Chapter 7

I was a little worried about Harper, but Hannah wasn’t.

“She’s fine. It just got too intense for her,” she said.

“I don’t know,” I said.

We were still resting up from our endeavors on the bed in the studio. As odd as it sounds, that was the first time I felt a little self-conscious about being naked in the house. I know that’s crazy, but when I was posing the first time I kept telling myself that it was just for art and not a big deal.

The second time I was with Hannah and we had an agenda, so that didn’t seem so weird, either. Plus all this closeness with Hannah was still new and I really wanted to be in her embrace.

Not that I didn’t want to embrace her again, even on the bed, but when Harper ran from us that was the first time I’d ever done anything that she fled from.

“We’ll talk to her,” said Hannah. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“The last thing I want to do is hurt either of you,” I said.

“She’s probably just a little jealous,” said Hannah. “I know I was jealous just thinking about the two of you together like this.”

“I can’t imagine that,” I said.

“Don’t lie. I know you can imagine it, have probably imagined it many times before this.”

“Maybe once or twice,” I said, carefully.

“It’s funny, but I’m not jealous anymore,” she said.

“How does that work?” I asked.

“I think it’s because I know you’ll stand by me forever. You’ve proved that already, staying with us all these years.”

“You needed me,” I said. “At least at first.”

“I still need you, even more, maybe. And Harper does too. She’s confused, full of hormones, maybe a little scared. She’s never seen me act like this. It has to be very strange for her.”

“I’ve never seen you like this, either,” I said, smiling.

“Get used to it. I may never wear clothing around you ever again.”

I grinned.

“I can’t wait to take you out to get ice cream. It will start a riot.”

“Ha, ha. Maybe you should go talk to Harper.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. She’s never seen you like this, either. She needs to understand you haven’t changed.”

“Okay.”

I got up and since my clothes were in another room, put the robe back on again. I went downstairs but Harper wasn’t anywhere to be found. I ended up by her closed bedroom door and tapped on it.

“You in there?” I queried.

“Just a minute,” came her faint voice.

The door opened maybe twenty seconds later. She wasn’t wearing her smock any longer. I saw it in a pile on the floor by her bed.

“You okay?” I asked.

She looked at me seriously and said, “No.”

“Did we scare you?”

She laughed! Right in my face, she laughed. I stepped into the room, thinking she’d move, but she didn’t. I bumped up against her. She’s about six or so inches shorter than me, so she had to look up as I looked down.

“So, if we didn’t scare you ... what?” I asked.

Her fingers came to my sides and she licked her lips.

“I don’t want to wait until I’m seventeen,” she said, softly.

“Oh,” I said.

“I mean it was so beautiful,” she sighed. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Mom went absolutely apeshit. It wasn’t anything like what I’ve seen on the internet. You were actually growling, Bob!”

“So why’d you run away?” I asked.

She tilted her head to one side, but didn’t move back.

“I’m not quite ready for you and my Mom to see me masturbate.”

“Oh,” I said. I followed that up with, “Wow.”

“You have to talk to her,” she said, urgently. “I can’t wait until I’m seventeen. I’ll just die if I have to!”

“I don’t think I’m your best bet for changing your mother’s mind,” I said.

“Why not? She’s crazy about you.”

“Well, let’s see,” I said. “One, she knows I’d like nothing better than to jump your pretty little bones. She knows I have a horny streak. If I suggest she’s being too hard on you, all she’s going to think is that I can’t wait to get in your panties.”

“Can you?” She tried to bump her loins against me seductively, but since her pussy hit my thighs instead of my good parts it didn’t work too well.

“Harper,” I said, finally pushing her away from me. “Sit down.”

She went to the bed and plopped down on it. I could see a petulant look taking form on her face. I stayed standing, in front of her. I think it made me feel like I was arguing from a stronger platform. She had no trouble looking up at me, though, as if the difference in height meant nothing to her.

“Look,” I said. “I love you. You know that. We’ve been buddies for years, your whole life, in fact.”

“I don’t want to be your buddy anymore,” she said, her chin jutting out.

“Yes you do,” I said, sternly. “You want more than that, but think about it. We’re not going to be boyfriend and girlfriend. You’re not going to marry me. We might have sex once or twice some day, but there’s so much more to what we already share that it would be insane to throw all that away just to get your rocks off.”

“I believe it would be your rocks that got off,” she said, sweetly.

I stepped back, frowning and she caved. She knew me well enough to know when I was getting angry.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s just that I got so horny watching you two. I can’t help but want to know what it’s like and I’ve never been patient about waiting for things.”

“I know that. I know practically everything about you. And that’s why, if we ever do end up in bed together, it’s going to be very special for both of us. And that’s the point, really. Good sex can only be had between people who really understand and love each other. At least that’s what I believe. Anything else is really just mutual masturbation. But I want what you and I already have for the rest of our lives, and I’m not willing to risk losing that just to get my rocks off.”

“Mom’s really lucky,” sighed Harper.

“You’re really lucky,” I said. “She’s your mother. You get her forever.”

“I know,” she sighed again. “Still, I want to renegotiate the agreement.”

“You’ll be wasting your time,” I said.

“I’m not talking about asking her to let you jump my bones,” she said. “But some of that mutual masturbation you were talking about sounds kind of interesting. Without the actual having sex part, I mean.”

“That’s not really how it works, sweetie,” I said.

“Why not? All I’m talking about is fooling around a little bit.”

“Yes, and as soon as we start fooling around, my little friend is going to do this,” I said. I opened my robe and showed her my perfectly revived, hard-as-rock penis. “And when it gets like this, it wants to crawl in a nice, warm cave and thrash about before puking and then going to sleep.”

“That’s so nasty,” groaned Harper. “Puking? Ewwww.”

“Well, pretty or not, that’s what it will want to do, and it will want to do it inside you.”

“You mean you’ll want to do it inside me,” she said. Apparently her cocky side had gotten tired of hiding and came back out.

“If it makes you feel better, then yes. If we ‘fool around’ I’m going to want to do to you what you just saw me doing to your mother. That’s just how this stuff works. And, I dare say, you’ll want the same thing. And if both of us want it, what are the chances it won’t happen?”

“I do want it,” she said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

I wanted to strangle her, but didn’t. Instead, I raised the stakes.

“Tell you what. I’ll tell your mother what you said, and I’ll tell her I’m willing to be of service whenever the time comes. However, I will have stipulations.”

“What stipulations?” she asked.

“One, you can’t go on the pill before you’re seventeen. Two, if she allows it, and you decide you want to jump the gun, I won’t use a condom.” I crossed my arms and stared at her.

“So, basically, you’re saying that if I don’t wait, you’re going to try to...” She almost said it and then remembered her mother’s reaction to the phrase. I didn’t mind finishing it for her, though.

“Knock you up,” I said, slowly. “Yes. The purpose to making you wait is so you’ll have more experience and maturity and be able to make better decisions. If you refuse to do that, then you’ll be like millions of other girls who jump in without thinking about it and, sometimes, suffer the consequences.”

“How is that loving me, exactly?” she asked.

“We give you good advice,” I said. “If you ignore it, then at least you won’t get pregnant by some pimple-faced kid, because you’ll already be pregnant with my baby.”

“You are so full of shit, Bob,” she groaned.

“Maybe,” I said.

“No maybe about it,” she said. “You’re either full of shit, or crazy as a loon. And I know you’re not crazy, so that leaves the other. But I get it. You’re trying to scare me away. Where’d that baby stuff come from? Are you freaked out about Mom letting you do that to her?”

I couldn’t bullshit this girl. She knew me too well.

“Maybe,” I said. “I haven’t had time to think about it.”

“You’d make a really superb father,” she said.

“I’m not so sure about that,” I said.

“Sure you would. You’ve been like a dad to me lots of times.”

“Yes, but I’m not your dad.”

“You’re not my father,” she said. “I remember him, and I loved him. But I also remember all those times when I needed him and he was gone somewhere and you were there to stand in for him.”

“I’m still not so sure,” I said.

“Well, like I said, you’d better get sure, because I’ve never seen Mom act like this before and she’s serious about this, serious enough to let you put all those sperms in her when she’s ovulating. You might not be sure, but she is.” She moved, sort of jumped, but not obviously. “Why’d it do that?” she asked.

“Do what?”

“Your penis. It just jerked up and down.”

I realized I was still standing there exposing myself to her. I let the sides of the robe go, but all they did was close on either side of my boner. If anything, it looked even more like I was Chester the Molester.

“It did that when I said you’d better be sure. Maybe you are and don’t know it,” she said.

“I’m not sure,” I said, trying to cover up the evidence of my lust. “He is. He’s always ready to stand up and make a baby.”