Chapter Nine
2731 Words
Chapter Nine
Brody got all of his trees in and was able to shower, showing up fifteen minutes early. He straightened his tie and hair before he stepped onto the porch to knock. Before he could do so though, the front door swung open.
“Come on in, Brody,” Jason said, a smirk on his face. “Sarina tells us that you used to be the alpha of the pack that joined ours at the end of last year?”
“It wasn’t a choice I made lightly,” Brody said. “As soon as I took over as alpha, I moved my pack here. I have no desire to lead a pack, large or small.”
“Why not? You have it in you to lead.”
“It’s just not my sort of thing. I have other places to put my passions,” Brody said, catching a glimpse of Sarina as she worked in the kitchen.
“Speaking of which,” Jason grinned. “My sister can squeeze the last drop of passion from anyone. Be careful around her, bro.”
“I know what I’m about with her,” Brody assured him.
“If you say so,” he grinned. “You want to play some poker? Joshua and I’ve been playing gin rummy, but if we switch to poker, I can snag all his allowance and I’ll even give you a cut.”
“Percentage?”
“Seventy-thirty?”
“Make it sixty-forty and you’ve got a deal.”
“Deal,” Jason chuckled. “Way to swindle me.”
“Nah,” Brody laughed. “Just good business sense.” Brody and Jason worked Joshua over until the youth was virtually penniless. Then Jason gave Brody his share, which he promptly gave back to Joshua.
“Thanks, man.”
“No problem,” he grinned. “I know when someone’s being played and your brother was dogging you, dude.”
“How come you talk so weird for someone so old?”
“Old?” Brody feigned offense. “I’m not that old-looking am I?”
“Sort of,” Joshua smiled. “Certainly too old for my sister.”
Oh, Brody thought, little brother’s come to rescue his sister’s virtue. If only the lad knew he is already too late.
“I’m actually not as old as I look. I’m only thirty. Just ignore the gray hair and you’ll believe me.”
“Cool,” Joshua said, shaking Brody’s hand.
The family ate the lasagna Sarina had made, dipping freshly made garlic bread into the leftover sauce. “This is phenomenal, Sis,” Shawna smiled.
“Learn how to cook it yourself and someone could praise you for it.”
“Nah,” Shawna said, shrugging her shoulders. “Cooking is a waste of time. When I find a mate and settle down, he’ll be rich as Midas and I’ll hire a cook.”
“Good luck with that,” Joshua said, taking the words right out of Sarina’s mouth and earning him a sharp elbow to his ribs.
>>
Sarina picked up the dishes after everyone had eaten and started the dish water.
“Could you use some help?” asked Brody.
“Sure,” she said. “Would you mind unloading the dishwasher?”
“Not at all,” Brody smiled. “So, you wanted to talk?”
“I’m one for plain speaking. I don’t like beating around the bush.”
“Okay,” Brody grinned, remembering the first time she’d said that to him.
“I don’t think we can see each other anymore.”
Brody was floored and more than taken aback. “Sarina—”
“I’m sorry, Brody,” she rushed on. “I’m just not ready for the level of commitment and status that you are. You need a mature woman and I’m just not there yet.”
“You are there, Sarina,” Brody said. Sarina couldn’t turn away as he continued. “You are there, darling. Don’t you get it? I’m the Brody you wrote about in your journal. I’m the man who loves you, the man who chose you as your mate for life.” She felt his hands on her arms as he tore her shirt away. “Can’t you see the mark where I bit you? I have a matching one where your teeth sank into my flesh. I won’t ever have another woman!”
Sarina felt as if she might heave her dinner right there. But as she stood there, staring at him, she felt a massive and overwhelming heat suffuse her body. Looking around her, the world she knew began to split. Huge pieces of her home sheared off, leaving behind only a dark backdrop. The last thing she saw before her whole world went dark was Brody, screaming for her.
>>
Turning around, Sarina saw three points of light in the distance. Figuring she had no other feasible choice, she headed that way. Drawing closer, Sarina noticed three doors glowing bright white against the dark. Then, all of a sudden there was a woman standing there. Dressed in glowing white much like the doors, she had almost flaming red hair that hung in spiraling curls against her body, spilling over her back and breasts.
“Welcome, Sarina.”
“Where am I?”
“You’re in the in-between,” the woman said, her lips remaining motionless. “You have an enormous and conclusive choice to make. You’ll have the chance to experience each of these doorways for one day and one night. After that period you’ll be brought back here to choose the path you’d like to take. The one thing you must remember is that no matter what you choose, there will be sorrowful consequences. You cannot please everyone and should only try to please yourself to a certain extent. Find a harmonious balance between your wants and your needs and know yourself well before you choose.”
“What happens when I choose?”
“The choice is permanent as you’ll never be given this opportunity again. The next time your world gets torn apart, you’ll die.”
“I can choose any doorway?”
“Yes,” the woman said, her face still expressionless and unmoving.
“I’ll take the third door.”
“Then open it and step through. You have twenty-four hours to get as much knowledge about this world as possible.”
>>
Sarina stepped through the third door and woke in her bed, a haze over her awareness. Memories flooded her mind as she showered and dressed. Coming downstairs she found Brody, fixing breakfast. “Good morning, Mommy!” Sarina turned and saw her twins, Cadence and Cayden waiting anxiously for pancakes and eggs.
“Good morning, my loves,” she gushed, hugging her kids. After snuggling them, Sarina went to the stove and wrapped her arms around Brody’s waist. “Good morning.”
Brody turned around and smiled down at her. She lifted her face and felt his lips descend on hers. She was just about to sink into the kiss when she heard an audible, “Eww.”
“Eww?” she chuckled, kissing Brody again. “What’s so eww about Mommy and Daddy kissing?”
“It’s gross,” Cadence said, scrunching up her face in a way that made Sarina laugh. She turned to grab their lunches and grinned when they heard the horn from the school bus.
“Time for learning!”
There was an audible groan from both of her children, but Sarina hustled them off to the bus anyway. “Come on, before the bus leaves and I have to drive you there.”
“And here I thought they’d be gung-ho to head off to school after seeing us kiss,” Brody chuckled when she came back in.
“Apparently, us kissing is less offensive than school,” Sarina smiled. Hiking herself up on the counter, she gave her husband a come-get-me smile. “Is there any chance you want to do more than just kiss me?”
“Are you kidding me?” Brody grinned, wrapping an arm around Sarina’s waist. He pulled her closer, until her legs wrapped around him. He took her mouth with a ripe hunger that poured through him like water to a dehydrated body. Her hips ground down against him and made his jeans unbearably tight as his c**k throbbed to fill her.
Her lips parted hungrily for him, inviting him to take what she willingly offered. His hands roamed over her flesh, loosening her clothes so that they slid effortlessly off her body. “Brody,” Sarina begged, only fueling his need for her.
Her mouth fused to his, yanking control from his grasp. He wondered for a split second if he’d ever actually had any control where she was concerned. Then the haze filled his mind and nothing mattered in the world except the hot-blooded woman whose inviting body was rhythmically rubbing against him. Grabbing her hips, Brody pulled her down to the floor, her body going molten on him as he continued to touch her. He yanked her suit jacket off and devoured her warm breast through the silky fabric of her dress shirt.
Her moans of pleasure echoed in his ears as he sought to ravage her. Brody felt Sarina’s hands on his pants, working the button loose in front so that her hand could slip inside. Then those long fingers curled around his c**k and Brody had to fight to take back some control before he spent himself in her hand.
She rose up over him now, a sexy goddess who wanted her own pleasure as much as she’d pleasure him. Running his hands from her hips to her breasts, Brody’s eyes nearly crossed in pleasure as she slid hot, wet and ripe over him. Even after two children he still found her wonderfully tight, her p***y able to clench around him in a way that made him grateful he’d been her only lover. Sarina moved up and down on him as he thrust into her, grabbing her hips. She lifted her shirt over her head, giving him a nice view of her beautiful breasts, encased in a lilac colored b*a that had matched her panties and the silk shirt she’d had on.
Brody watched her reach up and knead her own breasts as his hands touched her. She brought her body down over him, her mouth tasting the need on his lips. He let his tongue slide past her lips to tangle with hers, fueling the rocking motion of their hips. She covered him fully, almost as if she ached to take him in fully with each thrust. His tongue slid hot and wet over her flesh, encircling the hard tip of her n*****s, giving equal attention to both as his hands slid up her back to tug her long, blonde hair.
“Brody!” Sarina breathed as her o****m bubbled over. She came around his c**k and effortlessly pulled Brody with her. He spent himself easily inside her warm depths and smiling, took her weight over his chest. They lay there like that for a few moments before she sat up again, her eyes shining. “I love you, Brody Duscene.”
“And I love you, Mrs. Sarina Alessandra Traverse-Duscene.”
“You could have just said Sarina Duscene, you know.”
“Yeah, but the long version made you laugh and that is one of my favorite sounds.”
God, she loved him. To her knowledge she’d never loved anyone before and would never love anyone after him in the same way. She thought of her two beautiful children and knew that her love for them was just as fierce. It was different, but not unequal. The day passed into night and Sarina spent time reading to her children after their baths. She snuggled their tiny bodies, all wrapped up in pajamas and slippers to ward off the cold on the hardwood floors. Then she tucked them into bed, kissing the tops of their heads and whispering, “I love you,” to each of them.
“Are they asleep?” Brody asked when she came back down.
“Almost,” she grinned. “Our little munchkins have quite active imaginations.”
“They get it from you,” he smiled.
“Oh no, they don’t. I’m as solid as a redwood.”
“Uh-huh,” Brody grinned. She let him draw her into his embrace, giggling when his lips found the supple flesh of her neck and collarbone. “Make love to me, Sarina. This morning wasn’t nearly enough.”
Sarina enjoyed an incredible night of love and fell asleep in the arms of the only man who’d ever made her blood burn with desire.
>>
When she woke it was the void of blackness again and she faced two white doors and one red one. “The red door signifies a reality you’ve already experienced,” came the voice of the woman in the glowing white robe. “You may choose your next experience.”
Sarina inhaled deeply and looked at the red door for a while before she chose door number one. She opened the door and once again fell into the haze, waking up in bed. After a shower and dressing, she headed downstairs. In the fireplace, the oak logs roared to life, heating the living room and adding charm and romance to the atmosphere. “Are the girls in bed?” came a voice Sarina recognized easily.
“Yes,” she said, coming around the sofa. The memories that flooded her mind this time weren’t like before. And when she looked at the man sitting in the chair, it wasn’t Brody she saw. The shock to her system was one she absorbed, but not without a little trouble. “What are you reading?”
“Nothing important,” the man said, standing and approaching her. His lips descended on hers and his hands slid up her back. After that first instant shock, she pulled back.
“Is something wrong?”
“I just... I’m just worn out.”
“It’s all those hours you’ve been working,” the man said bitterly. “It’s a wonder the kids or I ever see you.”
Sarina sighed. This was definitely not the reality she wanted. A man she didn’t know, didn’t recognize. A life consumed by work and a loveless, passionless marriage. She retired early and slept away the night, waking once again in the empty nothingness where two doors now stood red.
“Not every reality is as we wish it to be,” the woman said. “We can make it out to be more or less than it is, but rarely can we make it what we wish. There is one door left.”
>>
Sarina fell into the reality of the last door and found herself to be an old woman, aged long and hard by an empty existence. Coming downstairs she heard a knock at her door and found her twin, Jason, on the other side. “Morning. Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
“So, tell me what your plans are today? I heard Andrea and Rebekah mention going to the flea market out in Middlebury. You planning on joining them?”
“Probably,” Sarina grinned. “It’d be nice to get out and about.”
“I should tell you that I saw Brody in town yesterday.”
“How is he?” Sarina asked, unable to keep her emotions from swimming into her eyes.
“He seemed well, although I knew he watched for you. I never understood why you two didn’t make permanent the love you shared. What happened to you?”
“I was afraid of what was in my heart. Instead of grabbing a hold of it and holding on with both hands for the crazy ride, I let it go for the safety and security that being alone provided. I didn’t learn until it was too late that I’d given up a life, for an existence. They are not nearly the same thing.”
Sarina spent the afternoon with her sister, Shawna, and her sisters-in-law, wading through the piles of gadgets and gizmos at the flea market. Then she returned home to her empty house, ate dinner, and slept away the night.
>>
Sarina was back at the place of nothingness. The three red doors were gone and in its place stood a single door that radiated bright yellow sunshine.
“This final door will take you to the reality you most want,” the glowing woman said. “Your heart and mind must choose the path you most want to live. Choose wisely as your choice is permanent.”
Sarina stepped through the door and woke in her own bed, her memories were those of a young woman who was loved and accepted by her family for who she was. “I think,” Sarina heard from her doorway, “that it’s time for sleeping beauty to get up.”
“I didn’t sleep well at all last night,” Sarina complained.
“Regardless,” Amanda smiled. “You have things to do today. I believe, if I remember correctly, that you have a very important date this afternoon, don’t you?”
Her memories intact, Sarina remembered that Brody had asked her out on a date and she’d agreed. “Yes!” she grinned. “What time is it?”
“You’ve got time to primp, but just. Get ready and I’ll make sure you have a lunch packed and ready to go.”
“Thank you, Mama.” Sarina kissed her mother’s cheek and bolted for the bathroom, cranking the shower while she stripped.
>>
“Sarina, Brody’s here!” she heard her father call up to her.
“Be right down!” she called back.
Sarina stepped off the last stair and finally saw the Brody she remembered. The man who’d stolen her heart in record time. He stepped up to her and smiled. “You look incredible.” His lips found hers and Sarina lost all thought. Pulling back she smiled.
“Thank you,” she replied. “You look pretty incredible yourself and I have something amazing to tell you. I need to tell everyone in fact.”
- Writer
