Chapter 42

One of the best things about money is the ability to pay for other people's inconvenience. Prior to the Brotherhood, I had to take classes when the martial arts instructor gave classes; a padded bank account meant I took classes when I had time, even if it was only he and I on the mat.

The master and I faced each other with bokken in our hands. The emptiness had swallowed me the moment I entered the school. I did not have a single clean kill in nine matches, but the master had died with me each time. His eyes were grave as he stared into my empty ones.

I adjusted my feet offering an opening that he leapt into.

Ten simultaneous kills.

We bowed to each other and raised the wooden swords to our preferred guards. He stood still even after I offered him another trap. I tested his defense only to be rebuffed by his refusal to engage. We danced around each other for five minutes while he declined each offer to die together. Finally, I bowed to his greater skill; I could not sacrifice myself if he would not strike. He motioned for me to kneel and followed suit. We put the bokken in front of our knees. I closed my eyes and let the normal rhythm of breathing return. The master was studying me when I opened them again.

"Every student teaches an instructor that is willing to learn," he said quietly. "I have students with years more experience than you, but none could have done what you did today. What is it that you have to teach me?"

I tilted my head and thought about his words; thoughts of Rachel, Heather and Melisa pounded at the walls of emptiness that surrounded me. Jason's voice answered his question; I translated.

"A samurai poem reads," I said.

"Death poems
are mere delusion-
death is death."

"I've heard it," he said quietly. "I've thought about its meaning."

"You will not die with a sword in your hands," I told him.

We sat quietly with my words between us. Finally, he stood up and invited me to another set of matches. I did not put wood to his body for the rest of my lesson while he killed me five times. He bowed respectfully before walking into his office. It was years before I saw anyone get even a simultaneous kill in a match against him.

The hardest part was not looking at Rachel when I felt her nearby. Before she said no, my eyes were there to greet her when she turned towards me. My smile would answer her smile instantly. I had to control the urge to turn towards her when I felt her walk by my table in the dining hall to sit with her sisters. Her eyes touched me occasionally but there was no longer a reason for me to look up from my book.

"You can look at her, David," Alyssa said sitting down next to me.

My head went up in time for me to watch Sandra and Emily sit down at the my table.

"Excuse me," I said.

"Rachel," Alyssa pointing over her shoulder at Rachel's retreating back. "You can still look at her; there's no law against that."

"I wouldn't want her to feel weird about what did not happen between us," I told her.

"She should definitely feel stupid though," Sandra said forcefully.

I turned to stare at her.

"Sorry," she said with a winsome smile before ducking her eyes away from mine.

"So your plan is not to look at her from now on?" Emily asked with a wide smile. "That's not going to get her back, you know."

"I'm going to smile, say hello, and talk to Rachel when it's appropriate, Emily," I answered. "I do not try to get people back; they leave for good reasons."

"When is it going to be appropriate?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"When she smiles, says hello, and talks to me," I said opening my book again.

They were quiet for a few seconds before Alyssa spoke up again.

"You're done with all your food!" she complained.

I pushed my tray out of the way, and without looking pulled hers in front of me.

"Cool!" she exclaimed.

I leaned back for a stretch only to have Emily plop into my lap. Emily was something of a lap scavenger who refused to sit in a chair if there was someone around for her to sit on. She had a marked preference for my lap.

"Pass my tray over!" Emily commanded Alyssa.

"Get it yourself," Alyssa snorted.

"I'll have to eat David's food," Emily warned.

"You would not dare!" Alyssa replied in a low voice sitting up ramrod straight.

Emily made a threatening motion with her fork at the food in front of me. Alyssa picked up the tray on the other side of her and passed it to Emily, who rearranged the trays so they were both in front me.

I slipped a hand under Emily's shirt and into her sweatpants. The girl must have really hated panties because she rarely wore them in my limited experience with her. My fingers pressed against her clit and I massaged it gently while focusing on the words on the page.

"Is that book any good?" Alyssa asked after a few bites.

I closed it with a sigh; there was no point if the girls wanted my attention.

"No," I told her. "It was something to do, rather than stare at Rachel."

"There's nothing wrong with looking at her, David," Sandra informed me clinically.

"Would you want a man you just said no to staring at you while you ate?" I asked her patiently.

"From what I hear, she didn't ACTUALLY say no," Sandra said defensively. "Plus even if she did say no, she definitely didn't mean it."

I reached out to capture a lock of her dark hair. Sandra drew closer as I pulled on it. I used her hair to pull her head aside exposing her neck to my lips. My teeth nibbled a line from her shoulder to the hollow behind her earlobe.

"Would you say no if you did not mean it?" I whispered to her.

"Yes!"

I reared my head back to look at her.

"You would?" I asked surprised.

"No?!?" she said then stuck out her hand to stop me from replying. "Do the neck thing again!"

I smiled and leaned down; instead of using my teeth, I kissed the line. She shivered when I looked into her eyes.

"So you would say no if you did not mean it?" I asked seriously.

"Yes!" she said in a committed voice.

"What?!?"

"Oh, wrong question!" she said with a blush and a shake of her upper body. "Sorry, I was just making sure you understood my answer is 'FUCK, YES!!!'"

"We already knew that," Emily said crassly.

I pushed two fingers into her and pulsed them against the top of her pussy. Emily gritted her teeth and grabbed my wrist tightly.

"Be nice!" I told her holding my fingers still.

"I promise to be very, very nice if you do the finger thing one more time," she gasped.

I rubbed in a small circle instead.

"FUCK, YES!!!" she grunted.

Emily turned a pretty shade of pink when she came.

"My hero!" Sandra said jokingly and unceremoniously shoved Emily off me.

She took over possession of my lap and lifted her jean skirt a few inches wiggling her eyebrows at me suggestively. Sandra squeezed my fingers as they entered her.

"Personally, I think the word no should never come out of my mouth around you," she told me.

"That's not a bad way to think, Sandra," Doris Alex said sitting down.

"Yeah, awesome philosophy!" Michael agreed with a very wide smile as he sat next to Doris Alex. "Let's put it to the test though. How about you and me meet in your room and fuck like we're the only two rabbits left on the planet so it is our duty to repopulate?"

Before Sandra could reply, Michael held up a hand.

"David is still here," Michael pointed out theatrically. "Tell me that you are not going to live up to the words you just said to him thirty seconds ago."

I curled my fingers inside of Sandra. She gasped and latched on to the table while the convulsions of an orgasm overcame her; it took a minute for her breathing to recover. She stared at Michael for another minute after that, before turning towards Doris Alex and Alyssa.

"Is he better than my plastic?" she asked the two girls.

"He's got a very talented tongue," Alyssa replied. "Unless your dildo can lick you, Michael is definitely a couple of steps above plastic. He's also got a clue on how to use his dick."

"Bitch!" Michael exclaimed.

"Michael's got his uses," Doris Alex espoused lazily. "David is definitely the chocolate cake... Michael is like that raspberry stuff that they use to decorate the plate."

"Double Bitch!" Michael said dramatically putting his hands on his chest as if they had cast spears into it.

"Okay," Sandra said to Michael. "I don't think I'm ready for chocolate cake yet, so you'll have to do. God, I need dick!"

"My turn," Alyssa announced pushing Sandra off my lap.

After giving Alyssa what she wanted, my mind wandered as their conversation turned towards the winter formal that Michael's fraternity was hosting.

"Do you think she was serious?" Michael asked as the non-Siblings walked away.

"Who?" I asked paying attention again.

"Sandra," Michael said. "Was she serious about hooking up in her room?"

"Of course, she was," Doris Alex told Michael patiently.

Sometimes, Doris Alex treated Michael like he was a fourteen-year-old boy too dumb not to plug his hard-on into a wall socket.

"You know, David," Michael said magnanimously. "You are my absolutely favorite Brother on the entire planet."

"This I have to hear," I told him.

"Yes, Michael," Doris Alex whispered. "Please explain."

"Well, it's like this," Michael said leaning back. "I've been screwing Alyssa most of the semester; most of my frat brothers think we're dating now."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Then there's Doris Alex, Janet, Malia, Heather, Susan, and Nancy," Michael said with a bright smile. "Tonight, it's Sandra and I'm sure Emily is not far behind. You do all the work and I do all the fucking. Alyssa, Emily, and Sandra are hot as shit and you spun their wheels in the middle of the dining hall. You warm them up and I knock them down; it's the perfect partnership in my opinion."

"Hmm," Doris Alex said staring lazily at Michael.

"I can't touch Melisa, but it's not like she wants anything to do with any guy other than you so no biggie," Michael continued not heeding the cold look in Doris Alex's eyes. "The pussy's so good, I'm even willing to forgive you this whole Rachel fuck up. Man, getting into her pants would have been fierce!"

"Michael!" Doris Alex hissed.

"What?" Michael asked innocently without taking his eyes off me.

I walked into the house that night to find all the Siblings in the living room. They surrounded an exhausted-looking Heather on the couch. She wore a white bathrobe and was fresh out of the shower. I smiled at her, which she returned with a weak one playing her concerned audience for all they were worth. There was dark bruising on the left side of her neck that I wanted to investigate. I moved to stand behind the couch, reached down, and untied her robe. Heather stretched out so that when I opened the robe her body was fully on display.

Malia gasped at the bruising on Heather's body. I gestured for Heather to turn over. She removed the robe and got on her stomach. I outlined a bite mark on her left ass cheek with a finger.

"Turn around," I told her.

Heather got on her back and looked up at me. She moved to her knees and continued staring into my eyes.

Sibling Rank makes sense only to Siblings, but a Brother needs to understand how to affect it to reward a Sibling publicly. It does not take much: a finger tracing a cheekbone and lips, a gentle kiss, and looking at every other Sibling in the room.

Heather's eyes shone sun-bright when I turned back to her.

"Give her a bath," I told the rest of the room. "A long, hot one."

"She just took a shower!" Malia protested.

I turned towards her.

"I did not make a request," I said quietly. "I gave instruction."

"Malia!" Doris Alex interrupted when Malia opened her mouth to protest again.

Doris Alex looked at me nervously as my knuckles rapped the back of the couch while I stared at Malia.

"I'm all for a bath," Heather said getting off the couch and grabbing her robe.

She was at the door before she noticed no one was following.

"Come! Come!" she said clapping her hands. "David said I get a bath; a long, hot bath. An orgasm or two isn't out of the question, right Brother?"

I smiled at her.

"I couldn't imagine bathing a woman without a couple of relaxing orgasms to ensure that the heat sinks in," I said sitting down on the couch.

Heather reveled in lording it over other Siblings so it was almost two hours before everyone trooped back into the living room. They took seats around me waiting expectantly. Rachel had served as a limit to Sibling behavior; they did not hide the fact that I was at the center of their lives from her, but the dynamics of the house began to change the second she left. The nervousness in some of the eyes around me said that Rachel still cast a shadow, but their insecurity was completely about my reaction to Rachel leaving now.

"David needs another sacrificial virgin tonight," Heather said in a strong voice.

I turned to look at her. Rank had been practiced with a certain amount of subtlety while Rachel resided in the house, but the look of aggression in Heather's eyes after she spoke made clear that Rank could be wielded like a sledgehammer.

"So you were the sacrificial virgin last night," Michael snorted sarcastically. "More like sacrificial slut!"

"I would rest that tongue of yours, Michael," Heather said crisply turning towards him. "You're going to be using it a lot tonight. I heard about your little tryst with Sandra, and I'm tagging along. David pounded the hell out of my body and the combination of Sandra's hands and your tongue sounds divine. You'll get all of Sandra's sweet little pussy that you can handle, just remember to close the door behind you when she and I fall asleep."

There are sledgehammers, and then there is Heather with a sledgehammer. Michael nodded as if he expected no less from the Ranking Sibling. I almost smiled wondering what Janet with Rank and no limits on her behavior would be like.

"Sandra looks like she has a pretty talented mouth," he told Heather. "While I'm busy downstairs, it would be a good idea to have her work on your nipples. They're looking a little mangled. Cute, but mangled!"

He dodged Heather's thrown couch cushion.

"Don't forget my orgasm wake-up call, and breakfast in bed!" Heather said sticking her tongue out Michael.

"I'll do it," Malia announced.

I closed my eyes and hoped she meant something else. I opened them and turned towards her to find her eyes looking at me.

"I'll do everything Heather did last night with you," she said in a strong voice.

Her eyes flickered with fear; so many different reasons to be a Sibling and Malia's had nothing to do with why Heather slapped me. I opened my mouth to say no when a flash of red crossed in front of me.

Every Sibling jumped at the sound of Doris Alex's open hand striking Malia's face with enough force to drop her. Malia was stunned for a second, but when she turned Doris Alex was standing over her like an Amazon. Malia's eyes filled with fear; much more fear than when she had volunteered to be with me.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Doris Alex screamed at the top of lungs.

Her hands were tightly fisted and she raised them as if nothing would make her happier than for Malia to stand up so she could beat her back down.

"How fucking dare you offer a Brother what you would not freely give!" Doris Alex whispered with rage filling every cell of her body. "And for you to do it to THIS Brother."

The other Siblings were terrified; Susan and Nancy edged behind Stephanie, Melisa stood up slowly and moved so she was standing to my left with her hand on my shoulder, Janet nearly ran to the corner farthest away from Doris Alex, Michael scrambled over and behind his seat only to crash into Heather. The two fought for position trying to place the seat and an extra Sibling body between Doris Alex and them until the redheaded Valkyrie turned her eyes on them. They froze under her glare and tried to disappear by standing still.

Doris Alex turned baleful eyes on every Sibling in the room before looking down at Malia again; for a second, even I was convinced she was going to pound Malia to a pulp.

"Arrggh!" Doris Alex grunted loudly spinning in place to turn her back to Malia.

She was very close to losing control so I stood up and handed her a decorative ashtray figuring maybe something to throw would help calm her. Doris Alex snatched it out of my hand, turned around, and slammed it down next to Malia's head. Malia screamed in fear as broken glass sprayed her face.

"Doris Alex," I said forcefully.