Chapter 2

When I woke, I knew instantly I was alone. I rolled over onto my back and stretched, then looked at the clock. Ten o'clock! I was FINALLY in Arizona, visiting my girlfriends, and I was wasting my time in bed. Well, it wouldn't have been a waste if I wasn't alone, but Mom had already abandoned my lazy ass. Hey, three wonderful orgasms would tire any guy out. I quickly got up and started to get ready for the day. After my shower, I dressed in my typical cargo shorts and sandals, but remained bare-chested as I finished my morning ritual. As I was brushing my teeth, there was a knock at the door. I leaned back from the sink and peered out of the bathroom door.

"Come in!" I called, my voice muffled by my mouthful of toothpaste. Little toothpaste spittle landed on my chest.

The knock came again. I quickly spit, rinsed, wiped my face and chest, and slipped on a polo shirt as I went to the door. Locked. Ah, Mom keeping me safe from all the feminine predators. I opened the door, and to my surprise Sam was standing there. He looked at me with a scowl.

"Oh. Uh, hey Sam," I said, instantly on alert.

"Dad says I'm supposed to take you to the park to play basketball. We leave in five minutes."

He turned and started walking away.

I was really confused. I didn't want to play ball. I wanted to see Mia. "What about..."

"Everyone went to Sunday brunch," he said, without turning back to me. "Mia and Ana will meet us at the park sometime after eleven."

I just shrugged and then looked down at my polo, cargo shorts and sandals. With a sigh, I went back to change clothes.

Three on three. My preferred way to play basketball. Sam and two of his friends against me and two guys who just happened to be on the court at the park.

We were all breathing hard and were drenched in sweat as we finished up our second game. My team lost the first game 15-12. However, we were still getting to know each other. Things clicked in the second game, and we won 15-9. I have to admit I was playing well. I was faster than Chris, the guy Sam had guarding me, so I kept him off balance. He had to cheat off me a little to compensate for my quicker first step, which opened up the outside for me. I was hitting my jumper today, so that was good. Just as we were finishing that game, Mia and Ana showed up and sat down in the grass that surrounded the court.

As I hit the last jumper to give us the win, she and Ana cheered. Sam's ever-present scowl seemed to deepen. I walked over to the girls. Mia bounced up and reached to hug me. I held up my hand.

"I don't want to get you sweaty," I said, indicating my soaked t-shirt.

"I like it when you get me sweaty," she said, with a smirk.

"Ewww, too much information," Ana groused.

Mia ignored her. She motioned me to lean down. "Besides," she whispered in my ear, "Cassie says your sweat is an aphrodisiac."

I blushed. "I think I regret introducing you two."

Mia giggled.

"Come on, Brody," Sam growled, from the court behind me.

"Give me a kiss?" I asked, leaning over.

Mia smiled, put her hand on the back of my head and planted a big, fat, looong, sloppy kiss on me. "Go get 'em, Big Papi."

I turned and trotted back on the court. I glanced at Sam. He just glowered at me. If looks could kill...

"Winner's ball," I said.

"We're not stupid," Sam shot back. As his buddy tossed me the ball, Sam said, "I'm guarding Brody."

Great. I'd played basketball enough to know what that meant. Based on his current attitude towards me, I was pretty sure "guarding Brody" meant "fouling Brody hard every time he touches the ball." Well, if he thought his veiled threat was going to scare me or even make me change my game, he was sadly mistaken. I was smaller than him, sure, but I wasn't a pussy.

I passed the ball into Jimmy, one of my teammates, and then trotted down into the lane. As I went to move past Sam, he stepped in my path and hit me full-on in the chest with his shoulder. I went off balance, but kept on my feet. Mia's voice came from somewhere calling foul. I faked the way I was originally going and then darted out the other direction. Jimmy found me on the wing, and before Sam could get out there, I let my jumper fly. Nothing but nylon.

I heard the feminine cheers behind me, which puffed me up. I smirked at Sam. "One oh," I said. My chest was sore, but I wasn't going to let it show. However, I revised my definition of "guarding Brody" to "fouling Brody hard at every possible moment."

On their inbounds play, Sam took me down to the low post, where he set up camp. I tried to body up against him, but he was shoving back pretty hard. Eventually his team got the ball into him. He backed me down, and then spun towards the basket. His elbow came up out of nowhere and caught my chin. Pain shot through my head and I saw stars. My vision cleared just in time to see his shot fall through the hoop.

"One one," he growled at me.

The game pretty much proceeded along those lines. When I got the ball, he tried to pummel me into a turnover. When he got the ball, he tried to pound me into submission. When neither of us had the ball, we were clawing and battering for position. I would use my speed to get the spot, and he would use his bulk to move me from it. By the time it was 5-5, my upper body and head were bruised and aching. And I was pissed. If the jerk wanted rough, I'd give him rough.

Tanner, my other teammate, inbounded the ball to me. I faced Sam down as I bent slightly, breathing hard and spinning the ball in my hands. I made it clear by my action that I was going to take it to the hoop. Sam cheated off me to compensate for my first step. I didn't give a damn about my first step, because I didn't plan to go around him this time. I gave Sam my coldest stare and took off.

At first Sam took a step back, but when he realized I was coming right at him, he planted his feet and clinched his fists. I ran into that wall of human flesh with all the strength I could muster, dipping just before impact and raising my shoulder into Sam's chest. We collided with a loud SMACK and mutual grunts, which was followed by a WHOOSH as Sam's lungs deflated and a louder GRUNT as my shoulder crumpled. I grimaced in agony.

It seemed that the moment of impact froze in time, kind of like when someone gets hit in those martial arts movies. Both Sam and I seemed to fuse into one mass of flesh for that long moment. Then just that quickly, Sam fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. My forward momentum returned and I stumbled right into his falling body.

I half landed on him, but quickly rolled off, prepared for retaliation. Panicked voices came from everywhere, merging into a jumbled verbal soup. I focused on Sam's hulking form. Sure enough, he'd barely quit rolling before he was scrambling up, rage in his eyes.

"You fucking piece of shit!" he hissed at me. "What's wrong with you?"

Luckily Jimmy and Chris were there and immediately grabbed him. I heard Mia yelling something from off in the distance. Sam fought to get through the two guys.

I braced myself and refused to flinch in his fury. "ME? What the fuck's wrong with YOU, Sam? You've been pissed at me since I got here for some damn reason, and now you're trying to punish me for some stupid shit I don't even know I did."

Somehow, my comment just angered him even more. His face got redder and he started shaking. "I'm going to kick your ass, you fucking son of a bitch!" Sam snarled at me.

"Calm down, Greenie!" Chris barked at him, but Sam was too keyed up. It was obvious he was about the break free. Just as Sam shook off Chris and shoved Jimmy out of the way, Mia was there, a miniature obstacle between her massive brother and me.

"FUCK YOU, SAM!" she screamed at him.

Sam stopped like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer. His face went slack as he looked down at his little sister.

Big tears rolled down Mia's cheeks. "What's happened to you, Sam?" she asked in frustration. "You're so angry all the time, and now you want to take it out on Brody when he didn't do anything to you."

I was astonished. The change in the Mia's big brother was instantaneous and amazing. Gone was the rage-filled, muscle-bound, maiming machine, and in its place was a chastened little boy. It was like the very thought that Mia was angry at him was too much for him. He became almost despondent as he deflated.

"Sam?" Mia asked quietly. She reached out to touch his arm, but he recoiled. Then without a word, he brushed past his friends and Ana, who had come over during the melee, and walked briskly towards his stuff.

"Sam!" Ana called after him. He ignored her as he grabbed his duffel and his keys and stormed off the court.

"What the fuck?" Chris said under his breath, he looked at everyone, shrugged and went to get his stuff. The other guys followed his lead. I guess we'd effectively killed the game.

Mia sighed as another big tear rolled down her cheek.

I felt remorseful for losing my temper and causing the nasty scene, so I put my arm around Mia and gave her a little hug.

"Hey, I'm sorry I lost it just then," I said. "I was getting frustrated that Sam seemed to be playing to hurt."

She leaned into me and wiped the tear. "It's not your fault. He's been an ass to just about everyone for the last six months, and it just seems to be getting worse. Someday he's going to cross someone that can kick HIS ass, and he'll deserve whatever he gets."

Her comment implied that I couldn't kick his ass, but I didn't take that as an affront to my masculinity. She was stating a fact. Sam was that big.

"Still, I shouldn't have lost my temper."

She looked up at me and started brushing dirt from my shirt. "Are you hurt?"

"Nah."

"Good." Then she smiled at me. "We have a date to get you ready for."

I stepped onto Shay's porch and, after taking a deep breath, rang the doorbell. I smoothed my shirt nervously, then looked down at myself to make sure I was presentable. It had dawned on me, as I walked from Mia's house, that I'd never taken Mia out on a bona fide date. Kind of ironic that I'd have a real date with Shay first.

The door swung open and I stood face to face with what must have been Shay's father.

"You must be Brody," he said cheerily, as he stuck his hand forward.

"I am." I shook his hand with a smile. "How do you do, Sir?"

"I'm well, thank you. Please, come in." He stepped aside and motioned me in.

As I entered the entryway, an attractive woman came gliding down the stairs.

"Brody, this is my wife, Brenda."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ma'am," I said, with a nod of my head.

Mrs. Spurlock smiled at me. "Thank you, Brody," she said. "Shay will be along shortly. I'll just step into the kitchen and finish dinner."

Mr. Spurlock motioned into a formal living room. "Come and have a seat while we wait."

I followed him in and sat on the couch. Damn, I was nervous. Truthfully, I hadn't had many opportunities to "meet the parents" like this, so I wasn't sure what to do or say. Plus, in the back of my mind I kept worrying that he would ask me something about Mia's and Shay's relationship, or even my relationship with Mia. I just said a little prayer and tried to remember everything Mom taught me about etiquette.

"So, Brody, tell me about yourself," he said, as he leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. "Where you live, what your interests are, what you plan to do with your life, you know that sort of thing."

"Well, I live in Macon, Georgia, with my mother. My father passed away a few years ago, so it's just us."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said.

I tried to gauge whether he was sincere, and he seemed to be, so I nodded politely and continued to lay out what I was doing in school and what extracurricular activities I was interested in. He seemed genuinely pleased to know I was involved in stuff outside of normal school hours.

"Do you know what you'd like to study in college?" I didn't say anything about college, so he just made the assumption. It was the right assumption, but it was an assumption all the same. Had this been even two days ago, I'm not sure I could have answered this question, but now I knew what I wanted to do.

"I was thinking engineering, maybe in the aerospace industry."

His grin couldn't have gotten any wider. "Good choice, young man, if I do say so myself. As a matter of fact, I thought it was a good choice way back when I went to college, and I still think so, even after all these years in the field."

Now it was my turn to perk up. "You are an engineer?"

He nodded proudly.

Just then Shay stepped in the room. "Hello, Brody," she said, sheepishly.

We both stood, and I had to make a conscious effort not to gawk. She was stunning. We weren't going out or anything, but she had really fixed herself up. She wore a beautiful silk blouse and a pair of straight leg slacks. Her normally straight hair was clipped back and fell down her shoulders and back in luxurious waves of crimson. She even had just the right touch of makeup on. She was absolutely beautiful.

"Uh, hi, Shay." I glanced at her dad, and he was beaming at her, the absolute picture of the proud father. I looked back at her and grinned widely. "You look absolutely amazing."

She blushed and averted her eyes, a look she must have borrowed from Mia. I could tell by her smile that she was pleased at my reaction. This demure behavior was a side of Shay I wasn't familiar with, but when she looked back at me, her eyes were sparkling and lively.

"Thanks," she said. "Now, come and eat. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Dinner was nice. The food was excellent and I actually enjoyed talking to her parents. From the horror stories I heard from Mia and Shay, I was expecting her father to be a pious, dominant, jerk and her mother to be a meek, submissive housewife. They were anything but those preconceived ideas. Mr. Spurlock seemed to be genuinely interested in Shay's life, not just the big things, but even the little, inconsequential things. I could see in his eyes and actions that he really loved her. So he wasn't perfect, and sometimes his actions may even be more detrimental than helpful, but he appeared to act in her best interest.

Mrs. Spurlock, on the other hand, was ever the doting mother. She wasn't afraid to voice an opinion even if it differed from her husband's. I remember Mia saying that it was Mrs. Spurlock who encouraged her husband to allow Shay to go through her "exploration phase." She also had a pretty good sense of humor, a quick wit, and a sharp intelligence. In a lot of ways, her personality was like Shay's, though maybe not as playful. Not only that, but I had a pretty good idea what Shay would look like in her 30s just by looking at her mom, and that definitely was something to look forward to.

We talked about a little of everything. I grilled Mr. Spurlock about being an engineer, hitting him with questions like what types of engineering were out there, what kind of schooling it took, what were important mental aptitudes, and what he liked best and least about the profession. Both parents took a keen interest in my sports exploits. Mrs. Spurlock also ran track in high school and college, and Mr. Spurlock had plenty to say about his days playing high school basketball when Shay mentioned that I loved to play. They asked questions about growing up in Georgia and about my mother and father. They expressed sympathy about Dad's death, and somehow got me into telling stories about things I used to do with him. Usually, that made me uncomfortable, but I actually felt kind of sad when the conversation drifted to another topic.

The only awkward moment was when Shay's dad asked what exactly my relationship with Mia was. He looked almost sad when he mentioned Mia. I told him our parents were second cousins, which wasn't a lie. He seemed to accept that at face value, but the simple question left us both squirming in our seats. A glance at Shay told me she also felt uncomfortable.

Because of their questions and their reaction to my answers, I had a flash of realization at that moment. Shay's parents were at a loss of how to deal with their daughter's sexual preferences, since it seemed to fly in the face of their morals and beliefs, and seemed to counter the dreams they hoped for their daughter: a nice, conservative existence with a successful husband and lots of wonderful children.

While they didn't agree with her choices and actions, and even attempted to discourage them, they did so out of love. That was blindingly obvious. It was like they were desperate to hang on to whatever they could that might sway Shay back in the other direction, because they weren't quite ready to accept that she wasn't the cookie cutter daughter they tried to make her into. If anything, my evening with them firmly told me that eventually, once they realized that Shay and Mia's love was real, they would come to accept it and would embrace their daughter's girlfriend.

In the interim, I was a sign that maybe their hopes for Shay weren't completely groundless.

Anyway, after dinner they sent us into the family room to watch our movie and left us alone. I lay my head contentedly in Shay's lap as she ran her fingers through my hair. Every now and then she would bend down and give me a warm kiss on the lips, occasionally with a little tongue action. But for the most part, we were just content to watch the movie together.

The movie credits began to roll and I rolled on to my back to look at Shay's beautiful face illuminated in the glow of the television. She was looking down at me with a look of adoration. There was nothing playful there. The whole evening had unveiled a serious side of Shay I'd not really seen before. When our eyes met, she smiled.

"You are a pretty impressive conversationalist, Brody," she said. "I could tell my dad was really impressed with you."

"What can I say? I'm just a stud."

I expected a teasing retort, but she just continued to smile. "Yes, you are." Then she leaned over again and we kissed. This wasn't just a teasing kiss like we'd had all evening. It got deeper and hotter and more passionate. After what seemed like forever, she sat up straight again. Her chest was heaving and her face was flushed.

"Wow," I said, since that was the only word that was even in my head.

"Sit up." She pushed at me. "We need to go for a walk."

Before we headed out the front door, she stopped at the stairs.

"Mom! Dad!" she called up to them, as she grabbed her jacket from the little closet in the entryway. "We're going for a walk and then we'll probably sit out on the back patio for a while!"

"Don't be gone too long!" came her mother's response.

Shay took my hand and we left the cozy confines of her home. The night air really dropped the temperature. I'd brought some warm clothes with me on our trip since we were going to the mountains for a week, but I didn't think to bring a jacket to Shay's house. I was pretty sure I'd be shivering before too long. However, to my surprise we didn't go for a walk. Instead, we turned immediately and went beside her house into her back yard. She didn't stop at the patio furniture, either. In the back corner of her yard stood a playhouse. It was small, maybe eight feet by eight feet, with a roof that was maybe five and a half feet high. Shay opened the door and looked back over her shoulder at me. The playful sparkle was back.

Without a word, she stooped through the door. I had a pretty good idea why we were visiting her old playhouse, and my cock started to stir. I followed her inside, stooping low to get through the door. Once inside, I remained slouched. Shay didn't have to stoop, but as soon as I got in and closed the door behind me, she sat down with her legs folded underneath her. She reached over and turned on a battery powered lantern which was bright enough to illuminate the interior of the little house.

"This was my clubhouse when I was little," she said, looking wistfully around the close confines. It was definitely home for a little girl, with pink walls and various little girl décor all over. She had a small table and chairs in one corner and a little toy box in another. On top of the toy box was a small portable stereo and a stack of CDs. Two sleeping bags were rolled up in a third corner. The floor was wooden, but had been covered by an old area rug. It would actually have been pretty cozy if it wasn't for the fact that it was 40 degrees outside. The glass in the little square windows and the thin wooden walls did little to keep out the chill.

"It's cute," I replied, as I settled in beside Shay.

"Mia and I used to come here all the time. It was our 'girls only' clubhouse." Shay looked at me, her icy blue eyes suddenly smoldering. "This was where we consummated our love," she husked.

My mind played a quick mental video of two prepubescent girls discovering and exploring their sexual attraction right in this little room. I was leaning back against the wall, with my legs stretched out in front of me, and I'm sure my reaction to the image was obvious. I watched as Shay turned and crawled towards me on her hands and knees. Her eyes looked ... hungry. She straddled my lap and took my face in her hands. Her look quickly became timid as she felt my bulge press against her crotch.

"I figured this was a good place to consummate OUR love, too," she whispered, as she gazed into my eyes, that look of timidity now tinged with a look of love.

I was confused. We'd had sex over the summer, so I wasn't sure we could consummate anything now, but I wasn't about to tear down her fantasy.

"See, Brody, the thing is, I really started to like you this summer, but it wasn't love then."

True. It wasn't. We had only agreed that we'd give a relationship a shot. At the time, given that we had no idea when and if we'd ever see each other again, it seemed kind of like a one-time summer fling. We didn't know that Mom and I would be in Arizona in less than six months.

Shay caressed my cheeks with her thumbs. "Over the fall, you became more than a friend to me. Before all the bad stuff really happened," she shuddered as she referred to the fateful party, "I felt myself drawing closer to you, even though we were a couple thousand miles apart. I really felt like we were getting our own relationship and not just connecting through Mia."

I felt my heartbeat speed up. I could feel her breath on my face and her eyes boring into the back of my head.

"Then as things got worse, you were always there for me, never judgmental, just accepting everything. Mia even said you would often try to defend my actions, instead of just thinking the worst of me."

I shook my head. "Yeah, but I should have seen what was happening, tried to talk you through it."

"You couldn't have known. Besides, I already had people trying to talk sense into my head. I needed someone to love me for ME. You were always a breath of fresh air, just being yourself and never treating me any differently. That was like the only thread of sanity I had to cling to. It would have been an even worse year if it hadn't been for you. Then after Thanksgiving..." A look of anguish passed over her face as her trembling increased. I immediately wrapped my arms tighter around her and held her against me. "Anyway, you were just so sweet and concerned and everything and, well ... I really think I started to fall in love with you."

She looked expectant now that she'd shared her feelings, and I knew she was waiting for my response. I didn't know what to say. I single tear formed in my eye and escaped down my face before I could stop it. I was in awe of this beautiful creature straddling my lap. How the hell could I be so lucky? Me? Plain old Brody Brown. Mia loved me, of that there was no doubt. Cassie loved me, and had circumstances been different for both of us, it could probably have been a love even deeper than it was. And now Shay. Three incredibly attractive, smart, fascinating, young ladies are professing their love for me. Damn.

I wanted to echo her comments, because as I sat there with her in my lap, I was feeling it, too. But as I said, she was in my lap professing her love for me, and that left me speechless, so I just leaned my head forward and captured Shay's lips with my own. She hummed into the kiss and then parted her lips to take my probing tongue into her mouth. God, I loved to kiss, and when the girl was as hot for me as I was for her, well, it just didn't get better.

I pushed my pelvis up to grind my erection against Shay's pussy, and I felt her flinch just a tad, but she tried to cover it by kissing me harder. I didn't want to push her. I mean, it had been less than a month since the party where she was raped. I was pretty sure I was the first guy to be with her since then. I pushed her shoulders to break our kiss and, with our faces only inches apart, I looked into her eyes. What I saw broke my heart. There was trepidation, mixed with resolve. She was anxious, excited, scared, aroused, nervous, and in love. I reached up and pulled her head forward until our foreheads touched, a gesture that seemed almost more intimate than what we were both anticipating.

"Shay," I whispered. "We don't need to do anything you aren't ready for. We can just take it however fast or slow you need." I almost said that I loved her, but it didn't seem right at the time. Those words seemed like they might have added pressure, like I was using them to convince her to have sex with me.

She shook her head. "I'm ready. I need to do this with you, Brody. I need to feel this from a guy who cares about me, cares about my feelings." Her eyes began to glisten. "I need someone who will be tender and loving and help me chase away all the bad memories that don't seem to want to go away, that seem to haunt me every time I close my eyes. I need to replace them with happy memories and happy dreams."

I hesitated again, trying to search her eyes to see what her true feelings were. Her resolve seemed to push the fear right out of her. "You sure?" I asked one more time.

She kissed me passionately again and then ground her crotch hard against mine. She kept gyrating and grinding and eventually she moaned into my mouth. I slid my hands down to grasp her hips and pushed my erection up against her again, adding my own gyrations to the mix. That made both of us moan.

She pulled away. "Make love to me, Brody," she husked, "Please."

I nodded, and she stood up and quickly removed her slacks and panties. I watched her in awe as she stripped her bottom half. My God, she was amazing. She had a little patch of dark red hair just above her slit. Her outer lips were pink and puffy, and I could see the moisture shimmering between them. Her clit protruded like a crown jewel, but her inner lips were all but invisible. Seeing her nude from the waist down really got me heated up.

As she stepped to straddle me again, she looked down at me. She slid her hands sensuously down her thighs and then back up to pull slowly across her pussy. The lips briefly separated to reveal the dark pink between them, then closed a little less tightly as her hands continued up her belly, where they rested. She looked into my eyes, glanced down to my crotch and then back up to my eyes.

I got the idea, and quickly unfastened my belt and pants. I reached into my boxers and fished out my erection. She gasped as it came throbbing into view. Without another word she lowered herself down. I put my hands under her upper thighs to help hold her steady. She reached down and took my cock in her tiny, trembling fingers. Not that he needed any help standing up. Then she continued down slowly until the head just barely parted her lips. She looked back into my eyes, the fear back tenfold, and I almost put a stop to things. But she held a deep breath and finally sank down onto my cock. I began to tremble as every nerve in my entire penis went into overload. She was amazingly tight and as her wet, warm sheath devoured my tool, tiny jolts of pleasure radiated out from those nerves until goose bumps covered my shivering body. I went from chilled to warm almost immediately.

Shay put her hands on my chest as she reached bottom and sat still.

"Oh my God," she exhaled, her eyes never leaving mine. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Are you OK?" I asked quietly.

She gyrated her hips, which sent a shiver across her entire body, and then she nodded. After a moment's rest, she pushed with her arms and legs, pulling herself slowly off my cock. Once she reached the top, she reversed, sinking down on to me again.

It felt great, but since I was watching her face for any signs that I might need to stop this, the feeling didn't have its usual arousing effect. Shay started a steady rhythmic motion, up and down on my cock. As her body began to adjust to my invading pole, stretching and lubricating more with each movement, she sped up her motion. I watched her face go from fearful, to anxious, to pleased, and to thrilled all in a matter of minutes. When her trademark grin finally split her face, I knew things would be OK. I felt the tension leave my body and, with an incredible amount of love, I vowed to make this moment the best it could possibly be for my little redheaded lover.