RoadBlock (14 page)

“Stop worrying so much. I can still feel you, you know.”

“
Fuck
. Sorry.”

“I think you should move in here, for good. Live with me. I’m sure Cal will move in with Dagger.”

“Why…why would you want me to do that?”

“Because we should stay close. Because I like you, could maybe love you. I’ve seen inside you, now, I
know
you. You belong with us, Wade. Nothing you do or say will make me stop caring about you.”

“Uh. Well…”

She turned towards him then, and tried to see his face in the dark room. “Listen, I’m not saying I want to be your girlfriend or anything, I just think we could-”

Wade leaned in and swallowed her words with a kiss, and Betony squeaked against his lips before returning his kiss and wrapping him in her arms. He gentled his mouth against hers, moving slowly, drawing her lower lip into his mouth. He stroked his tongue inside, just a little, and ran his hand through her hair. Pulling away, he gave her two short kisses and then rested his forehead against hers, panting slightly.

“I really like you Betony. I’m just so afraid I’m going to fuck this up.”

“What makes you think it won’t be me who fucks it up? I’m pretty good at that, too, you know.”

Wade burst out laughing and buried his face in her neck. When he recovered himself he said, “You could never fuck up enough to make me leave you, Betony.
Never
.”

“Then why can’t you believe the same from me?”

Wade closed his eyes and held her, for the first time daring to dream that she might truly return his affection. “I’ll try, Bet.”

“Good enough.”

They fell asleep twined together, and woke in almost exactly the same position.

There were two weeks of peace following their ordeal with Alston. Two weeks of life returning to normalcy. Dagger worked, and came home to dinner cooked on the grill and wine-sipping sunsets. Calderon planned his curriculum for the impending semester, and Betony stirred lotions and sketched label designs. Wade asked for his job back and was re-instated, and once again led the spoiled sons of wealthy vacationers down the path to fitness. They all attended the monthly coven meeting, where Calderon and Betony met the congregation and were accepted with love and gratitude. Dagger’s mother, Diana, called a lot, wanting to hear how things were going, wondering what visions Cal had about the coven, asking about their living arrangements.

Calderon moved in with Dagger, as Betony had predicted, and Wade brought most of his meager belongings into Betony’s house, although he didn’t unpack. Dagger felt a resurgence of the freedom and joy he’d enjoyed in college, when he and some friends had rented a house for a year and every day had felt like a party. Their little ‘neighborhood’ of two houses on a dead-end street was an isolated bubble of peace and happiness, and with every passing day they became more like a family.

They went out one afternoon, walking the beach with garbage bags, cleaning up litter. It was part of their coven’s work, keeping the land, and they all contributed in some little way whenever they could. Wade reached down and picked up a small plastic tube and dropped it in his bag with a look of disgust. They were all wearing latex gloves, but he still rubbed his fingers together as if they were dirty. “Why
the fuck
are there always so many tampon applicators? I mean, do women usually insert tampons
on the beach
? How have I been missing this all these years? Seriously, that has to be the
tenth
plastic tampon applicator I’ve picked up.”

Betony laughed. She was really starting to like Wade’s little observations. Even his social missteps made her laugh. “I don’t know. I have
never
had occasion to throw a tampon applicator onto the beach, but you’re right- I have a few in here, too.” She shook her bag for emphasis. Wade still wore a confused frown as he reached down and picked up a condom wrapper. “Gross.”

They were on the thin strip of beach under the cliffs, only accessible at low tide. A lot of garbage washed up here, and Dagger had been cleaning it for years. Dagger watched Cal leaning over to pick up glass fragments and plastic drink bottle lids, and his heart felt so full it could burst. How had everything changed in such a short time? Three weeks ago, he was lonely, empty. Surfing, working, reading, hooking up with a few guys each year, he’d been happy enough, but not like
this
. Now he had what was essentially a family - Calderon, a loving partner, Betony, who was quickly becoming like a sister to him, and Wade, his childhood friend and the brother of his heart.

Dagger smiled to himself and bent to pick up an empty juice-box, placing it into his almost full bag. When he straightened, he saw a figure approaching them along the sand. He placed a hand over his brow to shield the glare of the sun, and when he recognized the figure he let out a little gasp. It was Lucy, Alston’s mother, walking towards them, arms outstretched, pointing a handgun in their direction. “Shit!”

Cal turned at Dagger’s outburst, and saw Lucy moving towards them with a slow determination. He had a flash of her intentions, she wasn’t wasting energy on blocking anymore. “Lucy. Consider what you’re doing. Your God doesn’t condone this.”

She laughed in response to that, and her eyes glittered with hatred, the only spark of light in her shadowed form as she stood against the setting sun. She had cornered them against the cliffs, Wade and Calderon standing in front of Betony and Dagger, the waves crashing up on the rocky shore to their backs. There were a few beachgoers lingering, but at this hour most of the crowds had dispersed, and there was no one within earshot. Certainly no one close enough to hear them shout over the pounding surf. Dagger knew these waters well, as did Wade, and they might have dived in to escape, but Cal and Bet would still be stranded.

Calderon knew a moment before she fired that she would, and tried to reach out with the bond to warn the others. But they had stopped wearing their charms two weeks ago, and hadn’t practiced finding their connection at all, so he was forced to simply shout,
“Duck!”,
which ended up being just as effective.

Lucy fired at Calderon, but he had squatted down a moment earlier, so her bullet hit the stone cliff instead. She cursed and fired again, but Cal twisted to the side, pushing Dagger down and away. He knew it was just a matter of time before she hit one of them, it was only her obvious lack of expertise with the weapon that had saved them so far. There was really no where for them to go, and Cal desperately hoped that some of the stragglers on the beach had heard the shots and had called the police.

Lucy fired a third shot, and it struck the cliff face directly above Dagger’s head, but glanced off the stone and hit a large boulder, ricocheting off that and striking Lucy in the abdomen. She doubled over and dropped the gun, holding both hands to her injured belly. The four witches watched in stunned horror as Lucy sputtered and coughed, her blood dripping onto the sand. Sirens wailed and several police officers ran along the beach towards them, surrounding Lucy. One picked up her gun and carried it away, and another checked her for additional weapons.

A few harrowing moments were spent at gunpoint again, this time under the much more accurate aim of the police officers who surrounded them. Once they were all checked for weapons, two EMTs rushed up, examining Lucy’s wound. She was placed on a stretcher and whisked away within moments, leaving Cal, Wade, Dagger and Betony to answer questions. Emergency responders checked them over and pronounced them injury and shock free, and they spent the next hours sitting in the back of police cruisers, separately, giving formal statements.

The sun had slipped into the ocean by the time they were released. They declined the offer of a ride home, instead walking along the cliff road together in silence.

That night in bed Dagger was the one sobbing into Cal’s chest, all the adrenaline and fear finally catching up to him, and Cal stroked his hair and kissed him gently until he quieted. “I thought it was all over, Cal, I thought we were safe. Did you know? That she’d come back?”

“No. I thought she might, but I didn’t expect her to have a gun, or to find us like that. I saw
into
her today, Dagger. Alston killed himself, and she blamed it on us taking his power. She planned to kill us and then herself. Her body was weak, though, too weak to shoot properly even if she’d known how.”

“
Good goddess
. Why would she do it? I don’t know a lot about the Theodosians, but they believe in a god, they believe in good fighting evil…why would she kill? Why are they all so hateful?”

“I think its because, for them, their faith is more about protecting the church, less about the morality of their actions. Their god
was
a beneficial one,
once
, and their religion preached love. But they became obsessed with the power and politics of their church, and lost touch with the true meaning of it all. Lucy saw enemies everywhere. She was afraid of us.”

“I almost feel bad for them.
Almost
… Do you foresee anything else? Are we finally safe?”

“As far as I know, we are. But, you know the sight isn’t perfect.”

“I know. But it still makes me feel better.”

Calderon leaned in and kissed him, trying to erase the worry he knew still lingered in Dagger’s mind. Dagger responded quickly, more than willing to put the trauma of the afternoon behind him. As he had done almost every night for the past two weeks, Dagger laid himself open, letting Calderon take control, wanting to feel protected, possessed, cared for. Calderon gave him what he needed, loving him until they both found release and then fell asleep still holding each other close.

In the morning, Dagger was brushing his teeth when Calderon stumbled in bleary eyed to use the toilet. It was so comfortable, so easy, living with Cal. Dagger rinsed his mouth out and smiled to himself. When Cal stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, something unwound in Dagger, some little hidden worry he hadn’t realized he’d been holding on to just melted away, and he felt like himself again,
free
. It was over, the nightmare of his mother’s prophecy had played out, and now he was wide awake in the safety and sunlight of a new day. He met Cal’s eyes in the mirror.

“Hey, Cal, do you think Wade and Betony are sleeping together yet?”

“Uggh,
Dagger
. I really don’t want to think about that.”

“I know, I’m happy, that’s all. I want Wade to be happy, too…and Betony. They probably
are
sleeping together, don’t you think?”

“Probably.”

Cal blushed a little and Dagger smiled to see it. He was so hot when he blushed. “Brush your teeth and then come back to bed.” Dagger punctuated his request with a little peck on Cal’s cheek, and Cal raised his brow, wondering what Dagger was up to.

When he returned to the bed, Dagger was laying under the blankets, and Cal could tell by the look on his face and the movement under the covers that Dagger was stroking himself. Cal’s cock jumped in reaction and he crawled in and kissed Dagger hard. Dagger returned the embrace - covering his body, wrapping his legs around him. Something was different in Dagger’s mood, it was lighter, more playful than it had been. Cal didn’t know how this change had happened or when, but he was glad to see it.

Dagger coaxed Cal onto his back and kneeled between his legs, peeling the blankets down and letting his eyes devour every inch of Calderon’s muscled torso. “Goddess, Cal, you are so beautiful.”

In the bright morning light of their bedroom, there was nowhere for Cal to hide, and he closed his eyes against the raw praise. He knew he was good looking, but there was something so honest and tender about Dagger’s compliment, it was almost too much for him to hear. Dagger reached for the lube, and Cal watched him with interest, not quite sure what he would do.

Dagger lubed his own fingers, and massaged Cal’s ass, working just the tip of one finger in and watching Cal’s face carefully. “Talk to me, Cal. Do you like this?”

Cal flushed and nodded, “Mm-hmm.”

“No, Cal,” Dagger smiled and withdrew his finger, “
Tell
me. Say the words.”

Cal looked up at Dagger in annoyance. He hated talking during sex. Even with Dagger, even with all the intimacy they shared, it still made him embarrassed to say such things out loud. But his cock was rock hard now, he hadn’t felt Dagger inside him since that first time, and he ached for it. “I love it, Dagger. I need you…fuck me.
Please
.”

“Mmm. I love hearing you say that.” He worked his finger in and curved it upwards, stroking gently. “Tell me, Cal. How do you want me to fuck you? Hard? Slow? Rough? Say it, baby.” He added another finger as incentive.

Cal gasped and closed his eyes. His face was red now, he knew, but he was beyond caring. Those fingers felt so damn good and Dagger’s voice, promising more, thrilled him. “Dagger, fuck me hard. Hard and rough and
right now
!”

Dagger laughed out loud and turned Cal onto his stomach, quickly replacing his fingers with what Cal really wanted, pushing past the tight muscle and rocking slowly back and forth until he felt Cal relax and accept the intrusion. Then Dagger gave Cal the hard, rough fuck he had asked for, slamming into him fast and deep, holding his hips so tightly he’d leave marks, and making enough noise for the both of them.