Alice Unbound

She groaned loudly. "Not again!"

"Another bad dream?" asked a voice thick with sleep.

Will's arm pulled her down next to him and she snuggled up to his warm body, waiting for her heart rate to slow, her hand rubbing his chest. She could hear his breathing slow, become deeper and rhythmic as he started to drift off.

"Will?" she said in a quiet voice. "I know this is sudden but I - I think I love you," she said finally.

"No," was his response and Alice felt the panic start to creep back in. After a long pause, he said, "I don't think it's sudden. I know I love you," and pulled her tightly to him.

They slept.

Alice woke to a light filled room, alone in bed. Panic gripped her again until she realized it wasn't her bed or her house. She smiled, heard a shower turn on in an adjacent bathroom and got out of bed to join Will.

Chapter 10 Revelations

Alice had a visitor the first week of October. A man in his sixties with a balding head rang her bell. She saw he had a kind face when she answered the door.

"Hi. I'm Edward Manning, the man you're leasing the house from," he said extending a hand.

Alice shook his hand and invited him into his own house. Although she smiled throughout the greeting, fear stole into her that Edward wanted his house back.

"Thank you for leasing me your house," she managed, "I just love it."

"That's good to hear." He paused before going on. "Do you love it enough to buy it?"

Alice was floored. She had never considered buying it although Will had encouraged her to contact Edward and make him an offer. She had declined feeling she wouldn't be able to afford it at the current market's price.

"Honestly, I'd love to, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to afford it."

Edward waved his hand as if dismissing her doubts. "Tell you what - I like doing things the old-fashioned way and I hate discussing prices out loud." He walked over to the table and pulled out a business card, flipped it over and wrote on the back. He handed it to Alice. "Do you think you can afford this?" he asked.

She read the back of the card and the number written on the back was low, much too low for a house like this. She could afford it and still have plenty left to live on. She opened her mouth to protest but he raised his hand to stop her.

"Before you say anything, I just want you to know that I want this house to go to someone who appreciates it as much as my wife did. She filled this house every day with love and we raised our kids here. After she passed away last June, it became much too big for me." He shrugged sadly.

Alice finally found her voice. "This is a very generous offer Mr. Manning -"

"Please. Edward."

"-Edward," she continued, "but shouldn't you offer it to your children and keep it in the family?"

His eyes looked far away and his voice was small. "No, our youngest is living in New York City and has a life there. Our oldest," his voice caught and his eyes brimmed with tears, "and her kids - our only grandkids - were killed in a car accident last year. It was too much for my wife and she died with a broken heart."

He stopped to dab his eyes with a handkerchief.

"But surely," protested Alice, "you could get much more than you're asking for by putting it on the market. I'd feel like I was taking advantage of you!"

Edward smiled. "Honey, I've made enough money in my life to live very comfortably anywhere I choose to," he said, putting a hand on her arm. "More money won't make me happy, although I will get some pleasure knowing how pissed Maggie will be when she finds out."

"Maggie?"

"The real estate agent who leased you the place."

Alice smiled, and in the end, they agreed on a price, one that was slightly higher than Edward's initial offer. He promised to have Maggie draw up the papers and run them out to her for signing when they were ready. After he left, Alice ran next door to tell Will the good news. A driving rain was falling and she was soaked by the time she entered from the deck. The light was on above the kitchen table and Will's notebook lay on it, closed.

Alice called his name but got no response, and checked the basement and, finally, the garage - his car was gone. She walked back to the table and glanced at the notebook, its red cover staring back. Will had yet to let her read any of his writing. She opened the cover but closed it quickly, not wanting to violate his trust. But curiosity overcame her self-restraint because of a name she had glimpsed on the first page - hers. She took a deep breath and opened the cover again.

The red Oldsmobile turned off the tree-lined, two-lane blacktopped road and into the narrow driveway. Alice Dupree turned the wheel of her yellow Miata to follow the real estate agent up the drive as it wound through the woods. After 300 feet, the woods gave way to a clearing revealing a well-kept blue two-story house and Lake Michigan beyond. The agent parked her car on the circular drive and got out. Alice turned off her car and followed suit.

Alice flipped ahead a few pages and scanned another passage.

He was tall, about 6'4" with a mop of black hair, his skin bronzed. He was shirtless, exposing his broad shoulders and muscular back, his skin glistening with sweat in the early morning heat. His ass looked taut and athletic in his black shorts, the muscles standing out on his legs. He finished the end of a row and turned around, heading for the house. The muscles on his chest and abdomen were clearly defined as if he had been sculpted by an ancient Roman. His face looked chiseled, his eyes dark, his features Latino. Those dark eyes looked up from his work and locked onto hers as he mowed, getting closer.

Miguel DID tell him. Had Will been writing about her all this time? She turned the page.

"Who lives over there?" she indicated with a nod of her head.

"That'd be Will," Dee answered.

Tina leaned in again. "His real name is Carroll William Lewis, but he hates the name Carroll. He's a writer."

Anger welled up inside Alice and she flipped through the pages, searching.

Hands ran up under her skirt, fingers hooked in the waistband of her panties and in an instant they lay pooled at her feet. Her skirt was pushed up from behind and licks and wet kisses covered her ass. Josh bent her over firmly at the waist and Alice supported the weight of her upper body on the bed with her arms. Her feet spread apart as his face pushed in between her legs from behind, his tongue exploring her pussy, his nose pressed near her anus. Her knees felt weak as he lapped her juices and she was close to coming, but Josh stopped and stood up.

They were all talking to Will, telling him all about her, as if she was some sort of project! She thumbed backwards and what she read next turned her anger into confusion.

It was massive, more than ten inches long and extremely thick. She doubted if it would fit in her anywhere, but she had to try, she had to have it. Pushing him down on the bed, she straddled him, running her pussy along his shaft. She felt intimidated by his length. His strong arms lifted her, moving her up his body until she was kneeling over his head, his face buried in her crotch. His tongue plunged into her and soon his face was drenched in her juices. Her breathing became rapid as her orgasm approached. She dismounted and turned around, wrapping her legs around his head, so that she was face to face with his cock, her pussy on his mouth. He continued licking and nibbling. Alice marveled at the contrast of her creamy white skin to his bronze skin as her hand wrapped around his cock.

But, thought Alice, I dreamed that - it wasn't real! She turned back a few pages, searching.

She rocked her hips as he pressed into her; his hands grabbed her waist and he started pumping his cock. She moaned with pleasure as he fucked her from behind, their skin slapping together in the water. The bubbles from the hot tub kissed her clit, exciting her even more. Her hand moved between her legs and she fingered her clit until she came again and again while he pounded her. His thrusting stopped and his body stiffened as he cried out, filling her pussy.

She turned more pages.

At last the he was in all the way. He moved his hips in long, slow strokes, gradually turning her cries of pain to cries of pleasure. His pace quickened and Alice lost track of the number of times she came as the man fucked her ass. As each orgasm shook her body, she screamed in ecstasy around the cock in her mouth. She desperately wanted him to stop but she also wanted him to go on forever. At last he pulled out and laid his cock on her ass. It twitched and she felt his seed pool on her lower back. The men watching cheered heartily. The man in front pulled out of her mouth and with a few strokes of his hand came on her head, which was now hanging down in exhaustion and humiliation. The crowed cheered again.

Anger again clouded her eyes and she looked out the window at the lake. She felt violated. She looked back at the notebook and turned the page.

He leaned against the end of the table and she leaned over, licking the tip, spreading the clear fluid seeping from it over the head, making it slick. She sucked playfully at the tip, her lips pursed before opening her mouth and taking him in. Her head bobbing, she quickly worked up a rhythm, her hand stroking his shaft - she heard him moan quietly. Her free hand caressed his balls and she heard him panting. Emboldened, her head and hands moved quicker, eager to taste his cum.

The world seemed far away and there was a faint, high-pitched noise in her ears. Alice shook her head. No! I refuse to believe it! She read on.

She awoke to the feeling of fingers stroking her pussy, running from the bottom of her slit to her clit. Soon, two fingers were inside her caressing her inner walls. He withdrew his fingers and licked her juices off. With one hand, his fingers stretched the skin around her clit, causing it to stand out. With his other hand he dipped two fingers into her dripping pussy, wetting them, before rubbing them quickly and firmly across her clit. Alice's whole body stiffened as every nerve ending buzzed in pleasure. Uncontrollable moans escaped her lips. He was masturbating her exactly the same way she did. Her cries of pleasure filled the room as an orgasm rolled through her body.

She turned to the last page, hardly breathing and read the last paragraph:

Edward smiled. "Honey, I've made enough money in my life to live very comfortably any where I choose to," he said, putting a hand on her arm. "More money won't make me happy, although I will get some pleasure knowing how pissed Maggie will be when she finds out."

She felt faint and sank into a chair. Numbness filled her body. Is any of this real, she thought, or am I going crazy? Am I just a puppet that Will commands with his pen? She tried to remember her past, before she came to Neuwunder, but the details were hazy and what she could recall seemed like an outline of her former life. She tried to think about the days at the house when nothing much happened but all she had were vague recollections. A thought occurred to her but she dismissed it with a shake of her head. No, it can't be!

Her eyes fixed on the notebook again and the thought popped back in her head. Frowning, she picked up the notebook and started reading from the beginning, and when she finished, she set it back down and looked out at the grey lake. Her thought had become more concrete in her mind.

She was a character in a story created by Will.

Or, she was dreaming and would wake up next him.

Or, she was crazy.

The last two possibilities seemed remote, implausible. The first felt grounded in reality, at least, in whatever reality can exist in a story. A calm feeling descended on her as she stared out the window for a long time. Finally, she pulled the notebook towards her, and reread the last page.

What she was doing now had not been written yet.

Which means he doesn't control her, at least not any more. What did he once say about his writing? Alice turned back several pages, searching.

"Sometimes, the story comes alive and takes me where I didn't expect to go. The one I'm writing now is like that."

Maybe I am alive now, she thought, and I'm not some literary puppet. Alice smiled and closed the notebook, her finger tapping the cover. She stood and stretched, looking out at the gathering gloom over the water, before crossing over to the living room couch to lie down. She decided to wait here for Will to come back - she wasn't worried, she knew he would be back, because of what he once told her.

"I know I love you."

And when he returned, she had many questions for him, questions that only he could answer. And after he answered her questions, there were many things she wanted to do, things she had only dreamed about. But first, she would need her rest. Alice closed her eyes and slept.