BLISS

by A. R. Breck

  Once I’m out of the circle, I strip out of my shorts and crop top, tossing them into my tent and then running towards the water, doing a low dive and relishing in the absence of noise underneath the water. No one is yelling. There’s no fighting, or drunk idiots smashing into each other.

  It’s just me, and the water.

  I swim forever, staying underneath the water and only coming up for small breaths of air before submerging again. I feel like a mermaid, slicing through the water like butter and loving how the warm water feels on my skin.

  Loving that underneath the water, everything else disappears. The water glides against my skin and whooshes in my ears, but nothing else exists.

  I want to stay down here forever.

  When I get out to the buoy, I grab onto it and let out a gasping breath. I was under much longer than I can usually handle, but it was so worth it.

  A light glares on me, and I hear my name being shouted from the shore.

  “Mercy!” I see Aric holler from the shore, his hands cupped around his mouth as he yells for me.

  I dip down, only letting my eyes stay above the water. I know he saw me because the light shined right on my face. I’m not ready to face him yet, though. I’m not exclusive with him, and although I wouldn’t have done anything with Barnett, and I do want to see where this goes with Aric tonight, he has no right to haul me out of Barnett’s arms like I’m some sort of rag doll.

  Fucking rude.

  “Mercy! Get back here.” I watch as he pulls his shirt over his head, and my heart rate picks up. Is he going to try and come find me? It’s nearly dark out, and the water is already pitch black. He’ll never find me in the dark.

  Will he?

  Aric dives into the water, rippling little waves on the surface. I look behind me into the middle of the river. This river is huge, and I’d be damn stupid if I thought it would be a good idea to swim to the middle of the river when it’s dark out. Looking over at a neighbor’s house, I see there’s another buoy about a half mile down.

  Looking towards the shore, I don’t see Aric anywhere. There’s no waves, or people coming up for air.

  Complete silence.

  I tremble. I can feel him in the water with me, but not knowing where he is is absolutely frightening. I sink underneath the water and start swimming towards the next buoy. I swim and fast as I can, every once in a while, glancing over my shoulder.

  Was that a shadow?

  I swim faster, kicking as quick as I can and using as much power in my arms as I have. The sensation in the water becomes heavy, and swimming through the water starts to feel like I’m swimming through honey.

  Is this the tension? Aric’s anger?

  I pop up for air and see I’m almost at the buoy. Ducking under, I give it one last go when I feel two large arms encircle my waist, halting me in my swim. My legs kick out, and I try to kick at him as hard as I can. I know it’s just Aric, but the terror of being grabbed in the dark makes fight or flight come out full force.

  I get pulled to the surface. Coughing I try to push away from him. “Get off of me!”

  “What the fuck are you thinking!” He booms, water dripping off his face and hair and making him look like a masterpiece.

  “I’m thinking I want to get away from your barbaric ass.” I curl my feet up and press them against his side. Pushing against him, I use all my strength and attempt to get his arms to break free.

  No chance.

  He’s secured his arms so tightly around me there is no way I will break free.

  “Stop, Mercy. Stop!” He barks, and then I finally do stop. “What the hell were you thinking? That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen you do. Swimming in the dark like that? What the fuck!”

  “What the hell were you thinking? Fighting with someone over what? Them talking to me? Grow up!”

  “He had his fucking arms around you, Mercy!” He roars.

  “Who cares? We were just talking! And you’re not my boyfriend!”

  “Maybe I want to be!” He snarls, our voices echoing off the water.

  We stand there, a hairsbreadth away from each other, water dripping off our faces as the steamy night turns cool. I can hear the crickets and frogs in the distance and the breeze carries the voices of the party across the water and over to us.

  My chest heaves, much like his is.

  “I don’t know what I want.” And that’s the truth. My mind is a whirlwind. Mostly right now, my brain is muddled with liquor and I can’t be held liable for my actions.

  “I know you don’t. That’s why I’m so fucking mad at you right now.” He says, then kisses me. He kisses me so hard and deep my already short breath is stolen from me without a moments notice. I gasp into his mouth, grabbing onto his shoulders for support. If I was standing, my knees would give out.

  We kiss, and kiss and kiss and kiss, until we hear the pop, boom of the fireworks going off.

  Pop, boom.

  Pop, boom, crackle.

  We separate, breathing each other in as the chemistry between us burns like the hottest fire. I haven’t felt this much chemistry with Aric before. It’s been there. It’s always been there. Just not like this.

  Never this… explosive.

  We turn our heads, leaning them against each other as we watch the fireworks shoot off right above our heads.

  “It’s beautiful.” I whisper to myself; not even Aric can hear me. Because it’s not something that needs to be said aloud, or even acknowledged.

  Floating in the middle of the river, in the middle of the night, on the Fourth of July, with a man wrapped around me… I feel alive.

  After the finale, no words are said as Aric keeps his hands secured around my body and he floats on his side all the way back to shore. The party is still going hard. The music gets turned up again and I watch as people start jumping in the water.

  Yeah, they can swim in the water at night.

  Aric picks me up out of the water and starts carrying me towards our tent.

  I see Barnett with a can of beer pressed to his eye. He doesn’t even look in my direction.

  “Hey! Where have you—oh, never mind.” Riley says, staring at us before turning around and hurrying away.

  Once we get to the tent, Aric unzips the front cover and ducks us headfirst inside. He plops me down—wet, gross—on my sleeping bag. Turning around, he zips the fabric door back up.

  Then we’re enclosed.

  It feels like the space shrinks, and we’re suddenly in a small square of space with our tension and anger still at its highest point.

  When he looks back at me, it’s not with anger in his eyes. His eyes are burning with desire and I immediately feel myself start to heat up between my legs.

  Although, a part of me feels ashamed with myself. I’m not the type of person to be with two guys. I’m not a harlot by any means and I hate that I’m doing this to two guys. That I’m so undecided with myself and my life that I’m attracted and have feelings for more than one person at the same time.

  It’s just never what I envisioned for myself.

  “What’re you thinking?”

  I’ll never tell him that.

  “That I’m drunk.” Truth. Too many drinks earlier.

  “What are you thinking?” I repeat back to him.

  “That I want to taste you.” He rasps. He starts crawling towards me, eyeing my pale blue bikini with interest. “Have I told you how sexy you look in this?”

  I shake my head no.

  “You look sexy in this.” His fingers trace my bikini bottoms, over and over again until he can’t take it anymore. He grabs ahold of them at my waist and peels them down. Tossing them aside, they make a loud plop against the tent wall before falling to the ground.

  Aric doesn’t pay attention.

  His focus is directed between my legs. His eyes heat up a murky green, and I whimper when he leans forward and breathes hot breath on my sex. Then he sniffs, and I would feel insanely embarrassed, except he lets
out the most ferocious growl afterwards that I only grow even more wet.

  He sticks his tongue out and presses it against my clit, and I lift my hips, seeking more and more and more. He latches on, sucking and licking and I slam my hand over my mouth when I start moaning out loud.

  Aric sticks his hands underneath my butt and grabs on, squeezing and massaging as his tongue goes to work, sucking and licking. He leans down, going all the way to my ass and licking all the way up to my clit, ending and sucking so hard that I fire off like the fireworks outside, letting loose a cry of pleasure when it gets to be too much.

  Just too fucking much.

  Aric keeps licking, although he gentles down to soft licks and then kisses down there, once, twice, three times, before crawling up my body and lying next to me.

  I’m about to ask if he wants me to reciprocate when he pulls me against him, holding me hostage against his body.

  I sit there and stare through the screen ceiling, watching the stars twinkle for the longest time.

  Just thinking.

  I like Aric. I like him so damn much. And we really connected tonight.

  My phone buzzes in my bag, and all I can do is reach an arm out dig in my bag blindly. When I find it, I pull it out with a smile and unlock it.

  Silence equals guilt in my book. Give me mercy, because I’m going to need it.

  I turn off my phone and slide it under my pillow. I’m not going to think about him.

  I’m not going to think about him.

  How can I like a guy, lay next to him, get flutters in my stomach because of him, and think about his brother?

  Aeron’s so wrong. Like an oil, seeping deep into my pours and staining me for good.

  I can’t get rid of him.

  And a part of me doesn’t even know if I want to.

  14

  Aeron

  “You got those hydros?” I ask under my breath as I walk up to my front door. There’s a party tonight, and I’m supposed to be getting the hook up on some potent ass shit. One of the dealers got canned the other month, so supply has been low. This is the first time since I’ve been released that I’m supposed to get a good stash.

  I hope I can sell a decent amount and get some profit. People have been asking and I’ve felt like a fuckhead trying to sell them some high school bullshit pills. When people come to me, they expect the heavy shit that can get them real fucked up. Not something they can go to the drugstore and get the same effect with some over the counter cold medicine.

  They’ve also got me rollin’ out the coke.

  “Yeah, I’ll get you the plug tonight. Should have it by six.” My buddy Brolan rasps from the other end of the phone. I knew him back in high school, and like me, he’s been in and out of county since we graduated. We’re the bad seeds in this cookie cutter town.

  “See you then.” I hang up and pocket my phone as I enter the house. I’ve been ignoring the hell out of this place for the past week. Not only do I have to deal with my dad’s constant badgering and my little brother’s disappointed looks, but now I also have to ignore some little blonde vixen that can’t be wiped from my mind.

  She latched herself into my skin without even trying. Whatever happened to us in my bedroom was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Trust me, I’ve been with women when I’ve been on just about every drug known to man. Being on something I’ve taken a million times, you don’t think I would have been that effected. Well, I shit you not, it felt like I was in some Alice in Wonderland type shit when Mercy’s dainty fingers were wrapped around my cock. It was the best second-base experience I’ve had, by far.

  Then she had to go and ruin it and chase after my brother like some love-sick puppy. I don’t understand, because I know she felt the same as I did. No one experiences what I did, and only have it end up being one sided. But, if she did feel what I did, why did she end up going with my brother?

  The worst part is, is this last weekend over the Fourth of July, I reached out to her in a desperate attempt to talk to her.

  What the fuck did she do?

  She ignored me.

  And now I’m fucking pissed.

  Is it because I’ve been locked up? Maybe she doesn’t want to be associated with a fuck up like me, covered in ink and has a permanent chip on my shoulder?

  Although, if she’s that much of a prude, maybe I don’t want anything to do with her in the first place.

  Either way, I’ve opted to just ignore the entire situation and instead crash at Lacy’s house over the last week. Avoidance is key. Out of sight, out of mind and all that shit.

  But when I walk into the kitchen and come face to face with the two love birds, I can confirm with myself, that deep in my soul, I’m a terrible person. I don’t care about their happiness because I don’t want her to be happy if it’s without me.

  I’m seriously going to fucking hell.

  They’re unloading groceries, and honestly, if I were an outsider looking in I would think that they’re a newly married couple. The smiles on their faces are so painful to look at. Aric’s smile and look of longing on his face is nearly pathetic, except for the fact that Mercy has her own happy face on as she looks back at him. Is it a look of friendship? Admiration? Love?

  I’ll never fucking know.

  I just know I’m going to break this shit up, because again, I’m a terrible person.

  I drop my keys on the kitchen table loudly, making them both snap out of their fairytale marriage and land back into reality.

  “Aeron.” Mercy says breathlessly, giving me a look that sinks into my heart like melted chocolate.

  I knew there was something there. I knew it.

  “Hey man, where’ve you been this past week?” Aric asks, folding up a reusable grocery bag and storing it into the closet with the rest of them.

  “Oh, you know, around.” I shrug and walk closer to them and have to contain my smile as Mercy’s body locks up when I get too close.

  “What’re you guys doing tonight?” I ask, grabbing the bag of Chips Ahoy cookies out of Mercy’s hand and opening up the package, popping one into my mouth.

  “Nothing, actually. We were just trying to figure what to do tonight.” Aric says.

  “There’s a party at Dirk’s if you want to go.” I smirk when the smile falls off both Aric and Mercy’s faces. For different reasons, I’m sure.

  “Dirk’s throwing a party? Shit…” Dirk’s parties are always wild. Aric likes to party, but he likes to keep it within legal limits. Dirk doesn’t know the definition of legal.

  Mercy? I don’t know why she’s frowning, “Are these your cookies? Woops, my bad.” I pass her back the package, which she takes as she shakes her head.

  “No. I don’t know if I want to go to a party.” Mercy looks at Aric, and I roll my eyes at their silent communication.

  Aric shrugs. “Up to you, babe.”

  Babe? Babe?

  This is exactly the fucking reason I’ve been gone for the past week.

  Mercy looks between the both of us. Back and forth. Back and forth.

  “I’m going to go take a piss. Let me know what you feel like doing.” Aric walks off to the bathroom, leaving me and Mercy all to ourselves.

  Bad idea.

  “Babe?” I growl, curling my lip at the bitter taste of those words as they roll off my tongue.

  Mercy waves it away like it’s nothing. But it’s definitely something. At least to me. “I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to ask you something…” She looks around before taking a step closer and whispering. “Do you have any of those… whatever it was you gave me the other week?”

  I try not to smirk, but it continues to grow until I’m full fledge smiling at her. “You want some pills, babe?”

  Mercy frowns at me. “Would you stop? Yes, I’m asking for a couple pills. I’ve been… having a hard time lately. Mostly sleeping. Can I just have a couple? Until I can sleep again?”

  “I texted you.” I change the subject, because how can I no
t? I need to figure out what happened the other night.

  “When?” She adjusts the napkin holder in front of her.

  “You know when.” I say between gritted teeth.

  She sighs and stops what she’s doing, turning around and looking at me. “I know.”

  “Did you screw my brother?” I growl.

  Her face grows red. “That is absolutely none of your business.”

  I laugh a bitter laugh. “That’s where your wrong, little one.”

  “Stop it. Can I have a couple pills or not?”

  “Did you fuck my brother or not?” I mimic.

  “Fuck you. Never mind.” She tries to shove past me, but I put an arm up against the island and block her exit.

  “Come to the party tonight. I’m getting some then. I guess I could spare you a few.” I say.

  “Can’t you just bring some back with you, or something?”

  I shake my head and walk towards her, and she starts walking backwards to stay a safe distance away from me.

  Bad move.

  I keep walking, and eventually we end up in the walk-in pantry, hidden from the world.

  I corner her in between the chips and the canned goods. Reaching up, I run my fingers down her cheek as I say, “Mercy, come to this party tonight.”

  Her mouth opens on a breath, and her pouty lips look so inviting. That, and her eyes have a spark that wasn’t there when she was talking to Aric. I know that for a fact.

  I move in close to her, ready to take her up against the non-perishables and not give a flying fuck who sees me. Her girly scent surrounds me and I only want to inhale her more. Looking at her makes me feel like I’m finally taking that sip of water after being left in the desert.

  It’s like coming home.

  Mercy reaches up, grabbing onto my hair and it feels like she’s both pulling me towards her and trying to push me away. I press into her further, making a can of something fall off the shelf and roll away. I grow hard instantly from her smell, grinding into her and watching as her eyes darken into two black pools.

  God, she’s a fucking wet dream.

  “Mercy?” Comes from around the corner, and she pushes me away so quickly I barely have time to register who’s calling her name.