Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8) (9 page)

“
Too much, too
easy,” she said, her voice croaking and then lowering itself until
it was just a shadow of what it was. “Too much. Too
easy.”

And then she was gone.

***

I woke up to Dex’s warm hand
sliding up underneath my shirt, teasing at the soft area underneath
my breast. I smiled and relaxed into it, momentarily forgetting
about everything that happened. I pushed the thoughts of Uncle Al,
of his warnings, of my dream, all the way to the back of my head.
They wanted me to think about them, to weigh down my heart with
worry, but I wouldn’t give in.

I’d only give in to the naked
man beside me.

“
Good morning,
sunshine,” he whispered into my neck, his lips gently trailing down
to my collarbone.

I lazily reached up and ran my
hand through his thick hair. “Morning, baby.” I glanced around us
for a clock, seeing only framed horror movie posters. The twins
must have decorated the room. “What time is it?”

“
No idea,” he
said, and from the way his teeth grazed the outside of my ear, I
could tell it didn’t matter. “I think everyone else is up. But then
again, so am I.” He took my hand in his and placed it under the
sheets, right on his cock. No surprise, it was hard as stone and
felt hot beneath my touch. He groaned in response, the sweetest
sound to my ears.

I gave him a sly look, putting
pressure on my hand, my fingers gripping him. Still, I told him
quietly, “I don’t think this is a good idea. That door over there
doesn’t lock and anyone could come in at any moment.”

He sat up slightly and put his
hand behind my head, holding me there hard. His eyes looked like a
fire had been lit in them. “I don’t give a fuck if anyone sees us
or hears us. Do you?”

I swallowed hard, surprised at
his intensity. The way his eyes were burning into mine, I knew that
this had to do with what Uncle Al had talked to him about last.
Hell, I don’t know why I wasn’t feeling like giving him a big fuck
you either.

I shook my head. “No, I
don’t.”

“
Good,” he
growled and then kissed me, tangling me in a wet, passionate kiss
that made our tongues dance. I felt my body relax under his touch
as his hands began to slip my underwear and shirt off. He tossed
them across the room then put me on my back, his firm body pressing
down on me. “This is real,” he said, voice oh so low, so gruff it
made me throb. “This is nothing but real. You and me. Us. You know
that, don’t you?”

I nodded. “I know.”

“
Perry, I love
you,” he said, his gaze drifting to my lips. “I’m not…” He paused.
“I’m here. I’m staying here, by your side. This is more than just
two people shacking up together. This is so much more.”

“
Dex,” I said,
my fingers trailing down his face. “Are you okay?”

He watched me for a few loaded
beats before he closed his eyes. “Yes. Sorry. I’m okay, I’m
just…I’m your fucking man, baby. That’s all there is to it, I’m
your fucking man. That is never going to change.” He looked at me
and grinned, his hair falling in his face. “And now I’m going to
fuck you till we embarrass ourselves.”

Before I could say anything to
that, his mouth was on mine again and his fingers were sliding
between my legs. He let out a moan when he felt how wet I was. It
only took a minute of his deft exploration before I was close to
coming so I shimmied out of his grasp and turned my self around so
my mouth was at his cock. Naturally, my ass was at his face.

“
Holy fuck,”
he said under his breath, and while I placed my hands firmly around
his shaft, he gripped my hips and pulled me back a bit toward his
face. Dex and I had been pretty adventurous in our relationship—I
mean, nothing really compared to that night we had in the hotel New
Orleans. But a sixty-nine was something new to me.

So while I concentrated on
licking him from balls to satiny shaft, working him with my mouth,
hands, and tongue as best I could, he was trying to get me off at
the same time. And though I was one of those rare females who
actually got turned on while giving a blow job (it helped that Dex
was so perfectly endowed), it was hard to continue when his own
tongue was sliding along my pleasure spots and making me forget
where I was. Long story short—the sixty-nine position doesn’t work.
You both get too turned on to keep going. It’s a beautiful
failure.

“
Fuck this,” I
said, letting go of him and turning around. I placed my legs on
either side of his hips, straddling him, and guided him into
me.

“
You’re taking
charge today,” he said, staring up at me with feverish eyes. He bit
his lip as I started rocking into him and moaned again.

“
You might
want to keep it down,” I whispered, vaguely conscious that Uncle
Al, Marda, my cousins, and Rebecca were just a few rooms
away.

“
You might
want to shut up and keep fucking me,” he answered with a lazy
smile.

That I did. I gently rocked
back and forth on his cock, sitting up straight, my long black hair
flowing over my shoulders as Dex enjoyed the view. I knew I wasn’t
the prettiest, skinniest chick around, and now especially, but from
the way he always looked at me with my body on display like I was a
platter of ripe fruit, I knew I had to at least try and work it. I
played with myself, building up to an orgasm before he swatted my
hand away and replaced it with his thumb.

“
Don’t take
away my job,” he murmured, and then pulled me down toward him, my
palms pressing into the strength of his shoulders, my breasts
swinging near his face. With his free hand he took my nipple into
his mouth and sucked hard enough to make me cry out from the sweet
pain.

When he finally pulled his
mouth away, he gazed up at me. “This is real, baby. This is us.
Now, always, us.”

I could only pant from the
increased pace from his thumb.

“
That’s it,
ride me raw.” He took a hard hold of my hip and made me ride him
harder, faster, until I was coming at the same pace, my head thrown
back in ecstasy. “Let me know how much you love to fuck
me.”

A cry or two escaped my lips,
the throws of my orgasm flowing through every part of me and he
didn’t hold back either, muttering a stream of delirious
obscenities as he grunted to completion, the headboard banging hard
against the wall.

I collapsed on his chest, our
breath heavy, our bodies sweaty and spent, while my mind slowly
rolled around from being on cloud nine to being in…Uncle Al’s
house. My face burned red hot with the reality.

I looked up at Dex. “I was
loud, wasn’t I?”

He stroked the top of my head
with his hand. “You’re always loud, kiddo.”

“
Shit.”

“
Told you I’d
embarrass us. Well, embarrass you. I don’t get
embarrassed.”

“
No, you
really don’t,” I mused, brushing his hair out of his face. My god,
I loved staring at him after sex. Every feeling I had for him was
heightened and he could not have looked more handsome and
comfortable.

A few moments passed, the both
of us relishing each other’s post-coital company before we heard a
very faint knock at the door.

“
Uh, guys?” It
was Rebecca.

“
We’ll be
right there,” I said loudly before rolling out of bed.

“
Sorry to
interrupt, I thought I’d wait till you were done,” she whispered
before her heels clicked down the hallway.

I turned around to see Dex
beaming at me. Great.

So yeah, I’m pretty sure the
entire house heard our morning antics. Thank god we had to get
moving and were late enough that our departure was hasty, even
though both Matt and Tony were smirking like crazy when they said
goodbye to Dex.

My uncle, on the other hand,
looked like he was ready to kill me. I gave him a light hug as we
left and told him I’d stay in touch. He didn’t look too enthused,
though just as I was leaving the house he grabbed my hand and
squeezed it hard. “Take care, Perry,” he said. “I mean it.”

I could only nod. Whether he
was concerned for the safety of my heart or the safety of my life,
I knew I’d do what I could to be vigilant.

“
Well that
wasn’t so bad,” Rebecca said from the backseat, looking behind her
at the house as we pulled out of the driveway and headed south on
Highway 101.

“
Says you,” I
said. “You were the charming British friend. You didn’t have to
answer to Uncle Al and his disapproval on repeat.” I looked over at
Dex at the wheel, his shades covering his eyes. “By the way, what
did Uncle Al say to you? What did you guys talk about out
there?”

I knew it was a bit risky
asking this when we weren’t alone but sometimes it felt like
Rebecca was basically an extension of us, and it was obvious that
something happened—I’d just been too carried away by my hormones
that morning to figure it out.

He tilted his head, shrugging
one shoulder like it was no big deal. “Nothing really. I just
wanted to tell him that you were doing okay now. I didn’t want him
or your parents to worry about you.”

“
Didn’t go
well, did it?” Rebecca asked with sympathy.

He glanced at her briefly. “No,
it didn’t. He doesn’t hate me but he’s not a fan of the Dex charm.
I guess first impressions really do stick around.”

“
To be fair,
Dex,” I pointed out, “most of your charm is in your dick. There’s a
reason why you piss off half the population.”

“
Ha,” he
scoffed. “Anyway, I tried. But you know what, fuck Uncle Al. Sorry.
Really, Perry. I know he’s your uncle, but his approval means
nothing if he can’t see the big picture. All it does is make me
want to prove him wrong.”

“
Prove him
wrong about what?” I asked.

He sucked in his lip before
saying, “That we aren’t right for each other. That you plus me
equals disaster.” He put his chin down and eyed me over his
sunglasses. “Don’t tell me he didn’t make you feel the same
way?”

He pointed
out that we’ve only known each other for eight
months
, I thought to myself. But there
was no point in voicing it. Dex knew it. I knew it. We all knew it.
But we couldn’t listen to what other people thought, family members
or not. I know my mind wanted to go there. I know it wanted to
think about it, I know I craved the approval like nothing else. But
it couldn’t matter. If Dex and I were to have a chance as a couple,
it couldn’t matter at all. We just had to do what felt right to
us.

And it really felt damn
good.

“
It doesn’t
matter what he thinks,” I said. I lowered my voice, even though I
knew Rebecca was just as involved with our conversation as we were.
“Your opinion is all that matters. And Becs, of course.”

“
Thanks,” she
said. “Who knew Uncle Al was such a stickler? Guess you’re having
second thoughts about seeing your parents now.”

I let out a laugh. “You could
say that. I’ll still see them though and deal with that shit when
we come to it. Until then…I guess we have ghost kids to film.”

“
Not that I
want to put a damper on your attitude,” Dex cut in. “But you do
remember the last time we had, well, hell sent rugrats around us,
don’t you?”

D’Arcy Island. Between the
ghost of the murdered Madeline and the leper baby, we had enough
nightmare fodder from just that episode alone.

I suppressed a shudder. “I
remember. What’s your point?”

“
My point is,
for the last few days you’ve been so preoccupied with your family
and whatever else in that sexy head of yours that you’re coming
across as, oh, I don’t know, insanely blasé about the whole
situation.”

He was right about that. “I
guess I haven’t really thought about it.”

Except in
your dreams,
a voice deep inside said. I
pushed it away, not ready to think about it.

Dex turned around briefly to
look at Rebecca. “Are you prepared for this?”

“
That’s a
ridiculous question,” she answered with a smart wave of her hand.
“You’re acting like I’m not your production manager or
anything.”

“
But are you
prepared for, you know…the children of the damned? Toddlers from
hell? Art kids without Ritalin?”

She folded her arms and sat
back in her seat. “I’m prepared for the usual—both of you freaking
out over things that I can’t really see. Then I retreat and let you
handle the rest. I’m prepared for that. Whether ghosts come into
the equation or not, I don’t really care as long as you guys see
them. And if you don’t see them, as long as you guys film something
that can pass for it.”

I twisted around and gave her a
steady look. “You do know that whatever we film, we see. We aren’t
bullshitting.”

“
Perry, I know
that,” she told me. “But from a business point of view, it doesn’t
matter. Make a masterpiece out of a floating paper bag if you can.
Put a sheet on me. I don’t care. Just so we get the
shots.”

I looked at Dex. “Boy, she’s
starting to sound a lot like you.”

He smiled and rubbed at his
scruffy chin. “What can I say, we both know what makes a good show
and we both love to eat pie.”

I rolled my eyes.

“
Oh, Dex,”
Rebecca said wryly. “Please don’t ever change.”

“
Wasn’t
planning on it.”

As we drove down the coast, I
put the window down and let the ocean breeze mess up my hair. The
water was a moving metallic sheet and the sun was shining, flooding
me with shallow happiness, though by the time we reached the
one-street town of Rockaway Beach, wisps of fog began to float in.
When we rounded a corner and passed the nondescript sign that said
“Gary,” population 779, we were totally enclosed in a massive grey
cloud.