Chapter 29: Seis de Mayo Redux ll

11:08 PM

I'd been worried that Elyse would be a terrible lay if I didn't get some meth into her. Turned out, even after a couple of hits Elyse was STILL a terrible lay.

Look up cold fish in the dictionary and you'd get a photo of Elyse next to it. Nothing I did would make her fuck back at me. She had reached rock bottom, and even spanking couldn't get a rise out of her. She lay flat and lifeless across my desk as if she didn't have a vertebrate spine, her black cocktail dress bunched up underneath her armpits to give me access. Her cunt was loose and oversaturated with artificial lube, so that I felt like I was fucking a bowl of applesauce. And even though her rectal cavity was nominally tighter, it was only marginally better as a fuck hole.

Still, the mental high of shoving my dick into Elyse's pliant body while watching her two high school classmates fuck each other counted for something. That both Ben and Adrienne were probably wondering and maybe even worried about her whereabouts added an extra dimension of delicious irony. And of course there was the raw titillation of watching a real-life supermodel naked and getting pounded in the next room that kept my prick at full strength all on its own. So what if Elyse's body was little more than a masturbatory hole? It did the job.

I'd watched most of the sex tape Adrienne had leaked onto the internet. Sure, she'd cooked up some elaborate story about a lost hard drive, but the timing was too perfectly in sync with her "outing" in the New York Daily News to be anything but deliberate. I'd paid special attention to the video for three reasons: one, I actually knew the guy; two, there was a brunette with a killer body in it; and three, for a blonde, Adrienne was frikkin' HOT.

Of course, the appeal had been muted by the grainy quality of a non-high definition webcam, the static nature of the shooting angle, and its distance from the bed. There had been enough detail to recognize when Tab A went into Slot B (or Slot C, for that matter), and to tell the coloration of a nipple from the surrounding titflesh, but as porn vids went it was pretty bad. Certainly I'd seen higher-resolution photographs of Adrienne's nipples in high fashion magazines and digital images.

But even those magazines and internet pics couldn't compare to watching her live and in the flesh. Her body was even more fantastic in person than in her photos, and no amount of airbrushing was needed for enhancement: she was THAT hot. Sure, my taste in tits tended to run toward Cameron's healthy C-cups, but I could appreciate the appeal of Adrienne's massive jugs, which even unfettered were almost too firm to be fair. Watching her ride Ben cowgirl-style with those big puppies bouncing was enough to get me off, limp-Elyse or not. Now add in the thought of an anonymous, masked, sex-tape brunette so I could imagine it was Cameron getting fucked and suckling on Adrienne's sweet melons? Swiftly, I exited my worthless cum dumpster and yanked her off the table so I could grab her head and park it in front of my waving meat.

Elyse opened her mouth obediently without having to be asked, but I didn't stick my cock inside. Instead, I jacked myself with one hand while watching Adrienne's tits continue to bounce, imagining that I'd get to spill my load all over those round, juicy watermelons. Presently, my ab muscles clenched and I groaned. Elyse merely closed her eyes and accepted my load as I hosed down her face until my spunk was dripping down her chin. And when I was done I wiped my messy prick clean with her hair.

I'd finished just in time, too, because the door suddenly opened and Cameron stumbled in. I frowned and started wondering why she'd stumbled when I looked behind her and saw that Sam had physically pushed her into the room. He followed after Cameron, with Mario just behind him. And as I stood up straight and looked over, I frowned and barked, "Hey, don't push her!"

Sam snapped his fingers and jerked a thumb at Mario. The Italian thug shrugged as he closed the door behind him and answered, "Caught her in one of the girls' rooms. She had this." Mario tossed me a cell phone.

I caught it and looked it over. I didn't recognize whose it was right away, maybe Rebecca's or Mary's, but it wasn't that important right now. What WAS important was why Cameron felt the need to use a cell phone. Holding it up and waggling it, I furrowed my eyebrows and asked, "Care to explain this?"

Usually so cool and so calm, Cameron looked incredibly flustered. She didn't answer for a long time, hugging herself and averting her eyes while she clearly tried to think of something, and the longer she remained silent the more annoyed I got.

"Unnngh! Oh, shit! Not again!" a girl screamed from behind me. Her scream drew the attention of both Sam and Mario, and I saw them staring through the window. I turned myself to find that Ben had grabbed Tiffin and bent the blonde's legs over his shoulders while he powerfucked her. And shaking my head at the interruption I slapped the control to mute the audio and sent the sound-proofed room into deep silence.

"Tell me what the FUCK you were DOING with this!" I thundered.

Sam and Mario both jerked as they returned their attention to me. Elyse slumped into a ball on the floor under the desk. Cameron closed her eyes and sighed. "I was just going to make a call."

"To who?" I rasped.

"To a friend," she replied lamely with a shrug, still not meeting my eyes.

"Which friend? And why?"

"Does it matter? You don't know any of them."

"I know Kelly. Were you calling her?"

"Kelly? No." Cameron sighed and shook her head. "I don't remember her number anyway."

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious." Cameron finally turned to stare at me. "I don't remember. It was programmed into my phone and I never memorized it. I had her old one memorized but she got a new line like two months ago."

"If not Kelly, then who?"

She shrugged. "Just someone."

"A guy?"

"What? No. Of course not."

"Then tell me WHO!"

Cameron hugged herself and didn't speak.

"And why? A social call? 'Hey, what's up? Sorry I haven't talked to you in a week. Carter had me locked up in my bedroom without access to a phone but things are better now so I just wanted to catch up while he's busy and distracted.' Something like that?"

Cameron still didn't answer.

Holding out the phone, I took a deep breath and exhaled wearily. "I don't get it. I thought we were getting better. I thought we were getting to the point where I could trust you again. And then you go and pull this? Why?"

Not looking at me, she muttered, "Isn't it obvious?"

"No, it's not."

"Because I don't want to BE here anymore, Carter. I said it on Sunday: Mom's dead. There's nothing left to tie me here."

"I'm here. We're family." I patted my chest with both hands for emphasis.

She only tightened her arms around her torso, as if hugging herself would reassure her. "That's just it: we're not family. You've said it yourself a million times. There's no blood between us, no unbreakable bond."

"Seventeen years together is an unbreakable bond."

"No it's not. Seventeen years doesn't have to become eighteen years. And the little brother I took care of all that time ago isn't here anymore. He's gone ... lost ... disappeared underneath this ... this... psychopath that you've become!" Her eyes flicked to me for a second before turning away again.

"Don't you DARE call me that." The desk rattled from where I'd slammed my fist on it.

"But it's true. You don't care about anyone. You don't care about anything. All you care about is yourself, and you don't give a rat's ass who you have to hurt to get your way."

"That's not true. I have ALWAYS cared about you. I have always LOVED you. Still do, even now, even after this betrayal. I LOVE you, Cameron. You're right: Mom's gone. So that means that you're now the ONLY thing in this world I really love."

Cameron's eyes suddenly snapped to mine, and this time they held. "You don't LOVE me. You've NEVER loved me! Love means sharing. Love means valuing what the other person wants. Love means not locking Cameron up in her own home!"

I blinked and gawked at her in shock. "I thought we were getting past this! I let you out, didn't I? I let you go around unsupervised again, and I already wasn't going to lock you in your room tonight."

Cameron started laughing and she stared at the ceiling as she shook her head. "I was just giving you what you WANTED so I'd get an opportunity to get away! And yes, I'm the stupid one now. If I'd only been more patient in waiting for a chance, or played along a little longer, I might've gotten a better chance to get away. But I saw an open door and I saw an uncontrolled phone and I was impulsive. My bad. My fault. Hell, if I could ONLY have come up with a better excuse for the phone off the top of my head, I might've been able to keep playing you."

"Playing me?" I frowned. "An act? You've been lying to me?"

"Whatever. I'm over it. I'm DONE with this place, and you're going to have to lock me up again to keep me here."

I set my jaw. "If that's what it takes."

She shook her head. "Just remember: Every day you keep me here against my will is another day I lose a little bit of love I had for that little boy who first needed me to put a band-aid on his knee. Every day you treat me like a prisoner is another day I'll never forgive you for. I wish things could be different. And to be perfectly honest, if you let me walk away right here and right now I might find some way to forgive you and come back to see you again. I mean that, because you're my little brother and I promised Mom I'd look after you. I don't WANT to give up on you, little brother, but it's HARD. Okay? Please. Just let me go. Let me go and I'll stay in touch. I'll find an apartment somewhere and I'll call you. I've got to get back to work. You don't have to pay for Mom's medical care anymore. We can MOVE ON, alright?"

But I shook my head in the negative. "I can't believe you lied to me. I can't BELIEVE you played me for a FOOL!"

Cameron covered her face with one hand. "I need my space, alright? I need my freedom, and I need MY choice. Isn't that what you've always told all the girls? That being here is THEIR choice? Why not me? Why can't I choose whether or not I want to be here?"

"Because you're different from them."

"Different better? Or different worse? Because right now it feels like you're trying to make ME into the sex slave."

I shook my head. "It's not like that. I NEED you here with me. I don't care if any of those sluts want to walk away. Rebecca, Mary, Judene ... if they want out then good riddance. There are more where they came from. But there's only one you. There's only ever been one you. I love you, Cameron."

She grimaced and waved her hand in disgust. "No you don't. You don't love me."

"How can you say that? After all these years?"

"You don't LOVE me, you're OBSESSED with me!" Her eyes were on fire and she actually took an aggressive step toward me. "You've been obsessed with me since you first hit puberty! Walking in on me in the shower! Drilling a fucking hole into my bedroom!"

"Because you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."

"You were a pervert. I should have screamed when I caught you, should have ratted you out to our parents right away and told you never to do it again. I should have said NO to you at every turn, made damn sure I was fully-clothed whenever you were around, and never given you a fucking inch!"

"You don't meant that."

"Like hell I don't. This is MY fault. I was a stupid teenager myself. I thought we could maintain boundaries, and I flexed my newfound power over you as if I could actually control it. I told you my limits, and I actually thought you'd obey them. I made the mistake of thinking you were just another horny teenage boy. I thought you'd eventually grow out of your obsession once you found other girls who'd let you go all the way. But after seventeen years you haven't shown those kinds of feelings for anyone ELSE."

"Because I love YOU. Always YOU."

"I'm your sister."

"STEP-sister!" I corrected, just like always. "And not even the 'step' for the last four years! There's no blood. Nothing legal stopping us from being TOGETHER the way we were always meant to be!"

"I don't WANT that! I've NEVER wanted that! Not romantically. Not EVER. And for you to stand here and LOCK me in my room in the name of love is fucking INSANE!"

"I'm not insane!"

"Yes you are! It's psychotic. Look at her. LOOK at her!" Cameron jabbed a finger at Elyse, who was still huddled underneath the desk. "Tall, dark hair, green eyes. And Rebecca. And Judene. And Lexi and Kelly and Mary and Jessica and Audrey and Shalom and Melissa and Tracey and Lana and more than I can even remember. Copies of me, all of them! Over and over again! Shit, Sam ... can you tell me a time when he wasn't obsessed with me?"

Sam's eyes popped as Cameron gestured frantically at him, and my best friend since high school took a step back and raised both hands up, his expression clearly that of somebody who didn't want to get in the middle of this.

"All those girls," Cameron moaned in agony. "You used THEM to feed your obsession with ME. And look at the end results: Elyse..." Cameron gestured to the wretch in the corner. And her voice cracked as she added, "Jillian ... Raleigh..."

Elyse choked up and started crying.

" ... and all your other 'girlfriends' who will do anything you want because you control their addiction and will beat them into submission if needed," Cameron continued bitterly. "You can't tell me you do all that for LOVE. Everything you do is because you've got this sick obsession with me, nothing more."

"Fine, I'm obsessed," I conceded with a shrug. "I'm obsessed with the one woman in the world I've loved for my entire life. I'm a wannabe husband who can't be with his wife, his One True Love, and if that is categorized as an obsession then I'm guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Because I DO love you, Cameron. I've always loved you. From the beginning of time until the end of my life, I love you."

"You don't even know what love IS. You claimed to love Mom, but you didn't really. When she died, it was as if you forgot she'd ever existed. You didn't mourn, not like me. All you cared about was how she'd benefitted you for so many years, and you wanted those benefits back. Once that was no longer possible, she no longer mattered. Gone. History. You were over it. That's not love."

"But YOU still matter. I DO love YOU. And I want US to be happy together!"

"That's never gonna happen! Because I don't love YOU. Not like that, and I never will. Your dream of marrying me and living Happily Ever After is never going to come true. The longer you go without realizing that – the longer I'm the carrot just out of your reach that you can't have – the worse things get. People are DYING, and the only way things will get better is if you STOP obsessing over me. That means letting me leave. That means getting some distance between us so that you won't be tortured by my presence anymore. So you can finally move on."

I shook my head. "I can't move on. I'll never be able to move on. The heart wants what the heart wants. I distract myself with fantasies of being with you. I lose myself in the voyeurism by fucking your proxies and watching them get fucked. All because I love you. Everything I do – even the stuff you might find distasteful – I do because of YOU."

"Don't you DARE blame me for the shit you do," Cameron spat. "You USE people, and you HURT people. Beating the shit out of Rebecca?"

"Because YOU came home with a cunt full of some other guy's jizz! How could you DO that to me?"

"I had SEX! I'm a single girl and I'm allowed to do that! Don't blame ME for that one. YOU decided to take out your rage by physically assaulting an innocent girl. Don't pin that on ME. You're the monster!"

"I'm not a monster!"

"But you ARE!" She threw her hands in the air. "For years and years and years I've tried to ignore it. Tried to look past it and see my little brother for who he used to be! I'm far from an angel. I'm far from blameless. I stood by for years and years and watched you abuse girl after girl after girl. What you do is criminal, and I actually helped you abuse them. I told myself over and over that I wasn't a bad person, that I did my best to protect the girls. But the truth is that I should have helped every single one of them get far, far away from you. I should have left you a LONG time ago. I AM a bad person. I DIDN'T protect them the way I should have. And look at the end result." She was pointing at Elyse again.

"Elyse made her own choices," I muttered.

"Choices you coerced. Choices that were never really choices." Cameron looked into the corner. "I'm so sorry, Elyse. I'm sorry I didn't protect you. I'm sorry I didn't try to save you. I'm sorry that I was selfish, thinking of my own skin, convincing myself that everything I did was to protect my family: my Mom and my little brother."

"Protecting our family was the RIGHT choice," I insisted.

"You don't get it." Cameron gave me a withering glare. "You have no idea how much I've compromised myself, how much I HATE myself for what I've become, what I've done for YOUR sake. I did it because I loved a 7-year-old boy. I wanted to believe in him. I wanted to see him grow. I only wanted what was best for him, and I always worked so hard to try and steer him away from your darkness and back into the light. But I've FAILED. How can I possibly inject empathy and kindness into a heart that doesn't exist? You have no SOUL, Carter. You don't CARE. You're a psychopathic, narcissistic asshole who stomps on anyone and everyone to get his way! You've corrupted your girlfriends. You've corrupted ME. YOU killed Raleigh. YOU killed Jillian. You're going to kill Elyse! And-- AAAAACK!"

Cameron screamed as she fell to the floor. My heart was thumping in my chest hard enough that I was surprised I didn't see lumps bouncing through my shirt. My hand tingled, and I realized it was still outstretched from the point where I'd slapped her.

I'd just slapped her.

I'd physically hurt my Cameron.

"Now look what you made me do," I breathed, scarcely able to believe it had just happened. I stared at my palm, bright red from adrenaline-pumped blood and the impact against her cheek. I'd seethed inside for her entire last rant, feeling my muscles coiling and the tension building until finally her last words pushed me over the edge. Still shaking, I looked down at her and repeated, "Look what you made me do."

Cameron remained on the floor where she'd fallen. Her head was bowed as she sobbed in pain and misery. Evidently she was just as shocked as I was that I'd actually struck her. HER. And I was livid that she'd made me reach this point of anger.

"You shouldn't have made me do that," I growled, coiling my red hand into a fist before pointing my index finger at her. "That was YOUR fault. Why couldn't you just stay in line, huh? Why couldn't you just let things be the way they were? Things weren't so bad, were they? I'd stopped pressuring you, hadn't I?"

Nobody in the room moved, least of all Cameron. She simply cried and stayed on the floor.

"It all comes back to you," I stated evenly. "You're the source, the cause, the origin point for everything I do. For you, Cameron. Always for you. And always for the one thing you'd never give me."

Just then, I noticed Sam and Mario both glancing at the one-way mirror, and I looked over as well. The audio feed was still muted, but we all could still practically hear the orgasmic ecstasy as mouths opened in silent screams when Ben yanked himself out of Adrienne, shoved his dick in between the supermodel's massive hooters, and rutted into her titflesh until he began blowing his load all over her gorgeous face.

"The one thing you'd never give me," I repeated, my eyes unfocusing. And decision made, I barked to the window. "Sam, go find Lexi. She might be upstairs by now. Send her into the Showroom."

"Excuse me?"

"Just do it."

He took a moment to think about it, but Sam left the room shortly after. I kept my eyes on the window, watching Ben bend over and kiss his lover tenderly, ignoring his own cum covering Adrienne's face. She even playfully scraped off a glob and smeared it on his cheek. The pair claimed to be ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, but the love between them was still quite clear. Love that I didn't have in my life, or at least didn't have reciprocated.

And I never would. Cameron didn't love me that way, not romantically, and she never would. For years I'd tried to bide my time, to wait for her to come around. She'd see, wouldn't she? How much I loved her and how devoted I was to her. She'd see the carbon copies of her that I drowned myself in and realize it was all for her, realize how little they meant to me solely because they could never quite measure up to her.

So why was I waiting anymore? Why bother? Should I live the rest of my life in this excruciating purgatory, always with heaven close at hand but never quite able to touch it? Or should I give up on the silly notion of Cameron ever returning that feeling? Should I surrender myself to the knowledge that she'd NEVER see me as a suitable mate, no matter how many other guys she fucked?

Why should THEY get to fuck her when I couldn't?

What choice did I have anymore? Did I wait forever, even if it meant living a lifetime and then dying without ever being so intimately connected to my One True Love?

Or did I take what is rightfully mine here and now?

"Will you ever love me the way I want?" I asked, staring into the window as Lexi almost nervously walked into the Showroom, her eyes wide and her manner that of a girl who'd clearly just taken a fresh hit of meth.

Her sobbing now under control, Cameron replied from behind me, "Go to hell."

Fine then. Hell it is.

11:22 PM

"Shit. Gimme another hit."

"Carter..." Sam cautioned.

"I said gimme another hit!" I barked, and Sam obediently put the pipe in my hands. Sam was my friend, not my lackey. If anything, he was MY boss. But he was my friend and even though he'd always been the one to warn me off from using too much meth myself, so as to stay in total command of my mental faculties, when I got into a mood he was willing to help me out.

I inhaled the clear smoke and felt the chemicals working their way through my veins. Shaking my head in disgust, I growled and stared through the window at the scene before me.

This was not what I had planned for. This was not what I'd expected. I'd expected Ben to put on the same kind of performance he'd done for me in the past. I'd expected Ben to fuck the shit out of his latest girl the same way he'd done the past three already tonight.

It wasn't that he was tired. Sure, the guy had been fucking non-stop for more than an hour, but physically he wasn't winded or even out of breath.

It wasn't a matter of an erection. He was rock hard and ready for action, having apparently only cum twice despite maintaining that erection for over an hour. Truly, the idiot savant WAS a sex god.

And I couldn't imagine it was because of the girl he was with. I'd talked with Lexi many times and she'd never mentioned any special connection with Ben. Certainly he'd pounded the crap out of Tiffin, Meli, and even his dear ex-girlfriend Adrienne with all the raw power and dominance he'd shown with Rebecca and Jillian so long ago.

So why the fuck was he making love to Lexi?

Why?

I didn't like it. Not exciting. Not entertaining.

And even more ... I HATED it.

Soft. Sweet. Tender. Pure. It was "making love" at its most Hallmark-y romantic. I watched girls get pounded for the visceral thrill of SEX. This wasn't SEX. This was ... was fluff. This was PG-13. This was...

This was...

... what I'd never have with Cameron.

She didn't love me, not like this.

She'd never love me, not like I wanted.

She and I would never make love, not in the way Ben and Lexi were doing right now. And for me to put myself into Ben's position, to imagine it was me doing to her (Cameron) the things he was doing ... well it was damn near enough to break the heart Cameron claimed I didn't have.

I couldn't watch anymore.

"We're leaving," I announced, tightening my grip around Cameron's neck. She was pressed up against the desk, her hands braced on its surface with my pelvis spooned up against her ass. Neither Tiffin nor Meli nor Adrienne looked anything like Cameron, but Lexi did, and I'd intended to make Cameron watch her doppelganger get violently pounded by the guy she'd termed a 'hero' not too long ago. I'd intended for the sight of it to fuel my lust and drive me to the point of FINALLY taking what was rightfully mine:

Cameron's body.

It had always belonged to me, from the first time I laid eyes on it and realized it was my holy grail. It was the physical embodiment of perfection I had worshipped since I first learned how to masturbate. And the other girls were mere replicas of her perfection that I'd used as my masturbatory tools ever since.

I would take Cameron's purity, finally feel her tight pussy wrapped around my naked cock. And then?

And then...

I'd claim her very last virginity.

But not here. Not while watching ... watching THAT. That which I couldn't have. So we were leaving.

Cameron squeaked as I maintained my left-handed grip around her throat and steered her hips with my right hand. She only gave me token resistance as I marched her toward the door, which Mario opened up at our approach.

"Sam, bring Elyse," I barked. "I don't want her roaming free after everything she's heard tonight."

Behind me I heard Elyse whimper as Sam evidently jerked her off the floor. I didn't care what happened to the bitch; I just didn't want a loose end.

I marched Cameron out the door and down the stairs. We passed no one in the halls, everyone occupied either upstairs on the main level or in a room doing those things people did at my parties.

When we hit the third floor, I called over my shoulder, "Mario, stay here and make sure nobody disturbs us."

The Italian thug grunted his understanding and remained behind at the foot of the stairs.

"Carter, you can't do this," Cameron choked out once we entered my bedroom, not an easy thing to do with me still gripping her throat. But I quickly let go of her and physically shoved her toward my bed before turning around and closing the door just after Sam and Elyse followed us in.

My heart was pounding from a combination of my anger, my lust, and the meth now in my system. My limbs felt flush with power, and for a moment I squeezed the door handles so hard I was sure I'd dent the metal beneath my fingers.

I was wired. I felt like I'd been zapped by a bolt of lightning, but rather than kill me, it had given me the cosmic energy of the universe. I was breathing fast, my body consuming twice as much oxygen as normal. I felt like my vision had improved so much that I could identify microscopic indentations in the door panel before me. But at the same time, whenever I turned my head I felt a foggy dizziness that made me believe I was floating away on a cloud.

I felt GOOD.

I felt like a GOD.

Gods aren't subject to the same rules as pitiful humans. Gods don't have to put up with morality or petty laws. Gods have POWER. Gods TAKE what is theirs. And I knew what was rightfully mine.

My loins were on fire, flush with heat and electricity. My rational brain knew this was an effect of the meth, the reason why I could so easily manipulate women into having sex with me or for me. But now it was MY loins on fire, a burning sensation at the tip of my cock that could only be quenched several inches inside Cameron's pussy.

Finally.

For the first time.

After far too many years.

Mine.

She didn't want this.

Fuck her.

She only loved me like a brother.

Fuck her.

She'd tried to abandon me, too.

Fuck her.

Cameron screamed when I finally pounced, terror in her eyes as the full realization of what I was doing sank in. Perhaps she didn't believe I'd ever actually do it. Perhaps if she'd known she'd have put up more of a fight coming down here in the first place. But now that it was happening, she was certainly fighting now.

Cameron had a mean right hook, and I saw stars for a moment that had nothing to do with the crystal meth. But I was an out of control juggernaut now, and the punch didn't slow me down a bit.

I got both hands on the V-neck of her dress and roared like the Incredible Hulk as I ripped it apart. The dress tore down the middle, not enough to fully separate but enough so that it would be easier to remove later on. She thrashed and punched and kicked, but I managed to get my weight on top of hers across the bed and I clapped my left hand over her mouth.

"Fair is fair, my dear sister," I growled in a sinister voice. "You're only getting what you deserve." And then I laughed with glee.

Cameron's eyes were wide in horror, and she fought back twice as hard. But reaching my right fist back, I brought it swiftly forward into the side of her head, concussing her skull and causing her to go abruptly limp. And as she suddenly stopped thrashing, I slipped a finger beneath the hem of her dress, past her panties, and into her cunt.

Her labia were dry, but I knew they wouldn't be forever. This wasn't the first time I'd been with a less-than-enthusiastic partner and sometimes they just needed a little warming up. And if they didn't quite lubricate enough ... well ... sometimes the more friction the better.

Cameron quivered as my fingers kept pushing into her, a second one now joining the first. There was moisture deep inside that simply had to be drawn out, so in and out I plunged, stretching out that cunt I knew would be so tight and then pulling back to coat her outer lips with her natural lubrication. She whimpered, and I liked to believe it was the sound of her growing arousal. Still, I kept my left hand over her mouth to muffle her.

I didn't bother to remove her cocktail dress, not yet. I did reach up with my right hand to jerk down her bra and expose her perfect breasts. Keeping my left hand on her face, I bent over and slobbered my lips and tongue across both globes, paying special attention to her nipples. And then my right hand dropped to begin unfastening my pants.

Cameron started to recover then, her concussion passing and strength returning to her limbs. She started raising her arms before I grabbed both hands and pinned them to the mattress behind her head. And doing my best to grip both of her skinny wrists in my left hand alone, I nudged her legs apart with my knees, used my right hand to center my cock at her portal, and I pushed ahead.

Fuck yeah...

She was tight, and still a little dry, but Cameron's pussy opened up for my penetrating rod. Her mouth free, she groaned as I burrowed inside her, but rather than fight me off she merely turned her head to the side and started crying. Whimpering, she allowed me to push and push and push in more, until I'd inserted myself fully with every last inch FINALLY buried inside my One True Love. And only then did I let go of her wrists and center myself so that we were in a natural missionary position as I supported my weight with a forearm to either side of her.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" I chuckled. "Feels right."

Cameron kept her head turned as she squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered. Tears were rolling freely down her cheeks, but there was no more screaming, no more thrashing. I'd conquered Mount Everest, and there was nothing left to fight.

"And if you like this, it gets even better," I assured her, bending over and tenderly kissing her cheek. The hatred was gone from me now, the anger and resentment. All would be forgiven, even the attempts to run away. Because we were together now. We were united as ONE.

Clutching the bedsheets, I withdrew about halfway and swiftly burrowed myself back inside. Cameron grimaced, trying desperately to NOT feel the pleasure I knew she actually felt. Even after all this time, with the act itself now complete, she still resisted what was truly meant to be.

"Stop fighting it," I told her. "Feel the destiny. Feel how we are joined together. Isn't this wonderful? Isn't this how we were meant to always be? In love? Forever and ever?"

"You're insane," she muttered, still not looking at me.

I shook my head. She could deny it all she wanted, but this was TRUTH. I fucked her harder, and harder and harder, and I was rewarded with her breathless groan that certainly meant she was feeling the pleasure.

"Fuck, yeah..." I growled.

She started crying again, but this time I knew she was crying tears of joy. Wanting her to celebrate in our love, I grabbed her face with my left hand and turned it to mine. I sealed my lips over her mouth, kissing her with all my love and passion and joy, and she playfully bit at my lips, moving so fast that I barely had time enough to back away.

I chuckled. "Now you're getting into it!"

"Go to hell!" she spat back. No literally, she spat in my face.

I paused from my thrusting just long enough to realize that she really WASN'T getting into it. She'd actually SPIT at me. The bitch! The nerve! After everything I'd done for her! After everything I'd done to bring US together!

Cameron went limp beneath me, and my hand stung again. I shook out my hand, feeling the pain slowly fade after she'd made me strike her once more. "You shouldn't have made me do that. Why did you make me do that?"

She didn't answer, her head merely lolling about as I could almost see the butterflies dancing around her head. Her eyeballs had rolled up into her skull, and she was lifeless as I pulled myself out of her pussy and only now bothered to remove her dress.

Already ripped at the neckline, the dress was easy to yank over the top of her head. The bra likewise got tossed into a corner. The panties were last, and in the process of removing them I rolled her onto her belly. Cameron was only half-conscious after this second time I'd concussed her, and she didn't resist as I loomed back over her body. But still, I hoped she was aware enough to hear as I reminded her, "This is all because of you. Everything I have done in my entire life, everything ... is because of you. My dream. My nightmare. My Forever One. All for you. And that includes the fault."

Cameron only groaned.

"FUCK you, bitch!" I howled as I spanked her ass.

"FUCK you for making me turn into what I've become!" I shouted as I spanked her again.

"FUCK you! FUCK you! FUCK you!" Three more times I slapped her butt cheeks until her ass was red and my hand was hurting again.

"YOUR fault! YOURS!" Two more spanks, and she'd started to groan again and wake up.

"You belong to me," I growled as I moved up over her body and centered my cock over her anus. "And I belong to you. Our fates have always been intertwined, and there's only one more thing that could possibly bring us any closer together."

Cameron moaned and started squirming as she felt the pressure of my cockhead trying to open up her sphincter. I slapped her ass again and lay down flat on her back while gripping her hips with both hands to keep her still.

"Your final purity, your final precious hole ... it's MINE!" I thrust at that final exclamation, and this time I was rewarded with a little bit of give as my mushroom head sunk through. THAT seemed to wake Cameron, as she abruptly got her knees under her and bucked upward. But with my weight pinning her down, she didn't get much leverage and she didn't manage to dislodge my prick. If anything, she shoved me about an inch deeper than before.

"MINE," I crowed, sitting up and settling my knees onto the mattress to either side of her while pressing down on the back of her head with my left hand.

"MINE!" I shouted again as I thrust forward, sinking another couple of inches into her rectum.

"MINE! MINE! MINE!"

Fully awake, Cameron was howling in pain and thrashing about as hard as she could. I rode her ass like a bucking bronco, taking each thrust and using it to aide my penetration. Fucking hell her ass was tight, and the exquisitely hot friction of my cock pushing up her back door was both incredibly pleasurable and painfully chafing. And FINALLY she ran out of steam and stopped trying to fight me.

Keeping her pinned, I withdrew a couple of inches and bent to spit on my dickshaft, getting as much grease as I could on it. Cameron whimpered beneath me, sobbing despondently.

Mine.

I grabbed her hips, held her tight, and I thrust again.

"Please!" Cameron now wailed, her first intelligible word in quite some time. She twisted and straight and tried to arch away from me, but she was well and fully trapped.

"Ungh!" I grunted happily and thrust again.

"Stop! Please! Carter! For the love of--"

"Fuck, fuck..." I grunted and kept thrusting.

"Owwwunnngh!" she screamed in pain.

"Unnngh, yeah..."

Cameron kept making noises, but they weren't intelligible anymore. In her thrashing, she'd managed to move us to the edge of the bed. Her head hung down over the edge, but that was as far as she could go. Out of energy, her head lolled left and right in rhythm with the pumping of my cock in and out of her ass. And she visibly quivered, shaking like a leaf in the storm.

"Fuck, yeah," I grunted, still sawing in and out of my True Love's asshole. Meth-laced energy gave power to my limbs and fueled my thrusting. At the same time my vision swam as a spell of vertigo overtook me. Holding onto her hips with both hands, I let my head fall back so that I could stare upwards and watch the ceiling spin around us. All my other senses were attuned to the feeling of her buttery butt gripping my rod with each successive plunge. I knew I could last quite awhile, having cum with Judene and Elyse not too long ago. And as I floated away on a sea of carnal bliss, I simply let my body automatically continue to ream out Cameron's poor body, the holy vessel that now truly belonged to me.

I wasn't angry anymore. I felt too good to feel angry. I was in heaven, my sluggish brain awash with pleasurable sensations. This was my cleansing after all the recent turmoil since Mom had died. This was the celebration of our intimacy, two family members left all alone with no one but each other. This was Cameron fulfilling her promise to take care of me, in any way she could. This was my revenge and release at the same time, the perfect way to clear my head after a stressful day, by bending her over face-down and sodomizing her until I'd gotten the aggression out of my system. Well the aggression was out now. And all that was left to do was cum.

I forced my eyes to focus as I brought my chin back down. I stared at her perky buttcheeks. I leaned forward, adjusting my angle to a more vertical thrust and really driving my hips into my fucking motion to let my cock bore deeper and deeper into Cameron's bowels. And I reached forward with my hands, sliding them up and under her prone body to cup those nice, firm tits.

She didn't resist anymore. In fact, Cameron was limp beneath me, taking everything I had to give her. She'd surrendered. I'd won. And we were united at last.

The flow began unexpectedly. One second, I was happily bumping away. The next, big, thick squirts of cum were spraying out of my cockhead to hose down the inner depths of Cameron's backdoor.

"Fuck, yeah," I groaned again. "Feel that, baby?"

She only moaned in response.

"Ungh ... ungh-ungh..." I gave her a double-tap, squirting out a little extra. I kept shooting until there was nothing left in my balls. And when the flow finally stopped, I sagged forward, putting all my weight onto our juncture and pressing her pelvis even harder into the mattress. My cock was as deep as it would ever go up into her colon, and the two of us went silent once more.

Neither of us moved for a long time. Cameron was like the de-boned fish Elyse had been before, just a sack of flesh hanging over the edge of the bed. Her eyes were vacant as she stared away at nothing. And I simply panted to catch my breath while feeling my dick slowly shrivel up and retract though remain within her anal passage.

"That was great. We'll do this again sometime," I sighed happily, feeling the pleasant endorphin rush of my orgasm flood my brain. Slowly, the outside world started coming back to me, sounds from outside the bubble that had formed while Cameron and I made love in our own special way, and only now did I realize that I was hearing the sounds of someone ELSE fighting.

"Motherfucker! You get OFF of her!!!" a girl shrieked. Meaty thumps that sounded like arms hitting arms sounded off to my right, and I turned my head to see Elyse thrashing like some crazed animal while Sam did his level best to pin her against the wall.

How long they'd been fighting, I didn't know. But as I watched, Elyse managed to grab hold of an expensive vase off a pedestal against the wall and she swung it around in a sharp parabola, its terminus abruptly intersecting with Sam's skull.

Sam went limp and collapsed. I barely had time to blink before the crazy lady was suddenly on me. And the next thing I knew my head was ringing after the back of it bounced off the floor while Elyse straddled my chest and rained fist after hammer-fist down on top of me.

The double-doors to my bedroom burst open and I turned my head to see that Mario had heard the commotion and come running. With a surge of adrenaline, I got hold of Elyse's arms and rolled her off of me. Mario then came up behind her, trapped her arms against her torso, and lifted the crazy bitch into the air while she flailed her legs.

I got to my feet and took a look around. Across the room, Sam was starting to get to his feet, and taking a deep breath I figured the worst was over. Only now did I realize that Mario had not burst into my room alone. For some strange-ass reason, Ben was with him. That confused the hell out of me, but first I wanted to deal with Elyse who was still struggling in Mario's arms.

Stepping up to her, I muttered coldly, "I'm gonna kill you, bitch." And I slapped her across her jaw as hard as I could. Stunned, Elyse immediately went limp.

I'd thought that would be the end of it, but a shout from the doorway drew my attention and suddenly Mario was groaning in pain as he collapsed to the ground, still with Elyse in his arms. I gawked in surprise as I realized Ben had attacked Mario, and already filled with rage after Elyse's assault, I snarled and immediately threw a punch right at Ben's face.

But it didn't connect. One moment, I was angrily lashing out at the guy, and the next moment he wasn't there. Instead, I felt my entire head being rocked upward and backwards like I was a PEZ dispenser. My legs went wobbly, and I staggered several steps back as the world spun in circles around me.

I didn't hear anything for a little while, the sights and sounds muffled and irrelevant while I dealt with my immediate issues. It wasn't so different from the tunnel vision I'd felt while fucking Cameron, where everything around me disappeared except for that which mattered most.

But eventually the vertigo passed and I realized I was leaning against a dresser drawer, my hand braced on top of it the only thing stopping me from collapsing to the floor. I shook my head to clear it and looked up to find that Mario was out cold and see Sam and Ben fighting. It looked like Sam had the upper hand as his superior size was overpowering the idiot savant who looked like more of a lover than a fighter. But then Ben poked a thumb into Sam's eye and followed it up with a kick to the knee, and Sam went down on all fours.

Enough of this shit.

I didn't keep many weapons in the house. If a SWAT team with DEA agents ever came to raid this place, the plan was to surrender peacefully and deal with the bureaucracy. I had no intention of dying spectacularly in a hail of gunfire or any such bullshit like that. Even in the world of drugs, there were other ways of dealing with conflicts than escalating a situation that had a high probability of killing me and ending my joyride prematurely. I left the gangsta wannabes with their sideways sidearms to the streets.

But that didn't mean I didn't HAVE a gun.

The safe above the dresser drawer was a simple device, not so different from one you'd find in a nice hotel. Four buttons and it opened for me, and I retrieved the standard-issue Glock Chad had procured for me long ago. I slapped the clip into it, turned, and pulled the slide, and the weapon made a very satisfying click that certainly drew Ben's attention.

Standing over an unconscious Sam with his fists bunched, Ben quickly opened up his palms and visibly sagged.

"You shouldn't have done that, dude," I muttered wearily as I aimed the gun at him.

Ben obediently raised his hands in a surrendering position. "No, I shouldn't have. I just don't like it when guys hurt girls. You shouldn't have smacked Elyse."

I rolled my eyes at his naïve stupidity. "You shouldn't have gotten involved with her in the first place."

"Maybe not. The girls call it my White Knight complex. Can't turn down a damsel in distress."

I snorted. "Another hero. Good way to get yourself killed is what it is."

Ben winced at the word 'killed'. "Are you really going to kill me? C'mon, Carter. Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll I get. But murder? Isn't that a bit extreme?"

I thought about that. Bringing the attention of the authorities wasn't really what I had in mind. There were most assuredly people who knew Ben had been here tonight. If he turned up missing, a very bright spotlight would be shone on my private little oasis. I didn't want that, and with a sigh I conceded, "Yes, it probably is."

"Look I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to beat up your boys. Adrenaline rush, that's all. You know I've got connections to Elyse; she's my friend. I didn't like you smacking her and I was trying to protect her, that's all. Can we move past this?"

As annoyed as I was by his intrusion, his words made a certain kind of sense. Ben rushing in for a misguided rescue of a meth-slut who didn't deserve his concern was ... well ... Well it was stupid, but it was in line with his character. After all, Cameron HAD pegged him as a hero.

Cameron.

My eyes unfocused and I felt the strength in my arm leaving me. In the moment while I was raping her, everything had made sense. She deserved it, I deserved her, and I was only taking what was rightfully mine, right? But now ... after the fact ... I was starting to realize.

Shit, I RAPED her.

Ben was muttering something, and I looked up as he continued, " ... We're friends, right? I did what you asked, even fucked Lexi. I'd never been with her before, you know that, right? She's my little sister's friend, and I didn't really want to get involved in that way. But I know you get off watching your girlfriends get nailed. I did that for you."

"Lexi..." I mumbled, blinking a few times and mentally going back over the last half-hour or so. I thought about Ben tenderly making love to my girlfriend, and how much it had filled me with disgust to see him being so tender and intimate in a way I could never be with the one who truly mattered to me. And of course, that line of thinking brought me back to...

"Cameron..." I moaned. I turned and stared at the bed, and found that my dearly beloved was staring right back at me. There was no warmth in her eyes, no sisterly concern. There was only hate, and sadness, and pain after the things I'd done to her.

She was crying, and with a sniffle and a deep breath, she wiped her eyes, closed them, and shook her head disapprovingly.

I'd raped her.

I could have done it years ago. I could have done it when we were teenagers. But I'd never wanted it, not like that. Not by force.

I'd wanted to have sex with Cameron, that much was obvious. I'd wanted SO BADLY to feel my cock burrowing deep inside her body, to feel our loins joined together in the ultimate form of unity. I'd wanted that physical pleasure, to feel myself emptying my liquid love into her very core. And yet as much as I'd wanted those things, there was something I'd wanted even more.

Her love.

Her acceptance.

Her desire to be with me as badly as I wanted to be with her.

No more.

Not possible.

Not after what I'd done.

Above all else, I'd wanted her to want ME.

More than all the voyeurism and all the degradations and all the chemically-aided orgasms, what I craved the most was a woman's choice. Whether it was Elyse choosing to take my dick into her mouth or Rebecca choosing to get assfucked or Judene choosing to pull an ass-to-mouth, nothing made a decision better than having HER choose for HERSELF.

And I'd wanted Cameron to choose me.

But I'd taken away her choice. After years of waiting, tonight I'd cheapened our first time together. Tonight I'd stolen her last virginity, the one thing she'd been saving for me all along.

Tonight I'd destroyed our future.

Ben was still staring at me with his hands up. Well, he was staring at what any intelligent person would be staring at, which was the gun in my hands. I suddenly felt very tired. As much as I had loved my lifestyle, I was now very tired of it. It was exhausting throwing party after party after party. Every week it was the same: handle my business, get girls hooked on meth, smack the harem into line, and get myself off whenever convenient. All while biding my time, all while waiting for a future with my One True Love that I now realized was never going to happen.

She might have someday come to love me the way I wanted her to.

She might have someday gotten over her hang-ups, her fears, and her womanly overthinking. With enough time after burying Mom and getting on with her life, she might have put our "siblinghood" in the rearview mirror and eventually decided to move forward with me as a couple.

Someday. Maybe. Could have been...

... but not anymore.

Not after I'd raped her tonight.

She was going to leave me, and this time I wouldn't be able to stop her. I could lock her up, but she'd hate me for the rest of eternity for what I'd done to her. There was no going back. My life as I knew it was over. My whole reason for existence ... her ... wouldn't be here anymore.

I didn't care about Lexi. I didn't care about Rebecca or Judene or Jessica or any of the others. I didn't even care about Sam or Chad or the business. They'd all been means to an end, a future goal that no longer existed.

And now that it was gone, my life had no meaning.

I couldn't have Cameron, and really ... if I couldn't...

Then no one could.

I'd have to kill her. I'd have to kill myself, of course. There was no way I'd want to continue living a life without meaning, live a life with such a bleak future that didn't have her in it. I'd have to kill myself, but first I'd have to kill her so that no one else could have her instead. It would be beautifully tragic, like Shakespeare. Bonded for all time in life and bonded again in death. Yeah, Cameron had to die.

Elyse had to die, too. She'd been nothing but a pain ever since I got sick of her. Annoying, clingy, causing trouble everywhere she went. Better to put her out of her misery than let her keep fucking up other peoples' lives. I'd already told her I'd kill her, so now I may as well follow through. I wouldn't have killed her in the past because the headaches and police inquiries wouldn't have been worth it. But what would it matter if I was dead anyway? I'd feel better knowing I'd finally snuffed out the bitch myself.

So of course that left Ben. He was a witness now. He'd seen too much. Sure, Sam and Mario were still here, but they were both unconscious. They'd wake up to a room full of dead bodies and figure out how to move on. Chad had connections, and they knew everything anyway. But Ben wasn't part of my posse. He was an outsider intruding where he shouldn't have gone. Some might call that being a hero, rescuing the damsel in distress. But things don't always end like in the fairy tales, and coming down here would be his last fatal mistake.

"You know, any other night and I would have let you walk away," I began, sniffling past the tears I hadn't even realized I was crying. "You really didn't do anything we can't fix. I even get where you're coming from about wanting to protect a girl like Elyse. That's noble, man. But the problem is that tonight is NOT like any other night. Tonight is tonight. And I'm sorry, but there's no walking away from this one."

Shoot Ben. Shoot Elyse. Shoot Cameron. And then finally shoot myself. That was the plan.

Ben didn't realize I was actually going to kill him, not until I raised the gun again and pointed it right at his face. I watched his eyes go wide in shock just before I pulled the trigger, and even though he dodged I was rewarded with the sight of the bullet impacting his head and a spray of blood spurting out from his skull to splatter against the wall behind him as he fell to the floor.

And that's when Elyse tackled me.

11:50 PM

While I hadn't forgotten Elyse was here, and in fact I'd even planned to shoot her next, I'd forgotten that she was no longer immobilized. If I thought she'd been a crazed animal before, she was like a monkey with rabies now. Scratching and clawing and hissing and biting, Elyse was doing everything she could possibly think of to attack me and I barely fended her off.

Like before, my superior strength and weight served me well as I managed to roll her off me. But Mario was still out cold and this time he wouldn't be grabbing her from behind, so I had to climb on and pin her down myself. Repeated smacks to the head weren't enough to take the fight out of her, and she scraped her nails across my cheek and also bit down on my wrist before I managed to grab her skull and start braining her against the floor to finally make her stop.

And then I got tackled AGAIN.

My new assailant didn't stay on top of me. He slumped to the floor and I realized my arm was streaked with blood. I blinked and realized that Ben was still alive, even if the entire right side of his face was covered red with blood so that the white of his eye stood out brilliantly against the darkness. Amazingly, his attention was on Elyse as he grunted, "Elyse! Get out of here!"

The gun was lost, I didn't know where. It had fallen when the crazy bitch tackled me. But I still had my wits and my fists and I wasn't bleeding profusely from the head. So it was an easy matter to crawl over and start throwing punches at Ben again.

We wrestled for a bit, and Ben shouted again, "Elyse! Cameron! Both of you get out of here!"

That got me to turn my head for a moment, and Ben managed to land a punch to my gut which took the wind out of me. And the next thing I knew he was crawling away for the gun which had skidded against the wall.

I saw that Elyse wasn't moving. Apparently bashing her head into the floor a few times had knocked her senseless. But I saw that Cameron was getting off the bed, and as I realized that she might actually escape, a fresh burst of adrenaline shot through me. I dove forward, grabbing onto Ben's legs and jerking back so that he dropped onto his belly with the wind knocked out of him. Still holding onto his legs, I used them as grips to launch myself forward. And then we both were scrabbling for the gun, each with an arm outstretched, finding that the weapon was just out of reach while we lay on the floor side-by-side throwing elbows and knees into each other.

Not too far from us, Elyse groaned as she rolled onto her side and started to get up.

Finally, I managed to throw an elbow into Ben's throat, choking him and making him pull his arm back to grab at it. Getting up onto all fours, I crawled forward and seized the gun in my hands. I spun around to locate my opponent, realized he was reaching for me, and swung the gun around like a rock in my hand, cracking the butt-end right against his forehead.

Ben immediately slumped face-first to the floor, his body going limp. I took the opportunity to crawl further away, and once I was out of his reach, I got up on my feet and took a few more steps back. "I win!" I crowed, aiming the weapon at my fallen foe.

Cradling his throat with one hand and holding his concussed head with the other, Ben wheezed and tried to get up. Meanwhile the blood continued to flow from the wound on the upper-right side of his head. His eyes took a moment to focus, but once they did they opened wide in panic, not so different from the last time I'd pointed a gun at him.

"This time, I won't miss," I promised. Taking careful aim at his midsection, I started squeezing the trigger. But as I began, I felt movement from the side as I was about to get tackled again, and I abruptly turned to meet the attack.

"NO!" Elyse shouted as she threw herself at me. My finger completed its contraction, and the gun went off only inches away from her chest. Elyse's eyes popped WIDE open as she felt the bullet's impact, but her momentum still carried her body into me as she knocked us both to the ground.

I lost the gun AGAIN.

This was getting old. The only bright side was that Elyse wasn't biting or clawing me this time, and it was an easy matter to roll her off me. But by the time she did, Ben was back on his feet and hitting me as hard as he could. Still, he was going weak, and I was able to toss him off me. He rolled over toward my desk, and I darted my head around left and right while looking for the gun. I didn't see it, and I was starting to panic when I realized Ben was on his feet and coming at me again, this time with a gleaming silver letter opener in his hand.

Shit.

Focusing on my opponent, I set my feet and readied myself for his attack. Ben stopped a good distance away from me, similarly adopting a martial arts pose. We circled each other for a moment, both of us breathing hard. But I noticed that the blood kept flowing out from Ben's head, he was wobbling on his feet from dizziness, and he was struggling just to keep his arms up.

Setting my jaw, I moved forward with confidence and batted aside his first lunge with the letter opener, impacting his wrist and making him let go of it. Really, he was so weak that it was quite easy to knock him to the floor. Then, I quickly pounced and landed on his midsection, straddling Ben's stomach as I started rapid-fire punching his face. He went fairly limp beneath me, his arms upraised in his final feeble attempts to ward me off. As I felt the last of his strength leave him, I separated his arms and pinned them down to either side of his head. Ben stared at the ceiling in a daze, already halfway into unconsciousness as he kept losing more and more blood. And recalling what I'd done with Elyse, I seized Ben's skull in both of my hands.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "It's not personal. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Taking a deep breath, I lifted his head and braced myself to bash it against the floor as hard as I could. But just then I heard the sound of a gunshot, and I raised my head to find its source.

Cameron, still naked, knelt on the floor beside the bed. She held the gun with both hands, a thin tendril of wispy smoke issuing from its tip. The gun was shaking, held unsteadily in her hands, and she was openly sobbing as she slowly lowered her arms and let the gun point down.

Only then did the pain in my abdomen register. I looked down at my red shirt and realized that a circle of darker red blood was rapidly spreading across the fabric. Cameron had shot me in the gut. My One True Love had actually shot me. But while the emotional damage felt the worst, it was the physical damage that was lethal, and I felt the life draining out of me as my spine went limp and I collapsed flat on my back across the floor.

I wasn't dead yet, though, and what little energy I had left I put into trying to get up. But moments later, I felt a new sharp pain in my chest, and I looked down to find that Ben was on his knees while the dull end of the silver letter opener stuck upright from my body all on its own.

The life bled out of me even faster now, and my head limply turned to the side. Inky blackness soon filled my vision, clouding my sight and threatening to overwhelm me. But before it did, I saw a sobbing Cameron sink to her knees just a few feet in front of my face.

Before I went blind, the last thing I ever saw was my Cameron turning the gun around to press the nozzle against her own heart.

And the last thing I ever heard was the sound of another gunshot.