Then, Earth Swallowed Ocean

by Shiloh Sloane

There wasn’t a worse thing for a man to be than weightless. Not free, but unanchored.

He knows he looks like Ridge. Ridge’s body more than his face. Ten years older than his kid brother, with little of his animal nature. But there aren’t many men as broad and tall as the Lindals. It’s part of their breed. “I’m not him,” Wright says. She’s got tears streaming down her face. She sniffles. “Please don’t kill me,” she whispers. She’s beautiful. “I don’t want to die again,” she cries.

Ridge ignores him. “Little fawn,” he insists. “Spread your legs when I speak to you.”

Hacheee mama

“My father’s dead,” she says firmly. “I buried him in my backyard not long ago. By myself, because we have no one else. So I might know something.” He halts. “You’ll miss him,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how rotten you think he is. Damn you for letting go.”

was raised by a pa who gave me worse than I ever gave you,” he said. “Lost your mama-” “We lost her.” “No,” he spat. “I lost her. You lost a fraction of who she was. I loved her because I made the choice to. It ain’t the same thing to lose a parent.”

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” He sees the boys running through the woods. Sees himself and Ridge, as kids, running through the woods. “On Earth as it is…” But it was never just him and Ridge, was it? Jess was always there, and she was faster than his brother. “Can’t fuckin’ bear it, Lord,” he groans. His chest heaves, his breath stifled. Tears brim in his eyes. “Can’t fuckin’ do this again.” When he looks through the glass, the whiskey reflects the words upside down.

When she speaks, he can only see her lips brush against the cloth. They make ripples like rain falling onto a battlefield. “What will you offer me, darling?” He buries himself in her.

Omg that whole part with wright was fucking intense amd gut wrenching!!!