Chapter 17: Out of the Ashes

JUNE 2002, SENIOR YEAR

I awoke with my usual morning hard-on. My eyes were still closed, but I felt Adrienne's presence before me. As my sense came alive, the fingers of my left hand reflexively squeezed the large breast I was currently palming, my left arm snaked beneath her pillow to hold her from the opposite side. My right hand firmed up over her hip, gently holding her in place while I reflexively ground my erection into her panty-covered ass.

Breathing deeply, I let my head roll forward to push my nose into her hair, smelling her sweet fragrance. And I exhaled softly as my body warmed up to make my erotic dreams into reality.

"Ben," Adrienne said quietly.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, still not fully awake just yet.

"Please stop."

My eyes popped open and I jerked my head, now waking up completely and realizing the situation I was in. My left hand released her breast and my right pulled off her hip as I rocked my hips away from her ass. "Sorry, sorry," I muttered and suppressed a disappointed groan.

"No it's okay," she said softly. Then she added, "I'm sorry, Ben. I know you get horny in the mornings."

"Every guy gets horny in the mornings," I replied gently.

"But I feel like I'm neglecting you."

"It's okay. I'm okay." I put my hands back on her, this time scooping my left forearm beneath her breasts and my right wrapping over the top as I spooned myself closer against Adrienne. My dick mashed into her buttcheek, but I didn't try to hump myself against her. "I love you, Adrienne. I'm here for you."

She nodded and then started crying softly. I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the coming few minutes. This morning would be just like every morning for the past week.

It had all started with that phone call Adrienne got the night she and Brooke finally took me on together. Adrienne finally let herself have sex with a younger girl, and more importantly a little sister. Brooke acted out on her deep lust and idol worship of the gorgeous older girl. And I got my fantasy of nailing the both of them at the same time. We were on top of the world, and then everything came crashing down.

Adrienne's father had been on a business trip in Seattle. It was just after 10pm when he and a colleague were crossing a street downtown after a late dinner when an off-duty cab blitzed around a blind right turn and crashed into both of them. A week later, the colleague was still in intensive care. Adrienne's father had been pronounced dead at the scene.

There were no close relatives. Both her parents had been only children. Adam was supposed to have been an only child too, actually. Adrienne had been an unwanted accident seven years later. Anyways, the issue of custody would be moot soon; she would be turning eighteen in a few more weeks on June 21 and could be emancipated.

But there was still paperwork and the social worker assigned to the case had full records of Adrienne's psychological history, including that she was currently in therapy. The state would feel much more comfortable knowing that there would be a family to take care of her, and that's where we came in. My parents signed guardianship papers and Adrienne willingly became a ward of our family. It made perfect sense, since Adrienne hadn't left our house since getting the phone call.

The night of the call, Adrienne had gone into shock. Brooke and I packed her up and brought her home with us. Mom's initial displeasure at Brooke being out past curfew (and not telling her where she was) was washed away when Adrienne's story came out. It took hours to get Adrienne calm enough to go to sleep, and that only when she was in my bed with me wrapped around her. My parents ordered me to leave the door open, out of consideration for the twins. I was fine with it. Sex was the last thing on my mind that night.

Adrienne didn't go to school the next day or for the rest of the week for that matter. I, however, was ordered to keep attending, and my parents took turns taking half-days from work until me and Brooke got home from school, just to keep an eye on her. It wasn't really necessary. She stayed in my room by herself and barely ate. At night, my parents fixed up Brandi's bedroom for her after sending me and Brooke across the street to fetch some of her belongings. It didn't matter much, she always slipped back into my bed after the twins went to sleep.

Our friends were of course, concerned. Heather, Lynne, and Candy came by immediately the next day. A few other cheerleaders and friends trickled by the rest of the week. Allie was there on Wednesday, taking over just holding Adrienne and rocking her gently, whispering encouragements in her ear. The rest of my core crew hung back until Friday afternoon, when they all came by with a big bouquet of flowers and well-wishes. Megan and Cassidy stayed late, sitting down and talking with Adrienne for hours up until dinnertime.

It was Kenny who first brought up how significant a change was our new legal situation. "So, your parents signed guardianship over her?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Someone had to take responsibility for her."

"That makes her a part of your family, then."

I waggled my head and smiled, feeling a warmth filling me inside. Adrienne ... a part of my family. "Uh, yeah. I guess it does," I grinned.

"Dude, doesn't that mean your girlfriend is now your sister?"

I arched an eyebrow. I'd never really thought of it that way, and it rather turned me on. But I bit my lip, trying to conceal that line of thought from Kenny. "Huh, that's a bit weird, isn't it?"

Kenny just grinned. "Actually, it's sorta kinky. Taboo and yet not, since she isn't actually your sister."

I shrugged and Kenny just clapped my shoulder. "Guess you can never break up with her now," he chuckled.

I shook my head. I didn't ever want to. I loved her. Adrienne needed me. I couldn't imagine how that could ever change. But it was still a struggle. And with each passing day I was stressing out more and more.

Now I'd been in situations where I needed to comfort a loved one. Dawn had gotten drugged and date-raped of all things. But for some reason, her recovery was faster because she barely remembered the event itself and she felt more traumatized by the thought of losing me. Having me drive up to see her had negated some of that. Tumbling into bed and making wild, passionate love to reaffirm our relationship at the time had been the cure. And there was some justice and closure when Mark was put into juvenile hall. It was a one-shot incident where the bad guy was put away and she could move on.

Brooke's little wanted but not quite wanted encounter with Drew and Marco wasn't even as bad as Dawn's. While she remembered it, my little sister ultimately chalked it up to a learning experience about getting involved with older bad boys. And she really just needed me for comfort and warmth just long enough to put it behind her.

Only my magical week with Summer MacIntosh gave me an idea on how to handle Adrienne's melancholy. Then, her dumping boyfriend Jae was still around, where every sight of him brought back the freshness of her open wounds. Every time she lay in my arms she remembered that she wouldn't get to have his arms anymore, the same way Adrienne could never again hope to have her dad hug her the way she deserved to be hugged. But even then, Summer had never fallen as deeply as Adrienne was now.

So I wasn't prepared for the intensity and duration of Adrienne's depression. While I understood that she was hurting, I was surprised by the severity of her grief. After all, Adrienne wasn't particularly close to her father. She'd more or less raised herself since she was twelve, and based on my estimation, he was only home one week out of ten as it was. More than once she'd mentioned how she felt like she didn't even HAVE a family, and that even when she hoped that someday in the future, her father would come to love her the way she truly wanted, she was always disappointed. And even just before she received the call, she'd complained about how alone she always felt.

It wasn't until Thursday that I found out her complaint was what had been really bugging her. The mere fact that she'd wished aloud that her father would die and leave her alone was causing her no end of anguish and guilt, as if she'd been responsible for the accident. That guilt, on top of the knowledge that she'd lost any chance for parental reconciliation, was eating away at her inside. She'd lost the chance to get the family she'd always dreamed of and wanted, and no amount of loving support my family gave her would ever make up for the real parents and brother she'd lost. And unlike what happened with Dawn and Brooke, these were not one-shot events where the guys involved could be ignored and forgotten. This was death, and the permanence of it extended Adrienne's mourning period.

At least Adrienne started to get better once she realized her extra guilt stemmed from that comment about wishing he'd die. She'd cried herself to sleep in my arms after an exhausting three hours and my parents didn't bother trying to move her to Brandi's room that night. I still left the door open, just in case the twins wandered by.

By the weekend, Adrienne was at least eating a little better and starting to interact with the rest of my family more. And I began to believe that with time, at least some of her wounds would heal.

And yeah, I hadn't had sex for a week. But whenever I looked at Adrienne, I remembered her getting repeatedly raped and then impregnated by her older brother. I remembered her mother's death in a drunken car crash. I remembered her desperate need to be in control of all her dating relationships and inability to fully trust any guy for her entire adolescence. I remembered how her one family member left, her father, ignored her and left her to fend for herself. And I remembered how that last family member had just been violently taken away.

I looked around my life: my loving parents and siblings, my friends, the Evanses, the girls I'd slept with, and my perfect little suburban existence where I wanted for nothing. And I decided that going without sex for a week was hardly something I couldn't handle.

Still, on this Monday morning after Adrienne apologized for neglecting me, my morning wood was tenting my shorts. So once she got up and headed into the bathroom to take a shower, I let my imagination fill my mind with a vision of my naked girlfriend all wet and soapy beneath the warm spray of water. And with cock in hand and a waiting tissue, I cranked out a quick ejaculation.

And then I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Adrienne drove in to school with me, her first day back after the previous week's bereavement leave of absence. She probably could have stayed even longer and the school had told her she would still graduate even if she never returned, but Adrienne had insisted on at least showing up. Her teachers wouldn't care if she wasn't paying attention in class for these last couple of weeks, but she wanted to see her friends. They were the only family she'd had for years.

We walked up together, hand-in-hand. Heather and Lynne had been waiting for us and they immediately approached. Both girls hugged Adrienne and looked over her with concern. Lynne was even considerate enough to touch my arm and ask how I was holding up. I waved her off, insisting I was doing just fine.

Heather and Lynne had gone ahead and coordinated with the cheer squad. At least one of the girls would escort Adrienne to her next class or next break, making sure she was never alone. There were no more events and no more practices, so Adrienne's Captain duties were no longer an issue. But the squad still banded together and rallied behind their leader.

But the first complication came when the first bell rang, warning everyone to get to class. Nadine Butler had arrived to take Adrienne to their shared first period, but my girlfriend refused to let go of my hand. I saw the wealth of pain in her eyes, and the fear of letting go of me. For an entire week, we'd barely been apart longer than it took to go to the bathroom. I was her rock. And she couldn't bring herself to let go.

Compromising, I decided to escort Adrienne to her first period. Only then could she bring herself to let go of my hand, still nervously looking back at me every few seconds as Nadine took her to her seat. And once there, Adrienne nervously began to play with her hair, running her fingers through it and straightening it almost constantly.

But then the second bell rang, announcing the beginning of class, and cursing under my breath I turned and hurried across the campus to get to my own first period. Mr. Reyes did NOT look kindly on tardy students.

As unobtrusively as possible, I slid through the open door and hunched as I tried to tiptoe down to my seat. But Mr. Reyes heard me and spun from his position by the whiteboard. "You're late, Ben."

"Yes, sir. I know."

"Go get a tardy slip from Administration."

"But I had to escort Adrienne to her first period," I tried to reason. Adrienne had Mr. Reyes for third period and he had to have been informed of her situation.

"Miss Dennis' situation is not a reason for your tardiness, young man," Mr. Reyes said sternly before turning around as if the discussion were finished.

"Yes it is!" I barked rather harshly, feeling my body flush with adrenaline. My hands clenched and I fought to take a deep breath. I'd never yelled at a teacher before. I guess I was rather more edgy than usual.

Mr. Reyes slowly turned in place, fixing me with a confused, but slightly angry look. His eyes narrowed but before he could speak, I just waved and turned back to the door. "Never mind."

The clerk at Administration was much more understanding when I explained what had happened. She gave me the tardy slip to return to Mr. Reyes, but she told me she wouldn't log the tardiness in my record. "Take care of that girl, young man," she ordered.

"I will," I promised. And then I left to get to class.

Between every set of periods on Monday, I sprinted across the campus to rendezvous with Adrienne as soon as possible. She was always with various cheerleaders, but she visibly warmed every time she saw me and immediately took my hand.

Heather and Lynne joined us at my crew's lunch table. Everyone was friendly, if a little tense and careful with their words. And at the end of the day, Adrienne and I were both exhausted as we simply slumped together on the couch and took a nap together.

And so went our week: wake up, go to school, come home and cuddle. Eat, sleep, and start again. I always woke up with a hard-on in the morning, Adrienne's lush body and my nocturnal dreams never failing to arouse me. And more than a few times I had to sneak a jerk-off session when she was in the shower or otherwise in the bathroom. I didn't want her to know. I didn't want her to burden herself with any more guilt than she already felt for her father.

At school, I stayed by Adrienne's side and held her hand every possible moment. I ran myself ragged meeting her between every period, even if it was only for thirty seconds before I had to sprint to the opposite side of the school to get to my own class. I reminded her constantly that I was always there for her, even if I didn't do so verbally. And by Friday afternoon, I was utterly and completely wiped out.

Relieved to have the school week over, Adrienne and I collapsed onto the couch in the family room together. Slung lower to the ground than an ordinary couch, it was also wide enough to fit two people comfortably side-by-side. I was lying next to the backrest, propped up at an angle, while Adrienne lay beside me, her left leg flung over me while she pillowed her head against my chest.

I was just starting to drop off to sleep when the doorbell rang, and both of us stirred. We glanced at the clock. Brooke was out with her friends and it was too early for the twins to be coming back home. But Adrienne just got a small smile on her face. "Why don't you go answer the door? I'm going to go take a nap in Brandi's room."

The mention of my older sister's bedroom got my attention. "Brandi's room? Why?"

Adrienne just shrugged so I added. "Go ahead up to my room. I'll see who's at the door and then I'll meet you in a minute."

My grieving girlfriend gave me a mysterious look before nodding and then turning for the stairs. Even though it was such an emotional time and I knew she was still in pain, I couldn't help but ogle Adrienne's perfect ass as her hips swayed gently with every step away from me. It wasn't my fault. I now hadn't gotten laid in eleven days.

Now wasn't the time. Someday, Adrienne would tell me when she was ready. But right now, she was too torn apart emotionally to ever be in the mood for sex, even the therapeutic kind of making love I really wanted to show her. Make-up sex to get over a fight or to reaffirm our commitment to each other was one thing. Sex after a death was a little more morbid.

So taking a deep breath, I pulled my eyes away from Adrienne's ass and headed for the door. I peeked through the peephole and then pulled my head back in surprise. I opened the door and exclaimed, "Candy! Hey! What are you doing here?"

The beautiful, blue-eyed brunette with nice tits and piercing blue eyes smiled at me, clad in a pretty pink summer dress with a low cut top that highlighted her abundant cleavage and a very short hemline to highlight her shapely legs. Her hair was still cut short along her jawline, framing her model-pretty face while her ruby red lips puffed up enticingly. And without pause or explanation, she stepped forward, wrapped her arms behind my head, and planted a wet, juicy kiss on my lips.

The force of her attack pushed me back through the doorway and Candy kicked the door shut behind her. Her hands roamed along my back and shoulders as she breathed heavily through her nose while kissing me with a passion I'd forgotten in more than a week and a half. Automatically, I kissed her back with equal fervor, my body reacting to her sweet scent and sexual aggression. But then my mind kicked in and I grabbed Candy's shoulder, jerking her away from me. "Candy! Candy! What the hell are you doing!"

With a sultry grin, the lovely 19-year-old replied, "Why, I'm here to cheer you up!"

"Good lord, Candy! Adrienne's right upstairs!"

She fixed me with a lopsided grin, brushing her hair back from her cheeks. "Who do you think sent me over here?"

"What?"

Candy slid gracefully into my personal space, pressing her tits against my chest and dragging two fingers down my neckline while suggestively looking up into my eyes. "I'm here to take care of your ... big ... problem."

My eyes flew open wide as I realized her implication. "Wait a minute-"

Candy didn't wait a minute as she interrupted me by grabbing my head and kissing me again, rubbing her firm tits into my chest and trying to dry hump me through our clothes.

"Wait, wait, wait," I jerked Candy back by her shoulders again.

"She feels bad for neglecting you, Ben. She knows you're a loving boyfriend but you're a very sexual person. And you have your needs. She can't perform right now, but she doesn't want to lose you over this. That's where I come in!"

My eyebrows couldn't get any higher. "But ... but YOU'VE been seeing that ... that guy at UCI!" I stammered, my brain locked up enough that I couldn't spit out the guy's name.

"That's nothing serious, Ben," Candy waved off my concern. "And besides, I won't be the only one coming to visit you."

"Wha-? Who?"

Candy giggled. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

This was all too much for me to process at once. I shook my head in a failed attempt to clear it and wound up just turning and sprinting for the stairs. My dick certainly wanted to bury itself inside of Candy's willing body. But I'd been burned by my own assumptions too many times and I was NOT going to cheat on Adrienne or do anything behind her back. I raced for my room, of course not finding her there. Then rolling my eyes I moved a few feet over and burst through the closed door to Brandi's bedroom.

Adrienne sat up, a sleepy smile on her face. "Candy here?"

"I'm here!" Candy chirped from behind me.

"Well what are you waiting for?" My girlfriend gestured to me. "Get in there and fuck her already!"

My jaw was on the floor and my eyes were wide as Candy simply grabbed my elbow and physically yanked me back before propelling me into my bedroom.

"This is gonna be fun!" Candy giggled as she closed my bedroom door and then dropped her summer dress to the floor.

Having sex again was nice.

No, I didn't say that properly. Having sex again was niiice.

Candy was already out of her dress and bra by the time I'd picked my jaw up off the floor. I'd been ogling her swaying tits while she bent over to drop the thong panties to her ankles as well and my dick was threatening to burst out of my shorts.

The beautiful brunette had taken care of that problem by sitting me down on my bed and kneeling between my legs. The blowjob had been fast and furious, and after such a long period without anyone but myself handling my cock, my orgasm came in record time as I pumped a quart of spunk down Candy's throat.

Several globs had dotted her lips and chin afterwards, and like a cat, Candy wiped herself up with the back of her right hand and licked her hand clean while the left continued jerking my rod up and down until she was ready to put her mouth on me once again and get me erect for the main course.

She'd then mounted me, bending over to rub her tits in my face while my hands gripped her hips and roughly piledrove her downward around my shaft. That had been a pretty fast sexual encounter as well. And only after I squirted her full of cum did my conscious mind finally come back to me.

Candy seemed to realize my new mental state as she propped herself above my face with her arms, smiling sweetly down at me while my dick slowly went limp inside her. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah." It was as if a fog had been clouding my mind. It had slowly crept in over the past week, subtle enough that I hadn't noticed it's presence. But in the span of a couple of orgasms, that fog had blown completely away and only now could I open my eyes with full clarity.

"Hmph." Candy gave me the lopsided grin. "You really DO need regular sex just to function."

"And thank you for coming through for me," I said warmly, pulling the pretty girl's face to mine for a sweet kiss as my thumbs stroked her cheeks and our tongues danced playfully in each other's mouth.

"Mmm ... my pleasure," Candy finally sighed when we pulled back for air.

"Really? I, uh..." I began nervously at her 'my pleasure' comment. "I'm sorry. I wasn't really paying attention like I normally do."

Candy's eyebrows went up as a mirthful smile crossed her face. "No shit? That's your idea of not paying attention? You really are a sexual-savant. I came twice in less than five minutes and you were pushing all my buttons just right."

"Well then," I grinned, brushing Candy's hair back from her cheeks. "Why don't I show you what I can do when I really focus on you."

Candy just laughed as I rolled us over, pinning her hips to mine to keep myself from being dislodged from her tight pussy. I ducked my face into the crook of her neck, nibbling and sucking while she thrashed beneath me, feeling both ticklish and turned on by my roaming hands and nipping lips.

Her giggles turned to moans when I finally just latched onto a full, upright breast. I inhaled the nipple, swallowing her entire areola while drumming my thumbs against the firm titflesh. And every time the beautiful older girl gasped with delight, her pussy muscles clamped down around my cock, slowly milking me back to full hardness.

I was still roaming Candy's upper body, nipping and kissing and tickling various erogenous zones she might not have even known she had, when I suddenly pulled my hips back and thrust forward powerfully. The sexy brunette's eyes flew open in surprise and she groaned as she felt the full penetration, lifting her legs into the air as I started pistoning in and out of her.

Through experimentation, I'd figured out some of Candy's triggers through our last few encounters, both during last year's Spring Break and this year's Winter Break. But now I figured I'd learned enough to totally blow Candy's mind. Brushing her bangs back, I stared deeply into her sparkling blue eyes and grinned wickedly. "Are you ready to feel my total focus on you?"

Candy's eyebrows raised up and I thought I saw actual fear in her irises. Perfect. This was gonna be fun.

Reaching down with my hands, I gripped underneath her thighs, using them to spread her enough for me to sink all the way into her clasping cunt and then wrap those shapely legs around my torso at just the angle I wanted while I set my knees at a properly supporting angle. Then my hands slid along her creamy skin until I was palming her ass.

And then I FUCKED her.

My hips drove powerfully in and out of her as if I was a big Detroit V-12 engine on a girl used to little Japanese 4-cylinders. I was able to glide smoothly and with almost no friction, her pussy saturated with our previous orgasms. Her entire body was jarred with each impact, actually launching her body up the mattress a few inches and off my dick; but I gripped her ass even tighter to yank her back in time to meet my next thrust.

I grunted with the exertion, but the sound of my own voice was drowned out by hers. "Ungh! Ungh! Ungh!" Candy yelped with every thrust until she had enough presence of mind to exclaim, "Ho. Ly. Shit!"

After a few minutes of hovering over her, I set my forehead down on the mattress beside hers, concentrating my efforts on the rhythmic pounding while Candy managed to cross her ankles behind my ass in an attempt to just hold on for the ride, wrapping her arms behind my neck and wailing uncontrollably as I pounded her into submission.

"Fuck! Fuck! I'm cumming! You're making me cream on your fucking cock!" Candy wailed into my ear, tensing up as she gaped her mouth open in her familiar silent scream of climax. I slowed down after that, and she started panting for breath in relief, thinking that it was over. But the ride was about to change again.

I jerked my cock out of her and roughly flipped her over onto her stomach. And then while her mind still swirled in the aftermath of orgasm and confusion as to what was happening to her, I propped her ass up with her knees, notched myself behind her, and slammed my prick into her cunt from behind.

"WAAAH-OHHH!!!" Candy cried as she felt seven-and-three-quarter inches of thick manmeat abruptly stretching her channel again. My left hand snaked beneath her torso to grip a round tit while my right hand rubbed at her crotch. Using both as handholds, I jerked her body back against my penetrating rod as I fucked her just as powerfully as I'd been doing before.

"Motherfucking-bastard-fucking-FUCK!" Candy gutturally screamed in her dirty way, hanging her head down while attempting to merely endure the pounding I was giving her. "I'm cumming again you fucking asshole! Shit! Shit! AAUUGHHH!!!"

And this time, even when she crested into another climax on my rubbing fingers, I didn't slow down.

"Fuuuuck ... oh, please..." Candy whimpered when I powered my way through her climax, never letting up on the stimulation or the penetration. It was always when a girl started pleading that I knew she was primed for proper mind-blowing. "Please, Ben ... Mercy..."

She relaxed just a bit when I slowed down my pumping and took my right hand off her clit. I moved that right hand up to briefly caress her right breast while my other hand still gripped her left breast. But then my right hand continued forward up the hollow of her throat before I hooked two fingers into her mouth, letting Candy pause to suckle my fingers and taste her own orgasmic nectar.

THEN I fucked her.

The assault came without warning. I went from zero to sixty in a single stroke, jerking Candy back by her left tit and also with my hand gripping her face. Her arms collapsed and her chest went down to the mattress while my dick held her ass aloft in the air. And without the mercy she'd asked for, I fucked rampantly through her spasming snatch, pistoning my cock into her with complete abandon.

Candy was a very vocal lover. She normally cursed and used every dirty word she could think of during sex. But this time she couldn't quite form an intelligible word. "Fuuungh! Hohhh! Ungggh!" she grunted while I drilled her pussy from behind.

And finally... "Awwwwwwuuunnnnghhheeeeuuuccckkk!"

There was so much fluid in Candy's cunt that I barely felt anything as I pistoned through her tight tunnel. But Candy was certainly feeling the constant stretching and contraction as I moved in and out, and when that final orgasm lit up her body, she clenched down so hard I couldn't help but feel it myself. And I yanked my cock out just in time to start hosing down her ass, squirting several globs straight into her buttcrack as well as painting the back of her worn and abused pussy lips with my cum.