Wedding time. Not Dan's, of course, but that of Marc Chapman's sister, Belinda. Dan and Marc had gone to college together, and he had gotten to know the Chapman family well during the summer months. Though Dan and Marc did not know each other in high school, they did grow up in nearby towns; as such, they saw each other frequently when they were home from school. The actual ceremony was to be held in a Catholic church in...

Dan sat at a broad, round table a few steps from the lobby bar, a vodka-and-soda set before him. Perspiration beaded the sides of the tumbler and soaked the napkin beneath it. The ice was almost melted, yet the glass was full. Next to it was Dan's iPhone, earbuds tucked into his ears. "I understand that, John. That was exactly the point I raised yesterday morning before you told me to hop on a plane and come out here. The...

The incessant ringing of his iPhone pulled Dan from a restless slumber. Eyes still closed, warding off the light that filtered through the shades, he clumsily felt around the bedside table until his fingers closed around the device. "What?" he managed to grumble, his mouth parched from last night's Christmas celebration. "Dude, are you up? I've been trying to call you all morning.” Steve. "What…what are you talking about?...

The engine ticked lightly, rhythmically, having only recently completed a twenty-mile journey. Rain dripped from the frame of the car, from the edges of its bumpers. The windows were blurred, save for the two arches where the wipers had recently swept drops from the tempered glass. The car didn't belong there. Not in that parking lot. Not in that town. The rain having passed, the titanium gloss of the newly acquired Merce...

Dan spent last weekend up at his parents' house in the suburbs. It was one of those dead weekends. Many of his friends were out of town, working, or too tired to go out. On Friday before he left, he called Steve Morgan's cell phone again in one last-ditch effort to try to get something going but was greeted only by voicemail. He hung up without leaving a message, threw some clothes in a backpack, and drove up to his paren...

One Saturday afternoon in September 2021, Dan was lying on his couch watching college football when his phone rang. He checked the caller ID; Scott, a friend of his from work was on the other end, and he hit the button to answer the phone. “Yo.” “What’s up? What are you doing?” Scott responded. "Just watching the end of the USC game. What are you doing?" "I've been in the office all day and need to meet Lauren for dinner...

My name is Zainab Habiba bin Khalifa al Makhtoom al Sura and my father’s family are distant relatives of the billionaire al Sura family. When I was eighteen, I was selected by Walid al Sura of the main branch of the family to be his fourth and youngest wife. He was forty-seven at the time, nearly thirty years my senior. Just before the wedding, I had a chance encounter with a stranger in the First Class lounge at the inte...

I am bent over the railing of his balcony, forty stories above the street below, my skirt hiked up, panties removed. His cock, that glorious cock, has just released inside me. I am breathless. My entire body shudders. He brushes my hair aside, kisses the back of my neck tenderly, whispers passionate words into my ear. Later we will give ourselves to one another again. This time on his bed. I am fully naked. I crave this....

2020 - one bizarre fucking year. I’m not going to overstate it, a lot of people had a worse time than me. But it still took a toll. I've been locked down – and like many, it's been in company. We might have all foreseen the strain under which social isolation would put romantic relationships. I figured my own was pretty strong, but it got stress-tested like I'd never bargained on. Couples just aren’t meant to spend so lon...