Trifecta

ACT V: Chapter Fifteen - Couldn't Believe (August, 2008)

Author's Note: Well, this is it everyone, the last chapter. Thanks for coming on this journey with me and Malex, and a big thank you to everyone that voted and commented on the story. Also, one last NSFW Warning.

"Okay, seriously, where are you taking me?" I groaned and tripped over my feet every few steps while my wife dragged me forward by the hand insistently.

"You'll see when we get there," Alex replied with a hint of mischief dancing around in her voice.

Alex had insisted on blindfolding me before she led me to some unknown destination, something I was vehemently against. Eventually--like with most things--she wore me down with her puppy dog eyes and a promise that I would enjoy myself until I turned around with a sigh and let her tie the scarf she held around my eyes.

I was entirely unconvinced that I would enjoy myself in the slightest as she dragged me around, refusing to tell me anything about what was going on, but at this point my fate had been sealed and I had to trust Alex--something I was regretting with every step.

That regret deepened when the smell of salt water mingled in with the distinct sound of crashing waves against the shore reached my senses. I let out a sigh and groped for Alex's arm with the hand not firmly gripped in hers before I shook her roughly under my grip.

"Of course you would take me to the beach," I hissed and let her arm go with one more shove to her bicep. "That's not a surprise and it's not something I enjoy, so can I take this stupid blindfold off now?"

"Hey! You have no idea where we're going," Alex remarked in a chiding voice before she bumped her shoulder against mine playfully.

There was a pause on her end and I tuned into the sound of the noisy ocean waves rolling in as I tried to deduce where we could be going if the beach wasn't the answer before Alex cleared her throat and asked, "Was that on purpose?"

"Was what on purpose?" I shot back, a hint of confusion and irritation sleeping into my voice as my brows furrowed behind my blindfold.

With our hands linked together I could feel Alex's shoulder pull up in a shrug before she said, "Of course. Coarse. You know, like how sand is coarse."

I looked up at her, despite not being able to see a thing through the thick cotton scarf blocking my eyes and replied flatly, "No."

"Oh," Alex said, almost as if she were disappointed. "Well, it was funny either way."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You mean it was punny," I corrected her.

Alex let out a loud, carefree bark of laughter before she leaned over to kiss the top of my head. "Oh, Marley. You make me laugh," she said with a squeeze of my hand in hers. "You know that?"

I let out a small hum and smiled at her praise despite the stupidity of the topic at hand. My wife, everyone. She's so easy to please. I mused with a subtle shake of my head. And yet, I love her to pieces in spite of her horrible sense of humor.

"I was aware, yeah," I replied softly and cozied a little closer to her as we walked.

There was a companionable silence that settled over us as we continued to walk across the sand until, finally, Alex let go of my hand and took hold of both of my shoulders to stop me in my place.

I immediately reached up to remove my blindfold before I let my hands falter as I looked up to where I thought she was standing. "Can I?" I asked tentatively.

"Mm-hm," Alex hummed just as her hands slipped from my shoulders to untie the scarf at the back of my head.

There wasn't anything particularly special about the place that Alex had led me too. It was a less populated place on the beach, with plenty of palm trees and rocks jutting out of the sand--a far cry to how clean the 'commercial' beach typically looked. The only other distinguishing feature about the area was a large circle of rocks laid to the left of where we stood, with a scorched center, as if plenty of fires had occupied the space in the time of its existence.