Hot for Slayer

by Ali Hazelwood

“Some lives run invisibly. Undetected by most. And when a person comes along who sees those lives for what they are, who acknowledges their reality, who reminds people that there is value in different ways of existing . . . A minute of that is worth more than a thousand nights with a lover. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I shook my head. “The duca was a kind man who earned the love and gratitude of many. He will live forever through the memories of those who outlast him. I will remember him for as long as I live, and as long as I carry him in my heart, he will be here. With us.”

A knot of heat and friction grows inside me, drags past rational thoughts, and then we’re pulling clothes off each other and he’s touching me everywhere, at once violent and reverent, frenzied and worshipful.