Page 84 of Ordinary Secrets

At the rock, with the holey tree behind me, I begin counting.

One. Two. Three.

Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred. I glance around. There’s nothing here. It’s just more trees, bushes, and dirt.Where’s the safe house?

The message said something about it being underground. I spend some time scouring the area but don’t find anything that would take me underground.

Maybe I should try again.Back at the rock, I count another hundred steps. This time, I take kid-size steps. I end up about twenty paces back from where I was before. It’s the same story though. Nothing’s here.

With a fireball floating nearby the whole time, I spend the next several hours combing the area. My efforts are useless.

I can’t find what I’m looking for, and it doesn’t help that I don’t even know what I’m looking for. A tunnel? A hidden passageway? A trapdoor? How about a sign that readssafe house herewith a big fat arrow?

24

TREY

I’m pretty suremy parents hid this so-called safe house on another planet. I’ve gone back to Julian several times over the last two weeks. With all the holes I’ve dug, earth I’ve moved, and for as many times as I’ve stomped on the ground looking for a trapdoor, I haven’t found anything that remotely suggests there’s a safe house nearby.

I’m in the middle of doing research on underground living spaces when my phone buzzes. It’s a text from Arella that makes my face contort.

I’m not sure if you should come over today. I’m sick.

What?Her daily texts usually start with “Good morning, honey!” and “Did you have sweet dreams?” Even though Zordis can’t dream, I always say that I dreamt of her. Where are those texts?

I’m coming over anyway.

Are you sure? I have the flu. It’s highly contagious.

Positive. I’ll see you soon.

The Ordinary flu isn’t gonna stop me from seeing my girl, especially not on a Sunday. I don’t get to see Arella for long on Fridays or Saturdays due to the nature of my work. Last night, she, Javina, and Javina’s girlfriend came out to my band’s show. I got to see them during the meet and greet for a bit, but I didn’t get to have Arella alone. Sundays are precious to me.

I’ve got grocery bags dangling from my arms as I knock on Arella’s door. She answers in pajama shorts and a baggy hoodie—myhoodie. Seeing her in it will never get old.

“Morning, angel,” I say with a smile. “I brought you stuff to make you feel better.”

“Yay!” She props the door open for me to enter.

For a while there, I thought maybe she was using the sick thing as an excuse not to see me. Now that I’ve seen her smile, it’s clear she secretly wanted me to come over.

I rush in and place the bags on her kitchen counter. Then I hurry to greet my girl properly. Taking her by the waist, I lean in to kiss her.

She turns away, covering her mouth with a palm. “I have the flu!”

“Does it look like I give two shits?” I peck her forehead, then leave her to unpack the bags.

For the rest of the day, I make her soup, and we keep busy with card games and movies. During the second movie, I get her down to her panties as I massage her back, and well... we end up doing other things.

Even with her stuffy nose, the way she moans as I suck her nipples makes my cock hard. She clenches her hands in my hairas I kiss my way down her belly. Because my shirt is somewhere on the floor, I get the pleasure of feeling her skin on mine.

She’s been good about stopping me whenever she feels like we’re going outside of her comfort zone. I’ve been good about not pressuring her. The second she saysstop, I stop. It’s not only because I don’t want to ruin this mission by breaking her trust, either. I have this deep need to show her that a man can be good to her. Arella deserves to be treated like a queen, and I’m enjoying being the one to do it.

With a finger hooked through her panties, I slowly tug them down, waiting for her to stop me. Instead of grabbing my wrist like she has been, she pulls her legs out of the fabric. I don’t let the shock stop me as I marvel at the sight of her fully naked for the first time. It takes everything in me to not collapse my mouth against her clit and lap my tongue over it right now. I don’t, because I’m afraid that if I go too fast, she’ll shut down. If I take things slowly, she’ll have the opportunity to stop me if she wants to.Hopefully, she doesn’t want to.

Tenderly, I kiss her inner thighs. She squirms and runs her fingers through my hair. I get harder as her nails dig into my scalp and I take two perfect handfuls of her breasts. Between my thumbs and index fingers, I roll her nipples around. She tells me she likes this by arching her head back with a sexy moan. I need to hear her make more of those sounds.

On my way up her thighs, I pepper lingering kisses until I reach what I’m after. I hover there for a second to see if she’ll stop me. When she doesn’t, I go for it. She gasps sharply when my mouth presses against her clit. At first, I go slow, taking in how soft she feels against my tongue. I go in circles, then side to side. Once she gets used to me, her body melts beneath me.

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