("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._ `6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) (_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-' _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,' (((' (((-((('' (((( K R I S T E N' S C O L L E C T I O N _________________________________________ WARNING! This text file contains sexually explicit material. If you do not wish to read this type of literature, or you are under age, PLEASE DELETE THIS FILE NOW!!!! _________________________________________ Scroll down to view text ------------------------------------------------------- This work is copyrighted to the author © 2015. Please do not remove the author information nor make any changes to this story. All rights reserved. Thank you for your consideration. ------------------------------------------------------- Two Dashes of Mid-Summer - 10 by Endrael (endrael@yahoo.com) *** Cindy starts coming out of her shell, in part because of Jen. Kim surprises everyone, and adventures with Sara reveal her exhibitionism. (FFM, inc, bi, exh, rom) *** Author's note: If you've made it this far with the story and are interested in status updates and related miscellani, you can find me on tumblr: midsummerwylds.tumblr.com/ *** Part 10: Stress Balls United Chapter 1 Compared to the last few weeks, Thanksgiving school week was like a vacation with only three days of school, and dropping off the college paperwork was the only stress inducing thing. Even Thanksgiving proved low key, as most of my relatives couldn't make it to my grandparent's place for one reason or another. We returned home with enough leftovers to feed us for five or six days. I'd been settled in for about an hour the next morning, working on my painting, when Cindy called. "This is unexpected," I said, setting aside my brush. "You don't normally call." "I don't usually have a reason," she said, and her tone caught my attention. "What's up? You sound off." "Are you free to come over? Jen came by last Friday and we talked, and I've been thinking since." "She did? That's news to me. She didn't mention it." "I asked her not to until I had time to think and talk with you. I'm glad she respected that. Are you free?" "For the weekend, as far as I know. How soon do you want me there?" "Whenever you're able to get here is fine. It's not life-or-death." "Half hour works? Maybe forty-five." "Yeah. I'll be here." "Alright. See you in a bit." My parents were at work, so I didn't worry about telling them I was going out, though I left a note should they get home before me. Cindy was sitting on her front steps when I arrived, cupping a steaming mug of something in her hands. She patted the step next to her when I walked up, and I sat, catching a whiff of chocolate and mint from her drink. She leaned against me and laid her head on my shoulder. I put an arm around her and held her, waiting. "When you spent the night with me a while back," she said after a few minutes, "how much do you remember of what I said about Jen?" "Most of it. Why?" "I didn't think I was right, but everything I told you is what I saw when we talked. She's lost right now and turning her world upside down trying to find herself and cope with losing her family." "I could have told you that." She hummed a bit. "It wouldn't have been the same, lover. Hearing it from someone and seeing it in someone are too different. It's like you telling her I have crazy mood swings, but until she sees me try to deal with one, she won't understand." I turned my head to press my lips against her hair, breathing her in, a faint shampoo scent. "Are you doing ok? You sound like you're about to start spiraling." "I'm not sure. I'm fighting my feelings about her. Aaron would say I need to run an update on them and get some new features installed. Maybe I do. It's been almost two months since she fucked up with you three, and that can be forever in high school." I huffed a laugh and settled my head against hers. "It feels like it sometimes. A lot's happened." She made a small sound and lifted her head to take a sip of her cocoa, staring at the leaves tumbling from the trees and piling at the foot of the drive. "She said her and Sara are talking again, thinks it's going well. Is it?" "There's still rough spots, but more often than not, yeah, they're getting along pretty well again. Sara's not flirting with her yet like she was, but I think that's just a matter of time. Jen really is trying, and Sara is pretty forgiving when she understands something." "She's like me when I was her age. Maybe too much." "Who is?" "Sara. It's really throwing me off. Trusting people was..." Her voice caught and I looked at her, but she was still intent on watching the leaves, and she was markedly more timid when she continued her thought. "That was beaten out of me, and it scares me thinking about that happening to her." I placed a hand lightly on her chin and tilted her face toward me. "You know we won't do that to her, right? I'd rather lose my hands than do that to her." "I know you won't, but it only takes misreading one person." She pushed my hand down, a light pressure, and went back to staring at the leaves. "I'm just feeling protective. Talking with Jen has forced me to think about how I feel about the three of you and where she fits." "What've you come up with?" "I'm going to have to give her another chance, I think. As long as I hold on to you, she's coming along, because you're going to hold on to her. And underneath everything, she wants to be a better person than she has been, except she doesn't have any role models for getting there." "Are you offering?" That got a short, humorless laugh and a head shake. "Fuck no. No way in hell am I role model for figuring out how to be a better person. I can barely manage myself, and I don't have the patience for teaching kids, because that is what you are. Smart kids, but still kids." I wasn't sure what to say to that, and we sat in silence for a while. She was staring into the bottom of her empty mug when I found words again. "You're confused how you can love us when we're so much younger and inexperienced, aren't you?" Tension passed through her like a wave, a quick snap and then gone, though her expression didn't change or attention shift, and it took her a minute to respond. "Yes," was all she said. "That's the closest I'm going to be able to push you to admitting you do, isn't it?" She nodded and I leaned her back into me, holding her. "Do you want some cocoa?" she asked after a few minutes. "I didn't even think to ask when you got here." "I won't say no if you're willing to make some." She nodded again and took my hand when she stood, helping me to my feet, and I followed her to the kitchen. She pulled a mug from a cupboard and ladled cocoa into it from a pot on the stove, then handed me a spoon and a chocolate mint. "Talk with me," I said, settling across from her at the island and stirring the candy into my cocoa. "What's on your mind?" "Way too fucking much, Mike. Way too fucking much." "Start with why you called, then." She crossed her arms under her breasts and clutched at her elbows, watching me stir. "I want reassurance, I think. You know I have some serious trust issues, and Jen's crossed a lot of lines for me. I can't trust her not to hurt you three again, but I have to because you do. You have absolute faith in her, and I don't understand how you can, but I don't know her like you do." She went quiet for a minute, finally managing to look up at me and meet my gaze. "Can I trust her, Mike? Can I trust her to do her absolute damnedest to not hurt the people she cares about more than she already has? This is one of the hardest things I've done in years, Mike. I can't rely on myself for this, so I'm trusting you completely here, no fault or reservation. I don't know what else to do. Be honest with me." I took a breath to follow my first impulse, an unequivocal yes, but stopped myself. It was my turn to read meaning into my mug of cocoa, and it took longer than I expected, ten minutes, it felt like, though likely a lot less. "The best I can say is she's trying not to make the same mistakes," I said eventually. "You can trust her as much as you can trust me. I don't know how far that goes, but I have a feeling it means a lot." I went silent again, her nodding while I worked out the rest of my thoughts. "Can you trust her not to hurt people she cares about? That's an impossible standard. It's the same as asking if you can trust me not to, or Sara or Kim or yourself. It's going to happen." I pulled the spoon out of my cocoa and took my first sip of it, discovering it to be unexpectedly rich. "I think it's better to ask if she's worth forgiving when she fucks up, or how reasonable she can be to work with to make amends. I don't know. I do know this is really good cocoa, though." She gave me a wan smile. "Thank you. It's my grandmother's recipe. She died when I was nine, got hit with cancer and pneumonia at the same time. I cried for a week straight when she went." I nodded and slid a hand across to her, and she closed both hers around it, leaning forward to hold her lips against my fingers, eyes closed and breath warm on my knuckles. "I'll have to get to know her, won't I?" "It's hard to forgive or talk with someone if you don't." She nodded and lowered my hand back to the island, though she didn't let it go. "That's going to be hard for me. I spent so long approaching new people so I could get to know them, and I only got hurt in the end, so I stopped doing it. Aaron was safe by the time we met in person, because we'd spent so long talking with the internet between us. He tried bringing me with him to munches and stuff, vanilla outings with the local kinksters, but it was too much for me until recently. You and Sara were the first complete strangers I'd approached on my own in years. I don't know how confident I seemed when I did, but I was terrified." "But that's worked out pretty well so far." "I don't know how. I've been such a bitch to you, and especially to Kim. I don't understand how you're able to put up with me." "Because we talk, work things out. It's like I said last weekend, when I collared Sara. We're going to make mistakes, but we should work together if we're going to stay together, shouldn't we? Jen wants to do that, even though she doesn't know you. She wants to because she sees you're important to us. If we didn't hold onto you, she wouldn't care. You'd just be another acquaintance." "She talked a lot like you do, same views and everything, only a lot more... colorful. You're more staid. It will take me a while to get used to how she phrases things." I laughed and said, "Get us together and we both talk like that. You're willing to give her a chance and get to know her, then?" "I don't feel like I have a choice. She's going to show up as long as I hold onto you." "You always have a choice. If you're not comfortable talking with her, she'll leave you alone. She won't try to force you to like her because she knows that isn't going to work. She just wants you to know she's willing to try." "She said that a lot when we talked, and it helped her case a lot that she came to me on her own. For all her faults, she's proactive, and that will help her most." She let out a small laugh, turned my hand over and ran a fingernail along the lines of my palm. "I think I'm ok to take this chance, but I don't know how to get in touch with her. Are you ok being my messenger?" I smiled and leaned across to kiss her. "I'll be happy to." "Thank you. Now finish your cocoa before it gets cold. I need you." I arched my eyebrows at her, sipping at the cocoa. "You need me, hm?" "Yes. Toys are fun, but they're terrible for getting me out of a funk. Make love to me, lover. I need you." I hummed and downed the cocoa in a few quick gulps, and she smiled, sliding off her stool and pulling me along to her bed. Chapter 2 Saturday I went by Sara's and Kim's to fetch Sara. Georgia was singing Christmas carols when I came in, mid-way through 'Silver Bells' and kicking Kim's ass at the same fighting game they'd been playing last time she'd been over. "Sara's up in her room, Mr. Man," Kim said, giving me a quick glance, and then emitting a squawk and mashing buttons when Georgia locked her in a string of combo hits. "Noooooooooo! Buttons! Save me!" Georgia smiled benignly when Kim's character exploded and said, "That's eight you owe me now." "Mind if I borrow Kim for a quick minute?" "Hey, Michael." Georgia waved at me as Kim stood. "Making any progress with enrollment?" "Handily. It's kind of ridiculous how much paperwork there is, but I got it all in the other day. Just waiting now." "Very nice. I don't know how much you'll be working with my dad, but he's looking forward to having you in class. I think he might be hoping to have you help him teach or something." I laughed and said, "Maybe with finger painting. He doesn't teach the drawing classes, and that's my strong point right now." "He likes to surprise people. Anyway. Make it quick with my nutter. I need to kick her ass some more so she can learn how to play." "I can play just fine," Kim said, sticking her tongue out at her. "Against the computer," Georgia laughed, and stuck out her tongue in return before turning back to the game. "Computer schmuter. I'm totally letting you win." "Uh huh. Talk with Michael, nutter, and then we can finish our bet." Kim stuck her tongue out again and then hopped with me into the kitchen, spinning and planting her hands on my shoulders, giving me an intent look. "What's up, Mr. Man? Skies and stars and stuff?" "Suns and moons, too. I just want to know what you want for Christmas. I'd have asked sooner, but there's been so much going on I completely forgot about it." "Toys! Lots of toys!" She narrowed her eyes and leaned close, whispering conspiratorially and shifting her eyes toward the living room to indicate Georgia. "Sexy toys, too? Pretty please with cherries and chocolate syrup and stuff? I kinda want more things to play with with her." "I'll see what I can do, but I promise nothing. Anything else if I'm not able to get you that? Anime? Manga? Sushi?" "I can make a list? I haven't thought about it." "Think you could have it ready by Monday?" She straightened and snapped a two finger salute with a grin and, "Totally!" "Excellent. So what's this bet with Georgia?" She narrowed her eyes and peered at me, looked around and then leaned in to my ear. "Sexy fun stuff," she said, pulling away and nodding. "That's all you're getting, Mr. Man. I don't want to make her mad." "That's fine. I was just curious. Better get back to letting her kick your ass now." "Hush, Mr. Man." She stuck her tongue out at me and poked my chest, then spun around me and hopped back into the living room. I made my way upstairs to Sara's room to find her door closed. I knocked and waited a few seconds longer than I'd expected to get a response. "Who is it?" she called, sounding a bit out of breath. "Can I come in and play?" I heard her laugh and her door cracked open a second later, with her peering through. "Am I safe?" she whispered, and swung the door open when I nodded. She was naked except for her socks, her nipples hard and the base of a dildo poking out of her pussy. She leaned forward to grab my hands and haul me into her room faster than I was already moving, swinging me around her and kicking the door closed, then standing against it, leaning forward at the waist. "You interrupted my teasing," she said, eyeing me intently. "I was in the middle of my sixth edge when you knocked, mister. Scared the hell out of me and completely ruined the fun." "I expect you're looking for compensation, then?" I asked, quirking my mouth in a half smile and pulling her into me, my hands going to her ass. Her arms went around my waist and her hands closed on my shirt. "Edging is a lot more fun when it's you or sis doing it to me." Her voice was low, almost sultry. "I love the intensity." "If I edge you, it's going to be a lot more than the ten. Can you handle that?" "You know I can. Will you?" "Maybe I want to watch right now. I want to see how fast you can get ten edges out of that pussy of yours." Her breath caught and hands tightened, and I leaned in close, our eyes locked and her voice dropping lower. "You want me to start over?" "Is there a better way to tease you than have you do it instead?" "No," she whispered, starting to tremble against me, her look telling me it was excitement, anticipation. "No, there isn't. Tell me what you want me to do, love." "On your back against the headboard, legs open, and fuck yourself hard and fast. When you reach the edge, pull the dildo out and take your hands away so I can watch you squirm. I'll tell you when to start again. When you're done, you're going to suck me off." She nodded and stepped around me, dropping onto her bed and crawling into position, and she froze and drew in a breath when I pulled the dildo out to replace it with my fingers before she could roll onto her back. My thumb went to her clit and I started finger fucking her, and she bit down on her blanket to muffle her moans. I stopped a minute later, her breathing heavy and her pussy clenching, struggling to cum. "That one doesn't count," I said, sucking my fingers clean. She whimpered and nodded, climbing up and flopping onto her back to spread her legs, and I settled cross-legged at the foot of her bed, pressing the dildo back into her. She looked at me, moving her hands into position, and I took a few seconds to watch the clock. "Start," I said, and she dropped her head back, closing her eyes and arching the closer she pushed toward orgasm. She gasped and pulled her hands away with a sharp jerk, but left the dildo. "That one doesn't count, either." Her eyes jerked open and she cried, "What!?" before she realized. "Shit. I'm sorry, love." "Try again." I checked the clock again to time things, waiting until her breathing had evened out. "Start." She remembered the dildo that time, and I gave her thirty seconds before having her start again. She only needed a few seconds to reach the edge by the eighteenth, and her whole body was tense while she struggled to control her pussy and keep her hands away. I pulled the hood of her clit back to give it a hard flick, making her jump and gasp, and then pinched it. She whimpered and her pussy throbbed with intermittent pulses and slow clenching, straining ineffectually toward climax. I let go of her clit once she had calmed down, and she moaned, forcing her hands to release her blanket. "I have one more thing for your instructions," I said, pulling her upright so we could trade places. She knelt in front of me and held my look, hands shaking with need while she freed my cock from my pants. I brushed her hair behind her ears, trailing my fingers along her cheeks and down her neck. "Ride the edge until I've finished cumming." "I..." She stopped for a few seconds before nodding, then kissed the tip of my cock. "It's going to take a while to get used to not being able to cum on my own." "You'll be getting plenty of practice over the next few weeks, love. Just tell us if it ever gets too much, alright?" "I will. Don't be afraid to push me, though." She ended the conversation by taking me completely down her throat and stopping there, furiously working her clit until she was back on the edge, only then pulling back far enough she could pull in a hard breath through her nose. She sucked my cock with enthusiastic hunger, using nothing but her mouth, tongue, and the occasional light bites to push me into orgasm faster than she ever had. I held her in place while I came, her body quaking while she swallowed and struggled against her own climax, and only when mine had tapered completely did she rip her hand away from her pussy. She muffled her cries by sinking back onto my now half-hard cock, her hands gripped tight on the waist of my pants and trembling. "Fuck, that was hard," she panted when she was able to speak again. "It's not hard anymore," I said, and she laughed and kissed my cock. "But you enjoyed it, didn't you?" "I loved it, but I don't think I can push anymore yet without losing control. My pussy is so angry with me right now." "Good. You'll have to get used to it, because it's going to be that way all the time pretty soon." She purred and I pulled her up to give her a kiss, and she settled on top of me, rocking her pussy unconsciously against me. I gripped her hips and she stopped when she realized what she was doing. "I don't care how angry it gets with me or how much the denial makes it ache. If it's what you want, it's what I'll do, and I'll enjoy every second of it because it makes you happy." "You make me happy no matter what you're doing, love." She smiled and blushed, and we kissed again. "I have a sneaking suspicion you didn't come over just to tease me, did you?" "Nope. That's a bonus, and if you're willing to brave the craziness of Thanksgiving weekend Christmas shopping with me, you may get some more." She growled at me and gave me a stern look. "You suck, mister, trying to bargain the one thing I love doing most to get me to do the one thing I hate doing most. You better make it good." "We'll be shopping for Kim, and I'll buy you dinner wherever you want." She growled at me again and pushed upright. "Fine. You win, but I won't be a cheap date like I usually am, and I expect some more teasing later. That may just be my pussy talking, though. You have no idea how badly I want to cum right now." I laughed and pulled her back down for a kiss, then smacked her ass. "Get dressed, love, but no bra. I want you to show off how turned on you are." "Oh, you really suck!" She laughed and kissed me before shoving to her feet. "I'm going to need to take a pad with me so I don't leak on everything." Chapter 3 We did our shopping for Kim first, getting her a set of fingertip vibrators, some vampire gloves we both knew would see a lot of use on Sara, and a box set of anime. I knew nothing about it, but Sara knew what she was after, so I didn't question. That done, we picked up Jen. "Salutations, earthlings!" she cried once she'd settled in the back seat, sitting behind Sara. "Let us partake of adventure and misanthropy in pursuit of shiny things!" "I hope you're not planning on wandering aimlessly until you see something good," I said, giving her a look when I turned in my seat to back out. "Because we're not after that kind of adventure." "Oh, hell no, Mikey. I know exactly what I'm looking for, so we can be in, out, wham bam thank you ma'am. This bitch is efficient." "That's good. I'd have to leave you tied up in the toy section if you weren't, torture you with whiny little kids squeaking toys and screaming all day." She cringed at that, holding up her hands and making a cross at me. "Back, foul beast! Speak this blasphemy no more!" "This is a wild guess," Sara said, laughing, "but that's also your kryptonite." "What gave it away?" "Lots of little things." She twisted around and peered at Jen. "What're you after?" "Mostly books, so we should be safe from crowds in the book store. If it's not books... uh... widgets, for, uh, fun and relaxation. Yeah." "Sex toys?" "Maaaaaaaybe." "I wonder if it will be the same clerk as when we went by earlier," I said, almost laughing. "What do you think they'll think if it is?" Sara did laugh and said, "Repeat business is good for business. Or wonder why we're back again with another woman, probably." "I'm guessing things between you and Jason are less stressful, then?" Jen made an annoyed sound and frowned a bit. "Yes and no. We're not fighting anymore about me fucking up with you guys, but it's moved on to holiday stress. This is a superbly shitty time of year for us, after everything that's happened. Really drives it home, you know?" "Should we plan something for next year, you two and me? Maybe Sara and Kim, too, if things don't blow up again." "You know, that never even crossed my mind. I don't know. I think it would be fantastic, but it's a whole damn year from now." "Like that's going to change us being family." "This is very true. You win a gold star. Remind me when you drop me off." "Or I can wait until school on Monday." "I'm hurt, Mikey. Are you turning down my impressive collection of gold stars? I have sheets and sheets of them, all for you." "I'm afraid I am. I hope it's not the end of the world for you." She sniffled dramatically and threw an arm up to press her wrist to her forehead, gasping and feigning faintness. "I know you're amazing, Jen," I said, switching topics, "but I have ulterior motives for wanting you along today. Cindy talked with me yesterday about you coming to her at work." I watched her rock a bit when I said that, and it took her a few seconds to say anything. "I did. Did I fuck up again? Should I not have done that?" "No, you're fine, so stop stressing. It was harder on her than you, I think." "Oh good." She relaxed visibly, then held up her hands. "Not good that it stressed her out, I mean. Good that I didn't fuck up. I'll shut up so I can get my foot out of my mouth. What did she say?" "I doubt you knew it, but going to her yourself when you did was perfectly timed. I'll tell you the rest once I've found us a parking spot." I scanned for a convenient parking spot, but it was downtown on the busiest weekend of the year, so I drove a few blocks down to the parking garage, which wasn't much better. "Anyway," I continued once we were parked. "You caught her when she was in a mostly stable mood, which had a lot to do with the collaring ceremony she was helping us with." "I noticed you did that," Jen said, looking from me to Sara, and Sara went red and smiled. "Happy girl here is sporting some nice new chokers she didn't have a week ago. I'm jealous." "Because Kim and Mike collared me?" "No, but I am ridiculously happy for you. You've been glowing all week, and I want so bad to bottle it up and make a small fortune off it. Happy Dust, only nine hundred dollars a bottle!" She laughed and stopped Sara to hug her tight. "It's because I want chokers like that, but I can't exactly put them on my things-I-want- from-other-people list, can I?" "You could, but I can see how it would be weird, even from Jason or Mike." "It's a tortuous predicament, but I'll live." She turned back to me, taking up position beside me opposite Sara. "You were telling me important facts, and I would hear these things from you. Please to be informing me." "I could if you'd stop sidetracking the conversation, woman." I poked her and she rocked to the side, then teetered back into me. "She said you gave her a lot to think about, and it was good that you took the initiative to go to her. It let her see you really are serious about trying to patch things up." "Is she ok? I don't know her very well, and she seemed ok when I was talking with her, but you keep saying she's really moody. I've only seen her at the party and when we talked the other week, and she had it under control pretty fast, so I don't know." "She cycles, and they're not predictable, but she was mostly ok. We talked, had sex so she could get her head back together, talked some more. She's willing to give you another chance, and wants me to arrange a date for you two to get together and talk some more. Somewhere public, open, comfortable. That's where you come in, because I need you to give me that information." She was quiet a moment, staring at the elevator's button panel while we waited for it. "I... don't know what to say, Mikey. I don't know her. What would I even say?" "I suppose you'd start with hello," Sara said, smirking and laughing. "Touché, wench. Touché. You get a gold star, too. But I'm serious. I'm more terrified of fucking up with her than I am even with Kim, and I have no idea why. She's like some mythical dragon that turns out to be real." I laughed and said, "Try opening with that. I expect that would amuse her, and getting her to laugh helps a lot." "I am so doomed. You know what my sense of humor is like. I'm going to fail horribly and she'll never talk to me again." "She only bites during sex," Sara said. "You'll be safe, unless she manages to get into your pants." "Like you want to, hm?" "I'm worse right now than normal." She glanced over at Jen before dodging away from a cluster of tweens. "It's how she gets close to people, but she won't push. She's been burned too much for that. She only lets her passion and fire out when she feels safe, and that will probably take some time before she's ok letting you see her vulnerable." "You realize this isn't helping my anxiety, right?" "I wouldn't have vouched for you if I didn't think you were able to handle her," I said, stopping and turning her to me. "The best thing you can do is be honest. Let her lead the conversation and you should be fine." She sighed and sagged, hanging her head. "I am completely, utterly, and in all ways one hundred percent doomed." She snapped her head back up and straightened, gathering her hair out of her face. "Would she be ok doing Steakhouse? That fits all the criteria. It doesn't matter where I say, I'm going to need to try and con moneys out of Jas. I'd feel bad about imposing on her to cover lunch. Dinner. Whatever it happens to be." "I'll ask her about that when I talk with her, since I'm being messenger right now. She's not ready yet to set things up directly." "Why is she wanting to do this if she's not ready, then? You're confusing the fuck out of my little lizard brain, Mikey." "She's pushing her comfort zone because she needs to. She's doing it for herself as much as she's doing it for me and Sara and Kim. I don't think I can really explain it any better than that. You'll understand once you get to know her." "So you're saying she's going to fall apart on you if I fuck up with her." "She might. I don't know. Like I said, just be honest and you'll be fine." "I'm doomed. So completely doomed. Ha!" She threw her hands in the air and spun in place before tumbling onto her ass, back to a wall, then sat with her head in her hands. "I want an easy button." She looked up at Sara. "You have a reset button. Do you have an easy button?" "Um..." I laughed, realizing what had just crossed her mind, and I leaned her against me to give her a kiss before looking back to Jen. "Her easy button is between her legs," I said, and Jen groaned and buried her face in her hands. Sara went crimson. "I should have seen that one coming from a mile away," Jen said, heaving a sigh and climbing back to her feet. "None of that for me until next year," Sara said, then covered her mouth in surprise and went even redder. "Oh my god. I am so bad at controlling my mouth around you when I'm on denial." Jen opened her mouth to say something and stopped, then threw her head back and laughed instead, arms up and gripping the hair on either side of her head. "Great Cthulhu's balls!" she cried. "I'm going crazy! I have to be. There is no other way to explain this conversation. Holy hell." She dropped her hands and pointed at me, then at Sara. "Mikey, I really hope she enjoys all this torture." "She asked for it, actually," I said, and Sara nodded, hiding against my shoulder. "She... What?" She turned Sara's face away from my shoulder so she could look at her. "You did?" "I did. It was part of my collaring. I gave them both control of my orgasms, so I don't get to cum unless I have permission from both of them. They decided I wouldn't be allowed to until New Year's. The last time I came was two weeks ago, and I have to edge every day until then." "Damn, girl. I thought I was crazy with my kinky, but you have me beat by miles. I'd go insane if I had to go that long without getting off, and edging too." "Driving her crazy is kind of the idea," I said, brushing my fingers through Sara's hair. "She's handling it really well so far, but if it starts being a problem for her, we'll stop and do a fresh eval." Jen let out a long growl, then stomped her feet. "You two suck hard blue donkey balls. You know that, right? Your sex life is pretty much every single one of my fantasies, and it drives me crazy." "You have to make up to Kim and sleep with me if you want to be part of it," Sara said, reaching out and brushing her fingers along Jen's arm, giving her an inviting look. "Yeah, except you haven't got me that horny yet, wench." She leaned forward and took Sara's face between her hands, holding her in place and giving her a long, hard kiss before pulling back and grinning. "Mixed signals," I said, shaking my head. "You really like them right now, don't you?" "It's the only fun I'm getting that isn't my fingers. Should I stop? I don't want to cause problems because I'm frustrated." I looked at Sara, who had her lips pursed and was staring off to the side, thinking. "I don't think I can do mixed signals right now," she said, her attention shifting back to Jen. "Not when I'm on this kind of tease and denial. The kiss was delicious, don't get me wrong, and if I were more addled right now, I'd be all over you, but I'm going to want something serious right now. Teasing me with that would... I couldn't be friends with you, and I want to be. I'll try not to flirt, but that's going to be really hard." Jen nodded and hugged Sara, then kissed her cheeks. "Consider it done. No more kisses or touching or anything, cross my heart with duct tape." She crossed her fingers over her chest and nodded again. "Now why are we still standing here when we should be shopping? Let's get our asses moving!" Chapter 4 "I know we just agreed no sexy stuff," Jen said, "but can I ask you something, woman?" We were hiding in the science section of the book store, Sara browsing through titles looking for something she didn't know much about. So far, it had been a fruitless search. Jen had picked up what she'd come for already, most of it having been special ordered and at the counter already, which left Jen needing only to find a pair of titles. "You're free to ask whatever you want, hon," she said, replacing the book she'd been leafing through with a disgruntled sigh and shake of her head before turning her attention to Jen. "How do you handle it, having to tease so much and knowing you can't cum at the end?" Sara blinked and furrowed her brow, looking at me and holding my gaze for a few seconds. She turned back to Jen, shaking her head a bit. "Practice? I don't know if I really have an answer. It's just something I can do? It's hard, like, really hard, especially when I've been teasing or getting teased for a while already. The worst is when I have to hold the edge right after that, because my pussy is already sore and aching and tired from having to hold back. An hour of forced orgasms is easier to handle, I think." She looked at me. "Or two or three, like you've done to me a few times. Gods, that hurt by the end." Jen cocked her head to the side, her this-interests-me look coming on. "You have your criteria for joining the fun, woman," I said, drawing her attention, and she sighed. "I knooooow. And I am trying really hard not to start anything. As much as I love you, thinking about fooling around with you reminds me to put my libido away. I don't want to complicate things with sex." "But talking about it is ok?" Sara said, arching a brow and quirking her mouth, amused. "Hey now. Curiosity and smarts are fucking hot, and you have both, even if you don't have the bio bits I like to play with." Sara laughed and turned to me, giving me a sloppy kiss through her mirth. "You no longer have gonads and a penis, love. They're now officially bio bits. Oh my god, woman. Where the hell did that come from?" Jen pointed to the tag for the biology section, which someone had covered with a portion of a tag from somewhere else so it read BIOBITS. Sara burst into fresh laughter and buried her face against my chest until she'd gotten herself under control. "Are you going to live?" Jen asked once Sara was breathing normally again. "I think so. I have no idea why that was so funny. Gods. Get me away from that sign or I'm going to lose it again." We migrated a few shelves down, I spotted someone had moved another tag to make HORSES WAR, and we kept moving until we were in the new age self-help absurdity. Any tag mishap there would fit right in, so there was no worry of a giggle fit coming on. "That didn't really answer my question," Jen said, furrowing her brow at some of the titles we were facing. She twitched and turned away from them. "Maybe I wasn't asking the question right? I don't know. I'm just confused how you're able to do it." "That's even harder to explain." She stared blankly at the shelves, nestling back against me when I put my arms around her waist. "It's... a huge, complicated web of reasons and internal incentives, and a lot of them are part of each other. There's some feedback loops, I think, and some motivators." "Is it ok if I get this one?" I asked her, and she turned to me. "I think it's easier to explain when I can use you to demonstrate." "What're you thinking, love?" "Follow," I said, and tucked her jacket behind her arms and took her wrists in my hands, holding them at her waist with her arms crossed. She closed her eyes and drew in a long breath, her demeanor shifting, and I leaned in to speak in her ear, only loud enough for the three of us to hear. "I want you to think about putting on a show, right here, right now." I paused when her breath caught, and her breathing changed. "You won't cum, and no one else will be allowed to touch you, but you can play for them and watch them have the orgasms you're not allowed yet. You're their entertainment, showing off how much you want them to have fun by playing with yourself and radiating your lust to them." Her hands closed into fists, her breathing fast and shallow, and I waited, glancing up at Jen. "Don't cum," I whispered to Sara, then turned my attention to Jen. "Pinch her nipples and get them hard." "Right now?" Jen asked, surprised. Sara's breath hitching and she nodded eagerly before I could say anything, and Jen moved forward, pinching Sara's nipples through her shirt and rolling them between her fingers. Sara pulled in a sharp breath and held it, her hands closing tighter, and she bit her lip at Jen, starting to shake in my arms. "Please..." she whispered, and Jen smiled and stopped, running her fingers up Sara's chest and neck. Sara managed to stifle her moan and tightened her fists, closing her eyes and fighting herself back under control. Jen was half-smiling while she watched Sara, then looked at me when she registered I was watching her. "There's a line for her," I said, then kissed Sara's cheek. "Most of the time it's pretty blurry, because she sits right in the middle of it. One side is what she wants to do, giving in to her libido and using sex and love to feel close to people. The other side is giving up that self-control, being told what to do, even if it's the same thing as what she wants to do on her own. Choosing something on her own, she has the freedom to have as much pleasure as she wants. When she's on the other side of her line, her own physical pleasure becomes less important than her mental and emotional pleasure, which is giving others pleasure. "Right now, I have the control, so it's safe to let you tease her a bit, because she can set aside her reservations and enjoy someone else having fun with her. I'm going to give her her control back, though, so she's going to be on the other side of her line." Jen nodded and I let go of Sara's wrists, twining my fingers through hers, and she squeezed, drawing in a deep breath and turning to me. We kissed and she bit my lip. "I have no idea how you managed to do that to me so easily," she said, holding my look. "That was... kind of frightening, love." "Did that push too far?" "I don't know yet. I don't think so. It was just... I wasn't expecting it. You've never done that before, pushing me into sub space in public like that." "Are you ok with me taking control like that? You know I wouldn't do anything that would get us in trouble." "You know I am, and I trust you. It's... new. I need to process, because I just learned something about myself." "I hope you at least enjoyed that revelation." She purred and bit at my lip, smiling coyly. "Very much. It was delicious." "Good. That's what I was after." I kissed her and we turned our attention back to Jen. "I..." she said, furrowing her brow. "Can we download this conversation somewhere else? It's all kinds of distracting talking about this in the middle of the book store like it ain't no thang." I let go of Sara and pulled her jacket off when she stepped away, and she gave me a questioning look. I just glanced down at her chest to indicate her quite visible nipples and she blushed, stopping herself from crossing her arms across her breasts. I smiled and slung her jacket over my shoulder, putting my other arm around her waist and following Jen from the store. "That was..." Sara said to her on our way back to the car. "That was a rather unconventional demonstration, but did it make sense for you? Do you understand better how I'm able to control myself even with all the teasing?" "I'm not sure. Sub space is hard for me to get my head around. It's why I was never really comfortable with Kit. I don't think I should be given that kind of control over someone." "But you fantasize about having that control. Or am I reading our flirting way wrong?" "I think it's the consensual non-consent thing that does it for me," Jen said after a minute, tilting her head to the side and looking at Sara. "That's less about someone giving me control as having it anyway. It's like... I really love rough sex, the contest for control. That's part of why I like bondage, because you've given me control, but once I have it, I'm in charge and you get it back only when I let you have it." "Is that why you flirt with me? Because you know Mike's my control if I lose mine and you have the freedom to do what you wouldn't otherwise?" "That's a very good question, woman. A very good question indeed. I do not have an answer." "You know that's a very tricky and possibly unsafe way to do things, I hope," I said, leaning over to bump Jen, and she turned to look at me. "You really need to be aware of limits." "It's why I haven't tried playing with anyone like that, Mikey. As hot as it gets me, I don't feel like I should be trusted like that right now, and Jas sure as hell isn't into being tied up. I tried a few times with Kit but fuck was that boring. He just... accepted it, and then got all, "Yes, mistress. Thank you, mistress."" She twitched and gripped the sides of her head, growling in frustration, her bag of books sliding up her arm to her shoulder. "Drove me fucking insane when he did that." "Natural dominatrix material you are not." She laughed and bobbed her head to either side, then sing-songed, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me." "I thought you said you wanted to keep things toned down." "Yeah, and you know how good I am with that. I just didn't want to be in the bookstore and talking about it. No way to see everyone who's listening in, understand." "What you're saying is you're only a dominatrix when you can see your full audience." "I prefer having my fun in private." She spun around in front of Sara and me until she was standing beside Sara, putting an arm around her and looking at her. "I can be much naughtier that way." Sara just nodded and made a small sound of acknowledgment, which got my attention. Jen looked at me, but I was focused on Sara. "Thinking, love?" I asked, and she nodded. "Processing?" She nodded again and I peeled Jen off her. "Flirting's off for now," I said to her, and she mimed zipping her lips, nodding. "I pushed too far, didn't I?" "No, you're ok," Sara said, cuddling into me and reaching for her jacket, which I surrendered without protest. "There's... I don't know how to explain. I'm making connections, understanding stuff." "I didn't fuck up?" Sara shook her head and Jen hugged her, and Sara put an arm around her to stop her from pulling away. "You two can keep talking, you know," she said after a minute, breaking the silence of the parking garage elevator. "I'm mostly just going to watch right now. I'll be fine." "I thought you were an exhibitionist, not a voyeur," Jen said, and Sara hummed. "Depends on my mood. I'm not either right now. Libido is tucked away for the moment while I process what you said." "I hope that doesn't mean I can't ask you for advice on what toys are the most fun." "Do you mind clinical answers?" "I can work with clinical. Might put me in the mood for medical toys, though, and I'll blame you if that happens." "You'd like the Wartenberg wheel. It's a really pleasant prickly sensation, especially on your sensitive bits. It was intended originally to test reflex response." Jen laughed and leaned into Sara, hugging her. "Preemptive strike for the win!" Chapter 5 Kim's bounciness was ratcheted up to eleven on Monday, mostly because Georgia had finally convinced her parents to let Kim over so they could work on music and dance together. Their mutual joy was apparent to everyone who knew either of them. There was grumbling in the rumor mill about them, but it had been going on for a few weeks and none of it I heard was anything to worry about. Kim would have mentioned anything particularly bad, but she said nothing, so it was most likely just jealous discontent that two of the most attractive girls in school had hooked up with each other instead of some immature jerk. Jen, on the other hand, needed more pep talking as her get together with Cindy drew closer. By that Friday, I'd just about lost my patience, and I stopped her in the parking lot as we were leaving school for the day. "Do you want to fix things?" I asked, staring her down while she leaned against her car. "Yes, but I'm-" "Then stop complaining. I've been telling you for a week you'll be fine, and why you'll be fine, and you haven't heard a damn word of it. Kim listens better than you have the last few days, and she's the most stubborn person I know." "Fucking hell, Mikey. I have been listening! Telling me I'll be fine doesn't help when I'm afraid I'll make things worse. You know what my track record is like lately. You don't have to live with knowing you fucked up your own life." I sighed and shrugged my pack off and dropped it unceremoniously to the ground, then reached to shove hers off. She smacked at my hands and gave me an angry look. "What in the hells are you doing, Mikey?" "I can't give you a hug when you're carrying around all your baggage, can I?" "I need to let go of my baggage on my own, Mikey. I don't think you understand that, and you keep pushing and pushing and pushing, and it's pissing me off so much." "Except you're not letting it go. You're constantly second guessing yourself anymore because you're afraid. People fuck up, Jen. That's what we do best. What we do about fixing it is what matters, and you're fixing it, but you're focusing so damn much on what isn't fixed yet you're not looking at what you have." "What do you want me to do, Mikey? What am I supposed to do? You're my best friend, but you're being a right asshat about this, and that's what you're not seeing. Let me be me. You've always been A about that, but you're failing out your ass about this thing with Cindy just because I'm being insecure, and I don't fucking understand. You're acting just like Jas was, and I can't handle it anymore. You have to stop or it's going to ruin us. I don't want to lose my best friend over stupid shit like this." I dropped my head back and sighed, waiting for my annoyance to pass before returning my attention to her. "What do you want me to do then? Stop trying to help?" "I want you to stop being such a fucking dick, and if you make a sex joke, I'm punching you in the face and walking away. You know I will." "That doesn't help, Jen." "Oh, Cthulhu's balls!" She threw her hands up and pushed off her car, started to pace. "Did you not hear anything I just said? Stop doing that! Stop! Just fucking stop! You said..." She bit back her anger and stood still, head down and hands clenched. "Fucking hell, I hate this. I hate fighting with you. You said-" She lifted her head and pointed at me. "You said you wouldn't try fighting my dark for me, that you'd just be here and give me support, but that's what you've been doing. You've been trying to fight the demons in my head for me all week instead of letting me learn how to do it. You're not supporting me, Mikey. Not like you said you would." That was something I hadn't expected, and I didn't know how to respond, so I didn't. I needed more than a few minutes to really process it, and my lack of response was, fortunately, either taken in stride or overlooked. "I come to you because you're a good listener, Mikey, not because I want you to do shit for me. You know how to kick me in the head without being a douche about it. I suck at that second bit, so I'm a wretched listener, but we used to talk constantly even when I was running my mouth off, and I don't know what happened. I don't know why we stopped, and now we're doing this." "Life happened," I said, feeling lame for it, and I sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, either. Come here?" She considered for a moment, giving me a hard look, and then stepped forward, hugging tight. I returned it as best I could with her pack in the way, and we held each other for a few minutes. "I'm keeping my fucking baggage, wench," she said when she pulled back from my shoulder, giving me the evil eye. "It's mine to carry, understand?" "I didn't realize that's what I was doing. You're not the only one who fucks up, you know." "No, but I have you beat for sheer audacity and scale. Be my friend, Mikey, not my counselor. If I wanted a shrink, I'd check into the psych ward." "I doubt relationship troubles are considered sufficient grounds for admittance." "I'll build a time machine and travel back to the 1850s or so. I wouldn't have any troubles faking hysteria because I sure as hell wouldn't be getting lucky, and they'd admit me just fine." I laughed and stepped back, eyeing her up and down. "I think they'd admit you the instant they saw you if you went back looking like you usually do." She arched a brow at me and lifted her skirt suggestively. "Are you saying I'm flashing too much skin for the time period?" "You could probably get away with it if you set up running a brothel in California or something. Apparently madams made damn good money before the puritans got involved." "Bastards, the lot of 'em." We looked at each other, conversation fizzling while we thought, the fight still hanging between us. "Should we set more time for us?" I asked after a minute. "We haven't been able to do that very often lately." "We should, shouldn't we? You have such a fucked up schedule with everything you've got on your plate and I have no schedule. Can you make time for your best friend, Mikey?" "I'll do my best. Holiday season is about to devour us, and I don't know what's going on yet with starting classes at the college." "Balls..." She growled and flopped onto the trunk of her car. "I'm not even going to try getting you for a weekend. You're booked solid on those for the next million years." "I actually don't have anything planned for this weekend." "Wait. Am I hearing things? Did I just hear you say you're free this weekend? Did hell just freeze over?" "I'll check the weather in Europe when I get home, if you like." "You're taking me out even if it kills us, mister. I can tell you all about my date tonight, you can give me sexy things to fantasize about, and there will be much rejoicing." "Tomorrow sound good?" "You're on. I'll try to make room in my schedule, fit you in between one and two." I raised my eyebrows at her and poked her breasts, holding my laugh. "One and two?" "Nope." She poked her breasts in the reverse order I had. "This is one and this is two. But we're not doing sex. I'm still standing by my assessment of it as being the cause of all complications in a relationship." "That's fine with me. Three women is more than enough to keep me busy, even if Kim is only once in a great while. Anyway. Tomorrow what time, woman?" "I'll call when I'm awake, how about?" "And avoid me sleeping through my alarm and being fashionably late? Where's the fun in that?" "High noon. Bring your sharpest wit, wench." She poked me in the chest to shove me back. "I'm going to get home and pretty myself up to impress this woman of yours. Wish me luck." I nodded and hugged her tight, then scooped up my pack. "Good luck." "Thanks. And don't be late tomorrow. I'll start charging you by the quarter hour if you are." I laughed and saluted, then headed to my car. Chapter 6 Jen's date with Cindy, as Jen related it to me on Saturday, went well after a nervous start. My best indicator for this was Cindy apparently had told Jen what happened with her own parents, something she hadn't even told any of us. I didn't press Jen for the story, since I knew it would piss off Cindy if I did, but I did make a mental note to ask her about it when I had a chance. Kim apparently spent the night at Cindy's that Saturday, which I discovered picking them up Monday morning. She was more subdued than usual, doing her thinking thing, and Sara and I let her be on the trip to school. I stopped her before she headed to class. "Sure you're not ready to say what's on your mind?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Talked a lot with Cindy while I was there and figured some stuff out," she said, hooking her thumbs under the shoulder straps on her pack. "Do me a favor?" "I'll do my best." "You and Sara have lunch with Jen, right?" "Usually, yeah. Why?" "Could you eat in the quad today?" I blinked at her. "That's all?" "Yeah. Super easy stuff." She wrapped her arms around me and hugged. "Thanks, Mr. Man." She gave me a kiss and skipped off before I could say anything, and I looked at Sara. "Did she say anything to you about what's on her mind?" We slid our hands together and fell into step. "Do you want me to guess?" "I'm guessing that's a no, she didn't." "She didn't, no. It's either something to do with Jen or with Cindy. I can't think of any other reason she'd want us to eat somewhere with Jen where she'd be able to find us." "We'll know soon enough." Sara made a small sound, and we wandered to other topics before heading to class, putting the mystery aside until lunch came around. We corralled Jen to one of the tables in the quad area, the weather being more cooperative than not and not raining on us. Kim joined us about ten minutes into lunch, sitting next to Jen with her cafeteria pizza and salad. "Hi," she said, and stopped there, looking at Jen. "Hi?" Jen said, obviously caught off guard. "I'm... not sure what to say? I thought you were still mad at me?" "I am, but I think maybe I need to talk with you." She glanced at Sara and me, then back to Jen. "They've been saying I should when you stopped being such a bitch. Cindy too. She said... She said you had a date with her on Friday, and you're ok and I should give you another chance because you're trying really hard right now. I'm still not happy." Jen blinked, turning more toward Kim. "I..." she started, then went quiet. Kim waited. "I have no idea what to say, Kim. I don't feel like sorry is enough for you. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt Sara or Mike, either, but I was stupid. I still feel like I am, and like every time I open my mouth I'm going to fuck up again. I want to talk with you, see if we can be friends, but I..." She sighed and dropped her head back, tugging her pig tails and pulling her head forward again. "I don't know what to say, Kim. This is awkward." "Not pissing me off because you think it's funny would help." Jen opened her mouth and started what sounded like a protest before catching herself and pulling in. "I guess I did, didn't I? I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. Maybe I'm too used to spending time with Jas and Mikey, because they just blow it off or bite right back. I'll do my best. I want to promise better than that, but I know I can't." Kim was silent, either waiting or trying to find words, and Jen squirmed, like a trapped bug. "Can I have another chance?" she asked after a minute. "I don't know what you're after, Kim. I don't know what else to say." "I had all kinds of words and stuff in my head before I sat down," Kim said, slumping dramatically and heaving a sigh. "Now I don't remember any of them!" She turned and pointed at me. "I'm totally blaming you, Mr. Man. You totally stole them." "Like a dragon hoarding gold, yep," I said. "Cindy managed to convince you finally?" "She helped me, but you and Sara helped a lot, too. Maybe I just needed one more person to make it a magical number? I don't know." She turned back to Jen. "I'm still mad with you, but I don't want to hold onto that anymore. I don't like being mad. But!" She pointed, glaring theatrically. "If you piss me off like you did before, or you hurt Sara or Mike again, I'm not talking with you anymore. No more chances." Jen nodded and said, "I understand. I'm doing my best to fix things, and it does mean a lot to me that you're ok giving me a second chance. I hope it's enough." "Everyone needs second chances." She nodded and grabbed her plate of food, got to her feet. "I'm going to go bother Jor now. We have a kissing contest to win!" She giggled and hopped, then spun and trotted off, heading to the theater. "I didn't think that was allowed during school," Jen said, arching her brow and watching Kim depart. "It's the thespians," Sara said, breaking her silence. "They're... unique." "Not the word that comes to mind for me, but I'll run with it." She spun back and gave us each a glare. "You should have warned me she was going to do that." "We didn't know," I said, holding up my hands. "All she asked was sit somewhere she could find us. That's all." "I figured it had something to do with your date with Cindy on Friday," Sara said, mouth quirking. "I guess it did, but I didn't think she'd do that. I think it's a good thing, that she's finally letting it go. It sucked when it happened, but it hasn't ruined us like it could have." "Does this mean I can celebrate now?" Jen asked, forking her fried chicken and looking at us. "We're getting along really well. Jas and me are mostly ok. Cindy apparently is ok with me. Now Kim's on board with forgiving me for being a stupid cunt. I think that covers everyone?" "Everyone but your parents, anyway," I said, and she winced and frowned. "That's your end goal now, yes? Figuring out how to fix that?" "That's a lot messier than making good with you, Mikey. I feel like I'd need to trade Jas for them kind of messy." Her attention shifted to Sara. "You understand how hard that kind of decision would be, right?" Sara just nodded, dropping her gaze to her food and poking at it, choosing her words carefully. "I think, if it came to that, I think we'd both choose our parents and willingly break up. It would hurt, and it would break my heart, but we'd get through it. I love her more than anything, but losing our whole family would hurt more." "I wish I had your kind of optimism about family," Jen said after a minute, pushing what remained of her chicken out of her way and leaning on the table, face in her hands. "Mine's all kinds of fucked up." "Are you saying we're fucked up?" I asked, poking at her, and she peered at me through her fingers. "I keep telling you we're the poster children of normality. We're in a shitty internet erotica." "Not true. We're not making this an excuse to have sex on this table while the whole school watches." She cackled, slapping her hands on the table. "Just you wait, mister. It will happen. Somewhere, sometime, we will have an orgy on a table, and we will have an audience. Mark my words, for they are full of true facts." "As long as I'm the one getting gang banged, I'm ok with this happening," Sara said, purring and sticking a finger in her mouth, sucking sauce off it and eyeing Jen. "And you call me incorrigible," I laughed, pulling her over and kissing her. "Because you are. I'm just happy to be a more than willing recipient of all your naughty talent." "I think insatiable is more fitting than willing." "That too. This denial you have me on is only making me worse. I love it when you torture me when I can't cum. It makes it so much more fun, but it makes my pussy so mad with me, but it hurts in a good way. My clit throbbing and screaming for attention, my vagina aching and twitching and running like crazy, my labia swollen and sensitive, and mmmm..." She closed her eyes and purred, grabbing the back of my head and pulling me forward to give me a hungry kiss, then gave me a half-lidded look of lust. "Like right now. School needs to end so I can edge for you on the way home." "I'd like to watch again sometime," Jen said, leaning against one hand and running the fingers of her other along her throat. "I remember it being super hot watching you squirm and Mikey not letting cum." "Maybe," Sara said, her voice thick. "I love people watching me, but it's up to Mike and Kim if I'm able to put on a show, and I'm still processing." Jen nodded and I said, "I'll talk with Kim, see if she's ok with that once you're comfortable." "I'm all for the completely platonic flirting, too," Jen said, reaching across to poke Sara in the chest. "Mikey knows all about that shiz." "All this teasing is going to be the death of me," Sara said, humming and biting at my shoulder. Chapter 7 Other than finishing Christmas shopping and getting a call from the college that my class schedule and remaining paperwork was ready, the rest of the week was uneventful. My bank account was practically empty once my gift buying was done, but there was no shortage of people wanting stuff drawn as gifts, so I had money again in short order. With the New Year's party needing more planning, I talked with Kim, Cindy, and Jen about getting together for that. Sara had spent that Saturday and Saturday night at Cindy's, so Sunday proved the easiest day to get it done. I picked up Cindy when I picked up Sara to return her home, Sara clearly distracted and turned on, her nipples visibly hard even through her bra. She attacked me with a kiss in the front hall, ferocious enough I stumbled, and I grabbed her waist and swung her around to press her against the wall. I worked my fingers through hers, holding her hands beside her head and keeping her in place. She tried wrapping her legs around my waist without success, and she growled into our kiss, squeezing tight on my fingers. "I may have pushed her control to its limits while she's been here," Cindy said, molding herself against my back and reaching forward to hold Sara's hips. I broke the kiss and bit Sara's lip before pulling back, her breath coming hard and fast. "You have no idea," Sara said, eyes closed and voice tight. "I need to cum so bad right now I want to cry." "I made sure she didn't get any orgasms," Cindy continued, kissing the back of my neck. "We had hours of fun last night, and I gave her another thirty edges this morning. You might want to let her rest today." She paused, her attention switching to Sara. "Or get her a chastity belt." Sara jolted and her breath caught, and she went rigid against me, whimpering and biting my shoulder while she strained to hold her orgasm. Cindy purred and kissed my neck again before stepping back. "I'm done now. I'll be waiting outside for you two." "Are you going to live, love?" I asked once her breathing had mostly returned to normal. "I need a very long, very cold shower so fucking bad," she growled, extracting her hands from mine and draping around my neck instead. "I thought I'd enjoy being kept on edge for so long, but she-" She stopped and swallowed, gathering together her scattered control. "Fucking hell. I'll have to tell you later when I'm not so hair trigger. I need to get home and get that cold shower. Or something. Anything that will distract me from how hard my pussy is screaming at me to cum." She bit the side of my neck, leaving teeth marks, and smacked her head back against the wall and looked at me. "This must be what blue balls feels like. It fucking sucks." "I've already talked with Kim and we agreed you'll need a day or two to recover after Cindy's teasing," I said, sliding my arms behind her and stepping away from the wall, bringing her with me. "We figured you'd be a wreck by the time she got done with you today." She hummed, tightening her grip on me and pressing closer, and I pushed her back down. She closed her eyes and concentrated, drawing slow, deep breaths. It took her a minute, but she calmed down enough she could relax against me and look at me without looking like she wanted to tear my clothes off. "I don't think I want a rest day tomorrow. You and sis said I have to have at least ten edges a day, and that any days I miss because of my period need to be made up. For me, that means ten a day is my minimum, and extras don't carry over." I lifted a hand and brushed her hair back, and she closed her eyes and nuzzled against my palm, purring. I gave her a light kiss and bit her lip. "Are you sure you can handle ten edges tomorrow?" She kissed my palm and put her attention back on me. "I have to. That's part of the challenge." "You don't have to, love; not if it's too much for you." "But I do have to. If I don't, it will be as much a disappointment for me as for both of you. I want to show I can do this, as much for you as for me. I'll do the edges unless I'm told not to. I know I can, as long as I'm careful about not pushing too close." "No matter how angry your pussy gets with you?" I gave her an even look and she nodded and kissed me. "Even if it takes up arms and tries to kill me because it's been teased and tortured and gotten no release for a month now. Even if I complain about how much it sucks to not be able to cum when I want to, I do love the teasing and torture, because it's fun for you and sis and I want to please you. I'm not changing my mind about giving you two control of my orgasms." "We'll only push as far as you can handle, love. We don't want you falling apart." "I know. I'll let you know if it gets to be too much. Telling one of you is the same as telling you both right now, I think. I like that you've been communicating so well. That makes it easier for me to do this, knowing I can rely on both of you." She grabbed her pack and we headed out to my car, my hand in her back pocket so I could squeeze her ass while we walked. "You're really not helping, mister," she said when we got to the car and she could spin away to get in. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you want me to be committed for hysteria." I laughed and said, "Only another three weeks and we'll have a cure for you. It might even be administered multiple times over the course of a few hours." She grinned and climbed into her seat, and Cindy caught me before we got in, leaning over her door to kiss me. "I know you want to invite Jen to the New Year's party," she said, quietly so Sara wouldn't hear, and I nodded. "I barely know her brother, but I hear they've worked out their shit with each other, so I'm assuming if she comes, he will to." "That will be up to you and Kim. When it comes to Jen, I'm probably not the best judge of how things will go." She smirked and pulled me down for a kiss. "You're too close to that forest, lover, just like with Sara. I'll be willing to invite her and her brother if she's ok with some simple restrictions. I'm not ready to completely trust her." "Kim's not, either, I don't think, but that's understandable. But we need to get going so Sara can get a long, cold shower to cool off after all the ways you tortured her." She laughed and stepped back, saying, "If it had been too much for her, she had a safe word. She never used it." She ducked into the car. "Right, lover?" Sara managed both a growl and a purr simultaneously, her hand closing into a fist and gripping the front of her shirt. "I think next time I agree to let you torture me like that," she said, turning in her seat to look at Cindy, "it will be when I'm not on denial." Cindy laughed, leaning forward and cupping Sara's face between her hands. "Knowing how much your lovers enjoy torturing you, you're going to have a lot of long stretches of denial. You're going to have to get used to it." "Buckle up so we can get going, woman," I said, giving her a poke while I backed down the drive. "She's worked up enough already without fantasizing about having even longer periods of denial and constant teasing." "Cold showers will have to become my best friend," Sara said absently, settling into her seat and closing her eyes to focus on her breathing. The trip to Sara's was quiet, and it was a twenty minute wait for her to send Kim out. When she did emerge, she was dressed more conservatively than normal, but still as brightly. She lit up when she spotted Cindy and changed course to climb into the back with her. "I know you want to smother Cindy with questions about what she did with Sara," I said once she was in the car, "but you can wait until later to do that. Right now I need to know if you're ok having Jen along, and if you're ok inviting her and Jason to the party." "This is, like, the four hundredth time you've asked, Mr. Man." She jabbed a finger into my arm and stuck her tongue out at me, then flopped back and dragged her seatbelt into place. "I've already said yes. Now buy me sushi." "You know your love of sushi makes it really easy to bribe you, right?" "I don't care. Sushi is delicious and yum and super awesome tasty and all sorts of crazy amazing goodness! I can not say no to it, because I loves it so." She rubbed one hand on her stomach and dropped her head back, making Homer Simpson gurgle noises. "Sushi..." Chapter 8 "Whatever you do, do not order the deep fried stick," Kim said, peering at Jen and pointing at the menu listing. "It is made of bland." "I think I'll avoid it just because of the name," Jen said, furrowing her brow at the listing. "But the salmon sounds good. I like that." "And the eel! Do they still have the eel? They had the eel the last time I was here, but they don't always. Put it down anyway? Pretty please with unicorns and stuff?" "Are they vampire unicorns?" "Unicorns can't be vampires!" "Neither of them are real, so it doesn't matter," Cindy said, pulling the order menu over so she could see what had been marked already. "Can I borrow the pencil?" Jen handed it over and Cindy put a 1 by most of the list. "Yay!" Kim bounced and clapped her hands. "Lots for me!" "You'll probably be eating half of what we get," I said, and she nodded. I gathered the menus into a pile and turned to Jen. "So we have this party thing coming up for New Year's, over at Cindy's. We'll be there, along with Sara and Aaron, and we want to know if you and Jason would be interested in joining." "Before I say yes, what kind of party? I don't want to repeat being a bitch like I was with the last one." "It's a New Year's party, silly." She gave Kim a bland look and said, "I caught that. That's not what I meant. I'm just going to skip right over the whole inquisition of sexy times. Knowing Mike and Sara, and I think you two too, I already know the answer. Are we going to be drinking?" "There might be drinks," Cindy said, folding her hands in front of her. "That's going to be conditional." "On what? Me not being a bitch and fucking up again?" "Hold your tongue, Kim," I said before she could say anything, and she stuck it out at me. "I totally wasn't going to say anything," she said, nodding once. "Whatever the case is for that," Cindy said, her attention shifting back and forth between Kim and me, "that's not what I was going to say, so if you two are done? My place, my rules, and you'll fucking play by them. I am not in a spot right now I can blow off you two being childish. This date is extremely fucking stressful for me, so fucking be serious." "At least that makes two of us?" Jen said, mouth quirking. "Fifty percent ain't so bad, right?" "Good enough for government work. I will expect you to not be a bitch, but your best friend talked me out of expecting you not to fuck up. If I can't hold myself to that standard, I can't hold you to it, either." Jen turned to me, blinking stupidly. "What? I did say I vouched for you, and you're not the only one working on patching things up." "This is why you're awesome, Mikey. You stand up for me." "He loves you," Cindy said, giving me a look. "If he hadn't stood up for you with me, you wouldn't be here right now. Are you going to take this chance or not?" "What do I need to do? Well, me and Jas. Whatever applies to me will apply to him, yes?" "It will. I don't want you getting drunk. I don't care if you drink, but I will not tolerate you being drunk. I won't tolerate any attitude from you, either, not like the last party. You've spent the last few months proving you can hold your tongue, now that you've seen what kind of damage it can do." She nodded and leaned back when the waiter came by to take the menus and our order sheet, then leaned forward again. "Just those?" She shifted her attention to Kim. "Or do you have some, too?" Kim blinked and said, "Uh... No flirting or sexy stuff with me? Just because I'm a gender traitor doesn't mean I swing your direction." She cringed, holding her hands up, palms toward Jen. "I'm sorry. That was so not what I meant to say. I'm super dumb with words. You can even ask Mr. Man or Sara or Cindy or Georgia or-" "Kim," Cindy said, reaching up to cover her mouth, and Kim made gibberish noises against her palm. "Stop." "I know what you meant," Jen said, propping herself up on one hand. "You're not interested in me, and I'll be more than happy to return the favor. I'm straight as a razor, even if I do flirt with Sara and some of my other womens. Mostly Sara. I won't be trying to get into your pants." Kim nodded and pulled Cindy's hand away, then straightened one of her fingers and bit the tip. Cindy just shook her head and took her hand back, and Kim scooted over to put her arms around her. "Unless Kim has more to add, or Mike does, I think that's it for the conditions of your invite," Cindy said, then made an annoyed sound and pushed Kim away, giving her a hard look. "Will you fucking stop? I fucking told you already I'm not in a good fucking spot. That means no play. Fucking behave or you'll be the one without a god damn invite. You've-" She cut herself short and pulled into herself, clenching her fingers and digging them into her palms, head down and eyes screwed shut. "I'll be back," she said, abrupt, sharp, then stood and stalked to the bathrooms, holding her arms tight against her chest. I stopped Kim when she moved to follow. "I should say sorry," she said, making a move to remove my hand but not actually doing so. "When she gets back. She won't hear it right now." She stared after Cindy, then scooted back to her spot and held herself, head down and staying quiet. "That's what you meant when you kept telling me she has mood swings," Jen said, jabbing her straw at the ice in her drink. "Yeah. She said something about that when we talked before your date, but I don't remember exactly what it was. Something like telling you about it not being the same as seeing it." "Stuff like this and her rant at the party is her normal?" "I triggered her, didn't I?" Kim said, downcast. "I don't know. I don't know where she is in her head right now." "Maybe I shouldn't come to your party. I'm inciting stress out the wazoo." "Sis said she'd like you there." Kim lifted her head and brushed her hair back. "Something about wanting to test something or... something. I don't remember. She's doing her puzzle thing. I don't understand it." "Puzzle thing?" "Totally her puzzle thing. It doesn't make sense to me, so I don't think I can explain it. It's like she's putting together a puzzle in her head, only the pieces are people, or something. It's confusing, but she's really good at it." There wasn't much conversation after that, and our food had come by the time Cindy returned. She made no attempt to hide the teeth marks she'd left on her wrist, and she kept her head down when I took her hand and ran my fingers over them. "I'm sorry," she said quietly when I let her hand go. "You don't deserve me going off on you like that." "I was super dumb, Cindy. It's not your fault. I didn't mean to hurt you." "You didn't hurt me, lover. You fucking pissed me off. I disappeared so I wouldn't say anything or do anything I was going to regret. I've done that too much already." "Should we do our planning later?" I asked, grabbing rolls and bundles and I have no idea what at random. I still didn't recognize most of it, despite Kim's continued efforts to identify things for me. "It doesn't seem like right now is a good time for you." "No," Cindy said, shaking her head. "We need to get this planned, especially with what you nut jobs have in mind." "Which I'd like to know, be tee double-u," Jen said, mixing up wasabi and soy sauce for dipping. "The three of them want Sara to be the entertainment," Cindy said, ignoring her chop sticks and opting for the finger food approach. "Sara wants everyone to play with her all day on New Year's eve before she's allowed to orgasm again after the ball drops. We're going to have a few hard line rules for play like that, but I'd rather discuss those at the party so no one forgets them." "That is simultaneously unexpected and completely unsurprising." She poked at me. "You're going to try telling me this was something she wanted to try?" "Yep!" Kim said before I could, making the table shake with the enthusiasm of her nod. "She mentioned it when we did our date at the beach. We had to talk with Cindy first, though, 'cause she's smarter than we are about stuff like that." "Has nothing to do with me being smarter, lover girl," Cindy said, frowning and crossing one arm under her breasts to hug herself. "I have more experience than all of you combined. Aaron, too. We know what we're doing. You've barely started." "Is drinking really a good idea?" Jen asked, watching Cindy. "We'll need to have her tied up or something. That would make it a lot easier to hurt her if we're drunk." "Aaron will be moderating the drinking and I'll be mixing. He's run parties like this before, and I've been the go-to for mixing for a few years, when I'm able to handle being involved. And Sara will have at least two people watching her like hawks to make sure she's safe and comfortable. It will be ok." "You mean me and Mr. Man, right? Watching her like hawks." "Who else would it be, lover?" "Bandar?" Cindy laughed and shook her head, stuffing a roll into her mouth and pointing at me. "That's another thing for you two to think about," she said, muffled around her mouthful of rice and fish, continuing when she'd finished her bite. "I let her get her first experience with him yesterday when she showed up. It didn't put her off like I expected it to, so she'll want more. It's one of the reasons she was so enthusiastic when you picked me up." "Who's Bandar?" Jen asked, raising an eyebrow at Cindy. "My dog. I've had him for a few years, so he's well trained by now." "Ah." She paused for a few seconds and cocked her head to the side when she realized what was being talked about. "I see. I was not aware she's into that." Cindy huffed an unamused laugh, arching her own brow at Jen. "Do you really expect her to go around advertising that fetish? Even incest is less taboo." "If you think your relationship with Jason is the sort that needs to be hidden," I said, splitting my wasabi and doling it out to Jen and Kim, "something like that is more so." "Don't need to tell me, Mikey. I'm all about the not gossip. I couldn't care less what people do in their bedroom as long as it's not hurting anyone. Non- consensually, I mean." "Indeed." I reached across and snagged one of Kim's rolls and popped it into my mouth before she could steal it back, and she stuck her tongue out at me. "What was the vote for inviting Jen and Jason? There wasn't a stated verdict on that." "She's accepted the conditions, so she has invitation from me," Cindy said, watching Jen. "I don't expect she'll be a problem, since she's been doing well lately. I don't know about Jason." "He's usually better at holding his tongue than I am," Jen said, holding Cindy's look. "He'll probably try to get into you, though. Forewarning and all that happy crappy." "He's welcome to try, but he'll have to really impress me to be successful. I'll have four people I know I enjoy bedding, and I'm not as... willing as I used to be." "What about you, Kim?" I said, pointing my chop sticks at her. "Invite Jen and Jason, yes or no?" "Sure." "That's it?" I asked after a few seconds when she didn't say anything more. "Just 'sure'? No commentary or anything?" "It was totally a yes or no question, Mr. Man, and that was totally a yes. It wasn't an essay contest or anything." "This is true." "True facts of truthiness!" Kim nodded and clacked her chop sticks at me, then turned her attention on Jen, peering at her. "What're you doing for Christmas vacation? I has a thought." "Sitting at home sacrificing puppies, babies, and virgins to Yog-Sothoth and other Great Old Ones. Why?" "Oh. That sounds busy and stuff." Jen snorted and propped herself on her hand. "That means I'm doing fuck all. This is my Christmas right here." Kim leaned forward, grabbing her hair and holding it back so it wouldn't get into her wasabi coated plate of food, and gave Jen an exaggeratedly shrewd look. "You want to come over and spend it with me and Sara?" Chapter 9 It took a long moment of silence from all of us for Kim's proposition to process. "I... don't know," Jen managed after a minute. "I'd feel out of place." "I could totally convince mom and dad to have you over. And Jason, too. And I think Sara would like it. And you'd have people to spend it with instead of being all lonely and stuff." Jen went quiet again, and I could tell she was trying to organize the crazy spin her thoughts had just been thrown into. "I... Why?" is what she finally settled on. "I don't understand. After being such a bitch to you... You're... I... Fuck. I can't even talk right. It's never even crossed my mind you'd ever ask me and Jas over for anything." "Why not? I think it was you I was talking to? I don't remember. It was someone I was talking to you about." "It was me, when you talked with me the other day in the quad." "Right!" She bounced and pointed at Jen. "I remember now! Anyway. I don't want to be mad at you anymore, so I need to get to know you, see, and we totally don't hang out at school, so it has to be after, right? And I feel bad you don't have a family, so isn't spending Christmas with friends better than spending it being all mopey and sad and stuff? So then you'll at least have that, right?" "You need to say yes, Jen," Cindy said, giving her an even look. "You need this, more than you think you do. I know what it's like to be kicked out of your own family. It haunts you, every day, and it hits you when you least expect. If people you've hurt are still willing to take you in and give you another chance like they are, accept it. The bonds you choose are the ones that hold strongest, so what does it mean if they're choosing you?" "Did you put her up to this? That sounds mean, but I honestly don't mean it that way." Cindy shook her head and looked over at Kim. "It's all her. I'm as surprised as you and Mike are. I don't think Sara knows, either, does she?" "Nope!" Kim shook her head, hair catching on her face, and she blew at it ineffectually. "I get to surprise her, too!" She grinned and smoothed her fingers through her hair to get it back under control. "It just came into my head. Pop! And it was there, and I thought it was a good idea, so then I thought it would be good for all of us, and yeah." She peered at Jen again. "You should totally say yes." "You're not going to let me get away with saying no, are you?" "Nope!" "I..." She took a deep breath and covered her face with her hands, leaving only her mouth clear, and leaned forward. "I don't know what to say. I feel like I'm going to cry, but I don't want to cry." "I'll try to come by while you're at their place," I said, leaning over and giving her a hug. "Then you'll have all of us. Except Cindy, I think?" I looked at her and she shook her head. "I'll be with Aaron and his family. I still don't feel like I fit in with them, but it's better than spending the time stuck in my head. You know how I get when that happens." She frowned and pulled inward, but Kim stopped her short with a hug. "We totally have the party for us, Cindy woman. That will be more fun than Christmas, anyway." Cindy hummed and unwrapped Kim from around her, putting her attention back on the food. "I need a list from everyone for what they want to eat and drink," she said, looking at each of us in turn. "Give it to Mike or Sara or Kim and they'll get it to me. Aaron gets his holiday bonus in a few days, so as long as you're reasonable, don't worry about being too expensive." She set her attention on Jen. "And tell your brother if he wants his drinks with crazy names like skull fuck monkey or whatever the hell they were, he needs to tell me what goes in them. If he doesn't, he's getting white russians and that's it." "I'll let him know," Jen said, nodding, then tilted her head to the side. "What about toys?" "For all practical purposes, I have almost anything you'd need for a scene. It's a perk of being the girlfriend of someone who's a pillar of the local kink community. Talk with Sara anyway and figure out what you'd like to do with her so I know if I have what you'd need for it. That will help on the safety end of things, too, and you'll both know what you're comfortable with. I'm less worried about Kim and Mike because they know their boundaries with her better than you and your brother do." "I feel like I should be making a checklist, 'Things Jen Needs To Do To Party' or something." "I take safety and consent very seriously, Jen. I will not allow play in my home that isn't both. I... have a lot of bad experiences. Too many." "You won't need to worry about safety or consent when I'm playing with Sara, you know. We flirt a lot, but I'd be too squicked to actually do anything with her. I enjoy watching her, but that's as far as I'd be able to go. My own bits are enough woman for me." "You're the token straight girl of this group, aren't you?" Jen burst into laughter at that, clapping her hands together and tilting back in her chair. "Cthulhu's balls! You have no idea." She dropped forward again and leaned over to bump me with her shoulder. "Mikey made the same damn joke to me I don't know how long back. I think it was when I put on a show for him and Sara?" I shrugged when she looked at me. "I think that's right. We're a shitty internet erotica because I'm the only straight girl he knows." Cindy sucked down the last of her drink, shaking her head. "Doesn't work. We don't have sex every day, he hasn't gotten into your pants, and none of us are perfect." "And he doesn't have a foot long dick," Kim added, sticking her tongue out at me and adjusting her imaginary halo. "We're totally not porno." "I don't think Sara will be happy you stole her halo," I laughed, tapping Kim's shin under the table. "You might want to give it back before she notices it's missing." "Pft. She lost it years ago. Finders keepers!" "None of you had halos to begin with," Cindy said, rolling her eyes. "And you're definitely not innocent, either. And don't even try arguing semantics with me, woman," she said to Jen, giving her a look before she could say anything. "Ignorance, inexperience, and innocence are unrelated states of being. I've never liked the bullshit theocratic nonsense spewed out by religion about innocence and ignorance being the same thing, and then using that illogic to justify ignorance as something to be fucking proud of. If you're living, you're experiencing, which means you're learning. You must choose to be ignorant, which means you also choose not to experience. If you would rather be ignorant and never experience new things, why bother living?" "You won't find a bone in my body that defends Christian theology. Why would you think I would be?" "Because you're Wiccan, and Wicca identifies itself in opposition to modern Christian theology even when it's using the same fucked up logic. I had a lot of time to learn while I was in the hospital, and I lost what little religious faith I had left during that time." "I must say, this is a random turn in the conversation," I said, sitting back and enjoying the exchange. I'd never known Jen to shy from a theological debate, and it was clear Cindy was capable of sparring with her. "Please to be continuing." "That's as far as I'm going, lover. I don't have patience for religious nonsense, even when it's well meaning. I grew up with enough of it and I'm glad to be rid of it. There's a reason my parents kicked me from the family. It hurts, but having them in my life would hurt more." "Dad was a preacher?" She let out a short, bitter laugh and shook her head, her look darkening. "No. They're much worse than that. They're part of the fundie flock, down to the bone. Let it drop and find a different topic. I can't talk about them right now." She looked down when I pulled her hand away from her wrist, blood leaking from the gouge she'd made with her nail. She swore and ripped a napkin from the dispenser, pressing it to her wound before standing and taking my hand to drag me with her to the bathrooms. She growled when I hesitated in following her into the women's room and jerked me forward. "It's just a fucking room with toilets and sinks, not a god damn murder chamber," she said, spinning me into place in front one of the sinks. She stood in front of me, napkin pressed tight against her wrist and staring at me. "What's bothering you?" I said after a few seconds, and waited for her to gather herself enough she could speak. "I am livid, but I know it's completely fucking irrational, and I know I'm in one of my wild ass swing states. This is fucking difficult for me right now, but it's not anything any of you have done." She tightened her grip on her wrist and lowered her head, trembling while she fought herself under control again. "Never bring up my parents with me again, Michael. Not ever. I will talk about them on my terms and no one else's. Understand?" "Completely." I reached for her wrist, expecting her to stop me, but she only held her look on me. The gouge she'd made wasn't bad, but it was deep. I pumped a paper towel from the dispenser and wet it to wash away the blood. "Can I ask something, though?" I asked while I worked, watching her. "About your sister." "Only if you're not expecting an answer." I nodded and considered, holding her hands after I'd finished. She clamped down on them, waiting. "You've mentioned a lot she's the only one of your family who came to see you. Why did she?" It took her a long time to find the words she was after, her anger dissipating. I nodded at the woman who came in while Cindy was thinking and got a look of reproach in return. Cindy ignored her. "She wanted to get out, too," she said at last, quickly catching the tremble in her voice. "But everyone in our community who did get out took the road I did, self- destruction and abuse and being used. I just went further down it than most. She wanted to know what I saw, what pushed me so far. She... I can't say she understood, but she knew something was wrong with how our family lived and believed. She just didn't know what until she saw what happened to me, what it does to people. It grinds them down, mutilates them, degrades them, makes them worthless. She didn't believe in that. I was worth something to her, and, even if it was only her, she wanted me to know I was loved without condition or judgment by someone real." "She followed you." "No. She saved me. That's as much as I can handle telling you right now, Mike. Please don't push this any more. You have no idea how painful it is for me, especially in this kind of mood." She stopped, a brief hesitation as something occurred to her, and she gave me a hard look. "Did Jen tell you anything?" "That's as far as I was going to go, and no. She only said you told her what happened with your parents. I didn't ask." She drew in a short breath, almost a gasp, and nodded, the tension washing out of her and leaving her a loose mood hanging on a frame. I squeezed her hands. "Are you going to be ok?" She clenched her jaw and pursed her lips, shaking her head and looking up at me. "Am I ever? The best I can do is make it through each day when I'm like this." "You have us, too, you know. The bonds we choose are the strongest, right?" She scowled at me, squeezing my hands again. "Do not pull that shit with me right now, Michael. I'm not clear enough yet you can get away with it." I nodded and she dropped one hand after a few seconds, pulling me after her out of the bathroom and back to the table. "Good to see you're both still alive," Jen said when we rejoined her and Kim. "Is everything ok?" "No," Cindy said, focused on transferring fish rolls to her plate. "But a point of understanding has been reached. Leave it that." "Okey doke." She hunted through what remained of our food and dipped a veggie roll into Kim's wasabi mix. "Is your wrist ok? You've done a number on it." Cindy turned her wrist over so we could see it, the gouge a swollen red, and she made a dismissive sound and shrugged. "I won't even notice this in an hour." "What shall we talk about?" I asked, crossing my arms on the table in front of me. "Sushi!" Kim said, eyeing Jen and her pool of wasabi. Chapter 10 The rest of get together went more smoothly from there, and we talked for another hour or two, relocating at some point to the mall. Jen was dropped off first so she could talk with Jason about the party, Cindy was next, and Kim returned last. I'd had an idea for next weekend and wanted to get it arranged, which wasn't difficult. It was the waiting in between that dragged. "You should take some charcoal so you can make a proper snowman," Diane said when I showed up Saturday morning, leading me to the shed in the back yard. "Indulge me. Everyone needs to make a proper snowman sometime in their life. Do you have chains in case there's ice?" "Haven't had to worry about it, so it didn't cross my mind. Are they expensive?" "I don't know, honestly. Jack bought ours years ago. I think you should be ok to borrow them, though. The tires on your car look like they're the same size as ours." "I have no idea. I haven't needed to deal with my tires since I bought the thing. I probably should do something other than making sure they're inflated right." "Yes, you should." Kim was waiting at the foot of the stairs with her extra jacket tied around her waist when we got back inside, me carrying the snow chains and Diane with a paper bag with a handful of charcoal in it. "Ready for road tripping, captain!" Kim said, her stance wide as she grinned and shot me a two finger salute. "Sara's being a total slow poke. I've been ready for, like, twenty minutes or something." "You have not been ready for twenty minutes, sis," Sara said, starting down the stairs. "Maybe two. You also forgot your hat." Kim gasped and cried, "Hat!" before clambering back up the stairs. Diane just shook her head after her and looked Sara up and down. "If you get stuck, call us and we'll come rescue you," she said. "Mike will be borrowing the snow chains, so don't be afraid to use them if you need to. You don't know how to drive on ice, so it's good to have them." "We'll be fine, mom. They salt the road and parking lot up there until they close the main gate next weekend. There won't be any ice." "Even so, I'm your mother. Fussing is part of the job description. Your sister's going to be another ten minutes trying to find her hat in that disaster she calls a room." Sara laughed and followed me to the car. It was another twenty minutes before we were finally on the road, and we had Sara strip from the waist down while we waited in the drive through. The window attendant was a man with blue streaked hair and a number of studs in one ear. He looked to be a few years older than me, and Sara blushed furiously when she caught his smile. "You may want something more serious than tacos and burritos for energy," he said, leaning down to get a better look at Sara, handing me our drinks one at a time. "We'll be coming by again on the way back," I said, nudging Sara's legs apart so he could get a partial view before setting her drink snug against her pussy. "She's dessert." "I certainly wouldn't turn down eating a dessert like her." He laughed and smiled at Sara, whose blush was deepening the longer we sat there. "Y'all have fun wherever it is you're going. You've made my day more fun, for sure." "We totally will!" Kim cried from the back seat, rubbing her hands together and grinning, then waved like a maniac when I pulled away. "That was so embarrassing and got me so turned on my clit hurts," Sara said, pressing her drink against her pussy to try and cool it down. "That was insane." "Towel!" Kim said, tossing it into Sara's lap. "You should totally be sitting on that, sis, or Mr. Man's shiny car will be ruined and fall apart on us." I laughed, scanning the back end of the parking lot for a parking spot so we could eat. "This bucket hasn't been shiny in years, and I don't think anything short of unicorn puke could make it that way again." "I will be sad if it breaks down before we get to the snow," Sara said, giving up on using her drink to cool down her pussy. "I really want to know what you two have planned for me." "First order of business is feeding you." I glanced over at her when she leaned forward, digging food out of the bag. "After that, I'm taking us to the snow, and you're going to play along the way." "But you so won't be allowed to edge," Kim cut in, reaching forward between the seats and making grabby hands when her food came into view. "We'll be doing that for you." "You two really are trying to make me go insane, aren't you? That sounds almost as bad as what Cindy did to me. You have no idea how hard that's going to be right now." "You can totally do it, sis. Just think of it like watching sexy porns with me and not being able touch." "That gives me an idea," I said, twisting around to look at Kim. "I'll tell you later, though." She perked, widening her eyes in exaggerated curiosity. "Something for teasing Sara?" "It wouldn't strictly fall under teasing, but it would definitely be a fun torture for her." "When will I find out about this?" Sara asked, looking back and forth between us before settling on me. "You're not going to make this denial even harder, are you?" "It might make it easier. I need to work out details with Kim first, and then how to tell you." I could tell she wanted to press for more details, but she didn't, knowing she had as much as she was going to get for the time being. We devoured our food mostly in silence, Kim humming and dancing in the back seat being the only sounds. I reached over and popped open the glove compartment, revealing a handful of chocolate bars I'd bought on the way to picking up Sara and Kim, and Sara laughed. "For you," I said to her, giving her a kiss. "If we're going to torture you, I figured I could sweeten the deal a bit to make up for the lack of orgasms." She squeezed her legs together, flipping through the chocolate to see what her selection was. "If I had the freedom to choose between chocolate or orgasms right now," she said, pulling out a dark chocolate orange bar and shaking it at me, "orgasms would be way at the top of my priority list. I feel like I'm almost forgetting what they feel like." "Two more weeks and then we party!" Kim said, bouncing and clapping. "Party! Party! Party! It's going to be so much awesome I'm going to explode!" Sara turned to look back at her, carefully sliding open the wrapper on the chocolate. "As long as I'm the one who gets to make you explode, sis, preferably on my tongue." "Lots and lots! Now eat your chocolate and play. I want to watch you being beautiful." She grabbed Sara's face and leaned forward, kissing her before falling back into her seat. Sara purred and turned forward again, taking a bite of her chocolate and closing her eyes, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, her free hand setting to work between her legs. There wasn't a lot of talking during the drive, with Sara too distracted, Kim too focused on watching, and me trying to split my attention between watching the road and watching Sara. If there'd been back roads for getting to our destination, I'd have taken them, but once we were out of town, it was all rural highway, which is hardly conducive to dividing ones attention. Once we were off the highway wasn't much better, since the final stretch was up the side of a mountain, with all the switchbacks and sharp turns that go with it. It was a half hour drive to get to the lookout area and park, only one other vehicle there and its owner nowhere to be seen. The lack of tracks in the snow meant they'd probably hiked up the path to the peak proper. "Snoooooooooooooow!" Kim cried, unbuckling and clambering out of the car before I'd even finished parking. She leapt into a drift and ended up hip deep in snow, blinking in surprise at the unexpected depth, which got a laugh from Sara. "Skirt and boots, love," I said, turning her back to me for a kiss. "No panties." She smiled and purred, bit at my lip and said, "Yes, sir." I smiled and bit back, squeezing one of her breasts. "Looking forward to playing in the snow?" She laughed and moved my hand to her other breast, tugging me closer for a better kiss. "I'm always looking forward to playing. You know that." "Still need to make sure." I dropped my hand between her legs and slid three fingers into her, and she drew in a hard breath and clamped her pussy tight, squeaking and biting at her lip. "We have plenty of ice to cool you down if you get too hot." "If you tease me anything like last time you used ice on me, that's just going to make me worse." I hooked my fingers in her and pulled her forward, my thumb going to her clit once she was on the edge of the seat. She clutched the arm rest and center console while I slowly finger fucked her, her breathing timed to match my strokes until I sped up. She swore and tightened her grip, her fingers going white and her cries getting louder, and she slammed her head back when I stopped, pulling my hand away from her pussy to clean my fingers. She panted and shook, swallowing hard once she had her breath back and her need to cum wasn't so immediate. "I think now you're ready," I said, prying her hand off the center console to give it a kiss. She gave a breathless laugh and swatted at me. "That was my first edge today. I might need you two to keep track of how many I have, because I don't think I'll be able to after the first few." "Twenty edges it is, then." She blanched and shook her head, giving me a pleading look. "I don't think I could handle that many. I don't know if I'll even be able to handle ten. The closer we get to the party, the more I don't want to fuck up this denial you have me on, and I know you'll both be pushing me hard today. I'm ok with that, but I don't want to fail." I nodded and leaned across to kiss her, brushing my fingers through her hair. She smiled and nuzzled into my hand, humming softly and closing her eyes. "We'll stop when you've hit your limit and can't push anymore. You know you just need to tell us." "I know. I'm just really-" Kim's abrupt appearance and yanking open of Sara's door cut her short, and Sara squealed in shock when a handful of snow was applied to her pussy. Kim grinned and waited a few seconds before withdrawing the snow, leaving Sara panting and squirming, squeezing her legs tight. "You two are such slow pokes!" she said, dropping the snow to the ground and brushing the remnants free. "Come! Play! I already have a snowman started!" Chapter 11 The snowman turned into a Calvin type monstrosity, with five arms on a squat pillar of a body that I added an eye and a mouth to, and each of us attaching a head. Sara approximated Jack Skellington, I put together a facepalm, and Kim's was essentially just a giant mouth. Kim stood next to me, hands clasped at her chest and bouncing, grinning at our creation. "It's so awesome!" she said, parting her hands and lifting them to make a frame around the snow monster. "We should get some pictures!" She dropped her hands and peered at me. "You brought a camera, right? Say you brought a camera." "I... maybe?" I turned to the car in time to see Sara grab my jacket and pull, dumping a handful of snow down my back. I jumped and swore at the unexpected cascade of cold, and both her and Kim laughed, Sara scampering clear of my reach. "Holy fuck that's cold," I laughed, turning to Sara, who was grinning and standing about ten feet from me, stance planted wide and looking playful. "I know," she said, bending down to scoop up a handful of snow and packing it into a ball, not taking her eyes off me. "I had some on my pussy earlier, remember?" A snowball hitting my shoulder distracted me from Sara, Kim laughing maniacally and tromping further afield. I laughed and switched my attention back and forth between them, amused and grinning as they took up spots opposite each other, putting me in the middle. Sara's snowball landed at my feet with a soft pluff, and she swore at the miss. "Two on one, I see," I said, putting together a snowball of my own and wading through the snow so I wouldn't get stuck between them. "That doesn't seem very fair." "Ha!" from Sara, laughing some more and her grin widening. "Sounds like you're worried you'll lose to some girls." "Losing to girls? I see no girls here. I do see women, though." "Flattery! If I didn't love hearing it from you, I'd have a comeback. I'll make snowballs my riposte instead." I laughed and we threw our snowballs at each other at the same time, and then we descended into a full on snow war, chasing each other around the overlook area and flinging snow. I finally caught Sara at a table after about half an hour, both of us covered in snow, out of breath and grinning at each other, which turned into a long kiss. "I hope the cold hasn't made you too wilted," she said, draping her legs around my waist and reaching between us to work at undoing my pants. "I need you fucking me." I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her close, bit her lip and said, "Even if you can't cum yet?" She groaned at the reminder, then shifted her attention to Kim when she came up, bouncing a snowball between her hands. "I see sexy fun times about to happen," she said, setting the snowball on the bench and shoving Sara onto her back, smiling and grabbing her hands. "I want to see how you react to icicles." Sara drew in a breath and tightened her legs on my waist, looking up at Kim. "I need Mike first. Please?" "Snow on your button while he does!" Kim grinned and flipped Sara's skirt out of the way, then set her fingers to work on her clit. I opened my pants and shoved them down around my thighs, stroking myself to full hardness in defiance of the cool brush of the winter air. Sara leaned back on her arms and watched me grow, licking her lips, her feet resting against my ass and ready to pull me into her. "Would you do the cooling down honors, Kim?" I said once Sara was obviously holding her orgasm, biting at her lip and her breathing hard. She grinned and bounced, scooping up a handful of snow and flattening it into a rough oval that went straight onto Sara's pussy. Sara hissed in a breath and dropped her head back, straining to keep from pushing Kim away. "Fuck that's cold," she said, eyes squeezing shut and jaw clenching. "So cold." A few seconds of that was enough, and I shifted Kim's hand and the snow pad up far enough I could push into Sara, who gasped loudly and clamped down hard on my cock. Her legs viced around my waist and she pulled me down on top of her, biting at my shoulder and her hands clawing into fists on the back of my coat while she trembled. She whimpered and gripped my cock even tighter with her pussy, whole body tensing to hold her orgasm. Kim stroked her hair and whispered flattery and 'I love you's to her while she struggled, probably only dimly aware of anything Kim was saying. It took her a few minutes to regain her control, the contest against her body leaving her flushed and overheated despite the chill. "I almost lost it," she said into my shoulder, hoarse and strained. "I don't know how I didn't cum. That was so hard." She pulled back to look at both of us, Kim stroking her cheek. "I almost lost it." "But you didn't," I said, cupping a hand to her face to turn her to me. "You did amazingly well, love, best you ever have. You didn't fail anything." "That was the most awesome and beautiful you've ever been, sis," Kim added, smiling and kissing her temple. "It's totally amazing how you can do that even when you want to cum so bad." "You have no idea how hard it was not to, sis." She laughed and looked back and forth between us. "You're not mad I almost came?" "I don't think we would be even if you had." I gave her a kiss, running my fingers through her hair. "It would make the buildup to the party a little less fun, but these challenges are for pushing limits, not making you feel like you've failed." Kim kissed her and said, "Totally what he said. You are so not a failure, sis. You're too awesome." Sara smiled and blinked back tears, sniffling and clearing her throat being the result. "You two are the best," she said, then fixed her gaze on me. "I want you so bad right now, love, but if you fuck me now, I'll cum for sure. Feeling you cum in me when I'm holding back is the best feeling ever, but I'm so close right now I'd lose it. I don't want to yet. I want to make it through this challenge." "As you wish." I waited for her to finish laughing to kiss her, then looked at Kim. "Find the biggest icicle you can, will you? And try not to melt it too much bringing it back?" "Aye aye, captain!" She grinned, saluted, and hopped off through the snow toward the bathroom building and its icicle laden eaves. "You're going to put that in me, aren't you?" Sara asked, her attention switching back to me after watching Kim for a few seconds. I laughed and grinned, bit her lip. "It will cool you down and keep you horny at the same time. Best of both worlds, don't you think?" "You are a horrible, horrible man. You have no idea how insane you're making me and how close I am to losing my control and just fucking you until I can't move anymore from cumming so much." "You only have two more weeks, love. You can make it." "I hope so." I pulled her upright with me, and she shook her head, loosing snow from her hair. Her eyes widened when she stopped and looked over my shoulder toward the parking lot. "Oh my god," she said, giggling and tightening her legs around me, burying her face against my shoulder. "We're being watched." I laughed and kissed her ear, stroking my fingers through her hair to get the rest of the snow out. "Do you think they're having fun watching us not doing much?" "I don't know, but now I really, really want to cum so they can. I didn't think I was that much of an exhibitionist. I need you out of me or I'm going to cum, but if you do, they'll know for sure we're fucking and that might put me over, too. Fuck." "As if me standing here with my pants down and your bare legs around me doesn't make it obvious what we're doing." She groaned into my coat and her pussy twitched, a sudden clench that made her draw a sharp breath and tighten her grip on me. I flexed in her even though I'd mostly gone soft, but it was enough to make her gasp and squeeze down on my cock, and she whimpered when that pushed me out of her. She swore against my shoulder, trembling. "Solved that problem, I see." "That was not what I wanted to happen, mister. Fucking hell is my pussy mad at me right now. It hurts so bad being so close and not being able to." She lifted her head and looked around. "Where is... She's talking with them. Oh my god..." I didn't need to look at her to know how red she'd just gone, her face hot against my neck as she hid again. I couldn't help but laugh, gripping her hair and pulling her back so I could kiss her, a hard, passionate one that got me hard again, and she rocked her pussy against me when she felt me against her ass. The sound of Kim tromping back to us brought us out of it and we turned to her. She was grinning and brandishing two icicles at us, one about a half inch thick and four or five long and the other thinner but longer. "They want to watch the rest of our sexy fun times," she said once she reached us, and Sara took the longer icicle without hesitation. "That may be a problem," I said, holding Sara to keep her from pulling away. "There's a pretty good chance Sara will cum if we put on a show for them." "Oh." Kim deflated, slumping and hanging her head in mock dejection for a few seconds. "How about Sara just cleans you up and sticks the icicle in her pussy so they can see? I told them we were just finishing." She looked at Sara. "Sis?" "I think I can handle that," she said after a few seconds, glancing over my shoulder and then looking away as quickly, her blush returning. "I don't know. I'll try." I nudged her face to mine and kissed her, stepping away and to the side, gathering her skirt up and tucking it under its waistband so it wouldn't fall and cover her pussy. She lifted her feet up and set them to either side of her hips, spreading her legs to provide the best view she could, and we both turned our attention to our audience at the same time. Sara smiled for the couple and held up the icicle, mouthed it once, and then pressed it slowly into her pussy, gasping at the invasion of cold and swearing. I stepped up onto the bench and she immediately turned to me, closing her mouth on my cock and sucking it back to life, purring as it grew and pressed down her throat. She sucked for a few seconds, working her tongue and throat on me, before pulling back and hauling in a breath and then sinking back down, starting to tremble. She jumped when Kim slapped her pussy, a surprised cry managing to escape around my cock, and Kim kept slapping until she'd finished with my cock a minute later, sucking hard to draw out the last of my cum. Sara gasped and bit the front of my coat, breathing heavily, and I stroked her hair, tossing a wave and a smile to our audience. The man grinned and shot me a thumbs up, the woman waving and smiling back, and then she leaned over and said something. They kissed hard and she chewed her lip when they pulled apart, smiling and watching us as she started the car. She waved again before pulling away. "I can't take anymore," Sara said, swallowing hard and looking up at us. "Please. I'm going to cum if we don't stop." Kim squee'd and bounced, clapping her hands, then took hold of Sara's face and kissed her, grinning. "That was so much fun watching you do that! We should totally do it again sometime!" "Not until the party," I said, pulling my pants up, fabric rough against my cold skin making me wince. "I think we've pushed her as far as she can handle today." Sara nodded and pulled her skirt back into place, sliding off the table to her feet and wiping snow off her ass. "I know I said I don't want pass days," she said, turning to me and then Kim, "for how many edges you want me to do each day, but I need one today. Is it ok if this counts for all ten? That was the hardest edge I've ever had to push through, and I don't think I'd be able to stop tonight if I have to do more." "Totally counts!" Kim grabbed her and gave her a kiss, hopping against her. "You were super awesome amazing beautiful, sis. I like watching you melt, not lose it." "Seconded from me," I said, putting an arm around her waist and leaning her into me, starting her walking with me back to the car. "And I don't know about you, but I'd like to get back to being warm now." "You mean I'm not hot enough for you?" Sara asked, giving me a pouty look, and I laughed and kissed her. "You're always hot enough for me, love, but that doesn't help my ass not be frozen." She laughed and slapped my chest. "Don't even start. I'm half frozen from the waist down, my pussy's numb from the snow, and the icicle is still melting." "Hot chocolate is what we need!" Kim said, hopping to a stop in front of my car and spinning to face us, staring earnestly. "Yes it is!" "That, my dear sister, is a marvelous idea." Chapter 12 It was a two day school week before Christmas vacation kicked off, which meant most teachers went the route of, "I know we won't get anything done, so let's just hang out." If we weren't marked so heavily for showing up during those two days, I expect most people wouldn't. I dragged Kim out with me on Monday, explaining the idea I'd had during our snow day and braving the last minute shopping chaos to get a card for Sara so we'd have something to hide it in. Tuesday was gift exchange for our group, and then it was each of us off to do our own family Christmas stuff. For me, that meant a road trip to my grandparents, though I was able to talk them into letting me leave Christmas afternoon so I could make it to Sara's and Kim's. With almost no one else on the road, the drive back was well under two hours. I parked behind Jason's car, the small puddles of snow drifted against the tires telling me it had been there since at least the day before. "Mikey!" was the first thing I heard when I walked in, followed by a blur of black topped with vibrant blue hair, and I stumbled back a few steps, laughing. "What in the name of Cthulhu did you do to your hair?" I said, pushing Jen back enough I could get a look at her. "I haven't seen you in anything but black for four or five years." "Is it not obvious, wench? I bleached the black out on Wednesday, and Sara helped me dye it this splendiferous blue yesterday. I fucking love it." "Needed a change?" "Yeah, and what better way than changing your look? But enough about me. Your girly girl is waiting for you." "I'm right here, woman," Sara said, making Jen jump. "Only thing I'm waiting for is you to get off him so I can give him a proper greeting." "Fiiiiine, if you insist." She hugged me tight and kissed my cheeks, giving me a level look. "I'm glad you came. As in showed up. Not the sexy kind of... feh. You know what I mean. Whatever. I'm shutting up now and slinking back into the living room." I chuckled and hugged her again before letting her go, and Sara took her place in my arms, getting a much more familiar kiss and general handling. She purred and pressed her forehead to mine, giving me a half-lidded look and licking her lips. "Do we have any fun planned for later?" she asked, barely above a whisper. "You haven't opened your card yet, have you?" "Not yet. I wanted to wait until you were here." "Have you gotten any edges done today?" She shook her head and said, "I haven't since last night. I kind of got a little carried away. I was at it for an hour, watching the video of us at Cindy's. You have no idea how hard it was to stop myself after riding the edge for that long. I was almost crying, and my pussy still aches." "But you did stop, and that's even more impressive." I kissed her again and bit her lip. "I think you need to open your card, though. Kim and I both agreed it's what you need right now to keep you sane." "Oh? You're letting me cum tonight? Please? I'll beg if I have to." "Not until the party. That hasn't changed." She let out a frustrated moan and turned, leaning against me and putting an arm around me as she walked me into the living room. Jason was sitting with Jen on the couch, and I heard Kim with her parents in the kitchen. "Good to see you, man," Jason said, waving and nodding. "Now we have all the awesome people here." "Sister dearest," Sara called, shoving me onto the couch before I could reply to Jason and then straddling me. She ground her pussy against me before putting on an innocent look and rolling off to wedge between me and the arm of the couch, draping on me. "Whatcha want, sis?" Kim called back. "Kinda really super busy not burning food." "Mike's here and he says you two have something for me." "We do! Totally do not open it until I have a minute! Which will be in, like, a minute, so wait a minute, ok?" "That works out," Jason said, looking across Jen at Sara and me. "We're clear to talk party?" "Depends on how specific you want to get," I said, looking down at Sara and taking hold of her hand to keep her from being obviously naughty. "We're not talking attractions, obviously." "Nah, that's cool. Time and place is what I want, and do we bring anything?" "New Year's eve, at Cindy's, and bring yourselves." He gave a short laugh and pointed a finger at me. "Where's this woman of yours live is what I'm after, man. We need to be able to get there." "I don't remember off the top of my head. I'll get that to you later." "Cool beans and shit. I hear tale of further festivities after the witching hour strikes and we bury the old year. This is true?" Sara hummed and smiled against my chest, squeezing my hand. "Very much so," she said. "This next week is going to be so long for me. These two have been driving me crazy for almost two months now and I'm so close to exploding just getting looked at. It's insane." "You only have a week to go, love. You'll be able to make it through alive. If you don't, we'll have Jen bring you back as a zombie or something." Jen threw her head back and cackled, slapping my leg. "When did you get a thing for necrophilia, Mikey?" "Round about the time you got your goth all over me, I think." She grinned and cackled some more, clapping her hands once. "Oh, I love your smack talk, Mikey. Sar, too. You always have a comeback, and it's so much fun." "Just be sure to keep it to a dull inferno when you're dealing with Cindy. I'd really like for things to go smoothly after all the stress the last few months." She nodded and zipped her lips. "I'll do my best to not let my mouth run too far ahead of my brain matter. I promise nothing, though, especially if I have any drinks or get..." She nodded at Sara. "You know what I mean." Sara laughed and pulled her hand out of mine to poke Jen, lifting her head to look at her. "There is no way you'd be able to handle this state I've been in, woman. You're not made for it like I am." Jen laughed and stole a glance toward the kitchen to make sure there wasn't an audience, then gave both Sara's breasts a hard squeeze. "You're probably right, wench. Watching is more fun." "We should really keep things as minimal as possible right now," I said, reclaiming Sara's hand before it could reach my crotch and giving her a look. She pouted and I kissed her, then turned to the kitchen. "Kim! What's taking you so long?" "Delicious yummy food! Almost done, Mr. Man! Just a minute!" "You said that five minutes ago." "I totally did not! It's only been, like, thirty seconds." "Thirty seconds by your clock, maybe. Get out here. We're both waiting and Sara's about to explode with impatience." I heard their dad laugh at that, followed by, "Sara is second only to their mom for most patient woman in the world, Mike. I don't think she has an impatient bone in her body." "She does when Mikey is wanting to get off," Jen said, too quietly for anyone in the kitchen to hear, and we all burst out laughing. "Noooo!" Kim cried, emerging from the kitchen and carrying a towel, drying her hands. "I missed a joke! Tell me it!" She dragged Sara's leg off my lap and plopped down on me, giving me an earnest look. "Sara does have an impatient bone in her when Mikey's wanting to get off," Jen said, and Kim grinned. "True fact of truthiness!" She hopped off my lap and scuttled over to the tree, grabbing the card and another package that was obviously a book, then handed the card to Sara and the package to me. "Sara first!" "Only a card for me? This had better be good." She eyed us both, working a finger under the envelope flap to tear it open and pull the card out. Three pieces of paper slid into what little there was of her lap, and she gave the card a cursory scan before picking them up, knowing they were the important part of the gift. She quirked an eyebrow at the first two and looked up at us. "You're giving me I-owe-you's?" "Because you'll want stuff, too, see?" Kim said, nodding, then dropped her voice a bit. "You're doing the teasing and stuff because we like you to, but sometimes you want us to do stuff, right? So we're giving you those." She considered the slips, humming quietly, then tucked them back in the envelope with the card. The third slip gave her pause. "I was so not expecting that," she said after a minute, looking between us and lowering her voice. "You both agreed to put me on no-touch until the party?" "Yes, yes we did," I said over Jen's laugh, and I gave her a look. She nodded and covered her mouth to keep her amusement in. "We think you've hit your limit, at least right now, so we both agreed to let you recuperate before the party." She was quiet while she thought, eventually nodding. "I think you're right. I have been a lot worse than normal with my self-control." She poked at Jen. "Especially with what I say around you. Oh my god." She turned her attention back to Kim and me, giving us each a kiss. "Thank you. You're both so good to me, and I love you both, more than I can ever say." "We love you too, sis," Kim said, then bounced and pointed at my package. "Now it's Mr. Man's turn! Open it! I feel like it's kinda lame, but we both think you'll love it anyway." "Is it the kama sutra?" I asked, laughing and tearing into the wrapping, then laughed harder. "Lord of the Rings art! That's even better. I'm going to be lost in this for a few hours, I think. You two are awesome." "We totally are! And!" She hopped a quarter turn and pointed at Jen and Jason. "We got you shinies, too! It was harder, though, 'cause we don't really know what you like." She climbed under the tree and dug in the back corner, hauling out two packages, a small one for Jen and a slightly smaller one for Jason. She beamed when she handed them over, clasping her hands in front of her. "You know you didn't have to, woman," Jason said, pointing between his gift and Jen's. "Do you see this? Yours is bigger than mine. That just ain't right." "It's not the size that matters, wench," Jen said, tearing the box out of the wrapping and opening it. She laughed and leaned over to kiss Sara. "Cthulhu's balls, you are amazing beyond words." She looked at Kim. "You too. This is fucking amazing and I love it." "Let's see, woman," I said, nudging her. "I'm getting there, wench. I must savor this moment." She sighed, clasping her hands together against her chest and tilting her head to the side, giving whatever was in her box an adoring look and a wistful smile. "Ok, enough with the sap." She opened her hands and wiggled her fingers, giggling maniacally and pulling out a black leather choker, a silver vampire skull affixed to the front. "Oh, how I love it. And it fits!" She laughed and looked at Sara. "How in all the hells did you get my neck measurement?" "Totally a lucky guess," Kim said, grinning and barely refraining from clapping. She pointed at Jason. "Open sesame! It's your turn!" He held up his gift and shook it next to his ear. "By the sound of it, cotton balls," he said, digging a nail under a fold in the wrapping paper and shucking it off. "A cruel fate for me if that's true." He flipped the lid open and raised his eyebrows. "If you were planning to propose to me, shouldn't we have talked about it first?" He laughed and spun the box around so Jen and I could see the armor ring and black skull stud earrings. "You'd think they'd known me for years," he said, pulling the ring from its mooring and sliding it onto his fingers until he found the one it fit, which happened to be his left ring finger. "And the irony thickens to spectacular amounts. A mere thank you feels inadequate." "Jen helped a little with brainstorming what to get you," Sara said, then kicked a foot at Kim. "Kim did most of the picking, though, so these are a lot more from her than from me, even though they're joint gifts." "But I still think they're kind of creepy," Kim said, peering at Jen and Jason. "It's what you like, though, and I think I can be ok with that. Friends! We are them!" She gave an exaggerated nod and pointed at them both, rocking back and forth. "Welcome home and stuff!" "Now I really don't know what to say," Jason said, then looked at Jen. "Was this your idea, woman?" She shook her head and said, "It's all Kim." She held her arms out to Kim. "Come here. I need to hug you. I'll try not to cry my mascara all over you. You've made the holiday not suck." Kim squee'd and bent down, squawking in surprise when Jen grabbed her and hauled her onto her lap to hug tight. She got her discomfiture under control fairly quickly, though, and returned the hug until Jen let her go, then did the same with Jason. "What about you, woman?" Jason said to Sara, eyeing her. "What do you have to say for yourself in this plot?" "How do you feel about being adopted?" A laugh was all Jason was able to manage, and Jen dragged Sara from my lap onto hers to give her the same hug she'd given Kim. *** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * It's okay to *READ* stories about unprotected sex with others outside a monogamous relationship. But it isn't okay to *HAVE* unprotected sex with people other than a trusted partner. 4-million people around the world contract HIV every year. You only have one body per lifetime, so take good care of it! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Kristen's collection - Directory 82