Page 10 of Burden of Proof

Two minutes later, I bore down against the knot, pushing hard against the wall. My rim stretched, it stretched, it fucking hurt, and then I came with a shout. Hot jets of cum shot all over my hand and the sheets, and I sank back another two inches, the swollen knot of the toy securely inside of my body.

Crying out, another burst of cum splattered against my stomach, my entire body alight with pleasure. I’d never had my hole stretched so far, the shocking pain of it enough to make sweat bead against my temples and the dips at the small of my back. I could feel the temperature difference in the room, and I paused long enough to remind myself I was filming. Forcing my eyes open, I stared hard into the camera when I reached back and dragged my fingertips across my stretched hole, the slick silicone toy.

“Holy shit,” I whimpered, collapsing forward onto the bed.

Right into the wet spot.

I’d have to shower again, but I’d survive.

I caught my breath and waited for my heart rate to return to normal before extracting the knot from my body, which was a lot harder than I wanted it to be. The removal hurt, and I made a mental note to cut the clip before my discomfort showed. With a pained grunt, I moved off the bed and paused the recording, then took the toy into the bathroom to clean. After another shower, I dug out a black jock and my favorite pair of leather pants. I made sure to put socks on first, having learned that lesson a long time ago.

Half-dressed, I said, “Sorry you had to see that, Cassandra, but you should get used to it. That’s my job.”

I laughed to myself about apologizing to a fish for fucking myself in front of them, but when I saw Cassandra floating on her side instead of swimming around, the explanation died in my throat.

My phone chirped with an alert that someone was at the door, and I knew without looking it was Silas. I snatched my phone off the tripod and burst into tears. The response didn’t feel appropriate to the loss, but it was the culmination of everything that had happened over the past couple of months and once I started to cry, there was absolutely no stopping it.

I heard Silas’s footsteps coming down the hallway. This building really had no fucking insulation at all. Sniffling, I wiped snot off on the back of my hand and grabbed my phone, turning away from the door so Silas didn’t see my face when he got to the door. He walked in without knocking, and with a deep breath, I forced myself to face him and smile.

“Hey, Silas,” I said, smiling through the tears.

In the way he’d always had about him, Silas didn’t ask what was wrong. He opened his arms to me, and I walked right into them, burying my face against his chest. He didn’t smell like himself anymore. He smelled like Marshall, and that only made me cry harder.

Silas gently carded his fingers through my hair, his mouth pressed against the side of my head.

“Lincoln, what on earth is going on?” he asked.

“Cassandra died,” I said, giving myself one last moment of weakness before extricating myself from Silas’s arms.

“Who’s Cassandra?”

I flung my arm in the direction of my dresser. “My fish.”

“When did you get a fish?”

“Two hours ago,” I said.

“Oh, Linc.” He rubbed a gentle circle between my shoulder blades and urged me across the apartment back toward my dresser where Cassandra was still dead. “I’m sorry.”

“The girl at the store told me they might die.”

“Yeah, I think…I think they either live a really long time or the opposite,” he said, sitting on the edge of my bed and frowning at my dead pet.

“Watch the sheets,” I warned, which only earned me an eye roll.

I sat down beside Silas and rested my head on his shoulder. We both stared at Cassandra for a while, and then he petted his hand against the top of my thigh.

“Do you want me to…I don’t know how to say this.”

“Are you asking me if I want you to flush my fish?” I asked.

“I would do it for you if you did.”

My tears had mostly dried up, and I managed a nod. Silas stood up, and I collapsed down onto the foot of the bed. I closed my eyes and listened to him move around my apartment, finding the other container in the trash and then coming back to scoop Cassandra out of the bowl. Then he walked away, the toilet flushed, and he was back, pulling me off the bed and into his arms. I wrapped myself around him, missing not just my best friend but the life that had been ours before he fell in love with someone else.

CHAPTER 4

HUNTER