Claire cried, looking
desperately up into Parker’s eager face, “I can’t say what I want
to say!”
“Fine,” Parker said, “I’ll start. Claire, I’m
not a very emotionally available man, generally. I’ve succeeded as
a businessman, as a professional, by closing down my emotional ties
to everything. The last twenty years of my life have been nonstop
competition, backstabbing, fighting tooth and nail to get to the
top. I’ve used and abused so many people, tossed men and women
aside when I could no longer use them to get ahead, you name
it.
I thought that I was done for, that no one
and nothing would ever be able to move me again. But then... Then
one day while I was on the subway, I met an incredible young woman
who, in an instant, began to thaw my heart out of its icy prison.
That young woman was you, Claire. From the moment I laid eyes on
you that day, I knew that I could open myself to you, show the
wildest and dirtiest and messiest parts of my heart and soul and
that you would accept me. I don’t know what it was about you that
spoke to me. Of course you’re gorgeous, and bright, and beautiful,
but you’re more than all that even. Claire, you’re... You’re the
only person that’s ever captured my heart. I love you, Claire. I
love everything about you. I just hope that you feel the same
way.”
Claire stared at Parker, completely taken
aback. He’d put words to everything she had been feeling for the
past month, just like that. For the first time, they looked at each
other as people in love, honest to goodness love that meant more
than a quick illicit fuck. She felt her tears dry on her cheek and
she laid a hand over his rapidly beating heart.
“I love you too, Parker,” she whispered.
“Good,” he said, “I’m glad that’s taken care
of.” He leaned in to kiss her on the mouth, a novel treat that she
rarely enjoyed, given the nature of the typical encounters. As his
full, luscious lips closed around hers, they heard footsteps on the
stairs. Claire sat bolt upright, looked around wildly.
“Who’s out there?!” she hissed, “Are we being
robbed?”
Parker just smiled at her and pulled her
closer to him. “Now, this is going to be unpleasant,” he said
slowly, patting her ash blonde hair, “But just be brave. It’ll all
be over in a minute.”
Claire began to tremble in fear and
confusion, burrowing her face deeper into Parker’s chest and the
footsteps advanced ever closer to their sex chamber. Her heart
threw itself repeatedly against her ribcage until finally the door
burst open. She peeked through her messy blonde hair and, with a
terrible sinking of her stomach, saw that Cheryl was framed in the
doorway.
The older woman blinked against the darkness
of the room, seeming not to comprehend what she was seeing. Parker
and Claire were tangled up in the silk sheets and each other’s
limbs, stark naked and clutching each other. Ropes lay where
Claire’s wrists and ankles had been, and a whip lay discarded on
the carpet where Parker had left it moments before. Cheryl’s
nostrils flared outrageously, and she drew in a deep shuddering
breath. Claire was certain that when she let it out, she would be
breathing fire, dragon that she was. But instead, Cheryl’s usually
boisterous screeching came out as a tiny, deadly whisper.
“What... the fuck... is going on?” the woman
hissed, looking as though she could rip Claire apart before
Parker’s eyes and eat them both for supper, underfed as she was.
Claire looked wildly up at Parker, baffled by their poor fortune at
having been walking in on by his wife. To her extreme amazement,
Parker was laughing. She fell back against the silky sheets, doing
her best to cover up before her boss and wondering what the hell
was going on.
“Hey there, Cheryl!” Parker cried, cracking
up at the sight of his wife. “How’s your day going, kiddo?”
“Parker... What is this?” Cheryl demanded,
planting her hands firmly on the doorjamb, as if
Phil Hester, Jon S. Lewis, Shannon Eric Denton, Jason Arnett