Chapter 43: 24 Hours of Summer

-- TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2009 --

9:00 PM

After carefully navigating the long tandem driveway that ran the length of the house, I parked the Porsche in the garage right next to Summer’s Mercedes and popped the trunk. Collecting three bags of groceries, I crossed from the garage to the kitchen back door of the house. And as soon as I walked inside, I very nearly dropped a bag.

There was a naked young woman on the kitchen floor, you see, bent over with her ass in the air and her face pressed into the kitchen tiles. Her knees were spread apart wide, exposing a pretty pink pussy already flowering open in preparation for the penetration of a powerful puffed-up prick. The air smelled distinctly of aroused female, and she moaned in obvious heat while she vigorously rubbed her own clit.

My loins engorged at the mere sight of her, but I took a deep breath to calm myself. I had groceries to put away, you see. So while pointedly ignoring the naked, flushed redhead masturbating herself on the kitchen floor, I set the three bags down on the counter and lackadaisically puttered back and forth between the bags, the pantry, and the fridge as I put everything away. I even paused to reorganize the bottom shelf a bit.

“Nngh ... nngh ... nngh...” Summer groaned as her slightly-sweaty body shivered. She watched me with heavy-lidded eyes, whimpered whenever I passed but didn’t stop, and kept right on strumming her clit, keeping herself at the precipice of orgasm but never letting herself fall over the edge.

Fully five minutes passed before I finished putting away the groceries. Even then, I went to pour myself a glass of water, complete with large ice cubes from the fridge dispenser, and I took a moment to lean against the counter and admire my girlfriend’s absolutely incredible figure.

The self-proclaimed workout junkie was in the best shape of her life, and it showed. Every square inch of her exceptionally toned, minimal body fat body was on full display at the moment, bent over as she was on the floor. Her limbs were lithe and limber with subtly dense musculature beneath. Her abs were sculpted out of granite. And her ass was simply divine.

And let’s of course not forget the most perfect tits money could buy.

She’d collected her red flame hair into a single long ponytail, all the better for me to use as reins. Around her neck was a new, unexpected addition: a black leather collar with white stitching that read “Master’s Pet” in big cursive letters, fitted with a stainless steel D-ring and a leather leash. Matching black leather wristbands and ankle cuffs adorned her other four limbs, fitted with stainless steel D-rings as well, just in case.

This wasn’t the first time Summer had literally “presented” herself at the door like a dog in heat. The first time she did so, I had simply dropped trou and buried myself into her. Adrienne was the one who told me I should make Summer wait a bit, to keep her primed but panting for it as the anticipation and frustration would make for a better orgasm in the end. The new leather collar and cuffs were identical to Adrienne’s, perhaps playing on her own “Tiger’s Pet” theme. I found myself surprised Adrienne would so readily share something that had once made herself special and unique with the pet collar. Although after she’d also willingly let Peyton call me “Tiger” for a week, I suppose I shouldn’t have been that surprised.

In any case, Summer’s whining and whimpering had reached a fever pitch by the time I finished my glass of water. I knew she couldn’t hold on that much longer, and taking pity on my Pet, I finally set my empty glass down, unbuttoned my pants, and pulled down my zipper.

The sound of the zipper was like music to Summer’s ears. She visibly perked up, thrust her bare booty a little higher into the air, and audibly crooned, “Please, Master! Please! I need you! I need you IN me! Please, Master! Plee-EEEEEEE!!!”

Summer’s cry suddenly increased in pitch and volume as I swiftly filled her pussy full of meat. A moment later, her orgasm detonated inside her at finally feeling the great love of her life buried to the hilt inside her, and her scream was DEAFENING.

“FFFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!”

From outside the kitchen doorway, Adrienne and Eden both popped their heads around the corner with silly grins on their faces.

I smirked and flashed the girls a “shaka” sign. And then I grabbed my girlfriend’s hips and started to just fuckin’ POUND her.

10:04 PM

“Oh-shit-oh-shit-oh-SHHHHIIIIITTTT!!!” Eden screeched as I manhandled her into position completely flat and face-down across my bed, centered my cockhead, and promptly powered my prick back into her bowels. And as she felt me digging my dick ever deeper through her anal chute, my baby sister kept howling, “SHHHHIIIIITTTT!!! SHHHHIIIIITTTT!!! SHHHHIIIIITTTT!!!”

Right next to us on the bed was Summer, now blindfolded and gagged and trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Her wrists and ankles had all been hooked together with their cuffed D-rings looped through a single oversized carabiner that was tethered to the ceiling hook. Adrienne stood next to the bed, presently reaming out the bound girl’s bowels with a strap-on Ben Junior, drunk on the power rush and smiling at me with a silly shit-eating grin.

The four of us had now been almost continuously having sex for over an hour, starting with that ferocious pounding on the kitchen floor. Eden had come inside and elevated herself up onto the kitchen counter, shedding her cute booty shorts and masturbating the hell out of herself while watching me hammer the hell out of my girlfriend. Eden’s pretty pink pussy just looked so wet and inviting that after I gave Summer another couple of orgasms, I pulled out, walked over, and plunged my prod straight into my sister’s soaking wet snatch.

After I’d squirted said sister’s sperm-receptacle full of sticky incestuous spunk, Summer immediately showed up by my side as if she were starving for her Master’s spending. I let Summer latch on to my sister’s snatch and start slurping out sticky semen. Meanwhile, I saw that my Tigress was leaning against the doorjamb with a shit-eating smirk on her sweet face. I subsequently found myself sitting on the sofa with the buxom blonde bombshell’s supple lips surrounding my swiftly re-stiffening shaft. And shortly thereafter she started sitting herself down on my resuscitated rod.

Eden came out a minute later, leading Summer by her leash. Adrienne told me of her bright idea to connect all four of Summer’s cuffed D-rings to the ceiling hook, and the foursome pretty much took off from there.

Summer got fucked six ways from Sunday by cocks from all angles, which included the girls plunging Ben Juniors into her body and me ramming my big dick up her ass while she was helpless to resist. Of course, Adrienne had to get in on the Tiger-driven anal action as well, and now it was Eden’s turn to get her rectum ravaged.

Having made all three young ladies in the room cum several times on my cock, I held nothing back as I savagely sodomized my baby sister’s sodden chute. Planting my left hand atop Eden’s head and my right hand on her hip, I pushed her body down flat, roared in victorious conquest, and rabbit-humped her gaping heinie hole at hyper-speed, blasting her bowels with my big dick until I bellowed my vocal release of tension while unleashing a diluvial torrent of jism straight through my sister’s stretched sphincter.

“UNNNGH! UNNNGH! UUUNNNNNNNNGGGGHHHHH!!!”

With my elbows locked and arms fully extended, I bent myself backwards trying to cram an extra half-inch into Eden’s colon. And only after I was completely done splooging my baby sister’s backdoor did I finally groan, extract myself from Eden’s ass, and flop over onto my back.

Triggered by the sounds of my orgasm, Summer tried to cry out hers. She couldn’t, of course. Not with a ball gag in her mouth. But there was no mistaking the way she quivered and shook her bonds, all four limbs tensing and tugging at the ceiling tether.

“Okay, Eed,” Adrienne said finally as she reached over to rub my baby sister’s thigh.

Eden groaned, still half-delirious from her own monster orgasm. But after another minute, my baby sister managed to push herself up onto all fours and start crawling across the bed while Adrienne removed Summer’s ball gag. A minute after that, Eden put herself in a squatting position over Summer’s still-blindfolded face. And then my baby sister groaned while my girlfriend began to audibly slurp up the slimy semen that slithered out from her stretched sphincter.

“I thought I was into some freaky stuff, Tiger, but your girlfriend is in a whole other category.” Adrienne still had the Ben Junior plugged up Summer’s backdoor, and she stirred it almost idly within the bound girl’s butthole, which made Summer moan into Eden’s ass.

Still flat on my back, I wheezed, “Can’t disagree.”

“She’s seemingly gotten YOU into some pretty freaky stuff. Like that Shibari thing? I couldn’t handle it, and I’m still a little surprised YOU can handle doing it to her.”

“Whatever makes her happy, y’know?” I panted.

Adrienne smiled down at me before her shoulders slumped and then she sighed. “Yeah ... I do know. Making your girlfriends happy has always been very, very important to you. You’ve always been a giver.”

I snorted. “Don’t make me out to be some kind of selfless philanthropist. I very much enjoy myself in the process, thank you very much.” I smirked and thought back to that last hammertime assault on Eden’s anus.

Adrienne smirked as well and stirred her borrowed equipment around Summer’s asshole a few more times before finally pulling back and then unbuckling the strap-on.

I glanced up at her and asked, “One more round?”

She could tell from my expression that I was asking if she needed me to take care of her. After all, she’d spent most of that last round sodomizing Summer. But Adrienne shook her head in the negative and smiled. “I’m good for tonight.”

“Clean up with me?”

“And what, leave your girlfriend trussed up like that?”

“Of course not. I meant after.”

“Pain and pleasure. You tie her up like that, and then you shower her with tenderness afterwards.”

I smirked. “Technically: you tied her up like that.”

“At your direction while she was mounted on top of you at the time.”

“I did qualify it as ‘technically’. And it was your idea in the first place!”

“As if I heard either of you complaining!” Adrienne snickered. “Whatever. It’s a moot point. We both know she’d still rather get the tenderness from you.”

“Sure, but then again, you deserve a little tenderness as well. It’s been a few days since you slept in my arms, and even then, you had to share with Dawn.”

“As if I don’t enjoy sharing you with Dawn,” Adrienne snorted.

“Still ... I just...” I reached up and rubbed her leg. “I wanna make sure you’re taken care of. Make sure you’re not feeling neglected. Make sure you feel like you’re getting enough of my time and attention.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“That’s not a ‘yes’.”

Adrienne furrowed her eyebrows. “Kinda is.”

“Then wouldn’t it be easier to just say ‘yes’?”

She huffed. “Yes, I’m getting enough of your time and attention and there’ll be plenty more time to come. I mean, for the next three months, five nights out of the week there’ll be only four women in your life instead of fifteen.”

“That was a lot of different numbers in a single sentence.” I arched my eyebrows. “And if the number fifteen bothered you, you shouldn’t have invited the Tri-Delts to move in.”

Adrienne snorted and waved me off. “Thank you for asking after my emotional wellbeing, but it’s misguided and I’m doing perfectly great with the time that we have, cool? Seriously, I’m fine. And even with the sleeping in your arms bit, I still don’t like waking up at six-fucking-thirty A.M. for you to go to work, and your baby sister makes for a very good cuddle partner. Very tender. We’re two tortured souls ... commiserating lost loves.”

“Sounds like a path to Forever After.” I smirked. “I suppose if you marry Eden you can still get my family’s last name, right?”

“Don’t think the thought hasn’t crossed my mind.” Adrienne laughed in a way that I knew she wasn’t remotely serious. As much as I knew my Tigress loved my sisters (“our” sisters), I knew she’d never seriously consider marrying one of them.

Right?

Well, on the one hand, it would be a bit of a kick in the teeth for her to refuse to marry you but then settle down permanently with one of your sisters. On the other hand, she did always say she wanted to have a wife, so there’s logic in her choosing one of the girls.

You know, I could’ve maybe seen her with Brandi, had it not been for Jared. But given Adrienne’s past, I don’t see her going for any of the younger ones like the twins long-term.

You’re thinking logically. When has love ever been logical?

True. I’m thinking WAY too hard about this right now.

Adrienne bent over and pecked me on the lips. “Love you, Tiger. Now go unhook your girlfriend.”

I smiled. “Love you too.”

“Hey Eed,” Adrienne continued, as Eden finally dismounted Summer’s face and sort of wearily crawled away. “Let’s go clean up in a manner that doesn’t involve a redhead’s tongue slithering up your ass.”

My baby sister smirked as she slipped off the bed. “I rather enjoy feeling a redhead’s tongue slithering up my ass. I actually feel bad for Ben that he never got to witness one of the times Claudine did it to me.”

“Hey, I never got to witness that either,” Adrienne complained as she also stepped off the bed and extended her hand out invitingly.

“Never say never.” Eden waggled her eyebrows as she interlaced her fingers with Adrienne’s, and the two of them headed out of the room. “Did I mention she’s talked about coming back to visit?”

“Ooh! Do tell...” Adrienne replied with a giggle, and the rest of their conversation was lost down the hall as the headed towards the other bathroom.

Meanwhile, I got up and scooted over to Summer to start unfastening her bonds. I started with the big carabiner, disconnecting it from the ceiling tether. With a flick of my wrist, I unlatched all four of her cuffed D-rings, and her limbs splayed out to the sides. Finally, I removed my lover’s blindfold, and she opened her eyelids to gaze up at me with tired eyes.

“Hey there ... you alright?” I asked gently.

“I love you, Ben,” she replied quietly in lieu of answering my question.

I chuckled and bent to nuzzle my nose against hers. “I love you too.”

Still breathing shallowly, and with her arms and legs too weak to even move, she simply stared up at me with an almost childlike wonder.

“Golden light ... glowing beams...” she began softly before her voice trailed off, as if those few words had expended all the energy she had left. She panted slowly, gradually breathing deeper and deeper. “Lightning to my heart ... Brighter than the sun...”

I smiled. As much as Summer enjoyed the quiet moments between us, she really did go space cadet and dream cosmic dreams after nights when I’d just tied her up and had my way with her poor, defenseless body. I let her float across the universe, bent to kiss her tenderly, and then scooped her up into my arms.

“C’mon. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

-- WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2009 --

6:44 AM

The morning air was cold against my right cheek, the pillow reassuringly warm against my left. I snuggled deeper into the covers and their cocooning heat while pressing my chest against her naked back, no clothing between us. As my senses came alive, my fingers reflexively squeezed the large bare breast I was currently palming in my right hand. My left arm snaked beneath her pillow, with the hand dangling off the edge of the bed.

Breathing deeply, I let my head roll forward to push my nose into my Pet’s red flame hair, smelling her sweet fragrance. My fingers found the barbell in her nipple and I teased it with the tip of my middle digit. And I reflexively ground my morning wood into her bare-bottomed ass, instinctively hot-dogging her buns.

But rather than titillate her clitty or try to tease her senses in preparation for a morning wake-up call by way of an abrupt eight-inch invasion, I settled down, wrapped my arm around my girlfriend’s midsection, and bent my head forward so I could nuzzle her neck. Sighing happily, I squeezed my cuddle-bunny tight, just reveling in the embrace. So much of my life with Summer revolved around sex to the point where I genuinely didn’t need any more.

Truly, in this moment, all I really wanted to do was cuddle with her.

So cuddle I did.

The strength of my embrace did somewhat disturb Summer’s slumber. She awoke with a slow intake of breath, followed by an even slower exhalation. As she became aware of my arms around her, my girlfriend sighed dreamily and reached back with one hand to caress my cheek. I then leaned forward to nuzzle her neck again, and she twisted her face back so that we could peck each other, more of a gently glowing warm radiance in her kiss than direct solar intensity. And with a beaming smile that itself was brighter than the sun, she murmured sweetly, “Good morning, Great Love of My Life.”

I chuckled and replied, “Good morning, Sunshine.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

We were both still naked, and while rubbing her booty back at my morning wood, Summer shot me an inviting look and asked, “Wanna slip it into me?”

“Later, later.”

She arched an eyebrow in surprise. “Really?”

“I just wanna hold you right now. Is that okay?”

“Of course! Anything for you.” Summer giggled when my nuzzling nose started tickling her neck again. She squirmed just a little but then settled down when I pulled my nose away and simply squeezed her tight. And she let out another long, dreamy sigh as she sank back into my embrace.

“Hmmm...” I sighed pretty dreamily myself as I enjoyed the simple pleasure.

“This is nice...” she murmured softly.

“It is, isn’t it? Feeling happy to be held like this?”

“The happiest.”

“Feel safe and loved?”

She hummed dreamily. “Super-safe. Super-loved.”

“I’m glad.”

“Me, too.” Reaching up with both hands, she rubbed my arms that cuddled her close and turned her cheek back to rub it against mine. “I wish I could stay in your arms like this forever.”

“Sounds great to me.” I let out a dreamy sigh again and snuggled myself in close.

But something was off. Summer was ... stiff. She’d been so relaxed and happy to be held in my embrace a moment earlier, but now within my grasp I could tell she’d tensed up quite a bit.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her quietly.

“Hmm? Nothing, nothing.”

“Can’t lie to me like this. I can tell.” I freed one hand so I could stroke her upper arm. “Seriously ... what’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking about... ‘forever’. It’s not something I try to think about. The future? I just...” Summer took a deep breath to collect herself. “It’s like you said after Commencement: Life is precious, and we can never know whether or not we’ll even be alive tomorrow. So I’ve always tried to focus on the present, because when I think about all the uncertainty that surrounds the future, it’s hard not to feel discouraged.”

I furrowed my eyebrows, propped myself up with my left elbow, and looked down at her. “Really? Even now? Here in my arms and with this great relationship we’ve had for more than two months now, you still feel discouraged about the future?”

“Oh, please don’t misunderstand. These two months have been the happiest of my life. You’ve given me hope about my future for the first time in ... well ... forever. We both know I’m a dreamer that wants to believe in Happily Ever After. Reality, though, has a way of shattering all my dreams. So as much as I want to believe, it’s just ... I mean...” Summer sighed and shook her head. She grimaced and took a deep breath, trying to think of the right words. And in the end she said a little mournfully, “Being with you has been a dream come true. But I guess I’m starting to wonder when I’m going to have to wake up.”

“Maybe never.”

She gave me a rueful look. “When did we switch places?”

“Huh?”

“I used to be the optimist and you used to be the cautious one waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

I smiled and stroked her cheek. “You give me a reason for optimism. I lived my life in fear before we got together. Fear of failure. Fear of messing up my relationships. But you’ve been a ray of sunshine on a summer day, pardon the pun. The mere sight of your beautiful face puts a smile on mine. Your laugh warms my heart. And when you’re with me... -I- feel brighter than the sun.”

Summer chuckled. “We have SO totally switched places.”

My eyes narrowed. “I don’t have to wear a blindfold and a ball gag and start calling you ‘Master’, do I?”

Summer barked a short laugh and shook her head. “Of course not.”

“Then maybe switching places isn’t so bad.”

Summer sighed. “It is when I find myself wondering whether or not I’ll ever be good enough for you.”

I frowned. “Why would you ever start wondering that?”

Her shoulders slumped. “You know it’s easy to be optimistic when you’re at rock bottom and there’s nowhere else to go but up. I could dream of being with you making all my problems go away and never having to ever feel sad again.”

My frown deepened. “ARE you feeling sad right now?”

“I...” Summer’s voice trailed off, and her royal-blue eyes dulled.

“You ARE sad right now!” I exclaimed, shaking my head. “But why? Are you not happy in this relationship anymore?”

“Of course I am. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You and Dawn and Adrienne and Eden and everyone in my life. Truly, I have never felt happier, safer, or more loved in my entire life.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that I now have things to lose! I told you it’s easy to be optimistic when you’re at rock bottom. Now I feel like I’ve been flying so high that I’m thirty-thousand feet in the air and it’s a LOOOONG way down if I fall.”

“Then don’t fall.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Uh, don’t look down?”

Summer grimaced as if she had a brain freeze. “Everyone looks down as soon as you tell them not to look down. And we both know that’s a metaphor for me wondering when the bottom is gonna drop out of this relationship.”

“Maybe it’s never gonna drop.”

“Please don’t give me false hopes of Happily Ever After right now.”

I winced. “I’m not trying to ... Well ... I just don’t want you expecting the bottom is gonna drop out of this relationship. You’re happy. I’m happy. What’s the problem?”

“We’re happy right now. So long as I don’t dwell on all the things that can potentially go wrong in the future, I’m fine. But then I look up and see the way you are with Dawn and Adrienne and--”

“Hold up. What about Dawn and Adrienne?”

“I’m not them.”

“Obviously.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are.”

“I’m not like them. I’m not strong. I’m not confident. I’m weak and needy and--”

“And sweet and adoring and loyal and devoted,” I cut her off. “There’s a reason you’re my girlfriend right now and they’re not.”

“Because they both turned you down flat and I’m the only one that’s left.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“So you’re telling me that if either Dawn or Adrienne walked in through that door and told you they wanted to marry you, you wouldn’t drop me in a heartbeat and go take a walk down the aisle?”

“Yes, I’m absolutely telling you that. None of us is ready to get married right now, not even you and me.”

“I know we’re not. I know I don’t have the same kind of place in your heart that you have for both of them. Adrienne was right: I don’t have the same foundations of support and trust that you have with both of them.”

“Not yet.”

“Maybe not ever.”

“That remains to be seen. I’m willing to find out. Are you?”

“Of course I am.”

“Then let’s find out, huh? Together. Like when you opened up and told me all about your abusive ex-boyfriends and what they did to you.”

Summer winced as if she’d been physically slapped. “Yeah, not my best night.”

“I know that, and I’m sorry if I’m making you relive some of that trauma again right now. But it means the world to me that you were willing to share, willing to help me understand where you’re coming from. It makes me that much more committed to protecting you and to making sure I never repeat the same mistakes they did.”

“You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”

“Well, when you gave me and Dawn a couple of riding crops on Saturday we certainly tried.”

Summer giggled. “Emotionally hurt.”

“Well that, certainly, I’m doing my best to avoid. Just like right now: having this conversation with you instead of spreading your thighs and plunging my fat cock into you.”

Summer blinked. “There’s still time before work if you wanna do that.”

I waved her off. “What we’re doing now is FAR more important to me than sex.”

Summer winced and she started to slowly shake her head. “That’s just it. All my life I’ve felt valued for my body and the sexual pleasure I could provide with it. But Adrienne’s right: that stuff’s not good enough to keep you. My past boyfriends kept me because I was the hottest girl they could get, but being hot alone isn’t gonna cut it with you.”

“That’s true. But your sweetness, your devotion, your attentiveness ... I cherish all of those qualities too.”

Summer gave me a sad look. “Lots of girls can be attentive and devoted and sweet. Everyone knows a true wife to you would have to support your emotional needs as much as your sexual desires. A true wife to you would be your equal. I’m ... That’s...”

My heart went out to Summer as her voice faltered and her expression cracked. Her eyelids fluttered, the first tears began rolling down her eyes, and despite my efforts to stem them with my thumbs, the flood started pouring down.

“That’s not me,” she finally burbled. “I’m not strong enough.”

“Perhaps not yet. You told Dawn you wanted to try to grow, didn’t you? Nobody said this would be easy, or fast. Dawn’s spent twenty-five years with me, so reading each other’s moods and figuring out what the other needs comes easy, intuitively. Seriously, it feels like I can hear her voice in my head we know each other so well. But our relationship - yours and mine - hasn’t even hit the three-month mark yet, and no one is expecting you to magically figure it all out overnight.”

“And what if I never figure it out at all? What if I can’t?”

“You’re a smart girl. You’re getting a freaking Berkeley MBA. Clearly you have the capability for executive decision-making.”

“Business and numbers and theory are one thing. I’m a good student in the classroom, and outside of it I’m a glue-person who gets everyone on a team working together. But it’s not in my nature to lead.”

“I’m not asking you to lead. I’m okay with taking that role in our relationship. Adrienne talks about these being partnerships of opposites, a yin and a yang. We help give each other what we need. I’ll be your Master in the bedroom and do everything I can to keep you safe and feeling loved. All I’m really asking you to do in return is be the glue-person who gets everyone on this team working together. Be attentive and devoted and sweet. And yes, be a ridonkulously beautiful nymphomaniac redhead that wants to fuck my brains out. You can do those things, right?”

Summer’s eyes were still wet as she looked up at me. “I’ll never be Dawn or Adrienne.”

“Nobody’s asking you to be.”

She shook her head. “I’ll never be as good as them. Someday you’re gonna wake up from this dream and realize you deserve someone better than me, and then it’s a loooong fucking way down from thirty-thousand feet up. I almost wish I was at rock bottom already just so I wouldn’t have to wait for the inevitable drop.”

“Nobody ever said it’s inevitable.”

“Nobody has to. It is what it is. And there’s no way you can convince me otherwise.”

“I can certainly try.”

“No, you can’t. And you know why?”

“No. Why?”

Shaking her head and staring up at me through tear-strewn eyes, Summer winced and explained, her voice cracking the whole time, “Because if I need you to rescue me and convince me I’m strong enough, it’s proof enough that I’m NOT.”

And then she buried her face into my chest and sobbed her pretty little heart out.

7:15 AM

“Hey ... are you alright?”

June’s voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel, with subtle echoes a few phases out of sync. It hovered at the end of my consciousness, and wouldn’t have even registered had she not also touched my arm at the same time.