Written in the Stars

by Abby Knox

  She turned away and looked out the window. “I suppose that sounds good in your head, but in practice that’s not how it works,” she said.

  “If some of them think poorly of you, fuck them. And if you get punished, then I quit. Simple as that.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” she said.

  “Well, I can’t let anyone put you out on your ass with three other mouths to feed.”

  She sighed. “We shouldn’t have come here. To Middleburg. I’ve made a mess.”

  “What do you mean? You left school to come here and take care of your sisters and brother so they wouldn’t have to be farmed out to relatives.”

  She didn’t answer. “Just a slip of the tongue. I’m tired. Maybe we should go get the kids and you should just take us home now.”

  The truck idled at the one stoplight in the middle of downtown, at the crosswalk on the square between the county courthouse and the gazebo. Why this stoplight continued to function on the daytime schedule instead of switching to a flashing red or yellow, like every other stoplight in every other town the size of Middleburg in the entire country, was anybody’s guess.

  Was this it? Was this how their date was going to end? An unbearable party with watered-down liquor that he didn’t want anyway, and mediocre chicken? Some first date.

  Then he looked down the street. Everything was closed except the local biker bar.

  Devin parked in one of the diagonal spaces along Main Street, under a lamp post decorated with a glittering twinkling star.

  “What are we doing here? Everything is closed.”

  “Not everything. We’re dressed up, it’s date night, and now we are gonna hit the town for real.”

  She hesitated.

  Devin held out his hand. “Come on, girl, let me get you a real drink.”

  Chapter 21

  Claire

  “Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!”

  The tequila shot was a lot smoother than what she had imagined, being the novice drinker that she was. The salt and the lime combo, which the bearded bikers who lined the bar were so kind to show her, also helped.

  She had never experienced a lot of things before she met Devin. Earning a rousing chorus of applause and cheers on the level of a Rose Bowl touchdown for something as simple as tossing back a shot of tequila was one of those new experiences.

  One of the bikers patted Devin on the back. “Your girl knows how to party and didn’t even know it.”

  Devin was watching her with a gleam in his eye. He was stone cold sober and kept his hand on her back protectively the entire time they sat at the bar.

  Not that Claire felt she needed to be protected, but it was sweet. He looked happy, watching her have fun. Someone told a raunchy joke and she belly laughed. Actually threw her head back and belly laughed for the first time in…how long? Maybe since before all the bad stuff happened.

  The tequila shots warmed her, the bar was decorated with colored Christmas lights everywhere, there was a nice biker lady in a Christmas sweater with elves all over it who was telling her her life story and kept calling her “Clara,” but she didn’t mind.

  In fact, none of the bikers were dressed in any traditional gear that she would have expected. They were tattooed and wore jeans and the standard motorcycle boots. But they all were wearing cozy sweaters. When she asked the biker chick, Vicki, about it, she learned it was the group’s annual ugly sweater Christmas party. Maybe it was the tequila talking, but she loved these people.

  She also learned that Brick, who seemed to be the “old man” of the biker lady she was talking to, was a U.S. Marine and also helped collect gifts for kids and for moms at the local women’s shelter. She learned that Brick’s dad, like Devin’s, had disappeared shortly after he was born, and his mom and he had been terrorized by boyfriend after boyfriend. So when he grew up and got his mom out of there, he dedicated all his spare time to taking care of kids and adults in abusive situations.

  It was a heartbreaking and wonderful conversation and gave Claire all the feelings. Maybe because it was Christmastime and she was drunk and also possibly falling in love with Devin, but she felt like she had been blessed with a whole new set of friends.

  After she had had about three or four shots, Devin wisely cut her off. She had no way of knowing how much was too much, so she trusted Devin’s judgment on that front.

  “Well, it’s about time we shove off,” Devin said with a wink.

  “Wait, before you go.” Vicki grabbed Claire’s phone and typed in her and Brick’s contact information.

  “If you ever need anything, sweetie, just text me. Anything at all. Seriously, my old man is a fucking superhero.”

  Claire stood up and announced she loved Vicki and Brick with all her heart and they all exchanged hugs as Devin tried to drag her out the door.

  Outside, the cold air rejuvenated her even more. “Devin, this is the best date I’ve ever had in my life.” She stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips. Under the street lamp, everything seemed magical. The tequila also helped with that.

  “I like watching you have fun, sweet thing.”

  She smiled and his words warmed her heart. “Promise me,” she slurred, “Never stop calling me that. Promise me you will still call me sweet thing even when we’re old and gray.”

  Both she and Devin realized what she had just said at the same moment and they stared wordlessly at each other for a moment.

  If she hadn’t been drunk, she might have felt embarrassed or on the verge of panic. She might have looked down at her feet in shame. But she felt elated, confident and totally in love. She had felt completely down in the dumps just over 90 minutes ago and now she felt like she could fly to the moon on her happiness.

  Devin finally broke the silence with a laugh. “I promise, sweet thing.” He angled down to claim a slightly less innocent kiss this time.

  “We have an hour—what do you want to do now?” she said as they warmed up in the truck.

  Devin drew Claire in close to him. She felt his happiness surge to life in his pants. His need spoke to her through his hands, which snaked inside her coat and circled her waist, pulling her breasts against him, through his beautiful full lips that owned her and made her knees feel weak. His tongue, which teased her open and sent her the message that there was much more of her he wanted to taste.

  The heat rose in her cheeks as they kissed, as they warmed each other against the cold with their mutual desire. She wanted him to lay her down right there in the truck and ravage her. She didn’t want it the same way as their first time together. She wanted hot, animal, jungle sex.

  “Damn it’s too cold out here. Too bad we don’t have a big sleeping bag, we could get naked and keep each other warm inside it.”

  “Well,” she said, planting little kisses up and down his neck. “Then I think you should take me back to your place and wreck me.”

  She didn’t have to tell him twice.

  Chapter 22

  Devin

  “Tell me what you want and I’ll tell you what I’m feeling,” Devin said, his hand on Claire’s ass as she furiously worked at shoving off their coats.

  “Devin, I want you to carry me to your bed like a caveman and throw me down and get your cock in me. As soon as possible.”

  Devin responded by easily flinging both of their coats off. Then he bear-hugged her until her feet were off the floor while he ravaged her neck and chest with his lips. Because she had asked for it, he then bent with his knees and picked her up roughly, throwing her over his shoulder. He carried her down the hall of his apartment to his bedroom. Her ass was next to his face, and he could not resist that dangerously high hemline. He let his hands move up the backs of her thighs and over her ass, then stroked her center. She gasped and said his name.

  Then she said it again when he tossed her back on the bed and spread her legs. “Yes, Devin.”

  He teased her by leaning over her and smiling. He slowly hiked up her dress and ran his hands over he
r undergarments. He massaged her thighs, pressing his knuckle into her core. “Oh my god, get them off me, the tights.”

  In one swift movement, her panties, tights and shoes hit the floor.

  “I don’t want to ruin the dress,” she said.

  That was all the encouragement he needed to pull the flapper dress off over her head and sail it across the room onto the chair. Next went her bra. His knuckles went back to exploring and sending waves of pleasure through her system. He found her pussy soaking wet for him.

  “The way your body responds to me, you make me feel Ike a man.”

  “I want that man inside me right now,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about it since Wednesday.”

  He gave her a bad-boy grin. “But first, a taste.”

  She knew what that meant, and she let out a cry of frustration and also anticipation.

  Devin’s mouth and tongue claimed her core with vigor. His tongue explored her clit, her labia, and found her sweet honeyed opening.

  Oh my god,” she moaned.

  “I love the way you taste,” he said, his voice vibrating against her flesh, delivering a wave of pleasure up her spine that made her body buck closer to his face.

  “Do you want me to keep going, or do you want my cock now?”

  “Oh god, you have to keep going now,” she said. “That feels so fucking amazing.”

  He smiled and then dove back into pleasing her with his mouth, stopping occasionally to tell her what she tasted like, what her body did to him. He knew she wanted it rough—and she would get it rough—but first, he wanted to draw it out a bit. The tequila would delay her orgasm, in his experience.

  “Baby, you taste as sweet as watermelon on a hot summer day. I’m gonna devour all of you tonight.”

  “Keep using your tongue on me, that’s it. I hope this isn’t weird, but I kind of want you to bite it. Just a little bit.”

  If she wasn’t the most ridiculously fucking hot creature he’d ever had the pleasure of eating out, he wasn’t up to the challenge of anyone that ranked above her. She was the queen. He dove in and gently nipped her clit with his teeth. He felt her body spasm and heard her suck in her breath.

  “More.”

  He nipped it again and her moaning grew louder. He circled his tongue around her clit and then plunged it inside her. She screamed for more, so he placed his whole mouth around her clit and licked, sucked, and bit. Suddenly she was screaming his name and coming hard. Devin kissed her thighs and ran his hands over her beautiful, natural bush. He was not done with her.

  As her ragged breath returned to normal Devin kissed and licked his way up her torso and settled again at her plump mounds, sucking one nipple into his mouth, then switching to the other.

  “Devin?”

  “Yes, lovely.”

  “I don’t want anyone else to ever touch me like this. Just you. Forever. Never stop.”

  Devin inched up until he was eye level with her face and he cradled her in his arms.

  “I like making you happy. I like to put that smile on your face.”

  She pointed to her lips. “This one?”

  He grinned and pecked her mouth. “That’s the one.”

  “Devin, would you like to tie me up with that scarf while you finish inside me?”

  “Are you asking or telling me?”

  Her eyes gleamed and she bit her lip. “Tie me up and finish inside me, Devin.”

  “You know I will, sweet thing.”

  He gave her neck one more lavish kiss before hopping off the bed to retrieve the scarf in one hand and a condom in the other.

  He wrapped up his cock, then drifted his hands up her torso and lifted her arms up above her head. He fastened her wrists together by wrapping the scarf around them, not too tightly, then tying the other end of the scarf around one of the bed posts.

  “I’m gonna make you come again, Claire.”

  “I know you will,” she whispered.

  He kept his thrusts even and firm so he could talk to her as he stroked her in and out. “Claire, you will always be my only sweet thing. I’m falling in love with you. I don’t care what happens to us after Christmas when we go back to work, I just love you so much I know we’ll figure it out.”

  “I love you, too, Devin.” Her words came out with an edge of need once again. “You make me want to do a whole world of things I’ve never had the chance to do before.”

  He dove his head down and planted lingering kisses all over her chest and her tits, which she arched up toward him as her legs grasped around him wildly. She wanted him deeper, he could feel it. More than happy to oblige, Devin reached down behind one of her legs and hiked it up to spread her open wider. He held that leg in place and used his other hand to stroke her clit while sinking in and out of her depth.

  Her whole body responded to his touch with what he could only describe as joy. She seemed to calm her troubled mind when they were close like this. He was getting close to coming, so he massaged her labia and her clit faster and harder.

  She released a screaming climax as she spasmed around his cock, which let loose with soul-shattering relief.

  When Claire stopped screaming, he removed the scarf and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled an exhausted and satisfied smile. She was out of words and looked ready to go to sleep.

  But sooner or later they had to stop touching each other and get back to reality.

  And kids.

  Devin dressed and thought about the kids. Was he ready to take on an instant family? Absolutely yes, what was he waiting for anyway? He loved her siblings, and he could give them an entire extended family full of support that they didn’t seem to have outside of Claire’s watchful eye.

  As they drove back up to farmhouse to get the kids, Devin came up with his plan.

  He was no genius, but for Devin Halpert, it was pretty brilliant, if he did say so himself.

  Chapter 23

  Devin

  Bundled into the back seat, the kids were all asleep before Devin hit the main road back to town.

  Which turned out to be a good thing, due to what was lying in wait for them when they arrived at Claire’s house.

  Claire’s hand in his tensed up when she saw the rental car in her driveway.

  A middle-aged couple stepped out of the car when he slowed the truck down.

  Claire squeezed his hand as she ducked down. “Keep driving, Devin.”

  “Do you know those people?”

  “I’m not ready! Keep driving!”

  Devin rounded the next corner. “All right, Claire, I’ll keep driving, but you need to tell me the truth right now. Who the hell are those people?”

  She sat up straight and looked at him when he stopped the truck again on the next block.

  Her face was full of pain. “My parents,” she said.

  Chapter 24

  Claire

  It was time to fess up everything. “Please just keep driving. Can we go to your house until I figure out what to do?”

  “No, ma’am. I ain’t moving this truck another centimeter until you tell me why you lied to me.”

  She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying not to visibly shake.

  “I took my sisters and brother away from my parents because where we lived was unfit for the children. I was the only one who remembered what life was like before they moved us in with these…people.”

  Devin needed her to clarify. “Wait, back up. Are you saying your parents joined a cult?”

  She nodded. “They started out as a group of quasi-militia, friends who collected guns and swapped conspiracy theories online. Then before long it got real. My parents moved us in with their friends. They were a bunch of weirdos who wanted to live like the Amish except for that whole passive resistance thing.

  “They wanted to build an armory to fend off the government, for whatever reason, so they bought a farm and built a house on some land in rural Ohio. When I was thirteen, I started asking lots of questions, and then I found
out what was really going on. They said I was pledged in marriage, and that in order to keep the community going, I was going to marry their leader, Mister Benjamin, as soon as I turned 18. Until then I was to remain home with no contact with other males. I was only allowed to go on chaperoned dates with this man I was pledged to. I wanted none of it. They said, as a female I shouldn’t ask questions. I kept pushing back and I was punished. They made me go to work handling the pigs. That’s where they sent the “unholy” girls. The ones who wouldn’t allow themselves to be groomed for marriage but who weren’t old enough to be kicked out of the community.

  “Needless to say, I never made it to college. That was a lie, and I’m sorry. I wanted to leave the compound, but my mom kept having more babies. I think somehow she knew this would get me to stay. But because I worked outside with animals, with little supervision, I was able to do odd jobs around the area for the Amish folks. I think they felt sorry for me and would make up things for me to do.

  “I wasn’t sure if I could get the authorities involved. It didn’t feel like they were doing anything technically illegal. I suspected the leader, Mister Benjamin, was bilking people out of their savings, because he had the nicest accommodations of anyone. Everyone pretended not to notice.

  “So I kept my head down and saved up until I had enough to buy a crummy car, and then one day I gassed it up and woke the kids up in the middle of the night and we drove away. Then we stopped here. I don’t know why. And I’m sorry I lied to you. I didn’t want you to be caught up in the drama, if they found us.”

  “Well now it looks like I am caught up in it,” Devin said. She couldn’t tell if he was angry. But he was frighteningly calm.

  “Are you mad?”

  He shook his head and looked out the window at nothing. “I’m sad. I’m disappointed. Next time you want to lie about where you’re from, maybe don’t tell a story about your parents being dead, especially not to a person whose parents actually are dead. I’m sorry your parents are kind of dumb and in a cult, but it’s far from being dead.”