INTO THE DARK

D. K. Jernigan

This was the worst fucking idea, ever.” My headlamp illuminated Rick from behind, and I glared daggers at his back; not that he was paying any attention. Ahead of him, his own light only seemed to cut a small slice from the oppressive dark that closed in around us. “Cave hiking sucks. I want to go back.”

“I told you, I’ve done this before. Don’t be such a baby.”

So much for our big, romantic day off. With our demanding schedules, it was hard for Rick and me to coordinate time off together, and this was how we were spending the day? “We’re lost.”

“We’re not lost. I swear, I know where we are. Do you want me to show you on the map, again?”

“No, what I want is to go back!” We’d been walking through darkness for about an hour, the only illumination coming from the lamps mounted on our hard hats. Outside, it was a good ninety degrees, but in here the temperature plummeted, and I was already wearing the heavy coat Rick had insisted I bring. And “hike” was a bit of a misnomer, too. Sure, there was hiking. There was also scrambling over rocks, crouching in low passages and climbing up short rock walls. It was dark, it was scary and I was on the verge of seriously freaking out.

Ahead of me, Rick sighed. I could see the tension in his shoulders and took it as yet another sign that we were lost. And doomed. I kicked a small rock on the ground, and Rick winced as the crack of its impact with the wall echoed around us. He turned, carefully keeping the headlamp pointed down and away from my face, and I glared straight at him.

“This was stupid. We’re never going to get out of here.”

“No,” he said, with exaggerated patience. “We’re fine. We’re almost there. If you don’t like what I want to show you, we can go back. Okay?”

“Why can’t we just go back now?” I asked. Sure, I sounded petulant, but I was cold and tired and not a little freaked out. The cave felt like it was closing in on me, and the darkness was choking and stifling. I shuddered as I turned my head, trying to illuminate more of the cave, but the darkness swooping in behind the beam of light only made me feel worse. When I turned forward again, I saw that Rick had already started out ahead of me. I hurried to catch up, and resumed glaring at that tense spot between his shoulders, right above his backpack.

“Trust me, it’ll be worth it,” he said, as if he could feel my eyes on him. He passed around a rock column in the middle of the cave, and I followed, dragging my feet. At the end of the passage, the rock walls seemed to squeeze together, forming a narrow opening.

“No way. I’m sick of squeezing through little holes.”

“Turn your light off.”

“What? No! No fucking way. I want to go back.”

Rick turned and took my hands, and I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to resist being charmed or sweet-talked. It didn’t really work. “Mason, I need you to trust me, okay? What I want to show you is just on the other side of that hole. Please? For me?”

He’d been walking backward, pulling me toward the opening with each step, and I sighed dramatically as we reached it, and reached up to switch off the lamp. I could feel my face drain of blood as our light was cut in half, and Rick’s face was plunged into darkness. My heartbeat sped up and I started to tremble. This was the stuff of nightmares, buried beneath the earth under tons of rock, alone in the dark.

Or almost alone. Rick gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and turned off his own lamp, and I whimpered involuntarily as we were enfolded in the darkness. He pulled me gently forward, and I felt for the opening with my free hand, ducking to squeeze through the tight passage. Two steps, then the walls expanded and I could stand straight again. Not so bad, except for the dark.

And then Rick dropped my hand. I yelped in shock, but he murmured soothingly from just ahead of me. My fingers itched toward my headlamp, and I started a slow count to ten in my head. He had ten seconds, and then I was giving up on this bullshit and turning my light back on. Ten seconds… God, it felt like forever!

I was at eight, and panting, when I saw a glow kindle to life ahead of me, then grow brighter. I looked away from Rick and his lantern (where had he gotten a lantern?) to keep from hurting my eyes, and what I saw made me gasp with wonder.

The entire cavern glittered and shone with crystals embedded in the walls. It was like a fairy wonderland or some magical palace, hidden here in the ground where only the dedicated—or those with romantic and determined lovers—would find it. A fitting reward for over an hour of fear and frustration in the dark, despite the fact that I hadn’t done much to earn it.

I stepped forward and put a hand to the wall, feeling the cool smoothness of the crystal embedded in the rock. It was so marvelous, it took me a moment to realize that Rick had been standing next to more than a lantern. I turned slowly and faced the scene, and felt instantly like a total prick.

He must have come down here on his day off, yesterday, and gotten things set up for us. There was an inflatable mattress, fully inflated, and a bottle of wine, well cooled in the chilly air. He went down on one knee as I turned to face him, and my heart about stopped.

“Oh, Rick…”

“Mason. Will you?” He held up a ring box with a solid gold band, and I felt tears gather.

“Are you sure you still want to after all my whining?”

He grinned. “As long as I have permission to tell everyone that you whined and bitched the entire way to the proposal.”

I held up my hand for him, and he slid the ring onto my finger; a promise made and sealed in gold. “Deal. You get wineglasses down here, too?”

“I wanted to, but it seemed like a bad idea. We’ve got plastic cups. You game?”

“Definitely.” He poured, while I emptied my own backpack of food. I had wondered why he had insisted on me bringing impractical treats, like a box of strawberries. And why I’d had to carry all of it.

But when he sat on the mattress opposite me, and I took the first crisp, sweet sip of wine, food was the farthest thing from my mind.

“Thank you for dragging my lame ass down this hole,” I said. He took it for the apology it was, and leaned into me, and our lips met in a searing kiss that made the hairs on the back of my neck—and other things—stand up. I wished I could bottle the feeling and pull it out whenever I needed a pick-me-up, because there is nothing more energizing than feeling exactly how loved you are.

His kiss told me all that and more, and soon we were lying back on the inflated mattress, doing a whole lot more than kissing. His hand brushed the stubble of my cheek, teasing my sensitive skin and sending shivers of excitement through my entire body. I took my own explorations to his waist, where I knew he was not quite ticklish in a way that made him incredibly horny. We teased and played, our tongues sliding over each other and our hands wandering.

Then Rick grabbed my cock, and I knew that it was time for much, much more. I took the cue and kicked free of my pants and shoes, and he sat up to pull his shirt off at the same time. I chuckled when we came together again, each of us half-clothed, and pressed our lips together hard in a kiss that was as much a battle for dominance as it was a gesture of love. Seeing as I had been a dick all day, I fought back only long enough to make Rick feel good about winning, then let him roll me over.

He bit at my shoulder blades as I got onto my hands and knees, wobbling on the squishy surface of the bed. “Hurry,” I whispered, and the cave brought the echoes of my plea back to us.

“I am,” he assured me, and the slap he delivered to my ass echoed as well, though it didn’t cover the sound of his pants being pulled down, or the condom wrapper tearing a moment later. Then I heard the little click of the lube bottle, and a second later he was pressing against me, his cock hot and hard at my opening. “You sure you want this?” he teased.

“Come on, Rick, fuck me.” I pressed back into him, but he shifted, forcing me to wait.

“I don’t know, maybe we should eat first. It was such a long, exhausting hike.” I could hear him trying to suppress the laughter in his voice, and I rolled my eyes and moaned, begging him without words.

This time he did laugh. But he followed it up with the ultimate reward, thrusting into me in one smooth motion. My body opened to him, and I moaned in pleasure as I adjusted to his girth and the glorious sensation of being filled and possessed by the man I loved.

“God, move!”

“God now, am I?” He wiggled his hips just enough to drive me half out of my mind, then began to pound me in a slow, steady rhythm that I knew he could hold all night long. I gasped and clenched around him, desperate for more and wanting more than anything to entice him into losing control. He slapped my ass for my efforts, and apparently decided it was fun. I groaned when his hand descended again, and then a third time. The stinging swats only made me hungrier.

I started to reach for my own swollen cock, but Rick batted my hand away and bent over me. When his hand closed around me, the pleasure immediately began to mount. He stroked me in time to his own steady thrusts, but my heavy breathing and whimpers of pleasure were starting to get to him. When I cried out at an especially pleasurable stroke of thumb over crown, he gasped and his pace became faster and more ragged. I pushed back against him, begging him with my body to take me to the edge.

“I love you like this,” he whispered, and then he granted my wish. He slammed into me, plunging me deeper into the pool of pleasure. His balls slapped against my ass as he fucked me fast and hard, our animal sounds of pleasure magnified and returned to us by the chamber walls until we were surrounded in a cocoon of eroticism. I tried to hold back, but his skilled hand on my cock was persuasive, and I shuddered with sensation as he made me come. He continued to stroke me, his hand lubricated with my fluids, and I moaned and trembled in sensory overload.

“Fuck…yes. Damn, Mason.” He sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth, and I bore down around him one last time, ready to pull him over the edge with me. He came with a roar that echoed deafeningly around us, and drove himself deep into me.

He pulled away a few seconds later, and we collapsed side by side on the narrow mattress, clinging to each other for warmth as much as anything else. “Still think this was a bad idea?” he asked.

I chuckled. “Maybe not the worst, but don’t expect me to help you pack all of this shit out of here.”

I could have smacked him when he answered, “My backpack is empty. Why do you think I made you carry all the food?”