Chapter 28 - Adrian

“I like your makeup,” I told Lily, leaning against the door frame. She had on black eyeliner and her lashes, normally light blonde, were thick with mascara. “Your eyes are always pretty, obviously, but it makes them look especially green.”

“Thank you!” Her reflection beamed at me in the mirror. “Do you want some?”

“Um ... Okay.” I stepped into the bathroom.

“Close your eyes,” she said.

I shut my eyes tight and bent to lower my face.

She giggled. “Not so tight, silly.”

I relaxed my eyelids. The sound of the eyeliner cap popping off was shortly followed by an odd pinpoint of pressure poking my skin into my eyeball. The side of Lily’s soft hand brushed gently across my cheek as it moved. “It feels like you’re drawing on my eye.”

“Probably because that’s exactly what I’m doing.” The pressure switched to my other eye. “I like your suit, by the way.”

“Thanks.” I was wearing a dark brown suit Sir bought me at some point. The material was uncomfortably smooth and the tailoring so snug it felt hard to move in, so it hadn’t seen the outside of my closet until now.

“Done,” Lily said. I blinked my eyes open. She was wearing a striped polo shirt and a tight skirt—definitely not one Sir would’ve bought her. “You like?”

“Yeah.” She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you mean the eyeliner?” I turned to the mirror. My brown eyes, trimmed with smudged strokes of black, stood out nearly as much as hers did. I looked pretty tough, too. A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth.

“Oh, you do like it, don’t you?” Her own lip curled. “Shall I give you some lipstick, too?”

I made a face. “Settle down, Lilith,” I said. I couldn’t help it. Now that her “devil” had a name, we’d been making a point of greeting it any time it tried to come out to play. Which was often.

She rolled her exaggerated eyes. “You never let me have any fun.”

“I agreed to go to the party, didn’t I?”

“Oh, yeah!” She flung herself into my arms and I stumbled back against the sink. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She chirped, planting kisses all over my face. “I’m so excited!”

“Everyone knows you’re excited to take Adey’s dick,” Avett said from the doorway. “You don’t have to rub it in all the time.”

Lily released her grip on me to get a good look at him. To be honest, his costume was pretty fucking good. He was decked out in his cowboy gear and had even combed his hair back with gel. “I was talking about the party,” she clarified.

“The party in Adey’s pants?” He tossed me something and I caught it against my chest. It was a crumpled white terrycloth sweatband.

“Fuck yeah,” I said, slipping it over my forehead.

“Y’all two are both far too excited,” he said. “The sole purpose of this evening is to reinvigorate our educational motivation, remember?”

Yeah, right. “Oh, right,” I said, as Lily nodded her own solemn assent. We all assumed our false scholarly pretenses and went downstairs.

Sir was sitting on a barstool in the kitchen. He swiveled when we walked in, his unblinking eyes inspecting us. They lingered the longest on Lily. “Take off some of that makeup,” he said.

She frowned. “But this is how much Margot wears in the movie!”

I flinched at her brazen backtalk. “I don’t care,” he said. “You can wear...” His gaze fell on me again, and he nodded in my direction. “ ... About that much.”

Licking her lips, she started, “But...”

Avett cut her off with a humorless chuckle. “Uh, Lilith? Sure you want to act up right about now?”

Sir clicked his tongue. “It’s no problem. This has actually been quite a constructive chat. I’ve been on the fence about something, and it helped me make my mind up.” For brief moment of relief, I thought we might not be going to the party after all. But then he stood, his palm outstretched. “Hand me your phone, Lily.”

Without further argument, she did. Sir unlocked it with the dance of a nimble thumb across the keypad. He looked up. “Well, run along,” he coaxed, shooing her off with a wave of his hand. She spun around and crept away, disappearing into the foyer.

Avett tried to sneak a peek at Lily’s phone but Sir turned, shielding his actions from view. “Uh ... Whatcha doing there, Sir?” Avett asked in his breezy tone. Sir ignored him. “You should check her browser history. Make sure she hasn’t been looking at porn.”

Sir said, “Why don’t you make yourself useful and pay a visit to my study? Fetch me the little gadget from the top right drawer of my desk.”

“With pleasure.” Avett darted away.

I shifted, shoving my hands into the too-tight pockets of my too-smooth slacks. Sir seemed to have a hell of a collection of “gadgets” these days. He was apparently more of a Bruce Wayne than a Clark Kent.

“You can also do me a favor, pet,” he said, still tapping on Lily’s phone.

“Anything, Sir.”

He smiled. “Keep an eye on those two tonight, okay? You’re the oldest, after all.”

Sick, now I was on babysitting duty for a party I barely wanted to be at. “I’ll do my best, Sir.”

“Good boy,” he said. “That suit looks terrific on you, bub.”

Avett returned, his loafers clicking on the tiles and a small pink rubbery thing pinched between his fingers. “What is THIS?”

“It’s a can opener,” Sir said dryly. “When’s the last time you washed your hands?”

“Uh...”

Sir snatched the thing away from him and crossed to the sink to rinse it off.

A floral scent drifted past my nose a moment before Lily appeared by my side. Her eyes were significantly less raccoon-like. “What’s that?”

“Oh, just a little something you’ve earned.” Sir smiled, shutting off the tap. “Lower your panties, sweets.”

Lily went tense, but she didn’t protest. She reached under the hem of her skirt and slid her panties low around her thighs. They were solid black.

Sir nodded his approval. “What nice panties you have on. Who picked those out for you?”

Blushing, she trained her gaze to the floor. “You did, Sir.”

“That’s right.” Sir smiled. Approaching her in slow strides, he said, “Now, tell me: who’s in charge of you?”

Her voice dropped to a breathy whisper. “You.”

“Try coming up with a full sentence, baby girl.”

She shifted her weight on her toes. “You’re in charge of me, Sir.”

“Good answer.” His palm cupped her cheek, lifting her pink face. His other hand, equipped with the device, dipped under her skirt out of view. Behind him, Avett ducked low with his head cocked, but soon popped back up, discouraged. Nice try.

Sir asked, “Who’s in charge of this cute little pussy, huh?”

“Mmm ... You are, Sir,” Lily answered, starting, sucking her lips in to stifle a moan.

“Uh-huh. Now relax, and I’ll slip your new friend here inside you.”

“Ah—” Her breath caught.

“Oh, it just popped right in, huh?” Sir’s lip twitched. “See, the bulb fits nice and snug in your hole and this little piece rests right on your girly button.”

Girly button, Avett mouthed at me, grinning and shaking his head.

Sir continued, “As long as your phone is near your person — which it will be all night — the app I downloaded will stay connected and let me control your friend from my own phone.” Avett’s grin was growing wide and manic. Sir asked, “Shall we give it a test run?”

He retrieved his phone from his pocket. Before Lily could answer, his tap of a finger evoked a sharp breath and she winced, her hand grasping at my sleeve to steady herself. “Oh,” she panted. “God.”

“I think it works,” Sir chuckled. With another tap, she relaxed and straightened up, looking like a doe in the headlights. “Can you say, ‘thank you Daddy for reminding me who’s in charge?’”

“Thank you Daddy for reminding me who’s in charge,” she mumbled.

“You’re welcome, kitten.” Sir bent to press a kiss to Lily’s forehead then fixed the barrette in her hair. The doorbell chimed, and it was my turn to jump. “That’d be Colin. Pull your panties up, silly girl,” Sir said, and slipped away to get the door.

Flushed bright red, Lily yanked her underwear up and hastily tugged her skirt down.

Avett darted to claim the space Sir had abandoned and brought his crooked smile close to her ear. “Can you say, ‘I have a wet girly button?’”

“No,” Lily said. She brushed past him and leaned awkwardly against the counter, avoiding his gaze.

“Hmm,” Avett frowned. “Maybe I’ll have to shoot ol’ Sir a text any time I catch you acting up tonight.”

“Hi, Colin,” I said when he strolled in with Sir.

Colin looked between the three of us, grinning. “You guys look fantastic!”

“Why, thank you kindly, partner,” Avett drawled, tipping his hat.

“Did you lose your keys?” I asked. Colin never rang the doorbell when he was working.

He shook his head. “I’m just a tad early. Didn’t want to ... Surprise anyone.” Avett nudged me in the ribs, giddy. Fuckin’ fair enough.

Sir checked his watch then put his hands on his hips. “As discussed, Colin will drop you off at the party and pick you up two hours later.” He studied us again, thinking. Pointing two fingers at Lily and Avett he said, “Two drinks, absolute max.” He pointed at me. “One drink.”