![\"Mira](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/2-2014-Aries-Red-Moon-Calendar.jpg\")
Mira Dancy, Aries Red Moon Calendar, 2014<\/p>\n Mira Dancy, Aries Red Moon Calendar, 2014<\/p>\n
NSFW: Sleek exclusively serialises Badlands Unlimited’s newest erotic novel –\u00a0Cara Benedetto’s “Burning Blue” – in its entirety after selecting an excerpt for our current issue<\/a>. We’ll publish a new part online every week accompanied by Mira Dancy’s paintings. “Burning Blue” belongs to the Badlands’ “New Lovers” series devoted to publishing\u00a0all-female-penned works of erotica that explore the complexities bedevilling contemporary life, culture, and art today.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Part One: Blood Let I<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The woman\u2019s thighs were heavy and wet.<\/p>\n She was slick with arousal and had grown used to changing her panties often and daily. As she boarded the train she felt moisture move between legs.<\/p>\n Settling into a window seat, the woman watched her reflection flicker with the train car\u2019s fluorescent lights. The car was half empty and smelled of her musty lilac scent. In haste she\u2019d forgotten pads. Screw it, she thought. Tonight I\u2019ll bleed freely. Her jeans turned maroon as the air moved around her in strange hormonal waves. She was grateful there were no cramps tonight.<\/p>\n The conductor gave her a familiar wink as she stepped onto the deserted platform. Like a classic noir opening shot, the taxi pulled up out of darkness and delivered her, in silence, to the secluded cabin. As the cab\u2019s taillights disappeared behind a thick forest line, she felt herself relaxing. Josey smiled to herself when she realized that she felt more normal in a place as alien and strange as her own body had become.\u00a0<\/p>\n She made her way up the steps and stumbled through the dimly lit screened-in porch. The front door was unlocked. Swiping the wall, she hit a switch. Four large barn lights lit a pretty oak table to seat six, a modest kitchen, and a casual living room set. All in one pretty \u2018A\u2019 frame room.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t bother to unpack her bag. There wasn\u2019t much: underwear, wool socks, a makeup bag, two scratch-offs, her favorite Malbec, and a few boxes of coconut water.<\/p>\n She threw her belongings onto a wicker chair and began to undress. She felt the need to get away from herself. Making her way to the bathroom, she wrenched her jeans over sticky legs and ran a hot bath.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her panic was gone. She dug up a wine glass and, Malbec in tow, eased her way into the boiling water, turning the foam bath into a similar shade of rose.<\/p>\n Josey closed her eyes as the hot water seeped into her organs. She was a frog with porous skin, gulping air in quiet chirps. She went over the long day that had led her there.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not enough blue,\u201d he\u2019d said flatly. Earlier that afternoon she had watched the squat man, her gallerist, hover over her paintings like a giant black fly. True to a fly\u2019s character, the direction of his buzz was erratic and influenced by the smell of blood. \u201cThere\u2019s just too much red.\u201d She swatted his complaint with an eyeroll. The mention of red reminded her\u00a0of the growing wet spot between her legs.<\/p>\n Every night that month Josey had woken to cramping, her upper thighs painted in a light wash of blood. She didn\u2019t know why she was bleeding but had some guesses. As far as she was concerned it was like anybody\u2019s critical moments in life. Josey would evade the issue. Just like the first time she had sex. When the guy asked if she was okay, pointing to the blood on the sheets, she acted as if she didn\u2019t know what he was talking about. Just like before, she would ignore the blood and tell no one, not even her husband. She let herself bleed into a deep red secret.<\/p>\n \u201cI like it red. It\u2019s violent.\u201d She said this in a near whisper while gazing out the gallery window. When she finally turned to look at him, she found an apathetic face. She quickly looked away, tossing her long white hair behind her. \u201cAnyways, my paintings can\u2019t always match your wardrobe, Hans. If you want I can get you a bowtie with hearts.\u201d Her gallerist grimaced and returned his half focus to the painting.<\/p>\n Josey loved her paintings, she had made them, after all, but there were times when she witnessed people staring at them and she didn\u2019t know what they saw. She was even a little confused as to where their admiration came from, and it made her uncomfortable to have a stranger\u2019s eyes twitching all over her decisions. With a few words she politely exited the gallery and walked out into the glaring Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea.<\/p>\n An ex-model, Josey knew what it felt like to be adored and she never wanted it to stop. She was only forty-five but already she felt the coming of invisibility. She missed the grease stains men left with their lingering looks. She missed the eyes of envy cast by other women who would never look as good in a halter top and cut-offs.<\/p>\n Even when she\u2019d had the wherewithal to refer to such harassment as a product of Rape Culture, she enjoyed having the power to acknowledge, or ignore, the attention. Now that age was catching on and in between her legs, she felt a new kind of lack. She felt absent. She needed to match the remove she felt.<\/p>\n Josey needed a break from the everyday.\u00a0<\/p>\n She called her husband Asher to let him know she was leaving town. Even though they slept in the same bed every night, they hadn\u2019t spoken in days. As usual, he was without affect. She stopped by her friend Ryan\u2019s to pick up the keys, and then headed upstate, to bleed in peace.<\/p>\n The gentleness of the next two weeks slowed down her body clock. Josey bled while wandering through books, beach, and forest, and kept on bleeding. Sometimes she dripped onto the hardwood floor and imagined that the flecks would bubble up into a soft, wormy head, a character from her favorite horror film, Hellraiser.<\/p>\n She figured that in this way she could still procreate. Through her slow drippings on the floor she would build a monster and name it Lise, after the vengeful astronaut. Lise was infamous for wearing a NASA diaper to save time as she drove across the country on her way to kidnap the girlfriend of her ex-lover. Josey thought Lise was cool, in a desperate kind of way.<\/p>\n Josey let her mind wander and rest, fill up with fantasies instead of anxieties. Josey had become increasingly horny over the last few months. She not only eyeballed both men and women, but now teenagers were viable options. She felt a kinship with them because of the uncontrollable and insatiable desire she knew they must also experience. She had even begun to strike up flirtations with strangers, which she\u2019d never dared before. It was exciting to see people\u2019s eyes move over her, taking her in as if she could still be attractive, with a little effort.<\/p>\n Josey had never considered herself needy, vain, or shallow, but now that she couldn\u2019t reinforce the population, she felt as though she had lost a kind of value. She had lost the ability to make a soldier, a slave, or a king. She had lost their game. Josey knew that her remaining worth was fleeting and that she\u2019d have to figure out a new set of values before everyone found her out. She hunted around for some hidden or forgotten talents and came up with a mental list:<\/p>\n 1. Drawing lopsided self-portraits<\/p>\n 2. Making cats feel good about themselves<\/p>\n 3. Sexting<\/p>\n Not bad, she thought. In that moment she had the irrational idea that she might very well bleed until she died, and she was okay with that. She had to be. She would let the walls dissolve on their own terms.<\/p>\n The following day was hot. Josey had woken early, to clear periwinkle skies and a desire to r She decided to run to Antler\u2019s General Store, a local market that doubled as a caf. Josey was cooling herself with a tall iced mocha, sipping from a green straw and sweating onto a New York Times, when she noticed a young woman seated in the corner.<\/p>\n The woman had lengthy bare legs that sprawled haphazardly from under the small table. Her long torso steadied toned arms that hovered over a sleek black laptop. She was in deep concentration, unaware of even her own body.<\/p>\n Her total absorption in the screen allowed Josey to indulge a gaze. She was entranced by the woman\u2019s soft, dark skin and assured movements. Her eyes wandered slowly over the girl\u2019s perfect breasts, barely concealed by a loose black tank. The girl\u2019s mouth parted slightly as she inhaled the blue abyss in front of her.<\/p>\n Dark hair, shaved on one side, rolled out in cascades over smooth shoulder blades. Her body was taut and perspiring, wet and unaware of the heat she exuded. She was raw sex removed. Josey thought the girl looked like an emotionless island that Josey could catch her breath on.<\/p>\n A waft of her own intense body odor reminded Josey that she was a sweaty mess. She tore herself away from the scene and hit the path, stabbing the ground with the fullness of a flat-footed stride. As she ran, strokes of lightning lit up her brain in flashes of pain, but Josey showed no sign of suffering. For once her thoughts were elsewhere.<\/p>\n Josey went back to the caf. At the same time the next day and found the girl in the\u00a0exact same pose. Taking a closer seat, Josey caught a glimpse of the girl\u2019s computer screen. She seemed to be watching what looked like sex.<\/p>\n Flashes of flesh streaked the screen in golden and black hues. The camera closed in on a sultry middle-aged brunette. She was on all fours, breasts hanging loosely. She opened her mouth wide as a spurt of come shot onto her glossy pink lips. A hot blonde boy with a big muscly body like a surfer\u2019s was jerking himself off onto the faces and bodies of several older women. It\u2019s like an assembly or receiving line. Josey laughed at the comparison, thinking back to her own wedding and how the rice being thrown at her felt the same.<\/p>\n This young woman looks so alive, Josey thought. Watching porn in public was brave. Josey couldn\u2019t help but feel vulnerable and high in the girl\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Josey. What\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUh,\u201d she said, not looking up, \u201cname\u2019sTrish.\u201dThe woman was absorbed by what she was watching, and every once in a while, clicking on.<\/p>\n \u201cLooks like you\u2019re pretty busy… but… maybe not as busy as them.\u201d Josey pointed to the computer, where the screen now held one of the women being throttled from behind as the other women licked the surfer\u2019s glistening torso. Josey imagined the storyline had something to do with a Mothers Against Drunk Driving meeting gone good. \u201cMind if I watch?\u201d she asked, peeking over Trish\u2019s shoulder, showing the slightest sliver of a smile. Finally looking Josey squarely in the face, Trish removed her headphones, almost smiling, and replied, \u201cSure, if that\u2019s what you\u2019re into.\u201d And then, \u201cIs there something you\u2019d rather watch?\u201d Josey smiled. \u201cI thought you\u2019d never ask. Do you have anything with older women, heels…and uh…blood?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This was the second time Trish almost smiled. \u201cYes, I have stuff with older\u00a0women and heels…but blood, really?\u201d \u201cYeah, I\u2019m into blood. And older women. Big deal.\u201d Josey shrugged her shoulders and tried to sound as New York\u00a0City cool as she could. \u201cK,\u201d Josey accepted the dare, \u201clooking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Josey had become aroused by the fleshy footage and decided to hit Fish Lipps, a local bar just down the road. There were two bands playing that night: The Hearty Hearts, a three-person act that dominated the interior; and Our Ladies of the Shore, two yodeling hippies on a straw stage in the tiki tent out back.<\/p>\n She opted for inside and sat at the bar. She knew there\u2019d be some random trouble, what with the empty stool next to her. She waited. A wrinkly gentleman in his late 60s bought her a rose from a vendor. She chose yellow. Next in line was a self-proclaimed Solver of Problems named Keith. He smelled like horseshit on pizza and Josey refused to let him pay for her Corona. Third was Jesse, a half-wit rich kid who hadn\u2019t remembered his name for four days because of an excessive intake of mushrooms.<\/p>\n Of the three, Jesse was the most entertaining, and she let him talk about himself endlessly while she imagined sucking on the fingers of Brenda, the big-hipped bartender. All the while Josey bled on the stool, conjuring Lise the Astronaut and her fight against cheating boyfriends and boring husbands that laid claim to her Planet Ear.<\/p>\n Asher called at some point and they chatted about nothing. When he said he missed her, she became strangely impatient. She childishly pretended the line was cut, and hung up on him. She was tipsy, but in that moment Josey felt far away from her husband. She\u2019d never contemplated cheating on Asher before, but it seemed beyond her control now. Her body was making the decisions.<\/p>\n As last call approached, Jesse drunkenly demanded that everyone go swimming. Josey was planning her escape when she noticed a shorter man behind Jesse. He seemed strong, with half-hidden bicep tattoos and an ethereal logic to his manners. Josey took stock and pretended not to be listening as she walked up and waved a quick and unnecessary goodbye to Jesse. His friend didn\u2019t notice her but Jesse did, and immediately went on a tirade about how they all needed to go swimming, or do a shot, in that instant.<\/p>\n In a joint effort to appease an increasingly belligerent Jesse, Josey and Jesse\u2019s tattooed friend, Mark, agreed to a tequila shot and a quick dip. Josey quickly introduced herself, and together the unlikely threesome trotted to the shore and stripped.<\/p>\n The air was frigid. The water slapped their skins and each howled and yelped in turn. As they shared a few laughs Josey caught Mark looking at her ass. Jesse paraded his nakedness, while Mark seemed tense with apprehension. Josey wore nothing at all and didn\u2019t think twice<\/p>\n about the blood. She imagined herself to be a thin and wounded shark hovering over its prey in the dark. A deep-sea demon hoping to kill before bleeding to death.<\/p>\n Josey dove deep. Swept up by a sudden wave, she landed directly in Mark\u2019s lap. She wrapped an arm around his waist, locking herself into his side. He acted mildly surprised but didn\u2019t protest. She pulled him closer and whispered into his ear, \u201cAre we drowning?\u201d<\/p>\n With a sly smile Mark shed his timid demeanor and whispered back, \u201cBy the time I\u2019m done with you, you\u2019ll wish we were.\u201d<\/p>\n They quickly got into a rough rhythm. The pulsing sea synchronized his growing erection against her salty pearl. She guided his hand into her swollen lips and swallowed his chilly fingertips. He uttered a low moan, fingering her deep and wet spaces.<\/p>\n He grasped inside her shark jaw, holding her against the waves, becoming more and more excited. His mouth wore itself out on her erect nipples. Josey loved having her breasts sucked and beaten by Against the waves, he lifted her hips and thrust his cock inside her, burying it to the base. She kissed his mouth tenderly as he yanked at her insides, rocking back and forth with the waves. They wore the dark water like a blanket.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHarder,\u201d she whispered into his ear. \u201cMake me feel again.\u201d<\/p>\n He stopped plunging for a moment to catch her eye. She was begging.<\/p>\n \u201cKill me with your cock,\u201d she said in a flat and earnest tone.<\/p>\n Her words excited him; he wanted to please her, even if that meant breaking her beautiful body in two. He shifted to hold her back with both forearms. Clutching her close, he pushed in deep. He throttled and pumped. Her head fell back as words he didn\u2019t understand fell out of her throat.<\/p>\n The underwater dance felt good between them. They agreed on the terms that the sand carried to each of their most private and pretty parts. There was no hurry and they took time weeding the sea out from the spaces that separated them from one another.<\/p>\n Jesse got pushed around by the water and eventually passed out on the shore. Thirty minutes later he woke to the steamy scene unfolding before him. Mark held Josey\u2019s ass just above sea level. Jesse, in his drunken stupor, shouted in awe that the moon was getting fucked.<\/p>\n Jesse stroked his own growing erection as he watched, then staggered into the water, positioning himself behind Josey\u2019s moon. He rubbed his cock against her cold cheeks, promising, \u201cI\u2019m going to fuck you harder than him.\u201d She grasped his hard-on behind her, and slipped herself on top of him. He violently thrust his cock into her aching ass. Jesse let out a low growl, rocking back and forth with the waves, using Mark\u2019s body as leverage. Mark grasped at Josey\u2019s hips and breasts. She held them both between her thighs.<\/p>\n They took turns kissing her long neck. The men were barnacles on the side of her lean shark body. Together their desire wept over her and the three submerged their heat into the cool water. A darkly lit moon hung in a blood-colored sky.<\/p>\n Read the second instalment hier<\/a> You can order Cara Benedetto’s “Burning Blue” as an e-book on Amazon<\/a> oder iTunes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nun. Flat feet punched the ground as she ran, grinding her flesh into her hipbone sockets. She didn\u2019t care that it would culminate in pain. She wanted to feel her body. Perhaps she simply wanted to feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell. It\u2019ll take some time. I gotta run.\u00a0Let\u2019s meet tomorrow. Same time, same place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Mira](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/1-2015-what-isnt-red.jpg\")
Mira Dancy, What Isn’t Red, 2015<\/p>\n
\n a man\u2019s teeth. He gnawed on her neck with one hand inside her warm and muscled pussy while the freezing water licked at her bloody body.<\/p>\n
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