Se connecterAs I shook myself from my thoughts, I glanced around at my surroundings, realizing we were way the hell out in the middle of bum-fuck Egypt! Nonetheless, we kept moving forward in between Eucalyptus trees that smelled like cat piss, on a path that looked no more than a freaking cow trail, until finally we'd reached an opening.
Abruptly my jaw dropped. "Oh, hell no!" escaped my mouth as I peered at what had to be the largest orgy known to man, and I wanted nothing to do with it!
Rook slowed his bike, then came to a stop, parking within a mass of other bikes, and I found myself growling, "No! NO WAY! Just turn this bike around— right the fuck now—and take me the hell away from here!"
Climbing off, Rook looked at me as I continued to sit, my ass glued to the seat. A grin stole across his lips and he gave a small shake of his head. "Relax, Cookie, will ya? Ain't a soul here gonna touch you without your say so."
Glancing around again, my eyes took in both male and female in all states of dress. I was unable, but to let my eyes roam over the—freedom—of the sexual acts on display for all to see.
After a few seconds, I turned back to look at Rook, exclaiming, "What the hell, Rook?" before stuttering out, "surely you don't expect me to…to…join… in?" Eyes huge and roaming again, I breathed, "HOLY CRAP, Rook!"
Amusement crossed his features, and after pitching his eyes over the scene of debauchery going on around us, a laugh ripped loose from his chest as he exclaimed, "Oh shit, woman…we're just having a blow-out. You weren't brought here for this!" Then sticking out a hand, he muttered, "Now, come on, let's go!"
Slowly, I reached out, allowing him to take my hand and help me off the bike, all the while wondering just what I was walking into. I knew all about the walk of shame, I'd been there, done that. However, this? This would end with a walk from the participants WAY beyond any walk I had ever taken.
As we began to mill our way through the exhibition, I couldn't help but find my eyes falling on the sex acts being performed around us. I'd always felt I was damned liberated and open minded, hell, I'd worked in a damn strip club for Christ's sake, but this—this was a whole different kettle of fish, and I felt like the lone Guppy in a pile of Bass!
My face flushed and my eyes grew big, as the pairing was, to say the least, very open-minded. There were men on men, women on women, two women and one man, two men and one woman, three, four couples, getting it on together, and the list just went on and on.
Hell, I wouldn't have been surprised to see a donkey somewhere within the mix! Then, when I thought I'd seen all there was to be seen, and there couldn't possibly be anything else to surprise me, one particular couple caught my attention and I breathed, "What the fuck? How in the hell? OH MY GOD—I didn't know that was even possible!!!!
Laughing, Rook tugged at my hand, chuckling, "Come on, big-eyes, I think your sensibilities have been overloaded enough!"
With a small gulp, I turned, beginning to follow Rook. However, before we'd made it ten feet, he was forced to raise a leg and kick a couple out of our way, muttering, "Damn Cappie, get your scrawny ass out of the way," as a man and woman flopped over in front of us, a tangle of arms, legs, and body parts, I'd rather not have seen.
Shaking his head, Rook tugged at my hand again, moving us around the couple, who seemed to have not paid the least attention to Rook's words as they continued on with their… God, I didn't know what to call it.
Finally, as we reached the door leading into the clubhouse, I found myself letting out a relieved breath, happy to put the whole, free-living circus behind us. However, the jarring thought it was highly possible I'd find the same type of behavior, if not worse, occurring on the other side of the door as what I'd been witnessing, stopped me dead in my tracks. Rook, feeling my sudden resistance, peered over his shoulder at me, as I breathed out a worried, "Um, Rook?"
Raising an eyebrow, he silently encouraged me to continue. I gave a quick glance at the scene behind us. "What do you think the chances are of finding that," I asked, indicating the mass of thriving bodies with my head, "going on in there?"
With a practiced eye running his eyes over my face, Rook murmured, "You're really uncomfortable with this whole scene, aren't you?"
I gave a shrug. "'Uncomfortable' is an understatement! Shit, Rook, I've seen animals in the zoo with far more modesty than what I've witnessed here!"
With a smirk, Rook scratched his chin, but before he could answer my question, a deep, gravelly, somewhat hoarse voice sneered from behind me, "Close your eyes, then, princess!"
Jerking around, I found myself staring at the bearded face of a man I had a hard time deciding whether was devastatingly handsome, or fucked the shit up!
A jagged, raised, purplish-red scar ran from left to right across the length of his forehead, just below the skullcap molded to his head. However, the scar on his forehead wasn't where the damage to his features ended, for separating its way from its mother, was a child mutilation, which ran downward and sliced a quarter of the right side of his eyebrow in half. From there, it continued its journey beside the piercing green of his right eye, before disappearing into his hairline.
Slowly, my eyes dropped lower, tracing the bare chest beneath his vest. The smoothness of his skin was marred by multiple crisscrosses of the same type of red, purplish-hued scars as his face.
The disfigurements painted the otherwise perfection of his flesh in puckered whelps, which flowed their way over his stomach and abs in harmonized rivers that trailed off beneath the waistband of his jeans.
Though the scars weren't fresh, I could tell they weren't that old, either. Yet, even with all the damage to his features and body, somehow, it didn't repulse, instead, they added mystery, allure, and, I admit, made him sexy as all fucking hell!
The morning of the wedding felt nothing like I expected. I had imagined nerves. Shaking hands. A stomach that flipped every five seconds. Maybe a rush of panic that made me question every choice that had carried me here. But when sunlight poured through the loft windows and warmed the side of my face, I woke with nothing except a quiet stillness settling into my bones.It felt like standing at the center of a bridge I had been walking toward my entire life.Torin was not beside me. His side of the bed was rumpled and warm, the pillow still carrying the shape of his head. A small folded note sat near my hand.Went to the house early to help set up. I did not want to wake you. I love you. Come when you are ready.I smiled at it like a fool. My heart kicked in a steady, certain rhythm. No cold clamps of fear. No shadows creeping along the edges of my mind. Just warmth blooming outward from the center of my chest.Jess and Tannin were already in the kitchen when I stepped out. Jess had a
The rest of the day passed in that strange, weightless way where everything felt louder and softer at the same time. Like someone had peeled back a layer of silence I didn’t even know I’d been living under.The note and the photo stayed on the counter beside my sketchbook. No one touched them without asking. No one hovered. The space around them felt sacred. Untidy but important.Torin made lunch even though Rook swore he wasn’t hungry and then ate half the pan himself. Tannin complained about needing more sleep and then stayed awake for five more hours just to make sure Reif didn’t disappear on us again. Jess came and went, muttering about paperwork and police incompetence and how none of us better call him past midnight unless someone was literally bleeding. Reif hovered in the corner like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to belong here but wanted to anyway.Late afternoon sunlight slanted across the loft, turning everything honey-gold. I sat on the floor by the coffee table with my
I must have stood on that balcony for nearly ten minutes before I trusted my legs to move again. The city noise drifted up in warm, steady waves. Car horns. Music from two blocks over. Laughter echoing faintly between buildings. It all felt strangely normal considering something inside me had just shifted in a way I could not name yet.Torin stayed behind me without crowding me. His chest brushed my back now and then when he breathed. His hands rested lightly on my hips as though he wanted to hold me tight but knew I needed space too.“You sure you want to go back inside?” he asked.“Yeah,” I whispered. “I don’t want to hide out here all day.”He kissed the back of my shoulder. “I’m here.”That was enough to get my feet moving.When I stepped inside, the loft felt different. Not bad. Just… heavier in a way that meant everyone in the room knew something had cracked open. Jess stood near the counter wiping crumbs off the surface, a pointless task since there had been no crumbs to begin
The day felt like it wanted to split itself in half. One part humming with the quiet joy of planning a wedding I never thought I would get to have. The other part carrying the heavy shadow of that letter. The handwriting. The truth wrapped inside it like a fuse waiting for a match.Skye wasn’t the only one trying to keep you apart. The words haunted the edges of every moment.I tried to focus on the stack of fabric swatches spread across the table. Jess had found the box tucked behind the bar’s old storage closet. Silk in soft blues. Lace in creamy ivory. A darker piece in a deep wine color that Tannin kept insisting would “look lethal on me in the best possible way”. But every so often my gaze drifted toward the folded letter resting beside my elbow. Torin noticed. He always noticed.He brushed his hand along my back as he passed behind me, his touch slow and grounding. “You want to take a break?” he asked softly.I shook my head. “If I stop, I’ll just start thinking again.”“You ar
~Marlowe~I found Ginger in the guest room sitting cross-legged on the bed, her gray-streaked red hair braided over one shoulder while she folded laundry like she hadn’t spent the last decade traveling the country with Burdock. She looked up the second I stepped into the doorway. Her eyes, warm and sharp all at once, softened in a way that made something inside me loosen.“Come on in, baby,” she said, patting the bed beside her. “You look like someone carrying something heavy.”I sat beside her slowly. The sketchbook trembled just enough in my hands that she noticed. Ginger always noticed.“What’s in there?” she asked gently.I opened it without answering. The photo slid out first—my mother with two toddlers who looked eerily like mirror halves of each other. Me and Rook. The note followed, old and creased and written in handwriting I didn’t recognize.Ginger inhaled sharply the moment she saw it.“You know it,” I whispered.She nodded once. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I do.”I swallow
I closed my sketchbook slowly. The photo and note tucked inside no longer felt like a wound. They felt like a hinge, something letting an old door finally swing shut.Torin pulled me fully into his arms and held me there. He was warm. Solid. Steady. “You ready to join the chaos?” he asked softly.I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “I think I am ready for everything now.”He smiled, kissed me once, and stood so he could pull me up with him.As we walked toward the kitchen, I thought of my mother’s letter, the woman she used to be, the girl I used to be, the life I used to have. And then I thought of this one. This home. This love. This strange, beautiful family I had chosen and who had chosen me back.The past finally felt like just that. Past. Tomorrow could be anything. And for once in my life, I wanted to meet it head on.The next morning, the loft hummed in that soft, quiet way it only did when everyone else was still asleep. Or pretending to be. Rook snored loud enough to suggest he had no







