Hell did not await him, nor Heaven. The unmitigated dark of the abyss swallowed his corrupt demonic soul before he hit the floor, utterly and unquestionably dead.
The gangly cop then walked over to the counter, grabbed a shard of glass, and placed it into Eugene's hands. He turned back to his partner. “I’ll prepare in here,” he said peacefully.
Shorty nodded, exiting the store. He walked to the police car parked under the filling station awning and settled calmly into the seat, lifting the radio. Pressing the button, he spoke with authority, “This is Officer Sullivan. We have a coroner's case at Montgomery's Gas and Convenience.”
YOU KNOW THE TIME of the morning where if sleep evaded you, none of the options laid out on the proverbial table for rest were going to pan out? As luck would have it, that's exactly the time Adrienne found herself in. The sun was still well below the horizon and she couldn’t sleep if she wanted to.
I bet Joey is still awake too, she thought as she walked down the hall, poorly trying to justify her own insomnia. That was a lot of sugar, caffeine, and whatever else shoved into those slender cans he was knocking back like a crack whore turning tricks.
On the other hand, Gage was probably sawing enough logs to add a third story to the Lodge. That goddamn grizzly tease, innocently snoozing up there while she was down here, wide awake with him fully on her mind.
She stumbled her way into the kitchen, her vision blurred by fatigue and the annoying flickering above the sink. A certain man was tasked with fixing that light and he had obviously made it a top priority. Squinting between its random flashes, she looked out the tiny window.
The GMC was parked caddy-cornered to a gold ‘80 Z28, its classic American lines making Gage’s baby look downright clunky in comparison, kind of like its owner.
Beyond the vehicles pitting themselves against each other, the trees swayed with a trance-inducing dance and just past the grassy expanse a section of the metallic ring that surrounded the property shone in the moonlight. The rain had also started to pick up; still a drizzle, it would likely be a steady downpour within the next hour.
Parched, she sluggishly opened the cabinet where the drinking glasses should be, only to find there were none inside. A glance down at the sink showed her where they had gone: swimming in a cesspool of dirty dishes while a large air bubble belched at her with a pop.
Sigh.
As she started cleaning and cursing under her breath, a huge mass entered the room and loomed behind her. Stepping up, it grabbed hold of her shoulder and she twirled, flicking off the dagger that was still on her belt. She quickly raised it high and let the tip sink in, releasing a small trickle of blood.
Fuck, it was Gage – no third floor construction project was going on tonight.
He wiped the stream of red off with a single swipe from his thumb and then rubbed his beard with the other hand, all while letting out a beastly yawn. He stood there, shirtless as usual, in another pair of tight, low riding jeans that looked nearly identical to his countless other pairs.
This pair seemed to have the magical ability to get tighter the more he moved, showing off all the goods both front and back. She idled on his barely contained behind before reality threw her back.
“Really?” she snapped.
“What?” he replied, reaching into the sink to pick up one of the used glasses. “It's just moi, gorgeous.”
She pushed him hard, knocking the glass back into the dishwater, sending some of it splashing across her already grimy tank top.
“Oh I don’t know,” she said with a another Gage-induced eye roll. “Maybe the fact that we just cleared that coven full of…” She paused as her mind wandered between the circus of vampiric freaks they fought and the primal that nearly killed her. “Sorry, I just haven't had a chance to chill out yet or get rest like some people. I mean shit, I can't even get a glass of water for my parched soul without having to navigate my way through a level of hell left behind by you and Joey.” She waved her hands frenetically over the pile of dirty dishes before crossing them in an attempt to look imposing. Her head was cocked to one side.
Gage wasn’t taking the bait; in fact he had some of his own.
“My bad, my bad,” he said, raising his arms in surrender. “After all this time I thought you could handle the stress of monstrous beasts.” He calmly turned his fingers downward.
“Most beasts I can,” she said. “Yourself included.”
He shifted a bit closer to her, turning her away from the sink and pressing her against the central island. He leaned in toward her ear.
“I doubt that,” he whispered. “Certain monsters were made to make people scream.”
“Oh yeah, I bet you make all the ladies scream with this,” she said while darting her hand out to grab the front of his jeans. There was much more there than she realized; than she wanted. Her eyes shot up to his as he raised an eyebrow in agreement.
“Not just the ladies darlin’,” he corrected. “People scream. Better watch yourself. Don’t get lost and become… prey.”
It was suddenly very warm. She found herself looking straight into his eyes, unable to pull away, eagerly wet underneath her jeans.
“I don’t get lost easily,” was all she could manage to say.
“We’ll see.”
At that moment, Joey walked by the archway separating the kitchen and dining room. He was carrying a couple of empty bags to the storeroom for supplies. As he passed, he stopped about halfway and saw two silhouettes; Adrienne pinned with Gage looming over her. His hulking back and shoulders were easily twice her width, arms triple the thickness. Joey spent some time studying them, transfixed by Gage’s shape for what seemed like forever. He realized he should leave before he was seen, but as soon as he started again, the floorboards turned him in.
In the low light Gage looked up and he zoned in, eyes drifting from Joey's disheveled hair down the open flannel shirt laid over a lightly furred chest, past the bulging jeans all the way to his muddy boots and right back up again.
Oh how he loved to make people scream. He tossed Joey a wink, which sent him on his way.
ADRIENNE LAID BACK IN her comfy bed wondering what had happened earlier.
She had heard a little creak and soon after, Gage had pulled himself away from her and went back upstairs. She took a moment alone at the kitchen table to finish off a glass of water before somehow ending up back in her room. The journey back up here was a blur as he would not leave her mind, filling it with an endless cycle of thoughts and possibilities.
The rain beat against the roof, the normally restful sound causing a calamity in her soul. Part of her was outside, dancing by herself joyously in the rain. Another was tucked up underneath a tree locked in a passionate kiss, while yet another was here in her room gazing out at all the dancing and kissing going on. She focused in on that piece, searching for an answer.
As she looked upon herself from the outside, she had the most difficult time understanding what feelings she could read on own her face. Was she content to be up here alone? Was she sad? Did she long for the time under the tree with another, or for a solo number in the rain?
Why was this so damn difficult?
Speak to me Adrienne!
There was no reply.
Frustrated, she got out of bed and propped herself up against the window sill. The steady beat of rain drew her attention back out the window where she found herself again, dancing solo. As she watched, she felt pretty satisfied. That is, until a figure walked up to her and a hand grabbed hers, bringing her close. It was Gage, soaking wet from the rain as well. Together they held each other in the deluge, perfectly still with no other motivation to move. Immediately all felt right.
That was all she needed to know.
She crept down the hall as to not wake Joey up, though the heavy roar of the storm would have muffled any noise she would make passing by his door. Before she knew it, she had arrived outside Gage’s room. The door was cracked open and there was a sma
ll amount of lamplight coming from inside.
She pushed the door open and peeked inside. She was nervous that she was even in his room, especially so when she saw the sight of what sat on the edge of the bed. Gage was there with arms rested on his thighs, looking down in deep thought.
This is a mistake, she thought, inching back out of the room. While she retreated he happened to look up; little did she know he had been wrestling with the same things.
“Hey there,” he said softly. “Whatcha up to?”
“Oh, um. Just checking to see if you were alright. You left in a bit of a hurry downstairs.”
“I’m good,” he said, leaning back onto the bed. His body looked amazing in the soft light, every single cut and line calling out for attention, especially those tempting v-lines that receded into his jeans. “How about you, darlin’?”
“Me? I’m okay,” she replied, wanting to touch him everywhere.
“Ya sure?”
“Yup.”
He slowly laid himself all the way down on his back. “Well, I think the door frame can hold itself up. Come on in,” he said while patting the open space to his left.
Part of Adrienne still contemplated leaving, but her desires pushed her forward. She closed the door behind her and moved across the sparsely decorated room, bachelor-like in its level of simple and clean. The lines of the furniture were straight like the picture frames on the wall, each holding vintage images of construction workers on beams high above New York City. After a few strides, she sat down gently beside him as he laid there perfectly still.
He looked up at her beautiful brunette hair and skin, dewy like the morning, while she looked down at his ruggedness, so hard and captivating. The veins she had traced earlier in the truck were apparently only the tip of a very large iceberg; they criss-crossed everywhere on his body. As she pondered another road trip along them, she saw a large lump forming in the front of his jeans, growing with each passing second.
He raised a hand to run her hair through his fingers. It was luxuriously soft and when he withdrew, the smell of tea tree and mint trailed behind.
“Did you get lost on your way here?” he asked her.
Adrienne thought she would be ready for this. Part of her wanted to bolt out the door right then but as she continued to look down, she saw that the bump had grown a significant way down his pant leg. She knew that he went commando from his all too frequent plumber impressions and this must have been the reason why. But no way was it that large. Was it? How did it even fit in there? She had to know, primal instincts hastily taking over.
“I must have taken a wrong turn,” she replied, resting a hand on his left leg. No sooner than she touched him, a wet spot formed at the end of the bulge.
Good lord.
“Well, I did warn you about what would happen,” he said with a pulse that made the spot grow a little more. “I'm about to show you a lot of things, darlin’. You best be ready.”
She wasn't.
His stare, rooted and green, commanded her to stay put. A sudden heat formed at the back of her neck as he stood up in front of her and unbuttoned his jeans, motioning for her to do the rest as he placed his hands down into his back pockets.
The zipper began its way down, a forest of veins and thick lines plunging into the confines. She had seen these jeans so frequently over the last year, never once imagining she would be getting inside them. Yet here she was.
He was still pulsing as the zipper fell, the spot in his jeans growing larger.
Once the jeans had been unfurled, she grabbed each side just above the front belt loops and pulled down. They didn’t move. She tried again and slowly but surely they lowered, fighting her along the way.
A few seconds later they were stuck again.
She reached around, grabbing his tucked hands. He resisted a bit, forcing her to lean dangerously close to his still caged monster. With her head mere inches from him, he finally moved his hands with hers over his ass, and the jeans were free to move again.
They had slipped down far enough for her first glimpse of the beast: the base was so wide with thick veins roping down the shaft. Her heart leapt while she backed her head up and continued to drag the jeans downward, his large balls swinging free along with the rest of him. There was certainly no shortage of Gage anywhere.
All of this was so surreal and in a world where garden gnomes were alive, that was saying something. She wanted to touch it so badly, just to see if it was real, but that wasn't going to happen right now.
As she reached out her hand, he firmly grabbed hold and lifted her up to his face, pressing her hard against his body. Each one of his striations was hard as marble, his skin soft to the touch. It was difficult to describe the feelings coursing through her at that moment, but dizzy with excitement was probably the most accurate.
Gage didn’t wear cologne, yet had a natural musk that she had caught faint whiffs of before. Now that she was so close to the source and not in a life or death battle, she simply wanted to be drenched in it. Needing more of the intoxicating scent, she tucked herself in closer to his neck and drew a long breath.
That’s when he leaned in, pulling her back by the hair to bite her lower lip, transitioning into a kiss. His lips and beard were supple and the trace of peppermint on his breath mingled with her own. It was a kiss that seemed to last a century, setting her legs to tremble while she shivered uncontrollably.
Seeing the effect he was having on her was like a drug and he powered on.
He took time to undress her, placing her back onto the edge of the bed while slowly pulling off her top. He savored the moment, running over her velvet skin with the tips of his thick fingers. Her bra soon joined the shirt on the floor and he caressed each of her breasts in his hands. As he looked at them in the golden lamplight, he spread his fingers and went in to tease a nipple between his teeth. And so the other would not be jealous, he followed suit and did the same to it.
She let out a low sigh that forced him to stand up. He squeezed his sizable self in between those voluptuous mounds for a couple of slow strokes. Responding like a faucet, he knew that he needed to slow down before he cascaded over the point of no return.
There was no way she was going to get out of screaming.
He pushed her back onto the bed and she bounced a couple of times. Bending over, he grabbed hold of her jeans and they came down along with her panties. As they fell he saw her tattoo on the front of her hip; a small heart was laid on a bed of olive branches in the shape of the infinity symbol. No wonder he’d never noticed it before tonight.
Her jeans continued to rolling off her slender hips as Gage took the chance to sample her, his beard tickling between her legs as he enjoyed playing with his long tongue. She tasted good, so good the beast wanted some of its own.
Adrienne watched as he stepped over to the nightstand, bouncing in all the right places, coupled with that perfect amount of swagger. He pulled the top drawer and opened a wrapper, setting the torn packet off to the side. She caught glimpse of an ‘XL’ emblazoned across the front of it and swallowed hard as he kicked a hip out, flexing his glorious buttocks in a way that defied gravity.
She still shivered with excitement and perhaps now a hint of fear.
Sheathed, he walked back in front of her, his thigh tattoo catching the light as he grabbed hold of her legs, setting them around his neck. He flexed and countless lines danced across his muscular quads..
Don’t look down, she told herself as the quivering subsided. Of course that meant she instantly took a peek at what was coming. The condom strained against the entire length of his rod, every ridge looking as if it was going to burst.
Holy shit! she thought as his broad head rested right against her door and she was about to let him in. When he starting swirling it around, the shivers kickstarted again.
At last he entered, pushing his power tool into the welcoming warmth. It was a tight fit and she writhed in silent, agonizing joy after only a couple of inches.
Double digits still remained. This was going to be an incredibly long… oh my God!
Her firm hold sent waves of pleasure down his shaft. He looked over her naked body as he throbbed in reply, wondering why they had waited so long for this. The feelings were beyond incredible and she was even more so.
But she wasn’t going to control him. Each time it looked as though comfort was setting in, he taunted her by sliding in a fraction deeper, her wetness making it easier the longer they went. He definitely loved being in charge of the situation, but noticed that he was now over halfway in. Nobody had ever lasted to the end of a battle with this beast before yielding a scream.
Unbeknownst to him, Adrienne had been screaming since the first moment they became one. As he continued to press on, the exhilaration of the night became too hard to contain and she overflowed onto the covers.
It was time.
Her flow allowed Gage to push himself deeper and as he plowed all the way in, he grabbed her and rolled completely over. Now on top, she screamed as he went balls deep, pulling back before charging in once more.
And again.
Oh Gage!
And again.
Ahhhhhhh!
Her eyes couldn’t focus as the world became a blur.
He flipped her back over and furiously drilled her, grinding away until the pressure built so much he couldn’t hold back. Waves of euphoria overcame them both as he surged, unleashing a carnal bellow before pulling out and collapsing in a massive, meaty heap at her side.
Her vision slowly returned to normal as he laid there utterly spent.
Soreness began to take over the lower half of her body as she looked over to Gage, now facing her way with an emerald fire in those eyes. Sweat had beaded across his back and forehead and he breathed heavily.
“Was that a scream I heard from you?” she asked, tapping his nose lightly with a finger.
His brow furrowed. “I dunno what ya speak of,” he said.
Homeward Bound (Journeyman Book 1) Page 5