You ever call out of work because you just 'can't?' No? Me neither, but there have been plenty of mornings that I wanted to. It sure seems like Church is struggling. Let's see how he and Shawn deal with the need for a break.
I hope you enjoy this installment! Drop me a line if you want. I'd be happy to hear from you.
If you're younger than 18 or find these kinds of stories offensive, please close up now and have a great day! If you are of legal age and are interested, by all means keep going. I'll be glad to have you along for the journey. Please donate to Nifty. This is a great resource for great stories and a useful outlet to authors like me and readers like you.
Crown Vic to a Parallel World: From Whence I Came The second installment of the ongoing adventures of Church Philips
28
A Mental Health Day
When I woke, the first thing I saw was Shawn. He was awake and watching me, his face inches from mine. The first thought I had that day was to marvel at how eyes the color of frozen water could convey so much warmth. "Good morning." He said and kissed the end of my nose. "How do you feel?"
"A little better." I said because things were always better in the morning.
"I think we should focus on us today. Is there anything you want to do?"
I wasn't awake enough to have any opinions, but a straining in my sleep shorts let me know that Junior had something he wanted to do. I decided to let him make the decisions for the both of us. "There is something." I broke eye contact to feign bashfulness. "I don't know if you'll want to though."
"Anything you want." Shawn offered. "Name it and it's yours."
`Blank check...awesome!' I thought. I tried not to let my excitement leak through our emotional link and did my best to act coy. "I'll whisper it to you, so I'm not embarrassed, turn your head."
Shawn rolled onto his back. I moved my mouth next to his ear to tell him what I wanted. "I want to fuck until they call us for lunch." I whispered and lapped my tongue over his ear. Shawn gasped in surprise and exhaled noisily. I kept licking and nibling at him as I worked my way along his jaw until my mouth found his. My free hand, the one that wasn't trapped under me as I was still on my side, trailed down his body until it discovered something. The thing I discovered was a similar straining tent in Shawn's sleep shorts. It made me think that Shawn agreed with my plan.
We stayed in bed for round one. Shawn offered me his ass and I accepted. I ate his hole like it was a meal, then fucked it to a selfish completion. The exertion charged me up and made me want more. I dragged Shawn out of bed and over to the mirrored dresser. We used the heavy piece of furniture for support and leverage while Shawn fucked me.
Shawn bent me over the dresser. He rimmed me just enough to get me ready to fuck, then gave it to me the way he knew I liked it. I watched Shawn in the big mirror. His torso shimmered with sweat as his muscles rolled and flexed with rhythmic effort. It was a blast being able to see his expression when I normally wouldn't have been able to. Shawn realized I was watching, and our eyes met in the glass. He smirked and winked at me, then he wound up his right hand and slapped my ass like he was mad at it.
"OH FUCK!" I cried at the sting of the hit. "Harder...HARDER!" I begged. "Hit me again...slap my ass!"
Shawn whacked me again to my immense pleasure. Something about the hit drove me beyond wild. "AGAIN!" I cried. "You fucking animal...hit me again you BEAST! Fuck me! SLAP ME! HARDER, HARDER YOU FUCKING BEAST!"
Shawn buried his cock balls-deep inside me and ground his hips against my ass to swirl his hardness in my guts. His cock hit my prostate and sent an undulating wave of pleasure coursing through my body. I lost my words as Shawn ground himself into me again and again. "Oh fuck...fu...fuc...beast...beast...b...b...be...oh god."
Shawn pulled almost all the way out of me, wound his hand up and slapped me as hard as he could, then he rammed his cock inside me. I had to lock my arms against the dresser to keep from having my face driven into the glass. Shawn power fucked me as hard as he could and only paused the intense pistoning to slap my stinging ass again and again.
His efforts sent me to heaven, and I screamed for more. I called Shawn all manner of things while I begged him to fuck me harder and slap me more. At the end, he slapped me for what felt like the millionth time and rabbit fucked me to his completion. His load flooded into my ass as I watched his body jerk and shake as it rode the fireworks of his orgasm. He finished and collapsed on my back, sweaty and spent with temporary exhaustion.
Shawn recovered himself and ground his hips against me, his still-hard cock pressed the buttons in my ass and made me wish he would start fresh and fuck me all over again. "Was it good for you, Harder?" Shawn asked my reflection.
"You know damn well it was, Beast." I replied, using the nicknames we'd inadvertently earned very early on during our honeymoon tour.
Shawn laughed his adorable ringing laugh at the name, then climbed off me. "Oh my," he said as he surveyed the results of his handiwork, "your poor butt is angry red. Do you want me to fix it?"
I stood up and turned my butt to the mirror. I looked at the reflection in the glass to admire the same thing that Shawn had been concerned about. My right ass cheek was hot and shiny red from Shawn's open-handed slaps. I savored the intimate sting of the raw flesh. "Not yet. When we're done."
Shawn waved his right hand in the air like he'd burned it and pressed it to his left hand. "You don't mind if I fix my hand, do you? I mean, you're the only masochist here. I'm just the enabler." Shawn teased me with the memory of an old discussion we'd had.
Once upon a time, he'd been genuinely worried that I really was a masochist, and he really was a sadist. He'd been bothered by how much he'd liked slapping my ass and how much I'd liked getting slapped. I'd reassured him then and the titles eventually became a point of teasing between us.
I didn't answer Shawn. His statement didn't really need an answer and I was too busy drooling over how he looked just then. His whole body was sweaty from exertion. It reminded me of the oily strip tease he'd given Bem and me, once upon a time. Shawn didn't notice me staring though I assume he felt the lust across our link. "What do you want to do next?" He asked when he was finished with his hand.
"You're all sweaty." I observed aloud.
Shawn cocked his head at me, the implications of my statement was temporarily lost on him. He guessed what I wanted and shook his head in refusal. "Church...no. It's been twenty-four hours since I showered, it was hot yesterday, I must be ripe."
"Please." I wheedled. "A musk hunt is no fun unless there's musk to hunt."
Shawn shrugged and surrendered himself to my wishes. I enveloped him in my magic so I could easily position his body the way I wanted it. I started my `hunt' at his feet with Shawn floating horizontally in the air like a magician's model at a carnival magic show.
My first deep breath of Shawn told me that he'd been right. His body was ripe, even a little rank, and his scent more sour than I usually liked. That didn't mean I was going to waste the opportunity he'd given me. I love exploring Shawn's body and sampling the nuanced bouquet it produced. Each part of him was its own pleasure.
I made a quick tour of my husband's body, tasting and scenting him in all his most intimate areas. When I was finished, I turned him upright in the air and brought him against me in the position I loved best, with his legs around my middle and his torso against mine. I felt his legs clamp around my body and released the magic holding him when I was certain he was supporting himself. I plunged my busy tongue into his mouth.
Shawn leaned into the kiss and ran his hands over my back to brace against my shoulders. Our lips separated and Shawn drew a breath through his nose. "I can't even smell you. All I smell is me."
"I did it right then." I answered Shawn's statement that didn't really need an answer.
"Have you had enough?" He asked.
"Not possible," I teased, "but it's your turn."
Shawn leaned against me and rested his head on my shoulder. "Put me in the bath, fill me with your magic, and love me."
I carried Shawn into the master bathroom and set him on his feet. He pulled the lever that sealed the drain in the oversized soaking tub and turned the water on full blast. When the bath was full to the overflow, I slid into it and settled against the smooth porcelain. Shawn stepped in and lowered his taught, porcelain body on top of mine.
He sat between my legs, his back to me while I held him. I explored his body with my hands, and I kissed his neck and anything else I could reach. I activated my magic and let it gather on the surface of my skin. My power flowed into my husband until his magic capacity filled, then the power drifted between us. I felt Shawn, more clearly than I'd ever felt him. I sensed that he could feel me the same way.
Shawn leaned his head back until his face was next to mine. Steam from the tub filled the bathroom and obscured the room from our sight. I had a flashback to our sessions behind the hot waterfall when we were training in the mountains with Bem and Neb. The memory made me re-appreciate my newer, leaner body because I could hold Shawn closer than I had then. More of his body was available to my wandering hands.
Shawn stopped my hands on his chest and laced his fingers into mine with his hands on the backs of mine. He held my hands near the center of his chest. I felt his every breath and the steady drum of his heartbeat. "Church...love, my husband, open yourself to me. Open all the way. Surrender to me like I surrender to you. Please."
My guard shot up at the sound of Shawn's words. The experience of the magic that moved between us was extremely intimate. It was like being connected to Shawn for one of his medical exams, but it was even more intimate than that. Again, I felt Shawn open himself to me. I felt him bare his soul and he begged me to do the same. I was scared though. No one, not even Shawn had ever been allowed all the way into me, into the dark and lonely place that lived in my heart.
Shawn felt my hesitation. He pulled away from me physically. He turned in the water and came back to draw me into him. He had me move away from the back of the tub so he could sit in my lap and wrap his legs around my body. He pressed his hands against my chest and had me put my hands on his chest. My husband looked directly into my eyes. His sweet frozen eyes were luminous through the steam. When he spoke, his voice echoed in my head like he was speaking aloud and inside me at the same time.
"My love...please...please let me love you, all of you, the way you love all of me. Please...please let me all the way inside. Strip yourself. Be naked with me. Give yourself to me, Church. Trust me enough to love you the way you need to be loved."
"I'm scared." I admitted. The possibility that Shawn would look inside me and hate what he saw seemed very real to me, especially because I still didn't like what was inside me. I tried to convince him not to look. "No one has ever...what if you see and...what if? I'm so scared."
Shawn persisted. He pressed his hands against my chest like he was trying to push us apart, but he tightened his legs around me to make sure I didn't move away from the increased pressure. "Church, you once told me the heart that beats in your chest belongs to me. You said it was mine and that if I ever didn't want it, that I should stop it instead of leaving it lonely. You offered me the greatest gift it's possible to give. You offered me yourself. If I'm going to accept your gift, you have to let me see all that you are."
I knew that he was right. I knew that Shawn was right, and I knew that he loved me, and I knew that he would love me no matter what, but I was so scared. Tears of dread and fear welled in my eyes. Tears of sadness welled with them. Tears of never being good enough, of always feeling like less, welled up with those and flooded down my cheeks. I took a breath and held it while I opened myself as much as I felt that I could.
I let Shawn into the darkness, into the hell that lived inside my heart. I surrendered to him, but I didn't offer myself to him. That would have been too much. I felt Shawn...I felt his essence as it flooded into the darkness. "Oh Church!" Shawn sobbed and moved against me. He pressed his body against mine and cried out as my private pain slammed into him. Shawn cried in deep wracking sobs, much like Andy had when he discovered his father wasn't going to die.
I held Shawn while he howled at my pain. I felt sad to, but I didn't cry. I didn't seem to be able to. Shawn cried for both of us, he cried for me. I held my husband while he explored the tempest inside my soul and while he wept over what he found. He cried for a long time. He cried until the bathtub water went cold. I reached my telekinesis out for the hot water tap and turned it on to warm us back up.
Shawn seemed to catch his breath and recover from his intense emotions. He seemed to reach a catharsis of sorts. In some small way, I felt like I'd reached it with him. I felt like his tears had done something for me. "You poor, miserable man." Shawn said to me and petted my head with long careful strokes of my wet hair. "You poor, poor thing. Thank you for letting me see."
"I warned you." I whispered to my husband's ear. I clung onto him like if I let him go, he'd float away from me, and I'd never get to touch him again. "I tried to tell you it was bad in there."
Shawn breathed a breath that shivered in his chest. "I didn't think it was possible for someone to be so sad."
I jumped to the conclusion that I'd hurt Shawn. I tried to apologize it away. "I'm sorry...Shawn I'm so sorry. I didn't mean..."
"Church," he squeezed me as tightly as he could to stop my chattering, "I'm glad you let me see. You and me, together...we're going to deal with it. We'll shine bright lights on all that darkness. Promise me...promise you'll never hide it from me again. Promise you'll let me see it. Promise you'll let me help you. Promise me, Church."
I felt bad. I was ashamed of myself. I'd let Shawn see the storm, but I hadn't let him see the me inside the storm. He'd just asked me to promise never to hide from him again, but I was in the middle of hiding from him. I wasn't going to admit that, not in that very tender moment. It would be like slapping him in the face to admit that I'd hidden from him even when I told him I wouldn't.
Still...still, I was stunned at the way Shawn had reacted to what he'd seen. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised though. I never thought that someone could look at the darkness that was locked inside me and could still want to me near me after they'd seen it. I never thought it was possible. I'd spent my whole life crying out for someone to love me in spite of my pain. Shawn had just agreed to love me because of it.
I wanted to weep for his loving kindness, and I wanted to weep in self-pity for not letting him see all that he'd wanted to see. I promised myself I'd make it right eventually...after we were back on Solum and things settled down. I promised myself that I'd make it right with him. Instead of doing it in that moment like I should have, I compounded the lie. I hugged my husband against me and gave him my solemn promise. "Yes, Shawn...my love, I promise not to hide from you anymore."
"Good. That's good." Shawn leaned away from me enough to put his lips on mine in a lingering kiss of love and acceptance. "Now, make love to me. Love me with your body and your mind and your soul. Love me completely, Church. Love me the way I love you."
Shawn and I melted into each other. We teased and touched and explored and loved. We stayed open to each other and made love. We made love so slowly, it was just a hairs' breadth away from being torture. Our bodies simmered and shook with pleasure and need. We added more hot water as the temperature dropped and we loved each other gently until neither of us could take anymore. The finish claimed each of us together. A ragged shout, a deep, contented sigh, and a languid but playful shower capped an amazing morning.
Shawn and I dressed and put the room back together while we laughed at the disarray we'd caused. We teased each other over the obscene body prints on the highly polished wood furniture. We even made the bed.
As one more act of compassion for the morning, Shawn held my head and stared into my eyes. "I accept the gift you gave to me, and I accept the responsibility that goes with it. Your misery is my misery until it's gone. That's how much I love you and that's how much I know that you love me."
"Thank you, Shawn."
"No. No thanks. Never. `Thanks' are for favors. This is not a favor. This is what it means to be in love. This is what it means to be partners. This is what it means to share our lives. I married all of you, and you married all of me, and you're mine, just like I'm yours, and that's all there is."
Shawn's words filled my heart to the point I thought it would burst. I almost tried to thank him again, but I stopped myself. "I love you." I said instead.
"I love you." Shawn agreed and released me from his grip.
We did one last check on the room and got ready to leave it. The last thing I did was to close the air conditioning vent and throw the windows open. The room reeked pleasantly of sex, and as much as I enjoyed the fragrance, I had to admit that the room needed to be aired.
As the day was going to be strictly ours, Shawn and I paused before we left the bedroom to develop a plan for getting out of the house. It was a simple plan; don't stop, don't speak, if spoken to, use only one-word answers. The major roadblock between the plan, and its success, was my brother. We needed to find out what time I had to be back so Joe and I could bring Zeke his check. I had no choice but to talk to Joe.
Shawn and I went quickly but quietly down the stairs and found Joe at the dining room table with his laptop open. "It's about time you two got up..." He said before I cut him off.
I tried the direct approach. "Joe, Shawn and I are running away today. I need answers to two questions. Do we need to pick up the check? What time are we going to see Zeke?"
"I was hoping to..." Joe said when I cut him off.
I tried again with the direct approach. "Joe, you're not listening. For just this one day, I'm dealing with no one but my husband and the commitments I've already made. Please, two answers to two questions, no discussion."
Joe's brow furrowed and I could tell that he was going to give us trouble. "Church, you're really making this..."
I pounded the table three times with my closed fist to focus Joe's attention. My brother's laptop bounced with each hit. I peeled my index finger out of the fist and used it to point at my brother. "JOE...I NEED THIS ONE DAY! I NEED IT WITH NO BULLSHIT OR I'M GOING TO SNAP! NOW, TWO ANSWERS TO TWO QUESTIONS...PLEASE!"
Joe slapped the screen of his laptop shut with as much violence as he ever displayed. He rested his chin in his hand. "The check is drawn on Garden State Trust. It's ready now. Shawn will have to sign for it. The bank is on Second Street in Merchantville. We told Zeke we'd be there at seven, so you will have to leave here by six thirty at the latest."
I spun on my heels to find myself face to face with Shawn. I physically turned him and herded him to the front door. I tossed my reply to Joe over my shoulder as I pushed Shawn out of the house. "See you at six thirty!"
As we stepped into the sunshine, I saw that Bem and Mary were in the front yard, watching the twins play. Bem jogged over as we hustled down the walk. "Hey." He called.
"Don't stop." I whispered to Shawn and pushed the car keys into his hands. "Get in the car and start it." Shawn kept walking, and I paused to deal with Bem.
Bem was waiting with a question on his face when I turned. "What?" I asked with too much abruptness.
The sharp word unsettled Bem for a second and he seemed to lose what he wanted to say. "Uh, I just...um."
"BEM!" I shouted. I realized I was being too loud, gritted my teeth, and reset my volume. "Shawn and I are having an `us day' to preserve my sanity. We are leaving immediately, destination unknown. You have exactly ten seconds...go."
Bem nodded, then made me wait while his left arm made a vee across his body and his right hand went into his pocket. "I asked Mary to keep going with my religion lessons. She found your Bible, from when you were confirmed. She said you probably wouldn't want it, and I could probably have it. I didn't want to just take it without..." I put both hands up, palms toward Bem to stop the rambling explanation.
"It's yours, have a nice day." I said and fled. I leapt into the idling Town Car, jammed it in gear, and escaped in a small cloud of tire smoke. As I accelerated away from the house, I had a flashback to a cold night in front of a Philadelphia bar and a similar departure. A chuckle and a nervous shudder shook me as I wondered who I'd rather be caught by, four meatheads with malicious intent or five family members and Bem.
`Meatheads...definitely meatheads.' I thought as I guided the car through the meandering streets of the housing development. I didn't take a full breath until we made the left turn out of the complex and crossed over the town line on Maple Avenue. "Let's get the check first," I suggested, "then we can do whatever we want."
Shawn made it clear he was along for the ride. "Anything you say."
We made a quick stop at the bank in Merchantville, signed for the check, and were back on the road in minutes. It was just noon when I pulled into the Pennsauken Diner parking lot and found a spot. "We should eat something. Lunch and a planning session."
Thirty-minutes later we were sitting over our half-finished meals and the topic of the day's activity came up again. "What do you want to do?" I asked as I plunged a steak fry into a puddle of ketchup on the side of my plate.
"Are there any big parks around here, like the ones at home?" Shawn asked. "We could walk around and do nothing."
"We could go to Longwood."
Shawn sniggered into a napkin. "Isn't that what we did all morning?"
The lewd comment got my attention. Lewd comments from Shawn weren't quite as rare as unicorn sightings, but they weren't an everyday occurrence either. "WOW Shawn. You better be careful. You're starting to sound like me."
He shrugged. "There are worse things. Longwood Gardens, I remember it a little. You were there once for a school trip, ninth grade."
"Yeah. It was a neat place and it's the only thing within driving distance that matches your `big park' idea."
"Do you want to go there?" Shawn asked. I could tell by his face, and his emotions through our link, that he was trying to sound more indifferent than he felt. At home, Shawn and I took regular walks in the parks and went climbing at an outdoor wall at least once a week. I got the impression that Shawn had been feeling closed in, that even the green of the Earth suburbs wasn't enough nature for him.
"I want to go anywhere you are." I answered my husband and meant every word. "As long as I get a day away from stress, I'd spend it right here at this table with a big smile on my face."
He and I agreed to make Longwood Gardens our destination and went about finishing our lunches. Afterward, we lingered too long over coffee. We knew we'd lingered too long when the dirty looks from the waitress told us so. I left a fat tip to make up for occupying the table for over an hour and we departed the diner for Longwood.