He’s everywhere, but he’s nowhere. Blinks of chaos. Blinding bright lights. Faces I recognize but don’t know. The woman in burgundy scrubs, pushing the mop. Eyes meeting mine, dead on. Who am I, to her? To anyone? Him. I'm weightless, blinking through gauzy layers of time. Intimate times we’d laugh till we cried. Skin on skin, the flex of him inside me, long nights or mornings when we’d web together. Linger on each other....

I was flicking through TikTok when I heard the metallic drag of the chair on cement next to me. Removing my earbud and putting it into its case, I glanced at the left corner of my screen to confirm the phone icon was still lit up in green. “Hey,” Cam murmured in my ear, kissing my cheek. I fought the flinch, the urge to wipe the trace of his lips from my cheek. He eased into into the chair next to me, his knee touching mi...

There’s a whisper threading between our words bobbing and weaving like a ghost in ocean wind Falling through the clutches of distance and time I reach into the liquid moon, Finding your fingers, And you pull me through The aching sky, Allow me to pool Next to you. Building into a form, I fill my lungs with air Until my breath Plumes with yours. You speak. Closing my eyes, I raise my arms And fall back Into the current of...

Dave peeked around the living room entranceway to peer at the front door. When he saw the blonde hair, the blue eyes looking at him through the decorative glass, he stepped back out of sight. Shit. He looked down. The bottom of his faded Broncos T-shirt brushed the top of his waist and hugged his deltoids and pecs, having shrunken in the dryer over the years. His fraying blue flannel pajama pants were soft enough to justi...

The thunder finally moves, Rolling into the distance, Heat lightning Flashing in the sky Hymns of insects fill the void, Followed by layers of birdsong And a world that breaks and bends the light A voice vibrates through, Captures honey from sunrise, Blends with the bruise of night Rhythmic and soft, Filling between dust motes And mountains Flooding my body like a scent Bent, broken words Fall from my lips, Drift into you...

I shouldn’t have listened to her. She did, after all, murder my friend. Her husband. My only run-in with cops had been a speeding violation when I was eighteen. There was zero reason to involve myself. “Jesus Christ, Jennifer,” I muttered to myself. Standing in the gap of their hedges, I looked at the front door. The little pots of basil and thyme, sitting next to a palm-sized clay turtle. “The fuck is wrong with you?” It...

You The still air suddenly vibrates Like song notes, Pouring over me In an exhale of possibility, Pulling my chest higher Rope burning my wrists Every pore on edge And I hear A sharp inhale Your low hum My head lolles back Throat exposed Nipples tight Cunt slicking my thighs Balanced on my toes, I feel your gaze Print on my flesh Lines of my skin Waiting to be coerced To rise, to fall, to curve Into your touch To be every...

The lights dimmed, the phone’s glow more pronounced on Paige’s face. Huge brown eyes, thick black hair. Long, thin fingers with shiny mauve nails and half a year’s income glittering on her finger. Posh as hell and all mine, except when she was stuck on her phone. “Babe,” I murmured. “My idiot brother is letting them run around the house on a hoverboard.” I laughed. “They’re fine. He’s watched them before.” “He’s a man. Wh...

The sharp edge of the dresser bit a line into her ass and palms as Abby wrapped up her report. Saul sat on the bed in front of her, elbows on his thighs, hands clasped between his knees. Eyes as dark and readable as the night sky. His thick, inky brows pulled together, drawing stacks of lines between them. Thunder rattled the motel window behind the curtains. Rain splattering the pavement just outside grew loud enough for...

This is fucking insane. I ran my sweaty hands over the steering wheel. Cold air blasted from the little vents in the dashboard, drying out my eyes. Refusing to rub them, to blink, to miss her, I felt around the controls until my fingers found the knob to turn down the AC. The sun was a murky beacon being snuffed out by grey clouds. Wind whipped and shuddered the stocky palm trees framing the front of the courthouse. A per...

Mud sucks at my feet Trickles between my toes As I follow your beckoning voice. The sustained sound of percussing water grows with every step And between dried branches of fir trees, I find you. That smile, Easy and light. You reach for my hand Lead me down steep terrain Until the canyon bursts into heaven Blue skies beam down, The sun winking through stray clouds, But the temperature cools. Water dribbles down the stone...

Lane Rain pattered on the aluminum roof over my head.  Arms crossed over my chest, I stared at the water pooling and rippling with tears at the edges of the dark and gutterless street.  Looked down at the beads dotting my pink toenails and wondered if raindrops were like snowflakes, every one different than every other.   I wished I was water, always changing but never broken because there was always a new form to take, a...

Still air breaks under my breath As you join me on the mattress  Knee to knee  Face to face   You level your gaze And wait, the embodiment of patience and kindness The antithesis  of everything I fear   And I know it’s safe   I rip the snarled storms From my blood And let them go Wherever fear goes When it creeps from dark corners  and is thrust into light   under your focus your kindness I collapse   My head in your lap,...

I am the form  In the skirts of cold, Toes nestled in the lake bed As my pale arms stretch on the murky water, etched by hell And expecting no less   But today The ripples grow without wind, lapping at my jaw Cresting my ears Dancing in rivulets of joy to a cadence of throaty murmurs   And I awaken, Stretch my withered muscles Feel the pop of every brittle joint The thump of my heart fills my chest Hot blood  Rushes my sk...

Charlotte’s eyes burned as she stared into the little video box on the laptop screen in front of her.  She watched a policeman extract a thin laptop from a safe in the wall, one of three Brumble had stashed.  In the study, another ran his fingers along a thin line of caulk on the drywall next to a bookcase, courtesy of Sersha last night.  Subtle beacons in a perfect house. The little clues had never failed.    Today Sersh...