Chapter 22 - Lily

When I woke up, the sky outside the big picture window over the bed was drenched in shades of pink and orange and a warm hand was sliding up my hip. I blinked, fuzzy headed. My throat was dry and the stretch of bed between me and Adrian’s sleeping form was vacant, cold. “Where’s Sir?”

“Out.” Avett’s voice was raspier than normal in my ear. His hand moved up my side, coming to rest on the dip of my torso where his fingers dug slightly into my skin.

I glanced around, looking for a clock. “What time is it?”

“Early,” he said. Something poked my lower back.

I flinched. “What is THAT?”

“Oh my god, shut up.” His hand moved from my side to instead clamp firmly over my mouth. “Too many questions.”

I made a dull noise of complaint into his palm. He shifted and the hard staff under the covers pressed into my butt cheek. I tried to squirm away, but his arms only locked me tighter. “Mine.”

I growled at him angrily, tensing.

“Oh, relax.” He moved his palm, sticking a thumb to my lips. “Suck.”

My mouth parted to accept the thumb. I couldn’t help it. All of the kissing, coupled with Sir’s finger the other day, had poisoned me with some horrible oral fixation. I pressed my tongue into the pad of his thumb and sucked.

Avett scoffed, “Aw, wittle baby likes her binkie.”

“Nuh-uh,” I mumbled, still sucking.

“Shut up, dummy girl.” Slowly, his hips began to buck. His hard-on slid hungrily against the crevice between my cheeks. Lowering his breathy voice, he continued into my ear, “That’s what you are, aren’t you? A dumb little baby? Can’t think for herself? Don’t worry, big brother will help you.”

I bit down on his thumb. Hard. “Ouch! What the fuck?” He yelped and pulled away, shaking his smarting hand. In my moment of freedom, I rolled away, triumphant. I scooted into Adrian instead, who was warm, soft, and smelled delicious.

Avett was examining his thumb. “Oh, I’m gonna get you for that one, you little piranha. You left teeth marks.”

Adrian awoke with a confused mumble. “What time is it?” His voice was syrupy, thick with morning.

“Early,” I said.

“Hmm.” He stretched and curled into my side, clutching my arm. His eyes fluttered shut again. Something poked my hip.

“Ew, you’re hard, too,” I complained.

“Sorry.”

“What did you expect, dummy?” Avett asked, inching uncomfortably close again. “Sleeping naked, in bed with a bunch of boys? It’s only natural, darling.” He hooked his knee over my leg. “Besides, don’t pretend you don’t love the attention. I bet you’re dripping wet just thinking about it. Adrian, reach between her legs and tell me I’m right.”

Adrian picked up my tangled pile of hair and covered his face with it. “I’m asleep,” he lied.

It was a good thing, too, because I was feeling unnaturally ... sticky down there. Oddly sore, as well.

Avett suddenly ripped the covers off me. Cold air pricked my exposed skin, and I yanked my leg away from him to clamp my thighs shut tight. “See these markings?” He pointed.

I looked down at myself. I’d nearly forgotten. Two little bruises, dark red, matching the larger one beneath my collarbone. “These mean you belong to us now, too. Not just Sir.” He prodded the spot near my hip bone, the skin still tender to the touch. “And this one, in particular, means you belong to me. And I can do with you ... whatever ... I ... please.” His fingertip tapped the spot with each word. I shivered. It wasn’t exactly true, according to the rules, but still ... The sound of that made my stomach squirm.

Avett’s head turned, noticing something on the mattress. I followed his gaze. A dull red patch stained the sheets where I’d slept. “Did Sir fuck you last night?” He demanded, sounding betrayed.

“No, stupid,” I said, but my voice was small. God, how embarrassing.

“Oh that’s right,” he rolled his eyes, relieved. “It’s that time of the month, isn’t it?”

I lurched to my feet and stepped over Adrian to hop off the bed. “I’m taking a shower.”

Seemingly entirely unfazed by the unsightly spot of blood, Avett curled up with Adrian, tugging him close. He pulled the covers back up and yawned. “Whatever.”

I shut myself in the master bathroom. The tiled floor was freezing, but the water that soon cascaded from the high-pressure showerhead didn’t take long to heat up. At last, I was alone with my thoughts in a blissful box of steam and water. The weekend had been paradise, but it was impossible to have a clear head with some stunning guy or another sexually frustrating me around every corner, or all three of them melting my mind at once. I needed to process the previous night’s events, but my brain was stuck on Avett and his assholery this morning. Dummy, I kept thinking.

I’d barely rinsed the soap off my face by the time there was a knock at the door. “Uh ... Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Sir’s deep voice, muffled. “May I come in?”

“Um ... Okay.”

Sir closed the door behind him and for a moment, we just studied one another through the foggy glass. His hair was all sweaty and he was wearing his running clothes. “I hear you’ve taken to biting people?”

“He deserved it,” I said.

“I’m sure. Still, it’s always better to use our words.”

“I couldn’t. His thumb was in my mouth.”

He crossed his arms. A slight smiled indicated he wasn’t mad. “We especially don’t bite male body parts that are already in our mouths.”

I blushed. “Yes, Sir.”

“That’s better,” he said, and peeled his shirt off. “Mind if I join you?”

Like a magnet, my eyes instantly adhered to his chest. Bye, bye, hope of a clear head. “No, Sir. I don’t mind,” I squeaked.

“Lovely.” The rest of his clothes came off and joined his shirt in the hamper. Holy shit ... I’d seen bits and pieces of him before, but never this, never his nude physique in its entirety. He looked exactly like one of those headless torsos on the cover of the pulpy romances Mom used to keep under her bed and didn’t know I knew about. All at once I was twelve years old again, stomach pressed to the carpet as I tore through yellowed pages and kept my ears peeled for her car in the driveway.

He swung into the shower and I pressed myself to the wall, making room for his muscles. He flinched. “Heavens, Lily, you’re going to scald your skin off with water this hot.” He nudged the handle, looked at me, and laughed. “Cat got your tongue?”

I busied myself by drawing a squiggle on the glass. “No.”

“Don’t be shy, then.” He pulled me into him. “You’ll never get clean all the way over there.”

“I started my period,” I blurted. It wasn’t like I expected him to touch me, or anything, but ... Gosh, now I was imagining him touching me.

Tilting his head back, he let the water rush through his hair. “That’s great news.”

“It is?”

“Mm-hmm. Did you wash your hair yet, pumpkin?”

“Uh ... No, Sir.” He squeezed some shampoo into his palm and began working it into my damp hair. I shut my eyes. His big hands massaging my scalp felt amazing. “Um, why is it great news?”

“Because it means you get to take your pill today.”

Oh. I strained to remember what Dr. Hartwell had said: something that slipped my mind sometime during the intensity of the evening. Something about “effective immediately”?

Sir gently tugged my hair into the water and brought his face close. “Aren’t you excited to take your pill like a good girl?”

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. “Yes, Sir.”

“Wonderful.” His hands, slick with soap, slid down my shoulders and onto my chest. I winced when his fingers brushed my nipples. “Sore? You had to wear your clamps for such a long time, poor thing.”

“Yeah...” I agreed. “And I’m sore ... down there, too.”

“Aw.” He shot me a sympathetic smile. “Being a big girl is hard work, huh?”

“Yeah,” I pouted. My eyes drifted to his penis. It was smaller soft, but still very much larger than his or Avett’s fingers. I went back to doodling on the glass.

“Here, sweets.” Sir took my hand and squirted some shower gel into my palm.

In compliance, I worked up a lather and began to clean myself, extra gently around the little bruises and the tenderness between my legs. Sir was washing his own hair, humming softly. “Um ... Sir?” I began, slowly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Always, kitten.”

I inadvertently glanced at the door, lowering my voice despite the noisy rush of water. “Just ... Don’t tell Avett, okay?”

“Okay,” he chuckled. I gnawed on my lip. “What is it?”

“Am I dumb?” I blurted out. “I mean, I know my grades in school could be better, but—”

He cut me off. “Certainly not.”

“Oh.” I faltered. “Are you sure?”

Smirking, he said, “There are plenty of painfully dense people in this world, Lily, and trust me: you are not one of them.”

“Oh,” I said again.

“What does this have to do with Avett?”

I fluttered my fingers through the spray of water. “He’s the one that said it. He called me a ‘dummy girl’ and a baby.”

“Mm.” He could tell there was more. He waited.

“It made me feel weird because, like, it sounded really mean, but ... I think I liked it?” I shook my head. “Is that bad?”

“Not at all,” Sir said. “It’s okay for you to enjoy it.”

“I just don’t understand why I would.”

Sir was now scrubbing himself, and his thick chest hair was foamy with suds. Playfully, he asked, “Haven’t we been over this?”

“We have?”

“Yes, silly. You liked it when I called you a slut, even though you aren’t one. You aren’t a sister, either. And I’m fairly sure you aren’t really a fluffy little kitten either, but I’ll still call you one. It’s just fun to pretend to be something we’re not, sometimes. Just for a little while.”
“So he was just pretending?”

“Of course he was, sweets.”

That was a relief. I usually wasn’t too bothered by his insults, but something about the way he’d said I couldn’t think for myself had me worried. After all, I had been terribly eager to jump in bed with them. Although it already felt like I’d known them a lifetime, two weeks ago they’d been complete strangers. I didn’t want to come across as easily manipulated.

“I wouldn’t think about it too hard if I were you.” Sir told me. He paused, realizing the humor in what he’d just said. A smile played at his lips.

The irony wasn’t lost on me, either. “That’s funny,” I giggled.

He laughed. “See? You’re such a clever one, treasure. That’s why I love you.”

Blushing, my voice grew small. “I love you, too.”

He pressed his lips to mine in a humid kiss, making me all wobbly.

“Promise you won’t tell Avett I liked it?” I begged when he pulled away. “He’ll just use it to torture me.”

With a smirk, he replied, “You sure he can’t already tell? He wouldn’t keep on saying it if not to evoke a... desired response.” Ugh, he had a point. He went on, “But, for whatever it’s worth, your little ‘secret’ is safe with me.”