Page 116 of My Turn

“One more thing, though.”

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and pushed her legs further apart. It was clear she wanted to argue, but she was smart enough to know she wouldn’t get her way. I snapped a fewpictures of the state of her pussy and put them in a secret folder. They might be my most prized possession for a while.

“Jayce,” she said. The tone of her voice made me look up at her. She was holding a hand to her chest and there was something akin to sadness in her eyes.

“What is it?”

“It’s a bad time, but… I can’t sleep if I don’t ask. If I do, will you tell me the truth?”

“I’ll never lie to you.”

With a nod, she got up and pulled on a pair of shorts. Even though something was going on, I felt a sense of satisfaction knowing that she’d still be dripping while we did whatever this was.

I got dressed and took her hand. She led me down the hall slowly, as if she was nervous. When she stopped in front of the basement door, my stomach lurched.

“Alana, what…”

She swung it inward and stared down the dark stairs. I’d never been afraid of basements but now, there was a horrible sense of foreboding looming over us. She’d always been afraid that there were ghosts or demons in places like this. The only ones that existed down there were my own and they were arguably more frightening than some horror flick monsters.

Chapter 43

Alana

It was weird timing; I knew that. When I woke him up, I’d intended to ask him about it because I couldn’t force myself to sleep. As usual, though, I got lost in him. All I’d wanted to do after we finished having sex was lie on his chest, but this had to be done. It was the last thing standing in our way, the final bridge that needed to be burned. If there were no bridges, nothing bad could ever reach us again, right?

After flipping on the light, I stared into the abyss. It wasn’t really as bad as I’d thought it would be. The stairs weren’t rickety; they were sturdy wood with a nice, shiny finish. I’d been down here before, back when I didn’t know it was Jayce’s house, so maybe that made it less disturbing when I’d ventured down the other day.

With a deep breath, I took the first step. He grabbed my hand, pulling me to a stop.

“Hey, let’s go back to bed. Whatever this is, we can do it tomorrow.”

“No, I need to do it now.”

Moving to the step below me, he cupped my face. “What’s going on?”

It was hard to look at him right now. For some reason, it felt like I’d done something wrong. Going down here might have been an invasion of privacy. I hadn’t thought he would be mad, but that was before I knew that he had two dead bodies in creepy, futuristic vessels.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” I said.

I could tell that he was nervous, but he nodded. He’d gotten rid of the bodies somehow, which made me wonder if he’d tell the truth. If he tried to gaslight me, it might tip things in the opposite direction.

He took my hand and descended the stairs with me. I immediately veered toward the fake wall, which made him tense. When I glanced at him, it looked like he was in pain. I took a breath and pushed through into the room.

Like I’d seen yesterday while he was gone, there were only two empty vessels. They were clean, as if nothing horrible had ever happened. As if they hadn’t held decomposing bodies or spoke of the extreme lengths Jayce was willing to go to for me. Ever since I came here the first time, there’d been a war in my head. I loved him for it, but I also hated him for it.

“What are these?” I whispered.

He tugged me with him, then leaned against the wall. I let him pull me against his chest. It actually helped not to look at him right now. Maybe he felt the same way.

Did he feel shame when he thought about what he’d done? Was he cold and unfeeling when it came to anyone but me?

I knew he loved his family, and the way he’d become attached to Alicia was beautiful, even though I wasn’t completely comfortable with that whole situation yet. He cared about things, but where did that end?

“They’re for compost,” he replied in a monotone.

“What kind?”

With a sigh, he tightened his arms around me. “Alana…”

---