Together We Stand

by JA Lafrance

  Stunned, I do something I never thought I’d do again. I stand on my tiptoes and kiss Christopher. Like really kiss him. Having little experience, I’m not sure if I am doing it right but when I feel his tongue lick my lips and then enter my mouth, I am certain of one thing and one thing only: if he stops this now and says it’s a mistake, I’m going to combust and die.

  Chris

  When I asked her why she was here, I expected her to say I found the letter and we need to talk. I told her in the letter I was going to be here. As much as I hoped she had come on her own, not reading the letter, the answers were in it. She was technically the only person who knew. But when she said because her and Andrew were supposed to come, I know she’s lying. Andrew doesn’t come here often, only when Kenny wants to. No, she was coming here for the same reason I did, to clear her head. I saw her eyes; in no way did she think any differently than I do. And had she read my letter she would be here to tell me it would never happen. See in my letter, I told her straight up, if she wants to end this, to come to the cottage and we would agree to never act on impulse again, no more kisses, touches, everything. But the fact that her lips are on mine, and we are making our way, slowly into the cottage, I am suddenly aware, that she kissed me first. I slowly pull away, taking a moment to savor the look of her swollen lips and smile. She is mine, in every single way.

  “Kenny, what are we doing?” I ask softly, letting her have a moment to think things over. Praying with everything in me, she gives me the answer I want.

  “For the first time in a long time Chris, we’re both doing exactly what we’re meant to do.” We may have never talked about it, but after that, I know it’s what we’re meant to do. At least that’s what my heart is trying to tell me.

  I don’t get a chance to reply before she has her arms around my neck again, and she is kissing me with everything she has. She is putting herself out there and dammit I’m going to be greedy. When it comes to Kenny, I will never get enough. And in return, I give her all of me, openly, wholeheartedly, she has me.

  “God Kenny, I have fought this for so long, I can’t fight it anymore. Tell me you’re with me here, Barbie doll, because if you’re not, I’m going to have the worst case of blue balls in the Maritimes,” I say, leading her toward my bedroom.

  She pulls me faster, letting me know she’s not stopping either. “Chris, I’m all in. Now kiss me like you mean it.”

  That’s all I needed to hear. We make it to my room and I’m ripping her clothes off. We fall onto the bed, in a heap of laughs and kisses and suddenly all is right in my world.

  McKenna

  I have waited for this moment for the last 12 years. I have been so in love with this man in front of me for as long as I can remember. I have seen him without a shirt before but the fact that he is taking it off, for me, blows my mind.

  Christopher is the perfect male specimen. Shaggy brown hair with these dazzling blue eyes. Eyes that are looking at me like I am dinner.

  I let a giggle escape.

  He stops and smiles and says, “McKenna, I hope you know, there’s no going back from here. From this moment on, you will be mine. In every way.”

  I smile at him and say, “What you don’t know Chris, is I’ve been yours for as long as I can remember. Now hurry up.”

  I have never been this brazen before. But then, I have never been with Chris, only in my dreams. He slowly removes my shirt and kisses my neck down to my nipples. I rub my hands over his chest and slowly down his pants. “Take your clothes off Kenny,” he says as he winks at me as he rolls the condom on. I am more than ready for him to fill me. Finally, the moment comes, and I was ready to explode right away.

  Chris enters me painfully slow. He moves over top of me and kisses me up my neck, on my lips and then he moves onto my nipples. He sucks and licks and nips, and I’m begging for more. His movements get faster and I find my heart racing as I meet him thrust for thrust. The groans coming from him make me want to do this over and over again.

  Suddenly, my eyes roll back as I experience the best orgasm of my life. As I milk him for everything he has, he moans my name, and I can feel he found his release.

  He stays on top of me for a few minutes and stupidly I say, “God I love you.”

  All of a sudden, the front door is slamming, and we’re both jumping to get dressed and head out to see what it was. Not getting to enjoy our post sex cuddles, we run to the living room to see Andy outside walking back and forth. We give each other a look and quickly head outside to meet my best friend who is cursing at us.

  Shaking, I ask him, “Are you ok?”

  He looks at me, all concerned and growls, “What the fuck did I just walk in on?”

  Find out what happens next, in Essential Love due out in early 2021

  About K. Logan

  K. Logan is a stay at home mom of 5 busy children in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In her spare time, she can either be found with a book in her hand or writing a book. Living in Canada, she enjoys all her Toronto professional teams and cheering them on. She is usually found on her Facebook account talking to authors who have inspired her to do the same.

  Fighting for Him

  JA Lafrance, Edits donated by Leah Negron

  Fighting for Him

  I wave at my dad through the dirty window of his room at the old age home. This is the fourth time today that I have been to see him, but multiple times since this whole pandemic started.

  I mean, my brother, sister and I put him in this home to keep him safe, yet right now, he and all the people in Silver Senior Living, including the staff, are at a higher risk.

  “Dad, I promise to see you tomorrow. Jason and Mara are coming later. Please be safe.” I say into the phone as a tear slides down my cheeks.

  “Actch, you and your siblings worry too much about this old man. You go do what you have to do, and I’ll stay here and torture the nurses like I always do.” His thick Scottish accent comes out heavier when he is tired or agitated.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know dad, you plan on fighting Satan for his throne.” I giggle as he shoos me away.

  I turn on my heels and head towards my car. I know I have to stop at the grocery store and then pick up some takeout, I also know that I have to be home at four o’clock to make sure that I collect the parcels I have coming in the mail.

  Just as I open the door to my car, my phone rings, it’s my brother; “Hey broder.” I giggle as he moans and growls at the same.

  “Why do you insist on calling me that? Hell, even Ryan is calling me it now,” he says into the phone.

  Ryan is my brother’s partner on the force. He and Andre joined up for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the same time, they went through depot together and followed each other around until they both decided on where they wanted to spend the rest of their careers.

  Where Andre settled down and found the love of his life in Becky, Ryan was a free man. A hot free man, but single, nonetheless.

  “I just left dad, and he is extra crotchety today. Told me that Janice tried to put the moves on him again. Andre, Janice is nearing one hundred years old. I think the only move she can try to put on the old man is sacking him with her cane.” I giggle as Andre groans.

  “Asha, he told me last week that Janice tried to, wait how did he put it, touch him in places only used for sexual satisfaction. I asked Fred the nurse about it and apparently, Janice stumbled and landed in dad’s lap.” I start laughing harder. I swear that man needs more attention.

  “Aurora is going to see him later. I have shift until about eleven tonight and I don’t start until noon tomorrow,” he tells me, which means I can sleep in and see him at supper time.

  “Okay, Andre, you be safe. My gut is telling me that it’s time to feed it or else.” I say my goodbyes and hang up the phone.

  Walking the grocery stores should be easy, or so you would think, people, stand in the middle of the aisles talking to people, or they go the wrong way in the lane. I think the best ones are th
e people that wear a face mask but play with it while they shop. Those are the people I would like to educate.

  “Excuse me, can we get this moving, you are blocking the flow of traffic and my last item is right where you are standing.” I use my polite voice and make sure that I smile.

  “What, do you think that you own this store? I can’t talk to my friend, whom I haven’t seen in a very long time.” Then she turns to her friend and loudly announces, “People have lost their minds since this whole thing started.” I laugh out loud and start to point.

  “Let me make one thing clear, this pandemic is nothing and I mean nothing to laugh at. If you and your friend there would stop actually to think for two seconds in your life, you would realize that you are breaking social distancing laws. Now, please excuse me while I get my tin of coffee and my whitener to go with it.” I pull up the face sleeve over my nose, put on my sunglasses and dig out the pair of rubber gloves I carry with me along with my hand sanitizer. Yes, it takes me a few minutes to get everything on, but I need to show these people that I am serious.

  “Why are you getting dressed up like you are going to do surgery?” the other lady in the aisle asks.

  “Because ma’am, unlike you, I have someone who is immunocompromised, and I also have people that are frontline workers. If you want to get sick, that’s on you, but I don’t have to get sick because you refuse to take this pandemic seriously.” I grab my stuff and spin around, hitting the line to pay for my groceries.

  I spent the rest of the day putting my stuff away, paying my bills and ordering food from one of the local restaurants.

  Here I am sitting in front of the TV watching a movie about a virus hitting a village and dozing off.

  I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know it’s one a.m. and my phone is ringing on the coffee table in front of me.

  “Hello,” I sleepily say, without checking the caller ID.

  “Asha, it’s Ryan. I need you to head over to St. Victoria, the Apostles Hospital. Your brother was in an accident and the only person that can go in is family. I tried phoning Michelle, but she has Cara to worry about and Aurora is on at the other hospital,” he hurriedly states.

  “I’m on my way, but tell me what happened?” I whisper. This is the worst part of Andre and Ryan’s job. I never know what is going to happen.

  “We got called into a domestic violence situation. The lady who called asked for the operator's bread recipe, so we knew it would be a bad situation. So, Andre and I rolled up cautiously. Crap, Asha, we didn’t even make it to the door when the guy fired. The only bright spot was that his vest took the brunt of the bullet, but the bullet had fragmented before hitting him, so it wasn't the full force of the bullet. Fuck Ash, I didn’t even have time to tell him to duck,” he starts to ramble on about different police things, but I tune him out.

  “Ryan, I am leaving my house and unless you want to pay for my distracted driving ticket, then you need to hang up and I will meet you at the hospital,” I snapped. I am so tired of people and how they handle situations.

  The drive to the hospital was long, but short if that makes sense. The trip only takes me about fifteen minutes, but in my head, the ride was an hour. I was so worried about the state of my brother that I missed at least two red lights and drove through. Lucky for me there were no other cars on the road. Unlucky for me each red light had a traffic camera and I will be getting a few tickets in the mail.

  I pull into the emergency and see Ryan flagging me down, pointing to a spot beside his cruiser.

  “Thank you for getting here so quickly. I can’t go in, but they said a family member could.” He hands me a mask and gloves before taping me on the shoulder and points me in the direction of the entrance.

  As I walk through the automatic doors, a nurse stops me and asks, “Have you had a cough or shortness of breath? Have you been outside the country in the last two weeks? Have you had a fever?” I shake my head and respond with “No.” She steps out of the way and tells me to head to the admittance desk.

  I walk slowly to the desk, afraid to ask, afraid to find out, just plain scared. I stand in front and look down. To my left is a pump bottle of hand sanitizer and a box of masks, to my right is a wall of machines not in use.

  “May I help you?” the tiny little nurse asks, and I stare at her. I see her move her mouth, but I don’t hear a single word. I am starting to panic now.

  “Okay, Miss, close your eyes and take a deep breath and count to ten,” a husky male voice says behind me.

  I close my eyes and inhale, then exhale and count before I open my eyes and smile at the nurse.

  “My name is Asha Anderson, my brother Constable Andre Anderson was brought in from a gunshot wound,” I state and tap the desk.

  “I got her Petra, Ms. Anderson, my name is Dr. Josephson. I am the doctor treating your brother’s wounds.” I turn around and have to raise my head to look up at the extremely tall doctor.

  “You are just a little bit, aren’t you?” he mumbles before he shakes his head and continues to stare.

  “Is my brother going to be okay?” I ask but can’t seem to take my eyes off of the gorgeous blue eyes that are staring down at me. The only hair he has on his head is a neatly trimmed beard. His head has no hair and it makes me wonder if he has hair elsewhere.

  “Yeah,” his voice croaks, and he clears his throat. “Yes he is, I was able to get the fragment out, without surgery. The nurses are flushing the wound, and then we can let him go.”

  “Oh, thank heavens. His partner made it sound so much worse.” I giggle.

  “Yeah, when they brought him in, the paramedics were laughing at the entire situation. The guy was arrested and dragged into the cruiser before your brother got light-headed and passed out. The reason he passed out is that the guy had shit himself on the way to the cruiser and the smell made your brother woozy.” I burst out laughing.

  “Yeah, he never could handle body fluids, that’s hilarious.” I smile wide at the doctor, who smiles at me.

  “You really do have an amazing smile,” he whispers as he brings his hand up to touch my face.

  I take a step back as my eyes widen, “Um, Doc? On any other day and time, I’d climb you like a monkey, but now is not the best time to touch anyone else.”

  He shakes his head, seemingly trying to come out of some sort of trance. “I’m sorry, you’re right.” He steps around me and leaves.

  I hope I didn’t offend him, I mean, in any other time and place, I would have crumbled at his feet, but today with everything that is going on, I don’t want to risk a ticket for not social distancing.

  “Miss, your brother is through that curtain. He is sleeping.” The nurse points to a curtain to my right and I walkthrough.

  I stop and stare at my brother’s body lying in bed, mouth open and slightly snoring. This has been a recurrence with us, something happening to my brother and me showing up to make sure that things are okay, and then driving him home.

  I go over to the little sink in the room and fill a plastic cup with warm water, then tiptoe to my sleeping brother and crouch down, placing as many fingers into the cup as I can get and try not to giggle as he moves and slowly wakes up.

  “Damn, I have to take a piss,” he grumbles as he tries to sit up.

  “Really, broder, you passed out from someone’s body functions.” I fall onto the floor and laugh before quickly jumping up and shivering.

  “Come on, sis, you know how gross that shit is.” He moans, and I burst out laughing.

  “You always did have a weak stomach, but I figured being a constable, it would have gotten at least a little better.” This has always amused me.

  I feel in my pocket for the small piece of chocolate that I usually have on me and let it melt in my hand, more specifically on my fingers before I tell my brother that I need to use the bathroom before we go.

  I turn the water on to mimic hand washing and throw the now fully melted piece of chocolate in the garbage
before leaving the room.

  “Alright, brother mine, let’s get you home to the wife,” I state as I smack the hand with chocolate on his face, just as the doctor walks in.

  “Is that feces on your face?” The doctor's eyes go wide as he stares at my brother, who has just wiped his cheek and looked at his hand.

  “Oh!” He gags. “My.” He gags again. “Asha, you didn’t.” I bend at the waist and laugh my ass off.

  He gags and runs into the bathroom, dropping to the ground in front of the toilet, and I watch as his whole-body retches, and he curses at me.

  The cute doctor from before pokes his head into the curtain and watches the situation. As Andre stands from the toilet, he quickly turns and points at me. I smile and wave before saying, “It’s just chocolate.”

  His face morphs into anger as he stalks out of the bathroom. The doctor chuckles as he hands my brother the papers and steps out of the way.

  “Awe, Doc. You were supposed to protect me from harm,” I mumble before dropping to my knees and crawling out of the room. I see the running shoes of the hot doctor and crawl behind his legs, slowly standing up and hiding behind him.

  “Hey doc.” Andre leans against the door frame like he wasn’t trying to strangle his sister like Homer Simpson.

  “Well, you bounce back really quickly,” Dr. Tall, hot and sexy states and I may have swayed into his back and smelled him.

  Andre blushes, then spins, heading into the bathroom to wash off his face, just as I fall into the doctor like a lovesick puppy.

  “You two are like Laurel and Hardy. I can only imagine what it would be like around the holidays with you two,” Dr. tall, dark, and eventually mine mutters.