Chapter Text
2021
In time, even the deepest wound heal s . The scar will always be a reminder, but it doesn’t hurt anymore. Not as much anyway.
Being a father was incredible and being the father to one (almost) four-year old daughter and to two-year old twins was beyond this world. For better and for worse.
Ellen, Sophie , and Alexander.
They changed my life.
They gave my life so much purpose and because of them not only had I gotten the ability to multitask, I had also forgotten the word sleep and the meaning of it.
Little monsters. There, I said it. They were three small, small, small monsters in disguise, wearing the faces of the most cutest and angelic human beings.
That Claire and I had made it this far was, in my opinion, award worthy. Maybe every parent felt like that? The proud moment when you could pat your shoulder at the end of the day for successfully keeping all of them alive and well.
And for not accidentally running away - e scaping somewhere quiet and clean.
That was a parent joke. Parents were allowed to say them as long as they loved and took care of their children.
Ask anyone. Ask my wife, Claire. Soon to also be known as - Police O fficer Claire Fraser. She has for months in and out, studied law and recently reinforcements and she can tell you all about it. The parents law - as long as you love you r kids endlessly, it’s okay to secretly want and dream about taking a time out to hide, and lately the joke had been said almost daily. We were exhausted.
We still lived in our pink house. It ha d not been repainted and probably never would be.
That was the downsides of living in a house were the majority of population was female. They outvoted me on almost everything. Sigh , even Alexander preferred the house pink.
That’s what you get when you raise your children “right”. Gender had no color, pink wasn’t girly in this household, just pretty, and the oldest child was very good at persua sion .
“Daddy, I need to have a pink house,” Ellen used to say when I suggested repainting. “Or else Santa doesn’t know where I live. I told him that we lived in the pink one.”
So that was that. The Fraser’s lived in the pink house at the end of the street. Couldn’t risk Santa not knowing where we lived.
The small back garden was our latest project. Claire wanted it to be a “zen zone.” She was nuts, but when ha ve I ever said no to my wife. I rebuilt the back porch so that it was big enough we could fit a table for future summer dinners and barbecues. We scratched away the old white paint and repainted the fence, pink of course, and planted flowers and other plants everywhere. The results looked more like a sugarush than “zen”.
Memories w ere made and the children loved it.
Even though we were outnumbered by kids and we hadn’t slept a whole night for months, life was pretty fantastic.
I called this period of our life - he a ling. Because that was exactly the right word to describe our lives.
We were almost completely healed from all the pain that we had been through in past years. Claire was technically still suffering from amnesia but that didn’t matter anymore. She remembered what mattered and I filled in the rest. We no longer spoke of her mental state because it didn’t affect our lives anymore.
We had new memories to remember. An e ndless amount of them.
Ellen’s first sentence, her first curse word, first day of kindergarten, first time on a bicycle, and first time baking.
The twins first words, their first smiles, when they were learning to crawl, to roll around, their first step, and first everything.
We had captured most of them in photos, videos and in our hearts.
The first year was hard, I’m not going to lie. There w ere times (so many) I desperately wanted to be de a f, to shield myself from all the screaming. If it wasn’t Sophie or Sander, it was Ellen.
Back when Ellen's terrible twos was combined with one-year old twins running around on unsteady legs. It was a blur, I almost don’t remember anything from that time. I only had two arms and two hands, there w as too many of them and I couldn’t even please one of them at a time .
Thank god that's over.
At least now we could communicate with everyone. Oh, wait. I forgot, the terrible twos w ere now double. Sofie and Alexander just turned two.
That’s how tired I am. I don’t even remember what I ate yesterday.
But it was all going to change in a few days, hopefully. I had been home from work over the last couple of months to take care of the children while Claire was studying to become a police officer.
Police academy.
I was always impressed by my wife, by h ow determined and focused she was when she had set her mind to something.
Nothing was stopping her.
Not even me and I had tried t o , so many times. And failed just as many times .
The children loved that mommy was going to work with daddy. To c atch all the bad guys together.
But that wasn’t reality.
Reality was that Claire was going to endanger herself, every single day, and that was so hard for me to grasp. That of course was part of my job too, but I never wanted that for her.
Stubborn wife. A lso brave. But m ostly very stubborn.
“Everytime I get within reach of the woman I want to become, the image of her transforms and I grow,” Claire had said. “This is me growing, Jamie.”
“Couldn’t you grow into anything besides this.”
“Could you?”
No I couldn’t either. I wanted to be a policeman. Always ha ve.
I couldn’t win the argument. Obviously not, because Claire graduated a few days ago.
I was mostly proud, but worried nevertheless.
I was going back to work in a few day s, which was also Claire ’s first day. She acted like it was the first day of school, going on and on about who she would be partnering up with and what crimes she was going solve. My only thought was that I wanted her safe.
I had no doubt that she would be excellent. But as her husband, I was scared that she would be hurt. She was so reckless.
No real problems existed in our lives. No Geneva, no kidnappings, no hidden criminals in the guest room, no crazy women drugging me. It was normal, loud, and mostly joyful.
Jenny and Ian had their son, James- named after me. I was fun uncle Jamie and it was role I took very seriously. I called him J unior.
Tina and John were currently living in Barbados with their daughter, Mila. They had moved around these past years and it was so heartwarming that they had finally found home . The wedding invitation had been a surprise. We were the only ones invited and I was hesitant about attending. They were technically criminals on the run.
Nobody had seen Laoghaire since the trial. I did receive a letter from her. She apologized for lying, said she was being blackmailed by Geneva. I didn’t care enough to even respond and was glad I hadn’t seen her. Rumors was that she had moved to Norway, found a man called Rolf, and that she was happy there.
Angus Mhor, my best friend and partner. He was engaged to be married to a French woman called Louise de La Tour. They met during a rugby game and instantly fell in love. It all had happened so fast, too fast, but I was happy for him and even more happy for Claire since they were already so close.
Mary and Jeremy still lived on in our lives. Sophie ’s middle name was Mary and Alexander’s was Jeremy. It was a small thing, maybe, but in that way they were always here.
My parents and Claire’s parents, we spoke of them often. Told the children bedtime stories about their grandparents. Some true stories and some fictional ones we made up.
The most popular on es were the adventure stories where Queen Ellen and her husband, King Brian, flew over Scotland on their firespiting dragon, saving the world from evil.
Or the magical love story between Julia and Henry. The sweet and loving witch who enchanted the warlock that was always tried to steal the magic flowers i n the meadow. The warlock only wanted the flowers to give them to the witch.
All of them had happy endings and it always seemed to do the trick with Ellen.
The twins were harder to persuade. Alexander, my sensitive son, still had a pacifier at night, but Sophie needed her stuffed horse and if these items w ere n’t handed out in the right order... Things could be, well, impossible to even explain.
Seventeen minutes apart. That was important for Sophie, she needed her horse before Alexander got his pacifier. She was older. She acted like it was a big deal, but she was two, two! How could she be this stubborn? She reminded me of my wife and big sister.
15th of May, 2021
We had been together for ten years and married for nine today .
It can be said that everything blossoms and turns into something even more beautiful, but it can also go in the other direction. Parenting was hard and so was marriage.
We weren’t perfect.
We had been blessed in so many ways.
But that blessing sometimes was taken for granted.
Today reminded me of that.
Our anniversary.
My paternity leave was ending, it was just days away until me and Claire w ere going to work complicated and hard hours again, but we had Fiona Graham, a young and bright woman who was going to be our nanny. The kids loved her. We loved her.
Fiona was a natural and so kind, and she lived just four houses down. We are old family friends since her mother and mine were friends , which helped. She was everything we w ere looking for when it came to taking care of the kids when we were at work. But it was still hard, so hard, imagining the days to come where we both w ere going to be com ing home late and the kids would already be asleep.
Our economy had been stable, allowing me to be a stay at home father while Claire was studying, which was such a blessing. I felt sorry for those who couldn’t stay home longer. I learned so much about myself and made so many wonderful memories with the children by staying home with them for this loving time.
Today, we were going to have somewhat of a practice day. Fiona had offered to take the children for the night and that fit perfectly with our anniversary. She was going to stay at our house and I was going to surprise Claire with a night at a hotel. No kids, just us. It had been awhile.
A night starting with dinner and drinks. Later on, we’d check into the hotel and have an evening without Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig. Just us. Hopefully having a lot of sex and then sleep.
I don’t know what I have missed the most, sleep or sex.
6:15 PM
It was time to leave and the taxi was waiting outside. Ellen was fine with us leaving and so was Sander, but Sophie wasn’t. She just wasn’t having it.
Both Ellen and Alexander (Sander) always preferred Claire, but Sophie, my little curly auburn haired warrior princess, was all a father ’ s girl. She was crying because I was leaving. Of course, it was in part because we were both going, but mostly it was because she didn’t want to part with me.
I sat on my knees in our hallway with little Sophie crying in my arms, crying so badly she couldn’t get a word out.
“Sophie.” I kissed her wet cheek. “Fiona has promised that she will make homemade pizza tonight, it’s yer favorite, right?” I asked.
“Dinna want pizza.” Sophie answered. “Only D addy.”
“How about this. Ye stay here and eat pizza and tomorrow, D addy will take you all to the National Museum of Scotland. How about that?” I asked.
“Just Sophie and D addy?”
“No, lass. We’ll all go.”
“Don’t want it.”
“What do ye want, then?”
Sophie started thinking, looking adorable and very so thoughtful as she did . She was smart and she knew she could make me do anything she asked right now because she was crying. This could end up with a four hour trip to Lallybroch or us spending hours baking.
“I want to...um…go to the park and then I want to buy ice cream.”
That was easy, I thought, amused.
“Deal.”
“Why does she get to decide?” Big sister Ellen asked, irritated. “I want to go to the Dino house.”
Dino house was the National Museum of Scotland. Ellen was still obsessed with dinosaurs.
“Because you decided last time, darling.” Claire joined the conversation in the hallway. “Let your sister have this one.”
Claire had been upstairs, getting ready and the result almost made me speechless. Christ she was sexy tonight.
One eyebrow arched and I whistled to really make sure she knew I how much appreciated her look. Claire laughed and spun around. The tight dark blue strapless dress made me want to skip dinner and drive directly to the hotel. Police training had been hard and the result of it was shown in that dress. Her ass, oh God I wanted to eat her up. Rip that dress apart and...
“You guys, have a wonderful time.” Fiona interrupted my dirty thoughts.
“Aye, we should probably be going.”
Sophie was no longer crying and hugged her mother goodbye with her stuffed horse, Sally, under her arm.
“Bye Daddy.” Alexander was already wearing his pyjamas and looked tired.
“Bye Sander. I love you beyond this world. You know that, right?”
“Aye.” Alexander smiled. “I love you to the moon.”
“And back?” I asked and he nodded.
“That’s really a lot.” I answered and hugged him again.
Ellen stood a few feet away, with her arms crossed. She was still irritated that we weren’t going to the museum tomorrow. I smiled towards her, hoping she would laugh.
It almost worked.
“Ye have one minute before I have to leave, so if ye wanna hug me, this is the moment for it.” I said to Ellen and she didn’t even hesitate.
Ellen ran into my arms and hugged me so hard.
“I want to three ice creams tomorrow.” Ellen whispered into my ear, probably so her younger siblings wouldn’t hear.
“Two.” I compromised.
“Chocolate?”
“Of course.”
Ellen had a smug smile and reached out her little hand in the air, I shook her hand and smiled just as smug ly back.
“Deal.”
She was a future lawyer. Or maybe I was too damn eager to please my children. Probably the later . I would probably paint the entire Sistine Chapel in their rooms if they asked.
“Alright, let’s go Claire.”
“Bye, my loves.” Claire blew kisses at them with her hand. She was more unsure of leaving them as they were to leave her.
——
Inside the taxi, I asked the driver to take us directly to the hotel instead of the restaurant.
“Jamie? What about our reservation? We are not going to make it. We don’t need to check in now.”
“Oh I know.”
“Then why...?” Claire stopped talking when it dawned exactly what I had in mind. “We are not going, are we?”
“No, Mrs Fraser. We are not going to the restaurant.”
“Why did I even bother getting ready?”
We pass streetlight after streetlight. The driver wasn’t paying us any attention. I moved closer and then placed my hand on her thigh, right where her dress ended. She didn’t wear any stockings, it was my warm skin against hers.
“Ye can blame yer dress.” I whispered into her ear softly, then I nibbled on it, just the right way I knew would give her goosebumps.
“Oh really?”
In the dark. In backseat I saw her eyes gazing into mine with a sudden hunger. It had been so long, weeks, since...
“Aye.” I answered softly and my hand slipped under the fabric. “I wanted ye the second ye walked down the stairs and I dinna think I’d last having dinner first.”
To my surprise and delight, Claire slowly spread her legs, just a little, just to make it easier for me to touch more. I kissed her neck and she sighed softly, my fingers traveling up...
“Christ.” I said a little to o loud, getting the taxi driver’s attention. I waited until he was focusing on the road again.
“Ye little devil, yer not wearing any panties?”
“You don’t wear panties with a dress like this.”
“ Another reason why I love this dress then.”
Claire spread her legs a little more and I closed my eyes for a second when I felt the slick and wet folds of her. If we didn’t arrive to the hotel soon, I was scared I was going to take her there and then in the backseat, not giving a shit who saw us. I was already so hard and my cock was pressing against my pants.
“When you find out how much it cost, I’m sure you won’t like it as much,” Claire teased and took my hand away.
“I promise, this dress was worth every penny and I will feel exactly the same when I have ripped it in pieces.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“What are ye going to do about it?” I teased her back.
A big and wide grin spread on my wife’s face. She looked a little like she was blushing too.
“Mr. Fraser, your wife is no longer weak and unable to protect herself. I think I might surprise you.” Claire was seducing me now. “And I brought handcuffs to set you in place.”
“Fuck, that’s hot! “ I felt even more impatient. “I have never had sex with a cop before.” I smiled widely.
“I have.” Claire’s hand found my crouch. “And I promise you, it’s incredible.”
Claire leaned in, close to my face and I breathed her in. Her breath, the new perfume she wore. We were just us, just Jamie and Claire, and there was still the same electric cosmic spark between us. I had feared parenthood had taken away the best of us.
Smiling, I closed the distance, kissing her hard and then harder. I couldn’t get enough. I wanted her, needed her closer.
When we parted, I was out of breath and I couldn’t stop looking at her. We were just a little over thirty, but we still acted like giddy teenagers.
My erection was starting to get painful. Aren’t we there yet? I wanted to show my badge to the taxi driver and beg him to drive faster.
When we finally arrived at the hotel, I needed to carry the bag we had brought in front of me to hide my co c kstand. Claire teased me the entire way to the reception desk with her f lirty eyes and swaying her hips back and forth.
The very second the elevator door closed, I surprised Claire when I pushed her up against the wall. I couldn’t wait, the fifth floor felt like ten thousand miles away. I kissed her neck, her collarbone , my hands roaming all over her body.
“I want to fuck you, so badly.” I pressed my body against her, wanting her to feel how much I wanted her. “I’m losing my mind, Claire.”
“Me too.” She breathlessly said back. “I want you. God, I want you so much.”
The attraction. The wanting. It was maddening. I could hear my own heart beating louder and louder.
Pling . The elevator opened and I grabbed our ba g from the floor, I almost forgot about it. I just wanted to get to our room and have her naked.
“Just a heads up.” I closed the door. “You have exactly ten seconds before I rip that dress apart.”
Claire sat on the edge of bed and she just shook her head. She did nothing to undress herself.
“I don’t think so, I’m the one making the rules now.”
“Haven’t ye teased me long enough?”
“We are just getting started, baby.” Claire smiled and bit down her lower lip.
“Claire…”
“No, no,” Claire interrupted me. “It’s O fficer Fraser right now.”
“Alright, Officer Fraser.” I could play along with this. “I was serious, drop the dress or else.”
“Threatening now? I guess I need to arrest you, then. Are you going to come over here willingly or do I have to get physical.”
“Oh I’ll come willingly.”
“To bad.”
I walked across the room and sat down next to Claire on the bed.
“What is going to happened now, Officer Fraser.” I asked, grinning. “Is this what they teach the new recruits now?”
“Nobody has taught me what I am about to do with you.”
“What are ye going to do?” I definitely wanted to play now. I liked this Claire, the confident woman who took what she wanted.
“So many questions…” Claire teased. “Just do as I say, and this will be as comfortable as it can be .”
Claire left the bed and I stayed seated. She hadn’t asked me to follow.
“Take your clothes off.”
“Everything?”
“Mmhm...” Claire smiled widely, a noticeable hunger in her eyes. “I want you completely naked.”
Without breaking eye contact. I undressed until there was not a single thread left on my body. I stood before her naked, my body evidently aroused, my cock hard and standing for her.
My confidence only grew. Just as I worshiped her body, she loved mine, scars and all. I stretched out my body, making me look bigger and flexed my muscles. I can play as well. I wanted to tease her too.
Ha , I was affecting her. My beautiful wife looked like a cougar watching her prey, ready to attack any second.
Now what? I wondered, when Claire silently walked over to the chair standing in the corner, where our bag was. She started ruffling around, searching for something.
A metallic sound came from the handcuffs and then she picked them up.
“Lay down on the bed.” Claire d an geled the cuffs from her hand.
A bit hesitant, I slowly moved to the bed and did as she said . I looked up at the bed frame, it was a golden painted wooden frame.
Claire climbed onto the bed.
“Your hands, please.”
“Seems a bit har sh , what have I done to deserve this?” I said, smiling. I was loving this. “All I wanted was to fuck my wife. Is that a crime?”
Claire smiled back and cuffed both of my wrist s , a bit too hard, but I didn’t question it.
“You do not have to say anything.” Claire said. “But it may harm your defen s e if you do not mention something which you later rely on in court when being questioned. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
“You haven’t said for what I am being arrested, Officer.”
“For being incredibly hot.” Claire almost laughed. “And for not taking your wife to the restaurant.”
“Oh, I see. Anything else?”
“And...For not washing the dishes yesterday.” Claire turned around, then climbed off the bed again.
“Please, Officer. There has to be something I can do?” I sounded like an awful porn actor. “I’m guilty, but I canna go to jail, please, I have a family.”
“I guess you should have thought about that before you so very selfishly decided to wear that sexy outfit.” If anyone had heard this, they would have laughed, but we didn’t. We were in character. “Mr. Fraser, you know it’s criminal to look that hot in public. That shirt and those pants... I had no choice but to take them away, for everyone sake.”
Thank God. Claire started pulling down the zipper o f her dress.
Just a little of her skin showing and I got way, way t o o excited. My cock twitched and I smiled widely.
“You don’t look that regretful.”
“I refuse to answer on the grounds I might incriminate myself.” I answered and smiled even wider.
I already knew she wasn’t wearing any panties and that she didn’t wear a bra either which wasn’t that surprising, but she kept her heels on. Goddess. That’s what she looked like .
That was the mother of my children, radiant and smiling at me. The power she held enchant ed me. I took her in, all of her, with the pink stretch mark s she so proudly wore, her breasts, the skin I knew was so soft. Gorgeous. The visible new abs she had gotten lately from training. She was shining, glowing brighter than she had in a long time. She was so confident.
“It feels like it has been forever, since I saw ye like this.”
Being parents had its perks, but getting alone time wasn’t one of them. We hadn’t slept alone in our bed for so long.
“Do you like what you see?”
“I’m questioning my entire existence, Claire . I still sometimes can’t believe what I did to deserve ye. Christ, the way yer glowing right now.”
“It’s my highlighter.” Claire gave me a pose and I laughed. Highlighter, whatever that was. We weren’t role playing anymore. We were Claire and Jamie again. Husband and wife.
I sat upright, my hands still tied and I pointed my finger at her and motion ed for her to come closer.
The room was quite chilly and I had soften ed a little. I was done with the games, done with not touching her. Claire climbed back on the bed and straddle d me, I lifted my handcuffed arms over her head so she was trapped inside my arms. Her warm skin against mine.
Moments later, Claire released me from the handcuffs. How long exactly I had been trapped to the bed frame, I was unsure. Long enough for my wife to have her way with me. It was glorious . It was exciting. A bit painful, but very new and trilling.
Claire demanded that I lay still on my back and as I willingly waited, she had poured some kind of lotion in her hand, she later explained was lubricant. Strawberry s cented lube.
She massaged my cock with it, then licked and sucked until I was sure I was going to explode. When I was on the verge, she climbed on top again, straddl ing my body. I mostly t h rusted upwards and had one hand on her hip as she sat on top, riding me. She was bossy and ordering me about. Faster, harder, more, more.
It was as if I was an imaginary beach and Claire was the ocean- we came crashing together, wave after wave until a tsunami overtook us both.
I was impressed by how long I could hold out, it had been so long since we had done this , but I lasted. Fist in the air in victory . Claire came twice before I finally finished and the last thrust was so powerful it gave me shivers down my spine.
The little key went into the lock and I was free from my chains. It wasn’t until now I felt the small burning pain from where the handcuffs had been.
“I’m sorry.” Claire sincerely apologized when she saw my bruised wrists. Her fingers lingered over the red marks from the handcuffs and then she kissed the pain away.
What did you expect? I wondered, amused. They w ere n’t fake, plastic furry playthings. They were real. They were mine.
“Is it my turn now?”
“Your turn to do what?” Claire asked, confused as she laid down next to me again. Her hair was a mess of beautiful curls.
I reached out and took the handcuffs from the nightstand and jingled them on my finger.
“I have been married to ye for nine years and not once have ye let me use these on ye.”
“You never asked.”
She was right, I had never asked. The thought had remarkably, and boringly, never dawned me either. It opened up a whole new world of things I wanted to do with her.
“A small suggestion for the future.” Claire said. “Don’t ask.”
“Oh really.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “Does that mean I have lifetime consent? I can do whatever I want?”
“You can tie me up, bend me in to any position and fuck me anyway you can, Jamie.” Claire looked pleased. “Just make sure I come.”
Oh God, yes.
Just the thought of doing whatever I wanted with her, made me hard again. I moved closer and pressed myself against her. Claire giggled, turned so she laid on her back with me over her.
Our bodies flushed closely together.
“I have missed this.” My lips softly brushed over hers. “To be alone with ye. Just to have this silence, the only sounds are the ones coming from ye when ye make yer those wonderful sounds when I take ye.”
“It has been awhile since we had sex in a bed.” She answered, whispering against my lips. “Not that I didn’t like the last time in the closet.”
“I’m two meter s tall, it wasn’t the most comfortable for me.”
“Maybe you should build a bigger closet.” Claire’s hands were on my back. “But I do enjoy this, to be able to have all of you.”
Claire pinched and squeezed my ass.
“I want you all the time, Claire. Sometimes when I know you are in the shower, alone, I can picture you using the shower head, pressing it right...here.”
Claire moaned softly and sighed in pleasure when I slowly started circling her clit with my fingers.
“Do you think of me, when ye touch yerself.” I asked as I pressed a little harder, making her breathing heavier.
“I do.” She breathlessly answered.
An uncontrollable lust for each other igniting instantly. I kissed her lips hard and my tongue found hers. She tasted sweet, like she had been eating candy and I remembered the strawberry s cented lube she had brought and used on me.
For a second, I thought of searching for it to use on her, but I didn’t want to release her.
Then we were moving in a fr enzy once more, both panting. I moved my hand faster and more urgently. She was wet. Oh lord, so wet. She didn’t need lube.
I entered her in one powerful thrust. Both of us simultaneously moaning in pleasure as I did. I filled her completely again and my hands were holding onto her body as she rocked against me with each thrust, wanting more.
Each push was deliberate. First slow then, hard. Slow then hard against. Her body pulsed in tune with mine.
Over and over again.
“Mmm...Jamie...Ah.” She moaned, and a grin spread across my cheeks. How I loved how much she wanted me.
“What’s...so…funny?”
I slowly increase my speed and looked into her eyes.
“I love the way you say my name.”
“Like this...” Claire said seductively. “Jaamiee. Oh yes. Just like that, Jaamie”
“Ah, yeah. Just like that.” I answered, and closed my eyes. It was so arousing. That I was the only one on her mind.
“Faster Jamie .” She urged me , deliberately using my name again.
An overwhelming tingling feeling flooded through me. It was maddening and it felt like i couldn’t get enough, get deep enough. I needed more.
I moaned, then switched position.
I stood on my knees with her legs up in the air, resting against my shoulders. My grip firm on her body, keeping her where I wanted her, pounding harder and harder into her.
“Oh God.” It was a moan escaping Claire’s mouth again, and it almost sounded painful. Like I was hurting her. I looked down at her, searching, but there wasn’t any sign of hurt, just the same hunger, hunger for more.
I was so deep in her and I wanted to drown in the deepest part of her. Oh God , the sensation. The desperate thirst for more.
I’m going to come, Jamie.”
“Ah, God, yes, I’m… I'm almost there too.” I groaned. “Take yerself there,
Claire
.”
Claire slipped her hand between her legs and fingered her clit. It only took seconds, then she arched her back as a bow.
Victorious, I felt her body shake and how she started clenching internally around me and I held her hips still as I continued moving inside her. Her face, her moaning and shouts of pleasure, that was all it took, just watching her before I was overwhelmed, with one final hard rock with my hips I poured into her, every inch of my body flooded with warmth, then I collapsed against her neck.
My head pressed hard into her shoulder, I maybe even bit her there as my orgasm washed over me. How I had once more moved into this position was a mystery. Her hands on my back, rocking my body as my body was stiffening, unable to move.
“I’m glad you still want me like this.” Claire had said. “Three kids and ten years later.”
I pulled out and quickly laid down next to her and wrapped her into my embrace.
“Claire. I will always want you.” I said softly. “Every day there is something new. I’m falling in love with you more each year, falling so deep I’m scared of drowning.”
A second of awkwardness when I realised what word I had used. Drowning.
Thankfully, Claire didn’t flinch or even look affected by the word. If she had, she wasn’t showing it.
“I just hope you want me like this when I’m old and grey.” I kissed her softly on her cheek.
“Oh I will, I promise.” Claire answered happily. “You are already starting to go grey and I will continue to want you even when you are saggy and blind as a bat.”
I broke down and started laughing so hard tears fell.
“Who said anything about saggy? Maybe blind but I will never be saggy.”
My eyesight had become worse in the past years, it wasn’t long until I was going to wear glasses at all times, not just when I read.
“You and me to the old days.” Claire laughed as well. “Surrounded by grandkids, sitting on the porch, saggy and old together.”
In the aftermath, we were hungry and exhausted. But still satisfied. As Claire was taking a quick shower, I ordered room service. Claire had been on a strange strike diet these few weeks, eating chicken and rice almost everyday, so I thought I’d just order everything.
Everything she likes.
Cheeseburger with Fries. Pancakes. Mozzarella sticks. Chocolate cake. Pizza. Thai food. Two bottles of red wine.
We sat close together on the bed, Claire in a white robe and I in my boxers. We drank wine and ate until I thought I would go in a coma and never wake up again. It was delicious. The plasma TV in front of the bed was on. The Philadelphia Story. Old black and white classics, Claire’s new obsession.
“Is there anymore wine?” Claire held up her empty glass and looked surprise that it was.
“Aye.” Laughing, I reached out and took the bottle, there wasn’t much left. “Maybe we should order some more.”
“Oh, goodie .” Claire’s Katharine Hepburn impression was flawless. Maybe it was the wine. We were both warm and tipsy.
“Are ye going to talk like that all night?” I poured the last of the wine into her glass.
“Put me in your pocket, Mike.” Claire continued to be Tracy.
“That means yes, I presume.”
Suddenly the TV screen became blurry and started sounding strange. I frowned. What’s going on? The black and white image of Tracy in the garden became a blur of color instead.
“ I’m sorry to interrupt. ” A dark and scrambled voice said. Then a animated face appeared on the TV. “ I will be quick, I promise .”
“That the hell?” Claire said. “What is this?”
It looked like the intro of a strange child ’s program. But at the same time not appropriate for children to watch.
“Dinna ken, wait. I’ll change it .” I said and tried to change the channel with the remote.
But it was the same thing on every single channel. The same face. The same twisted human liked animation. His smile was unnatural.
“ I want to play a word game with you .” The animated face said. The way he sounded, it was making me uncomfortable.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Lines appeared on the TV, looking like one of those game shows, where you call in and guess the word.
I was right. It didn’t take long until a phone number appeared in the right corner.
“ Call in and guess a letter until we have our name. ” The little animated face was now in the left corner. “ The pot is huge, huge, huge .”
We stayed quite and I don’t know why I didn’t turn off the TV, it was sometimes with the un easy , smiling face that made me nervous. I needed to know what was going on. Maybe it was just a glitch?
It didn’t take long until people started ringing in, guessing letter after letter.
D _ n_an E_ll_s
The little smiling face was getting bigger with each right letter.
“I don’t like this.” Claire had been quite for a long time. “Jamie, what do you think this is?”
“I honestly have no idea.”
“His voice is scaring me.”
“Aye, it’s some strange mix of the guy in Saw and a clown.”
“That’s exactly what I thought.”
There was just one empty space left. The first name was Duncan.
“Hi, I think the last letter is i .” It was a woman calling.
Duncan Ellis
“ Congratulations .” The dark voice laughed as the name, Duncan Ellis, started blinking. “ What’s your name? ” The voice asked.
“Ava.” She answered.
“Ava, you have won.” Balloons appeared on the screen. “Do you want to know your price?”
“Aye.” The woman was Scottish then. “What do I win?”
“A two week long vacation to Tokyo.”
The woman became hysterical, screaming with joy and I was confused as hell. What was the purpose of this?
“ I’m going to explain the rules now . It is simple and fun. You guess the name and I kill them.”
“What the fuck?” Claire looked at me.
“Duncan Ellis, I am coming for you. No need to run and hide. I will find you.”
Poof. Just like that, The Philadelphia Story was back on the screen.
“It has be some messed up prank, right?” Claire spoke again. She sounded worried and that was exactly how I felt too.
“I hope so.” I answered, somehow it didn’t feel real, it had to be some bored teenager with the skills to hack.
I was wrong. A man called Duncan Ellis had been found dead in his apartment. His bloody body had been found on the floor, his arms crossed, and two foreign golden coins on top of his eyes.