A few weeks after that first backpacking trip back, the Bryants were home in bed following a day hiking. Abby was asleep, the boys were playing video games, and the couple were in bed watching a little porn and fooling around. The initial idea was to tease, to work themselves up a bit before sex, but after watching a clip of a middle-aged white woman having sex with a particularly hung black man while her husband filmed and made commentary, Nick found the urge to speak.
“That was hot,” he observed carefully.
“It was,” Tina agreed, her face a bit flushed with arousal.
“You know,” Nick began cautiously, “we have never really talked about that time in the cabin. About how you felt…”
Tina frowned a bit. “Nick, I love you, I don’t want anyone else,” she stated flatly. “I legitimately enjoy sex with you. You make me come easily and often. I am very satisfied with our sex life.”
He smiled gently. “I know that, baby,” he assured her. “I don’t have any insecurity over it. But the fact is… I saw you come really, really hard with Zeke. I saw you lose control of yourself, and then… it was like you were addicted, you were craving it. You couldn’t seem to get enough of him. I would really like to hear about it from your perspective.”
She shook her head. “Look, I was drunk, and I let things get out of hand. I can’t help how my body responded, but that doesn’t impact us, I…”
Nick held up his hand. “I’m not blaming you or attacking you, baby. I’m not taking it personally. But I would really like to hear about it from you. It would be really hot to me.”
Her expression was unreadable. “I don’t want to hurt you, Nick,” she insisted. “I don’t want there to be problems. Things are so good now, I just…”
“That’s the thing,” he stated. “Things are really good, and a huge part of that is the honesty. No more hiding things away. I won’t be hurt, I won’t get angry… I promise. This is a big deal for me, it would mean a lot to me for you to open up and talk to me about it.”
She fixed her husband with a hard emerald stare for several long moments before speaking softly. “We were drunk,” she began. “I was so keyed up, so aroused. I had already struggled with that the night before; I think the adrenaline from us almost dying in the snow gave me that as a side effect, maybe. Like my body desperately wanted sex, maybe as a way to prove that we were still alive? I don’t know. But the drinking and flirting while we played cards… I was dying for you to fuck me. I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted it more.”
Nick made no effort to speak, only listened quietly, so Tina continued. “Zeke had passed out at the table, and I had been gagging for sex, so I took the opportunity to come on to you. In case you don’t remember, it didn’t take me long to orgasm with you – I came fast that first time.”
She took a breath. “When he woke up and you suggested that we let him watch… I felt like I was falling. It was like so many of our fantasies, but instead, this was real. And between me being drunk and you encouraging it… I went along with it.” She paused. “And yes, it was hot. It was so hot.”
“Him jerking off, me seeing that huge dick right next to me… it was something,” she stated huskily. “It was so wild to see those fantasies brought to life like that. So when you said that you were getting close, I thought that I’d go down on you, get you to come in my mouth, get him to stroke himself off and come while watching. Maybe even shoot on me.”
She shivered. “I knew that he would be able to see me so well, and the idea of him looking at me like that, being so close… it was such a crazy turn on.” She paused. “I was drunk and not really thinking it through, though. When he touched me the first time, I was actually shocked. I didn’t know what to think. I looked at your face, saw how turned on you were, thought about how it was like our fantasies… so I decided to let it go on a little longer.”
Nick swallowed, realizing that he had grown extremely hard while listening to his wife narrate the encounter.
“I sort of let myself float on the feelings, and it was turning me on more than I would have thought possible,” Tina explained. “So when he started teasing my pussy, I just… let him. It was so intense, and it just seemed natural. And when he slid a finger inside of me… my God. Your cock in my mouth, a stranger’s finger inside of me… it was so, so hot.”
As she paused, Nick realized that his wife’s face was still flushed – if anything, she might have been more flushed. She might have been reluctant to talk about the memories, but they clearly had an effect on her.
“When he pulled his finger out, I was disappointed; I was getting close to coming again. But I could tell that you were close, too… I didn’t want to stop. When he started rubbing his cock against me, I honestly didn’t really process at first what was going on. All I could really feel was pressure, and I was a little dazed by everything. When he stared to push, I realized that I had let it go too far, and I started to object, but it was too late… he was inside of me.”
Nick felt his pulse race as Tina shared those intimate details. “I’ll be really honest – it hurt. That thing was fucking huge, baby, and I was not ready for it, even as wet as I was.” She shook her head. “For a couple of moments, I was just trying to survive. He had hardly pushed into me at all, but it stretched me so much, I was panicking a little. Then when he started to move inside of me… my God. It was so, so good. I’m sorry, baby, but it was so good.”
Nick smiled and took his wife’s hand for a moment. “There is nothing to apologize for,” he answered in a low tone. “I knew that you enjoyed it. I asked you to tell me about it. I’m not going to be upset at you for being honest.”
The brunette gave a wan smile and continued. “I’m sure that me bring drunk and so turned on to begin with was part of it, but… it was amazing. He had me coming on his cock in no time at all, but in a way I had never come before…” her voice trailed off.
“He made you squirt,” Nick stated matter-of-factly.
Tina nodded. “He did. I didn’t even think that was real, much less that I could do it. The way he was moving inside of me, the spot he was hitting… I felt all of this pressure, and suddenly, I thought that I needed to pee. I tired to pull away, to get up, but he wouldn’t let me… and then it just seemed to explode out of me.” Her face was unreadable. “I… it was so intense. I had never felt anything like it.”
Nick swallowed and adjusted his stone-hard erection inside of his boxers. Tina glanced down at his lap and smiled. “I guess that this doesn’t bother you, after all,” she observed.
“He barely let me recover, then fucked me until I squirted again,” she continued after a moment. “And then he changed his position, and started fucking me hard with that huge thing of his. Nick, I… I can’t really explain it. It still hurt some, but God, it hurt so good. It was like electricity through my entire body, like I was having an orgasm that only slowed down from time to time but never really stopped. I know that at some point, I lost the ability to suck you… it was like my entire world was that huge dick moving inside of me.”
She shuddered again. “When he started talking about how I’d never had a big one like him, and talking about my white pussy… and then, when he asked if I’d ever had a black man inside of me before… it just broke me. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why it seemed so taboo, or why that taboo made it even hotter. It seemed so dirty, so wrong… and that just made it better. It took those exquisite feelings and somehow turned it up even more. All I could think about was him fucking me. At that moment, it was everything.”
Her eyes were distant as Tina stared into space for a moment. “I came so hard, it’s like I forgot how to breathe,” she admitted. “And then…” her voice trailed off.
“And then, he came in you,” Nick offered.
Tina’s gaze lowered for a moment. “Yeah. He did,” she agreed. “I was just so caught up in everything, in how it felt, that I wasn’t thinking. I heard you say something about him pulling out, and then I felt his cock jerking inside of me, then the heat. My God, Nick… it was so warm, there was so much… it was like someone spilled a hot water bottle inside of me or something.”
She shook her head. “I was stupid, I was. But when I realized that he was coming, I tried to pull away. I really did! I didn’t want that, I knew he didn’t have a condom. But he was holding my hips so tight that I couldn’t move. And he was so deep inside of me. And…”
“And then, you lost it completely,” Nick stated.
Tina sighed. “I did. I don’t know what happened, exactly. I remember being terrified, and thinking that some other man besides my husband was inseminating me, that I was fertile, that it was a black man… and it’s like my brain just melted when I put all of that together. I… I never came that hard before in my life.”
Nick couldn’t help but squeeze his erection as the brunette spoke.
“It was so wrong, so dirty, so bad,” Tina explained. “But that just made it hotter. I just… I mean, I can’t…” she sighed. “Nick, I don’t know what is wrong with me. I never would have wanted that! But when it was happening, all I could think about was this stranger’s huge cock putting a black baby in me… and while that was terrifying, it was the hottest thing that had ever happened to me. I came so, so hard thinking of it…”
The brunette’s head hung. “How fucked up am I? I’m ashamed to this day of how I reacted. Of the filthy thoughts in my head. I just, I…”
Nick ignored the worlds and placed his wife’s hand on his steely member, which caused her to sputter and stop speaking.
“Does it feel like I am looking for an apology?” he asked with a smirk. As Tina raised her face to make eye contact with her husband, he continued. “Do you have any idea how many times I have replayed those events in my own mind? Hell, how many times I have jerked off to it?” He shook his head. “If you’re fucked up, what am I? I realized that he was about to come, and instead of stopping him, I actually debated it on my own head. I knew that he needed to pull out… but part of me wanted him to inseminate you, to knock you up right there. By the time I made up my mind and started to say something, it was too late.”
Nick took a deep breath before continuing. “You talk about your thoughts when it was happening – those were almost the exact same things that were going on in my own mind. While he was pumping his come into you, all I could think about was how my wife was getting a black stranger’s baby in her womb. And don’t forget – when it happened, when he inseminated you, and you came from it… I came, too. I ejaculated without even being touched. I didn’t know that could even happen, but I came that way – and I came hard.”
He shook his head. “You feel how hard I am with you telling me about it. So… I guess we are both fucked up, huh?”
She shuddered at her husband’s words. “I guess that we are,” she agreed.
And then, the time for talking came to an end as the two of them fell back onto the bed, with Nick sliding his achingly hard member inside of his excessively wet wife.
——————————————————–
Several months later found the Bryants on a trail in the dog days of August. Nick really preferred hiking in almost any other season than summer; he was of the mindset that you could always add more layers, but you could only take off so many clothes. Tina, on the other hand, viewed hikes as a viable activity twelve months out of the year; she especially loved to seek out waterfalls to refresh herself under as a way to beat the heat on those summertime trips.
Baby Abby was celebrating her first birthday in a week, and had started walking only a few days ago. As a result, the house was now a bit of a horror show; her newfound mobility granted the munchkin the ability to get into a wide array of new trouble. The littlest Bryant clearly had a bit of a wicked sense of humor; she appeared to take joy in doing things that she knew would cause consternation to her parents; if they scolded her, she would beam up at them with a wide grin and crinkled green eyes, as if causing issues for them brought her the greatest of joys.
Despite her wicked streak, both grandmothers still regularly argued over the right to babysit their mocha-colored little “little angel”; as a matter of fact, both of them were at the Bryants’ house today, despite it only being a day hike instead of an overnight trip. Neither of them would take “next time” as the answer, so the parents fully expected to return home to an incredibly spoiled little girl.
And so, Nick found himself some four miles down a trail, sweat soaking into the green bandana he wore over his head to keep said sweat out of his eyes, while he followed his wife’s shapely ass. He supposed that weather or no weather, at least he kept an enjoyable view.
“Only another half mile to the falls,” Tina announced as she glanced at her phone.
Nick chuckled at his wife. “Is that an actual half mile, or a hiker half mile?” he asked with a smirk. It was a ubiquitous joke among hikers that a “half mile” often meant “two more miles, but I don’t want you to be discouraged”.
“You see me checking the map, smartass!” she retorted. “It’s an actual half mile.”
“If you say so,” he allowed, while pretending to be oblivious of the daggers she shot his way.
Just before the trail opened up into the falls area, the couple passed a small group of hikers moving the opposite direction. They exchanged friendly waves, with the man in the lead informing the Bryants that the falls were flowing pretty well, thanks to the recent rain. That news put a smile on Tina’s face.
After picking their way down a fairly steep approach, the Bryants found themselves alone in a small boulder field, with a green pool of water situated beneath the base of a twenty-foot-high fall. The couple shed their backpacks, and while Nick started rooting through the bags for lunch supplies, Tina grabbed a seat on a boulder and began to remove her boots.
“I take it that you aren’t coming in?” the brunette asked as she peeled off her pink socks.
Nick grinned and shook his head. “No thanks,” he replied. “I don’t want to deal with pulling boots onto my wet feet after, and I don’t like cold water, anyway. Also, we didn’t bring any towels.”
Tina laughed. “You’re such a weenie!” she exclaimed. “I would think that you’d enjoy cooling off.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll enjoy it vicariously through you,” he stated.
The brunette wore a huge smirk. “You mean that you’ll enjoy ogling me,” she countered.
“There’s a difference?” he asked, his face a mask of innocence.
She snorted in response, but when she turned her back to step toward the pool, she paused. After taking a long look around, she dropped her shorts and shimmied out of her sports bra.
“No sense getting my clothes wet,” she called back to Nick with a wink as she tossed her clothes down on a boulder. Momentarily, her naked form disappeared into the water.
Nick grabbed his phone, took a seat on a rock, and enjoyed the view. Tina’s hips, belly, and ass were all a little bigger than they used to be, as they were still to fully return to their pre-pregnancy shape… and seeing as how Abby didn’t appear close to ready to wean, Tina’s boobs remained positively enormous, with the normally small pink nipples and pink areolas both still brown in color and half again larger than usual. Overall, she had a softer look to her body, but Nick found that he didn’t mind at all. To the contrary, his growing erection while he watched his wife splash around the cold water was proof of his ongoing attraction; she just seemed so womanly to him, so feminine… so sexy.
Tina splashed and squealed in the frigid pool while Nick relaxed and grinned at her antics. After picking her way oh so carefully around the base of the falls, the now-soaked brunette found a stable enough spot to stand right in front of the cascading water, where she posed – back arched and breasts emphasized – while her husband took a series of photos. Then, she moved closer to him and gave him a wide variety of nude shots in and emerging from the pool.
“Did you get everything that you wanted?” she asked with a coy grin as she exited the water.
Nick drank in the view of her creamy, naked skin glistening with moisture before pointedly glancing down at his crotch. “Picture-wise, I certainly did,” he answered. “I don’t know that I would say that I got everything that I wanted…”
She gave him a crooked grin. “Somehow, I thought that you might say something like that.” She looked past her husband, up to the trail, before moving closer.
Satisfied that they were alone, Tina drug her backpack over and knelt on it in front of him. She looked up, using those beautiful emerald eyes to make extended eye contact as she reached up to her husband’s zipper and retrieved his erect member. Then while maintaining her gaze, she slowly enveloped the head of his penis in her warm mouth.
Nick groaned in ecstasy as Tina slowly fellated him, moving her warm, wet mouth up and down his shaft while swirling her tongue around the sensitive underside of his glans. For a bit, he kept his eyes closed, merely soaking in the sensations, but eventually, he opened them and began to watch.
He couldn’t help but notice that from time to time, Tina’s eyes would dart up and to the side, where she was obviously checking the trail for any possible visitors. Finally, Nick couldn’t resist commenting on it.
“You keep looking up the trail, baby,” he stated in a husky voice. “I can’t help but wonder. Are you making sure that we are alone… or are you hoping that we aren’t?”
Tina’s eyes widened for a moment before she closed them and gave a small moan in reply.
Nick grinned. “That tells me everything that I need to know. I might have known that you’d be hoping that some man is up there in the tree line, rubbing his cock while watching you.”
This time, her moan was not subtle. She picked up her pace in response, though her rhythm seemed off. With a jolt, Nick realized the reason for that – Tina had shifted a bit and was using the fingers of her right hand to rub her clit even as she continued to suck on his cock.
After a couple of minutes of this, the brunette couldn’t take it any longer. As she pulled her mouth off of her husband’s member, she moaned at him. “I can’t take it anymore,” she panted. “Please, baby… I need you inside of me. You have to pull out, but I need you inside of me now!”
Nick didn’t have to be told twice. He quickly stood, moved behind his wife, and leaned her over the boulder. After pushing his pants down and lining his cock up with her, he sank himself up to his balls inside of her liquid pussy with one steady push, which pulled a groan deep from inside of her.
“You can’t take it,” he teased as he began fucking her with long, powerful strokes. “You can’t take the idea of some stranger watching you get fucked right here, can you? You can’t take knowing that he would be stroking himself off right now, dying for the chance to touch you?”
“Oh God…” she moaned. “Oh fuck…”
“That’s right,” he encouraged her. “That’s what you need. That guy earlier saw your big tits in that sports bra, we both know he’s wondering how those tits look bare. He’s thinking about you right now while he hikes back with his wife…” Tina’s frantic moans only drove Nick to greater passion.
“Yeah, if he was here, he’d be stroking his cock. But we both know,” Nick continued as he tried to ignore his impending orgasm, “that what you really wish is that he would just walk right up to us. You wish that I’d pull out and give him a turn. You wish that I would watch that stranger push his cock inside of your unprotected pussy.”
Tina had given up on keeping her cries quiet. If anyone happened to come up, there would be no playing this off casually.
“Oh FUCK!” she cried as he drove his cock inside of her again and again. “Oh FUCK I’m close! Oh… oh… oh…”
“That’s it!” Nick grunted. “That’s a good girl! You come on my cock thinking how it would feel for some strange man to fill you with his hot seed right here, right now… just like I’m going to do…”
Tina’s orgasm broke over her, and she cried out while pushing back again her husband. At the last possible instant, Nick ripped out and sprayed his semen all over her ass and lower back. They absolutely did not need another baby, but fuck… the idea of Tina getting knocked up – especially if it was some stranger inseminating her – never failed to do it for both of them.
It took the two of them several minutes to catch their breath, get dressed, and make themselves presentable for the hike back out.
——————————————————–
Tina opening up and sharing her memories of the sex with Zeke, of how she had responded to it, had changed the couple’s dirty talk more than a little. Yes, it had finally opened up the ability for Nick to freely integrate talk about Zeke himself, as well as the sex that Tina had experienced with the old black man; Tina no longer cut him off, changed the subject, or asked her husband to not talk about it. But more than that, it had caused the two of them to admit – to themselves as well as to each other – that that taboo of risking pregnancy with a stranger was the ultimate turn on for both of them.
They delved back into the memories of the time in Zeke’s cabin more than once. Tina admitted that after the first night, when she was sure that it didn’t matter anymore, she had come to crave letting Zeke inseminate her. The mental rush of another man – and, even more so, a black man – knocking her up was so unthinkably taboo… which seemed to lead to breathtakingly strong orgasms. She further confessed that those subsequent sex sessions seemed to pretty much all end with her chasing the high of that first encounter with Zeke, of that first time when she had realized that an old black man – and not her husband – was likely putting a baby inside of her.
Even so, Tina made sure to communicate that while she was now okay with dirty talk around the subject, it was abundantly clear that this was the realm of fantasy only. While she never again went so far as to suggest that it was wrong for the way that Abby’s conception had come to be, she was very emphatic that they would never consider a repeat of that sort of reckless act. Dirty talk and fantasy was one thing; actually setting out to risk having another man’s baby was quite another.
Logically, Nick absolutely agreed with that position. Risking pregnancy was fun as an abstract fantasy subject, but the reality of his wife having another baby – let alone, a baby from another man – was just too much. They had both already been on the same page that they didn’t need any more kids after Josh and Mike; Abby was the true epitome of an accident, and neither of the Bryants was interested in another child now… or, really, ever again.
And yet… Nick couldn’t shake how he had felt when Zeke had inseminated Tina back at the cabin. It had been so terrifyingly taboo, but at the same time, it was as white hot as anything he had ever imagined. And the fact remained that as the pregnancy had progressed, as Tina’s belly had swollen with the older black man’s baby inside, she had only grown sexier to him. If he ever stopped to think about the fact that his wife was carrying another man’s child, Nick couldn’t help but recall how it had gotten there… and invariably, he would be hard.
Maybe Tina was right, after all. Maybe they really were fucked up. Nick was quite sure that he at least was.
——————————————————–
A few days after Abby’s birthday party – where the little imp had managed to smear lavender frosting far and wide – Nick came up on Tina while she was curled up on the couch and scrolling the internet on her phone. “Look at those views,” she breathed as she shared the photos with her husband. “You get those beautiful overlooks, but there are several really nice falls along the way.” Her face was wistful as she browsed. “I would love to be able to soak all of that in.”
Nick gave a bemused smirk. He knew this type of conversation very well – when his wife fixated on some hike, it was usually more a matter of when, not if, they would be tackling it. “Some of that looks a little familiar,” he observed. “Where is it?”
Tina cut her green eyes at her husband before glancing away. Her voice had a strange quality to it as she hesitantly answered. “It’s ah… it’s in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” she replied.
Nick felt an odd tightening in the pit of his stomach. Suddenly, the brunette’s strange bearing made sense.
The Blue Ridge foothills had been where he and Tina had backpacked during that freak blizzard not quite two years ago. The two of them had come shockingly close to dying thanks to the weather; if not for discovering the cabin of an old hermit in the woods, it was quite likely that they both would have, in fact, perished. Even so, the stay in the old man’s cabin had changed them forever; the evidence of the trip was currently napping in her crib in the next room.
Nick swallowed before responding, being careful to keep his voice even. “So… you, ah, want to try that particular trip again?”
Tina nodded. “I do. It’s just… last time, the weather hit unexpectedly, and we didn’t really get to enjoy the hikes like I had planned.” She paused in her explanation. “Even if you set aside the cabin and all of that, we lost the tent poles, it was so cold, the snow made everything so wet… we couldn’t really enjoy the waterfalls or any of the actual scenery. At least, not the way we usually do. And we were so far behind schedule, worried about people looking for us, we had to press really hard to just make it out. I really would like to actually hike it again and just experience the trip like it was supposed to be.”
A long silence hung in the air as Nick processed the idea. Tina misread the silence as opposition and spoke up.
“Never mind,” she stated. “It’s a stupid idea. We’ve only done a couple of single overnight trips, I probably don’t have the endurance to do it, anyway. Plus, Abby needs me too much for me to take several days away like that. And then, there’s…”
Nick cut her off by placing his hand on top of hers. “Stop,” he gently urged. “I didn’t say no, I was just thinking it over.”
He shook his head. “If I remember correctly, it was a forty-three-mile trip in total – if we do it in four days, no single day is much more than ten miles. You can handle that easily.” Tina started to respond, but he held up his hand and continued. “Of course Abby needs you, but you know good and well that both of our mothers would kill for the chance to come and take care of her. I know that you aren’t planning to wean her anytime soon, but the freezer is full of milk, and she mostly eats table food and baby food now, anyway. She will survive a few days without you just fine – you’ll just have one very rotten little girl who will be ready to see her mommy by the time we come home.”
A grateful look broke across Tina’s face. “You are some kind of man, mister,” she spoke. “I know that you don’t really understand it, but it would mean a lot to me to know that I could actually do it. To say nothing of really getting to experience everything the right way.”
Nick shook his head. “I’ll take the compliment, but I don’t understand the self-doubt,” he stated. “We would have died last time if not for you. Tina, you literally saved my life – you got me out of that water, you kicked my ass along and wouldn’t let me stop. Yes, Zeke gave us shelter, but you could have made it there on your own – I can’t say the same about me. So I really don’t get what you could possibly have to prove.”
After he spoke, the silence hung in the air long enough to grow uncomfortable. Finally, Tina couldn’t take it anymore.
“Just say it,” she said, fixing Nick with her gaze. “There’s no sense avoiding the elephant in the room.”
A grin touched one corner of Nick’s mouth, though it didn’t seem to quite reach his eyes. “Fine,” he allowed. “I’ll say it.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “If we go back there, we will be really close to Zeke’s cabin again. While I absolutely believe that you honestly want to do this trip for the hikes and the views and the waterfalls… I can’t help but wonder if there are any other motivations for you to want to do this exact trip again.”
Tina sighed softly. “Nick, I love you. I…” he started to say something, but she held up her hand. “Hold on. I let you speak, now let me answer.”
He nodded. “Fair enough,” he allowed.
“Set all the dirty talk aside. Yes, I enjoyed the sex with Zeke.” She noted his dubious expression. “Fine, I really enjoyed the sex with Zeke. I have never denied that, even when I didn’t want to talk about it. But I love you, I love our sex life. If I was trying to get some big strange dick, I could do that way easier than committing to sleeping on a two inch inflatable cushion and peeing in the woods for days.”
That drew a chuckle from Nick before she continued. “I’m not going to lie to you and claim that it never crossed my mind to go there again. Hell, you want me to tell you the truth? Okay, here’s the truth – I’ve thought long and hard about it. But it’s not just what you think, Nick. Do you remember that Zeke told us how he wished that he had had kids? Shouldn’t he at least know that Abby exists?”
Again, she raised her hand to forestall any objection. “He doesn’t belong in her life, and I don’t see how some hermit from the mountains could make that happen, anyway. I’m not saying that. But… well, you can credit me for saving you, and maybe you’d be right. But Zeke did save both of our lives, too. If not for the heat and his cabin and how he worked to warm us up, you’d have frozen to death… and I would have died mourning you. So yes, part of me thinks that it’s only right to tell him that there is a baby out there with his DNA. There. I said it.”
Nick shook his head slowly. “That is a lot to take in,” he admitted.
Tina nodded. “I get that,” she agreed. “And for the record, I’m not saying that we have to do it. I want to do this hike no matter what; it would clear a big mental block for me to achieve it successfully, and I honestly want to experience all of the beauty that this trail has to offer.” She paused for a long moment. “But yes, I do feel like it would be a fitting thank you to tell the man that he’s not going to die childless like he thought.”
She made firm eye contact again. “I won’t push it, I won’t force it, I won’t complain about it if you say no. You are my husband, and I love you more than anything – if you aren’t good with that kind of visit, your peace of mind means more to me than some random old man’s ever will, so that will be that. Okay?” She offered a smile. “Either way, I absolutely do want to backpack that trail again, and actually do it right.”
Given that Nick worshipped the ground his wife walked on, there was likely never any real question as to whether they would go or not. Before long, the subject changed to logistics – when to go, the supplies they would need, the necessary plans to make to provide for the kids. Soon enough, they had a mid-October trip planned; by going six weeks earlier in the year, they would absolutely avoid any sort of winter weather.
The subject of returning to the cabin itself was dropped by unspoken agreement; all of their plans and discussions instead revolved around the trip itself as the two of them began to treat it like any other backpacking trip that they ever planned.
——————————————————–
“You folks look familiar,” Sam stated as he glanced at the Bryants in his rearview mirror, his gray mustache even bushier than it had been the first time he had driven his shuttle for the pair.
“Guilty,” Nick admitted from the older man’s back seat. “You shuttled us out for this same trip two years ago,” he stated.
“Ah, I remember!” Sam exclaimed. “You were the couple that went out when they were forecasting snow. I never will forget that blizzard… it took everybody by surprise! I remember that a deputy came out to my place to ask me about y’all. Guess y’all were missing and folks were looking for you?”
“I guess that they were,” Nick agreed. “It took us a few extra days to make the hike, but with no cell service, we couldn’t really turn back.”
The older man gave a low whistle. “The two of y’all are more resourceful than I’d have thought,” he observed. “That had to be tough.”
Nick glanced sideways at Tina, who gave him a little wink. “Well, to be very fair, we tried really hard to freeze to death. I had a bank give way beneath me and drop me into a creek; if Tina hadn’t have pulled me out, I’d have frozen to death. She managed to lead us to a cabin, and an old hermit warmed us up and let us stay with him until the weather broke.”
Sam grinned widely. “That’s one resourceful lady you have there!” he exclaimed. But then, he grew thoughtful. “A cabin, you say?” He shook his head. “I’ve hiked these trails for twenty-five years at least, can’t say that I’ve ever seen any cabins around these parts. Y’all must have been pretty far off the main trail. Course, a snowstorm might make that happen, I reckon.”
The rest of the drive was spent with Sam regaling Tina and Nick with trivia about the area and recounting various things he had seen and experienced in his own hikes on the trail over the years. Once they reached the trail head and were unloading their packs, the older man had a final observation,
“Hope that you brought extra socks!” he exclaimed. “Forecast says y’all will get a little rain over the next couple of days.”
After thanking him, the couple began their trip. “That guy and his fixation with socks,” Nick observed with a chuckle.
——————————————————–
The first day’s hike went really well. The Bryants made excellent time, knocking out their allotted nine and a half miles with ease. Along the way, Tina had spotted an interesting little section of tall ferns; she first shed her backpack, then removed her shirt and sports bra before stepping in among the green plants to give Nick an excellent little series of topless pictures. After the photo session was done, she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her breasts into his chest and kissing him hungrily.
Just as it had seemed that things were about to go further, the brunette had frustratingly pulled away, given her husband a crooked grin, and pulled her clothes back on.
“What?” she asked in mock ignorance at his pained expression. “Did I get you all hot and bothered? Well, you’ll just have to take that out on me in the tent tonight, won’t you?” she teased.
The Bryants found the campsite by the creek to be very familiar – they had spent their first night of the trip at it two years ago, before the snow had started to fall. While the evening wind certainly had a chill to it, this time it contained only the normal cool of late autumn as opposed to the bitter bite of an unexpected winter storm. Tina filled the water filtration packs, set up the camp chairs, and selected the evening’s meal from their supplies while Nick pitched the tent and inflated the sleeping mat. While he busied himself with camp setup tasks, she took the opportunity to do her evening milk pump. Soon, they were enjoying freeze-dried beef stew with freeze-dried three cheese macaroni as a side dish while benefitting from the cheery fire that Tina had built.
There was something so peaceful, so calming about the sound of the breeze through the trees out here in the middle of nowhere. Nick always marveled at just how much his wife came to life in the wilderness; day hikes revitalized her so much, but these forays out into the real backcountry brought her out like nothing else. All the worries, all the cares of life seemed to melt away from her, leaving her expression nigh near actually glowing.
As always, that relaxation always seemed to boost her libido, as well. Tina – who was always so careful to be perfectly modest at home – was so quick to reveal her breasts or even her entire naked body to Nick out in the wilderness. And while they certainly enjoyed a fulfilling sex life, the brunette always seemed almost hungry for sexual contact with her husband while they were on these trips.
That night was no different; Nick had barely begun to zip the tent flap closed behind himself when Tina demanded in no uncertain terms that he grab a condom and get inside of her, now. The hunger that had simmered beneath the surface of her kiss freely boiled over that night; Nick was amazed at how energetic his wife had managed to make sex inside of a tiny tent.
After, he lay awake, panting, with one arm and one leg stuck out from inside the sleeping bag to radiate heat as Tina murmured in sleepy happiness against him while fully wrapped up in the covers. Try as he might, he couldn’t fully vanquish some of the stray thoughts from his mind. Tomorrow would be the day that they would leave the trail to find Zeke’s cabin – provided, of course, that Nick went along with it and didn’t veto the entire diversion like Tina had insisted that he had every right to do.
How awkward would such a meeting be? Zeke had never pushed anyone in any way; things had certainly gotten out of hand with alcohol and being cooped up together… and once the damage had been done, they had all just sort of gone with the flow. None of that would be the case tomorrow, however. Suely he would be respectful, even grateful about the news Tina wanted to share with him?
Nick knew from multiple conversations with Tina that he had nothing to fear; in fact, part of him was at least a little disappointed at just how serious the brunette had been in insisting that nothing sexual would happen between her and the old black man. While it was reckless and wrong, it was undeniable that it had also been hot as fuck to see his wife fucked by that massive black cock. Despite the fact that she certainly enjoyed dirty talk and fantasy, Tina had never once shown an inkling of interest in actually having sex with another man ever again since that first trip to Zeke’s cabin – and Nick had no reason to believe that this would change now.
Which was probably for the best – Tina had insisted that he use a condom tonight, which meant that she had entered the unsafe part of her cycle. Thinking back, she had given him a blowjob last night, and had sat on his face while he stroked himself the night before, so he was a little unsure if this was the first “more or less” unsafe day, or if she was truly fertile right now.
Either way, they had both agreed beyond any shadow of a doubt that Abby was to be their “caboose”, that they were done with having kids; as such, it would be reckless and foolish to risk Tina actually having sex with another man – no matter how much they might get off to fantasies about her doing so.
And so, Nick lay there for a very long time, with his thoughts wandering back to how hot it had been the last time they had visited Zeke, to worrying about what would happen tomorrow, to mentally exploring fantasies about how arousing it would be to revisit some of those old connections, to feeling disappointment in knowing that such things would never happen again. Eventually, fatigue finally drowned out even the cacophony of emotions in Nick’s mind, and he drifted off to sleep beside his wife.
——————————————————–
Breakfast was a chilly affair, but seeing as how they didn’t wake up to snow around the tent, Nick had to rate it an improvement over the last hike they had tried here. He frowned as they packed up the campsite; yesterday’s clear sky had given way to clouds that suggested truth in Sam’s forecast of rain. Ah, well – if it rained, it would be neither the first nor the last such experience the Bryants had endured.
While Tina tended to both wake up and fall asleep earlier than Nick, neither of them were “push out at the crack of dawn” hikers; as a result, in was nearly ten AM before they found themselves on the trail proper. The day’s goal was basically eleven miles, which would put them almost halfway to their overall goal. Eleven miles was not a terrible hike by any stretch of the imagination, but the Bryants had learned that an eleven-mile day hike – with limited supplies – was definitely less tiring than an eleven-mile backpacking hike that involved carrying around all of their camping gear.
Of course, none of that took into account any miles they would add if they detoured to Zeke’s cabin – nor did it take into account any time that would be invested in that detour. Being aware of this possibility, Nick had built in two extra days into the itinerary under the guise that once they reached the end of the regular hike, they could add on another optional eight and a half miles of trail to see one more gorge, then spend the night before hiking back to their car. Nick doubted that either of them really thought that they would add the extra out and back, but the last thing that he wanted was to have people worrying about the two of them again if the detour took longer than intended and he and Tina were presumed lost again.
The day was breezy, with the temps a little cooler than Nick had anticipated. Even so, it was still a pleasant hike; with the mostly flat terrain, they made good time. Sometime around twelve thirty, Nick observed that they were about to hit the five mile point on today’s hike.
Tina turned and gave him an odd look, though she didn’t verbalize anything – yet. Five miles in was where they had taken a break last time, when the snow had started falling much harder as it transitioned into an actual blizzard. Desperately in need of protection from the elements, the Bryants had used the map to locate what they had believed to be a trail shelter – which had proven to actually be the cabin belonging to the hermit, Ezekiel Brown.
The brunette waited silently while Nick studied the map on his phone before finally putting voice to the question they both knew was hanging there.
“So, what are we doing, babe?” she asked. “Are we continuing on the main trail or are we making a detour?”
The butterflies that had been flitting inside of Nick’s stomach all morning surged with a vengeance at his wife’s question. With his mouth suddenly dry, Nick had to swallow before he could answer.
“I’ve been thinking about it all day. For quite a few days, if I’m honest,” Nick admitted. “I think… that we should take the detour,” he declared, finally managing to get the words out.
“Are you sure about that?” Tina asked, her voice neutral. “I meant it when I said that this was up to you,” she affirmed. “We can keep on walking right now – there’s a waterfall in four more miles, and I am happy to focus on that. If we keep going, I won’t bring it up again, I promise.”
Nick gave a weak grin and shook his head. “No, I’ve considered it from every angle. We should go. I don’t want you always wondering if you made the right call, carrying that around with you.” He shook his head. “Besides, you are right – the old man deserves to know that he has a daughter. We owe him that much.”
Tina nodded. “Okay. If you are sure.” She then hugged her husband. “Thank you,” she breathed in his ear.
Nick returned the embrace, then straightened. “The only thing,” he said, gesturing at his phone, “is that I’m a little confused. I’m looking at the map here, and I don’t see the shelter marker anymore. Hell, I don’t even see the creek!”
The two of them pored over the map for a bit, scrolling back and forth to look at the surrounding area. Finally, they located the creek, with what seemed like a remembered shape of the bend.
“I guess that maybe we wandered a bit off of the main trail in the snow before we found the shelter icon that day,” Nick mused. “But why can’t I find the cabin?” he asked.
“Maybe they removed the shelter marker from the app since it’s not actually an open shelter, but belongs to somebody?” Tina wondered.
“That makes sense,” Nick agreed. “Well… let’s go ahead and leave the trail here and make for the creek. We should be able to get our bearings from there.”
With a plan in place, the couple made their way off the trail and towards the creek. As they walked, it became more apparent why Sam had been unfamiliar with Zeke’s cabin – on their last trip, the Bryants had obviously lost the main trail during the storm, then intentionally left the trail they were on to seek shelter. All told, they were likely to end up more than a mile off that main trail; it would not have made sense for Sam to have wandered so far during any of his regular trips.
It took a little trial and error, but within another half hour or so, they had found their way to a very familiar little section of creek. After taking care to safely scale down the bank, it didn’t take long for Nick to locate a boulder in the water; with a shudder, he recalled his foot being trapped beneath it as the frigid water rushed past.
“Doesn’t look like much today,” he mused. “A foot of water, easy enough to cross on the rocks without even getting your feet wet. And this is where I almost bought it?” he chuckled ruefully.
“Don’t be silly, a blizzard changes everything,” Tina observed. “That water would have done the same to any human.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure that you’re right. It just seems so… random of a way to die.” He grinned. “But I didn’t, did I?”
Like the water crossing itself, the scramble up the far bank seemed far less daunting than it had back when the two of them were fighting a blizzard. While the shelter icon was no longer on the map, Nick knew that it had been almost due north of the creek crossing, so the couple headed that way. Sure enough, they sighted the cabin after a short walk.
Nick felt his heart race at the appearance of the weathered wooden building. His stomach was swirling; with it, sudden doubt hit. Why had he agreed to come here? Shouldn’t they have left well enough alone, let the past remain in the past? A glance at Tina’s face showed intense doubt and more than a little worry on her features; it was clear that he wasn’t the only one wrestling with strong feelings. Perhaps this had been a mistake; it wasn’t too late to just turn around now, return to the main trail, and get on with the hike.
And yet, he heard the words coming out of his mouth, like someone else was the one saying them. “Well, here we are. Guess we should go and knock?”
Tina gave him a nervous, wavering smile and nodded. “I guess so.”
The Bryants covered the distance between the tree line and the cabin, crossing the autumn-browned native grasses with their footsteps crunching on the odd fallen leaf. The wooden structure somehow felt smaller, more run-down than it had two years ago. Perhaps the lack of snow-created desperation lowered the appeal of the building… perhaps the sudden rush of nervousness had a hand in that.
They reached the narrow porch, and with one more deep breath, Nick climbed the couple of stairs and knocked on the wooden door.
Silence was the only thing that met him.
After several long moments, he knocked again. “Hello?” he called. “Zeke, are you there?”
No reply came.
“Is he not home?” Tina asked.
Nick shook his head. “It seems not. I don’t hear anything at all inside. And there’s no smoke coming out of the chimney. It’s not freezing, but I would think that he’d have at least a small fire going if he was here.”
Tina glanced around. “His firewood pile seems well-stocked,” she observed. She pointed at the grass. “You can see paths worn down in the grass, so someone has been here recently. Maybe he’s just away right now?”
Nick frowned. He hadn’t considered that Zeke might not be home.
“All right,” he shook his head. “We haven’t had lunch yet… so I guess let’s go ahead and do that. You can get in your midday pumping session, too. And then, we wait for a bit? I don’t know what else to do.”
The two of them shed their backpacks, selected a couple of the freeze-dried pouches, and set about meal prep… which felt odd to do in what amounted to someone’s front yard with the resident not home.
