Crashing thunder woke Crystal from a sound sleep and shook the small apartment. Her eyes popped open and managed a glimpse of the brightly lit room around her before darkness returned.
She looked up to the window above the bed. The rain pounded against the glass and glowed in the streetlight like a living creature trying to get inside their warm bedroom.
Crystal rolled over onto her side and watched her husband, Collin, sleep. The sight of him laying next to her made her feel safe and secure, like a tornado could rip the world apart around them and she would be perfectly safe so long as she was in his arms.
She leaned in and gently kissed her man's sleeping mouth. He wasn't any Superman or super model, but his muscles were hard, his smile was enchanting, and he treated Crystal like a queen. Most important, however, was the knowledge that Collin belonged to her of his own free will. In Crystal's opinion, that simple truth made her the luckiest and most important woman in the world.
Crystal slid her feet into the slippers by her bed and covered her naked body with a robe before making her way down the hallway to the kitchen. Every lightning strike sent her shadow dancing and the cooking utensils hanging on the walls of the kitchen cast harsh shadows of their own, giving Crystal the feeling that she was living a hellish movie where everything came to life.
She poured a large mug of spiced rum, which always helped her sleep in a thunderstorm, and drank it in several long swallows. She immediately felt better as lightning flashed again and sent red and green beams of light from the stain glass hummingbird hanging in the window.
Halfway back down the hallway, just after the hall closet but before the bathroom, lightening struck again. This time it struck with the power of a small earthquake. The entire apartment shook and the pictures on the wall rattled on their hooks. Every light bulb in the old house flashed on for a brief second, then went dark.
Only the rain could be heard now, beating against the roof harder than ever.
As she crossed the threshold into the bedroom, lightning flashed, and Crystal froze in her tracks. She rubbed her eyes, blinked a few times but the scene playing out in front of her didn't change. There, on her bed and straddling her husband, was another woman.
The girl was young, maybe late teens or early twenties. She had short, dark hair and smooth skin that glowed and reflected the lightening outside the bedroom window as she bent backward, exposing her front to Collin, her nude body fucking Collin as he lay on his back with his eyes closed. He came, bucking up into her as she moaned.
In the darkness, Crystal rushed across the bedroom and grabbed the girl's shoulder. The girl's eyes popped open and blue storm clouds sparked in the girl's eyes as she moaned with pleasure and vanished into air.
