10 am on Tuesday when Grace entered the police station.

“I need to file a missing person’s report,” she informed the front desk attendant.

The attendant handed her a form and told her to give as much detail as possible. She read over what she had written:

Missing John Summers age 45,

height 6 ft,

215 lbs,

eyes brown,

hair dark brown streaks of gray,

last seen Sunday April 27th.

“Do you have a picture?” the desk attendant asked.

“Yes,” Grace had remembered to grab a picture before leaving the house.

She chose a candid one from last summer’s barque with the neighbors. She submitted the missing person’s report and left.

She wandered through the art district downtown. Taking her time to look at the sculptures and displays.

She had met John during her summer of slumming in Seattle. In a club downtown during the late 90’s. She was introduced to John through a friend. She found herself in a bathroom stall with John. Getting to know him real well, she recalls Metallica playing over the speakers.

Sure that the drugs and alcohol helped to spark their relationship into the whirlwind that it became shortly after meeting. John Summers had graduated with a degree in business and graphic design. It was all a blur they met, partied, and got married at City Hall. John took a job under the title of v.p. of a software company and they were off and running.

They had built a life together a nice house with two cars. They played the happy couple at social events. Even though their love had burned out after the first three years. During the last two years they had lived like roommates rather than lovers.

Grace found herself getting hungry and tired.  She chose to stop at a bar and grill.

She took a seat at the bar and ordered a plate of nachos, an ice tea and a shot of Jack. She had not realized how long she had been walking around, it was now happy hour. She ate her nachos, drank her ice tea, then downed the shot and ordered another.

A guy took the seat next to her and gave her a friendly smile.

“You look like you could use some cheering up,” he said.

Grace smiled. He ordered a beer and they sat there in silence.

She finished her second shot of Jack and headed to the lady’s room. He followed her…she stood at the sink gazing into the mirror.

He entered the room and locked the door behind him. Nothing was said between them, she moved towards the door to leave. He stopped her. He dropped to his knees and pulled her towards him. He unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down along with her panties.

He pulled her to him and began enjoying her, sliding his tongue into her, making her moan. She swooned and held herself up against the door. He enjoyed and she came, not a word was spoken. Grace returned to her seat and ordered another shot of Jack. She downed it and left.

 

Eric

Grace awoke to the phone ringing and answered it.

“Mrs. Summers?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Would you be able to come down and discuss your husband’s case around noon today?”

“Sure,” she answers.

It had been a few months since Grace had made the missing person’s report on her husband. It didn’t surprise her that it had taken this long for them to get back to her.

Detective Eric Stone a well build guy with good hair in his early forties entered the room. She looked at him and knew she was in for it now, Detective Eric Stone her friendly stranger from the bar.

“Karma is a bitch,” she thought to herself.

“Have a seat Mrs. Summers,” Detective Stone said.

“Do you know why you are here?”

“Yes,” answered Grace.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened to your husband John Summers,”

“Alright, I was watching the rain. I like to watch the rain and it was so beautiful with all the lightning. May I have a glass of water?” she asked.

“Sure, just a minute,” Detective Stone left the room.

She checked her make-up on her compact mirror while he was gone.

“Here you go, now please go on,” Detective Stone said.

She opened the bottle of water, took a drink and continued.

“Well I was waiting for John to come home. When he did finally show up he stumbled in smelling of cigarettes, women and booze. He didn’t even say anything just tripped up the stairs to the master bedroom. I went up after him and he was sprawled out on the bed. He didn’t even bother to take his shoes off,” she took another sip of her water and cleared her throat.

“So I left him there and went downstairs to sleep in the guest room. When I got up the next morning he was gone, like he had never even come home,” Grace sat staring at detective Stone.

“And when was this?” Detective Stone asked.

“About two months ago,”

“So now you are declaring him missing so that you can move on with your life?” Stone asked.

“Yes, that’s right I need to move on, I don’t believe he is ever coming back,” she said.

“Well thank you for coming in today. We will keep you informed if anything else come up in your husband’s disappearance,” Detective Stone held the door for Grace. She gathered her things and left.

 

Matt

While heading back to her car she thought of a guy she once knew and what they had done one afternoon. As they entered the hotel room, Grace’s heart was racing and she had a feeling of butterflies in her stomach. She knew what she was doing but it still seems surreal.

They had had a sexual relationship way back during her first year of college. There was a serious sexual attraction between them that they acted on. Now so many years later she is in a hotel room with him ready to act on this attraction once again.

Grace keeps reminding herself that she has John and that they made a commitment to each other. But that rush of adrenaline and excitement of being with Matt once again is giving her such a wonderful high.

“You do only live once,” she thinks to herself.

As she is standing in a very nice hotel room in the middle of the day. Matt is also married which make this all the more strange of a thing to be doing.

Matt takes a seat on the edge of the bed, she pulls a chair from the table and sits in front of him.

“You know how crazy this all is, don’t you?”

“Yes I do, but we’re here, we have come this far,” Matt says.

She takes his hands and takes a deep breath.

“It was so long ago and we never even kissed,”

Their relationship was one of two people needing each other physically. The no kissing was one of those rules that you give yourself so that you don’t have an emotional attachment to someone. One of those thing that you figure out much later in life that was complete bullshit.

“No time like the present,” he says and he leans in to her.

Their lips meet and she feels his tongue slide into her mouth. She sucks on his tongue, then slips her tongue into his mouth. He lets out a moan.

Grace moves back and says. “Not bad, guess it was worth waiting for,”

It crosses her mind once more about how this is crossing a line. How there are excuses of not being that close with John. How at this moment she has some suspicions about John’s relationship with his assistant Jenny.

But those are excuses. She knows what she is doing and why, because she needs the high that comes with the passion, excitement and orgasm.

Grace stands up,and puts the chair back. She kicks off her shoes and starts to undress.

“So are we going to do this?” she asks.

Matt gets up and moves towards her, kisses her.

They undress and lay on the bed, he runs his hands along her thighs pausing at her pussy. He slides his fingers inside of her. She arches her back and lets out a moan. He leans down and sucks her nipple as he pushes his fingers into her making her wet.

She pushes him back and moves down to take his cock into her mouth. She sucks lightly at first, then harder. Running her hand up and down along his shaft making him moan. She straddles his hips sliding his cock into her pussy.

She sits up and thrusts her hips against him. As she leans back, he reaches up grabbing her breasts, squeezing and pinching her nipples. She moves quicker letting his cock slide almost all the way out of her pussy and then thrusting him back into her.

He grabs her by the hips and rolls her off of him, so that she is now on her back. He kisses her, moving down her body. Kissing her neck and breasts as he moves down to her pussy. He spreads her legs and slides his tongue into her. Tasting her, licking at her clit making her moan.

A shudder runs through her, from the feeling of his tongue in her. Making her want to come. He moves up, and kisses her she can taste herself on his lips. He slides his cock into her pussy and thrusts. She arches her back and pushes back against him. He kisses her deeply as he comes in her.

They lay on the bed letting what had occurred sink in. He moves over and holds her, feeling her breath next to him. Like any good affair it ends. They shower and walk away.  Back to living their lives as before.

 

Jack Daniels

Grace sat straight up out of a deep sleep, not sure of where she was. She tried to swallow, it felt like razor blades slicing into the back of her throat. She reached for a glass of water on the nightstand and realized where she had awoken.  A crappy motel room. She got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. She filled a glass with water and took a sip. The pain in her throat soothed.

She stood in the bathroom and closed her eyes.  A woman from her past floated into her mind, the one she watched shower every day after swimming. Tiffany was slim, short and had long brown hair that fell to her waist. Her breast were small and perky. She watched Tiffany shower wanting to approach her. To move her long wet hair from the back of her neck and kiss it, to cup her small soft breasts to taste her. She thought about taking her into the sauna, laying her down, and licking her pussy. She moaned to herself and got into the shower.

She glanced around the trashed motel room and spotted a note with a folded $50 under it next to the t.v.

The note read “Enjoyed the ride” -B.

She noticed the cigarette butts overflowing in the ashtray and the almost empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the nightstand. No wonder her throat hurt. Along with a few open condom wrappers.

“Well that’s reassuring,” she thought.

Her clothes from the night before were scattered around the room. Her jeans, that were a size to small on purpose, and the black low cut top were next to the bed. Her black lace bra was laying across the chair in the corner.

She had gone down the street to a bar to unwind, before having to deal with Detective Eric Stone. The night’s events started to seep back into her mind. There was a pool table and many shots of Jack. Then there was a B that was grabbing her ass all night. What was it Bob or Billy she couldn’t remember and it didn’t matter. The previous nights events were usually hazy in the light of day.

She got ready to go see Detective Stone. Dressing in dark slacks, a green blouse, a pair of pumps and her conservative white satin bra. She pulled her shoulder length red hair back and secured it with a clip.

“Good enough,” she thought and headed out to her car.

She got into her little Honda that she adored. She headed downtown to the cop shop to see Detective Stone. When she arrived downtown she parked in the parking garage and hit the deli across from City Hall. She grabbed a breakfast sandwich and an orange juice.

She finished off her orange juice along with two aspirin and headed into the police station. Grace checked in at the front desk and was escorted back to a room.

“How are you Mrs. Summers?”

“Do you really want to know or are you just being polite?” she asked.

“I have some papers for you to sign,” he said.

Grace signed the papers and left.

As she was walking through the lobby passed the handicap restroom Stone grabbed her arm and led her into the restroom. He locked the door behind them.

“Now that we have some privacy,” he said.

“What did you have in mind?”

He moved towards her and kissed her. She let out a moan.

He lowered himself down in front of her and took down her slacks and panties. He pulled her to him sliding his tongue into her. She put her hands on the wall to keep her balance, as she felt his tongue push into her. Making her wet and gasp for air.

He stopped and stood up in front of her. He put his hands on her shoulders and lowered her to her knees. She undid his pants and took his cock into her mouth. As she sucked his cock, he moaned and leaned back against the wall.

He ran his hands through her hair, making her clip fall to the floor. She sucked harder, letting him come in her mouth. She felt his cum hit the back of her throat and she swallowed. She keep sucking till he pushed her back, she stood up and kissed him tasting her cum on his lips.

She picked up her hair clip and faced the mirror. She reapplied her coral lipstick, re-clipped her hair, and popped a few breath mints.

“Want some?” she asked handing Stone the container of breath mints.

“Thanks,” he grinned as he took the container.

Stone followed her out of the restroom.

“Are you going to tell me what you did with him?” he asked.

“Nope,” she answered.

Grace returned to the motel room to collect her things and survey the damage from the night before. As she packed up her clothes an image of Billy her pool buddy from the previous night flashed into her mind. She was laying on the bed naked and he was sucking Jack Daniels out off her belly button.

She shook her head and mumble to herself. “Should really stop drinking, it gets me into trouble.”

 

The Ring

Grace parked in front of the garage and decided to start with John’s car that was still parked in the garage. As she was going through the glove box she came across a little black ring box. She opened it and there staring back at her was a very nice gold banded engagement ring.

“Must be for his assistant Jenny,” she thought.

She took the found ring and her own wedding ring set to a pawn shop and got a nice little chunk of change for both.

After spending the week cleaning out the house she found herself drinking and smoking more than the usual. From the memories attached to the things in the house and the stress of trying to get it all done.

She was sitting on the floor of the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. The Goodwill truck had left with what was left of John’s clothes and some small furniture.

Feeling like she needed a drink Grace picked up the phone and dialed 211. She asked the very friendly operator when and where the next AA meeting would be. She informed her that by her home address the next meeting would be tomorrow morning at 11am at St. Matthews.

Grace took a deep breath as she entered the community room at St. Matthews. She took a seat towards the back and watched as a dozen people wandered in. They each got coffee and a doughnut, then took a seat. The meeting was welcoming and she stood when asked if there were any new faces today.

“Hi, my name is Grace and I am an alcoholic.” Grace heard the words coming out of her mouth but was very unsure of why she was needing to confide in these strangers.

She continued to attend the daily morning meetings at St. Matthews listening to tales of woe and heartache caused by to much indulgence. She had surveyed the crowd and made friendly chit chat and a little flirting with the group.

 

Sam

On her way out after the fourth meeting Sam grabbed her by the arm and led her into the empty hallway. Sam was a good looking guy in his early thirties with a nicely trimmed beard and mustache.

“You have got to stop looking at me that way,” he said.

“What way am I looking at you?” she asked.

“You know Grace,” he said.

Grace grinned she had found Sam quite cute and had made eye contact with him throughout the last few days. He moved closer to her and took her hand and ran it over his crotch.

“The way that makes that happen,” he said.

She rubbed at his hard cock and pushed into him. She slid her tongue into his mouth and he kissed her back.

“You know I can help you with that,” she said.

“Now?” he asked.

She lead him into an empty room. There was a large wooden desk towards the front of the room and some folding chairs laid out around the room. Grace closed and locked the door behind them. She stood in front of Sam and ran her fingers through his hair, leaned in and kissed him. Sliding her tongue into his mouth and sucking on his tongue. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him.

She dropped to her knees and unfastened his pants. She took his erect cock into her mouth and sucked. He let out a moan and ran his hands through her hair. She sucked harder and he moaned louder. He stopped her and she got to her feet.

He kissed her deep and moved towards the desk. He removed her jeans and panties, then lowered himself in front of her. He slid his tongue inside her, tasting her, she let out a moan.

He stood up and turned her around and laid her on her stomach across the desk. He slid his fingers into her wet pussy, sliding them in and out of her. Making her arch her back and push back against him, coming on his fingers. He removed his fingers and thrust his cock into her making her yell out, fucking her hard and fast. He came deep in her. He moved away from her and she got off the desk and redressed.

“Told you I could help you,” She smiled at him as she left the room. She walked to her car and lit a cigarette.

“I don’t think AA is what I need,”

 

Road Trip

As soon as the house was emptied and listed, Grace decided that it was time for a road trip. She packed up her things and hit the road with cash in hand.

First a quick stop, to say goodbye to Detective Stone. She knew she needed a fix before setting off into the big bad world. She had come to the relational that sex was like a drug once you get a taste you will always crave more.

Detective Eric Stone lived in a nice little apartment close to downtown. She knocked on his door. Eric answered.

“Never expected to see you again,” he said.

“Can I come in?”  

He looked her up and down she was in her skin tight jeans and low cut black top that displayed her ample chest very nicely.

“Why not I am sucker for punishment,” he said.

“Thanks you won’t be disappointed,”

Grace entered the apartment and headed towards the stereo. She put on something soothing in the background. She intended to put on a show for dear Eric before saying goodbye. Eric fixed them each a drink and they moved to the couch. She downed her glass of whisky and stood in front of him.

She took off her shoes, swayed back and forth in front of him, running her fingers through her hair. She straddled his hips, leaned in to kiss him, and slid her tongue into his mouth. He moaned and grabbed her ass, running his hands over those skintight jeans.

She leaned back and took off her top, he reached around and unfastened her bra for her. He took her breasts into his hands and rubbed his thumbs over her nipples. She moaned and moved her hips back and forth on his lap. She reached down and rubbed his cock through his jeans. She got up and removed her jeans and panties.

He stood up and she helped him shed his clothes. She led him over towards the kitchen table, she leaned over the table onto her stomach. He came up behind her rubbing her ass and sliding his fingers into her. As she felt his fingers slide into her she let out a moan. He rubbed her pussy making her wet. He removed his fingers from her and slid his cock into her. She tighten around him making him groan. She felt him thrusting deeper into her. Making her come.

He moved away from her, she turned towards him, and dropped to her knees. She took his cock into her mouth letting him slide in and out. She ran her hand along his shaft as she sucked. She could taste his pre-cum, she stopped got up and walked towards the bedroom, he followed.

She pushed him down onto the bed. She got on top of him and slid his cock into her pussy. She sat up, moving her hips back and forth. She leaned back, thrusting against him. He reached up grabbing her breasts and pinching her nipples. She let out a moan and moved faster. She keep fucking him till he finally grabbed her and moved her off of him.

“Fuck Grace,” he said getting up off the bed and reaching towards the nightstand to get a condom.

“There now it’s my turn,” he grabbed her, pulling her to the middle of the bed.

He leaned over kissing her, while running his hand down her thigh and sliding his fingers into her pussy, he rubbed her clit making her squirm.

He flipped her over onto her stomach. She got up on her hands and knees. He rammed his cock into her hard and fast. She held in a yell and moved with him. He moaned as he came in her.

Nothing more was said between them. She showered, dressed and headed towards the door. He stopped her, kissed her deeply, she gave him a smile and left.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grace drove north out of town. Watching the sun set in the early August night. A bright orange hue cascaded over the open fields, as she headed off to find a new path to take.

Listening to the radio and letting the warm air stream through her open window, she sighed to herself. Open road money on hand letting the wind take me to wherever.

A roommate she once had wandered into her mind as she drove. Kelly who looked like the innocent girl next door, had shared an apartment with her one semester in college. She heard them come in, they had to know she was home.

She listened to them stumble into Kelly’s bedroom. She quietly entered the hallway and looked into the other room, the desk lamp was on and she could see them lying on the bed naked. Kelly and whoever she had brought home for the night. He was on top of her and she was moaning.

She crept closer to the slightly open door and watched as he sucked on her nipples and slipped his fingers into her pussy, he then thrust his cock into her and she let out a moan of pleasure. Grace was watching intensely and found that her own hand had slipped between her thighs and her fingers were rubbing her pussy.

Grace let out a moan and he looked at her. She froze as their eyes meet. She caught her breath and returned to her room, she listened as they finished with moans and screams of pleasure. As she was laying in bed, he came into her room wearing a towel and closed the door behind him.

He held his finger to his lips and gestured shh… He approached her bed and removed her blanket and sheet. He gently spread her legs and lowered himself down to her, he licked and sucked her pussy making her moan. She laid back and took it. Feeling his tongue in her, making her wet. He stopped dropped the towel and moved up to her mouth. He kissed her deeply. He slid his cock into her and she let out a moan. Feeling him fuck her deep and hard. She came with him.

He kissed her and whispered to her… “Didn’t want you to feel left out,”

 

James Dean

Grace drove into the night till she spotted a sign that read:

Barney’s Bar & Grill come join us for a drink and excellent BBQ next exit

“Well I could use some entertainment,” she said to herself.

She pulled off at the next exit and headed down the dusty road. There it was sitting in the middle of a large dirt lot Barney’s Bar & Grill in bright red neon. She pulled into the parking lot and stopped, she glanced at the cars, trucks and motorcycles all parked around the building.

“Should be an interesting crowd,”

She had dressed in dark jeans, a plain grey tee-shirt, and a pair of black flats. She looked in the rear-view mirror and applied her coral lipstick. She removed the clip from her hair letting her hair fall over her shoulders.

“Good enough,” she said as she headed inside.

The bar was warm, crowded and loud. Grace made her way to the bar and ordered a beer, she figured she should start slow it would be a long night. She surveyed the crowd of cowboys, bikers, workers and couples all drinking, talking and getting along with each other. She ordered a BBQ bacon burger and fries, the smell from the kitchen was enough to make you drool.

She ate her meal and watched the guy playing pool. He was good, not as good as her but good. She finished off her second beer and ordered a shot of Jack. She downed it and headed over to the pool table.

“Interested in a real game, best out of seven,” she asked.

The good looking guy, dressed in jeans, and a white tee-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. How James Dean of him she thought.

“Sure, why not,” he answered.

They played one game after another. He took notice of how far she would bend over the table to make a shot. She would brush up against him when walking around the table.

It was tied three games apiece, she was on her fourth shot of Jack and about to break for the seventh game. She bend over the table to line up the break and he stepped in behind her and put his hand around her waist.

“How about we call it a tie and settle up in the restroom,” he said.

She could feel him push up against her and got a rush of adrenaline.

“OK, in the lady’s room in five,” she put down the pool cue and walked towards the restrooms.

Grace splashed some cold water on her face and took a deep breath. He came in and they entered the large bathroom stall and locked the door. He leaned into her and kissed her.

“You know I don’t even know your name,”

“Does it matter?” He asked.

“Not really,” she said.

She took off her shirt, she had stepped it up and was wearing her purple satin bra. He moved into her kissing her neck and rubbing her breast. He reached around unfastened her bra and moved down to suck on her nipples. She undid his pants and rubbed his cock. She lowered herself to her knees, slid his cock into her mouth and sucked. He let out a moan and ran his fingers through her hair. She sucked harder. He pulled away from her.

She got to her feet and he kissed her. She sucked on his tongue making him moan.

“I think we need to finish this somewhere else,” he said.

Grace agreed. They redressed and left the restroom. Grace stopped at the bar and downed another shot of Jack.

She went to her car and he followed, he put out his hand and said,

“My name is Aaron,”

“Grace,” she said and shook his hand.

“There is a motel about a half mile up on the left, care to join me there?” Aaron said.

She looked at him and considered this for a second.

“Why the hell not,” she said. He kissed her and headed towards his truck.

They arrived at the Northward Inn a small rundown side of the road motel that advertised clean rooms and free HBO.

“All they need is hourly rates available,” she thought to herself as she pulled into the parking lot.

Aaron registered for a room and they parked and entered room 17. It was a typical motel room t.v., dresser, small table, two chairs, a night stand and those lamps that are attached to the wall between the two double beds.

The beds always had those dark colored paisley prints this one had a dark burgundy with gold trim paisley pattern and dark wood paneling. Making the room darker than it needed to be. Aaron switched on a lamp.

“You get what you pay for,” he sighed.

Grace took her overnight bag in with her and headed towards the bathroom, the small but clean bathroom. She changed into an oversized dark blue tee-shirt that came down to her upper thighs. She brushed her teeth and combed her hair.

She gazed into the mirror, looking past her tired eyes and pale complexion. She put her bag on the luggage rack in the closet and walked over to the bed.

Aaron stood up when she came over, he slid his arms around her and kissed her. He then went into the bathroom.

Grace pulled down the bedspread, “at least the sheets are clean” she thought to herself.

She locked the door. Closed the curtains, those heavy, rusty gold colored curtains, standard in any motel. She laid on the bed and Aaron came out of the bathroom only wearing a pair of boxers. He came over and joined her on the bed. He leaned over her kissed her and ran his hand up the inside of her thigh. He slid his fingers inside he, she moaned and kissed him.

She let his fingers slid in and out of her rubbing her clit. Making her wet. She ran her hand down to his cock and rubbed. He stopped, got up and took off his boxers. She got up on her knees in front of him and removed her shirt. He rubbed her breasts pinching her nipples.

He got a condom out of his jeans pocket, then pushed her back onto the bed and got on top of her. He slid his cock into her pussy, feeling her, so wet and tight. He let out a moan, kissed her neck and rubbed her breasts, while he pushed into her deeper.

She moaned and pushed into him. Moving in and out of her. Feeling her breath quicken and shudder under him, they moved together till she couldn’t stand it any longer. She yelled out and came, he pushed harder into her and came in her. They laid there breathing each other in and feel asleep wrapped up in each others arms.

Grace awoke trying to think, trying to remember where she was. Who was laying next to her, she looked at Aaron still asleep and moved to get up. He tightened his grip around her, pulled her close to him and kissed her.

She got up and went to shower. She stepped into the shower and felt the warm water wash over her. She soaped up and rinsed off. As she was enjoying the warmth of the water Aaron joined her in the shower. He put his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck. She turned to face him and he lowered himself to his knees. He pulled her to him, he slid his tongue into her pussy licking and sucking on her clit.

She moaned and held herself up against the shower wall. Feeling his tongue slide into her, she let herself come. He got up and kissed her. She got out of the shower grabbed a towel and laid on the bed. Aaron showered and joined her on the bed.

“So we going to say anything about this little experience?” Aaron asked.

“I am not sure,”

Aaron leaned over and kissed her, she let out a sigh.

“It’s been a wonderful experience, but looking at reality I am afraid it’s time to go,” she said.

“I know,”

It was 9 am, time to continue on Grace dressed, packed up and said goodbye to Aaron. She got into her Honda and set out back to the highway to head further north. She thought about Aaron and how bittersweet the encounter had been. Grace knew she was treating sex like a drug, but at that moment she didn’t care. She had gotten her fix, now it was on to a new place.

She drove till she came to a little out of the way town.

 

Overland

“Typical hometown look,” she thought.

Small businesses, bars, restaurants, churches, banks all the usual things. She found motel row and picked the least to get you mugged looking one. Close to a Everyday Foods store. The Candlelight Inn what a name Grace thought as she checked in and paid for a week up front. Figuring since she was here she would take some time and look around get a feel for the little town in the middle of nowhere.

“Well Overland let’s see what you have to offer a girl,” she said as she thumbed through the phone book.

She found that one of the best ways to find things was to skim the phone book. She ventured over to the Everyday Foods store and picked up some snacks.

She drifted off thinking about a lost summer day from a lifetime ago. Grace and James drove out of town towards the ocean. It was a sun filled hot summer day and heading out to feel the cool breeze of the ocean is just what she needed. She had picked up James, a good looking guy in his mid 30’s at a bar.

James had broad shoulders and sandy blond hair that he wore slightly shaggy. He had been long distance runner in college and still had the body to show for it. He had bought her a drink and explained his outlook on life. How it was an open road full of possibility. She was sure this was a pick up line, but he was good looking and a well spoken individual. So being Grace she thought what the hell.

They drove out towards Seaside to enjoy the day by the water. He was driving and she was running her hand up and down his leg. She ran her hand over to his crotch and gave him a generous rub though his cargo shorts. She was wearing a light blue bikini under an open over shirt and shorts. He moaned as she rubbed harder at his crotch. He turned into a rest stop, he shut off the car and leaned over towards her, he kissed her letting her suck at his tongue.

He slid her shirt off and rubbed her breasts. She moved over to remove her top and bottoms. He leaned over to her and sucked on her nipple, while rubbing and pinching the other one. He ran his fingers down to her pussy, he slid his fingers into her.

She arched her back, let out a moan, letting his fingers slide deeper into her. He fingered her rubbing at her clit, making her wet. He kissed her, sat back into his seat, she leaned over and undid his shorts. Taking his cock into her mouth and letting him slide in and out of her mouth. She sucked harder while running her hand up and down his shaft. Making him moan, she sucked and rubbed till he pushed her away from him.

“Please fuck me,” he begged.

She straddled his hips and slowly slid his hard cock into her wet pussy. They both let out a moan as she moved back and forth, thrusting his cock deeper into her.

She moved faster and he pushed deeper into her. He kissed her and felt her pussy tighten around his cock as he came in her. She moved off of him and into her seat she redressed and smiled

“There now can we go to the beach?” James just smiled started the car and continued on towards Seaside.

She awoke around 8am the next morning. “Time to face the day,” she said to herself.

She showered and dressed in comfy jeans, a long sleeve tee-shirt and walking shoes. She picked up a map from the front office and had written down some points of interest to check out.

She headed towards the downtown area and found a place to park, she walked down the Main Street area and checked out some of the hometown charm. Nothing of interest caught Grace’s eye. It was all very normal looking craft shops, ice cream shops, home decor, antiques and beauty shops.

Grace wandered around for a while and figured it was time for some lunch. She stopped at a little deli and had a turkey on wheat with a pickle, chips and an ice tea. She sat out on the patio of the deli and watched the people of this little town going about their lives.

 

The Backdoor

Grace stopped by a convent store on her way back to The Candlelight Inn to grab a pack of cigarettes. She asked the younger looking 20 something girl running the register where the nightlife was in this little town. The girl offered up that out behind the truck-stop, off route 18 there was a bar where all the locals hangout.

“It’s called The Backdoor,” the girl said.

She hung out in the motel room till around 9 pm, she dressed in her tight jeans, low cut black top and black ankle boots. She put on her coral lipstick and clipped her hair back.

She looked in the mirror and let out a sigh “anything for a fix,” she drove out to route 18 and past the truck-stop.

There it was about a quarter mile past, a large warehouse looking building, surrounded by a small dirt parking lot that stretched out into a field of forgotten wheat.

A simple small wooden sign hung over the door The Backdoor it read. She parked among all the other cars, SUVs, trucks and motorcycles. She glanced around there were small groups of people standing around talking, smoking and drinking. She got out of her Honda locked the door put her keys, id and money into her pockets and headed towards the door.

The unmistakable smell of pot hit her as she passed a group of people, Grace took deep breath as she passed “awe memories” she thought.

She paid the large man that looked like a bodybuilder the $10 cover charge. The open floor of the warehouse had a bar, tables with chairs, a few pool tables and a dance floor. All lighted by a number of moving blue and red spotlights. A mix of classic rock and adult contemporary played just loud enough that you had to raise your voice to a dull yell to be heard. She made her way to the bar and ordered a shot of Jack and a beer. She downed the shot and took a seat at the bar to watch the crowd.

 

Sean

Grace’s beer was just past half empty when a voice asked “Would you like another, or something stronger?”

She turned to see an older guy, mid 50’s, in good shape with a little more gray than brown left in his hair asking if she would like another drink.

Grace smiled at him and said “Sure how about a shot of Jack?”

He ordered two and introduced himself  “Sean,”

He put out his hand and she said “Grace, thanks for the drink,” and shook his hand.

“So what do you think of our little town?” Sean asked. Grace gave him a confused look.

“You don’t look as if you’re from around here,” he said.

“True,” she answered.

They chatted about the town and what keep it running and why people choose to call it home. Typical mundane small talk, Grace ordered another beer.

“Care for a game of pool?” she asked him.

“Not my thing,” he answered.

“Your loss,” she said and headed over to the table.

She played a couple games with the guys that were hanging around. After deciding that this night was not really going anywhere she returned to the bar and ordered one more shot of Jack.

“Let me get that for you,” Sean said.

“Sure why not,”

Sean handed Grace her shot “Cheers,”

“Cheers,”

 

Ouch

Grace slowly opened her eyes the light was bright. She shut them again, her head pounded and her body ached. She tried to move and was stopped by shooting pain through her shoulders and back.

“What the hell happened,” she said to the empty room.

She managed to sit up and let her eyes adjust to the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. She was in what appeared to be a bedroom, sitting in the middle of a large bed.

Looking around, there was a nightstand with a clock radio that read 8:12 am, a dresser with a mirror, a chair in the corner and the door was closed. She had no idea where she was, she was wearing a man’s gray button down shirt that was open and nothing else. She got off the bed and stood in front of the mirror that was on the dresser.

“Oh my God,” she mouthed the words as she examined herself in the mirror.

Her hair was a mess, her eyes were bloodshot, there were red rough marks around her wrists and ankles. Along with bruises and blood on her inner thighs.

She scanned the room for her clothes, they were in a pile on the floor to the side of the bed, at least her shirt, jeans and boots were there no socks or underwear.

“Go figure,” Grace mumbled to herself.

She dressed and left the room, she stumbled down a hall and into a living-room. She found the front door and went outside. She found herself standing in a driveway not quite believing what she saw, her Honda parked right there. She opened the door and her keys were sitting on the passenger seat.

Grace drove away from the house found route 18 and made her way back to The Candlelight Inn, she packed up her room and started driving south. Soon as she felt she was far enough out of town she pulled over into a rest stop. Her hands shook as she lit a cigarette and tried to think of the last thing she remembered from the night before.

She remembered going to The Backdoor, playing pool having a few drinks, talking to the older guy, Sean. But didn’t remember leaving or anything else except waking up in that strange house.

She decided to drive south into the next big city and visit a hospital. She pulled up outside of St. Anthony’s Hospital, locked the Honda and walked into the emergency room entrance. She approached the check in desk and the attendant behind the glass asked what she was there for.

“I was drugged and sexually assaulted,” she said.

The attendant looked up at her, handed her a clipboard and asked her to have a seat. She took a seat and filled out the form, a nurse came over to her and offered her a bottle of water.

“It will be just a few minutes, would you like us to call in a police officer as well?” the nurse asked.

“Yes, thank you,”

 

Sarah

Grace sat and sipped on the water and waited, a women in a pants suit walked in and approached the check in desk. The attendant motion towards Grace and the woman walked over to her.

“Mrs. Summers, I am detective Sarah Miller,” she said.

Grace made eye contact with her and tried to smile, tears were welling up in her eyes. She knew she was exhausted and just wanted all of this over with. Detective Miller accompanied her back to an exam room, where she made her statement of what she could remember, photos were taken, blood was drawn and a rape kit collected.

Grace didn’t want to think too much about what was being done to her she just knew that it hurt and she wanted it over. She was allowed to shower and given clothes from the lost and found to wear. A dark blue tee-shirt, a pair of gray sweets and some slip on shoes. Detective Miller gave Grace her card and told her to keep in touch. She went to her Honda and sat trying to process what had just happened.

“I know it is the right thing to do, especially since I can’t remember,”

 

Home

Grace knew she needed to get somewhere safe where she could rest. She drove south and knocked on Eric’s door.

“Grace, what the hell?” Eric said.

She entered Eric’s apartment handed him the large envelope that contained a copy of the police report she had filed. Made her way to the couch, laid down and closed her eyes.

“Just read it,” she said and fell into a sleep of exhaustion.

Eric walked over to the couch, slipped her shoes off and covered her with a blanket. Eric sat at the table and slowly read the police report.

“Jesus Christ,” he said to himself.

Grace awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon. She sat up slowly realizing how sore she was.

“Morning.” Eric said.

“Morning.” she moaned getting herself to sit upright.

“Eat and take the meds that were prescribed for you,” he said.

She took the plate of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon and slowly ate it all along with a cup of coffee. She took the morning after pills, some antibiotics, and ibuprofen. Eric came over and kissed her on the forehead.

“Doing OK so far?” he asked.

“As good as can be expected. Still can’t remember anything,” she answered.

Grace’s cell phone rang it was St. Anthony’s Hospital with her test results. She had been drugged with Rohypnol the date rape drug, no DNA was found in her rape kit and she was clear of any STD’s. She didn’t know Sean’s last name nor did she take note of where she woke up. She had given as much information as she could remember from her night at The Backdoor.

Grace got up and went to take a shower. She thought about John and what had really happened that night so many months ago. He came home drunk and started in on her the second he hit the door saying how he didn’t love her anymore and that he and his whore of an assistant Jenny were going to get married as soon as he could file for a divorce. She remembered how the thunder rolled and the lightning sparked through the sky that night as John rambled on and on about leaving her and moving on with his happy little life.

When John headed towards the stairs to go up to the bedroom how he tripped, somehow, it happened all so quickly, he was yelling and going up the stairs and then there was a noise, a loud thump followed by a cracking sound.

She stood in the kitchen for a moment after that horrible sound and tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened.

She thought about their life together the falling out of love and how he had become so hateful over the last few years. The money and assets that she helped him build up and how now she was deciding to hide his body take it all and run. She went into the living room towards the staircase and there laying like a rag doll on the floor was John, or at least his body. The color draining from his face, he was not breathing, not moving.

She knew he was already gone, the cracking sound was John’s head splitting open on the marble tile that surrounded the base of the staircase.

She managed to wrap the body in garbage bags and drug it out to the backyard. They had started to dig a hole for a pool to be put in, she dumped the body into the hole and covered it up. It was a long, tiring, messy night but it had to be done.

Grace stood over the covered body in the backyard and said, “It wasn’t all bad John we just grew apart and you became rotten, like a piece of fruit left out to long on the counter,”

She made a mental note to make sure the foundation for the pool would be poured by weeks end and so it was.

John was forever sealed away under the new backyard pool.

She stood in the shower looking over the red marks and bruises left by the night she couldn’t and didn’t want to remember and thought to herself “Karma is a bitch,”

 

John’s Side

“Fuck, where is my tie, I am late for the 1:30 pm meeting,” John said.

“Relax, they will wait for you,” Jenny said, as she picked up his navy blue neck tie off the floor of the hotel room and put it around his neck.

“See there you go all dressed,” she said.

“Thank you, I love you,” he kissed her.

“Love you too,”

John gathered his wallet, keys, phone, and briefcase and left the hotel room. He took the elevator down to the parking garage and got into his car. His phone beeped while he was exiting the garage, one missed call, from Grace. John sighed

“Suppose I should call the wife back,” he mumbled to himself.

After his meeting, Jenny his assistant, came into his office.

“How did it go?”

“Good, they will send over a contract next week,” he answered.

His phone rang it was Grace, he pushed ignore call, and looked at Jenny.

“When are you going to tell her?”

“Soon,”

He sat at his desk looking at the portrait of Grace, thinking about how they had fallen out of love years ago and now just tolerated each other.

John and his assistant Jenny had been sleeping together for two years now. He had started out by saying he would never indulge with someone at work, but over the time spent together they had fallen in love. He had tried to ignore the butterflies he felt in his gut when she had first started working for him, the stolen glances across the room, the accidental touches in passing.

He ignored it till that one day, he had started his morning having an argument with Grace about never spending any time together. He had stormed out of the house and gone to the office.

Jenny was there looking so pretty, with her long legs, bright blue eyes and bouncy blonde hair, there to listen. He had broke down in front of her and they ended up in a hotel room together during lunch. He talked, she comforted and listened. Jenny made the first move, kissing him on the cheek, it turned into a make out session followed by an afternoon fling.

John tried to push her away and not feel the warmth and comfort of her. Telling himself it was just once, a moment of weakness. But it was there a connection between them. That hole in his heart that he had been carrying around for years was now filled with her. Her passion for life, her understanding, her love.

He had started to prepare what he needed to say to Grace. How he needed to be let go, that they both needed to move on. That they were just suffocating each other by staying in a stalled relationship. It always sounded good in his head, but every time he started to get ready to confront her he chickened out.

“You know instead of hotel rooms at noon we could be together in our own home,” Jenny said, after yet another lunch hour spent in a hotel room.

“I know, I want to tell her,”

Jenny stood in front of him, slid her arms around his waist and kissed him.

“Please do it tonight, I can’t wait any longer, I want to be home with you,”

“OK, tonight,” he said.

John had a stop to make before going home to confront Grace. He drove out to the mall and went into The Jewelry Palace and picked up the engagement ring he had ordered for Jenny. He looked it over in the car and put it in the glove box.

He drove around for a while rehearsing in his head what he was going to say to Grace. He decided to stop and grab a drink hoping that it would help settle his nerves. He entered the Bar & Grill on main, ordered a hamburger with fries, a beer and a shot of Jameson.

About four shots and two beers later he felt ready to go talk to Grace. He parked his car in the garage and entered the house. Grace was standing in the kitchen and he just started talking.  Wanting to get it all out and over with quickly, so that he could go back to Jenny.

“Grace, we’re done, I am leaving, I want a divorce. You are suffocating me, we need to move on. Jenny and I want to get married,” It all came out quickly, his heart was racing and he was shaking.

He walked through the kitchen to the stairs to go up and grab a few things, before leaving. His shoes were wet from the rain, he misjudged the step and slipped. Unable to regain his balance, his head hit the marble tile that surrounded the base of the staircase.

“Missing John Summers age 45, wt. 215 lbs, eyes brown, hair short, dark brown with streaks of grey,” Jenny read to herself, as she hung up another flyer.

“I wish I knew where you were,” Jenny brushed a tear away and continued hanging up missing person flyers.

 

Jenny and James

Jenny continued to hand out flyers on her way back to her apartment. She slowly climbed up the steps to her studio apartment on the third floor of an older historical building downtown. As she stood in the center of the room a small navy blue gym bag in the closet caught her eye, John’s ‘gym’ bag she smiled to herself, John going to the gym was there cover for the past year. Every Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon John would come here and for the first while he carried the gym bag back and forth, then it just ended up in the closet.

Jenny let out a sigh and sat on the bed.

“I just want to know where you are,” she said to the empty room.

She scrolled through her contacts on her phone, stopped, “I wonder,” she said and pushed call contact name James.

“Hello this is James Andrews, how can I help you?

“James it’s Jenny,”

“Hey, sis what’s up?” he answered.

She explained her relationship with John and that he was now missing. She didn’t know what else she could do. James took all this in and thought it over.

“Let me see if my friend from the academy is still around, last I remember he was out your way he should be a detective by now,”

“OK, thank you James, anything to help me find him. I just don’t understand what could have happened to him,” she said.

James sat his desk and thumbed through a stack of business cards till he found the one he was looking for.

“Thought so,” he said and dialed the phone.

“Hello, this is Detective Eric Stone,”

“Hey, detective this is Private Investigator James Andrews,”

“Wow, hi James, long time, so what’s up?” Eric asked.

James explained his sister’s predicament. It didn’t take long for Eric to put it all together. James hung up with Eric and packed his bag for a quick road trip. He was not only curious about what had happened to John but also felt it was past time to catch up with his sister and old friend.

Detective Stone sat at his desk in the downtown police station taking in that his old friend from the academy, was now involved. All because John Summers assistant was Jenny Andrews. “Small world,” he muttered to himself. Trying to figure out if Grace needed to be brought in on any of this.

 

Grace and James

James and Jenny arrived at Eric’s apartment. James knocked.

Eric answered the door.

“Hey, come in, take a seat. Can I get either of you a drink?” Eric asked.

“Sure I’ll take a scotch,” James said.

“No thanks,” Jenny answered.

Grace came into the living room, Eric started to make the introductions but was cut off by James.

“Grace?” James asked.

“James? From Seaside? It’s been a while,” she answered moving forward to shake his hand.

Grace had picked up James in a bar in downtown Portland about thirteen years ago.

“Seriously, Grace is there anyone you haven’t slept with? I’ll take that drink now,” Jenny said.

Eric handed her a shot of Jack and she downed it.

 

Route 18

“Hello, this is Detective Miller,” Sarah answered the phone.

“Hey, Sarah, It’s Detective Mark Thomas from Overland, I have a question for you about a report you took last fall concerning The Backdoor,”  

Detective Thomas explained the discovery of a female body not to far from The Backdoor and had found Sarah’s incident report on Grace.

Sarah called Grace.

Grace awoke to her phone beeping, she reached over to the nightstand. It said one missed call from Sarah Miller.  

“What the hell, does she want,” Grace said sitting up in bed.  

“What does who want?” Eric asked from the other room. Grace got up and joined Eric in the kitchen.  

“Detective Sarah Miller,”

Grace sat at the kitchen table and dialed the phone.

“This is Detective Miller,”

“It’s Grace Summers, you called?’  

“Thanks for calling back, they found a body of a young women, out on route 18, just outside of Overland,” Sarah said.

“This has to do with me how?”

“She had similar markings on her, that match your report from last fall,”  

Grace just sat for a moment taking in what Sarah was saying. Another woman had gone to The Backdoor for a good time and now she is dead. She had tried not to remember that night, but pieces of it had begun to float back into her mind.

“You are the only one that has made a report about The Backdoor,” Sarah said.

“If you happen to remember anything else about that night it could help. Grace, she was only 23,”

“I will think about it,” Grace said and hung up the phone.

“What was that about?” Eric asked.

“A dead woman, was found out on route 18, I think I know who did it,”

Since coming back to Eric’s apartment after that forgotten night at The Backdoor, Grace and Eric had been playing house with each other like an old married couple. She felt comfortable and safe with him and he enjoyed having her around.  

They decided to take a road trip out to route 18, to see if It would jog Grace’s memory. They drove north out of town, past Barney’s Bar & Grill, past The Northward Inn and into downtown Overland. It had been a while but it all looked the same, a quiet little town, of ordinary looking people going about their daily lives.  

They drove out towards route 18 and the truck stop. Then there it was the large warehouse looking building, surrounded by a small dirt parking lot that stretched out into a field of forgotten wheat.

With just a simple small wooden sign over the door, The Backdoor it read. The parking lot was empty and it looked run down. They pulled into the parking lot and Grace pulled out a map of the area. She was looking for where she had woken up after that forgotten night.  

“This may be something,” she said to Eric as they looked at a road that turned off of route 18 about a mile down.

“Let’s go check it out,” Eric started the car and they drove further down route 18.

They turned off onto a dirt road that twisted and turned into the woods. It was an overcast day but the dense trees made the road darker than it was. Eric flipped the switch for the headlights in Grace’s little Honda, as they continued along the dirt road. They came to a dead stop, a shiver ran up Grace’s back, making her shudder. A large two story, log cabin house stood in front of them.  

“That’s it. That is the house I woke up in,” she said. Eric took note of the house number and the name of the road they had turned on.

“We need to go talk to Sarah,” Eric agreed and they headed back out of Overland.

 

Anna

Grace and Eric sat in the police station waiting to speak with Detective Sarah Miller.

“You can come back now,” An Officer escorted them into an interview room, where Sarah was waiting.

“So what do we have?” Sarah asked.

“We drove out to The Backdoor and we found the house off of Route 18,” Grace answered.

“The house you woke up in, but didn’t know where you were?”  

“Yep that one, it has an address, 870 West Ridge Rd. off of Route 18,” Eric said.

“Can we see the report on the dead woman?”  

“Only because you are also a Detective and Grace was the only one to come forward,” She handed the file to Eric.  

They read over the report. Woman found naked, bruises on wrists and ankles. Scratches and bruising on inner thighs. Bruising around eyes and mouth, skin under fingernails. Identified as Anna Miller age 23. Eric looked at Sarah.

“Relation?” he asked her.

“She’s my niece,” Sarah answered.  

“I will run the address and see if we can find and owner. I will let you know what I find,” Sarah showed them back out to the front entrance.

~ ~ ~ ~

When Grace and Eric returned home, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.  

“Thanks for helping me find the house,”  

She lead him into the bedroom and pushed him down onto the bed. She un-clipped her hair letting it fall over her shoulders. As she slowly started to take off her clothes, sliding off her shoes. She swayed back and forth while unbuttoning her jeans, sliding them down to her ankles and stepping out of them.  

She pulled her shirt off over her head and then unfastened her bra and slipped off her panties. She moved to the bed and helped Eric take off his pants and shirt. She pulled down his boxers and discarded them to the floor.

She lowered herself over his cock and slid it into her mouth, rubbing her hand along his shaft. He let out a moan and leaned back on the bed. He ran his hands through her hair. She sucked harder letting his cock slide in and out of her mouth.

She stopped, and moved up straddling his hips and sliding his cock into her. She let out a moan, and he reached up and caressed her breasts, pinching her nipples. She pushed against him letting his cock slide deeper into her. She quickly moved her hips back and forth, thrusting faster and deeper. Fucking him till they came together.

 

Closure

The next morning Grace awoke to the smell of coffee brewing and the sound of bacon frying. She got up pulled on her robe and went into the kitchen.  

“Morning,” Eric said as he gave her a kiss and put a plate of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon down in front of her.

She started eating as he poured her coffee.

“So what’s up?” she asked in between bites.

“Sarah called this morning. She found a name,”  

She stopped eating and looked up at him.  

“It’s Sean isn’t it?” she asked, Eric just nodded.

“Finish eating and then we will figure out what you want to do next,”

Grace entered The Backdoor wearing her tight jeans, low cut black top and ankle boots. She headed over to the bar and ordered a shot of Jack, she downed the shot and hit the pool tables. A good looking guy in jeans and a t-shirt was shooting a game. She picked up a cue stick and make eye contact with the guy.

“Care for a game, best out of five?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said and racked the balls for a new game.

She took her time shooting, watching the room and taking note of the older grey haired guy sitting towards the back of the room.  

A woman in her mid 30’s with shoulder length dark hair entered The Backdoor, she was dressed in dark jeans and a tight t-shirt that helped accent her chest. She took a seat at the bar ordered a beer and a BLT. While she ate her sandwich and drank her beer, she watched the crowd of people, some dancing, others eating and a few playing pool.  

“Would you like another or something stronger?” A male voice said beside her. She cleared her throat.

“I wouldn’t say no to a shot of Jack,” The woman answered. She gave him a smile and he ordered her a shot and took the seat next to her at the bar.

“I am Sarah,” she said and put out her hand.

“Sean,” he answered shaking her hand.

They chatted about how warm it was getting so early into spring and other mundane daily small talk.

“One for the road?” Sean asked.

“Sure,” Sarah said.

Grace had finished her game of pool and was now standing behind Sean looking at Sarah. Sean ordered two more shots of Jack and turned away from Sarah before handing her the drink. Grace just watched as he slipped a small pill into the drink, it dissolved instantly. He turned back towards Sarah and handed her the shot.

“Cheers,” Sean said.  

“I don’t think so,” Grace said from behind Sean. He turned around to face her.

“We can take this outside,” she said. Sean agreed and walked out with Grace and Sarah into the parking lot.  

“Let’s go to your place, Sean,” Grace said.  

They walked over to Grace’s Honda, Sean and Sarah got in the back. Eric was behind the wheel Grace got in and they headed down Route 18, and turned onto West Ridge Rd. The car was dead silent, then Grace spoke.

“I want to see where you took me,” she said looking at Sean.

They pulled up in front of the house and they all got out.

“Let’s go,” Eric said taking Sean by the elbow and leading him to the front door. Sean took out his keys and unlocked the door.  

“Show me,” Grace said.

He led them through the kitchen to a door that had a padlock on it. Sean unlocked it, opened the door, flipped the light switch and they headed downstairs to the basement.

The cinder block walls were cold and damp. There was a faint smell of burnt candles, vanilla Grace thought to herself. There was a queen size bed against the far wall, it had a wooden foot and headboard. There were strands of red stained rope hanging off the four corner posts of the bed. The sheets on the bed were smeared with streaks of blood. Grace took a wooden kitchen chair from the side of the bed and placed it next to the foot of the bed.

“Sit,” she told Sean.

He took a seat on the chair, Grace then handcuffed his arms behind him and tied his ankles to the legs of the chair. Sarah and Eric just watched, allowing her to get her answers.  

“Why?” Grace asked.

“Why, not it was easy.” Sean said.

She moved towards him and straddled his lap. She leaned into him and whispered.

“Like it’s easy for me to make you hard,” she rubbed her hand along his crotch, he tried to move away. She could feel his cock starting to get hard.  

“What exactly did you do to me?” she asked.

He looked at her and smiled.

“Nothing you didn’t want or enjoyed,” he answered.

Grace moved off of him.

“You know what, I think we are done here,”

She walked over to Eric, and kissed him as he handed her his gun. Grace turned to look at Sarah, she nodded.  

Grace raised the gun and shot Sean in the head, his body when limp. Eric uncuffed and untied him. His body fell to the floor.

Eric, Grace and Sarah went upstairs, putting the padlock back on the basement door. They went out to Grace’s Honda and drove back to The Backdoor to drop Sarah off at her vehicle.

Grace got out and gave Sarah a hug. She smiled at Grace and got into her car and drove away.  

As Grace and Eric drove home he reached over and squeezed her hand.

“I love you,” he said.

She smiled.

“I know, I love you too.”  

 

Westside Motel

Grace opened her eyes, and tried to focus on the bedside alarm clock. It was flashing 12:00.

“Fuck,” she said as she sat up and looked around the room.

She was naked on a bed in a crappy motel room, except this time there were two other bodies in the room with her. Two guys laid naked on the bed with her. She got up off the bed and headed to the bathroom.

She splashed some water on her face, glanced in the mirror at her bloodshot eyes and pale complexion. She ran her fingers through her stringy red hair and got into the shower.

While she soaped up and washed off the night’s festivities, the details of last night’s events slowly seeped back to her.

She had gone out to a bar to shoot pool and have a good time, Grace had gotten to a point in her life where she wanted to embrace the now. She felt that her adventuring party days were fleeting. She needed to feed that craving, to get her fix, that sexual high that drove her more and more.

She entered the Late Night Spot around 10 pm, wearing her tight jeans and even tighter tee-shirt. She ordered her usual a beer followed by a shot of Jack. She sized up the room took note of the guys playing pool and made her decision to take at least one of them home.

The two guys shooting pool were good looking, average mid 40’s and appear to be enjoying their night out. Grace approached the pool table and invited herself to play the winner of the next game.

She did what she does best, flirting, leaning in over the table, rubbing up against each of them in passing. She won the first set of three games and then challenged them to a best of five. After about two hours of flirting, small talk and four more shots of Jack, she was more than ready to take one or both of them home.

She put her cue down on the pool table and invited the guys back to her motel room. They both agreed. In the parking lot Grace introduced herself to them.

“Grace,” she said as she put out her hand to the first guy.

“Tom,” he said and shook her hand. She then faced the other guy.

“Robert,” he said and also shook her hand.

“You can follow me, there’s a Westside Motel about a mile down,” she said and got into her Honda.

Tom and Robert got into their truck and followed her to the motel. She parked in front of room 14 and the three of them entered. Tom a good looking guy, made the first move.

He stood in front of Grace and kissed her. He slid his hands around her waist, ran his hands down to her ass and squeezed pulling her into him. She kissed him back and could feel his hard cock against her. She ran her hand down to his crotch and rubbed.

Tom let out a moan and ran his hand over her breast, pinching her nipples. She took a step back from Tom and removed her shirt, showing off her dark purple satin bra.

Robert who had been watching all this go down, moved across the room to them and stood behind Grace. He moved her red shoulder length hair to one side and leaned down to kiss her neck while rubbing her shoulders.

She stepped back into him and could feel his cock rub up against her. She let out a moan and Tom kissed her. Tom moved down the front of Grace unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them down to her ankles, she stepped out of them.

He then moved back up her legs kissing the inside of her thighs and removed her pink lace panties. Tom kissed and licked, sliding his tongue into her pussy.

Robert unfastened Grace’s bra and let it drop to the floor, he caressed her breasts and rubbed her nipples. She let out a moan and ran her hands through Tom’s hair pushing him deeper into her.

Tom stood up and kissed her, she moved over and sat on the edge of the bed. Robert took out a bottle of Jack Daniels from a bag of groceries that Grace had gotten earlier.

Opened it, took a drink, then handed it to Grace. She took a drink and handed it off to Tom who also took a hit and put the bottle down on the table. Tom then moved towards Robert and kissed him. The two guys then shed their clothes and joined her on the bed.

Grace laid in between the two of them she kissed Robert and then rolled over to kiss Tom. She moved down and took Tom’s cock into her mouth. Letting it slide in and out while running her hand up and down his shaft. Robert moved towards Tom and started kissing him. Grace keep sucking till she could taste his pre-cum.

She moved up and straddled Tom’s hips letting him slide into her. She moved her hips back and forth sliding him deep into her.

Robert sucked on her erect nipples, he ran his hand down rubbing her clit. Tom arched his back and came deep inside her. She leaned back letting Robert rub her clit till she came.

Grace moved off of Tom, taking a seat at the table and took a long drink from the bottle of Jack.

“Do either of you have a cigarette?” she asked.

Robert grabbed his jeans from the floor, pulled out a pack and tossed them to her. She lit a cigarette and took a long drag, Robert sat at the table with her and lit one as well.

Tom took the bottle of Jack off the table and took a few long drinks. They all sat in silence, breathing. Grace was deciding if she was done or if this was going to go to a next level.

“Does anyone need to be anywhere soon?” she asked. Tom and Robert exchanged glances.

“Not really,” Tom answered and downed another swallow of Jack. Grace smiled.

“Good so who’s up for round two?”

Tom got up and went into the bathroom. Robert stood up in front of Grace, took her hand and led her over to the bed.

She laid down on the bed, Robert lowered himself between her legs and enjoyed what Tom had left in her pussy. She arched her back and moaned when he slid his fingers into her while sucking on her clit.

He moved up her body kissing and caressing her. Robert let his cock slid into her and then pulled back teasing her with just the tip, making her squirm.

“How badly do you want it?” Robert asked.

“Please, please fuck me,” she begged.

He grinned at her then thrusted deep into her, Grace yelled out. He stopped, and turned her over onto her stomach.

Tom had come out of the bathroom and was watching, stroking his cock. He moved over to her and slid his cock into her mouth. She sucked eagerly letting him fuck her mouth.

Robert was behind her sliding his fingers in and out of her pussy, pushing deeper into her each time. He then slowly pushed the tip of his cock into her ass. She let out a moan, taking Tom’s cock deeper into her mouth. Robert slid his cock into her ass, fucking her slowly. He slapped her hard on the ass. She cried out letting go of Tom.

Tom looked at Robert, leaned in, kissed him and whispered something in his ear. Robert smiled and moved off the bed.

He picked up his jeans and pulled out his belt. He folded it in half, a loud snap rung out. Grace jumped, she turned and looked at Robert standing behind her with his thick leather belt in hand.

She knelled on the bed in front of him, he kissed her, and pushed her onto her back. Tom grabbed her wrists and Robert handed him the belt. He tied her hands together, then fastened the belt to the headboard.

Robert took a drink from the bottle of Jack then poured it over Grace’s body. She squirmed as it splashed across her breasts and stomach. Tom started licking up the spill off of her breasts, sucking on her hard nipples. As Robert sucked the Jack Daniels out of Grace’s belly button.

They worked their way up and down her body, licking and sucking up every drop. Her body tingled from the sensation, her pussy dripping with cum.

Tom unfasten the belt from the headboard, and untied Grace’s wrists.

“Fuck me,” he said.

Grace got up, kissed Tom and pushed him onto his back in the middle of the bed.

She stroked his cock, sliding it into her drenched pussy. Tom moaned and thrusted into her. Robert got behind Grace and rubbed her shoulders and kissed her neck as she fucked Tom.

Robert then tightened his grip around her neck, pushed her forward and slid his cock into her ass. Tom grabbed Grace’s neck and kissed her deeply while Robert pushed deeper into her ass.

She took them both, feeling Tom deep in her pussy, and having Robert in her ass. Grace’s pussy tighten around Tom’s cock as she pushed back against Robert taking him deeper, her body shuddered as she felt them come in her.

She collapsed laying on top of Tom, he kissed her and moved her off of him. Robert laid next to them running his hand up and down her back.

Robert and Tom went to take a shower and Grace feel asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grace awoke to Robert kissing her, as he slid his fingers into her pussy. Thrusting them deep into her, Tom leaned over and kissed her, he was stroking his cock, laying up against her.

Tom stroked faster, while sucking on Grace’s nipple. She moaned and went to move her arm, only to find that her wrists were once again tied to the headboard with Robert’s belt.

“Just relax,” Robert told her. Grace closed her eyes as Robert continued to finger her, working more of his fingers deeper into her.

Robert watched as Tom moved on to his knees and continued to rub his cock, he came, all over Grace’s breasts. Robert moved on top of Grace slid his cock into her pussy, thrusting deep into her. He leaned over and kissed Tom while he fucked her.

They untied Grace finished off the bottle of Jack and passed out on the bed.

Grace stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and went to find her clothes. She got dressed and left the Westside motel and drove back home to Eric.

 

Desire

Grace unlocked the door to room 17 at the Pine Oaks Inn off of highway 25. She switched on the lamp next to the door and took in the $50 a night motel room.

“The things I do for a fix,” Grace muttered as she put her overnight bag in the closet next to the bathroom.

Grace showered and dressed, choosing her low-cut black top and tight fitting dark jeans, with a simple pair of navy blue pumps.

She clipped back her dark red hair and applied her favorite coral lipstick.

“Good enough,” she said to the room putting her ID and cash into her pockets.

Grace entered the rundown roadhouse, took a seat at the bar and ordered a shot of jack.

“You don’t have to do this,” a voice said from behind her.

Grace turned around Eric was standing there looking disappointed.

Grace stared at him, she couldn’t stop the tears from coming.  Eric put his arm around her and they headed back to the Pine Oaks Inn. Grace gathered her things and followed Eric home.

Eric handed Grace a drink and sat next to her on the couch. He downed his drink and faced her. He reached behind her and un-clipped her hair. He leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

“I love you,” he said, she moved forward and kissed him.

“I love you too,” Grace put her head on his shoulder.

He took her hand and lead her into the bedroom. Eric pulled her shirt over her head, unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down to her ankles. She stepped out of them. He hugged her, kissed her neck and unfastened her bra. She slid off her panties and laid on the bed.

Eric undressed and joined her, he slid his hand in-between her legs and rubbed her clit. Grace moaned and kissed him, she rubbed his cock. He slid his fingers into her making her pussy wet.

“Fuck me, please,” Grace begged.

Eric moved on top of her, he slid his tongue into her mouth and kissed her deeply. He kissed down her neck to her breasts, sucking on her erect nipples. Grace moaned and ran her hands through his hair. He slid his hard cock into her wet pussy she arched her back and pushed against him making herself come. Eric thrusted faster and harder, coming deep in her.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grace awoke the next morning with a purpose, to be here with Eric, to distance herself from the craving. That feeling of need and sexual desire that haunted her.

Grace dressed in a nice pair of jeans with a conservative top and a pair of walking shoes. She went out not sure of what she was looking for.

After hours of exploring around the downtown area, she found herself standing in front of St. Anthony’s. Grace took a deep breath and entered the church.

The building was lit by streams of sunlight passing through the stained glass windows. Creating rainbows falling over the pews.

Grace entered the confessional and poured her heart out to the priest. She told him about picking up random guys in bars, that she needed sex, craved the high. The adrenaline rush from being with a stranger. She even told him about wanting and having another woman.

Father Gabriel listened to her, he tried not to be aroused by her confession.  He explained to her that it wasn’t too late to save her soul.

As Grace was leaving St. Anthony’s Father Gabriel a clean-shaven, good looking guy, in his late thirties with short dark hair and even darker eyes stopped her.

“I lead a women’s group two nights a week if you would like to join us,” he handed her a flyer.

“Thank you, I will think about it,” she said taking the flyer.

“Please do,” Father Gabriel said, taking her hand and giving it a light squeeze. Grace smiled at him and left.

Father Gabriel entered his office he stood in front of his desk thinking about what Grace had confessed. He picked up a small silver bell and rang it. Sister Bernadette entered the office, her eyes glazed over and her voice void of feeling. “Yes Father?”

“I need you to relieve me,” he said. She nodded, she stood in front of him unbuckled, unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. Dropped to her knees and took his hard cock into her mouth. He leaned back against the desk and enjoyed feeling her suck his cock. She let him slide in and out of her mouth, sucking harder and harder. He grabbed her head and came in her mouth.

“Swallow,” Father Gabriel ordered. Sister Bernadette swallowed and stood up.

“Now hike up your skirt and take off your panties.” She obeyed pulling up her skirt and removing her white cotton panties.

“Good,” he smiled at her. He ran his hand up her bare leg and started to rub her pussy.

“Do you like that?” he asked.

“Yes Father,” she replied. He slid his fingers into her now wet pussy thrusting them in and out of her making her moan.

“Come for me,” he ordered.

“Yes Father,” she gasped. Her body tightened up a shudder ran through her, then her body went limp in Father Gabriel’s arms.

He removed his hand from in-between her legs, kissed her lightly on the lips and whispered something in her ear.

“You’re excused now,” he said. Sister Bernadette straighten her skirt, picked up her panties and left the office.

As Grace was making dinner, she keep glancing at the flyer. Thinking to herself “Why do I want this?”

She mentioned it to Eric.

“Check it out, see if it feels right,” he told her.

On the following Thursday night at 5:30 pm Grace entered St. Anthony’s rec room in the basement of the church. There were yellow plastic school chairs set out in a semicircle facing a podium and chalkboard.

“Hello Grace, it’s good to see you,” Father Gabriel said as he took her hand.

Grace smiled and took a seat.

“You appear to be the only one tonight,” he said pulling one of the chairs to sit in front of her.

“So we’ll just have a one on one conversation,” Father Gabriel smiled and took her hand.

Grace listened as Father Gabriel talked and talked. She felt very calm and relaxed while listening to him. Although she couldn’t quite recall exactly what he had said.

Grace continued to meet with Father Gabriel twice a week for the following three weeks. Each time she questioned why she felt so compelled to go.

It was after this third week of meetings that Eric started becoming aware that something was off. He had asked Grace how it was and what she thought of it. All he ever got was vague answers of it was fine.

Eric’s growing concern for Grace and suspicion of Father Gabriel lead him to begin an investigation of the Father.

On this Thursday night in late July Detective Eric Stone decided to follow Grace to St. Anthony’s. He made his way around to the back of the Church and found a window that looked into the basement rec room.

Grace was sitting in the one yellow school chair placed in the center of the room. Father Gabriel walked towards her and knelled down in front of her. He slid her shoes off and caressed her bare feet. He started talking to her. Eric couldn’t hear what was being said but it appeared to him that the Father was hypnotizing Grace.

Father Gabriel arose and walked over to the podium and took out a Polaroid camera. He addressed Grace, she stood up and removed her shirt and jeans.

Then she just stood there in her purple lace bra and panties. Eric then noticed a second woman standing next to the piano also only wearing a bra and panties.

Eric watched as this woman approached Grace and started kissing her. Meanwhile Father Gabriel had started taking pictures of the two women making out.

“What the fuck did you get yourself into Grace,” Eric mumbled to himself.

Eric turned over the clock on the nightstand read 1 am he got up, dressed and drove to the church. He managed to unlatch a basement window, he dropped down into the basement. Eric searched for the Polaroids that Father Gabriel had taken.

After not finding anything in the basement, he made his way upstairs to the Father’s office. There in the bottom right-hand drawer was a shoe box full of Polaroids. Eric flipped through the photos, under the Polaroids were three disks, Eric put them in his jacket pocket, he took the box and left.

Eric sat in front of his laptop watching the disks he had found. They were Father Gabriel’s home movies. Featuring Sister Bernadette, Grace and Father Gabriel. Eric decided that Grace didn’t need to know about the home movies.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grace awoke to the smell of bacon and coffee.

“What’s up?” she asked as she took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Morning, eat,” Eric said as he put a plate down in front of her and kissed her on the head.

Grace ate, then asked again, “What is up?”

Eric took out the shoe box, sat it on the table, took Grace’s hand and explained what he had found.

Grace looked at the photos.

“What the fuck, I don’t remember doing any of this,” she said. Grace looked at Eric.

“What do we do now?” she asked. Eric smiled at her, he leaned over and kissed her.

Eric entered Father Gabriel’s bedroom at 3 am he quickly duct taped the Father’s wrists and ankles together. Then he taped his mouth shut.

Father Gabriel awoke in a panic, Eric held him down.

“You brought this on yourself,” Eric told him.

Eric took Father Gabriel into the church’s kitchen and sat him on a chair placed in the walk-in fridge. While Eric was taping the Father’s legs to the yellow school chair, Grace was pulling knives out of the utensil drawer and laying them out across the counter.

“So Father, any last words?” Grace pulled the tape from his mouth.

“Don’t do this Grace, I beg you,” Father Gabriel pleaded.

“You know Father, when I sleep with people, it’s consensual,” Grace said picking up a knife and standing in front of Father Gabriel.

Eric watched as Grace slid the knife across Father Gabriel’s thigh.

“Fuck Grace,” Father Gabriel yelled.

“Anything you want to confess Father?” Eric asked.

Father Gabriel shook his head. Grace looked at Eric.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you too,” he said. She kissed him.

Grace moved to stand behind Father Gabriel, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered,

“All you had to do was ask,” she pulled the knife across his neck letting it slice in deeply. Blood poured from his neck and he slumped over.

 

Absolution

Sister Bernadette was born Marie Ann Riggs of Iowa, an everyday ordinary average looking  girl, with dark brown shoulder length hair and green eyes. The only child of Joseph and Clara Riggs.  Her parents were kind, hard working individuals that knew early on that Marie was not a happy child. She was quite, shy and kept to herself.  When she turned 18 and announced to her parents that she would be joining a convent to take her vows, her parents were relieved that she had found her calling. They wished her well and let her go on her way.

Now named Sister Bernadette she found herself at St. Anthony’s, a small church with just herself and Father Gabriel inhabiting the grounds. Sister Bernadette was taken with Father Gabriel as soon as she laid eyes on him, a good looking man, clean-shaven, with short dark hair and even darker eyes, that just sucked her in. She was completely obedient to him, from the beginning.

Sister Bernadette sat straight up out of a deep sleep.

“What was that?” she strained to hear.

She got out of bed, sliding her bare feet into her slippers, grabbing her robe and slowly opened the door. The hallway was dimly lit by a nightlight shaped like a cross. She could have sworn there was a noise from Father Gabriel’s room.

Sister Bernadette made her way down the hallway, the door to Father Gabriel’s room was open.

“It’s never open at night,” she said to herself.

She peered in, his bed was empty. She took the back stairs down to the kitchen. As she reached the last step the kitchen light came on, she froze and watched as Eric carried Father Gabriel with his hands and ankles bound with duct tape into the walk-in fridge.

She listened, as Grace threatened Father Gabriel. When he yelled out, she covered her mouth to muffle a cry. After Grace and Eric had left, she crept towards the walk-in.

She stood looking at Father Gabriel taped to the yellow school chair, drenched in his blood, slumped over. She wanted to scream, but her voice was caught in her throat and no sound emerged.

Sister Bernadette fell to her knees in the walk-in fridge, moving her hands in the sign of the cross and mumbling prayers to herself.

Then there was a voice, she stopped praying and listened. The voice spoke to her, telling her what she needed to do now.

“Look at what they have done,” It said.

“You have to put him to rest,” It told her.

She knew what had to be done, Sister Bernadette obeyed the voice in her head. She worked quickly gathering sheets, garbage bags and the wheelbarrow from the gardening shed.

She wrapped him in sheets, covered him with the garbage bags and put him into the wheelbarrow. She scrubbed the walk-in and the yellow school chair, putting it back in the stack downstairs next to the piano in the rec room.

Sister Bernadette then wheeled Father Gabriel’s body out to the garden, she dug a shallow grave between the corn stalks and the zucchini. She dumped him in, covered him up and said a prayer. She took two small pieces of wood along with a piece of twine that she had found in the gardening shed and fashioned a small cross to mark his grave.

She stood in the laundry room taking off her robe, nightgown and slippers. She put them into the washer, added soap and started the cycle. She wandered back upstairs to the bathroom naked.

Sister Bernadette let the hot water wash away the dirt and blood. As she washed she listened to the voice.

“You have to punish them,” It said.

She let out a deep sigh, she thought about Father Gabriel and how she already missed him.

Sister Bernadette dressed in street clothes, she took out of the lost and found and headed out to find Eric and Grace. She spent the day wandering around downtown, she stopped by the deli across from the downtown police station and had a turkey sandwich. While she was enjoying her lunch outside in the warm summer sun she happened to see Detective Eric Stone leaving the station with a coworker.

“What a small world it is,” she said to herself.

She spent the next few days watching Eric and figuring out where and when she would confront him.

It was half past four on Saturday when there was a knock on Eric’s downtown apartment door.

He answered the door.

“Hello, may I help you,” Eric asked.

“I am Sister Bernadette, from St. Anthony’s. Can I talk to you?” she said.

Eric looked her over and realized that he did know her from Father Gabriel’s photos.

“Sure, come in,” he said holding the door open for her.

They entered Eric’s apartment and took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Would you like a water?” Eric asked. Sister Bernadette nodded Eric grabbed them each a bottle from the fridge.

“So what’s on your mind?” he asked.

“Where’s Grace?” she asked.

“She’ll be back soon,”

“You, know what Father Gabriel did to Grace, and to me?”

“Yes, I do,” Eric opened his water and took a drink.

The door to the apartment opened and as Grace entered the apartment, Sister Bernadette jumped out of her seat, pulled out the knife she was carrying and put it to Eric’s throat.

“Welcome home Grace,” she said.

Grace took all this in as she sat the bag of groceries down. Eric still sitting at the table, Sister Bernadette’s shaking hand pushing the blade slightly into Eric’s neck.

“Take a seat Grace,” she said.

Grace slowly sat down at the table watching Eric’s calm face. She took a deep breath.

“Sister Bernadette? That’s your name right?” Grace asked.

“Why, did you have to kill him, Grace why?” she cried out.

“Why, seriously, because he was manipulating people into performing sexual acts without their consent,”

Sister Bernadette’s hand shook more, her face was red and she couldn’t keep the tears from falling. Grace watched her become confused and conflicted.

The voice was still there telling her to punish them for taking Father Gabriel.

Grace looked at Eric, as she moved to grab Sister Bernadette, Eric grabbed the knife. Grace held her in a tight hug. Taking her over to the couch and sitting down with her.

“What was your name before?” Grace asked.

Sister Bernadette looked at her slightly confused.

“Marie,” she answered. Grace smiled at her.

“That’s a nice name, do you want to be Marie again?”

“Yes, please call me Marie,” she answered starting to cry harder, Grace held her as she cried and apologize.

Eric pulled out a bottle of Jack and poured three glasses. He handed one to Grace, and sat on the couch next to Marie. He rubbed her back, she turned towards him, he handed her the drink.

“Thanks,” she downed the drink.

“I am so sorry,” she said giving Eric a hug. Eric hugged her back.

Eric poured them another round. Eric and Grace talked to Marie, asking about her family and why she chose to join the church.

Grace kept telling her that it was over, that she could do whatever she wanted to. She could stay here with them for a while till she decided what she wanted. Eric offered that she could talk to a counselor if she wanted.

“It’s ok that I stay with you,” she asked Grace.

Grace kissed her on the forehead and smiled at her.

“Yes, it’s fine,”

Marie stayed with Grace and Eric, she saw a counselor twice a week and was reclaiming herself. Pushing Sister Bernadette further and further away, as she became a new Marie.

It was around September when Marie asked Grace, if she could join her and Eric in bed. Grace was slightly surprised by this request, but open to it, they had all gotten comfort with each other over the last three months.

Grace ran this request by Eric, and he agreed.

 

Good Night Grace

Eric was already in bed, when Marie entered the bedroom.

“Are you sure about this,” she asked.

“It will be fine,” Grace said as she placed her hands on her shoulders and led Marie over to the bed.

Grace knelled down behind Marie and ran her hands up Marie’s legs, under her night shirt and pulled down her white cotton panties.

“You won’t be needing these,” she said and tossed them in the hamper next to the door. Marie’s cheeks turn red. Eric smiled at her, pulled back the sheet that was covering him and patted the bed.

Marie joined him on the bed. She sat next to him, he put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. Then he placed his hand on her thigh, and slowly rubbed his thumb back and forth.

“Comfortable?” Eric asked.

Marie nodded, she leaned closer to him, he gently kissed her lips. Then she parted her lips and he slid his tongue into her mouth, she eagerly sucked on his tongue, kissing him back.

Marie let out a moan as Eric rubbed her breasts, gently pinching her nipple. Grace undressed and laid next to Eric’s legs, she ran her hands over his crotch, rubbing against his cock. She slid her fingers into the waistband of his lounge pants and pulled them off in one fluid movement. Grace made herself comfortable between Eric’s legs and begin, stroking his cock.

Eric moaned and helped Marie off with her night shirt, he moved down and took her firm breast into his mouth, sucking on her nipple. While thumbing and squeezing the other breast. Maria watched as Grace worked Eric’s cock, sliding her hands up and down, and licking from the base to the tip of his shaft.

Marie felt herself becoming more aroused, watching Grace suck Eric’s now hard cock, as Eric’s hand had now found its way between Marie’s legs. He was rubbing her clit, and sliding his fingers in and out of her now wet pussy.

“Grace, please,” Marie asked.

Grace stopped and sat up, “Please what?”

“Please let me,” she said getting flustered.

Grace smiled at her, “Please let you what?”

“Please let me fuck Eric,” she spouted out all in one breath.

Grace couldn’t help but laugh, Eric started laughing and then Marie found herself giggling along with them.

Grace moved towards Marie and kissed her on the lips.

“Yes,”

They re-positioned themselves, Eric laid flat on his back in the middle of the bed, Marie straddles his hips and Grace helps by taking Eric’s cock and rubs it along Marie’s pussy. Then Marie slowly sinks down onto his cock, taking in the incredible sensations she is feeling. How he is pushing into her and she is stretching to accommodate his thick, hard cock. Marie moves her hips back and forth, grinding her clit along Eric’s cock.

Grace kisses Marie and then moves down to kiss Eric. Eric grabs the back of Grace’s neck and thrusts his tongue into her mouth kissing her deeply. He is enjoying how wet and tight Marie is.

Grace starts rubbing her pussy, while watching Marie fuck Eric, she fingers her clit sending shivers of excitement up and down her spine. Then she slides her fingers into her wet pussy making herself come. As Marie is now riding Eric’s cock, he grabs her hips and thrusts himself into her, Marie screams out.

Eric moves Marie off of him and turns her over onto her stomach, he pulls her hips up so that she is now on her hands and knees. He leans down and licks her dripping pussy. Grace moves in front of Marie and spreads her legs, Marie smiles at Grace and lowers herself down between Grace’s legs. Marie starts licking and tasting Grace, sliding her tongue into her pussy.

Eric watches while Marie eats out Grace, then he slides his cock back into Marie’s pussy, slamming himself hard into her. He grabs her hips, watching Grace and fucks her, till she screams. Eric thrusts hard into her and comes deep in Marie.

Marie collapses on the bed, Eric moves over to Grace and kisses her.

“Good?” Grace asks Eric.

“Good,” he answers.

~ ~ ~ ~

Marie gets ready as usual to attend her counselling sessions to help her understand that what Father Gabriel was doing was wrong. But today just like the last three weeks she gets on bus 45 west instead of bus 23 south. The first time she did this, she just considered it a mistake. But now it has become a habit, she takes bus 45 west to the city park, she gets off the bus and sits on a bench staring out into the park.

Marie thinks she knows what’s going on, she can’t quite hear the voice yet, but she knows it’s there, whispering to her.

But today as she takes her seat on the bench, she closes her eyes and it’s there, no longer whispering.

“You know what must be done,” it says to her.

She opens her eyes and gazes out into the park.

“They are using you,” the voice echoes in her head.

“They must be punished,” it says.

Marie nods her head in agreement, she stands up and walks silently back to the bus stop.

Marie let’s herself into Eric’s apartment.

“Is that you Grace?” he calls from the bedroom.

“No, it’s just me,” Marie answers.

“You’re home early, how’s it going?”

Marie picks up a kitchen knife and walks towards the bedroom. She silently enters the bedroom, Eric is standing in front of the dresser. Marie doesn’t hesitate she moves behind him and runs the knife along his throat. Eric gasps for air, grabbing at his severed neck and falls to the floor. Marie watches as the blood pools around his body.

“Now for her,” the voice commands.

Marie waits standing in the bedroom with Eric’s lifeless body on the floor. She hears Grace open the door to the apartment.

“Anyone home?” she asks.

“We’re back here,” Marie answers.

Grace puts down her things and walks back to the bedroom. She enters the room, sees Eric’s body and starts to head for the door. Marie slams the door shut, grabs Grace from behind and hold the knife to her throat.

“Do you see what you made me do?” Marie asks.

“Why?” Grace asks trying to hold back tears.

“Because you took him away from me,” she screeched.

“Who, Father Gabriel?” Grace asked.

“Yes, good night Grace,” Marie pulled the knife along Grace’s neck spraying blood across the bedroom. Grace’s body fell to the floor.

Marie went into the bathroom, she undressed and stepped into the shower. As she washed she listened to the voice.

“Good girl,” it said.

“Now we can go home,”

Marie packed her things and left the apartment. She went to the Greyhound station and boarded a bus to Iowa.
The End

Consequence

Three Days

The Call (Wednesday Night)

Jane’s phone rang, she looked at the incoming call: Charlie.

“Fuck! Only one reason for him to call,”

She took a deep breath and answered the phone.

There is only one reason for someone that hasn’t seen or spoken to you in over 20 yrs to call at night out of the blue. Someone has died.

Charlie is Jane’s younger brother, the middle child. The one who pushed the boundaries and broke the rules, but who was never punished. Unlike Jane, who was the oldest and only daughter. Who was given the responsibilities of starting dinner, helping her two younger brothers with their homework, and daily chores.

A constant loop of ‘get up go to school, come home do chores, eat dinner, go to bed.’ Rinse and repeat. Which she did. She followed the rules, did what was asked of her, gave lip-service. A regular people pleaser. Till she hit her breaking point.

After moving back home from spending a semester living in the dorms on campus. She was told by her mother that there was no reason for her, a 20 year old, to be going out at 9 pm on a Thursday night with her friends. Jane needed to get away and live her own life. She was tired of feeling suffocated, trapped, and used being in her mother’s house.

Jane left, she got as far away as she could and never looked back. Charlie was always trying to get away from the family. He ended up coming home, settling down and stayed. He married a woman 10 years older than him. He took an office job, and in Jane’s opinion was now chained to a desk and responsibility for life.

“Hey Charlie,” Jane said.

“Jane, mom’s gone,” Charlie said. Jane let out a sigh: maybe now she’s at peace with everything..

Arrangements were made. There would be a ticket home waiting at the airport for Jane.

Thursday Morning

Jane packed a bag and got on the plane. She was meet at the airport by Charlie, LeAnn his wife and their two girls. Jane was as polite as she could be, to get through this, the only upside would be getting to see her old friends from school.

They pulled up to the two story house tucked away in the woods and out of town. Scattered toys in the yard, along with a variety of flowers and plants all along the deck. Mom liked her flowers, Jane thought.

When Jane entered she was caught by surprise by the amount of stuff in the little house. It was packed wall to wall with furniture. An easy chair covered with a dark blue sheet tucked in as a makeshift slipcover, a full size couch with an over-sized purple and blue flower pattern on it. End tables with lamps and plants on them, scattered throughout the living room. Along with stacks of magazines, newspapers, books and boxes of various shapes and sizes.

“Mom had become quite the pack rat,” Jane said.

LeAnn gave here a look. That look of well if you had been around you would have known.

“Mom’s had a hard time since Paul, died,” Charlie said.

Paul was Jane’s youngest brother, he had gotten sick when he was 15 years old. He passed away shortly after finding out that he had cancer. Jane understands that losing a child is a devastating thing, but there is always help out there. All Jane’s mother would have had to do was ask for it. Instead, the people around her–LeAnn, Charlie, and her everyday friends–just let her slip away into her own world of delusions.

Thursday Night

Jane borrowed her mom’s car, and stopped by her friend Kate’s place of work.

“Surprise!” Jane walked into the office, holding out a bottle of Crown Royal.

“Yay, and yes, I get off in 10 mins,” Kate smiled at Jane.

They drove out to Kate’s house, a quaint cabin out in the woods, set away from the world. They ate and enjoyed the Crown Royal.

“Mind if I stay the night out here with you?” Jane handed Kate another drink.

“Not at all,” Kate said.

They talked, laughed, drank, and enjoyed hanging out. After the food was gone and the bottle of Crown was empty, they lay down on Kate’s bed. Jane propped herself up on one arm and leaned over towards Kate. She leaned in and kissed Kate on the lips, she moved back to see what the reaction would be. To her surprise Kate sat up, put her hand on the back of Jane’s neck and kissed her back.

“Always wondered what that would be like,” Kate said and turned over. Jane smiled laid down and went to sleep.

Friday Morning

Jane had to meet with LeAnn and Charlie at an attorney’s office, to go over assets, debts, life insurance, and the will. Jane showed wearing sunglasses and a ‘why am I even bothering’ kind of look. Her mother had written her off years ago. As Jane figured, everything had been left to LeAnn and Charlie.

“Well, look at that: no big surprise there. Why am I even here?” Jane said, getting up to leave the attorney’s office.

“Because she was your mother, and you owe her to at least be here,” LeAnn chimed in.

“I don’t owe her anything. She replaced me with you years ago,” Jane said, and left.

Friday Night

Jane checked into a hotel, and made a phone call. There was a knock at the hotel door. Jane answered it.

“Did you bring it?” she asked.

James, a former lover from Jane’s college days, held up a bottle of Jack and a pack of cigarettes. Jane let him in.

They caught up on small talk while Jane lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled.

“Much better now, thank you,” she moved over to where James was sitting on the edge of the bed. She leaned in and kissed him.

Jane undressed and lay down on the bed. James leaned towards her, kissing her. He caressed her breast, taking her nipple into his mouth and sucked. He ran his hands down her body. Parting her legs, then re-positioned himself so he could first kiss, then lick Jane’s pussy. He sucked on her clit, making her moan. He slid his tongue deeper into her, making her wet.

James moved off of the bed, undressed, then came back to bed and lay over her. Sliding his hard, thick cock into her wet pussy. Jane sighed, and sat up to kiss him. She slid her tongue into his mouth. She could taste herself on his lips. He continued thrusting into her, moving faster and harder.

“Yes, please. Fuck me, harder,” she yelled out as she pushed against him.

James moved off of her, and flipped her over onto her stomach. She got up on her hands and knees. He moved behind her, and slid his cock deep inside of her. Fucking her hard and fast, until they came together, they collapsed on the bed.

Jane sat up, lit a cigarette, then took a drink from the bottle of Jack. She handed the bottle to James.

“So, worth it?” she asked. James took a drink and smiled.

“Yes, you are well worth it,” James moved over and kissed her.

“I am sure you wife wouldn’t agree,” Jane took another shot of Jack.

Saturday

Jane attended her mother’s funeral. Full of memories and thoughts of how it used to be and what it was now. She loved her mother, as anyone does. She thanked her for giving her life and trying her best. As an adult Jane came to the realization that she didn’t like her mother as a person.

She got up in front of the funeral attendees and said her peace.

“I loved my mother. I sincerely hope that she is now at peace. Although, I did not like the kind of person she was. She lost out on knowing me as an adult, because she couldn’t let go of the past and move on to a better future. We need to cherish those we have lost in life, not get lost within our own lives without them. And to LeAnn, you win; you’re the daughter she deserved, obedient to the end,” Jane held up her drink, toasted and downed it.

Jane made her rounds, thanking friends and acquaintances that showed up to say their condolences. Then she hit the bar. She was about to down her third shot of Jack when a familiar voice spoke up behind her.

“Hey, Jane,” Casey said.

“Hi,” Jane said and gave him a hug.

“It’s good to see you; thanks for coming,” she said. Casey was down to earth, with a good job and an ever growing family.

“So you ready to get out of here, and go to the real party?” he asked.

“Hell yes,” she answered.

Saturday Night

Everyone from Jane’s past who was still around came out to Casey’s. There was food, beer, and a big bonfire. Casey’s little piece of heaven was out away from town, with plenty of room for friends to come and hang out.

Jane drank, smoked, and enjoyed talking to everyone that she hadn’t seen in forever.

“So, we good?” Jane asked Kate as the night was winding down.

“Ya, we’re good,” Kate said, and kissed Jane on the cheek.

As the night was coming to an end, Casey gave Jane a surprise.

“Guess who’s here?” he asked her.

“Who?” Jane asked, Casey brought Richard into the room.

“Your chaperon home,” he said. Jane stuck her tongue out at Casey, and smiled at Richard.

“I don’t need a chaperon to get home,” she said.

“Yes, you do. We want to make sure you get home in one piece,” Casey said. Jane let out a sigh, and downed another shot of Jack.

“Fine, it will be fun,” she said, giving Richard a wink.

Sunday Morning

Casey drove Richard and Jane to the airport. Hugs and kisses given, and goodbyes said.

As Jane was getting comfortable in her seat, she asked Richard a question.

“So, any hope of visiting the mile high club today?” she smiled.

“No, not this time,” he answered and took her hand.

“Try to relax and sleep,” he said. She put her head on his shoulder, and rested her eyes. It had been an exhausting three days.

After they had landed, and gathered the bags, Richard and Jane were sitting in Richard’s truck in the underground parking lot at the airport.

“Before we go back to reality, can I make one more inappropriate request?” Jane asked, Richard smiled at her.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“Are you up for a blow job?” Jane smiled. Richard moved his arms and leaned back.

“I wouldn’t say no.” He smiled.

She moved towards him, kissed him, then moved down and unfastened his jeans. She ran her hand up and down his shaft making him hard. She slid the tip into her mouth, licking and sucking. She took his cock deep into her throat and sucked, making him moan. She sucked harder, until she could taste his cum, could feel it hit the back of her throat. She swallowed, then sat back up, licking her lips. Before giving Richard a deep kiss on the mouth.

“Guess you can take me home now. If you want,” she said.

“Or what?” Richard asked. Jane grinned.

“The world is full of possibilities,” she answered.

 

Deadly Ambition

Shane found his thirst for doing the unspeakable during his young adult life. His first was Heather. She was a adventurous active young woman with an open mind when it came to Shane. She let him tie her up even smack her around a little. Heather enjoyed the tingles of pleasure mixed with the stinging pain.

On this particular night Heather was laying on the bed naked with her hands tied behind her back. Shane flipped her over onto her back and straddled her hips, he leaned down over her and kissed her. He rubbed her breasts and caressed her neck.

Shane’s grip tightened around her slim neck, he could feel her heart racing under his hands. He spread her legs apart with his knees and slid his erect cock into her.

As her lips turned blue and her breath ceased Shane came deep in her. Watching her eyes glaze over and go dark.

~ ~ ~ ~

Shane was tall, and skinny with shaggy brown hair. He was a C average student in High School, who managed to graduate despite missing a far amount of school days. His parents Dave and Shelly Henderson were career driven individuals.

Dave Henderson owned a Ford dealership on the outskirts of town. He did ok for himself despite being over stressed. He kept a bottle of Jack in the bottom desk drawer, that came out many days before lunch, along with his two pack a day habit of Winston’s. Shelly was in real estate she loved showing houses and selling people on the American dream. They loved their son, and felt that he was doing fine.

After graduation Dave gave his son a choice, either go to college and live at home or move out and get a job. Shane choose to take a job in a warehouse loading trucks for Everyday Foods. It kept him busy, and gave him enough money to afford his studio apartment, located a few blocks from the warehouse, most days he skateboarded to work. He had an older white Chevy van that he used to move things for people, to make cash on the side.

Shane worked with a guy named Tommy, a stocky, short guy that had a short fuse when frustrated. Of which Shane had witnessed on more than one occasion, during his time working with him.

“My cousin is moving, on Saturday,” Tommy announced out of the blue during break on Thursday morning.

“OK, why do I need to know this?” Shane asked.

“He wants to know if you want to make a few bucks, helping move with your van,”

“Sure, have him give me a call on Saturday,”

After helping Tommy’s cousin move, Shane went out to grab a bite to eat and relax. Since he was out of town, he drove out Route 18 for a bit. Till came upon a roadhouse called The Backdoor.

He parked his van in the dirt parking lot and headed inside, it was loud and crowded. Shane took a seat at the bar, ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a beer. He ate drank and relaxed, not really paying attention to anything in particular.

“Can I buy you another,” a woman sitting next to him asked, pointing to the empty bottle.

Slightly surprised Shane said “Sure, why not,” he smiled at her.

“I’m Heather,” she put out her hand.

“Shane,” he shook her hand.

Heather was a tall, pretty brunette, with deep green eyes and an inviting smile. They talked casually about life after school and future plans.

“So do you live in Overland?” Heather asked.

“Nope, just passing through,” Shane answered, finishing off his beer.

“Are you up for some fun, or do you need to get back?” she asked.

“Depends on what you consider fun,”

“Follow me, and I’ll show you,” she smiled, paying and heading for the door. Shane followed.

Heather stopped Shane in front of his van slid her arms around him and kissed him.

Heather got into her car and started driving down route 18, back towards Overland.

She pulled into a motel next to an Everyday Foods store. Shane parked his van, got out and joined her in front of room 7.

Heather unlocked the door and entered the room, it was your typical shabby $40 a night room. One queen size bed, with rust colored bedspread complete with a mysterious stain. A night stand, with a brass lamp, a pair of chairs around a small table, a t.v. with an over-sized mirror behind it attached to a chest of drawers.

“Quaint,” Shane said.

“It will do,” Heather said as she pulled the heavy gold curtains over the picture window.

She pulled the bedspread off and dropped it on the floor.

“At least the sheets are clean,” she smiled at Shane.

Heather stripped and laid out on the bed.

“Nice,” Shane commented as he shed his clothes and joined her.

Shane ran his hands along her body, taking her hard nipple into his mouth and sucking. She let out a moan. He moved down kissing his way to her pussy.

He spread her legs and started licking and sucking on her clit. She pushed  against him and ran her fingers through his hair as he thoroughly enjoyed her.

Shane moved up and kissed her as she rubbed his cock. She leaned over and took him into her mouth, sucking gently at first then letting him slide deeper.

He arched his back, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her off of him. He flipped her over onto her stomach, pulled her hips up, so that she was on her hands and knees. He rubbed her ass, smack, the sound hung in the air. Heather’s​ mouth hung open but no sound emerged.

Shane pushed his cock deep into her ass.

“Fuck,” she yelled out and pushed back.

He thrusted into her, fucking her, faster and harder. Till he came deep in her.

Shane collapse on the bed, Heather moved towards him. She slid her tongue into his mouth and kissed him. He kissed her back.

~ ~ ~ ~

A few weeks later there was a knock at Shane’s door, it was​ Heather.

 

Naked Yoga

Richard walked into the living room.

“What are you doing?” he asked Jane.

“Naked Yoga,” she answered as she bent forward from the waist and placed her hands on the floor.

Richard stood and watched, as Jane–with her petite frame, lean legs, and nice chest–bent, stretched, and twisted around on her yoga mat.

He made his way into the kitchen, took out the milk container, which was almost empty, and added a squeeze of chocolate syrup. He put the cap on and shook the milk jug.

Jane glared at him, from the living room.

“Put milk on the list,” she said. Richard turned took the pen off the counter and wrote ‘milk’ on the list that was hanging on the fridge.

He then drank the now chocolate milk from the jug, while watching Jane showcase her yoga skills.

Richard and Jane had been living together for about three months. Ever since Richard escorted Jane home from her mother’s funeral.

As Richard watched Jane he thought about just going over to her and having his way with her. He could feel his cock getting hard at the thought. He finished off the milk and wandered back into the living room.

She was sitting with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. He sat down on the floor in front of her. He moved in, and kissed her neck. She didn’t move, so he rubbed his hand along her exposed breast.

She opened her eyes, and gave him a grin. He proceeded to pinch her nipple, making it hard, then leaned in just enough to take her erect nipple into his mouth and suck on it. She let out a moan.

Richard gently pushed her over, onto her back. He continued to rub her breasts as he kissed his way down her stomach, and spread her legs. His lips brushed the inside of her thigh, slowly moving his thumb over her pussy, rubbing her clit.

He sucked softly on her clit, making her wet. She reached down and pushed him further into her.

He slid his tongue deeper, tasting her. He slid his fingers into her, thrusting them in and out.

She moaned, ran her hand down to her pussy, and rubbed her clit. Richard’s cock was so hard it throbbed against his jeans.

He moved back from her, took off his shirt and lay on the floor next to her. Jane sat up. She unbuttoned, unzipped, and removed Richard’s jeans, along with his boxers.

She stroked his cock, running her hand up and down his hard shaft. She leaned over, sliding it into her mouth, lightly sucking. he let out a moan, and grabbed her by her hair.

She sucked harder, letting his cock slide deeper into her mouth, then sliding it almost all the way out of her as she licked the tip, tasting him.

She straddled his hips and rubbed his cock against her pussy, letting him slid in just a little then pulled him out.

“Fuck, quit teasing, Jane,” he said. She smiled at him, leaned in, and kissed him.

She sat upright, letting her pussy sink down onto his cock. Jane leaned back. Richard grabbed her breasts, and squeezed. She let out a moan.

She moved her hips back and forth, faster and harder, until she came. He grabbed her hips, arched his back, and came deep in her. She got up, kissed him, and headed to the shower.

~ ~ ~ ~

“So, I have a friend that would like to join us,” Jane said while they were eating dinner.

Richard looked at her, swallowed the bite of chicken he had just taken, and cleared his throat.

“I am game,”

“Is tonight ok?”

“It’s fine,” Richard said, smiling at her.

It was a quarter past eight when there was a knock on the door. Jane answered it.

“Come in! Good to see you.” Jane led the pretty, blue eyed, long-legged blonde into the living room.

“Richard, this is Beth. Beth, this is Richard,” Jane said. Beth shook Richard’s hand, and smiled.

Jane pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured three glasses.

Jane sat next to Beth on the couch, Beth’s erect nipples showed through her white tee-shirt. Jane put her hand on Beth’s bare leg and rubbed her thigh.

Beth looked over at Richard sitting in the easy chair and leaned in to kiss Jane. As she slid her tongue into Jane’s awaiting mouth, she could hear Richard let out a moan. Beth caressed Jane’s breast through her shirt as she continued to suck on her tongue.

Richard watched as Jane and Beth kissed and groped each other, he finished off his drink, stood up and walked over to the couch. He stood in front of Beth, he grabbed her by the ponytail and pulled her head back he leaned over and kissed her deeply. He let go of her and undressed.

Beth stroked his cock, taking it into her mouth and sucking eagerly. Jane stood up removing her shirt, bra, jeans and panties. She kissed Richard, running her hands along his shoulders and neck, kissing his bare chest.

Richard kissed Jane deeply grabbing the back of her neck and sucking on her tongue, while Beth was taking his cock deeper into her mouth.

Beth leaned back on the couch, Richard dropped to his knees in front of her, he ran his hands up her thighs, under her skirt and pulled off her white lace panties.

Jane helped Beth remove her shirt and bra tossing them to the floor. Jane leaned in and took Beth’s erect nipple into her mouth and sucked.

Richard moved in-between Beth’s legs and slipped his tongue into her pussy. Beth pushed back and moaned enjoying Richard’s tongue licking and sucking at her clit, along with Jane’s sucking and nibbling on her nipple. Beth couldn’t help herself and started to come as Richard ate her out.

Richard enjoyed tasting Beth he moved back from her and Jane leaned into Richard, licking Beth’s cum off his mouth.

Jane got up and poured another round of drinks.

“I think it’s time to move this party into the bedroom,” she said.

Jane took Beth by the hand and lead her down the hall. Richard finished off his drink and followed them.

Jane turned on the lamp, pulled off the bedspread and dropped it on the floor.

“That’s better,” she said. Beth laid down in the center of the king-sized bed.

Jane lowered herself in-between Beth’s legs, and licked Beth’s wet pussy. Richard watched from the doorway, stroking his hard throbbing cock. He moved in behind Jane and pulled her up on to her knees. He rubbed his cock along her pussy and then slapped her on the ass.
“Fuck!” Jane yelled.

Jane went back to eating Beth out, Richard slid his cock into Jane’s ass. Jane moaned and Richard moved deeper into her. Beth rubbed her clit as Jane’s tongue slid deep into her pussy.

Beth moaned and arched her back and came as she watched Richard slide in and out of Jane’s ass. Richard thrust faster and harder, while staring at Beth’s blue eyes, his body shuddered as he came. Jane pushed back against him, then collapsed on the bed.

Beth got up, went down the hall and into the bathroom. Richard sat on the bed next to the nightstand and lit a cigarette. Jane smiled at him, he handed her the cigarette she took a drag, and handed it back. Richard finished his cigarette, picked up the bedspread from the floor and laid it over Jane.

He went down the hall and into the bathroom. Beth was enjoying the hot water when Richard joined her in the shower.

He slid his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck. Beth turned and faced him, she kissed him deeply.

“Is she asleep?” she asked.

“Yep,” he answered.

Beth had been dancing at The Royal Flesh for almost a year before she meet Richard. They was an instant attraction between them.

It was a casual affair that had gone on for almost a year, then Richard was asked to escort Jane home from her mother’s funeral. Jane was fun Richard enjoyed her, but he loved Beth, and Jane had no interest in moving on.

Jane awoke to the aroma of coffee and bacon, she got up showered and dressed.

“Smells good,” she said as she joined Richard and Beth for breakfast.

“So where did you two meet?” Richard asked as he handed her a plate Jane smiled.

“Yoga class,” Jane answered smiling at Beth.

They ate and made conversation.

“Do you mind if I hang out with you today?” Beth asked, she looked at Jane, Jane looked at Richard.

“Fine with me,” he answered and took another bite of his eggs.

After breakfast Richard went out to run errands, Jane and Beth curled up on the couch together to watch a movie. When Richard returned they were both asleep.

When Jane woke from her nap she found that there was pizza, beer, whiskey and wine all laid out on the table.

“We having a party?” she asked looking at Richard.

“Sorta, I invited a friend over,” Beth said she handed Jane a drink.

“It will be fun, you’ll see,” Beth kissed Jane, slipping a pill into Jane’s mouth.

“Swallow,” Beth said Jane swallowed.

At half past six there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” Beth said she answered the door, a tall, skinny guy with shaggy brown hair and dark eyes came in.

“Jane, Richard this is Shane,” Beth said, Richard handed him a beer.

They ate, talked and drank. Beth and Jane finished off the bottle of wine. Richard poured four glasses of whiskey and handed them out.

“Cheers, now for the fun,” Richard toasted and downed his drink.

Richard took Jane’s hand and headed down the hall to the bedroom. Beth got up from the table, grabbed Shane’s hand and followed.

Richard stood in front of Jane and kissed her deeply, he took off her shirt and pulled off her pants. Shane stood behind her and kissed her neck.

Beth watched as they kissed and groped Jane’s body. Shane undid her bra and Richard took off her panties.

Richard undressed and laid on the bed, Jane moved on top of him, rubbing his cock along her pussy. Richard grabbed her hips and slid his cock into her.

Beth approached Shane kissing him and taking off his shirt. He unbuttoned his jeans, Beth pulled them off. He took off his boxers and Beth dropped to her knees taking his cock into her mouth and sucking.

Shane pulled Beth’s hair till she let go of his cock. She gave him a look, he moved past her and stood behind Jane. He pushed her forward and rubbed his cock along her ass.

Shane pushed into Jane’s ass.

“Fuck,” Jane screamed, Richard reached up grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her down to him.

“Just enjoy it,” he whispered to her, he kissed her and pushed harder into her.

Shane pushed deeper into her, making himself come in her ass as Richard thrust faster into her making her come with him.

Shane picked up his jeans, found his cigarettes and headed to the kitchen to get a drink.

Richard moved Jane, who was now passed out, off of him and sat up. Beth stood next to the nightstand picked up a cigarette, lit it, and handed it to Richard.

“Thanks,” he smiled at her.

Beth and Richard showered, dressed and got ready to leave Jane’s apartment.

Shane retrieved his black duffel bag from his van. Richard handed him an envelope, as they were leaving.

Shane sat in the easy chair smoking a cigarette and finishing off the bottle of whiskey, before attending to Jane.

Shane took his bag with him into the bedroom, he dropped it by the door, stripped and sat on the bed next to Jane.

She was laying across the bed on her stomach, he slowly ran his hands up the back of her legs and squeezed her ass. Jane moaned softly.

Shane moved his hands up her back, massaging her shoulders. She moved and turned over, he leaned down and slid his tongue into her mouth, kissed her deeply, while moving on top of her.

Shane looked into Jane’s green eyes, brushing her hair off her face. He moved her arms above her head and held her wrists with one hand. He caressed her breast with his other hand, and kissed her again.

He slid his cock into her and started thrusting, he let go of her wrists putting his hands around her neck. Shane started to squeeze.

Jane’s breath quickened as she clawed at his hands, he squeezed harder and fucked faster. He felt the pop from her neck under his hands, her arms went limp, her breath faded, he came in her as her eyes filled with tears, and everything went silent.

Shane wrapped her in the bedspread, cleaned up the apartment, put her in the back of his van and drove away.

 

Sweetie Pie

The air was warm and sticky in the club. Shane sat watching the girls dance, swinging their hips, and spinning around the pole. He downed his third shot of Jameson and was thirsting for something else.

It had been a hell of a week, work was chaotic with the bigwigs doing annual inspections and quality accountability reports. It all made Shane’s head hurt. He was just there to work a earn a paycheck.

A new girl came on stage, she was thin, wearing a blue halter top and a pair of denim short, shorts. She flung her shoulder length brunette hair from side to side as she spun around the pole.

“They must be hard up for talent these days,” A guy sitting next to Shane commented as he got up to leave.

Shane watched the new girl, who had been introduced as Sweetie Pie. Giving it her all, shimmy and shaking her non-existent breasts. Someone should put her out of her misery, he thought to himself.

As she exited the stage, Shane approached her. She was breathing hard, and sweat was running down the side of her face. Shane handed her a towel he had snached from behind the bar.

“Here,” he said as he handed her the towel.

“Thanks,” she said still trying to catch her breath.

“First time?”

“Yeah,”

Shane leaned in an whispered softly into her ear. She nodded in agreement as he moved back from her.

Shane let himself out of the side exit that led into the alley, behind The Royal Flesh. It was cooler outside, the alley was quiet, the small light above the doorway only illuminated the space in front of the door.

Sweetie Pie emerged from the doorway, dressed in a white tee-shirt with no bra and a short skirt with over-sized sunflowers printed on it. Shane took her by the wrist and pulled her over away from the door. He pushed her up against the wall, he kissed her, while running his hands up under her skirt.

He took a hold of her cotton panties and gave them a quick tug. The seams of her panties gave way as he pulled them off of her. He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, she dropped to her knees, and took his cock into her mouth. She sucked and licked working her hands up and down his shaft.

Shane enjoyed her efforts, but then pushed her off of his cock. He lifted her up, she hooked her legs around his hips. He slid his cock into her, thrusting himself deeply into her. He grabbed her breast, pinching her nipple through her tee-shirt, as he fucked her, hard and fast.

She held onto his shoulders, pushing herself back against the wall, gazing into his eyes. He caressed her neck, tighten his grip around her throat, he kept fucking her, watching as her breathing became labored, as he strangled her. He had both hands around her slim neck she was gasping for air, clawing at his arms. He came deep in her as she took her last breath and her body went limp.

Shane sat her down, she looked like a rag doll, slumped over against the wall. He buttoned and zipped up his jeans. Picked her up and carried her over to his van, where he put her in the back and covered her with a moving blanket.

 

Tommy’s Fuck Up

“Fuck!” Tommy yelled as the stack of boxes he was moving toppled over.

“You OK?” Shane asked helping Tommy stack the boxes back onto the pallet.

“Yeah, just distracted,”

“Anything you want to talk about?” Shane asked putting up the last box.

“Not really, but maybe later, do you want to go for a beer?”

“Sure, how about Lou’s after work?”

~ ~ ~ ~

“OK, what’s up?” Shane asked as he set two beers down, and took a seat.

Tommy took a sip of his beer.

“Well it’s like this, I picked up this redhead the other night. It was all cool in the beginning but then she just,” He took another drink.

“She what?” Shane asked, now slightly curious.

“She turned into a fucking psycho,”

Shane sat back and drank his beer.

“Do you want to elaborate on that?”

Tommy grinned and finished off his beer.

“Only if you want to get me another one,” He slid the empty mug towards Shane.

Shane returned with two more beers and two shots of Jameson. They downed the shots.

“OK, so elaborate,”

“Fine,” Tommy cleared his throat.

“She was cool in the beginning. Gave great head, was good in the sack. But then she did a thing,” Tommy took a drink of his beer.

Shane gave him a sideways look. “A thing?”

Tommy leaned over the table and spoke just above a whisper. “She was sucking my dick and she tried to put her finger up there,”

Shane held in a laugh.

“I jumped up and told her that’s an exit not an entrance,”

Shane broke out in a screaming laugh.

“I’m sorry, dude that’s just too funny,”

“Fuck you, she laughed too,” Tommy sat back and finished his beer.

“So what’s the problem?”

“I may have lost my temper…and done something that I need your help with,”

Shane finished off his beer.

“Where is she?”

~ ~ ~ ~

Samantha entered The Royal Flesh her friend Sweetie Pie was dancing tonight and she wanted to be there to cheer her on. Samantha took a seat towards the back of the club in one of the booths.

“Do you mind if I join you, it’s crowded tonight,” Samantha looked up to find a stocky, short guy asking her if he could take a seat. She smiled and he sat across from her.

“Thanks doll, I’m Tommy,” he extended his hand, she shook it.

“Samantha,”

They watch the dancers on the center stage, ordered a few drinks and made small talk. She found him strange but charming. Sweetie Pie took the stage, Samantha clapped for her.

“Why are you clapping she hasn’t done anything,”

“Because she’s my friend, and it’s very brave of her to be up there,”

Tommy shrugged and watch Sweetie Pie, struggle trying to move her hips in a seductive manner.

“Someone should put her out of her misery,” he said finishing off his drink.

Samantha scowled and finished her drink. She was going to get up when she saw Sweetie Pie going towards the back with a tall guy that was in need of a haircut.

“Weird,”

“What?” Tommy asked.

“She left with someone, dammit she was my ride home,”

“I can give you a lift,”

~ ~ ~ ~

Shane and Tommy entered Samantha’s apartment.

“She’s in the bedroom,” Tommy said pointing down the hallway.

Shane opened the bedroom door, a cat ran past him. He flipped on the overhead light.

“Fuck dude,”

The room was a mess, blood splattered across the dresser, her things scattered on the floor and Samantha naked, with her wrists and ankles tied together laying on the bed. Shane knelled on the bed and touched her neck. He closed his eyes and pushed harder up under her jawline. It was faint but it was there.

“Tommy you need to come and explain this,”

Tommy came to the bedroom doorway.

“Well, she was laughing at me so I struck her across the face, then she lunged at me and I pushed her back, that’s when she hit her head on the corner of the dresser,”

“Jesus Christ Tommy,”

“Is…is she dead?”

“Not yet, I need a drink,” Shane went to the kitchen, Tommy followed.

Shane found a bottle of Jack and lit a cigarette. He took a drink from the bottle and handed it to Tommy.

“There’s too much to try and clean up, we can make it look like a robbery gone bad,” Shane suggested.

“I can’t stay for this, if I give you five will you take care of it?” Tommy asked.

Shane looked at him “Five large for cleaning up your fuck up?” Shane took another drink.

“Fine, leave,”

Tommy put Samantha’s keys on the counter and left.

Shane lit another cigarette, flipped the deadbolt on the door, and took the bottle of Jack with him to the bedroom.

~ ~ ~ ~

He stood at the foot of the bed.

“Oh Samantha, let’s make you a little more comfortable shall we,” He untied her ankles, spread her legs apart and tied each foot to a corner of the foot-board. He then untied her wrists and raised her arms over her head and tied them to the headboard. He ran his finger along her bare side, feeling her soft skin. He caressed her breast and pinched her nipple between his finger and thumb. She moaned.

“Good,” He bent down and bit her nipple. She screamed.

“Nice to see your still with us Samantha,”

“What the fuck,” she squirmed realizing that she was restrained.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Your angel of death, but first you should know why, do you want to know why?”

“Fuck you!”

Shane finished off the bottle of Jack and crawled up on the bed. He straddled her hips and leaned into her ear.

“You’re a little scrawny for my taste but a fuck is a fuck,” he unzipped his jeans and stroked his cock.

“Fuck you!” she screamed. Shane grabbed her by the throat and squeezed, she squirmed beneath him. He slid his cock into her and tightened his grip around her neck. He pushed deeper into her, fucking her as she thrashed around under him. He watched her eyes glaze over as he came in her.

 

An Unfamiliar Place

Bryce

The rain picked up, now coming down in sheets. Bryce flipped the wipers on his 82’ Pontiac Firebird to high. In the distance he spotted a flashing red neon sign, The Royal Flesh.

“I could use a drink,” he said to himself.

He slowed and pulled into the parking lot, looking the strip club over. He gave the large gentleman watching the door a friendly nod as he entered. The air was warm and the music loud.

“Take a seat anywhere, I’ll be right with you,” a cute, petite, dark haired waitress said as she hurried by with a tray of drinks.

Bryce took off his jacket and gave it a shake, hanging it on the back of the chair. He took a seat at a table, facing the main stage.

A thin, exhausted looking dancer left the stage and was being handed a towel from a tall, skinny guy, that was in need of a haircut.

“What can I get you?” the cute waitress asked.

“Scotch, please,” he smiled at her. As she walked back towards the bar, he noticed the tattoo of two roses intertwined on her lower back.

Bryce watched the tall, long-legged blonde, spin around the pole.

“Here you go,” she set the drink down on the table.

“I am Jade, let me know if I can get you anything else,”

“Thanks,” Bryce said picking up the drink.

The blonde left the stage and the announcer came on.

“Please welcome, our newest dancer to the stage. Miss Mary,”

A pretty, redhead, with a nice toned body and an ample chest took to the stage. She was wearing a short blue skirt, and a white button down shirt, with black stiletto heels. With her long red hair pulled up into a ponytail.

She spun around the pole, then stood in the middle of the stage and unbuttoned her shirt. Revealing her breasts in a dark blue satin bra, she pulled the shirt off and tossed it across the stage. She danced around, kicking off the stilettos, and moving seductively as she removed her skirt.

Bryce took another swallow of scotch, mesmerized by Mary’s striptease.

Jade came back by Bryce’s table.

“Another?”

Bryce looked up at her, “Yeah, and her,” he pointed at Mary.

Jade smiled. “Sure, give me a few,”

 

Mary

Jade made her way backstage and caught Mary by the elbow.

“Hey,”

“Do you want to make some money?” Jade asked

“Depends, what do I have to do?”

Jade pulled her over to the side of the stage.

“You see the guy? He wants to take you home with him,”

Mary looked him over, taking note of his build and appearance.

“OK, how much do I ask for?”

Jade smiled. “Tell him five,”

Bryce finished off his second drink when a voice asked.

“So what does that stand for?” she asked as she ran her fingers along the tattoo on his forearm.

A shiver ran up his back as she took a seat across from him. He cleared his throat.

“It’s the Celtic symbol for loyalty,” he answered her.

“So you wanted to see me?”

Bryce leaned in, gazing into her deep green eyes. “How much for the night?”

Mary smiled, “five,”

Bryce leaned back. “Sure,”

He got up and put his jacket on.

“Meet me outside,”

Mary nodded and headed back to the dressing room.

The rain had stopped, Bryce leaned against his car and took out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and waited for Mary.

Mary exited the club by the side door facing the alley. She was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a low cut back top, with black ankle boots. Her hair was down falling past her shoulders.

Bryce opened the car door for her.

“Thanks,” she said as she got in. He closed her door, put out his cigarette and walked around to the drivers side.

“Nice car,”

“Thanks,”

He started the car and they drove away from the club. She turned on the radio and hummed along softly.

Bryce pulled into an apartment complex and parked under a carport. They exited the car and walked up to the building.

Bryce unlocked the door and they entered the apartment building. He led her up a flight of stairs and down the hall. He unlocked and opened the door to apartment 6 on the second floor.

Bryce’s one bedroom apartment had an open floor plan, a large living room. A small kitchen off to the side, along with a small bathroom and bedroom down the hall.

“Quaint,” Mary said.

“Thanks, so five?”

“Yep,”

He opened the center desk drawer and pulled out an envelope. He counted out five hundred dollar bills and laid them on the desk.

Mary smiled, she walked over to the desk and picked them up. She folded the stack in half and slid it into her back pocket.

“Now that, that’s done, should we begin?”

Bryce stood behind Mary, he moved her hair to the side and kissed her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned into him. He wrapped his arms around her, moving his hands over her breasts and caressing them.

She reached down behind her, and rubbed her hand along his crotch. He pushed into her hand while kissing down the side of her neck. He slipped his hand into her low cut top and ran his fingers over her nipple, giving it a pinch.

Mary pulled away from him, took his hand and led him over to the couch. She stood facing him and unfastened his belt, unbuttoned his jeans and slid her hand around his cock. She moved her hand up and down his shaft, then lowered herself to her knees, pulling down his jeans and boxers.

He steps out of his clothes and sat down on the couch, she moved in between his legs and took his cock into her mouth. She let him slide in and out of her mouth, while she sucked. He closed his eyes and laid his head back, enjoying the feeling of her mouth on him. He ran his hands through her hair and pulled her off of him. She stood up, leaned over and kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth.

Mary kicked off her shoes, pulled off her top, and unbuttoned her jeans. She slid them down and stepped out of them. She unfastened her purple satin bra, and removed her lace panties. Bryce took off his shirt, she straddled his lap, he rubbed her breasts and took her nipple into his mouth and sucked.

She rubbed his cock along her pussy, sliding the tip, into her, then pulling him out. He pushed her off of him, onto her back, and spread her legs apart. He kissed her inner thigh, running his thumb along her pussy then stroking her clit.

She let out a moan as he slid his tongue into her pussy and sucked on her clit. She ran her hands through his hair and pushed him deeper into her. He tasted her sweetness as she came.

Bryce stood up, took Mary’s hand and led her into the bedroom. He switched on the bedside lamp and pulled down the solid green comforter, exposing the dark gray satin sheets. Mary slid herself in between the soft, cool sheets.

“Mmm… very nice,” she said snuggling down on the king sized bed.

“Drink?”

“Sure,”

Bryce returned to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps from the freezer. He grabbed two glasses and tossed a few ice cubes in each glass.

“Here we go,” he said as he sat the glasses down on the nightstand, and pored. He handed her a glass.

“Cheers,” he raised his glass. She nodded and raised her glass.

They each downed their drink.

“Smooth,” Bryce coughed.

Mary put one of the ice cubes into her mouth and rolled it around. She slid over, pulled the sheet back and patted the side of the bed. Bryce got on the bed next to her.

She took the melting ice cube out of her mouth and ran it down the center of Bryce’s chest. She held the ice cube on his nipple, he watched as she lowered her head and then sucked on his chilled nipple.

She put the dripping ice cube back into her mouth and moved down to his cock. The ice cube finished melting in her mouth, leaving her lips cold.

Mary took his cock into her chilled mouth. Bryce moaned at the sensation as she began to suck, the coolness giving him an enjoyable experience. Mary sucked harder letting him slide deeper into her throat.

“Fuck me,” he said.

Mary lifted up her head, and smiled.

“Ask nicely,”

“Please, fuck me,” he said, running his fingers through her hair.

She moved up and slid his cock into her pussy. She leaned down and kissed him, he grabbed her hips and pushed into her. Mary sat up and moved her hips back and forth thrusting harder, each time.

Bryce reached up squeezing her breasts and pinching her nipples. Mary leaned back and slid her fingers down in between her legs and rubbed her clit, while she fucked him.

“Fuck, Mary,” Bryce said as he came deep inside of her.

Mary collapse on top of him, rubbing her hands over his bare chest and kissing his neck.

“Good?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he kissed her on the forehead.

Mary kissed him on the cheek and got out of bed.

“Mind if I take a shower?” she asked.

“No, go ahead,”

 

Holly the Hypnotist

“Bring him in. Put him in the chair,” Holly shut the door behind the three men.

“What’s his name?” she asked the guy in the baseball cap.

“John,” he answered.

“OK, you two can wait over there,” she waved her arm towards a couch on the far wall.

She bent down next to him and spoke softly in his ear.

“John, can you hear me?”

John grunted.

“John I want you to listen to my voice, take a deep breath,”

John inhaled deeply, held it for a second and then exhaled slowly.

“Very good John, now you are relaxed,” she took his hand and slowly rubbed her thumb back and forth against the inside of his palm.

“You are in a safe place, do you understand John?”

“Yes,” he answered with his head still down.

“Good John, now you will follow my instructions,”

Holly got up and headed over to the couch.

“And you two are?”

“I’m Kyle ma’am, and he’s Luke” the guy in the baseball cap said standing up and extending his hand. She shook his hand and he sat back down.

“How much did he have to drink?”

“Maybe six beers and three shots of Jameson,” Kyle answered.

“His phone,” Holly put out her hand. Kyle looked at Luke.

“Oh yeah,” he reached into his jacket pocket and handed her John’s phone.

“What’s the wife’s name?”

“Hannah” Luke answered.

“How long do we have?” she asked looking at the two of them.

“I told her that he would be home by 2 am,”

Holly glanced up at the clock above the couch that read 12:35 am and sighed.

“It will be close but I can make it,”

“Are you two staying?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kyle answered.

“Who gave you my name and address?”

“Bryce Davis ma’am,”

“Go figure you help one ex-lover one time,”

Holly knelled in front of John.

“John can you hear me?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Good, let’s see you, John can you look at me,”

John lifted his head and looked at Holly.

“There you are,” she said as she brushed his shaggy brown hair away from his face. She looked into his dark eyes.

“John can you see me?”

“Yes,”

“My name is Holly, can you say that John?” she took his head into her hands and stared into his eyes.

“Holly,”

“Yes John,” she leaned in a kissed him gently on the lips.

“Did you like that John?”

A slight smile slid across his mouth.

“Yes Holly, I did,”

“Good, do you want another?”

“Yes Holly,”

She leaned in and kissed him, this time he slid his tongue into her mouth and she sucked on his tongue.

“Good John,” she stood up and walked around the chair. Standing behind him she placed her hands on his shoulders and started to rub them. She ran her hands along his neck and rubbed pressing her thumbs into his muscles.

“John take off your jacket and shirt,”

He slipped off his jacket and removed his t-shirt. She ran her fingers along his bare skin from his shoulders and down his arm. She took in the tattoos on his arms, she picked up his hand and placed it on her breast.

“Do you like that, John?”

“Yes, Holly,”

She picked up his other hand and placed it on her other breast.

“Do I excite you, John?”

“Yes, Holly,”

She let go of his hands and they fell to his sides. She unbuttoned her blouse, sliding it off of her shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. She then slipped off her shoes, dropped her pants and stepped out of them.

“Do you like what you see, John,” she asked standing before him only wearing a black lace bra and panties.

“Yes, Holly,”

“Take off your clothes John,”

He stood in front of her, slipped off his shoes and socks. Unbuttoned his jeans and dropped them along with his boxers.

“Do you want me to suck your cock, John?”

“Yes, Holly,”

She dropped to her knees in front of him and took his cock into her hands. She ran her hands up and down his shaft, as she licked around the tip of his hardening cock. John let out a moan putting his hands on her head to steady himself. She slid his cock into her mouth and sucked feeling him grow even more. She slid her fingers around his balls and gently squeezed as she took him deeper into her throat. He gasped and curled his fingers into her hair. She slid him out of her mouth and motioned for him to sit down.

Holly walked over to a mini fridge next to the couch and opened it.

“Do either of you want a drink?”

Kyle and Luke both cleared their throats and answered over each other. She pulled out four bottles of water and handed two of them to Kyle. She walked back over to John and handed him a bottle.

“Drink up,” she said opening her own bottle and taking a long drink. John opened his bottle and drank the whole thing down in three gulps.

Holly finished off her water and stood in front of John.

“Do you want me to fuck you, John?”

John looked up at Holly and grinned.

“Yes, Holly,”

“I see you’re coming around, how are you feeling John?”

“Much better, Holly,”

“Good, do you want me to fuck you, John?”

“Yes, please, Holly,”

She unfastened her bra and slipped off her panties, discarding them to the floor. She stood in front of him and slid her fingers into her pussy. Sliding them in and out, and rubbing her thumb against her clit, make herself wet. She straddled his lap sliding his cock into her wet, tight pussy. John let out a groan and grabbed her by the hips, pushing himself into her. She moved up and down along his cock, he took one of her breasts into his mouth and sucked on her nipple. She moaned and moved faster, rubbing her clit against his cock. He reached up and grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her into a kiss.

“Let me fuck you,” he said staring into her dark green eyes.

“Yes, John,” she answered.

He moved her off of him, and she laid on the floor. He dropped down between her legs and kissed her pussy. Sliding his tongue into her, tasting her and sucking on her clit. Holly let out a moan and grabbed his head by the hair and pushed him deeper into her. A shiver ran through her body as she came from his tonguing.

John moved up her body caressing her breasts and sucking on her nipples, as he slid his cock into her thrusting deeply. Fucking her hard and fast he came in her. They laid there taking deep breaths together.

“Thank you Holly,” John said as he got dressed.

“Your welcome John, maybe don’t drink so much next time,”

He handed her an envelope and kissed her on the check.

“Ready to go?” he asked Kyle and Luke. They stood up and headed towards the door.

As they opened the door to leave a guy trying to hold up his friends pushed past them.

“Where’s Holly?” he asked frantically as he sat his friend down in a chair.

“She’s in the back, she will be out in a minute,” John said as they left.

“Sam can you hear me?”

 

Sarah and David

David opened the door to his apartment building and led Sarah down the hall.

“Is this it?” Sarah asked.

“Yep, nothing fancy just a place to call home,” David unlocked the door and Sarah entered the apartment.

It was a simple one bedroom apartment, with a small kitchen, living room and bathroom.

“Nice,”

“Thanks, would you like a drink?”

“Sure, what do you have?” she asked.

“Water or soda?”

“I’ll take a water,”

David reached into the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. He handed one to Sarah.

“Would you like the tour?”

She smiled at him, ” Lead the way,”

“Let’s see, this is the kitchen,” he pointed to the right.

“This is the living room,” he pointed to the left.

David walked down the hall, “This is the bathroom,”

He continued down the hall, “And this is the bedroom,”

Sarah sat on the edge of the bed, and looked around. A simple layout queen-size bed, a couple of end tables, and a dresser with a mirror.

“Nice,”

“Thanks,”

“So should we get started?” he asked.

Sarah opened her bottle of water, took a long drink, closed the lid and set it down on the end table.

“Sure,”

David was a good looking guy in his mid twenties, fit, active and wanted to make films. For which he was taking some courses up at the local community college. Which is where he met Sarah, they happen to have a creative writing class together.

He was immediately taken with her, saw her as a potential actress in one of his films. All daydreams at this point, he had introduced himself to her over lunch one day and they hit it off, making small talk about future goals and dreams.

There was also an attraction, Sarah wasn’t sure why, but knew it was there a chemical response to him. Maybe it was just her wanting some attention, she had broken up with her boyfriend a while ago and now found herself enjoying David’s company.

David closed the blinds on the bedroom window and turned on the bedside lamp. He pulled the blue and grey striped bedspread down. Folding it back onto itself at the foot of the bed.

“Nice sheets,” Sarah said, as she took off her shoes, jeans and t-shirt.

She was wearing a matching set, purple satin panties and bra. Sarah was short, cute and cut, showing her defined muscles from years of biking and swimming.

“Very nice, but are you going to leave those on?” he pointed to her white socks.

She smiled and pulled them off.

He stood in front of her reached around the back of her head and pulled the elastic band out of her hair. Her dirty blonde hair fell across her shoulders.

“There that’s better,” he leaned in and gently kissed her. She raised up on her toes and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into her.

 

He ran his hands down her sides, and grabbing her ass. He gave it a squeeze, she opened her mouth and let his tongue slide into her mouth. She sucked on his tongue, he let out a moan.

He stepped back from her and looked her over.

“Very nice indeed,”

Sarah laid on her back in the center of the bed. She ran her hand down between her legs and rubbed her pussy through her purple panties. David took off his shoes, socks, pants and shirt.

“Nice, boxers,”

Smiling he crawled from the foot of the bed up towards her. He spread her legs apart and kissed her inner thigh, while moving his thumb over the crotch of her purple panties.

He sat up, kneeling between her legs, he hooked his thumbs into her panties next to her hips and pulled them off in one quick move. Tossing them to the floor.

He lowered himself between her legs and began to lick her pussy. He slid his tongue into her, enjoying her scent and wetness.

Sarah moaned, arched her back and grabbed him by the hair, pushing him in deeper. He moved his head away from her, slid his thumb over her pussy and rubbed her clit. She closed her eyes and pushed against his thumb. He slid his finger inside her wet pussy and pushed against her, she shuddered from the sensation.

David made his way up to her breast, Sarah arched her back unfastened her bra and discarded it onto the floor. He caressed her breasts taking her nipple into his mouth and sucking on it, then lightly biting her erect nipple.

“Fuck, what was that for?”

“Just seeing if you were still with me,”

He kissed her deeply. She could taste herself on his lips. It excited her, she wanted to know what he tasted like.

“My turn,” she said as she pushed him onto his back.

Sarah pulled his boxes off and ran her hand along his hard cock. She lowered herself over him, still running her hand up and down his shaft. She licked the tip of his cock, slowly sliding it into her mouth.

“Fuck,” he breathed, pushing into her mouth.

She sucked harder, letting him slide in and out, enjoying the feeling of him. She raised her head and moved closer to him, so that she could slide his cock in between her breasts.

“Yes,” he panted moving up and down with her. She took notice of the pre-cum dripping from him and slid his cock into her mouth. She enjoyed the taste of him.

“Fuck, stop,” he pushed her back off of him.

David stood up, grabbed his bottle of water and finished it off in one long drink.

“We need to slow down,” he said.

Sarah sat up in the middle of the bed.

“Really?”

“Yes, really, just take a breath,”

“Fine, then will you fuck me?” she asked looking at him with her bright green eyes and pouting lips.

“Yes, but I have a proposition for you,”

She grabbed her bottle of water, “OK, I am listening,”

“I want to make a film,” David stated.

Sarah finished off her bottle of water. “OK, and?”

“I want you to be in it, with another woman and me,”

“Like a porno?”

“Exactly, you, me and my girlfriend, Vanessa,”

Sarah held up her empty water bottle, “Do you have anything stronger?”

David smiled at her, “Are you game?”

“I have to meet Vanessa first, and we have to finish what we started here,”

“Do you want that drink now or after?” he asked.

“What do you think?”

David slipped his boxers on and headed to the kitchen.

Sarah pulled the sheet up over herself and took in the proposition.

David returned with two glasses of Jack Daniel’s with a splash of Coke. He handed her one, Sarah took a sip.

“Not bad,”

“Want one?” he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the dresser drawer.

“Sure,”

David lit the cigarette took a drag and handed it to Sarah.

“So do you have a script for this film of yours?”

David lit his own cigarette, nodded and went to the closet. He pulled down a file box, opened it and handed her a red folder.

Sarah thumbed through it while they finished of their drinks.

“Interesting, that’s one dirty little mind you have there,”

“Thanks, shall we get back to it?”

Sarah nodded, removed the sheet and stretched out on the bed.

“I’m all yours,”

David took his boxers off and laid next to her, he ran his fingers along her side and across her stomach. He leaned in and kissed her lips, cheeks and down her neck, to her breasts. He kissed each of them, then sucked on her nipple while thumbing the other one.

She slid her hand down to his crotch and rubbed his cock, making him moan. She moved her hand up and down his shaft, coming up and running her thumb across the tip.

He moved on top of her, and rubbed his cock against her pussy, sliding just the tip in then, pulling it back out.

“Tease,” she said pushing him off of her and onto his back.

She straddled his hips, grabbed his cock and slid it into her pussy. She sat up, and thrusted her hips back and forth, feeling him push deep inside her.

He reached up and squeezed her breasts, moving his hips to meet her thrusts. She fell forward onto his chest and kissed him long and hard, while she slid his cock out of her.

She moved off of him, got on her hands and knees in the center of the bed. He knelled behind her and slid his cock back into her and fucked her hard and fast.

*Smack* he slapped her ass.

“Fuck,” she cried out.

She pushed back against him, he pushed deep coming in her.

He collapsed on the bed next to her.

“So, ready to meet Vanessa?”

She turned over and kisses him. “Sure, but can I shower first?”

“Go ahead, the handle is a little temperamental,”

She got up and headed into the bathroom.

David lit a cigarette and called Vanessa.

Sarah showered and slipped on David’s bathrobe.

She took a seat on the bed, there was a knock on the front door.

Vanessa

David opened the door, a tall, slender woman with curly dark hair entered the apartment.

“How are you?” David asked her.

“Fine, fine, where is she?” Vanessa asked.

“She’s in the bedroom,”

Vanessa took off her coat, handed it to David and headed down the hall.

“Hello,” Sarah said.

“Stand up, let me see,” Vanessa ordered.

Sarah stood up, Vanessa pulled the belt of the robe, the bathrobe fell open.

“Hum… she’s a little mousy,”

“What?” Sarah started to pull the robe closed. Vanessa grabbed her wrist.

“Drop the robe,”

Sarah looked at her then over at David who was standing in front of the dresser.

David came over to Sarah and pulled the robe off of her.

Vanessa looked her over, putting her hand on her shoulder and turning her around.

“Maybe,” Vanessa said.

“Is she any good?”

“Yes, she is,” David answered.

Vanessa moved towards Sarah, putting her hand on the back of her neck, she pulled her in and kissed her, Sarah exhaled and kissed her back, sliding her tongue into Vanessa’s mouth.

“Maybe,” Vanessa smiled at Sarah.

Sarah picked up the robe and put it on.

“Get me a drink, I want to see what she can do,”

David went to the kitchen, grabbed another glass and the bottle of Jack.

He poured three glasses of Jack and handed them around. Vanessa sat in the over-sized arm chair in the corner of the bedroom. She raised her glass.

“Here’s to getting it done,” She downed the Jack and handed the glass back to David.

Sarah and David finished their drinks and sat on the bed.

“What do you want me to do?” Sarah asked Vanessa.

“First of all get rid of that stupid robe,”

Sarah knelled on the bed, took off the robe and dropped it on the floor.

“Better?”

“Good enough, get him hard and suck him off,”

Sarah moved over to David who was laying in the middle of the bed naked. She took his cock in her hands and began to stroke.

Moving her hands up and down his shaft, she leaned over him and ran her tongue around the tip. Then she ran her tongue down his shaft and sucked on his balls. David let out a moan.

Sarah looked up at Vanessa, she had made herself comfortable on the over-sized chair, and was running her hand down between her thighs.

Sarah licked up the side of his cock and slid it into her mouth. She moved her head up and down letting him slide in and out.

David reached down and ran his fingers through her hair, he grabbed a handful and pushed her deeper. She took him deeper into her throat, when she felt his cum hit the back of her throat, she swallowed.

Sarah sat up and looked at Vanessa.

“So how’d he taste?”

“Sweet,” Sarah answered.

Vanessa stood up removed her pants, shirt, bra and panties. Then sat back down on the chair, and spread her legs.

“Now you do me,” she said smiling at Sarah.

Sarah got up off of the bed, she poured herself a drink and downed it. She kneeled down in front of Vanessa and moved in between her legs.

She ran her hand along Vanessa’s shaved pussy, she pushed her legs further apart and leaned in. Sarah slid her tongue into her, sucking on her clit and tasting her. She pushed deeper into Vanessa making her moan.

Sarah moved back from her and slid her fingers into Vanessa’s wet pussy, moving them back and forth. Sarah moved up and took one of Vanessa’s nipples into her mouth and sucked while sliding her fingers in and out faster.

Vanessa arched her back, her breathing became quicker, she grabbed the back of Sarah’s head and pushed against her hand as she came.

Sarah stopped moving and kissed Vanessa on the lips.

“Good?”

Vanessa smiled “Good,”

Sarah got up and walked over to the bed, she laid out in the middle of the bed.

“My turn,” she looked at David, then over to Vanessa. She pointed and curled her finger at Vanessa in a come here motion.

Vanessa got up and joined them on the bed. David kissed Vanessa then kissed Sarah.

“So what do you want?” David asked Sarah.

“I want Vanessa here, to eat me out, while you fuck her,”

Vanessa move in between Sarah’s legs and started sucking on her clit. David moved behind Vanessa and rubbed his cock along her wet pussy. He looked into Sarah’s deep green eyes as he thrusted into Vanessa.

Sarah enjoyed feeling Vanessa’s tongue sliding in and out of her, while she watched David fucking her.

~ ~ ~ ~

A few days later there was a knock at Sarah’s door. She answered it.

“Can I come it?” David asked.

“Sure, come in,”

David entered the apartment and took a seat at the kitchen table. Sarah gave him a confused  look and sat down across from him.

“OK, what’s up?” she asked.

“I can’t stop thinking about you, I still want you to be in my film,”

“Not with her I won’t,” Sarah said.

David reached across the table and took her hands in his, he smiled at her.

“How about just you and me?”

“Maybe,” she answered grinning.

He got up and stood next to her, he leaned over a kissed her.

“Tonight, here?” he asked.

“Sure why not,”

David kissed her forehead and left.

At half past six, there was a frantic knock on Sarah’s door.

“I think I got everything,” David said as he sat two bags and a box down in her living room.

He started taking things out of the box, tripod, camera equipment, cables, and sheets.

“What are the sheets for?”

“Lighting,”

She watched as he moved on to emptying one of the bags. Candles, rope, a silk scarf, strawberries, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream.

“I’m going to go take a shower while you set up,”

“OK,” David answered lost in his unpacking of props.

Sarah stepped out of the shower, dried off, and slipped on her robe. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom and took in the set up.

The tripod and camera were set up to the side of the bed. The white corded rope was tied around the foot-board posts, and the silk scarf was tied to the headboard. The candles were lit, scattered around the room, the sheets were hung over the windows and along one wall. There was a silver tray with the strawberries, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream on the dresser.

“Ready,”

She dropped her robe and laid on her back in the center of the bed. He picked up the camera and panned up and down her body. He set the camera back on the tripod and picked up her ankle, he slid the rope over her foot and pulled it tight.

“That OK?”

“Yeah,”

He moved to her other foot and tied it down. He ran his hand along her bare leg as he moved to the top of the bed. He raised her arms over her head and looped the silk scarf around her wrists. He pulled it tight.

“Still OK?”

“Yes,”

He leaned down and kissed her.

“Are you ready?”

Sarah smiled at him and nodded.

David undressed and focused the camera on Sarah’s body. He stood at the foot of the bed and ran his finger along the bottom of her foot. She squirmed.

He grabbed her foot with both hands and rubbed his thumbs into the arch of her foot. She tried to move but the restraints were too tight. She let out a muffled grunt as he moved to the other foot and rubbed.

He smiled at her as he picked up the chocolate syrup, he opened the cap and drizzled the syrup over her toes. He leaned down and sucked the chocolate off of her big toe. He then drizzled the syrup up her leg, across her stomach and over her breasts.

He set the bottle down on the nightstand. He bent down and licked the chocolate off of her nipple, sucking it into his mouth and rolling his tongue over it. She let out a moan and he sucked harder.

He picked up the can of whipped cream and sprayed some on each breast. Then he held the can over her pussy and proceed to spray. He went over to the tray of strawberries and picked up a few large ripe ones.

He sat on the bed next to Sarah and dipped the strawberry into the whipped cream that was covering her pussy. He then reached over and held it in front of her mouth. She sucked the cream off of the strawberry.

He then dipped the strawberry back into the cream, this time sliding it back and forth over her clit. He feed her the strawberry, then took a second one and pushed it into her pussy and moved it in and out. She moaned and tried to push back against his hand.

He removed the strawberry and feed it to her. He moved down in between her legs and licked up the remaining cream. He flicked his tongue around her clit, sucking it into his mouth.

“Fuck!” Sarah yelled out.

He slid two fingers into her pussy and thrust them in and out of her, while sucking on her clit. She pushed against his mouth, feeling his tongue devour her, and his fingers work her. She couldn’t help herself, she came.

He moved up, and straddled her chest, he pushed her breasts together and rubbed his hard cock in between her breasts. He let out a moan as the pre-cum dripped from his cock. He slid his cock into her mouth and she eagerly sucked, till he came.

David shut the camera off.

“Need a drink?”

“Yes, please,”

He untied her wrists and went to get a bottle of water. She untied her ankles and sat up against the headboard. He handed her the bottle a sat next to her on the bed.

“Thank you for doing this with me,” he said.

“Your welcome, although that sounds weird,” she smiled at him.

He leaned over and kissed her. He moved her hair away from her face and kissed her again. He moved back from her.

“Can I film us…fucking?”

She finished off her water and smiled.

“Why not, I trust you, no harm, no foul,”

He got up and turned the camera on. She slid down on her back, he laid on top of her.

He kissed her, and slid his cock into her. He moved back and forth, thrusting deeper and harder into her. She kissed him, wrapped her legs around him, and pushed her hips up to meet his thrusts.

“Fuck, Sarah,” he gasped.

He put his head against her neck and whispered in her ear.

“Cum with me,”

She moaned and moved with him fucking him, coming with him.

~ ~ ~ ~

Sarah

“Hello?” Sarah answered the phone in that not quite awake voice.

“I know,” a woman’s voice states on the other end.

“You know what?” she croaked out while trying to sit up in bed.

“That you and David have been together, you home-wrecking bitch,” the voice blurts out.

“Vanessa? is that you, what are you talking about?”

Click, the line went dead.

“Fuck, that’s not good,” Sarah announced to the empty room.

“I don’t know why he married her, she’s psycho,” she mumbled to herself.

She glance at the illuminated clock radio, 3:56am.

She texted David:

So Vanessa just called me. WTF is going on.

Sarah laid back down, put her phone on silent and drifted off.

6am the alarm went off, playing some oldie but goodies song on KREX home of the golden oldies.

She smacked the snooze button, turned over and reached for her phone.

Two new texts: from David

Fuck, I came home from the opening I was covering for the paper, there was an empty bottle of wine along with the photo albums scattered on the table. Vanessa and I went round and round, apparently she hired a private investigator.

Second text: from David

Sorry, she threw me out, I am on your​ couch. Didn’t want to wake you.

“Ugh…” Sarah put the phone down, stretched, got up and went into the living room.

There on the couch was David fast asleep, she covered him with a blanket and went to take a shower.

She started the coffee, made scrambled eggs with cheese and toast.

“Morning,” a tired voice said from across the room.

She turned and smiled at him.

“Morning, there’s food,”

“You’re going to need your strength to explain to me what is going on,”

David put his arms around her, kissed her on the forehead and went into the bathroom.

They sat in silence eating their breakfast.

“So, care to fill me in?” she asked while clearing the table.

He took a very deep breath. She sat down across from him and took his hands in hers.

“OK, about two months ago Vanessa caught me in a lie that I couldn’t talk my way out of. Shortly after that she hired a private investigator to follow me around. I guess she received his report yesterday,”

“Wait two months ago, that was the mayor’s​ dinner event we covered for the paper, what did she catch you on,”

“She had gotten sick and wanted me to come home, but I had turned off my phone, so she had to call her sister,”

“Why did you have your phone…oh yeah, nevermind,” She smiled at David.

“Well, fuck, now what?” she asked. David shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, wasn’t expecting this,”

“Go home and talk to Vanessa, I want to know what that PI told her, maybe we can explain a misunderstanding to her,”

“Or I can just move in with you,” David said.

“Go find out what she knows first,”

He kissed her goodbye, “I’ll call you later,”

Sarah got dressed and went to work.

David and Sarah both work for the local newspaper, The Daily Star, your source for local news and events.

Sarah sat at her desk, thinking over what David had said. She pulled out my daily planner, pretty much her diary of who, when and where, and flipped back to two months ago.

Being a little OCD when it comes to tracking things and keeping records. Two months ago on a Saturday the mayor’s dinner in the hotel ballroom. Notes on good food, who was there, what the mayor covered in his speech.

“Fuck,” she mumbled under her breath, a little blue heart in the lower right corner.

A notation to herself​. She thumbed through a few more weeks, three more little blue hearts.

Her phone buzzed, text from David:

Found out what the PI saw. Two weeks ago, parking garage.

Sarah turned to the date, there it was a little blue heart on a Tuesday in May.

She texted David back: Now what?

Her phone buzzed, David:

Don’t know, he took pictures.

Sarah put the phone down, leaned back and let out a sigh.

She decided to focus on work and deal with whatever fallout this caused. She collected her daily assignments and got started.

Her phone buzzed, David:

Sarah we need to talk, meet me for lunch 1:30 pm, the deli across the street.

Sure, but you’re buying. She answered.

They sat down with their lunch in hand, turkey sandwiches with chips and an ice tea.

“So, what now?” she asked taking a bite of her sandwich.

“She’s mad and hurt, called me every name in the book, called you a few names,”

“Nice, what does she want,”

“That’s where it gets tricky, I have to tell you something, but I don’t think I should tell you while you’re eating,” David said.

Sarah stopped eating, she was suddenly not hungry. She wrapped up the rest of her sandwich and put it along with the unopened chips back into the bag. She took a long drink of her ice tea.

“OK, tell me,”

He took​ her hands and looked her in the eye.

“I love being with you, you get me and you know me,”

She could feel her throat getting tighter, her vision started to blur. She did not want to cry, not in front of him.

“Vanessa’s pregnant and…”

That was it she was done. Sarah got up grabbed her lunch and walked away. She made it into the office, went to the ladies room, and lost her lunch.

She stood in front of the mirror sobbing like a schoolgirl, thinking about how stupid it was to get involved with him again.

She pulled herself together enough to finish her assignments and went home.

Her phone buzzed, David:

Can I please come over, I need to finish explaining everything to you.

Her phone buzzed, David:

Please, Sarah.

“Fuck,” she said wiping away fresh tears.

Sarah texted him back

You need to bring, a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Jack. And you are going to answer all of my questions. Deal?

Her phone buzzed, David:

Deal. I be over in a few.

There was a knock at the door.

She opened it there was David holding a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pack of cigarettes.

“Fine, come in,”

David kissed her on the check on his way into the apartment.

“Thanks,” he grabbed two glasses and dropped an ice cube in each. Sarah opened the bottle and poured.

“Have a seat,” she motioned towards the kitchen table, while finding an ashtray and lighter in the junk drawer.

She opened the pack of cigarettes, took one out, lit it and took a deep drag. She exhaled slowly and took a seat across from him.

“Well, here we are,” she downed her drink and poured another.

“You know I never wanted to hurt you,”

“I know, but you won’t ever leave her,”

“I can’t, not now,” he took a sip of his drink and cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry,”

“Sorry that you’re ending it or that you got caught and have to end it?”

David sighed.

“Nevermind it doesn’t matter, we’re done,” she finished off her drink, put out her cigarette and got up.

As she set the glass down on the counter-top he came up behind her. He slid his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned into him.

His feel, his smell so familiar and comforting. As mad and frustrated with him as she was, she still wanted him.

She turned to face him, leaned in and kissed him slowly, deeply letting her tongue slide into his mouth and taste him one more time.

She took his hand and led him into the bedroom.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“Don’t talk, just enjoy it,” she took off her shirt and bra.

Then slid out of her pants and panties. She unbuttoned, unzipped and pulled off his jeans along with his boxers. He took off his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed.

Sarah knelled in front of him and rubbed his cock, making him hard. She slid his cock into her mouth and sucked. While running her hands up and down his shaft.

He ran his hands through her hair and let out a moan.

“Fuck, Sarah,”

She sucked harder, letting him slide deeper into her mouth. She could taste his pre-cum, she slid his cock out of her mouth and licked around the tip.

“Like that?” she asked as she stood up in front of him.

David grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto the bed. He moved down in between her legs, rubbing and kissing the inside of her thighs.

He kissed and licked her clit, sliding his tongue into her pussy. She let out a moan and he pushed in deeper, making her wet from his tonguing.

He moved up her body, kissing and caressing. He ran his hand over her breast pinching her nipple, rolling his tongue over it then clamping down and sucking.

She reached down and rubbed his cock. He slid his fingers into her wet pussy, she arched her back as his fingers slid deep into her.

He kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth, she could taste herself on his lips.

“Fuck me, please,” Sarah begged.

He moved over her, spread her legs apart and slid his hard cock into her.

~ ~ ~ ~

Sarah woke​ up and ran to the bathroom. After throwing up nothing but stomach acid, she sat on the cold tile floor.

“Fuck,” she got up, found her daily planner on the kitchen table and started flipping pages back.

It had been about eight weeks since she had last seen David. He had taken a leave of absence from work and was freelancing from home.

Trying to fix his marriage with the now very pregnant Vanessa. Sarah had seen her in passing at an Everyday Food’s store about two weeks ago.

She sat mulling over her options: tell him, don’t tell him, keep it, don’t keep it.

Two days later she texted David: We need to talk.

Text from David: When and where?

Thursday 8pm my place.

There was a knock on the door, she let David in.

“Come in, take a seat,” she said closing the door behind him​.

“So, what do we need to talk about?” he sat down on the couch.

Sarah took a deep breath.

“I am two months pregnant and I am keeping the baby,” she blurted out all in one breath.

There was a long silence as David stared at Sarah.

“I am not sure what to say,” David got up walked over to her. He put his arms around her. She relaxed into his embrace as the tears streamed down her face.

They laid down on the bed and held each other, she fell asleep in his arms.

When Sarah awoke he was gone.

Her phone buzzed.

Text from David: I can’t be there for you, I have to tell Vanessa.

She got up showered and dressed for work.

~ ~ ~ ~

David and Vanessa

David took a deep breath and entered the house. Vanessa was sitting in the living room thumbing through a magazine. David took a seat on the ottoman in front of her.

“Sweetie,”

“Yes darling,” she answered mockingly without looking up.

“I need to tell you something, please look at me,”

Vanessa let out a sigh and put down the magazine and looked at David.

“Yes?”

He took a deep breath.

“Sarah is pregnant,” he exhaled.

She picked up the magazine and went back to flipping through it.

“Vanessa?”

“I heard you, now go away,”

~ ~ ~ ~

David awoke to the smell of bacon. He grabbed his robe, found his slippers and headed to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?”

“Making breakfast, what does it look like,” Vanessa answered.

David sat down at the table. “But you don’t like to cook,” he mumbled to himself.

“Eat up,” she placed a plate of bacon, toast and eggs down in front of him.

“Coffee?”

“Sure,” he said as he shoved the eggs into his mouth.

Vanessa sat across from him.

“I have a solution to our Sarah problem,” she announced.

David dropped his fork and coughed.

“Sarah problem?”

She slid a piece of folded paper towards him.

“What’s that?” he pointed to the piece of paper.

“Our solution,”

 

Shane

David entered The Royal Flesh, the air was warm and stale. He asked the bartender if he knew a guy named Shane.

The bartender pointed out a tall, skinny, scruffy looking guy seated at the far end of the bar.

“Thanks,”

David made his way down to the end of the bar and took a seat next to Shane.

“Are you Shane? Vanessa sent me,”

Shane glanced over and nodded. “You David?”

“Yay,”

“Vanessa told me about your Sarah problem, just need to know when and where,”

David slid a piece of paper over to Shane.

“Half now, half after. Follow me,”

They exited through the side door into the alley. Shane took a pack of smokes out of his jacket pocket and offered one to David.

“No thanks,”

Shane lit up. David handed him an envelope, he thumbed through the stack of hundred dollar bills.

“Good enough, I will call you when it’s done,”

~ ~ ~ ~

Sarah entered her apartment building with her arms full of groceries. She tried to juggle her keys into the lock.

“Can I help you with that?” a voice asked from behind her.

Sarah was startled and almost dropped the groceries.

“I got it,” Shane said as he caught the bag before it hit the floor.

“Thanks,”

Sarah slid her keys into the lock and opened the door. She stepped inside and set the bag down on the table. She turned back to the door to accept the other grocery bag from Shane.

“Thanks again,” she said as she set the second bag down.

Shane had one foot inside of the apartment, as she got ready to close the door, he grabbed it and gave it a shove. The door hit Sarah in the face, she stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. Shane quickly entered the apartment, closed the door and flipped the deadbolt.

He stood over her as she tried to register what had just happened. The side of her face was red and her cheek was starting to swell. He grabbed her by the arm and walked her into the bedroom. He pushed her onto the bed and took the backpack he was carrying off of his shoulder.

“What do you want?” Sarah asked.

“Right now, for you to be quiet,” he pulled out a handful of large zip ties, a roll of duct tape and some nylon rope.

He took off her shoes and socks, zip tied her ankles together. Then removed her jacket and zip tied her wrists together. He laid her in the center of the bed, tying her arms above her head to the headboard and her feet security to the foot-board.

Shane started looking through her things, opening drawers and rummaging around.

“So, what did a nice looking woman like you do, that pissed someone off enough to send me here?” he asked.

“It’s in the top right drawer, under the clothes,”

Shane stopped, turned to face her, and grinned. He went over to the drawer and opened it. Reaching under the pairs of panties he pulled out a disk.

“This?” he held up the disk.

“Yes, that’s it,”

Shane took the disk into the living room, he sat at her desk, inserted the disk into her laptop and watched.

Sarah laid on the bed trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. Her face throbbed and no matter how she moved she couldn’t get out of the zip ties.

“Well you’re a naughty girl, aren’t you?”

Sarah looked over at the bedroom door, Shane was lighting a cigarette. He took a long drag, then exhaled. He opened his backpack and took out a knife.

Shane walked around the bed running the knife up and down her body. He stood at the foot of the bed and ran the tip of the knife along the bottom of her foot. She tried not to squirm. He smiled at her, and pushed the tip of the knife slightly into her foot.

She clenched her jaw trying not to yell out. He pulled the knife back and a trickle of blood ran down her foot. He set the knife down on the dresser and got on the bed. Straddling her hips, he slid his hands around her neck and began to squeeze. She squirmed and thrashed beneath him.

He kept squeezing, she stopped moving. He lowered his head to her chest, she was still breathing.

“Good,” he kissed her on the forehead and got off of her.

Shane worked quickly, untying her and undressing her. He stretched out her arms, and legs tying them to each of the bed posts. He went into the kitchen found a bottle of Jack, sat at her desk and watched the video again.

~ ~ ~ ~

Shane stood in the doorway to Sarah’s bedroom and looked her over.

“Have you watched it?” he asked her.

“What?” she looked over at him.

“Did you watch that video?”

Sarah let out a sigh. “No,”

Shane walked over to the bed, he put his hand on her lower abdomen. He gave it a light push.

“How long?”

Sarah looked up at him, she couldn’t hold back the tears. “Almost four months,”

Shane nodded and untied the ropes. “You need to see the video,”

Sarah sat up, he handed her the bathrobe off of the chair next to the closet. They went into the living room, Sarah sat at her desk. Shane reached over and clicked play.

Sarah watch as the video showed her living room, then it walked down the hall. A hand pushed the bathroom door open and zoomed in on the shower curtain that was slightly open. It was Sarah showering, then David’s voice spoke in a hush on the video.

“It’s all for you Vanessa, all for you,”

The camera moved sporadically for a second then it was pointing down at David stroking his cock.

Saying “It’s all for you,” over and over again.

His breath quickening till he moaned and recorded himself coming. While watching Sarah shower.

“What the fuck!”

“My thoughts exactly. There’s more,” Shane drug the cursor to the last five minutes of the video.

Sarah felt something cold on her cheek, she reached up to wipe it away. There was nothing there.

“Sarah, Saarrraah, Sarah!” Shane shouted.

Her eyes opened, she was still tied to the bed, naked. Shane was tapping the blade of the knife on her cheek.

“There you are, was starting to wonder if you were going to come back around,”

Shane took off his t-shirt and unbuttoned his jeans. He stood next to the head of the bed and ran the knife along Sarah’s neck, down to her collarbone. He swiped the knife along her shoulder leaving a shallow cut.

“Fuck!”

Shane swiped again leaving a cut along her breast bone.

“Fuuuck!” she screamed.

Shane made another swipe down her side and across her stomach. Sarah’s mouth fell open but no sound was made. Her breathing became shallow and labored. Shane moved to the foot of the bed, he put the knife down on the dresser and crawled up on the bed.

He knelled between her legs and ran his hands up her thighs. He slid his jeans down and stroked his cock.

“Do you know how much you are worth to me dead?” he asked while still stroking his now hard cock.

Sarah shook her head. He moved up and laid on top of her, he whispered in her ear.

“Ten thousand dollars,”

Shane sat up thrusting his cock into her as he grabbed her by the neck and squeezed. She thrashed around under him. He kept squeezing and fucking her, as her last breath left her, he came.

Shane called David.

“It’s done, meet me at The Royal Flesh,”

“Don’t forget the video,” David said.

~ ~ ~ ~

Detective James Andrews stood in the small one bedroom apartment on the north side of town.

“What do we have?” he asked the responding officer.

“Female, 30 years old, 5’4″ tall, weight 130 pounds, Sarah Fenton, according to her licence. Found here in her home, strangled, sexually assaulted, and laid out on the bed, ” the officer stated.

“Who found her?”

“Landlord a Mark Williams, came by to ask her about rent, because she was five days late.”

Detective Andrews entered the bedroom.

 

The Royal Flesh

Kent rolled over and glanced at the empty side of the bed.

“Guess she already left,” he mumbled as he staggered into the bathroom. He stepped into the shower and let the warm water flow over him.

While he got ready for another mundane routine day of work, he wondered how it got to this point.

Kent Miller had meet his wife Jennifer Daniels seven years ago he had been in and out of odd jobs over the years, at this time he was working as a bouncer at Jake’s Night Spot. Jennifer had come in with a bachelorette party, she was stylish, confident and cute.

Kent had found himself watching her most of the night, how she talked, what she drank, and how she played with her hair. Being someone that never lets an opportunity pass him by, he asked her to take his number. A few days later she called, they meet for coffee discussed life, goals and how they had a connection.

“But who doesn’t have a connection when trying to get laid?” Kent thought to himself.

Jennifer was building her career moving up within a small company with aspirations of being at the top. She had graduated with a degree in marketing and public relations. She had ambition, goals and a timeline to have that corner office by 40.  

They dated for a while, everything was storybook, flowers, dinners out. Kent got a steady job in customer service, one that he could still dress casual but be professional.

He proposed after a year and they moved into a nice two bedroom house outside the city. They had the traditional church wedding and two week honeymoon in the Bahamas.

They were hot and heavy in the Bahamas, Jennifer acted like she couldn’t get enough. The honeymoon suite was drenched in lace, satin and fresh cut roses Jennifer’s favorite. She laid out across the king sized bed.

“Leave the bags, and come here,” she said.

Kent put the bags down, kicked off his shoes and joined her on the bed. She kissed him long and deep he let out a moan as he kissed her back.

She rolled over on top of him, sat up straddling his hips, she removed her top, showing off her light blue lace bra and unzipped his pants. She moved down his body taking his pants with her. She stood at the end of the bed, swaying her hips back and forth letting her skirt fall to the floor. She stepped out of her shoes and skirt, and danced around in just her matching bra and panties.

Kent smiled at her from the bed, sitting up to take off his shirt and socks. Jennifer jumped back up on the bed and stroked his cock through his boxers, Kent leaned back and closed his eyes. She removed his boxers and took his cock into her mouth Kent let out a moan. They enjoyed each other thoroughly.

~ ~ ~ ~

Then it was all schedules, work and more work. Jennifer had goals to accomplish and was sticking to it, at any cost. After the first four years Kent started to feel taken advantage of, always expected to get it all done, work a full time job, stay on top of all the household chores and be her arm candy for dinners and special office events.

After one of these special black tie office affairs, Kent had hit a breaking point on the drive back to the house he pulled over to the side of the road and let her know how he felt about everything. Their relationship how everything was done on her schedule and there was no downtime, no spontaneous anything.

No enjoyment, hell even their sex life had become a standing appointment that she canceled most of the time. Jennifer listened to his rant and argued that this was all for the payoff later. Kent turned off the car took his house keys off of his key ring and got out of the car. He walked back into the city and found a bar. Jennifer drove herself home.

Kent spent three nights in a hotel drinking, watching porn and ordering room service. Then Jennifer called, explained that she needed him, and that things would be better. Maybe they needed a vacation and some time off work. They took a long weekend trip out to Seaside and lounged on the beach.

All was calm for a while. Then that one night happened, Jennifer had to go out of town overnight for a business conference. Kent headed out to enjoy a little time to himself, he ended up in a strip club called The Royal Flesh. He was enjoying the long legged blonde spinning around the poll on stage when he heard a voice.

“Can I get you a drink?”

Kent turned to see a friendly smile, she was cute, with short dark hair, deep green eyes, a toned petite body and nice perky breasts.

“Sure, I’ll have a shot of Jack,” Kent answered.

She returned with his shot and said.

“I am Jade, let me know if you need anything else,”

Kent smiled at her and watched her walk away, he took note of the tattoo showing on her lower back, just above her low cut jeans and below her midriff tee-shirt. Two roses with intertwining stems, highlighted with just a touch of red and green.

“Nice,” he thought to himself.

On her way back around the club Kent decided to strike up a conversation with her. He motioned to her.

“Need anything else?” Jade asked.

“What time do you get off?” Kent asked.

“I get off whenever I want, I clock out at 2 am,” she answered and gave him a devilish smile.

“So 2 am in the parking lot then?” He asked. Jade nodded and walked away.

They ended up at Jade’s studio apartment a few blocks from the club. She poured them each a drink and put on some background music. He sat on the couch and she striped for him. First the tee-shirt then the jeans, the pink lace bra and matching panties all discarded to the floor. Jade dropped to her knees undid Kent’s jeans, she ran her hand up and down his cock, stroking, licking and taking it into her mouth. She sucked his erect cock while massaging his balls.

Kent leaned his head back and moaned, as she sucked harder making him want to come. He ran his hands through her hair and pushed deeper into her mouth. He couldn’t stand it any longer and came, she felt his cum hit the back of her throat and she swallowed. She got up licking her lips and kissed him deeply.

“Up for some fun?” Jade asked.

“Always,” he answered. She leaned over to the end table, opened the drawer and pulled out a vial of coke. They each did a few lines and then she lead him over to the bed.

Jade laid out in the middle and spread her legs, she ran her hand down to her pussy and started to rub her clit, moaning to herself. Kent ran his hands up her legs and started to kiss and lick her pussy. Sliding his tongue deep into her making her moan and come.

He flipped her over onto her stomach and slid his fingers into her wet pussy, moving them faster and deeper.

“Fuck me,” Jade yelled out.

Kent got behind her running his hand along her tattoo, and slid his cock into her, thrusting harder and faster as she pushed back against him. He came deep in her and then collapsed onto the bed next to her. She moved up and kissed him, put her head on his shoulder and they fell asleep.

~ ~ ~ ~

Grace sat in the parking lot, “I could go in there and say my name is Mary. Mary, Mary quite ordinary.” She took a deep breath and entered The Royal Flesh.

“Is Katie available?” Grace asked the bouncer watching the door. He gave her a nod and she entered the strip club.

Katie an older lady with just a little too much eye makeup on offered Grace a job dancing three nights a week. Grace being only in her late twenties and still sporting an athletic cut to her body was looking for a fix, that thirst for something exciting and different.

Two nights later Grace went on as Miss Mary quite contrary, showing her long legs, muscular arms, long red hair and ample chest.

“Nice act,” A voice behind Grace said, as she was heading to the back to get changed. Grace turned around.

“Hi, I am Jade,” she held out her hand to Grace.

“Thanks, and nice to meet you,” Grace smiled.

Grace and Jade got to know each other over the next few weeks. After one of Grace’s performance as Mary, Jade followed her into the dressing room.

“I wonder what you taste like,” Jade said Grace turned around to face her.

“Do you want to find out, or was that a rhetorical question?” Grace grinned.

Jade moved towards Grace and kissed her lightly on the lips.

“So my place or yours?” Jade asked. Grace kissed her back and smiled.

Grace was staying at the Blue Horizon Motel off of route 21, in a charming room with worn carpeting, an over-sized painting of golden poppies and the standard dull colored curtains covering the window.

“It’s not much, just quiet and cheap,” Grace opened the door and let Jade in.

Jade shrugged. She moved to the bed, sat down and motioned to Grace to join her.

Grace stood in front of Jade, she unbuttoned Grace’s jeans and slid them down to the floor. She then removed Grace’s blue satin panties and pulled Grace to her and started licking and sucking her pussy. Grace moaned and let Jade enjoy her.

Jade moved back onto the bed, shedding her clothes. She laid back and Grace finished striping and joined her. Grace kissed Jade, rubbing and pinching her erect nipples. Grace rubbed her fingers lightly over Jade’s pussy, she slid her fingers into Jade making her moan. Slowly kissing her way down Jade’s body spreading her legs and slipping her tongue into her wet pussy. Jade and Grace enjoyed each other till they feel asleep.

Kent did everything possible to see Jade showing up at The Royal Flesh and taking her in the bathroom on multiple occasions. Jade was up for anything, giving him blow jobs in his car during lunch breaks and fucking him in alleys.

“Would you like to meet my new friend?” Jade asked Kent as they were finishing up in his car.

“Sure, I could use a new friend,” he smiled at her.

Kent knocked on Jade’s door. A nice looking red head answered the door.

“You must be Jade’s friend,” Grace said and let Kent in.

Jade had drinks laid out on the table.

“Here take this,” Jade handed Kent a drink and leaned in to kiss him, slipping a little pill into his mouth. Kent swallowed and downed the drink.

Jade led both Grace and Kent over to the bed. They all striped, Grace laid in the middle of the bed, Jade laid next to her and Kent watched the two of them kiss and grope each other. Kent laid next to Grace and kissed the back of her neck letting his hands explore her body.

Grace rolled over and started kissing Kent while stroking his cock. Jade moved down Grace’s body, spread her legs and enjoyed Grace’s pussy.

Kent moved behind Jade and slid his cock into her as she was enjoying Grace’s pussy. He fucked her hard and fast, coming deep in her.

Kent collapsed onto the bed, Grace moved over to him and kissed him. She moved down taking his cock into her mouth. Jade started kissing Kent while Grace sucked and rubbed his cock.

Grace then straddled Kent’s hips, sliding his hard cock into her wet pussy. She moved back and forth taking him deep into her. She fucked him till he came in her.

During one of these sex filled meetings Jade asked Kent a question.

“Would you be happier if your wife just disappeared?”

“Probably,” Kent answered without putting much thought into it.

She didn’t bring it up again.

~ ~ ~ ~

Kent had dressed for work and was pouring a cup of coffee when the phone rang, Kent answered.

“Hello,”

“So are you happy now?” Jade asked.

“What, do you mean?” Kent asked slightly confused as to where this conversation was going.

“You can be happy now,” Jade said and hung up.

Kent stood there letting this sink in.

“What the hell is she talking about?” He asked to the empty room.

He called Jennifer, there was no answer just her voice mail.

Kent wandered around the house, trying to remember the last time he saw or talked to Jennifer. He had stopped by The Royal Flesh last night around 9 pm had a drink, Jade was working.

He remembered parking the car, grabbing the mail and sitting in front of the t.v. He assumed that he had fallen asleep in the chair, then had moved to the bedroom sometime early this morning.

He noticed that Jennifer’s purse, work bag and keys were still sitting on the hallway table by the door.

His phone rang.

“Hello,”

“I taped it for you,”  Jade said.

“Taped what?” Kent asked Jade just giggled and hung up.

“Fuck!” Kent called Jade back, she answered.

“When can I see it and you?” he asked.

“9 pm my place. You can meet Shane,” she answered.

“Who’s Shane?”

“You’ll see,” she hung up giggling.

~ ~ ~ ~

The alarm went off, James reached over to the nightstand and slammed the snooze button the clock read 6:00 am.

“Ugh…” James sat up and rubbed his eyes, “Another day in paradise,” he mumbled as he headed into the bathroom. Detective James Andrews showered, dressed and headed into work.

He entered the downtown police station at 9 am sharp. “There’s a message for you,” the desk attendant said.

Report of a body found out in the woods south of the park. James read.

Detective Andrews filled his coffee cup grabbed his notepad and hit the road.

“What do we have?” he asked the responding officer on scene.

“A woman in her late 30’s, dark hair, around 140 lbs, approximately 5’6″ wearing only a light pink, satin nightgown. Lacerations on her legs, arms and face. Marks on her wrists and ankles. Possible sexual assault,” the officer reported.

Detective James Andrews sat at his desk reading over the autopsy report on the now identified Jane Doe.

“So who did you piss off Mrs. Jennifer Miller?” James asked himself.

Bruises, lacerations and sexual assault. He read over the report. James reached for the phone to call Kent Miller listed as next of kin.

“Hello,”

“Hello, is this Kent Miller?” James asked.

“Yes,” Kent answered.

“Mr. Miller, this is Detective James Andrews, I am afraid I have some unfortunate news for you concerning your wife Jennifer. Can you come in to the downtown police station?” James asked.

Kent closed his eyes, took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“Is she dead?”

“Yes, she is, we need you to come in and identify the body,” James answered.

“OK, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Kent said and hung up.

~ ~ ~ ~

After Kent had identified Jennifer’s body, and been asked so many questions he couldn’t think straight. He left the downtown police station and headed to Jade’s apartment.

Kent knocked on the door, Jade answered.

“You’re right on time, for tonight’s feature,” she said as he entered. A tall, skinny but strong looking guy was standing in the kitchen making popcorn.

“That’s Shane,” Jade said as she lead Kent to the couch facing the t.v.

Jade grabbed a bottle of Jack and three glasses off the counter. She sat the glasses down on the end table and poured.

“Drink,” she said as she handed Kent a glass.

“Ready?”

“Sure,” he answered, Jade hit play and a home movie started playing.

Jade was the camera operator, it featured Jade and Shane breaking in to Kent’s house. They tiptoed through the house, showing Kent fast asleep in the living room. Then they went to the bedroom, where Jennifer was sleeping. Shane put his hand over her mouth and snatched her out of the bed, quickly binding her hands and feet together with large zip ties.

“Popcorn?”

Shane handed Kent a bowl, Kent took it and sat it down on the end table. Slightly in shock as to what he was witnessing.

Then they were in the basement of Kent’s house. Jennifer was tied to a kitchen chair wearing her pink nightgown and Shane was pacing back and forth in front of her. He had a knife and was leaving shallow cuts along her arms and legs. Then he hit her across the face, Kent jumped at the sound and downed his drink.

Jade lit a cigarette and smiled at Shane. Then they were in the back of a van, Jennifer laid out on a blanket, her breathing was shallow but she was moaning.

Shane crawled over her, moved her nightgown up and…Kent closed his eyes, the anger and nausea hit him all at once.

Kent tried to get up, but couldn’t.

“Why would you do this?” he asked Jade.

“Because we fucking could,” she answered moving over towards Kent and kissing him on the cheek.

Kent pushed Jade back, stood up and left the apartment. He made it as far as his car, then leaned over and threw up.

~ ~ ~ ~

Shane left Jade’s apartment a little after 1am, he dropped his skateboard in the middle of the street and headed downhill towards 6th Ave. and the 24 hour convenience store.

“Of course he’s a skater heading out for a pack of cigarettes and a drink,” Kent mumbled to himself, from behind the wheel of a beat up old pickup truck he had purchased with cash from a rancher two towns over.

Kent dropped the truck into gear and followed Shane.

As Shane got ready to turn on to 6th Ave. Kent gunned the engine, he collided with Shane and just kept driving.

Straight down 6th Ave. and onto route 21 where he knew a place out by the river where a burned out old pickup truck wouldn’t gain any attention.

Jade answered the door.

“What do you want?” she asked Kent.

“You,” Kent pushed his way into her apartment, grabbing Jade by the waist and kissing her.

He lead her over to the bed, pushed her down so that she was laying on her back, looking up at him. Kent sat across her hips and pinned down her arms above her head.

He leaned down and kissed her, she smiled. Kent moved his hands down to her neck stroking it gently. Then his grip tightened Jade panicked and grabbed at Kent’s wrists. He squeezed and felt her twitching beneath him.

She fell lifeless like a rag-doll upon the bed. When his hands slipped from their grip around her throat.

Kent got off the bed and started looking around Jade’s apartment he found a shoe box sitting on the dresser. He opened it, there were hundreds of photos of Jade and Shane in a variety of sexual positions.

Kent picked one, it was Jade naked and bound. Her hands tied behind her back and a gag stuffed in her mouth.

“What the fuck,” Kent said to the silent room.

Kent brought an arrangement of flowers out to Jennifer’s grave.

“It’s done,” he said as he laid the flowers down in front of her head stone, roses her favorite.

An envelope addressed to one Detective James Andrews was delivered to the downtown police station.

James opened it, a videotape with a sticky note attached said “Jennifer Miller.”

 

Special Guest- JM Sullivan

Today we have a special guest in the house, give a warm welcome to JM Sullivan:

Secrets don’t make friends. At least, that’s how the saying goes. I don’t know how much I agree with this statement, but I will say that I’ve made many more friends with confessions than I ever had secrets.

I can already see some of you tilting your head as you read this, so let me explain.

For those of you who I have never met (Hiiiii!), my name is JM Sullivan, and I am the host of the Twitter game #AuthorConfession, where we post daily prompts and writers from around the world ‘confess’ secrets to their WIP. It is a ton of fun and I have met so many incredible people this way (looking at you, Megan!).

I love reading the confessions of our players and learning details about the wonderful worlds they are building. So, for my blog post today, I thought I might do the same.

Instead of just asking the questions, today I am also going to sit in the hot seat. I’ll give you completely honest answers to some of the same #AuthorConfession questions I have asked my players. The hardest part- to do it without *spoilers*

So here you have it 5 Top Secret confessions about Second Star- that nobody else has seen!

1. What is your MC’s deadly sin?
1. Wendy’s deadly sin would be wrath. She has a very even temperament and is very patient, but once her limits are pushed, she fights with a vengeance.
2. Peter’s sin is pride. Her is smart, talented, and not afraid to show it. While other character’s struggle with different sin’s Peter’s crowing vanity is what’s sure to get him in trouble.
2. What is your antagonist’s greatest regret?
1. He doesn’t know it yet, but Hooke’s greatest regret is finding the map to immortality. Chasing eternal life has ensnared the Captain, making a once renowned hero something else entirely.
3. Who does your MC love to hate?
1. Aidan Boyce. Although love is still probably a strong word. Honestly, she would just like to avoid him if she could. Unfortunately, her fellow recruit just won’t seem to let her.
4. How would your side character describe your MC?
1. With a glowing letter of recommendation. No, seriously. While Wendy would never approve of such a thing, her best friend Elias Johns makes sure that everyone realizes how qualified and talented Wendy is in a touching letter to the Fleet Admiral, Renee Toussant.
5. If you could only save one character in your book, who would it be?
1. Tootles. He is the smallest of the Lost Boys, and with his angelic face and sweet personality, he must be protected at all costs. The others are great, but Tootles will always hold a special place in my heart.

There you have it. My confessions. Hopefully this tells you a little bit more about Second Star.

I just have one more question, but this one’s for you: Now that we’ve shared secrets does that make us friends? 😉

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Author Bio:
Teacher by day, award-winning author by night, J.M. Sullivan is a fairy tale fanatic who loves taking classic stories and turning them on their head. Although known to dabble in adulting, J.M. is a big kid at heart who still believes in true love, magic, and most of all, the power of coffee. If you would like to connect you can find her on social media at @jmsullivanbooks– she’d love to hear from you.

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1948583003

Online Retailers: http://books2read.com/Second-Star

Social Media handles:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmsullivanbooks
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IG: https://www.instagram.com/jmsullivanbooks/