Free Tortured Spirits by Gregory Lamberson Page B

transformed into a spider creature and had straddled him in a bed this same size, and he had overpowered her even though she had eight limbs. He wasn’t about to let Maria get the best of him now. With his heel planted on the mattress, he rolled her onto her back, reversing their positions, and held her wrists down as she had his. He maintained a steady rhythm, gradually moving faster, harder, and she wrapped her legs around his back. By the time she came, he experienced a tremor of pleasure followed by an explosive finish that left him gasping.
    They lay side by side, regaining their breath, their bodies glistening with sweat despite the steady flow of air-conditioning. They took separate showers and crawled back into bed.
    Maria traced the scars on Jake’s face. “Are you going to tell me how you got these?”
    â€œAnother time.” Maria may have accepted the existence of zonbies due to overwhelming evidence and had come around to accepting Edgar had been transformed into a raven, but he doubted she was ready to learn about the mutant octopus god Avademe and its amphibious children.
    â€œThat’s assuming we have more time.”
    â€œDon’t be so fatalistic. We’ll be fine.”
    â€œYou really think so? We’re breaking a political prisoner out of a jail called El Miedo on some Caribbean rock. We don’t even know the people we’re depending on for backup, and we could be facing an army.”
    â€œWe’ll know when we get there if this thing is doable or not. If it isn’t, we come home.”
    â€œAnd then what about Edgar? And Joyce and Martin?”
    Jake sighed. “Then we’ll try to convince Miriam to help us.”
    Maria rested her head on Jake’s shoulder, and they slept.
    Around 2:00 a.m., Jake opened his eye. Moonlight shone through the slats of the blinds. Maria stroked his penis and slid his hand between her legs, where he rubbed her wet spot. She spread her legs wide, and he knelt on his knees, then rolled her on her stomach. Looking over her shoulder at him, Maria raised her buttocks into the air, and he slid inside her once more. With one hand, she spread her cheeks apart, and Jake slammed into her. This time he felt in total control, and he waited until she had come twice before releasing himself. When he dropped beside her, a deep sleep took him.

    Jake awoke with sunlight on his face. The space beside him on the bed was empty. “Maria?”
    He got up and walked to the bathroom, where Edgar remained in his cage.
    Shit.
“I guess it’s just you and me, pal.”
    Edgar squawked.
    Jake showered and dressed, then washed his glass eye with cleaning solution. At least Maria had spared herself from witnessing that morning ritual. Standing at the bathroom sink, he inserted the eye into his empty socket and appeared whole again.
    With his bag on one shoulder, Edgar’s cage in one hand and the suitcase in the other, he exited the room. The bright sunlight made him wince, and morning heat beat down on him as he crossed the lot to the motel office.
    Maria sat on the curb, two bags beside her. Smoke curled from the end of a cigarette between her fingers.
    â€œI didn’t know you smoked,” Jake said.
    â€œI quit a long time ago. Some bad habits keep coming back.” She took a drag and exhaled. “Like you, I can have one without getting into trouble.”
    â€œYou didn’t say good-bye this morning.”
    â€œYou were asleep. Did I hurt your feelings?”
    Okay
… “No.”
    â€œI had to go to the post office. I mailed the memory card from my camera with the footage of you and Miriam talking along with a note to my partner.”
    Bernie Reinhardt,
Jake thought. A bit of a sad sack.
    â€œIf neither one of us comes home, I want my people to know what happened to me.”
    He couldn’t blame her. “I’ll be right back.”
    Leaving his suitcase at the curb, Jake carried Edgar