Chapter 40

After whatever had happened with dad in his office, I sat silent, still processing the sly smile my mother had flashed me. My heart continued to hammer as she grabbed a bottle of water and walked, slower than normal, into their bedroom.

With a sigh, I turned from the house and moved along the pool. Tail whipping, Shayna dashed ahead before leaping to play and roll on the grass. After what I’d just witnessed my parents doing, and saying, my pulse still raced as I lifted my face skyward to track a pair of darting birds.

What the heck had happened?

Well, one thing was for sure, neither of them was surprised. At an abrupt breeze, my squinting eyes fluttered. All of a sudden, the crunch of dad’s trudging feet in the desert appeared, and the breeze became a powerful blast of dry dusty wind. Because, duh, they shared an interesting history.

Yeh, I’d discarded the whole “dream” theory. No way had my imagination invented what I’d visualized. Experienced?

Then again. So what? Their past didn’t impact me. My life remained the same. After everything, what had actually changed? For the next two weeks, Beth was off on some damned farm. And Jeri ... Well, she’d return to being my teacher. Once more, so close, yet so far away. My whole body ached for both of them. Of course, the universe, being both amused and cruel, couldn’t care less.

So, yeh, my world was unchanged.

When I caught movement through the glass, I glimpsed dad standing in his office. After a glance at his dark-spattered crotch, he moved to their bedroom. A few minutes later, he snuck out in clean shorts.

Okay, so their life had sorta changed. But, as I’d noted, neither was shocked nor disturbed. Only acceptance.

With a shrug, I rolled further to slide into the shade of a swaying tree. As my mind drifted, texting with my friends, the morning slipped away.

When Beth appeared, still horny, I left them to sext with her for a while. She was turning into quite the little show-off but could only use the bathroom as she shared a room with her sister. Which was fine since it was getting painful for me. In the end, she wandered around her grandmother’s yard while chatting. That wasn’t much better.

Even as she described the home, I craved every inch of Beth rising and falling above me. Her warm cave, so damned tight, sliding, squeezing, and shuddering. At last, my fists squeaking on the armrests, I focused enough to catch a few details. A mix of other farms and lush forest surrounded the farm.

She sent pictures. Some selfies. Even though she’d added a green plaid shirt, the photos didn’t help the pain in my shorts, or the ache in my chest. Others were scenic panoramic shots. It was beautiful countryside. So, there was that.

From Jeri, there was nothing until after lunch when she texted.

Sorry. I slept in late and did some online training all morning.

What did you learn?

Nothing you’d be interested in.

Orly? ;-) Are you wet while thinking about me?

Oh god, MASTER!! Yes!!! Are you hard?

Yes.

Just then, they called her to attend a videoconference. On her day off. Some teacher’s union business. By that time, Shayna had awakened and was resting her sun-warmed head on my leg. As a lengthy exhale slipped from me, she dragged her tongue along my skin. Her glimmering emerald eyes shone up at me.

“Yeh, I don’t know, either?” With a taut grin, I ran my fingers through her thick mane. “From King of the Hill back to, boom, lonely, crippled kid. All fucking alone.” After a snort, I rolled my lips. “Well, no fucking. Only alone.”

“Kyle, lunch!”

At dad’s call from the glass door, I flicked a smile and sighed. It was only as I crossed the main room, Shayna gliding beside me, that I detected a strange tension. It was the way dad was moving. One minute fidgety, the next he was taut and motionless. When I glanced at their closed bedroom door, he swallowed and placed our plates on the table.

“She’s, um ... She needs her rest, Kyle. Okay?”

After handing me a sandwich and bending a long straw to me, for the briefest of seconds, I thought he’d say more. Instead, he only nodded to himself before taking a plate and a drink to her. Once he’d returned, we sat in silence. While he worked on his tablet, I gazed out the window. At least he was less twitchy.

With lunch complete, he went into the bedroom to retrieve her empty dishes. After gathering mine, he washed while I retired to the pool deck. Okay, I escaped to the outdoors. Once again, he’d restarted that weird one second, nervous, the next stoic pattern.

Back beneath the shade tree, I logged on to play online with my buddies. Well, it was more like me struggling to focus while not dying too many times. But it was hopeless. In a continuous whirl, images kept appearing in my mind.

Jeri’s brilliant smile. Her sleek, dark frame. Both with leather straps and without. The way sunlight highlighted her toned shoulders. Oh, God, again, her smile; I really missed that knowing smile.

And Beth. I also longed for her—everything. The little puffing breaths that flew from her like an overheated locomotive right as her shuddering body peaked. Her eyes ... How they’d expanded. So wide. The thrashing of her racing heart.

Somehow, the afternoon disappeared, and the aroma of dinner drew me inside before dad could call. As I moved closer, he flashed a taut grin while once more carrying food and drink to the bedroom. The new routine?

Then again, my mother had gone from very pregnant to—not. With visions of the desert, in the past; what she’d told dad that morning; and Carpenter Evans’ enormous vein-wrapped black log gliding between her glossy red lips all dumped into my brain, I clawed at the armrests. After a curse under my breath, I looked at Shayna.

“Too much,” I murmured as she stared up at me; her eyes—worried. “Too much.”

It was. Between Jeri and Beth, I possessed enough challenges. At Shayna nudging into my shaking palm, I swallowed and let a lengthy whistling exhale escape me before nodding. As my fingers buried deep into the thick fur on her neck, dragging on the collar, dad stepped past to settle in his chair.

“You okay, Kiddo?”

“Yeh, dad,” I replied.

My chest hitched. Because heck no, I wasn’t okay.

As if to prove that point, both wrists shook, flicking my spasming fingertips over Shayna’s neck and rattling along the edge of the chariot’s armrest. With his eyes widening, dad pursed his lips.

“Tomorrow, I’m calling.” He pointed at my still trembling arms. “Maybe we can get you in early. Before school. For a blood draw at least. I’ll see about the other tests.”

Although I tried to answer, all I could do was nod. There was this strange wirbling, racing feeling in my heart. That was new. And most likely, not good. In a whoosh, my skin chilled and became clammy. As he came to my side to hold my trembling shoulders, his eyes narrowed.

A sudden thunder of rushing blood filled my ears.

Even louder, the abrupt arrival of a rhythmic drumbeat. Not my heart.

With his lips moving, dad must’ve been speaking, but I heard nothing.

Once the episode had passed, dad was beyond quiet while helping get a little food into me. As he readied me for bed, his mouth opened to speak several times, but each time, he let his lips close.

“I’m, uh, not going to mention anything to your mom”—at long last, as he tucked me in, dad’s low voice at my ear jolted me—”about that attack. She’s got enough ... She doesn’t need to worry. Not right now.”

“Okay dad.”

At that point, I mean, what else could I say? As I nodded, he tussled my hair before petting Shayna on the head and turning off the light. With a last grin, he pulled my door shut, leaving me to stare at the ceiling.

Soon after, Shayna’s breathing slowed. My parent’s muffled voices continued for a while before darkness took me.

The next day, after dad awakened late, we rushed through breakfast. Another trick of the universe; we needn’t have bothered. The bus also was running behind, and I managed to catch it. Which meant, by the time we arrived at school, I had to roll into class with my peers.

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