Chapter 25

After I’d returned from Beth’s, dad agreed to lower me into the pool. As he read at the table beneath an umbrella, I paddled with my mind in a continuous whirl. In mid-stroke, I froze.

Drums?

While cocking my head, I could no longer hear them. Where’d they come from? After arriving while I “watched” the images of Jimmy Devlin’s parents, they’d faded. When had the rhythmic thrumming disappeared? Had I actually beaten Jimmy Devlin? Driven him off? And really sent that cringy text to Beth Winston, one of the hottest girls in the school? Oh, and Mrs. Winston. Wow!

With summer approaching, the warmer pool water didn’t offer needed relief. As such, I found myself paddling around trying to focus on anything other than Jeri’s cum-drooling mouth, Beth’s bikini-clad tight little frame, or her mother’s unclad body—and shining diamond clit piercing. Yeh, I swam for a long time.

“Hey, Dad. What do you think of Beth?”

“Who?” With his brow scrunched, he looked up from his tablet.

“Beth Winston. She lives next door with her sister.”

While scratching his head, he glanced towards the hedge. Had he no idea where she lived? He must’ve been seriously distracted.

“While I was in hospital, dad. The girl who asked about me.”

“Oh...” After beaming at me, which was a delightful change to his usual stressed visage, he winked. Heat flared up my cheeks. “Are you kids getting sweet?” He chuckled, which was also kinda pleasant, since he hadn’t been laughing much. “You devil.”

“Dad, really?” Though I raised my arms in exasperation, another flare of warmth invaded my face.

“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands and sat back in the shade. “She seems nice. Her mom’s...” As he swallowed, his eyes grew distant. Well, at least he’d remembered Beth’s mom; she was kinda unforgettable. “Uh, she’s also, um, pretty, uh, nice. We used to sit near them in church. You know, uh, before...”

As I nodded, he took a sip of water. There was a brief silence until he cracked his knuckles. When he looked at me, his smile had become a taut grin.

“Just, uh, be careful. I’ve, um, heard she and Mr. Winston are having some, uh, issues.”

“What kind of issues?”

“Marital stuff. I’m, uh, sure they’ll work through it. All marriages are...” As his words trailed off, the grin disappeared, and his drawn face twitched. While pursing his lips, he glanced at his shaking hands before continuing. “Like I said, she, um, always seemed friendly enough. He ... Well, he ... Perhaps he’s under a lot of pressure at his job or something.”

“Okay. Thanks, dad.”

“And, uh, Kyle. Don’t, you know, overdo it, um, with this Beth. You’re, uh...” After his eyes went to the chariot, the lift and at last to me, he sighed.

“Uh, huh. Got it, dad.”

What else could I say? I’d already recognized the complications in my life. How the heck could Beth be on my radar? For that matter, Jeri? Oh, and my mother remained unexplained. Weird. Not normal. Just as I rolled to do a lap, I slowed at two more brief images. Cindy. Silken skin along my hand. And, oh, yeh, Haley with her impressive—everything—beneath bulky clothing.

For a second, I tensed, expecting insane voice.

Instead, at her grunt, I caught Shayna rolling onto her back. As her hind legs wobbled in the air, cooling her underside, her emerald pools scanned me. A derpy look on her face, her long pink tongue dragged along the concrete.

After dad faced his tablet to work, the silence stretched. Normalcy? No drums. No voices. Only quiet. With a lengthy exhale, I continued my stroke. At some point my brain settled and the world, complications and all, kinda faded away as I swam.

When the sun drifted behind the treetops, dad shut his laptop. After he’d gulped the rest of his water, his chair scraped backwards on the deck as he stood, gesturing me towards the lift.

“Come on, prune boy.” He forced a taut smile before flicking a glance at the closed front door. “Your mom will be home from work soon.”

After one last, long—for me—push from the side, I paddled to the lift. While he retrieved me from the pool and dried me, I exhaled once more and met dad’s eyes. With each anxious peek over his shoulder towards the front door, they appeared more worried. Or haunted?

With my mother still not home, once dad got me rinsed and changed, I rolled to the main room. After opening my laptop, I was just about to log into the newest online game when my phone pinged.

It was Beth.

At the hiss of air from my lips, Shayna’s ears perked up. The room spun to the thumping—of my heart—not those creepy shamanic drums. After missing the blurry and wavering “Receive Call” button the first time, I smacked it and drove towards the closed glass doors.

“Uh, hey, Beth.” Stay cool, Kyle. Stay cool. My knees quivered.

“Sorry, Kyle...” As soon as the sadness in her voice entered my brain stem, my stomach dropped. Well, did I really think a controlling asshole such as Jimmy wouldn’t be able to keep her? Did I believe a girl such as her could fall for me because of one stupid, cringy text? “ ... heading to Grammy’s for the weekend.”

“Uh, what?”

As I shook the haze from my head, struggling to rebuild the words I’d missed, she sighed.

“I said, my mom’s taking us to my grandmother’s. For the long weekend. It’s a holiday, remember?”

“Oh.” Though my heart continued to descend into the chilly depths of my soul, my miniscule brainstem whispered, perhaps I still had a slim chance. “Okay. Well, um, have fun.” Really, that’s it, brainstem? That’s what you came up with? My hands shook as I gulped. What the heck?

“Um, thanks.” If possible, her voice sounded sadder and was barely audible. “Bye.”

With the click, resounding like the slamming of a castle’s gate, slamming into my stupid ear, I gaped at my reflection in the glass. My dinosaur-sized walnut brain wobbled. So, Beth had called to tell me where she was going? You know, idiot, the girl who’d spoken maybe four words to you in three years of high school. And you’d said what?

Just as I punched myself, hard, in the thigh, the door flew open, and my mother came whirling into the house. With her dark hair trailing in a disheveled cloud, she had one hand clamped tight to her swollen belly. After flashing me a quick grin, she turned to dad as he looked up from the kitchen.

“Sorry I’m late, dear. Traffic was horrible. Everyone’s heading out for the holiday.” After a curt nod up the street, she added. “Even Mrs. Winston and the girls darted by.”

At that, dad glanced at me, his eyebrow raising, but remained silent.

“How you feeling? You okay, Kyle?” my mother said while kicking off her low-heeled shoes.

“Yes.” As I grinned, she peeked at dad, plating our dinner. Stew. It smelled delicious.

As soon as I caught my mother’s eyes, thoughts of food died and the rumbling in my stomach became muffled. At the hungry, not for food, twinkles in those blue pools, my heartbeat raced. Although she’d been worried while I’d been in the hospital, she’d also missed me.

With a shaky wave, and a glance beyond her at dad’s approach, I returned her smile. God knows, I’d missed her, too. She caught the abrupt shift as my cock surged. As a hint of gold flared in each iris and her teeth sank into her lower lip, she sashayed, a bit awkwardly, into her bedroom to change.

Once my mother had come back, in a long black sheer robe that hung from her heavy breasts and bulbous stomach, we sat for dinner. While they recounted their days between helping me eat, I tried to concentrate on anything but her.

Gone were the days when dad or I commented on her swaying chest. However, there was no way to ignore them or the engorged belly sliding beneath the shimmery, diaphanous material. While soft, tense sighs slipped from him, when I snuck peeks, my hands crushed the armrests.

It was too much. Too many unasked questions. And answers I doubted any of us really wanted to hear. As soon as I was done, I spun and headed across the main room to fake as if I was playing online. Of course, I was actually watching them in the glass.

Because something else had changed while I was at the hospital. After dinner, rather than lounging on the couch while dad washed the dishes, my mother stood next to him and dried. That was the thing. As tense as he was and nervous as she appeared, they’d been staying close. To be honest, it was more her clinging to him. And only when she wasn’t looking did his anxious, or haunted, narrow-eyed glances sweep over her.

“Oof.” At her cry, my focus shifted to my mother just as she winced. “I think they really want to come out, hon.”

With her drawn face becoming pale, my mother’s outstretched fingers slid beneath the swell of her distended abdomen. When another grimace appeared, she leaned back to rest against the kitchen counter.

After placing his palm flat on her belly, dad jolted and pulled it away. His taut face went ashen. Pure snowy white. After a sharp pursing of his lips, he glanced in my direction before flashing a tight, very tight, smile at my mother.

At her snuffle, my gaze shifted to Shayna. With her muzzle resting on her paws, she lay beside me, but was facing them. For a second, I wasn’t sure she was breathing; she was that still. At a quick flicker of her eyes to me, I swallowed.

After a sigh, I bent my head, playing for real. As my sweaty fingers slid over the keyboard, my pulse was racing. Whatever was happening, I needed to distance myself.

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