Chapter 22

The following day, Mia and I stayed in bed far longer than I normally would. Not because we had to fuck some more, but because we both felt like getting out of bed would start some kind of countdown before she had to leave. So, we simply lay cuddled up and enjoying each other’s warmth. For about an hour, I reveled in the feeling of having someone close to me who loves me. And I felt how much I loved her as well. I was completely content with my life, and that happiness dominated my thoughts completely.

After that hour, however, we both reluctantly admitted that it was time for us to take a shower and get started on our day. For Mia, starting on her day meant going home.

After she kissed me goodbye and the door closed behind her, I stood in my living room, realizing I was already missing her. Then my eyes wandered to the wall above my couch, and my mood dropped. I sat down in the armchair, and, for a long time, studied all the pictures of me and Tess.

“Good Morning.” I heard Claire’s happy voice rip me out of my thoughts, and saw her and Ava stand in the door. I didn’t even notice them opening it. While Claire was smiling just as happily as she had sounded, Ava was looking at me with a shrewd grin, no doubt because of me spending the night with Mia.

“M ... Morning.” came my surprised reply, as I tried to quickly curb the emotions that had built over the good half hour I had sat there, got up, and walked into the kitchen. More in an attempt to hide my facial expression from them than to actually do something. When I turned with my freshly brewed coffee in my hand that I didn’t even want, however, Claire was still standing in the middle of the room, studying my every move with concern written on her face.

“You want to talk about it?” she asked softly, her head tilted to the side, and showing an encouraging smile on her lips.

Despite my effort, she obviously had noticed the mood I was in when they came home. I pondered her offer for a moment, then simply nodded and sat back in the armchair.

“Mia and I decided to try and make it official.” I explained, as Claire sat down on the couch opposing me.

“Aww, I’m so happy for you, Honey!” she even clapped her hands together as she said that. “But why do you look like that’s a bad thing?”

I sighed, trying to figure out how to put my feelings into words, and my eyes glanced over to Tess’s photos again. Claire followed my gaze and seemed to immediately realize what was bothering me.

“You are not betraying her. It’s been almost half a year, Honey. It’s been even longer since the last time you saw her. At some point you have to move on. There’s nothing wrong about falling in love again.”

“I know. It’s just ... I kinda feel like...” I still had no idea how to explain it. Claire got up from the couch to instead kneel down in front of me.

“Honey, look at me.” She waited for me to do as she asked, and I saw that her compassionate look had been replaced by determination. “You have your entire life in front of you. You’re not even eighteen yet. Do you seriously think she’d want you to stay single forever, just to honor her memory?” She shook her head, and placed one of her hands on my cheek to caress it. “From what I see in those pictures, she loved you, Honey. Don’t put your life on hold.”

“I know that. In principle, at least. It’s just...” I shrugged my shoulders while groaning in frustration, unable to finish.

“Honey, why is it so hard for you to let go of her?” she asked carefully, her voice almost a whisper.

The effect it had on me was unexpected. When I accepted her offer to talk, I was only thinking about the pictures on my wall, and how starting a relationship with Mia while having a wall plastered with photos of my dead Ex could cause problems. I thought that, with her life experience, Claire might have some insight that could help me. But somehow, when she asked me that question, I felt like risking it. Maybe it was because of her seemingly honest efforts to be an actual mother for me during the last two months, or maybe it was simply my need to finally talk about it, but I suddenly blurted out what I couldn’t say before.

“Because I fucked up as her boyfriend when I let her die alone.” I admitted.

Claire was immediately alarmed. Though, for some reason, I could see a deep sadness in her eyes.

“Honey, you couldn’t know.” she said in the same almost whisper she had used to ask me the first question.

For a moment I was irritated at how she seemed to know what I was talking about, even though I never told anyone about it. But then I remembered how our first night together ended. The night I was so drugged up with painkillers that I thought she was Tess, and that ended with me crying like a little boy while constantly apologizing for not realizing that she had cancer. Back then, Claire had simply held me and let me cry myself out. Now she looked like she wanted to do the same, though I wasn’t anywhere near crying again. I was angry with myself.

“But I did know. I noticed her behavior. I saw her extreme mood swings. And I knew something was wrong. But I ... I thought she was bothered by our age difference or something. I SHOULD’ve realized that it was more than simple crap like that!” I protested, but Claire wasn’t in the least bit impressed.

“You were sixteen!” she reminded me vehemently. “You had no way of realizing that something was seriously wrong! You had no way of understanding what was going on without her telling you! You never experienced anything remotely like it! If anyone is to blame for this, it’s Tess for leaving you in the dark. And it’s us, for pushing you out of our lives and leaving you with nobody but your colleagues to ask for advice.”

Now her voice was full of regret as she got up from her knees and sat on the chair’s armrest instead. And then I got my first mom-hug in roughly a decade, when she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my head into her chest, before she continued talking.

“Don’t blame yourself for this. If you didn’t realize, it was because Tess didn’t want you to realize. Probably to protect you.”

That startled me. As we sat there, my head leaned into my mothers breasts while she played with my hair, my mind wandered back to the months between Tess’ move and her death. I remembered how often she had encouraged me to find someone else during all those phone conversations we had. How she encouraged me to go out with the guys from work, after I had confessed how they took me to a strip club. How she made me promise to “keep going and hang on”.

Until that very moment, I had always thought that was Tess’ way of telling me that something was going to happen, and I failed her by not understanding it. But now, after hearing Claire’s explanation for it, I might have been wrong about that. For the first time, I allowed myself to view those events from a new perspective. Maybe Claire was right. Maybe that really was Tess’ way to tell me that I had to move on. Or, maybe, that was just wishful thinking.

My arms wrapped around Cliare’s waist and pulled her into my lap, though there was nothing sexual about it. She let it happen, but continued to hold my head to her chest and comfort me, as I held her tight and thought about what she had said. After a good fifteen minutes, my mind had calmed down enough to reach a conclusion. Wishful thinking or not, I knew I couldn’t go on like this. If I wanted to make my relationship with Mia work, I had to let go of my doubts about Tess.

“When Mia left, I looked at the pictures. I thought having my girlfriend over while that wall is plastered with pictures of my Ex would be ... you know...” I started to explain without pulling my head away from Claire, but my voice trailed off.

“Oh.” Claire remarked. She thought about what I had said for a moment, before she jumped up and rushed into the bedroom she shared with Ava. When she returned, she carried some kind of black box that had a power cord dangling from it.

“What’s that?”

“First of all, you shouldn’t feel bad about having pictures of Tess in your apartment.” Claire proclaimed sternly. “The woman is an important part of your life. ‘Is’, not ‘was’. Without her, you wouldn’t be who you are today. That is something Mia should appreciate. It’s also not like you build Tess a shrine here, Honey. But if you feel like you want to make room for new pictures, I think this would be a good compromise.”

She finally handed me that black object she was holding, and I found out that it was a digital picture frame. I studied it for a moment, then regarded Claire with newfound admiration.

“I could leave the ones that also show me, and put the ones that only show Tess on this.” I said, holding the frame and starting to smile.

“Exactly! You’d still have her photos, you wouldn’t get rid of them, but you could put up photos of you and Mia right next to the ones of you and Tess. That would show Mia that she’s on the same level.” Claire said happily again, and beamed at me.

I couldn’t help it. I got off the armchair, pulled her close, and wrapped her into a bearhug.

“Thank you, Mom.” I whispered next to her ear while my hands pulled her into me.

She released a flattering breath upon hearing my words, but I soon felt her respond by wrapping her arms around my torso and returning the hug. We stood there, unmoving, for a long while before I let go, though I got the impression that Mom would have preferred to keep it going for a bit longer.

During the following week, the improvements in my life became apparent. Mom and Ava were happily skipping around the apartment, despite the divorce proceedings looming over us. In school, Mia wasted no time to let everyone know about our new relationship status by putting up a blatant display of affection whenever we met up during breaks or for lunch. Though, I could see that not all of her Cheerleader friends were too happy about it. I guessed not all of them shared Mia’s sentiment about dating younger guys not being a problem.

The Valentine’s Day Date with Mia turned out to be a real challenge. I could now freely admit that I actually loved Mia, and we had grown a lot closer during the weeks we had spent together, but I was still mostly in the dark about what she expected from a boyfriend.

When I tried to get some ideas on reddit, most of what was suggested turned out to be completely useless. Things like “Help out in a soup kitchen”, which was useless because she did that with her family anyway, even if I could see what that had to do with Valentine’s Day in the first place. All the suggestions about ice skating, dancing, and hiking, fell flat because of my bum leg. Finally, I found a post that got me on the right track. It recommended looking for unusual places in my town.

Mia was a little wary, and maybe also a little disappointed, when I told her to dress casually for our date, but when I showed up at her house to pick her up, I was glad to see that she followed my recommendation.

“So...” she started, with apprehension in her voice. “I take it we’re volunteering somewhere?”

“No. As much as I respect people for doing it, I don’t see what that has to do with Valentine’s Day.” That made her perk up. “Just wait, it’s a little way’s off, but I think you’ll like it.”

We drove for almost forty-five minutes before we arrived at a rather inconspicuous storefront and entered. I paid four-hundred dollars for the room, and they handed us those paper-onesies and safety goggles that made Mia look at me weirdly. Then they led us into the backroom, which was decorated and furnished like a regular office, handed us a couple of small sledgehammers, and left us alone.

“What is this?” Mia asked, not completely baffled.

“It’s called a Rage Room.” I grinned.

“A what?”

“A Rage Room. Everything you see here? Smash it to your heart’s content! Go nuts!”

“You’re joking!” she laughed.

“No! I hear it’s surprisingly freeing and relaxing. If you don’t want to, they also have axe throwing next door.” I offered, and saw her eyeing the room with a small grin on her face. That grin grew wider the longer she looked around.

A little unsure if she should really do it, she lifted the hammer while looking at me questioningly. When I gave her an encouraging nod, she let the hammer come down and dive right through a vase on the desk. She shrieked a little as the water and shards flew against the wall, but was very soon over her initial shock.

Just a few days ago, I had thought that she looked entirely too happy when she told me about post orgasm torture. Now that girl was entirely too happy while she smashed that office into pieces, loudly laughing and squealing with every impact of her hammer. At one point, she simply ripped a picture frame off the wall and threw it across the room. After roughly thirty minutes, we had nothing left to destroy, and, as soon as we were out of those whole-body-condoms, she threw herself at me and kissed me in the most heated and passionate way she ever had.

“You know,” she panted after breaking the kiss. “I think now I understand what the whole idea behind The Purge is.”

“I take it you enjoyed yourself?” I laughed.

“I had no idea these places even existed! That was super fun! Thank you!” she nodded, and gave me another kiss. “But you said something about Axe throwing?”

I looked at her in amazement.

“We just spent half an hour swinging heavy hammers, and now you want to throw axes!?”

“Kinda, yeah.” she confirmed, casually shrugging her shoulders.

“How much stamina do you have!? Cheerleading is scary as hell!”

That made her laugh again, though she didn’t feel the need to elaborate on it before she simply grabbed my arm and pulled me to the clerk, who was all too happy to take even more of my money. I’d like to claim that my bum leg made it harder for me to aim steadily, but the simple truth was that Mia handled those axes with much higher precision than I did. Another thing I should look out for if I ever got into a fight with that girl.

After she had thoroughly outthrown me, she turned to wrap her arms around mine.

“Well, this was certainly the most entertaining date I ever had!” she giggled. “But I have to wonder, how is this any more appropriate for Valentine’s than volunteering?”

“Oh, the Valentine’s-part is still coming! Until now I just wanted us to have some fun to start out with.” I assured her. “Once we’re done here, I’ll take you home so you can freshen up. Then, a trip to the movies, and then you get to choose. Either we go out to eat in a fancy restaurant, or I’ll use the time while you freshen up and cook something for us.”

“Cooking it is!” she shouted without hesitation before pulling me to the door. Apparently we were done with the axes.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. It made me happy to feel appreciated.

I dropped her off at her place, then drove home for a shower myself before picking her up again. She had turned into a sight to behold! Her long dark hair was waving freely across her back as she moved, and, despite the lower February temperature, she had chosen a low-cut sundress that showed off the pendant I had gifted her for Christmas. Seeing my reaction to her appearance, a satisfied smile spread across her face.

I didn’t have to suffer through the nauseatingly clichéd romance movie, because, as it turned out, neither of us was giving it much attention. We spent the entire 90 minutes making out in the dark instead. I was secretly very glad with how this whole thing had turned out so far when we arrived in my apartment for the meal.

I had planned to go all out for this, and had Mom help me the evening before to prepare a few things, so the evening wouldn’t be interrupted for too long while I cooked.

“This smells good!” she said roughly ten minutes after I had seated her at my small dinner table. “What is it?”

“Chili Crisp and honey-roasted chicken breasts with thinly sliced rosemary garlic hasselback potatoes.” I informed her. Then I pointed at the couch table. “And for dessert, I bought a chocolate fondue set that I thought we could try out. I got bananas, grapes, and strawberries.”

“Someone’s eager to get laid.” she dryly commented, causing me to laugh.

The dinner went just like I had hoped. After that, we moved over to the couch to watch another movie while enjoying dessert, and the chocolate fondue held a surprising benefit. I presented us with plenty of opportunities to ... clean up ... all the droplets of chocolate that fell on our fingers, lips, and chins before the covered fruits vanished in our mouths. At some point, though, Mia’s gaze fell onto the wall above my couch.

“You took down some of the photos.” she said it like she simply made an observation, but I could still hear the hidden question behind her words.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I thought ... I could hang some photos of us. Together, you know?” I shrugged my shoulders, not entirely sure how she would react.

I wasn’t sure how she would react, because I didn’t know how much Tess’ photos on my wall bothered her in the first place. But her reaction still surprised me, as she simply got up from her seat to plop down onto my lap instead.

“I love you.” she simply stated before giving me a loving, soft, and lingering kiss.

“I love you too.” I smiled.

“In that case, I think I have an idea on how we should move on to the next part of our Valentine’s date.” she grinned.

She got off my lap, grabbed my hand to make me stand up as well, and then moved towards my bedroom.

“Oh!” She added. “Before I forget. Bring that chocolate fountain!”

Who was I to refuse the lady?

Obviously she stayed the night, and also didn’t make any attempt to leave when Mom and Ava returned the next morning from their stay at John’s. Though, she did vanish into my bedroom with Ava, which confused me a great deal until Mom informed me that it was probably time for the obligatory girl’s talk, and giggled after hearing me groaning about it.

About an hour later, when they emerged from my bedroom, my fear was confirmed. Ava knew absolutely everything that had happened the day before, which included absolutely every detail about what happened with the chocolate fountain in my bedroom. She nonchalantly commended me for taking Mia on such a creative date. It seemed like Mia didn’t exaggerate when she claimed this to be the most entertaining date she ever had, since the other boys she dated before all thought she just had to be taken somewhere pricy, and then they’d be en route to her bedroom ... or their cars’ back seats.

I wasn’t particularly surprised about this. At one of our earliest encounters, I straight up told her that the guys she usually went for were exactly the type that doesn’t care about her fun. That was made even more apparent when we got back to school the next day, and she used our lunch break to be even more affectionate in public than before. She took great pleasure in telling the other girls about where I took her, how the meal I personally prepared for us tasted, and I could see almost all of them throw some disappointed glances at their own boyfriends. That part I enjoyed a lot!

From that day on, Ava and Mia spent even more time together, especially since I was now back to staying in the office until Seven or Eight in the evenings. On the two days a week that I still had to attend my PT, I came home at an even later hour and was utterly useless for any kind of activity that didn’t involve actual sleep. Now that my arm was out of the sling, I had to train that as well to regain all of my strength. I was shocked how much I had lost after it was immobilized for almost two months. True to her word, Mia never complained about my long working hours, but rather ensured me that she admired me for taking care of my sister and mother.

Mom was a godsend throughout that time. Mondays through Fridays, when I was staying late in the office, she would take care of the household and cooking. There wasn’t a single day when I came home and she hadn’t prepared something for us. On the weekends, we would cook together as a family. Somehow, I enjoyed that even more than coming home to a readily waiting meal. She always made it a point that none of us ate alone, and insisted on talking about our days.

I also noted that it seemed to be important for her to update me regularly on her job hunt, even though the continuous rejections of her applications became noticeably frustrating for her. She had worked as a paralegal in a law office before, and there simply didn’t seem to be many job offerings at that time. I decided to not put any more pressure on her, since she had enough on her plate with the divorce.

During the following weeks leading up to spring break, that idyll got shaken up.

Mom and Aaron had finally accepted that they would never reach an understanding regarding their divorce, so it was taken to court despite their initial reluctance to do so. Of course, Aaron still fought her on everything and got the judge to order a whopping twelve weeks of counseling. Mom was less than happy about being forced into this, and unburdened herself during dinner after the second session. Simply put, Aaron still refused to acknowledge the part he played in breaking our home.

Ava was the other problem. As it turned out, my sister was a manipulator extraordinaire!

It started out harmless enough, with our now regular evenings cuddled up with Mia on my bed. With me being healed up so much that neither of them had to worry about hurting me, Ava had started snuggling up into me just as much as Mia was. I don’t know if the two of them had planned it together, but looking back, I doubt it.

Over time, it seemed like both of them were working together to get me aroused in those situations. First by picking movies that featured those raunchy scenes that worked before, then by Mia starting to make out with me intensely while Ava was right next to us. Finally, one night, they took it to the next level.

Mia had just gotten me worked up once again when she suddenly grinned at me. Then she looked Ava directly in the eyes, as she pushed her hand into my pants. Ava’s eyes grew big as she watched the rise and fall of my pants clearly showing how Mia was stroking me. Then she surprised me.

“Wanna see it?” Mia asked.

Ava just stared at her like a deer in the headlights for a few seconds. Then, in a barely noticeable movement, her head jerked in the tiniest of nods. Mia smiled, removed her hand from my cock, and used it to push the waistband of my pants down. Ava looked like she was holding her breath, transfixed on my pants slowly moving downwards and revealing my hard flesh. Then, when my rock hard pole sprang free and slapped onto my belly, Ava even jerked back a little. I was way too horny to realize how weird Ava’s behavior was, given how we were already intimately familiar with each other’s genitals.

I could hear Ava swallow, as Mia’s fingers wrapped themselves around my shaft again. Her glance moved back to Ava’s eyes as she resumed slowly stroking me. After another few seconds of this, she surprised me again.

“Go on. Touch him too.” Her tone was halfway between suggestion and command.

I just looked at her stunned. I was still worried about the possible implications of Mia actually seeing me fuck my sister, but the idea of having a girlfriend that was okay with it was too enticing to protest.

Ava’s eyes were now rapidly jumping between me, my cock, and Mia, before she tentatively extended her arm, placed her hand on my lower stomach, and then let it slowly glide downwards. The entire time, she was watching Mia like she was waiting for her to retract her permission. Mia never did. When my sister’s hand joined my girlfriend’s around my shaft, and they both jerked me off in unison while pressing their bodies to either side of mine, I thought my mind was about to break from sensory overload.

Mia leaned further into me and started kissing my neck, as her hand moved upwards my cock and wrapped itself around my crown. She was now using my precum as lubrication on my crown while Ava was steadily jerking my shaft. Ava soon followed suit by leaning into me to start kissing the other side of my neck, imitating Mia’s actions. And I fucking loved every second of it!

“Do you like that, Muffin? Do you enjoy your sister and your girlfriend working together to make your fat cock feel good?” Mia breathed directly into my ear, and I immediately moaned a barely intelligible confirmation.

“Keep going!” Mia commanded towards Ava, as she untangled herself from our bodies, removed her clothes, and, without missing a beat, swung her leg over my head to sit on my face. “Now eat that pussy, Muffin!”

And I did. While Ava jerked me off as commanded, Mia rode my face while loudly moaning. I admit, I soon forgot about Ava and simply worked on kissing, licking, and sucking Mia’s folds. While Mia’s ever increasing moans filled the room, the speed of Ava’s hand increased in equal measure. Within five minutes, Mia reached her orgasm and her juices freely leaked onto my face. Ava’s hand was now moving so fast that I wasn’t far behind Mia, but I had no way of letting them know, so I just let loose.

“D-DON’T STOOOOOP!” Mia moaned loudly, and both, Ava and I, took it to heart.

While I continued to eat Mia throughout her orgasm, Ava simply kept jerking me well past the time I had shot my last spurt of cum, and I felt myself reminded of the time Mia did that. It soon became so intense I couldn’t bear it anymore. Instead of throwing Mia off, however, I decided to grab her head from behind and push it down into my groin. There was no protest on her part, she simply opened her mouth and started sucking on my cum covered tip, causing Ava to finally slow down so as to not hit Mia in the face.

Another minute later, we all lay panting on top of each other, simply relaxing. I wondered how I should get Ava off, but then noticed her hand being stuck between her legs while she was panting just as much as Mia and I were. Apparently, she had managed to masturbate the both of us to a climax

There was no discussion about what happened. We collectively and silently decided to simply get cleaned up and go back to bed.

A few days later, Mia escalated the situation even further, which I should have expected when she lay down in between Ava and me wearing a thin négligée that barely reached halfway down her buttcheeks.

She quickly, and without even uttering a single word, had us positioned so that I was spooning her, while she herself was spooning Ava. As soon as the movie started, she started gyrating her ass into my groin, causing me to harden again and her nighty to move up over her butt.

Feeling my hard meat press into her behind, she removed the arm that was wrapped around Ava to reach back and massage my cock. In mere seconds, she had the blanket removed so she could see how my cock looked in her hand. Then she started sensually gyrating her bare ass in an inviting manner.

My hand reached forward to squeeze her ass, causing her to bend her upper leg and present me with a perfect view to her glistening sex. She had neglected to put on any panties and was obviously just as horny as I was. My eyes were glued to her folds, so much I once again completely forgot about Ava being barely a feet away from me. That didn’t change when Mia used her grip on my shaft to signal me to scoot closer.

As I did, she pointed my cock at her entrance and her intention was clear. I would have fucked her even if she weren’t now placing her hand on my hip and pulling me inside her.

With Ava seemingly asleep, I started out slowly, steadily pumping into my girlfriend from behind, as she turned her head to kiss me and reached back to wrap an arm around my head. Suddenly, I saw Ava stir and stopped all of my movements. Mia had a different idea, though, and started thrusting her hips against me instead. Ava was quickly awake!

As my sister turned around to see what all the shaking was about, Mia completely ignored her. She simply stopped being quiet about it, and moaned in lust as her hips continued moving.

“Are you fucking right now!?” Ava asked incredulously, and I was surprised at how much of an accusation I could hear in her voice.

“Turn around!” Mia barked through her moans, and, to my displeasure, Ava did. She simply turned her back to us.

To my greatest surprise, that pissed me off!

The way she had told Ava to simply turn away and let us do something like this right next to her, completely disregarding the hurt in Ava’s voice about not getting to participate, emotionally sent me back to the time I was excluded by the family. I was just about to tell Mia off, when she beat me to it.

“Not that way!” Mia barked again before Ava could place her head back on the pillow, and finally stopped fucking herself back into me.

When Ava looked confused at us, Mia grabbed her arm and pulled her into a sitting position, before placing her hand on Ava’s shoulder to push her back onto the mattress, but with her head now pointing to the foot of the bed, effectively positioning the two of them in a sixty-nine. Then Mia placed both of her hands on Ava’s head and pulled it between her legs.