Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Yes. Right there, just hit again, oh God yes, again, oh, I felt the singing inside me— RIGHT THERE—
I shattered, splintered from the very center inside me. That bell rang and the echoes chimed outwards, waves crashing over the land, light from its source, a pebble in a pond, outwards I went, further and further. The pleasure kept shaking my limbs. Don’t come back yet, oh God, keep going—
And with me in that light at the furthest reaches of the universe was Walker, the being I was clutched around, the one still inside me, the ringer of the bell, the only one who’d truly seen me in my whole life.
I clutched tighter to him and didn’t let go. Onward the light rolled, just the two of us, forever.
And then the old world passed away and a new one had come. I had Truth Seeing eyes on. I wasn’t even in my body anymore. I looked down on myself with eyes of Wisdom and saw the truth: My life was a cage with an open door. It was time I walked out into the wide open freedom beyond.
I was beautiful. My body, entwined with Walker’s. The grass flowed like a Monet painting all around us.
Everything was possible, and beautiful, and bright even though it was night. I saw the brightness, glowing in all living things. It was in Walker, as he strained and finished inside me. Light poured from his eyes, from his fingers. I swear he glowed in the dark. We were made of firelight. I reached up and together our fingers intertwined and played, and then collapsed to the grass, still locked together.
I was connected to him, to the grass, to the lake, to the universe, to eternity.
8
WALKER
“Fuck, the sun is bright!” I slung my arm over my eyes to shield them from the blinding light that had woken me up like a cold splash of water.
Wait… the sun… outside. It took a minute to realize there was a heavy weight of a head sleeping against my chest.
Jasmine VanDoren.
Oh my God, we fell asleep last night! We slept outside by the lake… naked.
Shaking her awake, I looked around to see if there were any grounds people milling around yet and instantly worried about not only my reputation but Jasmine’s. What the fuck would people say if we were caught this way?
“Jasmine, wake up. We fell asleep.”
Jolting up, she looked around with panic in her eyes. “Shit. What time is it? My mother! I need to get home now!” She looked down at her naked self. “How am I going to get my clothes? My car?”
She ran her hands through her hair to try to tame it. “How did this happen? Shit, shit, shit!”
“It’s okay,” I said in a weak attempt to calm her nearing panic attack.
“Okay? Okay?” she screeched as she pointed to the nipple clamps still attached to her perfect breasts. She yanked them off and grimaced as she did so. Thank goodness they were loose, but still. “What part of this situation screams ‘okay’ to you?”
She had a point.
I jumped to my feet and quickly got dressed, handing over my tux jacket to conceal Jasmine’s body. “I’ll go in and get your clothing and keys. You wait for me by your car. Don’t worry about the people here at the Oleander. You aren’t the first guest to sleep here through the night. The walk of shame is a common occurrence around here.”
I meant the last sentence to be more of a joke to try to lighten the mood a bit, but the daggers being shot from Jasmine’s eyes told me I had chosen my words poorly.
“Don’t worry,” I added as I took her hand and started leading her back to the manor. “We’ll get you out of here without anyone seeing you.”
“My mother is going to kill me. I have no idea how I’m going to talk myself out of this one. She’s going to wake up and find me missing and may already have the entire police department hunting me down. The scandal is going to stroke the woman out.”
“Just tell her you were at a friend’s house or something,” I tried to offer as we got closer to the mansion.
“I’m a little old for slumber parties, wouldn’t you say?” she mumbled, but something told me she was considering my suggestion. It wasn’t like she could exactly tell the truth.
“It’s still really early,” I said as I looked down at my watch. “It’s only six. What time does she wake up?”
“She may still be asleep,” Jasmine said as she sped up with renewed hope of maybe being able to get out of the mess we’d gotten ourselves into. “But I know we have another brunch today.”
She stopped walking and looked at me, and I wondered if the fact that her words were like a punch to the gut were written on my face. A brunch meant she was being set up with another suitor. I knew how the Southern courting games were played. “So, I’m sure she’ll get up early to start working on her appearance,” she finished, her voice quiet.