Chapter 67

Tuesday, June 26

I got dressed and stripped the bed — I seemed to be doing that a lot lately — then sat in the easy chair to wait.

The shower shut off and I went to take Erin her clothes. She rather sheepishly hid behind the door when I handed her the hanger with her dress, but pushed my hand back when I held out her panties.

“Put ‘em in your trophy case,” she said. “You oughta get something out of this.”

“Arlene is bringing Keri from the pool,” I said as she slipped the dress over her head and zipped up. “They should be here in a few minutes. I’ll go wait outside if you want me to.”

She stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed me by the arm, steering me back to the front.

“No, don’t go,” she said, leading me to the bed and taking a seat. “Just hold me.”

“I’m not ashamed of what happened,” I told her, “and I think you should tell Keri the truth. But as far as anyone else is concerned, I think it’ll be best to say that we were just kissing on the sofa in my family room.”

She just nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. Neither of us said another word until Arlene knocked on the door.

I walked Erin outside, where Keri was waiting with our hostess. I don’t know how much the softball player had been told, but the girls instantly fell into a teary hug.

Arlene gave them a moment, then directed us all to the kitchen door, where Jed was waiting. The confusion was evident on his face.

“Why don’t you show Jed the apartment?” Arlene suggested. “I’ll talk to the girls and call you when we’re ready.”

I led my buddy back down the walk and into the air-conditioned comfort of the apartment. I headed back into the kitchen and pulled a couple of sodas out of the fridge. For some reason, a bottle of bourbon sounded like a better idea right about now.

“So what is going on?” he asked as I handed him the drink.

“You really should let Erin tell you her side,” I said, “but it comes down to the fact that she’s not over Keri. And, as it was clearly pointed out to me, I am not a suitable replacement.”

“Dude, that’s fucked up,” he said.

“It’s not fucked up,” I said. “It’s a very nice girl trying to figure out some very big issues in her life. The best thing you can do is listen to her and Keri when they’re ready to talk.”

“So I’m just supposed to give up my girlfriend?” he asked. “We just started going out two weeks ago.”

“I don’t know what you’re supposed to do except hear what each of them has to say,” I said. “Keri may decide she likes things just the way they are. Hell, she may decide it’ll take both you and Erin to make her happy.”

Jed took a swig of his soda, then snorted a little laugh.

“Ya know, I thought things were different with Keri,” he said. “She wasn’t just another piece of arm candy. We really get each other. It’s because of all the stuff we go through with our sports.

“She told me her and Erin were trying to protect each other from the guys that were just looking to get laid. It was just supposed to be until they found boys they could trust.”

I somehow managed to stop myself from saying “Yeah, I know.” I don’t think my friend needed to be informed of my activities with Keri just hours before their relationship began.

“So what is this place?” he asked, finally taking in his surroundings.

“Something that doesn’t exist as far as any of our parents are concerned,” I said. “It’s the grandma apartment attached to Arlene Jenson’s garage. She had me help her fix it up after she caught me and Morgan sneaking into No. 16 one night.”

“Sweet!”

“Yeah, except that every girl in that group but Keri seems to think I’m supposed to bring them here on a date while Morgan’s out of town,” I said. “It’s getting to be way more drama than I can stand. I would have been better off staying in California.”

“So who all have you brought over?” Jed asked.

“I’m not going to tell you that,” I said. “Just like I wouldn’t expect you to talk about what you and Keri get up to. There’s some shit that just doesn’t need to be known.”

“Don’t let any of the other guys know about this place,” he said. “They already think Mrs. Jenson’s sweet on you.”

I again had to bite my tongue to keep from saying the wrong thing.

“I’ll be counting on you to not let it slip, as well,” I finally said. “There’s enough gossip about her at the club as it is.”

My phone finally pinged with a text from the goddess, summoning Jed to the kitchen. I was to go home and act like it was just a normal Tuesday. That included showing up for weights this evening.

I passed the information along to Jed and began closing up the apartment as he headed to the house. I was feeling a bit left out until I reached the street and saw Coach Bennett’s pickup parked behind Jed’s. I most definitely did not need that in my life at the moment. Meredith Metzger might hire snipers. Carl Bennett would do his own wetwork.

I arrived home about 4:30 and grabbed a shower, then started getting caught up on my laundry. I had three loads done and another started by the time Mom and Kacie came in.

“Sorry I haven’t done anything about dinner,” I said as I attempted to fold some T-shirts. “I took Erin Bennett out for lunch and lost track of time.”

“That’s fine,” Mom said, whipping out her phone. “I’ll have your father pick something up.”

Kacie hip-checked me out of the way and took over folding my clothes.

“What else did you and Erin lose track of?” she asked knowingly as soon as Mom headed into the master suite.

“You’ll need to ask Erin about that,” I said, “but you might want to wait a couple of days for things to settle down.”

“You CANNOT do that to me!” my sister hissed, looking around to make sure Mom wasn’t near. “What happened?”

“Erin came to a realization about herself and what she wants from a relationship,” I said. “It does not include me.”

Kacie grabbed my hand and pulled me toward our end of the house.

“I have got to get out of these clothes,” she said a little too loud as we passed our parents’ door. “I got all sweaty chasing those kids around today.”

When we got to the hallway between our rooms, Kacie locked the knob on her door and pulled it closed, then shoved me into my room and closed and locked that door. Grabbing my hand again, she dragged me to the bathroom, made sure both doors were closed and turned on me.

“Spill it,” she demanded. “You DO NOT drop little hints like that and tell me to wait a couple of days. I’m not 5 years old and it’s not Christmas Eve. Now, WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?”

Realizing I wasn’t getting out of this until my sister was satisfied, I told her about taking Erin to lunch and then the apartment, how she came to the conclusion that she still wanted Keri and that Arlene was overseeing a discussion between Erin, Keri and, presumably, Jed.

“Huh,” Kacie said. “I always thought Keri would be the one who had trouble letting go.”

Then my sister gave me a penetrating look.

“I’m going to bet you two weren’t just sitting there holding hands when Erin had her epiphany,” she said.

“No,” I admitted. “We were ... involved.”

“How involved?”

“About as involved as you can get,” I admitted.

“And you just stopped?”

“It was kind of a mood-killer,” I said. “I mean, that’s the first time I’ve ever had a girl start crying during. She said she couldn’t do it and curled up.”

“So you haven’t...?”

“No,” I said. “I was more worried about crisis management at the time.”

Kacie suddenly had her tongue down my throat, slamming into me with enough force to make me sit on the edge of the counter.

“You have got to be the only guy on earth who can make getting shot down by a lesbian sound romantic,” she panted as she pulled her top over her head. “Get out of those clothes.”

Since I was just wearing a T-shirt and cargo shorts, that didn’t take long. My sister yanked my boxers to my ankles and pushed me to sit on the toilet. She hit the exhaust fan and pushed her shorts and panties down and off her legs, then straddled me wearing only her bra and sneakers.

She pulled me in for another scorching kiss as she sank down my pole, moaning into my mouth as she did so. I slid the bra straps off her shoulders and folded a cup down enough to capture a nipple in my mouth as she set up a fast canter.

“Every girl in school is going to have to sit on a bucket when they hear about the boy who seduced a lesbian and then quit in the middle of fucking her because she asked him to,” Kacie said as she rode up and down. “You’re the fucking ‘No Means No’ poster boy. You just thought you had too many girlfriends. Even the other lesbians will be lining up for a shot at you.”

“I would hope no one ever hears about it,” I gasped as she applied a particularly pleasurable squeeze. “Erin doesn’t need that kind of attention, especially if Keri doesn’t feel the same way.”

“Her name will never be mentioned if I have anything to say about it,” my sister said. “Our bunch has always protected each other. But your legend is sealed, brother dear. We’re going to have to put a fucking armed guard on your cock.”

Kacie squealed, shuddered and sent her hips into overdrive as she planted another kiss on me to smother the noise. She was still going strong long after I blew my top and began to wilt. She reached between her legs and lured one more orgasm out of our encounter before slumping against me.