The Hidden (sample)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Tuesday, August 25th

THOMAS

Emily rolled her hips, clamping her inner walls around my cock as she rode me. Her hands cupped her breasts, her fingers teasing her nipples. She threw her head back and moaned, her long dark hair tickling the tops of my thighs.

“Please, baby,” she breathed. “Make me come.”

I jerked awake, face down and panting in my giant bed, my legs tangled in my sheets as I thrust against the mattress. My boxers were sticky and wet.

What the…? Fuck.

Rolling out of bed, I peeled off my boxers and tossed them in the hamper on my way to the bathroom. I took a quick shower, trying to calm my racing heart.

The shower didn’t help, so I threw on some clothes and checked the time. It was a little after three in the morning. A run through the woods might calm me down.

Only half of the moon was visible in tonight’s black sky. I began jogging, the moonlight fading in and out through the overhead branches. I didn’t know where I was going, and I didn’t much care–I let my feet lead the way.

I drowned out the sounds of the forest and focused on my breathing, which was even and controlled as if I were standing still, not running through the forest at a preternatural speed. The wind felt nice on my skin, fresh and cool as it whipped against my–

Emily’s hands on my skin, gripping me closer–her breath on my neck, hot and humid–my face pressed into her hair, her scent overwhelming me–my hips moving against her, my throbbing shaft enveloped in her hot, wet–

I closed my eyes and stumbled as flashbacks from the dream assaulted me.

Emily’s hands on my stomach, tracing her fingertips lower and lower until she gripped my rock-hard–

My eyes popped back open. Open was definitely better. I staggered in the surrounding woods of my house, grabbing onto the trunk of a giant spruce tree for support. I leaned against it, trying to catch my breath.

Holy shit, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think straight. My thoughts tangled with the explicit images until I couldn’t tell what was up or down. The dream had been so vivid, so clear, that I could have sworn it was all real.

Shit, why did I dream about her like that? I didn’t want to think of her like that. It was totally inappropriate and wrong.

But oh, sweet Jesus, it’d felt so right.

Through breaks in the boughs, I saw patches of the night sky. I stared at it for several seconds, trying to calm the hammering in my chest and the throbbing in my shorts.

A soft crunch in the branches above grabbed my attention. I knew better than to think it was just a squirrel or some other furry little critter. Inhaling, I immediately recognized the scent of the person with me.

“How’d you find me?” I called out.

“That’s no way to greet your brother-in-law. And what was that little conniption fit about? It was quite amusing.”

I glanced up, seeing Matt straddling a large branch, his legs dangling off the sides. He grinned.

My jaw clenched, but I ignored the question. “Did Mel send you?”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“Did she?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course she did. You never answer her calls anymore… She’s worried about you, you know.”

“I’m quite capable of taking care of myself, thanks.”

“I know you are, smartass, but your sister has a point. You shouldn’t live so far from civilization.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and frowned. “This is civilization.”

He swung his leg around and dropped twenty feet to the ground, landing in front of me with an almost inaudible thud. “You know that’s not what I meant. You belong with us, with others of your kind.” He put a hand on my shoulder, his eyes imploring. “Come home.”

I backed away from him and settled against the spruce tree again. My toes dug into the dirt, lifting up clumps of soft earth. “That’s not my home anymore. I have no reason to go back.”

“What about Mel? What about your parents?”

That was a low shot, and he knew it. “What about them?”

“They miss you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like I never see them.”

“Oh, yeah? When’s the last time you went home?”

I shrugged again and looked at my toes playing in the dirt. “It’s been–”

What…almost forty years?

Shit, has it really been that long?

“A while,” I mumbled.

Matt shook his head. “You’ve really changed, you know that?” A faint smile parted his lips. “We used to have fun together. Remember the sixties?”

I smirked, leaning my head against the tree. “No.”

He laughed. “See? That’s what I mean. We used to have a blast. Remember that time we got arrested at the Nashville Zoo?”

Did I ever. Matt and I got popped for public intoxication. We broke into the lion exhibit because he said I couldn’t win a fight against a lion while I was drunk, and back then, I’d never backed down from a challenge.

Besides, fighting a lion? That was a piece of cake.

The police didn’t even charge us with trespassing or breaking and entering. They said it was punishment enough being complete morons.

It was worth it, though. The look on that lion’s face… Man, he was pissed.

I smiled at the memory. “Of course I remember. That’s probably the only fight that lion ever lost.”

Matt wiped away the tears that had spilled onto his cheeks as he laughed. “I miss that kind of stuff.” As we began walking towards my house, all traces of laughter slowly faded from his face. “I can tell you’re bored, Thomas. I don’t have to see you every day to know that.”

I hated that he was right. But what was the alternative? Go home and face disappointed looks and whispers?

Fat chance.

Besides, I couldn’t put my family through that. I’d already disgraced them once, and I wasn’t about to do it again by returning. Their failure of a son was going to do the right thing for once and stay far, far away.