by M. C. Cerny
I peeked out from his chest and saw that the man was still alive. He rocked back and forth on the concrete, a piss stain covered his pants and the smell permeated the air.
“Hush, Elizabeth.” Adam said shaking me a little.
“Boss?” Petre asked.
“Get rid of him.” Adam coldly ordered and another gun goes off stopping the man’s sniveling cries.
“What should I do about the other?” Petre said, his gun still smoking pointed at the ground now.
“Yes, that unpleasant situation. I suppose we rip the band-aid off.”
I have no idea what they’re talking about, but for the first time, I swore Petre looked genuinely uncomfortable.
Adam turned me to face him, his hand cupped my cheek getting my attention.
“Little bird. Your father thought he catch in on our big day today.”
I pushed him away on unsteady feet watching Petre drag the man away to bring out another one, hands tied behind his back.
“Dad?” I stared at the man I hadn’t seen in years looking like shit. Ripped jeans, worn boots, and a flannel shirt like he came right from the shipping docks he’d been working on earlier.
Adam clucked and pinched my chin forcing me to look at him.
“Yes, dear old dad. He tried to sell you for fifty thousand dollars.” Adam glanced between us disgusted. “Doesn’t he know you’re worth at least a Bentley now?” He kissed my forehead sweetly.
“Lizzie girl. Sweet daughter.” My father said falling to his knees.
“Not anymore.” Adam dead panned.
“She’s mine.” He spat.
Adam pushed me to the side before getting in his face. “Possession is nine tenths of the law.” My husband shrugged. “And here, I am the law.” He stood up and reached for me again.
I shook the dizziness from my head and asked, “Where were you? All this time? Where did you go?” He left us. Abandoned us when we needed a dad the most. He left us to the mercies of the system and I didn’t know what I supposed to be feeling in this moment.
“What? I was working. I was providing for you and Eddie.”
“Liar!” I yelled breaking Adam’s hold on me staggering forward. “You left me. You left us. Me and Eddie. You were all we had.”
He snorted. “Seemed like you did alright. Help your old man out, Lizzie.”
There wasn’t a shred of remorse on his face.
“Does Eddie know? Does he know you’re back?”
“That boy is grown. He’s got nothing to do with this, but you could help me out. Get me set up in a decent place.”
He had no idea what I’d been through.
“So, you’d sell me to make a quick buck? Jokes on you.” I pointed at Adam, my hand wavering as he caught it holding my hand. “You see dad, I’ve already sold my soul to the devil.”
“So dramatic like your mother.”
“Bastard.” I hissed.
Petre kicked him and rolled over on the ground.
Adam embraced me. “I told you Elizabeth. I protect what’s mine, even from your own family. Devil’s in the details and all that.”
“He left us.” I whimpered. “He didn’t care about us.” I felt a woozy wave wash over me.
“That’s it darling. Now, let’s hold the gun together, shall we? We’ve had plenty of practice tonight.”
“What?” I sniffed pulling away. “No.”
“I haven’t gotten rid of my sire yet, but I can help you get rid of yours.” Adam took my numb hand and put it over the gun again. I felt my body shake like it wasn’t my own as the bite of metal stung my palm.
“What about forgiveness?” I looked at both of them.
“For sin?”
My father coughed. his eyes full of hate.
“What about karma?” I pleaded with Adam with one last hope he’d abandon this crazed need for revenge on my behalf because that’s what it was.
“Little bird.” He cooed. “Do I look like the fucking Dalai Lama?”
He squeezed the gun forcing it to go off, pinching my fingers in the process.
“No!” I screamed.
“Time to return to your cage.” Adam let go of me and I spared a glance for the man, now dead. I was as guilty as him. I looked down and saw the splatter of blood against the glowing white of my dress and I screamed until everything turned black drowning out my new world.
8
Aaron
The drive to Claudia’s apartment was hazy at best. I knew the directions by heart, but my head was elsewhere, and that’s when I noticed the car behind me on the deserted service road following me when I made a wrong turn. I managed to safely navigate the roads toward her apartment without killing myself or anyone else miraculously. I almost turned my jeep around thinking to spare Claudia from my curse, but her sweet face and kind eyes were the balm in my storm. I found myself sitting in the car for twenty minutes unable to fully comprehend the information dump as I waited for the asshole dumb enough to follow me to get out of his car.
The car parked in the apartment lot on the opposite end. I pulled my gun from the glove compartment debating what to do. I knew I could never tell her this, but I also couldn’t relinquish my love for her even if all we had was borrowed time. She was comfortable the way warm apple pie and baseball was in spring. She had a way of calming me when my troubled mind twisted like an out-of-control tornado from the worst of my deployments. She was the reason I kept coming back when I probably should have let her go. I loved her, and I hoped like hell it would be enough to see us through. I made a promise to her father and I intended to keep it.
I stuck the gun in my back of my cargo pants in case I needed to draw it. I watched the car idle in the lot. I couldn’t make out who was in the car, but now we both knew I was on to whoever it was as we played our game of chicken. Before I knocked on Claudia’s door, it opened, and she pulled me inside grabbing my shirt.
“Hey baby, I’ve missed you handsome.” Kisses landed on my face, and my neck with sucking little puckers that spurned my arousal. I wrapped my arms around her praying this wouldn’t be the last time. My hands tangled in her blonde hair and I memorized the golden strands like it was precious metal, her blue eyes sapphires, and her lips rubies. Claudia was my treasure for a life well lived and I refused to give her up.
“Nice message earlier.” She winked holding up her rose gold iPhone I bought her last Christmas.
“Guess I missed you more.” I leaned into her soft body tugging the phone from her hand to drop it on the table. She smelled like birthday cake and sweet icing. I needed her like I needed oxygen to breath. I tried to calm the caveman within grasping her wrists tightly.
“Happy Birthday Aaron.” Her lips kissed mine and I tasted the frosting she made for my cake, sickly sweet, and probably pink. I walked her back inside the apartment and out of the doorway. Over my shoulder, I watched the car pull out of its spot and circle the parking lot taking stock. I shut the door on my new babysitters. We were definitely on borrowed time, though I wasn’t ready to admit it. I knew a tail when I saw one, and I didn’t know if it was because of the General’s disclosure or if I was being watched routinely now.
“Come on, baby.” I whispered hot against her neck licking her skin. Cake could wait. My cock couldn’t.
Claudia was a nice girl and nice girls didn’t like the kinds of things I wanted to do to her in my dirty mind. I clenched my jaw and forced missionary thoughts into my head. She came from good people, quiet people, who voted conservatively every election, and attended church every Sunday. That’s not to say straight-laces weren’t into kink. Far from it, but Claudia would have clutched her pearls, if she knew exactly what I wanted to do to her.
I first saw her swinging on a swing in the backyard next to mine. I’d tease her like crazy until we got older, and I wouldn’t look at her with stars in my eyes until I heard her sing in our church youth group choir, as ironic as that shit can be. Her pretty pink lips caressing soprano notes. High school sweethe
arts. We were almost each other’s first everything, despite a brief break in college where I enlisted and proceeded to sow my wild streak before coming back to her. Back home. I pushed down the dark musings wondering if Adam and I were alike in that way. There was no one to ask of course, and I felt sick even considering the thought.
Her hands roamed my shoulders greedy, but not enough. “I want you.” She whimpered.
What Claudia wanted was me covering her body on the bed missionary style kissing her tits and rubbing my cock between her thighs until she shuddered with her dainty orgasm in the dark. I wouldn’t get mine until then, and that was fine. I’d make her come at least twice, maybe with my fingers, maybe with my mouth without the lights on so she’d be wet enough and love drunk to take my cock without protest.
“I want you more.” It was a game we played as I peeled her roaming hands from my shoulders letting them fall to my chest. I nudged her further inside the house locking the door behind me, checking every entry point as we went.
“How long are you home for?” Her eyes sparkled asking the familiar question. Claudia lived in a world of absolutes and counted every day, minute, and second. She had no idea the vortex within me was close to swallowing her whole.
“A month.” I said trying to shake the robot from my bones. The car in the parking lot indicated differently, but I said nothing. It was complicated. Classified for sure. If I didn’t temper my rage, I would be rougher than she liked.
“Well, then let’s start it out right, my hero.” She winked running down the apartment hallway awakening the predator within. I followed her into her bedroom stalking her with loud footsteps. An airy place filled with way too many fucking pillows, pink and white frills. The décor was a cheap antibiotic to my baser needs. The room was a mirror image of her bedroom at her parents’ house. Back then, the idea of sneaking inside as she held open the window sash to her bedroom was a naughty prank. Letting me slide between her thighs for heavy petting before we parted ways for college was as far as she would rebel. As if premarital sex was so taboo. If she knew my linage as the product of a prostitute and some john, I bet her pretty face would have blushed a rosy red in judgmental shock. Her parents would have kept us apart.
Too late now.
Not sure why it mattered at all.
I begged her to flex her wings while I pursued my military career, but selfishly, I always came back to Claudia. I still didn’t want to give her up. My all-American doll cleansed the filth I didn’t realize I had been trying to exorcise. Now the General had brought it all back. This time when I sank between her thighs it was with renewed vigor to make sure I burned the image of her body and soul into my mind. In case things got FUBAR on my next mission.
You never knew when shit was going to hit the fan and things didn’t go according to plan. We stripped each other’s clothes off. I tossed her on the bed crawling after her amid giggles and fake scared screeches that likely turned her neighbors on, and fueled my desire to hunt her. Claudia would bare the love rough scratches of my scruff over her face, neck, breasts, and thighs for a good week with a smile. I ate her cunt making her sloppy wet. My fingers gripped her as I pounded into her, marking her as mine, only mine. I held her down and she submitted to my wildness with a sigh. Her open arms pensive, but eager. Her slick walls clenched around my cock coating me with her desire. I was rough, yes, but I also knew what made my girl purr like a kitten. I wasn’t cruel even lost amid my own new hell. I fucked her on repeat until I couldn’t remember the broken record of how I wasn’t good enough, clean enough, worthy of a mother’s love. This whole night had triggered something dark cracking me wide open.
None of this had bothered me before, but the General sullied the palatable lies my parents told me with the truth. I fucked her raw, let my soul bleed a bit before patching us back up with a ring and a promise. Girls were always good for those weren’t they?
Afterward we showered together in her stand-up stall that left little room for us to do much more than rinse each other off and skirt around cold tiles. Her skin was pink and blotchy in spots, but she rubbed her softness against my hard body purring, and I knew I was already forgiven.
“Missed me?” Her clear eyes searched my face, her lips sought mine out. I gave her what she wanted, but not before taking a little taste of my own.
“More than you’ll ever know, buttercup.” I slapped her ass gently testing the waters, my hand stinging from the force.
“No, Aaron.” Paused with her hand up, she moved away from me covering herself up with a towel. Yeah, Claudia wasn’t into spanking, not even a little.
“A love tap?” I teased. She rolled her eyes, and I heaved a heavy sigh struggling to maintain my control.
“I’m not that kind of girl.” She wasn’t and I knew this. Instead, I kissed her sweetly this time, nipping her bottom lip with my teeth, my inner demon at bay. She slipped a t-shirt, one of mine over her head and walked away.
Lying in bed, I turned the television on as Claudia hunted in the kitchen. She returned with slices of birthday cake to refuel. The news was on, and with it an update I wasn’t expecting.
“Anything else to eat?” I probably outweighed her by eighty pounds. A slice of cake wouldn’t cut it when my dinner consisted of beer and pussy.
She smiled and went back to the kitchen calling me.
“Babe, I found some ice cream. Rocky road?” She held up one spoon on her return. I patted the bed next to me engrossed in the newscast. This ice cream was about to be the story of my life. Rocky Road and shitty puns. She spoon fed me a bite of chocolate and gooey marshmallow too sweet for my taste buds. I pushed away the second spoonful swallowing down the sugar invading my body like greedy ants in summer.
“Who is that?” I asked, already aware, my voice full of disgust. An open file filled with your past kind of does that to a guy.
“Oh, um, that super shady rich guy, Adam Huntley. He got married today and the news has been broadcasting it nonstop. Wonder if they’ll get some trashy reality show.” She murmured deep-throating a spoon of ice cream I was suddenly jealous of. I’d basically said the same thing earlier.
“I doubt a criminal wants his activities broadcasted.” I pulled Claudia into my chest kissing the top of her head soundly smelling her wholesome apple shampoo. My eyes were glued to the television watching every nuance the camera captured of my evil doppelgänger. Ice cream cool lips kissed my neck getting me hard all over again.
“Oh, I don’t know, there’s that new FSE network. Seems like they’ll air anything on Fresh Sexy Episodes.” She shrugged. I had no idea if that was cable, Netflix, or something else.
I brushed it off, unable to remember the last time I actually watched a television show.
“Yeah, it’s like they’re some twisted American royalty. The media has been obsessed with them all week. Not quite the Kennedy family, or the Kardashians, and definitely not Will and Kate.”
“Hmm.” I listened to the newscaster, Katie Reed. She was a favorite of the guys on my team. The news went on and on about the church wedding and reception held by the new Mr. and Mrs. Adam Huntley. Several hundred international guests, security, and the works all in attendance to wish them well. It was a full-on media circus with outlets wanting to know who designed the bride’s dress and shit. At least Katie Reed asked decent questions about her age, and something about being Huntley’s ward and the ick factor you couldn’t deny of some older dude marrying his ward. I didn’t even find the girl all that attractive. Pocket sized brunettes weren’t my thing.
Claudia went on and on about how this girl came from nothing out of thin air before this. “I can’t believe it’s being held at our church. So weird to see it packed full like that. My parents have been up in arms about it since they found out. Mom texted me.” She winked showing me her phone. “Father Morely had something to say about it until the donation rolled in apparently.”
“I bet.” I tried massaging the ache between my eyes.
“You kn
ow, Aaron, you look a little like him if you turn your head just so.” Claudia leaned up kissing my jaw, moving my face in the television’s reflection. “Nose is all wrong though. I’d know that honker anywhere.” She chuckled trying to get a rise out of me.
I pushed her hand away gently biting the pad of skin distracting her. My heart skipped a beat thinking about it. Maybe a broken nose from high school football would save me, or not.
“Glad I’ve been saved by the nose. I’d hate to be mistaken for that guy.” I pointed at the television feeling a sickness settle in my stomach. No one could know the truth of my connection to Adam Huntley. Adoption records were sealed for a reason.
“Yeah, I heard his wife is barely legal. She attended some private school in Vermont and he practically robbed the cradle with her.” Claudia kept giving me details I could have internet searched myself. The only thing I was interested in at the moment though was the sad face on the bride being pulled down the church steps, a grimace on her face that told a much different story than the happy one the news put on. The last thing I needed was to feel sorry for a slip of a girl who knew exactly what she was getting into by bedding down with that snake. She made her bed and now she’d have to lay in it with a smile for the world to write about it.
“Good thing we don’t have to worry about it.” I said hoping Claudia would let it go.
“Nope, but I’d totally be happy to have you drag me down the steps like a caveman as Mrs. Aaron Henderson though.” She rolled on top of my thighs growling, not at all subtle with her proposal.
“Would you now?” Grabbing her hips, I rolled her over, pressing her deep into the bedding, my erection hard against her center. The thought of owning her, being her husband unwound the band around my heart filling me with an emotion other than anger toward my brother.
My fucking brother.
I still didn’t believe it.
Claudia giggled. I loved the purity of the sound, so carefree. If I could bottle up her happiness, I’d make a fortune. I leaned back looking into her eyes, wide, blue and guileless.