Excerpt: In Flagrante Delicto

THE MONETS

Cerulean Blue

“Get out! Quick, go, now.” Jacob pushed me off of the couch and I fell heavily on both knees on the turquoise carpeted floor.

“What?” I scrambled to my feet and tried to locate my shirt. “Why?”

“That was the garage door, Callie's home early. You can't be here. Go out the back.” Jacob stood and buttoned his pants. “I love you Sirus, but she can't see us.”

“I love you too,” I said quietly, taking a moment I couldn't spare to kiss his pale cheek. Obviously his wife couldn't see us, no one could see us together. The house was so small it only took me a couple seconds to make it to the back of the house and out the back door. I ran through the grass behind the house. No where to hide, no cover. Jacob had to keep Callie occupied for long enough that I could away from the house, and get to my truck parked three streets away.

I could feel the effects of the smoking, the run wasn't long, but I was winded before I made it all the way to the truck. Maybe it was the fear. Jacob and I couldn't get caught. If Callie saw us, if anyone saw us, it would all be over.

Damn Nantucket. If we were anywhere else, even fucking Martha's Vineyard, at least we'd be able to go somewhere no one would see us, no one would know us. Even if it was just a night on the beach together, but no, we had to be on a tiny island a two hour boat ride away from anywhere that we could go to see each other without having to hide. God, to just kiss Jacob once without having to worry about people knowing that I was in high school still and he taught there.... But that wasn't going to happen. We were both stuck on Nantucket, I was still seventeen, and he couldn't just quit his job and divorce his wife for me. Until I graduated, we'd have to keep everything a secret.

I don't know how I made it to my truck, but I did and had to collapse into the drivers seat. I had to just sit and recover before I could even put my shirt back on. At least it was summer, so anyone who happened to see me running half naked wouldn't have thought too much of it. I leaned forward against the steering wheel and tugged at my hair. Callie was supposed to be at work for the entire day. Gone, completely. The whole day with Jacob was supposed to be mine. No one had labor day off on the Island, it was the second to last hurrah before the tourists all went home. Callie was supposed to be at the gallery all day, working.

Fear would be blue. Cerulean blue, tinged with black. Pure and crystal, but marred with the darker color. It was almost the same color as Jacob's eyes. That's backwards. Fear is blue because Jacob's eyes were blue, and that's where the place I always saw that pure fear. I'm sure that my own had the same look most of the time too.

Except when we were completely alone. There was no fear then.