The Outliers

  washed over me like someone had poured a bucket of water on my head. “You own that?”

  Finn looked down to the keys in his hand. “Yes,” he said, like he was reluctant to admit it. “That’s where Jackie and I lived. That was our house.”

  I reached out and brushed my knuckles along the stubble coating his jaw. “It was a beautiful house, but now it’s going to be even more beautiful because of your plans for it.”

  Finn turned and kissed the palm of my hand before spinning me back around to face the house. “Do like it?” he asked, swinging open the little picket fence and pulling me inside. The flower beds on each side of the door were filled with tall sunflowers that reached halfway up the windows.

  “I love it,” I said. “Even more than the Victorian.” It was the truth. There was something about this house that felt homier. More real. “Is this what you’ve been working on?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes away from it.

  Finn had started taking on some smaller construction projects, but I had no idea he was building houses like this one. “Who is the client??” I was envious of whoever got to live in such a house, but proud of Finn for having created something so beautiful. Before he could answer I added, “Can I see the inside?”

  I felt like I needed to at least see it once before it the house changed and became someone’s home.

  Finn smiled that smile that made gave me chills and threaded his fingers with mine. He lead me up the front steps opened the door, guiding me through first and following behind.

  My mouth fell open. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. It was the most amazing sight I’d ever laid eyes on. “Is this even real?” I whispered.

  My state of shock wasn’t because of the beautiful grey hardwood floors running from a large living space into a vast and open white kitchen. It wasn’t because of the detailed moldings around the windows or the curved iron staircase. It wasn’t even because of the big dining room with a huge dark wood table running down the center that could easily fit ten people around it.

  No, I was reacting to the thousands of tings covering the entire living room ceiling. They flapped around until Finn closed the door. Although the ceilings were high the strings were long. As I stepped further into the room they dangled only an inch or two above my head. “What is all this?” I asked moving further into the hanging tings until they surrounded me on all sides.

  Finn didn’t answer, but that was only because the tings answered for him. Every single one of them had the same handwritten message scrawled on them

  WILL YOU MARRY ME?

  -FINN

  I spun around so fast that if I were any taller I’d be tangled in tings.

  Finn was on one knee before me holding out a diamond ring shaped like a sunflower. Light and happiness and promise filled his already handsome bright blue eyes. “So…” he said, making me feel like I was about to burst out of my own skin. “about that last name change?”

  Unable to speak real words because joy apparently drains your brain of real coherent thoughts, I joined Finn on the floor, kneeling to face him. When I realized he was still waiting for an answer I nodded so hard I think I should my words loose. “Yes!” I finally managed to blurt out.

  Finn placed the ring on my finger and pulled me against him. Besides, Outskirts, it was my favorite place to be. “I’m so glad we’re here, Say,” he whispered, his lips finding mine. And whether he meant here as in the house, the town, or as in the place in our relationship, it didn’t matter. My response was the same.

  “Me too,” I whispered.

  “I’ve got one more for you,” he said, pulling another ting out of his back pocket and handing it to me along with a black marker.

  SHE SAID__________.

  -Finn

  And of course, through happy tears, I wrote in a great big YES.

  In the beginning Finn and I were just two outliers, each on the cusp of different societies. Together, we found our place and it wasn’t in the town. It was in the people of the town. The people who loved us. It was in each other. It was in the new life growing inside of me that we’d created.

  It was in family.

  Our family.

  “And although it’s too late now,” Finn grinned slyly, “I feel like I still owe you a better lesson on procreation.” He ran his hands under my shirt.

  “Is that so?” I asked as he unclasped my bra and tossed it to the ground. He made quick work of his own shirt, exposing his defined abs and broad chest.

  My mouth went dry. My body hummed.

  Finn pushed off his jeans and boxers, exposing his tight butt and muscled abs. I licked my lips at the sight of my beautiful man. I lifted my hips while he peeled off my panties and shorts. He lifted and settled back between my legs where I wanted him most. His hard heat throbbed at my entrance. “Are you ready for your lesson?” he asked, raising his eyebrows wickedly. His voice was raspy and hoarse.

  “Yes,” I breathed, ready for whatever it is he wanted to give me. “I’m ready.”

  “Good. Because I can’t wait any longer.” We were wild and passionate. Needy and desperate.

  He pushed himself inside of me with one long thrust that made me gasp, filling me with pleasure, while filling my heart with love.

  I adjusted around his size, my inner muscles squeezed around him. Finn groaned, the sound making me squeeze him again and again until the pleasure was almost painful. Until there were tears in my eyes and we were the only two people existing on earth.

  He held my hands above my head and didn’t continue until I was looking him in the eye. “I love you, Say.”

  “I love you,” I replied, looking deeply into his eyes. The feeling between us, the connection we shared, added another log to the fire and our pleasure increased, reaching heights I didn’t think possible.

  A tear fell from the corner of my eye. It was all too much.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Finn kissed the tear away and began a slow and steady rhythm that had me lifting my hips to meet his thrust for thrust. We somehow flipped from wild sex to passionate love.

  “I’m going to make you come now,” He said on a low groan. He reached around me to lift me up so he could hit an angle that had me seeing stars with each languid thrust.

  “Please,” I begged, feeling so close to the edge I was practically living on it.

  “Fuck. I feel you. I know you’re almost there. Damn you’re so tight around me.” He thrust in harder. Repeatedly he pushed in and out until his movements became frenzied and we were awash in sensations and feelings.

  I couldn’t keep track of where he was touching or where our lips were.

  I felt him everywhere.

  My body.

  My heart.

  My soul.

  The muscles in my lower stomach tightened and he reached under my tank top brushing his thumb over my straining nipple which sent a shockwave of pleasure to my core. “I’m I’m…” I couldn’t finish my sentence because I was already too far gone. I came in a burst of blinding white light as the immense pleasure exploded within me.

  “Holy shit.” Finn pushed inside of me one last time until I felt him expand within me, releasing his warmth with a pulse that caused me to shudder one last time as the last of the intense waves washed through me.

  The depth of feeling wasn’t like it had been the first time in the library. I didn’t know how or why pleasure like this existed but all I knew was that Finn had given it to me, and so much more.

  A few months later, my father walked me down a makeshift aisle in a field full of sunflowers. During the last moments of daylight, in the exact spot where my parents were married, I held our newborn baby girl between us while Finn and I vowed to always love one another.

  Fiercely. Possessively. Crazily.

  Always.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Sawyer

  When we pulled up to Gary’s Garage I furrowed my brow and turned to Finn. “I’m confused. Why are we here?�
��

  “Come on,” Finn said, hopping down from the truck.

  I followed him with Sunny, our three-month-old daughter, as he bypassed the opened garage bay through the field to the back of the small building. I was too busy trying not to lose my footing on the uneven earth that I didn’t see what was in front of me until I crashed into Finn’s back.

  “What do you think?” he asked, stepping to the side.

  My mouth fell open and in inhaled on a sharp breath, covering my mouth in disbelief. “It’s….” I took a few tentative steps forward, not believing what I was seeing until I was able to run my hand over the freshly painted side of my mother’s rusty old truck except now she was anything but rusty.

  “She runs. Really well actually. Got a lot of new guts but she’s still the same deep down.”

  “But didn’t Gary said she wasn’t worth fixing?” I asked, peeking into the window to take a closer look at the new powder blue leather bench seat and matching steering wheel. Everything about it was new and clean.

  “Gary didn’t see the way you looked at it like it was a puppy that had to be put down,” Finn answered.

  My heart warmed at the gesture but I didn’t get a chance to say thank you before Finn tugged me further into the alleyway where I hadn’t even noticed what was hitched to the truck.

  My camper.

  “Blue!” I gasped.

  “She’s got a lot of life left in her yet,” Finn said, which was exactly what I’d always thought but was told it wasn’t worth the parts.

  “Thank you,” I breathed, wrapping my arms around Finn. “You made them live again. Thank you.”

  “Just like you made me live again,” he said, lightly pinching my chin and placing a chaste kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and leaned into his lips, breathing in his fresh woodsy scent. “Now come on, we’ve got a lot of road to cover.” He rounded the camper and opened the passenger door, making a sweeping gesture for me to get inside.

  “We’re going in this?” I asked, still not believing that I had them back.

  “We sure are. Gotta test them out on the road, don’t we? Let’s go show off that grandbaby to my parents. Everything is already packed. Now let’s go, Miss. Your chariot awaits.”

  I’d never been so happy. I’d never had so much family either.

  I placed Sunny in the car seat Finn had already installed and buckled her in. When he started the engine, I squealed with delight and ran my hands over the dashboard. It was still the same truck and camper, but they had been made new again.

  Rescued from ruin—reborn into a new life they were always meant to live.

  Just like me. Just like Finn.

  Just a couple of outliers.

  Bonus Scene

  Critter

  Frankly, I’d waited to god damned long to have Richard in this position to be turning him over to the authorities. He’d be meeting an authority all right, but I’m positive the one he’ll be seeing is located a lot further south than The Outskirts Police station.

  “You know, as a kid I woke up on Christmas morning with a butterfly feeling in my stomach. Excitement over what present I might have gotten. What might be waiting there for me under the tree.” I leaned against the tree that was to be Richard’s final resting place and looked down at him. “I’m kinda feeling that way right now.”

  He struggled against his restraints. “Oh, come on. No need to struggle. I was an Eagle Scout and served three tours with the ole red white and blue. Ain’t no way you’re getting yourself out of those knots.”

  Richard yelled into the cloth gag I’d shoved in his mouth. “Don’t even worry, Richard. I’m not gonna kill ya.” I lit a cigar and tucked the lighter back into my shirt pocket. “Promised the Mrs. I wouldn’t, and unlike you, I keep my promises. Also, unlike you, she was always my wife. Never yours. Same goes for my daughter.”

  Richard bucked again, cursing up a muffled storm. I chuckled. “Didn’t know that did ya? Yeah, we were married. Legally, unlike that bullshit voodoo wedding ya’ll have over there up in the crazy town you pass off as a church.”

  I took a deep breath through my nose. “You smell that? Don’t you love that swamp air? That Sulphur smell after a good hurricane? It’s like the world is cleansing itself of all of the dead things it doesn’t need anymore.” I looked down to Richard whose eyes were bugging out of his skill. I ruffled his hair. “See where I’m going with this?”

  I was kind of disappointed this all had to come to an end. I was enjoying myself too much. But I couldn’t stay. I had to get back to Caroline. To my family.

  “This feels good. Satisfying. So satisfying in fact, I felt the need for a pre revenge cigarette. But since I didn’t have one and didn’t smoke ‘em, this cigar will have to do.”

  A boat approached in the distance. Slowly quietly. No lights.

  Showtime.

  I crouched down in front of Richard. “You took my wife and daughter and didn’t even have the decency as a man to give them a good life. You are as low as they come. Any last words?”

  I pulled out his gag.

  “You’ll go to hell for this,” Richard seethed.

  I shoved the gag back in his mouth. I stood up and took a puff of my cigar. I shrugged as the boat grew closer.

  “Then I guess I’ll see you there.” I patted Richard on the shoulder. “Save me a seat on the bus.” I smiled and set my cigar in my mouth. “And buy me a fan would ya? I hear it’s hot as fuck down there.”

  Richard’s eyes snapped to the man dressed in all black who hopped from the boat. The blonde devil himself, Jake Dunn, appraised his prey, barely sparing me a glance. He didn’t say a word, the kid never did, but he gave me a curt nod and that was my cue to leave.

  “Sorry, I can’t stay to watch the show, but I’m sure Jake here is gonna make sure that you’re well taken care of while he slowly secures your ticket down south.”

  Richard screamed behind his gag as Jake approached.

  With Jake at the helm there was no doubt that Richard Dixon was about to finally get what he deserved, and so much more.

  “Make sure it hurts,” I called over my shoulder, hopping on my boat and starting the engine.

  “It will,” Jake said, in a tone so low it was almost inaudible.

  I took another puff on my cigar and waved a goodbye to Richard with my middle finger. “I’ll pray for you,” I shouted as I took off to the muffled screams and moans of Richard getting the first taste of what Jake was about to dish out.

  “Rot in hell, motherfucker,” I muttered to myself as I maneuvered the boat through the thick brush on my way back home to my wife and daughter.

  My family.

  After all, I had my work cut out for me with them. Two decades is a lot of time to make up for. Christmas’s and birthdays. Anniversaries. I was already planning all the makeup days in my head.

  After that night, I decided I was never going to let the