Page 50 of Embers

“Fuck. Fuck.” His neck twitches. His eyes blaze. “Baby, you’re… you’re…” He makes a weird sound in his throat and then suddenly yanks his cock out. He squeezes it with one hand until he comes in several hard spurts on my belly. When he’s done, he whispers, “You’re everything to me.”

I make a whimpering sound and pull him down into a hug, not even caring that my pussy is rubbed raw and there’s a mess of his semen between our bodies. I try to say something. Something to match what he said to me. But all I can manage is, “Cal.”

He seems happy with it. His big body is hot and gradually relaxing on top of mine. He buries his face against the curve of my shoulder and occasionally presses a little kiss there.

He’s really heavy, and I’m really sore. And I’m so hot I feel like I could melt. But none of that matters because I’m finally, finally with him for real.

The way we belong.

And this time there’s no going back.

10

Year Five after Impact, Fall

Five months later,I’m at the kitchen table of a farmhouse and eating bread and apple butter with a woman I can actually call my friend.

A lot has changed in the past months. All of it for the good.

Cal and I have kept in contact with Mack, and through him we’ve gotten drawn into a whole community in this area. Dozens of farms and settlements and even an underground bunker where people survived for years, in addition to the occupied towns in the region we already made contact with.

I’m still not exactly sure how it happened, but we now know so many decent people, more than we believed existed around here earlier this year.

And a lot of them seem to like us. That surprises Cal even more than me. He’s spent a lot of his life feeling like an outcast. Like he doesn’t deserve anything good. That’s one of the reasons it was so hard for him to accept the changing nature of our relationship. But people around here like and respect him. If anyone needs a job done that requires strength, skill, and competence, we’re near the top of the list of who they ask.

I love the feeling. That people know us and want us around.

I’ve never experienced it before. Not once in all my life.

At the moment, I’m sitting in the kitchen of New Haven Farm, which is one of the centers of community in this region. My friend is named Faith. Her parents originally owned this farm, and she’s still one of the two leaders here. She’s around my age, but she’s taller and gives off confident, ultracompetent vibes that I can’t help but envy.

People seem to think I always know what I’m doing, but they’re so incredibly wrong. I feel like I’m making things up most of the time.

The bread and apple butter are delicious. Flour is one of the supplies we’ve finally gotten our hands on lately, and Faith showed me how to make simple bread with it.

She and I were catching up on news. Cal and I arrived back at the farm an hour ago since they need some extra help with the late harvest. But just now her boyfriend, Jackson, came strolling in, so she’s answering his questions about where to put the extra workers who’ve shown up.

I don’t mind the interruption. Jackson is a good-looking guy in his twenties, and he’s obviously crazy about Faith. When I first met them in the summer, they were clearly a couple, but they weren’t acting like one. Then the next time I met them, they were together all the way. I’ve always wondered exactly what happened, but it feels kind of intrusive to ask for details.

“Where did Cal get to?” Jackson asks me after he and Faith finish their discussion. “I could use some help in the barn.”

“I don’t know. He was getting our chickens settled in. Maybe check there?” We had to bring our chickens with us since we’ll be gone from the cabin for a couple of weeks and they wouldn’t be able to survive that long on their own.

“I was just there.”

“Huh. Maybe check the stables. He loves the horses.”

Not that Cal has ever admitted to me or anyone else that he loves the horses, but I know for sure he does. The horses are a very new arrival at New Haven. They were running wild for who knows how long before Mack rounded them up and brought them here. I didn’t miss the way Cal’s eyes lit up when he first saw them or the way he hangs out near the stables when there’s nothing else he needs to be doing.

“Got it. Thanks.” Jackson leans over and gives Faith a quick, casual kiss before he leaves the kitchen.

It’s nice. That gesture. There’s nothing obnoxious about it, and it shows a real connection between the two of them.

But it makes my stomach tighten uncomfortably. The truth is I’m a little bit jealous.

Faith and Jackson love each other, and they don’t care who knows it. Why should they? They seem to fit together perfectly.

The same can’t be said for me and Cal.

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