After the Climb (River Rain 0.50)

He did not reply.

Verbally.

He kissed me against the glass until I lost his cock and then he kissed me some more, until we had to come up for air.

Message received.

But he spoke anyway.

“You were right, honey, and I was wrong,” he said, his voice hoarse and beautiful. “Havin’ you right here was perfect. That’s us. No holding back. And we should be us. Always.”

I so totally agreed.

I gave him a quick kiss to communicate that.

And then I said, “Now I’ve had an orgasm, I need coffee and breakfast.”

He set me to my feet but did it laughing.

That was us too, back then.

And what I was finding…now.

We laughed a lot.

He was funny. He thought I was cute.

If his dad didn’t do something to mess with his head, we laughed and joked and teased all the time.

And boy, had I missed that too.

In the now, though, we showered, it got serious, there was touching, kissing, groping, but in the end, Duncan left me to finish up.

And by the time I got out of the shower, toweled off, lotioned up, put product in my hair and my panties, bra and robe on, he’d come back in with my mug and a plate that had a toasted bagel with whipped cream cheese.

“Threw out the old coffee, that’s fresh. That do for food?” he asked, sliding everything on the counter by the basin where I was, which was not the one he used.

It was no croissant from The Queen.

But it was still perfect.

“More than do. Thanks.”

He bent in to kiss my neck then said, “Take your time. Kids are still out. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

Then he was gone.

I took my time in his awesome bathroom. Light makeup. Blew out my hair.

And I had on my jeans, was pulling on my sweater, when I heard Sasha screech, “Mother!”

Sasha did not call me mother.

And the tone of that screech set my blood to a chill.

I yanked down my sweater and went running.

At the gallery, I saw her at the bottom of the stairs looking like she was about ready to race up them.

Gage was hanging close.

Duncan was already there.

But she only had eyes for me.

“You have to get down here and see this,” she declared.

And then she stomped off down the hall opposite the one where Duncan’s office was.

“It’s bad, Dad,” Gage said. “C’mon.”

And then he was off down the hall.

I looked to Duncan and started down the stairs quickly, asking, “What’s down that hall again?”

“Game room. Dining room. Pool room.”

“TV?”

He nodded even though I’d seen the room and it had a huge TV.

So I started running.

Duncan followed me (not running, but his legs were longer than mine) and we hit the room me first, him right after.

Sasha immediately started talking. “Sully’s cueing it up on YouTube. But my phone blew up while we were riding. And so did the guys’. We watched it out there and came racing back. Because it’s all over everything.”

I looked to the television and could not swallow my gasp.

Samantha was on it, kitty corner sofas, her on one side, Elsa Cohen, celebrity interviewer (or more to the point, gossip monger) on the other.

“I think that’s the part, Sul. She was adjusting her skirt,” Gage told him.

Sully went back and we listened to Sam saying some things, then it started.

“And yes, this megalomaniacal behavior affected Duncan Holloway and Imogen Swan.”

“Ohmigod,” I breathed.

“I know,” Sasha hissed irately.

Samantha: “In fact, right now, they’d probably be celebrating their thirtieth anniversary if Corey hadn’t been pathologically in love with Gen.”

Elsa: “Pathologically in love?”

Samantha: “Yes, because they were inseparable. Always were. The three of them, but mostly Gen and Dun. Star-crossed lovers with Corey in that mix. He broke them up. He told Duncan that he’d slept with Genny and that was it. Duncan trusted him like a brother. Gen didn’t stand a chance.”

“This fucking bitch is whacked,” Sully bit off.

Elsa: “Corey Szabo convinced Duncan Holloway that Imogen Swan had slept with him?”

Samantha: “You don’t understand. I knew Gen and he told me the same thing so I would divorce him, and I believed him too and that is not the woman she was or is. As evidenced by the fact that she divorced Tom after he cheated on her.”

“Oh my God!” I shouted.

“Motherfucker,” Duncan clipped.

“I know, Mom,” Sasha snapped.

“I need my phone,” I said urgently.

“Where is it?” Gage asked.

“On the nightstand, darling,” I answered.

Gage took off running.

Samantha: “…and I cannot tell you how happy I am to see that they’re back together. Obviously, his parting gift to them was the same as it was to me. To share he’d lied. As if that changes decades of tragedy. As if that erases the man he was and the things he’s done. But it doesn’t change a thing. And I am here right now to tell the world the kind of man he really was. That man does not get to start up a charity a month before his death when he did nothing good or kind with his billions for years and think he can rest on that legacy. So I’m making it my mission to share precisely what his legacy was. And it was nothing good. And all I can say, if Gen sees this,” she looked into the camera and it instantly tightened on her, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I believed Corey’s lies and lost you as a friend. I’m sorry you lost Duncan. And thank you for taking care of my son when that snake in the grass had him. If it wasn’t for you, who knows what Hale would have turned out to be.”