Chapter 10

I ducked out of sight and leaned back, my backpack a lumpy camel's hump between me and the wall. What should I do? This was a refuge, my safest place, except maybe for the pool, but what if Greg and Kathy hated me after my display? Where could I go but home? Right now that held its own troubled memories. Mom wouldn't be home, I'd be alone with my worries and I was still wrestling with what I'd done over the weekend.

Stop it! The Stick snapped. Just stop it! What's done is done! These are your friends! They know you better than almost anyone else in the world! Trust them! You have to trust them.

My eyes suddenly stinging, I blinked and blinked, a knot in my throat. Finally, I risked taking another peek.

"Dee!"

Busted! The Stick nailed my feet to the floor, telling me sternly not to run. I was reminded again these were my friends! Running away was NOT an option.

Kathy was on me like a hawk taking a mouse. She was in a black tee that fit her bra-less tits like a coat of paint, her smock a man's white shirt, and paint-splotched jeans. Greg was right behind her.

"Where have you been? Are you okay?" She pulled me in for a crushing hug. "We've been worrying about you."

"A meeting with Devers, but everythings okay," I assured them. I abandoned myself to her embrace, my arms clutching at her, loving the feel of her body against mine, even with all these clothes between us, awash with her scent of paints and solvents. Even her sweat smelled good. Greg touched me and wrapped himself around both me and Kathy -- he has nice, long arms -- and the three of us seemed to just melt together, my cares easing. They loved me. I didn't need to worry about snide wisecracks or hurtful words, no snipes or cheap shots.

I hadn't realized how tense my day had been until that moment.

Reluctantly I finally freed myself, feasted my eyes on Greg. Oh, he looked good to me in his usual crisp shirt and jeans. I could see in his eyes, mingled with concern for me, the same love and hunger I was feeling for him. My whole body was singing with desire, so strong it was scary.

"You don't hate me," I exulted as they gently guided me into the studio, my legs suddenly no longer under my control, Kathy closing the door behind us. "Even after I made such a fool of myself."

"Get her backpack off," Kathy ordered Greg, her fingers attacking the buttons on my shirt. "Let's all get out of all these silly clothes. We don't hate you! Why would you think that?"

"Be careful!" I pleaded. "It's my nicest blouse! I -- I made a spectacle of myself!"

"Shush!" Her hands on my cheeks, she muffled my protests with a series of sweet, tender, tender kisses, then her fingers resumed plucking at the buttons. "I'm not tearing anything. You need to get out of those clothes! WE need to get out of these clothes. Clothes aren't for you. Not here. Not now. Not with us. You're beautiful. Isn't she beautiful?"

"Always," Greg answered as he relieved me of my backpack. I felt silly. I was snuffling, tears of joy tickling my cheeks. Ick!

Greg set my backpack aside. "What you did in the park was magnificent. Drindy can't stop talking about it! It was all I could do to keep her from stripping off her clothes right there and joining you going after that Frisbee."

"Drindy?" I gasped. "Drindy was there?"

"And me," Greg admitted. "I was, too. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life! You were so free..."

"Free? I was wearing cuffs, and chains!"

"And in spite of that you ran like the wind," he countered. "You were like ... well, I don't know what. Remember that guy that showed off his hawk at assembly last year? No, you didn't see that, did you. Anyway, it was awesome. When you went for that Frisbee it was just like when it dove at the lure the guy was swinging, only you never missed."

"I wished I'd been there," Kathy complained. She was pushing my blouse back off my shoulders, and Greg finished the job from behind me, drawing it down my arms, leaving me in my silly bra, my shorts already yielding to Kathy's deft touch.

Greg unhooked my bra and it was like being released from bondage. When it fell Kathy caught it, looked at it as if it was a snake before she threw it away. I drew a deep breath at the touch of air on my skin, my nipples puckering exultantly with their liberation.

"I should have been there -- with my camera!" Kathy repeated vehemently, her face inches from my navel. "If you ever do something like that again I want to be there."

"Not likely!"

"Not even for me?" she asked wistfully, looking up at me.

"Maybe for you," I admitted.

Within I felt The Stick relaxing, fading away like a mist. How tightly wound I'd been! The Stick had been holding me, guarding me, shielding me from verbal assaults that, in reality, had been few, but just frequent and erratic enough to keep me off-balance and on my guard.

Mercifully, for every insult there had been a -- what's the opposite of insult? Praise? Compliment? How many had said "way to go Dee!" with a pat on my back or a high five? More than once a snide crack had been met with scorn from a bystander, sometimes people I didn't even know.

But even so, all day, I'd been braced for the next strike at my dignity. Now all that was over and I could finally relax.

Kathy was kneeling, holding down my shorts as I stepped out of them, while Greg was behind me, supporting me, his arms around me, his lips nibbling at the tender side of my neck as I leaned back against him, so strong and supportive. Oh, it felt so good, so good. Kathy pulled off my shoes. I raised Greg's hands from my midriff to cup my breasts, pressed his warm palms on the soft, shy mounds, my nipples tender pebbles between us, his breath warm on my ear and I tilted my head to give him access to the side of my neck, my ear, and he nibbled on me, sending shivers through me.

Kathy's fingers hooked the elastic of my panties and drew them down my legs, and I felt her breath stirring the little puff of my pubic hair, the nuzzle of her face between my thighs as she inhaled my scent, her tongue teasing my cleft even as she guided my feet out of my last bit of clothing, and I was reborn. I whimpered when she drew away, wanted to reach for her, but she stood out of reach, and quickly shed her own clothes, shirt, jeans, tee, impatiently kicking off her flat sandals, stripping down her own panties, leaving herself gloriously, beautifully, desirably nude. "Get undressed, Greg."

She took over steadying me as he stepped back, and all I could do was marvel at the feel of her strong hands on my biceps as she gazed lovingly at me, my hands drifting up to cup her wonderfully firm breasts, savoring at their warmth, the resilient stiffness of her nipples as I thumbed them. Oh, it felt so, so good to be free of my clothes, exposed and accessible. I realized now one of the reasons I'd dressed so carefully this morning was to armor myself. I'd mentally joked about my imaginary suit of armor, even as I'd selected the textile version, but now, here, I could be me again, just me, as nature intended.

The sense of relief was so great I wobbled. I was putty in the hands of my two lovers -- yes, two lovers -- as they eased me down on something soft they'd spread on the hard, cold floor, and I reveled in being liberated from all my cares and worries, feeling totally safe in their arms, their lips nibbling at my cheeks, my ears, my face, my nose, my lips, their hands touching me all over, fingers combing through my blond locks, touching that sensitive pulse point below my ears, along my jaw-line.

I turned my head, and Greg's and my lips joined, eager to get reacquainted, that wonderful mixture of strength and tenderness, the sweetness of his mouth on mine, nibbling, our breaths mingling intimately.

"Mmmmyes," I mumbled happily through Greg's kisses.

"You are so brave," he murmured.

"You are so beautiful," Kathy purred.

Blanketed by them, I was devouring and being devoured by Greg, lip-locked to him even as I clutched Kathy to my side with my left arm, pressing my left thigh between her legs, her crotch humid against my skin, her warm breast cuddling mine, the nipple nuzzling into me, her breath on my cheek. My right arm was around Greg, his right leg over mine, parting my legs like a wishbone, his cock was pinned against my hip as he lay half on top of me. Someone's hand was cupping my breast, toying with my nipple. Someone else's was cupping my pussy, a finger nestled along my slit, pressing, massaging my clit gently against my pubic arch, fanning embers into flames.

I didn't have hands enough or body enough or limbs enough to accommodate them both the way I wanted to, so I abandoned myself to them, losing myself in their loving embrace, kissing Greg, then Kathy, tasting them each in turn, so different, smelling them, masculine and feminine scents mingling. Their skin against my skin -- satin and silk? The same, and yet different. Kathy's touch softer, gentler, Greg stronger, more forceful.

I don't know how long we snuggled there, simmering together over a low mingling of love and lust, moving gently, erotically against each other, totally immersed in a sensual nirvana of skin against skin, none of us anxious to rise to a peak, content to drift gently on a sea of arousal. I would have welcomed Greg's cock in my cunt, but I didn't want to abandon the sensuous feel of Kathy against me.

"Feeling better?" Greg asked, nuzzling me tenderly.

"Oh so much," I sighed. "Thank you for being here for me. I didn't know how much I needed this."

Then I rethought that. "No, that's not true. I knew how much I needed this, but I was afraid it wouldn't be here."

"Now do you see how silly you were?" Kathy asked.

I turned and kissed her, and she kissed me back, tender hungry pecks that tugged at my lips. "Yes," I agreed, looking into her loving brown eyes. "Yes, oh yes. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted you. You ... all of my friends have been wonderful. I don't know what I would do without you, without them."

I squirmed against them, my hips rising to press harder against the hand cupping my crotch, a humping motion. I think it was Greg's hand at my crotch, but couldn't be sure and didn't really care and wasn't about to do anything to interrupt what was a slow, steady, wonderful buildup of pleasure. Someone was pinching my nipple, sending little flares of electricity through me, making my arms twitch tighter around them both, making my hips jump.

The finger at my crotch wriggled between my blossoming lips, teasing the gates of my sex. It was spreading my juices to slick up the scrubbing my clit was getting, edging away from the delicious but painful scrape toward delightfully burning pleasure. My pelvis rocked, inviting the finger to penetrate me and I felt it slowly insinuate itself into my welcoming vagina, worming its way into my slick folds, followed by a second, stretching me. My mouth fastened to Greg's, sucking, our tongues tangling, I breathed him in, he breathed me in as he dry-humped his cock against my hip -- well, not exactly dry, his pre-come slippery between us.

He was growing more impatient. He had to be as eager as I was, and Kathy was humping her crotch as all three of us drew closer and closer and closer to -- oh God -- closer to -- oh God yes! -- closer -- oh God oh God oh God, it was time, yes time, yes, time...

As I burst into flames, my cunt clutching at the fingers within, I felt Greg's cock pulse, pulse, pulse, pulsing, his come spurting between us, hot, sticky, creamy jets smearing our flesh, slick and sticky and musky, while I jammed my thigh hard against Kathy's sex as she rubbed, rubbed, rubbed, her streaming pussy painting my skin with her sweet juices. For a long, long, breathless time we strained against each other, quivering, squirming, milking every scrumptious, delicious morsel of pleasure from the moment that we could, until as one we slumped wearily, the final aftershocks making us twitch until we were all limp in a lustful tangle, and I kissed them both.