Dead Man Living (9 page)

Authors: Carol Lynne

Joe pressed inside and groaned. “Fuck, you were right. Skin to skin is definitely the only way.”

Brian stilled his hips and held his breath as his body acclimated to Joe’s length. He had the best of both worlds in that moment, his cock buried in a woman he loved while the man he loved filled him from behind.

Joe was the first to move, withdrawing before surging back inside. The jarring motion drove Brian’s cock deeper into Beth’s pussy. “Oh, hell,” Brian groaned. He tried to take over, but the rhythm was awkward at first.

“Relax,” Joe soothed. “It’ll come.”

Beth’s pussy walls squeezed Brian’s cock. “I know I will.”

Beth’s playful attitude helped put Brian at ease, reminding him that he wasn’t being judged on his performance. It took several moments, but eventually his persistence won out and he was fucking and being fucked with each piston of his hips. A feeling of completeness enveloped him, pitching him even higher. “Touch yourself,” he told Beth.

Biting her bottom lip, Beth reached between them and began to rub her clit. “I’m gonna come,” she panted.

“Counting on it.” Brian was riding the edge, but refused to be the first to spill.

The more noise Beth made, the harder Joe fucked Brian. They truly were connected. The realisation that he’d found his place in the world threw him over the edge. He came inside Beth as Joe continued to fuck him.
Definitely, the best of both worlds.

* * * *

Joe was in the kitchen making breakfast, hoping to surprise Brian and Beth with a meal fit for a king and queen, when his vision started to fade in and out.
Shit.
He managed to make it to one of the kitchen chairs before the full on assault of images hit. A child, huddled behind a television stand, witnessing his mother’s beating. The boy’s gaze moved from the action in front of him to a knife on the floor.

Joe began to tremble as he recognised the boy’s face and knew what he was about to do. “Help him.”

“Joe?”

Joe blinked several times before staring up at Brian. “Jessica, from the grocery store. She’s in trouble. Her son’s going to kill her boyfriend.”

“Which grocery store?” Brian asked, unplugging Joe’s phone from the charger on the counter.

“Hy-Vee on Barry Road.” Joe rubbed his chest, trying to ease his racing heart. He didn’t even know the boy’s name.
Fuck.
Why hadn’t he taken the time to ask?

Beth came wandering into the kitchen. “What’s going on?”

As Brian frantically talked to someone from the station, Joe pulled Beth into his lap. He filled her in on what had happened. “If that boy gets hold of that knife…”

“Shhh,” Beth soothed. “That boy’s lucky he has someone looking over him. Between the three of us, we can get him and his mom the help they need.”

“Only if they reach him in time,” Joe countered.

Beth stood and retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge. “Drink this.” She handed him the bottle before going to the cabinet to retrieve a bottle of pain relievers.

Joe unscrewed the cap as he watched Brian pace around the kitchen. Although he’d gained a strong support system in Beth and Brian, he would never get used to the visions.

The next ten minutes seemed to crawl by while he waited for word. Brian had become so frustrated that he’d stepped out onto the porch to cool off in the brisk Autumn air.

“Jessica Brown,” Brian announced, throwing open the door. “The cops are on their way.” He set the phone on the counter. “They’ll give me a call when they know something.”

Beth smoothed Joe’s long hair behind his ears. “They’ll get there in time.”

Joe didn’t answer. He held onto Beth as tight as he could and watched Brian go through the process of making a cup of instant coffee.

“You know you won’t sleep if you drink that,” Beth reminded Brian.

Brian winked. “I’ll think of something to keep myself busy.”

“In that case, you’d better make me one too,” Beth replied.

Brian put another mug of water into the microwave before walking over to wrap his arms around Beth’s waist. He kissed her neck before addressing Joe. “They’ll get there in time.”

As the minutes ticked by, Joe grew more anxious. Despite Beth and Brian’s playful banter, he couldn’t think of anything but that frightened little boy. He hadn’t figured out the whys of his visions, but he still refused to believe they were a gift.

The phone rang and Brian snatched it off the counter. “Okay,” he said into the phone. “Thanks. Yeah, I’ll tell him.” He looked at Joe. “They have the man in custody.”

“The boy?” Joe asked.

Brian hung up and set the phone on the counter. “Shaken, but otherwise fine.”

Joe squeezed his eyes closed, thankful his vision had actually saved someone for a change.

“Hey,” Beth said, drawing Joe out of his head. “I know you hate seeing what you do, but even if Jessica and her son are the only two people you ever save, isn’t it worth it? Because of you, that boy has a chance.”

Joe thought about it. The visions were graphic and frightening and nine times out of ten didn’t save anyone, but Beth was right, that one had made a difference. “Yeah,” he agreed.

“Good, now let’s get dressed. I’m sure Jessica could use some counselling, and I’m just the woman for the job.” Beth stood and held out her hand.

Joe glanced from Beth to Brian before returning his attention to the woman he loved. “You’re right.” He stood and gathered Brian and Beth in his arms. “We make a good team.”

“The best,” Brian agreed.

Also available by this author from Total-E-Bound Publishing:

A New Normal

Carol Lynne

Excerpt

Chapter One

Charlie Foster loosened his tie as the plane took off. He hated flying almost as much as he hated being shoved into a seat made for a small child. Why didn’t airlines understand that grown men were also forced to fly on occasion?

With a sigh of resignation, he closed his eyes in an effort to escape pleasant banter with the older woman seated next to him. It had been a mistake to take the piano gig. What the hell had he been thinking? Travelling across the country less than a year after Jen’s death just to play at some convention was stupid, even if he was doing it as a favour to his manager.

He often wondered how different his life would’ve turned out if he hadn’t met Jen in college. It had been a confusing time, and falling in love with Jen had brought a sense of peace to his life—so much so he hadn’t regretted a moment of their time together.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

Charlie opened his eyes and stared up at the attendant. “I’m fine, thanks.” The conversation over, Charlie went back to feigning sleep, only to be nudged by the bony elbow of the woman next to him.

“I’ve been admiring your wedding ring. Is that a thistle?”

Charlie stared at the ring he couldn’t bring himself to take off. “Yeah. My wife was obsessed with that
Outlander
series. It was her idea.”

The woman’s face lit up. “Oh, Jamie and Claire,” the woman practically swooned, clutching her hands over her heart. “How sweet of you to indulge your wife like that.”

“I would’ve done anything for her,” he mumbled. Shame threatened to consume him as it did every time he thought of the woman he’d lost. He’d spent eight years with Jen, six of them married, but one drunken night with his best friend had destroyed the husband he’d thought himself to be.

“Excuse me.” Charlie unbuckled his seatbelt and walked to the front restroom. He closed and locked the door before turning to lean against the sink. Jen’s mom had been in town to help during the second round of chemotherapy, and, for some reason, Charlie had let them convince him to get out of the house for a few hours. Jen had been the one to call Jake and had set up the outing, just one more thing for Charlie to feel guilty about.

It had started innocently enough, a Mets game followed by a trip to the bar where they’d done most of their drinking in college. It was easy to fall back into the camaraderie he’d once shared with his childhood friend. As the evening and the number of drinks progressed, Charlie had asked Jake the one question that had been on his mind since the day he’d announced his engagement to Jen. “Why didn’t you fight for me?”

Charlie bit his bottom lip as he recalled Jake’s honest answer. “Because I knew how much you wanted a normal life,” Jake had whispered.

Normal.
Charlie’s marriage had been anything but normal. Although the love he’d felt for Jen had been real, for the majority of their marriage they’d lived more like brother and sister than husband and wife. Sex every few weeks seemed to be enough for both of them. He’d enjoyed the partnership in their daily lives more than the fucking, and Charlie had always sensed Jen felt the same. It wasn’t that he was repulsed by the female body—before he’d met Jen, he’d simply preferred a man’s hard body, Jake’s hard body to be precise.

A knock sounded against the flimsy folding door. “Are you all right, sir?” a female voice asked.

No
, Charlie said to himself. “I’ll be right out.”

Pulling several paper towels out of the dispenser, Charlie wet them and wiped the sticky sweat from his face. Why his guilt and shame always presented itself in the form of sweat, he’d never understand, but he’d started carrying linen handkerchiefs in his pocket on a daily basis since he’d begged Jake to fuck him in the back of his Suburban nearly seventeen months earlier.

Charlie stuffed the paper towels into the trash bin and opened the door. “Excuse me,” he said to the worried-looking flight attendant. “Nerves.”

The attendant’s features softened. “No problem.”

Charlie was grateful to see his seatmate sound asleep upon his return. He eased down and quietly buckled his seatbelt without disturbing the slumbering woman. Closing his own eyes, he tried to put thoughts of Jen and Jake out of his mind as he concentrated on the performance the following night.

It wasn’t until recently that he’d decided to give up his nine-to-five job and follow his dream of being a full-time musician. Jen had always encouraged him to take the leap, but it hadn’t seemed practical with a wife to support. Jen had been an artist, an excellent one, whose paintings had graced some of the best galleries in New York. Unfortunately, health insurance hadn’t come with Jen’s particular job description. Because Jen’s talent with a paint brush had far outweighed Charlie’s skills behind a piano with a microphone in front of him, he’d given up his own dream to help her fulfil hers, and he didn’t regret a single moment of it.

After Jen had lost her battle with ovarian cancer, Charlie hadn’t felt like doing anything for months. He’d quit the job he’d hated and had retreated into a pit of his own digging. After three months of ignoring phone calls and the occasional knock on the door, he’d called Max, an agent he’d used several times in the past, and had spoken to him about getting some gigs in and around New York City.

So what am I doing on a plane to Albuquerque, fucking New Mexico?
A favour, he answered himself. Max had worked hard lining up performances, and, when he’d begged Charlie to take the job in Albuquerque as a favour, Charlie hadn’t been able to say no. He hoped that the organisers knew he wasn’t planning to socialise with the attendees. His job was to play the piano and sing, nothing more. Sure, he’d throw in the occasional sing-along and witty banter that most people expected, but he refused to mingle, favour or not.

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About the Author

An avid reader for years, one day Carol Lynne decided to write her own brand of erotic romance. Carol juggles between being a full-time mother and a full-time writer. These days, you can usually find Carol either cleaning jelly out of the carpet or nestled in her favourite chair writing steamy love scenes.

Email:
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Also by Carol Lynne

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