Sweetheart, West Virginia - 8. Chapter Eight

I was worried that I was going to have to watch Trevor for the entire day, which I didn’t mind if it wasn’t for the all the questions I was having about the wand that was in my hand and the one in Ben’s possession. I never witnessed anything like what I saw back in the autopsy room, and I wondered if the wand was possessed by a spirit or something scarier and dangerous.

I never believed in ghosts, spirits, or boogeymen who live under the bed or in the closet. Even as a child, I was skeptical about the stories my friends told me about how they saw a ghost in the town cemetery or in the abandoned mines. However, I knew what I saw wasn’t some hallucination or a trick of the mind. The shadow moved independently from the wand and chuckled, a chuckle that was more haunting than it should’ve been. I needed answers, and it seemed like Ben was the key to those answers.

Thankfully, Franky came and told me that he was taking over, and Ben walked out of Trevor’s room and told me that they should head to the local library. As we walked to the elevator, I asked him what kind of research we would be doing. He said he wasn’t sure, but he thought looking at the newspaper archives was a good start since he wanted to learn more about the mines. I knew that the mines were supposedly haunted, but there were plenty of other haunted locations in Sweetheart. However, he just told me that was a good place to start researching, and I didn’t argue with him.

So, I drove my police cruiser, while Ben followed in his car to the library that was only a five-minute drive from the hospital. After parking our cars next to each other, we walked side by side to the library and a familiar person greeted us at the front desk. Kevin Conway smiled brightly at Ben, but his smile dropped when he looked at him, which I couldn’t blame because of the whole fiasco involving stolen condoms back of the grocery store. I didn’t expect a horny teenager to be working at the town library, but today was full of surprises.

“Hey, Ben. H-Hey, Cash. What are you two doing here?” Kevin asked as he fumbled with his fingers.

“Don’t worry, Kevin. You’re not in trouble,” I assured him.

Kevin’s shoulders relaxed. “That’s good. So, what brought you both to the library today?”

“We’re here to look at the town’s newspapers dating back to around the fifties. Can you show us where they are?” Ben asked.

“Of course. Follow me.”

We followed Kevin to the top floor of the library where the microfilm archives were located. Kevin quickly navigated through the rows of cabinets and opened the top drawer of one cabinet, and he took out a large roll of microfilm. He then led us to a microfilm machine where he began assembling the roll into the ancient-looking device. After instructing us on how to operate the metal box, we thanked him before he went back to his other duties. Looking around, it seemed that we were the only two people on this floor, and I wondered if this library also had a history of hauntings as I scooted my chair close to Ben’s as he began scrolling through various newspaper articles.

“What exactly are you trying to find?” I asked as I watched various newspaper articles cycle through the screen.

“Anything relating to the mines that are under this town,” Ben said.

Raising an eyebrow, I said, “Why the mines? I mean, I know several miners died there when part of the tunnels collapsed during the fifties, but… Did you go into those mines, Ben?”

Ben didn’t respond.

“You did, didn’t you? Ben, those mines are dangerous. What were you thinking?”

Ben sighed and turned to me. “I was thinking that I could’ve found some answers to what happened back at the plantation last night. A man who was been missing for five years suddenly reappearing and…” Turning back, he continued to shuffle through the newspaper imprints.

I grimaced and said, “What exactly did Travis do to you back in the woods?”

Ben scratched his head, seemingly frustrated, and he said, “I don’t know how to describe it, then again I doubt you’ll believe me.”

“Try me.”

Bowing his head, Ben dropped his hands on his lap and said, “Ever heard of people experiencing what they believed was Hell after a near-death experience?”

I slowly nodded. “Kind of.”

“Yeah, well…when Travis approached me, he somehow transported me to somewhere else, and I was reliving the day at the lake when he pushed Trevor off the pier that caused him to become paralyzed… I then witnessed Travis being tortured; he was suffering because of what he did to his own twin brother…like he was damned to be punished for an eternity… I don’t know how else to describe what I experienced. It was like I was in some other dimension where Travis’s soul was taken and tortured relentlessly. Maybe that’s the reason why he killed himself…to the end the pain.”

I looked at Ben, completely dumbfounded by what he just said to me. I actually waited for him to tell me that he was just joking or that he was just confused by what he thought he experienced back at the woods…but he didn’t. He looked troubled and pale, and I placed my hand on his, wanting to comfort him. I didn’t know if what Ben just told me actually happened, but images of the shadow man reappeared back in my mind, and I couldn’t just toss away what he said as a mere hallucination. God, this was messed up.

Rubbing his hand, I then said, “Is that all? Was there anything else that you wanted to tell me?”

Ben shook his head. “No…that’s all... You’re the first person I told this to, and it’s just a relief to have someone know other than keeping it to myself.”

I nodded. “So...that’s why you went into the mines?”

“Yeah…and that’s where I encountered the spirits of those miners…and this.” Ben pulled out the wand from his pocket and raised it in the air. “I found it stuck in the wall, and it managed to shine a light that repelled those miners who were about to attack me. Then it helped me get out of the mines, and you won’t believe what else this thing can do.”

Pulling out the wand in my own pocket, I looked at it and said, “Do you think this wand also has similar features?”

“Maybe. Why don’t you try it?”

I hesitantly took the black wand out from the plastic bag and held it in front of my face. “What do I do?”

“Just flick it. That’s what worked for me,” Ben suggested.

I was skeptical, but I decided to do what he said and flicked the object like I was damn fairy godmother. I was expecting sprinkles or fairy dust to shoot out from the wand; what I didn’t expect was the lights to suddenly turn off. Ben and I stood up from our chairs as we looked around, wondering what I just did. It seemed the entire floor lost power, and I had to turn the flashlight connected to his police shirt.

“This can’t be a coincidence,” I said.

I then felt a piercing sensation on my hand, and I quickly dropped the wand onto the floor. Looking at my palm, I saw what looked like ice crystals, and I could feel the temperature drop, feeling similar to what I experienced at the autopsy room. I didn’t know was what happening, and when I looked down at the wand, I saw a low light emitting from the tip and what looked like an interface-like image displayed on the wooden floor.

“What is that?” I asked Ben who crouched to the floor. “It looks like the wand’s displaying some kind of interface.”

“Yeah, my wand does something similar to this…but mine looked like a ring of holograms, not a bunch of shadows.”

Ben reached for the wand, I then said, “Don’t do that.” Ben looked up at me as I crouched as well. “Let me.”

Ben nodded, and I slowly reached for the wand. It was cold in my hands, but thankfully it didn’t hurt like when I first dropped it. I kept the tip pointed downwards, allowing the shadow images to remain displayed on the floor. Out of curiosity, I pointed the tip of the wand on the one of the images that looked like the silhouette of a snowflake. The shadows then disappeared, and when I tapped the wand on the floor, a large snowflake formed on its surface and grew to at least a foot in length. Un-freaking-believable.

I placed a gentle finger on the icy surface and indeed felt the cold crystals that formed from the wand. “What the hell?”

“Must be one of its features. I was able to blow fire with mine.”

I looked at Ben with surprise, and I then stood back up with the wand in my hand. The dim light was still from the tip, and I flicked it again to see if I could bring back the interface. Another surprise happened when the screen of the microfilm machine turned on. It displayed a blank, white screen, and as Ben and I looked at it, a small black dot appeared on the center. The temperature felt like it decreased even more as the small dot started growing in size. The silhouette of a man then formed, and I placed a hand on Ben’s chest, pushing him back as the shadow man I first saw at the hospital appeared once again. The dark chuckle was heard, and I stumbled backwards when the shadow man reached his hand out and began coming of the screen.

“Shit!”

The shadow man’s head then came of the screen, fully three-dimensional and horrifying as hell. This was straight out of a horror movie, and I turned to Ben who had his wand pointed at the man. Then out of nowhere, his wand flashed a bright, blinding light that caused me to shield my eyes with my arm. I then heard a scream, a scream of a person in horrible pain…then everything became quiet once more. Lowering my arm, I slowly opened my eyes and saw that the microfilm machine’s screen was black, and the lights returned back to the floor as they were before.

“Are you okay, Cash?” Ben asked as he stepped in front of me.

“Yeah…Yeah, I think I am.” I looked at his wand and said, “What did you just do?”

Looking at it, Ben said, “I don’t really know. It did same thing to the miners, shining a bright that repelled them just like it did with that shadow and…look at your wand.”

I did and saw that my wand was white in color, no longer black and something else. “What the hell?” I felt a warm sensation coming from the mysterious device that felt calming, made me feel warm inside as well. “Why is it a different color?”

“No idea…maybe that wand of yours was possessed by some evil spirit…maybe that device contained the spirit of Travis, while the evil one possessed his physical body.” He brushed his hair back, and Ben then said, “I didn’t tell you this, but when I was transported to that other dimension or whatever it was, there was a dark figure who tried to possess me as well. That was probably the same person who was trying to come out of the machine’s screen. It makes total sense.”

I rubbed my forehead, already tired by the day I just had and feeling a headache coming on. “This is just too much. Evil spirits? Possession? No way that this is all true.”

“I know that this is all hard to believe. I kind of think so too, but…it only seems like the only conclusion.” Ben placed a hand on his arm as comfort.

Looking at Ben, I asked, “Why do I get the feeling that you know more about what this is than you’re letting on?”

Ben just shrugged. “Long story…but what I will tell you is that I had a similar experience with spirits and all thing supernatural when I lived with my parents…” He sighed as he placed his wand back into his pocket before sitting back down on his chair. “I thought it was just me being a child who was scared of sleeping alone in his bedroom with the lights off…now…now I think there was more to what caused my father to murder my mother.”

My eyes widened. “Ben, I—”

“Is everything okay here?”

I saw Kevin walking to us with concern etched in his face. “Yeah…we’re okay. The light just went out for a moment.”

“Sorry about that. The library has been here since the town was first established,” Kevin explained.

“Any hauntings or ghostly activity to speak of?” I asked, looking at Ben whose eyes were focused on the microfilm machine’s screen.

Kevin answered by saying how books sometimes fell out of the shelves by themselves, and then Ben said, “Hey, Kevin. Is it possible to print a copy of this newspaper article that I have here?”

“Of course. Let me.”

As Kevin started pressing buttons on the machine, Ben stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder, guiding me away a few feet from Kevin’s hearing range. “I just found something…and it relates to the mental institution.”

“Mental institution? Which one?” I said with crossed arms.

Ben pursed his lips. “The one where Claudia is.”

“And…and what does that mental institution have to do with the mines, the ghosts, or these damn wands.”

“Quiet down,” Ben warned, turning around before facing me again. “I just read in a newspaper article that after the mines were closed down, a new structure was built over the main entrance to the mines…the mental institution.”

Taking a step back, I said, “What? Seriously?”

“Dead serious,” Ben said, turning me by my shoulder, so we had our back towards Kevin. “It can’t be a coincidence that the mental institution was placed right where the mine’s entrance used to be.”

“So, you’re saying that a hospital treating the mentally ill is connected with ghosts and the supernatural? Don’t you think that’s a little too insane?”

“Hey, I’m just trying to connect the dots here. Besides…after what we both experienced just now, I don’t think you can stand here and deny that there’s something off about what I just discovered.”

I groaned, rubbing my face with my hands. “God, why can’t anything have a simple solution?”

“I’m sorry, Cash.”

Dropping my hands, I then said, “So…what do you plan on doing next?”

“First, I need to read the rest of that article. Maybe there’s nothing more to the mental institution other than its location. I’ll look into it.”

Kevin called out to us that he printed a copy of the newspaper article, and we back to him where Ben thanked the pastor’s son. We then left the library and decided to head for my place. But before that, I drove to the police station with Ben parking right beside me.

I changed back into my civilian clothing, which was hard since there was a heavy atmosphere in the station because of what occurred with the sheriff’s son only a few hours ago. I couldn’t get out there fast enough, and ten minutes later we were at my house.

After opening the front door for Ben, I entered inside before closing the door behind me. I then directed him to the kitchen where he sat at the small dining table and began reading the copy of the article. I decided to take cold beer from the refrigerator before sitting down next to him. Out of all the times I decided to not drink from stress, I believed this was a reasonable exception as I chugged half of the brewed liquid in only a few seconds.

Placing the beer down on the table, I then sat down and said, “Do you want one?”

“No, thanks. I’m okay,” Ben said, his eyes glued to the pages in his hand.

I just nodded and was about to drink the rest of my beer when Ben grabbed my wrist. “What?”

Ben looked at me intently before standing up and hugging me firmly. “I don’t know if I said this already, but I want to say thank you for saving me yesterday at the woods. I don’t exactly know what could’ve happened to me if you didn’t arrive in time, but I’m certain it wouldn’t have been good. Thank you, Cash”

Hugging back, I said, “Anytime.”

***

Hugging Cash felt so right, which I wanted more of ever since I hugged him back in the hospital. Feeling his hard body against mine, smelling his natural musk, and enjoying the comforting warmth of his skin made me want to not release my hold of him. However, I knew there were more pressing issues than satisfying my libido, and I really just wanted to thank him for being my hero, a hero I kissed like some cheesy romantic comedy, and I couldn’t get enough.

After sitting back down, I returned to my reading of the article that Kevin had printed for me, hoping to find something else of significance. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that might’ve explained why the mental institution was constructed over the mine’s main entrance. The article just talked about how the hospital was supposedly using new-age methods to treat its patients, which I thought would’ve been discussed further into the article but wasn’t.

When I finished reading the last sentence of the article, I pulled my eyes off the paper and back to Cash who had another beer as I read. He was drinking this one more slowly, which I appreciated; I was concerned that he was going to get drunk because of everything that happened today from Travis’s death to that shadow person coming out of the screen of the microfilm machine. I couldn’t help but think about my father, a person I didn’t speak of for several years. That must’ve been a record that didn’t need to be broken.

Memories of my once loving and happy father slowly drinking myself to death and becoming more insane with every bottle of cheap booze that he drank caused me to grimace. Cash noticed and asked if I was okay. I said I was despite feeling the complete opposite, and he must’ve seen through my lie based solely on the way he continued to look at me with furrowed eyebrows. But he let it go, asking me if I found anything relevant in the article that I just read.

“No, not really. Other than finding out that the mental institution was placed right over the mine’s entrance, the article just went on about the town’s history,” I said before sighing. “I don’t even know what we could’ve accomplished if we found some connection to the mental institution and the spirits I encountered at the mines.”

“Don’t say that. You found your wand at the mines, and the mines are located under the woods where the whole incident with Claudia and Travis happened,” Cash said, drinking the rest of his second beer and taking the copied article. “There has to be something. Then maybe we can go back there and see if there are any more clue that can help us piece together the mystery. The wands could also help us find those pieces.”

I just propped my face on a hand as I watched Cash look over the article. “I don’t think you’ll find anything more. I already read it twice and—”

“Woah.”

“What?”

“Look at this.” Cash pointed his finger on a black and white picture.

I leaned forward and looked at the picture of a group of miners smiling for the camera. “I don’t… Oh, wow!”

Looking closely at the picture, beyond the smiling faces of the miners in their helmets, I saw the profile of a man’s face that was sticking out from the side of a miner’s head. That miner was standing on the right side of the row and was the only person not smiling in the picture. Also, there was something else. A list of the miners’ name from left to right was printed on the bottom of the picture, and I saw that the name of the miner on the far right was Casper Donovan. That name sounded familiar.

“The man on the right. His name is Casper Donovan… Do you know who he is?” I asked.

“I think so… I think that’s the only miner who survived the mine collapse,” Cash informed before pulling out his phone. “But I could be wrong. Let me check it out.”

As Cash searched for more information on the lone survivor of the mine collapse in his phone, I continued to look at the image of the mysterious face that didn’t have any distinguishable features since it looked more like a shadow…like the one Cash and I encountered back at the library.

“Yeah, I’m right. Casper Donovan, the only survivor after the mine collapse in 1951 that killed more than a dozen other miners…apparently he’s still alive and living in Sweetheart.”

“Really? He must be in his nineties at least,” I inferred.

“Yeah, he was just eighteen when the mine collapsed. So, you’re right that he’s in his nineties.”

“Can you find out where he lives? Maybe we can talk to him if he’s not senile or something,” I joked. When Cash didn’t respond, I then said, “Sorry. I know that joke fell flat.”

“No…no, it’s not that. He’s living in Sweetheart, but not exactly… It’s at the mental institution.”

My eyebrows raised, and Cash offered me his phone. I read the paragraph about Casper Donovan being submitted to the mental institution, initially for survivor’s guilt, but he then began hearing voices and saw people who weren’t actually there. This caused him to remain in the hospital for decades, indicating he hasn’t fully recovered from hearing those voices or seeing those invisible people that made him clinically insane according to the writer.

“Claudia has been hearing and seeing people, just like Casper Donovan… Do you think that the mental institution is not actually helping its patients, but instead they’re…? Oh, God. Claudia.” Cash bowed his head and covered his face with his hands.

I scooted closer to him and placed a hand on his back. “Don’t feel guilty, Cash. Maybe this is just a coincidence.” I didn’t believe so, but I didn’t want Cash to feel any guilt.

“You saw the picture, Ben, and we both know that Casper Donovan is in the same place my sister is at, dealing with the same symptoms that have them both trapped there.” Cash then stood up his chair and cursed as he started pacing around the kitchen. “I always thought that there was something off with that place, but I just ignored them because I couldn’t face the idea of having to care for my sister after what happened to her all those years ago. I’m a shit brother, and I don’t deserve anything! Not being a cop! Not having this house! Not having you, Ben!”

“Hey, don’t say that, Cash.” I stood up from my seat and quickly wrapped my arms around Cash from behind. “You’re not a shit brother.”

“How do you know?” Cash said, walking away from my hug. “I shouldn’t even be associating myself with you.”

I took a step back and looked at Cash who still had his back towards me. “What does that mean?”

Turning around, Cash said with his head bowed, “You were my sister’s fiancé. I can’t imagine what she’d think if she found out I have the hots for you, let alone kissed you…twice! I am a shit brother, Ben. I thought I could be the big brother she always deserved, but…fuck!”

Cash slammed his hands on the kitchen counters and sighed heavily. “I often dream that I could go back to the past and make everything right before everything went to hell.”

“And what exactly would you change if you actually had that chance, Cash?” I asked, curious.

“A lot, that’s for sure.” Cash then turned around leaned his backside against the counter. “But if I could change only one thing, I would’ve found a way to deal with you.”

I felt my insides clench, and I dared myself to say, “And what exactly would you do?”

Cash shrugged, and he then moved himself off the counter as he looked at me with a look I couldn’t decipher. “I don’t know... Take you somewhere you could’ve had an alibi. So, you wouldn’t had to face the wrath of small-town gossip and force yourself to move to the city to escape from it all.”

I frowned. “You wouldn’t have chosen to prevent what happened to Claudia instead?”

Cash pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m pretty confident I wouldn’t have been able to convince Claudia to not go to prom… She was mad at me…no, that’s an understatement. She was furious with me because of what I said to her a week before prom.”

“And what did you say to her?”

Cash made what sounded like a sob. “My mother liked to collect dolls. After she died, my father sold all of them…except for one since it was my mother’s favorite, which he kept on the mantle. Then one day I came home and saw the porcelain doll dressed in traditional Italian clothing my mother treasured was gone… Turned out that Claudia sold it, so she could get the money to buy her prom dress.” He chuckled humorlessly before continuing, “I was so mad at her, and one thing to another, and I told her that I wished our mother would’ve terminated the pregnancy like the doctors wanted her to do, so she didn’t have to die because of Claudia, but in even less eloquent wording.” Covering his face, Cash finished by saying, “It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know what that doll really meant since neither our father nor I told her anything about our mother, too scared to relive those memories and be reminded of her death.”

“I’m sorry that happened, Cash.”

“Don’t be. I was an asshole, and because of that I sealed my sister’s fate… I would’ve just prevented you from being pulled into all the pain.”

Looking down, I said, “It’s not your fault… I’m the one who broke off the engagement with Claudia, hurting her, and making her go to prom with Travis instead.”

Cash looked up to meet my eyes. “Why did you end the engagement with Claudia? I mean, why did you propose to her in the first place?”

I rubbed my eyes and said, “Another long story, but to make it short and simple, I felt like I had to because everyone else thought we were this perfect, high-school couple. I know that sounds like a terrible excuse, but after living with people judging me from coming from a broken family until I moved in with my uncle at the age of ten. I just wanted to be accepted by everyone, and if that meant denying who I really was to have that short-term comfort, then I accepted that. Pathetic, I know.”

“It’s not, Ben. I know first hand what it feels like to be ostracized by the people around you… What made you decided to finally decide that marrying my sister wasn’t the right path for you?”

“I don’t really know. There wasn’t an exact moment when I came to that realization. It was mostly a spontaneous decision that I made… I just wished I’d broken off the relationship much sooner, then maybe I wouldn’t have hurt Claudia so much.”

“I guess we both know what it’s like to hurt someone we care about.”

I nodded, keeping my eyes locked on Cash, then looking away. “Maybe we shouldn’t pursue anything further other than a friendship then… Out of respect for Claudia… What do you say?”

Cash nodded and approached me before extending his hand out to me, which I shook firmly. I released my grasp, but Cash continued to hold my hand as he looked into my eyes. He looked like he was searching my soul and when he licked my lips, I knew that we were both screwed.

Cash’s other hand grasped my hair, and he neared his face so that I could feel his warm breath against my lips. “Can I…Can I just have one more kiss…then we can agree to stay friends?”

Biting my lower lip, I slowly nodded, and our lips reunited. My body felt so strange, yet it was a feeling that was completely welcomed as my legs felt wobbly and my hands clutched the front of Cash’s shirt as our kiss deepened. Soon our mouths opened, and I whimpered when his tongue slipped in and I gracious sucked on it as our bodies pressed together into a flawless seal. Our kisses then turned savage; we were consuming each other as lust took controlled us both, clearly evident by my rock-hard card that I grinded against Cash’s. I didn’t want it to end, and it was clear that Cash didn’t either when he lifted my body with his hands grabbing my ass, surprising me as he carried me to the dining table that rocked when he put me down.

I couldn’t deny that we wanted way more than a simple, final kiss, and I went all the way by first tugging on Cash’s shirt. He knew what I wanted as he pulled off his shirt, exposing his muscular torso in all of its glory, and I swore I almost fainted. His torso was perfectly sculpted with the right amount of chest hair that made me want cream my pants right there.

“You like what you see?” Cash said with lust exuding from his eyes.

I nodded, and he started to pull the bottom hem of my shirt, which I quickly pulled over my head before tossing it onto the floor.

“Fuck, you’re sexy!” Cash growled as his hands roamed over all my torso before pinching my nipples that caused me to yelp.

Before I could say anything more, Cash retuned his lips onto mine, and we made out, more fiercely and wildly than before. I was so turned on; two men sharing their saliva and musk as we touched each other’s naked skin, nothing could be sexier than that. I whimpered when Cash sucked on my neck as my hand felt the defined ridges of his back that flexed from my touch. And my cock was aching, wanting to be released from its fabric prison with my grinding hip not enough to satisfy its hardening pain. I wanted fucking more, and when he pushed me against the table and began moving lips down my torso, I knew my wish was being granted.

I watched as the reincarnation of Adonis glided his tongue along with my light happy trail, down my navel, and to the waistband of my jeans. Looking up, he waited for my approval, which I confirmed with a fast nod. He then chuckled before unbuttoning and unzipping my jeans. He impatiently tugged them down along with my boxers, allowing my cock to spring back against my stomach. He then lowered his face to my cock, his nose grazing against my hardened member and smelling my musk and precum that was oozing from the tip. I groaned from Cash’s teasing, my head rock from side to side. I then looked to see Cash ripped down his own jeans and boxers, springing forth his hefty cock that made my mouth water.

“Am I fucking dreaming?”

Cash smirked as he walked around the round table and stopped with his cock above right above my face. “It’s all real, babe.”

I blushed from being called that and when he waved his cock, that was enough temptation for me to shove that glorious piece of flesh into my mouth. Cash groaned upon having his cock in my mouth, and I enjoyed the salty taste of his precum and the overall length and thickness as I sucked on it like I was desperate for any form of sustenance. I was already enjoying the ride, but when Cash lowered his body and wrapped his lips around my dick, I was so close to busting my load. However, I held back my orgasm as I continued to move my head to pleasure Cash to the best of my ability.

What we were doing was so sinful, so pornographic, and I loved every moment, every single second of it. I wanted it to last longer, but as Cash bopped his head faster and rolled my balls with his hands, I knew I was about to blow at any moment. Then it happened.

I didn’t have time to warn Cash before my orgasm raged through me and my load shot in his mouth. However, he didn’t pull back as he continued to suck me off as I rode my orgasm like I was on the highest roller coaster in the world. Then I felt a warm, salty splash in my own mouth, and Cash cried out as his body shook through his own release.

I enjoyed the taste of Cash’s masculine seed as it slid down my throat, and I sucked on his head to acquire the remaining nectar that tasted of sex and all man. This was perfect.

After a moment of heavy breathing, Cash stood straight up again, stumbling back a little that caused me to chuckle. “Who are you laughing at?”

I smirked. “You.”

Cash smirked back as he pulled me up by my arm before lifting me over his shoulder. I playfully tried to struggle under his strength as he carried me from the kitchen to his bedroom. I expected him to drop me on his bed, but instead he gently laid me on the white-sheeted mattress. He then lied down as well and scooted close to me before wrapping his arm around my shoulders. In return, I snuggled my face against his big, warm chest.

We were quiet for a moment and before I could fall asleep, I said, “That was more than just a kiss.”

Cash chuckled. “Yeah, kind of got carried away there.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t mind at all,” I said, teasing a nipple with my tongue that caused Cash to shiver.

“Don’t do that. Unless you’re up for round two,” Cash suggested.

“No, that’s okay. I just want to enjoy what we’re having right now.”

“I’m fine with that,” Cash said, resting his head on a pillow.

I smiled and soon my eyes became heavy, and I closed my eyes as Cash’s light snore lulled me to sleep. Nothing could ruin this moment we had together… Nothing.

I was then awakened a few hours later when I heard a loud ringing noise. Opening my eyes, I saw Cash taking the telephone that was on top of the nightstand and answering it. I decided to kiss his chest, teasing him as Cash massaged his fingers through my hair.

Suddenly, Cash sat straight up, and he said, “Claudia? Is that you? How did you manage to call me?”

I sat up as well as Cash tried to talk to Claudia who I could hear crying through the phone.

“What do you mean you need help? Claudia! Cl—” Dropping the phone, Cash looked at me with panic in his eye. “Claudia needs help.”