Page 42 of Control Line

“Fuck, doll, that was the best yet.” Even if it was the shortest fuck in the history of sex, they both enjoyed it. Their humid breaths mingled together as they stared off into the dining room.

Barney was coming down, catching his breath, and so was Zee. Something on the table caught his attention. There, next to the envelope he’d tossed, was a silver toned urn with a medallion he couldn’t read across the distance. One thing was clear, the fucker had a kinda long name.

Did it make Barney a sick fuck he got some perverted pleasure from having Zee in front of the cheating bastard? Maybe. Did he give a shit? Negative, Ghostrider, he did not.

He watched Zee’s glazed eyes as they landed on the same object, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a ghost of a smile on her lips.

“That him?” What else could he ask.

“Yeah. Well, it was. I dumped him today, and I didn’t know what to do with it.” Barney smiled to himself as he slipped from her body and turned her to face him.

“In more ways than one it seems.” He trailed feather light touches down her throat and over her breasts. Settling between her legs, he languidly stroked where their combined releases flowed from her.

“Yeah. You’re right. All thanks to you.”

“Me?” Barney had noticed a change in her, but he was loath to take credit for it. People changed because they wanted to.

“Yes, you. You helped me find a strength I thought I’d lost.” Barney’s heart swelled at her words. It was something he wanted for her.

Grasping her neck lightly, they stared into each other’s eyes, letting the moment speak for itself. “I’m glad for you, but that’s all you, doll. Although I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I promised I would be, and I broke that.”

“Actually, I was angry at first, but then I was glad. I said what I needed to, and I may not have if you’d been there to lean on. So, it worked out the way it was supposed to in the end and that’s what matters.”

Barney had her pinned against the door, but she pushed her lips forward until they barely touched his. “Everything always does.”

Three words but a lot of power. She believed things worked out the way they were meant to, while Barney had always been a bit more cynical. Until Zee.

“Even us?” He’d promised himself he wouldn’t push her. Wouldn’t do this until they’d each straightened out their shit. Seems she was getting hers together while he still had some work to do, but the answers were right there on the table, so he was kind of there.

Yeah, he was justifying, but she brought out his heart and he didn’t know how to hide it. It wasn’t like he had practice doing so.

“Yes, Barney, even us. Now, take me to bed and show me what the king can really do.” She waggled her eyebrows, drawing a laugh from him. He loved that they could be naked and laugh at the same time.

“The king?” He was confused but her expression was cracking him up.

“Yeah.” She dropped her eyes between them and backed up. “The king. I mean, he is wearing one hell of a crown. Which I love by the way.”

It took Barney a bit to catch up but when he did, he laughed louder. His ego grew too big for the fucking state. She was talking about the magic cross.

“Well then, hail to the king, doll.” He pushed off the door and her and let her lead them back to the bedroom.

They made love all night and only napped in between. It was no surprise to him they’d both slept in a little longer than usual. No big deal for her, since she only booked one hike for the afternoon. Barney, however, had to send Gambler packing, which was going to cost him even more favor points. He’d be rocking the damn EDFD tank until he retired at the rate he was going. He also needed to make patrol rounds to the areas that he hadn’t eyed in a few days.

A scratching sound drew his attention as he was dressing. Turning toward the dresser, he came face to face with Norman. “Maybe you’re not as hideous as I thought.” Then a smell hit him and it was all he could do not to gag. “I stand corrected.” Norman seemed satisfied with himself and scurried into a hut and out of sight. Thank God Barney didn’t notice him last night. He wouldn’t have been able to perform.

That brought his attention to the woman lightly snoring on the bed. Barney really loved her, and it didn’t scare him anymore. The thought of her not being in his life did that.

Barney wanted a do over with breakfast but also wanted to let Zee sleep, so instead, he grabbed a bowl of cereal and penned her a quick note before stepping through the front door. He didn’t want to risk waking her by going back into the bedroom to leave through the bathroom. Or risk him crawling back into bed and neglecting his patrol.

Before he got the door closed, he stepped back in to grab his envelope. He couldn’t resist the urn. He knew the fucker wasn’t in there, but he needed to lash out at him for daring to hurt Zee. That’s when the medallion caught his eye.

“What in the actual fuck?”

He read the name fifty times, and it was still the same. No amount of blinking and sounding it out, or scrutinizing every letter, was going to change what it said.

Winslow William Barnes lll

Even though hisbrain was extrapolating information at an alarming rate, his heart was rejecting it just as quickly.

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