Suddenly, Rosa turned to me and asked, “How long have you two been together?”“Huh?” I muttered incoherently as I nearly lost my footing. “With Ethan,” she said. “How old is your relationship?”“We’ve been together for five months now,” I said. “Oh, that’s not even so long,” she said, waving her h
Getting to the summit was easy enough. Getting back down, however, was an entirely different story. By the time Ethan and I got back down to the cabin, we were both exhausted and sweating profusely. Walking down at an incline was so much harder than walking up. And my ankles were screaming by then
“That’s stupid,” I said. “Lots of men take bubble baths.”“And yet here you are with a man who only takes cold showers,” he said. “If I was a bubble bath guy, you wouldn’t even look at me twice.”I so wanted to argue with him about that, but then something else popped into my head. “Ethan?”“Hm?”“
From the sounds of it, Ethan wasn’t back yet. He would have woken me up if he was back. I turned off the music then drained the bathtub before I hopped into the shower to wash off the oils and get some feel back in my arms and legs. My palms had wrinkled up from being in the water for so long, and I
ETHANIt took a while before Liv finally calmed down and fell asleep in the living room. I sat beside her the entire time, stroking her hair and telling her the most random stories until her breathing changed and she calmed down enough to sleep off. That was when I went back outside to the truck an
And worst of all, I’d let Olivia down. I was supposed to make her feel safe, but I failed even at that. What kind of man couldn’t keep his partner safe? If she couldn’t feel safe around me, then what exactly was my purpose? I slowly dragged myself out of the car after switching off my phone and thr
“Happy?” I asked. “Tell me a story,” she said. “I need to fall asleep again.”I furrowed my brows for a bit before I finally spoke. “Once upon a time, there was a little caterpillar named Alfred,” I began. “Alfred was the strangest creature in the entire meadow, and he was always seen as the odd o
MARCUSOne thing I'd come to accept was that every time Richard Jones called, it was never about something good. The last thing I needed was for him to disturb me on a random Saturday evening while I was trying to enjoy a Laker's game. I'd just finished having sex with Emily, and afterwards I'd take
Oh, God!"Chris," I whispered, my voice barely above a whisper, “what happened to you?"He flinched like I'd slapped him, and his eyes darted down to the marks. "D-don't l-l-look at that,” he said, stammering as he stepped away from me, keeping the gun leveled at my head. "What happened to you, Chr
I'd never felt more fear in my entire life than I did staring down the barrel of a gun, with Chris standing on the other end. To say that I was terrified would have been the understatement of the century. I froze completely, like a deer caught in headlights. And it was as if my brain had switched of
"I'll always worry about you," he said. "It doesn't matter what the circumstances are.""That's so sweet," I said. "Now run along and let me finish packing up here."He looked like he wanted to argue, but I stared him down adamantly until he gave up and shook his head, accepting his own defeat and t
"Please tell me you're joking," I said, staring at his canvas in disbelief. "If you tilt your head slightly to the side, it's not so bad," he replied. "Seriously, I think it's even flattering.""Ethan, is this really how you see me?" I asked. "All you've done is draw a slim brunette with huge tits
I stood in front of my canvas and took a deep breath. The air smelled like damp earth and pine needles, like the kind of crispyness that made your lungs feel cleaner. There were a few birds chirping in the trees, and the forest whispered around us as I stared at the blank canvas and just appreciated
By the time we finished having breakfast, the sun had already broken through the trees, and it was starting to feel like early spring. I stood in the kitchen doorway with my arms crossed and eyes squinting into the light as I stared outside at the lake. It was a beautiful day, my stomach was full, I
“Fuck!” he groaned, stepping away from me slowly and chuckling to himself. “What?” I asked. “Nothing,” he replied, before he leaned forward and kissed me again. “I just love you so freaking much.”“I love you too,” I replied. We stayed like that for a while, just standing under the water with no
I had just stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower when I heard footsteps behind me.“Don’t you dare,” I warned, without turning around.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, feigning innocence. When I turned around, I saw him leaning against the bathroom doorway in nothing b
Sunlight slowly crept into the room, and I slowly opened my eyes to find Ethan still sleeping beside me, his chest rising and falling slowly. I turned to my side, taking in the peaceful sight of him sleeping and wondering how he could look so handsome even while asleep. It was almost as if his featu