Chapter 15

In Danielle’s Kitchen, Jordan got two cans of soda from the refrigerator and handed me one. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I stopped drinking. I looked at Jordan. “I think the last meal I had was lunch yesterday.”

She smiled. “And I promised to get you something to eat.”

I shrugged. “It’s not all your fault. I haven’t said anything else about it.”

Danielle came in then. “You’re welcome to anything in the fridge.”

I looked from her to Jordan. I didn’t want to stay long enough to eat. I was too scared of what might happen. I shook my head. “It’s cool. I’ll get something when we leave.”

Danielle rolled her eyes and looked at Jordan. “Why do men have to make such a big deal out of everything?” Then she moved past Jordan and pulled open the fridge. After rummaging for a second, she pulled out a sealed bowl and handed it to me. “It’s a salad I didn’t finish yesterday.”

I accepted it and looked inside. The bowl was big enough to hold food for four, but it was less than half full of lettuce, bits of carrot, sliced radishes, and other veggies. My mouth watered instantly.

“Would you like some salad dressing?” Danielle asked.

I shook my head. “Just a fork, please.”

Jordan pulled one out of a drawer and I started eating.

With my mouth full I couldn’t ask questions, but Jordan could. She looked at Danielle. “How long has this been going on?”

Danielle had been watching me eat. She looked up at Jordan’s question. After hesitating, she lowered her eyes and said, “He doesn’t do it often.”

Jordan and I shared a look. “Not often?” Jordan said, outraged. “Once is too often.”

Danielle took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. She wasn’t arguing, but she wasn’t agreeing either.

“You already know what you need to do Danielle,” Jordan continued. “And you know I’ll help you. If you need a place to stay, or just don’t want to be alone when you go to the police.”

Danielle looked up again. “Police?”

Jordan nodded. “Yes, the police.” She motioned about Danielle’s face. “This is evidence of assault, plain and simple.”

Danielle ran a hand along her jaw. It hurt me just watching her. “I don’t want to involve the police.”

Jordan shook her head. “You cannot be considering staying after this.”

Danielle was watching me again. “I’m not staying,” she said softly, almost under her breath. The house was quiet enough that we heard her anyway. She looked at Jordan again. “But my car is in his name. All he’d have to do is report it stolen and sooner or later the police would arrest me.”

Jordan shrugged. “That’s easy. Leave the car. Go get dressed, pack some clothes and come stay at my place for a while.”

I dropped the fork into the empty bowl, and looked up to meet Danielle’s eyes. There was pain in her eyes, and I wanted to help her ease it any way I could. For a moment I stood there studying her face, and then I said, “Do what Jordan suggested. Go get dressed and pack a bag. We’ll wait for you.”

Danielle moved around the island and closer to me. Her eyes took in my face and her hands reached for me.

Jordan didn’t say anything, she only watched.

I thought I knew what was happening, if Jordan was right. In no more than the ten minutes Danielle had been in my presence, my power’s hunger had reached out to her. I didn’t run though. I didn’t stop her when she pulled at my shirt, lifting it so she could run her hands under it and along my skin. I did my best to not moan when her fingers found my nipples.

Danielle closed her eyes and took a deep breath, like she smelled something tasty. I worried for a moment if, even after our shower this morning, I still had some of Jordan’s scent on me. If that was the case, Danielle didn’t care what it was. She took another deep breath, pressing her face closer to my chest.

I was beginning to get a rise. For a moment, I suspected that the desire my power invoked in Danielle was reflecting back on me too, but Jordan said that wasn’t the case. So, if my power wasn’t affecting me, then was Jordan right? Was I attracted to Danielle? She was a beautiful woman, but there had to be more to it than that, didn’t there?

I glanced at Jordan. She was watching Danielle, but looked up to meet my eyes. Even through her bra, her nipples were obvious. Did I really have power, some strange thing that Jordan had been trying to convince me that I had? Or did she like seeing other women throwing themselves at me? I didn’t know. I simply did not know. And now wasn’t the right time to ask.

Danielle moved up closer to me, pressing her body to mine, especially to my groin. The move brought my attention back to her. She wrapped her arms around me under my shirt and pressed her face into my chest, inhaling again.

The feel of her body so close made me fully hard. Part of me wanted to push her away, to warn her of what she was getting into and why, but another part wanted to help her out of her situation, and the rest of me wanted what she was suggesting.

I stood there with my hands at my sides, doing everything I could to keep from giving in to that last part. Helping Danielle didn’t require sex, and being passive on my part might give her the idea that I wasn’t interested. The problem was though, I was. I was very interested. So many years of being alone had programmed me with the idea that I wasn’t desirable. After being beaten for having thoughts in my head, I didn’t want to end up in a similar situation. Yet, Jordan had not only talked to me, but jumped me when she had the chance. She wasn’t married, her Daddy wasn’t here to protect her from me, and, even though she had told me a little about the two guys she went to for sex before, she didn’t seem the least bit worried that they’d show up. Danielle, on the other hand, was married, and she had the proof on her face of what he might resort to if he caught us.

Ignoring Danielle wasn’t doing any good. One of her hands continued to stroke the skin on my back, but the other slid down and over my pants. She squeezed my butt and pulled me against her. She writhed against me.

A small moan escaped me, and that part of my mind, and body, that wanted to give in to her gained more ground. My emotions were like a pack of dogs raging in my head, each fighting for dominance. I wanted to help her. I wanted to warn her. I wanted to have her.

That last thought made me tense up. I couldn’t have Danielle. She wasn’t an object to possess. Even as agreeable to sex as she seemed to be, that didn’t make her mine. With that realization, the side of me wanting to help her gained some ground over the others.

I looked at Jordan again. She was watching us. Her expression was similar to yesterday - hungry, needy, but not as strong. She looked at me again, raised a hand to point up, and mouthed the word, “Bedroom.”

My heart rate picked up and I looked back down at Danielle. She was grinding against me so hard, I wondered if she was trying to wear out a hole in my pants. Her focused movements told me she knew my state.

Danielle looked up and met my eyes. Her face was so close to mine, I didn’t even notice the bruises. She had the same look in her eyes as Jordan’s, only stronger, and that worried me. I knew I wasn’t that attractive. I wasn’t so desirable that women threw themselves at me. Was Jordan right? Did I have some kind of power? Was it true?

I started to reach up to caress Danielle’s face, but stopped myself. I didn’t want to touch her bruises and remind her of the pain she’d suffered. I wanted to help her, not hurt her further.

Danielle noticed my hand and moved over to press her face to it anyway. If she was in any pain, she didn’t let on about it. After rubbing her cheek in my palm, she turned her face to it, sniffed me and then opened her mouth and ran her tongue along it.

The hand she had on my butt rose up and held the back of my hand, pushing my thumb down to point at her mouth. She looked up into my eyes, watching mine as her lips softly kissed the tip of my thumb. Her tongue darted out and licked it with a feather-like brush. With only the slightest push on the back of my hand, she sucked my thumb into her mouth.

I watched her actions peripherally, but her eyes held mine, like she had a power all her own.

She continued to suck on my thumb, pulling it in as far as my hand would allow. I felt her other hand leave my back and she shifted her shoulders and hips to pull her robe open. Either she forgot that Jordan was still in the kitchen with us, or she simply didn’t care.

I had suspected she was fresh out of the shower when we arrived, but I hadn’t honestly thought about what that meant at the time. Danielle pulled my hand to her bare hip. Her skin was almost hot, but it felt soft and smooth. At her direction, my hand slowly slid up her side and onto her breast. She wasn’t as big as Jordan but she filled my hand. I couldn’t stop myself from looking down, but I recovered quickly, looking back into her eyes with what I was sure was surprise.

Pulling my thumb from her mouth, she pressed that hand to her other breast and closed her eyes.

I gently squeezed her. I couldn’t stop myself. She felt too good to simply hold and her insistence demanded I do more than stand there.

She moaned, pressing my hands harder into her breasts. I honestly couldn’t believe that I was touching another woman in as many days. It was almost surreal. Her hands dropped down between us to my waistband. I could tell she was trying to open my pants, but I wasn’t sure about doing anything more right there in the kitchen.

With a lot of reluctance, I let go of Danielle’s breasts and reached down to grab her wrists.

She looked up at me, and one word escaped her: “Please.”

I glanced toward Jordan but kept my focus on Danielle. “I will let you do whatever you want with me...” She struggled against my grip. I was firm but did my best not to hurt her and continued talking. “ ... After we leave.”

She stopped struggling then and stared at me.

I nodded. “Let’s get you dressed and some clothes in a bag, and you and I can go somewhere else so Roger won’t disturb us.”

For a moment, she stood there looking into my eyes. I wondered if she was going to try for my shorts again, but then she gently pulled her hands out of my grasp and stepped back. The hungry look in her eyes faded a little and she turned to walk away from me.

I thought at first she had somehow snapped out of the trance and might have even been upset, but she stopped only two steps away, turned back around slowly, and looked at me. “Anything I want?” she asked.

The tone in her voice made me worry for a second, but I nodded. “Anything you want.”

She threw Jordan a glance and Jordan only watched her. Danielle looked at me again. “I hope you don’t have any plans for today then.” With that, she turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Jordan walked around the island and stood in front of me. For a moment, she looked me over, but I could tell her eyes lingered on my crotch. I turned and leaned over the counter to hide myself.

Jordan looked up with a smile. “You want her.”

I swallowed to wet my throat and then sighed. I didn’t have an honest answer for her statement.

Jordan stepped closer. The heat of her body sent shivers through me.

I wanted to touch her. I knew I was allowed to but I didn’t want to start something with Jordan and get caught by Danielle after making my promise to her.

Jordan leaned over, her breasts pressing into my arm, and whispered in my ear, “I can take the edge off if you’d like.”