Chapter 3

Once we both recovered enough to move, I rolled over onto the floor. A few minutes later, Helen got up and wobbled to her bathroom, saying something about needing to empty herself. She gave me plenty of time to get to my own feet, find the pool we left on her couch, clean it, clean myself, and get dressed.

She returned. The strength in her legs had returned because she walked out of the bathroom with a sway in her hips that suggested she wasn’t finished. She was partially damp and wearing a towel around her hair, but nothing else. She stopped in front of me, looked me over, making note of my state of dress, and pouted. “I was hoping to find out if you’d fit my ass too.”

I smiled, wrapped my arms around her with my hands gently cupping her cheeks, and kissed her. She tried to climb me during that kiss and I let her get only so far. When we came up for air, I looked her in the eyes, and said, “I have other responsibilities I have to take care of, but we can find out later.”

She smiled, kissed me again, and I lowered her to her feet before leaving.

I made my way to Danielle’s apartment and knocked. Jordan opened the door and looked me over. “Finally done?”

By her tone, she sounded mad. I pointed to the side and said, “I can leave and come back later.”

She huffed, rolled her eyes, and said, “And where would you go?”

I frowned at her and then looked past her into the apartment. Danielle, Lisa, Maria, and Olive were all inside, looking disgruntled. “What is going on?” I asked, meeting all their eyes.

“Oh,” Jordan said, throwing her arms up and stepping away from the door. “Now he wants to know what’s going on after fucking everyone else in the complex.”

I wasn’t ready to justify myself yet. Something was wrong and I had to calm the situation down. “Am I not allowed to have sex with House Members?”

She crossed the room, sat next to Danielle, and said, “You really don’t know what you’ve done wrong, do you?” She spoke like I was an impetuous child.

I stepped inside, closed the door, and felt my own anger bubbling up. “Why not spell it out for me?”

“Well, isn’t this news?” she said. “Just like any other man, he does shit wrong and isn’t even aware of it.” The others all nodded.

I didn’t like this. Being accused of something was one thing. These women would normally tell me what was wrong without any hesitation or conflict. Jordan was being deliberately obtuse. Worse, their anger fed mine. I didn’t want to be angry. I wanted to talk, to find out what happened after Helen took me to her place, but it was like something didn’t want us talking rationally. And the only thing that could do that would be magic.

I stepped back toward the door. I didn’t turn my back on the women. In their mood, there was no telling what they might do. I reached behind myself and touched the doorknob. I used a lock spell on it. Then I focused on the windows. I cast a shield charm on all of them, blocking out any influence focused on this apartment. Then I worked on reducing the tension in the room. I could feel it fighting me, like an animal refusing to leave. Finally, it deflated - like I had jabbed it with a sewing needle.