Chapter 21

I woke up Saturday with Dawn nudging me gently to let me know she needed to go out. I reluctantly got up and took her out, putting her on her tether for a while so I could go back to bed. Cheryl made a purring sound as I slipped back into bed, spooning up to her comfortably. She snuggled in and we drifted off together, blissfully ignoring the world for a while longer.

I woke again with my hand on Cheryl’s breast, both of us resting peacefully. She was gently pressing my hand against her, so I took the hint and gave it a gentle squeeze. She sighed contentedly and turned her head, looking for a kiss. I covered her lips with mine and continued to play with her swollen breast as we woke up together.

“This is nice,” she whispered dreamily, sighing with pleasure as I teased her nipple gently. “If you keep this up though, we’re gonna spend the day in bed.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?” I asked playfully.

She squirmed a little and laughed. “Maybe not, but it seems kind of selfish to keep you all to myself. I’m sure everyone else is waiting for us to show up for lunch.”

I scoffed. “When they start to get worried, they’ll send someone in to turn on the lights and rip the blankets off the bed,” I told her. “Until then, the least we can do is make some noise and let them know we’re still alive.”

She giggled a little and then turned onto her back so she could look at me in the dim light of the room. “Thank you so much for last night,” she said solemnly. “It meant so much to me.”

I smiled at her and kissed her softly. “It was special for both of us,” I told her. “I love you, Cheryl.”

She grinned at me and pulled me on top of her, spreading her legs and wrapping them around me as she pulled me in for another kiss. I moved against her, reaching down with one hand and coaxing the head of my cock into her entrance before delicately sliding forward. She was already wet and moaned softly into my mouth as our tongues intertwined. I flexed my hips and she broke the kiss, groaning and gasping my name passionately.

We were deeply involved with what we were doing until the light came on. Cheryl shrieked in mortification and tried to cover up, but we’d lost the blankets when we started fucking. I was less inclined to stop what we were doing and merely glanced over at the door to see Lana and Beck smirking back at us. They came to join us, giggling a little at Cheryl’s attempt to hide.

“Hey,” I said to get her attention. “Relax. It’s okay. It’s Lana and Beck.” I punctuated the notice with another particularly enthusiastic thrust, making her squeak as embarrassment battled with lust in her mind.

I resumed making love to her, letting our audience watch in peace. She was tense about it and didn’t seem to be enjoying herself so after a few minutes, I gave her a knowing look and leaned down to kiss her softly before disengaging and pulling up the blanket to cover both of us.

“Don’t stop,” Beck urged us. “We didn’t come in to interrupt. Well, maybe to remind you to get up sometime today, but we came to see how you two were doing.”

Lana nodded her head in agreement. “Lunch is in about a half-hour, but it’s no big deal if you miss it. We really did come to hang out. We didn’t want you to stop having fun because of us.”

Cheryl shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she apologized to all of us. “I’m still getting used to everything. I know it’s stupid, but I don’t think I’m up to being watched yet.” She looked really sheepish about it like she’d done something wrong.

“That’s fine,” I said gently. “If you’re not ready for the other girls to see you making love to me, then we’ll arrange things like we did last night. There’s never any reason for anyone to feel uncomfortable here.”

“I’m sorry!” she repeated, her face anguished. “I know you must be frustrated with me right now.”

“Cheryl honey, even if I was on the edge of cumming, I wouldn’t be frustrated with you. Sex isn’t important enough to make you uncomfortable to get it,” I told her. “You’ve had a lot to deal with this past week. I want you to take things at a pace that makes you comfortable. If that means no sex with you unless we’re alone, then that’s what we’ll do. If it means that you need us to dress up in clown suits and spray each other with squirt flowers, that would be really weird, but okay. We’ll do it if that’s what you need to feel comfortable. Just tell us what you need and we’ll move Heaven and Earth to do it for you.”

She laughed in spite of her obvious anxiety at the clown remark, but she was still worried. “I dunno,” she admitted finally. “It just kind of reminds me of that night when everyone was everywhere. There were people watching all the time. I remember someone pushing my legs open while I was on the toilet so they could watch me go. There was always someone else there. You know?”

I nodded. “I understand,” I told her solemnly. Her reminder of that weekend had the side effect of destroying any interest in sex I had. My erection had wilted to the point of being non-existent. That decided me on the next course of action, so I got up and kissed each of the girls before I went to get a quick shower.

Cheryl seemed a little down when I came back and I gave her a gentle hug and told her I loved her before I got dressed and went out for Dawn. She went straight to her dish and drank like she was dying of thirst while I put out her food. I refilled her water and paid her some attention while I waited for the girls. They were having girl talk while Cheryl showered and dressed. Then we all went next door for lunch.

Patty put out extra for Cheryl and me and gave me a knowing look, but I really wasn’t as hungry as I’d been the night before. I managed to finish everything she set in front of me, but I’d felt off since Cheryl mentioned her ordeal. I was distantly aware that it bothered me immensely to have it brought up while we were in bed together. I didn’t like the thought that sex with me reminded her of the rape she’d suffered and I couldn’t help feeling a little unclean at the comparison. I also didn’t like the slightly cold vibe I was getting from her since the light had been turned on. She chatted pleasantly with everyone else, but her responses to me were best described as polite.

“So what are your plans for the rest of the day?” Patty asked the four of us as we finished up.

“I was hoping to spend some time on my laptop,” Cheryl admitted. “I want to get it set up just the way I want it and transfer my files since school starts this week.”

“Want a hand with it?” I asked, hoping for a chance to spend some time with her and hoping that I could shake the uneasy feeling I had.

She shook her head. “No, thanks. I just need a few hours to figure things out and get all my files off the old one.”

I nodded, accepting the dismissal for what it was. “Okay. I think I’ll take Dawn out for her walk then and keep out of your hair.”

That seemed to satisfy her and I excused myself, to go get her and take her out. I got my coat and boots on, walking next door and Dawn met me at the door, feeling frisky now that she’d been fed and watered. I clipped her leash on and put on my hat and gloves before we set out down the street.

I turned the problem over in my head and the longer our walk went, the worse I felt about it. I KNEW I hadn’t done anything wrong. The problem was that what I knew and what I felt didn’t always get along with each other. Today was one of those days. I felt like shit. I didn’t know who I could even talk to about this. Victoria would certainly give me good advice, but I didn’t feel like wrecking her afternoon with this. I walked until Dawn stopped frisking around and stayed with me. I noticed that her tail was drooping a little and then I realized that she was tired and it was getting dark. I blinked at that. I’d been out for a couple of hours. My leg ached and I could feel it start to stiffen now that I’d taken a moment to stop.

I crouched down to check Dawn’s paws before we turned back to make sure we hadn’t done any damage to her. She licked my face affectionately while I did it and her tail wagged a little. Thankfully, her paws were fine, she was just a pooped pup. I took her home and when we got in the door, she went to drink and then went downstairs to rest, probably with one of her chew-toys.

I slipped back outside as soon as her tail disappeared down the stairs and started walking again. I didn’t want to be home right now and pushing my leg seemed like as good a use of my time as anything else. I took out my phone and called Tricia, thinking she might be able to help.

“Hi, Babe!” she said happily when she answered the phone. “How did it go last night?”

“Bad,” I said truthfully. I told her what had happened and how Cheryl had been toward me all day today. “Can you go over there and make sure she’s okay?” I asked her.

“You’re not there with her?” she asked, surprised.

“Nope. I wanted to talk it out, but she didn’t want me around. The last real conversation we had was her comparing sex this morning to the guys that hurt her that weekend. After that, she shut down on me.”

“Oh SHIT!” she breathed. “I’ll go right over and see what I can do for her. Where are you?”

“Out walking,” I told her. “Just give me a call later and let me know how it went.”

“Are you okay?” she asked gently.

“She compared the situation to the weekend where the guys raped her while we were in bed together,” I pointed out. “I feel unclean on a level I’d never thought was possible before. No, I’m not okay.”

“Where are you?” she asked again. “I’ll meet you and we can talk about it. You didn’t do anything wrong. She told all of us that she was ready for last night. It’s not your fault.”

I ignored that, feeling like I should have talked to her more about what she wanted and what she was ready for. “Can you please just talk to her about everything?” I asked instead. “I’m worried about her.”

She was quiet for a minute, but then sighed. “Okay. I can do that. She’s my best friend, but you’re my boyfriend. You’re important too. Where will you be when I’m done talking to her?”

“Probably still walking,” I admitted. “Call me later and let me know how it went?”

“I will,” she promised. “Then we’ll get together and talk about you.”

“All I care about right now is that she’s okay,” I told her. “Thanks for this.”

“She’s my best friend,” she said simply. “Thanks for telling me that she needed my help.”

We hung up and was about to put it away when it rang. I looked at the caller ID and it was Lana.

“Hello,” I said dully, suspecting that this conversation was going to be more of the same.

“Hi,” she said warily. “Where did you go? We thought you were back when Dawn came into the bedroom, but when I went upstairs you weren’t here.”

“I just dropped her off,” I told her. “She was tired so I let her in and went for my own walk.”

“You’re staying away from the house?” she asked knowingly.

“Cheryl doesn’t seem to want me around today,” I said. “I figured I’d give her some time and space and see how she felt. Tricia’s on her way over to talk to her. That was the only thing I could think to do that wouldn’t make things worse,” I admitted sourly.

“Tell me what’s going on in your head,” she demanded.

“She compared what we did to her rape right after we had sex,” I told her. “Curled up in bed, she spits out that she felt like she did that weekend. Then when I tried to make time this afternoon so we could talk about it, she shut me out. I feel pretty awful right now, but all I really care about is getting her the help she needs. That’s why I called Tricia. If anyone can get her through this, it’s her best friend.”

“What about you?” she asked. “Who’s taking care of you?”

“All of you are by taking care of her,” I told her truthfully. “Either she can get through this and be able to be comfortable in a room with me or she won’t. Until we know which, then I’m probably going to be in an increasingly bad mood.”

She sighed. “I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to have sex comfortably,” she warned me. “She admitted that she thought a lot about that weekend while it was going on.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said softly, looking up at the sky in despair at that revelation. “I got a deep chill off her at lunch. If that’s how she feels about me from now on, then what does that mean for our relationship together? I don’t know that we can even HAVE a relationship with that hanging over us.”

“Give her a chance to settle down,” Lana suggested. “She’s kind of a raw nerve today.”

“Yeah, I get that. I kind of feel the same way,” I admitted. “Look, Tricia should be there soon. Between you, Beck and her, Cheryl’s in good hands. I trust you to make it right for her.”

“Come home, Matt,” she urged me. “I know your leg’s got to be killing you right now. Come home, sit down, eat something and get warm. We’ll work it out.”

“Just focus on her,” I said, ignoring the plea to come home. “Tricia said she’d call when Cheryl was calmed down and talked out. We’ll see how things turn out from there.”

We said goodbye and I realized that I was close to the mall. I headed there and got something to eat while I warmed up and rested my leg. It was sore and likely to be stiff when I got up, but for once, I didn’t care. I got something to eat and sat in a corner by myself, studying my tray while I picked at some of the greasiest KFC I’d ever had. I’d just finished when someone dropped into the seat across from me. I looked up and suppressed a groan at the grinning face across the table.

“Hi, Jessie,” I said without a lot of enthusiasm.

She blinked and her smile faded. “What’s wrong? You look like someone kicked you in the stomach.”

“Not a bad analogy, but it was a little lower than that,” I admitted. “I haven’t had a good day. People keep trying to get me to talk about it and I really wish I could stop thinking about it.”

She nodded. “Alright. Let’s not talk about it then. You look like you could use a friend though. You wanna hang out here or go for a drive and take a look around town for something to pick up your spirits?”

I thought about that and shrugged. “We can hang out and walk the mall for a while,” I said slowly. “I warn you though, I’m probably not the best company tonight.”

She shrugged dismissively, grinning at me and bouncing to her feet, waiting for me to gather up my trash and carry it to the garbage can. “You don’t need to be good company tonight,” she told me. “If you want to talk about your bad mood, we can. If not, we can go window-shopping and I can try to take your mind off it.”

“Thanks, Jessie,” I said, meaning it. She’d consistently listened when I needed a sounding board since we’d first met and I was coming to really value her input. She took my arm and we strolled down the mall aimlessly.

She noticed the limp I’d developed and glanced at me. “You walked to the mall, didn’t you?” she asked and tsked when I nodded. “You’re gonna kill yourself if you don’t take it easy, Buster.”

I sighed and decided to tell her what was going on. “Well, like I said, it’s been a bad day. Cheryl and I had the house to ourselves last night. I thought everything was fine until this morning, she brought up that weekend while we were in bed together. Then she shut me out all day. So I decided I needed to back off and get out of the house until the girls can figure out how fucked things really are. From the sounds of it, things are pretty close to absolutely burned to the ground.”

She winced and hissed through her teeth at that. “She really brought it up while you were...” she cringed at the thought of that. “Yeah, I can understand why you look like you want to hit something now, but, Matt, Darling, she didn’t MEAN it like that.” She hugged my arm in sympathy and steered me toward a shoe store where she looked over a few pairs that looked like they’d be really uncomfortable to wear. She glanced at me often and talked to me a little more about it. “We’re all thinking about it,” she admitted. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how bad it was. That’s kind of why I wanted you to help me out. I’ve never had anyone treat me nice. Lana sometimes talks about how good you were to her and I don’t just mean in bed. After the dance in November, she told us that the foot massages were nothing, that you used to shampoo her hair and wash her from head to toe. It’s really romantic. I kind of want that just for the comparison.

I nodded, knowing that she’d talk to Gina and Lana eventually. “I know,” I said softly.