This chapter has been edited due to content. If you want to see the unedited version GO HERE.
ALEX CASEY
Saga had decided to drive. It might have something to do with her not being completely fine with Jash in the backseat. If she couldn’t control all areas of her life, she was **** well going to be in charge of the car.
I looked in the rearview mirror to see Jash. He was nearly seven feet tall and that didn’t include everything. It didn’t include a tail that might have been half his body height. It also didn’t include his horns that were in danger of skewering both myself and Saga.
Saga saw something much different as he kept his human illusion up for her. All she knew about Jash’s discomfort was that he was nearly seven feet tall and looked like he was moments away from being crushed to death.
Jash had done his best to seem like he wasn’t as miserable as he looked. But eventually he caved and opened his window. He had told Saga that he liked the air. But the truth was he used the opened window as a way to relieve his pain by putting his tail out. It must have taken more energy than he would ever admit to make sure no one else on the road saw beneath his illusion.
“You doing okay back there?” Saga teased.
“I’m fine.” Jash replied. “I just…feel that I look like a child.”
“You don’t look nearly funny enough to be mistaken for one.”
I somehow managed to hold back laughter and kept a straight face. It felt like Saga and I were in a contest with each other. And to laugh would mean she was the winner. Over my long career I had become an expert at concealing my emotions. Sometimes even to myself.
Jash turned to look at me and I nearly broke into laughter with the look of indignity on his face.
“We’ll be at the motel soon, Jash.” I reassured my husband.
“It is ours to know that already.” Jash snapped.
That and Saga’s laughter broke me. At least for a moment. In that moment a smirk was on my face. If her and my husband hadn’t known me so well, they wouldn’t have noticed.
“So you don’t think the Cult of the Tree is actually a cult?” Saga asked.
We had gotten brief reports about Bright Falls. One note of interest was a supposed cult. The fear people had of them kept most away from the wilderness. But there was always the too confident idiot that wanted to see the truth. Jash had told me the truth. They merely branded themselves a cult so the Dark Presence wouldn’t find the victims it wanted. Though the cult was unprepared when the Dark Presence showed its true might, they looked after people who would otherwise be ignored.
The FBC cared more for the power in Cauldron Lake while the FBI was interested only in the numerous people either lost or killed.
“Of all the cults I’ve been in,” Jash replied. “Not one has called itself a cult. If they referred to themselves as such, it was only because they found ojel naming them so amusing.”
“Alex?” Saga asked and seemed to resist turning to look at me.
“He told me early on.” I admitted.
“And neither of you are concerned that he…has joined cults in the past?”
How my partner said ‘in the past’ made it very clear she was uncertain that he had stopped joining cults. Hell, I was proud of her for not blaming my husband of joining any cults recently.
“Jash having joined cults did disturb me at first.” I agreed. “But he never laid a hand on me.”
“And he hasn’t joined any cults recently?”
“I have not. My life has been consumed by Alex and my hot dog stand.” Jash answered.
“I guess you wouldn’t join one blindly, anyways.”
Saga could be quick to anger and concern. Darker emotions tended to be replaced by a sense of humor before she lashed out. Jash’s muscles lost their tension as he took note of Saga’s change of voice and understood the apology.
“Whatever you may think of my past, Saga,” Jash said with a smirk. “My experiences with cults is a good reason for me to be a consultant on this case.”
“You’re not wrong.” Saga said once she had stopped laughing.
Saga pulled into the motel parking lot and I was reminded why I sometimes hated this job. I had to make sure justice was done but each night I thought these places would kill me. Motels didn’t have to report on past incidents, like murders and suicides, to customers.
And that didn’t even touch on the fact that breathing the air felt like getting an STD at times.
“I need two rooms.” I said and the desk clerk put down her magazine with a sigh.
She looked from me to Saga to Jash. It didn’t take long for her to give us rooms so that she could go back to reading her magazine.
“I knew you were going to use this time as a vacation.” Saga teased.
“Sexual stimulation can relax a person.” Jash replied with a smile. “Look how tense my husband is. He needs to be relaxed.”
“Knock it off.” I snapped.
“Okay, grandpa.” Saga laughed.
I nearly shook my head as she walked to her room. The worst part was no matter how angry I acted, she knew when I was actually upset. She **** well knew I had been close to laughing and smiling in public.
As Jash and I approached our room I allowed myself to release my tension.
I opened the door and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a nervous twitch in Jash’s tail. If not for his ability to heal me, I doubted I would be in any condition to move by morning.
The moment I closed the door, he pushed me against it roughly and we began a night of passion.
Poor Jash, being smushed in the car. I can just see a car coming up on them from behind and seeing Jash's tail hanging out the window like a kite. :laughing: What a great start to the new year! :D
ReplyDeleteI had an image of Jash being smushed in a car and was so glad I had a chance to use it xD
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