Crossings Ch 05

5. Nightswimming

I woke to sunlight and song, alone in the bedroom, my chest and stomach tingling. There were two french doors on two walls open to the garden, sunlight and birdsong and a warm soft damp breeze coming through, with a similar door to the bath, splashing sounds and Callie's singing coming through that:

You are the lover's rock

The rock that I cling to

You're the one

The one I swim to in a storm

Like a lover's rock

"Come join me, Bob!" she yelled. She sounded really happy, and as my body rose without thought and walked towards the bath, nude, I felt her joy surge within me. I had no idea how I'd come to the bedroom, but I felt good, really good, my body tired and sore like I'd gotten quite a workout.

She was in the tub, which was full of bubbles. He held out her hand to me, palm up, and crooked all her fingers together. From across the room I felt her wrist between my legs, sharp nails on my ass, urging my body forward. She leaned forward in the tub, making room behind her.

"Get in, darling," she whispered. "I want you close," and then I was in the tub with her in my arms, her back to me, nestling into me. On the ceiling above us were several magnifying mirrors, not easily visible from outside the tub, and the view of her, my hands and arms on her, was spectacular.

"What have you done to me?" I whispered into her ear, not expecting an answer.

"I'm playing with you," she said, guided one of my hands to her belly, the other to an ample breast, turned into me far enough to share an open-mouthed kiss. "Your turn to play with me." She turned forward again, relaxing into me as my hands explored her, up and down, cupping, stroking, from her upper legs to her lovely warm wet neck and fragrant soft hair and everything in between. Every caress, every stroke, every kiss and pinch and lick and nip, I felt echoing in my cock. I groaned. She was smiling.

"With every touch," she said, "every instant of pleasure you feel from what you're doing to me, to us, feel your mind slip away. You know it gets easier for you the less you think. There's no stress when you just act on my words. No thoughts, your body is the only thing that matters to me right now, and what matters to me is all that matters to you. Your fingers, hands, arms, pleasing me your only purpose, let your body do that without thinking, do only what I say, only what I want. Feel your mind slipping away, deeper every moment, let your body respond to my words, my thoughts, which are everything you need."

Her breathing changed, my arousal rising with hers. Such gentle strokes from neck and shoulders all the way past her knees, which came up to meet my hands, soft strong inner thighs, circling the points of her pleasure, areolæ, nipples, her erect clitoris, two fingers curling inside her like fishhooks, spearing her, teasing that spot inside where everything came so much deeper, everything I did to her echoing in my cock and balls but also on my own nipples, hard into her back, my cock mashed against my belly by her beautiful bottom, so strong, so firm, so soft.

"No coming," she whispered, gasping, then came herself, a long slow burn I could feel cresting in shallow waves while my own pleasure went into a kind of limbo, suspended in feeling, my mind dropping away just as she'd directed. "Good slave," she moaned, then surrendered to riding those waves of pleasure, undulating against me, as long as they lasted.

Some time later I became aware again, feeling her rise, turning to face me, still in the tub, the water draining. Slowly, sensuously, Callie oiled her groin and between her legs, knowing I was watching, putting on a show of it and taking pleasure from my response, then held out her hands. I took them to stand facing her, my cock as hard as ever. She ran her oiled hands up and down my length, caressing, preparing me, then took my cock between her legs and crossed them, squeezing me tight even though I wasn't inside her, her full breasts against my upper chest, sometimes touching my chin -- she was either levitating a few inches or else standing on strong tiptoes.

"You're awake and aware," she said, "that's good, that's what I want, because I'm going to get you off like this and count you down as I do, and with each number you'll feel your mind slip, falling deep into pliable, suggestible unconscious, where you hear me and obey without thinking, just as you know you need to, coming only when I tell you to. Do you understand?" She squeezed me harder.

"Yes, my goddess," I said.

"Good slave," she said, releasing her squeeze. She rotated her hips away from me, pressing herself down until I could feel her clit on my cock head, then forward again, squeezing me tight. She smiled. "This is going to be fun for both of us," she said, then repeated her movement, squeezing not just her strong legs but also as much of her wonderful ass as could reach around me. Again and again until I could feel an orgasm stirring. Callie drew back and looked into my eyes.

"Three," Callie said. "Feel my eyes filling your mind. So deep, so irresistible. There is nothing else. Feel it build." Then she flexed forward and squeezed tight once, twice, thrice before releasing and sliding further away, rotating her hips and grinding, once, twice, thrice.

"Two," she said, and it was like I was spacing out, held fast by the pleasure she was stoking within me and by her penetrating gaze, beautiful amber-green eyes the windows to her beautiful soul, flowing into and out of mine as she moved around me, holding me tight. "You want to come, you need to come, but you will only do so on my command, mindless and obedient, and when you come, you will belong to me, fully, completely. Do you understand?"

"Yes goddess," I said, my body relaxing as consciousness faded. I gave myself to her control.

"Good slave, I can feel your pleasure building, your mind fading, your body trembling before my words, helpless to do anything but what I tell you, fighting to hold yourself as the pressure rises, as your pleasure increases, holding it in for me, for yourself, for us."

"Yes goddess," I said, my voice seeming to come from far away, vision darkening even as my eyes stayed deep in hers.

"One," she said. "Come, my good slave, come hard, and keep coming until I tell you to stop."

I has just enough awareness to feel relief at finally being able to let go, satisfaction that I could do so on Callie's terms, and then a veritable lightning bolt of ecstatic release.

* * *

I found myself at the breakfast table. There was toast and butter and jam, strong coffee for Mariano and tea and juice plus last night's leftovers. Mariano flicked curious glances, as if not quite sure what to make of me, while Callie, in her colorful silk robe, perused a glossy tourist magazine. One of my arms ached, the pain centered inside, high up between my elbow and shoulder as if, as if ... no, I couldn't remember.

"How do you feel?" Callie asked me, her eyes drawing me in.

"I don't know what to think," I said. "I don't know why you're doing this, but I trust you."

"That's good, my love, because you don't need to understand, and truly, it's better that you don't even though it's exactly what you need most. I'm so glad you trust me, I truly cherish that."

Yeah I was confused, but the food was good, the ache in my arm was fading, Callie's warm presence was wonderful, and she was still the best thing that had ever happened to me, the love of my life. I had another piece of taquito, the tortilla not so crisp as last night, but still nice. I was pretty damned hungry.

"We're going sailing," Callie said. It wasn't yet 8:00 AM.

"Do you know how?" I asked.

"Not really, but you do, and if worse comes to worst there's always the engine. We'll need to pack for overnight."

The doorbell rang. Mariano rose to answer it, returning two minutes later with three full plastic takeout bags.

"Lunch, dinner, breakfast," he said, grinning.

"You're good," I said, grinning back. "Last night's tapas was delicious, and it still is." I was holding a skewer of chilled grilled shrimp, part of the first one in my mouth.

"Mi mama is the best cook in our village, she hardly ever let my brother or me into the kitchen but I learned a lot about great food."

Callie laid her magazine on the table. "Pack it up, boys," she said. "We'll swim, but bring something warmer, just in case." It didn't take long, we didn't have much, I wasn't going to need warmer clothing even if Callie might but she told me to so I did. The sailboat, whose name was Nahual, was well stocked with towels, fresh linens and gear for an extended saltwater sojourn, even a ruggedized laptop. Walking the dock was like going back in time for me, the tang of salt air, brilliant morning sun warming everything from its overnight relative cool ... it would be another hot and fairly humid early July day. On the water that sun would be blinding, so sunscreen and good sunglasses were a must, but Nahual had them.

I checked the forecast, which looked mild, and we cast off at about 8:45. The house and several others were between two jetties near the marina entrance. We motored out maybe half a mile before the southwest wind felt as constant as it would get. I'd been showing Mariano and Callie the cockpit controls as well as I could interpret them and Mariano seemed riveted ... it wasn't much more complex than driving with a lot more room for error, and he was becoming such a good driver that this was easy for him. The sails were right for the weather we could expect, a furled main and genoa on an automated system that could be controlled entirely from the cockpit, which should've made me feel like I was cheating -- sailing used to be an art! -- but I was actually somewhat relieved at not having to manage the full complexity of a 42' boat, larger than anything I'd captained before. At least the wind should be friendly.

Mariano took the helm while I read up on the sail control system, and then, 15 minutes after a more experienced captain would've, I put the boat into the wind and hit a switch to unfurl the main, then another for the genoa, then turned into a close reach until the sails luffed the way I wanted. I shut the engine down. It was far too easy -- all the lines could be controlled from the cockpit -- and then it was all about minor trim adjustments, which were much the same as I already knew, and relatively easy to relate to Mariano and Callie. I felt good, calmed, this had been a source of some anxiety but I was able to relate the details to more than one intelligent and slightly skeptical recipient despite being no expert myself. Callie gave me a wonderful hug.

Two hours of sailing in increasing heat -- It helped to deploy a canvas canopy over the cockpit and much of the deck -- brought us to Isla San Pedro Norlasco. We saw porpoises early and there were sea lions everywhere here,

"bright with sun and wet with sea water"

. We furled sails, motored into the island's lee and dropped anchor. It was still morning. Callie and I had explored the cabin while Mariano steered; there was a large latex mattress forward in the v-berth, roughly king sized but not rectangular. We made the bed and gave it a little test, which was nice, then tidied up. Mariano had several sleeping options aft, but this would be our space.

"Time to swim," Callie announced after we anchored in a protected cove near the island's southeast shore. "Mariano, let's do this."

I lowered the swim platform from the stern and jumped off immediately ... I would leave Mariano's swim instruction to Callie, a much better teacher than I.

I dove into surprisingly warm water. Deeper and deeper, mental wheels turning with Steinbeck/Darwin's "

time to think and to look and to consider

".

Back on the boat later, I somehow connected to the internet. Sure, we were 15 miles from the nearest access point, but I focused, filled in some gaps, and then I was online. There were better dive sites around the island. I called out to no response. Then again, inside my head, linked to Callie's.

"Quiet," she said, so I was.

Eventually, they came aboard. Mariano exhausted but elated.

"I swam!" he said. Callie was showering.

"She's the best teacher I've ever known," I told him.

"I'll get lunch ready," he said.

Mariano brought out tortas -- Mexican sandwiches. Maybe too much mayo but once Callie joined us I wasn't going to put mine down, in fact after no more than two bites I doubt I could have -- I was hungry and it was delicious.

"Tsk," Callie said as I licked my fingers clean. She'd changed her look, her lips and nails no longer bright red, now darker like burgundy, or blood. Even her hair was darker, now in a long braid that dangled past her waist. She'd changed from the one-piece she'd worn with Mariano into a bikini that she filled out wonderfully even under a thin white shirt knotted at her waist, and she had a knife in a sheathe strapped to her lower leg.

"There are better dive sites around the island," I said, trying and failing not to goggle.

"Take us," Callie told me, smiling but not. It seemed like she was avoiding my eyes, like some of her joy had gone, like something she wasn't looking forward to was coming. I might've known what it was if I had my extrasense, but she'd told me to withdraw it and so I had. We raised anchor and motored further south, where there was a big rock just off the steep wall of the island. It was actually somewhat difficult to judge distance here ... the island rose sharply from the water, the steep rock nearly devoid of vegetation, the sun reflecting hard and hot from southeast faces. We anchored again near the entrance to the channel between the island and its little offshore rock.

"There's supposed to be an arch here, underwater," I said. "I'd like to check it out."

"You go," Callie said. "I'll join you later."

"Don't be surprised if I stay down awhile," I said, put on water shoes, then slid over the transom and dove in. It was a short swim to that offshore rock. I could've spent more time in the water, but I wanted to get a sense for how it would be to climb these rocks, thinking to climb on the much higher island later, and it turned out to be easy, maybe 7m high. I stood on top, waved to Callie and Mariano, and dove deep into the channel.

A lot of what I'd been doing in the water earlier, while Callie was teaching Mariano to swim, was exploring how to dive without scuba equipment. I wanted to see as if wearing goggles, manage the pressure of deeper water, and of course breathe. I'd learned that I could do all three, at least to a certain extent, with the help of magic to maintain air bubbles around my eyes and lower pressure water around my ears. I'd gotten more than 10m deep in my earlier explorations and wanted to go deeper. On my first dive, using that dive from the rock, I got 15m deep and was underwater for almost two minutes. I came up fast enough that I came clear of the water almost to my swim trunks.

"Woo hoo!" I yelled to Callie and Mariano after a few deep breaths. Callie looked annoyed ... two minutes under water is a long time, and maybe she'd been worried. I gave myself a couple minutes to recover, breathing deep and steady, and then dove from the surface, back down to about 15m, underwater a little longer, then repeated the process a few more times. In half an hour I was going twice as deep for twice as long. Deeper still were hammerhead sharks. Several curious sea lions were swimming nearby, occasionally barking at me when I was on the surface. I'm pretty sure they'd never seen anything quite like this.

Coming back up fast the last time, I jumped completely clear of the water and onto the swim platform.

"Showoff," Callie said. She was drinking iced tea under the shady canopy. It took me a minute to catch my breath.

"You know you can do it, too, right?" I said. "It's pretty cool down there ... there's the underwater arch, and ... sharks. Hammerheads. Scary scary stuff."

Callie casually reached toward me and extended one long burgundy-nailed finger. My entire body locked up ... I couldn't move at all. Mariano was going below.

"Who am I?" she asked softly.

"You are my goddess," my voice said.

"You know we're getting pretty bored up here watching you cavort alone in this water, right?"

"I'm sorry, my goddess, I ... wasn't thinking."

"I'm angry with you, slave," she said. "You must always think of my needs first. Always."

Uh oh.

"Back in the water, slave," she said, and I was overboard in seconds. She descended to the swim platform more carefully, shedding the knotted shirt from over her bikini top, then stepping out of her bikini bottom and climbing down the platform's ladder into the water. She swam to me, put her hands on my shoulders, said "Get hard, slave," and I did. Then she wrapped her legs around my waist, my chin in her bountiful cleavage, maneuvered my trunks off, slipped down, wriggling on me until I was deep in her unexpectedly very lubricated self, squeezed me once, twice, thrice, enough to make me see stars, and said "Look deep into my eyes and teach me everything you just learned. Come now, come hard, and keep coming until I tell you to stop. Slave. Use your arms and legs to keep us afloat, but you can't look away and you don't get to move any other part of your body."

I had no choice in the matter, I came and came so hard my vision clouded over, giving everything I had to her, and before long she was coming with me. She kept squeezing me, my cock getting so sensitive that it became painful, which was what she wanted, but she hadn't told me to stop coming, so I did and I did and I did, my sensitivity increasing with each passing moment until it was like a kind of torture, then finally her lips came to my ear and she stopped.

"Fuck me like an animal," she said in my mind, and mine dropped away.

When I came to my senses I was underwater, Callie's burgundy bikini top around my neck. She took her ample breasts in her hands and in my mind I heard her say "Down boy," and a moment later my mouth was on her vulva, my tongue in her vagina, swallowing seawater and my own cum, my mind fleeing again. We'd been underwater for more than five minutes when I became aware again. Her bikini top was covering my eyes so I couldn't see, and then I felt a sudden piercing pain in my chest and moments later I could sense blood in the water. My blood.

"In a few moments, when I tell you, you'll be able to move," I heard Callie's voice say inside my head, "but you'll stay underwater until you have my permission to surface. Your mind will fall away, no thoughts, only your body is important to me right now, your body gets to act, to react, to heal itself, and you don't get to remember any of this until I tell you it's time." I was drifting alone in the water, not feeling the need to breathe even though my last thought was that I must've been underwater for six minutes. I could feel other shapes, large shapes, moving nearer.

"Now," some part of me heard her say, and then as I tore my perfect goddess Callie's bikini top from around my eyes, my world filled with pain.

I woke disoriented on the swim platform, coughing seawater and feeling weaker than I'd felt since after a bender as a middle-aged man, my body in pain so intense it might as well have been on fire. Callie was kneeling next to me, spectacular in her nudity, head bowed, hair hiding her face, a hand on my chest, struggling to keep her breathing steady. She was crying.

I woke disoriented, alone in the v-berth bed Callie and I had made together. I was amazingly hungry and my left arm and right leg and my chest, really my whole body, fucking ached. I struggled up, feeling like I needed to know what was happening. Found a swimsuit, through the dining room and the galley, up the companionway to the cockpit. In the water, Callie was instructing Mariano, who was floating on his back.