"What the hell?" I say softly as I stare at the email on my phone. "What's up?" James asks curiously as he plops onto the couch next to me.I turn my phone towards him so he can see the email, "somone wants to buy my photo of Tikiri." James scrolls through the email until he gets to the picture, "hey! I didn't know you took this one," he exclaims as he starts to laugh hysterically.I couldn't blaim him, it was a pretty funny picture of him and Tikiri playing in a mud puddle, both covered in mud and looking like they were wrestling. "How much are they offering?" I take my phone from him and scroll to the offer. When James sees it he lets out a long low whistle, "damn. That is a lot of zeros.""Yeah no shit," I mumble, still in shock. "Should I do it?" He hands me my phone back as he says, "that's up to you baby, but whatever you do, I'm proud of you." He gets up and kisses the top of my head, "we should celebrate." He looks at the time and grins, "the club should be open by now. Let'

“Hey,” I ask nervously. “Can we talk?” James looks up from his laptop and puts it on the coffee table, “of course baby. What’s up?” “Why won’t you fuck me?” I rush out. He looks surprised by my question and sits there staring at me for a moment before he answers. “I didn’t think you wanted me to,” he finally says. “Why wouldn’t I want you to?” I ask softly. His voice was just as soft when he says, “Because I got you pregnant.” “Oh James,” I sigh as I sit down next to him. “It wasn’t just you, you know. It takes two to make a baby. I’m just as responsible as you are.” “I should have taken precautions,” he tells me. “You took some and I didn’t, and I feel bad about that. So I didn’t want to fuck you again until I felt like I had earned it, I guess.” I smile slightly, “and here I thought that maybe you were mad at me.” “Why would I be mad at you?” He asks confused. “Most guys aren’t too happy when their fiancée gets an abortion,” I say. “Most guys are assholes,” he snorts. I

"You've gotto be kidding me," I deadpan as I look at the church.Or more accurately, what was left of a church. AfterJames had told me his plan, I'd been hoping that he was joking, but after a twenty minute car ride and a thirty minute hike up a steep goat path, we had finally made it to the rundown church. A low crumbling stone wall circles the church and the small graveyard that sits off to one side. the entire grounds are overgrown with weeds and random bunches of wildflowers, the stone paths are cracked and jagged and the church itself was nothing more than a shell.The walls had large holes where the roof had fallen and broken through, the windows were nothing more then dark openings and the doorway was occupied with a fallen tree. The once white paint was now gray and peeling, leaving a spongy looking wood that looked like it would crumble if you touched it. I look at the boys who were obviously pleased with themselves, "tell me this is a joke. You can't really expect us to ha

A week and a few thousand miles later, James and I find ourselves in the guest room of George and Annie’s house. It hadn’t taken much to convince us to come stay with them, especially considering that we had no idea where to go next. The entire way there Annie had told me all about the house, but I was still unprepared when we pulled up to it. From what she had described, I was picturing a small cottage with maybe a garden. But the house we pulled up to was more like a mansion complete with a large gate that they had to use a code to get open. The long driveway was shadowed by trees on either side and when we got to the front doors, there was even a fountain nestled in the grassy loop of the driveway. Annie and George started to pull bags from the trunk while James and I just stared. Eventually Annie noticed and asked, “what’s wrong?” I gesture to the house, “this is not what I was expecting.” “Oh,” Annie laughs. “Trust me this is not our style at all. My great aunt Gertrude left

“Why do I always let you talk me into things like this?” I groan as I dangle by a thin rope on the side of a large indoor rock wall. I’m not sure how james had convinced me to do this, but somehow he had and now I was fifty feet in the air clinging to a small metal handhold. James looks down at me from his spot a few feet above me. “You love it,” he teases. “Do I?” I retort back.“Well,” he amends. “You love me.” “You’ve got this Ali!” Annie yells up at me. I glance down at her, praying that she’s strong enough to stop me from falling, and give her a weak smile. She’d thought it was a great idea when james had suggested it, saying that there was a large waterfall a few hours away that we could climb and this would be great practice. “You can do it baby,” James encourages. “Just a few more feet and then we can drop down.” “What do you mean drop down?” I ask in a panic. “Dropping is the last thing I want to do!” “Ali breath,” James tells me calmly. “It’s ok.” Closing my eyes, I