by J. C. Cliff
“Oh. My. God,” I pant loudly in staccato. “Travis.” I feel vulnerable, but yet the touch and penetration of his finger in my puckered hole has me so turned on. It seems so dirty. I shouldn’t want this, but yet it’s hard for me to admit that it feels so good.
He picks up the pace again pumping into me from behind, the speed of his finger entering in and out of me, keeping time with his cock. He is hitting every nerve ending in my body, reaching all the way to my toes, making them curl in desperation. I’m only able to think of one thing: the intense pleasure, the impending sweet release that I can feel building inside me. “Oh, yeah, my girl loves this,” he pants out of breath.
He’s found his own rhythm thrusting and pounding into me, and then rolls his hips simultaneously in a continual pattern that is to die for. I feel hot and flushed as I lay here and just take what he doles out without apology. The way he repeatedly thrusts his cock in and out of me like a rabid animal, filling me to capacity and beyond, I feel both pain and pleasure mixing together with extreme intensity. I grip and twist the sheets in my hands, my mouth dropping to form an O. Being in this position, I’m extra sensitive to every thrust, grind, and withdrawal of his cock, and as he pushes his slick thumb in and out of my puckered flesh more firmly, my body spirals out of control.
The man knows what he wants, and he knows how to give it. “Get ready, baby,” he hoarsely whispers behind me. His movements become erratic, and his thrusts more frantic as he sinks deep inside and I know he’s close. Grinding his hips against mine, his free hand slips around my waist, and he begins to rub small, firm circles around my sensitive nub. I feel the familiar tingling sensation as another orgasm pushes me over the edge, off the cliff. “Come hard for me…now,” he roughly demands, and when he pinches my clit, it triggers an orgasm that bursts from my inner being like a space ship lifting off its launch pad.
I expel a powerful wail from my lungs, embracing the ecstasy he’s giving me, experiencing a climax so powerful I can feel my inner walls spasm around his thickness. His shaft then begins pulsing in the depths of my core as a powerful, deep groan expels from his lungs, and I feel his beautiful body as it shudders over mine. What we’ve just shared is so soul connecting, and the fervor, magic, and zeal between us is like a drug; I don’t ever want this feeling to end.
When the vestiges of both our orgasms have faded, he slowly pulls out of me. Strong hands then turn me around, rolling me over onto my back. He lays his body on top of mine, being careful to keep his full weight off my chest as his lips come crashing down over mine. His tongue skirts along my lower lip and I whimper in response. I close my eyes savoring the feel and taste of everything Travis.
I eventually break the kiss, surveying him, taking pure satisfaction in his flushed and sweaty appearance. I revel in the fact I had him so turned on he spiraled out of control. Sated fulfillment fills his eyes, and I can’t believe the powerful moment we just shared. I could have never even fantasized about something this intense and feeling as if my body has claimed just him as my counterpart.
“I can’t get enough of you, of this, of us…I just can’t get enough,” he softly confesses, and I feel the exact same way. The background music begins to return into the foreground. I’m Forever Yours Faithfully by Journey is playing soft and low, and I can’t help but think he specifically hand-picked this mix of music for us. Each song seems to carry the same theme, a love song with special meaning behind it.
The lyrics of the songs only increase the thought these words are meant solely for me. He softly whispers his husky voice into my ear, breathing on my skin, and when he sings a few lines of the chorus, a single tear of happiness drips out of the corner of my eye. I swear this is the stuff fairy tales are made of. Growing hard once more, he gently flexes his hips into me again. This moment is euphoric, and his passion, emotion, and ardor have me thinking I’m falling in love with this incredible man.
He then supports himself by leaning up on his elbows and begins caressing my hair tenderly with a look of love and reverence in his eyes. I shake my head and swallow hard; I’m all mushy inside, and my eyes spill over with emotion.
“Hey, what’s this?” he murmurs, his thumb skating under my eyelashes.
My voice comes out as a low, raspy whisper. “I’m just really happy. You make me feel so special.” A huge shaky sigh of contentment leaves my lungs as I savor the weight of his naked body resting over mine. Whispering softly against his lips, I tell him what’s on my mind. “You’re beginning to mean so much to me, Travis.” I stroke his back gently with the tips of my nails and search his bright eyes. “Someone needs to bottle this up and make a pill, because I can’t seem to get enough of you…of this feeling. This between us…it can be nothing short of pure bliss.”
Without warning, I feel every one of Travis’ muscles tense, and his eyes shift to the side as he purposefully evades my gaze. Well, that’s a reaction I didn’t see coming, especially after all the sweet things he’s just confessed to me. I notice his breathing has picked up, and his jaw clenches as if my admission was too much for him to swallow. He’s acting as if I just told him I was diagnosed with genital herpes, and now he has it. My heart stilled, then sunk to the depths of my toes, and my face fell. I start second guessing myself; maybe I’ve been reading him wrong all along. The moment grows more awkward by the second as the silence stretches between us, and suddenly I wish I could crawl out from under him and hide…forever. Not knowing what to say in the strained silence, I feel the need to get away.
“I need to use the bathroom.” It’s the only fool-proof excuse I can come up with. I try to shift out from underneath his big body, but he doesn’t budge as he tries to hold me back.
“Wait,” he grabs my wrist to hold me in place, “Jules…” Regret of some form flits across his face, but it’s too late. I need to escape, or I’ll make a bigger fool of myself and cry in front of him. My head prickles and my ears ring with rejection. I need to leave and salvage what pride I have left.
I give him a false smile. “It’s okay, Travis. I really do need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Maybe tomorrow, after my dignity recovers. He sighs reluctantly and rolls off my body. I slide off the mattress and quickly scuttle into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.
I exhale a long, deep breath I didn’t realize I was holding and shut the door. The gravity of the situation hits me, and my eyes immediately fill with tears. I know I just made an utter ass of myself by confessing my feelings to him. Whatever magic spell we were living under, I fear it’s now been broken.
I go ahead and use the toilet, then quickly wash my hands. No longer wanting to be naked, I grab the bathrobe hanging on the hook behind the door. My vision goes blurry as I try holding back the tears. I’m so confused; I thought our relationship was growing into something significant. My back presses against the bathroom wall, and I slide down until my bottom meets with the hard tile of the floor. I shouldn’t have been so farsighted, but he’s made many comments himself, alluding to the fact he wants us to be an exclusive couple.
Travis knocks at the door, startling me. “Jules? Jules, are you okay in there?”
I hurriedly jump up from the floor and turn on the water faucet, pretending to be busy. A cheerful response escapes my lips, “I’m fine…be right out,” but I’m anything but cheerful.
I look into the mirror, and my eyes are rimmed with red, just great. After wiping the corners of my eyes with my fingertips, I cup my hands underneath the cool running water to splash on my face. Before I’m able to apply the cool water to my eyelids, I hear Travis walking in through the bathroom door. Crap, I guess I forgot to lock it.
Keeping my line of vision pointed directly at the porcelain sink, I ignore him and focus on the water streaming out of the faucet at full-speed. I don’t want him to know I’m upset; he’ll think I’m weak and not able to handle this relationship. I continue to let the liquid spill over the palms of my hands, avoiding his gaze. I can sense he’s approachi
ng me, and I shiver. Please, just go away. I think he’s going to keep a safe distance from me, but he doesn’t. The heat of his body surrounds me as he leans into my side and places his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me tightly.
I watch with blurry vision as Travis’ free hand comes into view, and he turns the handle, shutting off the running water. Slowly, his hand approaches and gently touches my chin with his fingertips as he turns my head to the side to face him. I can’t look at him. My breath hitches as I try desperately to hold it together. He’s not having any of it. He tilts my head back, forcing me to meet his gaze head-on, and I’m a breath away from falling apart.
Remorse is etched in every colored speck of his eyes as he softly says, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. My reaction to what you said,” He shakes his head, “is not what you think.” His lips tenderly brush over mine in a soft, tender, apologetic kiss, and it makes my heart squeeze. “I’m not going to stand here and feed you a line of excuses for my reaction, but do know this.” He breathes over my lips as he confesses, “What we have is more profound than pure bliss, and believe me when I tell you I never want to let you go.”
He pulls me into a tight, warm, and loving embrace, reassuring me with kisses on the top of my head. I’m about to ask him what it was I said so wrong that would make him react in such a way, but something catches my attention. My nose wriggles like a rabbit’s. I smell something, and it isn’t a good smell. I look inquisitively at Travis and ask, “Do you smell that?”
He cocks his head to the side as if his ears can smell, and I want to laugh. He shakes his head. “No, smell what?”
Then it dawns on me. “Oh, my gosh! The bread I made, it’s burning!” We both bolt out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, skidding to a stop in front of the oven. The smell is ten times worse.
“Go open the doors and I’ll get it outside.”
When Travis gets the burnt bread outside, he asks curiously, “Where’d you find the flour you used to bake with?”
“In the food pantry, why?”
He shakes his head. “It’s like two years old; it should’ve been thrown out a long time ago. I bet there are weevils in it.”
I jolt back, mortified, my face twisting with repulsion. “Travis, you guys really need to get your bug situation under control here.”
~Travis~
Tangling my fingers through the ends of Jules hair, I mindlessly twine pieces of her golden strands between my fingertips. It’s late in the evening as I sit here with Jules watching Back to the Future. I smile to myself; it’s one of my favorite movies. I could watch it a million times and never get sick of it. I had given Jules her nightly medicine about a half-hour ago, and she’s out like a light.
Grant recommended I give her a sleeping pill with the drugs at night so the majority of Blyss would be released while she’s sleeping. Grant had incrementally decreased the amount of Blyss in milligrams, and then re-capsuled the drug, making several different dosages. I had him send the decreased dosages of Blyss to a P.O. Box number in Raleigh. I wanted to keep it as covert as possible, so I had Stryker picking up the packages for me. Just one more week of this regimen and she should be safely off all this shit. Surprisingly, it’s been smooth sailing weaning her body from the drugs, and I feel as if I’ve hit a huge milestone.
I glance from the movie to Jules’ innocent, sleeping form. Her breathing has evened out, and if I’m not mistaken, I think she’s snoring lightly. I’m enjoying the quiet reprieve from having to fill all her waking hours with lies. My fractured thoughts give me pause as I berate myself. You don’t deserve her, you lying son of a bitch. She’s trusted me implicitly with everything from her basic needs to her very life, and I shouldn’t have any hopes at all for a future with her. But since I’m a despicable bastard, why stop now? I have every intention of sticking to my plans come hell or high water, and absorb every bit of trust and love from her while time is still on my side.
It’s not like she has a life to go back to anyway. It’s gone—poof—all with the snap of Nick’s fingers. Even if Jules tried to go back to Adam, well...let's just say Nick had put certain systems in place even I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
Spending every second of every day together for the past two weeks, I feel as if we’ve bonded in ways most couples never do, and I pray to God she feels more for me than she ever could’ve felt when she was with Adam. I love her smile and the way she’s able to find joy in the little things. She’s always thinking positively, and tries to find something good to say, even in a bad situation.
The sound of car tires crushing the gravel of the cabin’s driveway pulls me from my thoughts. Glancing at my watch, it reads 10 pm now, which means it should be Stryker. Turning down the volume on the entertainment center, I listen for familiar sounds, making sure it is him. I can’t ever allow myself to let my guard down. Even though the likelihood of it being Nick and his men discovering me is very slim, I can never be too careful. I hear the metal key engage in the lock and listen as the bolt smoothly clicks over without a hitch. Letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I relax back into the sofa, resuming my tender ministrations to Jules’ hair.
A grin spreads across my face when I hear the rattling of plastic grocery bags. Damn, I hope Strike got some decent food for me to eat, plus all the gluten-free shit Jules needs. Reflecting back on my adventures regarding the gluten and dairy restrictions, the entire endeavor has struck me as being quite comical. She still doesn’t remember being gluten-free, and I have no intention on telling her either. I can’t imagine the shit people go through trying to pilfer their way through grocery store aisles day-in and day-out, having to read every damn label, only to get it home and it tastes like seasoned cardboard. No wonder she stays so skinny; she doesn’t have much to choose from.
Stryker comes into view hauling a few bags of food. Placing my index finger over my lips, I silently tell Stryker to be quiet. Nodding his head at me in acknowledgement, he continues toward the kitchen, grocery bags in hand with Ranger on his heels. Setting the bags down on the kitchen counter, he turns around to head back out the front door, whispering he has a couple more trips to the car to make.
I get up, ready to move Jules off my lap to help him, when he holds up his hand to stop me. “I’ve got it, man. Just sit and let her rest.”
I whisper “thanks” and sink back into the comfort of the sofa, turning the volume back up on the movie. Ranger, deciding to stay, comes over to say hello by licking my hand, and then begins sniffing at Jules’ hair.
“I feel the same way, Ranger. I could sniff her strawberry hair all day long,” I mumble to the old dog.
Once Stryker has finished with the groceries, he strolls back into the living room with three beers in hand. He always has two beers to start with. He says since the first one gets gone so quick he might as well grab a second bottle of brew, saving himself a trip to the kitchen. He slips in under Jules’ feet on the opposite side of the sofa and offers me a beer, but I decline. He raises his eyebrow in challenge, and then nods down at Jules to remind me she’s sleeping and I’m not going to be kissing her anytime soon.
Sighing, I damn the gluten and take the beer Stryker offers. I screw off the metal top and begin greedily knocking back half its contents in one swallow. Damn, that tastes outstandingly sinful. I’ve missed a cold beer, especially on a hot summer’s night. Pulling the bottle away from my lips, I hear Stryker unabashedly chuckling at me.
“Shut the fuck up, man. It’s not funny,” I respond as my lips quirk with humor.
“Oh, the hell it isn’t. I never thought I’d see the day Travis Jackson would not only hand his nuts over to a girl, but also go without his most prized beer.”
I shake my head at him and take another swig. “I’d give up more than just beer for this one; I’d take a bullet for her. I believe she’s the one, Stryker.”
He looks at me in contemplative thought as the light from the TV flickers against his face. “I never thought I’d see
you like this again.” He motions between Jules and me with the bottle in his hand. “It’s as if you’ve found your purpose for living again. It’s good to see you happy.”
“She sure has been a trooper. Not many women would brave through the unknown like she has, you know,” I say proudly, tilting my head to look down at my sleeping angel. Her lithe body is spread out between us, her feet on Stryker’s lap and her head on mine. Love and adoration seeps out from every pore of my body for this strong woman. She’s been through so much.
“Have you told her yet…that you love her?” Stryker inquires.
I give a slight shake of my head as my lips thin into a hard line and I look toward the movie in frustration. “I can’t.”
“Man, I have to say I disagree with your plan. There is a huge fallacy in your reasoning, if all you’re going to do is take things as they come,” he quietly warns, being careful not to wake Jules. “I think you really need to come clean with her now, before her memory returns.”
I take another sip of beer and sigh heavily. “You don’t understand the ramifications of what could happen to her or me for that matter, if she gets back in Nick’s hands.”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about you telling her why she’s here with you, how you burned all your bridges for her, all because you love her.”
I mindlessly play with a lock of her hair while I remind Stryker of all the reasons why it’s a bad idea to clue her in at this point in the game. As many lies as I’ve spewed, when she does regain her memory, I don’t want her to pile my profession of love on top of the heap of lies. When I do tell her, I don’t ever want her to look back and question it. I want her memory back in full force when I confess, and I want it to be special.