Tiny Tim [Overconfident Sarcasm] (fb2) читать онлайн

Chapter 1

Just after 3 PM on November 15th, I walked through the front door of the house I grew up in and, for a short moment, took in the silence greeting me. After dropping my backpack and getting rid of my shoes, I made my way into the kitchen. My mind on the report I’d have to write at the firm. School and work was really all I did anymore. On the kitchen table I found a note in my mother’s handwriting; they all went out with Uncle John’s family, since my parents’ favorite child was back from college for the weekend. Just like last year, when they forgot about my birthday, they made plans that didn’t include me. At least this year they didn’t blame me for disturbing their fun time by coming home.

A quick survey of my surroundings revealed two recently used but empty pots on the stove, as well as four plates in the sink. No leftovers in the fridge or oven. I did, however, find the leftovers in the trash can. I was used to it. By the time I finished cleaning up the kitchen to make myself something to eat, my appetite was somehow gone, and I just felt droopy. So, instead of cooking, I went up to my room to grab a soda from my own little fridge and boot up my PC. I found an email newsletter from the delivery service I frequently used regarding my birthday. A coupon code for a free muffin (if I pay for a pizza). I looked around and saw no presents and no cards. I wasn’t surprised. At least, with that coupon code, lunch was taken care of without me having to move. At least, by next morning, I would finally be out of that house.

Despite what people might think, I preferred being left alone by my family. The alternative wasn’t really appealing to me. My name is Timothy, and I prefer to be called Tim. Though most people, especially members of my family and all their friends, simply called me “Tiny”.

Ever since my sister, Ava, walked in on me while I was ... doing what all healthy boys in full blown puberty do the most, things had changed. Back then, I was barely 5 feet tall and maybe 95 pounds soaking wet. I didn’t even notice her barging into my room, until she screamed upon seeing me and ran out of my room. And, of course, when she explained the reason for her outburst to the rest of the quickly assembling family, she had to comment on how glad she was that the thing was so small it was completely covered by my fist, so she didn’t have to actually see it.

You know how people say “We’ll laugh about it tomorrow”? Well, my family didn’t want to wait a full day and started making jokes about it as soon as we sat down for dinner. That evening, my new nickname of “Tiny Tim” was born, and they thought it was hilarious. Back then, this hit me hard. I was insecure enough without having people throw jokes about my dick size at me, but my family saw it as harmless ribbing and simply ignored my desperate pleas to stop calling me that damned name.

My fourteenth birthday was still pretty normal. I had friends over, got gifts, and Mom even baked a cake. I did suffer from the nickname, but, other than that, they clearly cared about me.

Something I only understood much later was that my brother, Logan, had always been exceptionally talented at getting what he wants, while making his behavior look completely innocent and his demands absolutely reasonable. He was always good looking, charming, and outgoing. That caused people to let their guard down and open up to him, so he easily learned what they liked and how they responded to things. Everyone would tell you how good of a friend Logan was, even though I never saw or heard about him actually doing anything for anyone but himself.

Until then, he never chose me as a target for his games, though I did already suffer the indirect consequences as our parents clearly favored him over me. Whenever decisions had to be made, they chose what he asked for because he knew how to make them think it was the reasonable choice. Consequently, whenever we got into an argument, they took his side without even questioning what caused it, because he was always perceived as the reasonable oldest child while I was seen as the jealous kid. The longer this went unnoticed, the more his wants outweighed my needs without them even realizing it.

During the half year leading up to Logan’s sixteenth birthday, however, something in his treatment of me changed. Under his subtle influence, the penis jokes were slowly taken up a notch, continuously pushing the boundaries of how far they could go before I lost my temper. Meanwhile his jokes, particularly when nobody else was around to hear them, had taken on a malicious tone. He also spent a lot more time with our parents, especially Mom.

After his birthday, he suddenly accompanied them when they went out with Mom’s brother, John, his wife, Danielle, and our cousin, Maggie, who was about Logan’s age. I also started catching him in whispered discussions with Ava that stopped when they noticed me being around. It was then I also started noticing him looking at me in a different way, especially when I was spending time with Ava or Mom (which, by that time, I was already trying to keep to a minimum. Simply to avoid hearing them address me as “Tiny Tim” again). Even when I needed some help with homework, he would show up and make sure I wouldn’t get too much of their attention.

My way of dealing with the alienation and sadness was to stuff myself with sweets and junk food. I put on more weight than the growth spurts could compensate for, and thereby provided even more ammunition to the family criticizing my body. I spent more and more time in my room, playing around with my computer and reading fantasy novels. But it was then I discovered my real talent for programming, and had, after a few months of self-study, reached the point where I could do small jobs I found on Craigslist and fiverr.

What I hadn’t realized at that time was that I had effectively turned into the fat geek in a family of athletic achievers. And athletic achievements were all they cared about. I once saw a rerun of that old 80s show “Married with Children”. Al Bundy reminisced about that one time in high school, when he scored four touchdowns in a single game. That is basically the best way to describe my father, Aaron. For him, talent in sports is what gets you a scholarship for college and dates with cheerleaders. With that, he was talking about my mother, Claire, who was captain of the cheer-squad at his high school.

Ava had, in every aspect, inherited our mother’s beauty and was at fifteen already almost a carbon copy of her. Roughly 5’3’’ at about 125 pounds, with long golden blond hair and green-blue eyes. The only real difference between the two, apart from Ava’s more youthful skin and Mom’s few extra pounds that three back-to-back pregnancies bestow upon a woman, were their cup-sizes. If Ava had a B-Cup, Mom must have had a D-Cup. Logan and I were more like our father, though. We had his dark-brown hair, brown eyes, and our height would hopefully also top out at his 5’11’’, though at that time I was more around 5’3’’.

So, while Logan and Ava followed in our parents’ footsteps, I was the fat geek my father couldn’t relate to. And, no, that wasn’t just my impression. He straight up told me one day how he still remembered all the beatings he handed out to the nerds in his schooldays, and simply couldn’t fathom “how my own son could turn out to be one of those losers”.

When I started my first year at the same high school Ava and Logan went to, my personal hell was complete. My loving siblings had made their way to the top of the popular crowd. Logan, becoming the star football player our father once was, and Ava, achieving the position of captain of the JV-Cheerleaders our mother once held. Following our father’s example, they despised me for now soiling their image, simply by being their fat geeky brother.

Ava wasted no time telling all of her friends why they only called me “Tiny Tim”, and, of course, all of her friends took a liking to that genius choice of a nickname. All the while Logan made sure all of his friends knew how much he wanted me nowhere near them.

Now, when the cheerleaders make fun of someone, it doesn’t take long for the jocks to join as well, simply to try and please the hot girls. Especially since Logan, the head-jock, even encouraged them. I was a free-for-all within a few mere days. It started out small; being tripped and pushed around in the hallways and constantly called names. Then the thefts started, when I went into the locker room after gym classes to find my wallet and/or phone missing. And then it evolved into full blown beatings.

Two guys caught me on my way home and wanted to teach me a lasting lesson, simply because I apparently had looked at a girl they were interested in. They came up from behind me and had me knocked to the ground before I even knew they were coming. As one of them gave me a final kick in the ribs, I noticed Logan’s car standing right next to us, with Logan in it. He was watching the whole thing, smiling. I fucking hated the bastard.

Needless to say, my pool of friends was rapidly diminishing as the whole thing turned physical, because nobody wanted to become a target by association. My parents noticed the bruises, of course, and Mom was alarmed for a while. She wanted to raise hell at school, but Aaron and Logan were both convinced I needed to simply learn to stand up for myself. They assured her, that’s just how boys are and something they needed to go through to “grow a pair”.

When I turned fifteen, I got a single present from my parents. Logan only cared about the occasion when Mom brought out the store bought cake. The only thing I got from Dad was a comment about me not needing any more calories. Ava, however, suddenly handed me a big, wrapped box, wishing me a happy birthday with a big smile on her face. By that time, I had already noticed how Ava was trying to please Logan and Dad, so being presented with a gift from her seemed like we may be going back to how it was before. It made me extremely happy. That is, until I unwrapped her present to find myself holding a penis pump.

I heard Mom comment a loud “Oh! No, you didn’t!”, but she was laughing instead of scolding. Logan and Aaron thought it was absolutely hilarious. I was absolutely speechless. I got up from the table and walked to my room, trying to keep it together, but failed miserably. I didn’t know why they wouldn’t realize how much all this hurt me. About two hours later, Mom - Claire - came to my room and handed me her present I had left behind. I took it out of her hand without saying a word, carried it over to the trash can, and dropped it in there without even unwrapping it.

“What did you do that for!?” Claire asked. Her expression looked confused, but her voice sounded like she was offended by me throwing her present away.

“Thanks,” I answered in a tired voice “but I don’t think I need any more ‘gifts’ from you all.”

“Oh, don’t be a baby. It was a joke. No need to mope around.”

And then she left the room before I even had a chance to try and explain how this was anything but a joke for me.

I finally learned what this was all about when Ava’s sixteenth birthday came around, not quite three weeks after my own. Just like Logan, when he turned sixteen, Ava got a nice bunch of presents, including her own little car. I kept to myself hidden in my room, which was slowly but surely voiding itself of personal items, when Claire knocked on my door.

“What are you sitting around in your room for? Have you even congratulated your sister yet!?”

“Ava asked ... told me to stay out of sight while her friends are over. So, no, I haven’t.”

“No present either, I take it?” The disapproval was thick in her voice.

“Why would I get her a present after the crap she got me!?”

“OH MY GOD! Are you still hung up on that!? It was a joke, Tiny! Learn to live with it. If you ever find yourself a girlfriend, she WILL make a comment about your small size too, you know? And what then? Are you going to come running home, crying? You might find a woman willing to put up with a small pecker, but if it comes attached to a Crybaby, even those women won’t want you.”

I could only stare at her incredulously. It was that exact moment I realized that I would never be able to rely on her for anything again, as long as my siblings were involved. She sighed before she continued.

“Ava is going to drive us to Johnny’s. Maggie has a present for her, and we’ll take the opportunity to see them again. You stay here! And when we’re back, I expect you, young Man, to have AT LEAST a card ready for your Sister!”

And just like that, she was gone. I couldn’t help but wonder about that statement. I liked my Uncle John, he and his wife never joined in on the torment I received from my direct family, though they did seem to be amused by it at times. Especially his daughter, my cousin Maggie, never got the difference between some harmless ribbing and tasteless insults. But what irritated me was Claire’s comment about the opportunity to see them again. The family has always been quite close with the other relatives, and especially John. He was Claire’s brother, they lived close by, so they met at least twice every week.

I did NOT want another discussion with my caring ‘Mother’, so I quickly went on Amazon and bought Ava a $25 gift card and printed it out. I was sure, if I merely dropped it on her pillow or something, it would spark another discussion. So, I’d walk over to John’s house, hand Ava the damn gift, and leave again.

The walk took me maybe twenty minutes, and the first thing I noticed when I arrived were the drawn shut curtains. Thinking they might be watching a movie or something, I made my way around the house to the backdoor, leading into their kitchen. And as soon as I stepped through that door, I heard it all. The moaning. The sound of flesh slapping. Even the wet squishy noises. When I quietly and carefully walked towards the passthrough to the living room, the whole scene unfolded as it came into view.

I saw Ava on all fours, being fucked doggy style by Aaron. Our own father! Ava’s face was buried in our cousin Maggie’s crotch, who was lying beneath her on her back in a sixty-nine position. Maggie seemed to be eagerly alternating between sucking Ava’s clit and licking Aarons balls.

Right next to them, on the sofa, was Uncle John. He wasn’t alone either. Bouncing on his lap with her back to him, was my mother – his sister – Claire. Both of them blissfully fucking while watching the others in their threesome. Aunt Danielle and Logan were cuddled up in the loveseat, both covered in a thin layer of sweat. I thought they were probably taking a break, when I heard Ava’s scream.

“GOD YES, DADDY! FUCK ME! I’M COMING! I LOVE THIS! I’M COMIIIIIING!!!”

What followed was as entrancing as it was disturbing. Ava’s high-pitched scream slowly devolved, like a balloon running out of air, as she clenched her teeth and her head flew back. Aaron kept pumping into her slowly for a while, until Ava calmed down and slumped onto Maggie.

I was still unable to fully process what I had just witnessed, when Aunt Danielle got up from Logan’s lap, and walked over to the three people in the middle of the room. She leaned down next to Ava’s head and softly spoke into her ear.

“Ready to have your Daddy pop your last cherry, sweetheart?”

Upon hearing Ava’s moan, Aunt Danielle crawled over to Ava’s rear. Maggie, who was still eagerly sucking on Ava’s clit, slid her hands along Ava’s hips to her Ass, and pulled her cheeks apart. Without another word, and with Aaron only scooting back so far that the tip of his dick would remain inside his daughter, Danielle started kissing and licking Ava’s little puckered butthole.

Right there, in the middle of the living-room floor, Aunt Danielle was rimming her Niece’s asshole. Her daughter was sucking on her cousin’s Clit with loud slurping noises. And right in between those two mouths, Aaron was fucking his cock into his sixteen-year-old daughter’s sopping wet hole.

When Danielle finally stuck her tongue into Ava’s ass, she moaned again, which seemed to be the cue for the others. Aaron finally pulled his dick completely out of Ava’s pussy, just as Claire lifted herself off John’s pole. She grabbed a small bottle, walked over to her husband, and started slowly lubing him up while watching Aunt Danielle and Maggie continue to work Ava’s holes and smilingly whispered something into her husband’s ear. I couldn’t hear anything she said, but Aarons sudden moan of anticipation spoke volumes. She’s been egging him on to fuck their Daughter!

When she felt like she had done a sufficient job in lubing him up, she tapped Danielle’s shoulder, who leaned back to make room for Claire to add more lube directly to Ava’s Butt. Then, Claire, still holding onto Aaron’s hard cock, lined it up with their Daughter’s slightly opened brown hole, slid her other hand onto his ass, and then pushed it forward. Like this, guided by his wife, he slowly penetrated their Daughter’s asshole with closed eyes and a loud groan.

As he did that, Danielle slid one of her hands over Ava’s butt cheeks towards her crotch and then stuck two fingers into her now vacant pussy. Ava now had a dick in her ass, fingers in her pussy, and a mouth on her clit. Though, they were not in sync. While Aaron’s movement was gentle and careful, and he didn’t seem to want to push her limits too far too quickly, Danielle went absolutely wild on Ava’s pussy, pumping and turning her fingers with vigor.

“Yes, sweetheart! Come for us, you little slut!” Danielle said loudly, not skipping a beat in stimulating Ava. “Come from feeling your Daddy in your tight little ass!”.

At first, the only sounds coming from Ava were admittedly cute little squeaking noises. But after Aaron got maybe half a dozen strokes into her Ass, those little noises rapidly grew louder before she exploded in a deafening scream. Her body was violently shaking for a few moments before she finally collapsed on top of Maggie, who quickly extracted herself from that position and moved over to Uncle John. As Ava was lying there, her body periodically spasming and a long drawn-out moan escaping her mouth, Danielle was stroking her hair, Claire was stroking her back, and Aaron was whispering something while kissing her forehead and caressing her cheek with a proud smile on his face. But then my attention was drawn back to John, as he moaned himself. While I was watching my immediate family care for Ava, Maggie had gone down on her knees in front of her own father, and was now swallowing the seed he shot into her mouth.

I had the foresight to try and stay hidden throughout the whole ordeal, though I don’t think any of them would have even noticed a SWAT-Team busting into the room at that moment. They were all totally engrossed in their act.

No, I did not suddenly notice how hard I was. Because I wasn’t. And I certainly didn’t run home to masturbate. I was shocked. While I absolutely knew that the women in my family were objectively attractive, I never fantasized about any of them, and what I just saw didn’t change that. Up until that very point, I somehow knew they had sex. But certainly not with each other! For me, the women in my family were A-Sexual entities filled with marshmallows. No, what I saw actually made me sad. I turned and left the house, as quietly as I entered it, through the back door. My mind was in stunned shock as I walked back home.

I sat in front of my computer, but never turned it on. After I arrived, my mind was no longer stunned, it was racing. So many clues I missed ... or couldn’t catch. Who would expect or even consider the possibility of something like that? But I now knew why they were so eager to drive me away for so long. Claire had Aaron. Ava had Logan. I was convinced I was the odd one out. I would only get in their way. I didn’t even realize at the time that Maggie didn’t have a brother herself, so if we were to combine the two families like I had just seen, it could have all fit together.

For a while, I felt incredibly betrayed for not being included. Why wouldn’t they even tell me? But then I remembered that I was still nothing but a fat geek for them. A fat and unattractive geek with a small dick. They simply didn’t want me. And while it hurt, I couldn’t exactly demand them to be attracted to me. But it wasn’t sex I was missing in this family. I was envious of them for something else.

When I saw Aunt Danielle stroking Ava’s hair, while Claire was stroking her back, it looked so ... loving. And caring. And before that, it was obvious the four of them worked together to make this an unforgettable experience of pure pleasure for Ava. Meanwhile, I hadn’t received so much as a hug, or even just a damn back rub from any of these assholes since I was twelve! My parents were embarrassed to have me as a son. Ava ridiculed me in front of her friends. Logan wouldn’t help me if I was dying. And the envy vanished. Instead, I fucking hated them at that moment. If they didn’t want me, I could do just as well without them.

True to my new resolve, I withdrew myself further from the family over the next few weeks. While Claire seemed to notice, and made at least some half-assed effort to draw me out again over Christmas, she still didn’t see the need to at least stop calling me “Tiny”, causing me to lash out until she left me alone. I also didn’t look at the one gift addressed to me, probably from Claire again. Conversations were one-sided, with me never initiating them and only answering the absolute necessary minimum. I did my chores, but that was as far as I was willing to contribute to this household.

By the time New Year’s came around, and the parents were hosting a party for their friends and a few colleagues, Claire seemed to have fulfilled her quota of parental duty. It was then that Claire and Aaron started laughingly introducing me as “the smallest in the family” to their guests. Of course, at first most of them assumed it was about me being the youngest of their children. By the time the countdown was over and most of the champagne was consumed, however, even these total strangers suddenly addressed me as “Tiny Tim” while snickering, thinking the whole thing was just as funny as my family had always claimed.

I had thought about asking to move to my Grandparents. Their home was a three hour drive away, which would have been perfect. They lived far enough away to ensure I wouldn’t run into anyone from my current school, but close enough so the parents wouldn’t have many reasons to complain. The problem was that, ever since Grandpa retired, they spent more time traveling than anything else. They were barely around anymore, and what little contact I had with them was through phone conversations, so I didn’t think they’d be eager to take in a new teenager that would only tie them down again.

In mid-January came the event that would finally put me on a path to make things a little better for me. Someone, with a little help from Ava, figured out how to get into my school locker, and used it to play another ‘prank’ on me. After they had covered everything in my locker in wet coffee grounds on a Friday afternoon, the result I discovered the following Monday morning included quite a few destroyed textbooks that needed to be replaced. Like usual, the school wouldn’t help in any way, not even when it came to cleaning up the locker. When I went to the parents and showed them the letter from school, accompanied by a price list for the books, Aaron wouldn’t have any of it.

“For fuck’s sakes, boy! Learn to stand up for yourself! You already lost two phones over the last month, and now we need to replace textbooks!? Did you see what they cost!?”

I was numb. I didn’t expect anything from them anymore, but he still managed to surprise me. Did he honestly believe that I lost those phones? He knew full well they were stolen! And how the fuck was I supposed to stand up for myself when they never came at me alone. And with the full support of my siblings, no less!

“This can’t go on like this.” He continued, “Maybe it’s time to start taking responsibility and find yourself a job. Then you can take care of those things either by learning to defend yourself, or by paying the price for chickening out.”

I snatched the price list out of his hand and walked back to my room. I had finished several programming jobs by now and could indeed pay for the textbooks myself. Though if this kept up, I still needed a regular job with a more regular income. Then again, I was still only fifteen and didn’t think a paper route would pay enough to replace my phone every month. Though, thinking about it, why did I even bother replacing them? Because of the bullying in school, I barely had any friends left. And I refused to invite any of them into this house to witness what was happening here.

So, the next day, I went to a Diner on my way home from school that had a “Help Wanted” sign at the counter, and got myself a job waiting tables. Minimum wage ($7.25/hour) for fifteen hours per week would not make me rich. I calculated that, if I kept it up without spending any of it, I could buy myself a cheap used car in about 64 weeks. Isn’t that a motivating thought? Well, it didn’t come to that. I was fired after a single week because of me “causing disturbances”.

Since the Diner was so close to school, quite a few of my fellow pupils stopped by regularly. I couldn’t work a single shift without someone recognizing me and shouting “Tiny Tim”. Not even just other kids, there were even a few vaguely familiar adults among them I thought were friends with the parents. People throwing dick-jokes at me, much to the other guests’ displeasure, or intentionally tripping me while I was carrying someone’s order, much to the Diner’s owner’s displeasure. He recognized that I didn’t actively cause any of it, but I was still the cause of it. Simply letting me go was the easiest way to deal with the disturbances in his Diner, so that’s what he did.

I knew what happened would surely repeat itself with any student job I could get. Even if I got something further away, it would happen less frequently, but it would still happen. I needed an actual job, but for those I needed a reference since I was still fifteen. Asking my direct family was useless. So, I decided to give Uncle John a call. He was a corporate consultant, so he had a shit-ton of contacts. I figured he might know someone.

“Well, what are you good at?” he asked, after I explained my dilemma to him.

“I already made some money programming and designing stuff over Craigslist. I’m pretty good at that.”

“Really? That’s new. Anything you’d care to share?”

I sent him the links to the sites I created, as well as the names of my Apps that were already available in Google Play and the App Store. He called me back the next day, with the offer that would finally start the new chapter in my life. An old friend of his ran a security firm and needed, at the very least, a completely overhauled website. He’d vouch for me to overcome the problem my age presented, but I’d have to convince them of my capabilities myself. The appointment was made for the following Friday, and I had compiled a portfolio outlining all the noteworthy characteristics of my previous projects, as well as my skill set.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to put in so much effort. John’s friend, Bill Carter, was indeed skeptical at first because of my age. That was, however, already solved by Uncle John simply asking him to try me out as a favor. And since he, as he phrased it, “doesn’t know shit about this computer stuff”, I agreed to simply start working on it. When I had something presentable, he would send it around for people to try.

I worked on it the entire following week, and was able to create a nice and expandable CMS that would allow them to edit the pages themselves, and included all the needed APIs for their accounting and staff-Apps to exchange data over it. I sent him the login data on a Sunday evening, and he called me to discuss salary two days later.

I offered him thirty dollars per hour with flexible hours. He offered me to go fuck myself, but he was laughing while saying it. In return, I asked him to check with his accounting for the rate he paid the agency that made his previous system, and how long it took them to deliver a finished product.

To my surprise, that actually worked! We settled on a lump sum payment of $4,500 for the work already done, and an hourly rate of thirty-five dollars for all future work. All of that as a freelancer, for now, since the hours I was allowed to work as an employee would be strictly limited and regulated by labor law until I turned sixteen. My first job would be to rework the apps his men used to upload photos, surveillance-videos, and to log their hours. I was fully prepared to get stuck with minimum wage again, since I was ‘just a minor’. Gladly, Bill didn’t care about that in the least. As long as the work was done right, I would be paid like any other employee who did their job.

The next day, Claire accompanied me to the bank to open an account. As we were sitting in that bank, the idiot teller tried to make her open a custodial account for me, which basically means that the account would be in my name, but I couldn’t do anything without either Claire’s or Aaron’s signature. She was all for it, but I told her in no uncertain terms that, since I was working for that money, it should be my money. She compromised with a joint account with safeguards for reckless spending. I could live with that. At that point, I was seriously worried about getting money transferred into an account the parents had access to. Sadly, contrary to Bill, the bank did absolutely care about me being ‘just a minor’, so I didn’t have much of a choice.

The single debit card and the login data for the online banking were sent directly to me alone, so the only way for them to check my account balance, or make withdrawals, was to actually walk into the bank and ask for it. My hope was, since they didn’t know about Bill paying me more than minimum wage, they wouldn’t feel the need to go through that trouble. At least as long as I didn’t give them reason to. So, no reckless spending for me. Back to feature-phones and cheap snacks.

I also had no idea how taxes work for freelancers, since I never made enough before to file for them. So, I would save as much as possible until I found that out. I made only two mentionable investments: A small fridge for my room to store my food in, and a nice gaming chair. The fridge didn’t cost nearly as much as I thought it would, and I figured, if I’m going to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, I might as well sit comfortably while doing so.

The fridge, though, did not go unnoticed. When I carried it inside, Logan saw me and his eyes grew wide immediately. Last I saw before reaching the stairs was him pulling out his phone. I learned whom he called when Aaron stood in my door as soon as he arrived home.

“Boy! If you’re going to put a fridge in here, you’ll have to pay rent. Those things burn energy like a hair dryer running non-stop!” he told me in an annoyed tone.

I didn’t know if this was yet another attempt to piss me off, or if his children were demanding personal fridges of their own now, so he wanted to nip this in the bud. Either way, I looked at him for a while, contemplating my options. Then I took all the bills out of my wallet that were left after my shopping spree, counted them, and handed him seventy-five dollars. I made sure he saw I only had a whopping six dollars left, hoping he wouldn’t think I wasn’t hurting for money.

“That should cover the rest of the month. I’ll set up a money transfer order starting from the 1st. I hope three-hundred bucks a month are enough for this room?” I asked him, with my now usual tired voice.

I waited a little for a reply, but he just looked at me confused, so I closed the door in his face. He apparently didn’t expect me to readily pay up without complaining. And certainly not such an amount. However, as far as I was concerned, this interaction had finally officiated our new relationship. I hadn’t felt like part of this ‘Family’ in a while. Now I was officially nothing more than their tenant. Too bad nobody else would rent out a room to a fifteen-year-old kid, regardless of him having an actual taxable income. I’d have been out of that house in a heartbeat.

The next two weeks followed a pretty set pattern: Get up in the morning. Go through the motions while getting slapped around in school. Pick up some groceries or take-out on my way home, so I would have something to eat. Go to sleep while trying to ignore the occasional bed-squeaking coming from one (or more) of their bedrooms. Repeat.

That is, until my workload changed. Apparently, being a programmer and doing things with computers others don’t understand, makes you the default go-to guy when someone’s hardware refuses to comply. So, whenever the printer in accounting didn’t work, I was called over. When someone accidentally hit F11 and put their Pornhub browser window in fullscreen-mode, that someone showed up next to me and discretely asked for quick help. Same went for their personal and private devices. I soon made it a habit to come to the office directly after school and stay for at least one or two hours. Normally I would do all the programming and maintenance from home, so I’d only come in if we had something to discuss. But I could do that just as well while in the building, and this way I could actually look at the stuck printer.

It didn’t take too long for the others in the office to get friendly with that chubby kid that was fixing their stuff. For the first time in more than a year, I had people I could have an actual conversation with, even if they were more small-talk, since we had little in common because of the age difference. That helped somewhat. It also didn’t take long for Bill to notice that something was wrong with me and called me into his office.

“Alright, kid. The fuck’s up with the bruises?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“School stuff” was all I could say to that.

“School stuff. As in ‘you’re part of the wrestling team and just bad at it’? Or ‘the wrestling team is using you for sparring matches without you being a member’?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I did not want to tell my boss, who employed me in a security firm, that I was incapable of defending myself against other kids at school. Even if I was just the IT-Guy and not part of his operative staff.

“I’m pretty sure John said he had two nephews ... Doesn’t your brother go to the same high school as you?”

“Logan, yes, he does. So does my sister. You could say they’re part of the wrestling team. My family ... doesn’t like me very much.”

Bill didn’t say anything for a moment. I also couldn’t see any change in his expression. Did he already know? Or maybe it was just his character. Or he did the job long enough to not find this unusual anymore.

“How long you gonna be here today?” he finally asked.

“Well, I like to stay ‘till five, when the office-dwellers leave, so I’m here if something comes up.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. I’m still only paying you for actual work done, not for sitting around.” I smirked at that “Come back in here at five.”

And that’s what I did. After meeting him in his office, he led me to the gym. As it turned out, unbeknownst to me, the operative part of his employees met every day after the others left for their training sessions.

“All right everyone, listen up!” he called out to them. “This is Tim. Most of you probably seen him around by now fixing your shit on company time. He’s gonna join us in the afternoons from now on. Be nice to him, he still has soft bones. Drop him on his head and it’s probably gonna leave a permanent dent.”

Most of them laughed at that, I was still a little confused.

“What is it you train here? Something like Krav Maga or something?” I asked excitedly. To my even greater confusion, most of them laughed even harder at that than after Bill’s joke.

“Listen Kid,” Bill started in an exhausted tone while pointing a finger at me. “If you want to learn how to throw a killer punch, go boxing. If you want to learn how to use your knees and elbows to strike, learn Muay Thai. If you want to learn how to throw people around, learn Judo. And if you want to learn all of those things, just not even half as good, learn Krav Maga. We don’t do that crap here.”

“But ... wasn’t that, like, some army thing everybody learns now?”

“Yeah, once upon a time it was that legendary martial art the IDF teaches.” he explained with much sarcasm in his voice. “But ever since it got popular in Los Angeles, it’s more of a means to slim your waistline using a punching bag. In the end, all popular and widely known martial arts you can learn in schools or dojos are either meant for competitions, against a single opponent and judged by a guy who makes sure everybody abides by the rules, or are simply a collection of made up scenarios you can’t apply to the real world. The drunks at a bar always come with friends as backup, burglars in Texas are most likely carrying, and the desperate ones will use whatever they can to take you down. Martial Art styles will give you some degree of confidence in a real fight, but that’s it.”

“Sooo ... what are you training then?”

“Our own little style. Call it MMA if you must put a name to it, but it’s simply a mixture of whatever we all learned works best in the field. What we train in these sessions is meant to teach you how to take an attacker down as quickly and effectively as possible, so by the time their buddies try to help him out by jumping you from behind, you’re already done with him and ready for the next one.”

“Nice!” I commented. This sounded awesome. Bill, however, made quick work of my enthusiasm.

“Now keep in mind, this is going to be very different from what you’ve seen in ‘Cobra Kai’ or some other shitty show. We don’t really concern ourselves with the future health of someone who tries to kill us. If you break his arm and rip his tendons, tough shit for him, but he’ll sure as hell won’t use that arm to pick his knife back up and try again. BUT! We train this for self defense. So, if you use any of this on someone who’s not ACTIVELY attacking you, it’ll no longer pertain to self defense. It’ll get you thrown in jail, and we will not bail you out for that. So, we’ll also include some lessons in discipline.”

After this little speech that left me in a mixture of excitement and downright fear, he introduced me to the other participants and assigned me a partner. From then on, for 90 minutes per session, five days a week, I learned how to defend myself. On three days a week we spent an additional hour lifting weights.

I’m not going to lie, it was fucking hard! Even though the training started out easy, teaching me how to stand properly and then how to apply and get out of choke- and handholds, I was in constant muscle pain for the first two weeks. It felt like the lactic acid buildup in my muscles would never go away. By the time we moved on to A LOT of grappling, and finally all the way to ‘disabling’ armed or unarmed attackers, I had thankfully gotten used to the daily exercises.

Granted, there weren’t that many people coming after me with knives and guns in school, and there wasn’t much in those training sessions I could reasonably use against untrained bullies without being arrested (“Or worse, expelled!”), but it gave me confidence. I could now look my attackers in the eyes and actually see what they were trying to do, instead of cowering away and be taken by surprise with every single punch. And as long as I could see it, I could defend against it. At least that was what Bill kept telling me.

My favorite part about the training, however, was Tess. She worked in accounting and claimed to only train with the guys because she wouldn’t have to pay for a gym membership that way. Twenty-eight years old, 5’4’’ tall, and always holding her long raven hair in a ponytail. I thoroughly enjoyed having her as a sparring partner when we had to get handsy, because she seemed to enjoy herself with me as well. At least that was the impression I got from the genuine smile she gave me while we were going through the different holds. Despite what I hoped, with me being fifteen and all, I didn’t seriously expect to get anywhere with a woman thirteen years older than me. But I did look forward to each time we met, either during training or in the coffee kitchen, talking.

After roughly nine weeks of daily training, I was ultimately forced to use in school what I had learned in the Company. During break time on an unusually lousy Monday in April, I was on my way to my locker to switch books, when I had to walk past Jack Miller, one of my chief-tormentors and best buddies with Logan. He and one of his bully-buddies were making the moves on a petite freshman girl with ash-brown hair whom I only knew by looks. At least I’m pretty sure they thought they were flirting. The girl’s face and comments showed that she had a distinctly different opinion on that, and would rather be left alone. I hadn’t even decided if I wanted to interfere or not, when Jack noticed me standing there, watching them.

“What you looking at, Tiny Tim?” he mocked me.

I noticed at that moment that Bill was right. Those guys were big and bulky football players, but they were in no way comparable to the men I had been training with for months. I wasn’t even nervous about what he and his friend might try. They must have noticed my attitude and decided that I should receive a reminder of why I once feared them. Jack walked over to me, grabbed my collar with his right hand and forcefully pushed me into the lockers.

“I asked, what you looking at!?” he snarled.

I placed my left hand on the one holding my collar, and, for the moment, just looked at him and my surroundings. Like usual, there were quite a few people stopping when passing us, but nobody cared to do anything. When I still didn’t answer, he started raising his other arm, pulling back his fist. He took so long, I think he simply didn’t expect me to do anything about it anyway. Or he wanted to enjoy the fear he usually saw in my eyes when they advertised the pain I could expect. But not this time.

Quickly, I grabbed the thumb of the hand holding my shirt and pulled and overturned it outwards. This caused him to first lose his grip, and then follow with his torso in the direction I was bending his hand, exposing the entire left side of his neck to me. As I was bending his hand, I quickly raised my right arm to face level, and then slammed my elbow down on his jaw before he could think about what was happening. His head violently jerked clockwise before he fell to the ground like someone cut the strings of a puppet.

When his bully-buddy saw that, he moved in on me. Scowling at me with his torso low, ready to charge like I was an opposing player on the football field he wanted to tackle. When I saw that, I took a quick step to the side away from him, so he had to step over Jack and couldn’t run full force at me. As he did, he looked at his feet for just a split second, to make sure he wouldn’t step on Jack, and I used that moment to attack.

I stopped his advance with a quick and light left jab to his face, throwing him off long enough for me to instantly follow up with a strong right hook to his liver. His body basically shut down and he went down on his knees. Then, my left knee found its way into his face. He fell backwards on top of Jack and just groaned in pain, not moving much. His nose and mouth were a bloody mess. I reached down, grabbed Jack’s arm, and pulled him out from under his friend and onto his left side, like we did at the training session whenever a chokehold was held too long and someone passed out. Then I looked around.

The hallway was filled with gasping faces staring at me, and one of those faces was Logan’s. That fucker looked disappointed at his buddies! My heart was going at roughly 300 beats per minute, but I needed them to think I was unimpressed and ready for whatever they might try next. I wanted them to think I could take them all if they forced me to. I needed them to know, I was no longer their punching bag. And it worked!

The whole confrontation was over quickly. From the moment Jack raised his fist at me, maybe twenty seconds had passed, and yet, two incapacitated football jocks were lying on the ground. It was also brutal and merciless, way above the level of fights any of my fellow students were used to. But most important of all, it was super effective!

Logan and a few other guys looked at the two lying on the floor, unconscious and incapacitated. They clearly wanted to get to them, but Logan’s eyes kept flicking between the two sleeping beauties and me. They were afraid to come near me! I took a closer look at the people surrounding us and saw more than one of my bullies just standing there unmoving.

I didn’t get to relish in my accomplishment, though, since the next thing I knew, Coach Jenkins grabbed me by the arm and all but threw me across the hallway towards the principal’s office. The entire way he was raising hell about me attacking other students and threatening expulsion. When he dragged me in front of the principal’s desk, we noticed that the freshman girl had been following us the entire time.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her, still angry.

“Ah, Sir, he wasn’t attacking nobody! Jack and his friend wouldn’t leave me alone, even after I told them to. When he...” she said, now pointing at me “ ... just walked by and looked at them. Then Jack suddenly grabbed him, pushed him into the lockers and tried to punch him. He was just defending himself!”

This had quickly turned into a quite uncomfortable situation for the school, and it showed on their faces. Not just Coach Jenkin’s, but also the principal’s. Making unwanted advances at a girl, in this day and age?

“That still doesn’t warrant violence! And especially not at THAT level!” the principal commented heatedly. “I’m afraid I will have to call the authorities over this assault, Mr. Brown.”.

“Assault. Is that so.” I said “Tell me, how many times have I been in here, after one of his assholes used me as a punching bag?” I asked, pointing at Coach Jenkins. “And how many times did ANY of you do shit about that!? I TRIED to get help from you and the teachers, but NONE of you could be bothered to do something. But now that I was FORCED to defend myself, NOW he starts threatening me with expulsion and the police!?”

“We told you before, Mr. Brown, there wasn’t much we could do. They always had witnesses placing them somewhere else.”

“And I told you before that I didn’t beat myself up! There would’ve been other things you could’ve done when the complaints about your valued team members piled up. But you didn’t. And now, when those guys get hurt themselves while trying to assault someone else, the victim gets threatened. I’m sure there will be a few people highly interested in that! First of all, my family’s lawyer. So, go ahead, call the police. There is more than enough proof of what’s been going on over the past eight months in my health records. And I’d be surprised if you could point to ANYTHING you did to stop it.”

I tried to keep my voice leveled and steady, though it was hard. This was months of frustration finally breaking loose, and it took everything I had not to lose it completely. Finally the principal and Coach Jenkins exchanged glances and seemed to wordlessly agree on the needed procedure.

They called the counselor and had her take the girl to a different room. Then the principal had me write down my “version of the events”. When the counselor came back ten minutes later, she was holding a paper that looked suspiciously like they gave the girl the exact same assignment. The principal quickly went over both statements, though his mood was not improving. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“Damn it ... wait here!” I heard him mumble, before he got up and left me alone in the room.

About five minutes in, my phone started buzzing and I was elated when I saw what I had just received. This day couldn’t get any better! Craig, one of my last remaining ‘friends’, if I could still call anyone that, had started filming the whole thing as soon as he had noticed that the girl was not too receptive to Jack’s advances. It showed everything! I could now watch myself knock out Jack and his friend, and relive that beautiful moment, as many times as I wanted. But most important of all, if the principal chose to screw me over, I had solid proof!

Just to be on the safe side, I quickly created a new YouTube account, made sure the password was not saved in my phone, and uploaded the video to it. This way, it was definitely backed up in a way they could not get to, even if they took my phone from me, and I could easily share it if needed. Another twenty minutes later, the principal returned and sat back behind his desk. He fixed me with a look, still seeming anything but happy.

“Well, Mr. Brown, I just checked the security tape. It does indeed show that you didn’t initiate the fight, but instead reacted to threatening behavior from another student. It still doesn’t...”

“Threatening behavior!?” I interrupted, clearly irritated. “Are you saying the tape didn’t show Jack physically assaulting me when I just stood there? Pushing me into the lockers? Holding me by the collar, while raising his fist? Are you claiming, based on what you saw on the tape AND what you read in the witness’s statement, I didn’t have every reason to fear for my safety?”

The way the principal’s eyes narrowed told me that I had said the right thing. I had been left alone with my thoughts in this room for long enough to anticipate this. Working in a security company has quite a few benefits. One of those was hearing all the stories the guys at the firm told me. They are regularly threatened with legal actions whenever a drunkard they threw out of an event felt humiliated, or a spouse that got caught fucking around on our surveillance cameras felt like they were installed unlawfully. These people would make up the most fantastical tales of misconduct and excessive violence to somehow discredit us. So, as soon as the principal started talking like a cheap lawyer, I knew he would try to spin this any way he could to discredit me.

But I also knew I had the advantage, since I was holding all the proof. After two different beatings, I had been forced to see a doctor, and in both cases he noted all the “defensive wounds” I had. Quite telling abrasions, cuts and bruises I got while trying to shield myself. And as I just pointed out to the principal, even if the surveillance tape somehow went missing, I still had a witness.

The principal watched me for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and continued.

“What I wanted to say, Mr. Brown, is that I acknowledge you felt the need to defend yourself. Albeit you did so excessively. So, we will not expel you. Instead, you, as well as the other two boys, will receive a three-day suspension. I will notify your parents of what happened here today. Please accompany Coach Jenkins here off the school grounds to make sure there aren’t any more incidents today.”

And just as if on cue, Coach Jenkins entered the room and walked me out. I stopped by the door to get one last point across, though.

“You know, it’s interesting how the school suddenly has a surveillance system you could check. Makes one wonder, what happened to your need to call the police over this incident? After all, someone still got assaulted. Don’t tell me the police aren’t necessary any longer, now that the victim turned out to be someone other than one of your players?”

“Don’t overdo it, Mr. Brown.” he glared at me. “I might not see the need to call the police on you, but those boys’ parents just might!”

“In that case, let me remind you that we live in the age of smartphones. The whole show is already on YouTube. I suggest you keep that in mind when you talk to their parents to explain exactly what happened.” I deadpanned, and let Coach Jenkins lead me off school grounds.

I couldn’t have given any less of a shit about his threat. I achieved what I wanted to and had the proof that I merely defended myself. That was a good day.

Chapter 2

I just walked out of the kitchen with my freshly microwaved burrito, when I heard the front door open. It had been three hours since I was suspended, and it was time for Logan and Ava to arrive home. The entire afternoon I was unable to take my mind off the fight, but especially the confrontation with the principal that followed. What I told him was absolutely true. I really did ask the school staff for help, especially when the thefts started, but they never even did so much as hang Anti-Bullying posters in the hallways. The fact I now even had to threaten them with a lawyer after I was forced to defend myself, had kept me angry the entire time. So, when Logan and Ava stepped out of the hallway and into the living room, my mood was already pretty dark, and Ava must have noticed. She stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing me. Logan, however, came right at me.

“Great work, asshole! You proud...”

That was as far as he came before I threw my plate against the wall ten feet next to him, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Ava let out a shrill shriek and made a quick beeline to the stairs. Logan looked surprised about my outburst. He didn’t seem to have expected me to do anything but cower before him. But then again, his buddies didn’t expect me to hit back either. He had four inches in height on me, but I still got right in his face, causing him to slowly walk backwards, as I launched my tirade at him.

“Shut the fuck up, Golden Boy. I’ve fucking had it. Your friends have been beating on me for MONTHS! And you stood right next to them and WATCHED with a SMILE! I’m fucking done taking your shit! You’ve seen it today. You know what I’m capable of now. So go ahead and piss me off, motherfucker!” That last word I basically spat at him with all the loathing I could express, hinting at what I knew. “See how it works out for you.”

He visibly paled and took a few quick steps back from me. This was obviously not what he thought was going to happen. I wasn’t just seething, I was actually hoping he would try something so I could rip him apart. My fists were balled, my nails digging painfully into my palms, and my body was literally shaking in anger. The amount of pure hate that suddenly exploded inside me scared even myself. But he was there in the school’s hallway. He saw the violence. He knew what could happen if he pushed me over the edge again.

To my great pleasure, he turned and walked away without saying another word. My eyes followed him until Ava entered my field of vision, who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs. I was equally pleased to see the fright on her face before Logan reached her, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her up the stairs. When they were out of sight, I went back to the kitchen to get something to clean up my mess, and moaned about the loss of my afternoon snack.

About two hours later, I heard a knock on my door. When I opened it, I found myself face to face with Ava. By now I had calmed down significantly and just stared at her with a bored expression. She looked at me, opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed like she was taken aback. Her mouth slowly closing again, her eyes started wandering around my room, and a look I couldn’t place crept onto her face. Like she was irritated. Or nervous. Or, maybe, almost like she was concerned. I looked around myself but couldn’t see anything unsettling. Wasn’t much left, to be honest. Over the past year, my room had lost most of its personal touch.

I had my wardrobe, desk with chair, and twin-sized bed. I guess, since they never planned on sharing my bed with me, there was no need to get me a bigger one, like they did for their other children. Other than that, there were only my fridge and two shelf boards with my fantasy novels left.

The pictures that previously stood in those shelves had moved into a drawer, when the friends they showed distanced themselves from me. The posters and small rubbish went to the trash, when I lost interest in most of my hobbies. Now, the most prominent item in the room was my desk, which held my computer and all of my paperwork, like the invoices I wrote and the tax-crap I couldn’t figure out. It looked more like an office that someone had put a guest bed in. So, not seeing what Ava’s problem could be, I looked back at her and waited for her to gather her thoughts.

“What?” I asked impatiently, when she still couldn’t get a hold of herself after a minute.

“I was just ... I’m...” she stuttered but stopped again.

“ ... a bitch. I know, Princess. But do me a favor and stop wasting my time. Some people have stuff to do that doesn’t involve you.”

Now she looked hurt. The bitch looked hurt! After all the rumors she spread, all the badmouthing she subjected me to, all the insults she threw in my face whenever she found an opportunity to, she got hurt by that.

“Don’t call me a bitch, Tiny Tim! Don’t dump your frustration on me, it’s not my fault you can’t attract any girls.”

“Actually, it is. You were the one who started spreading those fucking rumors around school. You were also the one who roped the other fucking cheerleaders into making fun of me and started this shit I’m buried in!”

“I didn’t...” for just a second, she looked rattled, but she quickly caught herself. “They’re not rumors if they’re true!”

“Sure, Princess, tell yourself that. Now do yourself a favor and fuck off, before my ‘frustrations’ make me do something you’d surely regret.”

And with that, I slammed the door in her face.

Did that bitch seriously believe I still had a small dick!? Yes, back then the thing was barely three inches long. Probably even less if I’m being honest. Turns out, though, as a boy grows up, so does his dick! And the damn thing grows rather rapidly until a boy reaches sixteen years of age. It even keeps growing after he reaches sixteen, if only marginally, until the age of eighteen to twenty. Trust me, I read up on it every time my family had caused my insecurities to be off the charts again. So, I read about it a lot.

Now, I’ll never be a porn star with one of those eight-inch bats between their legs, but my penis should be absolutely adequate for sex, and thick enough to certainly be felt by a woman! After all, I can’t even stick my index finger into my mouth without gagging, which is merely three inches long. So, I figure there should be fun times ahead of me. If only those rumors Ava spread, and the bullying Logan encouraged, hadn’t effectively killed any chance I ever had to test that theory with any female my age.

Apart from that little clash with Golden Boy and the Princess, my suspension was highly uneventful and went largely unnoticed by my older cohabitors. I knew that Aaron and Claire were informed of my suspension the moment they set foot into the house. And I was willing to bet Logan talked to them about my outburst, trying to get me punished, but neither one of my parents bothered to come to my room. That was fine with me ... although, despite what I kept telling myself, somewhere in the back of my head, I was still holding up that small sliver of hope that at least one of them would start acting like a parent.

When I became the IT-Guy in a security firm, I thought it would be wise to expand my horizon and start looking into IT-Security. One of the very first things I learned was how to place a hidden tracker on phones. And yes, I did that with all of their phones, simply to test it out. A quick check revealed why nobody bothered to talk with me about what happened. They were at Uncle John’s house, undoubtedly having more orgies over there, like they did regularly since Ava’s sweet sixteen. They had more important things to do than to check in with me. At least Uncle John and Aunt Danielle could fill them in. Those two had seen me quite a few times during the training sessions, when they came in to meet up with Bill. Maybe they should have warned Golden Boy of what he had coming.

Although nobody dared lay a hand on me in school anymore, a couple of them did try outside of school a few times over the following months. Luckily, it ended much the same way as the first confrontation. The last attempt happened right after the football season started, and, after word got around exactly why the poor guys would have to sit out the first few games, I found myself being actually left alone. The verbal attacks kept coming, but I was long past giving a shit about those. As long as they would stop trying to physically assault me, this was progress.

I showed the guys at work the video of the fight, and was complimented for a job well done. They especially appreciated the part where I showed enough self control to put Jack into the recovery position, though Bill was not too happy about the part where I knee’d the guy in the face. Their opinion mattered more to me than the family’s.

I had used my suspension time to get my Learner’s Permit. With that, I went to register for the driver’s ed course in school as soon as I was allowed back in, but ran into a problem. The teacher for that class was Coach Jenkins, and, since I had put a number of his players off the field, he simply refused to get into a car with me. I was stuck without that course. I could hardly ask Aaron or Claire to give me lessons.

I bided my time over the next few months, though I held up my familial obligations. While I liked to claim it was solely to avoid yet another confrontation like on Ava’s birthday, I admit that it was actually my last desperate attempt to make the family acknowledge me.

When Mother’s Day came around in May, I got flowers, wrote a card, and left both on the kitchen table for Claire to find when she woke up in the morning. I found the card crumbled up together with the gift wrapping from her presents in the trash, so I wasn’t surprised when Claire never said anything about it. Since Logan could suck a dick for all I cared, my next attempt was Aaron’s birthday, which fell on Father’s Day that year. Knowing his obsession with football, I got him a wallet made from actual NFL uniforms worn by famous players. It cost me 280 dollars, but while I saw him use the damn thing, he never thanked me for it. And in August, when Claire’s birthday came around, I got her a Nest Egg Necklace made of sterling silver from an artist in California, with three “eggs” in the pendant representing her three children. I never learned if it had the desired effect.

While Claire never addressed my gift and I never saw her wear it, over the next few weeks she did behave like she was gathering the courage to talk about something. At dinner on the very next day after her birthday, she kept fixing me with a look before taking a deep breath as if preparing for a long talk. Whenever she did, everyone was looking at her expectantly because it was so obvious she had something to say. It never came out, though. She just stopped, breathed out again, and took another bite of her food.

She kept throwing me concerned glances every few minutes, though. She also stopped by my bedroom on a few evenings, but the result was just the same as when she tried at the dinner table. When I finally lost my patience one Saturday morning and asked what she wanted in an irritated voice, she, again, simply excused herself and walked away. She never tried again after that.

I dove into work, mentally kicking myself for getting my hopes up in the first place. Even if the Nest Egg Necklace had worked, what would it have gotten me? I would have learned that I needed to buy their consideration. So, maybe it was even better that it didn’t lead to anything. When the guys at work asked me about my license though, since I’d turn sixteen only a few months later, I told them about Coach Jenkins. They once again helped me out. I had just come out of the shower after one of our training sessions, when Bill walked into the dressing room and handed me a set of car keys, saying “I’ll wait for you in the parking lot.”, before leaving without waiting for an answer.

He took me for an hour-long drive around the parking lot, patiently explaining all the buttons and levers in the car, giving me pointers on how to do what. Then, each day after the training, he would walk into the dressing room and hand a set of keys to whomever was still in there with me. That person would eagerly give me another hour-long lesson in driving. Once I had the required hours accumulated, Bill called me into the office as soon as I arrived.

“The two of us are doing something else today.” he proclaimed, and tossed me a different set of car keys, before leading me to one of the lightly armored SUVs the company used to chauffeur clients around.

When we sat in the car, he gave me directions to a specially prepared lot where he gave me a six-hour specialized driving safety course. We started at daylight and ended late at night. I needed one of those, since my driving lessons should either be parent-taught or an approved driver’s ed course. Apparently he’s certified to give those. Holding the completion certificate in hand, I now had everything I needed to take my final test at the DMV. Everything apart from a parent’s signature on the application. Realizing this, I felt a burst of sadness rush through me.

I know, it’s not the manliest thing to say, but, at that moment, I had a hard time keeping those feelings inside. Bill had given me a chance when I desperately needed a job. All the people in the company simply accepted me as one of their own, no questions asked. They helped me get in shape and taught me how to defend myself in school. And now they taught me how to drive, like it was the most normal thing to do for someone they barely knew. These people had shown me more favor and more compassion than my own family. Even more than that, actually. Whenever my family actively buried me under another mountain of shit, these people helped me get out of it.

I somehow managed to get Aaron to sign the application at the breakfast table, and made an appointment for my final driver’s test. However, it was encouraged to take that test with the car I was intending to actually drive afterwards, so I put that off for the moment until I got myself a car and had it insured. I still didn’t want to unnecessarily tip the family off, so I looked for something cheap. Suddenly, every single guy at work had an opinion on what was most important in a car. I just wanted something cheap ... and maybe fun. So, I decided to get myself a used 2003 Jeep Wrangler Convertible. It had already 186,699 miles on it, but cost me only $5,200 dollars and it still looked presentable.

That was only in case the parents asked questions, though. Off the record, I paid another $1,800 to have it detailed, put on a new set of tires, and fitted with a decent stereo (that I can connect with a phone via Bluetooth, instead of having to burn audio-CDs). Then I had it parked at the company lot and got Aaron to, once again, sign the insurance papers at the breakfast table. I was pretty sure he thought it was for the driver’s ed class in school. But the car’s title and insurance were in my name, and would be paid from my bank account. I just needed him to co-sign to get the process started.

The week before my sixteenth birthday, Bill called me into his office once again. He informed me that, for the following Saturday, he had booked a day-long First Aid/CPR/AED course with the Red Cross for me, and they would also check my eyesight. I had no idea why he would do that, but, since he was paying, I decided that it couldn’t hurt and just attended.

The day I turned sixteen went much like my suspension: Unnoticed by the cohabitants. I skipped my afternoon classes to get my license instead. When I left the DMV, I noticed two missed calls from my grandma, so I called her back.

“Hey, Gran. I missed your calls?” I greeted her, the elation from passing the test found its way into my voice.

“Well! It’s been a while since someone sounded THAT happy to talk to me?” she chuckled.

“Eh, not that I wouldn’t be happy to talk with you! But a little part of it may be related to passing my driver’s test just half an hour ago and finally having my license!”

“I’m so happy for you, Pumpkin! Isn’t that a nice gift! Happy Birthday!” She sounded genuinely pleased.

“Thank you, Granny! I’m glad to be done with that. So, how’re you and Gramps?”

“We’re fine. We’re already packing for Thanksgiving. I almost can’t wait.” She sounded somewhat conspiratorial. Like she was hinting at something she didn’t want to say over the phone.

“Oh? Where’s it going?” I asked, clearly confused. She paused for a moment before she answered.

“Eh? We’re flying in for Thanksgiving. Didn’t you know? Didn’t Claire and Aaron ... tell you?” she asked, uncertainty thick in her voice.

“No, I had no idea. Well ... actually I don’t even know where the Thanksgiving Dinner is supposed to be this year. Had a lot on my plate and Thanksgiving just ... wasn’t on my mind.”

“Oh.” she said in surprise. “They ... they didn’t tell you anything? Well ... But, we’ll see you when we arrive?”

“Sure, Granny. I still live there, after all. See you then.”

After the call, I made my way to the firm. The people at work had other ideas than my family, though. When I arrived at the office, Bill called me in and I finally learned why he had sent me to that course with the Red Cross. He presented me with an actual employment contract! It came with a fixed salary for a twenty-eight-hour week and even included health insurance. The salary was actually high enough so I could drop all my side projects! The health insurance was only included on a condition, though. I had to accompany some of the guys to actual jobs. That certainly wasn’t a problem for me, so I happily accepted.

By five PM, Tess showed up in what was now my own little corner office. Right next to the server in the basement. One of the guys even put a little painter’s tape on the door and wrote “IT-Department” with permanent marker on it, even including the quotation marks as a little joke.

“I hear you’re a full-fledged member of the working force now.” she commented with a little smile, as she sat on my desk.

“Yeah. I had completely forgotten why I was here as a freelancer until now. And I still never made the connection when the Boss sent me to that First Aid Course. Took me a little by surprise.”

“Well, you know, as a proper employee in this firm, you’ll need the proper appearance to go with. What if you run into a client? Or go out on a job with the others? You’d either have to go shopping, or seriously step up that savants look you’re rocking right now.”

“Makes sense. Problem is, I kinda lack ... what’s it called... ‘fashion sense’. How would...”

“Oh, I can help with that!” she interrupted me with her eyes sparkling. Apparently, that was just what she wanted to hear. “No Sparring today. Let’s go shopping!”

She grabbed my arm and basically dragged me out of the building. For some reason, everyone we walked past gave me a slightly unsettling smile. Tess took me to what she called a ‘haberdasher’. As it turned out, I needed everything! After spending roughly twelve hours each week in the gym for nine full months, while simultaneously radically reducing my junk food intake, I had successfully shed forty pounds of fat off my body, and started to fill out quite nicely with muscles instead. At 5’10’’, and 196 pounds, I wasn’t exactly small anymore either. I wasn’t a big fan of starvation, so my torso would never get even close to that desirable V-shape, though I did get broad shoulders and was even slowly developing abs. Painstakingly slowly, that is.

I didn’t have anyone to impress, though, so I had stopped caring about my appearance quite a while ago. As long as my clothes covered what needed to be covered, I was contented with them. So, I only got new stuff when the old stuff fell apart. I decided then and there to simply let Tess take the reins and do as I was told.

I got a bunch of T-shirts, button-up shirts, a black m-65 jacket, cargo pants, dress pants, two of those belts without holes, socks without holes, underwear without holes, shoes that didn’t talk, and Tess made me model everything for her. Even the underwear, for some reason. Then came the grooming products and toiletries. Hair Gel, specific deodorants and aftershaves, she even insisted on a pricey cologne that I could only describe as a musky cedarwood smell.

In the end, I even had to get a suit. I let Tess choose a plain black, slim fit three piece, with a collection of gray ties, and then we had them adjust it for me. It almost looked like it was tailored for me. Although Bill would later laugh me out of the conference room the first time he saw it, telling me to lose the vest and tie unless I wanted to start a career as a banker and get strangled.

When the clerk asked me the famous “Left or Right” question, I had absolutely no idea what he was asking, and the confusion showed on my face. When Tess answered him by shouting “LEFT!” through the curtain, the confusion was showing on the clerk’s face, and he fixed me with a calculating look before the exact same small smirk spread across his face I had seen on the guys in the firm. He finally explained the meaning to me, and I, for the life of me, couldn’t figure out how the hell Tess knew where I let my balls hang when I didn’t even know myself.

By the time we were done, my bank account was another $2,800 lighter. I was glad this wasn’t something I had to do every month. Luckily, I could afford it all.

I basically had no friends left to go out with, abandoned all hobbies that could requiremoney, and I also never had a girlfriend I could spend on. Basically, I spent my entire time either in school or working, so I really didn’t have time for anything else even if I had friends to go out with. I worked roughly twenty-six hours a week on the firm’s projects alone. At thirty-five dollars an hour, that makes roughly $3,600 a month. Tess had helped me figure out my taxes in January, and I now knew that I netted about $2,800 a month after taxes. My only expenses were the three-hundred dollars per month I paid Aaron in rent, another two-hundred dollars per month I spent for food, and $480 per month I was going to pay in car insurance from then on (which I got cheap thanks to the safety course from Bill!).

So, from my regular income alone, I had made about $1,800 a month that simply went to my bank account and sat there mostly unused. But in addition to that, I still maintained my old projects from home. I had a nice little revenue stream from my Apps, in addition to the side projects I had picked up from Craigslist and fiverr. That was possible because I got lucky by ignoring european data protection laws. I had learned through Bill that a friend of his, who worked security in Germany, needed an app for his bouncers to check vaccination statuses. So, I pulled the specifications for the EU-Vaccination-Certificates, created an app, and published it. About two months later, the EU required all clubs, bars, discos and restaurants to only allow people with booster-shots to enter their establishments, but their own official App couldn’t differentiate between a vaccination and a booster shot. Mine could, because I didn’t hide that information from the bouncers like the official App did, and soon my app was used all across Europe.

All in all, I made maybe $2,600 per month after taxes, rent and food. And, at that point, I had been working for the firm for ten months without having to pay insurance, so my bank account was nicely filled even after I bought the car.

Tess made me wear the suit when we left the store and loaded the bags into my Jeep. Then she announced there was only one thing left to do, before she dragged me further to a barber shop for a haircut. I got, what they called, a ‘Long Crew Cut’. A style basically every guy in the firm seemed to prefer, but then they put a little gel to style what was left of my hair. Cut, styled and dressed, Tess and the woman who cut my hair took an appraising look at me. They gave each other approving nods, and then we finally left. But as soon as we were in the car, Tess startled me.

“So, now that we finally got you presentable, you have to take me out for a drink as a thanks for the hard work I put in.”

I didn’t rightly know how to respond to that. It was almost Eight PM by then and I’d have loved to take her out, but I just turned sixteen and it was a Thursday, a school night. It would be hard for me to get into a bar. Tess didn’t seem to believe so and directed me to a little club she apparently visited on a regular basis.

We got a table and ordered our drinks. We sipped them as we talked, and I tried to not appear too hopeful or desperate. But the way her tight business attire framed her body was quite distracting. I mentally scolded myself whenever my eyes got stuck on her breasts, and wondered just how much of a pervert I would have been, had I been drinking something more fun than a diet coke. After a while, she asked me to dance, and with that I got visibly nervous. Like, a lot. I had no fucking clue how to fucking dance! Tess took one look at my demeanor and chuckled. I immediately thought this date was over, but then she just grabbed me by the hand.

“So you’re one of those guys who don’t dance. Too bad, I demand entertainment!” she announced and pulled me onto the dance floor.

I looked around, trying to figure out how to move and basically copying whatever I saw other guys doing. Within seconds, I was simply captivated by Tess and the way she looked at me with that big smile on her face. I had absolutely no idea why, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy being there with me. I forgot about the others around us and just moved with her, when she turned around and started to rub her butt into my groin while her hand was moving behind my head. Then she leaned her head back and pulled mine down, so she could whisper in my ear.

“You remember how I told you I’m from Virginia?”

I nodded my head, yes.

“You turned sixteen today. That means back home...” she paused, getting even closer, her lips momentarily brushing my neck and her hot breath in my ear “ ... you’re legal now.”

My cock was somewhat stiffening since I started to relax, but now it got rock hard in record time. Before I could react in any other way, Tess had pressed her butt into it with determination. To my immense surprise she suddenly turned around and looked at me with big sparkling eyes. Slowly, a big grin spread across her face. She put her arms around my neck, pressed her breasts into my chest, and brought her face close to mine with a sultry look.

“Baby, is that thing as hard as it feels? Is it for me?” she whispered directly into my ear before biting my earlobe.

I involuntarily swallowed and asked, “Want to check and find out?”, surprised at my own boldness.

Tess grabbed my hand again and, like she did the entire day already, dragged me after her towards the ladies’ bathroom. In there, she pushed me into one of the stalls by pressing her whole body into me, while giving me the most passionate of kisses I could imagine. Her tongue explored my mouth before wrapping itself around my own. All the while stroking my dick through my new pants. As fast as it started, it stopped. Suddenly she was on her knees in front of me, fiddling with my pants. By now, the outline of my cock was clearly visible. Once she had pulled my pants down, my cock sprang up and hit her in the chin. I was so fucking hard, but also so fucking nervous, I thought I would pass out any moment.

Seeing the pole of hard meat pointing at her, her eyes glimmered with lust while glancing up at me. She tried to wrap her hand around it, but it seemed to be just a tiny bit too thick for her hand to reach all the way around. Something she noted with approval before she started stroking it. Then she leaned forward and let the thing rest on her face for a second, grinning madly while looking into my eyes. Slowly she stuck her tongue out, dragged it over my balls, and then licked the underside of my shaft all the way from the bottom to the top.

I shivered. This was so much better than my hand! This was so much better than anything I had ever experienced before. Her warm, spongy tongue gliding over the sensitive skin on the underside of my dick caused my entire body to tense up. When it reached my frenulum and she let the tip of her tongue flick over it, I even involuntarily bent forward and quietly gasped.

My reaction caused her to chuckle. She liked to see the effect she had on me. I never felt anything comparable to this level of lust, and would have been ready to explode the moment my cock hit her face. The thing holding me back at that moment, however, was the almost overwhelming fear of someone coming in and catching us in the act. The fucking stall door was still wide open and blocked by Tess kneeling next to it! A fear Tess herself didn’t seem to share, though, when she wrapped her lips around my tip and started to suck on it.

After I was in pure heaven for half a minute, she did something I did not expect. Without taking my rock hard member out of her mouth, without even moving her head at all, she took my right hand and placed it on the back of her head, glancing up at me with an expectant look. I couldn’t hold back anymore, I needed that heavenly feeling of her mouth and tongue to come back, so I just pushed her head down on my cock, but she again just remained still with my cock now deeper in her mouth. So, I grabbed her ponytail and pulled her head back again. Realizing she wouldn’t do it herself and wanted me to do it for her, I fucked her mouth. A few times even sending my dick just past her uvula without intending to. I simply didn’t have enough control over my body anymore.

Luckily, Tess didn’t seem to mind it that much. In fact, the first time it happened, I was so overwhelmed by the sudden extra stimulation, I momentarily forgot to pull her head back. Instead of complaining or moving on her own again, she simply stuck her tongue out like she was trying to reach my balls. I just kept going and, an embarrassingly short minute later, her eyes went wide as my cum flooded into her mouth. She loudly swallowed most of it while moaning her appreciation.

I had never imagined just how overwhelmingly sexy it would really be to see a woman swallow my cum while moaning in approval. It felt like she had just ultimately accepted everything about me, and nothing about me could disgust or repulse her. I immediately knew that I had no reason to be ashamed about my lust when I was with this woman. And, even more importantly, I immediately knew that she would not reject me like my family had. So, when she thought I was done, I really wasn’t. The whole ordeal was just so stimulating that I wouldn’t grow soft. Much to Tess’ pleasure, because she also wanted more.

“I need you to fuck me! Now!” she said, finally closing and locking the damn stall door.

She pulled her skirt up to her hips, leaned forwards against the door with one hand, and pulled her panties to the side with the other. I didn’t waste a second. Not having any experience, and being unable to control myself any longer, I just grabbed her by her hips and rammed my entire length into her wet pussy in one quick thrust. Just as I felt the tip of my dick pass through what felt like an extra tightness inside her channel, Tess let out a mixture of a scream and a moan.

“Fuck MEEEE! YES! Stretch me out! Take me HARD, Baby!”

Since I just came in her mouth, I could now last longer. Encouraged by her loud moaning, I just kept doing hard strokes. Pulling my dick halfway out of her, then hardly ramming it back in. She leaned back into me and I wanted to explore her body while fucking her, although I did notice that, since she leaned back, I couldn’t reach that wonderfully tight part inside her anymore. I reached around her with my left arm to grab her right breast, while my right hand reached down to rub the skin above her clitoris in a circular motion. After just a few short minutes, I felt her spasm on my cock, and she leaned forward again to hold on to the door.

Like a piston I went back to hard strokes, as more and more of her juices flowed out of her. My thighs and balls were now drenched in her fluids, she started to lose her hold on the door and slid ever so slightly down with every stroke I gave her. This was even better than the blowjob! The way her walls wrapped around me, stimulating my entire lengths all at once, had me almost abandon all reason and forget about where we were. The only thing that existed for me at that moment was the pleasure of being buried inside this wonderful woman.

Consequently, I felt my balls tighten very soon. I knew I had to warn her, but she could barely speak.

“Yes ... come ... safe...”

So that’s what I did, recklessly abandoning all precautions I was taught about. She had slid down the door so far, the angle was perfect again. As my own orgasm came crashing onto me, I forced as much of my cock into her as I could, finally penetrating her innermost parts once more and pumped her quivering womb full of my seed, sending Tess over the edge of a final and powerful orgasm. Once I was able to open my eyes, I pulled out and let go of her. Tess just slumped down onto the floor, catching her breath while bathing in the aftermath of her orgasm, while my cum slowly leaked out of her.

“Jeezus, ” I thought, “I must have poured a gallon into her!”

After another minute, we both had mostly recovered and were standing, albeit on somewhat wobbly legs. Tess gave me another kiss.

“Tim, Baby? We SO have to do this again sometime.” she said, causing me to start laughing.

All the tension in my body was completely gone, and I felt better than I had ever before. Especially better than I had felt in the last three years. I wasn’t too happy about her choice of a pet name, since “Baby” put such an emphasis on me being so much younger than her, but a gorgeous woman calling me by a pet name was simply too good to complain about it.

By the time we were both presentable again, it was half past Ten at night. We were in the Bathroom for almost twenty minutes. Thank God that club had so few customers, or we would certainly have had an audience. As we made our way out of the bathroom, I caught the looks of some of the patrons and immediately realized that we indeed did have an audience. With every step we took towards the door, my face grew hotter, and, by the time we stepped outside, I was sure It must’ve been glowing red. Tess, however, seemed to be absolutely indifferent towards it.

I drove us back to the company parking lot so she could get her own car, and we parted with her giving me yet another toe-curling kiss, pressing her full body hard into mine. Then she spoke.

“How about we finally exchange phone numbers? I was serious when I asked to do this again.”

I eagerly pulled out my phone but, when she looked at it, she started laughing.

“What is that? I haven’t seen one of those in years! Aren’t you our IT-Guy? Don’t you need a smartphone?”

“Oh, I have one for work. But privately I use feature-phones. They were stolen too many times in school.”

“Well, whenever you wear the suit, you should switch to the smartphone. That foldable brick causes some unhealthy-looking bulges.”

“Okay, I have to ask! Today, you chose what clothes I’m to buy, what hairstyle I’m to wear, how I’m supposed to smell, and now you complain about how my phone looks. Not that I’m complaining, since I have no idea about any of that, but what’s this all about?”

Before she answered, she closed the distance between us again and put her arms around my neck.

“Maybe I’m just trying to make you look as mature as you’re behaving, so less people will accuse me of cradle robbing.” she lightly laughed.

She probably meant that as a joke, but her calling me mature was actually a problem for me. I was behaving maturely because I had to. I had to work a job because Aaron refused to pay for my textbooks. I had to do my own laundry because the family couldn’t be bothered to. I had to learn how to cook because Claire would simply forget about me when grocery shopping, in favor of whatever her two other children wanted to eat. And it didn’t help that I had barely any people my own age left to interact with. I was spending all my leisure time with the adults from work.

Again, I had no illusions this could ever lead to a relationship. I had nothing to offer this woman, never had a romantic relationship before, and, until a few minutes ago, was an insecure virgin. Well, I was still insecure, which is why I kept asking myself what she would even want with me. Especially if she learned about all of my baggage. But, if I were to address that now, there wouldn’t even be the chance for casual sex left, so I just opted to not go into details at that moment.

“I could live with that.” I answered, before giving her a light peck.

“In all seriousness, Tim. What we did in there ... Please understand, I grew up where sex at sixteen was perfectly fine. And you do have your charms. I’d really like to continue, but we can’t let people know until you’re seventeen. Can you promise me that?”

“I can. Though, I’m pretty sure the guys at work know already. Going by the looks they gave me when we left, at least. I don’t think that many people would have a problem with it. But I will not run around and advertise the whole thing.”

We exchanged numbers and got on our way. When I finally made it back to the house, I grabbed the five bags with my new clothes from the Jeep, fumbled with my keys, and finally got inside. As I stepped into the living room, I didn’t notice how every seat in there was packed, since I was trying to get my keys out of the door with only one hand.

When I turned my head, I saw the entire family, except the grandparents, huddled on the sofa and loveseat. All of them regarded me with big eyes. Ava actually looked like she just froze mid-movement, as a spoon full of chocolate ice cream was poised halfway between the bucket in her lap and her mouth.

“Huh.” Meggie remarked, looking at me appraisingly.

“What?” I asked, clear irritation in my voice.

“Wha ... wh ... how...” came Claire’s and Aaron’s mixed stammer.

“What - THE FUCK - happened to you!?” Ava burst out.

“Told ya!” came Aunt Danielle’s triumphant voice while pointing at Ava, before turning her attention to me. “Haircut is new, though. Looks nice!”

“Thanks?” I replied, uncertainty in my voice.

I wasn’t sure if she actually meant it or was building up to something. It was then I finally understood what was happening. For everyone other than John and Danielle, right up until this moment, I was still “Tiny Tim the fat geek”. This was the very first time they got a good look at me in over a year. I lost fat and replaced it with muscle, filled out my stature and fixed my posture, but normally that was all concealed under baggy and worn-out clothes. Now was the first time I wore anything form fitting, and it was a suit of all things, adding a little extra effect. That must have been quite the shock for them.

“Bill made me an actual employee today, so from now on I might come into contact with clients. That’s why they made me go shopping for new clothes. Mine had holes in them.” I replied and then waited a moment for someone to say something.

Most of them just kept staring in disbelief. Only Uncle John gave me an approving nod, while Danielle had a big smug smile on her face. Did she actually tell them about my transformation and they simply didn’t believe her? Just as I decided to get up to my room and made my way to the stairs, the parents seemed to have found their voices again.

“Wait up, young man! Do you realize how late it is!? It’s a school night!” I heard from Aaron.

“And didn’t you see the chores list I pinned to the fridge, or did you just forget about it? You were to clean the living room after school today. I had to do that myself instead!” Claire added.

I paused for a second, looking at them in disbelief, before engaging in a mock conversation with myself.

“Wow, Tim, did you just say you got properly employed today? I’m so happy for you, I know how hard you’ve been working for this Job. So, you were late because you were celebrating, right? That’s so nice, Tim, you didn’t have a chance to do anything fun in such a long time. I sure hope you enjoyed yourself!”

Finished with my sarcastic rant, I stared at them with clear anger in my eyes. I was fully expecting Claire and Aaron to be angry with me for talking back to them. Instead, both looked kind of uncomfortable, almost awkward. Aunt Danielle and Uncle John seemed to understand as well, since they threw disapproving looks at the parents, though their daughter watched the whole ‘exchange’ with amusement. Ava and Logan also had disapproving looks. Theirs, however, were directed at me. Whether for making a scene or interrupting their fun night, I couldn’t tell. I just continued in a calm, casual, and maybe slightly sarcastic tone.

“I’m SO sorry I didn’t find your note, telling me to pretty up the living room for your little family evening I wasn’t invited to. But, as you should know, Claire, I rarely use your damn kitchen anymore, so that’s a bad place to keep shit you want me to find. Though, I’m starting to think you could just as well delegate those chores to someone who wasn’t asked to pay rent for his room. And since when do any of you even care when I get home?” I asked, incredulously.

“What’s that supposed to mean!? I AM your father and you ARE a fifteen-year-old teenager! Of course I care!” revolted Aaron.

His comment about my age pressed all the wrong buttons and pissed me off big time, which was audible when I continued the discussion and failed to maintain a calm tone.

“The lack of messages and missed calls on my phone doesn’t exactly make it look like you were worried or looking for me. In fact, I’d be willing to bet none of you even knew I wasn’t in the house until I walked through that damn door.” I pointedly looked at Aunt Danielle when I asked, “Did ANY of them mention waiting for or missing me even ONCE during this lovely gathering?”

Aunt Danielle looked uncomfortable at that. This certainly wasn’t the first argument she witnessed between us. It was, however, the first that she was suddenly involved in. When she didn’t answer, I continued.

“I take that as a ‘No’. Didn’t miss me at dinner either, like usual, I guess. Did you give the same damn speech to your Princess and Golden Boy over there? It’s a school night for them too, but, going by that bucket in her lap and the movie with an hour runtime left on the TV, you weren’t planning on sending them to bed anytime soon. So, how about you spare me your fucking ‘parents of the year’ act you’re putting on because others are watching, and in return I won’t disturb your fun any longer.”

Claire was speechless, and I didn’t think it was just because of what I had said, but how I had said it. The clear contempt in my voice, paired with the apparent disdain in my eyes when I looked at them, caused her to keep quiet. I was sure Aaron wasn’t finished with me, but after I just pointed out how they caused most of the major problems we had in that house themselves, he didn’t want to get into it even further while witnesses were present. As a result, neither of them spoke up when I turned to finally get into my room.

“Don’t be such an asshole, Tiny!” Ava suddenly threw in.

“I love you too, Princess.” I replied exhausted, while finally moving up the stairs. Logan had wisely chosen to shut up.

Once in my room, I leaned against the closed door, shut my eyes, and took a few deep breaths to calm down.

“I got my license. Work was awesome. I got a bunch of cool new clothes and a new look. And I just lost my virginity in the fucking of a lifetime with a gorgeous woman.” I quietly told myself. “Who gives a fuck if they didn’t remember it? Still a damn good birthday!”

After another few minutes of assuring myself that I didn’t care about my family not giving a flying fuck about my sweet sixteen, I got out of my suit and emptied the bags onto my bed to fill them with most of the old stuff from my wardrobe instead. Then I put the new stuff into the closet, and placed the bags next to my door. I planned to just dump them at Goodwill, if they even wanted them.

My mind lingered on Tess and that incredible evening I had with her, as my eyes fell onto the shelves with fantasy novels on my wall. Tess had told me once that she also enjoyed that genre, and she hadn’t read most of what stood in my shelves yet. Maybe, if this thing between me and Tess was going to continue, these could come in handy.

Chapter 3

The next morning, it took a while before my hair looked at least somewhat like it did at the barber shop, but close enough. I got dressed in my new black cargo pants, paired it with a royal blue button up shirt to stay within the school’s clothing regulations, and tucked it into my pants to show off the new belt. Everything really fit perfectly and showed my new figure off quite nicely. Since it was now mid-November again, I put on my black field jacket, slung my bookbag over my shoulder, and carried the shopping bags with my old clothes to my Jeep.

The change of attitude in the other students towards me was immediately apparent when I got out of my Jeep. Most people looked at me with quite some interest, but then their expressions changed to surprise and moved on to disbelief. The changes in my appearance seemed to be so drastic, most people couldn’t even recognize me at first. That effect even intensified once I was inside and moved around without my jacket.

The best part was, however, the reaction I saw on Mrs. Jenkin’s face when I entered her English class. The wife of Coach Jenkins, the man who wanted to expel me and then refused to let me take driver’s ed at school, seemed to appreciate my looks. When I entered the classroom, she first lifted her head barely enough for a quick glance, but then did a double-take. She stared at me quite intently for a while with one of her eyebrows lifted. I wasn’t sure if it was my new appearance or if she was trying to decide whether my new clothes violated the school’s dress code, but, from then on, she kept throwing me side glances throughout the entire period. A stark contrast to her normally ignoring me as best as she could. And whenever our eyes met, she put her hair behind her ear in a subconscious move.

The woman was in her late thirties and kept herself in remarkable shape. Maybe a result of being the wife of a gym teacher and football coach. Whenever I checked her out and wasn’t as subtle about it as I would have liked, I could’ve sworn she had the faintest little smile on her lips. I didn’t know if I would ever have a chance with her, but if I did, I would take it in a heartbeat. And not just as some kind of payback to Coach Jenkins, even though that would’ve been a nice little added bonus.

After I got out of school, I went to Goodwill for my old clothes. Turns out they accept absolutely everything. Even if they can’t resell my torn and worn stuff, they give it to textile recyclers to keep it out of the landfills. Suits me. Then I was off to work. Upon entering the building, I soon realized that Tess actually had chosen clothes that fit right in at work.

“Nice shirt!” I heard from a guy, who wore the exact same shirt as I did, and two minutes later I heard “Nice pants!” from the guy who wore the exact same pants. When I stepped into my office, though, I wished I hadn’t visited Goodwill before going to work, so I would have something to change into.

They had dumped what seemed like every piece of spare hardware into the room. Dozens of keyboards and mouses, old laptops, monitors, and three big boxes full of mixed cables. To my big surprise, I also found multiple moving boxes full of spare hardware components, like bare graphics cards or discarded mainboards. I had no idea how those had accrued, but my next job was to sort through all this, and it was dusty as hell. At least someone had also placed a few more shelves in the back of the room ... though I had to assemble them first. I put my earplugs in and spent the next hour assembling the metal shelves. Then I took a break, sat down at my desk, and leaned back with closed eyes.

I didn’t even get to listen to a full song through my earplugs before I felt something tugging at my zipper under the desk. I recoiled a bit before I looked down, where I saw Tess’ head sticking out from under the desk, looking up at me with a mischievous smirk on her lips while she refused to let go of my pants. As I took the earplugs out, she pulled my crotch back towards her.

“Don’t you dare move away from me! I always wanted to do this.” she commanded happily.

“You know I can’t lock the door, right?”

That gave her pause for a second. But then she bit her lower lip like she did the evening before, seemed to come to a conclusion, and continued.

“No ... but I want you! Maybe it will be extra fun!” she grinned, as she had just unbuckled my belt and was now working on the pants themselves.

“The way the others looked at me yesterday when we left, they probably already knew anyway. Or suspect, at least.” I reminded her of what I said the evening before, but back then she hadn’t commented on it.

“Possibly.” she said, as she finally had my pants pulled down a bit and grabbed my now hard cock. “But, maybe, I even like the idea of them knowing that this massive piece of delicious, young, and energetic meat is mine!”.

I understood that, to her, the most attractive thing about me was me being so much younger than her. I also knew she was just stroking my ego to get me to go along with it. What can I say? Seeing my cock on top of her face was highly effective.

She kissed the tip first, then placed a number of affectionate kisses all over the shaft and finally started sucking on the tip like it was a lollipop. She looked at me with those big brown eyes while I moaned my approval, and then started bobbing her head up and down while turning the hand on the base of my dick in a circular motion. It felt just as good as I remembered it from the day before, and the affection I felt for her increased tenfold. I just had to place my hands on her sunken cheeks. Not to guide her in her motion, but to simply increase the amount of contact between us and feel more of her. Somehow, this caused her to look at me with a mischievous smile.

After sucking my member for a few seconds while looking deep into my eyes, she took her hand off my cock and scooted backwards a little. Without taking the tip out of her mouth, she leaned her torso down but tilted her head back, so my dick would point straight at her throat, and then she shocked me. She shoved her face forward in one determined movement, taking my dick as deep into her throat as possible. Her face went all the way to the base of my cock until her nose was nuzzled into my pubic hair and her forehead was squeezed into my lower stomach. Within a single second, I felt my dick move past her uvula, until just the tip of it was caught snugly in her esophagus sphincter. She held it for a few seconds without coughing or gagging, but as soon as my long, loud and surprised moan had stopped, she started swallowing over and over again.

It was an unbelievable feeling, like being jerked off by an extra pair of hands inside her throat. I was sure, if we would have had spectators, they could have seen her neck bulging out. I moaned even louder now, straightened my back, and I involuntarily used the grip I had on her head to try and pull her even further into my groin.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved what she did to me, and she will always hold a special place in my heart. So please, keep that in mind when I tell you: The woman was a fucking slut! She was like a porn actress giving the performance of her lifetime. I could barely contain myself, but I didn’t want it to be over. Luckily, she had to come up for air again at that moment and moved her head back up until my dick was completely removed from her mouth. As she did that, she immediately grabbed my cock again and started jerking me with a vengeance, using the lubrication left from her throat. After she took a few gasping breaths, she let out a throaty laugh.

“Admit it already!” she said in a breathless voice “The thought that I’m your little office slut and willingly serve this fine young cock whenever and however you want, turns you on just as much as it does me! Though, we’ll have to do something about the hair. You’ll have to shave.”

“Why?” I asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

“The hair is tickling my nose, Baby. Makes it harder to do this!” she explained, and went back down, taking my cock deep into her throat once again.

This time she didn’t swallow to massage my tip, instead she relaxed completely and just rolled her face from side to side, causing my shaft to grind around the walls of her throat. I could only groan, my hips unconsciously pushing up into her face, trying to get even more of my dick into her, even though her face was already nested in my groin and I had nothing more to give her.

Yeah, if shaving would entice her to give me that kind of pleasure more often, I would do it as soon as I arrived home! It was so unbelievably hot, I felt my balls tighten within seconds of her second dive down. It happened so fast, I couldn’t even warn her before my first shot went right down her esophagus into her stomach. But after the first shot, she pulled her head back until little more than the tip remained in her mouth. She never stopped sucking while I was coming rope after rope into her waiting mouth. Through gritted teeth I managed to speak.

“Fine! You want to be my slut, don’t swallow yet! Keep it in your mouth and get real familiar with the taste.”

Throughout my entire orgasm, she kept massaging the base of my cock and sucking the first two inches of my shaft. Though, after hearing my words and releasing an approving groan, she started to also strongly massage my tip with her tongue, like she wanted to mix my cum with her saliva while it was still shooting into her mouth. Then she sucked her way up over the tip, until I heard a smacking pop. She looked up at me and opened her mouth, showing me the massive load she was savoring in there, and started shifting it around with her tongue. She closed her mouth, swallowed three times, and showed me that it was all gone. It was like she wanted to showcase her depravity to test my boundaries, and I was enamored. I had never witnessed something like this before, and couldn’t pull my eyes off her.

I pushed my chair back, grabbed her by her shoulders, and pulled her to her feet. Then I pushed her backwards so she would sit on my desk, and pushed her shoulders down so she would lie on her back.

“Open your blouse.” I said, as I pushed her skirt up to her waist, grabbed her panties by the sides and pulled them down.

When she had her blouse open, I pushed my hands back up her legs, over her stomach, right up over her full breasts, pushing her bra out of the way at the same time. I didn’t get to see them in the bathroom the day before, but they were absolutely beautiful. I had no idea about breast sizes, but they were a little more than my hands could grab, and fitted with pink, hard, eraser sized nipples on top of small areolas. I couldn’t help but play with them. I leaned down and kissed her left nipple, before engulfing it with my mouth and lightly sucking on it. At the same time I rolled her right nipple between my index and middle finger, while my still half hard cock pressed against her naked pussy. The moaning that escaped her lips made me think I was doing it right. After pushing my hips forward a few times, rubbing my dick against her, I lifted my head again.

“I want to return the favor. Tell me how.” I breathed in lust, which she rewarded me for with one of her trademark smiles.

She placed her right hand on the top of my head, gently pushing me down. As I went to my knees, her left hand started playing with the nipple my mouth was no longer stimulating. On a whim, I started licking the border between her inner and outer lips with a hard and pointed tongue, testing, getting acquainted with her taste. I immediately realized that her being cleanly shaven worked for me as well. I never went down on a woman before, so I was already nervous as hell, but I imagined it would be even harder to perform with a mouth full of hair.

I had read stories about this on the internet, and they always described the woman’s ‘sweet tasting nectar’ and ‘heavenly scent’. They lied to me. But I was determined to make this woman happy, and I didn’t think having her face buried in my junk was any better for her. If she was willing to put up with it for me, I would just have to keep doing it until I liked it too. I finally had someone who wanted me, and I was not going to give her any reason to reject me like my family did. Judging by how her hand was suddenly grabbing my hair and pulling my face into her, however, she must have liked my probing.

Her hard little knob sticking out of its hood was directly in front of my eyes, so I decided to test that next. I moved my face up and first circled her clit, then used the same hard tipped tongue to massage the hood. Now, her words proved my assumption wrong.

“Baby, we’re not shooting porn here. Not yet, at least.” she snickered. “Get in there, Baby. Don’t be shy.”

I nodded, then covered her clit with my mouth and started to gently suck on it. As she pulled my face into her, she let out a loud groan. This time, I seemed to do it right.

“Keep doing that. Don’t stop! Stick two fingers in me!”

So, I did. As I kept sucking on her clit, I slowly pushed two fingers into her sopping wet hole and started fucking her with them.

“Move them around, Baby.” She was moaning now. “Explore my insides with your fingers.”

I started making scissor motions, turning my hand and twisting the fingers. Then, while still turning my hand around, I made scratching motions, exploring her inner walls with my fingertips. When I did that scratching motion with my palm pointing up, I felt something like a bean-shaped bump. It was softer than its surroundings, but the texture felt like a walnut shell. As my fingers scraped over it, Tess suddenly pulled her knees up to her chest and let out a pleading gasp.

“OH! Right there! Stay there!”.

Trying to take it up another notch, I decided to test my motor coordination. While keeping up with the scratching motion over that specific spot like she asked, and sucking on her clit, I also started massaging the hood of her clit with my tongue. During the next minute, her moans kept growing in intensity and volume, until her whole body erupted in an ear-piercing scream. Her body was spasming, her legs were shaking, and her pussy was leaking juices like never before. I didn’t stop sucking until she pushed my head away from her and slammed her pulled-up legs back together, but I refused to pull my hand out of her.

Seeing her like this was unbelievably exciting, and I really wanted to know how far I could push her climax. So, since my mouth couldn’t reach her clit anymore, I placed the thumb of the still inserted hand on it, simply pressing onto it. For a while she let out a long drawn-out moan, while I kissed and licked the underside of her thighs and kept gently fucking her with my fingers throughout her orgasm.

My cock was basically a rod of steel at that moment. I had never seen a display so erotic, or heard noises of such pleasure, in my life. So, when I saw her stomach had stopped quivering, I lined my cock up with her entrance and pulled her legs back apart and all the way up towards her shoulders. Then I slowly, but inexorably, pushed inside her until I had roughly two more inches to give her. She shook her head wildly from side to side, but at the same time, clawed at my waist pulling me towards her.

“Please ... can’t take ... any more ... Need a moment...” she grasped.

But I couldn’t. I was mad with lust and just had to fuck her. And since she was still pulling me into her as she said those words, I didn’t think she really meant them. I leaned forward, placed my lips on hers and kissed her passionately. Then I strongly pushed my hips forwards, finally giving her those last two inches, nesting my cock snuggly inside her. As my thighs slapped against her butt, she threw her head back and arched her back towards me. Then I fucked her with short strokes, giving in to the need for movement but unwilling to let the head of my cock leave the tight confines leading to her waiting womb. After a short few minutes, the effect that had on her became obvious, and I finally decided to earnestly pursue my own orgasm.

I gave her hard and fast strokes while kneading her breasts. I was like an animal in need, and she loved it. She kept encouraging me with words, moans, and clawing hands on my back. When she came again, and I once again felt her spasming pussy massaging my cock, I came with her. It felt like I kept shooting for hours, overflowing her insides with my cum, and just basking in the utter bliss this woman had bestowed on me. When my hips finally stopped shaking, I just collapsed on top of her, my head on her breasts, breathing hard. She cradled my head with one hand and stroked my hair with the other as I clung to her. Then I looked into her eyes, gave her another kiss, and stood up.

She just stayed there on her back, looking every bit like a woman who just had been fucked senseless. Her arms listless next to her body, her heaving bare chest covered in a thin layer of sweat, and her hair disheveled. Her legs still spread apart, showing off the thick globs of cum seeping out of her red and puffy pussy. Her panties still dangling from her right ankle, but all that with a big contented smile on her face. I took great pleasure in the knowledge that it was me who had satisfied her so thoroughly. I moved around the desk, leaned down next to her head and quietly asked her.

“Yesterday you said we had to do that again. Did I do Okay?”

She laughed at that. I wasn’t joking, though. I knew I had fun, but I was still asking myself if I should have done anything different for her. She looked satisfied to me, but what did I know about how women would look when satisfied? How should I have known if that was genuine? I was a virgin the day before! And just because she had an orgasm, it didn’t mean I was good enough for her to pursue further. I REALLY wanted her to pursue me further.

“Fucking hell, Tim. Just so you know, I don’t think I’ll give you back to those little girls you go to school with.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Chances of that are pretty slim. They’re all convinced I have a two inch dick.”

Hearing that, she looked at me in confusion. Scolding myself for even mentioning that topic, I walked back over to the other side of the desk to retrieve the wet wipes I held in my drawer. Normally I used them to clean up keyboards and mouses, but now I used one to wipe the sweat off her breasts and stomach. Then another one to clean up the leakage off her pussy, causing her to teasingly smile and coo at me. Finally, I handed her the box of Kleenex I always had on top of my desk and sorted out my own clothing. By the time we were halfway presentable again, I noticed I didn’t have anything to help with her hair.

“No Problem!” she said, as she pulled a hair-band out of nowhere, combed her fingers through her hair a few times, and gathered it in a ponytail.

“You know, one of these days, I’ll want to hold onto that when we try out doggy style.” I pointed out, sitting back onto my chair.

She grabbed her purse from the floor, placed it onto the desk, and then plopped herself sideways onto my lap. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pulled me into an intimate kiss we held for multiple long minutes, while I stroked her sides and back. I realized, holding her like that in my lap was just as good as the sex we just shared, if not better. In the end she leaned back to fish around in her purse and pulled a small box out of it, presenting it to me.

“For you.” she smiled.

It took me by surprise. It had been years since I accepted a gift, since I never got any from people I didn’t expect to use them as mean jokes. I took the box in both hands, carefully opened it, and found a precious looking wristwatch in it. I looked at it for a few moments and then I just had to ask.

“You bought me something? Does that mean you’re my sugar mamma now?”

She rewarded me with a melodic laugh that, although I didn’t think possible at that moment, lifted my spirits even further.

“No, you idiot. It’s a belated birthday present. You didn’t think the sex was all I had for you, did you?”

“Well, honestly, the sex was special enough to make it the best present I ever got!”

“Are you telling me I’m better than the inexperienced girls you get at school, Baby? Well, isn’t that a compliment.” she laughed, not getting my meaning.

I contemplated, for a second, if I really wanted to have that discussion at that moment. But for some reason this woman got under my skin. I thoroughly enjoyed being with her, and not just when we had sex. Over the year I’ve been working in the firm, we spent quite a few hours just sitting in the breakroom, simply talking. We had the same humor, read the same books, and her being my sparring partner during the training sessions was always the highlight of my day.

But I never had any illusions about her. I was so much younger than her, I knew it could never evolve into a serious committed relationship, no matter how much we enjoyed each other’s company. Well, not never, but at least not until I had graduated from high school, which was still a few years out. Even what we were doing now was dangerous for her. And so, while I always felt like I could open up to her without reservation, I never did so completely, and never told her about the exact nature of my troubles at school and home. Or its cause, for that matter. I definitely wanted her to know just how big a gift yesterday’s visit to the bathroom actually was, though.

“To be totally honest with you ... I never got one of the girls from school. In fact ... I never had anyone I could compare you to.” I carefully informed her, dreading her reaction.

“What...” When she started speaking, it was in an amused half laugh. But then she stopped as the realization hit that I wasn’t joking. All the amusement vanished from her face, being replaced by utter disbelief.

“No! You weren’t!” she asked in half shock, half accusation.

“Yes, I was.” I answered.

“Are you seriously telling me, I popped your cherry in a bathroom-Quicky just yesterday!?”

She was leaning as far back away from me as our position allowed.

“Is that a dealbreaker?” I asked her, seriously hoping it wasn’t.

“N ... No. Not really. It’s just ... fuck, Tim. If I had known, I would have done it differently. I mean, you always seemed like you had plenty of experience. Even now I can’t really believe it.”

“What do you mean?”

Not like it wasn’t any guy’s dream to be born a sex-machine, but I somehow didn’t think that was what she meant. And I was right.

“You just ... never seemed as horny as I would expect from a fifteen ... now sixteen-year-old boy. Sure, I caught you sneak glances when you thought I wasn’t looking, but you were never drooling. I didn’t even catch you as often as some of the other guys running around here.”

I didn’t feel the need to explain why that was. Sure, I once was a hormonal teen that spent most of his time masturbating. That changed when my home situation put a massive dampener on my libido. I wasn’t one of those guys I read about on the internet, that gets off on being humiliated. So, there was absolutely no way I could maintain an erection while listening to those distinct noises of pleasure coming from the others’ bedrooms every chance they got, reminding me of how none of them wanted me. I also never had any exhibitionistic tendencies, so doing it outside my home was out of the question as well. At some point I realized that I was barely masturbating at all anymore. And most of the erections I got were those useless random boners men get when our pants sit too tight, or our underwear is too loose, or there’s wind blowing outside. But she wasn’t finished yet.

“Even when we got hot and bothered while groping each other at sparring, I never got the impression you were just trying to cop a feel.”

I didn’t feel the need to explain that either. Truth was, I was terrified of doing anything that could make her resent me. She was the only woman in my life who ever showed any real interest in me, contrary to all the others who actively pushed me away. Ever since my discovery at Ava’s sweet sixteen, I felt kind of ... undesirable. You know how mothers always tell their children they look handsome or pretty? Well, put yourself in my shoes! Not only wasn’t I told that, I was actively shown the opposite when they excluded me from their orgies. So, when Tess dragged me to the bathroom the day before, it was one hell of a surprise to me. But she still wasn’t finished talking.

“And look at you! You’ve become a hunk! A hard working hunk with money! Those girls at school should be all over you. All of it made perfect sense, when I thought you were already sexually active.”

And we were back to the reckless comment I made earlier. She must’ve heard about the bullying which was the reason I joined the daily training sessions, since I knew she heard about the video I showed the guys after my suspension. Beyond that, though, she never learned about the rumors Ava had spread. Most people just kept seeing me as the fat geek, despite me bulking up and losing weight over the last year. I was, and still am, the school pariah. How the hell was I supposed to explain all that to Tess without sounding like a whiny bitch? I decided to just stick to the bare minimum.

“Well, I wasn’t active. When I came home yesterday, my family was in the living room and, let me tell you, they were damn shocked. School was pretty much the same today. Those new clothes you picked out with the haircut make a huge difference to how I looked two days ago. With the wide clothes I was always wearing, nobody ever really noticed that I lost so much weight and put on muscle. So ... maybe they will be all over me in a few days, but ... you really were my first.”

“Okay, Tim. In that case, I have a lot to teach you!” she purred, a predatory smile on her lips. I loved it when she smiled at me, even when it was slightly unsettling like this one.

She gave me another kiss and got up from my lap. Not a second too early, as it turned out, since suddenly the door opened without a knock, and Uncle John and Aunt Danielle walked in. Both of them had friendly smiles on their faces when they entered, that soon vanished to be replaced by intrigued looks. Aunt Danielle was wiggling her nose, while Uncle John took a few less subtle and annoyingly audible sniffs. They could smell the sex in the air. A concept I wasn’t yet familiar with. Though, even if I would have been more experienced, I still wouldn’t have wasted a thought on my little basement office not having a single window while being presented with Tess’ willing body.

They shared a short expressive look between themselves before turning their eyes to me, taking in the scene. There I was, in a room reeking of sex, with a woman more than ten years older than me, holding a little box with an expensive looking watch.

“We interrupting something?” Aunt Danielle asked with clear mirth in her voice.

“Yeah, if you two need a few more minutes, we can walk around the hallway for a while and come back to congratulate you later.” Uncle John chuckled along.

The initial relief I felt upon seeing those two making fun of the situation faded when I noticed Tess’ demeanor. This was the second time she came on to me with the clear danger of being caught, so I thought she wouldn’t care if it actually happened. And yet, when it did happen, she almost looked frightened. When she started talking, there was also a lot of uncertainty in her voice.

“You ... uh ... you’re not going to tell the Boss, are you?” she asked timidly.

“Don’t you know that the boy sitting next to you is our nephew?” Aunt Danielle pointed out. Tess seemed to take that as a warning, until Danielle added “So, don’t worry, dear. We wouldn’t want to put his Job in jeopardy either.”

“Besides,” Uncle John chimed in, “if everyone here gets that kind signing bonus, I might have to ask Bill for a Job myself.” Earning him a playful slap from his wife, he quickly added “I’m talking about that watch, obviously.”

Did that asshole just call Tess some kind of party favor or the company whore!? Before I could say anything, though, Tess herself spoke up. Either she hadn’t heard what I had heard, or she didn’t care about his insinuation.

“No, after our date yesterday, I was...” Tess stopped mid-sentence and blushed a little. “Well, I kinda forgot to give him his present. So, I wanted to make it up to him.”

“Oh?” came the inquiring sound from Aunt Danielle. As Uncle John walked over to my desk and sat on it, his arms crossed over his chest with a smirk on his lips, Aunt Danielle moved over to Tess. As if sensing some kind of juicy story demanding to be revealed, she wrapped her arms around Tess’ and started walking her to the door, so the necessary girl’s talk could take place out of the men’s hearing range.

“Tell me, in all details, what my dear nephew did to warrant you getting him gifts!” she added with a playful smirk.

“It’s just his birthday present.” Tess answered, matter of fact. Aunt Danielle stopped dead in her tracks. “Yesterday was his birthday, wasn’t it?”

Tess, confused about the question in the first place, looked from one face to another. Aunt Danielle’s mouth was open in shock, her eyes aimlessly darting around while she tried to sort through all the birthdates in her head. Uncle John’s body tensed, as he straightened up on my desk. Me? I was suddenly fully occupied with not listening to their conversation and getting my desk reorganized, after our little fun time had thrown most of the items off it. I wasn’t exactly eager to let Tess know about my home-situation, or I would have told her when the topic came up five minutes ago.

“Oh no!” Aunt Danielle breathed out, as she spun around to face me with her hand covering her mouth. The intensity of her reaction told me that she not only remembered my birthdate now, but also remembered what had happened when I came home the evening before. She also seemed to finally realize the implications of that. Uncle John just gave me an uncomfortable look.

“It’s quite alright.” I told her coldly, as I stood up and walked over to Tess. “Tess here made more than up for it. She made it a very memorable, and very enjoyable, day for me. Until I came home, at least. But, since I didn’t expect anything else anyway, it’s hard to be disappointed.”

I didn’t plan on sounding as pissed as I did when dealing with those two, but the way John talked about Tess had instantly killed my resolve to be lenient with them. Seriously, how many uncles and aunts do you know who take part in their nephews’ birthdays? It’s not their job; I’m not their child. Sure, they were both involved in the core issue plaguing me, but they didn’t cause it. At least not that I knew of.

“But that means you turned sixteen yesterday!” she said, throwing an expressive look at her husband, who, unlike me, seemed to immediately get the hidden meaning her words held and closed his eyes, letting out a small sigh.

“Yes ... so?” I blinked in confusion. Then, finally understanding but not wanting to let on that I indeed knew what she probably meant, I added “Oh, don’t worry, I already got a car myself. A small Jeep! As I said, I didn’t expect any of you to remember anyway. And even if you had, there’s no way they’d go out of their way to get me a car. The guys here helped me get my license.”

“Yes ... a car. That ... was nice of them.” Aunt Danielle replied, but she was throwing a pleading look at John.

Did I get this right? Were they supposed to let me in on their activities when I turned sixteen? Was that what I witnessed at Ava’s sixteenth? It would certainly line up with the changes at home that happened after Logan’s sixteenth. But this didn’t make any sense ... People don’t just suddenly start fucking family members, just because they got the chance to. This is something I would have needed to be slowly and carefully introduced to, long before my birthday came around, so I wouldn’t run off and tell anybody about it. Well, at least I would have had to be introduced to it long before my birthday, if I hadn’t already known about it. There was no way they knew that I had walked in on their little family orgy on Ava’s birthday.

I suddenly remembered the phone call with Grandma. Maybe, when she was confused about me being oblivious to their Thanksgiving plans, it wasn’t about Thanksgiving itself, but rather something that was happening when the whole family got together. Were the parents expected to have that talk with me? That would, for sure, be better than being resented and unwanted, but it didn’t fit with the blatant disinterest the parents showed me.

In fact, I had refused to refer to them as ‘my’ parents for a while now, after they had basically abandoned me. What Princess Ava did to me would not be forgotten simply because I’d maybe get to fuck her. And Golden Boy Logan, after smiling happily upon seeing me beaten on the ground, was unredeemable as a brother to me. So, even if they suddenly decided I was worth their time, I didn’t think they were worth mine. Nothing made sense at that moment. My thoughts were interrupted, however, when Tess had a sudden outburst.

“Wait a minute! Are you saying that your WHOLE family simply FORGOT about your sweet sixteen!? ALL of them!?” The tone of her voice was clear disbelief. But there was also something else mixed in. Was she angry for me?

“Why do you think I’m working so much while still being in high school? It’s to get out of that damn house.” I shrugged, ignoring how Aunt Danielle’s eyes widened. “But speaking of working, I have to get back to it if I want to get through that mountain of old hardware anytime soon.”

I pulled Tess tightly into my body as I gave her a loving parting kiss, thanked her for the gift, and led the three of them out of my office. As I did, Uncle John tried to rejoin the conversation.

“I’ll have a talk with my little sister about...” he started, but I already suspected this would happen and I wouldn’t have any of it.

“Fuck, no!” I said sternly. “What’s going on in that house will not be solved by a simple conversation. And certainly not by one started by either of you.” I said that last word in a mocking tone and, again, ignored it when Aunt Danielle’s eyes widened even more. “If there is one thing I seriously don’t need, it’s them spending time with me because someone else made them feel obligated to. That would be even worse than what I have right now! If they prefer their two other children, I’m very much okay with it.”

That last statement was a blatant lie, of course. I was very much NOT okay with being left out, or I wouldn’t feel so damned depressed all the time. I stood by what else I had said, though. They didn’t care whether I’m around, they couldn’t be bothered to consider my feelings, and they weren’t even interested in talking to me unless it was to assign chores and make sure I stay out of the way for their family orgies. Why did I even still want to have these people in my life?

While Uncle John looked at me with some doubt, Aunt Danielle seemed to understand where I was coming from. After a moment of her studying her feet, she sighed, nodded, and grabbed her husband’s arm to pull him out of the door. Tess followed shortly after, so I could finally get back to my task. It took me three more hours and a trip to Home Depot to finally sort through the mess and make my way home.

Six days later was Thanksgiving, which we all gathered in Uncle John’s house for. As announced, the grandparents had flown in to spend the entire week with us, though I hadn’t spent any real time with them in the evenings. I spent roughly thirty-five hours a week in school, followed by twenty-eight hours a week working my job, followed by another eleven hours a week in the company gym. That’s a seventy-four hours workweek, not accounting for homework or travel time, and that was before things with Tess got serious!

So, Aunt Danielle had gone to great lengths to ensure I would attend their Thanksgiving dinner. She even counseled – conspired is more like it – with Bill and Tess, so I could definitely attend that dinner without having to go into work or being tempted to do something more fun than eat at her house. That told me she had something planned I explicitly asked them not to, and I wasn’t happy about it. Aunt Danielle was a therapist who specializes in Couples Therapy, so I guess she simply couldn’t let it go without meddling.

“Tell me...” I asked Danielle while helping to set the table. “ ... why exactly did I absolutely, positively have to be here?”

“Can you make it sound a little less like you’d rather be anywhere else?” John chuckled.

“No.” I answered matter of fact while looking him straight in the eyes as if to challenge him. That caused his chuckle to abruptly die.

“Oh, I just thought it would be nice to have everyone together again.” Danielle finally answered my question with a strained voice. Surely the result of my exchange with John. “It’s been a long time since we had.”

“What are you talking about, Danny? We were all together just last Saturday. Five days is hardly ‘a long time’. Or did you miss us so soon?” Logan injected while laughing, adding that second part with playful coyness.

I was sure I puked a little into my mouth. Calling her by a pet name was probably just his way of rubbing in how close they all were. Looking at her, though, I noticed Danielle acting a little hurried upon hearing Logan’s comment about them being together last week. She hastily tried to get the topic back on track, away from that little piece of information.

“No, Logan, I meant everybody. That includes your little brother. If John and I don’t visit him at work, we never hear anything that’s going on in his life.” she said with a patient smile.

“Oh?” I heard Claire inquire “Anything you’d like to share?” I wasn’t sure, but it sounded like she asked out of genuine interest, not just because she needed to play the part in front of her parents.

“Yes! We’ve been here since Saturday already, but barely got to see you!” added Grandma Susy with an accusing undertone.

“He got a haircut and a new outfit. That’s it. You only learn about his life when you visit him at work, because his life is work.” Logan answered for me, probably – hopefully – not realizing how his statement was true in more than one way. Claire’s ostensive interest seemed to be satisfied with that as well. So much for the perceived genuine interest from just a few seconds earlier.

“Aren’t you a little young to already be a workaholic?” Grandpa chuckled. “But I can appreciate young people thinking about their future!”

“I’m with Mom on that one!” Maggie chimed in cheerfully. “She told me about walking in on you at that gym and how you changed. But actually seeing it myself?” She had placed her hand on my upper arm and was feeling my biceps, looking me up and down. “I’m impressed, little cousin! You also became a lot taller since the last time we got together.”

“Thanks.” I replied, smiling at her. That is, until Logan felt the need to add his opinion.

“Too bad only his muscles can be enlarged by training.” came his quiet, pitying comment while throwing me a nasty smirk, reminding Maggie of the origins of ‘Tiny Tim’.

It earned him a stern look from Aunt Danielle, but it had the effect I expected and Logan hoped for. Maggie removed her hand from my arm, gave me a sympathetic look, and walked away without a further word.

For a tenth of a second, I imagined grabbing him by his hair and smashing his face into the counter edge. I wouldn’t do it, of course. The knowledge that I could do it was enough to remind myself that, despite him not knowing it, I was the bigger person. I could have started an argument with him, telling him and the rest of the family that I was perfectly average. But then again, that was exactly what I didn’t need. If the only way to get any kind of closeness and compassion out of my own family was to show them my grown dick, then I didn’t want any of it.

“Still wondering why I’d rather not be here?” I asked John with a raised eyebrow, before walking back into the kitchen without giving him the chance to actually answer.

The conversations – or at least the ones involving me – stopped, until we were all sat down to eat. Us four kids on one long side of the table, and the parents and grandparents opposite us with John at the head of the table, since it was his house. This meant that I had John on my left, Danny opposing me, and Ava to my right. I could see Logan’s hand on her thigh. The entire time I was thinking about one thing: Why the fuck did it seem like Logan was running interference whenever someone showed even the faintest interest in me or got close to me? Before I could contemplate that further, however, John had a genius idea.

“You know, we never really followed the proper protocol for Thanksgiving dinners. So, everyone should tell us what you are thankful for this year.” he smiled, fixing me with an expectant look. His wife immediately joined in from across the table, making it clear to me that this was by no means a spontaneous idea John just had. They wanted me to start! I knew they wanted to give me an opportunity to engage with the family, but they still didn’t understand the gravity of the whole situation I was in. What was I supposed to say here!?

My Jeep? I wasn’t thankful for that, I worked hard to earn it! And even then, it was a borderline junker that was in danger of breaking down with any drive that lasted longer than two hours.

My filled bank account? Again, I worked for that. And even then, I only worked so hard because I had nothing else in my life.

That the bullying in school stopped? I made that stop! And even then, only the physical assaults stopped. Am I supposed to be thankful for only being called names and made fun of?

Tess? Well, Tess I was thankful for. But even then ... There was that small problem with our age difference, killing every chance of it ever leading anywhere.

What did I have that I could truly be thankful for? I completely blanked.

Aunt Danielle saw my expression grow more somber by the second as I thought about what to say. And when I glanced up to signal someone else to start, I noticed she looked worried. She didn’t expect me to have such a hard time with this. As the realization settled in that I really couldn’t think of something to truly be thankful for, her expression changed again. She looked kind of ... afraid. As I looked around the table, they all seemed to be waiting for me to start talking. I resigned myself to just being thankful for their cooking, but Uncle John spoke up again and listed exactly the only four points I had just dismissed.

“Come on, Tim. I happen to know a few nice things that happened to you this year. You got yourself a nicely paying Job, a fun Jeep, got very ‘proficient at kicking ass’ as Bill phrased it, and, most important of all, landed yourself the lovely Tess.”

Most of the people at the table reacted to some part of that reminder. Aaron’s ears twitched hearing John mention the ‘nicely paying’ job. Grandpa released a disapproving “Hmpf!” when the Jeep was mentioned. Maggie seemed to be interested in the ass kicking part. Claire and Ava seemed to perk up at hearing the name of Tess. Then something happened that I hadn’t anticipated. Just as Ava turned towards me to ask about Tess, I saw Logan squeeze her thigh and lean in close to her.

“So, money, big car, macho demeanor and eye candy. All four clichés of compensating for ‘something’ in one go.” he whispered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Just like with Maggie before, it earned him a stern look from Aunt Danielle and Grandma this time, but he got what he wanted. Whatever interest Ava may have had in inquiring about Tess was gone. When it looked like Claire was about to take the opportunity to ask me, he continued by telling us what he was thankful for.

“I’m thankful for spending this time with my loving family, before going off to college!” he proclaimed.

Once again, I almost puked a little into my mouth. He also didn’t see the irony in what he just said about his “loving” family. But with that, all attention was on him and his application at UT Austin. I finally found something to be thankful for when Claire complained how it was too far away for him to commute from home. When I learned that “too far away” was in actuality just roughly two hours of driving, I simply closed my eyes and waited for them to be done with it.

Dinner after that was like usual. I answered when directly spoken to, mostly by Danielle and John, but didn’t want to engage much more. Until Danielle started her next scheme.

“So, any plans for Ava’s birthday?” she asked nobody specifically.

“Oh, nothing special, yet. I’ll probably just meet up with a few friends.” Ava answered.

“We’ll make it special, like always.” added Logan, squeezing her leg again.

“Must be a pain if your birthday is so close to the Holidays.” Danielle specified.

So that was what she was planning. Hinting at someone else who was born even closer to a Holiday than Ava, namely Thanksgiving, who’s birthday they forgot about. I gave her an angry look and, to her credit, she looked a little embarrassed seeing it. What the hell was she trying to accomplish? Did she not pay attention to how the rest of the evening had played out so far? Luckily, or not, my being was so far removed from their minds, they never made the connection. So, John tried yet another angle.

“Tim! Tell me, why a Jeep as your first car?” he asked, with clear emphasis on ‘first car’. I suspected he wanted to hint at the fact that the first cars my two siblings had, were gifts for their sixteenth birthdays. I thought about throwing my turkey at him, but I could use this opportunity to, at least partly, refute Logan’s claims about me wanting to compensate for a small dick.

“Wasn’t really looking for a Jeep specifically.” I answered quickly before Logan could inject himself into the conversation, to which I heard Grandpa let out an approving “Hmph”. “I needed a car to get to work but didn’t really know what else for. So, something cheap and maybe fun. That’s what I looked for.”

“What did you do about insurance?” Aaron asked. “I sure don’t remember you asking me to put you on our plan?”

“I insured it.” I said, matter of fact, not pointing out how he co-signed without even realizing it.

“Yourself? Well, that’s a relief!” he laughed while looking at his wife, the topic clearly settled for him.

“And why is that a ‘relief’, Aaron?” Danielle asked him with a forced smile, and just a smidge of irritation in her voice.

“Your girl doesn’t have a car yet, Danny, so you wouldn’t know. Paying for those two’s insurances already costs us a small fortune. If he can take care of that himself, I’m all for independence!” he proclaimed. “How much is yours?” he added, looking at me.

“Little under $500 per month.” I answered, to which Maggie almost spat out her food.

“You’re paying FIVE HUNDRED dollars every MONTH! And that’s just for the insurance?! Mom and Dad said, since I don’t really need the car, I’d have to pay for it myself. Why is it so expensive!?” she asked, losing control of her voice’s volume.

“That’s actually cheap. I got a day-long defensive driving course through work. That knocks ten percent off for a year. I’ll have to do one again next year to keep the discount.”

“You’re shitting me!” she commented, earning herself a resounding “Language!” from Grandma.

“Wait!” Aaron shouted, pointing at my siblings but looking at me. “We could save twenty percent off their insurance if we send these two to one of those courses!?”

“That’s ... not at all how Math works, but sure, you could save ten percent on each insurance.” I sighed under my breath, which actually caused John to suppress a laugh.

“John, could you ask Bill if he’d get them one of those courses too?” Aaron asked, completely ignoring my comment.

The conversation became a little chaotic after that, since Princess and Golden Boy were anything but eager to spend an entire day being told how to drive carefully. But John’s attempt to point at my missed birthday had completely derailed.

It’s hard to explain, but I truly believe that, if they were asked for it, they could provide my birthdate. As far as I knew, at least Claire was present when it happened, being my mother and all. They simply didn’t think about me having birthdays, if that makes any sense. It wasn’t something they anticipated, so when the date came up, they didn’t associate it with me.

Whatever Uncle John and Aunt Danielle wanted to achieve that evening by repeatedly putting me on the spot, by the end of dinner, they had given up.

Aunt Danielle kept glancing at me with worried looks, but I was only thinking about how to make my escape. The opportunity arose when my phone got a push notification from the company server, notifying me about a bounced email. I could see from the notification itself that someone just mistyped the email address, but they couldn’t.

When they didn’t even make a fuss about me leaving early, I asked myself why I even bothered to look for an excuse. I had just reached the door and was about to open it, when Danielle came up from behind me, wrapped her arms around my stomach, and gave me a tight squeeze.

“I’m sorry, honey.” she said. For a moment, the feeling of her soft big breasts pressed into my back and her warm breath against my neck distracted me. Then I remembered how she couldn’t even be bothered to say a single fucking word when Logan made his snarky remarks, and any interest I might have had in her body vanished. When I tried to move away, she squeezed again before whispering. “You’ll be Okay, right?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be? Nothing new here.” was all I answered in a deadpan voice, before I removed her hands and finally made my way out of the door.

I contemplated staying with her for a while, just to maybe get some kind of explanation for everyone’s favoritism of Logan. I was also pretty sure the others were just waiting for me to leave, so they could shed their clothes and start their Thanksgiving-Romp. Instead, I made my way home and sat in front of my computer. I was interested in how genuine Aunt Danielle’s sudden concern really was. For a therapist, she sure liked to overlook a lot of the signs she was witnessing.

In my quest to learn about IT-Security, I had long since passed simple trackers on peoples’ phones. In fact, I now had complete control over their smartphones. I could accesstheir drives, read their chats and activate their cameras and microphones. When I gained that access, I discovered that Logan had recorded quite a few of their get-togethers, and while I couldn’t be sure, the angles made me suspect he didn’t exactly do it in an obvious manner.

Figuring Ava’s phone was the most likely to be out in the open, I connected to her’s. While all I could see was the ceiling, the loud sounds of moaning and skin slapping confirmed that they didn’t wait long after I left. If they had gone right to fucking, my question about the depths of Danielle’s concern was answered indirectly, and there was no need to torture myself further by listening to their fucking. When I was just about to close the app, though, I could hear a male voice talking.

It was too far away from Ava’s phone to understand anything. I knew Aunt Danielle and Claire kept their phones in their purses most of the time, so I probably wouldn’t pick up anything from theirs. Hoping John would have his phone in his Jacket, I connected to it and was lucky.

“ ... orget about it!?” I heard Grandma’s offended voice.

“I was ... we just... ” that was Claire, sounding quite uncomfortable.

“Well? Spit it out already!”

“Come on, Gran. You can’t really blame Mom for it.” I heard Logan say. “Tiny NEVER celebrates his birthdays. That’s why he was rather at work the whole day than at home. And he also never accepts any of our presents, so why should she spend money on something he won’t want?”

Bingo! They were talking about my birthday. Danielle and John must have given up on making them remember and simply told them. I was also impressed with Logan’s uncanny ability to make his bullshit sound reasonable. Though, what the fuck was he on about not accepting their presents? Apart from the penis pump, I hadn’t gotten shit from anyone but Claire in years! And I never accepted her presents because she thought the penis pump was funny, so I dreaded receiving something similar from her.

“That may be so, but that is no reason to simply forget about it! And what makes you think I was only blaming your mother? It would do you some good to reflect about your own behavior, young man. No wonder that boy is angry when he has to listen to your insults all the time!” I heard her take a deep breath, as if to calm herself. “Claire, it would’ve only been prudent to at least do the same for him as you did for his siblings, and those two got cars for their sixteenths. Now Tim bought one himself instead, so he clearly wanted one! I also can’t imagine him being happy to pay for everything himself, so don’t even THINK about telling me he wouldn’t have accepted it!” Grandma scolded Logan and Claire.

“We didn’t even know he got his license, Granny!” Logan called out in a whiny tone.

“Logan. I am trying to have a serious discussion with your mother. Not with you! So, stop answering for her and stop distracting her by fondling her.”

There were a few seconds of Logan protesting and assuring Claire how she didn’t do anything wrong, before Grandma finally and firmly threatened to whip him if he couldn’t behave. I smiled at that.

“So, again Claire, how did this happen?”

“I honestly don’t know, Mom. It’s just ... he’s rarely home anymore... ”

“After what I saw during dinner, I can’t really blame the boy! The most praiseworthy thing he seems to have accomplished in his parent’s eyes was that you don’t have to care for him anymore!” Grandma sounded angry by now.

“Of course I do! It’s just ... hard! He doesn’t talk to us anymore either. Any of us. If we talk, it’s always like we’re fighting. We really didn’t even know he had a driver’s license.”

“Well, one of you had to know.” I heard Uncle John partake in the conversation for the first time.

“What do you mean, dear?” Grandma asked, her tone suddenly loving. A stark contrast to the scolding she had handed out until now.

“Minors can’t just walk into the DMV and get a license, Mom. Normally, they need documentation of parent-taught driving lessons, but Tim got around those by asking Bill instead. He’s licensed to give lessons because of that safety course Tim talked about, and so he can teach his men how to handle armored cars. But at the very least, Tim absolutely had to have a guardian’s signature on the paperwork. So, either Claire or Aaron must have signed off on that.” He explained.

“Aaron!” Aunt Danielle called out loudly. “Did you sign off on Tim’s application for his driver’s license?”

“I think ... OH GOD! That’s so good honey, keep going!” His voice was barely loud enough for me to hear his answer, so he must’ve been with Ava.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Aaron. If you can’t be bothered to participate in this discussion about YOUR SON, can you and Mike at least stop spit roasting Ava for long enough to answer a simple question!?” Grandma called out, more than annoyed.

So, Ava was with Aaron and Grandpa. The bitch had ridiculed me for being overweight, but had no problem fucking a flabby sixty-three year old man. Interesting.

“Well ... I ... think I did? A few ... weeks ago, he ... asked me to ... sign something. Thought it was ... school stuff.” he panted, clearly unable to stop spit roasting Ava as Granny had asked.

“And do you just sign everything someone puts in front of you without checking what it is?” John asked, incredulously. “His car’s insurance would’ve needed to be co-signed as well, by the way.”

“Oh, come on!” Aaron shot back. Apparently, that accusation irked him enough to stop fucking. “I just can’t relate to the boy. First, he turns into the Buffet King, then he starts with all that nerd-stuff. Sure, Okay, we saw last week that he finally takes some care of himself, but why did he make this dork-shit his career choice?!”

“Okay, “ Grandma said in an exhausted sigh “Let’s ignore the fact that Tim rather asked his boss for help than his parents. I’m starting to understand why he thought it was the better choice. And let’s also ignore the fact that you apparently think your son not talking to any of you is an excuse not to try instead of another reason to get worried. Are you going to tell him about us anytime soon, now that you finally know how old he really is?”

That was met with a moment of silence. Apart from the moaning in the background, that is. Then Logan spoke again.

“We already talked about it a few months ago, after Mom’s birthday, and we all thought it would be better not to.”

“And why is that?” Grandma asked.

“Well ... we thought ... it would be better for him that way.” Claire pointed out.

“They wanted to spare him the humiliation.” Danielle specified. “I told Claire this was a bad idea, and she said she’d think it over. I didn’t realize she never did until we ... remembered his birthday.”

“What are you talking about!?” Grandma asked.

I heard something like a loud mumbling that I couldn’t make out.

“Take your cousin’s Cock out of your mouth when you talk, honey.” I heard Aunt Danielle say patiently.

“I said, “ Maggie explained, “when we talked about it, we kinda found out that none of us was particularly eager to have him. Sure, that was before we found out he got hot! But there is still the thing with his small dick. So, we thought it would be better for him not to know, than to feel left out.”

“Again! What THE HELL are you talking about!? I was eager to finally have him here! I would have been even if he HAD a small dick! Which he doesn’t, by the way!” Grandma said.

I wasn’t sure how to react to that. Grandma was fifty-eight, so not even old enough to retire yet. And from what I could see, she had kept herself in shape. But then again, I never saw her fully naked. Nevertheless, I did feel flattered.

“He doesn’t!?” I heard a chorus of voices ask.

“No, he doesn’t. At least not from what I saw in the bathroom on Monday.” Grandma said.

It was true. I knew from her phone call that she and Gramps would visit for Thanksgiving. But with most communication with the family broken down, I had no idea they would arrive the weekend before Thanksgiving. So, when I got up on Monday morning and heard the entire family’s voices in the kitchen, I just walked into the bathroom without bothering to knock, and found myself face to face with Grandma. I stood there in all my morning-glory, wearing nothing but my trunks which, thanks to Tess, were elastic and form fitting. So form fitting and elastic, they showed off perfectly what was waiting underneath and all that was left to her imagination was the skin tone.

“When was the last time any of you saw him naked?” Granny asked.

“A little over two years ago. Why?” Claire said, now suddenly eager and interested. Figures.

“What, when he was thirteen!? Does the rest of him look like a thirteen-year-old? Why would you think that part wouldn’t grow like the rest of his body!? This makes no sense!” Granny asked, irritated. I kind of wanted to kiss her. But then again, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for what else she may had in mind if I actually did it.

“Well ... we... ” Claire stammered.

“Why are you looking at them now, like they’d be able to answer this for you!? Claire, I love you, but, frankly, you and Aaron fucked up! I don’t know how you could let it come to this, but I really hope you’ll find a way to fix this!” Granny finished.

“Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s not interested!” Logan threw in. “It’s not like we’re ignoring him, he doesn’t want conversations with us. He doesn’t want to spend time with us. He doesn’t meet up with friends, doesn’t join any clubs or teams ... Maybe it’s Asperger’s or something.”

“Really, Logan? Accusing your brother of having autism because he doesn’t like you and your friends?” Aunt Danielle asked, in a lazy and tired voice.

“He doesn’t seem to have any problem talking with me. When we talked on the phone on his birthday, he actually seemed happy to hear from me.” Granny added, objecting to Logan’s theory.

“Yeah, on the phone, Granny. How many words have you two had in person since you arrived? Just wait ‘till we’re back, I’ll ask him if he wants to join us for a movie or something. You’ll see.” he assured her.

And there it was yet again. Logan’s talent for making people believe that their bullshit actions are perfectly justifiable. I could guess what he had planned. He would undoubtedly try to piss me off in some unobvious but surefire way, so I’d give him a reaction that would prove his claim. As much as I would love to prove him wrong by controlling myself, he knew too damn well how to press my buttons. My only chance would be to spend the rest of the week away from them. It wouldn’t expose his bullshit by proving him wrong, but at least it also wouldn’t prove him right.

Seeing as they would have to wait until they can test Logan’s theory, the conversation derailed and they slowly joined Ava, Aaron and Grandpa Mike. I closed the remote connection to John’s phone.

I took out my phone and texted Tess, reminding her of her promise to teach me things. Tess was with her family for Thanksgiving, but she was going to be back on Saturday morning. I picked Tess up at the airport with a bouquet of flowers, and we basically spent the entire weekend in bed, with her thoroughly teaching me everything she could think of. On Sunday evening, as I was about to leave for my own bed, she gave me an assignment.

“You know, Baby, as long as you don’t ever try to shove that battering ram of yours into them like you do for me, you really shouldn’t have any problems picking up some girl your own age.”

“And who says I even want to pick one of them up when I can have you?” I asked, before giving her a light kiss.

“I want you to try it. And then I want you to come back to me and tell me how much better I am.” she laughed. I still liked it when she laughed. Just hearing it made me happy myself.

“Fine, I’ll try. But no promises.”

And with that, I reluctantly left to get a full night of sleep before I had to start the new week. Like expected, despite not telling anyone I would spend the night with Tess, there were no messages or calls on my phone. When I got back to the house, Granny and Grandpa were already on their way back to Beaumont.

Chapter 4

I spent most of the next day in school looking at the girls around me, thinking about what Tess had said. Her encouraging me to try girls my own age bothered me more than I thought she realized. I just couldn’t help but develop serious feelings for her. After all the disdain and ridicule I had experienced from the girls surrounding me in that school and even at home, she was the first who accepted and wanted me. So, when she told me to get a girl my own age just to prove how she, an experienced woman, was better than them ... I didn’t know if I should feel sad about her not taking our relationship as seriously as I did, or just accept it as something kinky.

I realized quickly that it was not going to happen anyway, though. Sure, the girls looked at me differently ever since my makeover, or at least with less obvious contempt, but I was still absolutely clueless about how to even approach a female of my species after years of bullying. After hooking up with Tess so many times, I had regained some self respect and confidence. I was, however, still eating alone in the cafeteria, sitting alone in the library, and was still picked last when teams in PE were formed. There was no way I could just walk up to a girl I didn’t even know and ask her for a date, providing new ammunition to make fun of me with if she blew me off. And I didn’t expect any one of them to just walk up to me and do it herself, despite me looking better now, since I still wasn’t welcome at parties and gathering spots.

The only one I kept making some progress with was my English teacher, Mrs Jenkins. She knew exactly how I was looking at her, and she made no secret of it anymore. While she didn’t openly embrace it, she did seem to give me an increasing number of opportunities to appreciate her assets. When she was checking someone’s work, she would normally lean over the student’s shoulder. But for me, every so often, she would lean down in front of me, with the top three buttons of her blouse opened, allowing me to explore her ample cleavage in great detail. Whenever she noticed my involuntary reactions to that sight, a small smile of satisfaction would curl her lips.

As it turned out, however, I didn’t even need to look for girls at school. The next Friday was Ava’s birthday and, just as announced during the Thanksgiving dinner, she had friends over for a sleepover, with the parents at Uncle John’s. It was one of the first days I had to wear my new suit to work, because part of my new job was to plan and oversee the installation of surveillance equipment and software. So, Bill decided that I should be part of the initial meetings with the clients requiring such installations in their estates.

Despite what happened at Thanksgiving, I set out to look for something special I could get her. Ava was the only one who hadn’t gotten a reminder of our familial bonds yet. Well, except for Logan, but as I already said, he can eat a bag of dicks for all I cared. Although I had told myself that I didn’t want to buy their affection with gifts after the Nest Egg Necklace for Claire didn’t have the desired effect, it at least did have some effect. She did try to initiate a conversation multiple times, even if she bailed out every time for some reason. Maybe, whatever had stopped Claire from going through with it wouldn’t be such a problem for Ava.

I had overheard her talk on and on about wanting a new purse from someone she called “Kate Spade”, because she envied one of her friends who had one. Sadly, I still had absolutely no clue about fashion. Since Tess did a good job with my new outfits, and was a woman, I talked her into helping me choose a purse. Actually holding it in my hands, I couldn’t figure out why anybody would ever want one of these things. They were so small I could barely fit my fist inside, so they were utterly useless as a bag. It was called the “Essential” model, so I guess they didn’t exactly intend people to use them for camping, but then again, why did such a small thing cost $198 dollars!? I just resigned myself to giving it a try, and had the clerk put it in a gift bag. In addition, I talked Tess out of a champagne bottle and decorated it with some ribbons.

When I came back from work at around Eight PM, Ava and her friends were apparently taking a break from enjoying the hot tub, because they were all wearing swimsuits. While Ava was in the kitchen, her three friends were spending time on the sofa with Logan. I knew two of the three girls. One of them was Mia, Ava’s oldest friend since they were little. She was also Jack’s little sister. Since I publicly knocked her big brother out, she usually regarded me with disdain. I only knew the second girl from looks, since I had seen her often at school hanging around Ava and Mia, where she was pretty much indifferent to me. The third girl was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t really place her.

So, when I stepped into the living room, all eyes were on me, and the contrast was hilarious.

At that moment, the slim fit suit was working its magic by perfectly showing off the fruits of my daily training, and those three girls ogled me without even trying to hide it. The unknown girl wasn’t just ogling me, she was watching me with borderline hunger. Logan, on the other hand, seemed pleasantly unhappy about the attention I was receiving from these girls, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten about him even being there.

I turned to the kitchen and walked towards Ava, who, for some reason, seemed uncomfortable upon seeing me. She came out of the kitchen and met me halfway.

“Happy Birthday.” I said in a casual tone, handing her the bag, as she had just opened her mouth to say something.

“You got me a gift!?” she asked, incredulously. Somehow, she looked even more uncomfortable now.

“And he brought some sparkly wine as well!” commented one of the unknown girls in a happy shout. That made me remember the bottle, so I walked past Ava and placed it in the freezer. When I came back out, Ava was still standing there holding the gift bag in both hands, looking like a lost puppy.

“Go on, look inside. If I got the wrong thing just tell me. I still got the slip, so you can return it.”

She looked at me with some uncertainty for a second, before slowly pulling the piles of useless wax paper out of the bag. When she finally saw what was underneath, she paused. Then, she tentatively pulled out the purse, showed it to her friends, and they started this high-pitched screaming exercise I only knew from teenage girls in movies until then. It looked like Tess got it right again.

“How did you know I wanted one of these?” Ava asked, still breathing heavily from running around.

“You kept mentioning that brand the other day, and I figured the others would have your presents probably already set.” I answered, matter of fact.

After saying that, Ava’s three guests looked at me in silent approval. I noticed Logan eyeing the whole scene, but especially the purse, with disbelief from the sofa. Then he looked at the coffee table with embarrassment. When I followed his eyes, I saw a cheap no-name Bluetooth speaker Ava hadn’t even taken out of the box to check it out. Whether it was being attentive or being able to fulfill a wish, I had just proven myself more reliable than Logan. That alone was worth spending two-hundred bucks on an utterly useless bag.

Then Ava did something that shocked me. She stepped into me, wrapped her arms around my torso and gave me a tight squeeze.

“I’m sorry we forgot your Birthday!” she whispered into my ear.

The shock from the hug faded. At least enough for parts of my brain to start working again, and I remembered that, even though she was too occupied at the time to participate, Ava was there when Granny had that talk with Claire at Thanksgiving. And the way she now reacted confirmed my fear of having to buy her affection. After they all had that talk with Granny, none of them mentioned anything about it to me, or tried anything in the days since then to introduce me to their fun. They didn’t even attempt to close the gap that had formed between us. There was still no consideration for me whatsoever.

But the moment Ava got expensive shit from me, she was suddenly sorry for forgetting my birthday. I had hoped for this present to serve as some kind of reminder of my existence, that would cause her to slowly come around and rethink her opinion of me. This reaction, however, seemed too sudden and extreme to have a lasting effect.

“Why did you even get me something like this after what we did?” she asked, just as quietly as before.

“Maybe I’m just a better person than you four.” I reproachfully whispered back, unwilling to forget, and immediately disproving my own statement without even noticing. “Or, maybe, I just wasn’t eager for your parents to shit on me again, like last year when I didn’t have something for you.”

Ava immediately let go of me and took a step back, looking almost sad. I mentally scolded myself as I saw Logan’s relieved look, but I just couldn’t resist pointing out the double standard. Maybe I should have embraced Ava, just to piss him off further. Coincidentally, one of Ava’s friends helped me out with that.

“Hey, we were just about to watch a movie. Why don’t you join us?” the vaguely familiar girl asked.

She had stepped in close to me when Ava had stepped back, and was brushing one hand over my biceps as her other hand was pulling a strain of shoulder-long ash-brown hair behind her ear. She looked remarkably cute. Her head tilted slightly to the ground with an almost sheepish expression, looking up at me with doe-like big brown eyes and a shy smile. It didn’t help that she was barely five feet tall, with a slender frame supporting maybe an A-Cup chest. I just wanted to cuddle her to death.

“Oh, yes! Please, join us!” threw one of Ava’s known friends into the round, but she was giving the small girl a conspiratorial grin. I looked at Ava, awaiting her answer. It was her birthday party after all. It was up to her who she wanted to spend time with today. When she nodded her approval, I looked back at the cute one.

“Don’t take this as a cheesy pick-up line, but ... do we know each other somehow? You seem familiar, but I just can’t place it!” I finally caved, and asked.

First, she acted a little insulted that I didn’t remember her, but then she seemed to reach a conclusion and lit up again.

“I’m Jenny. That... “ she pointed at the girl that supported her when asking me to join them “ ... is my big sister, Joan. You helped me out last year, when Jack and his friend wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“That was you! I remember now! But it was more you helping me out than the other way around. I was just there, but you saved me from Coach Jenkins when he wanted me expelled.” I remembered.

“You did bust them up pretty good.” Joan commented, laughing “Not that I’m complaining. They had it coming!”

“Don’t encourage him!” Logan injected by shouting from the other side of the room.

“Well, I’m gonna have to get out of this suit. I’ll join you in a minute.” I said, before making my way to my room to get changed.

For a moment I was thinking about getting into my own swimming trunks, since the people downstairs were all still wearing their swimsuits. And Jenny seemed to appreciate my looks, so sitting there topless would certainly be advantageous. But sitting with three, well four if you count Ava, basically naked hot girls in only my trunks would certainly lead to embarrassing displays on my part. So, I compromised on cargo shorts and a tight T-shirt. I had just put the shorts on, when my door flew open, and Logan stepped into my room.

“The fuck are you thinking, Tiny Tim?” he seethed.

“What do you mean?” I asked, smirking. There were certainly quite a few things coming to my mind he could be pissed about, and I enjoyed how much it seemed to have gotten under his skin.

“Really? Do I need to spell it out for you? Ava doesn’t want you there with her friends. She just feels guilty about your little hurt feelings. Get over it. I put in a lot of effort to make this fun for us. How the hell am I supposed to do this with your sorry ass around?”

“I don’t know. Fuck yourself?” I asked in an aloof voice while pulling my shirt over my head.

I looked at him for a moment with a blank expression. I didn’t know what he would do next. I didn’t expect him to try and attack me, he knew better than to even try. But if he had some other mean move up his sleeve, I’d rather he tried it before we met up with the others. And I hoped he was angry enough to not realize that. Problem was, he just glared at me before he turned and left. So, I had no idea if he was out of options or wanted to put me down in front of an audience again. I resigned myself to whatever my fate would be and got downstairs myself.

The lights in the living room were dimmed and all of the others had already found their seats. Ava and Joan sat to either side of Logan on the sofa. Mia had made herself at ease in the armchair. The only free spot, other than the floor, was right next to Jenny on the loveseat. She had pulled her legs underneath herself, in that impossible way only women could ever find comfortable. She was giving me a huge smile as I spotted the empty seat next to her, so I took that as an invitation and sat with my arm over the backrest while maintaining a respectful distance between our bodies.

I didn’t really know what to expect from this situation. Under normal circumstances, I would have fully expected them to banish me from their festivities again, like Logan had just tried when he came into my room. An invitation from Ava and her friends, who had tormented me in school, would normally have my alarm bells ringing and make me expect some kind of mean prank. But I did indeed help Jenny last year, so maybe she really was interested in getting to know me. And the seemingly genuine display of regret from Ava that I had witnessed when I presented her gift, however short lived it may turn out to be, made me want to risk it and see if this could possibly be the first sign of change. Though, I hadn’t forgotten that the last time I was hoping our relationship would improve, I was suddenly holding a penis pump in my hands while my mother laughed her ass off.

The first thing we watched was some kind of live special from a stand-up comedian. He was good. And each time the room was filled with laughter, Jenny coincidentally scooted a little closer to me. By the end of it, she was leaning against me, my arm still on the backrest. By then it was 9:30 PM, and, as Ava was scrolling through the Netflix library, I remembered that I had placed the champagne in the freezer. I jumped up and got it out, relieved it wasn’t frozen yet. When the others saw me holding the bottle, they assumed I was about to open it, and sent Logan after me to get some glasses.

It wasn’t much. With six people to share, maybe two glasses per person, so I didn’t really feel guilty about underaged drinking. As we took our seats again, Jenny immediately cuddled into me. By the time Ava had found the rom-com she wanted to watch, Jenny had taken my arm from the backrest and wrapped it around herself instead. Ava looked around the room, took a sip from her glass, and threw me a big happy smile. She seemed to like it.

The champagne combined with the cheesy movie apparently had a certain effect on Jenny. She soon placed her hand on my arm she had wrapped around herself, and was absentmindedly stroking it as she sipped away. Now, I wasn’t used to drinking either, and I had to admit that Jenny wasn’t the only one affected by it. The furniture and seating arrangements had the benefit that Jenny was sitting at the far outside, with my body hiding hers from the others. The main effect the champagne had on me was my lowered guard. I liked being so close to a girl. As long as I didn’t try anything they could use against me, maybe it wasn’t so bad if I allowed myself to simply enjoy it.

I started by softly scraping my fingernails over the inside of her forearm for a few minutes, just to test how she would react, and she snuggled deeper into me. Then I let my fingers wander from her arm, over the top of her thigh, to the middle of her belly. Since the swimsuit she was wearing was a two-piece, her entire midsection was exposed skin, so I carefully caressed her bellybutton. This coaxed a cute little moan of approval from her lips, and she nested her face into my chest. Without letting up my light caresses, I raised the hand holding my own glass, moved a few strands of hair from her forehead, and placed a light kiss on it. Now she was purring like a kitten. She looked up into my eyes, then at my mouth, and tilted her head a little.

I contemplated if I should risk it. The gesture seemed unambiguous, but I was still held back by the possibility of this being some kind of set-up. Soon, though, the champagne did its work and I decided that, even if it was a set-up, I had nothing to lose with my school life and reputation already being as bad as they were. I placed a small kiss on her lips, and she rewarded me with a content sigh, before nesting her face back into my chest. This girl barely knew me, never had a real conversation with me, but she thoroughly enjoyed acting like intimate lovers. It was almost ridiculous to even consider this, but ... maybe she had a crush on me since I saved her?

Then she surprised me. I had only planned to slowly familiarize myself with her body, while making sure not to push too far, but she seemed to have a different idea. Her breathing had become a little shallow, as she slowly grabbed the hand caressing her navel and started pulling it down to the bottom piece of her swimsuit. As my fingertips were resting just at the edge of her waistband, she placed both her hands on top of mine, pressed it into her lower belly, and she gave me a quiet but sensual kiss.

My mind rattled by her boldness and overwhelmed with the desire for what this could possibly lead to, my hand moved down without me thinking about it, as she spread her legs as much as her sitting position allowed. The entire way down she pressed it into her body with both of her own hands, silently encouraging me. I didn’t go underneath her swimsuit, yet, as I seriously didn’t want to risk overstepping. Not in front of Logan, who was undoubtedly engaged in his own fun with at least Ava, if not Joan as well, at the time. Golden Boy wouldn’t be pushed away, since I already knew how close he and Ava really were. If I was rejected in front of an audience, none of them would ever let me live that down. If I was to have any chance with this girl, I had to remember every single lesson I received from Tess, and make this as enjoyable for Jenny as possible while I still could.

I gently massaged the skin just above where I surmised her clitoris to be in a circular motion. Slowly increasing the pressure as her breathing increased in intensity. Then I pushed my hand further down, splitting my fingers, so two of them would scrape over each of her outer lips, and worked those for a while. Finally, I moved my hand up enough so my index and middle finger could directly massage her clit. She was now grabbing onto my arm with desperation, pressing her small breasts into my upper arm and her face into my shoulder, trying to stifle the cute mouselike squeaking noises escaping her. Suddenly, her entire body tensed up, her legs clamped shut, and her fingernails dug painfully into the skin of my arm. She stayed like this, not breathing, for maybe ten seconds, before finally relaxing and melting into me.

Going by her breathing, she was taking a nap. At that moment, I was damn glad I opted for the cargo shorts. Otherwise I would be pitching an obscene tent right in front of everyone. I looked around and realized with horror that we were being watched by Joan. She knew exactly what I had just done to her little sister, and in the darkness of the room, I could see a sinister looking smile on her face. I thought I was done for, as I realized this must have been their plan all along. After Logan had watched in glee as I was beaten, I wouldn’t put it past them to accuse me of taking advantage of a drunk, innocent girl. And I was even the one providing the alcohol!

Just as my anxiety was reaching dangerous levels, however, the TV illuminated the room more effectively, and I realized that Joan’s smile was anything but sinister. It was actually a quite warm smile she was displaying. She seemed to be happy for her little sister.

I lightly shook my head, trying to get my assumptions under control and push my expectations for being played out of my thoughts. Jenny stayed asleep until the movie was over, and I gently nudged her awake. She looked around, then at me, her eyes focused, and then she blushed with a coy smile on her lips. Again, I could just cuddle the girl to death.

My erection was gone by then, and while the others had spent the entire afternoon after school relaxing in the hot tub, I was at work. That, combined with the effect of the two glasses I had during the movie, started to have an effect on me, so I excused myself to make my way to my room and get some shut eye myself.

I had just stepped out of my shorts after a trip to the bathroom, when I heard a soft knock at my door. When I opened it, Jenny was standing there in an oversized shirt and panties. Without saying a word, she placed her hands on the back of my neck, went on her toes, and pulled me down for a passionate kiss while pushing me backwards into my room. Then she turned around and closed the door.

“Can we ... continue?” she asked meekly.

I just wrapped her into my arms and kissed her again. That was when things started to get less enjoyable. But not yet in the way I had feared for most part of the evening.

As we kissed, I opened my mouth and let my tongue glide along her lips, coercing her to open her mouth. She soon did, but as I tried to massage her tongue with my own, I realized her tongue was wildly thrashing around inside her mouth. What the hell was she trying to do? Swat flies? Don’t try to tell me she never kissed a boy, she just had me finger her to an orgasm in the middle of a packed room, not even five feet away from her own sister. There was no way this girl was innocent.

So, I switched gears. My hands ran down her spine and cupped her sweet little ass, pulling her onto her toes and further into me. As this motion spread her cheeks apart, she let out another moan into my mouth. Then my hands moved back up, but under her shirt. I grabbed the seams and pulled it over her head. As soon as it had passed her arms, she used them to cover her breasts and looked at me in an insecure way. I just smiled at her, gently took her hands into mine, and pulled them aside. Her nipples were hard knobs that just begged to be kissed, licked and sucked, so that is what I did. She soon had overcome her insecurity and her breathing, once again, became ragged. As she placed her hands on the back of my head, she spoke.

“They’re not too small?” she asked, clearly hoping for my approval.

“Jenny, men are simple creatures. We like all kinds of boobs!” I said, before circling her other nipple with my tongue and lightly scraping my teeth over it.

I placed kisses on her breasts, along her sternum to her belly, over her navel, and finally further down. After I went to my knees, I took hold of the sides of her panties and started tugging, but she stopped me.

“I don’t ... Can we do something else first? I owe you after what you did before!” she said, and I complied.

I got back up on my feet and pulled my shirt over my head. Her eyes grew wide as she appreciated what she saw. She stretched out her hand and caressed my abs, before going to her knees herself and tugging on my underwear. My dick was rock hard again and tenting my shorts considerably. When the waistband finally passed my tip, she halted and just stared at it.

A serious look of doubt mixed itself into her features. She let the shorts fall to the ground, and my dick jumped a little as I stepped out of them, but mainly stayed pointed directly at her face. Finally she grabbed it with both hands, causing me to groan in anticipation. Her hands were so small, she couldn’t reach all the way around it. She pumped my shaft a few times, took a deep breath as if to steady herself, and I could hear her mumble to herself.

“Just like a lollipop.”

I was confused and blurted out, “What?”

“It’s just ... I haven’t done this very often. And I thought you’d be...”

Instead of finishing her statement, she shook her head, opened her mouth wide and placed her lips just underneath my crown. And then she simply stayed like this. Completely unmoving, while suckling on it like it was a lollipop! Or a pacifier, was more like it. Occasionally, I could feel her tongue glide along the underside of it, but that was as far as she would go. After a few moments, she at least started stroking me with her hands again, but this wasn’t fun. It didn’t feel good. This was the exact opposite of what I experienced with Tess.

“Could you ... maybe ... take more of it into your mouth?” I carefully asked.

She looked at me without taking it out of her mouth, but seemed to think it over. Then she tried, took an entire additional half inch into her mouth, and stopped again. That wasn’t enough for a blowjob, especially if she wouldn’t move her head. While I didn’t comment about it in any way, she probably sensed me slightly deflating, because she tried to take more on her own. She had to immediately back up again to ease her gag reflex. This wasn’t going to happen, and I had absolutely no intention in just forcing it down her throat or making her feel bad about it.

“Let me do it for you now.” I demanded, picked her up into my arms, and sat her on my bed.

I went down on my knees in front of her, grabbed her legs, and pulled her towards me until her hips were on the edge of the mattress. But she wouldn’t let go of her panties, so I asked her what was wrong.

“I normally don’t let someone put his face there, until I really trust him.” she said, and I had to admit, it made sense to me. I was accustomed to feeling insecure about my own body after being teased about it for years.

“Jenny, we can just stop if you’re not sure. No hard feelings. But I can assure you, I like going down on girls.” I proposed.

She thought about it for a moment, and then relaxed at least somewhat. I gently pulled her underwear off, opened her legs, and kissed my way up her legs. From her knees, along her inner thighs, right up to her center. She was already glistening wet. She smelled different than Tess, less intense, and certainly nothing she would need to be shy or embarrassed about.

I gave her everything I learned from Tess. Gently nibbling her clit, testing out what strength she preferred, massaging its hood with my tongue, while slowly penetrating her with my fingers. I was right, this girl was not innocent, but she certainly wasn’t awfully experienced either. I had eaten her to a small orgasm within two minutes but didn’t let up.

One thing I noticed was that I had a rough time finding that special spot inside her, as she wasn’t nearly as vocal as Tess was in bed. Tess knew exactly what she wanted and how she wanted it, and she had no trouble communicating it. Jenny was holding herself back the entire time, as if she was afraid of making sounds or expressing pleasure in any way. After another five minutes, however, she was building up to an orgasm even she couldn’t hold in. By the time it hit her, she was lifting her hips off the mattress, pressing her sex into my face, while simultaneously pulling my head into her by my hair. She was throwing her head from side to side as it built and finally screamed so loud I was sure the entire house heard it.

I was totally fine with that, to be honest. Let them all know that I had just given that girl a massive orgasm. Even better, scream out what I did to achieve it! From what I had seen on the videos on Golden Boy’s phone, the men of the family weren’t big on oral, unless it was about receiving it themselves. Though, I could somehow understand that, given how much they traded partners. Maybe they were not exactly eager to taste dick residue or something.

When Jenny was done convulsing, I grabbed her ankles, placed her legs over my shoulders, and my dick along her slit. Then I started humping, dragging the underside of my shaft over her slit with my crown hitting her clit, lubricating it with her juices while waiting for her to finally come back from her orgasm. When her eyes were focused again, I leaned in to kiss her, which she eagerly responded to. But when I leaned back, she looked down, and the look of satisfied bliss vanished instantly.

Following her gaze, I looked down at myself to see what could be bothering her. As I had moved up to kiss her, my dick had slid upwards as well. Now only my balls were resting in front of her entrance, while my fully erect cock lay across her belly, looking quite impressive against her tiny body. It reached all the way from her clitoris, along her lower abdomen, with the tip reaching her belly button. As I just developed a slight grin while imagining how this would feel for me once I entered her, Jenny’s stern voice pulled me back to reality.

“There is NO FUCKING WAY you’ll put THAT inside me!” she declared.

And with that, she rolled sideways away from me, slid off the bed, grabbed her clothes, and left the room.

I quickly dressed myself to run after her, but ultimately decided against it. No matter what I was going to find once I would rejoin the others, I was certain I wouldn’t like it. When I heard Logan’s laughter from downstairs, there was no question in my mind that it was about me. I really didn’t need to hear their jokes about it. So, I closed my door, sat in front of my computer, and simply started watching a show myself. And even though none of them knocked on my door, or even tried to initiate a conversation over the next two days, my suspicions were confirmed as soon as I stepped into the school building on the following Monday.

School was hell again. By lunchtime, the story with Jenny had made its way around the entire student population. Interestingly, she, or more likely the telephone game, had changed a few of the finer details. While I was sure I did absolutely everything to make her feel safe and enjoy it, I was now officially the worst fuck imaginable. She had admitted that I ate her to that one big orgasm, but all the less pleasant parts were now my wrongdoing only, with no word of her inexperience or insecurity being told.

I was the bad kisser, manhandled her breasts, and, apparently, even tried to make her deepthroat me. Then, when she was asked about the actual sex, she did tell them the problem was related to my size, but didn’t explain any further. Naturally, with the rumors about “Tiny Tim” Ava had provided since I started at this school, the story was now the complete opposite of what really happened. She didn’t leave because my size intimidated her, she left because my small size wasn’t doing anything for her.

Everybody let me feel it. Everybody had to comment on it. Everybody shouted out to “Tiny Tim” when they saw me in the hallways and classrooms. There was no escaping it, and in some ways it was even worse than the physical attacks. At least I could defend myself against those, while nobody gave a shit about my side of the story regarding what happened with Jenny.

I actually didn’t blame her, though. Thinking about it, I had reached the conclusion that she wouldn’t have gone so far for a mere prank. Looking at it objectively, she simply didn’t strike me as the malicious type. Therefore, her running away in that kind of situation was probably just because she got scared. I couldn’t blame someone for something like that, could I?

When I came across Jenny in front of the school one day, I initially tried to just ignore her. But she noticed me, and, for some reason, seemed to want to talk. Just as she had taken a breath and opened her mouth, a few guys walked past us.

“What’s that? Tiny Tim begging for another shot?” they shouted, loudly laughing.

I looked at them. This wouldn’t stop anytime soon. If it would stop at all. But there was fuck all I could do about it. I wanted to beat the shit out of them, but what would that achieve? Scaring them the last time only stopped the physical assaults, the name calling never really let up. This was just another level of the same shit, because they had received new ammunition. The exact thing I didn’t want to provide them with. This was my life now. I was back to where I started almost exactly a year ago. Countless hours of exercise and training, standing up to my bullies, changing my image ... all for nothing. Back to going through the motions without hope for improvement. Why did I even bother anymore?

When I looked back at Jenny, the expression on her face reminded me of the one I saw on Aunt Danielle during Thanksgiving. She looked like she was concerned, almost afraid of something. I didn’t care anymore. As she, once again, tried to say something, I turned and walked to my Jeep to get to work. Like usual, I relied on my colleagues to be decent human beings and, over the next few weeks, they didn’t disappoint. With them, there was no childish shit to deal with, so I could just immerse myself into my projects and my slowly evolving relationship with Tess.

As soon as Christmas Break started, I had immersed myself into work and my self-learning. It helped take my mind off it all. One day, when one of the guys had seen me in a particularly gloomy mood after Tess left for the Holidays again, he did the one thing he could think of: Offer me a cigarette. I accepted, as a way to keep socializing, but it somehow stuck and became a habit. When the parents learned about me smoking, they tried to parent for the first time in years, but our relationship had reached the point where I could just give them a stern look to get them off my back.

With our relationship as it was from the start, material threats were really the only thing they had over me, and now that I worked and earned good money myself, that option was gone as well. Other than threatening to kick me out of the house, there was little they could think of anymore when they wanted to put their foot down. Since I was paying rent, and still a minor they were more or less required by law to care for, that shouldn’t happen anytime soon. Though, the thought of being kicked out grew more and more attractive with each day.

Then came Christmas. For Christmas Eve we were, once again, at Uncle John’s. Aunt Danielle had tried to include me in the conversations multiple times, but every time I tried to say more than the absolutely necessary minimum, the conversation was hijacked by someone else and shifted to a topic I had nothing to contribute to. Over the entire evening, there was only one topic allowed to last: Golden Boy had gotten his acceptance Letter from UT Austin, and it even included a football scholarship.

Aaron was as proud as a father could ever be. His oldest son had proven their worldview on the superiority of athletics over brains, and was following in his father’s footsteps. Claire and Ava were simply gushing over his achievement and wouldn’t leave his side. Claire was also whining about how much she would be missing him the entire time.

I was just on the porch smoking, when Aunt Danielle joined me.

“I heard about what happened at Ava’s party.” she said, as she wrapped herself tightly into the coat she used to fend off the cold. I didn’t feel like entertaining that particular topic.

“Tim. I’m a little worried about you. Talk to me.” she continued when I didn’t react.

“Did you see the Rangers game yesterday?” I asked.

“The what?” She was confused.

“It’s not football season, is it?” I asked hesitantly.

“Oh, it is. And the Super Bowl is yet to come, too. But I’m pretty sure the Rangers are our Baseball Team.” she smirked. “Why are you bringing that up?”

“You asked me to talk to you.” I took another drag from my cigarette.

“I wanted to talk about what happened at Ava’s party. And the aftermath I heard about.”

“So the story made its way even to you, huh?” I sighed. “Well, not much to talk about, really. They turned it all around to make me look like an idiot, and, thanks to my loving siblings, everyone went along with it before adding their own assumptions as facts. I tried fighting them. It didn’t work, so now I’m done trying. I’m good.”

“Seriously, Tim, what is going on with you? Why can’t you find a way to settle your differences?”

Now, that pissed me off big time! It sounded like she was accusing me of not trying enough, so it was all my own fault. All this time, she was the one fucking my entire family without noticing anything being wrong! She knew well enough about my damn nickname, and, as far as I knew, never objected. She couldn’t have forgotten what happened at Thanksgiving. She must’ve seen what was going on the entire evening so far. Someone tell me again why psychology is seen as anything more than a degree in fucking common sense!

“Fine fucking therapist you are! Ask them,” I said angrily, pointing my thumb over my shoulder towards her patio door. “I did every fucking thing I could think of. I asked, I pleaded, then I begged, and finally bought gifts, and I got a big FUCK YOU in return! As I said, it didn’t work, and I’m FUCKING done taking the blame for it. Use your damn brain and figure this shit out yourself. You’ve watched it happen long enough. I’m long past giving a shit about you all. I dropped your obligatory Christmas presents on the coffee table. Enjoy your fucking Holidays and leave me the fuck alone!”

I didn’t give a shit about her pleading voice when she called after me as I left. I had to get out and do something – anything – more fun than being around these assholes and being harassed by that meddling fucking bitch. Tess was spending the Holidays with her mother in California again, so there was no way to meet up with her. Another night in front of the computer would do.

The very next day, Christmas morning, Aunt Danielle showed up at the house, trying to get me to talk to her, but I blew her off rather harshly. I wasn’t having any of it. She, as well as the rest of my family, had three damn years to realize I was their son, brother, nephew and cousin.

When I had reached my new lowest point, I searched my own feelings and had to admit: What I felt for them now was more familial obligation than anything else. Certainly not love. Though, I also had to admit that Danielle surprised me with how persistent she was. After I blew her off at the house, she simply started showing up at the office, knowing full well I wouldn’t want to make a scene there, and thinking her chance for success would be higher. It wasn’t. Thanks to the tracker on her phone, no matter at which time she arrived to talk to me, I was either already gone or had the door locked. So, Instead of making a scene by telling her off, I simply ignored her banging on my door until she gave up.

My big hope was that the whole story about me and Jenny would fade into oblivion over the Holidays. Surely, when the other students came back to school after Christmas, they would have other topics to talk about, and my life would return to how it was before Ava’s birthday. I didn’t consider the influence Golden Boy still had. It was his last year before going off to College, and he seemed to want to make it count. He wound all his football buddies into making sure I’d never live past the humiliation. And they, still remembering me ruining their football season the year before, were all too happy to assist him.

More than once, I found myself debating why I should even continue going to school. It would be the easiest solution to just stay away from it all. After all, my income was already enough to support a small family of my own, and that was while I spent half of my weekdays in school. What was the point!?

Tess wouldn’t hear any of it, though. I had to promise her to “keep going and hang on” multiple times. She was my sole support over the following months, and I suspected she knew it, since I spent more time at her place than my ‘home’. When I was with her, nothing else mattered to me than being with her. It wasn’t just the sex anymore, which was still awesome. I genuinely enjoyed her company, she had completely stopped talking about other girls, and it didn’t take long until both of us realized we were basically dating.

After school, I came to the office to pick her up and take her to lunch, trying new places to eat out whenever we could. We went to the movies, Street Fairs, and, remembering my awkwardness during our first date, she made me take a dance class with her. I even learned how to give foot massages, since wearing high heels for the whole day took a toll on her feet. And sometimes, just for the fun of it, we went to open houses and estate sales together, allocating the rooms and fantasizing on how to decorate them. A few of those we could have actually afforded, though we would’ve needed to fix them up and I never used a hammer before.

If we didn’t feel like going out, we would cook together, cuddle up on the sofa in her living room to watch TV, or read together. It was genuinely the happiest time in my life despite what was going on in school. Although we carefully tipped around that subject, I loved her, and I was pretty sure she knew that as well. She always seemed to hold back though, since I was still only sixteen and we couldn’t be reckless until my birthday. Or until we moved to another country.

My happy life drastically changed shortly after her birthday in early April. I was still a sixteen-year-old boy, and she had now turned thirty. I didn’t know if she was bothered by the age gap, or wanted a family, or whatever. It wasn’t lost on me that, even before her birthday, she was remarkably apprehensive about me meeting her family. But after she had turned thirty, it seemed like she wanted to distance herself from me emotionally in one moment, and then went full on “Let’s get married!” the next. The sex was the same. Some days she was insatiable, to the point my dick actually hurt the next morning, on other days she refused to get within three feet of me, no physical contact at all!

We still practically lived together while enjoying each other’s company, and even though these changes irritated me, I was determined to stay with her for as long as she would allow it. I was silently hoping, if I could just make her realize how little of a shit I gave about the age difference, we could keep it going until I graduated. Then I would have been perfectly happy to marry her, even start a family with her. The people at work already knew about us anyway and nobody had ever given her crap or even so much as teased her about it.

It just wasn’t meant to be. In early June, I came home to Tess’ apartment to find her sitting in the silent living room. She didn’t look too happy when, for the first time in my life, I was confronted with the four words every man fears.

“We need to talk.”

I sat next to her on the sofa and waited.

“I’ll have to leave town.”

I was stunned. My stomach felt like I was falling. I needed Tess, and I didn’t know why this happened now, or why so suddenly.

“Look, Tess, I know this isn’t perfect. But it’s not gonna be much longer before my birthday. Please, we were so good together, and things got so much better over the past few months.”

“It’s not anything like that, Tim. I really like you; I don’t want to leave you.” She hesitated before she continued. “My sister called ... Mom’s sick. They ... diagnosed her with pancreatic cancer, and ... She’s going to need someone to look after her. For a while, at least. With my sister having her own family, she can’t just uproot her entire life to do it.”

She was crying. But there was nothing I could do to truly help. I would go with her, switch schools, quit school, do whatever I could to support her. But I was still only sixteen. I couldn’t just up and leave on my own accord without the constant threat of being dragged back here. I didn’t even have full control over my own damn bank account. And what about Tess? If she was apprehensive about me meeting her family before, she sure as hell won’t confront her cancer stricken mother with the news of her dating a kid now.

There was no discussion. I made sure she knew I would be there if she needed me. All it would take was a phone call, and I would get the next plane, consequences be damned. And once she returned, I would be waiting for her. She had already talked to Bill and would leave on the first of July. For the rest of the month, while sorting out her apartment, getting everything packed, and preparing the move, we spent as much time together as humanly possible.

With Tess gone, I had nothing but school and work in my days. I don’t know if I actually earned it, or if Bill wanted to help me distract myself, but I found myself in a lot more meetings with clients to discuss surveillance installations. In addition to that, he spent quite some time personally teaching me a lot of the administrative aspects of the job; writing reports, proofing risk assessments and even drafting IT-Security Guidelines for a few clients.

Aunt Danielle kept showing up regularly, trying to get me to talk to her. She kept insisting that her question from Christmas wasn’t addressed at me specifically, but at me and my family, and certainly wasn’t meant as any accusation. She just wanted to find a way to mend our relationship. I still didn’t care, though. She had a higher chance to get me talking when she first tried, because by now I was pissed at the family, dejected with school, and missing Tess.

I also was in no mood to discuss any of it with a damn shrink who was rolling in bed with the very people who put me into this mess in the first place. Namely my parents, grandparents, and siblings. There was no fucking way I could ever trust or even respect Danielle again.

Tess and I talked on the phone as often as we could manage. First for hours each day, but she had to excuse herself more and more often because she was tired. And I believed her because, as time went on, she sounded more and more listless and exhausted. I had read up on stories from people caring for sick family members, and accredited her exhaustion to the emotional burden of caring for a sick loved one while knowing that, in the end, there is shit all you can do but hope. I was determined to support her in any way she allowed me to, and to be there for her when the inevitable would happen.

Outside the office, I stayed by myself and avoided the family (and especially Aunt Danielle, who had heard about Tess leaving from Bill) like the plague. Which honestly wasn’t hard, considering I never got out of the office before 7:30 PM and then got something to eat before going home, so the house was usually dark by the time I stepped through the front door.

The guys at work were awesome and did everything they could think of to lift my spirits. They even snuck me into a strip joint one day. When I told Tess about it, she thought it was a great idea and even encouraged the guys to do that more often. It only helped marginally, though. I still missed her. She also started talking about girlfriends my own age again and, on half our calls, she made me promise I would “keep going and hang on” again. For some reason, though, it no longer sounded like she just wanted my promise to “keep going and hang on to school”.

When Golden Boy left for college about six weeks later, I didn’t bother to make an appearance at his farewell party. The prick was moving to the next town over, for Christ’s sake. And, apparently, they got him a nice new Mustang GT Fastback, so he could make the drive home whenever he wanted. No need to get sentimental about it just because they couldn’t sneak into his bed every single night anymore. They’d make up for it on the weekends, I was sure about that. Though I couldn’t be certain, because I would have rather spent the weekends living in my car than staying in that house while he was there.

It also didn’t help that Claire had, apparently, rediscovered their access to my bank account. Each month I would check the balance after my salary was deposited, just to find a transfer of a few hundred dollars to Logan’s account. When she had transferred a whopping eight-hundred dollars one month, the desire to stay clear of them lost out to the need to confront her.

When she told me that Logan needed some extra cash for “college stuff”, and Aaron didn’t see any problem with using my hard earned savings for it, I almost went postal on them both. On Claire, for simply giving my money to her Golden Boy. On Aaron, for happily going along with it after not only ridiculing the way I earned it, but also not having spent a damn dime on me for almost two years. Bear in mind, despite barely spending time in that house before Tess left, I was still diligently paying my three-hundred dollars rent each month, in addition to paying for my own food, phone bills, car insurance, and gas. Somehow, they still felt the need to take more.

That was the day I finally decided that I really needed to get the hell out of there. On the days I didn’t have to interact with the family, I was just ... better. As long as I could just spend time with Tess, and had her apartment as some kind of sanctuary, I was able to deal with all the shit. But with her gone now, and with none of the direct family members even thinking of inquiring about the reasons for my mood, I had to step up my apartment-hunting.

Going by what Tess had paid for her apartment, it would cost me at least three times of what I was paying Aaron per month if I wanted something in driving distance to work and school, but I would get two or three times more space in addition to my own bathroom! And once I turned seventeen, the police wouldn’t force me to go home anymore, even if the family decided to call them as yet another way to mess with me.

Now, strictly legally speaking, minors can enter into legal contracts. The problem is, however, that the only ones actually bound by those contracts would be the legally adults. Landlords indeed can rent apartments out to minors, but as long as I wasn’t emancipated I could just skip on the rent and leave the place devastated. The landlord could be left sitting on the losses. To get emancipated, I would either have to wait until I turned seventeen, or prove that I was already living alone while managing my own finances. Even after I turned seventeen it was still a long shot to get emancipated, as long as I wasn’t physically abused or orphaned. So, I decided to simply make myself look as good and dependable as possible for landlords.

Many landlords asked for character reference letters, but the only thing I could get from my boss and coworkers was a professional reference letter, which Bill happily prepared. It held some value, but the landlords didn’t just want to know whether I could pay the rent, but rather whether I actually would pay it. A character reference was unattainable for me, though. I could ask family members ... who neglected and didn’t know shit about me. I could ask teachers ... who ignored my bullying and refused to teach me how to drive. I could ask neighbors ... who only knew me by looks. Or, I could ask friends ... which I didn’t have anymore.

In early September, I finally found a nice two-bedroom apartment for $1,200 per month, on the first floor of a gated apartment complex ... after offering to pay twelve months’ rent in advance, so there was no danger of me skipping on rent before I turned eighteen, and double the security deposit, so there was no danger of me leaving the place ruined. Interestingly, even then most landlords had refused, thinking I might just burn the whole building down or something, causing more damage than I could deposit for.

After I talked about it with the guys from work, one of them, Paul, introduced me to the landlord of the apartment complex he lived in. Thanks to him putting in a good word for me, the Landlord agreed to give me a chance. He ‘only’ wanted six months rent in advance, plus three months’ rent as security. I would have to drive thirty minutes to school in the mornings and twenty-five minutes home from work in the evenings, but it was a nice distance away from the family, and came with a communal pool and BBQ-Area! The lease would start from the first of November.

My plan was to move into it the day after I turned seventeen, which was a Saturday, and turn the apartment into a place Tess would be happy to live in with me. I wanted to stay true to my promise to support her in any way possible, especially if her mother would actually be gone. I got five big moving boxes, stored them in my room, and anxiously awaited my birthday.

And then my world ended.

In the middle of September, three months after Tess left and only two weeks after I found an apartment for us, I could only reach her voicemail when I tried to call her. This lasted for a few days, my anxiety about her finding someone else had driven me up the walls by that point, before someone finally answered my call. It was her mother.

I learned then that it wasn’t Tess’ mother who was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. It was Tess herself, when she had her medical checkup in celebration of her thirtieth birthday. She never told me, because she didn’t want to take me along for the ride. So, she stayed with me for as long as she could fully hide the symptoms, then she wanted to spend time with her family. When she was diagnosed, the doctors had given her roughly six months. She was gone after five.

I don’t remember ending the call. I vaguely remember crying, screaming, and pleading with myself for an hour afterwards. I didn’t go to school or work. I didn’t even leave my room for anything but visits to the bathroom for the following two days. I had no idea how to handle it, but also knew there was no purpose in even trying to talk with the family about it. After the second day of my isolation, the parents received an automated call from the school, informing them of my absence.

Just as expected, they didn’t even ask what was going on, so I just ignored their scolding and went back to school the next day. After school, I also drove to work, but when I reached the stop where I used to pick up Tess in the afternoons, I had to leave again. There was not a single room in that fucking building that didn’t hold memories of her, and I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t simply break down in front of the others. I called Bill, apologized for not showing, but also told him I needed the rest of the month. He didn’t ask why. He just listened to what I said and, after a moment of silence, responded in a soft, quiet voice I had never heard the rough old man use before.

“Don’t apologize. I didn’t expect you to be back so soon. Take the two weeks off for now, then see how you feel. I’m really sorry, Tim.”

He already knew about Tess. And since he also knew about Tess and me, he understood.

Tess’ funeral fell on the three-day weekend at the end of the month. Bill made it a work trip for anyone who wanted to attend, which turned out to be most of us, so there wasn’t even any need for me to inform the parents.

When I met the others at the airport, I was offered a lot of condolences. Most of the guys knew about Tess and me just like Bill did. I didn’t handle anything about it well. I wanted to talk with them, so I accepted their offers thankfully, but at the same time I didn’t want to seem weak in front of them, so I distanced myself as soon as possible and repeated the process with each handshake and shoulder rub I received. They seemed to understand, though.

The ceremony was beautiful ... I heard that is what people are supposed to say. In reality, the best thing was that I managed not to break down in front of Tess’ family despite being a mess.

One minute, I was ready to hyperventilate when I realized I would never be with her again, and the next, I would be fucking pissed at her for leaving me. Then I was back in an almost panic for thinking of her in that way, before once more almost hyperventilating when I realized I would never be with her again. That cycle kept repeating itself for the entire next week, but as it did, my perspective on things changed considerably.

While I initially was angry at her for leaving me like that, with no warning and even lying about it, I realized with time that all the signs were there! Her erratic behavior, the sudden insistence for me to see other women again, and the constant reminders to keep going. It was not Tess who neglected to tell me, because she did! Even if she did it in a roundabout way. It was me who failed to pick up on the signs. I should have been by her side, but failed her. It was my own fucking fault. And finally, I just went numb.

From that day onwards, without a conscious decision to do so, I viewed the people around me more closely. I would not make the same mistake again.

Going to school, instead of telling the parents what happened so they would let me stay home, might not have been the best decision. I simply wasn’t in the mood to take anyone’s shit, though I didn’t realize it myself at first. Despite feeling numb most of the time, the moment someone made a mean comment or called me a name, I basically exploded and went for their throat. Sure, it had the added effect that, after a few days of this, people would think twice before trying to provoke me in any way. But it also meant that absolutely nobody wanted anything to do with me, even when they had to work with me on group projects or as lab partners. At least the teachers somehow never witnessed any of it, so there wasn’t another suspension coming.

For the whole two weeks leading up to my birthday, Bill seemed to take an extra interest in me. He showed up in my office almost daily, drawing me into the most mundane conversations to distract me. I even got to know Mrs. Bill when she invited me to dinner one evening. The woman was the embodiment of all the grandmother memes I knew, doting and sending me home with a loosened belt and tupperware full of leftovers.

I had absolutely no idea why he was doing that for me, but I’m convinced I wouldn’t have gotten through those weeks without him. The guys at work also did their best to cheer me up. Though they had stopped inviting me to strip clubs, they helped me set up my apartment by making suggestions on what I could do with my own place, and so constantly drawing my thoughts away from Tess. I got a bed and desk delivered, and assembled them with Paul’s help. The apartment came with appliances, so I didn’t have to worry about those.

Just after 3 PM on November 15th, I walked through the front door of the house I grew up in and, for a short moment, took in the silence greeting me. After dropping my backpack and getting rid of my shoes, I made my way into the kitchen. My mind on the report I’d have to write at the firm. School and work was really all I did anymore. On the kitchen table I found a note in my mother’s handwriting; they all went out with Uncle John’s family, since my parents’ favorite child was back from college for the weekend. Just like last year, when they forgot about my birthday, they made plans that didn’t include me. At least this year they didn’t blame me for disturbing their fun time by coming home.

A quick survey of my surroundings revealed two recently used but empty pots on the stove, as well as four plates in the sink. No leftovers in the fridge or oven. I did, however, find the leftovers in the trash can. I was used to it. By the time I finished cleaning up the kitchen to make myself something to eat, my appetite was somehow gone, and I just felt droopy. So, instead of cooking, I went up to my room to grab a soda from my own little fridge and boot up my PC. I found an email newsletter from the delivery service I frequently used regarding my birthday. A coupon code for a free muffin (if I pay for a pizza). I looked around and saw no presents and no cards. I wasn’t surprised. At least, with that coupon code, lunch was taken care of without me having to move. At least, by next morning, I would finally be out of that house.

Chapter 5

As expected, I was able to enjoy my Pizza without any interference. At least until my phone rang, because my grandmother was calling me. I answered the call without taking my eyes from the monitors, or taking all of my attention from the report I was writing.

“Hi Granny!” I greeted her with my best impression of a happy person.

“Hello, my darling. Happy Birthday!” she chirped in an especially cheerful voice.

“Thank you, Granny! So, how are you? Haven’t heard from you in a while. You gonna be back for Thanksgiving?”

“Of course, we will. This time we’re thinking of staying all the way ‘till Christmas. You won’t be bothered by sharing a bathroom with me again, right?” she asked mirthfully, with a lightly expectant undertone.

“Don’t think that’s gonna be a problem.” I proclaimed with confidence, knowing I’d be long gone by Thanksgiving.

“Oh? No regrets after running into me half naked?”

“You didn’t seem as traumatized as Ava was when it happened to her. I think you could manage if that happened again. Of course, if you get nightmares fromseeing me in the buff, I’ll at least consider buying myself some pajama bottoms!” I smirked. Was I flirting with my Grandma? I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that conversation while concentrating on something else.

“So, pumpkin, did you get something nice for your birthday?” she asked, probably checking whether the family remembered.

“I have. A nice new monitor for my PC.” I answered, not mentioning that I had purchased it myself. A nice but sadly expensive ultrawide monitor without curvature. The curved ones are awesome for gaming, but morph any straight horizontal lines, so creating layouts and designs was near impossible on them for me. Even without the curve, the damn thing had cost me $600.

“That sounds nice. But somehow that also sounds like something work related again. Did you at least get a nice cake?” she asked, almost dropping the pretense of not just checking on our relationship progress.

“I got a tasty treat, yes.” It wasn’t even a real lie. The pizza and the muffin were tasty, I just didn’t tell her that I had ordered them. And the muffin was also cute, really. They even stuck a little candle in it.

“That is nice, pumpkin. Well, I guess we’ll see each other next week then. Enjoy the weekend, and don’t work so much! Bye!”

No sense in complaining to her and causing problems for me. If she had any actual interest in fixing this family, she wouldn’t have waited almost an entire year before checking on our progress. I was dead set on packing my shit and leaving this house the following day. Telling Grandma the truth at that moment would only have caused her to call her children. And then they would have been in the way, trying to argue with me while I tried to pack my car. I also had work to finish that was more important than whining about my birthday.

When, by Ten PM, there was still nobody home, I started packing. I won’t lie, it felt weird. I had been looking forward to leaving for months, but always expected to live there with Tess one day. Now I had doubts. Not about moving out, or living alone, but rather about the family not throwing a fit and ruining this for me just for shits and giggles. I just kept telling myself, if they couldn’t even be bothered to remember my birthdays, they won’t miss me either. Realizing my entire life fit into two moving boxes and a sports bag weirded me out more, though. Apart from my computer and laptop, I only had clothes and a few toiletries to pack.

The next morning, I carried my computer, gaming chair, and the two moving boxes with my clothes to my Jeep and made the drive to my new home. When I parked, I saw Paul walking out of the building.

“Good morning!” he greeted me with a big grin.

“Morning. What’s up? This almost looks like you waited for me.”

“I did.” His grin widened. “Just wanted to be there when the realization hit. Let me help you carry your stuff in.”

I didn’t really know what he meant, but accepted his offer. After we had placed my meager possessions in the living room, he looked at me expectantly.

“What?” I asked, a little weirded out by his expression.

“Still not getting it? Try unpacking your clothes.”

I opened the box, took a few shirts out, and froze as the realization hit me.

“And THERE it is.” He shouted out. “Finally realized you’re an idiot.”

I had a bed and a desk, but that was it. There was nothing to put the clothes away in this apartment.

“Just to be sure. Did you plan to eat nothing but takeout? ‘Cause I don’t see any kitchenware either. Or tableware, for that matter. How about toilet paper? Don’t tell me you’re only gonna greet people with your right hand from now on.” He asked, laughing hard by the end.

“Well ... maybe I was a little too enthusiastic to get here...”

“Yeah, I was the same when I left for college. Dried myself off after showers with a dirty shirt, ‘cause I didn’t think about towels. You still got some savings left?” he asked, and I nodded. “Alright. Come on. There’s an Ikea not too far from here. For Christ’s sake, you didn’t even bring a blanket or a pillow.”

Paul and I drove in separate cars, so he could put stuff in his pick up truck. He pointed out quite a few things I hadn’t thought about, so I was loudly groaning when I had roughly eight-hundred dollars worth of the most mundane everyday items on my list that had always just ... been available.

“Don’t forget the living room.” Paul reminded me.

“I spend most of my time either in bed or in front of the computer. I don’t need a living room right now.”

“Yes, you do. When the others come over for the housewarming party.”

I blinked at him for a moment. “And when exactly is that going to happen?”

“We decided on Seven PM, which means that we have enough time to assemble everything ... If they deliver in time. I don’t think we’ll get a corner sofa and two armchairs on my truck with everything else.”

I grumbled but was secretly happy. I had never been to a party, much less hosted one because nobody would show up anyway, so this was already turning out to be the first day of my better life! Paul had a blast teasing me about my earlier grumbling, when he saw me pick out a bunch of cups with a huge grin on my face.

“I gotta say, man ... you have a weird taste.” Paul commented with a light scowl back in the apartment. “Everything you picked is either white, black, or gray. I didn’t even know Ikea sells dark gray toilet paper that isn’t recycled!?”

“Not gonna lie, I like it. Reflects how bland I am. But it also has the added benefit that I don’t have to spend extra time looking for stuff that fits together and into the apartment.”

“Your walls are entirely white, dude. Anything fits in here.” he laughed.

We spent two hours assembling and arranging everything and preparing the bathroom, before the delivery truck with the sofa and armchairs arrived. After another hour of figuring out how to get the sitting arrangements through the door, I could finally start unpacking while Paul excused himself to make arrangements for the party. I quickly went shopping for snacks and had barely enough time to take a shower before Paul came back with a beer crate. I ordered a bunch of pizzas and the evening started.

They coordinated themselves well. Eight people from work showed up, including Bill and his wife, and all of them presented me with the exact same potted plant as a housewarming gift. At least I now had something to put on the window stills. Until they died, that is.

Bill’s wife had a different idea, though, as she gifted me a stack of framed pictures showing me and Tess at work, in the company gym, and at the after-work get-togethers. I had no idea how she got a hold of them all, nor did I ever notice just how obvious Tess and I had behaved in front of all these people. I thanked her with a hug before fleeing into the second bathroom to hide for a few minutes. I only had a few selfies we took together to remember her, and since I had taken those with my flip phone camera, this meant a lot to me.

I had a great time, and actually managed to not miss Tess for a few hours! The guys told stories about their first time living alone, assured me how none of them found themselves in half furnished rooms like I did, and told me how this would be the best time of my life. Apparently, living alone would be a big plus when getting to know women, which I doubted though.

As expected, it took the family six days to realize I was gone. At least I think that was when they really realized it, because it was Thursday during lunch break at school when Ava came storming to my table. She was followed by Joan and Mia, whom I hadn’t seen since Ava’s seventeenth birthday.

“Tiny! What the fuck is going on!? Mom just called, screaming at me to check if you’re in school! Why aren’t you answering your phone?” she asked, more annoyed than anything.

“My phone is on silent when I’m in school. Just tell her I’m here and then fuck off again.” I said dismissively.

“Why would she ask me that in the first place? What did you do?” Her two friends seemed quite amused about the spectacle.

“Really? You don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I did.” Her tone told me in no uncertain terms that I was to finally use my brain.

“Wow. What a loving family I have. Took them six days to notice that their youngest child moved out.” I said, looking her dead in the eyes.

While her friends’ eyes widened at this scoop about their friend’s private life, Ava herself was stunned for a moment, trying to understand what I just told her.

“Wh ... What!? You can’t move out! You’re only sixteen!”

“No, I’m not.” She just stared at me like I had a stroke or something, so I sighed and explained it to her. “Not that any of you noticed, since you were busy with Golden Boy’s return from college that day, but I’m seventeen, Princess, so I CAN move out.”

I was intrigued to see her shoulders slump and her eyebrows knit. Her entire facial expression looked like she was just about to say “Oh crap!”. This was highly unexpected. But I continued.

“So, do me a favor. Call your parents, and tell them I moved out a fucking week ago. If none of you assholes even noticed it until now, they shouldn’t act like they care about it. I wonder what set them off, though. Was it your mother who noticed first because my chores weren’t done? Or was it your father who wanted to complain that I hadn’t paid my rent this month?” Her two friends regarded Ava with doubting looks after hearing that.

“Why do you keep saying ‘your parents’ and ‘your mother’? Aren’t you siblings?” Joan asked.

“Tell me, Joan. Imagine Jenny didn’t come home from school today. No note, no call, she just ... vanished without a trace. How long do you think it would take you and your parents to notice? Would it be less than the week it took Ava to notice that her little brother was gone, or longer?”

Hearing that, Joan looked at Ava with shock and disbelief. Ava was visibly uncomfortable with the way this conversation went, and tried to change the topic away from their misgivings.

“But ... where did you move to? Did you move in with Tess?”

Now, she was no longer just uncomfortable. She downright paled when she noticed the look I gave her as soon as I heard Tess’ name, and took a step back when I stood up.

“No, I’m renting my own apartment. Now, if you’re quite done with this public shitshow...?” I said, and moved past her out of the cafeteria.

I checked my phone and realized I had received a barrage of texts and calls from Claire, Aaron, Grandma and Grandpa. The texts were all the same, just asking where I was, pleading to call them. So, I decided to call Grandpa back, who was at the top of the list of missed calls.

“Tim!?” I heard his concerned voice.

“Yeah, I just saw all your missed calls. What’s up?” I said, playing dumb to see if they would tell me anything other than Ava had.

“Where are you, kiddo?”

“Having my lunch break in the school’s cafeteria. Where else would I be?”

“Well... ” My relaxed tone seemed to irritate him. “Susy and I just arrived here this morning, but when we wanted to put your birthday present in your room, it was basically abandoned.”

“Of course it was, I moved out last Saturday. Now, listen, my lunch break is over and I gotta get to my next class, so if there’s nothing else...”

“You ... Wait! CLAIRE!” I heard him scream, sounding quite angry. “What do you mean ‘moved out’!? Where did you move to? And a damn week ago!?”

What followed were the muffled and barely audible sounds of an argument, though I wasn’t really interested in what was happening in that house, so I interrupted them.

“Listen, I really need to get to class now. I’ll come around the house on Saturday. Bye.”

I hung up before either of them could say anything more. After classes were over and I was on my way to work, I saw they had called me three more times. I didn’t care anymore. If they had just forgotten about the date, I could overlook it. What actually made the difference was finding the leftovers in the trash can on my birthday. And the grandparents were no better in my book. They had told Claire to fix this crap, just to immediately vanish again for a year. As far as I was concerned, they were in absolutely no position to lecture anyone about familial bonds and obligations.

The following day, I managed to avoid Ava at school and the family’s calls, until I came back from work and found Granny and Grandpa standing in front of the apartment complex. They were talking to Paul, who gave me a desperate look as soon as he noticed me.

“Dude! Finally!” he called out in relief, like I was somehow supposed to know they would be waiting for me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between their faces.

“We want to talk to you. So we asked your employer, who told us you’re living with this young man now. Though, he’s refusing to invite us in.” Granny explained, like this was supposed to make any sense to me.

“Ma’am, I already told you, we don’t live together. We live in the same building, not the same apartment! I can’t just let people I don’t know into his home!” Paul explained in a mix of patience and desperation.

“Sorry, Paul! Grandpa ... didn’t I tell you I’d swing by the house tomorrow?”

“Now listen here, Kiddo! We came here...” he started annoyed, but I was in no mood for his tone. I was finally free, and I was NOT going to take that baggage with me into my new life.

“Alright, stop right there! Let me make this perfectly clear from the start, Grandpa. I didn’t move out on a whim! It cost me a fucking fortune to set this place up, after I spent months finding it. I moved out because I’m done taking their shit!” I paused to make sure he got what I had said, without wanting to reveal too much in front of Paul. “Now, this is my home. Either you respect it or you can fuck off right now.”

Grandpa was taken aback for a moment, surprised about my demand and tone. It seemed like he wasn’t too happy with me speaking to him like that, when Grandma stopped him by speaking up.

“You’re right, Tim. We’re sorry.” she said, throwing her husband a side glance. “Please ... can we go inside and talk?”

I looked at her for a moment, trying to gauge her sincerity. Then I led them into the building with a nod, and offered them a seat on my sofa while I went into the kitchen for something to drink. When I came back into the living room, however, Grandma was gone. I found her in my bedroom, sitting on my bed with a thoughtful expression on her face, as she took in the dull and empty surroundings. I watched her for a minute, until she finally noticed me standing in the doorway.

“Oh! I’m sorry, pumpkin!” she said with a sad smile. “How are you feeling?” she asked, in a concerned tone.

“I’m fine.” I answered, not sure whether she was apologizing on her daughter’s behalf, for enabling her, or for sneaking around my apartment. Then I moved towards my desk. “How was the drive?”

“Fine, fine. Tim ... where is all your stuff?” she asked, causing me to look at her in confusion while consciously keeping my smile up.

“What do you mean?” I noticed Grandpa standing in the doorway as I asked her that.

“I mean, why is it so empty here? Your room in the house only had three pieces of furniture left, so we thought you just took it all with you, but what little you have here looks and smells brand new. And where are all your personal things?” she clarified impatiently.

“And where is the furniture?” Grandpa added. “The second bedroom is completely unused, and the living room is only furnished with the bare minimum.”

“I only took my clothes and computer with me when I left. The furniture here looks new because it is. So, what you saw in my old room is basically how it looked before as well. My personal belongings are here.” I said and opened the middle drawer, pointing at its contents.

They came over, looked inside, and took a few of the pictures out. Those were the pictures showing me with my former friends. I wasn’t sure why I even took them with me instead of just dumping them before the move. I hadn’t so much as talked to any of these people in two years.

“Tim, that can’t be all. I remember Johnny’s room when he was your age. It was stuffed to the ceiling with all the tidbits he collected from all the things he was interested in over the years.” she explained, spreading her arms and gesturing to the walls. “Posters from his favorite sports teams, posters from his favorite bands ... where is all that?”

“And why are these pictures in your drawer instead of on your walls or desk?” Grandpa added.

“Well...” I thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase it best. “I kinda lost interest in most of that stuff, so I got rid of it. And the pictures ... These people barely even talk to me anymore, so maybe I’ll just throw them away too.”

“They don’t talk to you anymore?” Granny asked.

“How about you ask Ava about that. She has more insight into that than I do.” I waved her off, feeling my annoyance with these people grow as they displayed their cluelessness about my situation.

“Kiddo, I could believe you getting rid of the small stuff, like unfinished crafts projects. But where are all the books you used to read?” Grandpa noted. I had hoped they wouldn’t remember my fondness for fantasy novels.

“Oh. I gave those to someone else. She also enjoyed the genre and didn’t know most of mine yet. She ... took them with her when she moved.” I explained, trying to keep my voice firm and my emotions under control. I don’t think I fully succeeded, but they never commented on it if they noticed something.

I sat in my chair and started my PC, but they just stood there, giving me weirdly appraising looks when they didn’t exchange looks between themselves. Then Grandma sat back down on my bed and started talking again.

“Pumpkin ... I’m sorry about what happened at your home. Is there any chance...”

“There isn’t!” I shot her down.

“Come on, Pumpkin! It can’t be that bad!” she said with a doubtful tone. That did it. I lost it.

“HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW!?” I yelled as I jumped out of my chair and glared at her, causing both of them to jump as well. “I’m waiting! Fucking tell me how the FUCK you would know SHIT about how bad it was for me in that FUCKING house!”

“Tim! Y...” Grandpa tried.

“YOU SHUT UP!” I was in complete rage at that point. He took a step towards his wife. “How about this? You get the fuck back to your daughter’s house. You take a damn good look at every room in that house. And then you tell me why THEIR rooms look like she hired an interior designer, while MY room looks like it was furnished after a visit to the fucking salvation army! Ask your daughter when the last time was that I got to fucking EAT something she cooked! Ask her husband how much RENT his other two children had to pay over the last two years! Ask your son’s wife how my SCHOOL LIFE looked like, with Ava and Logan there! And THEN you come back here and try to tell me again how it WASN’T SO BAD!”

Seeing their shocked faces, I kind of deflated and collapsed back onto my chair.

“You fucking knew full well what was happening since last Thanksgiving! And what was your reaction to it? You FUCKED OFF for a whole damn year, never to be heard from! What the fuck did you expect to happen? Divine intervention!?”

They stared at me with rattled faces, while my own face was hidden behind cupped hands. After half a minute, Granny finally managed to collect herself, got off the bed, and tried to hug me.

“Don’t.” I sighed, and she instantly flinched back. “You knew! You knew and didn’t do shit about it for a year. Just yesterday, you learned that they didn’t even notice me being gone for a whole week, and only found out now because you started looking for me. You don’t get to throw that shit in my face about how it couldn’t ‘ve been so bad!”

There was silence for about a minute, before Granny spoke with a shaking voice.

“Pumpkin ... I’m so sorry! Yes, we knew your relationship with your father was in the dumpster because he couldn’t identify with you. And, yes, we knew you were fighting with your mother. But I swear to God almighty, we had no idea it was that bad! Please, you have to believe me! We talked to your mother on Thanksgiving about finding a way to fix all this. Had we realized how much you actually suffered, we would never have left! We thought this was all just a communication problem that happens naturally when kids reach a certain age.”

“Then let me ask you this instead: Why didn’t you know?” I challenged her. “I was serious about checking the rooms in the house, and the rent, and everything else. The signs were all there! All you had to do after that alleged discussion with them on Thanksgiving, was to take a damn look around. What could you have possibly been doing, that had you so distracted you forgot to check out their story?”

Suddenly, she looked mightily uncomfortable. She knew exactly what they were doing. They were fucking! But, as far as they knew, I didn’t know about their family orgies. In fact, I had been excluded from their family orgies! So, she couldn’t answer that one. Grandpa displayed an unexpected ability for quick thinking, as he tried something else by throwing me off with a completely unexpected question.

“Have you thought about what you’ll want to do after school?”

That sudden change of topic took me by surprise. Since I knew how much of a tight spot I had pushed them into, I decided to indulge him.

“That’s still almost two years away, Gramps. But ... work, probably?” I said, not entirely sure where that was going.

“You should go to college. I’m sure you’d do well.”

“What’s the point?” I sighed and noticed them perking up when I said it.

“What do you mean? You don’t plan on going?” Grandma’s tone sounded more alarmed than confused.

“Granny, when I finish high school, I’ll have more than three years of experience in programming- and IT-work in a reputable firm on my resumé. From what I read so far, the stuff they teach at college for my line of work is almost always outdated, because they can’t update their curriculum as fast as web technologies progress. So, with my experience and portfolio, I have a higher chance to find a job than with a college degree. And there is no indication that I’ll even have to look for a job after high school. I probably could just keep working for Bill, if I wanted to.” I explained.

She thought about that for a moment and seemed to relax a little, then looked at Grandpa who just shrugged his shoulders.

“You know, if you ever need someone to talk to, pumpkin, we’re here. Right?” she asked in a soft tone.

“Sure, I know. I don’t know for how long you’ll be here, though.”

I had fully expected her to protest. Instead, she stood up, wrapped her arms around me above my shoulders, and pressed her breasts into my neck as she hugged me. For a woman of 58, they were surprisingly firm. Not that I had much to compare this feeling to, though. For all I knew, this could just as well just be her bra. Then she gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

“For a while, pumpkin. We will be here for a lot longer than planned, it seems. Remember to call if you need anything.” she said with a resigned sigh before pausing for a moment. Then she continued in a quiet, sad voice. “Are you really sure this is the best way?”

“Let’s be honest here, Granny. They didn’t even notice I was gone. The only reason they did find out after Six! Days! ... was because you went into my room and started asking questions. What’s that telling you? They didn’t miss me at the breakfast or dinner table, they didn’t have anything to talk about that would require them to seek me out, and they never went into my room for any reason. Seriously, how long do you think it would’ve taken them to notice my absence if you hadn’t arrived today? Think about that when they act all sad about me being gone. My last birthday was just the last straw in a long series of ‘Fuck You!’s, which you should be well aware of. They won’t miss me. I just refuse to go on like that.”

For some reason, they both regarded me with yet another alarmed look. It wasn’t sadness about me not wanting to fix what they broke. It was more like they were genuinely concerned for some reason, when I finished my little rant. Then Grandpa suddenly burst out his question, in a hurried tone.

“But ... but you’ll show up for Thanksgiving, right?”

I thought about that for a long time.

“Sorry, Grampa, but I don’t think so.” I finally answered while leading them to the door and showing them out.

I went to bed that evening contemplating their strange behavior. I could accept them being put off by me leaving, especially if they finally realized why I left. But I simply couldn’t understand where those repeated alarmed looks came from. If they were worried about something, they should just come out and tell me.

The next morning, I was awoken by my phone ringing. It was Bill.

“Yeah?” I asked, trying hard not to sound like I had just slept eleven hours for no apparent reason.

“Listen, Kid. I need you to come to the office real quick. My laptop is somehow frozen and it may froze while showing something I wouldn’t want the wife to see.”

“Did you try turning it off and on again?” I asked, smirking about how true that famous line from ‘The IT Crowd’ was.

“Can’t. I was working on a proposal I haven’t saved yet.”

“You don’t want your wife to see a proposal? Is it for your girlfriend?”

“I was ALSO working on a proposal. Happy now? How about you try to be less of a smartass and more of a loyal employee that doesn’t ask so many questions!” he said, before hanging up the phone.

I made my way to the office in my rusty Junker-Jeep and quickly took care of Bill’s laptop by killing the Firefox process. I made a mental note to add the thirty-minute drive to my timesheet, instead of just the one minute it took to open the task-manager, when Bill spoke.

“Tim, do you know anything about digitizing VHS-Tapes?” he asked.

“Yeah, did it before. It’s not that hard, just tedious. You need a VHS-player with separate audio and video outputs to plug into a capture device. Problem is, you can’t really do anything while the video plays.”

“Good. That’s pretty much what the guy in the store told me as well. I’m working on an anniversary gift for my wife, but my twenty-year-old VHS-player doesn’t have any ports for the new capture-thing I bought at Walmart. Here...” he said, moved over to a cabinet holding everything he purchased so far and asked me to look at it.

“Oh, there’re adapters for that. I’ll go get one and help you set it up. Give me ... two hours?”

He nodded and then I made my way out the door.

Since he bought the capture device at Walmart, that’s where I went for the adapter too. When I reached the electronics section and looked through the various adapters they had on display, I heard familiar voices drift over from the next aisle.

“Mom, stop freaking out. Slow down! He won’t want anything!” That was Logan’s annoyed voice. “Let’s just get a cake or something if we absolutely have to.”

“No, dammit! I can’t believe this happened again!” Claire answered in an almost desperate tone. “It’s too late for cake ... I need something better. Why does none of you know anything!?”

“Honey ... I told you, I don’t know anything about this geek stuff. The kids don’t know either Wouldn’t it be better to just get him money, instead of an obvious last-minute attempt he probably wouldn’t like anyway?” Aaron asked in a distinctly disinterested voice.

“Yeah, Mom, Daddy’s right. I mean, did you look at his room before he moved out? There was nothing really showing what he’s into. Other than his computer and fridge.” Ava added.

Apparently, the whole family was there.

Had I misjudged Claire? She seemed to be genuinely pissed at herself for forgetting about my birthday again. Though, if she was now genuinely upset about it, how could it happen in the first place? And two years in a row, no less. No, more likely, her frantically looking for a present was in no way caused by guilt or her being pissed at herself. She was probably sent here by her parents, who were angry that she failed to fix our relationship. Or possibly even blaming her for the clusterfuck their visit had turned out to be, because they believed the family’s bullshit excuses last year.

The others seemed to care just as little as I expected them to. Getting me money as a present? Over the fourteen weeks since Logan had left for college, they shamelessly helped themselves to $2,200 from my bank account to pay for Logan’s ‘college stuff’. And now they wanted to give me a $50 Amazon voucher and call it a fucking gift! Fucking priceless.

“How about something for his car?” Claire suggested.

“Sure. Maybe an air freshener.” Logan said dismissively.

“I’m afraid Logan has a point, honey. I took a look at his car a while ago. It’s a miracle the thing doesn’t just fall apart whenever he drives over a speedbu...” Aaron answered, but his voice suddenly cut off.

They had rounded the corner as Aaron was shit-talking my beloved Jeep, and quickly spotted me standing in the aisle. I didn’t want to give any indication that I overheard them talking, so, instead of looking in their direction, I grabbed the adapter I needed like I had just found it after intensely looking for it, and calmly went to pay. They caught up to me in the parking lot when I was just opening the car door. For some reason they kept a good fifteen feet distance from me. Aaron seemed to be the first to find the resolve to talk.

“Tim. What are you doing here?” He asked, and I turned my head to him with fake surprise on my face.

“Hello to you too, Aaron. Boss got the wrong part for a project. I was looking for the right one.” I answered, consciously trying to sound aloof, as I held up the adapter.

“Well, maybe this is for the best.” Claire said, sounding resigned. “Truth is, we’re sorry, Baby...”

Just like Aaron in the store, she didn’t get to finish her sentence, since the last word she spoke was overshadowed by Logan shouting a loud “OH SHIT!” as three guys stepped past him, positioning themselves between the family and me. For a moment it looked like Logan wanted to run, but I could see one of them was holding him by the arms. Like they had expected him to try that. All of them seemed to be in their mid thirties to early forties, so even if they had refrained from immediately restraining Logan, it would have been clear that they were not some friends of his.

“We’ve been looking for you, Logan. Hiding away with Mommy and Daddy?” the guy holding him said. Logan looked mighty uncomfortable with that and was trying to play it off.

“What? I ... I’m just visiting home for the Holidays!” he answered with almost no panic showing through.

I placed my shopping-bag in the car, leaned my back against it, and lit myself a cigarette. If Logan was about to get his ass kicked, I wanted to enjoy the show, and this was the next best thing in the absence of popcorn.

“Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but we’re still waitin’ for our money!” came an angry answer.

“Money? What money? Logan!?” Claire asked, clearly alarmed by what she heard.

“Oh, if it isn’t Mommy dearest. And the lovely Ava! It’s an absolute pleasure to finally meet you in person!” The stranger, who seemed to be in charge, said in a sickeningly familiar tone.

I perked up. How the fuck did he recognize them, Ava even by name, when Claire and Ava had obviously no idea who these three guys were? Aaron, finally realizing this wasn’t a friendly get-together between college friends, stepped forward.

“What do you want?” he asked them. It didn’t impress anyone, since his voice was pregnant with uncertainty and indecisiveness.

“Our money, as we already said. Your father isn’t the brightest fellow, is he?” Another one of them replied. Did he just guess that Aaron must’ve been Logan’s father, or did he recognize him too?

He took a step towards Aaron. Suddenly I understood why Claire was taking money out of my bank account.

“Paying for ‘college stuff’, huh?” I mused to myself, just loud enough for everyone to hear, causing the family and the three strangers to turn their attention to me.

This wouldn’t do. Aaron was useless even in this kind of situation, Logan was already incapacitated, and Claire was protectively holding onto Ava with both of them looking frightened. This was rapidly turning ugly.

I looked at the three strangers more closely, and noticed the suspicious bulges under their jackets and shirts. One of them was probably carrying a gun, while the other two had purely cylindrical objects attached to belt-pouches. Strangely, I was still feeling mostly nothing. Neither nervous nor afraid, and certainly not concerned for Logan. If I had to put a finger on it, I think I felt excited when I moved.

I cleared my throat to keep their attention away from the family, and stepped past the three to position myself in between them and Claire, who was still holding onto Ava.

“May I ask, how much money are we talking about?” I asked them, doing my best to sound mildly interested.

“Enough for us to chase that shithead down here. Of course, we could discuss alternatives to offset the interest at least.” he said, as he basically undressed Ava and Claire with his eyes and tried to step towards them.

I reached back, grabbed Claire’s wrist, and pulled her and Ava behind me, never taking my eyes off the guy. It wasn’t to shield either of them. It really wasn’t. It was just a matter of principle. I didn’t like his attitude. That was all.

The guy clearly didn’t like that gesture and sized me up. I knew the signals he gave off from the training sessions in the firm, and realized this would end very badly for someone. I slightly turned my head and spoke to the two behind me, without taking my eyes off the three in front of me.

“Maybe it’s for the best if you leave now.”

“What!?” Claire protested. “No!”

I waited for just a second, but when nothing happened I spoke again.

“Aaron! How about you do the smart thing and help them to the car, so I can have an undistracted talk with Logan’s friends?”

Counting on him to be overwhelmed and inexperienced with these situations worked. Sure, I personally never experienced anything like this either, but I did have training and was somehow eager to put it to the test. And for some damn reason, there was that little voice in the back of my head telling me something along the lines of ‘Without Tess, no one’s gonna miss me anyways’.

Aaron took his wife by the hand and pulled her and Ava to their car. The guy ogling them wasn’t happy about it, but I wasn’t expecting to actually talk with them in the first place.

“You gonna regret this you fucking...” he started, while simultaneously reaching for the metallic object on his belt. I decided to make my move before he could pull out his weapon.

As he talked, he kept nodding upwards, as if he was trying to look down on me despite us being the same height. I quickly flicked my lit cigarette into the face of the guy I suspected of carrying a gun to my left, and headbutted the one in front of me. Thanks to him nodding upwards, my forehead made perfect contact with his nasal bone, and I felt a satisfying crunching. Then I quickly turned to my left, facing the one I just surprised with my cigarette bud. He was still pressing his eyes shut but had drawn his gun and was now blindly pointing it in our general direction. I grabbed his wrist with my right, pulled it upwards and past me to straighten his arm, and placed a strong palm punch on the outside of his elbow.

Just as my left connected with his elbow, he pulled the trigger, but then his elbow bent inwards. It was then I realized that I couldn’t hear shit anymore after the gun went off so close to my head. That was NOT part of the training sessions. We did those with Blueguns. All I heard now was a long, drawn out, high-pitched beep.

I managed to keep the movement of my left hand going though, past his elbow, turning my upper body with it until I was almost with my back to him. Then I pulled my left arm back, ramming my elbow with everything I had into his chin. The Gun dropped and his body followed. I kicked the gun under my Jeep and turned back to the one I headbutted.

Too late, it turned out. As soon as my head was turned towards him, it snapped back when something hard hit me directly above my right eye. Surprised by the sudden pain, I instinctively raised both arms to protect my head, but then the same thing hit me hard in the left side of my chest. I took a step back, forced my eyes to open again, and saw him as he was just pulling his arm back to hit again.

He was holding a telescopic baton with a weighted head. The training kicked in again, and I moved in close to him so the thing wouldn’t have enough momentum to do real damage when it came back down on me. I managed to grab his arm, turned back around as I went to my knees, and pulled him down with me. Thanks to my body being in the way of his legs when I pulled him forward, he lost his balance and fell past me. I straightened back up and kicked his jaw hard. His hand let go of the baton and he went limp.

Then I realized the biggest mistake I had made, apart from engaging in this possibly unnecessary fight in the middle of a Walmart parking lot during business hours. After all, the training in the firm was not just about fighting. There were quite a few sessions in which we roleplayed how to de-escalate dangerous situations, but I simply didn’t think talking would do me any good with these guys.

I had assumed the third guy would be occupied by (or with) Logan. That assumption was quickly proven wrong, when the guy who had held Logan slammed his fist hard into my ribcage, right where I was hit with the baton before. I could actually feel my rib break and then move!

Getting beaten on a daily basis by football players almost twice my size provided me with a different perspective on pain. The training in the firm wasn’t exactly all cream puff either. But the pain I felt now was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I turned towards him, but he was suddenly close to me, so I panicked and put as much strength as I could into hitting him right in his orbit with my fist. He tumbled but had already managed to hit me again, in the outer area of my lower left stomach this time. I saw a glimpse of Logan’s back as the gutless fucker ran away. Then I looked down on myself, trying to figure out why my rib hurt so much, but instead noticed the handle of the knife that was sticking out of my stomach.

The sight stunned me for a moment. Long enough for the guy to recover and hit me in the face, causing me to fall backwards right next to my Jeep. When my eyes focused again, I saw the gun lying within reach underneath it. I grabbed it as fast as I could, pointed it upwards at the guy, and he froze.

“BACK!” I screamed and he complied, lifting his hands in the air.

“FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND!” I screamed again, and he complied again.

I propped myself up against the front tire of my Jeep and just lay there, keeping the gun pointed at him. It was really all I could do, since it was impossible to use my left arm anymore without the pain in my chest exploding. The warm blood I had felt run down my face, now ran into my right eye. There must have been a cut in my eyebrow.

It was then I saw running feet through the gap underneath the cars next to me, accompanied by scared, female sounding screams. I remember asking myself if Logan had come back, but the sounds came from Claire and Ava! They, with Aaron running BEHIND them for some reason, had come back to see what was going on. I quickly shouted at them to stay back, but Claire had to be held by Aaron to not run over to us while she kept screaming unintelligible things under the still present tinnitus I heard. I seriously didn’t understand her struggling to run towards us. What was she planning on doing? Kick the guy when he was already face down on the ground? Berate the other two who were obviously not conscious? I honestly couldn’t tell.

Maybe two minutes passed like this, with Claire fighting against Aaron, and me worrying about all the blood flowing from my forehead. I knew head wounds bleed a lot stronger than wounds at other places, but the amount of blood that now covered my face was concerning. Though, with my left arm out of commission, and my right arm pointing the gun at the guy, I couldn’t apply any pressure to the wound either.

Finally, I saw the flashing of emergency lights come closer. I mentally thanked whoever called them, probably the moment the shot went off, because I could barely keep the gun straight anymore. Two patrol cars drove onto the parking lot and four officers jumped out, guns drawn, screaming at me to drop the gun myself. I didn’t need to be told twice and felt relieved when I could finally let my arm drop.

Over the time I was on the ground, my adrenalin level had steadily gone back down and the pain from the various hits I took started to make its way to the forefront of my consciousness. My chest, where the baton had hit me, hurt like hell when I tried to take a breath. Strangely, though, I never felt anything special when he stabbed me. Just like a weak punch. But, by now, the area was emanating a hot searing pain throughout my stomach, making breathing even harder. It also didn’t help that more and more of the formerly white shirt I was wearing turned dark red. I could feel my right eye starting to swell up. The dull ache in my left cheek, where the very last punch had hit me, was my least pressing concern. Drawing air into my lungs became harder by the second, and since the police had finally arrived, the tension left my body. I became dizzy.

I heard Claire and Aaron rapidly explain to the officers that it was these three guys who started threatening them. I wanted to add that the gun I just dropped, as well as the knife in my stomach and the baton on the ground, were also theirs. I just couldn’t muster enough air to speak, simply because it hurt to take deep enough breaths, which scared the living crap out of me.

After one officer handcuffed the last conscious guy, and his partner had kicked the gun away from me, they quickly determined I was no threat to them. The last thing I remember before the world turned sideways and my lights went out was the officer speaking a bunch of numbers into his radio, and me asking myself why the hell he couldn’t call an ambulance before cuffing the others.

Chapter 6

I woke up disoriented. I had no idea where I was at first, and felt strangely limp. Like I was ripped out of a deep sleep. Slowly, I realized I was in a strange room, wearing some kind of gown. It was a hospital gown. Then I realized that I was in a hospital bed. So, I was probably in a hospital. I closed my eyes to calm myself down, until the memories came back to me. Then I started taking stock on my body.

My right eye was swollen shut, but the overall pain was way better than I remembered. There was an infusion going into my right hand that was probably the cause.

When I looked around the room, I noticed Claire sitting in a chair next to a window, looking into the darkness outside. I was in the parking lot in the morning. If it was dark now, I must have been out for quite some time. I tried to remain quiet, until a female doctor entered the room, causing Claire to look up and notice me being awake. She immediately was up and next to me, grabbing my hand.

“You’re awake! Finally! You scared the hell out of us!” she said, sounding relieved beyond measure. Her eyes looked slightly swollen, remnants of her badly washed off makeup still present, and she was wearing the same clothes I had seen her wear in the parking lot.

I looked around and noticed nobody else waiting. Then I looked at her hands squeezing mine, and finally back into her eyes, with a mixture of irritation and anger. She quickly let go of me and looked hesitant for a moment before the doctor shooed her back into the chair so she could check on me. She first searched the gauze pads on my stomach and chest for discoloration, then spoke while checking my head.

“Good evening, Mr. Brown, it is nice to see you’re up. You took quite the beating. How much do you remember?” She smiled at me. I greatly enjoyed the feeling of that featherlight touch of her fingertips on my forehead.

“Baton to the face, baton to the chest, my brother helping me out by showing off his best Usain Bolt impersonation, knife to the stomach, then ... I’m here, missing my pants.” I answered matter of fact, while counting the events off with my fingers. “So, what’s the damage?”

She was still smiling, though she gave Claire a short look as I mentioned my brother before she answered me.

“The laceration above your eye looks good for now. We glued it up, but It will probably take a few days for the whole swelling to go down. You have a broken rib that got slightly dislocated, but we fixed that in surgery. It will cause you some discomfort for a while, so no heavy lifting.”

I snorted, causing her to smirk and me to realize she had downplayed the part about the discomfort. She continued.

“We wrapped it in a Brace to support it, and it should stop hurting in about a week. It can hurt for three to four weeks when moving, though.”

She waited for me to signal my understanding with a nod before she continued.

“You were lucky with the puncture wound. While the blade missed your major organs and blood vessels, it did sever a few muscles. The surgeon stitched everything back together, but you really need to try and give them a rest. Normally we would immobilize the affected area, but, given it being your midsection, and relatively small, you’ll have to exercise self-restraint. We’re keeping you overnight to make sure there won’t be any lingering effects from the anesthesia, which I’m confident won’t happen, but after that ... You should let your family look after you for a while and help you out. Would that be possible?” she finally asked, looking at Claire.

“Of course!” Claire answered, enthusiastically nodding, while I gave her a firm “No!” at the same time, confusing the doctor for a moment.

“I’ll be just fine, thank you!” I said with conviction.

“Tim! Please!” Claire protested.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Brown. But while this isn’t life threatening at the moment, if I can’t release you into someone’s care ... I’ll have to ask you to stay for a few more days instead.” the doc told me, causing my mood to drop significantly.

“Fine!” I conceded, but was sure I’d be out of there as soon as possible again.

“Your GP can remove the stitches from your chest and the five staples from your stomach in a week. Ten days tops.” she informed me.

“Five staples? The hell did he stab me with? A meat cleaver!?” I asked in shock.

“Sorry, but that was us. We had to widen the incision to check for damages. But it will still leave a nice scar you can show off to your friends.” she lightly chuckled. “Any questions?”

“Well...” I hesitated for a moment, then she encouraged me to speak up. “Pardon my French here, but why does my dick feel like I need to ask you for a penicillin shot?”

This time it was her who snorted. “Okay, at least I know your head is working just fine. We placed a urinary catheter before the surgery. We removed it about half an hour ago. It can cause a burning sensation, but it should vanish within an hour. Anything else?”

“How late is it, how long are visiting hours, and where’s my stuff?” I asked. It seemed to perplex her a little. In truth, I just wanted to know how long I had to put up with Claire if I couldn’t make her go home on her own.

“It’s 6:22 PM, visiting hours end at Eight, and what is left of your clothes is in that bag hanging from the bottom of your bed.”

I thanked her and she left the room. She wasn’t gone for twenty seconds, however, before the door opened again. This time, it was Ava, Aunt Danielle and Uncle John coming in and quickly surrounding my bed. Just what I needed at that moment, even more of them swarming me when I couldn’t run. Ava just about pissed me off when she, just like Claire before, tried to hold my hand. After all this time, after everything they did, they suddenly decided to show they cared? I doubted it, and she got the very same reaction as Claire had. It was Uncle John who talked first.

“Well, let me just take a photo of your face for Bill. He asked us to let him know how you are.” he grinned, holding out his phone and taking the picture as he spoke.

“He did? How does he even know?” I asked, perplexed.

“We were just having brunch with him when Claire called us. I got the impression he somehow took a liking to you. Apparently, you’re ‘like the son he never wanted’.” he chuckled.

“Yeah, sounds like Bill.” I commented and tried to reach the bag with my clothes. I immediately regretted it when the pain in my chest came back. The painkillers did not make this easy for me. They completely masked the resting pain, so I kept forgetting about the injuries when I didn’t move, and then screwed up by moving too enthusiastically.

“Tim ... why did you do that? Why did you put yourself in such danger? How could you be so reckless?” Aunt Danielle asked. I didn’t know what she was talking about.

“That may come as a surprise to you, seeing as getting my ass kicked and then being stabbed is normally one of my favorite pastimes, but it wasn’t exactly my choice!” I said, with a voice dripping in sarcasm. Turning to Claire I added “So, where are the fast and not-so-furious?”

Claire just looked at me questioningly.

“Golden Boy and your husband.” I clarified. While John let out a short involuntary laugh before catching himself upon noticing the scolding look from Aunt Danielle, Claire didn’t like my choice of nicknames for them.

“They were still at the police station giving statements when you came out of surgery. Why are you calling them that?” she asked, clearly disapproving.

“I thought the names fit. Aaron had to be told to get his wife and daughter out of harm’s way. And I’m telling you right now, if you keep defending Logan while I am lying here, you better get the fuck out. Did you follow the conversation before this shit blew up? They were there for him! Not me, him! And then, when I was busy defending myself, the asshole ran away, getting me stabbed!” I replied, anger rising in my voice with each word I said.

“Don’t you think you getting stabbed proves that running away would have been the better choice for you as well?” Aunt Danielle asked in a clinical voice.

I couldn’t believe the bitch! Ever since last Christmas, and despite her assurance that she wasn’t exclusively talking to me, she had only been pestering me, not them, to repair our relationship. And now, when I got hurt trying to help the ungrateful fucks, I get scolded for it!

I looked up at the infusion hooked to my hand, and noticed a little button to press that seemed to be connected to it by a cable. I thought it was maybe one of those dispenser-things that release pain meds if I press the button, so I pressed it repeatedly while I answered her.

“Let me point something out for you here. Again, they came for Logan. I suspect they came from Austin, since that’s where he lives and spends most of his free time now, and they said they ‘chased him down here’. So, try to picture this: They armed themselves, went on a multiple-hours long drive to find him, grabbed him, and then threatened him and his family. Following so far? What in all of this makes you believe they would have just gone home if we turned to run away!?” I asked her, now sounding more than just disgruntled. “Ask Bill if you don’t believe me. He taught me de-escalation techniques and I am convinced they wouldn’t have worked. They weren’t angry, or high, or drunk, they had planned to make Logan pay for something, and he knew it! That’s why he was ready to run the moment he saw them, and why they PREVENTED him from running! So, why are you still asking me why I didn’t run?”

“He has a point, Danny.” John pointed out.

“And before you pull any more accusations out of your ass, I didn’t do shit before the guy reached for his weapon!” I added.

“We really need to address that anger inside you, Tim. Why are you so hostile? I just want to help! You could have died!” Aunt Danielle asked, clearly taken aback by my outburst.

“So, THE FUCK, what!?” I remarked, hearing multiple gasps after shocking them with my statement. “If you expected an answer for why I’m hostile to you, maybe it’s because I don’t need a budget-psychologist, who keeps missing the plot, to start criticizing me the minute I wake up from fucking surgery!” I shouted, now clearly pissed. Then I shifted my attention to Claire and Ava.

“And the last people I need to show up right now are you assholes! What, did you think your presence would somehow comfort me!? There’s a reason I moved out! Do I need to paint you a fucking picture before you understand why I spend as little time as possible in your fucking presence!? None of you give a flying fuck about me the whole damn year around, while Princess over there and your Golden Boy can do no wrong, but now, that I’m in the hospital and the police are involved, you suddenly act like you give a damn?! Have you already forgotten why you were in that damn parking lot in the first place? You think...”

At that moment, an older woman in scrubs entered the room and asked me what I needed. I looked at her in angry confusion.

“You’re pressing the call button, Dear.” she said patiently, pointing at the button I was holding.

“Oh...” I said, rapidly trying to curb my temper. “I thought this was one of those drug dispensers I saw on TV. Sorry.”

“Are you in pain?” she asked, now more interested, moving to the foot of my bed to check my chart.

“It’s manageable.”

“Then why are you trying to activate a drug dispenser?” she scolded me with a stern expression.

“Well, you see, my loving family here is giving me shit for being beaten and stabbed. And I just thought the whole thing would be more fun with a little morphine.” I said, matter of fact, holding my left side. The shouting had taken its toll on my ribs and stomach muscles.

The nurse looked from one face to the other. All four of them looked at least somewhat uncomfortable, but Claire looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. Her hands were shaking, balled into fists at her sides. Her lips were trembling, despite her pressing them together to form a thin line. But the most prevalent thing about her appearance at that moment, were the tears rolling down her face while Aunt Danielle tried to silently comfort her.

Uncle John regarded me with a look that basically screamed apology. The family, or rather his mother, must have already reminded them of forgetting my birthday for the second year in a row. Last year I had let him and Aunt Danielle off the hook, since they are not my parents. And while it’s still not their job to remember my birthday, after they had found out about my birthday being ignored and forgotten last year, they had used that Thanksgiving dinner to put me on the spot and try to make the others remember. I had specifically asked them not to do that because I knew exactly what would come out of it. They insisted, and instead of doing any good, it just caused me more grief. So, I kind of had expected them to do better this year instead of undoubtedly attending yet another family orgy I wasn’t invited to.

Ava just stood to the side, not looking anyone in the eyes. She must have known perfectly well that the pain I went through on an almost daily basis was mostly caused by her actions in school.

The nurse looked at me, noticed me holding my side and made a decision.

“Alright. I’m sorry, but I must ask you all to leave now. I don’t know what is going on, but this patient just got out of surgery, and if he doesn’t calm down and relaxes, it could cause some serious complications.” she announced with authority.

At that, Claire looked scared and quickly readied herself to leave.

“I’m sorry.” she said, before leaving the room.

The other three shortly followed her outside and, as soon as the door was closed behind them, I spoke to the nurse.

“Thank you!” I’m pretty sure she could hear how sincere that was.

“No problem. Need anything else?” she asked, her tone was suspiciously understanding. I wondered if I had gotten so loud, she heard my rant from outside.

“Could you pass me the bag with my belongings real quick? I need to check my wallet for my insurance card.”

“Insurance? I don’t have a note of that missing for anyone on this floor. Shouldn’t that have been taken care of by your parents already?” she asked with surprise.

“Probably. But I have my own insurance. The doc said I could leave tomorrow if there are no complications overnight. If so, I’d like to be able to leave without having to wait for them to sign stuff. That would be possible despite me not being eighteen yet, right?”

“Darling, I’ve been a nurse for thirty-six years now. I’ve seen sixteen-year-old girls come into the ER by themselves after their water broke. They stayed in the labor room for ten hours before finally giving birth, gave the child up for adoption, and then left again by themselves. Their parents didn’t even know they were pregnant until the hospital-bill came in the mail. If there is no medical necessity to keep you, nobody will stop you from leaving.” she explained as she handed me the bag. I produced my Insurance Card out of my wallet, and she promised to update my file. Then she left and I finally went back to sleep.

The next day went much as I had hoped. Off the IV-painkillers, I was surprised about the pain distribution. Honestly, the stab wound in my stomach hurt less than my broken rib. My stomach felt like the mother of all muscle aches, but the chest-pain was explosive and kept stopping my movements. Hearing me explain that to the doctor checking me over, he just nodded. Apparently, this was normal.

“These are Zydol capsules” the doctor said, handing me three pills in a little paper-pouch. “If you feel pain, try an ibuprofen first. Zydol can cause severe drowsiness, dizziness and blurred vision, basically making you useless for the day, so only take them if the ibuprofen isn’t enough to let you sleep. We also prepared the note for school. Try to get an appointment with your GP as soon as possible, so they can take out the staples from your stomach and the stitches from your chest in time.”

I could finally call for an uber and had it drive me to the Walmart parking lot to retrieve my Jeep. My shirt didn’t survive the ER intake, but I had my training clothes in the back of my car. Interestingly, the uber driver didn’t seem phased at all by the shirtless, battered and bruised guy who sat in his backseat.

I arrived at the parking lot and, to my relief, found no parking ticket. The big dark spot next to my front tire, however, made me pause for a moment. I suddenly had absolutely no interest in going back to that house and being confronted with these people again, so I drove to the office instead. It was almost empty, being a Sunday and all, but the ones who were there once again offered me the support I needed. The simple difference between them and my family was that I actually believed them when they seemed concerned for my wellbeing.

I dropped the adapter off in Bill’s office, went downstairs to the basement, and sat at my desk. But I didn’t have anything to do there, so it didn’t take long before my thoughts started drifting back to the fun I had with Tess on this desk. As I was contemplating my life-choices, my phone rang.

“Timothy Brown?” I answered the call.

“Good day, Mr. Brown. This is Sergeant Mills from Harris County. We just tried to meet you in the hospital but were told you already left. We’d still need your statement for yesterday’s events. Would it be possible to meet with us?”

“Oh, of course! I was discharged this morning and went to the office. Do I have to come in or would it be possible for your men to meet me here, so I don’t have to move around so much?”

They quickly agreed to meet up in the office and stepped through my opened door half an hour later.

“Sergeant Mills?” I asked, offering him my right hand before we sat down. He got right to the point.

“Yes. Thank you for making time on short notice. You see, the parking lots at Walmart stores have quite effective surveillance coverage. So, we already got a pretty clear picture of the fight, in addition to the statements from your family members. The reason we wanted to talk to you today is not just to make sure we have the complete picture, I’m afraid. There are some contradictions in the information we received that we’d like to sort out.” he explained after shaking my hand.

“Contradictions?” I asked surprised. I really couldn’t imagine which part of their stories could be contradicting each other.

“Yes. Could you give us your version of the events first?” he asked carefully. I didn’t have a problem with it, so I told him what I remembered without reservation.

“ ... Then, while one of them was holding Logan, another one came towards me and reached for his weapon. That’s when the fight started and we didn’t talk much more. The surveillance tape will tell you more than I could from that point onwards.” I concluded my story.

“Hmm. You see, your brother, Logan, insists that he doesn’t know the three men.” the sergeant told me, with an appraising look to gauge my reaction.

“No way. He clearly recognized them first and tried to run, so he also knew about their intentions.”

He just kept looking at me, like he wanted me to elaborate on that. So, being the law abiding citizen I was, that also smelled an opportunity to fuck over the infallible Golden Boy, I did. Whatever Logan had gotten himself into, I felt no sympathy towards him, and certainly no loyalty. So, I also felt no need to lie to the police for him!

“Look, my brother and I don’t get along that well. In fact, the less we have to interact with each other, the happier we both are. So, I don’t know what’s going on in his life. I don’t have the faintest idea who these three men are, or why they were demanding money from him. But not only were they very sure about who he was, they even recognized our sister, and called her by her name without any of us telling it to them. That would be quite the coincidence if these three were looking for another Logan, who looked just like my brother and also had a sister called Ava. Did you find out who they are?”

“Not yet. They didn’t carry any IDs and refuse to talk so far. We will keep you informed if that should change. Thank you for your time, Mr. Brown. Have a nice day.” he said, before leaving me alone in my office again.

I sat there for another hour, mostly browsing the internet without a goal, learning about the aerodynamic properties of cows, but also trying to not think about Logan’s crap. Finally I got hungry. I locked up, got in my Jeep, and found a pizza place that’s open on a Sunday. I knew the kid behind the counter from school.

“Holy fuck, man! What happened to your face!?” he asked while sporting a big grin. This seemed to be more exciting than concerning in his opinion.

“I got hit. Amongst other things. A big pepperoni pizza with cheese in the crust, please.” I explained, eager to leave again.

When I finally got my food, and had just turned towards the exit, I heard a camera shutter go off. Looking up, I saw the kid from school quickly hide his phone with an embarrassed look on his face. Probably a slow news week in school again if he felt the need to take a picture. I just rolled my eyes - or at least the one that wasn’t swollen shut - and left.

First I drove back to my apartment and picked up a few clothes. If I had to stay at their house again, I’d also need my laptop. I couldn’t survive without a computer. I packed my sports bag and enjoyed my pizza before reluctantly making the hour-long drive to the house.

I was now faced with a dilemma. Should I announce my arrival and be then forced to interact with the family, or should I try to sneak in and risk walking into yet another family orgy? I decided to try the latter option and just bail as soon as I heard the first moan. Entering the house as quietly as I could through the backdoor, I even managed to get upstairs without anyone noticing. When I got closer to ‘my’ room, however, the sounds of a woman crying emanated from the parents’ bedroom.

The door was slightly open, so when I got closer, I could see Claire and Aaron sit on their bed. While Aaron looked like he simply wanted to be somewhere else, Claire’s appearance had declined significantly. Her eyes were already puffy when I saw her in the hospital, but now she looked positively devastated.

“ ... gone!” Claire cried.

“Sooner or later, he has to show up again, honey. I can’t believe he just left the hospital on his own after they told him he needed care!” Aaron remarked with a hint of annoyance.

“He hates us, Aaron! And I can’t blame him! That’s why he left.” Claire said, and started sobbing again.

“He doesn’t hate us, honey. We’re just...” Aaron started, but it seemed like he himself couldn’t come up with any other explanation for whatever they were discussing before I started listening in.

“Yes, he does. Why shouldn’t he? We were totally focused on Logan and Ava, and completely lost sight of him! I can’t believe we were so consumed in the sex, we simply forgot about one of our children! Two years in a row we forget about his birthday. And when we go looking for a gift to make up for it, not one of us knows anything about his interests. Or what’s going on in his life. Or...”

“Honey, we’ll fix this. We just need to start spending time with him.” Aaron tried to comfort her.

“How the hell are we supposed to do that, Aaron!?” Now Claire sounded angry when she asked that. “He got so hurt protecting us from these men, but then didn’t want me anywhere near him! You didn’t see the way he looked at me when he woke up and noticed me holding his hand. Or when Ava tried to. And you didn’t hear him explode when Danny tried to talk to him. How could we reconnect with him if he doesn’t even want to be near us!?”

By the end, Claire’s voice was sorrowful again, and she leaned into Aaron to cry on his shoulder.

Strangely enough, I didn’t feel anything watching this scene. Yes, it seemed like she was honestly regretting what happened, and was apparently devastated about the current state of our relationship. But that wasn’t the first time she regretted something about our relationship. She greatly regretted forgetting about my birthday last year, after her mother scolded her for it, and what came of it? And if our relationship means so much to her that she was now devastated about it, how could she let it continue to deteriorate for a whole year in the first place?

But, most importantly, why was she alone with this? Aaron certainly didn’t sound like he was eagerly looking for ways to make this relationship happen, he just said what came to his mind to calm Claire down. He wasn’t offering solutions or even tangible ideas, he only offered empty promises and platitudes. While I wasn’t surprised that Logan wasn’t there with them, Ava was nowhere to be seen either, and I had shielded her just as much as Claire.

At least she confirmed what I had already believed ever since Ava’s sixteenth birthday. The reason for them neglecting me, and the reason Princess and Golden Boy could get away with whatever crap they caused while I was held in contempt for the smallest mistakes, was that they simply preferred the two kids they could fuck. She would get over it, like always. Logan’s dick would take care of that.

And then I suddenly and finally understood why Logan and Ava were always so eager to make my life hell, and worked so hard to drive me away. I felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier. They didn’t want to lose their special standing! That’s what all the ridicule and humiliation was about. Keeping their parents from becoming interested in me! And they made me a laughingstock and ran interference whenever they could so I’d eventually just leave and they would never have to share.

Well, it worked. There was no way I would move back in and play happy family, just to screw with their little paradise of entitlement. I could make a move on Claire, Aunt Danielle, and Maggie simply to spite them. But then again ... why would I want them? Would that make everything fine again? I didn’t think so. What I had with Tess had shown me that I would never be happy with anything this ‘family’ could offer me. I didn’t just want sex, I wanted and needed companionship. And my only companion was gone.

I quietly moved to my room, closed the door, and set up my laptop. Around Eight PM I was getting tired. I had confined myself to my bedroom again to avoid the others, and luckily nobody came to check on me either. But now I desperately needed a shower. The doctor had told me to wait with it until the staples were out, but the smell I was giving off was ... manly. And it made me think that going yet another day without a proper wash, and certainly another week, presented a higher health risk than a little soap in the incisions.

I had showered with open wounds on my body many times before, when the bullying in school was still more than just insults and jokes on my behalf. So, I already knew the soap wouldn’t sting as long as I didn’t remove the gauze pads until I was done rinsing myself off.

After the shower, I replaced the soaked gauze pads by taping a few big bandaids over the wounds, painstakingly rewrapped my chest, and was thoroughly beaten. All the movement had greatly aggravated my ribs, so I opted for the opiates the doctor had given me, dropped on my bed, and was out like a light.

I dreamt of Tess. We were at another street fair, trying out all the food stalls. Then we were back in her living room, simply enjoying each other’s company cuddled up on the sofa. Then I felt something shift, and we were in my bedroom together. She had just sat on the edge of my bed, wearing only a pair of panties under a thin morning coat, looking into my face and examining my swollen right eye with a worried expression.

“Hey.” I smiled at her, and the hand that was lightly brushing along my forehead stopped.

“I’m Sorry. I didn’t want to wake you. I ... I just wanted to check on you.” she said quietly, sounding worried. It took me a moment to remember what happened that day, and consequently how I must have looked.

“Don’t worry. Looks way worse than it is.” I said, in a sleepy whisper. “I’ll be perfectly fine in a few days.”

It seemed to give her pause, but after a few seconds she smiled at me. I loved it when she smiled. Though, I could tell she wasn’t actually happy. Her happy smiles always caused those cute little wrinkles to spread across her nasal bone because she always scrunched up her nose.

“You sure, baby? Doesn’t it hurt?” Tess asked, as her hand resumed moving and gently brushed my cheek.

I couldn’t help but close my eyes and let out a soft sound of approval, as I turned my head towards her fingers to encourage her caresses. It was so long since I had last heard that pet name she always used for me. It was so long since I could feel her touch. I didn’t want it to end.

“Hm.” I let out, before my hand reached up to hold hers. “I missed you, Tess.”

For some reason, her hand jerked a tiny bit when I said that, but I quickly held on to it, unwilling to let go so soon. I gently pulled her down to me and she laid herself next to me, or more like half onto me because my twin size bed was so small, with her head on my chest.

“Is that Okay for you, baby? I don’t want to hurt you.” she sounded worried again.

“Just my left side that’s hurt. Right side’s all yours. And school lied! Drugs are awesome!” I replied, somewhat broken. It was like my mind was getting increasingly foggy, my eyes refused to open fully, and I just couldn’t shake it.

I was affectionately scratching her back, and I could have sworn I heard her quietly humm when I placed a light kiss on the top of her head. She replied by placing featherlike kisses on my right chest, while lightly stroking my upper stomach. As her hand roamed downwards, she started tracing my muscles with her fingertips.

“You really changed. You’re even well on your way to get a nicely defined six pack.” she remarked quietly.

“What d’you mean? You had me naked so much, you sho’d know.” I replied, with a light chuckle.

She seemed to contemplate something for a moment, then she spoke again.

“Why did you get hurt, baby?” she asked, sounding a little uncertain. Like she wasn’t sure what she wanted to ask. “Why did you do that to protect u ... your family? You even stepped right in front of those three men to shield your mother and sister.”

“Dun’no, really. Had no problem watchin’ Logan get hisass kicked. He’d deserved it. I jus’ ... didn’t like how they talked to ‘em. And what they’d do to ‘em when Logan wouldn’t pay up.” I replied honestly.

“But don’t you ... hate them?” she asked quietly and almost scared.

“I don’t like ‘em. Doesn’t mean I’d just stand by and watch ‘em being taken as payment. No matter what I think about ‘em ... Can’t do it.”

After a few seconds of silence, she started kissing my collarbone. I got the impression she was pleased with my answer. Then she slid down the bed as her kisses wandered down my body, passing the Rib Brace, over my upper stomach, and she finally placed six soft kisses on my abs. One on each part of my barely visible six pack. Then she let her head rest on them, her face pointing to my now half hard cock. Feeling her soft cheek on my stomach, with her face so close to my groin, had an obvious effect on me, and she just stared at the rapidly growing result.

“Baby, you’re getting hard.” she whispered.

I reached down with my left, hooked my thumb into the waistband of my shorts, and, ignoring her barely audible gasp of surprise, pulled them down a little to reveal the two triangle shaped muscle groupings underneath my abs. Then I placed my right hand on her shoulder.

“Missed two.” I just said, with a naughty grin.

She remained still for a moment, before she slowly slid her legs off the mattress to kneel on the ground and moved her head further down my waistline. I could feel her hot breath tickle my stomach, her breathing growing louder.

When she placed the first kiss on the right triangle, I let out a little moan and my dick hardened considerably. An involuntary spasm traveled through my arms, causing me to push my shorts down a little more and expose the base of my dick to her eyes. When she leaned over me to kiss the left triangle, her breasts pressed into my side and my right hand slid from her shoulder, over her side, onto her butt. The same spasm rippled through my arms again as her lips made contact with my skin, and not only did I, again, expose the base of my cock to her, I also gave her plum buttcheek an involuntary squeeze. She reached up and placed a hand on my now rock hard dick, lightly stroking it through my shorts.

“Please, honey! It’s been so long!” I almost whined.

“Well, I can’t let my brave baby keep hurting, can I?” she said, before getting up, walking to the end of the bed, and pulling my shorts off. Then she spread my legs, laid herself onto her stomach between them, and grabbed my dick with both hands. Realizing she was undoubtedly going to pleasure me with her mouth, I hoped she appreciated that I kept the grooming up and was still cleanly shaven. I so hoped I would get to feel her throat massage me again.

Lying on her stomach, her legs angled up, I could see her feet sway behind her. I could also catch glimpses of her round, panty clad butt swaying from side to side, as her head moved in serpentines around my shaft. She alternated between slowly licking the sensitive skin, and affectionately covering my entire length in loud wet kisses. She placed a kiss on the tip, then carefully licked the little band on the underside of it, and then moved the tip of her tongue down the underside of my shaft. She lightly and sensually rubbed the tip over her face, against her cheek as she kissed the base, and across her nose as she licked the shaft. Then she sucked one of my balls into her mouth, laying my entire length across her face while glancing up at me. The entire time I could hear her soft breathy moans announcing her own lust.

She lifted her head, looked deep into my eyes as she rested both her hands flat on my pubic bone, and opened her mouth. When she closed her lips around my cock, she had engulfed little more than the tip, and started lightly sucking on it while bobbing her head merely an inch down and back up. I felt her tongue massage all around my now painfully pulsating crown.

I was a little confused. This was completely different to what I was used to from her. Normally, her blowjobs were sloppy, loud deepthroats. Like she wanted to show off her depravity. But this was slow, loving, teasing and sensual. Like she wanted me to know how much she cared about me and making me feel pleasure without putting on a show.

“I love you.” I admitted. I couldn’t help it. I had felt it for so long, and just had to finally say it out loud.

She abruptly stopped any form of stimulation, as her body froze. Her eyes wide upon hearing my reckless declaration, she paused for another second, and then switched tactics. One of her hands resting on my pubic bone slid downwards and started fondling my balls. Her other hand wrapped itself around the base of my cock and started massaging it in a twisting motion. She looked at me again before bobbing her head a little faster and in two-inch increments. Then, vexingly slowly, she lowered her head, placed both of her hands to either side of my hips, and took my cock all the way past her uvula.

Even though I finally got the deepthroat I had expected, this, too, was remarkably different from how she normally did it. Normally, she just slammed her head into my crotch, impaling her throat on my cock without mercy. Now, however, I could feel every little part of my cock being stimulated as it slowly passed the little ball dangling at the entrance to her throat, before feeling my tip rub against the back of her throat. As her head moved down, she raised her butt and her morning coat slit over it, so I could get another good look at its heart shape. She bobbed her head a few times before completely lifting it off and releasing my dick from her mouth so she could talk.

“I love you too, Baby! I love the taste of your hard cock!” she moaned. “Come for me, Baby. Give it all to me. You deserve this! You deserved this for so long!”

She scooted back a little so her head was tilted upwards, just like that first time in my office. My dick was pointing in a straight line through her mouth and right into her throat. I knew what was coming next. But again, she did it painfully slowly, so I could feel my tip scrape along her soft palate before her uvula scraped over the upper side of my crown, and my tip was finally engulfed by her upper sphincter.

She took me to the hilt and moved her shoulders from side to side to rub my cock against the walls of her throat. Then she pulled back until only the tip remained in her mouth, and started eagerly pushing me towards an orgasm. She grabbed my base again, moving her hand in a circular motion around it, while wildly bobbing her head up and down, sucking like her life depended on it.

“God, honey, yes! I’m ... I’m coming!” I panted my warning, and, for the first time this evening, she finally showed some consistency with her usual behavior, as she simply ignored my words and kept going.

She didn’t slow down one bit when I started squirting my load into her mouth. She didn’t gag, didn’t pause, she just swallowed everything I gave her and moaned loudly until my dick started shrinking. Only then did she allow it to pop out of her mouth. My orgasm was so strong, I was panting like I had just ran a marathon, and had serious problems focusing my eyes. She scooted back up, laid down next to me again, and caressed my cheek while whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

“I love you, Baby! You have no idea how much I actually love you. I won’t leave you again. I will never let you be alone again.” The words alone had me smiling already, but as she said them, she placed soft kisses on my ear and neck until I finally calmed down enough to remember where I was.

I wrapped my arms back around her and pulled her body as close as possible into mine. After the blowjob had woken me up quite a bit, the fogginess made its way back into my mind with how relaxed I now was. Sleepiness crept into my body once again and I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight it for long.

“I’m sorry I can’t return the favor right now.” I whispered into her hair. “I promise, as soon as that thing comes off my chest, I’ll show you how much I love you! I missed you so much.”

“You ... uh ... could just visit me?” she carefully asked, with clear uncertainty in her voice.

“Don’t test me. I thought about it. But you know I can’t.”

“Why?”

“You made me promise I’d keep going.” I replied, causing her to look at me in great confusion.

Saying those words caused the memories to flow back into my mind. The realization hit. This was just another dream of her, like so many I had of her over the last few weeks. And every time, I would wake up the next morning just to realize that she was still dead. It was just my mind playing out fantasies of the woman I loved more than my life, and yet couldn’t hold on to. I had to close my eyes to try and stop the tears from coming. I failed miserably.

“Baby!? What...!?” She sounded panicked when she noticed the tears rolling down my face, after a quiet sob had rocked my body and drawn her full attention to me.

“I miss you so much, Tess. Why didn’t you just tell me? You didn’t have to keep the cancer a secret from me. I could’ve been by your side when ... when you...” I finally asked, but still couldn’t say that last part out loud, and the now uncontrollable sobbing stopped me from trying further.

“Wha ... Oh my God! Baby, no! Oh God, no! I’m so sorry!” I heard Tess’ shocked and shaking voice.

She held me for a long time, cradling my head to her breasts while all the pain I had kept hidden for months finally broke loose. I embarrassingly wept loudly like a little child while hugging her body tight to mine, afraid she would suddenly vanish again, and continuously apologized for being unable to help her when she was sick. Until, finally, the opiates did their thing, and I slipped back into an uneasy sleep.

Chapter 7

I woke up at Seven the next morning with mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt like shit because my whole torso hurt. I accredited it to the fitful sleep I got whenever I dreamed of Tess. On the other hand, the muscles in the rest of my body felt strangely relaxed. I actually had to check and make sure I didn’t come in my pants while asleep. To my amazement, I noticed my shorts were missing, but I was so beat the evening before, I couldn’t remember if I even put them on after I overexerted myself in the bathroom.

I slowly - very slowly - got dressed while checking the bandaids for blood. Then I carefully made my way downstairs to the kitchen. Normally, I’d just grab a Coke from my fridge in the morning to satisfy my caffeine and sugar needs, but it was missing from the room. After I moved out, someone probably took it for themselves.

When I stumbled into the kitchen while holding my stomach, Ava, Claire, and Aaron were already in it. The grandparents were probably still sleeping, and Logan was probably still running away. Aaron noticed me first, lowered his newspapers, and wished me a good morning. That alerted the others of my presence.

While Ava looked up from her cereal to give me a short and somewhat shy greeting herself, Claire’s reaction was kind of unnerving. Her body froze while her head snapped up, and she looked at me with big, sad, and somewhat reddened eyes. The dark rings underneath those eyes gave me the impression that she didn’t sleep much last night. Once again, she looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t decide on what or how. I felt my suspicion from the previous day confirmed. It was just like the last few times. Eventually she would get over her guilt, and I’d hear her and Logan make the beds squeak again.

When I reached up to the cabinet to get myself a cup for the coffee, I grunted as the pain shot through me and stilled my movement. Immediately Ava jumped up and took a cup out for me. That confused me. I blinked at her for a moment, not sure if I should thank her or prepare myself for some kind of mean prank. When she noticed my reaction, she turned and went back to her breakfast without saying a word. Then Aaron spoke instead.

“Why are you up already, ... son?” That almost made me spill my coffee. I could almost hear the strain he was under, trying not to call me ‘Tiny’ AND acknowledge my position in the family tree. “You’re not planning on going to work, right?”

“Sure I am.” I replied and sipped on my cup. “I’ll drop off the doctor’s note into the school’s mailbox, so they have it as soon as Thanksgiving break is over. Then I need to get an appointment with our GP to check the staples and stitches, go to the pharmacy to get more painkillers, and then I’ll spend the rest of the day drugged up in the office.”

“Y ... You don’t have to do all this yourself!” Claire suddenly burst out, a little too loud for comfort. “I can take care of all that! Well ... except the drugged up office part, but I don’t want you working despite having a sick note! The doctor wouldn’t even release you without someone to look after you!”

“Thanks, but I’m good. I can work while sitting in front of a computer. Not that strenuous.” I dismissed her while taking the last sip of my coffee.

“You can rely on us from time to time, you know?” Aaron offered. Was he joking?

“Sure. Because asking you for help has always worked out so well for me.” I replied with a sarcastic tone and turned to leave the room.

Looking around, I noticed three embarrassed and almost hurt looking faces. Maybe I should get myself one of those automatic coffee makers with these little capsules. I could keep it in my room, so they could enjoy their mornings in peace.

As I stepped into my shoes after getting dressed, Claire suddenly showed up next to me in the hallway.

“I know we weren’t the best family for you, Honey. But please ... I’d really like to help you! I am here for you!” she pleaded.

“Uh huh. I had cracked ribs before and was perfectly fine taking care of myself.” I replied, ignoring her obvious wince upon hearing my words. “So, thanks, but I’m really good.”

“Be safe. I love you!” she quickly added as I stepped out of the door, but the only answer she got was the sound of the door closing behind me.

As planned, I first dropped off the doctor’s note at school. Then I got to our GP who immediately let me in after seeing my face to make sure the incisions were still good, and gave me prescriptions for more of the opiates to sleep. He also gave me a new sick note for the next four whopping weeks!

Since he had my medical history, he didn’t want to risk anything, and this was apparently how long it would take until it was “safe to ‘bump’ into people in the hallways” as he phrased it while making air quotes with a meaningful look.

This was fucking awesome! The sick note spanning four weeks would mean that the first day I could go back to school would be the first day of the two-week long Christmas break. This meant that I wouldn’t have to go back into that shithole for the next six fucking weeks! I made a mental note of calling the school as soon as Thanksgiving break was over, to check if they had some kind of online study program. The pharmacy was right next door to our GP and, within fifteen minutes, the ibuprofen had taken the edge off the pain, so I could spend the day working somewhat effectively.

After a few hours, however, I noticed that I wasn’t just sitting around like I had claimed in the parents’ kitchen. My chest started hurting whenever I let my left hand rest on the keyboard for more than two minutes, which turned typing into a quite tedious task. I was just groaning again when Bill came through the door, looking somewhat pensive.

“Hey, Kid. You know you don’t have to be here, right? Why don’t you at least stay home until you can use both your eyes again?”

“Nah, I can manage. But thank you for the offer.”

“Oh, thanks for dropping the adapter at my office yesterday.”

“No problem, Boss! Did it work? If not, I could take another look.”

“Worked perfectly fine.” he waved me off. “Got the first three videos digitized already. I came because of something else, though.” he said, but didn’t elaborate further. I had never seen him so hesitant before.

“Did I screw up something?” His behavior started to unsettle me...

“No. But maybe I did. I just got a call from John. Did you ever tell your folks about ... what happened with ... Tess?” he asked disturbingly cautiously. Bill knew how badly I had taken her death. He was the only one I had talked with before I came back from my vacation. And I’m pretty sure my behavior at Tess’ funeral wasn’t lost on him either.

“No, I didn’t. Wasn’t really eager to discuss it with them. Especially John’s wife. She has that tendency to meddle in things, trying to help, but making everything worse.” I answered, while shifting my attention back to my monitor.

“Well, they somehow heard. And, since they knew about the two of you being together in the office, they called me to confirm it. Sorry, Kid.” he explained.

“Not much you could do there, Boss. Thank you for warning me.” I said, with sincere gratitude in my voice, and he left after giving me a short nod.

How did they suddenly hear about Tess? They didn’t have any mutual friends or even acquaintances ... except for me, that is. Why did they even care now? They saw me when I was obviously grieving, but couldn’t be bothered to ask about my mood then. I didn’t understand these people, but I was sure there was a surprise waiting for me back home. I spent the remainder of the workday trying not to think about it and, on my way home, actually picked up a coffee maker with a full assortment of different capsules, and a few cups fitting the model.

When I entered the house with my new coffee maker under my right arm, Claire, Aunt Danielle, and the grandparents were in the living room. When they saw me enter, they all regarded me with the very same sad look Claire had given me in the morning. I turned to get up the stairs, but Aunt Danielle sensed my reluctance, sprang up from the sofa, and stood in front of me.

“Tim...” she started but didn’t come very far.

“Nope.” I just said, as I walked around her.

“But, Tim...” Claire called after me this time, in a pleading voice.

“No.” was, again, all I said as I walked up the stairs to get into my room, although a tad more insistent than the previous time.

“Pumpkin! Please! Talk to us!” Granny called after me.

“If I didn’t talk with any of you about Tess when she had just died, I sure as hell won’t do it now.” I called down the stairs before entering my old bedroom and closing the door.

The next few days came and went quietly. Don’t get me wrong, I was tempted to take their offer to talk. I was angry they ignored my obvious troubles before I moved out, and they were now trying to do the right thing. I just simply couldn’t talk about Tess yet, and seriously didn’t expect those people to provide me with any useful advice about anything. On top of that, my opinion of Danielle hadn’t changed in the slightest, so I avoided further confrontations until it was Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle John’s again. This was when things got interesting.

I had absolutely no motivation to attend, but the family managed to coerce me into it. They achieved that by showcasing a noteworthy deviation from their usual tactics. There were no demands, no ultimatums, and nobody tried to simply drag me along as a last resort. Instead, the grandparents showed up in my room after my refusal of Claire’s plea for my participation had left her close to tears again, and told me that it would be important for me to be there. They hinted that it may have something to do with the things I pointed out when the grandparents visited my apartment.

Of course, my lacking eagerness to attend this get-together was noticeable when it came to interacting with me. At least Uncle John’s sense for tradition, that suddenly manifested at last year’s Thanksgiving dinner, thankfully didn’t resurface. I had already pictured myself sitting at that table, telling everyone how thankful I was for the invention of Coffee Makers.

They still made a seemingly honest effort to try and include me in the conversations they had, asking for my opinions on every single topic that came up. Problem was, I simply didn’t have any opinions on those topics. I went to school as a loner, so I was out of the loop of current events that the teenagers would find interesting. And ever since Tess died, I fully focused on whatever project I was involved in at work, leaving me just as uninformed about topics the adults would find interesting. In essence, I had no idea what they were talking about, while they had no idea about the topics that would have interested me. The “geek stuff” as Aaron still liked to call it.

While I wanted to appreciate their efforts, too much had happened for me to just forget about it and play happy family. The fact that Logan was still running his interference game whenever one of the Women showed an interest, while nobody but me seemed to notice, also killed any inclination I might have had to return their effort. This was how the evening was progressing, until they inadvertently caused it all to go to shit.

“I’m sorry it’s so late” Aaron suddenly said after dinner, as he handed me a little envelope. “I admit, we really didn’t know what to get you. I hope this is Okay.”

I looked at him slightly confused but interested. Then I opened the envelope, and my interest was replaced by utter disappointment. They actually did it! They actually got me a $100 Amazon voucher!

“Wow ... thanks.” I replied in obvious disappointment. “What’s this for?”

They shared a short look, then Claire answered.

“Honey, we’re sorry we forgot your birthday. I promise we’ll do better.”

It was remarkable how sincere she sounded while handing me a present that proved, yet again, how prevalent their disregard for me was.

“Sure. Forgive me if I don’t hold my breath. You had the same resolve last year, after all.” I responded, as I dropped the envelope back on the table, making sure they knew how little it was appreciated. I fully planned on just leaving it there when it was time to leave for the parents’ house again.

“Kiddo, I know it’s coming late.” Grampa said, before throwing a disapproving side glance at Aaron. “And I admit, it’s not what I would call an especially thoughtful gift. But they are trying. Can you at least not dismiss them completely?”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“Look, I understand that you probably don’t know why this is the most thoughtless and borderline insulting ‘gift’ they could’ve possibly come up with, and once again proves how they never thought about the shit they put me through. But even you should realize by now that I have damn good reasons to blow them off, so why shouldn’t I?” I asked him.

“Because family is supposed to support each other!” Aunt Danielle proclaimed, in a voice that, halfway through saying it, sounded like she realized how utterly ridiculous this statement sounded when it was directed at me.

It was exactly the wrong thing to say to me at that moment. I was already well on my way to talk myself into rage, and decided to set things straight and make sure everybody knew where we stood.

“Let’s clarify this for you all, since you seem to purposefully ignore what’s going on in this ... family.” I started, looking from one face to the other, so they knew I was talking about all of them. “For four years, I’ve been treated like unwanted garbage by each and every one of you! For years, you either ridiculed and humiliated me for no other reason than your own fucking amusement, or you all straight up ignored my existence. You like to claim to be a psychologist, Aunty. Did it ever occur to you to warn them what effects it could have on an insecure, thirteen-year-old boy, if people insist on constantly making fun of his penis’ size? And don’t you fucking dare tell me you didn’t know about it, because I damn well remember you being around!”

She looked apologetic, but didn’t say anything. So, I turned my head to look at Claire and Aaron before I continued.

“How many fucking times did I literally beg you all to stop? You gonna tell me you never noticed the effect it had on me? When I basically locked myself in my room, just staying in bed for days without eating, before I started stress eating like a pig? Aunty, what does that sound like to you?”

I knew that I had developed depression back then. And they really didn’t care. Or, if they did, they didn’t show it. Going by the weird questions I was asked by Granny the day she showed up at my apartment, they seemed to finally suspect that my mind was still not exactly in a good place. And that it just got worse after Tess’ death.

“Are you aware that I’m seventeen and never had a real girlfriend? That’s because my oh-so-loving family made me the laughingstock, and painted me the target for bullies, in every social circle they had access to. If I tried to ask a girl out, she would laugh in my face because of my micropenis! Because fucking Princess over there absolutely had to tell the whole student body about it as soon as I stepped foot into her school, making the entire Cheer team ridicule me on a daily basis.” I said, as I pointed at Ava, who looked like she wanted to vanish when she saw the look Claire and the grandparents gave her. Noticing Claire’s glare set me off even more. “Don’t look at your daughter like that, Claire! ‘This is Tim, the smallest in the family!’. Remember that shit before you try to scold anyone else about that!”

A Hearing this, Claire’s face showed confusion at first, then recognition, before it finally morphed in embarrassment. Then I pointed at Logan.

“And of course, your fucking Golden Boy wasn’t to be outdone either, but, being the man he truly is, he didn’t stop at mean jokes. He stood by and watched his football team beat the shit out of me after stealing my phones and wallets!”

“Baby, I had no idea!” Claire pleaded.

“OF COURSE YOU FUCKING KNEW!” I shouted back, causing her to cringe. “You’ve SEEN me come home bleeding and bruised, every fucking day! You paid the bills whenever I had to see a doctor afterwards! And until your fucking husband and son told you how this is a ‘necessary experience for a boy to grow some balls’, you even knew it was serious enough to call the school about it! But you went along with their decision to NOT help! Think back to why I had to get a job in the first place! Because you refused to keep paying to replace the stolen phones! And because you refused to pay for my textbooks, after one of their pranks had them covered in horseshit!”

When Aaron remembered, he seemed to finally realize what damage he had caused with this.

“But ... Baby...” Claire started in a desperate voice, while openly crying now. “We won’t ... I promise! We’ll never do it again!”

“Oh how nice of you! You still haven’t realized the extent of the damage you’ve caused, have you? I had to ask John for a reference for a real job because I got fired from the student job I had first. I couldn’t work a single shift without some assholes somehow recognizing and throwing dick jokes at me. Or tripping me while I was carrying plates. And it wasn’t even just other students. There were also a few of your friends in the mix!” I said, gesturing to Claire and Aaron. “It caused so many disturbances that the owner of the Diner had to let me go. So THANK YOU for FINALLY stopping to humiliate and verbally abuse your own fucking child! Good luck getting everyone in the school and your friends to stop as well! Maybe your favorite shrink can finally do her damn job, and help YOU to get YOUR shit together, instead of demanding me to simply forget about all this crap!”

Claire looked devastated. She never thought about what she had really done to me. She had realized they neglected me, but she apparently never understood the reasons for why I had distanced myself from them before the neglect became a problem.

“And now you pull this shit!” I spat those words out while grabbing the envelope from the table and waving it in Aarons direction. “So, let me get this straight. I pay rent, while your other two kids live rent-free. I bought my own car and pay for its insurance and gas, while your other two kids got their cars bought and paid for, including fucking gas money! I pay for my groceries myself, because most of the time you don’t remember me when cooking, while your other two kids get whatever the fuck they want. I even pay for my own damn clothes! I ask you for NOTHING anymore! Still, over the weeks since Golden Boy left for college, you felt entitled to more than TWO THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS from MY hard earned savings, to pay for your favorite son’s shit! And then, you present me with a $100 voucher, and call it a fucking gift!? Give me twenty-one more of these, preferably in cash, and THEN you can think about giving me any money as a present!”

Everyone but Aaron, Claire and Ava stared in shock. I think, even after I had pointed out the highlights to the grandparents, they still only accepted exactly those highlights. None of them had any idea just how big the rift in our family really was, or how far removed from our relationship as parent and child we had become. None of them had ever realized how lost I had felt in this family for years.

I really didn’t know why Logan looked shocked, though. Claire, however, was now also sobbing in addition to her crying.

“It was for college!” she blubbered “His education ... we didn’t think ... we just...”

“Oh, sure! Like always! He made it sound so reasonable, right!?” I seethed. “So reasonable, in fact, that you didn’t even consider that it could possibly be unfair to me! Tell me, ’parents’, if I had to get a job to pay for my fucking schoolbooks when I was fifteen, why is it that your grown-ass Golden Boy gets my money thrown at him, no questions asked!?”

Logan immediately looked extremely uncomfortable, and I didn’t think it was embarrassment. He looked perfectly fine the whole time I was ranting, nothing I said had phased him in the slightest, until I started talking about him getting my money. Only then did his expression rapidly change. He quickly tried to change the topic and, in his usual manner, tried to shift the blame on me and defuse my claims in the stupidest way possible.

“Dude, stop blaming us for what’s going wrong in your life! So you never had a girlfriend. That isn’t our fault, or that Tess chic wouldn’t have left you!” he called out.

My mind went blank for a second. While I was pissed before, absolute fucking rage built in my stomach now. I heard the others’ dull voices protest in shock as soon as Logan had closed his mouth. Either he was the only one who didn’t know that Tess didn’t just ‘leave’ me, or he just made a grave mistake by showing his true colors. Either way, he was going to pay for it!

“What the fuck, Logan!” Came from Ava and Maggie, followed by a scared “TIM!” as Danielle noticed my chair flying back, causing everyone’s attention to shift back to me.

I moved towards Logan in purposeful strides, my eyes focused on nothing but him as he himself got up and quickly tried to build some distance between us. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Aaron trying to get in my way, but without slowing down, without even taking my eyes off Logan, I just extended my right arm and jammed two fingers into his upper stomach, right below his sternum. When my fingers connected, he groaned loudly as his upper body cramped up and he stumbled backwards away from the pain.

When I reached Logan, he tried to hit me. Since he never was a fighter, though, he was not just slow, but also clumsy as hell. I easily evaded his punch with a simple step to the left, raised my left arm, and slapped him across the face as hard as I could muster. Which wasn’t as much as I would have preferred, since, sadly, my ribs didn’t allow that. As soon as I strained my muscles to move my arm inwards, the pain in my chest made me slow down considerably.

My hand still connected perfectly. The heel of my hand landed square on his jaw with my cupped fingers across his ear, yet not nearly as hard as I had intended, which probably saved him from being completely knocked out. He went to the floor and just sat there disoriented for a while, unable to focus his view and disoriented from the beeping he was undeniably hearing in his left ear now.

“Damn.” I said in wonder, looking at Aunt Danielle. “That felt really good.”

The family stared at me in shock. I really meant it, though. Not just bitchslapping the douchebag, but finally letting out all the shit I had held bottled up within me for the last four years. Just then, Claire jumped up and ran to Logan to check on him. I watched her frantically dote over her fallen darling.

“Why am I not surprised you don’t see this as a ’necessary experience to grow some balls’, when it comes to him?” I asked, contempt thick in my voice. I actually considered spitting on him for good measure.

“Timothy! That’s enough!” Grandpa shouted at me. “I know you’re angry, and I admit it’s warranted, but throwing punches goes too far!”

“I disagree.” I said, as I stood in front of him. I guess he saw how much of a threat I was at that moment, because he took a quick step away from me. “The little pissant should thank the heavens that I’m not like him. Because, if I were, I would’ve called two of my friends over and told them not to stop when he was on the ground!”

He paled slightly as his eyes darted from me to Logan.

“If you want to call the cops on me, I’ll be waiting for them at home. My home.” I finished, and turned to leave.

I couldn’t believe how they still cared about the asshole so much, especially after everything I had just pointed out. He even had videos of quite a few of their little orgies on his phone, placing them all in danger if he ever lost it. Or had it stolen. Or got hacked. Which happened. I hacked him...

I froze.

My hand hung immovable in mid-air, halfway to the doorknob, as all those little pieces of information suddenly fell into place. After I had summarized the past four years to my family and gotten it all off my chest, I could finally connect the dots!

Logan had talked the parents into giving him money. They had never touched any of my savings before, despite having access to it for years, so they probably didn’t do it out of disrespect to me, but because he needed more money than they could afford. And his explanation about it being loosely related to his education made them comply.

He never told any of us what he needed the money for specifically, making me think it was embarrassing for him. But the way he reacted now, when I pointed it out in front of the family, made me think he tried to hide the reason from the family in particular.

The people who came after him for that money were armed and had no problem making threats, so he was probably involved in something illegal.

He had lied to the police about not knowing them. If he was just scared, he could have asked anyone for help, like John, who was best friends with the owner of a security company. But he didn’t, so they probably had something over him to keep him in line.

The people who came after him recognized Ava and Claire just by looking at them.

They made clearly indecent proposals to those two.

Logan had videos of them fucking.

“You. Fucking. Muppet!” I shouted out, after turning back towards Logan. I was staring at him with amazement, big eyes and open mouth, after the realization hit me. The others looked at me like I had turned crazy, staring like that after I had just attacked him. “They’re blackmailing you!”

Logan, suddenly fully conscious again, looked scared as all hell when I said it. That was the confirmation I needed.

“Blackmail? Who? What are you talking about?” Claire asked in confusion, but still cradling his head.

“They got hold of your videos, didn’t they?” I asked Logan with a calmness that surprised even myself, while a strange smile grew on my face that must have looked quite unnerving to the others. “That’s how they recognized Ava and Claire.”

Logan freed himself from Claire’s hold, stood up, and stepped away from everyone else, frantically looking from face to face like a scared caged animal.

“What is...” Aaron started after seeing Logan’s reaction, but I just kept talking.

“You pay them, and they don’t publish the videos? Or are they threatening to send it to the police instead?” I asked him.

“Timothy Michael Brown! Explain what is going on RIGHT NOW!” Granny shouted, clearly done with me persistently ignoring their questions while Logan looked like he was ready to jump through a window to get away. I shifted my attention to her.

“The people who came after him four days ago and stabbed me. They’re blackmailing him with the videos he took of you guys.” I explained, but they all looked confused as to what kind of video could be used to blackmail anyone. “The videos he took at your orgies?” I added impatiently, waving my hand across the room.

“WHAT!?” I heard a chorus of voices.

“You FILMED US!?” Maggie screamed at Logan in horror.

I remembered how, after I had first found these videos on Logan’s phone, I had a quick thought about the angles in some of them. How they looked like the others may not even have known he was filming. Apparently, they didn’t know about ANY of the videos.

All of them, even Logan, looked at me like I lost my mind while I laughed my ass off. I laughed so hard I had to hold my stomach because it felt like the staples would fly out. They just didn’t get the joke.

Their beloved Golden Boy had betrayed all of their trust, violated their rights, and placed them all in grave danger. THAT was the guy they kept defending and supporting. THAT was the guy they wanted as their son, while I was downgraded to either tenant or servant. THAT was the guy they all chose over me. As far as I was concerned, they deserved each other. Sadly, I couldn’t just leave them to their fate without knowing exactly what happened because, until I turned eighteen, I would be affected by this as well. Though, at that point, I wasn’t yet sure as to what degree it would affect me.

Logan tried to make a run for it, but Aaron, John, and Grampa Mike had him pinned down surprisingly quickly.

“You ... You know about...” Claire stuttered, making her priorities known while her shaking hand was covering her mouth.

“Yes, ever since I walked in on you all on Ava’s sweet sixteen. Gotta say, made the difference in treatment between your children very clear. You were all a little too busy to notice me, though.” I added when she looked shocked and despaired at the same time. “Just add it to the long, long list of activities your family excluded me from. But now we need to deal with the mess your favored child has caused.”

I had said it with just a smidge of vindictiveness in my voice. It was still enough to make her fall to her knees and break down completely. Especially after the barrage of accusations she had just taken from me a few minutes ago, that already had her in tears. Her parents were quickly by her side to support her, but I had more pressing matters to attend to.

The moment the others had sat Logan down on the sofa, they started bombarding him with questions and demands. They wanted to know exactly what was going on, what the videos showed, and, most importantly, how he could be so “fucking stupid”. That last part made me smile again.

Thinking about what the best approach for this situation would be, I decided that Logan wouldn’t be able to come up with any half-coherent cover stories while being hammered by the others. If he hadn’t prepared one in advance, that is. In that case, it wouldn’t matter how quickly I got to him anyways. I wanted to let him enjoy this moment, when, for the first time in his life, they wouldn’t support him unconditionally, and went outside to smoke a cigarette first.

As I stood outside, I hoped the cool air would help me cool down as well. Sadly, before it had a chance to work, Grandpa appeared at my side.

“How do you even get these? You’re not old enough to buy smokes, kiddo.” he commented in some kind of exhausted disapproval.

“Uh huh. Shouldn’t you be inside with the rest of your family, trying to figure out how much compromising material Logan spread around?” I answered, not eager to take any kind of lecture after what had just happened. He was preparing to speak up when he heard my dismissive tone, but the wording I chose regarding ‘his family’ gave him pause for a moment.

“Your mother is crying badly in there. She could use a hug right now.” he said carefully, in a soft voice.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Danielle turned out to be his secret love child. Of all people, he chose me to go and make sure Claire was happy again. After he just learned how I had spent the last four years under her care.

“Then I suggest you go and take care of your daughter. It’s kinda a parent’s job to make sure their children are happy, don’t you think?” I responded, hoping he would take my hint.

“That’s what I’m doing. It would work best if it came from you.”

He didn’t say this like he actually meant it. Like he knew how big of a favor he was asking of me. No, he said it in a tone that suggested he was disappointed at how slow on the uptake I was. Looking at him, I saw that he actually expected me to simply ignore everything that happened, and make his daughter happy again.

“Wow!” was my sole quiet comment before flicking my cigarette bud into John’s garden, earning me another disapproving look from Grandpa, and walking back inside.

They were staring Logan down as he was sitting on the sofa looking like a beaten dog.

“What did I miss?” I asked them.

“Nothing.” Uncle John sighed.

“All right. Let me take over, then.” I said, as I turned towards the sofa.

Instantly there were a lot of concerned glances coming my way while Logan pushed himself further into the cushions, as if he hoped the piece of furniture would swallow him up. I guess they thought I would try to beat the truth out of him, because there was a breath of relief going through the room as I sat down in the armchair opposing him.

“I already know about the videos, Logan. I also already know how many you took and what they show.” I informed him, so he knew how useless an attempt at lying would be.

“How!?” Maggie asked.

“I have remote access to all of his devices. Phone, laptop, even his Smart-TV.” I said, matter of fact.

“Wait! Do you have access to all of my ... our devices as well?” Maggie asked, afraid.

“Anyway,...” I said, answering her question by ignoring it. “No sense in telling me made up crap, Logan. Just tell me what’s going on so I can deal with it.”

“So we can deal with it!” Aunt Danielle corrected me. She was really getting on my nerves.

“And just how exactly do you plan to contribute?” I asked, while rubbing the bridge of my nose. This was just going to be one of those days. “Do you have any experience in dealing with blackmail? Or data recovery? Or device security? That’s all things I deal with at work. You feel confident in going against armed men trying to extort money and sex from you? Remember, with the material Golden Boy gave them, getting the police involved would be a guaranteed prison sentence. For you!”

When Aunt Danielle didn’t respond, I continued.

“Logan?” I said in an expectant tone.

“I owe them some money.” Logan finally spoke in resignation.

“Define ‘some’ money.” Uncle John asked.

“About ... sixteen-thousand dollars.” he answered quietly.

“How much have you already paid back?” I asked.

“Maybe eight?” he said, uncertainty in his voice.

How the fuck could this moron not know EXACTLY how much money he gave away!? And how the fuck could it be just $8,000!? Claire took $2,200 from my bank account after she already gave him as much as she could!

“Does that number line up with what you gave him?” I asked Claire and Aaron, who looked at each other for a moment before nodding, though the shared look told me they had given him a lot more than six grand. Even after all this, they still covered for him.

“Fine...” I sighed, feeling my anger rising again. “How many of your videos do they have?”

Logan hesitated, his eyes wandering over the people surrounding us. “All of them.” he finally answered quietly, causing the rest of the assembly to look at me questioningly.

“Everyone but Granny and Gramps are on those. And me, of course.” I answered their silent question, causing a collective wail to ripple through the group. “And they are explicit enough to earn each and every one of you a prolonged prison stay. Apart from Ava and Maggie, of course, since he hasn’t made any videos since he left for college. They were still underage in the ones he has.” I added.

Uncle John went to a cabinet and got himself a Whisky, but was quickly joined by all the other adults in the room.

“Good Idea.” I said and turned to Ava. “Princess, go to the kitchen and get us some beers.”

She looked at me in amazement, then quickly at the parents who gave her a short nod, and finally at Logan. Logan, she watched longer. He was still sitting there, shoulders slumped, and head bowed. Ava’s eyes came back to me, and I felt like she was appraising me in some way before she finally got up and walked into the kitchen.

I used the time to go over my options. When she came back and we had taken our first sip of our beers, Maggie spoke.

“So ... at least we’re fine?” she asked carefully.

“Sure!” I cheerfully confirmed, but the cheerful tone slowly morphed into annoyance as I further explained the situation to her. “If your definition of ‘being fine’ involves your parents going to prison for a decade or two, and me into a group home after the media told the whole nation about your sexlife, then yes, we’re absolutely fucking fine!”

That caused her to keep quiet for the rest of the discussion.

“You wouldn’t go into a group home!” Grampa argued, accompanied by Granny, who was still comforting Claire, nodding vehemently. “You just said Susy and I are not in those videos, so you could just stay with us!”

I had thought about the possible consequences of their activities since I learned about them, so I knew what this situation meant for us. How could they have done all this for so long, and never prepared themselves for being discovered? I was growing more frustrated and irritated with these people by the minute, and it made its way into my voice.

“No, I couldn’t. At least not until the interrogations and psychological evaluations were through. Even if those went fine, they could take weeks. And if either Ava or Maggie made even a single suspicious comment, they would start investigating you next! Even if those investigations turned up nothing, there is no way in hell they’d let a minor live with a relative who was even suspected of committing incest in concomitance with statutory rape. I’d be stuck in the system for the next eleven months! So, if we’re done telling each other how this really isn’t as bad as it seems ... can I PLEASE continue now?!”

That caused the two of them to also keep quiet for the rest of the discussion.

“Why did you single out Maggie and me? You could make a suspicious comment too.” Ava said quietly, like she was offended by me thinking I was better than her. I did think that. But that wasn’t the reason why I singled them out.

“Because I never participated, Princess.” I said after taking a deep breath. “Since Granny and Gramps weren’t in any of the videos, and they also weren’t at your sixteenth, I never saw anything that could even indicate their involvement. I wouldn’t have to lie when asked about it. I wouldn’t have to check my own answers for irregularities. I wouldn’t have to worry about saying too much. That’s why I didn’t include myself. I could just honestly and earnestly answer all their questions without even thinking about it. Can you say the same?”

That seemed to satisfy her, and I hoped they would shut the hell up now.

“Logan!” I said loudly to get his attention back. “What do you owe them money for?”

“I ... eh ... thought, with my insight from the football team, I could place a few surefire bets. But ... I lost. A lot.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Aaron breathed out.

I could not help but notice how this was the very first time I had ever heard Aaron express any kind of disapproval with his beloved son’s behavior. After everything that asshole did, it was placing bad bets that finally elicited a reaction from Aaron.

“And how did they get the videos?” I asked.

“After I lost the last bet, I avoided them for a few days ... Until they grabbed me off the street, drove me to their shop, and took my phone. When the guy came back with it, he told their boss about the videos he found.”

I was hoping that he would just start talking freely, but I really had to pull all the details out of him, and it started to piss me off even more. But I had to control myself or he would probably just stop talking altogether, like when I left him with the others.

“Their shop? You mean a betting shop? In Austin?” I asked with hope, formulating a plan.

“Yes.” Logan answered.

“What’s the front?” I followed up, but Logan just looked at me in confusion. “Gambling is illegal in this state, Logan. Even online betting sites are prohibited from being operated from here. I know that for a fact, since I was asked to create one a year or so ago. They’d need a front to cover that up.”

“Oh!” Logan said. “A sports bar.”

“Well visited?” I asked.

“Yes? It’s pretty full in the evenings.”

So, it probably wasn’t just a front. They’d actually have something to lose if it went down. But that would be a ‘last resort’ type of option.

“All right. I can work with that. When we met them in the parking lot, one of them said something about interest. How much would you have to pay to at least settle the debt?”

“Uh ... I’m not...” Logan stammered.

“Christ, Logan! You owed sixteen. You paid ‘maybe’ eight. Do you have ANY way to find out how much you still owe them!?” I asked, finally losing my patience with him.

“They didn’t give me receipts!” he defended himself.

“And I assume you’re secretly so damn loaded that you don’t have to worry about giving away eight or nine grand, so you wouldn’t have to keep track of it yourself either?” I asked, before sighing “Spoiled fucking bitch.”

Did I have the means to start a war with people like that? Fuck, no! Did I have the means to get rid of the videos and keep them off my ass? Probably ... If they were pacified by at least getting the money they were actually owed. Anyway, I could work it. I’d just have to bring $8,000. If they try to push the interest thing, I’d use it to check on the videos.

If all went well, I could get the police involved if they tried to threaten me afterwards. Logan could go to jail for all I cared. He gambled. His problem. Of course, since they had already taken $2,200 from me, the parents were probably at the point where they couldn’t provide those additional $8,000. I would have to come up with that money as well. Were they worth $10,200 to me? I wasn’t too sure at that moment. Not being forced into a group home certainly was worth that amount. I’d still have enough saved away to furnish and renovate my apartment.

“How did you communicate with them?” I asked him.

“Mostly by phone calls.” Logan answered.

“Show me the sports bar on Google Maps.” I ordered, and he complied. I’d have to check them out myself.

“All right.” I announced after a while of contemplating. “I have some things to prepare. See you in a few days.”

I got up and started for the kitchen. Just as I opened the fridge and took two more beers, I heard Aaron call out to me.

“What ... Where are you going!?”

“Covering my ass.” I called back, before leaving the house through the backdoor in the kitchen, leaving a whole living room full of confused people behind.

I got into my Jeep and drove to the house. When I was in my room, I sat in front of my Laptop and started researching the sports bar. I sent them a quick email with a spoofed UTA email address, asking for reservation possibilities. The answer came surprisingly quick, and I discovered in the email header that they were using a long outdated version of Outlook. Then I made sure the exploit I intended to use would work with that version of Outlook. By the time I was done with it, I heard the front door slam closed and, shortly after that, my bedroom door flew open. Almost the entire family rushed into my room. Only Logan and Grandpa were missing.

“You can’t just run off like that without explaining what you’re planning to do, Tim!” Aaron said angrily.

I looked at him for a moment, remembering their collective inability to understand ‘geek stuff’, and decided to use that. If I had to explain how this was really going to work, I wouldn’t get to actually do it until next year, but time was ticking.

“Fine. Here’s my plan. I already found out they’re using an outdated version of Outlook that has long lost its mainstream support to fix the known exploits. So, I’m going to send them a PDF invoice with a little extra payload embedded, that’ll cause a privilege escalation to allow my malware to install itself onto their system. From there it will automatically spread itself to every hard drive and device they connect to the initial machine. I’ll also gain remote access to the infected devices, so I can check their wireless network for any devices that might not be connected physically, or are incompatible with my malware. I already have a C&C-server up and running from a former project, so I don’t have to worry about that. When I’m confident I’m in every device and drive they could have stored the videos on, I’ll brick them all. Clear so far?”

I was met with blank stares; they obviously hadn’t understood half the words I just used.

“Great. So, here’s the part you all actually need to worry about. Since I just sent two of their guys to the hospital and a third one directly to jail, they probably won’t be too happy with Logan and me right now. They might just use the videos to retaliate anyway if they get any more pissed at us. So, I need to work fast! But since your Golden Boy obviously didn’t think of that, he didn’t see the need to speak up, and we just wasted an entire fucking week sitting on our asses, while they got more irritated with each day Logan keeps avoiding them! To work fast, I need to work without interruptions. Is that possible or do you need to make any more angry demands, Aaron?”

They looked at each other, but were obviously concerned about the conclusions I had drawn regarding the time-issue. That part made sense to them. They nodded and started to file out of the room. I called out to stop them.

“Claire! I’ll need eight-thousand dollars in cash. Get it from my bank account, since you probably don’t have that much lying around anymore and obviously think it’s yours anyway. When you’re in the bank, pick up a nice money pouch to transport it. Favorably one that comes with a little window for business cards. And John, do me a favor and call Bill. Make sure he knows I’ll need to borrow one of the armored SUVs for a few hours in about a week.”

Then I got back to work, ignoring their stunned stares.

On the social media pages of the sports bar, I had seen them advertise an event that happened a week before. I prepared an invoice for the date of that event from a liquor distributor in their area, but addressed it to a different bar. The email itself looked completely legit, and simply thanked them for their business without mentioning any names.

The usual M.O. of any accountant, when presented with a legitimate looking invoice they can’t place, is to simply open it to check what the distributor wants to charge them for. When they see the invoice is actually addressed to a completely different company, they will just assume a typo in the recipient address and dismiss the whole thing with a relieved chuckle. They usually won’t even contact the supposed sender to notify them of their mistake, since that would just mean more work for them. But even if they do, they’ll have clicked on my manipulated PDF that embeds a Word document by then, and the damage is already done.

About an hour later, I was done and had sent the mail. To my surprise, I received the notification from the C&C-server not even twenty minutes after I had hit the send-button. Seemed like the guy operating the bar did his own books. The device he read my mail on was a laptop, and when I activated the built-in camera and microphone, neither turned out to be covered. Despite this being good for me, I couldn’t help but shake my head. I could literally see when it was safe to go through his files. Why do people think we nerds have been covering the cameras on our laptops and phones for the last hundred years, and every electronics store sells those fancy adhesive slide-covers by now?

I managed to activate the Wake-on-LAN function, so, in case he shut the thing down before I could accomplish anything more, I would just log back in when I was confident he would be gone home.

By now, I was getting somewhat tired, not to mention my ribs were hurting again. I tried to get my shoulders and neck to stop hurting when Claire walked through my door. The indecisiveness in her behavior confused me for a moment, until I remembered the events of the day so far.

“Hey, Honey. I know you asked us to let you work, but ... do you need anything? Something ... something to eat, maybe?” Claire asked carefully.

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks.” I groaned back, rubbing my other shoulder now. Claire perked up and quickly stepped behind me.

She inspected the shoulder I was rubbing and started doing it for me. My initial impulse was to tell her off, but whatever she was doing with her hands felt orgasmic! My planned protest was replaced by a surprised, yet appreciative, moan. Soon I was leaned back in my chair, eyes closed, the back of my head resting between her breasts, just enjoying the feeling of pain leaving my tensed-up body as it relaxed. If she wanted to serve me, who was I to tell her off? After a few minutes of this, I heard Granny’s voice from my door.

“Any progress?”

When I looked at her, she wasn’t looking at me. She was grinning at Claire, making me realize that she wasn’t inquiring about my attempts to break into those peoples’ systems. She had sent Claire in here to start mending our relationship. Fat chance for that. If that woman ever wanted to have any kind of relationship with me again, she shouldn’t need her mother’s order to work for it.

I decided, however, that this was not the time to have that kind of discussion. Instead I gestured to the monitor, meaning for my grandmother to check on my work progress.

“What’s this?” she asked after she had walked over to us and came to stand next to Claire.

“That’s the guy doing the books in Logan’s sports bar. We’re watching him in real time through the camera on his Laptop right now.” I explained. Claire’s hands stopped working.

“You can do that!?” they both asked at the same time.

“Sure. Can do more!” I proudly announced, disconnected the earbuds I had used to listen, and switched to the laptop’s speakers instead. We could hear him talk on the phone.

After a minute Granny spoke again.

“This is ... weirdly captivating. I’m watching a complete stranger talking about toilet stalls, but I just want to keep watching him!”

“Yeah. It’s like the Truman Show come real. It just turns you into a voyeur.” I commented. Then groaned again when I moved in a bad way, so my belt pushed against the wound on my stomach.

“Are you okay?” Claire asked concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Belt buckle pressed into my stomach. And I overexerted my chest again, to the point where the ibuprofen doesn’t cut it anymore, but I don’t wanna take the stronger pills.”

“Because you had alcohol?” Granny speculated, placing her hand in my neck to lightly scratch it, while Claire was again rubbing my shoulders.

The light scratches on my neck had a disturbing and alarmingly obvious effect on me. I immediately felt goosebumps spread from my neck, across my entire back, and down both of my arms. My upper body even erupted in an involuntary trembling as I closed my eyes and enjoyed the light touch.

As weird as it sounds, nobody had ever touched me like this. This simple loving caress of my neck and shoulders felt almost intimate after years of missing out on any physical closeness that was not intended as foreplay for sex.

Sure, Tess and I had cuddled and spooned. Though, when it came to caressing one another, she was the type who greatly enjoyed having her body played with, while she herself simply concentrated her efforts on my lower body parts when it came to returning the favor. I had no fucking idea I had sensitive areas on my body aside from my dick! So, what my mother and grandmother were doing to me at that moment was starting to feel too good, and even made me slightly uncomfortable.

With Claire still standing behind me, I had no way to see her face, but at least Granny did indeed notice my reaction to her touch. Though, I doubt she understood why my reaction was so intense, and simply took it as my acceptance of their advances. While she refrained from commenting about it, she displayed a satisfied smile as she continued her speech.

“I admire your acting responsibly, Pumpkin, but it’s just beer. And not that much for someone your size. But don’t take that as our approval of you drinking beer, young man! You’re still only seventeen!”

“Well, then I’ll better not tell you about all the times the guys at work took me to that strip club.” I told them with a resigned voice. “And no, not because of the beers. The opiates make me super sleepy, and ... weird. But I’m not done here yet.”

“How much longer do you think you’ll be?” Claire asked.

“Well ... the bar closes at midnight. Then he’ll have to shut everything down and lock up. Only then can I start copying files in earnest without the danger of anyone noticing the bandwidth usage. Until then I can at least look through their network. So ... probably an all-nighter.” I concluded. “At least I don’t have to worry about school for five more weeks. If I had known, I would’ve gotten myself stabbed a lot earlier.”

When I said that, I immediately felt Claire’s hands clamp down on my shoulder, and Granny stopped scratching my neck. Then I heard Claire’s whisper.

“Please don’t joke about that, Honey. It scared me senseless when I saw you lying on the ground after hearing the gunshot. And then I saw all the blood ... and the knife ... I never want to see something like that ever again. When they rolled you into surgery and I had to wait for any word on how you were doing ... I thought I’d lose you!”

“Since when do you care whether I’m around?” It was not a vindictive or even accusing tone I used. It was a simple statement, calmly telling her what I truly and honestly believed.

“Of course I care! I’m your mother!” she said, appalled at the notion of me believing anything else.

“You’ve been my mother for quite some time already, but still didn’t notice that I was gone for a week. Last year alone, I spent months at Tess’ place. Did you notice me missing then? As far as I could tell, none of you showed any concern for my wellbeing in years. The only reason you claim to care now, and are even here at all, is because your mother is standing next to you demanding you do your parental duty.” I told her, in an equally calm tone.

“Pumpkin, I know you’re angry. But she is still your mother. Mother’s care for their children, we can’t turn that off.” Granny protested.

“Are you going to tell me, you didn’t expressly send her up here to start fixing our relationship?” Hearing my comment, they both took a step back. I was tempted to turn around just to see what kind of expressions they were showing. “I’m not saying this to hurt you, or to get back at you. I need you to understand that, after four years of leaving me on my own, you shouldn’t throw claims like that around. Don’t tell me how much you care about me simply because you’re my mother. You’ve already disproven that claim.”

I had noticed that I felt better than I had in years after getting it all off my chest in that blowout at Uncle John’s. If, and that’s a big ‘if’, they really intended to work on this, they first needed to know exactly what my problem was and why I wasn’t going to give them the benefit of a doubt.

“Is that why you call her ‘Claire’ instead of ‘Mom’?” Granny asked.

“And why I call her husband Aaron. Yes.”

“Will you at least give us the chance to make this right?” Claire asked, sounding like she was crying again. “You won’t suddenly vanish, right?”

“I promised Tess to finish that damn high school, so I’ll at least stay in town ‘till I graduate. After that ... maybe longer. I like my apartment, and I owe Bill a lot.” I said.

“Then I have more than a year to be an actual Mom for you and make you want to stay.” Claire whispered, before squeezing my shoulders again and kissing me on the top of my head. When I turned my head to look at her as she left the room, I could see her shoulders jump a little every time she released a sob. Granny stayed though.

“Please, Pumpkin, give her a chance. She really wants to make this right.” she said.

“No, she doesn’t. She seemed perfectly fine with how things were before you showed up, and as far as I know, nothing changed. Same for you. You knew about the shit going on here for at least a year. You never told me what stopped you from helping. You told them to fix it and then went M.I.A. for a year. So, it seems to me, you were just as fine with the situation as they were. Why should I give anyone yet another chance?” I simply said.

She was taken aback by being put on the spot so unexpectedly and had to think for a moment.

“Maybe we just realized what we did wrong and want to fix it.” she tried after a few seconds.

“Or, maybe, the only thing your daughter cares about in a person is how fuckable they are, which would explain the difference in treatment between their Golden Boy, Princess, and me. Given how that’s the same values your son has imparted on your other granddaughter as well, I wonder who both of your children learned that from.” I offered.

“You can’t actually believe that!” Granny said angrily.

“Of course I do.” I replied casually, refusing to acknowledge her anger. “I spent the past three years trying to figure this shit out, and spent a lot of time reading up on this topic. Do you know what natures most effective safeguard against incest is?”

She just stared at me, so I continued.

“It’s a little tweak in our brains called ‘The Westermarck effect’. It’s the same reason marriages grow stagnant over time. Basically, the more intimately familiar you become with someone, the less interested you are in fucking them. It’s to ensure more offspring with genetic diversity or something. So, parents should be VERY intimately familiar with their children after spending more than a decade caring for them. Unless, of course, they never really cared for them in the first place, but were only waiting for them to start puberty and have sex. I mean, sure, if that was universally true, we wouldn’t need laws against incest. But then again, how did we get to this point in our non-existent relationship again?”

“That’s absurd!” she protested again.

“Save it, Granny. Claire admitted it herself the day I came back from the Hospital, though she didn’t know I was home and could hear them talk. She and Aaron were so consumed in fucking their other children, that the one they didn’t deem attractive enough completely fell off their radar. No sex for them meant no love for me. All the shit their Golden Boy and Princess did to me was never questioned, as long as they got to sneak into their beds at night. Parents of the year, right there. And the rest of you were so happy with what you had, you refused to look for flaws in that little arrangement beyond your own satisfaction. It would’ve meant a possible end to your fun times. So, trust me, as soon as this shit is settled, I’m gone for good!” I concluded.

Granny stood there for a while, realizing the gravity of the situation while contemplating the finality of my words. Not knowing how to effectively respond to anything I just threw at her, she quietly left.

Chapter 8

The next morning, after being busy on the guy’s laptop for the entire night, Uncle John knocked on my door.

“Ready to go, Tim?”

“What?” I said perplexed, rubbing my tired eyes.

“I called Bill, but he wants to meet up in his office. I figured we could just go together.”

His voice sounded hopeful, making me believe he wanted to spring something on me during the drive. I did have stuff to do in the office, but I didn’t like driving when tired. My insurance was already costing me an obscene amount each month simply for being young. If I actually had an accident because my reflexes were dulled by the lack of sleep, my premiums would go through the roof. But with John driving, that wasn’t a problem.

“Sure. But I’ll need a shower first.”

I stood up too fast, though, and immediately regretted it when I felt dizzy as the pain shot through my torso. I caught myself, refused his offer of support, and made my way to the bathroom. I was just out of the shower and back in my shorts, when someone knocked at the door.

“Honey? Are you Okay? John told me you didn’t look too well when you went in here.” I heard Claire’s concerned voice.

“Yeah. Thanks. Everything’s fine.” I replied.

Then I remembered how exhausting it was to rewrap my chest after my last shower, and how beat I was after that. I was already tired from the all-nighter, so there was no way I’d get anything done if the rewrapping went the same way as the evening before. A little help couldn’t hurt. But did I want to admit that I actually needed help? And more importantly, did I want to admit that to one of them?

I sighed as I realized that the negative effects, if I tried to just fight through this, would be far worse than showing a little weakness.

“Uh ... actually ... you still there?” I asked in a defeated tone, half hoping not to get an answer.

“Yes!” came her immediate response. Despite me thinking about this for quite a while before deciding to call out to her, she didn’t sound like she had moved even a single step away from the door. Interesting.

“Could you come in and ... help me with the Rib Brace?”

The door opened and she stepped inside.

“Sure!” She said, as she took note of the room. I removed the wet bandaids, dabbed the areas dry with a clean towel and inspected the wounds, but Claire suddenly told me to wait before rushing out of the bathroom. She came back a minute later with big adhesive gauze pads that were also waterproof.

“Huh. I didn’t even think of something like that when I was at the pharmacy.” I remarked. “Thank you!”

She leaned down, placed the pads on the wounds and made sure they sat tight. Then she took the Rib Brace from the cabinet and wrapped me back up. Instead of leaving, however, she let her hand roam over my abs, leaned further down, and placed a kiss on them.

“My pleasure, Baby.” she said with a big smile, before turning and leaving the bathroom.

I just stared at her back. That kiss on my abs, and her calling me ‘Baby’ just like Tess had always done, rocked something in my memories, bringing me back to the supposed dream I had a few days earlier. My mind was racing like on that fateful day I discovered the family orgies.

When I finally came downstairs and looked for Uncle John, I saw Claire standing in the kitchen, and used the opportunity to take a critical look at her.

Her breasts were bigger, but shaped like a teardrop, like Tess’ were. The rest of her body was remarkably similar to Tess’ as well. Same height, similar proportions. Tess had that mature voluptuousness going for her, since she knew perfectly well what she had to offer and how to use those assets, while Claire had an admittedly hot Mom-bod. Claire’s hair was blond, while Tess’ was black, but it was almost the same length as it reached just a little below their shoulders, and she often wore it in the same Ponytail Tess had preferred, especially when she did housework. Claire’s eyes were blue-green, while Tess’ were brown, but the rest of her face also showed remarkable similarities. Thinking about it, with Mom working in a law firm, and Tess being ... having been an accountant, they even utilized a similar dress code.

Tess, the only woman I had ever loved, was a lot older than me, like my mother, looked a lot like my mother, and even had the very same body type as my mother.

While I was sure Aunt Danielle would have a field day with that realization, I was occupied with a more pressing matter. Did my mother blow me while I was half asleep and doped up? Just as I was asking myself that question, Uncle John joined my side and asked if I was ready to go. Looking past him, I noticed Aunt Danielle sitting in the living room trying not to look at me.

“Sure. Let’s getmoving.” I said.

After we had been on the road for a few minutes, Uncle John started talking.

“You know, Tim ... Danny is seriously hurt since yesterday.” he said before waiting for a response. When I didn’t give him any, he pushed ahead. “She thinks she screwed up with you.”

“Yes.” I just said.

“‘Yes’? That’s it?” he asked, a little upset.

“Well, she’s right. And to say it in the words of my favorite Spider Man: ‘I missed the part where that’s my problem’.” I dismissed his attempt at making me feel responsible for his wife’s wellbeing.

“I can’t believe you really mean that!” he almost shouted.

“What the fuck do you want from me, John? You think I’m happy with my life!? You think I’m glad my own family excluded and ignored me for years, to the point I just wanted out of it? Or that I enjoyed watching all of you have a merry time while I work up to forty hours a week in addition to school, just so I could pay rent and buy food!? And your wife watched it all happen and willingly ignored the signs she, of all people, should’ve noticed. I’m not gonna make shit up or put myself down even further just to make her feel better about herself.” I explained exasperatedly.

“But, Tim, she’s trying to make amends for that! She’s been showing up in your office every week for the last year, trying to explain and apologize, but you just keep blowing her off! You need to give her a chance!”

“Why do I need to?” God, that man pissed me off! At least the rising anger counteracted my fatigue. “She doesn’t need to apologize, her words mean nothing to me! It’s actions I’m hoping for. Like, instead of trying to explain her bullshit reasons to ME, she should be working on YOU to finally realize how YOU all broke this. But even if she does, what’s her sudden motivation? Because after she learned I’m fuckable when seeing me at the gym, I’m suddenly worth being part of your family, and somehow supposed to be thankful for it!? Did it ever occur to you, that that’s not what I want from my ‘family’? And don’t buy into her shit of me just being filled with anger, like she claimed in the hospital. Yes, I’m angry, but that’s not why you can all go fuck yourselves. You can all go fuck yourselves, because the last four years have proven to me who you are as a person.”

“It’s that bad between us, huh?” he asked ruefully.

“I had that conversation with your sister just yesterday. I’m not trying to hurt any of you or get back at you. It’s just ... Yes! It’s that bad between us! And it took you four damn years to notice. I really don’t know why I should even try and work on this. Whatever ‘this’ even is anymore, since I had enough time to learn how to care for myself, so I no longer feel any need or desire to have any of you in my life.”

“Not ‘your mother’, but ‘my sister’...” he sighed, “But you are helping us right now. If there is no relationship left, why would you do that?”

“I told you all yesterday. Self-preservation. I am NOT going into a Group Home for almost a year, and risk losing my job and apartment, just because they’re unable to take responsibility for literally fucking up their Golden Boy. I mean...”

I sighed as he waited for me to continue. I wanted to let him know what was going on, make him see what my problem was. Despite what I told them, and myself, I WAS hoping for this to somehow work out. Of course I wanted a family that gave a shit about me! Yes, since I was now seventeen, I could at least try to get emancipated, cut all ties and take care of myself, but why the fuck did I even have to consider that? Coming home to an empty apartment wasn’t exactly filling me with joy!

The problem was, if they still didn’t see the reason for our estrangement by now, I had little hope I could make them see it at all. And depending on what would be needed to finally open their eyes and make them question their values, I didn’t know if it was worth the effort.

But mainly, I had to stop getting my hopes up just to be fucked over by Ava presenting me another penis pump. Or Claire once again deciding it’s too much of a hassle to talk to me. Or Aaron remembering that he still has no interest in my geek stuff. Or Granny and Gramps leaving for yet another cruise after declaring how much they want us to be closer. I had to know they actually changed and weren’t just putting up an act before I could even think about risking it.

“Let me ask you a question.” I said. “And, please, think about it and try to give me an honest answer.”

“Okay?” His voice held apprehension.

“A year ago, when you found out that this family not only forgot about my sixteenth birthday, but that you all actually did get together to celebrate without me, you and Danielle put me on the spot the following Thanksgiving. Despite me asking you not to do it, you two had to try and make the rest of the family remember it. At that moment, when nothing you tried to make them come around worked, you must’ve realized how bad things had gotten. At least that was the impression I got from Danielle when she caught me by the door afterwards.”

“Yes.” he injected ruefully.

“Then how come you didn’t try for longer than one lousy dinner?” He gave me a shocked look, but quickly had to put his eyes on the road again. “Or at least change how you yourself treated me? But most important of all, after both of you realized how bad it was, and how bad it affected me, how come you simply came to terms with it as the new normal, forgot my next birthday as well, and did the exact same thing as the year before?”

The asshole had really never realized that little bit. He thought about it for a while and tried to say something a few times, but, just like with Claire so many times before, the words simply never came out of his mouth. So I kept talking, trying to point him at what was hurting me the most in all this.

“You know, last year, when Granny called me for my sixteenth to congratulate me, she was quite confused when nobody had told me about your get-togethers. I know she demanded of Claire to fix our relationship, but when that didn’t happen, what stopped you and Danielle from introducing me to the fun? Or taking me in? Or do anything else to help me? What was it that made all of you simply fucking forget about me? If you still can’t figure it out ... try to remember what you were doing on ALL of my forgotten birthdays. You might want to have a talk with your daughter about that, before she leaves for college and learns that she’s unable to keep a boyfriend who doesn’t just want to fuck her.”

The rest of the drive was quiet. The way Danielle was hounding me made me hope she may had finally understood what they all did after getting lost in their lust. What they had willingly sacrificed for their sexual satisfaction. But if she did, she should know how hard it would be, and how long it would take, to get it back. And how hard it would be for me to believe them. Though, the way John was talking about her, and how he couldn’t give me answers right away, meant that I was either wrong about Danielle’s insight, or she simply hadn’t told him.

After arriving at the firm, John went directly to Bill’s office. I went down to the basement, sat down at my computer, and spent the next four hours reviewing the new releases of wireless surveillance systems. About Twelve PM, when I was just thinking about taking a lunch break, Bill called me into his office. I didn’t expect to find not only him, but also Claire, Aaron, John, and Danielle in there.

“Aright, Kid. John filled me in this morning.” Bill said instead of a greeting.

“He did?” I asked, throwing John a surprised look. I did not think they would tell him everything. At least, I surmised, he didn’t know what exactly the videos Logan was being blackmailed with showed. I had to treat lightly.

“They also tell me you have some kind of plan? Care to share?” he asked without acknowledging my questioning look at John.

“Okay” I sighed, trying to sort through all the ideas and plans I came up with last night. “I gained full control over the laptop of the sports bar’s owner. I have complete access to all the files on it and his backup drives, and already found the videos on both. He’s one of those people who think Windows File History equals backups, and I couldn’t find any hidden drives on the computer, so I’m confident there won’t be any surprises. I’m going to spend the next week connecting to every device in their network and make sure the videos aren’t also on any phones, tablets, cloud storages or shared through other means.”

I looked around, waiting for anyone to ask questions. But none came up, yet. So, I continued.

“Yesterday, I said I’d brick every device and drive I’d find the videos on, but thinking about it, that would raise unneeded suspicions. I think it would be easier to avoid retaliation if his ‘backup’-drives and only the video files on the devices were corrupted. Looks more like a hardware failure than sabotage.”

“Sounds good so far. That’s why you intend to actually pay Logan’s debt? To make sure they have less reason to come after you all after you got rid of their kompromat?” Bill commented.

“Exactly. Claire was supposed to get the money from the bank.”

“Yes! I got it. And here’s the pouch you asked for.” she said, laying it on the small table.

“Perfect. So, next weekend I’ll place one of my actual business cards in that pouch, so he knows I work in a sizable security firm, and make the drive over to Austin in one of those nice armored SUVs. That should further deter them from trying anything stupid afterwards. Just before I’ll enter the bar, I’ll run the script on my C&C-server. It’ll send the command to the malware I have installed on their devices to replace all the copies of the videos, and a random selection of his other personal files, with corrupted files they can neither use nor restore. The copies on external drives would be replaced as soon as he connects them to any device infected with my malware.”

“Why do you have to make the drive yourself? You’re hurt!” Claire asked, her almost whining voice made sure everyone knew about her concern for my safety, and was met with general approval. I had a hard time refraining from admiring her acting skills.

“Because I’m the best suited to do it even while hurt. Who do you wanna send instead? Maybe John, who knows nothing about all this? Or your husband, who basically shut down when confronted with these guys? Your Golden Boy, who caused all this shit and will probably get a beating just for entering the place? Or would you rather send Ava or go yourself, after these guys all but dragged you two into their car when you met them in the parking lot?” I asked impatiently, earning me insulted and scared looks all around.

“Fine! Let Bill and his guys handle it!” Aaron protested.

“In case you forgot, I am one of Bill’s guys. I’ve been working and training with them for two years now. But there’s more to consider. I don’t want to give them any more reason to think of us as lucrative targets to extort. Of course, showing up with eight grand in cash in an armored car could do just that. But being able to hire people that can handle the whole thing for us would send a way worse message. Bill isn’t cheap.”

“I love you too, Kid.” Bill commented in played coyness, causing me to smirk.

“Still, I don’t like it!” Claire said, like the whole plan would fly out the window just because she didn’t approve.

“No, Mrs. Brown, your Kid is right. He knows how to handle himself and he’s the only one who knows how to look for the videos you’re worried about. Trust him, we trained him well.” Bill tried to reassure her. Then switched his attention back to me. “How do you want to make sure you got them all?” Bill finally asked.

“I think when he has the money, he’ll either talk about interest again or try to blackmail me with the videos. Either way, I’ll play dumb, laugh it off, and tell him to show me at least one of the videos. If I missed even a single copy anywhere, he’ll find it! Worst case, we’re back to where we started. If he doesn’t find any, I’ll know we’re in the clear.”

“Tim. What makes you think they won’t just beat the crap out of you when they find all the copies mysteriously corrupted? They’ll surely suspect something’s up.” John asked.

“That’s why I’m not just corrupting the videos, but also some of his other files, so it’s less targeted. But in the end, I’m kinda hoping I can just play dumb at that point and he won’t figure out that I’m actually just paying to make sure we got every copy. Like, ‘Why would I show up in person, with eight grand in cash, if I could’ve just deleted the files?’ ... something like that.”

Once again, they all thought about my explanations and most of them accepted the plan. Not all of them, though. Claire looked like she was ready to protest yet again. While I dismissed her concern as just another act in the beginning, she was so persistent that I started to actually believe her. It kind of made me happy to see her finally worry about me. But the timing was a little inconvenient in this situation, so I had to try and convince her.

“Stop worrying so much. Keep in mind, I’m the one who took on three of those guys and lived to boast about it.” I said.

“Says the guy who needed help lifting his coffee cup afterwards.” I heard Claire quietly comment with her arms crossed in front of her chest. It caused most of us to chuckle, but that didn’t seem to be the reaction she had intended.

“Seriously, though. I also think you don’t have to go alone. Take two of the boys with you.” Bill offered. “They can wait in the car and out of sight to not raise any suspicion, but if shit hits the fan, they can come running.”

“And what’s that gonna cost me?” I asked him, with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, you’re one of us now, don’t worry about paying extra.” He smiled, and I was almost touched. “I’ll just deduct it from your next bonus.”

“Stingy old bastard.” I commented under my breath, causing him to laugh.

“So ... contingency plan. Any ideas?” Bill asked and I sighed again.

“I spent last night going through his files and found a lot of interesting stuff. Basically, I managed to compile an almost complete guide to their whole operation. There’s enough material to somewhat prove every aspect of it. I’m sure I’ll get the complete picture by the weekend. I’ll put it all on a USB-Stick and leave it in your office when I pick up the SUV for the drive. As long as I can just get rid of the videos, they...” I pointed at the family “ ... can let the police take care of those guys if anything comes up afterwards.”

“What!?” Aaron asked, shocked. “If you have something like that, why not use that from the beginning instead of going through with that dangerous plan?”

“Well, Mr. Brown,” Bill answered, “I took the liberty of asking around after John left this morning. Of course we don’t know anything for certain, otherwise those guys would already be in processing. But, as far as I can tell right now, gambling is only one of his business ventures. Smurfing dirty money through his bar seems to be his regular main business. Though he also shoots porn with ... uh ... less than voluntary women in the main role, if you understand what I’m saying. The people he cleans the cash for are way worse than him, though, so he has contacts to send after you if he doesn’t get what he wants, even from prison. Tim’s approach of getting him off your back, while offending him as little as possible, is the best approach. We should only use that evidence and the police as a last resort.”

“Is telling me just what kind of scum my son is planning to meet supposed to calm me down!?” Claire said heatedly.

“There is yet another angle to this, Mrs. Brown.” Bill continued. “Gambling is illegal in this state. That means both sides, the bookies and the gamblers, go to jail. It is highly unlikely the police wouldn’t uncover your oldest Son’s involvement with these people.”

“Oh ... Logan.” Aaron said, sinking back into the small armchair he was sitting in, while Claire let out a resigning sigh. “Yeah. I didn’t think of that.”

Bill threw me a glance. I just shrugged my shoulders while trying to keep my expression neutral, but when Bill saw that, his expression went from sympathetic to thoughtful. At least Danielle seemed to understand what just happened, because she looked at Claire and Aaron with knitted brows.

The entire time it’s ’This is too dangerous for you!’, or ’What happens to you if it goes wrong?’, but as soon as they realized their Golden Boy could possibly have to take responsibility for his own actions, all concerns about the dangers the plan held for me went out the window!

“Well, if that’s all taken care of, I’ll make my way home now, Boss.” I concluded and left without waiting for an answer. I was sure Bill understood already.

I went to my office, shut everything down, grabbed my stuff and made my way outside. The parents had waited for me and offered to take me home, which I accepted. Nobody attempted to speak during the quiet ride.

The sports bar had already opened its doors to let guests in, so I could finally identify the employees’ devices through their WiFi. I was absolutely exhausted from the all-nighter and my chest and stomach were killing me, to the point where I was asking myself if hitting Logan had hurt me more than him. So, after I had searched their Phones for the videos, I decided to take a little nap until lunchtime. I popped another Ibuprofen, leaned the backrest of my chair back, and closed my eyes.

I don’t know for sure how long I had been lying in the chair, but I was woken up by a soft feminine voice, accompanied by a small hand gently stroking my right cheek. When I opened my eyes, I recognized Granny.

“Is it lunchtime already?” I asked dozily and confused, I felt like I had just closed my eyes.

“Lunchtime? Pumpkin, dinner is ready.” she smiled at me.

Dinnertime meant that I was out for hours! When I tried to move, however, I knew why I still felt anything but well rested. These gaming chairs are not meant to be slept in. Now, in addition to my chest and stomach, my back hurt too, and my legs were numb. I tried to get up but could only do so sluggishly and accompanied by groaning noises not befitting my young age. Granny even had to hold me steady so I wouldn’t fall face first into my desk.

“Thanks. I think I’m gonna move over to the bed and sit this meal out. See you at breakfast.” I said, as I scuffed over to my bed, laid down slowly without bothering to take my clothes off, and was back to sleep within seconds.

It didn’t last long, though. I was again woken up, but this time by two pairs of hands pulling my clothes off. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was Claire and Granny, both smiling at me when noticing me watching in confusion.

“Sleep, Baby.” Claire whispered. “We’ll just get you out of those street clothes and under your covers real quick.”

I accepted that and closed my eyes again. While there was no way I could fall asleep with all the tugging going on, I could recognize that they were careful to not strain any of my injuries. I appreciated that. When they were done, both of them gave me a kiss on the cheek, but only Granny left. Claire lifted my covers, slipped under them, laid down to my right, and cuddled up next to me with her head on my shoulder.

I was simply too damn tired to argue.

“Baby?” She asked after a few minutes, in a whisper that was barely more than a simple breath. When I didn’t answer, she continued. “I know I’m a coward for only telling you this when you’re barely conscious from your painkillers, but I have to confess something.”

She thought I was drugged up again. I wasn’t. Last time I had a halfway decent night of sleep was a week ago, before the injuries kept waking me up whenever I moved in my sleep. Then I had that blowjob dream with ‘Tess’ costing me half the night, and now I had pulled the all-nighter. I was just fucking exhausted!

“The first night you were back from the hospital, I wanted to check on you. I was so scared the whole time you were in surgery, I just had to see you were Okay. But you thought I was Tess, and you talked to me like you hadn’t in so long. I know it’s my own fault. I know I’ll have to work hard to repair our relationship. But when you talked and behaved so familiar and affectionate with me ... I didn’t care you were thinking of Tess. I wanted that for myself, too. So, I ... just played the part. And I used it to keep you talking.”

The whole time, she was maintaining the barely above a whisper voice. She sounded genuinely conflicted about using my memory of Tess to get information from me. I decided to let her talk.

“I had to know why you would protect us even though we haven’t given you any reason to care about us in so long. I had to know if there was even the tiniest glimmer of hope for redemption. And you gave it to me.” I could actually hear the smile on her face as she talked about that part. “You can’t imagine how happy I was, Baby. But then ... things happened. And I ... may ... took advantage of you in a different way.”

It really was her. My mother had sucked me off while I was half asleep and doped up. I didn’t know how I should feel about that. On one hand, I seriously disliked them all. Though they did seem sincere in their efforts to fix our relationship, they kept doing or saying things that undermined that impression, and I just wasn’t sure how long it would last this time. On the other hand, why would she lie now, if she really thought I was asleep and wouldn’t remember this in the morning? Also, the way her lips had felt on my cock as she brought me to a climax was fucking fantastic.

“At first I just wanted to relieve you. You went through so much pain for us, I just had to give you something back, but I didn’t think I’d ever get another chance. But then ... you said you loved me. You still meant it for Tess, but hearing the words out of your mouth, with nobody but me around to hear them ... I realized how long it was since we said those words to each other. And how much I missed hearing them from you.”

The tone of her voice changed once again. I thought she was crying again.

“I promise you, Baby! I will do whatever it takes to get you back into our lives. Whatever you want from me, I will gladly do it for you if it means you might see me as your Mom again some day. And Baby?” she asked, caressing my cheek, and taking a stuttering breath that made it clear she was indeed crying. “I am so sorry you had to deal with Tess’ death all by yourself. I can’t even imagine how much you must’ve been hurting all that time with none of us even noticing. I will never forgive myself for not seeing that pain.”

I believed her. For now. She would have to prove this would last and wasn’t just about a temporary guilt trip. My opinion of them was so low at that point, I even thought it possible she was only doing this to keep me happy until Logan’s Bookie was taken care of. I actually half expected it all to stop again as soon as she would have confirmation of the videos being gone. But I believed her. For now. So, I pulled her tightly into me, and kissed her on the forehead.

I was so tired I could barely move and simply remained in that position for a while, with my lips pressed onto her forehead and my nose nested into her hair. Until she lifted her face, placed both her hands on my cheeks and a soft kiss directly on my lips. I hated to admit it, but I realized at that moment just how starved for affection I really was. I didn’t want to enjoy the closeness, but I couldn’t help myself. Then she moved her head back, her hands still holding my face with her right thumb gently stroking my cheek, and she spoke in that barely audible, breathy whisper again.

“My baby. Tell me what you need. Tell me what I can do to make you feel better. Please! I need to know if there’s some way to show you how much I really care, before the pills wear off and you go back to hating me again.”

I thought about that for a moment, but there was no doubt in my mind she would not accept most of what came to mind. Instead, it would lead to a lengthy discussion about reconciliation, and I needed sleep! I finally answered her in the same whisper, but mine was more sleepy than breathy.

“Stay.”

I was sure, if I gave her this, she would just accept it without discussion. And if I was honest, that actually was the only way they could prove their sincerity to me. By not leaving me out or pushing me away again when they didn’t need me anymore.

“You ... want me to sleep here with you, Baby?” she asked almost in wonder.

“I move a lot when I sleep alone. No one to hold me in place. Moving around hurts. Keeps waking me up.” I explained.

Again, I literally heard the smile when she answered.

“Yes, I’d love to cuddle with my baby Boy! If it’ll help you get a good rest, all the better!”

She draped herself over my uninjured side. Her breasts pressed into my chest, her face nested in the nape of my neck, her right thigh draped over my hip, and her lower right leg leading down in between my legs. I thoroughly enjoyed this sensation. She felt so soft, and warm, and that long forgotten scent of my Mom filled my nose.

Occasionally she would place soft kisses in the nape of my neck where her face rested, causing goosebumps to spread from there down my back. The minute movements of her thigh that was lying on my groin, every time she would kiss my neck, also started to have an unconscious effect on me. I was just relaxing more and more, while my dick was getting more and more tense.

Slowly, the nails of her right hand lightly scraped over my lower stomach and her thigh rubbed against my erection, pulling my shorts down in tiny increments with each stroke. Her mouth was so close to my ear, I could hear her hot breath getting faster. When she started carefully humping her crotch against my hip, the waistband was lowered far enough I could feel the dampness of her panties against my bare skin.

When she couldn’t hold back anymore, she lowered her right hand from my stomach to the waistband of my shorts, but paused there. I could feel her let out a long, wet and hot breath as she whispered directly into my ear again.

“Mhhhhh, Baby! You are so hard again. Did you get excited for your Mom?”

She pushed her fingertips into my shorts, letting them touch the tip of my dick, spreading my leaking precum over her fingers. Then she pulled her hand out again, lifted it to her mouth, and placed a wet kiss on the fingertips covered in my lubrication. She moaned before speaking again.

“Baby, let me do this for you. Not as Tess. As your Mother. Let me, as your Mom, take care of your need.” she whispered, before lowering her hand again and pushing it back into my shorts. This time she pushed her whole hand in, carefully grabbed my rock hard cock, and then pressed her thigh onto it again.

“Please, Baby. Just this once. Please allow me to do this. Let your Mother love you. Let Mommy pleasure you.” she whispered, and I broke.

Did I want to allow this? Did I want this to happen? I was undeniably aroused, and this obviously meant a lot more to her than to me. I felt the same conflict as the day before, when I sat in front of my laptop while Claire massaged my shoulders and Grandma caressed my neck. On one hand, I enjoyed it, no sense in denying it. On the other hand, though, I didn’t want them to believe they could exploit my need for intimacy to fix what they broke, since they were the ones responsible for that need in the first place.

In the end, however, I reached the same conclusion I had arrived on when she started massaging my shoulders. If she wanted to serve me, why should I refuse myself that pleasure? This wasn’t about her getting what she wanted, it was about me getting something out of this whole mess for myself.

I nodded my approval, and that was enough for her.

She lifted her thigh from my groin and pulled my shorts off completely, then took off her bra. She laid back down next to me, into the very same position she was in before. She grabbed my cock back into her hand and started stroking, painfully slow. Her naked, hard nipples were pressed into my chest, and her breathing was hot in my ear as the pleasure slowly built up.

“Thank you, Baby! I love how your cock feels. Let your Mom give you pleasure. Let Mommy take care of her boy!” she breathed, and my cock twitched. Something she immediately picked up on. “You like it when your Mommy talks dirty, Baby? I love you so much! Your Mommy loves her baby boy so fucking much!”

I wasn’t sure if she was talking like that for herself, overcompensating for neglecting her youngest child, or if she was just desperately playing on whatever indication for pleasure she got from me. When my dick twitched as she called herself ‘Mommy’, that must have seemed like I really enjoyed it. I certainly did. This was heaven! This hand job with dirty talk from my mother was better than the silent blowjob from ‘supposed Tess’.

“I love you, Baby.” she said before kissing my neck again, increasing the strength of her grip on my cock. “I love you so much.” she said before kissing my ear, increasing the speed of her hand going up and down my shaft.

“Mommy will make you feel good now. Like she should have so many times already.” she said, and, without letting go of my cock, carefully slid her right leg over my hips.

When she was fully straddling me, she pulled my cock up and pressed it against her panty clad but sopping wet crotch, moving her hips back and forth to grind herself against me. Then she did something I wasn’t prepared for. She reached down with her left hand and slid the crotch of her panties to the side, revealing her smoothly shaven and dripping pussy. Her hand reached down further, spreading her pussy lips, before her right hand pulled my cock up against it. My shaft was pressed along her slit in between her labia, and then she started the same rocking motion with her hips as before, covering the entire length of my shaft in her juices.

“I’ll do anything for you, Baby. Mommy refused her little boy for so long. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you forgive me. You can’t imagine how scared I was of losing you. I never want to feel that way again. I need my Baby boy back in my life...” she paused shortly before continuing with conviction. “ ... I need my Baby boy back in me!”

And after she said that last part, she lifted her hips and used the hand holding my cock to push its head to her opening. She moaned as she felt my tip slip into her hole. With just the tip lodged inside her, she leaned forward onto her arms after planting them to either side of my head, and started circulating her hips, teasing what was about to happen. Her breasts dangling in front of my face, her dark nipples protruding. I lifted my hand and grabbed her right breast, guiding it to my mouth to engulf her nipple with my lips while my left hand found its way to her ass. Her breathing grew ragged as I sucked on her nipple and circled it with my tongue.

“Yes, my baby, just like you did years ago. Suckle on Mommy’s breasts. Just enjoy it. Mommy will do all the work and take care of you. Let Mommy take away your pain.”

I couldn’t contain myself anymore. This was too much stimulation and I lost myself in the pleasure. I gently pushed her hip down, signaling her to finally lower herself onto my rod so I could enter her completely. She readily complied and I felt overwhelming pleasure as I was engulfed by a hot wet vice. She wasn’t nearly as tight as Tess was, but with the dirty talk and assurances of affection she kept whispering to me, it was even better.

“Whatever you want from me, Baby, whichever part of my body you desire, you can have it!” she moaned. “Do you enjoy it? Do you like the feeling of Mommy’s Pussy wrapped around her big boy’s cock? To be back inside your Mommy?”

Her breath was gasping as she slowly rode me. She seemed to enjoy the feeling of my cock sliding in and out of her, never attempting to take my full length like Tess would have done, maybe just the first three or four inches. Tess would have slammed herself down on me immediately to try and feel as much of me as possible. The way Claire did it, her mouth kept hovering over mine so we could share soft kisses during our coupling. The pleasure was incomparable. This was a completely new experience for me. It was loving and savoring, contrary to the animalistic and rough sex Tess had always preferred.

“I was too caught up in the sex. I favored your siblings because they gave me pleasure. I’m so sorry for that. I don’t want to get you back into my life just to make the same mistake again and hurt your siblings instead. I want this to be special. Not just carnal desire.”

I couldn’t help but wonder: Wasn’t she doing the exact thing she apparently didn’t want to do, at this very moment? Getting lost in her lust? But then the pleasure overtook me again.

She was moaning like crazy, leaned her body slightly forward again, and rocked her hips so her clit would rub directly against my rigid shaft, until her body started shaking. She let out a drawn-out moan the entire time her pussy was spasming around my cock and her chest was jerking, causing her breasts to wildly jiggle in front of my face. Her juices were drenching my legs and hips in her scent. When she finally calmed down, she started moving her wet pussy again, leaned forward, and I felt her hot breath in my ear as she whispered to me.

“Baby! You made Mommy so happy! How do you want me to finish you off? You could fill your Mommy up with your sperm! Shoot it deep inside me. Or do you want to cover your Mom in your Cum? Spray it all over my face, tits and body, marking me as your new playmate? Or do you want Mommy to take your cock deep into my throat, until you explode into my mouth, making your Mommy swallow all of her baby’s baby batter? Whatever you want, just tell me!”

“Oh fuck!” I pressed out through gritted teeth, unable to hold back any longer after hearing those words leave her mouth.

I wrapped both arms around her torso to hug her tightly, before moving my right hand down to her hips. She immediately understood that I did not want to pull out of her, dropped herself onto my hips so my cock was buried as deep inside her as it possibly could be, let out a little squeal, and started rapidly rocking her hips back and forth.

“Yes Baby! Cum for Mommy! Fill Mommy with your cum! I love you so much, Baby! Shoot your entire load deep into the place that made you! It’s waiting for you!”

And I did. The feeling of coming inside her, as she encouraged me with that filthy depraved language, only interrupted by moans of pleasure upon feeling my cock twitch inside her, was more intense than anything I had ever experienced or imagined. The feeling of release was so powerful, my legs were jerking with each jet of cum I shot into her channel. She took all of it with pleasure. The entire massive load I deposited into her, and I loved it. She just kept moving on my lap throughout my orgasm, intensifying the pleasure I felt even further and prolonging it as much as possible.

“Yes! YES! Fill Mommy up, Baby! Let it all out inside of me! Keep shooting me full of my Babyboy’s CuuUUUUM!” She screamed. I wasn’t sure if feeling me flood her insides pushed her over the edge of another orgasm, or if it just intensified her first one that was still ongoing. But I felt her folds ripple around my twitching cock stronger than before.

When my dick had finally shrunk so much it slipped out of her, she refused to simply stop. She laid down between my legs, her butt pointing in the air again, and cleaned me up. She licked our combined juices off my dick, placed butterfly kisses all over my shaft, and then started rubbing her face all over it while moaning. Occasionally she sucked on the over-sensitive tip again, causing my legs to uncontrollably twitch and moans to escape my mouth. She was like a woman mad with lust, who had finally, after years, gotten her release and was now showing her appreciation to the instrument of that pleasure.

There was no other word to describe it. My mother was literally worshiping my cock at that moment.

After a few minutes, she seemed to be satisfied and moved up the bed to lie back down next to me, placing kisses all the way up my body. She all but collapsed on me before cuddling in close, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling my head into her warm bosom. As we lay there, she stroked the back of my head and whispered declarations of love to me, occasionally kissing the top of my head.

I have no idea how, but this position was almost better than the sex I just had with my mother.

Chapter 9

I woke up the next morning at 4:20 AM, with Claire sleeping soundly next to me. In my sleep, I had rolled onto my right side and was spooning her. My left hand had gripped her right breast, holding her body close to mine. Despite what I kept telling myself, I knew I could have just stayed like this for hours and enjoyed the closeness I had missed out on for so long. It was more than just closeness, though, since my hard cock was firmly nested in between her legs. I would have expected to wake up with my cock planted in between her butt cheeks, like it had happened whenever I woke up cuddled up to Tess.

I suspected Claire had a helping hand in this, because the crotch of her panties was once again, or still, pushed to the side. My cock was pressing into her bare and wet pussy, as her slow breathing caused her hips to rub along my shaft in the most minute movements. When I moved my hips back to remove myself, to the point where the tip of my dick was perfectly lined up with her opening, the feeling was so intense I had to use every ounce of willpower to not thrust forward, impaling her on my cock and invading her most inner parts while she sleeps. She did, after all, claim to never deny me anything anymore. And either she was awake and horny, or asleep with a naughty dream, because she certainly felt wet enough to accept me.

However, just as I was entertaining that idea, I felt the pain radiating throughout my entire torso. I finally understood why I was hurting so much in the morning after my ‘Tess’ dream.

When people orgasm, their stomach muscles will at least tense up. If it’s a strong orgasm, like the one I had last night, the stomach muscles can even spasm a little. And if either of that happens while a few of your muscle strands were cut and had to be sewn back together, it will fucking hurt! No more sex, or at least no more straddling, for at least a week, I decided.

I carefully got out of the bed without disturbing Claire’s sleep, took two ibuprofen, and put on some sweatpants. Then I walked to my desk. I pressed the button to start the computer, placed a cup into my coffee maker, and took the next capsule out of the mix package. A ‘Choco Cappuccino’. Then I started working on my main-task again. I was trying to figure out how they laundered their money.

I got into the owner’s phone the very first day, when he connected it to his laptop to charge it, but he diligently deleted all his messages immediately, so I could only get copies of what he was receiving since I gained access. I got into the staffs’ phones by recording my own DNS-server in their WiFi router. So, whenever their devices tried to access any Apple or Google services, they were instead redirected to a punycode phishing-domain that asked for re-authentication. It even came with a secure connection, so people weren’t suspicious about the missing lock icon in their address bar. Merely a handful of people turn punycode off, because most simply don’t know about it in the first place, and the ones who do know about it don’t like the inconvenience.

So, after only two business days, I had access to most of their iClouds, Google Drives, OneDrives, and whatever else they used, and could use those to push my malware onto their phones. I even got into the phones of the three I encountered in that parking lot, despite them never showing up at the shop, through shared cloud drives. Still, even after going through all of their messages, chats, and emails during my all-nighter, I couldn’t find any clue how they were laundering their gambling income. They just didn’t talk about it, which frustrated the hell out of me!

After roughly two hours of going through their network, I noticed it was soon time for Claire to get up. She and Ava liked to work out in the mornings, so I went back to the mix package for my coffee maker and thought about what Claire could possibly like.

She woke up maybe five minutes after her drink went through. I heard her groan, the sheets rustle, and then the tapping of bare feet on the ground. She walked up to me from behind, wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and pressed her breasts into my shoulder as she kissed me on the cheek.

“Good morning, Baby.” she smiled.

I had just discovered that the bar’s surveillance system used wireless Samsung SmartCams, and was totally engrossed in those. These things were so bad that I could watch the feed even without having access to their network. And that was public knowledge! There were news articles about it! I guess they simply didn’t expect anyone to try something with them. So, instead of answering Claire, I just extended my left arm and pointed at the coffee maker. Claire followed my hand with her eyes, and, when she discovered the readily waiting hot beverage, let out a quiet but happy squeal before she almost jumped towards it. She took it, dropped down sideways onto my lap, and started watching the video feed I had running on my second monitor.

“Huh. This is new. Did you secretly drive to Austin last night and bugged the place!?” she asked after noticing the different camera angles.

“No. I’m using their existing surveillance system.”

Hearing that, she looked at me for a few seconds, then shook her head.

“When did you learn all this? I had no idea!” she said lightly. I refrained from using this unintentional assist to throw another jab at her disinterest in my life. She took her first sip from the coffee I prepared and perked up. “This is tasty! What is it?”

“Caramel Latte Macchiato.” I answered aloofly.

“Thank you!” she said, with a disturbingly bright smile on her face, as she leaned back into me to kiss my cheek for the second time in just as many minutes.

I couldn’t help but glance down and notice her still being in nothing but her panties. The urge to play with her nipples came back again, and the distinct feeling of blood rushing into my lower parts got me worried for a moment. A short lived moment, though, because it prompted me to think about last night.

I asked myself why I let it continue as far as I did. Sure, I was horny and exhausted, and after years of researching the topic of my family’s recreational activities, the thought of having sex with them wasn’t disturbing in any way anymore. The way Claire was behaving now, however, had me worried she would just think everything was good now. Like one quick fuck, while I was barely awake and she assumed I was drugged, would somehow make up for four years of pain. The way she had plopped herself into my lap, acting all loving and completely glossing over the comment she had just made, told me this was exactly what she seemed to think.

As my thoughts revolved around this, my eyes remaining on her body, my door opened and Ava stepped in, seemingly looking for Claire. When she had opened the door, her mouth had instantly opened to say something, but seeing Claire basically naked in my lap made her stop and apparently forget what she was about to say.

I quickly raised my eyes back to the monitor, trying not to look as drawn into my mother’s mature and admittedly distracting body as I really was. Just in time to see the staff place shrink-wrapped bricks of cash into a safe in the owner’s office, and a few Straps into a box underneath the counter!

I immediately realized how fucking stupid I was!

They operated a legitimate sports bar. All they had to do was ring the register a few times throughout the day to sell imaginary drinks or food, and pay with the cash from one of the bricks. Just like that, in a single night, they could easily turn eight to ten Grand of the gambling proceeds into legitimate revenue from the bar. I checked their menu on their website, and discovered that every item on it came as an even ten-spot after including taxes. They didn’t even have to deal with change after placing the notes from the bricks in the register! And any decent evening would amount to more than a hundred dollars per guest.

I leaned forward a little, unintentionally alerting Claire and Ava to having seen something interesting. Ava, upon seeing her mother immediately scanning the monitors for whatever I had seen, rushed over and joined us.

“What is it?” Claire asked.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I put the feed from the office in full screen on my bigger display, trying to make out what kind of notes were in those bricks.

“Holy FUCK!” Ava shouted. “How much is that!?”

“Well ... if they follow the norm, like we do when transporting money, each Brick would be made up of ten Straps. Each Strap would be made up of a hundred bills. So, one thousand notes of the same value per Brick. I can’t make out what kind of notes those are, though.” I explained.

“Holy Fuck!” Claire repeated Ava’s words.

“Can’t you zoom in on them?” Ava asked.

“I could, but I won’t. They are handling a shitload of money right now. It’s possible someone is keeping an eye on these people through the feed, to make sure nobody succumbs to temptation. If the camera suddenly starts moving or zooming, they will know someone else is not only watching too, but also has control of their surveillance system.” I explained.

“Someone’s watching them?” Ava asked.

“Oh!” we heard from Claire. “You mean what your boss told us at the meeting! That’s not their own money!”

“Exactly. The feed of the camera is tied to their network drive. But the camera itself is also streaming the videos to a cloud storage. And I couldn’t find any hint to that cloud access on the owner’s devices. I don’t think he even knows about it. Maybe, he doesn’t know his accomplices can watch while he handles their money.”

That was definitely way too much money for a single bookie to handle at once, unless he just had a whale lose. I counted thirty Bricks, so they amounted to something between $30,000 and $3,000,000 in pristine cash, depending on whether they contained $1 or $100 notes! After what I had discovered on their menu, though, Hundred-Dollar bills would make more sense.

Bill was probably right about this guy. Which meant potential extra trouble for us if anything went wrong. And the possibility of them not just letting bygones be bygones after I got rid of the videos increased drastically. I needed an additional contingency plan. I was totally lost in my thoughts, when I noticed Claire and Ava stare at me with concerned looks. Seemed like my worries were visible on my face.

“What is it?” they asked.

“Nothing.” I said, pensively. “Probably just overthinking it.”

Claire watched me for a second longer, then realized her drink was empty. When she looked up at Ava, raising her glass to her like she wanted to tell her about it, she seemingly realized why Ava was with us in the first place and jumped off my lap.

“Oh! I’m sorry, Sweety. Let me just get dressed!” she said, as she ran out of the room.

Then Ava was the one watching me, but I was already busy going through the connected network drive, copying the surveillance video for my backup plans. By the time I looked up again, Ava was gone too.

I spent the entire weekend hidden away in my bedroom, going through their surveillance videos, copying whatever seemed useful, making up plans and throwing them out again. I just couldn’t decide how to handle this. But I also managed to get into the phones of his entire staff and all of his frequent patrons. The one saving grace for this whole fucked up situation was that I couldn’t find anything even indicating that they already uploaded or shared the videos.

The other nice thing in all of this, though I was reluctant to admit it, was the fact that the family seemed to eagerly try and actually take care of me. They kept checking in on me, bringing me a plate with food whenever I didn’t show up for lunch or dinner, and asking me maybe two-hundred times a day if I was feeling Okay and whether the pain was manageable. I decided to just enjoy it and let them know how much I appreciated it, but knew that it would come to a close once this whole shitshow with Logan’s debt was over. Only then could I actually believe that they weren’t just doing it to keep me in a helping mood.

While Logan hated every second of it, I was surprised to see absolutely no hesitation in Ava when it came to caring for me. I went to bed alone on Saturday night, but I awoke cuddled up next to my half naked sister on Sunday morning. I didn’t know when she had crawled into my bed, but sometime during the night, my hand had moved underneath her shirt to hold her small (compared to the other two I had held so far) bare breast. Grabbing breasts in my sleep seemed to quickly have become a habit.

What woke me up, though, was Logan opening my door. He was standing in my doorway, one hand still holding the doorknob, watching us with an incredulous expression on his face. His expression quickly turned to anger when he looked at Ava’s face, and then he suddenly stormed off like a petulant child. I was just wondering what the hell his problem was while trying not to loudly laugh at his way of leaving, when Ava suddenly spoke.

“He doesn’t like that you’re in charge.” she said in a matter of fact kind of way.

“The hell!?” I asked in shocked confusion. I hadn’t even known she was awake, or I’d have removed my hand from her breast. Ava, however, seemed to think my statement was solely directed at her comment about Logan.

“You haven’t noticed?” she asked in a slightly amused tone, “We talked about it the first evening while you were pulling your all-nighter. Uncle John and Aunt Danielle told us how relieved they were when you immediately knew how to get rid of those videos. And Mom and Dad were too. They were really proud of how you just ... took control and got Logan to talk, while we were all too horrified to even think straight. And then you, like, immediately had a plan. None of us had any idea you could do all that, and Granny and Gramps are really impressed. Though they called it ‘being reliable’. And after Mom and Dad came back from the meeting with your boss, nobody questioned your plan anymore. If those videos come out, it would literally destroy our lives! So ... ever since you knocked Logan down on Thanksgiving, you’re just in charge.”

As she spoke, she had placed her hand on mine holding her breast. She obviously had no problem with me doing it. Quite the opposite, actually, as I could feel a small pebble-like object poke into the palm of my hand, that wasn’t so pronounced when she began her speech. I had no idea how to handle that. On one hand, I’d love to take advantage of her apparent gratitude and make her pay for all the pain she had caused me. On the other hand, I was still hurting and, after the session with Claire, knew for sure that I really needed to let my stomach muscles heal first. So, I shook it off, got out of bed and back to work.

Logan showed up in my doorway multiple times during the day, looking quite unhappy when I was just working, but right out frustrated when one of the others was with me. All the while, I was growing more and more anxious about those guys simply selling the videos to some porn site to make up for Logan’s continued refusal to pay them. I decided to discuss that with Bill, first thing Monday morning.

That day began differently than planned, though.

I had a wonderful dream about the night I spent with Claire. I got to relive the loving teasing she had subjected me to before getting my permission to take care of my needs. Sadly, the dream ended before it moved on to the main part. Interestingly, though, the sensations remained.

As I opened my eyes, I realized that I wasn’t alone in my bed. Just like I had gone to bed alone on Saturday night and woke up with Ava next to me on Sunday morning, I went to bed alone on Sunday night and woke up with my grandmother next to me on Monday morning! She was lying on her side facing me from the right, her arm extended above my head so the fingers of her left hand could caress my left cheek. Her face was buried in the nape of my neck to kiss it, while the fingernails of her right hand lightly scraped up and down the length of my hard shaft that was still covered by my tight shorts.

“Wha ... Granny?” I asked, my voice still hoarse after just waking up.

“Good morning, Pumpkin!” she purred.

My eyes wandered down her body in an attempt to fully understand what was going on, causing her to smile and position herself in a way that I could take in the sight. She was basically naked. All she wore were frilly panties underneath an almost fully transparent negligee that allowed me to realize where Claire got her breasts from. Granny’s were the same size and shape, though hers had quite a bit of sag to them. Which, interestingly, didn’t make them look the least bit less fun to play with! Actually, I could imagine myself enjoying it quite a bit if she were to let those things literally smother me. The fact that she could clearly feel my dick not softening at all while taking in her form seemed to make her happy.

“Uh ... what are you doing here?”

“Cuddle duty, Pumpkin. It’s my turn today.” she informed me in a sultry tone, “Did you know that you mumble in your sleep?”

“No. What did I say?” I didn’t like where this was going.

“You kept calling me ‘Mommy’. Now, if you insist, I can call your mother here. But how about you let Granny take care of this?”

As she said that last word, she switched from scraping her fingernails over my shaft, to rubbing it by pressing her fingertips against it. I admit, I was tempted. But I quickly realized that my interest in them was considerably lower when I was fully awake and remembered why I didn’t like them.

“It’s a compelling offer, Granny. But I need to get back to work.” I said matter of fact, causing her hand to abruptly stop moving.

“What? Are ... are you sure, Pumpkin?” she seemed genuinely surprised about me rebuffing her. She caught herself quickly, though, and returned to her sultry voice while now actually grabbing my shaft through the shorts. “This here certainly feels like it could use some loving attention.”

“Thanks, but it’ll go away on its own once I get to pee.” I said, climbed out of bed, and left the room. The last thing I saw, before rounding the corner, was her looking at me in utter disbelief.

The first thing I did, after getting ready to leave, was visit the school to turn in my prolonged sick note, so they knew I would be gone until school opened up in January again. They gave me the login-data for a website on which I could work on assignments and not be totally behind when I could go back to class. Then I drove over to the Firm and went directly into Bill’s office.

“Look at how much money they’re stashing.” I pointed out when I showed him the surveillance video I copied.

“Well, that somewhat confirms the cash cleaning.” he stated, not even batting an eye when seeing the cash. It wasn’t an unusual amount for him, since he was used to transporting money for clients. Then he turned towards me but pointed at the monitor. “Kid, how the hell did you get this?”

“Insecure security system and dumb Smart Devices.” was my entire explanation, causing him to chuckle. “I have to admit, though ... I’m getting anxious. What if he sells the videos for quick cash because Logan keeps avoiding him?”

“Doubtful.” he discounted my worries, but continued when he noticed my questioning look. “Remember what I told you at the meeting with your folks? He dabbles in producing porn with women he or his associates forced into prostitution. I didn’t want to mention this with your family here, to keep them from totally losing it, but if he doesn’t get his money, he will probably take those four to his studio. Maybe even Logan too. Selling or publishing the videos beforehand would only take away his leverage to force them into compliance.”

My entire body tensed up while he spoke. As far as I knew, nobody ever told him what those videos actually showed, only that they were compromising material they could blackmail the family with. Without even outright saying it, he just offhandedly confirmed that he already had guessed what kind of videos they had of my ‘loving’ family. Did he also guess those videos showed incestuous intercourse? The remark for Logan possibly being put in front of a camera with Ava, Claire, Maggie, and Danielle could hint at that. I decided not to ask him, though. I really didn’t want to have that discussion with him. Also, if I was wrong, and he didn’t already know or maybe only suspected, me nervously asking about it would all but confirm it.

“Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I’m not exactly well versed in rape. How would he use the threat of publishing their compromising videos, to get them to make even more compromising videos for him?” I asked instead.

He nodded sagely while thinking his words over carefully.

“It’s hard to make rational decisions when you’re scared and feel like you’re with your back to the wall.” Bill recounted soberly, “Even if they somehow keep their heads straight, he doesn’t need to tell them. He could use the videos to force them into sex without them knowing he’s filming. Or, more likely, he could use the videos to make them simply agree to a meeting with him. Then they are drugged and dragged into the studio for an extensive shoot with his entire crew.”

I stared at him wide eyed for a good ten seconds.

“Yeah ... let’s move the plan forward!” I commented eagerly, “Let’s get this over with before he gets any ideas.”

“You heard what I just told you about rational decisions, right?”

“Yes! I’m actually very confident I can get all the copies. I’m in every computer, drive, phone, and cloud storage he, his goons, and all of his employees have access to.”

He watched me for a moment, and only responded when I gave him a confident nod.

“All right. Then let’s get you home first. Get dressed, get your gear and the USB drive with your evidence. I’ll put it in the safe here, just in case anybody has quick ideas.”

“I’ll need to visit my GP first. Getting my stitches out today.” I remembered.

“Reschedule for tomorrow. If this goes sideways, you’ll appreciate the extra support on those incisions.” he said, as he opened the door for me. “I’ll call Paul to get ready when you are.”

He followed me home with his own car. When we entered the house together, we saw all six adult members of the family gathered in the living room. Logan should be on his way back to college, and Ava and Maggie should be back in school, so their absence wasn’t unusual. What was unusual were their expressions and demeanor. It told us, at a single glance, that all my careful planning had gone to shit!

“What happened?” I asked into the room in a defeated voice.

“Logan’s message in the group chat.” Aaron explained, like I should know what he’s talking about.

“What group chat?” I asked.

“The family cha...” Grandpa started, but stopped when he remembered I wasn’t a member of that. Just then, he realized it wasn’t because I disliked Facebook and WhatsApp. So, he got his phone out and showed me.

“The fuck does he mean by ‘fixing it himself’? How!?” I shouted at this point.

The idiot just had to ruin everything! He didn’t have the money, he didn’t have the evidence, what the hell was he trying to do? Then it dawned on me, and I ran to my bedroom to look through my drawer. I seriously asked myself why I even went through all this shit for these people. Especially since I, after further thinking, realized I probably wouldn’t be sent to a group home anyway, but rather a halfway house. If I was sent anywhere in the first place, since I had a job and an apartment I already paid rent for.

“What?” Bill asked. He and the family had followed me into my room.

“The drive’s gone. He took the evidence I gathered about their operation.” I answered in a resigned tone.

I started my laptop, ignoring the family’s looks. When it was ready, I immediately logged into their surveillance camera overseeing the main office in the sports bar, presenting us with a great view of Logan, looking like he took a few good ones to the face.

My mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do next and how to salvage this situation. I wanted to immediately send the request to my C&C-server before they did anything with the videos as additional punishment for Logan. However, Claire and Danielle gasped upon seeing Logan in that state, which reminded me of what would happen if the videos vanished in the midst of THAT kind of situation. He was a fucking asshole, but there was a chance they would actually kill him. Looking at them, I remembered what Bill had just told me in his office, and pulled out my phone to type a message to Logan.

We heard them talk.

“I mean, it’s fucking stupid to try and make demands of me.” the owner told Logan, sounding quite amused and waving something in his hand. I suspected it was my USB drive with the evidence. “But I do appreciate that you brought this to me. Now I know exactly where to make changes. Doesn’t matter if you have copies or tell anyone. Nothing on here is definitive proof. By tonight, nothing you have will check out anymore.”

“Fucking hell...” I heard Bill breathe out, shaking his head.

Fucking hell, indeed. I was so done with this. I tried. All the work I put in, all the effort I had invested in helping these people, once again ruined and voided by my fucking brother.

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen.” the owner continued. “I’m done waiting for you to get my money together. You... ”

He was interrupted by someone coming into the room and wordlessly handing him a phone. After he looked at it for a minute, he started talking again.

“Who’s Tiny?”

“My ... my brother.” Logan answered in confused hesitance.

“Tiny?” Bill asked, amused.

“It’s the nickname they use for me to make fun of my small dick.” I gave my deadpan answer, jerking my head towards my family without taking my eyes off the screen to signify whom I meant by ‘they’.

I didn’t care how much Bill knew or learned anymore. From the corner of my eye I could see three things, though. First, Bill’s face that had instantly lost it’s amused look. Second, the uncomfortable feet-shuffling from my family. And, third, Bill throwing a confused and disbelieving look at John.

“You have a brother? How come we didn’t know about this?” We heard the voice from the Surveillance Feed again.

“We’re not... ” Logan starated to answer. Then he quickly lifted his head and continued in an almost desperate tone. “I used his money to pay you back, then he found all the stuff that’s on the drive. He was the one who put your guys in the hospital, too!”

I felt my stomach drop a few feet and paled. Bill grunted next to me. The fucker was trying to sell me out to save himself. The rest of the family just looked on anxiously.

“And how did he get all this?” the owner asked, once again holding up the Stick.

“I don’t really know. He does computer stuff for a security company.”

“OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” I called out.

“Calm down.” Bill’s hand strongly gripped my shoulder. “Remember what I said about scared people and rational decisions!”

“Security makes sense.” the owner mused. “Probably asked around with the local bouncers and shit. Doesn’t matter anyway. But my guys will want a piece of him to make it even again. Looks like your family’s debt just went up again. I’ll give you all a way to make it up to us. According to your Bro, your grandmother fell and broke a hip or some shit. They’ll be taking care of her for a few days. When they’re back, I want you to invite them here. It’s about time we all had a talk about how to get me my money’s worth.”

“Okay, sure! I’ll talk to them as soon as they’re back!” Logan eagerly agreed.

And just like that, they gave him his phone back and threw him out of the bar.

“Quick thinking, Kid.” Bill commended me. The others in the room just looked at us questioningly, so he addressed the others. “He just bought us a few days to come up with a new plan.”

“What new plan!?” Grandpa asked, “We have to call the police!”

“With what!?” I asked angrily, “You heard the man. Logan gave them everything I had on them, and now they’ll just use that as a fucking instruction manual on to avoid prosecution. It’s not like I found a spreadsheet titled ‘Proceeds from illegal gambling’. All we had was circumstantial evidence and paper trails that would’ve checked out if the police had used it to raid their bar, or their warehouse, or set them up somehow. But now they’ll move their stuff and change their meeting places, and we have no idea where to.”

“But Logan is in danger!” Claire protested, “You saw him, they already hurt him! The police has to do something!”

“They just let him go, Mrs. Brown.” Bill attempted to calm her down, as I opened the video file from their network drive and showed him how Logan had entered the room already reeling. “Even if we go to the police now, they’d file a report about an alleged assault, but we can’t prove anything since they didn’t do it on camera. They also didn’t outright threaten any of you or admit to anything. All the man said was that Logan owed him money, and he’ll want his parents involved.”

“But there has to be something we can do?” Aaron inquired, proving his inability to handle the situation yet again.

I knew what I could do. I had thought about it when I realized just how much money they were handling. But I really didn’t want to. Even now, knowing they were coming to get revenge on me for taking down three of their people, and what they were planning to do with the others, I still wasn’t especially eager. But I couldn’t think of anything else, and I didn’t have the time to come up with something new. I turned to Bill.

“You think they’ll be safe for a few days if they actually go to the grandparents’ house like my message claimed?” I asked. He looked at me, and seemed to realize I had an idea before thinking about my question for a moment.

“Probably. Those guys aren’t big. As far as I know, he only has that one guy who’s with him right now and the three that came for Logan ... who are now out of commision, courtesy to you. Maybe your family should go to a hotel for the first two days or so, just to make sure those guys actually intend to restructure their operation first.”

“And why should only ‘his family’ go to a hotel? Why does that sound like neither of you is including you?” Uncle John asked, pointing his finger in my direction.

“Because we’re not. I will ... stay here. And make the story about Granny’s new hip believable while thinking of what to do next.” I claimed, unwilling to let them know what I was actually going to do, since I really didn’t need the discussion right then.

“Fine.” Claire announced after a moment. “But we need to get a hold of Logan and make sure he’s Okay.”

“Sure. Now go pack your shit and get moving. Use the money we had planned to give them and pay for the rooms and anything else you’ll need in cash. After that you can call the backstabber.” I told them in a rough tone as I turned to get a cigarette outside.

I didn’t suggest the cash because I thought that the bookie and his acquaintances were capable of tracking credit cards. I just remembered that Golden Boy had most likely blown away their liquid savings, and I did not want them to come back early because they ran out of money.

I was utterly exhausted. I didn’t think Logan had ever planned to sell out his girls just so they would pay off his debt for him. He lied to that man about that part. But he didn’t lie when he was talking about me. He had painted a target on my back to get himself out of his shit. Scared or not, after running away and getting me stabbed, that was the second time he was perfectly fine with me suffering if it would get him off the hook. And the only concern any of my family members voiced was about seeing Logan with a bloody nose.

“You sure you’ll be Okay?” I suddenly heard Aunt Danielle’s voice from behind me. She and Uncle John were about to leave.

“Hm.” I replied noncommittally, my mind focused on my mental checklist for tonight.

“Don’t do anything reckless, please.” she added quietly.

“Why would I?” I answered, as I moved back inside and upstairs to my room.

I still wanted to immediately delete the videos from their devices, but I couldn’t afford to agitate them before tonight, and it looked like Bill’s assumption would still prove correct. They were planning to get the girls and therefore wouldn’t distribute the videos carelessly. Instead, I went through the saved videos from their surveillance system, looking for a video that showed the owner clearing out the safe.

Going through his emails, I had learned that he had a rented storage space. I also knew he was taking a bigger cut of the money than his accomplices had agreed to, making my plan more plausible. I found a video from a few months ago, in which he was clearing out the safe wearing the very same outfit he wore while talking to Logan. Hooray for the male fashion sense!

“Baby?” Claire’s voice broke my concentration. I just grunted to acknowledge her presence, but refused to take my eyes off the screen. “We’re all packed. You sure it’s safe for you...”

“Uh huh.” I answered.

“Don’t be careless.” Aaron said. “We love you!”

“Hm.” was all they got back from me as I continued my task.

Claire and Aaron stood in my doorway for a while watching me, seemingly waiting for me to say anything more, but I no longer cared about their promises and assurances. The night I spent with Claire had done a surprisingly good job at reminding me how much I actually yearned for a little closeness with them. Not the sex, mind you, but the way she held me after the sex. With their behavior at the meeting in Bill’s office and seeing their reactions to Golden Boy’s repeated betrayal, however, I was once again convinced there was no future to this.

One way or the other, I would be gone once this was over.

“You can’t really blame your brother.” I suddenly heard Bill’s voice, pulling me back to reality.

“Are you serious!?”

“I know you’re pissed he threw you under the bus. But you can’t really blame him for it.”

“And why the fuck not?” I asked, not believing my ears. Of all the people in my life, Bill was the last one I expected to stab me in the back or support my backstabbing brother.

“Because this isn’t some action movie with him in the main role, Kid. He’s not some Rambo-type who laughs death in the face, or some CIA-Agent trained to withstand torture. That’s not how the real world works. He was obviously scared out of his mind and would’ve told them whatever could’ve gotten them off his back without even thinking about it.” he explained calmly. “I’m not saying you can’t be angry with the little fucker. From what I understand, this whole situation only exists because he made one bad decision after the other. But I am telling you that you can’t blame him for what he did in that particular moment.”

“You are serious!”

“Look ... it’s easy for outsiders to claim they wouldn’t have done it. But the truth is, nobody can know how they would react in a situation like that, until they actually find themselves in a situation like that. Now, I know you’re not planning to wait for the bookies crew to show up on your doorstep. You already have an idea. Whatever it is, it won’t work if you spend the night fuming over what we just saw. So, what are you thinking, kid?”

I looked at him for a while, but ultimately had to agree with what he said. I had to concentrate instead on my task instead of making up scenarios of how to punish Logan.

I still wasn’t sure if I should tell him what was brewing in my head, though. The family seemed to be gone, and Bill was the one I felt was the most trustworthy person in my life. I didn’t want to risk that. But still, I needed that bookie off my back. Permanently. The implications and probable consequences of what I was about to do, however, weren’t exactly something I’d want others to know about. But at the same time ... Bill had helped me more times than I could count. I sighed and resigned myself to simply trusting him.

“I’m going to steal the money he’s supposed to clean, and ... make it look like he stole it himself.” I carefully answered, watching his face for any indication of disapproval. I couldn’t find any. In fact, like so often, I couldn’t find an indication for any type of emotion on his face.

“You know what kind of people gave him that money. And what they’ll do to anyone stealing from them.” he stated simply. Just like his face, his voice also showed no judgment.

“You know what they’ll do to Claire, Ava, Danielle, and Maggie if I don’t do this.”

He watched me intently for a while. I felt like he was trying to gauge my resolve. Then he spoke again.

“How you gonna do it?” he asked as he moved closer to me, looking at my monitor.

“From the camera, I got the login data for the cloud storage where it saves the surveillance videos to. I found videos from a few months back, when the owner emptied the safe wearing the very same clothes as today. The rest of the office also looks the same ... luckily, the office has no windows, the camera angle doesn’t show any clocks, and the guy cleans up after himself. I copied those videos and also the videos showing him walking in and out through the hallway. All I have to do now is manipulate the time stamps to make it look like these videos are actually from tonight, and place them on the drives after I took the money. Since the timestamp in the feed itself is displayed on a thick black background, even I can change them without knowing much about video editing. And changing the timestamps and the reference to the editing software in the file’s meta data isn’t a problem for me.”

He thought about that for a moment, then nodded.

“How are you going to get into the building?”

Instead of answering, I opened my desk’s bottom drawer and pulled out the ElectroPick I got a while back through work, because ... well, because I thought it was cool. I had picked it up from my apartment when this plan had begun to take form in my head. He took one glance and smiled.

“Fine. But I’ll come with you.” That caught me off guard.

“Why?” I asked incredulously.

“I’m bored. And you may know about that computer crap, but this? I know a little more about this kinda stuff than you, kid.” he just said.

“Yeah ... but why are you helping me so much?”

He thought about that for a moment, then sighed.

“John and I go way back, you know? This is about his little sister, so I feel obligated to help him. Besides, I’ve known you since you were this small and still all pudgy.” he said, holding his palm at waist height, causing me to snort a short laugh before he continued in a serious tone. “We all need someone to look out for us from time to time, Kid. With the ... home situation you have ... I’d feel like an ass if I just walked away knowing what you’re gonna do.”

I was fucking thankful for that man. He was more of a father figure to me than Aaron had been. When Aaron demanded I’d get a job, Bill had taken me seriously and given me that chance to prove myself. When Aaron refused to lift a finger to help with the bullying, Bill had taught me how to end it. When I had to trick Aaron into signing the application for my license, Bill had given me driving lessons. And when Tess died, he showed me more concern than my entire family combined. I was just about to comment something sappy, when he spoke again and ruined this sentimental thought process.

“Especially since you saved me a shitload of money ever since I graciously took you in. I mean, I never told you, but the firm I paid for the IT-shit before you? Ninety Bucks an hour! So, with me helping you through this, you can’t use that knowledge to demand a raise without looking like an ungrateful ass yourself. Just let me tell the Missus I won’t be back tonight.”

With that, he pulled out his phone, turned his back to me, and only chuckled when I threw a crumpled up piece of paper at the back of his head. I didn’t feel like listening in on his private conversations, so I decided to get us something to drink before we needed to go.

As I stepped through the door into the hallway, though, I heard the front door close. When I made my way downstairs and looked through the door’s peephole, I could just see the parents and grandparents pull out of the driveway. So much for hiding what I was about to do.

At eleven in the evening we got into Bill’s car and drove to the office, where we switched into a pickup to make the drive to Austin, arriving around 2:30 AM. Bill had us change into blue work-overalls, talking about how most break-ins happened in bright daylight by people looking like craftspeople. People seeing you fiddle with a lock, dressed like this and sporting fashionable tool belts, tend to automatically assume you’re a locksmith or something similar and simply forget about it.

We waited another hour before the owner’s and his last remaining goon’s phones’ GPS showed them at their homes. Then we had to wait another half hour so the timestamp of my prepared fake video would fit into the gap created by turning off the camera, and combining them into one continuous feed was easier.

“All right, time to turn off the cameras, then we have exactly thirty minutes to pull this off and turn them back on.” I told Bill, as I opened my laptop.

The service entrance in the back was quickly opened with the ElectroPick. An electric lockpick is basically an electric toothbrush with the brush head removed. Imagine the metal pin that holds the brush heads filed down into the form of a lockpick. When you stick it into the keyhole and turn it on, the oscillations of the metal pin transfer through the metal of the lock to the lock pins, causing them to vibrate until they eventually all line up perfectly and you can just turn the lock. It took Bill maybe eight seconds to open the door that way.

We made our way to the owner’s office, my heartbeat loud in my ears. I knew from the camera feed, before I shut it off, that nobody was left inside, but I was scared shitless someone might come back for some reason. Bill, on the other hand, was as calm as ever and made sure I didn’t freeze up unnecessarily.

“Where was the safe again?” Bill asked, and I pointed at the cabinet behind him.

“Hmm, Sentry Safe. What you gonna do now, Kid? Hack the thing with your phone? Pull out a neodymium magnet to bypass the mechanism?” he asked, smiling.

I just knelt down and punched the combination in, which he commented by grumbling a disappointed “Boring...”.

“He sets a new combination every time his guys put the money in. But I could clearly see him doing it on his fancy HD-camera over there.” I explained, pointing at the ceiling.

The safe opened and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the piles of money in it. I had never seen that much cash in person, probably even throughout my life. I moved it all into my duffle bag, closed the safe back up, and we got out through the back again. Despite my instincts screaming at me to just get the hell away from there, Bill made me wait. He knelt down and used the ElectroPick to lock the door back up.

“You said you wanted it to look like he stole it himself. We shouldn’t make it look like it was as easy as it was to get in here. Any clues for how someone could’ve come in, would make his robbery claim more believable.” he explained, before finally walking back to the car.

I was damn sure I would be hyperventilating without Bill around. After nothing happened for five minutes, I calmed down enough to get my Laptop out.

“What now?” Bill asked.

“First, I’m sending the request to my C&C-server to activate the malware on all the devices.”

“Now? Won’t that raise suspicions when he tries to figure out who stole from him?”

“If this works as we hope, it won’t matter. I’m sure he’ll notice the missing money before he notices the corrupted videos. And even if he somehow figures out what I did over the last few days, pointing it out to his accomplices after they started looking into it will only seem even more like a desperate attempt to shift the attention away from him. But more importantly, I want those videos gone before his buddies start tearing his hardware apart to look for clues to their money. If they find the videos and copy them, I’ll have to start all over again.”

“Good point.” he just said.

“All I need to do now is to turn the cameras back on at exactly four-thirty and place the prepared videos in the cloud storage. Whoever checks those tomorrow would see the owner emptying the safe himself. I don’t think he even knows about this cloud storage, he has his videos on a network drive in that building. So, I’ll also place the videos on there and delete them again.”

“Why delete them?” Bill asked, curious. His slightly amused tone gave me the impression he had way too much fun.

“If the people whose money we just took look into it, they’ll find the video of him taking the money in their cloud storage despite him claiming the money was stolen. If he really doesn’t know about the cloud storage, he’ll look into his network drive, telling them the camera was turned off by the thieves. But, if those guys have someone even slightly more capable than this dude, they’ll find the deleted video of him cleaning them out as soon as they take more than just a fleeting glance at his drive. It’ll make it look like he deleted them himself to support his lie.”

“Don’t take this as a compliment, but you do have a talent for this. Though, I’m not sure that’s enough. Your story’s lacking something important.”

“What’s that?” I asked nervously.

“Motive, Kid. Why did he suddenly decide to steal from people who are that dangerous? Typically, stuff like that happens either because they’ve had enough and want out, or because they need the money for something.”

“Well ... What if we don’t plant all the Bricks on him? Making it look like he had to use a sizable chunk of it? But if you think that isn’t enough, I can use his credit card to book a one-way ticket to Switzerland or something. He does actually steal from them. Just apparently not so much that it would raise any eyebrows. I know he stashes it in a garage he’s renting.” I explained.

“Garage? As in a rented storage unit?” he asked and I nodded. “Just to be sure ... how are you planning on dealing with that garage’s surveillance?”

I hadn’t thought about that, and just stared at him blinking.

“So much for your talent for this. These storage facilities are also equipped with camera surveillance. And you can bet your ass, if these guys want to access those, they can. Besides, how were you planning to point those guys to the garage? Anyone telling them about where to find the money would naturally be suspected of having taken it themselves, instead of the guy we’re trying to frame here.”

“Oh...” I just said, not knowing how to continue.

“All right, let’s find an IHOP or something and get some breakfast. You got their home addresses?”

“Yeah, why?”

“We’ll wait till they leave, then go into their apartments and stash some of the bricks in there. It’s the first place anyone suspecting them of stealing will look. Though ... maybe, just to be sure ... go ahead and book the flight with his credit card for Saturday.” He explained as he started the car and found us a diner.

At Six in the morning, the camera system switched files, and I could combine the real feeds with the manipulated video, erasing every trace of the camera system ever being turned off for the real owners of the money. Meanwhile I left the videos on the owner’s drive in parts, to make it look like he himself deleted the part showing him emptying the safe.

Another three hours later, the work overalls proved extremely helpful, as I noticed people not even giving us a second look when we walked into the buildings. We placed two Bricks in the goon’s apartment and five Bricks in the owner’s apartment another hour later. Then we made our way back home.

When we arrived at the office building, the first thing we did was go into Bill’s office and empty the duffle bag.

“Holy fuck.” I said.

“Indeed.” Bill confirmed calmly. “I didn’t expect it to be that much. At least this could count as another motive. It’s a very tempting amount for anyone to get their hands on.”

On his table were twenty-three Bricks of cash, most of them containing hundred-dollar-notes, amounting to exactly a shitload of US-Dollars.

“What the hell are we going to do with it? I can’t take it home. What if one of them comes looking for clues and finds it?” I asked.

“We? I’m not touching that money, Kid. But I’m warning you now, you can’t put it in your bank account either. A deposit of more than ten-thousand dollars in cash gets reported to the IRS by the bank. Even if you deposit it in smaller increments, ‘cause that ten grand threshold is also per year. Same goes for big purchases. So, at ten grand per year, this would take you a lifetime to deposit.”

“Deposit box is also out of the question. Still a minor and all that. So...?” I asked Bill, hoping for some guidance.

“How about you burn it?” he asked, matter of fact, to which I just looked at him shocked, grabbed a few bricks, and theatrically held them against my chest like I was protecting a new born child. “Just put it in the safe in your office for now. It should be big enough. You only use it for the backup drives anyway. But since we’re already on the topic of money, take this.” he said, presenting me with a business mastercard. “I got the idea when you went to Walmart for my adapter. It made me remember that you also went to Home Depot for the missing parts for the shelves in your office. In the future you could use this to pay for stuff like that. Would spare you the hassle of bringing the slips into accounting to get your money back.”

“Oh, convenient! Thanks.” I said.

“Though, after ... It’s a prepaid card holding a thousand bucks right now. If you want, I can tell accounting to open it up for personal use. You could use it for whatever, and they’d top it off each month from your pay if you used it for non-work related purchases.” He paused, and got the same thoughtful look he had during the meet with the family. “Like, if you ever need a motel room or something. If I had known what was really going on, I wouldn’t ‘ve told your folks where to find your apartment, Kid. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” I replied in a subdued voice.

I shoved the card into my wallet, and was just packing the Bricks back into the bag when he stopped what he was doing, turned to look at me for a moment, and then spoke again.

“Kid, how did you get that guy’s credit card information to book the flight with?”

I didn’t answer. Truth was, I had simply watched him enter it a few days ago to pay for an OnlyFans subscription, so no fancy hacking on that part. But why admit that?

“Tim?” he asked after mulling the past few hours over in his head. “We’re friends, right? I won’t need to cancel my cards, right?”

I replied with my best impression of Palpatine’s laugh while I made my way downstairs to stash the money away. Then we met back up in the parking lot, got out of the overalls, and he gave me a lift back to the house.

I checked my phone and noticed a whopping fourteen missed calls from Claire, Aaron and even Uncle John. That was new, if those were attempts to check in on me. But I still had one more thing to do before I could call it mission accomplished. I had to call Logan. My first attempt went to voicemail after it rang just three times. Cursing under my breath, I immediately tried again, and he finally picked up.

“What!?” I heard his annoyed voice.

“Good day to you too, Golden Boy.” I answered, audibly annoyed.

“Oh ... it’s you.” His voice was now clearly tense.

“Yes, It’s me. How’s everything at your end?”

“Fine. I got here a few hours ago.”

“Where’s ‘here’?” I asked confused.

“With the others. Mom and Granny insisted since I got hurt.” he said with an audible grin, telling me he was enjoying this greatly. The reason for his good mood became clear when I heard Claire’s afar voice.

“Oh, you’re finally awake. Ava, honey, go make your brother feel better until Danny and I can join back in.” she ordered with a sultry laugh.

“Yes, Mom.” I heard Ava confirm.

Did I hear this right!? ‘Join back in’? My mood had significantly improved during the past hour I spent with Bill, but now I was immediately at rock bottom again. There were two big problems with what I had just heard.

First: Was physical appearance the only thing these damn people cared about? They excluded me for not being attractive enough, yet they didn’t exclude Logan for betraying their trust, putting their lives in danger, and trying to sell me out.

Second: They were fucking. So much for my theory of them calling so often because they were concerned for me. Clearly they were just concerned about something going wrong and the videos coming out.

Believe it or not, I didn’t blame them for caring for Logan, and I had to admit that Bill was right about him being scared. I hated him with a passion for what he did to me, but he was still their son, brother, and nephew. They were supposed to care for him. Just like they were supposed to care for me whenever I came home after being beaten by the assholes in school. It’s what I wished for these past years. And just like I came to terms with them not wanting me, realizing I couldn’t force them to be attracted to me, I knew I could never get what I needed from a family if it excluded one of its members. The basic problem would remain; they would still facilitate the very same damaging and hurtful behavior I had suffered from. I was also in full agreement with what Claire had said the night we had sex. She wanted me back in her life, but not at the cost of repeating her mistake with one of my siblings.

No, what got me down again was the fact they were even in the mood for sex, while I was out there trying to save their ungrateful asses from a known sex trafficer, who also almost killed me once before. Since they apparently stuck around while Bill and I discussed my plan, they knew about that. It proved how little they really worried about me.

“Fine.” I said, as I found my voice again, though now I was audibly pissed. “Listen, sometime this afternoon, I’ll need you to call those guys with a status update. Tell them the whole family will be back by Friday, so Ava won’t have to miss out on her birthday. Tell me how that went afterwards. You got that, asshole?”

“Don’t call me Asshole, Tiny!” he angrily answered, causing Claire to inject herself into the conversation again.

“Wait! Is that Tim? Give me the phone! NOW Logan!” I heard rustling, and then Claire’s voice came in clearer and a lot louder. “Tim? Baby? Are you Okay? We haven’t heard from you! We were so worried!”

“Sure you were.” I spat into the phone. “You were so worried that you all spent the night fucking the asshole who sold me out to those people, after he lost the videos he secretly took of your sexparties. So, not like he ever did anything that would warrant you finally remembering your obligations as a parent to raise your children, right!?”

“Wh ... What? Baby, we... ”

“Save it! Make sure your Golden Boy doesn’t fuck it up again, please. He needs to call them sometime this afternoon and tell them you’ll all be back before Ava’s birthday. If he can’t reach them, that’s a good thing, but if he does, do NOT come back before Monday! Just stay close to him when he makes the call, so he doesn’t tell them anymore crap that would make them want to kill me again! But I guess staying close to him won’t be a problem for any of you, will it?”

I hung up before she could answer me. I had other things to do, but my phone rang before I could put it back into my pocket. I didn’t think talking while I was in that kind of mood would be productive, so I sent her call to my voicemail and set my phone to silent. Then I made my way to our GP to finally get those staples and stitches removed. They had started to itch like hell, and I was glad I had healed enough to get rid of them, though the cracked rib still hurt whenever I moved the wrong way. Especially lifting my laptop around in the car last night had made that evident to me. Two more weeks, If the pretty doc from the hospital was right.

On my way back to the house, I stopped at a grocery store to get myself a frozen pizza, a coke, and a sixpack of beer. I don’t know if it was for the purchases that looked like I just got off a night shift, the unshaven face supporting that impression, or the business mastercard I paid with, but the cashier didn’t even bat an eye about the alcohol when ringing my purchases. Maybe he just took pity on me after seeing the still quite pronounced bruises on my face. Either way, I was just thankful that something went well for me that day.

Despite not expecting the Bookie’s partners to try anything so soon, I was still scared. If they ever made a connection with us at all, it would take them a few days at least. I contemplated all this while eating half of my pizza. Still, whenever I was about to fall asleep on the sofa, I would jerk awake again to frantically check my surroundings.

I walked to my bedroom instead, dropped into my chair, and started my computer. Over the next ninety minutes, I emptied all six beers thinking it would get me far enough to just ignore the nagging doubts and let me sleep. I kept telling myself that I needed sleep, and that they wouldn’t show up so soon, but finally decided to get a little extra help by taking one of my leftover Zydol. Another ten minutes later, the combination of exhaustion, opiates, and alcohol finally let me pass out. Literally. I just fell backwards on my bed when I tried to take my socks off, and was out before I could even lift my legs onto the mattress.

I woke up the next morning feeling mushy. I always felt that way when I slept for more than eight hours straight. According to the clock, it was 6:30 AM. I slept for the better part of thirteen hours. I did notice I was down to my shorts, despite not remembering undressing. I didn’t think about that, though, as I absolutely had to go take a leak.

When I got out of the bathroom, I found myself confronted with the sight of my naked sister walking out of her room.

She probably had just come out of the shower before I went into the bathroom, because she was still drying her hair with a towel, which was covering her face so she hadn’t seen me yet. Her breasts were a little smaller than Tess’, which were a good full C-Cup, and perky instead of tear shaped, but jiggled just the same as she rubbed the towel through her hair. Her thin body was shaped in the most gorgeous hourglass figure that I couldn’t help but let my eyes linger on. She absolutely deserved her position as captain of the cheer squad when it came to her looks.

I admired the view and, without noticing, my dick started to grow. Her personality may have been shit, but she certainly looked stunning. I don’t know if I made a noise, but she suddenly ripped the towel off her head and slung her head in my direction with surprised shock. Then her eyes wandered down my body and stopped at my bulge. Her eyes grew wide, her mouth fell open, and she just unabashedly stared at my almost naked body.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked. It took her a few seconds to move her eyes up to my face and give me an answer, not even attempting to cover herself up.

“I ... I forgot ... school stuff! Homework!” she stammered, her eyes darting to and from, before wandering over my body again and finally coming to a rest on that inappropriate protrusion in my shorts.

“School stuff? Are you fucking kidding me!? You’re not going to school, you’re tending to your hurt grandmother who lives hours away, remember?” I reminded her in a desperate plea. If Logan wasn’t fucking this up for me, the rest of them would? “You know what? I’m done asking you all to please work with me. Do what I fucking told you to do!”

Hearing my demand at the end, she suddenly started rubbing her thighs together, which was somehow annoying me. After all those years of her rejecting, ridiculing, and humiliating me for the most stupid reasons, her body’s reaction betrayed her.

“Like what you see?” I asked, intending to tease her about it.

Her response disturbed me, though. It ripped her out of her trance, she regarded me with an amazed look, and tried to say something, but her mouth moved like a fish out of the water. Then, instead of being angry and throwing heavy objects at me like I expected from her, she suddenly gave me this shy look, placed both hands behind her back, and basically presented her naked body to me. I blinked a few times, and a shocking realization made its way into my mind.

The look she had given me before turning all shy and docile was something I had seen before. It was the same as when I told her to get us beers at Thanksgiving. She told me that bit about Logan not liking me ‘being in charge’, but back then the possible meaning was completely lost on me. I had to test this.

“Alright Princess, get in there and help me out of the Rib Brace.” I said in a firm tone, pointing at my bedroom door.

She immediately sprang to action and was in my room before I took a single step. When I entered after her, she loosened the brace while standing behind me, pressing her naked body into my back. I could feel her nipples being hard as little rocks, confirming my theory to an extent. I still had to push her to know for sure.

“Stand in front of me, Princess.” I said, in a commanding tone this time.

It worked again! She hurried around me, came to a stand, and waited for me to tell her what to do next while breathing somewhat loudly through her mouth! I pointed at the pads still covering my wounds, and the still bright red cut on my right eyebrow before speaking again.

“I got all this protecting you. I think it’s only fair you balance out some of the pain. Get on your knees.”

Her eyes grew as big as saucers. Then, instead of just kneeling before me like I told her, she also pulled my shorts off on the way down, grabbed my now painfully throbbing cock, and opened her mouth to slowly move her head closer to it.

Feeling her hot breath on the tip of my cock, right before her lips would engulf it, was unbelievably exciting. Then she closed her lips around it, and started sucking while jerking her hand up and down my shaft. Her tongue massaged around my tip as her head tilted from one side to the other, while she searched my face for signs of approval.

She didn’t moan like Claire had done. I had no indication whether she was enjoying this. I placed my hand on the back of her head, but didn’t guide her in any way. She seemed to have expected me to do just that though, because she paused as soon as she felt my hand in her hair.

“Lick it!” I demanded.

This time, I definitely heard her moan a breathy “Yes!”, as she let me slip out of her mouth so she could stick out her tongue and lick my shaft from bottom to top.

This was interesting. The implications for this discovery were huge. If this girl simply did what she was told, apparently even got off on being commanded, then maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t her idea to humiliate me in school. Maybe, she just did it because someone had told her to.

I remembered the time she came to my room after my suspension for fighting my bullies. She did seem concerned, almost scared even, upon noticing how bare the room had become that reflected my existence in this house, but I was too angry to allow her near me. If my suspicion turned out to be true, I wouldn’t have to spend much time looking for the real culprit. After all, it was Logan who was always running interference whenever I got close to any female in the family.

Of course, that wouldn’t make me simply forget the last four years. Getting off on it or not, it was still her own decision to go through with it all. She chose her pleasure over her little brother’s happiness and health, and I did not intend to forgo my chance at payback.

“Your mother is better at this than you.” I said, causing her to pause again while her eyes surprisingly displayed deep sadness.

Debasement didn’t seem to be part of her kink. She just seemed to like being commanded so far. Maybe also being used. But the look in her eyes wasn’t just displaying sadness. It was most likely just wishful thinking, but it also seemed like regret upon hearing me call Claire ‘her’ mother.

“Alright, Princess. Get up again.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face the wall. Then I stood behind her, used my foot to make her spread her legs, placed my hand right in between her shoulder blades, and pushed her forward.

She gasped when she realized what I was going to do, but I felt absolutely no resistance. She leaned with her hands against the wall and spread her lightly trembling legs even further all on her own. I reached down to cup her entire sex with my hand, feeling the heat radiating off it and noticing how perfectly smooth it was. It was even smoother than Tess had always been, which surprised me, since she had shaved diligently. With Ava, I couldn’t even feel a single stubble! I curled my middle finger and started rubbing her clit. She pushed her butt into my hand and moaned. I leaned forward, so my mouth was next to her head, and spoke directly into her ear.

“Did you know that orgasms have a relaxing effect on the body? I’m going to use your body to see how effective that is.” I said, and she moaned loudly now.

I had said exactly the right thing. She got very wet, very fast. Gyrating her hips while I kneaded her pussy. Then I pushed two fingers into her hole, my middle and ring finger, so my index and little finger could keep massaging her labia, and felt absolutely no friction. I flexed my stomach muscles a few times, testing for pain. Nothing came, so I decided to risk it. I stepped behind her spread legs, grabbed her hips with both hands, but decided to make her work for it a little more.

“Line it up, Princess.”

This time her moan was sweet and wanting. She reached back through her spread legs and grabbed my cock. Then she lined it up with her opening and I moved my hips just half an inch forward, so my tip would stay in place when she braced herself against the wall again.

“Please, Tim. You’re thicker than the others.” she started, making me smile. I made a mental note not to let Aaron and Logan forget about that. “Please go sloOOOWWWW FUCK!”

I had slammed my full erection into her as she was talking. This wasn’t for her, this was for me! I was using her to get rid of the frustration they had caused. I was using her to let out my anger for how she treated me. I was using her for my pleasure. But she quickly made it known how much she loved it herself.

“YES! Oh, God, Tim! You’re stretching me out!”

I loved it. She wasn’t as tight as Tess was, but much tighter than Claire. And I had felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since Tess moved away. I felt my cock engulfed by her tight wet pussy, followed by an even tighter part at the back of her channel literally squeezing the first inch from my tip down. I was moving my hips in tiny increments, simply grinding myself against her ass, bathing in the feeling of that tightness massaging my tip and her pussy milking my cock.

After about a minute, I pulled back and started giving it to her in larger movements, though I was more pulling her onto my cock than pushing it into her. I was using her like a lifesized sex doll with no regard for her need, though it seemed to be met quite nicely. The feeling was heavenly. I couldn’t hammer her as hard as I wanted yet, but it was still awesome.

She got so wet I could hear the loud squishing noises emanating from our connected crotches. After roughly five minutes of me fucking her this way, her legs started quivering and she came. I had to hold her up by her hips, never stopping the fucking throughout her orgasm. Luckily the girl weighed maybe 120 pounds, so I could manage for a while, but soon I felt my pectoral muscles protesting. I wasn’t done, though. I was still angry with her.

I wrapped my arm around her torso to hold her up while I continuously fucked into her until her body stopped quivering. Then I pulled my cock out of her, and dragged her over to my bed. I sat on it, grabbed her by her hips again, and pulled her towards me. She quickly understood, but looked at me with half lid eyes as she spread her legs wide to straddle me.

“Tim ... Bro ... I just came! I need a second!” she breathlessly pleaded, but I was relentless.

“Having fun, huh? Good for you. Now sit on it!” I answered firmly, but made sure it was in no way threatening.

Despite protesting before, she complied without a second of hesitation as I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her down onto my cock, making her impale herself on it. The word ‘impale’ fit, because immediately my tip was right back in that special tightness again, causing a massive shiver to go through her entire body, accompanied by a mouse-like squeaking sound escaping her mouth. I suspected she loved the feeling just as much as I did, because she made no attempt to lift herself up again. Instead, she just started grinding her hips back and forth, draping her arms around my shoulders and letting her head fall back, releasing moan after moan to the ceiling for minutes, until I felt her pussy spasm around my cock a second time and I heard her release a loud wail of pleasure.

I had held off from coming by reminding myself of all the ridicule and humiliation I had suffered because of her. I was going to give her the fucking of her lifetime, just like Tess had done for me on my sixteenth birthday, and was going to make her feel exactly what she could have had all this time if only she wouldn’t have been such a massive bitch to me. And more importantly, make sure she knew exactly what she lost when I was gone from this house for good. But I still fucking loved this feeling.

As her body jerked on top of my cock, her tits were jumping right in front of my face. I took her right nipple into my mouth and sucked on it, as I helped her move by pulling and pushing on her hips. I knew I couldn’t go on much longer, I needed to keep her going while giving myself a break. So, I pulled her off me and threw her on her back, before grabbing her knees and pulling her hip to the edge of the bed. I knelt down, spread her legs, leaned forward, and feasted on her juices.

She lifted her legs to rest them on my shoulders, and then wrapped one leg around my neck, supporting her hands that were pulling my face into her crotch by my hair. Her stomach was quivering since she was still feeling the effects of her second orgasm, and I planned on at least eating her until I could feel the third one coming before chasing my own. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

I got back to my feet, pushed her knees to her chest, and rammed my cock back into her depth. I fucked her like a mad man. She was literally screaming in pleasure at this point.

“TIM! I CAN’T! PLEEEEASE! I can’t cum anymore! I’ll DIE!” she cried.

I would have believed her if she hadn’t wrapped her legs around my waist, effectively keeping me from pulling out even if I wanted to. At the same time, she was clawing at my butt. She was panting feverishly by the time I finally felt the telltale tensing in my balls and started violently slamming into her over and over again, with as much force as my bruised body could muster. I let my right hand slide from her hip to the front of her lower stomach. Then I extended my thumb and pressed it against her clit. Her hips rocked erratically for a few seconds before I started to massage it in a circular motion.

“You better be on birth control, Princess! ‘Cause there’s no way I’ll shoot my cum anywhere but deep inside your womb!” I informed her, panting myself.

Her eyes, which were pressed shut for the past minute, shot wide open. The noise I heard escaping her was best described as a throaty, raspy groan. A deep red flush spread across her chest as her rocking motion grew more and more desperate, obviously chasing her orgasm. I increased the speed of my thumb massaging her clit and soon felt my cum rising.

I shot spurt after spurt directly into her quivering canal. It felt like it would never stop as Ava suddenly arched her back like she was possessed, and bit me in the shoulder to muffle her orgasmic scream. Her pussy released a river drenching my balls in her juices. I let my left hand slide from her hip to her ass and gave it a strong squeeze, holding her firmly pressed into me as I jerked inside her over and over again.

When I was finally done releasing my seed into my sister’s readily waiting womb, I saw bright dots scattered across my slightly darkening field of vision and felt lightheaded. I hadn’t come so hard in ... ever! Actually, since Tess died, I had barely come at all.

I just lay on top of her for a while, gasping for breath while making minute movements with my hips to ride out the feeling. Then I pulled my cock out of her, walked to the other side of the bed, and pulled her upper body to the edge of the mattress. As her head hung off the edge, I pushed against her chin to open her mouth and pushed my cock inside so she could suck me clean.

She could barely open her eyes, her body was void of tension, but she did it. She was just lying there, her legs spread, knees still jerking from time to time, arms listless by her side, but eagerly sucking and licking my slowly softening cock. I was reminded of the first time I had fucked Tess in my office, leaving her in a similar state.

The feeling of pride was short lived, though, as I had to ask myself if I would ever stop comparing every sexual encounter with something I had done with Tess. Once again, the sadness of never being with her again flooded my thoughts, and I deflated completely. I left Ava on the bed as I quickly made my way to the bathroom to hide away in the shower.

When I came back into my room roughly fifteen minutes later, she was sleeping soundly. I thought she had probably been already active throughout the night with the rest of the family, so now it was simply too much for her. Somehow my commiseration for her predicament had its limits. She’d be alright.

I softly shook her and, when I got no reaction, licked her nipples in a more earnest attempt to wake her up. It didn’t work either, so I placed my teeth around her nipple and bit it softly, as I placed my hand back on her swollen and abused pussy, and pushed two fingers into it. That got her to open her eyes, as she clamped her legs shut, and used her own hands to grab my arm. Though she made no attempt to actually pull my hand off or my fingers out of her, she gave me a pleading look.

“Get up. We fucked for over half an hour. You still need to get back to the hotel.” I said.

She looked at me like she was asking my permission to stay home. Like I had that authority or the desire to stay with her. Then she seemed to notice something as she looked into my eyes. Her brows furrowed and the grip she had on my arm loosened, like her mind was now occupied with something more pressing.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a mixture of concern and surprise.

“Peachy.” I rebuffed her question. “Got soap in my eyes when I showered. Get up now.”

When she still didn’t make any attempt to move after a few more seconds, I pushed my fingers deeper into her. I immediately backed out when I saw her eyes flinch in pain, as she nodded eagerly to signal her compliance. Pain wasn’t doing it for her either, it seemed, and I wasn’t a fan of inflicting it. She was submissive, but that was all. No pain, no humiliation, and probably no degradation. She would let me hurt and degrade her without a word of protest, but it didn’t give her pleasure. She just got off from being commanded and used.

As she got up and left my room on comically wobbly legs, my cum running down the inside of her thigh, I contemplated what just happened.

Even if this all went bad, it would be a nice point for my bucket list. Maybe I should do something similar with Claire and Danielle before I finally left, so they also knew exactly what they lost. Though, I thought Claire had probably already gotten what she wanted when she stayed the night with me.

Chapter 10

I made my way to the kitchen and got breakfast started. When I saw Ava make her way to the front door, I had to keep myself from teasing her about the way she walked. But then a thought struck me, and my mood switched from being amused to being more than a little concerned.

“Want me to give you a ride?” I asked her.

Yes, it was a four-hour ride there and back, if there was no traffic whatsoever, and I didn’t like her enough to offer something like this under normal circumstances. But I had absolutely no desire for her to die in a car crash because she couldn’t concentrate on the road! She blinked in surprise for a moment, but then gave me a big smile as she answered.

“No, but thank you! John will drive me back, he has to get there too.”

“John came back too?”

“He’s home.” she informed me in a casual tone. But when she saw my eyes narrow and my eyebrow rise, she quickly elaborated. “He had to clear something for work first.”

When she left the house, I didn’t hear a car door slam. I went outside to look for her and saw her walking in the direction of John’s house. How did she even get here without a car? It also wouldn’t make sense for her to drive to John’s, spend the night at his place, then walk over here at six in the morning to take a shower, and then walk back to hitch a ride to the hotel. What the hell was she up to!?

When I still couldn’t make sense of the situation after a minute, I simply decided that I didn’t care anymore. I was taking the day off from worrying about my family’s antics and trying to figure out their schemes.

The sex with Ava had me thoroughly relaxed and content with life, especially since there was no pain in my stomach despite how long and intense we went at it. I simply didn’t want to deal with anything at that moment. Who would have thought that, after drinking eased my anxiety only marginally, sex would work wonders on it.

Honoring my new resolve, I decided to simply eat my leftover pizza as breakfast. But when I made my way into the living room to drop on the sofa, someone had cleaned up my leftovers from last night. I checked the fridge but couldn’t find it in there either. Thinking Ava had already gone back to her old ways, I checked the trusty old trash can for my food, but only found the carton.

When I went up to my room, I noticed that someone had also cleaned up my empty beer bottles. But most confusing of all, someone had swiped my damn painkillers! The ibuprofen was still there, but the Zydol was just as untraceably gone as my pizza. It must have been Ava, since she was the only one I knew was home.

I pulled out my phone to ask her, but noticed four more calls from Claire I had missed last evening. That made me remember that I wanted Golden Boy to let me know about his attempt to call his bookie, so I decided to call her back.

“Tim? You alright?” I heard Aaron answer, sounding like I just woke him up.

“Aaron? Didn’t I call your wife’s phone?”

My anxiety suddenly came back with a vengeance, as my mind made up one worst-case scenario after the other to explain why Claire wouldn’t be able to answer her phone. The fact that Aaron was still at least half asleep when I called, and therefore shouldn’t be in any distress, didn’t even register with me until much later. Aaron not answering right away only fueled that fear until, after a few moments he finally spoke up.

“My Wife, whom I’d prefer to hear you call ‘your mother’, is in the shower after her morning workout.” he answered in a nauseatingly preceptive tone, that wasn’t lessened in any way by his chuckle.

“Well,” I countered, mocking his tone and chuckle, “your son ‘Tiny’, whom I’d have preferred to hear you call ‘Tim’ for the last few years, doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what you want anymore.”

“Son, we... ”

“Your daughter stole my painkillers.”

“ ... What!?”

“At least I think it was her, since she was here this morning. What’s with that anyway? I thought we agreed on you guys hiding out for a few days, and then she shows up to get her damn homework!?”

“What homewo... ” he stopped mid-word and thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah ... Well ... Her grades are important, you know? Last year before college and all that.”

He wasn’t a great actor. Ava had lied about coming back for ‘school stuff’, as she had first put it, and he was trying to cover for his little princess. She probably made that up when she panicked after she took my painkillers. Thankfully I didn’t necessarily need them anymore.

“Sure it is. Anyway, I missed a call from Claire yesterday, ‘cause I collapsed into bed after I came back from getting my stitches out. I was expecting one from your Golden Boy, though. What happened?”

“Oh, Logan tried to call them a few times, but couldn’t get a hold of them. Claire said you mentioned that would be a good thing?”

“Yeah. It means they’re ... they’re probably out of business. Make sure he tries again today. If nobody tries to reach him by tomorrow, it should be safe for you all to move over to Granny’s for the rest of the week.”

“Are you still not gonna join us?”

“No.” I answered. He seemed to expect more of an answer, though, because the only thing I heard for the next few seconds was his breathing.

“Why not!?” he finally asked.

“If they come looking for you, I’d rather know as soon as possible, so I can deter their search. If they come looking for me personally instead, I don’t need you to be in the way.”

“Son, if it’s not safe for us to be home, it’s not safe for you either. Why can’t you just joi... ”

“Because after the shit I’ve been through the last two days, the last damn thing I need while worrying about those guys coming after me, is to listen to you all happily fuck each other! Is that so hard to understand, Aaron!? Be a parent for once in your life and keep your remaining children away from the damn house! If those guys show up, I can’t deal with them and worry about your asses being around!”

Throughout my tirade, I was unable to keep my voice from rising. By the time I hung up on him like I did on Claire the day before, I was sure he was holding his phone a good foot away while still being able to understand everything I said.

The next three days were basically routine. I spent the morning going through my online courses, rapidly working through all the assignments the school had made available to me, then went to work for the afternoon. At work, however, I sat around half the time staring at the safe, thinking about what I was supposed to do with all that money. It was a hopeless task. It was a lot of money, sure, but nowhere near ‘start a new life’ kind of money. Especially since I had no means to spend it on anything more than an expensive TV or another junker car.

I finally realized why Bill didn’t want any of it. I couldn’t put it in the bank without legitimizing it first, but I also couldn’t just write made up invoices and pay them in cash, since it would only take a single phone call for the IRS to know they were crap. I couldn’t open an offshore account to funnel the money through a shell company and make the invoices more believable either, since I wasn’t eighteen yet and lacked the contacts to get the cash into those offshore accounts in the first place. And even if I could find someone to launder the money for me, without word of it reaching the people I stole it from, they would take at least a sixty percent cut for laundering it before I’d have to pay income taxes on what was left. Maybe I should just use it for all the regular shopping over the years.

After work, I stopped by a grocery store to make good use of the newly discovered benefit of not being asked for an ID when shopping with a company credit card, went home to eat, and did some more research about what Bill had told me regarding those guys’ porn productions.

I was basically trying to ease my guilt with each video I found, telling myself that the women I saw could have been the women of my family. Especially after I had tracked a few of those women down and learned what had happened to them after their videos were sold and published. Then, I finally drank myself to sleep in the living room. Not that it took a lot for me, I would never be much of a drinker with the low tolerance I apparently have, but it was also around that time when I started shooting awake at night, driven by the urge to check every door and window in the house.

I had received word from Aaron that Logan did indeed reach someone on Thursday, albeit not the one he was expecting. The call was answered by someone Logan had never spoken to before, but who was quite interested in what he had to say, so I mentally prepared myself for visitors checking out his story.

They rang our doorbell on Saturday, Ava’s birthday, the day Logan had told them the family was supposed to be back.

“Yes?” I greeted the two men standing in front of me, after I had opened the door.

“Yeah, Hi. Logan around?” the taller one of the two asked.

I had scanned them the moment I opened the door, and knew there could be trouble when I noticed the same telling bumps underneath both of their shirts. Going by the size of those bumps, they were carrying guns instead of just knives or batons. The two in front of me looked nothing like the guys I had met in the parking lot, nor like the people I had seen on the bar’s surveillance. They were clearly not part of the Bookie’s crew, too young and dressed in pricey brands, so I suspected they belonged to the guys I stole from. Hopefully they were just going after the Bookie’s current affairs to try and get some of the money back, instead of looking for leads for where the money went.

“No, sorry. The rest of the family is out.” They shared a look when I told them that.

“You happen to know when he’s back gonna be back?”

I watched them for a moment in overplayed suspicion.

“What did the dipshit do this time?” I asked in an exasperated tone I hoped to be convincing, causing them to exchange another look.

“Come again?” The look on his face as he asked was a brilliant mix of confusion and suspicion.

“Let me take a wild guess. You’re going to UT Austin with Logan and he owes you money?” I asked, giving them a knowing look. “He has a habit of bailing on his bills.”

“Huh. That makes this a lot easier. Who’re you and how did you guess?”

“I’m Logan’s brother, and growing tired of fixing his shit. That’s how I guessed. So ... how much is it this time?” I was reaching for my wallet as I asked, playing my act.

I tried not to let them notice how my body tensed when me reaching for my wallet caused their hands to move part of the way to their guns. Any indication I gave that I was expecting more than just regular college mates of Logan’s, would give them cause to see through my already poor acting. They would know that I knew, making the family’s absence look like what it actually was: Protective hiding. I was just pulling through by overplaying my displeasure about Logan’s character, but I was surprised at how calm I really was. For some reason, the thought of this going bad for me wasn’t nearly as unnerving as it should have been.

“I’m afraid it’s more than you carry around.”

That caused me to look up in surprise. I was expecting them to just take the money I offered, and then tell me it wouldn’t be enough, keeping my money as extra. These two were a lot more professional than I had seen from the bookie’s crew. Which didn’t bode well for me! Luckily, I was able to play it off as surprise about the level of Logan’s newest debt.

“Wait ... how much does he owe you?”

“‘Bout ten grand.” he said, matter of fact, watching my reaction.

I blinked at him for a moment, as my hands holding my wallet slowly dropped back to my sides. Did they increase his debt or did fucking Logan fucking lie about the amount, even as we were preparing to fucking fix it for him!?

“Did he take you out for drinks and you woke up the next morning in a bathtub full of ice cubes, missing a damn kidney?”

“He gambled. And made us cover his debt.” he informed me, still watching me curiously. When I put up a pensive act instead of responding, he asked. “What?”

“I’m thinking if I shouldn’t just let you guys bust his kneecaps instead of keep paying for his shit.” I answered in an aloof tone, causing the taller one to actually chuckle.

“Well, we wouldn’t go this far. But we’d really like to set this straight. He said he’ll be back by today.”

“Yeah, that was the plan because the Princess’ birthday is today. But something went wrong with Granny’s hip surgery.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that. Why are you not with them?”

“Some of us have to work.” I explained.

“Any way you could reach him? Maybe call him?” I could hear his voice become slightly displeased.

There was no way I could call Logan now, he’d fuck this up. But if they didn’t get an answer immediately, they would simply keep looking for him. And I feared, if I couldn’t pay them off now, they’d probably go to the hospital Granny wasn’t actually in, to put pressure on the rest of the family and thereby expose our legend. If this call played out well, however, it could further deter their suspicions, give whomever I called the opportunity to warn me if they were close by the house, and tell me if anything happened on their end.

“Sure ... let me try calling them real quick.” I said as I pulled out my phone, thinking about which one of them I should call.

Logan was out of the question, he’d panic, screw up, and my still broken rib was protesting when I just thought about fighting two guys. Aaron’s acting skills had just been proven to be non-existent a few days ago, when he tried to cover for his princess. I didn’t know if John had already joined them or was still dealing with his work stuff. I dialed Claire’s phone and she answered surprisingly quickly. I didn’t put the call on speaker, but Claire was one of those people who all but screamed into their mobile phones, so the two guys could probably hear her side of the call anyway.

“Baby?! Everything alright? Did something happen?” I heard her greet me. Me calling her obviously made her believe something was wrong, because her voice sounded like she was preparing herself for the worst.

“Wow, Mom, thanks for the vote of confidence. I haven’t burned the house down. Yet. No, I’m calling ‘cause two of Logan’s friends are here asking for him. He’s not around, is he?” I laughed while turning my back to the guys, so they wouldn’t see my face when I faked the laugh, and hoped Claire would pick up on me uncharacteristically calling her ‘Mom’ in a chipper tone. I also hoped she would notice that I really didn’t want her to go find Logan. It seemed to work, because after only a few seconds she had caught herself and played along.

“Oh ... No, Honey. He’s ... having his shift in the hospital with Mom right now!”

“Damn ... well, is Dad around?”

“Somewhere ... in the garage? Why, what do you need?” she asked, the question at the end sounded a little different from the rest. Was she asking if I needed help? Or was she simply asking for a hint about what she should say?

“Well, could you check if the others are around? Ask if Logan told either of you anything about having debt? Maybe something about gambling?”

“Gambling!?” I heard fake gasp in mock shock, causing me to involuntarily smirk. “Let me go find your father and the others!”

“Whoops. Sorry, Logan.” I said under my breath, but still loud enough for the two guys to hear. While I appreciated her acting, I was worried about Claire actually running around, telling the others that something was going on, causing unnecessary turmoil. I just wanted her to make sure that all of them were accounted for. After a minute or so, Claire came back.

“Well, I asked everyone.” She said, but then didn’t continue. I thought she wasn’t sure what I wanted to hear, so I tried to guide her again.

“None of you knew?” I said, making sure the guys at the door heard that nobody even knew about the debt, so they weren’t likely to steal from them.

“No.”

“Apparently his debt is ten grand! I take it, with Granny in the hospital, you won’t have that lying around?” I said.

With this, I mainly wanted to make sure those guys heard that there wouldn’t be anything more to get from this family. But I also wanted to point out the real amount of Logan’s debt. Yes, it was petty. So what!? If, in an hour or so, I found myself moribund, I wanted the rest of the family to at least know that the numbers Logan had given us didn’t add up in any way. Even after everyone was doing everything to help him!

“ ... No. Probably not.” Claire sighed after a second of hesitation.

“Alright. Thanks, Mom, I’ll deal with it.” I told her in a resigned tone. “Give Granny a kiss from me. Love you. Goodbye.”

After I had hung up the phone, I looked at the two guys. Throughout the call they had exchanged glances and gestures, showing me they were indeed able to hear both sides of the conversation, and they didn’t seem happy about what they had heard. Maybe that was the reason I had ended the call the way I did, despite not intending to.

“Alright. I don’t have that much cash in the house. I don’t wanna pry ... but ... I suspect wiring you the money isn’t an option?” The prospect of receiving that money, even though Claire had claimed not to have it, caused them to relax somewhat. They grinned and shook their heads, so I nodded. “I have enough cash in my office. Wanna come along and get your money right away?”

I was still hoping I could discourage them from trying anything reckless if they learned I was working in a big security firm.

“You gonna steal money from your workplace to pay for Logan’s debt?” The smaller one of the two spoke for the first time.

“Hell, No! That’s my money.” I answered, while getting my keys and leaving the house to get to my Jeep. “Not that it’s any of your concern, but I stashed it there so dipshit won’t get his hands on it again.”

That seemed to amuse them. Bill had encouraged me to paint Logan as unreliable as possible if I got the chance, so they’d know there was nothing to get from him after I paid them off, and so they would be reluctant to do any business with him again.

“No offense ... but you drive around in that thing while having ten grand in cash lying around?” The smaller one pointed at my Jeep.

He was annoyingly perceptive. I mentally kicked myself for not thinking of that and taking at least some of the money home. I just held on to my original notion of not making them think we were lucrative targets, completely forgetting about other scenarios.

“What’d you think that money was for?” I grumbled, not liking him dissing my beloved car.

After we arrived at the office building, he continued asking questions.

“Security? What do you do here? I thought you were some kind of computer whiz?” he smiled.

So they had already heard about the story Logan told when they had him in the bar, meaning they also knew about Logan telling them that I was the one who collected the evidence. However, in the same situation, Logan also told them that he had used my money to pay for his debt, which at least somewhat confirmed my acting so far. I prayed for them to buy it and brush Logan’s story off as just some guy claiming whatever to get away.

“Computer whiz ... for someone like Logan maybe.” I chuckled, trying to downplay my knowledge. “I do IT-support. I’m the one replacing all the keyboards that were drenched in slipped drinks, and ordering ink for the printers. And, every once in a while, when the internet fails, I pull the power cord from the router and act like I did something amazing after I plug it back in.”

“Huh. But you also do programming, right?”

Shit. That was all I could think of. Logan had only phrased it as “computer stuff”, so either this guy was fishing, or they had looked into me.

“I design websites and can make Apps. But that was mainly before I found this job. Why, you need one?”

“No ... just asking.”

As I led them to my office, I could see them tense up. Normally I enjoyed the cooler air down there, but knowing what I claimed not to know, I understood why they would be uncomfortable being brought into a basement. As I opened my office door, I silently thanked Bill for making me display all the garbage hardware that had accumulated in those shelves. The stack of keyboards and boxes full of cables supported my claim of doing merely IT-support.

I asked them to wait in front of the door, so I could open the safe without them seeing how much money was actually inside, and grabbed ten-thousand dollars in fifty and hundred dollar bills. I also stuffed another five-thousand dollars into my own pocket, just in case. When the safe was closed again, I called them in, placed the money on my desk, and encouraged them to count it before we made our way back to the parking lot.

“Alright. Do yourself a favor and...”

I never learned what the smaller one wanted to suggest, because he stopped when four of the armored SUVs rolled up next to us. His eyes grew big when Bill, followed by Paul and six of my other colleagues, stepped out of the cars. All of them looked quite impressive wearing ballistic vests, their batons and Walter PPQs on their sides, and even holding MP5s.

All of them greeted me cheerfully, asking about my plans for the evening and whatnot, but as each of them noted the suspicious bulges in the strange guys’ shirts, the cheerfulness vanished from their faces and they started eyeing the two with distrust. When Bill spoke up, he was eyeing those guy’s guns very obviously.

“Hey Kid. What’re you doing here on a saturday?”

“Oh, two of Logan’s friends from college came around, looking for something he forgot to give them.”

“What did the idiot do this time?” Bill asked, smirking.

“What he’s best at. Being refreshingly useless. We figured it out, though.”

As I said those words, the two strangers started nodding. They were visibly uncomfortable with the implications this situation was presenting them, which filled me with satisfaction. At least one part of my plan had finally checked out. Bill and the guys went to great lengths to showcase how close we were, and just how much trouble they could cause if anyone tried to mess with us. The two seemed to reach a conclusion and quickly injected themselves into the conversation to dismiss themselves.

“Well, we got what we needed. Thanks, Timothy.” he said, as he pulled out his phone. Hearing my unshortened name made me perk up, and I realized I never told him my name. They really had checked me out. “Tell Logan to stay out of our bar in the future.” he continued, and my body was flooded with such relief I almost fainted on the spot.

As he walked away, he had already started talking into his phone. Unlike Claire, whoever he was talking to didn’t speak loud enough for me to hear both sides of the conversation.

“We got it ... Nah, don’t think so ... Not worth it ... Let ‘im, nothing to do with us.”

That was all I could hear before they sat in their car and drove off. I was still watching the intersection their car had vanished into, when Bill’s voice pulled me back.

“You Okay, Kid?”

“I think that went well?” I asked, eager for someone with more experience to confirm my hopes.

“Well, they certainly didn’t know we were the ones who visited their bar. They wouldn’t ‘ve acted the way they did otherwise. And that last bit sounded like you’re officially not worth their effort!” he confirmed.

“Yay! I’m worthless!” I shouted, raising both arms to the sky, causing them all to smirk. At that moment, I finally realized how tense I was the last few days. “But why are all of you here on a Saturday?”

“Oh, we were on an exercise when John called me an hour ago. Looks like your mother was flipping her shit after you called, so we cut it short to check up on you.” he explained with a happy smile.

“Thank you!” I said into the round, mulling over Claire calling for help, not sure if I should value that as a sign of genuine concern or the bare minimum of parental obligation. “I’m SO gonna pay for the drinks next time we go out.”

“Why wait? It’s Saturday and late enough!” Paul offered.

“Still gotta go shopping first. House is completely eaten empty.”

“Fine with us. We can’t go anywhere looking like this, man.” He pointed at their attire. “Trust me, we tried. You go shopping. I’ll pick you up after we get the gear locked away.”

I was elated after Bill had confirmed my hope of this probably being over, and just wanted to bask in that knowledge and relax. So, I agreed to Paul’s proposal, got into my Jeep, and went shopping.

When I arrived at the house and was just getting my shopping bags out of the car, though, I suddenly remembered the third thing Logan had told those guys. That I was the one who met their guys in that Walmart parking lot. If I had remembered that earlier, I might have recognized the last bit I heard from smaller-guy’s phone call, and been prepared for what happened next. Sadly, I was cluelessly fumbling with my shopping bags when someone came up from behind me and grabbed a fist full of my hair.

My head was slammed into the Jeep’s roll hoop twice before I could react in any way. The first time slammed my just mended eyebrow directly into the damn thing, opening it up again and causing it to bleed just as strongly as it did the first day. The second push smashed my nose against my Jeep’s roof. The strong impact of the first blow had disoriented me enough to be momentarily but completely out of it, and the pain in my nose caused my eyes to fill with tears immediately, so I still couldn’t see who had grabbed me when my head was roughly pulled back and I fell to the ground.

As soon as I felt the impact on my back, I also felt heavy impacts land on my right side. Someone was kicking me mercilessly right in my kidney and liver. Still unable to see, and now even more disoriented than before, I just rolled onto my side and went into a fetal position. The next few impacts hit my forearms that I used to shield my face, but the barrage suddenly stopped and I heard a grunting noise, followed by the sounds of struggling. When I lowered my arms, blinked the tears out of my eyes, and finally looked around, I saw Paul pinning someone to the ground. It was the guy who had stabbed me! Apparently, he was out of jail and wanted revenge. Thank god he didn’t bring a gun!

Paul was anything but gentle with the guy, even after he had stopped making noises all together. I honestly didn’t care. I didn’t even care where the hell Paul had come from, since I hadn’t seen his car when I parked. I was just thankful he showed up when he did. When he himself noticed that the guy was reliably out of commission, he checked me over.

“Wow. Dude. Just when I thought your face had already hit rock bottom, you pull a stunt like this and prove me wrong.” he grinned, though I could see concern in his eyes. I must’ve looked bad.

“Thanks. You always say the sweetest things.” I replied, feeling pain in my upper lip, and noticing my voice sounding like I was at the pinnacle of a massive cold.

I had just started to assess the damage on my body when I heard a patrol car’s siren approach. Explaining to the officers what had happened took longer than at the Walmart parking lot, since, this time, there were no cameras filming the whole thing, and I was still somewhat hazy on how it even started.

Truth was, the thought of installing a surveillance system in that house never even occurred to me, despite planning and installing surveillance systems being a big part of my job. My mind was constantly occupied by getting out of that house, so why would I concern myself with securing it?

I recounted my story to the officer and listened to Paul’s additions until the ambulances arrived and whisked me away. In the ER, the doctor took a look at my face. Though my nose was bleeding, most of the blood he found had come out of my split eyebrow and a cut in my lip. He announced I would get a nice shiner under both of my eyes for a few days, but the nasal bone itself was intact. Then came the bruises along my right side, where he had kicked me repeatedly in the liver and kidney.

The Doc made me move around in specific ways and, when he noticed the pain in my face, ordered an ultrasound that thankfully came back unremarkable, though he warned me to keep an eye on it and come back in should my urine look red-ish, brown-ish, or too dark. He also took a quick look at my chest to make sure the old wounds hadn’t opened up again. Roughly an hour later, an officer came in to take my statement again, since the on-scene officer had to allow the ambulance to take me away prematurely.

“So, Mr. Brown, you told the officer on scene you already know that man?”

“Not by name, but he stabbed me the week before Thanksgiving. You guys took him in. I had no idea he was out already.”

“It seems he made bail yesterday.”

“And none of you thought it would be appropriate to warn me!?”

“He was already in county jail. They should’ve informed the coordinator, who should’ve informed you. If the release happened outside the coordinator’s business hours, you will get that notification when their office opens on Monday again.”

The officer explained this in a deadpan voice, like this wasn’t the most hilarious thing I had ever heard.

“Well, good to know. I’ll thank them for their diligent work when that happens.” I said, as he took photos of my injuries.

Another hour later, I was on my way back from the hospital to enjoy being done with Logan’s shit. I was physically and mentally exhausted, but when my taxi finally pulled up in front of the house, I noticed my groceries being ruined. I dropped my shopping bags when the guy grabbed me, causing the contents to be first trampled in the struggle, then by the police, and finally by the paramedics. So, I didn’t even get out of the car and just told the driver to get me to the nearest ‘Walmart or something’. I also informed Paul that I was okay, though I wouldn’t get any drinks that day.

For some reason, every person in the store gave me strange looks, but I was too out of it to care. I did, however, come across a mini instant-print camera, which made me think of Ava’s newest hobby to plaster her walls with printed photos of her friends. That, in turn, made me remember that today was Ava’s birthday, so I dropped the camera into my cart. I also picked up a little aluminum box labeled “Development Aid”, that I was supposed to put money in, and a gift-bag.

Somehow, this started me on a spending spree. After years of saving my money, and never buying anything I didn’t absolutely need or at least knew I would definitely make good use of, I left the store carrying some of the most useless shit imaginable. In addition to a week’s worth of groceries for a family of five, I bought an emoji pancake pan, a heated hairbrush, a bedside essentials pocket, and a starbucks-themed airpod case. I didn’t even have airpods! I was an Android Guy! The taxi driver had no problem helping me put it all into the cap. Since it was Ava’s eighteenth birthday, and I was now loaded as fuck, I put ten $100 bills into the little aluminum box before placing it together with the camera in the gift bag.

I entered the house carrying my two large Walmart shopping bags, still in enough of a daze to not think about the cars parked in the driveway, and immediately started for the kitchen to put the groceries away. I only made it to the living room, though.

“TIM!” I heard a female scream, before I was almost tackled to the ground by a sobbing Claire.

Suddenly the entire family rushed into the living room from all around the house, talking wildly over each other with shocked faces upon seeing mine. I just stood there confused as hell about why they were even home, while trying not to wince from Claire’s arms digging into my bruised side. I hadn’t had a chance to tell them that it was safe to come back, so I wasn’t expecting anyone before tomorrow evening.

“Why are you here?” I asked, dropping my shopping bags.

“Well, after you ended that call with your mother by saying ‘Goodbye’, she was panicking. So we had John call Bill to check in with you.” Aaron started.

“About an hour later, he gave us the Okay to come back. He said everything was settled.” John supplied. “When we arrived here, it didn’t exactly look that way, though.”

I looked at him questioningly, as Claire’s grip on my body tightened significantly, making me almost lose the battle for control as I silently winced.

“We saw your car out front, but then we saw the blood on it. And the door was open, with your stuff lying around like you just threw it there. We couldn’t find you anywhere and our calls went directly to voicemail!” Danielle explained, sounding a lot like she had a hard time controlling her voice, until John put his arm around her. “It scared the hell out of all of us.”

I scowled at that. Or, at least I tried as best as I could, with a freshly taped up eyebrow. I pushed my hand into my right pants pocket and pulled out my phone ... in multiple parts and with a cracked screen.

“Fucking great! He must’ve broken it when he kicked me. And are you telling me the cops didn’t even bother closing my damn car door!?” I couldn’t believe this.First they failed to inform me that the guy who tried to kill me was out and about, and then I almost got my car stolen because of them.

“Cops! What happened to your face, Son?” Aaron asked, while all of them eyed me critically.

That comment made me perk up again. How could they not know about the police being there? I mean, let me visualize what they just told me: They come home, find my open car with blood on it, the strewn about groceries in the lawn being another sign of a struggle, they realize I’m missing and can’t be reached by phone ... And then they DON’T proceed to call the cops themselves!?

Though, maybe they came home just a few minutes ago, and simply did not have a chance to call anyone after unsuccessfully trying to call me. I tried to stay calm instead of exploding again, and started rubbing my eyes with a frustrated groan. That drew their attention to my already darkening forearms, and made them take an even closer look at my appearance.

“Pumpkin, what...?! I saw the shiners, but your shirt is also covered in blood!” Granny gasped, and I saw everyone’s eyes widen a little more.

The entire time, Claire had not said a single word. She just clung to me like she was scared I would vanish, her face buried in my chest and, judging by the wet feeling, silently crying into my shirt. Her body had mostly hidden the red on my clothes, so they couldn’t notice earlier. But when Granny said those words, Claire quickly pulled away and looked at me. So did I.

“Huh.” I remarked, “So that’s why I got those weird looks when I was shopping.”

“Bill said you’re OKAY!!!” Claire suddenly shouted in an accusing tone.

“I am Okay. Only most of the blood is actually mine.” I joked. They didn’t share my sense of humor, apparently.

“What happened!?” she sounded frantic. I seriously didn’t understand why she was overreacting so much.

“Well, I paid those guys off and, like Bill told you, we’re probably fine now. As long as Logan stays out of the bar, he should be safe to go back to college as well. But, apparently, the guy who stabbed me is out on bail and nobody thought it would be necessary to warn me.” I explained, trying to get some distance between me and Claire, but she absolutely refused to let go of me. And now Granny was searching my body for injuries while Claire held me in place. “I’m fine!”

Hearing that, Claire moved in to hug me close again. But while her arms went around my chest before, irritating my still annoyingly broken rib, now her arms wrapped around my stomach, pressing directly into my fresh bruises and causing me to hiss loudly. As soon as they heard that, they basically ripped my shirt off my body and inspected my slowly darkening side and forearms.

“I’m so sorry, Baby! How bad is it really?” Claire asked, her voice quivering again.

“It’s really not as bad as it looks. The side’s just bruised. The nose bled like hell, but nothing’s broken. Well ... more broken. It’ll all fix itself in a few days.”

They all looked at me with concern, but I used the opportunity to move freely to pick up the shopping bags, and walked into the kitchen to unload them onto the counter. Claire quickly stepped close behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist this time. Why was she so clingy? I didn’t get it! Even after I was stabbed, she was not as pushy as now. Ava and Maggie quickly came into the kitchen as well, helping me to put the groceries away.

“Okay, next question. How are you here?” I inquired.

“What do you mean?” Maggie asked.

“I mean, I paid them off, like ... Little less than three hours ago. So, how did you pack, make the drive back from Granny’s that takes at least three hours at this time of day, and arrive here before me?” I asked, too tired to even suspect anything.

Instead of giving me an answer, Maggie turned her eyes away from me while Ava avoided my gaze as well.

“Well... “ Aaron started, but seemed like he didn’t want to finish, looking from face to face.

“We never actually made the drive to Beaumont.” Grandpa said with a firm voice. “Sorry, Kiddo. I accepted that you were the best suited to handle this whole dang mess, but there was no way we would just run and hide while my Grandson takes on those kinds of people by himself!”

As he talked, Granny stood beside him and displayed a firm, approving nod. What exactly did they achieve, other than putting themselves in danger? And for what? But then I understood the weird situation with Ava from a few days ago.

“You were camping out at John’s!?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes.” I heard a cheery chorus of voices, released from a multitude of smiling faces, confirm.

“Okay...” I was a little irritated by their cheerfulness, because I was feeling anything but. “What else did you do?”

“What else ... Did we do?” Grandma asked, while a concerned look spread on her face. I think Aaron or Claire had told her of my accusation of them using the opportunity to have some more orgies, while I put myself on the line for them.

“You said you wouldn’t run and hide, while I take on those people. So, apart from running, hiding at John’s, and letting me take these people on by myself ... What did you do? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming you in any way here! I was the one who asked you all to leave and stay out of the way. And I meant it! I just don’t get your point.”

“Tim, we just wanted you to know that we didn’t simply abandon you! We were worried sick while waiting for an update from you!” Danielle explained in a desperate voice.

“Funny, I heard something similar from Claire. Right after you, her and Ava were so worried about me, you had a spontaneous foursome with Logan.” I commented dismissively.

“Tim ... we ... It wasn’t...” she nervously started to explain, but she seemed to have trouble finding an explanation.

“At least now I know why you didn’t need a ride to the hotel last Wednesday.” I said, looking at Ava, causing her to look and move uncomfortable for some reason. It made me remember her present, so I fished for the gift bag and held it out to her.

She hesitantly took it, pulled out the camera and looked at it in disbelief.

“Happy Birthday. It’s one of those new instant-print cameras. Kind of like those polaroids from the 80s, but in way better quality. I thought you could use it to keep decorating that wall in your room.” I explained in an indifferent tone, causing her to just stare at me for a minute. Then, for some fucked up reason, the hand holding the camera started shaking, her lips started quivering, tears filled her eyes, and she rushed out of the room.

“I’m on it.” Maggie quickly announced, already running after her.

“Thanks, Honey. I’ll be there in a moment.” Danielle called after her daughter.

“The fuck’s wrong now?” I asked into the room, earning me uncomfortable looks from all sides. Except from my back, where Claire was still standing. Her hold on my waist increased in strength, as she rubbed her face on my naked back. Her behavior was starting to get me seriously unnerved.

“Uh ... Claire ... your daughter seems to be distressed somehow. Don’t you think you should go look if she needs anything?”

I had hoped to get her off my back with this. Literally. But instead she surprised me.

“I know why she’s crying. I’ll talk to her about it. But right now, I need to hold my Baby.” she countered, sounding like she was close to tears again, before adding in a whisper “I almost lost you again!”

“Wow. All it took to finally get a hug out of my mother was me almost dying twice, huh?” I commented.

Yeah, I was an asshole to most of them for the past fifteen minutes, but that was only after they tried to sell me their bullshit lines I simply wouldn’t buy. Claire had only shown affection, which was not as bad as I would like to claim. So, I really had not intended to be mean or to hurt her. It just ... slipped out. I was tired, exhausted, hurting, confused, angry with the others, and just wanted some damn pancakes before I crawl into bed and sleep through the next two days.

I know it sounds like I’m just making excuses, but I really wasn’t. I had fully expected them to say whatever, just to make themselves look less like the shit family they had been for so long. And most of them played right into that expectation. But I wasn’t prepared to suddenly be confronted with a twilight zone version of my mother that actually gave a shit about me! Someone should have warned me!

“You might not believe it, Tim. But the last few days weren’t easy for us either. Please, just let her hold you for a while. Please! She needs this right now.” Danielle said in a forlorn voice, before leaving after her Daughter and Niece, quickly followed by Granny.

I didn’t know what else to do, so I lightly patted Claire’s hands she had intertwined in front of my belt buckle, while looking at the remaining people, silently asking for help. Aside from Claire, there were only the men of the family left, and not a single one of us seemed to be particularly adept in the emotional care department. When Claire still refused to let go of me after a minute, I decided to just move around anyway.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Grandpa asked louder than necessary, causing me to look up and see all the guys regard me with skeptic looks, as I opened the whisky bottle and filled a fifth of my glass with it.

“Feel free to make yourself one too.” I answered indifferently, as I filled the rest of the glass with cold Coke.

I grabbed the glass and walked, as best as I could with Claire clinging to my waist, past them to the sofa. When I sat down, she simply moved around me and plopped herself onto my lap, wrapped her arms around me again, and buried her face back into my chest. The men were eyeing my drink, looking alarmed for some reason.

“You think this is a good idea, Tim?” John inquired carefully.

“The hospital wouldn’t give me any painkillers. I was supposed to still have some. Any idea where those ended up, by the way?” I asked with a pointed look at Aaron, who had covered for Ava. It was bullshit, of course, since the hospital had only given me three Zydol pills in a little paper pouch after I was stabbed, and recommended ibuprofen for my rib. But I wanted them to stop bothering me. I continued after raising my glass to them. “So, this is the next best thing.”

I had to smirk when I saw Grampa’s expression change from alarmed to surprised, before tilting his head to the side like he was thinking it over. Then he slowly pulled the corners of his mouth down and shrugged his shoulders. He was old-school enough to see the truth in my statement. I actually chuckled when he simply turned to make his own drink, causing Aaron and John to weakly protest, but we still ended up sitting around the coffee table with a drink in everyone’s hands.

“So ... you really stole from them?” Logan asked, after the alcohol had seemingly given him enough courage to talk to me.

“Yes.” I admitted, noting that my suspicion about Claire and Aaron listening in on me and Bill just got confirmed. But I saw the need to make sure he understood my new place in the pecking order. He would no longer get away with crap. “And let me tell you right now, Logan. You tell anyone about this, you try to get your hands on that money, you pull ANY crap on me again, I will break you.”

“Timothy! What the hell!?” Aaron warned, but I wouldn’t let any of them interfere, so I simply continued.

“You have no fucking clue what the last two weeks alone did to me. When I stepped in front of those three guys in the parking lot, it was to shield your mother and sister, who were about to be used as payment for your debt. When I went after their shop, it was to keep myself from going into the foster system after your videos would’ve put them into prison, and you still tried to sell me out, risking everyone’s safety, freedom, and future. It was your shit that almost got me killed twice!”

I paused, looking for any more protest, but they stayed silent. When I continued speaking, my voice surprised even myself a little. It carried the weight of the hatred I felt for Logan over the years, and the others could clearly hear the danger Logan was in at that moment.

“The others seem to have a problem making this clear to you, so I will. I already told you, two years ago, that I was done taking your shit. You should’ve listened and taken the opportunity to fix your attitude. The first day you sat in front of the school, and smiled while watching your friends beat the living daylight out of me, was the day we stopped being brothers. Screw me over again, and I will deal with you like I would with any stranger who comes after me. Do you understand me, Logan?”

“Yes.” he replied in a feeble voice, while Grandpa looked at him in disappointment over what he just heard. “For what it’s worth, Tim ... I am sorry. And just for the record ... the others made it very clear over the last week.”

His words resounded in my head for a few seconds. I would have to see how true they were. Though, at that moment, I was pretty sure it was just more of the same. He didn’t apologize because he was sorry. He apologized because he, too, noticed the way Grandpa was looking at him, and, in his usual calculating ways, determined this would be the best thing to say in order to appease Grandpa.

“Now, my drink is empty and I’m starting to feel it. So, Aaron, if you would please take your wife back, I need to lay down for a bit.”

Hearing me say that I needed to lay down caused Claire to jump up on her own, but, instead of going away, she insisted on helping me up from the sofa and leading me to the door. I stopped when I felt my stomach rumble and knew I would have to put something in there, regardless of having lost my appetite during our little confrontation just now.

“Do me a favor? Order some pizzas. With cheese in the crust!” I said, as I just grabbed whatever cash I had in my pocket and dropped it on the table. I didn’t realize that I had just casually thrown them four-thousand dollars, until I heard a quiet “Holy...” from Grampa when he counted it off.

“Kiddo ... How much did you take from those guys?” Gramps asked, still counting the money.

“Little under two million dollars.” I wearily answered as Claire continued to lead me out of the living room and up the stairs, not missing a step herself while Logan spat his beer all over the table and Aaron dropped his drink.

Chapter 11

Her bedroom door was closed when we passed it, but I stopped for a short moment when I could faintly hear the voices of all the women comforting a loudly crying Ava, producing unintelligible words I probably wouldn’t even understand if the door was open. The sounds alone made it clear that my sister was not just engaging in some girly attention seeking, but rather full blown ugly crying. Nonetheless, instead of even thinking about going in there, I couldn’t help but wonder about the difference between her and me. More than once, I was the one crying alone in my room with none of them giving a flying fuck about it, but when the princess was sad, half the family jumped into action.

Me stopping in the hallway seemed to prompt Claire to start her explanation for Ava’s emotional display.

“When you gave her that present, it must ha...”

“I really don’t give a shit.” I interrupted her in a deadpan voice.

I didn’t like the disapproval I saw in her eyes before I continued my way to the bedroom, but I ignored it. The longer I stayed out of bed and argued with them in my current state, the worse this would get. So, I just took my pants off and crawled under my covers while groaning over the pain my movements caused.

“What are you doing?” I asked, as Claire immediately started undressing herself.

“Can’t I stay, Baby? I know you’re angry ... but I want to hold you just a little longer.” Her voice was quiet.

The pleading tone instantly curbed most of my anger. It was sweet, in a way. And it seemed honest. But it also ticked me off a little, because she seemingly had missed my predicament. In my prevailing mindset, this was yet another display of them only thinking about their own needs and wishes.

“Claire ... I appreciate the thought. I really do. But I have a broken rib and a fucked up arm on my left side, and a bruised kidney and another fucked up arm on my right side. So, unless you’re planning to roll up like a cat and sleep between my feet, I’ll have to be in this bed alone for now.”

I had to suppress a smirk when I saw her actually look at my feet for a split second before looking me in the eyes again.

“Okay, Baby. I love you.” she said, after giving me a kiss on the forehead.

Then she just stood there, like she was waiting for the answer I couldn’t give without lying, and watched me close my eyes.

“Good night.” I mumbled instead.

I didn’t know how long I actually slept, because I had no idea at what time I crawled into bed, but it was dark outside when I jolted upright, panting heavily, and covered in sweat. My heartbeat was hammering up to my throat, my hands were shaking, and my body trembling. I Jumped out of bed and searched my surroundings. Not finding anything unusual, I looked through the window overlooking our driveway. It had happened almost every night since Bill and I went to Austin, so I knew what I had to do before I could calm down again.

Slowly and determined to make as little noise as possible, I made my way through the house. Carefully stepping into every room of the house to make sure everything and everyone was safe, and make sure the room’s windows were firmly closed while not showing any entry marks.

I found Maggie and Danielle sleeping soundly, cuddled up with Ava in her bed. Claire and Aaron were lightly snoring in their bedroom. Logan did the same alone in his own room, while Granny and Grandpa were enthusiastically snoring in the guest room.

I continued to check the rest of the rooms, doors, and windows, paying extra attention to the big patio door in the living room, and relocking the front door just to hear it actually lock. But, unlike all the other times I woke up in this state, I was still feeling uneasy after I had walked through the entire house.

Back from the basement, I paced through the living room for a few minutes, trying to figure out what I was missing, until I decided to get myself another drink, hoping it would help. I knew that fear was (probably) irrational. I also knew that waking up like this in the middle of the night wasn’t exactly a good sign, and using alcohol to combat it was downright stupid. But I thought it would pass once it really settled in that we were safe.

Holding my whisky glass, I suddenly realized what it was that kept nagging me. I couldn’t find John! Everyone else was accounted for, only he was missing, and after finding his wife and daughter in the house, I would have expected him to be around as well. Sure, he probably just preferred his own bed over crashing on the sofa or sharing with Logan, but I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally at that moment, so I decided to shoot him a text.

I knew by then that it was half past three at night, he would be in deep sleep right now, so I was reluctant to call. Then I remembered that my phone was busted, which meant that I couldn’t send any texts. After unsuccessfully trying to just calm down once more, I grabbed the landline and called him, my anxiety growing slightly with each ring tone that went unanswered. Finally, I heard his tired voice.

“Walker residence?” I could almost hear him suppress a yawn and rub his eyes.

“John? You Okay?” I asked, immediately feeling embarrassed about waking him at that hour over my own shit.

“Tim!? Yeah! Why, what happened?” Shit. The tiredness had instantly vanished from his voice, and was replaced with alarm.

“No! Everything’s fine! Sorry. I just ... I couldn’t find you when I made my round, even though Maggie and Danielle are here. I thought, maybe ... I may ‘ve ... overreacted. Sorry, again.” I stammered, trying to explain my reasons without admitting to what actually went on in my head.

“Oh. No problem. Don’t worry. Everything’s fine. Thanks for checking, though!” Fuck, that was embarrassing!

“Yeah. Well, sorry for waking you up. Good night!” I said, greatly appreciating him not asking too many questions.

For a few minutes after the call had ended, I remained in the dark living room and watched a cat walk around our backyard. I was pulling down a single panel of the blinds, so I could watch it without exposing the rest of me standing there and scaring it away, while sipping my drink. Suddenly, a voice ripped me out of my funk. When I spun around, I saw Danielle leaning against the doorframe leading into the living room.

“Good Morning, Tim.” she half whispered as to not wake the rest of the house, while I was still blinking at her in surprise.

“Morning. Why are you up? Everything alright?”

“John called me a few minutes ago.” she explained, giving me a meaningful look.

“Oh. Sorry about that.” I said, looking back out the windows to hide my embarrassment.

John, that damned traitor! That’s why he didn’t ask questions. He must have called her the moment I had hung up instead. Meaning, she possibly had just stood there watching me for a while.

“So ... you make rounds through the house?” she asked, walking to stand next to me, “In the middle of the night?”

“Yes. So?”

“You do that often?”

She tried to sound casual, but I could also hear a distinct tone of professionalism, telling me this wasn’t just idle conversation with my Aunt. It was more likely a session with my Aunt the therapist. I looked at her, contemplating whether I should - or rather wanted to - tell her. And if so, how much.

“Most nights, yes.” I answered blandly. Noticing her look I added. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

She grabbed my drink out of my hand, brought it up to her nose, and sniffed it.

“Yeah, sure. Waking up in the dead of night to check on us, and then drinking alone in a dark room, basically screams ‘I’m fine’, Tim!”

“Who says I wake up to check on you people? I just make sure the house is Okay.”

“So you do wake up to check, instead of checking when you just happen to wake up? And if it’s not to check on us, why did you call John to make sure he was Okay?”

Obviously I wasn’t as quick-witted as I thought.

“Where the fuck’s all that perceptiveness suddenly coming from that you’ve been missing for the past four years?” I muttered under my breath, taking my drink back from her hands, and causing her to wince and regard me with sad eyes.

“I know I failed you, Tim. I’m sorry.” she responded after placing a hand on my biceps, “There isn’t anything I could say in my defense that wouldn’t sound like a cheap excuse, or like I’m trying to shift the blame. All I can say is, I’m trying to do better, because I do care about you.”

Hearing that almost knocked me on my ass. It was the first time I had heard any of them fully acknowledge my grief, while actually apologizing for the part they played in the shit I had endured. No ‘I’m sorry, BUT... ‘, or ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’. She actually admitted that my aversion towards them was fully warranted, without any attempt to play it down or relativize her part in it. Even Claire had, the night we had sex, only apologized specifically for not realizing that Tess had died, and gave me a ‘I didn’t intend to... ‘ for all the other crap.

“Well ... try me.” I challenged her.

“What?”

“Now that you said you’re sorry and want to do better, I’d like to hear the reasons, even if they sound like excuses. Because I really would like to understand how in the hell we reached this point.” I clarified, and saw her body slump in on itself. “You are a psychologist after all. So, I have a little trouble understanding how anything you just claimed is possible, after you let it all happen.”

She thought about it for a while, looking at her feet, before she sighed in resignation.

“I could tell you that we don’t live together, so I never directly witnessed the signs of depression in you. I could tell you that you had already withdrawn yourself and kept your distance from us when you entered high school, so I never directly witnessed the signs of you being bullied. Or I could tell you that I specialized in couples therapy, not child psychology, so I wasn’t able to see the signs from a distance either. But the simple truth is ... that you were right with what you said to me. The mere fact that a fourteen year old child withdrew himself from his family should have made me ask questions, but I was content with my life and the fun we were having, so I readily accepted Aaron’s remarks about harmless sibling rivalry.”

By the end of her explanation, she had to strain her voice to keep her embarrassment out of it.

“And what about after you finally found out?” I asked quietly. “I suspect John told you about our little talk in the car?”

“Yes.” she nodded somberly, “He has. Tim, after we tried to make them remember your birthday last year, your Grandmother justifiably dressed us all down and demanded of Claire and Aaron to fix what was wrong. And, despite what you think, I did talk with them. One of the reasons I hounded you for the last year was that I wanted to help that process along. When you kept refusing to talk with me, I relied on what I heard from your parents and siblings, who made it all sound like you just weren’t interested.”

“Really!?” I asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Yes, Tim, really.” she said in a sad voice, “Your brother and father sounded very convincing. Especially since, until two weeks ago, I had no idea how bad things really were from your perspective.” She paused to sigh again. “So, there you have your answer to why we never offered to take you in. John and I also talked about introducing you to our family activities ourselves if Claire wouldn’t, but it simply wasn’t our place. It’s the parents’ responsibility to decide when their children are ready for it. All we knew was that we forgot your birthday, and that Aaron preferred Logan over you. So, honestly, we had little reason to doubt their words when they claimed you simply didn’t want to. At least not until your grandfather called and told John about your disappearance.”

She was right. To me, this did sound like a bunch of excuses. But she had already acknowledged that she simply screwed up, and seemed to genuinely regret that.

“So ... what’s the plan now?” I asked, and noticed her acting pensive all of a sudden.

“There are ... other concerns.” she replied carefully, “Now that I finally realized my mistake and started looking at things a little more ... critically ... I’m afraid there are a lot more things going wrong. I’ll have to talk with the others about it. I think we need to make some serious changes about the way we handle things.”

“I think that’s obvious.” I injected, which she ignored.

“Right now, my main concern is you. I will make this right, Tim. I will not fail you again. So, right now, I need to make sure you’re actually Okay like you claimed you are.”

“Well, fine, I’m not Okay. Happy?” She grinned. “But I will be.”

“Meaning?” She insisted on keeping this talk going.

I realized how long we had already stood around while talking, and it seemed like this talk would go on for a while longer. So, I moved over to the loveseat and found my shirt from the day before draped across a chair. I guess they weren’t sure if they should try to wash out the blood or just throw it away. I took a seat, fully expecting her to sit in the armchair opposing me to complete the picture of a therapist in session. She surprised me, however, by sitting right next to me instead. I took a sip of my drink, more to buy some time than to sort my thoughts.

“The last two weeks were just ... a little stressful.” I started,

“That’s slightly understated, but go on.” she smiled.

“And ... I haven’t slept that well in a while. I just need to realize we’re finally out of the woods; it’ll fix itself.”

She nodded, stood up and walked into the kitchen. Then she came back with a drink of her own, though she preferred a glass of wine I had no idea we even had in the house. Then she sat back next to me, and gave me a searching look.

“When you wake up, how do you feel?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if it makes you check on us, do you feel like something’s wrong? Or something might happen?”

“Yes.”

“And how are you physically when that happens? How does your body feel?”

I thought about that a little before I answered.

“Like ... when the fight with those guys in the parking lot started. Like that.”

“You mean ... heart palpitations?” I nodded. “Heavy breathing?” I nodded again. “Body trembling, hands shaking?” I wanted to shake my head, but she was spot on. “Do you always get a drink when that happens?”

“No. Usually, I just make my rounds and get better once I arrive in the basement.” I ignored the sight of her raising her eyebrow when I used the word ‘Usually’, indirectly admitting how regularly it was happening. “But today was just ... it didn’t go away until I understood that John was missing and called him. By then, I had already tried the drink.”

“You do realize, this sounds like you’re waking up with panic attacks?” she asked matter of fact. I just stared at her for a moment.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“What do you think it is, then?” she asked patiently.

“I don’t know, pick something else. I don’t do ‘panic attacks’! Why would I!? I don’t clamp up like Aaron, or run away like Logan! I deal with it when shit happens. And why the hell would I get hysterical now, when it’s over and solved!?”

I heard her let out a heavy sigh after I finished.

“I should’ve expected that response, after you spent so much time with Bill and his boys...” she mumbled to herself before continuing louder while looking directly into my eyes. “You’re not ‘hysterical’, Tim. The last two weeks were a lot more than just ‘a little stressful’! You almost died when you were stabbed. The entire two weeks since then were spent worrying and staying awake for days in a row. To protect us, you went against very dangerous people. And finally, when it was supposed to be over, you got assaulted again and found yourself thrown into yet another life-and-death situation! That takes a toll. It accumulates. And it’s especially too much for a seventeen-year-old.”

“But it IS over now.” I protested, failing to control the volume of my voice. She surprised me by taking my hand before answering.

“No, it’s not. Not for your body, at least. You’re still hurting. Your ribs, your side, your arms ... I think, when you agitate your wounds by moving in your sleep, the sudden pain sends your brain right back into the fight-or-flight state you basically maintained over weeks now. When did it start getting so bad?”

I sure as shit was not going to tell this woman that it got really bad just after I got back from Austin. Which, coincidentally, was also when they all moved to the supposed hotel and left me alone in the house. That would just give her ammunition to stop me from going back home. Instead, I deflected.

“Well ... that certainly sounds better than a panic attack. How’s Ava, by the way?” It gave her pause for a second.

“I thought you didn’t care?” She and Claire had apparently talked after I went to sleep.

“I said that when you, Maggie, and Granny were looking after her. But seeing how you and Maggie opted to sleep with her instead of going home with John ... maybe it was more serious than I thought. Unless, of course, it wasn’t because she needed emotional support, and you instead just continued the fun you all had over the last week.”

“Tim! We would never do that!” She genuinely sounded hurt.

“You wouldn’t? You all spent my last two birthdays having lovely get-togethers, while I was at work. Remember what you were doing that Thanksgiving, when you all had finally realized that it was my birthday? If memory serves, Aaron and Grandpa were spitroasting Ava, and your daughter was blowing Logan, while you were discussing how and why our relationship had turned to shit. While I was risking my life, taking out those guys, you were in the mood to have at least a foursome. And now you tell me, you’d never do something like that?”

I was neither shouting, nor was my tone sounding angry. I was calmly pointing out why she was talking bullshit. After everything that happened that night, I was past angry. Though, I wondered if she picked up on the little part about Ava being spitroasted on Thanksgiving. They now knew that I knew about the family orgies for a while, but that was a detail I had no way of knowing.

“I already said I’m sorry, Tim. And I meant it when I said I’ll do better. What happened with Logan while you were out there putting your life on the line ... That’s one of the things I talked about just now. One of the things we need to change.”

“Please explain.” I said with great interest, causing her to, once again, look at me in great shame.

“Tim, we did not do that out of disrespect to you, or because we didn’t appreciate what you were doing for us. We did that because we were worried about you.”

“I’m not following.”

“I’m afraid we’ve all grown a little too ... accustomed to sex. John disagrees with me on that one, but it isn’t anywhere near as meaningful as it once was. It became something we simply do to feel good. That day, we were all stressed out of our minds. We tried calling you a dozen times throughout the night, and every time you didn’t answer, it got worse. We could always use sex to ease that tension.” she finished in a quiet voice.

I groaned, “Please tell me that you realize how much of a ‘Fuck you’ that is to me.”

“Yes. I do now.” she said in an even smaller voice. “At the time though ... When your Mom and Susy saw Logan after those men roughed him up, they wanted him to feel better. Aaron argued that we can’t hold it against him if he told those men about you, because he was scared. If either of us were in a similar situation, we would probably also say whatever we thought would get us out of it. And he was right. I would have done the same. It ... made sense.”

As she told me that, my eyes widened in disbelief. These fucking assholes had used Bill’s words, that he used to keep me focused on my task instead of my hatred for Logan, to justify their Golden Boy’s betrayal of his own brother!

I also realized something else. After what happened during the week before my trip to Austin, I had hoped that they would finally come around and acknowledge me as part of their family. Ava had displayed her willingness when I woke up next to her, Granny had come on to me in a similar situation, and Claire had actually slept with me. Now, however, after learning how mundane and meaningless these activities were for them ... this was obviously not what I had secretly hoped for.

“Tim.” her voice pulled me out of my thoughts, accompanied by the feeling of her holding my hand. “Please believe me. I’m really sorry.”

I sighed.

“I do. You did not pull any punches when it came to your involvement and your motivation for it. And your apology is the only reason I’m talking to you in the first place. It was the first time any of you even tried to apologize. I appreciate it, though it’s still too late. Too much happened that I won’t be able to forget.”

“Tim, don’t say that.” she pleaded, “I talked to Claire after you went to sleep. You know, she and Aaron noticed how you never say it back anymore when they tell you they love you. And, believe it or not, it hurts them a lot when they see how much damage they caused. They realize how much they hurt you. I told them we need to take this slow, respect your pace, and take what you offer, but I think it’s...”

“Wait. Whatever happened to ‘Please, just let her hold you for a while. She needs this right now’?” I interrupted, repeating her words from just a few hours ago, “Why do you keep asking me to do shit for them? Why is fixing what they broke on me?”

“It’s not. It’s on us, and we know it. I just also know that you really want your family back. Why else did you try to make John understand what happened with us, when you drove to the office together, if not to give us a chance to fix it?”

It was true. That was the exact reason why I had tried to make John understand what was happening in this family. But not necessarily to fix their relationship with me, but rather so they can fix their shit before Maggie and Ava suffer from the long-term consequences.

“Did it work?” I asked her in a subdued voice.

“Yes.” she smiled, “He was ... quite shocked about what you told him, and was seriously concerned after mulling it over. So, I take it we do have a chance to get you back?”

“Did Claire tell you that we...?” I asked carefully, without actually saying what I was asking.

“Yes. Ava too, by the way. If what she told us was true, and the way she looked and walked suggests it was, I’m impressed, my dear Nephew.” she laughed.

“You know...” I paused, looking at my hands, feeling embarrassed about it but, at the same time, also feeling the need to make her understand. “The best part about the night with Claire was the way she held me afterwards. The way you all behaved after Thanksgiving also made me think we could work on this. But every time I get my hopes up, some shit happens, and I have a hard time believing you again.”

“Like what?” she asked, sounding confused. Which ticked me off again.

“Oh, well, let me think.” I half called out, while throwing my hands in the air. “How about Ava presenting me a birthday gift, and then it turns out to be a cruel joke. How about you and John realizing how bad our relationship had gotten, and then accepting it as the new normal. Granny and Gramps proclaiming how important it is we fix our relationship, right before they fuck off on another cruiseship for a year. Aaron protested how dangerous my plan was, but then readily agrees to everything I’d get thrown my way, as long as it keeps fucking Logan out of danger. Or how about me thinking that Claire and Ava coming onto me could mean that they finally accept me, just to now be told how utterly meaningless a gesture that is for you all. Which, by the way, is a real nut shot if you consider how you all excluded me from the family orgies for years, even though it’s apparently the same for you as brewing coffee! Should I fucking continue!?”

“Okay...” she conceded with an embarrassed look, but I was not even close to being done.

“And all of that happened after you all gave so little of a shit about me, you didn’t even notice that your underaged son, brother, and nephew was gone for a week! I got fucking trust issues here, Danielle, and now you’re asking me to just accept your word on how you all made a mental One-Eighty? Even if I could believe you ... After last week, I’m not even sure if I wanted to anymore.”

“Okay! You’re right. Everything you just said is true. We’ve got to prove ourselves. And we want to! Just tell me you’ll let us prove it to you.”

Sure, I wished I had a family. Ever since I saw them on Ava’s sixteenth birthday, the way they cared for her was all I wanted for myself as well. But did I still care about that now? After those past years, did I still care for them? And more importantly, even if this was their genuine attempt to fix it, and not just a guilt trip like I feared, would they still want to mend our relationship if they knew what I’ve done?

“You know I killed those men, right?” I said quietly, causing her to jerk away from me in shocked surprise.

“WHAT!?”

“You weren’t there when those three guys came for us in that parking lot.” I explained, my voice just as low as when my initial confession slipped out, and I was still unable to look at her. “Bill told me how they normally handled debtors who wouldn’t or couldn’t pay them. They tried to shoot me and managed to stab me. They were prepared to kill us, but they actually came to take you, Maggie, Claire and Ava back to Austin with them. To clear Logan’s debt, they would’ve tried to blackmail you all into making porn. And if that wouldn’t work, they would’ve drugged you, dragged you in front of a camera, and filmed as each of you got raped by the five of them, creating as much videomaterial as possible to sell.”

Her eyes had grown big, no longer just expressing shock as I talked, but also fright. I just continued.

“After Bill told me that, I looked for the videos they produced online and found a few. The first time I watched one, I was surprised the woman could even move when they were finally done with her. So, I looked into her, just to make sure. She did make it out of the building ... but after those videos were published, she apparently couldn’t deal with the humiliation. The people they worked with are even worse than them! Even if I hate you all for what you did, I couldn’t let that shit happen. So ... I stole from his partners, and pinned it on him and his last remaining goon. If it worked out ... and it seems it did ... there is no way they let them live.”

“Tim...” she started to say, but nothing else came as she just stared at me.

“Still want me around?”

This was something that bothered me a lot, ever since it happened. I didn’t know for sure whether the Bookie and his men were actually dead, of course, but I knew this was the most likely outcome for them, even before we drove to Austin. Bill had made sure I understood that part as soon as I told him about my plan. When he asked me whether I knew what they did to people who steal from them, he wasn’t just warning me about the consequences of getting caught stealing. He was warning me about the consequences of succeeding in framing others.

I didn’t tell Danielle to get sympathy points, or make her feel indebted, or anything like that. I just had to tell someone, and ever since the blowout on Thanksgiving, I had decided that we all needed to know exactly where our problems came from. If they wanted to work on our relationship, they first needed to know why we no longer had one. In return, they deserved to know what I did in Austin, so they could decide if rebuilding a relationship with me was something worth working for.

If this confession would lead to them letting me go, or them finally deciding they didn’t want someone like me close to them anymore, nothing would be lost either. I would simply continue living like I already had for years, just not in this house.

But instead of doing anything like that, she leaned over, wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled my head into her breasts. She just held me like that for a long time, while her hands combed through my hair.

I won’t lie, I enjoyed it immensely. Being held like that was something I missed a lot. And then the old doubts came back. Any affection or concern they had shown me happened just after they realized that they needed me. I was used to expecting disappointment and looking for their hidden agenda. I simply had no way to know if this was genuine.

“Why are you holding me?” I said, trying to control myself. “This is ... not what I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. Curse at me? Wake the others and tell them what I did? Tell me to get away from you?”

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she just held me tighter before finally speaking.

“Oh, Honey ... you were not the one who killed them, if that even happened.”

“But if it happened, I caused it!” I replied, noticing it got harder to control my voice.

“No. What you did was the only thing you could think of to protect us, and what it got you was pain. I saw your face just now while you told me. Trust me, I will never blame you for protecting your family!”

Receiving that kind of caring gesture, after she learned the full story ... I can’t even begin to describe how big of a relief I felt. I didn’t even notice how long we lay there, her just holding me in that comforting manner, until I heard birds chirping outside. I looked through the window and noticed that the sun was coming up, which meant it had been roughly three hours since she joined me. I got up and looked at her uncomfortably.

“Sorry for taking up your night.” I said.

“Don’t say it like...”

“Thank you. For...” I interrupted her, gesturing towards the sofa instead of finishing the sentence. “I hate to admit it, but I needed it.”

Hearing that made her smile. She stood, walked close to me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and took my right hand into hers.

“Listen. The next time you feel like something bad is about to happen, I want you to try this. It’s called Five-Finger Breathing. Open your hand like this, palm up.” she said, turning my hand and spreading my fingers for me. Then she lightly traced my fingers with her middle-finger. “Start at the thumb. Trace the outside of it up to the tip while you breathe in through your nose, then trace the inside of it down to the palm while you breathe out through your mouth. Then do it with your index finger with your next breath, and then with your middle finger. Try to control your breathing, so it stays deep and slow as you do it. Do it until you’ve traced all your fingers this way, and, if you need to, do it again in reverse until you’re back at your thumb. By the time you reach it, you should feel a lot calmer already.”

Feeling her lightly trace my fingers, while holding my hand and talking to me in that quiet, soothing voice, especially after I just spent at least an hour being held by her with my head resting on her chest, had an effect on me I had not expected. I actually felt close to her for a change! Thinking about how the night played out made me reevaluate my opinion of her. And, if I were honest with myself, the worst thing I could accuse her of was her being a shitty psychologist.

Yes, she didn’t want me as part of their little orgies, and lost sight of our familial bonds like the others. But contrary to the others, she was ‘just’ my aunt, and out of all of them showed the most concern for me, and had tried to talk to me for a year now. While my parents and siblings were perfectly happy with losing me completely, she showed up at work to watch my training sessions, and persistently tried to mend our relationship. And what happened during the three hours before, felt like she genuinely cared and wanted to help. I was still not sure if it was wise to risk it, but I took her hand and kissed her cheek like she did mine.

“Thanks.” I said, before moving towards the kitchen, noting the big bright smile on her face.

I looked around for the pizzas I asked them to order the evening before, but couldn’t find any. Either they, like so many times before, got rid of the leftovers before I had a chance to get some, or they hadn’t ordered any in the first place. Their appetite was possibly just as low as mine was in the evening. Instead, I noticed the emoji-pan someone had washed and left to dry next to the sink. I looked at it for a few seconds before deciding to try it.

I got a few eggs out of the fridge and had just separated them when Danielle walked into the kitchen. After the family moved out of the house, I had moved my coffee maker into the kitchen, and she was now eyeing the assortment of capsules available. By the time she had decided on one, I was mixing the egg yolks with milk and flour. She noticed the egg white in a separate bowl.

“What are you making?”

“Pancakes.” I just said, continuing on and ignoring her skeptical gaze.

I mixed the egg white with vanilla sugar and a tablespoon of egg white powder, causing her to perk up yet again.

“Are you sure you’re making Pancakes?”

“Very sure.” I insisted.

“Well, you seem to know your way around the kitchen. So, if this tastes horrible despite this confident display of yours, I’m gonna make fun of you!” she grinned.

Whipping the egg white mix stiff took quite a while. Long enough for Ava and Maggie to enter the kitchen and sit next to Danielle.

“He cooks?” I heard Maggie ask her mother.

“He claims he does.” Danielle answered, laughing when I shot her a look.

I carefully folded the egg yolk mixture into the stiff egg white, and filled the produced batter into the slots of the emoji-pan. I had bought the thing on a whim I could not explain myself, and I was absolutely expecting it to be crap, but it worked! The pancakes actually showed the faces on them.

After the first batch was done, I placed one on a plate for each of my skeptical spectators, surrounded them with raspberries, strawberries and whipped cream I got from the fridge, and dusted them all with a tiny amount of confectioner’s sugar before presenting it to them. I personally didn’t care about the raspberries, nor the extra kind of sugar, but after their taunting, I thought it should look as good as I knew it would taste.

“Holy!” I heard from Ava, followed by an “Mmmhmm!” from Maggie, after their first taste.

“These are great, Tim!” Danielle said with big eyes, after she tried them as well.

“See? Never doubt my skills again!” I said, pointing the spatula at her, and getting to work on the next batch to use up the batter I had produced.

“Is that the only thing you can make, or is there more I need to try?” she asked, grinning after hearing my assurance that I indeed knew more than pancake recipes. “When did you learn to cook like this?”

“It’s been more than two years since the last time Claire cooked anything for me. And even on the rare occasions when she accidentally made enough for all of us, I’d come home to find the leftovers in the trash can. So, I could either learn to cook, or turn into a fruitarian.” I answered matter of fact, causing Maggie and Danielle to stop chewing before regarding Ava and me with uncomfortable looks. “What? Did you think I was kidding when I told you all on Thanksgiving that I’ve had to buy my own groceries?”

Initially this caused the general mood in the kitchen to drop significantly. But I just kept telling them how much fun cooking had turned out to be, while I decorated the table with the different kinds of fruits and berries I bought the day before, as well as whipped cream, butter, syrup, and nutella. We could enjoy the pancakes however each of us wanted.

By the time I had finished the sixth batch of six pancakes, and used up all the batter, the rest of the family had joined us. I figured three pancakes per head, if John would join us when picking up his wife and daughter, would be enough for everyone. The kitchen was soon filled with happily chatting people appreciating the readily waiting breakfast.

“You made soufflé pancakes!? How did you get them to stay so fluffy?” Claire asked.

“Tablespoon of egg white powder. Adds protein as structure to hold it up, but doesn’t change the taste.”

“Ha! How did you get those silly faces on them?” Granny asked amused, to which I just held up the pan, showing her the different emojis in the separated slots.

“They’re a little sweet for me, but still good!” Aaron commented as I was cleaning up the kitchen while they ate.

“Yeah, well, keep in mind that I normally spend two or three hours each day in the gym. Though ... eating those while sitting around for weeks, waiting for my bones to mend, would probably be a bad idea.” I mused.

“When did you get so good at cooking? I never saw you in here!” Claire asked, causing Maggie and Danielle to exchange looks while Ava lowered her head.

“After I get home. So, either when you’re all out together or in bed.” I explained, biting my tongue when I wanted to finish that statement by actually saying ‘ ... or in bed together’.

“Then why did I never have to clean the kitchen in the mornings?” she followed up.

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder, drawing her attention to the already cleaned counter and stove.

“You might’ve noticed that you almost never had to clean the kitchen in the mornings. Even when you didn’t clean it yourself after you cooked. Who’d you think did that?”

“But we would’ve smelled it!” Aaron added.

I didn’t answer immediately. When I realized why that was, I sighed.

While it was true that they never noticed when I did cook in their house, I didn’t exclusively cook in their house. The majority of my learning process, that regularly left the easily noticeable smell of burned food and ill-advised seasonings behind, was done somewhere else.

“Well ... Tess and I enjoyed cooking together whenever we spent the evening at her place.” I supplied, while drying off the last bowl and then stored it away.

When I got back up and looked over the counter, I noticed two things. First, the mood had, once again, turned quite subdued from my comment. I realized this was the first time I had ever told them anything about my life with Tess. They were not expecting it, and probably didn’t know what to say now.

The other thing I noticed was that there were only two pancakes left, and Grandpa was just taking one of those, which caused my own mood to drop. I contemplated if I should say anything about it, but was saved by the doorbell.

“Oh, Morning!” I greeted John after opening the door for him. “Sorry again for waking you last night.”

“And I already told you not to worry about it!” He gave me a reassuring smile.

“Well, help yourself to breakfast in the kitchen! There’s only one pancake left, but I think it came out well.”

Instead of accompanying him to the kitchen and watching him eat as well, I turned to the stairway. Arriving upstairs I heard John’s voice again.

“Morning everyone! ... What’s with the mood in here, who died?”

I felt a sad smile stretch my lips, thinking about Tess again as I packed my bag.

About forty-five minutes later, I was just pulling up my pants after my morning shower, I heard Danielle call me downstairs. I went to investigate, not bothering to find a shirt first.

“What’s up?” I asked, stepping into the kitchen where the family was still assembled. To my surprise, they had already cleaned the table themselves.

“Ava just walked by your room and saw you’re packing. Are you leaving already!?” Claire asked.

“Yeah. Staples are out, so no need for you to look after me anymore. And you should all be safe now, so no need for me to look after you anymore, either.”

“Are you sure? I mean ... do you ... can’t you stay?” Ava asked, sounding somewhat embarrassed and insecure.

“I don’t have to leave, but why wouldn’t I?”

“ ... I’m worried.” she admitted after a few seconds.

“We all are, actually.” Aaron added, while the others gave me sullen looks.

“No need to be. Just to be sure, I’ll come by next week and install a surveillance system. But they’re gone and won’t show up ag...”

“We’re not worried about those guys.” Danielle interrupted me quickly. “We’re worried about you.”

“Why? I’m perfectly fine.” I said, earning me quite a few raised eyebrows.

“You sure about that?” Grandpa asked in a taunting voice, pointing at the still red cuts on my stomach and chest, my now dark blue and violet right side, the slightly less colorful forearms, the shiners under my eyes, the split lip, and the cut eyebrow.

“I already told you, It looks worse than it is!” I replied, starting to get annoyed.

“That’s not the ... only thing we’re worried about.” Danielle said, like she wanted to carefully hint at something.

“Well then, please enlighten me.”

“Tim ... we’re sorry.” Maggie started. “But when Daddy called Mom last night, Ava and I woke up too. And we ... kinda ... listened in on you and Mom.”

“I didn’t mention it last night.” Danielle continued. “But Ava told us what happened last week.”

“Last week?” I asked, shaking my head, signaling that I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“The evening she took your painkillers.” Danielle tested.

“Evening? She was here in the morning.” I supplied, but it seemed like I just confirmed their concerns by not knowing what they were on about. Ava decided to fill me in.

“That day, after you had talked to Mom, she was really out of it. She was worried about you. We couldn’t just come check, because you told us to absolutely stay away from the house, but you also didn’t pick up your phone! So ... I thought I could just sneak in here and ... check on you for her.” Until then, her voice was borderline embarrassed, but as she continued, her voice became quiet and thoughtful, and she was wringing her hands. “But when I found you, you were totally out of it. You were lying half on your bed, and didn’t react to anything I said. Even when I took your clothes off and pulled you completely onto the mattress, you just grumbled. It ... scared me. And then I found your painkillers next to all the alcohol, and that scared me more. That’s why I was still here in the morning. I couldn’t just leave you like that.”

“And I have to agree, you seem to be drinking quite a lot. And not just for someone who isn’t supposed to drink at all!” Claire added.

“Tell me, apart from the two glasses I had yesterday, how much am I drinking exactly, that you feel the need to stage an intervention?” I asked, incredulously, looking from face to face. I didn’t hear an answer for a while, so I pressed it. “That wasn’t a rhetorical question, people. Come on, tell me. I’d just love to hear how you all would even know about what I do.”

“It’s not about how much you drink, Tim.” Danielle deflected. “It’s that you drink at all. Regularly. Mixing it with medication. You started smoking. And, while I know now that it was necessary, I’m still somewhat concerned you so readily stepped in front of three men you knew were armed. Tim, your behavior is self destructive. And last night made it clear that it’s too much for you.”

I blinked at her. So, that’s what I get for opening up to the bitch. While I did thank her for the talk we had last night, and I actually really did appreciate her help and assurances, this went too far.

“Well, thanks for your concern.” I started, while secretly concluding that this was only because my exhausted mind had allowed them to know how much cash I stole. “Since we all know what, or better yet who, is causing my troubles, I don’t understand why you would argue against me leaving and putting some distance between me and that underlying cause. I mean, seriously? ‘Too much for me’!? I’m dealing with the shit hand you all dealt me! Since when do you people even give a fuck? Where’s this coming from?” When Claire opened her mouth to say something, I quickly added. “And don’t you dare tell me some shit like ‘We’re Family, of course we care’ again!”

I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy or angry when Claire actually closed her mouth instead of saying something else.

“Tim, I know I’ve been a shit excuse for a sister. I’m sorry for that! But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t care if you ... did something to yourself.” Ava explained quietly.

“Wow. Deja Vu.” I commented, causing quite a few confused gazes coming my way.

“What?” Danielle asked. It seemed she was the one in charge of this little session.

“Ava!” I called out, drawing her attention. “Remember your last birthday, when I gave you that little purse you so desperately wanted? You were so happy, you and your friends jumped around squealing like little girls, apologized for forgetting my birthday, and allowed me to stay for your party. How long did that last before you went back to treating me like crap again?”

“I...” Ava started to respond, but apparently wasn’t sure how to explain that.

“Truth is, I gave you expensive shit for your birthday, so you allowed me to stick around for a day. Now look at this situation. I gave you expensive shit for your birthday after solving your problem, so you want me to stick around for ... How long’s it going to last this time?”

“Is it so hard to believe that we actually care about you?” Grandma asked in a disappointed voice.

“How was your breakfast, Granny?” I asked calmly, surprising her with that sudden change of topic.

“It ... it was good. You’re an excellent cook.” she answered hesitantly.

“Thank you! Where’s mine?” I asked, just as calmly as before, while waving my hand towards the cleaned table. Then I pointed at Grandpa. “Two minutes ago, this guy claimed that, with all my wounds, I was unfit to go home. And yet, you had no problem watching me and all of my wounds make your breakfast for half an hour, then clean up the kitchen while you ate, and not once did any of you stop to think ‘I wonder what he’s gonna have for breakfast’. It might seem like a petty thing to you, but for me it’s just more of the same. You’re telling me how much you care about me, while completely missing the fact that I’m the only one not getting anything to eat.”

“I can make you something!” Claire said, as she jumped out of her seat.

“Not the damn point! I shouldn’t have to remind my own fucking mother that her son needs food to survive! This is exactly the kind of thing I was waiting for. You cared for me for as long as you needed me, and now that this problem is solved, the first chance you get, you immediately demonstrate how little any of you thinks about me. So, yes, it actually is hard to believe you, Granny. I don’t know what you’re putting up this act for, but I’m not planning on sticking around long enough to find out!”

“But it’s not an act!” Claire protested.

“You keep saying that since the shit in the parking lot happened. But your actions say something different. What changed?”

“It’s gonna be different from now on!” Logan participated in this show for the first time.

“I’m not asking what you’re planning on doing, ‘cause I wouldn’t believe it anyway. I’m asking what changed! You want me to believe that, after you all spent years neglecting, humiliating, ridiculing, and hurting me, you suddenly decided that you love and care about me? That’s a little drastic to just happen for no damn reason. A change like that doesn’t just fall out of the fucking sky! What the fuck happened for you, of all people, to tell me something like that!?”

“A lot happened, Tim.” Danielle noted.

“Like what? Because, as far as I know, the only mentionable thing that happened to them during the last two weeks was learning how much money I took. But please, go on, give me a reason why I should believe their claims of caring about me, while I wait to finally get to an IHOP for breakfast.”

This caused them to exchange looks between each other. I think this was the moment they finally realized that this wasn’t going to be fixed as easily as they thought.

“What if they were just shocked about seeing you hurt and covered in blood?” Danielle said, getting audibly desperate.

“What if they saw me like that multiple times before already?” I debunked her claim. “Remember, I came home from school, bleeding and bruised, quite a few times. Twice it was so bad I landed in the ER! Not my first broken bone, either! The only one who cared was Claire, and - again - how long did that last before she also simply ignored it like the others? We talked about this last night, Danielle. As far as I can see, nothing’s changed. There is no reason for me to believe what they’re claiming now. Trust me. Just wait a few weeks and we’re back to normal. I’ll finish packing now.”

“Timothy! Despite what you think, we ARE worried, we ARE your parents, and we are TELLING you to stay!” Aaron raised his voice, trying to put his foot down.

“Aaron! I told you, you can’t...” Danielle tried to put him back on track. Apparently she knew that making demands would do more damage than good.

“Or what?” I challenged Aaron, interrupting Danielle’s protest with a calm but mocking tone. “What you gonna do if I leave? You seem to forget, you put yourself in a position where I don’t give a damn about your paternity status anymore, and material threats are really all you had left. But even those are useless since you made me get a job. You can’t cut my allowance that you’re not paying me, or take the keys for the car that’s not in your name. Go ahead, ground me! I’ll better make my way home then.”

“We could just call the police and have them bring you home.” Grandpa announced. I could see Danielle’s shoulders slump as she looked down at the table in defeat. I softly called out to her, causing her to raise her head.

“Danielle. See what I mean? Yes, granted, I didn’t make this easy for them in any way, but can you blame me for it? All they had to do was respect my boundaries, and give me the time needed to make me believe they actually want this. Just like you told them to. But after all the shit they put me through, they decide to mend fences by forcing me to accept their terms, and if I don’t comply, I get threats. You still want to tell me they’re doing this for me?” Then I shifted my attention to Grandpa. “Go ahead and call the police. I may be a minor, but only by months. As long as I don’t miss school, keep working a job and pay my rent, and don’t get involved in anything illegal, they won’t force me to come back here.”

I went upstairs, grabbed my stuff from the bathroom, and dropped it in my sports bag, not caring about the shampoo possibly leaking onto my clothes. I thought about how this escalated so quickly. Somehow, we went from them showing concern and trying to do the right thing, to throwing accusations and threats around in record time. All this time I was secretly wishing for these people to be my family again, to show some concern and consideration for me. But the moment I got the first indication of them actually doing just that, I immediately got defensive and actively looked for ways to prove their insincerity.

Was it my fault? Was I unreasonable in wanting an actual reason why I should even risk trusting them again? I didn’t know, but I could admit to myself that I was simply too scared of being shat on again to just dive into it.

When my bag was packed, I made my way back down the stairs. Putting on my shoes, I noticed them standing in the hallway watching me.

“Alright. See you in about a week, maybe.” I said before lifting my eyes to look at them. “And just on the off chance you actually care, though I really don’t see a reason why you would, I’m not planning to take a toaster-bath anytime soon, since I still have to graduate. After that ... no idea, yet. But I’ll figure it out.”

And with that, I left the house, hopped into my Jeep, and drove home.

Chapter 12

The second December week started with me making plans. I had already finished all the online assignments the school had made available to me, and I doubted there would be many more before Christmas break, so I was free until I had to go back to school in January. Thinking about my online assignments gave me my first idea.

While I was pretty certain that my job with Bill was secure, my responsibilities had changed so much during the last year, I couldn’t just assume they wouldn’t change or expand again. What if Bill needed something done that I didn’t happen to already be experienced in? My job wouldn’t be as secure anymore if he had to hire someone more experienced and more knowledgeable. And while I still had considerable savings (for a seventeen year old), paying six months’ rent in advance, and another three months’ rent as security deposit, cost me a sizable chunk of it! Not to mention the ten grand Claire had taken.

Maybe it was time to finally get those standard certifications IT-workers needed. A quick internet search told me that I could get all of those from the local community college. Since there were no actual degrees attached, most certifications required just five to eight days of lectures before I could take the exams. I would need to check if I could somehow work this into my school and work schedule.

Next on the agenda was the state of my home. With my family finally off my back, and my injuries healing, I wanted to turn my apartment into something that I could actually live in, instead of just existing in it. Which turned out to be surprisingly hard to start on. I had given up on all my hobbies, had no extracurricular activities aside from work, and really didn’t know what to do about it. After I got out of work the next day, I visited a copy shop to print out the selfies from my old phone, and completed the collection of photos showing me with Tess. I hung them in the living room above the sofa as a first step to decorate my home.

Apart from that, though, I couldn’t even decide whether I should turn the second bedroom into an office or a guest room. While I would like to have a place for friends to stay over, I didn’t have any friends to stay over. The only one even close to that was Paul, and he lived just two floors above me. While I would’ve liked to have an office, I didn’t really need one with all that cash lying around. I didn’t need to pick up any more programming work on the side, and had already placed my desk and computer in my bedroom.

I searched online for decoration ideas, and found quite a few I liked. Then I made lists of what I needed to buy. I had to wait until I was sure the family wouldn’t actually call the police, since my confidence of them not being able to drag me home had drastically dwindled the longer I thought about it. Being more or less safe at seventeen was just something I had read on the internet, and I didn’t want to invest any more money just to then be forced to leave it all behind. After what happened at the house, and the last few comments Grandpa made, I wouldn’t put it past them to actually call the police and claim I sell drugs or something, proven by a mountain of cash the police should be able to find on me.

Naturally, my motivation to talk to them was appropriately low. I did, however, talk to Danielle almost daily. I thought she was genuinely trying to help me, and each conversation ended with her apologizing for the clusterfuck that was supposed to be the start of our family’s healing process. She also kept inquiring about my nightly disturbances, which made me start to wish I had allowed myself to speak with her much earlier. While I still woke up most nights, the breathing exercise she showed me helped a lot, and I thanked her for her support.

She also helped me make plans for getting my life back on a healthy track, suggesting activities to try out and how to explore new hobbies. I refrained from reminding her of my work schedule, and how I wouldn’t be able to do any of what she suggested once I had to go back to school. She also couldn’t help me with finding new friends, since I spent almost all of my time with work and the people from work, and still didn’t feel like I could just walk up to people in school to start conversations. She wasn’t too happy about me exclusively hanging out with people way older than myself, but she refrained from criticizing it. She did, however, encourage me to start the renovation of my apartment, assuring me there would be no danger of the police suddenly showing up.

So, remembering I enjoyed gaming in the past, I went out and drove to multiple stores to spread out the cash usage, buying a big screen TV, a PlayStation, XBox, Switch, and Steam Link. On a whim, I even picked up a cheap 3D printer that only cost three-hundred dollars, but I would have to assemble it myself. Armed with all that, I got back home and set my living room up as some kind of gaming center. Then something quite unexpected happened.

When I saw the cable clutter, I drove out to Home Depot and bought a whole bunch of adhesive cable ducts and a miter saw. I cut them to length and in angles, organized the cables around the TV, and was suddenly taken aback when I noticed the wall resembling something akin to a circuit board with the TV in the position of the main processor. I liked it. A lot.

So, I took the whole ensemble down again, went back to Home Depot, and got a bunch of wall mount holders for the wireless headset and controllers. I hung them together with the internet router to the wall around the TV, and reworked the cable management in an actual circuit pattern. I realized that working with my hands was fun as hell! I fiddled around with the ideas and, before I even knew it, it was pitch dark outside.

The next day, I drove to Home Depot yet again and bought myself everything a post in the DIY subreddit listed as essential. Then I got to work on my first new hobby in years: Renovating.

First, I switched rooms. The apartment had two bathrooms, one of which was only accessible through one of the bedrooms, so I decided that should be the guest bedroom. l left the bed and desk I already had in there, got rid of all the dead plants, painted the room light gray, and put its own TV in. Then, for my own bedroom, I got a king size bed, built a work desk spanning the whole opposing wall, and finally furnished both bedrooms with a bunch of cabinets I assembled without any help. If I ever wanted a roommate or something, he would be ready to move in immediately. I even stored prepackaged convenience kits in the guest bathroom.

I hung new lamps andplaced a few small carpets across the apartment, put Qi-chargers with separate USB ports into the nightstands next to the beds, and fitted shelves for the walk-in closets in the bedrooms. It was quite satisfying when they didn’t come down after I put something on them, and had only drilled into my leg once, when I had the board on my lap and wasn’t prepared for the sudden lack of resistance after the drill had passed through it. At least that finally got me to put together a home remedy kit.

By the end of the week, my bank account had lost twenty percent of its volume, but I had the whole apartment fully furnished, decorated, and even laid out a few subtle LED-Strips I could control with my phone. I realized how happy all this made me. I couldn’t even count how many times I just stood in a room and beheld my work. All of this was my very own achievement. And even if all of the furniture had glossy surfaces in either black, white, or gray, I liked the modern style a lot. All the furniture I ever had in my old room was thrown together without any concept and handed down by the others. Now the entire apartment fit together, and I was dumbstruck at how much of a difference it made! I was actually, totally, and fully content with my new life away from the family in my own home!

As soon as I was done, I knocked on Paul’s door and invited him over to show off, and try out a few of the console games. I think he could somehow feel how big of a thing that was for me, so he just let me drone on about what I did myself with a slight grin on his face.

And just for the record, I didn’t even think about having a drink during the whole week. I did have beer in the fridge, but I only touched those when I had company over. Danielle was quite happy to hear that. The entire week, the rest of the family didn’t even try to contact me once.

On Monday, I bought a box of chocolates and went into Bill’s office to present them to him. He looked at them with a stoic face, before looking me dead in the eyes.

“I’m charmed, Kid. But you know I’m happily married.” he said dryly.

“They’re for your wife!”

“Well, I can ask her, but I think you’re a little young for her. She’d eat you up, Kid.” His eyebrows had ridden up his forehead, but I could see he was trying hard to suppress his laughter when seeing my reaction.

“Are you serious!? I wanted to thank her for gathering all those photos of me and Tess. I read online that this would be appropriate and...” I replied, desperate to explain myself.

“Relax, Kid!” he interrupted me, now visibly amused about how easily he got me rattled. “I’m just messing with you. She’ll love them.”

“Well ... Alright. I also wanted to ask for a favor.”

“What do you need?”

“I told the family I’d get a surveillance system for their and John’s house. I’ll pay for it! But I really don’t wanna install them myself. Could you send someone else?”

“There a professional reason for it or something private?”

“Private.” I replied after a short moment of hesitation.

“Alright.” he said, immediately accepting my request. “But only you and Chris are already familiar with the new system, and Chris is accompanying me today. If I send him to your house, you’ll have to switch with him.”

“That won’t be a problem, Boss. What kind of client? Do I need to go and get changed?”

“Yeah. You’ll probably need to go shopping, actually. Suit. Nothing fancy or too expensive, but this is a high profile client, and your current suit doesn’t sit right with the growth rate you’re displaying. Can you take care of it before this afternoon?”

“I think so. I’ll go right now and call you in about an hour?”

He agreed and I grabbed a handful of money from the safe before I jumped into my Jeep. The surveillance system for the houses had been plaguing me for the whole weekend. I had totally forgotten about it while I was engrossed in the renovation and decorations, but now that it was done, it weighed heavily on me. Whenever I thought about going back and meeting them again, I got this weird feeling in my gut that borderlined on nausea, and my mood dropped significantly. I really didn’t want to meet with them just yet.

I drove to the same shop Tess had shown me a year ago, hoping I won’t pick something ridiculous without her help. But it turned out that slim fit suits were still readily available and the tailor could make the adjustments in two hours, since he only had to slim the waists in the jackets and vests. I confirmed with Bill and, around Two PM, made my way back to the office armed with my laptop.

“So, where to, Boss?” I asked Bill.

“You’ll drive with Paul.” he answered, handing me the keys for one of the armored SUVs I hadn’t got to drive since he helped me with my license, and one of the surface tablets we used so the clients could see how professional we looked. “He’ll fill you in on the way. Just follow us.”

It was a half hour drive until we arrived in Memorial Village at around three PM. We parked in front of a house that looked like it would easily cost two or three million dollars if I wanted to buy it. I hated properties like those. The owners always insisted on installing IoT-shit, like door locks that automatically disengaged when the homeowner’s mobile connected via Bluetooth or, even worse, to the WiFi. Or Amazon’s Ring doorbells, even after those were big in the news for being hacked and turned into publicly accessible cameras. All that stuff was basically made to give comfort while only providing the illusion of security, and explaining that to the clients was always a massive pain in the ass. Even the old anecdote about the neighbor screaming at Alexa to open the garage door, so he could borrow some tools, rarely helped.

The client was a Mr. Miller, the husband of a former model turned ‘actress’. They were scared about a stalker that had already attempted to get into the building, but still couldn’t be identified. They both had seen him but weren’t successful in putting a name to the face. Maybe, I thought, this would make the discussion about actual security easier.

While Bill and his second in command rang the doorbell, Paul and I had already started walking around the perimeter with our tablets to work out the best angles for the new cameras, flood lights, and how to lay out the cable work. Then we joined Bill, and I had to instantly reassess my opinion of the woman who called us.

After hearing her career details from Paul, I had created the mental image of a woman clinging to former glory and, maybe, just looking for attention. But, while she was still quite the looker, it was the mixture of desperation and genuine fear in her face that made me instantly take this more seriously. I made a mental note to stop thinking in clichés, and reminded myself that most people who call Bill have a genuine reason to do so.

I shared our notes and ideas for the system’s setup with Bill’s tablet, and listened to their conversation while keeping to the background myself. I still noticed how Mrs. Miller gave me doubtful looks as Bill went over the notes.

“You don’t have any kind of surveillance active at the moment?” Bill asked in an astounded voice, after noticing that point in our annotations.

“No. There is very good security around here.” Mr. Miller answered. “Patrol cars arrive within two minutes of a call. We didn’t think we’d need it. We have an alarm system, of course, and motion activated lights in the driveway and porch ... but that’s it.”

“Yes, I see those listed. We can have the camera system and a few extra flood lights for the rest of the property installed by tomorrow. How about additional security? Have you heard back from the police yet?”

“No.” Mrs. Miller’s exasperated voice answered. “We couldn’t give them any pictures, and I didn’t recognize any of the photos they showed me. There was nothing they could do except send additional patrol cars into the area for a few days.”

“Wait! They...” I started confused, but held my words to first look at Bill, seeking permission to speak. I wasn’t in any way experienced in actual dealings with clients that weren’t about camera angles and Servers. When Bill nodded, I continued. “Did they actually tell you there was nothing else they could do?”

Mr. and Mrs. Miller exchanged a look before she answered.

“Yes. That’s why we called you.”

I walked over to Bill and whispered my idea to him. I couldn’t do it without his approval, since, if this worked, there was the possibility they wouldn’t need our surveillance system anymore. When he nodded, I spoke again.

“Do you have the exact date and time of his attempt to enter the house?” I asked, and Mrs. Miller scribbled it down on a little piece of paper. “Can you show me where he tried to enter?”

After exchanging another insecure look with her husband, she walked me to the huge patio door in the living room. Her husband and the others stayed seated at the big table in the dining area, so Bill could work out his proposal. Then she watched me as I got to work.

I pulled out my phone, opened the app to get information about the nearest cell towers, and made sure I was connected to the one with the strongest signal at that position. Then I opened a WiFi-hotspot on my phone for my laptop, and traced the packet route through the mobile network. I had ... heard ... that it was possible to gain remote access over a cell tower, and complete control over its Base Transceiver Station, if you bombarded its UDP service-ports with empty packets. You just needed to know how to reach those service ports. To my great relief, it worked perfectly and, after retrieving the access logs from the BTS, I moved back into the living room to sit on the sofa. As Mrs. Miller watched my fingers dance over the laptop’s keyboard to apply the filters to the log files, and the texts of my command prompt scroll over the display, she started talking to me.

“So ... no offense, but aren’t you a little young to work security? Are you an intern?” she asked while trying not to sound offending, causing me to chuckle.

“No, Ma’am. You’re right about me being young, but I’ve been working with Carter Security for two years now. I do the IT stuff, like writing security guidelines, setting up servers, and checking out new camera systems.”

“How old are you then?”

“Seventeen, Ma’am.”

She looked at me with surprise. “Seventeen! You’re a year younger than my youngest, and already doing that kind of work for two years!?”

I shrugged my shoulders, not eager to discuss my private life with a total stranger, before I answered. “The pay is good and the Job is fun. So why not?”

“Huh. I wish my Jacky would’ve been so assiduous when he was your age.” she mused.

My fingers stopped moving and I looked at her startled. Mrs. Miller had a child she called Jacky. Maybe a son by the name of Jack Miller?

“You don’t happen to also have a daughter called Mia?” I asked carefully.

“My, yes, I do! You know her?” she answered cheerfully.

I was in Jack and Mia Miller’s home. My old bully, whom I publicly knocked out in sophomore year, and his sister, the second in line to the position of queen bitch after Ava.

“We go to Western High together. She’s friends with my sister, Ava.” I sighed while getting back to work, praying to get this done and out of the house before either of her children came back from school.

“Oh, Ava!” she said joyfully. “Such a lovely girl! And so diligent in her Cheer practice! But, if you go to the same school as my daughter, shouldn’t you be in school right now?” she suddenly asked with a disapproving look

“I’m taking online classes for now. I was stabbed a few weeks ago and I’m still recuperating.” I answered casually.

She blinked at me dumbfounded for a few seconds, then looked at the laptop screen and started screaming.

“THAT’S HIM! GEORGE! COME HERE!”

I had actually pulled away from her, startled by her sudden outburst, when Bill and the others came running in.

“Where?” Bill shouted, thinking she had seen him on the property, but she was pointing at my laptop screen.

“There! He found him! That’s definitely him! I’m one hundred percent sure! Look!”

“Yeah, that’s him alright!” Mr. Miller said, astonished, after walking around the table and looking at the screen himself. “How the hell did you do that? You were gone for less than fifteen minutes!”

“Well...” I said, looking at Bill again, hoping to get some sign of encouragement. But he was just grinning at me with a somewhat thoughtful expression. I decided to just tell it how it was. “I pulled the connection logs from the mobile tower, ran them through a script to filter out all the frequent connections indicating residency, and then ran them through the script again to filter out all the short-term connections of only a few minutes indicating deliveries, garbage disposal ... stuff like that. For the time and date Mrs. Miller provided, there were only two phone numbers left after the script finished its second run. I put both numbers through an online search. One number was a plumber’s, and the other one was this guy’s. The search pointed me to his Facebook profile, which ... you see on my screen right now.”

“Well, I was told you were good, Mr. Carter, but this is impressive!” Mr. Miller said to Bill, causing me to smirk about the prospect of getting a nice bonus. That is, until Bill spoke.

“You pulled something from the mobile tower?” Bill asked, and I nodded. Then he gave me a meaningful look before he spoke again. “Can we tell that to the police when we show them the profile?”

“These logs are ... not exactly publicly accessible.” While I had answered Bill’s question, Mr. and Mrs. Miller were scrolling through the guy’s profile. “Do you know him?”

“No. I have no idea who that is.” Mrs. Miller answered, while her husband just shook his head that he didn’t know him either. “James Campbell ... That name doesn’t even sound familiar.”

“Well, just tell the police you stumbled across his profile when Facebook suggested it as a potential friend.”

“I don’t care if you got that legitimately. I’m just happy you did. So, of course we can do that ... but is that plausible? What are the odds of that actually happening?” Mr. Miller asked.

“Facebook makes those suggestions based on many factors. There was a scandal in 2016, where it basically exposed a psychiatrist’s patients. Facebook’s algorithm suggested they befriend each other because their phones’ location data kept showing them all at the same psychiatrist’s office. So, it’s possible Facebook would suggest him as a friend because his phone’s location showed him at your house.” I explained, shrugging my shoulders.

“I have to tell you, however, experience taught me that the police probably won’t act on this.” Bill informed them. “Since you couldn’t identify the intruder before, they will consider the possibility of you just mistakenly pointing at someone that looks similar to whom you saw that night. And even if they check it out, as long as we don’t have admissible proof, that same argument weakens your stance in a word-against-word situation before a Judge.”

“Yes. I was afraid you would say that.” Mr. Miller announced. “That’s why I want you to get started on securing this house!”

“Then...” Bill responded. “ ... you need to decide what you want to achieve. Do you want the installations to be obvious and deter him from trying to break in again, or do you want us to secure the house, but make the surveillance hidden, so we can catch him in the act and gather proof?”

They thought about that for a while. Of course they didn’t want him to come back, but Bill must have already told them that, if someone had reached the point where they would try to enter someone’s house, they would also try to get to their target anywhere else.

“Secure the house and get proof. I want that man locked up!” Mrs. Miller announced with resolve in her voice.

Just at that moment, we heard the front door open and a myriad of girly voices travel down the hallway. Suddenly half the damn Cheer team burst into the living room, happily chatting away before stopping when they saw all of us. Of course Ava was included in the mix. When she saw me, she didn’t attempt to greet me, instead she just stared at me with an unreadable poker face.

“Oh, Honey! Welcome home!” Mrs. Miller said, embracing her daughter in a hug. “These men are from Carter Security. We finally know who that man is!”

“You do!? Finally!” Mia screamed relieved, getting happy cheers from her girlfriends. Apparently, that stalker-situation was common knowledge amongst them.

“Yes!” Mrs. Miller continued, before turning to Ava. “Ava, sweetheart, your brother is just amazing! Even the police couldn’t do anything for us, but it took him all but ten minutes to identify that man!”

“Oh.” Ava responded with a weak but polite smile, her eyes darting between me, Mrs. Miller, and her friends. “He ... has his moments.”

And there it was. Last time Ava and I had seen each other, I asked her how long her good will to include me in her life would last. I got my answer at that moment. Apparently, it would last right up until she had to risk her image by acknowledging her little brother in front of her friends.

“Wait! What’s Tiny Tim doing here!?” Mia asked dripping with contempt, not believing her eyes, as the rest of the girls gave me equally disapproving looks. I noted Ava not even batting an eye upon hearing her friend calling me that name.

“Mia! Didn’t you hear what your mother just said?” Mr. Miller scolded her.

“Yeah, sure I did. But he’s also the one who beat up Jacky last year! And half our football team, costing us the season!” Mia protested, earning herself confirming nods all around her co-cheerleaders. Again, including Ava.

Upon hearing this, Bill leaned over to me with a questioning look.

“Remember the video I showed you all from one of my school bullies?” I whispered back to him while pulling out my phone, causing him to sigh and nod. “I think that’s his parents.”

“Maybe it would be better if you drive back to the office ahead of us. We’ll...” he started, but Mr. Miller had a different idea.

“Is that true? That was you?” he asked me angrily.

I had already found what I was looking for on my phone.

“Yes, Sir. Though it was self defense.” I said, as I started the video Craig had sent me of the fight, and held it out to Mr. and Mrs. Miller.

Their expressions were reluctant as they started watching, but as they saw their son and his friend corner Jenny, despite her telling them off repeatedly, their expressions changed significantly. By the time the video showed their son throwing me into the locker and preparing to hit me, after I had done absolutely nothing to even alert him of my presence, much less provoke him in any way apart from just existing in his closer vicinity, their looks had gotten quite disappointed.

“Ouh!” was Mr. Miller’s only grunted comment when he saw my elbow connect with his son’s jaw. I had feared they would get angry upon seeing something like that, and was fully prepared to remove myself from this job, but it seemed, since they knew nothing serious happened to him, the other things they had just learned about their son outweighed parental worry.

“Well, we ... we’ll talk about this.” Mr. Miller started embarrassed. “But right now, I hope this won’t have an influence on this job? I need my family to be safe!”

“That won’t be a problem!” Bill assured him, visibly relieved about not losing a wealthy client. “Then there is another topic we need to discuss. We need to consider the possibility that this man might try to use your daughter to get to you. We only thought about Mrs. Miller’s security until now, because she was the recipient of his letters. But if he reached the point to try and enter your house, that could indicate desperation. I’d like to suggest that we make Mr. Brown here into Mia’s chauffeur for the time being.”

I felt my heart drop as my whole body tensed up. I couldn’t really blame him for wanting to please a well paying client. But throwing me under the bus to please them!? Couldn’t he have asked me beforehand?

“Him? Mr. Carter, he’s younger than my daughter! He seems to be good at technical things, but can he provide actual security for her?” Mr. Miller asked, eyeing me up and down.

I noticed an evil grin spread across Mia’s face, obviously imagining me being some kind of servant to her.

“He wouldn’t work for me if he couldn’t, Mr. Miller. And since he and your daughter visit the same school, he would have a significant advantage over anyone else I could appoint for this position.”

“Oh, yes!” Mrs. Miller called out. “He could keep an eye on her even inside the building!”

Mr. Miller contemplated his options, as he looked between his Wife and Bill.

“Well, Munchkin, what do you say? Would you be Okay with him?”

“Sure, Daddy.” his daughter answered sweetly, her voice suddenly two octaves higher than before, but the glint in her eyes told me she had already planned to use this for her own entertainment.

“Alright. We’ll be here tomorrow morning to start installing the hardware and pick her up.” Bill announced, so I grabbed my laptop and we made our way outside.

“Tim! You’ll drive with me this time.” Bill announced.

“Boss, I’m really sorry!” I told him, fearing for my job, as we finally sat in the car.

“What for?” he sounded genuinely surprised.

“I should’ve come to you and excused myself as soon as I realized they could be Jack’s parents. I knew if their kids came home and told their parents about me, it would mean trouble. I just wasn’t done running the scripts yet, and by the time we finally had the results, they already stood in the living...”

“Kid!” he interrupted me. “Listen, I admit, when I suggested you leave, it was to save the contract. And my reputation. But don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have blamed you for it even if it hadn’t worked out. All of us know that you have nothing to apologize for when it comes to stopping the guys who harassed you in school! None of us would ever buy that crap about you just running around, beating up other students for no damn reason! In fact, when that girl said you beat up half their football team and I leaned into you, I wanted to know if you beat them up all at once or in succession.” He laughed by the end.

“Then making me Mia’s chauffeur isn’t your way of punishing me?” I asked skeptically.

“Kid, I did you a favor there.” he laughed, but realized he had to elaborate. “Look. Her parents are paying us to keep them all safe. That comes with a certain set of privileges, and a certain degree of authority.”

“Fine.” I answered after mulling it over. “But I’m warning you upfront ... she’s bound to complain, no matter how considerate I behave.”

“All the spoiled little shits do when you restrict their freedom. Now we gotta talk about the job. I should’ve thought about you probably being able to help after what you did in Austin. So ... is there anything else you could do to help? He was almost caught once. I don’t think it’ll stop him from trying again, but he’ll probably wear a mask next time, so the cameras might not be enough. They agreed to have one of us in the house for the next few weeks, but after we fortify the building, it’ll take our guy a moment to get outside as well, and the perp could run. Any ideas on how we can gather extra evidence?”

I thought about that for a moment.

“Well, we know he carried his phone when he came here the last time and, since he won’t learn about my access to the mobile tower, he won’t have any reason to leave it at home the next time he tries. I could set up an IMSI-catcher, but that’s just as legally admissible as the phone logs I pulled from the cell tower ... We could just set up a public WiFi Access Point in the house that doesn’t actually allow access to the internet or their network, and reduce the transmission power so it won’t reach the fence. Most phones are set to automatically join any public WiFi in range to save on their data plans by default, so if he enters the property again, we’d have his phone’s MAC-Address documented in the log files of the router, and our Hotspot’s SSID in his phone’s network history.”

“Do we have everything you’d need for that?”

“Yeah. In my basement.” I referred to my office, since I was the only one working down there. “I could even set it up so it would send me a notification as soon as a new device connects. It would give us a short warning period before he reaches the door.”

“Prepare what you can today, and set it up in their house tomorrow morning before taking the girl to school. If I understood that right, you’d have the family’s and our own phones already connected while we make the installations, so they won’t cause false alarms in the evening.”

For someone who claimed not to understand anything about computers just two years ago, he grasped the concept surprisingly quickly! The rest of the drive was silent, until we reached the company parking lot. After we all got out of the cars, Bill handed me the keys.

“This is now officially your company car. Use it when she needs you to drive her around. Since that could be any time, just leave your Jeep here and drive home with this one. Also, drop by accounting to get a gas charge card before you leave. And now that you have that car...” he leaned in closer to me, so the others wouldn’t be able to hear him. “Buy a safe for your apartment and get that mountain of cash out of the office. While you watch the girl, we’ll use that opportunity to redo ‘Your basement’, as you keep calling it.”

“Nice!” I replied and got on my way, first stopping by accounting as asked to receive my card.

We had talked about the renovation of the server room many times. While it was my office, it was still an ordinary basement featuring unplastered walls, uninsulated pipes, cables openly running along the walls, and I didn’t even have proper power outlets. The only reason for my workspace being down there, was the server being down there as well. And the only reason the server was down there was the cooler temperatures. With any luck, the next time I’d go to the office, I’d have an actual office.

I picked up an old router I was planning to use for the public WiFi, but noticed the case was cracked. I was just looking online for a CAD file I could use with my 3D printer to replace the case with, when I checked my phone and noticed I had missed calls and a text from Danielle while I was at the Miller house.

The text only read “I’m sorry. I tried to talk them out of it”.

Whatever she meant, it sure sounded like I wouldn’t like it.

I got the cash from the safe into my sports bag, transferred my personal stuff from my Jeep into my new company car, and drove home. The car was a dream, though I was mighty uncomfortable driving it through narrow areas. It was a luxury SUV we used to chauffeur rich clients around, so not only did it handle like a go-kart despite being armored, it was also loaded with a shitload of gimmicks to make the driver’s life easier by entertaining the passengers. My big hope was that Mia would be making good use of either the TV or the champagne cooler, and won’t feel the need to talk to me.

As soon as I neared the gate enclosing my apartment complex, I saw a woman holding a briefcase, seemingly waiting for someone at the entrance. When I stopped the car to open the gate, she suddenly approached me.

“Timothy Brown?” she asked in an inquiring tone.

“Are you about to hand me a manilla folder with divorce papers and say ‘You have been served’?” I asked, after nodding to confirm I was who she thought I was.

“Oh, no!” she said, smiling brightly in amusement, placing her briefcase on the ground and extending her hand for a greeting. “My name is Nataly Potts. I’m a social worker with Family and Protective Services. Your grandparents called us because they are concerned about your living conditions.”

I had attempted to shake her hand, but as she said she came from Family and Protective Services, I paused.

“You’re joking!” I said.

“I’m afraid not. I hope you could spare a little time, so we could talk?”

“Uh ... sure. I just have to park the car first.”

I didn’t know what would happen if I just refused her. I had somewhat expected the family to maybe try calling the police, but a social worker!? While the police wouldn’t force me home as long as I was doing Okay, they certainly would act if this woman called them. I finally opened the gate, parked the car, and escorted her to the entrance.

“That is a nice car! Is that yours?” she asked.

“God, no! I drive a nearly twenty years old Jeep Wrangler. This here is an armored Range Rover Velar SVA with 600 horsepowers and a shitload of little gimmicks to entertain the VIPs we drive around in them. That car cost roundabout 280,000 dollars.” I explained. “I have savings, but not that kind of savings. It’s a company car.”

“The company you work for lets you drive around in a $280,000 dollar car?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I got a specialized training course on how to handle them. And our newest client is a classmate of mine, so, from tomorrow onwards, I’ll have the honor to drive her to and from school. Honestly, I’d never pay that much for a car, even if I won the lottery. The entire drive home I was worried I’d scratch the fender, and then have to sell a kidney to pay for the new paint job.”

“Yeah, I think I would as well.” she laughed.

When we reached my apartment and I opened the door, she immediately started scanning the living room. She didn’t even do it slyly or in any way trying to hide it, she actually seemed irritated and kept checking something on a clipboard.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Well ... to be perfectly honest with you ... this does not look at all like what I was told to expect.” she carefully answered.

“What were you told to expect?” I asked, hanging my suit jacket over a chair at my small dining table.

“Your grandparents claimed you were basically squatting here. They mentioned a bed and a desk in an otherwise completely vacant apartment. But not only is this fully furnished, you even have decorations up! Where did all this come from?”

“Ikea, mostly?” I answered honestly, not really understanding what her questions meant.

“You got all this yourself?”

“Of course! Does this look like I just carried discarded stuff from the roadside in here? I got it all from Ikea and Home Depot. A friend helped me transport most of it with his truck and assemble the bigger things, but the rest is all me. I even made some of it myself. Like the shelves in the Walk-Ins, or the nightstands.” I explained proudly, causing her to just nod and accept it for now. Not really knowing what else to do, I thought about how to break the silence. “Can I offer you something to drink, maybe? Water? Coffee?”

“Oh, Coffee would be lovely!” she answered, so I waved at her to follow me into the kitchen, suspecting she’d like a chance to look inside it.

Feeling my suspicions confirmed when I saw her take a quick look into my fridge after I got some milk out of it, I pointed at the coffee maker and asked her to choose a capsule. After she chose one, we went back into the living room where she sat on the sofa and pointed at the cable management.

“That looks cool! Did you do that too?”

“Yeah. That actually started me on the whole decoration and renovation thing. I just wanted the cables to not get in the way, but when I had that done, it was kinda fun!” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “So after that, I got the LED-Strips working, new lights, fitting carpets ... followed the theme, you know. My buddy said it looks sterile, but I like it.”

“Could I look around a bit? You can tell me what you did yourself.” she said with a disarming smile, trying to seem as casual as possible about it. I suspected she needed to look around for syringes and empty whisky bottles, so I didn’t put up a fight. I was just damn glad I had cleaned the whole place the day before, after I had completely finished with the renovation, and silently vowed to keep my apartment tidied up for future unannounced visitors. “Wasn’t buying furniture for the whole apartment expensive?”

“Oh yes, quite expensive. But I’ve been working since I was fifteen and never had a chance to spend much of it. So, I had more than enough to make this look exactly how I wanted.” I explained.

I noticed I was so nervous, I just blabbered and told her whatever came to my mind when she asked a question. I would have to be careful when she asked about money, since I paid for some of this in cash.

“You like the job?” she asked casually.

“Yeah. It pays well, the people are nice, I learn a lot ... I really have nothing to complain about.”

“Pays well?”

“About thirty-seven hundred a month. Before taxes.”

She started scribbling things on her clipboard now.

“And you live alone?”

“Yes.”

“That your girlfriend?” she asked, pointing at the photos above the sofa. “Does she come by sometimes?”

“No.”

“Not your girlfriend or not coming over sometimes?” she grinned. “Don’t worry, you’re old enough to have relationships.”

“She was my girlfriend.” I sighed, looking at the photos of me and Tess. “She died almost three months ago. I take it my grandparents didn’t tell you about that either?”

“No ... I’m really sorry to hear that, Timothy.” she sounded sincere.

“Alright. Wait here.” I said, figuring the casual pretense for her visit was over anyway, before walking into my bedroom and getting copies of some relevant documents. I resumed talking when I held it all out to her. “Here’s a copy of my employment contract. You’ll see I make enough to not have to squat in someone else’s property. I didn’t get a report card that would reflect if or how the move affected my grades yet, but I’m a solid student. I never got A’s, but I’m not stupid either. And finally, here you have a copy of my lease and bank statements of the rent transfers.”

“Oh! Thank you, that makes this a lot easier.” she complimented my thinking ahead.

“Here’s the deal. Over the last year, I spent months in my girlfriend’s apartment, and the family didn’t even notice I was gone. So, after she ... I got this place and lived here for a full week before the grandparents came to visit and asked where I was. Only then did they notice that my room was empty, and started to look for me. I’m just better here than in the house they don’t even want me in.”

“I ... also wasn’t aware of that.” she just said.

“I started working at fifteen to pay for my school textbooks. Not because the parents had money issues, but because they simply refused to pay for them. And once I had money, I had to buy my own food to cook for myself, do my own laundry, organize my own transportation, and all that while paying rent to them. The only thing that changed for me after I moved here on my own, is the amount of rent I have to pay. Talk to my boss, if you have to, I’ll tell him that he can disclose my information. He’ll tell you how he was the one who had to help me get over the bullies my siblings had set on me, after the parents couldn’t even be bothered to call the school about it. I’m not going back to live with the people who didn’t care about me. Same goes for the oh so concerned grandparents that called you. They knew what was going on in that house, but never gave a shit about me until they recently found out that I have money.”

She was eagerly scrabbling on her clipboard again, her brows frowned, and mumbling something that sounded heated under her breath.

“Now,” I continued. “You can see that I’m not squatting like they claimed. There’s actual food in the fridge, no drugs lying around, I earn a steady income that is more than enough to support myself, and I’m six months ahead on rent. I’m good. So, if you have what you need, I gotta prepare something for work tomorrow.”

“Work? Not school?” she asked, after thinking for a few seconds.

“I’m still off sick for another week.” She just looked at me quizzaly. I pulled up my shirt, so she could see the obvious evidence. “I was stabbed in a parking lot a few weeks ago. Same guy came after me again last week, after the police let him go and never told me about it. Going to be a few more weeks before I’m fully recovered. Work’s Okay, since I only sit around there, but my GP knows about the assaults I had at school, and didn’t want to risk anything.”

She looked at me with a thoughtful expression, before finally sitting back down on the sofa.

“I’m not supposed to advertise this, but if that is all true ... have you ever thought about emancipation? If you can support yourself, you could petition the court.”

“Of course I have. But I read online that the petition needs to be verified by a parent. And I don’t expect them to give up access to my bank account.” I answered dismissively, after sitting down myself.

“That’s not entirely correct. The petition needs to be verified, yes, but not necessarily by your guardian. If you can get a lawyer, they could verify it as well.”

I blinked at her in shock. If that was true, it would mean ... that I was stupid. I could’ve started the whole process weeks ago and may be already free by now, if only I hadn’t made assumptions!

“Try it. If you have the savings, talk it over with a lawyer. Well, I think I have what I need. I’ll talk to your parents next.” I tensed up and swallowed hard. This was bad. And I was the one who pointed her that way with my thoughtless ranting. She seemed to misinterpret my reaction when she continued. “Don’t worry, Timothy. Right now, I don’t see any reason to force you home or even out of this place. There is no indication that you wouldn’t be able to care for yourself. And I get the impression you’d just turn into an actual runaway if we tried, making your situation worse instead of improving it. At least now we know where you are, and it is definitely not in some back alley or squatter house.”

Then she got up and left. What she had said last reassured me somewhat, but the main issue was something else. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the WhatsApp chats. I was more or less forced to install it because all the guys at work used it, but it had the added effect that, after the Logan debacle, I was invited into the family chat. Though I suspected they had another one where I wasn’t included, because they never wrote any messages. On the other hand, maybe that was simply because the grandparents were at the house right now, so they could just talk instead of sending messages. I opened the group chat and posted a single image. The DJ Khaled Meme with the caption: “Congratulations, you played yourself.”

I started the 3D printer for the new router casing, and then started looking for someone practicing family law to help me get the emancipation started. I had just gotten off the phone, making an appointment for the next day, when it rang with a call from Aunt Danielle.

“I suspect it didn’t go well?” was the greeting she gave me.

“No. Definitely not. The opposite, actually. What’s this about anyway, Danny?” I had started calling her that just a few days ago, during one of her daily check-ins.

“I ... seriously don’t know. I’d like to say they’re just trying to do the right thing, but I told them this was the wrong way to go about it. We can’t force or pressure you to come home. I told them to remember the reasons why you left in the first place, and coming back has to be what you want, otherwise it won’t mean anything and just get worse than before.”

“Well, the Social Worker just told me she couldn’t find anything that would make her want to force me out. I showed her around, told her why I left, and she agrees that I’m better off here. But, uh...” I started, before pinching my nose and squeezing my eyes shut. Then I gave her the really bad news. “She’ll talk to Claire and Aaron next. You might wanna start coaching them, maybe Ava and Maggie as well, so they won’t accidentally say anything ... ambiguous ... about our relationships.”

The silence on the other end told me that she was just as nervous about it as I was. This was the exact situation we wanted to avoid when the whole Logan-shit started. A social worker interviewing them, and possibly picking up on the incest-orgies.

“Shit! Of course she’ll need to talk with your parents. I should’ve thought about that!” She sounded exhausted.”What did you say about why you left?”

“I told her about the general neglect and that I was working while doing my own shopping, cooking and laundry for years already. I didn’t even think about what I was saying, I just wanted her to know that being self-reliant wasn’t anything new to me, so she had less reason to force me back. I completely blanked on her having to check my story out! I mean, fuck ... if Ava wasn’t eighteen already...”

“Don’t blame yourself for that. Your grandparents called them about a runaway minor! They would have talked to the guardians of that minor either way. We’re lucky she showed up at your place first, so we have some time to prepare.” she assured me. “I’ll call them as soon as we hang up and take care of it tomorrow. Who knows how soon she’ll show up. But, on another note of people showing up, ... one of Bill’s boys came by the houses today to install surveillance systems. We thought you would be the one doing that.”

“Yeah, that was the plan. But I just ... I don’t know ... I just didn’t want to go back.”

“What do you mean?” I could hear she was trying hard to sound casual now.

“You know how much I’ve enjoyed the renovation?” I asked, and heard her confirm it with a chuckle. “When I was done with everything ... well, done for now at least ... I just walked around the apartment for a good hour, enjoying how it all looked. I feel good here! This is all mine! If I didn’t build it myself, I paid for it with the money I earned. And just thinking about leaving that for a house I have no connection to anymore, and the people I have so many bad memories with ... makes me feel like I have a lump in my throat.”

“Still that bad, huh?” she asked in a sad tone.

“I’ve been out of there for a week, Danny. And in that week I felt better than I have since ... since I lived with Tess, actually. Give me some time.”

“Sorry.”

“You know, I met Ava today.”

“What? In school? Aren’t you still sick?”

“No, not in school. The guy who came to your house was supposed to meet a new client today, but since we switched, I was the one meeting that client. Turned out that the client was the mother of one of Ava’s friends. She visited that friend this afternoon, while we were there.”

“Oh?”.

“Remember how she claimed to want me in her life the day I left, but I just asked how long it would last?”

“Yeah. She was actually quite upset that you didn’t believe her.”

“Really? Well, guess who’s back to being ‘Tiny Tim’, just a week after her declaration.”

“No! You’re shitting me!” she sounded genuinely upset now.

“I told you this would happen. I’m not going to get them presents every few days to rent their affection.” There was a moment of silence while I waited for her to respond. When she didn’t, I spoke again. “I just can’t imagine that it’s going to be any different with the rest of them. When I left, they kept saying how concerned they were for me ... and then you’re the only one that tried to at least call me?”

“Well, that is actually a lot more complicated than you think, Tim.”

“How?”

“The way you left, they all understood that you simply can’t trust them anymore. That your image of them is so bad by now, you just can’t blindly believe what they say. They just don’t know how to prove it to you.” Danielle explained. “For now, they decided to at least respect your wishes and somehow slowly regain your trust. Well, at least most of them did. Your grandparents think it’s best to try and resolve it as soon as possible, and by whatever means necessary, because they still see you as just a kid who doesn’t know how the world works. Trust me, it’s pretty hard on Claire and John. They believe what I told them, but Susy and Mike keep pestering them to take action. And Claire really misses you, so she has to make quite the effort to not just show up at your apartment and spy through your windows.”

That was interesting. I actually never thought about what would have to happen for me to trust them again. I kind of just accepted that this would take a long time to fix, if it was possible to fix it at all.

“The social services Lady said I should try getting emancipated.” I finally announced, causing her to sigh. “And, I don’t know ... I’m gonna talk to a lawyer tomorrow, but if it’s really true, and they’re really just looking for ways to fix our relationship ... Maybe it would help either way, though? I wouldn’t feel pressured if I knew I had an Out if it went bad again.”

I didn’t tell her how I also wanted emancipation as a security net. In case the family was caught in their incestrous escapates, I would be independent and wouldn’t have to worry about social services shipping me off somewhere.

“Are you ... can you at least think about coming back for Christmas?” she finally asked, and I had to think about that for a while. I could imagine spending Christmas with her, and maybe even John and Maggie, but the rest of them?

“I don’t know. There are a few guys at work in similar situations that can’t or won’t celebrate with their families, so they’ll celebrate together. I thought I’ll join them this year.”

It was a lie, of course. I hadn’t talked with anyone about Christmas yet, since I had barely talked to anyone from the office in the past month. My actual plans for Christmas Eve were to do what I did last year as well, when Tess was with her Family: Watch ‘Home Alone’, ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’, and ‘Die Hard’ - In that order - before I’d simply go to bed. I think I sounded convincing, though.

“Think about it, Okay? We’d love to have you over. I know you have no reason to believe me, but they really want to prove themselves to you.” she said in a hopeful voice.

“I will. But now I gotta prepare something for work and make myself some dinner. Talk tomorrow and tell me how it went?”

“Sure. Bye, Tim.”

After we hung up, I went back outside and finally retrieved my sports bag and the stuff for tomorrow from the car. I simply didn’t want to carry all the stolen cash around while that woman was sniffing around my apartment. With some dinner, I got to work while eating.

I reconfigured the discarded router to create the public WiFi and set its transmission power to twenty percent for now. Then I plugged an LTE stick in, so it would have internet access to send the push notifications about new connections, but set it so the connected devices wouldn’t have actual access to the internet. I thought about using this opportunity to gain access to the guy’s phone the same way I had with the people in the sports bar, but ultimately decided against it. This time, we needed evidence that was admissible in court, so I shouldn’t mess around or get carried away...

After everything was set up, I fixed and glued the loose components to the 3D printed box. Since I used transparent filament for the print, the independent parts and circuit-boards were all partly visible, and it really looked like something I completely made myself. I could just place it near their patio door in the morning, plug the power cord in, and connect with my phone to adjust the transmission power. I went to bed, knowing the next day would start early and be long.

Chapter 13

I knocked on the door of the Miller’s house at Six the next morning, and was quickly greeted by Michael, one of our men who got the first assignment to watch their house.

“Morning, Tim!” he greeted me, as he stepped to the side to let me pass.

“Morning, Michael! Living the life, I see?” I greeted him back after noting the dark circles under his eyes.

“Your sister’s evil, man.”

“I might have a court hearing sometime soon you could attest in.” I said. “What happened?”

“The Cheerleaders had a sleepover. And they had a lot of fun teasing me.” he explained carefully, eyeing my reaction.

“If that’s your way of feeling me out, to know if you’re allowed to tap that ... I really don’t care. She’s old enough to make her own bad decisions.” I answered dryly, noting that she probably didn’t know about Danielle’s coaching session, yet, if she spent the night here. When we reached the living room, I could see Mia, Ava and Joan sitting at the dining table, having their breakfast while watching us. “When’s your replacement due?”

“Eight, when they start the installations. Big hardware is supposed to arrive at around ten.”

“Well, at least you’re almost done.”

“Oh! Is that the phone trap Bill said you’d put together?” he asked, pointing at the box I was holding.

“Yeah. Though it needs some power to work...” I said as I looked around the patio door for an outlet to plug my improvised contraption into. “Listen, tell the others, if they bring any mobile devices other than the company ones, they have to make sure their WiFi is turned on for a few minutes, so this thing can log their phones ahead of time, alright?”

“Will do, Poindexter!” he answered, as he pulled out his own phone to turn on the WiFi. I heard a female voice from behind me, turned around, and my eyes grew wide.

“Good morning, Mr. Brown.”

I saw Nora Miller, standing surprisingly close to me in a belly-free yoga outfit that seemed to be painted onto her body. I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering over her figure for a second, before blinking at her while trying hard to maintain eye contact and remember how speech worked.

This was disturbing for me. I’ve seen Ava’s much younger Cheerleader friends parade around the house in barely any clothing at all, especially after they spent time in the hot tub, but I never had any problem with that. No wandering eyes, no desire to stalk them, and certainly no involuntary erections. Probably because they all had such unlikable personalities, even in my imagination they kept bitching while having sex. This woman, however, looked like she just manifested out of someone’s wet dream, while most of her body was covered up.

“Are you looking for something?” she asked with a knowing smirk on her lips, causing me to catch myself.

“Eh ... is ... uh ... is there a ... power outlet somewhere near the patio door?” I asked, holding up the semi transparent box like an idiot, as if she could have any way of knowing what it was for.

“Sure! Right ... here.” she said, as she walked past me and bent down at her waist to move a curtain out of the way, showing me her outlet. The smirk on her lips was now broadcasting her amusement when she looked over her shoulder.

“Dude! Stop drooling over my Mother!” I heard Mia protest from the kitchen.

I looked her dead in the eyes, contemplating my options, but chose not to care.

“No.”

Snorting after seeing Mia’s reaction to my brazen answer right in front of her mother, I thanked Mrs. Miller, plugged the power cord in, and hooked the box to the wall with some adhesive picture strips. I pulled out my phone and waited for the router to finish its start-up routine.

“So, what is this?” Mrs. Miller asked.

“It’s a trap for phones I put together last night. Just to make sure we covered every angle to get admissible evidence. If it’s not in the way, Just let it hang behind the curtain and it’ll do its thing.”

“My, you build that? Sounds enthralling! What does it do?” she asked, moving close to me to look at my phone screen like it was the most natural thing.

“Well, since we’ll install special rolling shutters on the outside of your windows and doors...” I stopped, seeing her eyes go wide upon the prospect of having her house blemished. Apparently, her husband had not taken the time to fill her in on what they had discussed while she sat next to me on the sofa. I quickly opened the patio door and stepped outside to elaborate. “Don’t worry, they’re barely noticeable when rolled in, and still blend in when rolled out. But they take a long time to get through, even if someone used power tools. They would glue up the sawblades and drill bits, and render them useless after they made even the tiniest progress.”

“Okay ... and what does that have to do with that box?”

“Well, while the rolling shutters ensure that nobody will simply waltz in without you noticing and giving you more than enough time to call the police, it will also take our guys a few seconds before they can run out to catch the wannabe intruder. He could run before they reached him, and the cameras could only record some guy wearing a mask.”

“Oh!” she gasped.

“Now, if that worst case scenario happens, that box I just installed would document any mobile device he might be carrying, giving us proof he was on your property. At the very least it would be enough to send the police after him.”

While I was talking to her, we were walking back and forth around her house, so I could make sure the transmission power was set just right. I also had received quite a few push-notifications about the connected phones already and blocked their MAC addresses, so they would connect with their secured WiFi network again. When we turned to walk back into her house, she spoke again.

“I have to admit, it is quite reassuring how much thought you people put into this. And I want to thank you for driving Mia around. Please know, we had a talk with her last night about how she ... addressed you yesterday. It should not happen again.” she nodded to emphasize the last part.

“Oh. Thank you. But please don’t worry, Mrs. Miller. I’m not the resentful type. I got over it years ago.” I lied with a smile, hoping she’d know I wouldn’t screw around on the job just because her children were assholes. Not that I would ever say that to a client’s face.

“Please, call me Nora. If I understand it right, we’re going to see a lot of each other over the next few weeks.” she said, linking arms with my right to let me lead her back into the house, and giving me a rather captivating smile that I wasn’t absolutely sure how to place. “I hope it’s not too much trouble to drive here in the mornings?”

“No, I live barely fifteen minutes away from here. But...” I said, as we just reentered her home and I raised my voice to alert Mia, Ava and Joan. “ ... we’ll need about half an hour to reach the school from here, and it’s almost seven. So, if the Ladies could speed it up a little...?”

Nora and Michael grinned upon hearing the teenage girls’ collectively groan.

“You’re my chauffeur! Shouldn’t you obediently wait ‘till we’re ready!?” Mia asked, causing her mother to attempt intervening, but I was quicker.

“Let’s make this clear from the start, Mia. I’m not your chauffeur. Your parents pay us to keep you safe. So, while I will drive you wherever you want, whenever you want, I’ll have to keep an eye on you and your surroundings once we arrive. I’m not going to just vanish to run errands for you. And if I see Campbell anywhere near you, I will literally carry you away if I have to, and lock you in the armored car so he can’t reach you. No matter whether you like that or not.”

She looked at me in shock, her mouth wide open, not believing the way I had just talked to her. But when I glanced at her mother, Nora seemed pleased with the way I would keep her daughter safe.

“You will literally carry her around? Sounds like you’re a very dedicated bodyguard.” Joan giggled, which caused me to address Mia directly.

“Before you start channeling your inner Whitney Houston, I will SO not catch a bullet for you!” I riposted, causing Nora to actually let out a hearty laugh while I moved back outside to enjoy a cigarette with Michael by the car. Another ten minutes later, they finally came outside and Michael went back into the house.

“Shotgun!” Joan screamed and ran for the front passenger door, while the other two sat in the back.

“Holy!” Mia grunted, having trouble closing the heavy door. “How am I supposed to close the door!?”

“Look at the middle console between you two. See the two buttons on the bottom? The bottom-left one opens and closes the door on the left.” She pressed the button and the door closed automatically.

The first five minutes of the drive were weird. While Joan kept gushing over the car, Ava and Mia just kept quietly looking out the windows, but Mia had her arms crossed in front of her chest and let out a little ‘Hmpf!’ every once in a while, like she was having an argument in her head.

“Don’t get any ideas, Tiny!” Mia suddenly announced out of the blue. “There is no way in hell I’d ever fall for someone like you!”

And then she went back to angrily staring out the window. Joan broke out in loud laughter, while I was left in stunned confusion for a while.

“What the fuck was that about!?” I asked after turning my head to Joan without taking my eyes off the road.

“Just before we came outside, her Mom explained the movie reference you made.” she said, still trying to control her laughter.

I actually had to think about that. I had made that reference because of the movie ‘Bodyguard’, but I hadn’t even realized it also started with some guy protecting an unwilling and priggish woman that eventually fell in love with him. I was even more intrigued with Nora now, if she really thought I was making that kind of insinuation towards her daughter and still laughed about it right in front of her. I decided to use that opportunity to tease Mia a little.

“Don’t worry, Mia. I’m more into the mature type anyway.” I announced, and what can I say? Worked like a charm!

“You stay the hell away from my Mom!”

This time, Joan’s laughter was borderline hysterical. Looking in the rearview mirror, I noticed Ava looking at me with raised eyebrows, but she still wouldn’t say anything. The rest of the drive to school was mostly quiet, apart from Mia’s continuous “Hmpf!” sounds, she still produced every few minutes.

“Ava, stay.” I said, when they all had opened their doors. She immediately complied, and the others looked at us questioningly. “I’ll need a minute with my sister, please. Just go inside. I’ll be here when school’s out.”

While the other two grabbed their bags and left for the entrance, Ava sat on the backseat with her hands clasped in her lap. I remembered how she behaved when I fucked her, and the suspicions I had formed about where that behavior came from. I decided this wouldn’t work out if I continued using her submissiveness.

“Could you get in the front, please?” I asked, and she complied again.

I started the car and drove off. Ava still wasn’t talking.

“I have to get you home. You’re gonna miss school today.”

“Why?” she asked quietly.

“Your grandparents called social services on my ass.” I said, causing her to finally lift her head and look at me shocked. “They interviewed me yesterday and they’ll interview your parents next. Probably you and Maggie as well. In case this isn’t abundantly clear, this is exactly what we were afraid of happening if Logan’s videos came out.”

“Oh shit.” she just breathed out.

“Yeah. That’s what Danny said.” She looked at me in surprise when she heard me call our aunt ‘Danny’, but didn’t comment on it. “So, she’ll coach you all today. Make sure you know what to say about our relationship problems without giving away the real reason none of you want me.”

“We do want you, Tim.” she said after a moment.

“Sure. Now that there’s another problem you need solved, and your girlfriends aren’t around to hear you say it, you suddenly want me back. Fuck you, Princess. Yesterday you were eagerly nodding away when Mia almost cost me my job by accusing me of randomly beating up the client’s kid and his friends!”

She looked at me with a frantic and pained expression while she tried to speak.

“That wasn’t ... I didn’t think...” she stammered.

“What? You didn’t think making me look like a violent asshole with anger issues could endanger my job in a firm providing security? Or were you just approving because you think I actually did go after your highly valued football team? You, of all people, should know that they came after me, not the other way around.”

She hung her head and fell silent. After a few minutes of silence, I spoke again.

“You know, apparently, it’s not that unusual when siblings don’t get along. So, if you rather throw me under the bus to collect Kudos Points from your friends ... go ahead! But don’t feed me some bullshit afterwards and act like you suddenly value me. If that were the case, you would’ve defended me when it mattered.”

I saw her wringing her hands in her lap, head still hanging. It looked like she was trying to find the right words, or the courage, to explain herself.

“I’m just ... you don’t understand, Tim. It’s not about my image or anything. I don’t know ... when Logan told me to do something, it’s ... hard for me not to. And recently, even with my friends...”

She didn’t exactly stammer, it was more like she was so embarrassed about it, she had to constantly force herself to continue talking. I decided to be a little more direct about my suspicions.

“Princess, if being used as a submissive little fucktoy is what rocks your boat, then go for it.” I said matter of fact. She immediately snapped her head around to look at me in shock. “There is nothing wrong with it. But unless you envision your future as the secret side-chick of the last thing girls see before they get a urinary tract infection, you should learn to leave that desire in the bedroom.”

“You ... how do you...” Now she absolutely stammered.

“Was I so bad you already forgot about me fucking you ‘till you walked funny, dear sister?” I mocked, and saw her blush a little, which was cute. “I still remember the way you looked at me for simply offering you a ride afterwards. I take it Logan and Aaron like to keep the Dom act up, even after you all get dressed again?”

“Yes.” she just said quietly, confirming my speculation.

“Of course the two people with the least amount of agency in the house have to play Dom. And Golden Boy had the balls to accuse me of compensating for something.” I snorted, causing her to, once again, regard me with that same appraising look I saw twice before. “Look ... I’m not a psychologist, I’m honestly just fishing for answers here. But I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why you all treated me like dirt for so long. Maybe you should talk to Danny about it. She helped me quite a bit, though it also took quite a bit to make her realize I needed help. But with the way our family goes about sex ... you’ve been involved in it for years, and I know you never restricted yourselves to the bedrooms. So, maybe it makes sense if the boundaries are starting to blur for you. I don’t know.”

“You’re saying I need help? Like ... I’m not normal or something?” she asked, sounding slightly upset and more than a little bit afraid.

“I just told you there was nothing wrong with enjoying it. We all have our kinks, and I’m not telling you to stop having fun. Don’t think I didn’t enjoy you letting me fuck you any way I wanted, either. What I did say is that you need to get a handle on it! Think about all the shit you did to hurt me, just because someone told you to do it, or because you thought it would make them happy. And then remind yourself of where it got me. You want to be dominated in the bedroom, that’s one thing. But you sacrificed your little brother’s happiness, just to get a rise from your fuckbuddies. If you think that trade-off was worth it, then we have nothing more to talk about. Ever. Otherwise, you need to seriously reevaluate your priorities. If you actually want any kind of relationship with me in the future, I first need to know you won’t screw me over just to get some dick again. Or one of your friends asks you to ... again.”

That caused her to look at me in shame once more. I had known for quite some time that she had helped the pranksters in school. I also knew that she was the one who provided them with my locker-combination, making her partly responsible for the prank that ruined my textbooks and ultimately led me to working with Bill. I just never saw the need to confront her about it, since I had more pressing issues with them that weren’t lessened by talking in the least. I knew what I needed from them, and Danny was absolutely right about it. But I still didn’t know how they could ever prove to me that they changed. The car was quiet for the rest of the drive, while Ava seemed to mull my words over in her head.

When we arrived in her driveway, she wordlessly stepped out of my car, just as Aaron stepped out of the front door and rushed over to my window. At the same time, Claire stepped out of the house right behind Aaron. She, however, stopped on the porch while fidgeting around with her hands. And instead of coming over like her husband, she just stared at me with a disturbed look in her eyes. I brushed it off as fear over the impending Interviews with Social Services.

“Tim!” Aaron almost shouted when he reached my car. “Danny filled us in. Thanks for driving her home. Are you staying?”

“No.” I replied, as I put the car in reverse.

He had barely enough time to step back before I pulled out of their driveway. When I put the car back into drive, I glanced over to them and could see Ava demanding a hug from her father with her head still hanging. I also noticed Claire not even registering Aaron’s and Ava’s nonverbal exchange, since her entire focus was still solely on me, her expression still just as disturbed as before, though now she was gripping the railing that ran along the porch. I just shook my head about their behavior and drove off.

My next stop was the family lawyer, though it was highly unsatisfactory. The lawyer explained to me that the legal requirements for my emancipation were indeed met. I was seventeen, managed my own finances for quite some time already, and lived on my own with my parents’ approbation. When she said that last part, I perked up, and she further explained that, while someone had called social services, it was my grandparents instead of my parents. Since my parents themselves never called anyone about me being gone, not even the police after realizing I had run away, and never even visited the place even after knowing where I was, that could be construed as their acquiescence.

I was elated! And then she shot me down again.

Apparently, in the end it would be the Judge who makes the final decision, based on how they feel at that moment, really. She also warned me that the judge can order counseling and psychological examinations before making a decision, which I would have to pay for as well, because the state wasn’t exactly eager to emancipate teenagers. So, the lawyer discouraged me from petitioning the court unless there is an actual necessity for emancipation, and definitely not so close to Christmas, when those old folks in court are ‘more likely to call upon family values’.

Dejected from, once again, realizing I had gotten my hopes up for nothing, I made my way to my last stop for the day. A local safe manufacturer. I found a commercial model I liked, though it weighed 318 lbs, so I had to pay extra for delivery, which would happen the next day already.

Back in school, I moved into the library to work on my last few online assignments until Mia was done with her classes. It had the benefit that I could see whoever entered the building, so I could honestly claim to have done my job properly for at least two thirds of the day. But it was hard to concentrate. Despite what Danny had told me, I kept blaming myself for revealing as much as I did while talking to that social worker. If I had just kept my mouth shut, trusting that I was too old and self-reliant for them to do anything, the others could’ve said anything they wanted and the social worker wouldn’t have to dig too deep. But now, that I had revealed what was going on, they would specifically look into the parents’ relationship with their children.

Even those thoughts were constantly interrupted by my phone vibrating whenever I received yet another push notification for a new connected device in the Miller household, thanks to the construction crew being busy there. Though, the knowledge that it worked just as intended was somewhat reassuring. By the time Mia’s last class was about to end, I closed my Laptop and walked outside to wait for her by the Library’s entrance.

“Mr. Brown! I thought you were off for a while longer?”

I turned to see Mrs. Jenkins, my hot English teacher and wife of Coach Jenkins, inspecting me with critical eyes.

“I am. Got to pick someone up.”

“Well, why don’t you use that opportunity to visit the school store and get some of the appropriate apparel in the right size? I have to say, you went through quite the transformation.” she said with a small smile, while holding her hand out, pointing in the direction of the store.

I realized I never bothered picking up the school clothes in my new size. I had gotten around that, since wearing street clothes was tolerated as long as they were in the school colors and didn’t feature any brand names. But exclusively wearing the same tone of blue shirts each day meant that, after a few days, I started feeling like a cartoon character that owns only one single outfit. I complied and, to my surprise, her extended arm turned out to be an offer to escort me there.

“Even my husband was impressed with your new stature.” she continued, “May I ask, how did that change come about?”

“I’ve been working for a security company for a while now. They have their own gym we train in daily. So, it was kinda inevitable.”

“Oh? Sounds exciting. What kind of job are you performing in that company?” She sounded intrigued, as we had reached the Apparel Store and I started picking out what I needed.

I got two pairs of sweatpants and 2-button jerseys for gym class, workshop shirts, and a bunch of polo shirts in different versions for my regular classes. Since it was winter, I also picked up two quarter-zip sweatshirts. None of it was the first choice for what style the other students preferred, but it looked more like what I was seeing on my coworkers, so that’s what I went for. For some reason, Mrs. Jenkins seemed to approve of my choices. I also decided to pick up a new sports bag to carry my purchases in.

“Mainly IT stuff and writing reports. Sometimes actual security work as well.” I answered her question casually, as I pulled out my wallet. I noticed Mrs. Jenkins’ intrigued look as I removed the cash from the Money clip attached to the wallet, and counted off the $370 Dollars I just picked in clothes.

“Do you always carry around that much money?”

“Most times, yes.”

“I take it that job of your’s pays well?” she asked, with a bigger smile now, while we left the building.

“You could say that.” I just answered, as we reached the car and I remotely opened the trunk to throw my purchases in it.

In addition to her eyes growing bigger, now her eyebrows lifted towards her hairline as well, as she examined the luxury SUV I had just opened. Since it wasn’t featuring any company logos or advertisements, she probably thought this was my own car. I didn’t exactly plan on flaunting any riches around, but I did very much enjoy letting her believe I was loaded after they had all disregarded and dismissed me before. Well, strictly speaking, I actually was loaded with almost two million dollars sitting in my apartment. But I never saw the appeal in using it to impress people.

“Do you have a dog?” she asked in speculation, pointing at the blast-shield behind the backseats.

“Oh, no. That car is armored. That shield is in case someone shoots at me from behind.”

She blinked at me after hearing that, but quickly caught herself.

“I see. Well it is certainly an upgrade compared to your old car. No offense, but that old Jeep of your’s did seem like it wouldn’t survive much longer.”

“Is it standard practice for English teachers to memorize what kind of cars their students drive?”

That caused her to smirk.

“I may have kept an eye on you after your transformation, Mr. Brown. As I said before, it was ... intriguing.” she answered, while her smirk turned into a genuine smile. “Maybe, one day, I will have to ask for your services.”

“Oh?”

Did she just imply what I heard, or did I just hear it because I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her body? There was the possibility that she really simply took an interest in me because she was one of those teachers who cared about her students. After all, she had to know about theharassment I endured in that building, and she probably also heard that I had to literally threaten the principal with a lawyer so he would do his job, since her husband was involved in that event. So, maybe, she was simply worried about seeing the drastic behavioral changes in a bullied student.

I stopped thinking about that when I saw Mia and Joan leave the building, because, as they saw me chatting with Mrs. Jenkins from a distance, they stopped dead in their tracks. They exchanged a few words without taking their eyes off us, and when they started in my direction again, I smirked and decided to use that opportunity.

“And what kind of service could I offer that you would be interested in?” I admit, it was kinda annoying to keep watching my speech, just on the off-chance that she, as my English teacher, would maybe appreciate it.

“Oh, we seem to have quite frequent troubles with our computers. If you are as good with them as your income implies, I would like to make use of that expertise from time to time. In exchange, I would be happy to help you with your studies after classes. These online replacement courses can be quite challenging with nobody to talk you through them.”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Jenkins. Your husband may not be happy with that idea.” I said, as Mia and Joan had definitely reached hearing distance.

“Oh, don’t worry about my husband. You are one of my students! I would be neglecting my duties if I refused to teach you some things.” she smiled.

Again, the way she phrased that last part didn’t necessarily sound innocent, though I couldn’t be sure. However, it sure helped making Mia and Joan think I was flirting with our English teacher in the school’s parking lot. Mia quickly announced their presence by loudly clearing her throat and glaring at me.

“Took you long enough.” I said.

“Oh, you are picking up young Ms. Miller?” Mrs. Jenkins asked.

“Yes. He does. He’s my chauffeur.” Mia explained.

“We already talked about this, Mia. Your parents pay me to keep you safe. Nothing else.” I quickly corrected her as I opened the heavy door for her. Not just because I didn’t like being called her chauffeur, but because I didn’t want Mrs. Jenkins to think I lied about my work. “Thank you for the offer, Mrs. Jenkins. I would be happy to help you out, and I’d love to have you ... teach me.”

Now she looked at me with a single raised eyebrow over an otherwise perfect poker face, watching me as I sat in the car. Whether I misinterpreted her tone before, or she was simply disapproving of my suggestive tone while others were around, I couldn’t tell.

“So. Joan’s going back to your place again?” I asked, noting the both of them sitting on the backseat.

“No. We just thought, since you said you’d drive her wherever she tells you to, we could start by telling you that I need a lift home.” Joan answered with a genuinely pleasant smile, letting me know this was more friendly teasing than mean pushing.

“Sure. Though you’ll have to tell me where that is.”

We drove for maybe five minutes before Mia spoke up.

“What is it with you and old women!?”

“Excuse me?”

“We heard you and Mrs. Jenkins. She must be, like, fifty or something. And is married! What kind of weirdo goes after that!?”

“First of all, if she’s fifty, she certainly doesn’t look like it. And even if she did, I’d still prefer her over the girls in school.”

“What!? Eww!”

“Mia, I know this is probably a concept that’s hard to grasp for someone like you, but there are things in a person more important than their looks.”

“Pff.” she snorted in reply. “Says the guy nobody wants. Of course you’re gonna go on about inner values.” She adapted a mocking tone for that last part.

“Fuck inner values.” I chuckled. “I’m not talking about committed relationships with a lifetime partner, yet. I’m talking about skills for fuckbuddies, Honey.”

“What!?” Joan and Mia asked simultaneously, while Mia didn’t seem the least bit phased by me calling her ‘Honey’.

“Let me be frank here. I want to fuck women who know how to respond, and not an inexperienced girl that just lays on her back with spread legs, making me feel like I slipped her some GHB. I wanna get my dick sucked by a woman who knows how, and not by a girl who needs to talk herself through it and then runs away when she touches cum. And I wanna go down on a woman who appreciates it, not on a girl I have to talk out of her body dysmorphia first.”

“You do that!?” Mia asked incredulously.

“Course I do! It’s hot as hell! Though, I understand that pussy is an acquired taste. Sex is about fun for both participants, and there isn’t a bigger ego boost than a woman passing out from sheer pleasure. Not that you’d know that, when the only guys you’ve ever been with were entitled rich pricks, wearing the official ‘You can beat my ass but my daddy will sue you’ starter pack. Though I would’ve thought Joan knew, after what happened with Jenny.”

That caused both of them to stare at me for a moment, though in different ways. Mia just stared in open-mouthed amazement, telling me that my classification of her usual partners was spot on. Joan, however, looked troubled.

Seeing their reactions somehow reminded me of how things between Tess and me started. I had absolutely no problem talking with girls, as long as I wasn’t interested in them or didn’t have any hope of it leading anywhere. I didn’t give a rat’s ass about what the Bitches of Eastwick thought about me, so I could just speak my mind however I wanted. I wasn’t afraid of rejection, and had no desire to make myself seem appealing to them. Somehow, that made me appealing to them.

“She’s sorry, by the way.” Joan suddenly said, barely loud enough for me to hear. “She tried to apologize to you, but you started avoiding her. She really didn’t start those rumors. They just...”

“What!? Wait!” Mia interrupted, before she started chuckling and continued. “You mean Ava’s seventeenth? Didn’t Jenny leave ‘cause his dick was so small?”

“No. That’s ... not really what happened.” Joan replied, glancing between me and Mia.

Mia just stared at her friend now, no longer chuckling and waiting for her to elaborate.

“I don’t know if he’s small or not. Jenny actually ran because she got scared after seeing ... its size. But you know her, she’s below five feet even on heels, so ... size’s relative here.” Joan finally explained, causing the two of them to fall silent afterwards.

When we finally reached Joan’s home, I spoke up before she could get out of the car.

“Tell Jenny not to worry. I never thought she started those rumors in the first place. With the shit Ava told everyone about me, I wasn’t exactly surprised when you all just made shit up that fit those stories. But the last time we were seen together, it sparked some extra attention I didn’t want. That’s why I started avoiding her, not because I blamed her.”

Joan nodded and got out of the car, but then I realized something, quickly got out myself, and moved closer to her so Mia wouldn’t hear me talk.

“Joan! What I said about inexperienced girls not being any fun? Please don’t think that was about Jenny. I’d never make fun of someone for something like that. And if anyone suggests I was talking about Jenny, I’ll gladly tell them otherwise.”

She looked at me for a long moment, then simply nodded and moved inside. I sat back in the car and continued the silent drive to Mia’s home.

“Why are you coming in?” Mia asked after we had parked in front of her house and I got out of the car with her.

“Gotta make sure you get home safe, Mia. That means inside. Can’t leave unless I make sure one of the others is ready to take over.”

She rolled her eyes but led me into the house with one of her famous “Hmph”-sounds, and, while she greeted her parents, I stood behind her.

“Ah! Hello, Timothy. Thank you for watching over her.” Nora greeted me with a smile.

“No problem, Mrs. Mill...” I stopped when I saw her raise a single eyebrow to look at me scoldingly. “Nora. I see the shutters are all installed. I hope I didn’t oversell them?”

“Oh, no, not at all. I pictured these huge boxes over my doors and windows, but they are surprisingly small, to be honest.” she said, as she led Mia and me into the kitchen. “Please, help yourself to something to drink. I’ll never understand how you and the other guys from your Firm can just stand around the whole day. I’d go crazy with boredom after an hour!”

“Oh, he finds entertainment.” Mia commented.

“He does?” Nora inquired, possibly thinking I bailed on guard duty.

“When Joan and I left the school, we caught him making a move on Mrs. Jenkins!” she gossiped with a chuckle, causing Nora to look at us in surprise.

“Let me guess.” I replied. “You’re one of those girls who say ‘I have a boyfriend’ when some guy tries to ask you for directions.”

“What?”

“Men and women can have friendly conversations without flirting, you know? She was just offering to help me with the online assignments while I’m out of class and can’t ask anyone for explanations.” I grinned.

“Yeah, sure!” she grinned back. Somehow, someway, this had become friendly banter with the Queen-Bitch to be. “That’s why she told you not to worry about her husband. Because he could have a problem with his teacher-wife innocently teaching a student.”

I noticed Nora regarding me with a calculating look that was accompanied by a slight smirk, before she turned to leave the kitchen. Mia waited until Nora was out of sight before speaking up again.

“So ... how big are you, really?”

Unbeknownst to Mia, Nora hadn’t completely left yet. She may have been out of sight, but certainly not out of hearing range. As soon as Mia had closed her mouth, I could faintly hear someone stumble in the hallway.

“Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

“Oh, come on! After what we talked about in the car, answering that question is suddenly a problem for you?” She shot me a taunting look. “Or are the rumors about you being small true after all?”

“You know those rumors were spread by my sister, right?”

“So?”

“What does Jack’s dick look like?” I asked dryly, throwing her off.

“Eww! He’s my brother! How the hell would I know!?”

“Really? Then why do you think it makes sense for my sister to know what mine looks like?” I had only said it to deflect, but somehow it caused her to actually think about it. “You know, I read that people believe rumors for one of two reasons. Either because they want them to be true and confirm their belief, or because they’re afraid they could be true and want to be prepared when the truth comes out.”

“What are you getting at?” Mia asked suspiciously, and I smirked.

“Well, which type are you? I mean, I could believe that you want the rumor to be true so you can keep calling me ‘Tiny’. But, on the other hand,...” I said in a conspiratorial tone, leaning a little bit in her direction. “ ... just this morning, you declared there was no way in hell you’d ever fall for someone like me. And yet, here we are, just a few hours later alone in your kitchen, and you already want to know what I look like naked.”

I heard Nora in the hallway unsuccessfully suppress a snorting laugh while Mia looked at me in utter horror. Who would have thought that the usual taunting the guys at work did, could enable me to put Mia Miller in her place? I left the kitchen and walked towards Nora, who gave me a mischievous smile after hearing my exchange with her daughter.

“Is one of the other guys in the house? Otherwise I’m not exactly encouraged to leave.” I asked her.

“Yes, he’s in the living room. You can go home and enjoy the rest of your evening. Once again, thank you for your diligence. It’s quite comforting to know that you and your colleagues take our safety so seriously.” she said, though when I nodded and turned, she placed her hand on my arm to stop me. I looked back at her and she whispered. “You know, if I may be so bold, most teenage boys would throw a fit when a girl questions their ... size. Where’s that confidence coming from?”

She had a glint in her eyes as she asked, as well as a smile on her lips that seemed to be halfway between amused and sultry.

“Well...” I stalled, somehow doubting that I should tell her about my earlier realization of simply not being interested in her bitch of a daughter. “Maybe I was just told the opposite often enough. And especially in situations where a statement like that held a little more weight than Mia’s casual speculation.”

“You don’t have to answer this one.” she kept whispering, as she led me towards the door and away from Mia’s ears in the kitchen. “But ... older women?”

“Yes.”

“How much older?” she asked with mirth in her voice, surprising me.

I had to think about that. I knew Claire’s birthdate by heart, but not her current age, since I never got anyone birthday presents that had the number written on it.

“The oldest one was... 40. I think. I just like women who know what they’re doing, how they want it, and are no longer ashamed about it.” I finally told her, before she rewarded me with a now clearly sensuous look.

“Alright then. Thanks for indulging me. Until tomorrow morning, Timothy.” she finally said and I left.

The next morning showed the first change in Mia’s behavior towards me. There were no expressions of annoyance, no complaining, and not a single mean joke. She just accepted me being around and even used words like “Please” and “Thank you”, which left me hard pressed for answers as to what could have happened over night. When we arrived at school, she absolutely stunned me with a single question.

“Tim ... were you flirting with me, yesterday?”

What stunned me was not the question itself. It was how she had asked it. Especially if she thought I was making a move on her, I would have expected her, of all people, to throw a temper tantrum as she loudly expressed her disgust about the idea! But the tone of her voice when she asked was simply ... thoughtful. Like she really didn’t know how to handle my behavior. I calculated my answer before I dared to open my mouth.

“No. I stand by what I said about having friendly conversations without undertones. Sure, the topics were ... suggestive. But that just somehow happened. It wasn’t really what I had intended.”

She gave me a long look, and then spoke in an equally thoughtful and calm tone.

“Were you flirting with my Mom?”

“Yes.” I answered immediately without even a hint of hesitation, because I wasn’t thinking about it.

The look that thoughtless answer earned me was anything but calm and thoughtful anymore. Her eyes had turned hard as she pressed her lips together so they formed a thin line. Then she just wordlessly left the car and walked into the school.

I repeated the pattern from the previous day by spending the whole day sitting in the library. I had now officially completed all the assignments available to me, and was already asking myself what I would do the next day,

When Mia finally came out of class and we walked to the car, she was her old self again: More or less silently suffering from some form of injustice the universe had subjected her to. When we had sat in the car and closed the doors, however, she suddenly spoke loudly.

“Are you serious!?” she burst out, startling me for a second.

“What?”

“You’d rather be with my MOTHER than me!?” she asked like I had declared I could fly, and she was now worried about my sanity.

“Have you spent the entire day sitting in class, brooding over the fact that I might prefer your Mom over you!?”

“Answer my question!”

“Then ... Yes. Sorry?”

I think it somehow broke her. This was probably the very first time someone had so openly and nonchalantly rejected her in favor of someone else. And not only was she being rejected by someone she didn’t even try to get with, she was also rejected in favor of someone she’d never even considered competition.

She shook her head and silently looked out the window until we reached her home. Once I had greeted Michael and was about to leave, Nora stopped me like the day before. She was wearing a skirt suit that made her look like a CEO of some big company, while being anything but cagey. Once again, I had a hard time maintaining eye contact. It emphasized her curvy figure in a different way than the yoga outfit I saw her in earlier. She was simply sexy. Not slutty in any way, but sexy with class, if that makes sense.

“Timothy. I was hoping I could ask you to drive me to a few stores. Mia, Honey, you won’t need him today anymore, right?”

“Oh please, he’s all yours!” Mia puffed before stomping up the stairs. “I’m sure he prefers driving you around more than me, anyway!”

When Nora gave me a questioning look, I just shrugged my shoulders, acting as innocent and clueless as I could.

“I’d be happy to drive you. But I’ll have to be home for a delivery real quick. If you could give me an hour, I’d come right back.” I offered, remembering the Safe that was supposed to be delivered today.

“Oh.” she said, looking a little uncertain. “Would you ... if it’s not too brazen ... would it be alright for me to accompany you, so we can leave right now?”

The expression she had confused me. I was sure she really wanted to leave the house, though I had no idea as to why, since she didn’t seem scared or nervous. She was just eager to get out of there. In the end I decided that, if there was any danger, she wouldn’t leave her daughter behind, so I could simply humor her.

“Well ... if you’re Okay with it, let’s go.”

And with that, we moved to the car and I drove us to my apartment. After I had opened the door for her, and she got a good first look at my living room, she regarded me with a mirthful smile and a single raised eyebrow.

“Timothy. Did you just bring me to some kind of motel room?” she chuckled.

“No. That’s my apartment.” I answered, not immediately understanding her question. “I know it looks sterile, but I kinda prefer to call it futuristic.”

“Apartment?” she asked, the amusement gone from her voice. “I’m sure, the last time we gave Ava a lift home, we dropped her off at a house in Grand Harbor. Right near that lovely ballet school.”

“Yes, Ava and the family live in the house. I live in my apartment.” I clarified, as I hung my jacket on the coat rack in the hallway.

“You live here alone? By yourself? Didn’t you say you were seventeen?” she asked, her eyebrows knitted in obvious confusion, while taking the seat I offered her on the sofa.

“Yes.”

“Why?” she asked, completely disregarding the possibility that this might be a topic some people rather not talk about.

“Well ... you’ve heard the stories about my sister spreading those rumors?” I asked, and she nodded. “My family is perfectly happy without me around.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” she just said, as I moved to the kitchen.

“Can I offer you something to drink? I have one of those Coffee Makers with a big capsule assortment, if you’d like one.” I called into the living room.

“Oh, that would be lovely, thank you.”

Three minutes later, I entered the living room with her beverage.

“This is nice. What is it?” she asked after taking a first sip.

“They call it a ‘Gingerbread Latte’. It was mixed in with all the other Christmas stuff when I was grocery shopping, and I picked it up on a whim.”

“Good decision! So, tell me,...”

I never learned what she wanted me to tell her, because at that moment the doorbell rang and the delivery guys from the safe manufacturer showed up. I had cleaned out the walk-in closet in my bedroom, so they could place it in the back of it. I would rather have built it into a fake-wall or something, but my landlord was not happy about that idea. As a compromise I chose the place with the most doors to pass to get to it, and the least space for burglars to operate when trying to open it. Secretly, I was fully set on just putting the fake wall up anyway as soon as my temporary lease had become an actual one with my eighteenth birthday. The landlord surely wouldn’t notice the walk-in closet being two feet shorter than it was supposed to be. When the delivery guys were gone and I had set the new lock combination, I started moving the cash into it.

“Holy!” I heard Nora gasp and whipped my head around to see her standing in the doorway, looking at the pile of cash with her hand covering her mouth.

“Are you secretly some kind of drug dealer?” she asked in a breathy voice.

That actually caused me to laugh. For the very first time since Logan’s exposure over a month ago, I laughed.

“No, Nora. Quite the opposite. Though, I’d still like you to keep that to yourself, please.”

For some reason, that caused her to look at me with almost hunger in her eyes, while she watched me store the rest of the cash away. When we moved out of the closet she spoke again.

“My daughter told me something interesting this morning.”

“And what was that?” I asked, as I moved my clothes from the bed back into the closet.

“Did you really get stabbed protecting your sister and your mother from three men you knew were armed?”

“Kinda just happened. Yeah.”

“That was brave of you.”

“Really? My family called it either stupid or reckless, depending on who you asked.”

“Can I ... see it?” she asked after stepping in front of me and placing her hand on my chest to stop me from moving in and out of my closet.

I blinked at her confused for a moment, but quickly decided not to think too much about it. I took my shirt off, followed by the IIA vest I was wearing while watching Mia, and showed her the two thick scars on my stomach and chest. She stretched out her hand and, surprising me, started lightly tracing them with her fingers.

“My daughter also told me something else that was quite interesting.” she basically breathed. “That you like to ... use your mouth. Is that also true?”

Once again, I blinked at her for a moment. And once again, I quickly decided that, if this was an opportunity, I just absolutely had to take it.

“Would you like me to show you that as well?” I asked casually, but with a slight smile on my lips, causing her to take a deep breath.

“You have to understand, Timothy, I know I shouldn’t do this. But ... My marriage has been quite unfulfilling lately. George is barely home anymore since he found himself that little mistress. When I confronted him with it, he simply suggested I find myself a lover as well. At first I was against it, but ... I realized I need some excitement back in my life. And you...” she paused to trace her hand across my chest and down to the other scar on my stomach. “ ... The more I learn about you, Timothy, the more ... exciting you become. It’s getting hard to hold myself back. Especially since you seem interested in me, despite being so much younger than I am.”

I hesitated for a moment, even though I had decided I absolutely wanted this to happen. If her husband wasn’t fine with this, I could get into a lot of trouble I really couldn’t afford. Especially with all the shit going on with the family.

“Well, if your husband really suggested this, I would be happy to help you out.”

As I said it, I wrapped my arms around her waist, waiting for her to give me some signal that this was, in fact, going to happen. I got that signal when she pressed herself into my body and her lips onto mine. Her mouth immediately opened and her tongue started to massage mine. I helped her out of her Jacket without breaking our contact, and let my hands wander down her back to grab both of her butt cheeks, causing her to stand on her toes as we kissed, and press herself into me even firmer.

Her breathing had rapidly increased and she was moaning into my mouth as I unbuttoned her blouse. Once it was opened to her navel, I pulled the blouse out of her skirt and opened it completely. After I pulled it off her, I admired her lacy bralette displaying a butterfly pattern. She smiled when she saw the lust in my eyes, gave me another quick kiss, and slid down on her knees to open my pants.

She pulled my pants and shorts down, allowed me to step out of them, and moved her head towards my groin. She grabbed my cock and started kneading it while placing kisses on the tip of my dick, occasionally licking it. It had fully hardened even before she had kissed me for the first time, so now she was simply playing with it.

“Look at how thick this thing is. I can barely get my hand around it!” she said with a mad grin before opening her mouth and wrapping her lips around it just below the tip. She expertly lashed her tongue around it in circles, before she bobbed her head back and forth, her cheeks pulled inwards each time she moved her lips from the base to the tip. She was loud while doing it. Not just her moaning, but her sucking also produced wet sounds that permeated through the room.

“Oh fuck! Nora! That feels amazing!” I moaned, unable to hold it in.

She just moaned louder and increased her speed. I quickly lost myself in the sensation. Being sucked off by this woman I barely knew was an incredible experience. She certainly knew her way around cock. I placed my hand on her head and her incredible mouth seemed to go into overdrive, while her free hand found its way to my balls and started fondling them.

She gently wrapped her fingertips around the base of my testicles, as if she wanted to get a good grip on them, but instead let her thumb lightly glide along the seam in the middle of my ballsack. I did not expect the skin in that area to be sensitive, but it certainly was! Every so often, she used her grip on the base to give it a light tug. Then I stared at her in fascination, as she removed her mouth from my cock to instead press it against my lower stomach, move her head downwards as she stuck out her tongue, and then dragged her tongue along that very seam. All the way from the bottom of my sack, over my testicles, and finally up my shaft.

I threw my head back and moaned loudly. This was a completely new experience for me, and I loved it!

She took my cock back into her mouth and resumed her sucking, while her fingers used the leftover saliva from her tongue as lubrication to trace the number eight along both of my balls.

It was all a little too much for me. Quickly, way quicker than I was used to, I felt myself approach an orgasm. Then again, it’s been over two weeks since I last had any meaningful relief, and that was when I was with Ava. After that, I was too occupied with being worried about the bookie’s crew showing up to even masturbate, and even after that was over, I was too occupied with the renovation.

“Nora! I’m going to come. Please look at me. I want to look into your eyes when I do!” I breathed, and she happily complied.

She adjusted herself so she could tilt her head back and looked deep into my eyes as she continued to suck me. When she noticed my muscles tensing up, she pulled back, opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out. The hand she had on the base of my cock moved up my shaft and pressed my cockhead against the flat of her tongue as I came. Spurt after spurt flew into her waiting mouth and the last few gathered in a pool on her tongue. When I was finally done, she closed her mouth and swallowed multiple times.

When she stood back up, she made sure to rub her breasts along my naked body. As she finally stood tall in front of me, and noticed the utter bliss on my face, she looked pleased with herself. It didn’t take me too long to regain my brain functions, though. Once I was finally out of my blissful state, I placed one hand behind her head and pulled her into another lustful kiss.

It felt like she tensed up and resisted my pull for a moment, which confused me. So I opened my eyes just enough to see her own eyes being wide in surprise, before she relaxed and returned the kiss. She got into it quickly and snaked her arms around my neck.

“You surprise me again, Timothy.” she breathed when we finally parted to get some air.

“Why?”

“I just showcased all of the cum you shot into my mouth before swallowing it. And yet you didn’t even hesitate to french me, or recoiled when you had to notice that you may have forgotten.” she chuckled.

“Eh.” I shrugged. “It’s mine. So what?”

With these words, I pushed her backwards onto my bed. It was time to have some fun until my dick could recover as much as my brain, though I knew it would happen within the next minute regardless of what I did.

I kneeled before her and pushed her skirt up to her hips. She was wearing sexy little lacy panties, with the very same butterfly pattern as her bralette, paired with silky smooth thigh high stockings. The whole set was matching. Apparently, she had already planned for someone to see her almost naked today. I couldn’t help but place my hands on her calves and let them stroke all the way up her thighs until they reached her waist.

She had readily opened her legs for me without any sign of hesitation, though the look on her face was anything but confident. I wanted to show her that I actually desired her body as much as I had claimed. So, I moved my head in between her legs, and started kissing and licking my way from her knees to her panties. The soft but wanton moans I heard escaping her lips were telling me about her growing lust.

I grabbed her panties at both sides of her waist and pulled them off slowly. She had neatly trimmed pubic hair. I personally preferred fully shaved genitals, as they reduce the intensity of the person’s body odor in their crotches, and make this task easier. Though, by now, I had grown accustomed to the feminine smell and didn’t worry about it too much anymore. Then I realized what the sudden lack of confidence she gave me could have come from, and decided to reassure her about that as well. I kissed my way back up her inner thigh until I reached her now very hot center and inhaled her scent.

“You smell wonderful, Nora. I could stay here all day!” I said, and her legs notably relaxed a little while her hand found its way to my head to comb her fingers through my hair. “And your pussy looks absolutely delicious!”

I saw her smile widen. Now I had to go on discovery, as I saw myself presented with the same problem I had with Jenny at Ava’s birthday party. I was used to having a partner who had no qualms telling me what she wanted and how she wanted it. My mother was all about pleasing me while I was barely conscious lying on my back. My sister was happy when I just used her for whatever I wanted. But Nora? I had no idea what she would like, and she wasn’t vocal at all until now. I’d have to go slow and watch out for the non-verbal clues, as Tess had called them.

I started with long broad licks, making my tongue as flat and wide as I could to cover her entire sex with every lick. Then I did the same with each of her labia and suddenly her hand, that had until now combed its fingers through my hair, grabbed a handful of it and pulled my face into her. I continued licking her labia for a moment before I shifted my focus to her clit next. First by circling it with my tongue, then by pressing my flat tongue onto it, and lastly by engulfing it with my lips and lightly sucking on it while slowly increasing the force. Her breathing and the hand pulling my hair told me what she liked most when I started rubbing the flat of my tongue on her clit while still sucking on it.

“MMMmhhh yeeees.” she moaned, “That’s so good, Timothy!”

Encouraged by her first verbal form of approval, I decided to simply keep that up while probing her entrance. I placed my thumb on her opening and started massaging around it in circles. She loved it. Her breathing grew ragged while her hand was grabbing onto my hair almost painfully strong now, threatening to rip off my scalp.

“YES! JUST LIKE THAT! DON’T STOP!”

Happy about hearing her becoming more and more vocal, and knowing she was enjoying herself, I simply kept going this exact same way without any variation, and it didn’t take long before she released a loud moan, her stomach started to ripple, and a gush of her juices ran over my hand.

“YES! YES! I’M COMING! YESYESYES YEEEEEEEEES!”

I kept going. I had to keep going!

I kept going until her knees stopped shaking and she loosened her grip on my hair. Then I decided to change it up a little, and slowly pushed my thick thumb inside her, stroking it in and out a few times. While she seemed to enjoy it, her reaction wasn’t as strong as I had hoped, so I switched my thumb with my middle finger for deeper penetration. Noticing her approval, I decided to try a second finger, and suddenly heard her moan another loud “YES!”.

I slowly started fucking her with my two fingers, while keeping the steady stimulation with my mouth going the same way as before. Sucking her clit while rubbing my tongue flatly over it. Slowly, over time, I increased the speed of my fingers fucking into her, until I heard her moan increase in volume and finally erupt in a loud wail of pleasure.

“Oh God! Timothy! Oh, Timothy! Yes! YES! I’m almost ... ALMOST ... COOMMIIIIING AGAAAIIIINNN!” now she was unabashedly screaming. “YOUR MOUTH IS THE BEEEEST!”

Again, I tried to keep going, but I immediately noticed her legs jerking and twitching whenever I even slightly increased the pressure of my tongue, so I knew she had grown a lot more sensitive. I wanted her to enjoy her orgasm, but I also wanted her to ride it out on my cock instead of my fingers.

I had long ago grown hard again, so I scooted closer to her on my knees without removing my mouth from her hot sex. Now I could quickly straighten myself out and replace my fingers in her gushing wet hole with my steel-like cock without interrupting her orgasmic pleasure too much.

She was unbelievably tight. Much tighter than any woman I had been with before, and thanks to her literally dripping on the floor, I slid right in regardless. As I pushed inside her, her eyes grew wide.

“OH GOOOOD, YEEEEESSSSS!” she groaned in an animalistic sound through gritted teeth. “FUCK ME!”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my torso down into hers, as I fucked into her. I wasn’t absolutely sure if she was still feeling the aftershocks of her previous orgasm, but I was determined to let her enjoy her current state for as long as possible, just in case.

When it seemed like her erratic jerking was finally subsiding, I could hardly hold myself back anymore and pushed into her fully. Simultaneously I pushed her bralette up, so I could finally start kneading her soft breasts. There was no extra tight ring inside her waiting for my member this time. She was built differently from Ava, but it was still the most beautiful feeling I could wish for.

“God! I thought you tasted good. But you also feel wonderful around my cock, Nora! I just love fucking you!” I panted, as I increased my speed and started fucking her in earnest.

“So ... GOOD!” she shouted. “STRETCH ME! Please, PLEASE! Keep going like this!” she pleaded in need, and I complied.

I nibbled on her neck as I kept fucking into her like a piston, trying to hold steady and keep my strokes even. ‘Never change a running System’, is the computer-analogy Tess had used to make me understand that women actually mean it when they say ‘Keep going’, and are not asking to step it up.

Nora rewarded me with continuous assurances of how much she loved my cock inside her. After just a few minutes, her moaning increased in volume yet again, and she finally erupted in a massive scream I was sure the whole floor could hear. Feeling her walls ripple around my cock was too much for me, though, and I felt the telltale twitching in my balls.

“I’m about to come as well, Nora. Where do you want it?”

“Just keep going, boy!” There was nothing gentle in her voice left. She was demanding this. “Don’t you DARE pull out now! Let me enjoy this feeling! Fill me up, Lover! Do it!”

So I did. I kept fucking my cock into her sopping wet hole, disregarding all worries and doubts, until I started spurting my cum into her canal. Each spurt caused my cock to twitch and my muscles to spasm, so I involuntarily rammed my cock into her a little stronger each time it happened, which in turn caused her orgasm to intensify. She clawed at my back while I kept the motion going despite being spent, until my cock had grown too soft to continue and I had to pull out of her.

Nora was panting while her arms dropped from my neck to her sides. I looked down and watched in wonder as her gaping hole slowly closed, but globs of my cum already dribbled out of her before there was even a chance to contain it. I stood up, lifted her legs onto the bed, crawled in myself, and embraced her.

Chapter 14

We lay in bed, holding each other and basking in the feeling of relief for a few minutes, before she kissed my nose and produced a cute girly giggle.

“Tell me, Timothy. Was that a nice ‘ego boost’ for you?” she asked, hinting at the conversation I had with Mia and Joan in the car. Apparently, mothers and daughters talk about a lot more than mothers and sons.

“You didn’t pass out. But I’ll just have to put in a little more effort if we get the chance to try again.” I grinned. Quickly, however, my old insecurities kicked in and the grin vanished. “Wait. You didn’t just act like you liked it, did you?”

“Oh no, Darling. I enjoyed myself a lot!” She gave me a marvelous smile. “It’s been quite a while since I got so loud. I admit, finding myself a lover that much younger, but still obviously attracted to me ... it’s quite the ego-boost for myself. But you really took care of my neglected little pussy!”

“So ... You still want to go shopping, or was that just a pretense to get me to take you out of the house?”

“Oh! No, I actually need to get a few things. Though, now we’ll have to do those tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll want to walk around too much today.” she said, before turning almost shy on me. “To be perfectly honest with you, I had thought about teasing you a little. Letting you see me in my dessous and maybe a blowjob. If you’d really wanted me. I didn’t think this would escalate so quickly. I still can’t believe it did.”

“The part about your husband suggesting you’d find yourself a lover wasn’t a lie though, right?”

“No, that is true. Don’t you worry, it won’t be a problem. But now it’s my turn to ask you that question, young man. I saw the photos of you and that woman in your living room. You look like a couple in them.” she said, and suddenly her grin turned mischievous. “And she seems older as well.”

“Yes. She was my girlfriend.”

“Was?” she asked, and I sighed.

“She ... died. Three months ago.” The smile instantly vanished from her face.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Nora immediately apologized.

“Thank you.” I got out of bed and rummaged through the pockets of my pants, looking for my cigarettes. “I know I should probably just take those pictures down again. Someone else asked about them before and my answer ruined the mood then too. But when I tried to take them off the wall, I just ... couldn’t. Though, it’s kinda funny. I only hung them just a few weeks ago.”

My voice had grown quieter as I continued speaking. She studied me for a moment, before she got up, stepped close to me, and hugged me from behind. Her mouth close to my ear, I heard her whisper.

“Can I ask what happened?”

“Pancreatic cancer. She was already in stage four when they found it, so there was nothing they could’ve done anymore. She lasted five months.”

She was quiet for a while.

“So, you live all on your own away from your family, work that dangerous job, your girlfriend just passed ... And all that while you’re still in high school.” she sighed. “No wonder you act a lot more mature than my children.”

I just shrugged my shoulders and gave up on finding my cigarettes. She let one of her hands slide up to my chest to lightly caress it, placed a kiss on my neck, and just held me with her other arm still around my waist.

Seriously, though, what is it with mothers? Do their prenatal classes include seminars on how to give comforting hugs, or something!? I had been hugged before, sure, but the way Claire had held me that night in my bed, the way Aunt Danielle had held me that night on the sofa, and now the way Nora held me just standing there, was simply ... soothing. And why was she even doing it? I was just the guy she paid to chauffeur her daughter around, not to mention the guy who knocked out her son! Why would she even concern herself with me?

A look at my watch told me we had been in bed for almost an hour, and now we had been standing there for a few more minutes. I turned around to look at her as I asked myself that question, but seeing our mixed juices run down her inner thighs gave me an idea.

“Wanna shower together? Can’t drive you home with my cum dripping out of you and smelling like sex.” I suggested with a half grin.

“No, Lover, I can’t. I have to get home and present this to George.” she said, matter of fact, while placing her hand right above her leaking Pussy.

That statement confused me immensely. Was she going to taunt her husband? Even if she said he suggested she’d find some extramarital fun, this didn’t sound like she was planning on having a civil conversation about that topic.

“Is that ... won’t that just provoke him?” I asked carefully, causing her to look at me in confusion before she started chuckling.

She pulled her panties back on, her skirt back down, and started buttoning her blouse. Then she stepped closer to me and gave me another wet kiss before talking.

“Darling, when I said that George found himself a little mistress, I didn’t mean a lover. He found himself a Mistress!” she explained with a meaningful look, and I finally understood what she just told me. “I don’t have that in me. I love that man with all my heart, so I tried, but I couldn’t be that for him. I just don’t know how. Finding a lover for myself was also not actually his idea, but hers when I asked her how to go about his needs. Something about showing him that I’m in control of our marriage as a first important step. I’ll need you to take me home now, so I can show him the proof of me doing just that. And, apparently, if I’m convincing enough, even make him eat that massive load of yours.”

My eyebrows shot up as I stared at her. While I really didn’t have much of a problem with tasting myself on a woman’s lips after she had swallowed my cum ... actually eating it? Well, it wouldn’t be that much of a difference, I reckoned, but someone else’s!? No fucking way! My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Nora displayed an amused half smile and shrugged her shoulders.

I got dressed myself and we moved to the car. Throughout the entire drive, I thought about what Nora had just told me about her husband. I didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, when I mentally placed myself in George’s shoes, I was sure I would blow a fuse. Especially with my own precarious past, knowing my family had excluded me for years from their sexcapades. Imagining then having a wife who does the same, but in addition even taunts me about it, simply made me sad. I could not understand how anyone could possibly enjoy something like that, much less get aroused by it. On the other hand, I also couldn’t imagine being with another guy, but wouldn’t even dream of condemning someone for being gay, so ... whatever flips your pancakes, I guess?

Despite being absorbed in my own thoughts, I still noticed that Nora was unusually quiet throughout the ride, with her hands folded in her lap, until the car came to a stop in her driveway. She didn’t move for a moment, but then leaned over to give me a rather demure kiss before fixing me with a piercing look.

“Now, I need to make sure we are on the same page, Timothy.” I immediately noted the way she addressed me, and she must have seen the confusion on my face. “Finding a lover was more for my husband to know that I have a lover, than for me actually pursuing it. Though, as I said before, I had a lot of fun with you, and I wouldn’t be against doing it again. Please understand that I do not wish for Mia or Jack to learn about this. Neither what happened between us today, nor that their father encouraged it. So, we most likely won’t be able to get together on a regular basis. Can you live with that?”

I mulled it over for a second, and then nodded.

“Absolutely. You are married with children after all. I wouldn’t expect this to suddenly turn into a relationship.”

“I knew I could count on you!” she smiled before kissing me again. This time, however, the kiss was anything but demure, and despite what she had just told me about keeping it a secret from her children, she certainly didn’t care about who could see us. I felt her tongue fishing for my tonsils within seconds, and I was absolutely ready to go again when she finally stepped out of the car.

I waited until I saw her enter the house, and then drove off towards my own home. I couldn’t stop thinking about her husband, and suddenly realized something. I had no fucking idea he was that way in private! When we had met and talked, he was always presenting himself as that powerful and successful businessman he actually was. Even after he had to call Bill to catch the stalker and secure his home, there still wasn’t even a hint of him not being in total control of the situation.

Maybe my demand for Ava to get her shit together and restrain her submissiveness to the bedroom wasn’t unreasonable. Maybe, if Mr. Miller could enjoy himself in the bedroom without carrying it into the outside world and let it influence his businesses, there really was a chance for that to happen with Ava as well. Without even realizing it, I started thinking about how I could support her to reach that goal.

The next morning, after I arrived at their house to pick up Mia again, George Miller suddenly pulled me aside and led me into his den.

“I understand my wife decided to have some fun with you.” he said with an unreadable poker face and a level voice. I had absolutely no idea if he was angry, happy, or even casual about it. But he kept looking at me, obviously expecting me to answer.

“Yes, Sir.” I replied hesitantly but politely, and he nodded.

“I trust her judgment. You understand, however, for a man in my position, there is an obvious need to protect myself and my reputation.” I just looked at him, not eager to find out how far he was willing to go to protect his reputation. “And while I trust my wife’s judgment, you are certainly still young, Timothy. Do you understand what it would mean if anything of this came out to the public?”

“Yes, Sir, I do. I can promise you, I have nothing to gain from telling people about this. Quite the opposite, if I’m being honest here.”

“How so?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

“Well,...” I sighed, resigning myself to having to tell him about my background. “Did your wife happen to mention that I live alone? Despite being so young?”

“Yes, she told me exactly what happened and what was talked about. You have ... familial troubles.” he said vaguely, waving his hand around at the last part to signal how it wasn’t of any importance to him, and he wanted me to continue in my story.

“I’ve been working for Mr. Carter for years, Sir. I have signed more than enough NDA’s over those years to know, if I talk about anything private I happen to overhear or see regarding our clients, I will lose my job. If I lose this job for being a blabbermouth, I won’t be hired by anyone paying even close to what I make now, and I can’t survive on my own with what I would earn delivering pizzas. It’s in my best interest to keep my mouth shut.”

Just like Nora had done the day before while lying in my bed, he studied me for a moment. And what I said was true. Yes, I had roughly a cubic feet of hundred dollar bills lying around, but I could barely use it. That 50’’ smart-TV I bought cost me less than my monthly rent, and when I paid for it in cash, there were quite a few suspicious looks already. Which was the main reason why I drove to six different stores to get all the parts for my entertainment system, and then decided to better pay legitimately for my purchases from Ikea and Home Depot. There was no way I could use that cash to repeatedly pay my rent, or make my insurance payments, or pay my utility bills. So, as long as I was still looking for a way to legitimize that money, I needed that regular income on my bank account to pay for a lot of essential stuff.

“Well, looks like I don’t need to point that part out to you. Do you have any experience with that specific sexual practice?” he finally asked.

For a second my thoughts wandered to Ava and her submissive needs, but I could hardly tell him about that. She was my sister! How would I explain that I knew about what got her off?

“No.”

I don’t know if he saw in my eyes how I remembered the sex I had with Ava, or if it was the slight hesitation before answering him, or if he was just that good at reading people. But I noticed a faint smile on his lips before he nodded again. Only later did I realize he appreciated me demonstrating that I could in fact keep my mouth shut like I had claimed.

“Now, don’t think I’m looking down on you, or that I’m accusing you of anything, but I want it to be perfectly clear upfront; if you will be with my wife, there will be no financial benefits. She won’t buy you pretty things, she won’t pay you extra, and neither of you can tell me to give you anything of monetary value. So, if you got into this while hoping to extort me, forget about it right now.”

I blinked at him for a moment, taken aback by his statement. If I had to be honest with myself, I wasn’t sure if I would really never tell him to buy me stuff, should the opportunity present itself. His house and its interior certainly looked like he wouldn’t even notice if he bought me a new car or something. Sue me, I was seventeen and already tired of having to work for everything! But I can honestly say that I never even had the thought of making him do anything at all for me before he brought it up, so I simply nodded.

After our talk, he dismissed me to find his daughter in the kitchen, where she was having a conversation with her mother. Each of the two held a cup of coffee and abruptly stopped their exchange the moment I entered.

“Timothy! Good morning!” Nora greeted me, followed by an acknowledging grunt from Mia.

“Good Morning to you, too!” I replied, but seeing the expressions on their faces that looked like I had just caught them doing something embarrassing, and remembering all the instances when conversations stopped at home when I entered a room, made me feel quite unwelcome. “I’ll wait by the car, Mia.”

I was reaching for the doorknob when Nora caught up to me and pulled me into another wet and sinful kiss, taking me by surprise.

“Good Morning, Lover!” she finally whispered with a sultry smirk. “You think we could do the shopping today that we couldn’t quite get around to do yesterday?”

“Sure, Nora. Though, it’s Thursday. Mia should have her Cheer practice today, right? We probably won’t be back before five-ish.”

“Yes, that’s right. Mia will accompany us.” she said, in a normal volume this time.

I stared at her with a blank expression for a few seconds, then a boyish smile crept on my face as I couldn’t suppress a stupid thought. She immediately knew what that was about, and slapped me on the shoulder with a laugh.

“Oh no, Lover! This time, ‘going shopping’ is not just an excuse to drive to your apartment.” she laughed, but then got closer and her voice took on a different, more suggestive, tone as she brazenly stroked my groin. “And certainly not with my baby girl in tow. I don’t think she’s ready for that. Yet.”

She snickered upon my reaction to her words and actions. Just like Tess on our first date, I could plainly see how much she enjoyed having that kind of effect on me.

“I’d never even think about something like that!” I protested weakly, but she didn’t buy it.

“By the way, Tomothy, I had a talk with her yesterday evening. And just now in the kitchen, actually.” She finally took her hand off my groin. “I hope she stops giving you such a hard time. Have a great day, Lover.”

With that said, she gave me one last peck on the lips, turned, and walked back towards the kitchen. As I watched her walk away, I noticed Mr. Miller was standing in the hallway, watching our exchange. I decided to better sit in the car and wait for Mia, not eager to interact with him in front of her.

Even after we had passed the halfway mark to school, it was still uncomfortable for me to sit, and there was no way Mia didn’t notice me squirming in that obvious manner guys do in those situations. While she didn’t comment on it at first, the way she looked at me was clearly curious. My thoughts just kept circling from wondering what exactly Nora and Mia could have talked about that would change Mia’s behavior so drastically, to how Mia told her mother about my heroics in that parking lot, and finally to what happened with Nora in my bed after that. Whenever I reached that last part, my dick refueled.

“Why are you squirming so much!?” Mia suddenly laughed, ripping me out of my thoughts. “Please tell me you tried a new laundry detergent and have a reaction to it!”

“I’m glad I could give you a laugh so early in the morning...” I quietly commented, but was secretly grateful for her taking it with humor. At least that was what I thought she did, since she included a joke in it.

“Seriously, what happened?”

“Just ... some memories I can’t shake. That’s all.”

I wasn’t going to tell her that her mother had just stroked me to full hardness, and then left me standing in the hallway. Literally and figuratively.

“And what kind of memories would that be?” she smirked.

Suddenly, I realized something.

“Did you really tell your mother how I got stabbed?” I asked, causing her to look at me in surprise.

“THAT’S what keeps you squirming!?” I didn’t answer and waited for her to just answer. “Yes, I did. Why?”

“How do you even know? I never told anyone outside of work.”

“Duh! Ava told me.” she answered, like I was a five-year-old she needed to remind for the third time that the stove gets hot.

“When!?”

“The day after it happened.” she just shrugged.

If I weren’t so concerned about piloting eight metric tons of steel across the roads, this would have stunned me. Just yesterday, I had accused Ava of not standing up for me. Which was true. However, according to this interesting new piece of information, Ava may have succumbed to peer pressure when her entire cheer team was present, but readily advertised my heroics when it was just her and Mia. Or it was just more of the same. She wanted me to come home after I bought her stuff, and she acknowledged me after I protected her. Neither was to last. Probably. I made a mental note to check.

“You know...” she continued. “I have to admit, that was impressive.”

“I got my ass handed that day. Broken rib, busted eye, and a knife in my stomach. Not exactly what I’d call impressive.” I dismissed her statement.

“That’s not what I’m talking about, you idiot. You guys are all the same. So what if it didn’t play out like you’re the untouchable main character in a Jason Statham movie.” she sounded annoyed, but that changed as she continued. “You stood up for your family. Put yourself on the line to protect them. That ... takes character. Especially with ... I mean, considering how ... your relationship with your family...”

As she stammered in my backseat, I glanced at her through the rearview mirror. She looked just as uncomfortable as she sounded. But not as if she was somehow forced to say something she didn’t want to. It was more like she was considerate towards me, but not used to acting that way. I immediately feared what Nora might have told her about my private life to cause this. It was way too strong a contrast to how she normally behaved.

“What do you know about my relationship with my family?” I asked, playing dumb, earning me one of those looks I couldn’t quite interpret before she spoke quietly.

“We ... don’t you remember that Joan and I were right next to Ava when you told her about moving out? It ... like ... caused a few discussions. Having your own apartment at seventeen, while still in high school, is not exactly common, you know? And Mom told me ... she made me realize some things. It made me remember how you told Ava that you were gone for a week before your family even noticed.” she sighed, and I, for the hundredth time, was wondering what exactly Nora had told her. She should know even less than Mia about my home life. “For what it’s worth ... I’m sorry, Tim.”

“Uh ... thanks? But where’s this coming from?” I asked incredulously. I really hadn’t thought she even knew those words.

“Look, I know I was a bitch, Okay!?” she shot heatedly all of a sudden, throwing her hands in the air and dropping them in defeat again. “After I talked with Mom, I realized that. We treated you like crap, and you still helped Jenny. Ava spread those rumors about you, and you still risked your life to protect her. And Jack and I ... did a lot. And you still helped us. Still ARE helping us.” she paused for a second. “Thank you.”

That last part wasn’t heated anymore, it actually sounded sincere. That stalker dude must have really scared her.

“Well ... you’re welcome. And thank you. Though, I hope you’ll put in a good word for me when Jack comes back. I think he’s not gonna be too happy when he sees me in his home.”

“Oh, I’m sure Mom and Dad will take care of that. But I can still talk to him.” she smiled.

“What did Nora tell you about me, specifically?” I asked, noticing her eyes narrowing somewhat suspiciously when I called her mother by her first name, like it was the most normal thing.

“Nothing specific. Just that you have ‘enough shit to deal with, without me adding to it’. That’s what made me remember the cafeteria thing with Ava.” she answered, making air quotes when repeating her mother’s words. “She also said, you’re going out of your way to drive me around, and the least I could do was appreciate it. Mom and Dad were both pretty angry with us when they learned why we always called you ... you know ... Tiny. Especially Dad. He’s also made it clear how disappointed he’s with Jack after he saw that video of him and Jenny. He outright threatened to disown Jack if he ever did anything like that again.”

I believed she meant what she said, and if she actually could calm Jack down, my job as Mia’s chauffeur would probably continue. I had worried about how I could continue to see Nora once Jack came home for Christmas the following week and possibly protested my being in his home. I actually felt pretty good after that talk, knowing Nora didn’t run around advertising my private affairs.

“Who’s Tess?” Mia suddenly asked casually, ripping me out of my thoughts, but also throwing me off.

“What?”

“When Ava came to you in the cafeteria, and finally learned that you moved out, she asked if you moved in with a ‘Tess’.”

I looked at her through the rearview mirror. She sounded casual, with her head turned to the window as if looking out, but I could see her eyes fixated on my headrest and her hands fidgeting.

“Oh. My Gir ... Ex-Girlfriend.”

“Ouuuh!” she gushed, her eyes sparkling, suddenly intrigued upon the prospect of hearing relationship gossip. “What happened?”

I SO wasn’t going to tell this girl about my love life. Next I have to tell her I’m fucking her Mom. I quickly thought of a way to deflect.

“You know, are you sure you’re not secretly interested in me?”

“WHAT!?” Interestingly, she sounded shocked, but not appalled like I had expected.

“I mean, think about it for a minute. First, there was that sudden interest of yours in my sexual prowess, then you wondered about the size of my dick, and now this. Why do you remember the name of some girl I may have been involved with, even if you just heard it in passing? And weeks ago! If you really didn’t have any interest in me as you claim, why did you even bother filing that name away for future reference?”

I smirked while the car fell deadly silent for the roughly five seconds she just stared at me, her entire body frozen still. Then I chuckled as she suddenly pummeled the top of my head and kicked my seat, accompanied by girly squealing sounds of protest, though it never was strong enough to hurt or even distract me from driving. It actually seemed playful. The rest of the drive was quiet again, though it only took us maybe another five minutes to arrive at school. She almost jumped out of the car before I even came to a full halt.

I spent the day in the library with my laptop again, until it was time for Mia’s classes to end. Since she had her Cheer practice today, I picked her up to walk her to the gym. I was quite glad they moved their practice indoors due to the cold weather, since I had absolutely no clue how I was supposed to stick close to her while every sports team ran circles around us on the field. When she left the classroom with Ava and Joan in tow, she made a big display of ignoring me, causing Joan to giggle and Ava to watch us with great interest. As they went to the locker rooms to get changed, I went ahead and took a seat in the gym waiting for them.

“Mr. Brown. Nice to see you again.” I heard a female voice that turned out to belong to the friendly smiling Mrs. Jenkins, who was clad in tight black yoga pants and an equally tight sports-top. Obviously, her being still in such great shape wasn’t because she was married to our football coach, as I had wondered last year, but because she was training our cheerleaders. I immediately, and not entirely consciously, watched my language like last time I talked to her.

“Ah. I don’t know if you were notified. Mia’s parents asked me to keep an eye out for her, in addition to being her driver. I hope it won’t cause any trouble for you if I sit on the sidelines?”

“Yes.” she sighed. “That stalker situation. Now that I think about it, you driving her around makes a lot more sense after you told me about your security work the last time we spoke. Don’t worry, the other girls already know about young Ms. Miller’s trouble, they will understand. Just ... be so kind and try not to ogle the girls too much.”

“Oh, there is no need to worry about that, Mrs. Jenkins. Why would I ogle the girls?”

It was a casual statement I delivered with a friendly smile, and I kept my suggestive tone to a minimum when I emphasized the last word. For just a split second, I could still see the doubt flash over her eyes, and hoped she would get my meaning. If there was anyone I would ogle, it would be the woman in the room.

Then, to my greatest delight, her expression sported a one-sided smirk that somehow reached both of her eyes, telling me she indeed appreciated my unspoken compliment. The other girls, however, weren’t nearly as comfortable with me being around, and they made that known as soon as they entered the gym.

“What’s Tiny Tim doing here? Is that creep gonna watch us!?” I heard some girl I didn’t know call out in almost panic, causing most of the girls that had followed her into the gym to agree.

I just raised my hands in a gesture of surrender and moved to the exit, perfectly happy with just waiting outside the door for them to finish.

“Don’t call him that!” came the insistent and likewise scolding shout from Mia, Joan, AND Ava at the same time, followed by the three of them sharing a surprised look before walking further into the gym.

As I made my way outside, I looked at Ava and studied her face curiously. She actually stood up for me this time, and not only in front of her girlfriends, but even against them. When she noticed my look, she seemed a little embarrassed but happy. I heard the muffled discussion continue while standing just outside the barely open door.

“Since when are you all defending him?”

“I kinda owe him for helping Jenny.” Joan explained.

“And he got stabbed and almost shot, protecting me and Mom!” Ava added.

“What!?” I heard Mrs. Jenkins gasping. Apparently, she hadn’t heard about why exactly I was out of school.

“AND he’s found out who that guy is who’s creeping on my Mom!” Mia said, matter of fact.

“Wait. That was him?” Mrs. Jenkins asked, sounding so surprised I got the impression she must have thought I lied to her when I told her about my work.

“Yeah. My parents are actually pretty happy with him. Mom won’t stop telling everyone how fast he found the guy after even the police couldn’t do shi ... anything.” Mia explained, before turning back to her group of girls. “And you all should know that already, you were there when he did it.”

“So what?” The girl who started this dispute challenged her. “Then he’s a weird mix of a tough nerd. He still doesn’t need to watch us practice.”

“Actually, he does. He’s been covering my ass all week, making sure that creep won’t get to me.” Mia defended me.

“HA!” They heard my muffled voice travel through the almost closed doors from the hallway I stood in.

“What?”

“You said I covered your ass all week.” I shot back in a half laugh.

There was silence for a few seconds until they realized what I meant. What can I say? I was still a seventeen-year-old boy, and incidentally didn’t give a flying fuck about what these bitches thought about me. That ship had sailed long ago. I realized too late, though, that I shouldn’t tease Mia too much. To my relief, the next thing I heard was Joan breaking out in yet another bout of laughter, telling me that Mia’s face must have been priceless at that moment. I got a short glimpse of Mrs. Jenkins, shaking her head at me, before she closed the door fully.

My resolve to just stand in the hallway was almost gone by the time I heard them finish up two hours later. Apparently, they practice even longer on Mondays, and I was very glad Christmas break would start before I got to experience that. Despite Ava being a member of the Cheer team, I never knew they spent so much time practicing. By the time Mia finally came out of the locker room, arms locked with Ava, all of the others had already gone home.

“Ava will come with us shopping.” Mia informed me in a curt tone before the both of them walked off without me. She had even stuck her nose up while saying that, and I was already expecting to hear one of her well known ‘Hmph’ noises. Maybe making a comment about covering her ass, after I had just teased her in the car about remembering Tess’ name, was too much after all.

With the two of them in the backseat of the car, I noticed something else, though. While Mia was happily chatting away about what stores they’ll visit, Ava looked decidedly uncomfortable while keeping her quiet about Mia’s plans, but I had no idea why. She kept that demeanor up for the entire drive to Mia’s home, and I made a mental note to keep an eye on her when we entered the Miller House.

I just had a little chat with the other guy from the firm who was currently on guard duty, when Mr. Miller joined in.

“Ah, Timothy! I hear you will be taking my wife and daughter shopping?” he said with a weird grin on his face. The kind of grin people have when they want to make fun of you, or know something you don’t.

“Yes, Sir. And, as it looks, Ava as well.”

“Oh, so you’re going shopping with both of my women and one of their friends, then. I have to say, I like this arrangement with you as their driver more and more. Well, I’ll use the opportunity to completely refurbish our kitchen. Should be more than enough time before you’ll be back.” he laughed, slapped me on the back, and walked off.

I never thought the cliché about women and shopping was real ... until that day! When I go shopping, it is because I want or need something, and mostly after I checked where I could get that specific thing. These three women, however, went shopping to check IF there was anything they wanted, and only paused their tour through the stores to get something to eat while I kept my attention on the surroundings.

I had planned to let my eyes wander and think about what presents I should buy myself. I had to get something for Bill and a few of the people from work, though I wasn’t sure if I should include the family in those deliberations. Even if I had no desire to spend the Holidays with them, I still thought I should get a few gifts. Problem was, I really wasn’t sure what I should get for them. I always felt like presents should be either thoughtful or meaningful. For me, presents were something you gave to people so they knew you cared about them in some way, not because you felt obligated to. And if you care about them, you should know about their interests, hobbies, or needs, enabling you to give them something they actually appreciate. By now, however, I really didn’t know the family anymore.

The ladies had different plans, though. While Mia was perfectly happy to use me as her packing mule, she and Nora also kept inquiring about a lot of their purchases, seeking a ‘male perspective’ on different gift ideas they had. To my great surprise, I actually enjoyed the casual conversations I had with Mia throughout the trip, and she even helped me pick out some of the gifts I needed for my female colleagues. I was still quite insecure about this, and didn’t want to give anything that could be considered as inappropriate.

What made me stop thinking about that problem, though, was Ava’s continuous uncomfortable behavior. I saw her gush over items that would, according to her, be the perfect gift for someone, but then she just placed them back on the shelves regardless! Even if they should be well within her price range, she just walked away with obvious regret on her face. It gave me an uneasy feeling, so I tried to find out what was going on.

“Ava.” I spoke up, to signal I wanted a private word with her, and whispered to her when she stepped close. “Why didn’t you just buy that bracelet if you thought Maggie would love it?”

“I don’t have enough money.” she replied quietly, looking to the floor.

I JUST gave her a thousand dollars for her birthday! That was a week ago. Where did that money go!?

“That bracelet was forty dollars. Didn’t you find the little metal box in the gift bag I got you for your birthday?” I asked, causing her to act even more uncomfortable.

“I did. But ... Dad took it.” Her voice was so quiet now, I could barely hear her over our busy surroundings.

“He what!?” I failed to control my volume when I asked that.

She didn’t answer, but I didn’t want to press the matter with Nora and Mia around, who had now started watching our exchange with badly hidden side glances.

“Alright. Let’s make a deal. I don’t have the slightest clue what presents to get for any of them. So, how about we join forces? Your insider knowledge and my funds?”

“Really!?”

“Yes, really.” I said, pulling out my wallet and handing her the 500 dollars I had attached to it.

She raised herself onto her toes to give me a kiss on the cheek, took the money with a bright smile and thanked me before starting her own shopping. Nora and Mia regarded me with a strange look, as they saw Ava’s sudden display of affection while my own face showed nothing but indifference towards her.

Ava’s revelation was unnerving. I just couldn’t imagine that Aaron would simply take her money. From me, sure, but not from his Princess! I already knew that Logan had probably drained their liquid funds, but it surely couldn’t be THAT bad. If they really gave Logan so much money they now had to basically steal from both of his siblings, there was no way for our relationship to ever work out again.

As I thought about it, though, I realized a lot more money had vanished over the last three weeks than just the thousand bucks from Ava. I just hadn’t noticed it going missing because of the cash in my bedroom. I would need to ask Aaron about this.

When we dropped Mia and Nora off at their house, it was already Eight PM. By the time we arrived at the parents’ house to drop Ava off, it was another half hour later, and I realized that I would not get much sleep this night, which had my mood somewhat suppressed before the confrontation with Aaron could even take place. To my surprise, when I helped Ava carry her shopping bags into the house, the living room was filled with people.

“Ah! Finally!” I heard Danielle’s version of a greeting.

“Am I somehow late?”

“Yes.” she laughed. “We have a proposition for you and were waiting for you two.”

My eyes scanned the room as I registered a few strained faces, especially from the grandparents, though most of the others were at least trying to seem relaxed. Claire smiled at me, genuinely happy to see me. Instead of saying anything, however, she grabbed two of Ava’s shopping bags, and accompanied her upstairs while starting a whispered conversation between them. Atleast this didn’t seem like another intervention.

“Okay.” I sighed, expecting the worst. “But it’ll have to wait a few minutes. I need a word with Aaron.” Shifting my attention to him, I added “Outside? Now!”

He hesitantly got up from the armchair he was sitting in, and made his way to the front door. I was already in the car, waiting for him to get in. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew that, whatever it was, could be potentially embarrassing for him. So, I decided to broach the subject while at least trying not to be an asshole about it.

Suddenly, I realized just what exactly I had just decided to do. It was remarkable how a mere two weeks in my very own home, away from them all, had enabled me to be a lot more relaxed around these people! I just knew, if they got on my nerves or tried any bullshit, I could just walk out of that door, drive home into my very own sanctuary, and ... not concern myself with them. Just as I felt a content smile form on my lips, the passenger door opened and Aaron sat down next to me.

“Nice car! Where are we going?” he asked in a light tone, after sitting on the passenger seat.

“Nowhere. I just thought it would be best to do this without the others overhearing us.”

“Oh?” he now sounded concerned.

“I just accompanied Ava and our newest client on their Christmas shopping. I noticed that Ava couldn’t afford anything, even though I just gave her money for her birthday. A lot of money, actually, since it was her eighteenth.”

He didn’t respond, though he did start to look a little tense. I continued.

“When this whole crap with Logan’s Bookie started, your wife took eight-thousand dollars from my bank account. I told you to use that money for hotel rooms and whatever else you needed to make a quick escape, but you hid out at John’s instead and didn’t need it. Regardless, I never got that money back. On Ava’s birthday, I dropped another four-thousand Dollars on the coffee table, and told you to order Pizza. I never got that money back, either. And now, I hear that you took the thousand dollars I gave Ava for her birthday. That makes thirteen-thousand dollars in three weeks. What is going on, Aaron?”

He still didn’t answer. He just stared straight ahead at his living room window, watching the shadows of his family members projected onto the moving curtains.

“Did the Bookie’s crew or their successors demand more money?” I asked.

“Oh, no! God, no. It’s nothing like that, Son. It’s...” he sighed. “We’re just plain broke.”

“How!?”

I was afraid there was some kind of aftermath from my trip to Austin. I had not expected this development at all! I hadn’t heard anything about that. Which wasn’t unusual, when I thought about it, but I also never heard about any changes in their lifestyle I would expect from people that are suddenly broke.

“The usual way. I screwed up.” he shrugged his shoulders in defeat. “Made a bad investment a few months ago. Well, it wasn’t actually bad, it’s just a long-term thing we can’t pull out of without losing more than would make sense. We didn’t expect your mother’s job to be downsized without warning and her income gone.”

Did that man just freely admit to fucking up, and tried to take responsibility for something that was actually out of his control? Was hell freezing over!?

“Claire lost her job? I had no idea.” His expression turned somber with my comment.

“So, we had already pledged a ... sizable part of our savings before the problem with Logan started. Then your hospital bill came through, and...”

“Wait!” I interrupted. “My hospital bill? I have insurance.”

“Yes, you do.” he nodded. “But they said something about you not being injured on the job, so there was a copay. And since you’re still a minor, the hospital sent the bill directly to us. It wasn’t that much, considering you had surgery, roughly twenty-two-hundred dollars. With my copay and deductibles, that’s actually less than what we’d have to pay if you’d have used my insurance. But with the situation we were already in ... And now we need to come up with Logan’s next board and tuition fee for the spring semester.”

“Didn’t he have a scholarship?”

“Yes, he does.” he nodded again. “But it’s not a full ride. His tuition is $27,000, the scholarship pays about thirty percent of that. We need to pay within the next eighteen days, or he’ll have to sit out this next semester.” he concluded, sounding extremely exhausted.

Something about this explanation didn’t sit right with me, but I decided to just listen for now.

“So ... the hospital bill is paid?” He nodded. “Then the tuition is ... what? $19,000 after the scholarship?” He nodded again. “What are you gonna do about Christmas?”

“I have no fucking idea.” he shook his head.

“Damn.” I concluded.

“Yup. Damn, indeed.” he concurred with another sigh.

“Do the others know? Is that the ‘proposition’ Danielle just talked about?”

“No. Claire knows, of course, but only her. Danny wants to talk about the shitshow with the social worker your grandparents put us in.”

“Oh, shit. I almost forgot about that!”

“Lucky you!” he mirthlessly chuckled.

“Why did they call them, though!? I don’t get it!”

“Neither do we, Son. Danny told them it wouldn’t end well. That it would even backfire. But they ... knew better, I guess.”

Both of us just shook our heads. Without warning, I realized that this was the first meaningful conversation I had with my father in years. We had a problem, and now discussed it on equal grounds. This was almost like we were having an actual father-son-moment, and I didn’t hate it! Maybe, if we were able to be honest with each other going forward, and this newfound consideration for me proved genuine, there was hope for us.

However, as I thought about how we got to that point, and what had led to this newest revelation, I suddenly understood what part of his earlier explanation rubbed me the wrong way, and it was in equal parts disturbing and pissing me off.

“When exactly was that investment?” I asked.

“February, why?”

Yeah. I decided it would be warranted if I no longer tried to not be an asshole about it.

“So ... help me understand this. You pledged a ‘sizable part’ of your savings in February. Then Claire loses her job sometime in March. Logan started college in August, though. That’s almost half a year. More than enough time to tell him to get a job and apply for federal grants, isn’t it?”

“Son, we...”

“I mean, it can’t be that bad. I see his $25,000 Mustang is still parked right there, which you bought for him after Claire lost her job! That would be more than what you need for his tuition. I’m not a car guy, but how much mileage could that thing possibly have by now, that you couldn’t give it back?”

“We’re leasing it, and I can’t tell him to give up his car!”

“But you CAN take your daughter’s birthday gifts away!?” I returned, starting to get louder. “Do you know what a student loan is, Aaron?”

“Tim! Please! Do you think it’s easy for me to admit this!? I don’t want my son to know we have problems! Especially since it’s his old man who screwed up! And he can’t just pause a semester without losing his scholarship. We’d have to pay even more when he eventually goes back to school!”

I decided not to comment on him saying ‘Son’ instead of ‘Sons’.

“So, you rather steal from your other children than to tell him to switch to the local community college instead? As long as the favorite child looks up to you, what the others think doesn’t matter, I take it?”

“Tim, I know this isn’t fair to you or Ava, but this is his education! This college degree is important for his entire future! I can make the money up to you two once we catch a break!” he pleaded.

“Are you now? Then, what’s your plan going forward, Aaron? Please, tell me how you’re planning on reducing your spending so much you suddenly save up three and a half thousand dollars EVERY month, so you can pay his next tuition. Because, what about the six months after that, when it’s time for Ava to go to college as well? How do you even intend to pay your mortgage next month, after you gave everything you had for Logan’s future at UT Austin, despite employers not giving a shit about which college he went to anymore!?”

He didn’t answer, but the sudden nervous shift in his facial expression and body language told me exactly what he had thought about.

“You were just going to use my savings, weren’t you?” I asked, and he wordlessly confirmed my suspicion. So much to the possibility of him finally showing some genuine consideration for me. “Fucking hell! You know, for someone who enjoyed belittling the way I earned that money for as long as I’ve been working this job, you sure don’t have a problem using it! I actually thought you just kept the money I dropped, because you knew how much I stole from the Bookie. I’d understand that. You could rightly assume I wouldn’t miss a few thousand from THAT pile of cash. But then I would’ve expected you to ask for some more of that cash instead of taking it from my bank account without asking and antagonizing me even more!”

When he answered, he looked just as defeated as when he admitted to being broke.

“When you told us how much money you took, I immediately started thinking about how we could use it. Your grandfather joined right in, but John set our heads straight. He told us about all the problems that would come with that money. Then he called Carter to ask for specifics of what happened. So, we know he told you to burn it because it would’ve been more trouble than it’s worth. I just figured you at least kept enough to make up for what you lost.”

The day my exhausted and drunken brain revealed the sum of cash I had taken, I never even considered that it could be problematic to let them know about it. The bookie was gone, the family would have nothing to gain by ratting me out to the former owners, and they had no way to access it without my say so. That was quickly turned around when I started the renovations of my apartment, and feared they would call the cops on me. Bill was obviously a lot smarter than I was! Thanks to him, they didn’t know I still had the money! I made a mental note to thank him as I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes, and tried to figure out how to salvage this.

I had my apartment fully furnished and renovated, so that was taken care of. The certifications I wanted to get would not come cheap, though. The basic entry-level certifications were ‘just’ a few hundred dollars per exam, but that was without tutoring or mandatory classes. The advanced and specialized ones were a lot more pricey. The whole process would quickly accumulate to a five-figure sum.

If the full amount Aaron needed came from my bank account, it would either be massively overdrawn or simply closed. I needed that account to get paid and pay my bills! What choice did I have, though? He already admitted that he had planned on simply taking the money without even asking, and I had to admit that his argument about Logan’s scholarship made sense. Though, I still didn’t understand how they simply sent him off AFTER realizing that they wouldn’t have enough money to keep him there. The only explanation I could come up with was that they were either in denial, or planning to use my savings from the beginning.

No, that money in my bank account would be gone. All I could do now was to try and save the account from being closed. Worst case scenario, even if Claire wouldn’t find a job before Logan’s next tuition was due, I would be eighteen before the next winter semester had to be paid. As soon as I turned eighteen, their names would be removed from my account! I would see to that!

Or, maybe, I should just let Aaron do it. The family lawyer told me to not petition the court for emancipation unless I had a damn good reason for why it was absolutely necessary. If my parents took my money and put me in debt with the bank, that would certainly be an argument in my favor. But then again, I only had less than a year before I turned eighteen anyway. I’d rather put up with their crap for another few months, than to start adulthood completely broke and in debt. One thing was clear now: I really needed to find a way to make that money in my bedroom closet available.

“Alright. Here’s what you’re gonna do. First, you give Ava her fucking birthday money back. That leaves you with the twelve-thousand dollars in cash you pocketed. Deposit nine-thousand of that cash in your bank account to stay under the threshold that gets yourself reported to the IRS. Take the other ten-thousand dollars you need for Golden Boy’s tuition from my bank account. NOT a DAMN penny more! That’ll leave me with just enough to pay my rent and utility bills next month, since I don’t get paid until the fifteenth. Use the remaining three-thousand dollars in cash for the mortgage, Christmas, and whatever else comes up. And lastly: Your favorite child will have to get a job. Tell him it builds character. It would do him some good.”

“Thank you, Son!” he said, and I was surprised to see his eyes getting somewhat glassy. I was not surprised about now being his son again. “But ... Why are you helping me?”

“You mean, apart from the fact that you would just take the money anyway, and didn’t plan on asking, so I have to work with you in order to not have my credit score fucked?”

As far as I was concerned, I was done with him. It didn’t matter to me if he regretted it anymore, because now I knew that, no matter what, I would always be just an afterthought for him. This was the last fucking time I got my hopes up and entertained the idea of maybe trusting him again. That made four people out of my family that I had completely written off, since I would never forget Logan’s smile as I was beaten by his friends, and the grandparents had tried to force me home, completely ignoring the damage it would do. But if I made that clear right then, and thereby also made it clear that there was no hope for reconciliation anymore, he no longer had any reason to not just take everything from me to give it to his preferred children while he still could. I decided to appease him. But I needed to go about it in a way that didn’t seem too obvious or desperate.

“First, if I don’t help you out with Logan’s tuition, he’ll be here instead of a three-hour drive away. Second, your argument about him losing his scholarship does make sense.” I said, and then took a deep breath. “And third ... I’ve been talking with Danny a lot lately. She keeps telling me how you’re all actually trying to find a way to prove your sincerity to me. Shit like this doesn’t exactly help that cause, but I will admit that you’re in a shitty situation you obviously weren’t equipped to handle. So, I’ll help you fix this. Again. And then we’ll see what you do when we get a break from dealing with this constant string of existential threats.”

The car was silent for a few seconds, before Aaron spoke again.

“God. I keep screwing up, don’t I?” I assumed that was a rhetorical question and refrained from answering. “I’m really sorry, Son. I want you to know, I will make this right. At least ... as soon as I figured out this crap right now.”

“Uh-huh. You know, this was nice. I think, as a family, we bonded. Next time we should do this with a couple of beers. Maybe make it our regular father-son-thing.” He heard the sarcasm in my voice, but I think he was still happy that I was prepared to give him yet another chance. Or he was just happy about the money. I honestly couldn’t tell.

I didn’t feel like acknowledging his promise about repaying me, so I simply got out of the car. As soon as I turned to slam the car door shut, I saw rapid movements in the kitchen window. When Aaron and I stepped into the house, we both heard the furniture squeak like people just jumped onto it. That caused Aaron and me to share a knowing look before I rolled my eyes. And when we stepped into the living room, we were greeted by a multitude of tense faces, trying to figure out what we had talked about. I also noticed that, while Claire was back, Ava had not joined them.

I watched Aaron walk past me into the kitchen, open the fridge, and pull out two beers. He opened one, handed me the other with a wry smile, and sat next to his wife.

All of the people watching us noticed the change in the way he carried himself as he sat on the sofa next to his wife, took Claire’s hand, and gave her a happy and reassuring smile. Her eyes got wide as she immediately understood why Aaron was suddenly so relaxed, and I could literally see the tension leave her body as well.

“So...” I said to Danielle as I sat in the armchair Aaron had vacated earlier, and opened my own beer. “ ... sorry for the wait. What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Well ... we ... What just happened?” Danielle stammered as her eyes kept jumping between me and Aaron, trying to interpret his behavior. I was in no mood to entertain her curiosity.

“Don’t be nosy, Danny. Let’s try again. What did you want to talk about?” I rejected her question. Danny immediately picked up on my bad mood. The rest of them didn’t. So, while Danny immediately backed off, Granny tried next.

“No, I think we all would like to know. What just happened between you two?” she asked.

“We bonded over making up mean nicknames for the people who called social services on my ass.” I crudely rebuffed Granny’s insistent demand. She didn’t like it, but I didn’t care. “Listen, can we please just get on with this? I have about seven hours before my alarm is going to wake me up for work. But before I can get to sleep, I still have to make the hour-long drive home and haven’t had a chance to eat since breakfast. So, either Danielle starts talking, or I’ll leave.”

“Why haven’t you eaten yet!?” Claire asked as she jumped up and rushed into the kitchen.

“Oh. Well. Okay.” Danielle started, visibly gathering her thoughts. “You just mentioned social services. Yesterday, Ms. Potts did her interviews with Aaron, Claire and your siblings. It went well. For the most part. They are obviously not thrilled with the idea of a minor living alone, and it’s possible she will show up again to check on you ... and us. So...” She paused to take a deep breath. “ ... we thought it would be best if you no longer lived alone.”

“I just finished turning the place into my home, I’m not moving out again.” I answered straight away, right as Claire showed up and presented me with a plate full of sandwiches. “Ouuh, nice! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Baby!” she smiled while squeezing my shoulder, and sat back next to her husband. “And we’re not asking you to move back here. Even though I’d like to. We were thinking that ... maybe ... if you’re Okay with it...”

At that moment, I heard a dull thump in the hallway, and turned to see Ava standing right next to an almost bursting travel bag she had dropped to the floor.

“Oh.” was all I could say.

“She is eighteen now.” Danielle quickly supplied. “If she moved in with you, social services wouldn’t have any reason to worry about you being on your own. At the same time, she would be removed from the house, so even if they had any suspicions about our ... relationships ... that would become a non-issue as well.”

“And you’re fine with this?” I asked Ava.

“Yes.” was all she cared to comment on. So, I turned to the parents.

“And you’re fine with this?” I asked, looking at Claire and Aaron.

“Well, I don’t like the idea of all my children being hours-long drives away from home so suddenly, to be honest.” Claire explained. “But ... it’s only temporary, right? Maybe we’re lucky and they’ll check on you even before Christmas.”

Yeah, I doubted this would be over so fast, and wasn’t thrilled with suddenly having my sister in my personal sanctuary. I also couldn’t understand Danielle’s second argument. Since Ava was eighteen now, social services had no business with her anymore. So, even if they had any suspicions about their relationship left, they had no way to force Ava into another interview apart from calling the police. Then it would hardly matter where she lived. But after I thought about it while eating the sandwiches, I couldn’t deny that her first argument was decidedly more important. If letting Ava into my home would get social services off my back, I didn’t have much of a choice. They all watched me anxiously as I chewed.

“Fine. I have a spare bedroom ready that she can use.” I said, before turning to Ava and continuing. “But I only have a single parking space, so you’ll have to leave your car here. Though, I seem to already drive you around just as much as Mia anyway.”

When I stood up to put my plate into the sink, Claire embraced me in a tight hug.

“Thank you.” she whispered, not clarifying whether she was thanking me for accepting Ava into my home, or for helping with their money troubles.

“Sure. Not like I have an actual choice in any of this.” I mumbled as I removed myself from her embrace, causing her to regard me with a confused look before glancing towards her husband.

Once Claire took the plate out of my hand, Danielle grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the side.

“There is another reason I was hoping you could take her in.” she said.

“Oh?”

“Ava told me about the conversation you two had in the car a few days ago. Apparently you suggested she’d talk to me about her submissive tendencies making their way into her everyday life?”

“Yes.”

“I think you were on to something.”

“You think, huh?” I commented, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

“Tim ... Again, I could only give you the excuse that Ava doesn’t live with us, so I only ever saw her submissive behavior when we’re ... getting together. She seemed to enjoy it that way as well. I never knew they were encouraging it so much when we weren’t together. Creating some distance between them would help. In that sense...” she made an awkward pause, making it clear that she would ask me something I wouldn’t like. “I was hoping I could ask you to do something more than just letting her stay with you.”

“You need me to go the extra mile to fix the crap you all caused? Wow! That almost never happens!” This time, starting to feel exhausted again, I made no attempt to conceal my sarcasm. “Well, I gotta deal with Aaron’s shit anyways, so what do you need?”

She looked at me with a similarly questioning look I had gotten from Claire just a minute before, but decided not to push my patience by asking about it.

“You already know that she told me about the day you two got together. Just do the opposite of what she likes inside the bedroom when you’re outside the bedroom. She needs to understand that she can be a strong, focused, and independent woman, while still being submissive in bed. But only in bed.”

“Well, if it’s just that, no problem!” I didn’t bother to even try to keep my anger out of my voice. Yes, letting her live with me could actually get social services off my back, but why did the psychologist ask ME to deal with Ava’s psychological problems!? As if she was sensing my thoughts, she spoke up.

“Look, I’m sorry, Tim! I know this is a big ask, but after what happened over the last month, she kind of ... fixated on you. And, honestly, I can’t even blame her. When shit hit the fan, it wasn’t her Daddy who fixed it for her, it wasn’t her big brother who stepped up, it was you who single-handedly pulled our collective behinds out of the fire. And you did so, right after she watched you single-handedly take on three armed men to protect her. That kind of thing leaves an impression on a girl. Now that she spied on the two of us that night, and she learned just how far you were willing to go to keep us safe, it’s like you’re the new Alpha Male in her life.”

She grinned, hoping this would somehow appeal to me. She was wrong. Her smile died pretty quickly once she saw how utterly unimpressed I was. I had absolutely no interest in taking over responsibility for their family, and she must have seen that in my expression, because her voice was suddenly pleading when she continued.

“We only have a few months before she goes to college. If any of us has a chance to help her in that little time, it’s you! There is nothing I could do that wouldn’t require a lot more time. And while I know that you don’t think too highly of me right now, I know you well enough to be sure you won’t abuse that influence you have on her.”

I still wasn’t pleased with this, but as I mulled it over, and a plan started formulating, I began to see the appeal of having my own little fucktoy living with me. At least during the nights. I would JUST need to find a way to make her gain confidence in herself outside the bedroom. But when Danielle phrased it as ‘being a strong and focused woman’, I actually knew a possible way to do it. It worked wonders for me, so maybe it would for Ava too.

“Fine. I won’t make any promises on not abusing my power, but I think I have an idea. I’ll try.”

I moved to the hallway, grabbed Ava’s travelbag, and left the house without saying goodbye to anyone. I just couldn’t wait to get out of there. The drive was quiet, and when Ava saw my apartment, she immediately started familiarizing herself with it.

“This looks so cool!” she remarked after looking into every room. “It’s seriously lacking a personal touch, so it’s kinda like a hotel room ... but a nice hotel room! There’s even a huge TV in my room!”

I realized I was actually smiling. I was extremely proud of what I had done with the place, and her acknowledging it felt rewarding.

“It’s a Smart-TV and already connected to the WiFi. If you want to watch some shows on Netflix or hulu, just launch the app.”

“It’s nice to have a rich little brother!” she giggled.

“Yeah, not so rich anymore.” I commented under my breath, but ignored her questioning look. I showed her the connected bathroom after pointing out which room she would sleep in, and pointed out the pre-packed convenience kit in case she forgot to bring anything.

“Now, you probably know I’ll have to pick up Mia tomorrow morning, so unless you want to take the bus to school, we’ll have to be on the road by six-thirty at the latest. I’m sure the Millers won’t have a problem with you tagging along, since you and Mia are friends. I don’t know how long you need in the mornings, but I’ll definitely go to sleep now. Shout if you need something. The bed’s already made, just pull the comforter off and you’re ready to crash.”

As I lay in bed, I realized just how happy it had made me to hear someone compliment my handiwork. Though, I suspected a big part of Ava’s enthusiasm was because she saw all this as some kind of vacation. Her first home away from home, or something like that. She would certainly act the same when she left for college. Actually, I didn’t even know she wanted to go to college, until Danielle told me.

That caused my thoughts to drift to the conversation with Aaron. I needed to figure out how to make use of the stolen cash. That talk about college tuitions sparked an idea. Maybe there was a way to use Ava’s impending college departure, combined with my newfound fondness for renovating, to turn that cash into legitimate income. At least until I turned eighteen, and could open a few offshore accounts to clean the money myself. But most important of all, I’d have to learn how to economize, and quickly.

I remembered the year before, when I thought I was already earning enough to have a small family of my own, and shook my head about how clueless I was. Now, with my bank account almost tapped, I finally realized just how expensive living was when I didn’t live in someone else’s house. After paying all the fixed expenses like rent, the utility bill, and my car insurance, I had little over six hundred dollars left. And that was before I put gas in my tank. Now I also had Ava to sustain, since I doubted Aaron would send me money for her food expenses or water usage. Because I left my apartment at Six in the morning, and didn’t come back before Eight in the evening, I regularly spent between a hundred and hundred-fifty dollars every week to lunch out, and only cooked on the weekends. So, first thing, I would have to learn how to prep meals in advance.

My thoughts were interrupted by my phone chirping with a notification from the phone trap I had placed in the Miller house. A quick call to Mike informed me that Jack had arrived home for the rest of his Christmas break, and was in the process of unpacking his car. The short lived adrenaline rush died down, and I already loathed picking Mia up the next day. Despite Mia’s and Nora’s assurances that they both would talk to him about me being around, I still wasn’t too sure what would happen once we ran into each other. As far as I was concerned, I got my revenge when I publicly knocked some sense into him and his friends. But if it was too public, he could be having a harder time letting it go than I did.

The problems just kept piling up. The parents being broke and threatening to take my money again, Aaron being a shit excuse for a father once more, having Ava in my home despite me telling the family how much I needed some distance for a while, and now the impending confrontation with my old bully. It took quite a while before my mind had calmed enough to let me fall asleep.

Chapter 15

I woke up agitated when I felt the mattress move. Like so many times before, I was trembling, breathing heavily, and felt my heartbeat up to my throat. Then I saw the dark figure in front of me.

I reacted without really thinking about it within a second of waking up, grabbed the intruder by the throat, and pulled my fist back to attack. That’s when I heard Ava’s frightened shriek.

I immediately let go of her throat, but she still fell off the bed. I jumped out of bed myself, turned on the light, and found her right next to my nightstand. She was cowering on the floor, visibly shaken by what had happened.

“Ava! Fuck! I’m so sorry! Are you Okay!?” I rapidly shot those words out as I kneeled next to her and looked her over.

“Yes. Sorry. I’m Okay. That was scary!” She tried to sound casual, but I could hear her voice tremble.

“I’m really so sorry, Ava! I should’ve warned you!!” I was still inspecting her neck, checking for any injuries and marks. “Can you breathe? Swallow a few times, does it hurt?”

“No, it’s really Okay, Tim.” She took a deep breath. “Nothing happened. Danny warned me, but I totally forgot about it.” As she spoke, she moved her head around to demonstrate that she actually was fine.

“She warned you?” I took hold of her hands and helped her get to her feet, making sure she could stand and had proper coordination.

“When I talked with Danny about my problem, and she suggested that maybe you’d be willing to take me in, we got to talking. Since she knew that Maggie and I had listened in on you that night you had one of your ... Not-Panic-Attacks, she thought that, while you help me, maybe I could help you in turn.” she explained meekly. “I couldn’t sleep. New environment, I guess. I thought I could ... just ... slip in next to you. I didn’t expect you to startle awake like this.”

Satisfied with my examination of her neck, I noticed it was just past 2:00 AM. If we were to hit the road now, there was no sense in trying to get back to sleep for the whole hour I would have left after I got back.

“Well, so much to that. If you want me to get you home, I’ll just grab a quick shower.”

“Huh? Why?” She sounded, and looked, genuinely confused.

“Are you saying you want to stay here with me? After what just happened!?”

“Of course.” she smiled. “I told you, Danny warned me. And even after I screwed up, in the middle of your Not-Panic-Attack...”

“Can you stop calling it that?”

“ ... you still recognized me and caught yourself before doing any damage, so I know you won’t hurt me. But, about the thing with me slipping into bed next to you ... Last time I did, when you were still working on gathering all that evidence against the Bookie, I slept really well. Would it be Okay today, too? Please?”

When she asked that part at the end, she put her hands behind her back, poked one of her big toes at the ground, and looked up at me with her best little girl impression: Face downcast while looking up at me with big sad eyes. Guess that always worked wonders with Aaron. Though, I had absolutely no idea why she would ever want to appeal to me like that, despite what Danielle had told me. Only then did I, for the first time, take in her attire. Boyshorts, a way too small, belly-free top, and nothing else. I mulled it over for a moment but, now that the adrenaline was leaving my body, I got tired again.

Reminding myself that, if I insisted on taking her home, my night would effectively be over, I decided to risk it, pulled the blanket back for her, and we went back to sleep with little further discussion. Even though her body was seriously enticing, I was concerned about what had just happened, so I didn’t really get in the mood despite her grabbing my arm and making me spoon her. And, if I was being honest, the plan I had hatched for her would have a higher chance to succeed if I waited a little before making another move on her.

The next morning, I woke up before her, and realized I had roughly twenty minutes before my alarm would have woken us up. I quickly seized the opportunity to start the research for my plan, carefully slipped out of bed, and silently left the room. After unsuccessfully checking her bathroom and bedroom, I finally found what I was looking for in her purse. I was lucky. Her birth control pills came in a dialpak, so, if I wanted to make her believe I messed with them by switching them out, this made it a whole lot easier.

I took a photo of them for later reference, and, following a spontaneous idea, decided to not be too careful when hiding the evidence of my snooping. I deliberately placed her pills in a different part of her purse than I had found them in, and left the purse itself on her bed. I wanted her to notice the purse and ask herself if I messed with it. I hoped she would then notice the pills being in a different compartment, planting the first seed of suspicion in her head.

We actually made it out of the Apartment in time. She kept throwing me suspicious side glances ever since she came out of her room, but didn’t ask me about her purse. She was also a little confused when I told her to pack gym clothes, but, as expected, she simply did what I told her without questioning me. The reveal came when we picked up Mia.

“Morning ... you two?” Mia asked, seeing Ava leaving the passenger seat to sit with Mia in the back.

“She moved in with me.” I addressed her confusion, as I started the car and drove off. I knew it was useless to try and keep it a secret, since Ava would be present in the mornings to come as well.

“Why?”

“Apparently, some people are not happy with the idea of a minor living alone. Ava thankfully volunteered to keep an eye on me for a while.” It took some effort on my part to act like I was glad about having Ava in my home, but I didn’t want Mia to ask unnecessary questions.

“Oh.” she said, throwing Ava a questioning look that didn’t entice her to provide further explanations.

The two of them spent the rest of the drive gossiping between themselves. We had just parked the car when Mia noticed Ava’s extra luggage.

“Why do you have your gym bag?”

“I don’t know. He told me to bring it.” Ava answered, pointing at me.

“I’m gonna take her to the company gym after school. I want to teach her some self defense.”

Both of them looked at me with big surprised eyes, as I started moving away from the car.

“You’re going to teach me self defense?” Ava asked.

“What? You think I’m not qualified?” I asked back, with mock offense in my voice.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean that! I don’t know anyone I’d trust more to know about that stuff after what you did in that parking lot.” She sounded way more apologetic than necessary. Almost pleading. Like she was actually afraid I could be offended or something. “But why do you want me to learn that?”

“Can’t hurt, can it?”

I knew they didn’t believe that I would teach Ava something like this for no reason. But they, once again, refrained from questioning me further. After they got to their classes, I sat down in the library and continued my research from the morning.

Pulling out the photo I took of Ava’s birth control pills, I surprisingly quickly found a bunch of sugar pills that bore a remarkable resemblance in an online store for ... certain kinky activities. I could even get them in the right colors: Eggshell-White and Yellow-Ocher. There were a few obvious differences, but I was confident she wouldn’t notice those unless she took a closer look, and I thought I could play it so she wouldn’t. I also chose a few toys I thought could be fun to try on my sisterly fucktoy and pending cumdumpster. Same Day Delivery would fit perfectly, since Ava would be exhausted after the training, making it easier for me to mess with her head.

With that taken care of, I started my research on the money issue, pursuing the idea I had the evening before.

I was surprised how many buildings in this city were in foreclosure. And more specifically, how many of them were within walking distance of the local community college Ava and Maggie were planning to attend. A few of them didn’t even look too run down. More like the original owners were pissed about getting kicked out, and wanted to lessen the property value so the bank wouldn’t make too much of a profit.

I thought about expanding the plan to the area around UT Austin and utilize Golden Boy’s college attendance, but the listings in that area were way out of my price range. I knew, however, that I couldn’t pull this off on my own even in the areas that were in my price range. Even for the cheaper buildings, I needed help from an adult with a credit score.

Preferably, I wanted someone with a good credit score, so the parents were out of the question. I couldn’t trust the grandparents after calling social services on me, and thereby displaying yet another blatant disregard for my needs and wishes, so they were out too. I also didn’t want to include any of the guys from work in this. The only other person I knew would fit the criteria for certain, would be Mr. Miller, Mia’s father. But the speech he gave me, after learning that Nora had chosen me as a lover, made it quite clear he wouldn’t even consider it. That left John and Danielle. And I was SO not happy about that prospect. I admit, it was more the total lack of alternatives than my willingness to risk it, that made me give Danielle a call.

“Hey, Tim! Don’t tell me you already want me to pick up Ava.” she greeted me, half amused but also clearly concerned.

“No. Not yet, anyway. Listen...” I said, as I took a deep breath and tried to gather my courage to take this leap of faith. “I kinda need to ask you and John a big favor. I need help with something, and I absolutely need you to not tell the others.”

“Yes.” she said in a matter of fact tone.

“You ... really? Just like that?”

“Absolutely.” She sounded absolutely serious. When I didn’t comment, she probably suspected I had a hard time believing her, so she elaborated. “Tim, that’s what we’ve been waiting for! You CAN trust us, and this is finally an opportunity to prove it to you! Even if it wasn’t about that, after everything you did for us over the last month alone, we owe you.”

“Okay ... then ... Could we meet up sometime tomorrow? I still need to work out my sales pitch, but I suspect we won’t take long. You’ll probably know pretty quickly if you want to get involved or not. Maybe an hour, depending on how many questions come up on your side.”

“I’ll tell John. Let’s meet at our place at Twelve tomorrow? By then I’ll be done with the grocery shopping, so we’ll have time. And Maggie will be out with her friends, so we can talk without worrying about her listening in again.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Danny.” I said before ending the call.

Ava’s and Mia’s classes ended relatively early, at around Two in the afternoon, on Fridays. I had used the remaining time to look for a few more estates in foreclosure and printed the most promising ones for the meeting with John and Danielle. The longer I thought about my idea, the more I thought that it could actually work. But in the end, I absolutely had to trust John and Danielle to not screw me over on this deal. All the paperwork would be in their names, so they would be the sole beneficiaries, while I would be financing it and doing all the work in secret with no documented ties to it. I hated that prospect, though if they screwed me over, at least it wouldn’t be that big of a loss. I wasn’t meant to have that money anyway.

When Ava and Mia arrived in the Hallway, they were unusually giddy and seemed excited. They spent the drive to Mia’s home speculating about the training I mentioned. Only when I had parked the car, and we were about to enter the house, did I finally pick up on what they were actually saying.

“This is exciting! I really wonder what he’ll be teaching us.” I heard Mia say, causing me to stop in my tracks.

“Eh ... Mia? What do you mean by ‘teaching us’? I told you that I would be teaching Ava.” I asked her, but she just kept walking into the living room where she found her parents and brother, and told them about ‘our’ afternoon plans. Then she told them how I wanted to exclude her from them.

“Why don’t you want to teach my little girl how to defend herself!?” Nora asked, with a barely noticeable accusation in her voice, that was betrayed by the smirk on her lips.

“Well, when I said that I’m gonna teach Ava self defense, I used those words so they knew what I’m talking about. But the thing is ... There is no such thing as a self defense technique. Basically, if you want to know how to possibly get out of a choke hold, you first need to know how a choke hold works. That’s not something you learn from someone telling you or watching a video. I’ll have to teach you how to put someone in a choke hold yourself. Yes, there will be a few techniques, but I don’t think you’d want your daughter to learn that. Especially since the techniques we learn at Carter are ... rough.”

“No, I actually do!” George, Mia’s father suddenly proclaimed. The demanding voice surprised even Nora and his two children. “She’s going to attend college in the fall. As much as I would like to, I won’t be able to watch out for her anymore, and we all heard the stories about drunk frat boys. I would sleep a lot better knowing she’d be able to defend herself.”

“And it’s not like you really have a choice in this matter.” Mia added, smirking when I raised an eyebrow in doubt. “You said you’d drive me where I want, when I want. Well, now I want you to drive me and Ava to your company gym. And when we’re already there, you can just as well include me in that training.”

I thought about that for a moment, but couldn’t really come up with any way to refuse her. At least not without making her parents, the client, angry.

“Look ... This is not like driving a bicycle. First of all, you’ll need someone to train with. Then you’ll need someone to continuously train with. That’s actually the really important part. If you want to utilize any of this when you’re being attacked, taken by surprise and afraid, you’ll need to be able to rely on muscle memory. The key for that is endless repetition.”

“So take Jacky with you!” Nora suggested, placing her hand on his arm. “He’s a big and strong guy. He’ll be the perfect partner for Mia to train with. Exactly the type she needs to learn to fight off.” I had to suppress a laugh when I heard her unintended characterization of her son. “He’ll be here for a few weeks, and I’m sure we can work something out after that.”

Well ... shit. I was banking on Mia bailing out once she realized this wouldn’t be a one-and-done commitment, but now I was out of arguments. I didn’t like Nora’s suggestion at all. I know, he is her son and she will always see him as her little angel. But, to me, that was the guy who spent his entire high school career as a bully and borderline sexual predator, and now she wanted me to show him how to be better at that!? Was that woman nuts!? Of course, there was no way to actually explain that without potentially causing trouble for Bill. At least Jack looked just as enthusiastic about joining us as I felt about having him join us. However, since ‘Jacky’ would be playing the aggressor for Mia, maybe it would be fun to watch as he got his ass handed to him by his little sister.

So, I sighed, nodded, and made my way to the car to wait for them. On the way to the gym, Ava and Mia continued their gossiping on the backseat, while Jack spent his time admiring the car, asking questions about its performance and how it handled. Apparently, driving around in an armored car was a noteworthy experience for him.

I started the training very much like it started for me, showing them proper stances, posture and testing their strength. Surprisingly, Ava and Mia were in much better shape than the football player Jack. Especially when it comes to flexibility. Unsurprisingly, however, Jack challenged me on almost everything I said.

“That’s bullshit!” he called out when I explained what an effective defensive stance looks like. “You need to get your hands up and cover your head! Not hold them at chest height!”

I sighed.

“Look, Jack, I’m not teaching boxing here. What we’re training is how to deal with an actual attack, not how to win a damn competition in a ring! When you’re in a boxing spar, you’re welcome to block half your field of vision with your fists, because you only have one single opponent who’s ideally in front of you. In a street fight you need to be able to see his friends coming at you from the sides. And since real fights have no rules about not punching you in the nuts, you’d do well to keep your hands at center. This way, your hands travel an equal distance to block, no matter where the next attack is aimed at.”

“That ... actually makes sense.” Ava remarked with a thoughtful expression, while Mia nodded along. That shut him up, as he seemed lost for arguments.

“Now, that cheerleading of yours seems to be quite the exercise. You’re both in great shape and super flexible. That’ll help you a lot when trying to get away from an attack. Let me show you the next thing. Mia, get on your back in front of me, please.” I asked, and waited for her to lay down before I continued. “Most of what we’ll do will be grappling, because that’s essentially what guys will do when they’ll try to have their way with you. So...” I continued, as I reached forward and spread Mia’s legs to position myself between them. “ ... Jack and I will act like actual attackers. You Okay with that?” I asked, looking between Mia and Ava.

Ava looked at me kneeling between Mia’s legs, then at Jack, and thought for a moment. I got the impression that she was not too keen on the idea of having him handle her, but after a moment she nodded her head. Luckily for her, I had no intention of letting that prick touch her. Mia, on the other hand, acted differently than I had expected. Seeing me between her legs seemed to affect her. She was excited! As I spoke, I let my hands wander almost casually and she was looking at me with a slightly opened mouth, her eyes growing bigger when I squeezed a little. Her breathing also grew in intensity. Little did she know, this was going to get much more intimate. Seeing her react like this had an effect on me as well. An effect she would get to feel soon.

“Also, that question wasn’t just directed at the girls.” I said, without breaking eye contact with Mia. “You need to be comfortable with being close to them as well, Jack. If this is meant to teach them anything, they need to train these movements in a realistic setting.”

With that, I let my hands slide to the hollow of Mia’s knees, turned my palms up to cup the underside of her soft thighs, and pushed my hands all the way up to the bottom of her buttcheeks. The look she gave me was pure surprise, but I greatly enjoyed how she would just let me feel her up like this. Though, I wasn’t sure whether she enjoyed my touch, or my boldness had just stunned her.

Done with the slow and casual movements, I strongly grabbed her hips and roughly pulled Mia’s body into my groin like she weighed nothing, even lifting her butt a few inches off the ground for maximum impact, and her legs came to rest on my shoulders. She felt my hardness slam against her center, the force of the impact traveled through her body and caused her breasts to jump. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as she let out a mixture of a surprised shriek and an involuntary moan, but she made absolutely no attempt to protest in any way. She just stared at me and she knew, had we been naked, I would have slammed myself balls deep inside her.

Despite teasing her for days about secretly having a thing for me, I was still somewhat surprised when her chest was now heaving and, to my greatest satisfaction, saw her chewing on her bottom lip. I would have expected her to chew ME out for that stunt. I finally turned my head towards Jack, but refused to let go of Mia’s hips, or even ease up on pressing her covered mound against my hard cock. It even seemed like she enjoyed the feeling so much, she didn’t even care about her brother standing six feet away watching us.

“This won’t work if you keep your distance from her because you’re embarrassed, or want to respect her personal safe space, or some other crap. When some guy attacks her, he’ll be up close inside her guard. So she’ll need to train with a partner that’s up close inside her guard as well. Otherwise we can’t be sure her tendons, joints and muscles will cooperate when she’s in real danger.”

“Are you serious!?” Jack protested, obviously uncomfortable with what I asked of him, and obviously tempted to set me straight for manhandling his little sister. I doubt he ever saw my erection, I had long since learned to conceal my ‘wrestling boners’, as Tess used to call them. But he certainly saw the way Mia reacted to me. “It can’t make that much of a difference if I keep a few inches of space between us!”

“Do you hold back on your tackles during football practice as well, so you won’t hurt your teammates?” I asked, and he shook his head. “Of course you don’t! Because they need to learn to deal with it before it happens in a real game. If you see the need for that, when it’s just about playing with your balls on the field, why wouldn’t you acknowledge that need when we’re trying to prepare your sister for actual assaults? Trust me, a few inches make one hell of a difference! If she is to actually learn how to move in a situation like that, you can not make it easier for her while she trains.” I assured him.

And I really meant it! This wasn’t just me molesting his sister, the bitch who tormented me in school for so long, and thereby getting a little payback on both of them. This was an actual problem with most self-defense courses offered nowadays.

That made sense to him. He was bound to know what I just told him from his football training already, so he relented and I could instruct Ava and Mia on how to do “the shrimp”. By the time they had the movement down, our hour was up and the first people from the firm started filing into the gym. We packed up and drove back to the Miller house. During the drive, Jack was still trying to question my methods, but I noticed the backseat was unusually quiet. Looking in the rearview mirror, I saw Mia regard me with thoughtful and, whenever she noticed me watching, shy looks. Ava seemed to take great interest in her friend’s unusual behavior.

After we arrived at Mia’s home, and all of us had made their way inside, I located whoever was currently assigned watchduty and answered Nora’s and Mr. Miller’s questions about how the training went. As I turned to leave, however, Mia called out to me.

“Tim! When’s ... when do you come by next?” The highly unusual uncertainty in her voice, as well as her fidgeting fingers, weren’t lost on anyone in the room. “I mean ... for the training. You said we’d have to do it regularly, but Monday is our last Cheer practice and Christmas break starts Tuesday.”

Damn! So much to me not having to stand in the gym’s hallway for three hours!

“Well, how about the same time tomorrow?” I said, and she immediately had an eager smile on her face, while her eyes almost sparkled. That wasn’t lost on Nora as well, who suddenly developed a smirk while examining her daughter’s behavior. “Normally I train every day after the office closes. But you have your social calendars, so that won’t do. I would like to get you two up to speed quickly, though. Maybe you and Ava could sit together on Monday, see if we can cram one or two sessions into your week’s schedule?”

“Yes!” she proclaimed, sounding quite pleased with my answer, while bouncing on her feet. “We’ll do that. See you tomorrow then!” she said, before leaving the room while waving us goodbye, and leaped up the stairs out of sight.

I blinked after her for a moment, before shrugging my shoulders and moving towards the door.

I knew I wasn’t exactly experienced with girls, so I also knew that I was probably just imagining things. There was no way she would actually look forward to training with me. She was just looking forward to training, period. Despite me being around her so much now, and despite me identifying her potential stalker, we still barely knew each other. Sure, we had a few honest conversations over the last few days, giving each other a rather intimate insight into each other’s personalities, and her mother had apparently also worked on her to get her a changed perspective. But that couldn’t possibly be enough to make us grow that close. At least, not that I thought.

Back in the car, I noticed that it was almost dinnertime. Following my plan to discourage Ava’s submissiveness outside the bedroom, I opted to include her in the evening planning.

“So, hungry?” I asked, as I pulled out of the driveway.

“God, Yes!”

“Any cravings? Wishes? Ideas?” I followed up, causing her to look at me with even greater uncertainty than I had seen in Mia just before.

“No ... whatever you want is fine.”

“Come on, no after work out rituals?”

“Maybe one.” she said after a moment of hesitation. For some reason she was furiously blushing while saying it, which confused me. My inquiring and expectant stare caused her to look at her hands and mumble something.

“What? Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” I said, smirking about what it could be that got her so shy. She took a breath to steady herself.

“Logan said ... after working out, I need a ... a protein injection.”

She had started out in a normal voice, but her volume had steadily declined as she continued on. Realizing what she was talking about, I just sat in the driver’s seat and stared at her dumbfounded, before I couldn’t hold it anymore and loudly burst out.

“HOLY SHIT that’s cringy! Logan - the great charmer Logan - said that? ‘Protein injection’!?” she nodded sheepishly. “Oh. My. God. I can’t believe someone would actually say that while not shooting porn!”

I couldn’t help it, I just laughed. Loudly. It had been a long time since I actually, happily, and heartily laughed. Even that Thanksgiving, when Logan’s secret pornshoots were exposed, it was a quite bitter laugh. And that situation with Nora in my closet was rather short lived. This, right now, I thoroughly enjoyed so much I contemplated stopping the car. Luckily, Ava knew I wasn’t making fun of her, and after a moment even joined in. When we had calmed down again, she spoke up.

“I was never the type who comes out of the gym and feels like I need to reward myself for working out or something. So, I really don’t have any cravings right now.”

“How abou ... wait! I remember this part from Tess!” I called out and she looked at me in surprise. “I ask what you want to eat, you say it doesn’t matter. But when I start suggesting things, you tell me you’re not in the mood for it until I finally suggest something that piques your interest. So, let’s do it alphabetically. How about Albanian?”

She blinked at me for a moment and suddenly started laughing.

“Are you seriously giving your sister the girlfriend-treatment?” She didn’t sound playful, or mocking. I could have been imagining it, but I thought she sounded almost intrigued.

“Well, you live with me, spend your entire day with me, sleep in my bed with me ... It was bound to happen at some point.” I shot back.

“Fine. But I’m actually really not in the mood for Albanian food.” she giggled.

“Who would’ve thought!”

An hour later, we arrived in my apartment with a bag of Mexican Quesadillas, though I couldn’t tell if she actually had an appetite for them, or just grew tired of teasing me. I immediately spotted the parcel in front of my door. I told Ava to go clean herself up before we eat, so I would have a chance to sort through its contents undisturbed.

On my way to my bedroom, I grabbed a Ziplock bag from the kitchen, placed the parcel on my desk, and was happy to discover that it contained everything I ordered. I quickly transferred the right amount of fake birth control pills into the Ziplock bag and stored it in my nightstand. I wasn’t sure when I would get the chance to use them, but I would just have to steer her in the right direction so they’d be nearby when the time came. Then I placed the toys and the KY in my desk drawer.

Back on the sofa, after using the opportunity to slip into some sweatpants myself, we both started consuming our dinner in front of the TV. I let her choose the movie, quickly learning that ‘Pitch Perfect’ is NOT my kind of film. Ava obviously thought differently, and, immediately after finishing her dinner, snuggled up into my right side while being totally absorbed into the movie. Her doing so struck me as weird, but I didn’t want to tell her off. I wanted her to do things like that out of her own volition. I wanted to avoid telling her what to do, when it wasn’t about sex, as much as possible. And, if I was being honest with myself, I kind of enjoyed being so close to a feminine body again.

It didn’t take long for this to evolve further, though, and that did somewhat irritate me. A few minutes after she had snuggled up into me, she grabbed my right arm I had placed on the backrest, and draped it over herself before rubbing her face against my chest like she was trying to create a hollow in a pillow. Another few minutes later, she wrapped both of her arms around the one she had draped over herself, and let out a content sigh. A few minutes after that, she repositioned herself so her torso was effectively lying on top of mine.

I couldn’t help but contemplate what she thought this was. It was just five days ago that I laid into her for not defending me in front of her friends, but now we were sitting on the sofa like I had with Tess. My girlfriend, Tess. Ava was my sister, and not even one I held in the highest regard! While I did fuck her senseless once, and fully planned to do so a few more times, we would never be lovers. Which she had to know as well. So, why was she behaving like this?

Remembering the way I fucked her, my thoughts drifted to the box of toys I had stored away in my desk drawer, and to the plan I had hatched for her. That, in turn, caused my dick to grow in anticipation. Suddenly, I heard a half suppressed moan coming from Ava, as I felt her squirm a little while her grip on my arm tightened. I looked down, only to realize that I had unconsciously started to trace my middle finger in circles around her now hardened left nipple. It visibly protruded from the unnecessarily tight tank top she was wearing, and simply invited me to just keep playing with it. So, I did.

The movie had about eighty minutes of runtime left at that point. I spent the entirety of them playing with Ava’s body, stroking, tickling, pulling, and a few times even pinching her hard nipples, effectively exploring her various erogenous zones while feigning ignorance as to what I was doing, and resisting her attempts to pull my hand in between her legs. I wanted her to be as randy as possible for my plan to work, while simultaneously demonstrating that I was the one in charge when it came to sex. After a while, I allowed my hand to wander towards her waist to grab the bottom of her top, and pulled it up over her breasts, exposing them for better access.

I learned that she was quite sensitive around her belly button, heard her purr when I lightly scraped my fingernails over the inner side of her forearms, and she was mewling when I nibbled her earlobe. By then she was stroking the inside of my thigh, no doubt encouraged by the massive erection my sweatpants couldn’t hide in the slightest. I did not allow her to stroke it for extended periods of time, however, as I was seriously worried I would just come in my pants after stimulating her tight body for so long. Whenever she tried to pull my hand towards her steaming mound, I instead let my fingernails drag along the inside of her thighs, like I did with the inner side of her forearms before, only ‘accidentally’ touching her soaking crotch in passing.

The smell of her arousal was thick in the air. By the time the credits started rolling over the TV-screen, she had long forgotten about the movie entirely. All of my probing had simply driven her crazy with need, and I could hear her consistently letting out wanton and frustrated moans. Her breath had become ragged, as she rubbed her thighs together.

She had readjusted her body once again, so her naked breasts were rubbing against my torso, her face buried in the side of my neck so she could kiss and suck on it with such want, I was sure I would find a few hickeys the next morning. She was continuously and somewhat forcibly rubbing my groin by then, feeling the thick and rock hard piece of meat in my pants.

I smiled at that development. From what I witnessed in my time living with the family, I knew they were all used to having sex multiple times per day. Ava had now gone completely without another person’s touch for two days at that point. When she finally couldn’t take it anymore, she lifted her face up so her lips were close to my ear, and sensually whispered in a voice that was dripping with sexual need.

“Please, Tim! I need you! You have me sopping wet from your teasing! Please, please, I NEED you to fuck me!”

“Oh? Is that so?”

I let go of her nipple and let my fingernails scrape down her stomach and belly button, causing her shoulders to tremble. Then I moved them across her lower abdomen to her inner thighs, causing them to lightly jerk. And finally, I cupped her crotch with my hand, causing her to let out one long and loud moan while pressing her face into my neck. She didn’t exaggerate! She was literally soaking wet! I didn’t even push my hand into her pants, just touched her from outside them, and they felt like she had peed herself! Surprised, I lifted my hand to inspect it, and could see the moisture glistening on my palm and fingers. Acting like I was trying to decide what to do next, I placed the wet fingers in my mouth and sucked her juices off them. This clearly just made it worse for her, and she switched tactics.

“Mom told me about what you two did.” she proclaimed, and I didn’t immediately understand where she was going with this. But when she continued, I understood fully. “Please, Babybrother, don’t you want to fuck your big sister as well? Mom was giving you the love you missed out on. I should’ve been there for my little brother, but I wasn’t. Take me now, Babybrother! Use your sister’s body! Let all your frustrations out and pump all that anger I deserve inside me! Please!”

Apparently, Claire had told her about the night we spent together, not skimping on the details of how I reacted to her. Especially how I reacted when she called herself ‘Mommy’. Now Ava was doing the same by playing up the incestrous aspect of our pending coupling. I leaned over, wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her body onto mine.

As soon as her butt came to rest in my lap, she started gyrating her hips to grind herself against my hard cock. She did so as best as she could, with her back turned to me and my arms holding her in place. I grabbed both of her thighs and roughly pulled her legs apart so she was straddling me. Then wrapped my left arm around her upper body, trapping both of her arms to immobilize her, and placed my right hand between her legs. I lightly kneaded her mound in a way that would tease a possible release, but would never be enough to drive her to a climax.

“I don’t know.” I mused. “It’s true, you were a bitch to me. So, tell me, Princess. Why should I do something to make you happy, after you spent so much time attacking my own happiness?”

I increased the force with which I was massaging her sex, while once more nibbling on her earlobe, just so she wouldn’t think that I had told her off. Once again, a needy moan escaped her lips.

“PLEASE! I’ll do ANYTHING for you, Babybrother! I NEED you!” She was now almost shouting while her body squirmed in my lap.

“Anything? Really?”

“Yeeeees! Please!” she breathed.

“But this seems unfair, Princess. Using you for my pleasure sounds like something people would do for revenge, but let’s be honest here ... it feels like you want to be used. So, in reality, I would just do you a favor, wouldn’t I? When was the last time you did anything for me?” Hearing this, she let out a frustrated mixture of a mouselike squeak and sob. “So, what else could I do to you, to make up for the years you treated me so badly?”

“ANYTHING!” she immediately shouted. “I promise you, Babybrother, you can do anything! You can use every part of my body as you want, my body is yours! I’m yours!”

I had her. I smiled.

“So, every part of your body is mine. Are you sure about that? What about your pussy?”

As I asked that, the hand on her mound squeezed it, and she nodded vigorously.

“What about your mouth?”

As I asked that, I lifted the hand that was now soaked in her juices to her mouth, and she started licking and sucking my fingers clean while nodding again.

“And...” I started, moving my hand back between her legs, only this time, as she instinctively pressed her hips forward to meet my hand, I pushed my fingers underneath the elastic waistband of her pants. Then my fingers rubbed across her radiating folds before I finally pressed the very tip of my middle finger against her tight little brown hole without entering her. “ ... what about this?”

This time, she hesitated.

“If ... if you want your big sister’s little butt, it’s yours whenever you want it! Just like the rest of me!”

She leaned her head back and started trailing kisses along my jaw. I decided that I couldn’t ask the final question, yet. When I asked about taking her ass, it obviously brought her down a little. Apparently, she wasn’t a big fan of anal sex, which surprised me, as she seemed to have enjoyed it tremendously on her sixteenth birthday. Though, after finding out that Logan and Aaron cultivated her submissiveness, I’d rather not ask about the specifics behind that change in preference. I’d just have to incorporate it into my plan.

The currently pressing matter was that, for my plan to work at all, she needed to be at the height of passion. It would have to wait until the next evening. For now, it was time both of us got some release.

“So you belong to me?” I asked as I pushed two fingers into her well lubricated canal and rubbed my thumb over her clit. She screamed out a loud “YESSSSSSS!”.

I pulled my fingers out of her, pushed my right arm underneath her legs, and carried her into my bedroom. I threw her on the bed, got my clothes off as she ripped her own away, and grabbed her shoulders. Roughly, I pulled her upper body towards me, pushed her down onto the bed, and turned her on her back with her head hanging off the edge.

I had never done this with Tess, but was eager to try it out. I went down on my knees, so my cock was perfectly aligned with her face. As soon as she noticed my stiff cock pointing at her, she opened her mouth wide and even stuck her tongue out, inviting me to fuck her throat. An invitation I gladly accepted.

Smiling upon her willingness, I placed both my hands on either side of her neck, causing her to crane it upwards a little more. That, in turn, caused her throat to protrude in a visible bulge, perfectly showcasing the canal my dick was waiting to invade. I loved it! So, I extended my thumbs to lightly massage that bulge as I slowly pushed into her mouth.

When my tip touched her tongue, she closed her lips around it to suck it into her like a vacuum. Then I pushed further, feeling my tip scrape along her wet and soft tongue, until it passed her uvula, and I groaned in pleasure as I looked down on us. The view of my cock vanishing in between her lips, the subtle movement of her protruding throat as I held it in place with my hands, her now flat breasts heaving, and her legs spread wide as I fucked into her mouth. It was an image I would never forget.

After I had used her for about a minute, her hands found their way in between her widely spread legs, where she immediately started furiously rubbing her fingertips across her engorged clit. I simply enjoyed feeling the power I had over her until it seemed like she had a surprisingly quick, if small, orgasm. I only noticed it because of the sudden increase in strength with which she sucked on me, and the erratic shaking of her legs. This wouldn’t do. I wanted to be the one giving orgasms!

I let go of her neck, leaned forward, grabbed her hands to pull them off her sex, and pinned them to the mattress by her sides. This caused her to let out a sound of pure frustration and protest, as she lifted her butt off the bed and gyrated her hips in the air, but she never stopped sucking. I leaned forward even further, inhaled her scent, and placed a kiss on her clit, causing her to moan and suck on my cock even stronger.

I didn’t want to fuck her face while her hands were pinned down, in case she needed to signal me to stop with her mouth stuffed. So, I let go of them, steadied myself on the mattress next to her hip instead, and went to work.

My hips followed the rest of my body and slowly pushed my cock deeper into her throat than before. The feeling of her upper sphincter at the entrance to her esophagus squeezing my tip, as my balls rested on her nose, was heavenly. And I almost lost myself in the pleasure when she swallowed a few times, causing her throat muscles to massage my entire shaft. When I started thrusting back and forth, her throat produced wet slurping noises and I could feel her hand massaging my balls. This was enough for me to know I could continue.

I steadied myself on one hand, so I could push my other arm around her raised leg and start fucking two fingers into her. My lips sealed around her clit, I sucked on it while massaging the hood of her hardened knob with the tip of my tongue, pausing from time to time to drag the flat of my tongue over her labia instead. Whenever I did that, I had to push my body forward even more, and consequently pushed my groin into her face with force until I could feel her teeth on the skin of my pubic bone.

I started out relatively slow, but as the first signs of her first real orgasm of the night showed, I sped up significantly to push her towards it. When she was rubbing my crotch on the sofa, I was afraid I would come in my pants. Naturally, when I felt my dick being massaged by her throat muscles, I knew I was already halfway there and wouldn’t last long. One and a half hours of teasing and foreplay had just as much of an effect on me as it had on her.

Ava surprised me, though. She came again, with her whole body trembling and jerking this time, within merely five minutes of me working her most sensitive parts. The shaking of her head, while my cock was still lodged deep inside her throat, caused me to completely blank on what was happening to her. Only when I heard a sudden choking sound emanate from between my legs, did I remember to pull my cock completely out of her mouth so she could enjoy her orgasm without worrying about air, or biting me. I made sure, however, to never stop licking her, sucking her, or fucking her with my fingers. Even as her fingernails clawed at my hips and legs, and her juices started literally shooting out of her drenching the mattress, I didn’t stop. Her orgasm seemingly just kept going endlessly as long as I kept steadily stimulating her.

When she finally came down and all but collapsed beneath me, I was torn. I wasn’t one to fuck sleeping or passed out women ... but I hadn’t come yet! I pulled my fingers out of her gushing hole and started rubbing them over her hard and now salient clit instead, trying to elicit a reaction from her, but nothing happened. She just lay there motionless and defenselessly, deeply breathing and with a thoroughly relaxed expression on her face. I reached the conclusion that she wanted me to use her body, so that was what I did.

I walked around the bed and pulled her completely ontothe mattress by her feet, before spreading her legs back apart and climbing in between them. I placed her legs on my shoulders before leaning forward, so it would naturally lift her hips and give me the perfect angle to enter her as deeply as possible.

And that is how I woke her. I rammed my cock into her to the hilt, with one forceful thrust, feeling my tip rip through her until it threatened to penetrate her cervix. Her eyes shot wide open and she screamed out a mixture of a moan and a wail. Immediately her hands shot up to grab the sides of my neck, but she made no attempt to push me off or protest.

“OH GAAAAAWWWD! YES! FUCK ME! TAKE ME!” she screamed, as I ground against her to enjoy the feeling of her canal massaging my shaft while her cervix squeezed my tip. Taking her plea to heart, I pinned her hands above her head, pulled my hips back, and started furiously slamming into her.

“Well, Big Sister...” I started through my panting, after steadily slamming our groins together for a good while. “ ... you told me to use your body. How does your little brother’s tiny Dick feel, hmm?”

“NOH-OT TI-NY-HY! DEF-IN-IT-LY NOT TI-HI-NY!” she screamed again, accentuated by a grunted exhale whenever I forcefully slammed into her.

“Does your body belong to me?” I asked, getting out of breath. I felt my orgasm approach, so I stopped the powerful thrusts and switched to long piston-like strokes. This way, I would last until I had accomplished the final, but most important, goal for the day.

“YES! BELONG! YOU!”

“This mouth is mine!”

“YES!”

“This pussy is mine!”

“OH GOD! YES!”

“This ass is mine!”

“YES! YES! YES! Everything! EVERYTHING YOU WANT!”

“All of you belongs to me now! And ONLY me!”

“YES, BROTHER! I’M YOURS! YOUR FUCKTOY! ONLY YOURS! ONLY YOU CAN FUCK MEEEEIIIIIHHH!”

That was it. I had played with her desire to be sexually used and got the declaration I needed before I could continue with my plan. It was then I felt her whole body quake again. Just like before, her juices literally shot out of her, despite my thick cock doing its best to plug her hole.

I Kept going as to not disturb her orgasm, having learned from Tess that some women can be quite pissed if you mess up their climax, and soon noticed that Ava was in absolute heaven.

As her body quaked, she held her breath with her mouth wide open for a silent scream. Her eyes were just as wide as her mouth, but slowly rolled into the back of her head when I simply refused to stop fucking into her. When the quaking finally stopped, I deliberately pulled out of her, pulled her towards me by her feet until she plopped with her ass on the floor in front of me, and pushed my cock into her mouth.

Her eyes now half closed, her arms hanging by her sides, she still moaned as she sucked our mixed juices off my shaft.

“Yes! Be a good sister and make me cum in your mouth! Drink all of your little brother’s cum!” I commanded.

And she did.

As soon as I had finished that sentence, her eyes fluttered and she moaned in bliss. She sucked my tip like it was the only thing she cared about anymore, as I held her head in place and rapidly jerked my shaft off into her mouth. She didn’t even falter as I stepped back without letting go of her head, so she had to lean forward and angle her head upwards, and then slammed her face into my groin.

My cock slid right back into her throat, her nose nested against my pubic bone, and I erupted, sending my cum directly into her stomach. I heard her loudly swallow multiple times without removing her lips from my cock, and even when I was done twitching between her lips, she just kept going until I was soft. I finally pushed her back, so she leaned back against the bed before she seemed to simply pass out on the floor.

I was completely spent, gasping for air, and barely able to stand on my wobbly legs. However, I somehow managed to lift Ava onto the bed and plop down next to her. This was WAY more intense than I had anticipated, but I don’t think Aaron or Logan had ever taken the time to properly get her engines running before using her body. Well, if things went the way I hoped, Ava would soon learn the difference by direct comparison.

I couldn’t help but remember my state after the first time I fucked her. Back then, I thought it would be a great point for my bucket list to make her fully understand what she could have had, if only she had not pushed me away. Now it seemed like I could actually achieve that goal, with the added effect of making her feel the consequences of being that submissive towards the others. She would have quite some things to regret, once I would send her back home and finally separate myself fully from her family.

After lying next to Ava for a good while, she started stirring again, which pulled me out of my funk. I scooted off the bed and went into the bathroom, filling the tub with hot water, and throwing a bath bomb in it. Then I went back into the bedroom, prodding Ava to wake her up. Her eyes fluttered, and, when they focused on my face, she grinned sleepily but happily. So, I lifted her off the bed, carried her into the bathroom, and placed her body in the bathtub so she could relax a little while I took care of that swamp formerly known as my mattress.

I made a mental note to go back to Ikea and get one of those waterproof mattress protectors for future endeavors. For now, I just stripped the bed completely and placed a few towels on it before placing the new sheets on it.

By the time the bed was done, Ava came out of the bathroom, not bothering to cover herself in any way. When I tried to enter the bathroom myself, she just grabbed my arm to turn me towards her. She gave me a searching look, as if she was checking for something in my eyes, but after only a second or two she seemed happy with what she saw, pulled me back on the bed, and finally under the covers. Completely ignoring my protests, she laid her head on my chest, wrapped one leg around mine so her thigh lay on top of my groin, an arm around my belly to pull herself close to me, and whispered into my ear.

“Don’t go. I love your smell.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how to react to that statement, but I didn’t have a chance anyway. As soon as she had closed her mouth, her breathing slowed and her grip on me relaxed, telling me that she had fallen asleep instantly. Spent and relaxed myself, I mentally shrugged my shoulders and closed my eyes as well.

Chapter 16

When I awoke the next morning, unusually relaxed and refreshed, I realized there was no rude awakening that night. I slept without any trouble requiring me to perform the breathing exercises Danny had shown me. I wasn’t entirely sure if I should be happy about that, however, since I did not know for certain if it was caused by the exhausting sex, or the fact that I had my big sister cuddled up to me in a loving embrace. Either way, I appreciated it, and would never admit this development in front of Danny.

I carefully extracted myself from her hold, found my shorts, and snuck into the kitchen. Sadly, I had no clue what she preferred for breakfast, so I got a few dough pieces out of the freezer to prepare freshly baked bread rolls, and stocked the small dining table with whatever I thought would go well with them, as well as some fruits. Just in case, I also decided to prepare the classic bacon and eggs. The smell must have woken her up, because, just as I had grabbed a few paper towels to place the bacon on, Ava startled me by suddenly embracing me from behind.

I almost dropped the plate I was holding. I immediately found myself remembering the morning after I slept with Claire. I had worried that she seemed to have fallen under the misconception that we were somehow good after she let me fuck her once. Now, after I had spent one night with Ava, she behaved in a very similar way by displaying affectionate gestures of intimacy. It was massively irritating. I had absolutely no interest in encouraging it directly, but, on the other hand, why should I deny myself the pleasure of having a tight, hot girl wanting me?

“Good Morning, Princess. How are you feeling?” I asked hesitantly.

“A little sore, but also still tingling down there.” I heard her answer quietly without letting go of me.

“Yeah, I had no idea you could get off like that.” I chuckled. “But it’s been a long time since I had so much fun myself.”

“Hmm. I never did that.” Her voice was even smaller than before.

“Never did what?” I asked, confused. “Get off or have fun?”

“No ... when I came. I, like, never did that when I came before.” She sounded quite embarrassed, and I still had to think hard about what she was even talking about. Then I finally understood.

“OH! You mean you never squirted before?”

Instead of answering, she squeezed me harder, buried her face in my back, and released a mouselike sound of protest. This was ... extremely cute, in a way.

“Don’t worry about it. Though, I better pick up some waterproof sheets for my little bedwetter.” I laughed. I couldn’t help but tease her about it after I noticed her embarrassment, and her reaction was to slap my back, which weirdly caused me to wince. My back was burning! Then I remembered how she was clawing at my back during one of her orgasms last night.

“I’m sorry about that too.” she whispered softly, and placed a kiss on my back, right where it was burning.

To my great horror, I felt myself thrown back to the day I sat in front of my computer, with Claire massaging my shoulders and Granny lightly scratching my neck. Those light and intimate caresses they had subjected me to, after I had missed out on any kind of loving intimacy for as long as I could remember, caused an uncomfortable reaction of appreciation in my body. And just now, when Ava lovingly placed that kiss on my burning back to sooth my pain, the goosebumps once again spread over my entire body.

I did NOT want to admit how that small, simple contact made me feel. Luckily for me, Ava did not draw any attention to my circumstance, and simply glossed over it as she spoke up again.

“I don’t know what happened to me. I was ... it was just crazy intense. It was never like that before. I have some ointment in my bathroom. I’ll put it on your back right now.”

“Don’t worry about that, either. And it’s not exactly surprising this is new for you.” I said dryly, to which she finally stepped next to me while still keeping one arm wrapped around my waist, and gave me a rather questioning look. “Let’s sit down first, I’m pretty much done here and it would be a waste to let the bacon get cold and soggy.”

She turned to the small dining area and froze for a moment before sitting down and blinking at the crammed table. I think she didn’t realize how much I had prepared when she came in. I placed a plate with fried eggs and bacon on the table, then took the bread rolls out of the oven, and put them next to it.

“You even freshly BAKED bread!? Why?” she asked incredulously in a loud voice.

“I don’t really know what you normally have for breakfast, so I prepared a little extra. I’m sorry if you prefer cereal, I don’t have any. I kinda got used to having a bigger breakfast, since my days are normally longer with school, then work, and then a few hours in the gym.”

“Oh ... uh ... thank you!” she answered sheepishly.

“Now ... about last night. Can I be brutally honest with you?” She immediately nodded her head, showing no hesitation whatsoever. “Okay. It makes no god damn sense that you’re able to effortlessly take a cock down your throat in a proper face fucking, but at the same time never even knew that you could squirt! That sounds like your sexual encounters until now were somewhat one-sided in the pleasure department.”

She just looked down at her plate, shrugging her shoulders.

“They just used you to try out all the kinky shit they got into their heads, enjoyed the easy access you provided, and thought it’ll be alright to not waste time on your other needs. After all, you seemed to like it. But the way I see it, even if you like to be submissive and used, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy other things in addition to it, and make the sex even better for everyone involved. As proven by my back, that currently feels like you traced a map for all of Colorado’s hiking trails onto it.” I grinned.

“But...” she paused to think about something. “What did you mean by ‘it’s not surprising’?”

I made sure to look her directly in the eyes before answering.

“Like anyone would be shocked to learn of Aaron and his Golden Boy only being concerned with their own needs.” I said in a mocking tone, and her eyes widened a little.

“What!? But you...” her voice trailed off, seemingly unsure how to say whatever was rushing through her mind at the moment.

I chose my next words carefully. Not to manipulate her, but because I genuinely believed it to be true, and knew how dangerous it could be for her future. It was the same reason why I warned Uncle John about it, to make sure it wouldn’t happen to Maggie.

“You know ... I’ve spent a long time hating you all with a passion. Logan and Aaron even more than the rest of you, if that’s even possible. So, feel free to completely dismiss what I’m saying as anger, bitterness, or just me shittalking them. But honestly ... All I did was prod your body for a while, to see how you react and where your sensitive areas are. I got you horny as fuck, and then kept you going for a while, so when the final release came, it was way more intense. That’s called foreplay, Princess. It’s nothing new. I’m not some sexual genius. I’m not even especially experienced. Tess was the only woman I ever slept with long enough to learn anything from, and beyond her, I only ever had sex with Claire and you.” I sure as hell would NOT tell her about fucking her best friend’s mother! “So, I didn’t really do anything special or groundbreaking last night.”

She looked at me in surprise, but I soon saw the realization set in as she seemed to go over her former sexcapates in her head. I decided to give her the time she needed and waited for her to speak. Which she did after a few minutes of us silently chewing our breakfast.

“You know, it wasn’t always like that. When we started, it was a lot of fun. But after a while, it was only really good when Mom and Danny were there too. And then, after a little more time,...” she trailed off and her eyes locked onto the table. “But I did enjoy it ... kinda...”.

I found myself reminded of the conversation I had with Danny on the sofa, when she told me about how their orgies had lost their meaning. Somehow, what Ava had just said played right into that notion of them no longer doing it out of love and mutual understanding, but more to explore their kinks and have fun. That, in turn, reminded me of her reaction to my finger prodding her ass, causing an uneasy feeling to settle in my stomach.

“You know, I can masturbate to a tree if I try long enough.” I said in an aloof tone.

“ ... What?” she blinked at me.

“That doesn’t mean I’m into trees. It doesn’t even mean that I enjoyed it. It just means that the nerve endings in my dick have been stimulated to send signals to my brain. It’s what nerves do. And it’s a completely involuntary process. Just like when you pinch your arm hard enough, the nerves in your skin will do what they’re made for, send the signals, and you will feel pain whether you like it or not. That’s biology. Not lust.”

She stared at me with a perfect poker face before speaking again.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that, just because we have orgasms, doesn’t necessarily mean that we were into whatever led to that orgasm. It’s easier for guys to understand that, because we grow up with awkward boners. We get erections for no goddamn reason all the time. It’s a purely physical reaction that’s completely detached from our brains. I imagine that’s harder for girls to wrap their heads around.”

My words obviously affected her, as she looked back at the table and contemplated them. I decided to let her make up her own mind. If she wanted to get into that further, she would let me know.

“Danny...” she started carefully. “She also said that it was different in the past.”

“She’s right.” I said, and she looked at me in a mixture of surprise and doubt. “Remember, I walked in on you all on your sixteenth. I’ve known about what you all did since you joined them. That was actually why I started removing myself from the family. Not because I was pissed that you wouldn’t include me in the fun, that actually didn’t last long after I objectively thought about it. I wasn’t attractive to you, and I was in no position to somehow demand sex from anyone, so I reluctantly accepted it. But seeing them all work together to give you pleasure, caring for you, lovingly stroking your hair and back ... while I hadn’t gotten even just a hug in years at that point ... that kinda broke me. So, yeah, I know it didn’t start out that way. Probably grew complacent with what you all had.”

I had kept all emotions out of my voice while casually placing some bacon and my fried egg in my bread roll. When I looked up, however, I could see sorrow and regret in her eyes.

“I’m so sor...” she started, but I had told them once before that I didn’t care about hearing their apologies. So I talked right over her.

“Here’s my next suspicion that you’re free to dismiss because of my past with you all. You only liked it with them because you never knew any better. With how often I could hear you all go at it, when I was still living in that house, I would’ve expected each and every one of you to be able to write a new Kamasutra. And you didn’t know you could squirt? That never happened before!? Come on, give me a break!”

“Are you saying they’re just bad in bed?” she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

“No, not necessarily bad. But I AM saying that Aaron and Claire have been married for ... What ... Twenty-one years? So, by now, Aaron should know what he’s doing. But then you yourself just said that the sex with him was only good when Claire or Danny were there as well. Now look at Golden Boy. He’s been at college for over four months now. Someone as good looking, charming, and presumably gifted but definitely experienced as him, should be literally drowning in pussy over there. But has he ever missed a single weekend coming back home, to stay with someone he met over there? Sure, I could be wrong. Maybe the women in your family are just that good, so no other woman can compete. I’m pretty sure, though, that he would be laughed out of the building if he ever told one of those college chics about his protein injections.”

She did not respond to that. Instead, she just seemed to contemplate that information dump I just dropped on her while I finished my own breakfast. I think that little reminder of Logan’s cringy pick-up lines at the end of my speech, went a long way in making her see things for what they really were. When I was done and had placed the leftovers in the fridge, Ava jumped up to help.

“I’ll do the dishes! You cooked!”

“Thanks.” I said, and opened the dishwasher for her, causing her to look somewhat forlorn before I checked my watch. “I should hit the shower. I’ll have to do some grocery shopping, since I didn’t have a chance during the week. Then I’ll have to meet someone at noon. Do you have plans, want to stay in, or should I drop you off at the house?”

“Oh! No ... I have some homework left to do, so I can enjoy a free sunday.”

“Alright. I’ll be back at around Three, since we’ll have to pick up Mia and Jack for our next training session.” I said, and left for my bedroom.

First order of business was to pack the cash I’d need for the meeting with Danny and John, then grab the printouts from the houses in foreclosure I had picked out. Then I made my way into the bathroom and mentally practiced my sales pitch under the shower. I had no idea if it would work, but I decided to just trust in their wish to prove themselves to me. Then I stripped the bed again to let the mattress air out, and left the apartment.

I actually went to an Ikea and got new sheets before taking care of most of the grocery shopping. Then I drove to John’s house and simply sat in my car, waiting for the clock to strike Twelve. I was nervous as hell, trying to resist the temptation to just drive back to my apartment. Earlier, I had decided that it wouldn’t be a loss if they screwed me over. But with all that cash in my passenger seat, actually seeing how much that is, that resolve had crumbled. When the time came, I just sighed, grabbed the bag, and got out of the car.

I was greeted with a hug from Danny and a handshake from John before they led me into their living room to sit down. Danny started the meeting with casual smalltalk, something I also never understood when it happened in meetings with clients at work, but then she tried to ask me how my nightly disturbances developed given how Ava was now in my home.

The look she got from me, after I threw a side glance at John, made it clear that I did not appreciate her telling him about that, and that I was anything but eager to discuss this in front of an audience. Yes, in her mind we were all family, and yes, in her mind they were all trying to help me, but those nightly events were embarrassing for me. My opinion of her as a therapist plummeted once again. John seemed to immediately realize what just happened, and tried to take over by changing topics.

“So, uh, what’s that favor you want to ask of us? Does it have anything to do with what happened between you and Aaron two days ago?”

“Yes. How’d you guess?” I was confused.

“Since that evening, things between him and Claire are ... strained, to say the least. I actually saw her throw stuff at him last night! Whatever he did, she’s not happy with him. Which has us quite confused, since we all saw how happy they both were after you and Aaron came back from your car. I didn’t want to get involved in their bickering, so I don’t know any details, but then you asked about this secret meeting.”

“Really? Interesting.” I mused, not entirely sure what to do with that information.

With what little I had just learned, I couldn’t tell whether Claire was mad about Aaron taking my money, or about something else. Maybe I should have just used the bugs I still had on their phones to listen in on them, but I really didn’t care enough about them anymore. So, my curiosity about their affairs was limited, and I had more pressing problems on my mind.

“Tim?” John’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I saw him and Danielle look at me concerned. I realized they were hoping for some insight from me.

“Well, they’re broke. So broke, in fact, they can’t pay for Logan’s board and tuition. But, instead of asking their Golden Boy to get a job, or apply for federal grants, or take out a student loan ... Aaron’s taking the money from my bank account. He told me how Logan would lose his scholarship if they failed to pay, and they had to pay within two weeks, so I agreed. That’s what made them so happy.”

I saw John’s expression change to surprise when hearing about them being broke, and then to disbelief when hearing the rest of my rant. I just shook my head and released a mirthless chuckle before I continued.

“You know, when this whole shitshow with Logan started, I had twenty grand in my bank account. I had just started to think about trading in my rusty Jeep for something with an actual roof instead of a tarp, and maybe even with working seatbelts. Now I’ll barely make rent next month, especially with the extra expenses for Ava, since I don’t expect Aaron and Claire to pay for her meals. I’m not sure why Claire would have a problem with it, though.”

“What!? Why wouldn’t she have a problem with that?” Danielle asked in indignation.

“Your husband just said it himself. You all saw how happy Aaron was after our talk in the car. Claire knew all about their money troubles, so, going by her reaction when we came back into the house, she must have known that our talk had somehow solved that problem. She knew where that money came from, but didn’t look like she had a problem with it then, so why should she have a problem with it now? She probably just learned that Aaron also took Ava’s birthday money.”

“He even took Ava’s birthday money!?” John asked incredulously.

“I gave her a thousand bucks, since it was her eighteenth after all. He also pocketed the four grand in cash I dropped the day you all came back. And Claire pocketed the eight grand she took from my bank account for hotel rooms, despite you all camping out here.” I said, while waving my hand across their living room.

Now both of them just stared at me, not knowing how to respond to that.

“Tim...” Danielle finally spoke in a desperate tone. “There HAS to be another explanation. Claire was devastated the day you left again. I just can’t imagine...”

“I really don’t care anymore.” I interrupted her. “The money’s gone. I managed to work it in a way that I have enough to pay my bills on the first, and maybe even part of my first college exams.”

“College exams?” John asked, now totally baffled.

“Yeah. I need to get some of the IT-certifications that are essential in my line of work. With how my job description evolved over the last year, I realized that I have to do something to secure my position. But the first set of certifications alone will cost me around four grand, so ... I’ll just have to talk with Bill next week. Maybe he’ll agree to pay for some of them as some kind of professional training. But that would only solve my immediate problem, anyway. I seriously doubt Aaron could come up with another twenty grand for Logan’s tuition within the next six months, so then we’ll be right back to where we’re now.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

John and Danielle seemed consumed in a half whispered, yet still heated, discussion between themselves, trying to make sense of that new development they had no idea about. Then John seemingly remembered the original reason for our meeting.

“So, I assume this favor you need is about money?” he asked, and I placed the printouts between us on the table. He looked them over before giving me a questioning look. “Foreclosure Homes?”

“Think you could afford to buy these two?”

“Tim...” Danielle started. “Those two amount to $142,000 dollars! That’s a lot of money!”

I reached down, grabbed the bag with the cash, and placed it on the table as well.

“That’s $150,000.” Their eyes flew wide open upon hearing my words, then they grabbed the bag and checked it. “Now, don’t get me wrong. I did my homework, so I know using cash to buy real estate would conflict with the AML regulations and provoke the authorities to check where the money came from. So, here’s my idea. You actually buy these two properties. With your money, for yourself, and in your name. The cash on the table is an insurance policy, for you to know that you don’t actually lose any money. Use it how I did until now, and spend the cash on your grocery shopping, car maintenance ... stuff like that. Anything below three hundred, you can easily pay for in cash without anyone even raising an eyebrow.”

“Not to pry ... but ... we thought you burned the money?” Danielle commented, with a mischievous smirk.

“I may have kept two or three bricks to make up for what I lost during the whole ordeal.” I said, using Aaron’s assumption as a believable excuse. “And now you know why I asked to absolutely not tell the others. When my bank account gets closed because the parents emptied it, I don’t need the grandparents to take that cash as well. I hear Grandpa Mike was very eager to plan how to use it for himself as soon as he learned about it.”

“Yeah.” John said, throwing an uncomfortably apologetic look in my direction about his father’s behavior. “Don’t worry, we won’t tell. But how does buying these houses fix your money problem?”

“The money you’re holding now is exactly half of what’s in thee bricks. The other half could be used to fix both houses up. For the first one...” I said, and pointed at the printout of the one I was talking about. “ ... I’d like to see how much more we could sell it for, after it’s fixed up. See If the profit from reselling it is worth the cash we have to put in.”

“Well, it’s worth a try, I think. I’d like to talk to a friend of mine before that, though. I don’t even know the property values in that area, much less if people are even looking to buy out there.” John remarked, and I nodded my acceptance. “And what about the other house?”

“That’s a three bedroom condo close to the main HCC campus. I was hoping we could use that to clean what’s left of the cash after the renovation.” I paused, took a breath, and continued. Now came the hard part. “We could ‘rent it’ to Ava and Maggie once they start college. I’d give you ... I don’t know ... about eight-hundred dollars every month, and you bank it as if they had paid their rent in cash. Then, I would write you an Invoice for IT security consulting or something, for a little less than the rent, since you’ll have to pay taxes on the property and the income from it. You could rent out the third room to someone else, maybe Ava and Maggie know a friend who’s looking for a room close to college, and collect actual rent from them for yourself.”

As expected, John and Danielle shared a long look that did not seem too happy. I thought I presented a quite lucrative opportunity for them, seeing how they would not lose any money, while having the prospect of receiving some regular extra income. But, of course, there were strings attached. With their properties also came along some obligations the landlords had to uphold. And, most important of all, using their daughter in the scheme was a hard sell. After a while, Danielle spoke up.

“Can we think about it?” she asked, surprisingly carefully.

I got the impression that she was way too conflicted about this. Sure, she had assured me to help without even asking what it was about, grateful for the opportunity to show her sincerity in wanting to rebuild our relationship. But that was before I had proposed to use her daughter for money laundering! I fully expected her reluctance. There was no need for her to feel bad if she refused my offer.

“Of course! John’s idea to talk with someone who actually knows about real estate is a smart move. Just let me know what they say. And I’ll leave the money with you, just so you can spread it out on your bed and roll in it.” I said, causing John to chuckle before I continued while wagging my finger at them. “But don’t have sex on it unless you decide to keep it.” That part caused Danielle to chuckle. “Oh. And don’t say ‘Yes’ because of my comment about barely making rent. I have enough for my next rent and the utility bills left in my account. Since I got a company car with a gas charge card, that won’t be a problem either, and, as I said, I have some cash left over for grocery shopping. So I won’t starve in the foreseeable future. Take your time and think it over thoroughly. I won’t hold it against either of you if you don’t want to do it.”

Both of them nodded with visible relief on their faces. Apparently, my impression of Danny was spot on, and this little speech had removed quite some pressure they felt. We said our goodbyes and I made the drive back home, realizing that it was way earlier than I had anticipated. Even after stopping at another grocery store to buy all the stuff that needed to stay refrigerated, I walked into my apartment with little over two hours to spare before we would have to get on the road to pick up Mia.

After storing the groceries away, and covering my mattress with the new waterproof sheets, I found Ava actually studying in her room like she had claimed. This was new for me, since I had never taken her to be the studious type. Though, honestly, how was I supposed to know anything about her anymore?

While watching her for a while, without her noticing my presence because she was totally focused on reading a worksheet while wearing headphones, I had to grin at the way she chewed on her pencil. She had that look of mad concentration on her face that was cute in a way. So, I decided not to disturb her, and instead started preparations for tonight’s dinner.

The two hours of free time were just enough to get the sauce ready before we would have to leave, and, if I made some extra, I could freeze it and then serve it with some pasta during the week. I chopped the celery, carrots and onions, and threw them in a pan to fry with minced meat. Just when I added the rosemary and garlic, the smell had summoned Ava into the kitchen. She sauntered over to me, and, just like in the morning, wrapped an arm around my waist in an intimate gesture that I still was not sure whether I liked it. I still thought of her as one of my tormentors, but she sure as hell was hot, and I didn’t have to feel affectionate towards her to enjoy her body.

“What are you making?” she asked, never taking her eyes off the pan, but leaning her head against my shoulder while watching me blend the pan’s contents with some red wine.

“You cool with lasagna for dinner? It’ll take a while, so I thought I’d start the ragu and bechamel now. When we’re back from training, we just have to layer and bake it for half an hour. I also picked up some garlic bread.”

Her answer consisted of squeezing my waist while releasing a soft humming sound. She just watched me work the stove for a good while before speaking again when I added the tomato puree and water

“Damn, it already smells great. You told us that you could cook when you made those pancakes, but I really had no idea.” She paused, her grip on my waist loosened a little, and her expression changed to show a little pain that she quickly hid by turning her head. “I’m sorry.”

“Hmm.” I hummed, not expecting this sudden turn of topic, and unsure how to respond. I felt like it wouldn’t help anybody if I, yet again, threw accusations around, or pointed out where that distance between us came from. “Well ... just for that, I won’t make fun of the way you chew up your pen when you study.” I grinned, not looking at her.

“Wha...!?” I heard her gasp before her demeanor changed again, and she looked at me bashfully. Instead of saying anything more, though, she turned and walked back into her room.

I could be wrong, but I thought I saw her lips curl up into a little smile before her face was completely turned away from me. I continued the dinner preparations while chuckling to myself. Teasing her was fun. By the time I had the bechamel ready, the ragu had blended nicely, so I just let it simmer so it could reduce until we had to leave.

I was mentally going over the previous training session we had, when we walked into the Miller house and found the entire family dressed in gym clothes. Interestingly, while Nora seemed excited, Mia sat in an armchair with a pouting expression, and right next to her stood George Miller, who gave me a particularly disparaging look that threw me off. While Ava immediately joined Mia and Jack to chat, Nora took me by the arm to pull me into their kitchen under the pretense of packing up some water bottles.

“Spill it, Loverboy, what did you do to my little girl?” she asked with a wicked grin on her face as soon as she had closed the kitchen door.

“Come again?” I wasn’t sure what surprised me more; the question about Mia, or being called ‘Loverboy’.

“Oh please, you think I didn’t notice the way she acted towards you? Especially the difference in how she treated you before and after your training yesterday? Something happened that had her wanting for more, and she refused to talk when I tried to tease it out of her.”

I spent a few seconds too long trying to figure out what to say, which caused her to start poking me repeatedly with her finger.

“I ... I’m not sure.” I lied. “I mean, it is a full contact exercise, but I didn’t think it got to her that much.”

“MmmHhmmmmm.” The way she drew that sound out made it clear she didn’t believe a word I had said. “There have been other things as well that we’ll talk about later, but I also couldn’t help but notice how she’s been pouting ever since we told her that George and I will be joining you today. So, don’t you dare doing anything differently than yesterday. I’ll ask Jacky about it afterwards, just to be sure.” she teased, before turning to leave the kitchen.

“Wait!” I whispered, stepping close to her again. “What other things? And what do you mean by ‘refused to talk’?”

“Hmm ... I don’t know if I should tell you, yet.” Her grin stretched even wider than before while she tapped her chin with a single finger in a theatrical display. When she saw the impatience on my face, it was apparently what she was hoping to see, and finally spoke. “Nope. It’ll be a surprise. But to answer your second question: Normally, when I tease her about boys, she either just laughs it off, or straight up tells me what she thinks of him. But every time I asked why she was so eager to train with you again, she got that cute shy look and walked away instead.”

“But ... She ... I wasn’t...” I stuttered, causing Nora to chuckle before I caught myself. “She hated my guts for years!”

“Oh, Honey.” she said, in an obviously pitying way. “She never hated you. How could she, she didn’t even know you. She only knew of you, and only the things others were saying. I’m not trying to defend her actions!” she turned serious upon noticing my expression, and placed her hand on my arm as she spoke. “I already told you that we had a serious talk about her behavior. But you have to understand that there is a lot of misguided loyalty and peer pressure between the members of the cheer teams.”

I thought about what she had just told me, and what it meant for me.

“Are you telling me ... since her two best friends stopped making fun of me, she could too?”

“Yes.”

“That’s stupid.” I commented in a serious tone.

“Yes.” she laughed. “But she’s a teenager, like you. You’re still allowed to do stupid things. But the point is that you now have to decide if you want her to know you properly.”

That last part confused me. “Are you asking me to get closer to your daughter?”

“Of course I am.” she shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “When you showed us that video of Jacky, we realized that we might have spoiled them both a little too much. I’d like to see my children have friends like you. You’ve proven to be responsible, capable, you know the value of money, and, after that afternoon we spent together, I even know how caring you can be. We hope, if Mia realizes how big of a mistake she made when she wrote you off, and just how stupid it was to simply go along with her friends, she won’t do it again so easily. The change we saw in her over the few days you were around ... she really regrets it, Tim. And I’m so glad that she finally comes around.”

The women really knew how to ruin someone’s revenge plots. Yes, I had a lot of fun getting handsy with Mia during our training session, especially right in front of Jack. But that was mostly because I greatly enjoyed proving the stuck-up bitch wrong after she had spent so much time ridiculing me. Now, after what Nora had said, doing that to someone who earnestly tried to do better would feel just plain wrong.

“Fine.” I sighed. “I mean, all I gotta do is my job like I do anyway. It’s up to her if she wants this.”

“Thank you, Lover.” The way Nora smiled at me after hearing my response, while wrapping her hands around my neck and giving me a kiss, made it that much harder to even think about messing with her daughter any longer. “Of course, if you two get too close, we’d have to rethink our little arrangement. Sharing my lover with his daughter may be something George’s Mistress would encourage, but I can hardly sleep with my daughter’s boyfriends.”

“Boyfr ... where did THAT come from?” I asked, completely forgetting about whispering.

Instead of answering me, she just laughed as she handed me a sixpack of sports water, turned, and left me standing in the kitchen. Sighing once more, I joined the procession to the cars while trying to ignore Mr. Miller, who continuously gave me the stink eye. Even after everything Nora had just insinuated, I couldn’t imagine why he would be so displeased with me, and just hoped I didn’t screw up in some way. When Nora talked about me being Mia’s boyfriend, she was surely just teasing me. There was no way she didn’t just make that up and Mr. Miller suddenly disliked me because of Mia!

Since I didn’t want Ava and Mia to suffer through the same introduction as last time, I decided to let them repeat the basics while I checked on Nora’s flexibility and fitness level. It quickly turned out, however, that Mr. Miller was just as competitive as his son, as he kept questioning my instructions every chance he got. Him constantly challenging me, while still giving me weird looks, annoyed me more and more. When I warned Nora about punching with her fists, and he protested once again, it was all I could do to not lose my patience.

“Mr. Brown” he called out in a patronizing voice, confusing me. When did we revert from him calling me ‘Timothy’, even during the talk about me screwing his wife, back to ‘Mr. Brown’? “I may not look the part anymore, but I have been in my fair share of fights when I was younger. I can assure you, there is no need for any fancy moves to use your elbows instead of your fists.”

I looked at him for a moment before I decided to throw caution to the wind. I walked over to his wife, gently took her hand while looking her in the eyes, and fondly caressed it as I addressed him.

“Look at her hand, Mr. Miller. See how small it is? There’re twenty-seven bones in it.” I started lightly tracing her phalanges while explaining this, causing Nora to step closer to me to obscure her children’s view of us, and let out a content humming sound. “Imagine cramming twenty-seven bones into this tiny hand. That should tell you how small and delicate they all are. Now feel your own jaw.” I said, as I lifted Nora’s hand to my face, where she started caressing my jaw without me even asking her to. I noticed how Mr. Miller didn’t react in any way to this display, so whatever his current problem with me was, my relationship with his wife wasn’t it. “It’s one big and strong bone. It has to be, since it holds your teeth in place. What do you think would happen if you hit something strong like your jaw, with something fragile like these fingers? The fingers would break.”

“Tim?” we suddenly heard Ava call out to me. As I turned, I realized that she, Mia and Jack had followed our exchange, and I silently thanked Nora for obscuring their view. “I was thinking about that yesterday when you told us, but didn’t have a chance to ask. If I’m not supposed to punch people with my fist, why did you do it when you fought those three guys in the parking lot?”

“You beat up people in parking lots now?” Jack asked, doing his best to sound unimpressed.

“Shut up, Jack!” Mia surprised everyone in the room with the strong demand in her voice, but especially me and her brother, so we both looked at her in big eyed disbelief. “He fought off three armed men who tried to grab Ava and their Mom!”

I blinked at her for a moment before looking at Nora, who just smiled while mouthing the words “Told you!”. I also noticed Mr. Miller looking at me with skepticism. At least the contempt was gone from his face. I finally remembered Ava’s question, and quickly thought about how to answer it.

“Well ... two reasons, really. But mainly, my bone density is higher than yours. It’s higher from the start for men, but you can also increase it with training. The more time you spend punching things, the safer it becomes to punch things. With the amount of training I had in this gym, it’s pretty safe for me now.” I explained, before remembering something. “Wait, why do you even know about that? Aaron had already pulled you two away when that happened.”

“Yeah, but we stopped when we heard the gunshot. We hid behind a car and Mom called the cops.”

“Huh.” was all I could respond at that moment, as I heard Jack mumble a quiet “The fuck!?”. I wasn’t particularly eager to reminisce about that day.

“What’s the other reason?” Mia asked, causing me to shift a little uncomfortably.

“Other reason?”

“You said you could hit with your fist for two reasons. Bone density is one. What’s the other?” she insisted, ignoring my embarrassingly obvious discomfort.

“Well...” I started, throwing a short side glance at Ava, and decided to just be honest. “At that point, I had already taken quite a few blows to the head, my rib was broken, and there was a knife stuck in my stomach. So, I wasn’t exactly planning ahead anymore.”

There was silence for a few seconds, before Jack chuckled.

“Yeah. A broken hand would’ve barely registered then. But, dude ... you sure you’re actually good at fighting, or do you just think you’re good because you never learned how to lie the fuck down?”

That caused me to laugh, which seemed to greatly reduce the tension my explanation had caused all around.

“Possibly. Didn’t have much of a choice, though, given the alternative.” I responded while vaguely gesturing towards Ava.

I noticed that Mr. Miller had finally stopped looking at me in an obvious negative way. Instead, he seemed to be appraising me for some reason, before regarding his daughter with a thoughtful look. Ava, however, didn’t seem as fine as the others. Her whole body had become rigid, and she just stared at me with a strained expression. I didn’t know what had suddenly gotten her so upset, since nothing was said that she shouldn’t already know, but I also didn’t want to get into a discussion in front of the Millers. So, I decided to quickly continue with the lessons, and since I had planned to do the next part with Ava anyway, it would probably distract her enough.

“Alright, let’s continue. Ava!” I called out, pulling her out of her weird state “Lie down on your back, please, like Mia yesterday. Let me show you something for when you can’t pull out from underneath an attacker.”

My plan for Ava was simple, really. I wanted to ramp up our bedroom antics significantly, and put more emphasis on her preference for being taken. But, at the same time, I wanted her to learn how to stop and incapacitate any guy who tried to do that to her. In my head, this would allow her to regain control after she allowed someone else to take it from her, and maybe make her realize that she didn’t have to be submissive to every asshole she came across. Just the ones who would actually do it for her, instead of using her for their pleasure only...

“Okay. Now. I’ll trust you.” I said, pointing a finger at Ava’s face. The way her expression instantly morphed told me that it didn’t just surprise her, it meant a lot more to her than I thought. “When I tap out, you have to stop. I’m serious, Ava! If you break my arm, no lasagna for you tonight!”

The mentioning of a potentially broken arm caused all around anxiety, except for Mr. Miller, who seemed very interested.

“Okay. Promised.” Ava assured me, before I did to her what I did to Mia the day before.

I grabbed her by her hips and roughly pulled her ass into my crotch like she was a weightless puppet. The only part missing was my boner smashing against her center, since the previous discussion had effectively put me out of the mood. I could see Mia shift a little before she threw a quick and embarrassed glance at her mother. Nora, in turn, looked at me with raised eyebrows, before throwing a quick glance back at her daughter. Then I leaned down and put my hands on Ava’s throat. Her hands immediately grabbed my wrists

“Very good. That’s exactly where you need to grab me for this, but make sure your thumbs are next to your index fingers when you grab me, instead of wrapping around my wrist. Next, lift your legs up so your knees are above my shoulders, and lock your feet behind my back.”

She did as instructed, and my face was immediately smothered by her breasts. That sports bra she was wearing did very little to undermine the sensation of glorious softness. I reluctantly turned my head to the side, so I could explain what to do next.

“Now, if you lift your butt up, you’ll push me back enough to straighten my arms out, and then you’ll have me in a double arm-bar. Your thighs are right next to my elbows, locking my arms in place. So, take a strong grip on my wrists, lift your hip, and SLOWLY pull my hands apart while pressing my elbows inwards with your thighs.”

She did as instructed, and I almost immediately had to tap out from the strain on my joints. Just as promised, she let go of me without a second’s delay.

“Did you really have to tap out THAT quick?” Mia asked, incredulously.

“Yeah, really. When she pulls my arms apart like that, she can use her back muscles for it, while using her thigh muscles to press my elbows inwards. Your back and thighs have damn strong muscles, since they hold the majority of your bodyweight upright the whole day. The only thing I have to counter that, are the few muscle strains in the crook of my arm. Doesn’t matter how much time I spend doing curls, they’ll never get as strong as her back or thighs. If she hadn’t stopped when I tapped out, she would’ve at least overextended my elbows, if not dislocated or broken them. Either way, I would have had a hard time using them for a while, and they would’ve been almost useless for keeping her restrained.”

“Yeah, I get that, Dude.” Jack suddenly threw in. “But can we talk about the real important stuff? How can you bury your face in your own sister’s fun bags without batting an eye!?”

While I looked at him almost stunned, Mia snorted with laughter. Nora and Mr. Miller, however, looked quite disappointed at their son.

“Fun bags? Really?” I asked, in a deadpan voice. “You know, Jack, one of these days you’ll meet a very special woman. One who will like you enough to let you lose your virginity with her. And once that happened, you’ll realize that they’re just breasts, and finally be able to look her in the face for the first time.”

“What are you...” he tried to say, but I could barely hear him over the sound of laughter from both of our sisters.

“Look, I told you yesterday that this isn’t for fun. This is about teaching them how to defend themselves against an assault. And don’t forget, you’re Mia’s partner. So, unless you want to spend the day thinking about burying your face in your sister’s ‘fun bags’, I suggest you get your head straight.” I told him seriously. “Or try it this way. If one of your teammates collapses on the field, you’re gonna refuse to try CPR just so your other teammates won’t tease you about ‘kissing another Dude’? You’re just gonna stand aside and watch him die, because you can’t stop sexualizing everything?”

“That’s completely different!” He protested.

“No, it’s really not. That’s your little sister.” I said in a demanding tone, pointing at Mia. “If you manage to help her now, it’ll save her later. If you have to, just imagine her as an A-sexual mannequin with marshmallow stuffing.”

Now Nora and Mr. Miller joined the laughter filling the gym, and Jack seemed to resolve himself. I supervised Jack and his father ‘attacking’ their girls, and then instructed all three of the girls to spend the rest of the time trying to get out from under their partners. An hour later, we packed up and made our drive back to the Miller house. As I got ready to leave, after turning them over to the other guy from the Firm who had watchduty, Nora called out to me.

“Tim! Wait! We have to ask you something.” I stopped and watched Nora and her husband walking up to me while holding hands. “What are your plans for the Holidays?”

“Uh ... watching a few movies, eating something, and then going to bed. Why?” I answered, and noticed her smile widen.

“We had a little talk with Mia and Jacky about the situation, and, while we do appreciate you and your colleagues looking after us, we would prefer to share our Holidays with someone who is not a complete stranger. So, if we have to share our house with someone, we’d like it to be you. Given you don’t have any prior engagements, of course.” she explained, while Mr. Miller had a particularly neutral facial expression.

“Oh! Yes, sure. No problem.” I noticed Ava frowning a little. I don’t know what she thought would happen, but she must have known that I was anything but eager to spend the Holidays with her and the family.

“Perfect!” Nora commented happily.

“Well then, have a nice weekend. I’ll be back Monday morning to pick up Mia.” I said, and after Ava bid her farewells too, we made our way to the car.

The drive home was quiet again. Ava had by now completely lost the merriness from the jokes we cracked at Jack’s expense, and fully embraced a somber mood. It was only after we had arrived home, taken our showers, and were grating parmesan cheese over the lasagna when she spoke again.

“You’re not coming home for Christmas?” She sounded genuinely sad about it.

“No.”

“Can’t you, like, tell Mia’s parents that you changed your mind?”

“Ava, I don’t care about Christmas in the first place, if I’m being honest. But even then, I’m not eager to spend my free days with you people. This is actually convenient for me, since I sure as hell can use the extra hours. So, I’m sorry, but I’ll drop you off at the house on Tuesday, so I can use Wednesday to prepare some things.”

I didn’t mention that I wasn’t sure whether I would let her come back after the Holidays were over.

“Aren’t you, like, loaded as hell? You make almost as much as Dad does! Why would you need extra hours?” she protested in a pleading voice, completely ignoring the part about me not wanting to be with the family. “Why do you have to work over the Holidays?”

“Because your father just emptied my bank account.” I told her, matter of fact, causing her mouth to fall open. “With Claire being jobless and the shit with Golden Boy, they’re broke. But the nineteen-thousand dollars for his college tuition are due, and If they don’t pay within the next two weeks, he’ll have to stay home and lose his scholarship. So, Aaron decided to use my money instead. I mean, I am pissed about it ... but even I have to admit that the scholarship was a good argument.”

Ava just stared at me for a moment before looking at the kitchen counter. Her face was neutral in the beginning, but the longer she stood there, the more her expression morphed into one displaying utter confusion. It wasn’t until I placed the lasagna in the oven, that she found her voice again.

“But ... that doesn’t make sense.” she said it so quietly, I could barely hear it.

“Why?”

“I just checked on all that for my own college admission next year. He doesn’t have to pay the full amount right away.” She stunned me.

“What!?” Now I was the one who’s mouth stood open.

“Every college I looked at offers an installment plan after making a down payment. He just has to be all paid up before the exams start.”

“You’re joking.” I said, and she shook her head. “SON OF A BITCH!”

I stormed into my bedroom and turned my PC on, Ava immediately on my heels trying to calm me down by continuously apologizing, even though I had no idea why she would apologize. A quick web-search pointed me to Logan’s college’s website, which confirmed what Ava had just told me. A down payment of twelve-hundred Dollars, and a twenty-five dollar fee to get on the installment plan. Even if he missed a payment, it would only be another twenty-five dollar administrative charge to deal with it, but as long as he was all paid up before the exam season started, he would be good. The first payment would be covered by his scholarship money, and, as I already pointed out during the talk with Aaron, half a year is more than enough time to apply for grants, loans, or get a fucking job!

“Tim, I’m sorry! Please don’t be mad!” Ava pleaded again.

“Calm down, Ava. Not your fault. I don’t make a habit of shooting the messenger.” I reassured her in an exhausted sigh, and could see the relief on her face. “Did he at least give your birthday money back, like I told him?” The way she blinked at me in surprise told me, this was the first time she heard about that. “Well, you’ve been here the entire time since we had that talk, so he’ll hopefully give it to you when you go back for Christmas. I just thought he’d at least tell you.” I shook my head and leaned back in my chair. “Listen ... Could you go check on the oven? It should be time to take the foil off, so the cheese can get some color. And put the garlic bread in while you’re at it.”

She didn’t make any attempt to move for a moment, and just looked at me before finally saying something.

“You’re ... you’ll be Okay, right?” Her body language was the perfect picture of insecurity, and I had no clue why.

“Course I will. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“What you said to Jack today.” Her voice was quieter than usual, but her breathing became irregular. “That you didn’t plan ahead anymore. You weren’t really saying that a broken hand wouldn’t have bothered you with all the other injuries, were you? You were ... you didn’t think you’d get out of that fight alive.”

“Yes. So?” My answer came as a matter of fact statement, but that only seemed to agitate her even more.

“You said you never thought about hurting yourself!” She was no longer quiet about it, despite my intention to not upset her further.

“Ava, there’s a difference between hurting myself and what happened back then.”

“Danny was right!” Now she was almost frantic and it seemed like she hadn’t heard what I said at all, which astonished me. “You should have run away when that man reached for his gun, but you started a fight KNOWING you could get killed! How is that any different!? Oh God, what have I done!?”

That last part came out as a wail of sorrow while her quaking hand covered her mouth. This had escalated rapidly. As she stared into space as if searching her memories, thick tears started rolling down her face and her body was now rocking with sobs, causing her to fall to her knees in front of me.

“Jesus, calm down!” I called out. “I’m not actively looking for ways to end my life, Ava! I’m not suicidal! I just don’t value my life that much. That’s the difference.”

“No! I did this! I caused my little brother to...!” she violently shook her head and continued to cry, as the full impact of her actions seemed to suddenly come crashing down on her. Then moved closer to me to clasp both of my hands in hers. “This is all my fault! I’m sorry, Tim! I’m so sorry! This is not what I wanted. I swear this isn’t what I wanted!”

She was positively inconsolable. And, to my surprise, it annoyed me.

How dare she now act like this? Yes, she caused this, there was no question about it, but she never cared before despite all the signs of my depression being there. I remembered the day of my fight with Jack Miller, when she came to my room and saw how empty it was. Back then, she clearly noticed that something was wrong, though she was still too caught up in her own crap to act on it.

It took quite a while, with her crying into my lap, before she finally calmed down enough to at least form coherent sentences again.

“I’m so sorry, little brother. I never thought ... I never realized how... “ she pleaded, but I felt my annoyance turn into anger.

“Are you for real? You NEVER noticed!? You should know fucking well how my life’s been going. Not only did you have a front row seat, I also told you all on Thanksgiving. The shit Aaron just pulled proves that it won’t change either. If I had my way, I’d pack my shit and ask Bill for a transfer as soon as I turned eighteen, but I have to keep going to that shithole you call a school because I promised Tess I would.” Mentioning Tess caused me to calm down some. Otherwise I would have launched into a long tirade.

“You want to leave town?” I thought she sounded a little scared now, though I couldn’t understand why. “But ... You got your own place here.”

“Ava, I got this place thinking Tess and I would live here together when she comes back. Instead ... I lost her just a few weeks before that fight in the parking lot. Coming home to this empty apartment is just a daily reminder of what I could’ve had.” I shook my head, dismissing her point.

“But ... you don’t have to be alone. I mean ... I’m sure you could, like, find someone else!” I could hear that she was grasping at straws.

“And how do you suppose I go about that task, hm? You heard what your friends thought about me when they saw me sitting in the gym for your cheer practice. That goes for pretty much every girl in school. And even if I found someone that wasn’t already influenced by your captivating tales about my micropenis...” she flinched at that. “ ... I don’t think they’re too eager to date a guy who can’t go to parties with them because he’s working seventy fucking hours a week to get through school while paying the bills. And then still can’t take them out on dates on the one day a week he’s free, because his family keeps emptying his fucking bank account.” I let out a resigning sigh. “That’s what I have to look forward to for the next two years. When I’m done with school, get your parents removed from my finances, and only have to worry about work, then I’ll have time for other things. Most of the people giving me shit right now will then go off to college, so I won’t have to deal with them either. But until then, I’ll just have to live with how it is.”

What followed was a long pause with neither of us talking. Ava seemed to be thinking about what I told her, and looking for ways to make my life seem like less of the clusterfuck they really turned it into, but ultimately came up short.

“I’m so sorry, Tim” To my even greater astonishment, she sounded honest. Until now, I thought she was scared of the consequences waiting for herself. Like, what people would think of her if something happened to me and people found out about her part in that. But, at that moment, there was genuine regret in her voice. “I’m sorry for what I did to you. I’m sorry for being such a bitch for so long. You are my brother and I do love you! I don’t want you to die! I swear I’ll do better.”

“I told you before, I don’t care about your apologies anymore. Losing Tess was hard, but I came to terms with it. I’ll manage. Now, if you could please check on our dinner, lasagna tastes only half as good if the cheese doesn’t have color.”

She reluctantly nodded and left the room. I sat in my chair and, like so many times before, mulled over my options.

Looking at things soberly, I really only had to get through the next five months while keeping the family off my back. My rent was paid six months in advance, so, as long as I didn’t miss any payments until six months before my eighteenth birthday, I was safe. And what did I even care about my school life being crap? I was working too much to make friends with people from school anyway. My bank account would fill up again, especially when I could earnestly start using that cash in my closet. And for the moment, I had other things to take care of.

About fifteen minutes after telling Ava to leave my room, I joined her in the kitchen. For some reason, she had switched clothes, and what she was wearing now showed off her assets in a spectacular way. It was like she had taken a lesson from Nora’s playbook, since she didn’t look slutty in any way, but still made it known that she was not wearing underwear. It was hard not to admire her figure.

She had also set up the living room while I was trying to calm down, so that we could eat while watching a movie like we did the day before. The only difference to the previous evening was that she wanted me to choose the movie, and, looking at the weather outside, I decided to introduce Ava to the joy that is called Bill Murray and put on Groundhog Day.

Once we had taken our seats on the couch, she grabbed her plate, folded her legs underneath herself on the seat to my right, and leaned into me before taking hold of her fork.

“Mmmohmygod, Tim!” she moaned after taking her first bite, closing her eyes in gusto. “This is even better than Mom’s!”

“You think? Cool.” I replied, suppressing the urge to say ‘You think? I wouldn’t know’.

“Yes! This is, like, restaurant quality food!”

“Well, I’m glad you like it, ‘cause I’ll use the rest of the sauce to make some pasta on Tuesday.”

“Mmmm, can’t wait!”

She didn’t gradually work her way into cuddling up to me like she did the day before. She snuggled her back right into me and enjoyed her food while we watched the movie. Only when we were done eating did she suddenly address me again.

“If I ask you a question, would you give me an honest answer?”

She didn’t even look at me as she asked, but she wasn’t watching the TV either. She was watching her hands in her lap as they fidgeted around.

“Sure. I don’t think I have a reason to lie to you about something.”

“Why are you really teaching me self defense?”

“Oh.” I sighed. “You remember how I told you that there’s nothing wrong with enjoying your partner taking control during sex, but that it attracts a certain type of men? The type who won’t be doing it to fulfill your needs, but simply because they’re assholes who like to abuse women?” She nodded. “The day they asked me to let you live with me, Danny also asked me to try and help you out with that need of yours. And I thought the simplest way to do it would be to give you the means to defend yourself. You know, get out of there if someone tries to abuse the power you gave them. At least that’s how it worked for me.”

“What? You!? What are you talking about?!” She was genuinely confused. No surprise there, of course she never noticed.

“Two years ago, I was scared of everybody. I was scared of the kids in school for beating on me, scared of the teachers who covered for them, scared of you and your brother for setting it all up, and, most of all, scared of the parents because I had no idea what would happen to me if they continued to ignore my existence. Training with Bill ended all of that. I learned to stand up to the kids in school, assert myself in front of the teachers, and suddenly had the conviction to deal with whatever bullshit your parents may throw my way.”

She thought about my answer for a while, eyes downcast, before asking her next question. This time, she was speaking so quietly again, I could barely hear her over the sounds of the TV.

“Why do you even care about me anymore?”

The obvious answer to that question, that I kept to myself, was ‘Because I will be better than you!’. What I actually said was something else.

“Same reason I helped you and Claire when those guys came looking for Logan. Our relationship might be broken, and I can’t wait to get away from you all, but that doesn’t mean I’d just stand by and watch someone do that to you. Wouldn’t let that happen to a stranger, so I won’t let that happen to you.”

Again, she thought about my answer for a while, before she simply wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and laid her head against my chest.

“You remember my birthday? When I started crying over the present you gave me?” I nodded. “Last year, we all forgot about your birthday, but you still had presents for everyone. I don’t know about the others, but mine was something I really, really wanted. Then this year, we forgot your birthday again. But you, again, showed up with a present for me, and it wasn’t something I had wished for, but something that still showed how you cared about me more than I deserved. At that moment, I just ... I couldn’t... “ she paused for a moment. “Thank you, little brother. I love you, and I’ll do anything you want to prove it to you.”

“Anything. That’s a bold statement, you know?” I taunted her.

“If that’s what it takes.” She sounded serious, which intrigued me.

“What if I’m some closeted freak who likes to hang girls from the ceiling in a sexswing?”

I started circling her nipple over her taut shirt, causing her to press herself into me and place her hand on my stomach. I really meant it when I told her that I didn’t care for their apologies. And I also meant it months ago, when I told Claire that I no longer care about their promises. So, interrupting this useless talk to partake in her body instead was a no-brainer for me.

“I already promised you yesterday that my body is yours. And after what you did for us, I know I can trust you not to hurt me. At least not too much.” she grinned.

“And what if I wanted to use you to get back at the rest of the family?”

“Then I’ll trust that you won’t hurt them. At least not too much.” she kept grinning.

I decided that, with that proclamation of hers, all bets were off. As far as Ava was concerned, my attention shifted back to the TV. In actuality, though, I pulled all the stops in trying to get her going. Just like the previous day, she was squirming and moaning within moments, no doubt remembering how this played out last time. All the while, I denied her access to my groin, and kept teasing her whenever she tried to pull my hand between her legs. The frustration in her voice grew by the minute, until, after roughly half an hour, I pulled her into my lap without warning, and pinned her arms against her body.

Finally, I cupped her sex with the palm of my hand, used my pinky and index finger to massage her labia, while pressing my middle and ring finger into her slit. I could feel her pants being sopping wet again, and her hard knob was easy to find through the thin fabric. Looking over to where she had been sitting, I could see an actual dark patch on the cushion! The memory of what had happened yesterday must have been influencing her way stronger than I thought possible.

Every time she started grinding her hips against my massaging hand, I removed it to scrape my fingernails over the insides of her thighs instead. She simply ground her ass against my now prominent erection instead. Happy with this development, I started kissing her neck and nibbling on her earlobes, holding her tight when it caused her to writhe in my arms. When I kissed her neck, right underneath her ear, she mewled in every sense of the word. Apparently, I had discovered yet another weak spot on her body.

I had actually planned to simply keep that up until the movie ended, but, the hour we spent doing this the day before turned out to be the limit of my self-restraint, and I realized I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for much longer. So, by the time Phil’s perpetual torment on the TV-screen entered the next stage as he drove himself and the groundhog off a cliff, I decided that the torment of Ava’s body should enter the next stage as well.

I held onto her as I abruptly stood, threw her over my shoulder, and walked into my bedroom while she giggled like a little girl. After placing her in front of my desk, I pulled her shirt off her body, and, as soon as her arms were free, she started pushing her pants down. This allowed me a perfect view of her glistening folds and the little pink star right above them. The sight reminded me of what I had prepared, and opened the desk drawer where I had hidden away the toys I ordered a few days earlier.

Convincing myself that this would surely work out the way I hoped, I quickly popped one of the Cialis pills I kept in there as well. If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically the better Viagra. It lasts longer while it’s less likely to develop ED because you took them without already having ED. I still only took the lowest dosage pill. I also took out the KY and a small butt plug the size of a bullet-vibrator. Holding it up to Ava when she turned around to face me, she looked confused.

“That’s too small.” she said matter of fact.

“You want something bigger in your butt?” The sudden seriousness when she spoke amused me.

“No. I mean ... if you want to stretch me a little before fucking my ass, you’ll need something bigger. That thing isn’t even a third of how thick your cock is.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. The plug will do just fine and ... add a little extra. You’ll see. Turn around!” I commanded, and she complied without question. Little did she know, this small plug would do a nice job in loosening her up regardless of its size. As she leaned against the top of my desk, I could see her knees shiver in excitement and anticipation.

I lubed her little hole up and slowly pushed the plug inside her while she wiggled her butt for me. Once it was inside, I knelt down, placed my lips around the hard knob at the bottom of her folds, and sucked on it roughly while kneading her buttcheeks, pulling her folds apart to grant me a grandiose view of her waiting dark tunnel.

I knew that giving her oral pleasure was possibly contradictory to simply taking her, but I needed a little time before the pill I swallowed proved effective, and I was still convinced that sex would be even better for her if I took her for my own pleasure while also remembering hers. She didn’t complain. Quite the opposite, actually.Her legs were shaking as she loudly moaned her approval.

I took that as confirmation, and pulled her backwards away from the desk as I first sat on the floor, and then lay on my back. She was standing with her feet to both sides of my head.

“Get down here!” I growled and she immediately understood.

She knelt down, smothering me with my nose buried inside her dripping, smooth, and perfectly hairless pussy before leaning forward. I made it a point to suck on her clit extra hard as she fumbled with the cord of my sweatpants, and relished in the sounds she made as she struggled to push my pants down.

As soon as my dick sprang free of my pants, it was confined inside her mouth instead. There was no holding back on her part, she immediately started sucking on it so hard I thought my skin would rip off. After a few minutes of almost drowning in her juices, while massaging around her entrance with my thumb, she started quaking in her first orgasm, releasing even more of her juices into my open mouth. I didn’t care and relentlessly continued my assault on her sensitive organ until I felt my own orgasm approach.

“Be a good girl, Princess. Let your little brother cover your face.” I growled.

She moaned and, although I hadn’t thought possible, sucked even harder on my tip while furiously jerking my shaft into her mouth. She was basically copying what I had done the previous evening, but just as I felt my balls tightening, popped my cock out of her mouth as the pleasure overtook her again.

The first jet placed a long streak of my cum from her forehead, over her nose, to the corner of her mouth. The second placed a fat glob of cum right above her eye before she apparently decided her face was sufficiently painted, and took me into her mouth again. All subsequent shots went right down her throat into her stomach, as she completed the task by smashing her face into my groin. I loved this feeling, but it was not what I told her to do.

“I told you to be a good girl! Now swallow!”

I reached down, placed a hand on the back of her head, and pushed it down so her nose was pressed into my ballsack, as she complied immediately and swallowed over and over again to massage my shaft. I held her head in place for a good minute before the twitching in my dick finally subsided. Even then, I shifted her head from side to side to create some extra friction before allowing her to dislodge my cock from her throat.

I realized with delight that the pill was doing its job and I wouldn’t grow soft in the slightest, despite having my much needed and intense release after making out for so long.

Standing up, I wrapped my arm around her torso and lifted her off the floor and onto the bed. I placed her down on her back, in a way that I would be able to reach the drawer in my nightstand once the time was right. Ava had not yet realized that she was in for a treat that night, or she simply didn’t register that I somehow never lost my hardness.

Kneeling in between her splayed legs, I lined my cock up with her opening so only the first half inch of my tip was pushed inside, grabbed her hips with both hands, and roughly pulled her against me like I had done in the gym. Within half a second, my full length was slammed into her, and she let out a wail of pleasure.

“YES! Take me, little brother! FUCK your sister however you WAAAAANT! I LOVE IT! I LOVE YOU”

“Hmmm, my little princess.” I said, and the effect it had on her was imminent. I had called her ‘Princess’ for years, but it was always an expression of contempt at how spoiled she was. This time, however, there was no notion of that when I said it. It was more the way a father addresses his little girl, and she loved it! Seeing this, I quickly reached over to the nightstand and unlocked my phone.

“YES! I’ll be your little princess!” she suddenly used a little girl’s voice. “Your good girl! Your good sisterly fucktoy! Just FUCK me! TAKE your little Princess! I’ll do anything to make you love me!” she moaned.

“Really? Anything?” I asked, a devious grin spreading on my face, as I opened the app on my phone, and activated the vibration-feature of the buttplug I had placed in her.

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, her mouth hung open, and her pupils dilated, as her entire body clenched around me. It was not just her pussy that suddenly pressed around my shaft, but also her arms and legs that had wrapped around my torso. I think none of the others had ever fucked her while she had a vibrator up her ass. As soon as the thing started rumbling, I forcefully slammed myself into her, ripping my way through her resisting tunnel. I could be wrong, but as she suddenly clamped down on my cock harder, increasing the pleasurable sensations for me even further, it made me believe she had another orgasm.

I didn’t know how it would feel for her. I knew it would feel fucking great for me, and I wasn’t disappointed. The subtle vibrations carried through the tissue of her body and reached my cock, while my balls felt the vibrations directly as they rested against the part of the plug that stuck out of her. She seemed to enjoy it tremendously, as she suddenly found her voice again and screamed in bliss.

“GAAAAWD YEEEES! EVERYTHING! FOR YOU! I’LL DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU! JUST DON’T EVER STOP FUCKING MEEEEE!”

This was it. Now came the part that would either make or break this whole exercise. I started fucking her again, slowly at first as to not overwhelm her senses, and leaned forward so my face was right next to hers.

“And what if I want my little Princess to have my baby?” I whispered into her ear. She grew still, apart from the ripples that traveled over her body whenever I slammed into her. “What if I want to knock my sister up?”

“OH GOD! ... Tim ... We...” she stammered white moaning.

It seemed like she had trouble grasping the situation and forming coherent thoughts, though I suddenly remembered the way she reacted the first time we fucked. Back then, I had proclaimed that I would come inside her regardless of whether she was on birth control, and she instantly exploded into an orgasm.

“You’ll have to make a decision now, my little princess.” I continued, starting to pant myself, as I fucked her roughly now. Reaching over to my nightstand, I opened the drawer and pulled out the ZipLock bag with the fake birth control pills, and dropped them next to her face. “Because I’m about to come very soon. Are you sure you’d do anything for me?”

The whole situation didn’t seem to fully register with her, as she reached for the bag with one hand and held it closer to her still cum-covered face. She was caught in her pleasure, determined to make me happy, and loved to be dominated and used. But pregnancy? She just stared at the bag while her moans grew in intensity.

“That ... are ... my pills!?” she stammered, each pause caused by our bodies colliding, and accentuated by a grunt escaping her lungs. She didn’t say it like she was shocked or afraid. It was a clear remark of skepticism. Did I grossly underestimate how familiar she must be with her pills, after taking them every day for years? At least she didn’t seem to have noticed the differences immediately, just like I had hoped. “But ... then ... unpro ... tected!”

“Yes, my little Princess. You’ve been off the pill for two days now. I switched them the first morning.” I immediately saw it. The memory of finding her purse on her bed, with her pills in the wrong compartment flashed into her mind. “Do you want to be my good girl and help me get back at your Daddy? Just imagine being knocked up by me. He could never do that to you. Could never reclaim you. If you carried your little brother’s baby, you’d be forever mine!”

“Yours!” she panted. “Forever yours! All of me, yours! No pills. Unprotected! Pregnant with yoUR BAAABYYYYYY!!” she wailed, unceremoniously dropped the bag with the pills like they no longer mattered to her in the slightest, and her whole body started violently shaking as her eyes, once again, rolled into the back of her head.

“I’m coming, Princess. Your little brother is coming into your unprotected fertile womb! I’m fucking a little baby into you!” I grunted, as I exploded inside her.

Hearing my words, and feeling me erupt into her canal, she screamed like a banshee that hit her toe against the kitchen table, and her fingernails were painfully digging into my back as her hips lifted off the mattress and quaked around my twitching cock. Then her scream ebbed away until she was absolutely quiet. It seemed like she had an earth shattering orgasm. Her hips dropped back to the mattress and her back arched off it, as she started thrashing around. Her mouth was still wide open with suspended breath. She went off like that for half a minute before she finally collapsed a second time as a babbling and sobbing mess.

I held her hips tightly pressed into my groin, as I squirted spurt after spurt of my hot cum into her depth, all the while feeling her folds ripple around me, intensified by the vibrations of the plug. I relished in my triumph, and that only heightened when I realized that, even after unloading into my sister for the second time, there was still no sign of my dick going back to sleep. So, I simply kept going!

I kept plunging into her while she remained powerless underneath me, continuously blubbering unintelligible sounds. Though they did sound like she was enjoying herself, even encouraging me to keep going, I mostly enjoyed the notion of leaving my big bitchy sister as a basically braindead fucktoy. With every collision of our groins, I could see the impact travel up her body and cause her breasts to jump. It was heaven.

When I felt my balls stir again, and informed her of my seed’s impending arrival, she simply nodded with a big silly smile on her face that prevailed even after I had stopped jerking on top of her.

Without even bothering to pull out of her, I dropped my weight onto her body, wrapped my arms around her, and turned us both around so she would lie on top of me. Then I started fucking upwards into her as best as I could with her lifeless body restricting me. It took her merely a moment before she started squirming back into consciousness and I heard her tired voice.

“Still hard! Not stopping! How!?” she panted, confusion evident in her voice and expression.

“Oh, Princess. I intent to fuck you senseless tonight! I need to deposit a few extra loads inside your pussy, just to make sure this works! And when that’s done, I’ll still have to fuck your tight little ass!” I grunted, and she immediately started moaning again.

When it looked like she had fully regained her senses and surrendered to her fate, she planted both of her hands to either side of my head and pushed her torso up, before she started to ride me like a cowgirl.

“Do it! Fill your big sister up! I’ll do anything for you, little brother! Anything to make you happy again! I’ll be your good girl to breed! Paint my insides with your seed and make my belly swell up!”

The words she chose surprised and concerned me. I stared at her with uncertainty, wondering whether she just had a breeding-fetish like I had suspected since our first get-together, or if my plan had just massively backfired and her submissive tendencies took a hard turn for the worse.

Hopefully she just got off on breaking the greatest taboo imaginable, after that bar was raised quite high by what the family had already established as normal. In the end, it all depended on whether or not she knew about the fake-pills being fake. But I put that off until the next morning, since, for the moment, I just wanted to enjoy myself.

Encouraging me with the most depraved language imaginable, continuously painting a picture of all the things I could do to her while she lived in my home carrying our baby to term, she didn’t last long before she started shaking again and a deep flush spread over her chest. I had to push and pull her hips so she would at least continue to grind herself back and forth. It was enough, however, and I eventually followed her example and felt myself come again, even stronger this time than before. This time, it was me who lifted his hips off the mattress, trying to penetrate her as deeply as possible, and lifted her a little off the bed as I shot my third load inside her.

Once I had regained control of my muscles, I decided that I wanted to properly watch my cock invade her, so I pushed her off me and onto her stomach, moved in between her legs, grabbed her hips, and pulled her ass up. Her arms limp and useless by her sides, she released a quiet whimpering sound as soon as she realized that I still would not allow her any rest. I really didn’t care, and as I rammed myself into her from behind, her whimpering slowly evolved into a continuous throaty groan.

Over time, my speed increased, as did my grip on her hips, and I could hear wet splashing sounds from our connected groins with every thrust. Looking down, I noticed that my cock was covered in a white, frothy substance that was also running down her legs. Our bodies were covered in sweat, it was even dripping down my nose. Ava was by now producing sounds that alternated between moans and sobbing cries, and I fucking loved it! I loved the sounds she made, I loved watching the ripples going through her buttcheeks every time I roughly slammed into her, I loved how I could just use her however I wanted, and I loved how my dick hurt because I knew what caused it.

Having already come four times allowed me to fuck her in this position for a long time, but I ultimately realized that I couldn’t keep this up indefinitely. In fact, I had been fucking her nonstop for little under two hours now, and had felt her quivering canal clamp down on me several times, though the vibrator in her ass made it impossible to know for sure if those were orgasms.

Somehow, I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to stay hard after my next shot. It was time for the finale. I turned the vibrating function of the plug off and slowly started extracting it from her rectum. I had only tried anal with Tess once, since she said I was too thick for her. Ava, however, had said that I could do anything, als long as I didn’t hurt her ‘too much’.

As soon as the plug had vacated her anus, I decided to use a generous extra amount of KY to make sure I wouldn’t injure her. Then, I slowly worked the head of my cock into her barely stretched butthole, as she weakly stirred underneath me. When my tip had finally passed her sphincter, I let my fingernails scrape over her back, up to her neck, and finally weaved my spread fingers through her hair. I grabbed it by the roots, remembering how Tess had complained about pain if I pulled her hair any other way, and yanked Ava’s head back so she could look at me.

Her face was picture-worthy! Her eyes remained unfocused and wouldn’t open fully, her mouth hung slack open, and, to my greatest amusement, a steady stream of drool was running out of the corner of her mouth and down her chin! None of that changed much as I pushed myself deeper into her ass while pulling her torso up by her hair. Her eyes just fluttered, as she produced unintelligible guttural sounds.

When I had finally pushed my full length into her, I couldn’t believe how tight her ass felt. It took me a few seconds before I started moving again. The vast amount of KY mixed with the white froth of our already combined juices, and she soon started reaching her hand back. First I thought she wanted to push me off, but the sound of protest as I had almost pulled out, combined with Ava pushing herself back into me, told me otherwise. So, instead, I grabbed onto her outstretched arm without letting go of her hair, pulled her torso tightly into mine, and reached around her to start rubbing her clit in circles, causing her to release cute little cries of pleasure. Simultaneously, I started fucking her with increased speed. The newly started cries and moans made it clear that she could indeed take me without a problem. I leaned my head forward, enjoying the braindead look on her face after she came more times than I could care to count, and whispered in her ear.

“How is my little Princess? Do you enjoy your new role as my sisterly cumdumpster?”

I didn’t get any mentionable reaction from her. If it weren’t for the content smile forming on her lips, I would have thought she couldn’t even hear me anymore. The only form of active acknowledgement I got from her, were more guttural sounds formed in the depth of her throat as I kept fucking her ass for what felt like another fifteen minutes. Despite the generous amounts of the multiple forms of lubrication I used, the friction had caused my dick to take on a bright pink color by the time I finally released my last load deep into her bowels. My entire body cramped up, and I felt like my insides were being pulled out of me through my dick! By the time the waves of pleasure had finally subsided, I was utterly spent.

I finally released my hold on her listless body, just for her to slump onto the mattress without ever making any attempt to catch her fall. My dick slipped out of her ass as she fell forward. Ava’s body just lay there with her face in the pillow, her arms powerless by her sides, legs still spread, and her ass up in the air. I beheld the view of her gaping asshole attempting to close itself again, though before it had any chance to do so, it surprised me by releasing a bubble of cum filled with some of the air I had pushed into her insides. She didn’t even twitch as the bubble burst and a thick glob of my white cream followed behind it, to then drip down onto her abused pussy. It was bright red and puffy, seeping cum like the hole above it, albeit in lesser amounts.

Her thighs and Buttcheeks were glistening in our juices. Her entire lower body was a mess. I straightened her out, and noticed that her upper body didn’t look much better. She, just like me, was covered in sweat, her hair disheveled and stuck to her moist skin, and her breasts were red after I had fondled them roughly in the throes of pleasure. Her face, however, was also still spotted with some of the cum I had shot onto it with my first orgasm of the night, though most of it had been smeared onto the pillow she was now resting on.

Seeing her slow and deep breathing telling me she was alive, I lay down next to her and pulled her body into mine. I didn’t even care about all of my cum seeping out of her body onto my sheets. Neither did I care about her sleeping on a cum-soaked pillow. I just passed out myself as soon as I let my head rest on my own pillow.

Chapter 17

I awoke the next morning feeling lightheaded, which confused me at first, since I had slept like a rock for a solid eight hours! No nightly disturbances requiring me to perform the breathing exercises Danny had taught me, just like the last night I shared my bed with Ava. The next thing I felt, though, were my muscles aching when I tried to move off the bed, which caused the memories of the last evening to flood back into my mind. I smiled upon recounting the events that lead to this muscle pain and explained why I felt so drained.

Ava was still breathing her slow and deep breaths, though she stirred a little when I first attempted to move, and pulled herself closer into me. Although I would never admit it to anyone if asked, my smile grew when she pushed her face into the nape of my neck, placed a light peck on it, and mumbled something unintelligible before falling back into her deep slumber.

I just couldn’t help it. No matter how much I despised her for her past actions, her tight feminine body pressed into mine, those cute little noises, and the soft touches, all felt good. I kept telling myself that enjoying her body didn’t mean I had forgiven her, but at the same time, I also felt like my physical response to her feminine charms was somehow betraying my justified disfavor for her.

Trying to finally reach any kind of conclusion in my inner debate, I took a closer look at her and was surprised about her state. Her face was clearly still streaked with my dried cum, and, looking down at her, so were her thighs and butt. Going by how sticky my own skin felt, I wasn’t in any better state. No matter how tiresome our session was, how could I just fall asleep like that!? I sighed a little when I realized that I would have to wash my sheets for the second day in a row. At least I wouldn’t have to air out the mattress again.

Desperately craving a thorough scrubbing, I carefully extracted myself from Ava’s hold on me, grabbed a pair of fresh shorts, and made my way to get a nice, long, hot shower. When I walked back to my bedroom afterwards, though, I could hear Ava’s giggle as I reached for the door handle, and quickly decided to try and listen to what she was doing. As it turned out, she was on the phone, and it became apparent that she was talking with Claire.

“Sorry Mom, it’s true.” she said in an obviously fake apologetic voice. “I don’t know, yours has more stuff in it, but maybe it was the wine ... No, he put it in the Lasagna...” she giggled “Yes, really ... I’m telling you, last time I ate something so good was when you took us to that restaurant for Logan’s graduation ... That’s what I said, too! He just keeps surprising us ... No, he’s in the shower ... I know because I’m in his bed... “ she giggled some more “Oh, Mom! I didn’t just sleep with him, he fucked me! ... For hours, Mom! I’m, like, seriously sore! I came so much, my stomach feels like I did a thousand crunches. My belly is full o...” She abruptly stopped. When she spoke again, it was in a hurried voice. “ ... uh, Mom, sorry, but I gotta check on something. I’ll call you back later!”

The next thing I heard was her feet hitting the ground, and a lot of shuffling I couldn’t place. So, I decided to check and finally enter my bedroom.

Have you ever seen one of those “Help me Step-Bro, I’m stuck!”-Videos? That was the first thing going through my mind when I saw my sister on her knees, with her head and arms underneath my bed, presenting me with a perfect view of her naked sex. Instead of kneeling behind her and fucking her then and there, however, I just leaned down and gave her ass a good smack, causing her to cry out in surprise.

“WHAT THE ... when did you come back!?” she asked, agitated, while turning so she was now kneeling in front of me.

The view she gifted me before had caused a noticeable bulge to form in my shorts, and now her new position wasn’t in any way less suggestive. The look on her face made any lingering thoughts about simply pulling out my dick and shoving it in her face vanish. She was agitated all right, but not because of me surprising her.

“What’s up?” I asked, trying to figure out what had her on edge.

“I’m just ... well...” Her eyes darted around the room. Not in shame, but instead like she was searching for something.

I noticed the bag with the fake pills sticking out from under the blanket. I walked around the bed to pick it up, and the way Ava’s eyes widened in recognition told me that this was what she had been looking for. Instead of giving them to her, I walked to my nightstand and placed the bag back in the drawer.

“I take it, now that you can think clearly again, you regret what happened last night and want your pills back?” I smirked.

“No ... Yes ... I don’t know.” She looked defeated.

“Keep taking the pills you have in your bathroom.”

“What!? Then ... those aren’t...?” There was hope in her voice. Apparently, she didn’t notice the differences when I showed them to her last night.

“Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t.” I answered in an aloof tone, shrugging my shoulders as I walked to stand behind her. I reached around her, started gently circling her belly button with my fingertips, and whispered in her ear.

“Maybe the pills in your dialpak are fake. In that case, I would have told you to keep taking them so you’d have plausible deniability when your belly starts swelling. After all, the pill only gives you 99% security, so if the parents asked, you could truthfully claim to have never stopped taking your pills.” I proposed, and moved my hand downwards to start slowly massaging her surprisingly hard little knob, causing her to moan and shiver immediately Then I continued talking.

“Or, maybe, the pills in that ZipLock bag are fake, and the ones in your dialpak are real. In that case, I would have lied about switching them out, to provide you with a convincing fantasy of the ultimate submission to your brother. In either case, you should keep taking the pills you have in your bathroom. After all, my little Princess seems to have a serious breeding kink, and I’m sure that little piece of uncertainty makes it just so much better every time your Babybrother’s fertile seed floods your womb.”

Done with my explanation, I kissed her neck again, right underneath her ear, and she had the same sensitive reaction she showed the evening before. The cute little cries I heard, as I relentlessly attacked her most sensitive part with my fingers and forced her to a climax, were elevating. It all reminded me of the power I had over her, and once again made me wonder just why I even enjoyed controlling her so much. When her climax reached its peak, she sank back to her knees exhausted, and placed both hands in her crotch as her shoulders continued to shiver. I guess she wasn’t lying when she told Claire about being sore.

“Anyway” I continued in a casual tone. “If you want to make sure which pills are real, all you have to do is check that drawer. I won’t stop you.”

She looked at me in wonder as I walked around her to enter my closet. I threw her a few hidden glances while I got dressed, and I could almost see the wheels in her head turning.

We had our problems, and it wouldn’t exactly surprise anyone if I wanted revenge, but I surely wouldn’t do it by putting any of them in any real danger or inflicting lasting damage. Getting her pregnant would most certainly constitute lasting damage. My actions during the last two months to help her and the family would, on one hand, give her every reason to believe that she was justified in proclaiming her trust in me last night.

On the other hand, though, the last two months had also proven how little they all knew me anymore. They had no idea how far I had advanced in my job, how capable I had become with a computer, how far my martial arts training had progressed, or how much sexual experience I had gathered. And those were just a few of the surprising revelations they had witnessed since my birthday. So, if she knew so little about me, how could she truly trust me?

When I bent down to pull socks over my feet, I heard my door being shut after she left the room. I smiled, noting that I never heard the drawer in my nightstand being opened.

While Ava was busying herself in her room, I got breakfast started. She seemed to appreciate what I did the day before, so I simply repeated that and put some of the prepared bread rolls into the oven. When she joined me freshly showered, however, she surprised me by moving everything over to the sofa, demanding we eat while finishing Groundhog Day, since we left for the bedroom after having watched merely half the movie in the evening. She seemed to have developed a genuine appreciation for the movie, despite being kind of distracted during the hour we had let it run.

The rest of our Sunday was remarkably unremarkable, aside from the fact that Ava went to surprising lengths in making herself useful. She helped with the laundry, insisted on me guiding her through preparing lunch and dinner while not allowing me to actually touch anything in the kitchen, and, even though it had turned into quite a task, cleaned up the kitchen when she was done. Finally, when it was time for bed, she didn’t even think about going back into her room, but simply walked into mine while pulling me along.

I was a little put off about her behavior, as I couldn’t shake the thought that she acted like a devoted housewife, which was especially disturbing after she painted such vivid pictures of her living with me the night before. However, she assured me it was in preparation for her college days. I didn’t point out that she was planning to attend the local community college while continuing to live in her childhood home, so there was no need for her to suddenly learn how to run a household. Unless, of course, someone had told her about the condo I wanted Danny and John to buy, for her and Maggie to pay fake rent with my cash.

We followed a similar pattern for the following two days. The only remarkable thing about those was the sudden appearance of Jack during Ava’s and Mia’s cheer practice. Although he, unlike me, was welcome to watch the girls practice, he chose to spend the time with me in the hallway and ask me questions about my life, skills, and hobbies. I couldn’t help but feel interrogated, and what irritated me even more was that his father joined in on that when he and Nora accompanied us once more to the self-defense training.

Contrary to my original plans, I allowed Ava to stay the nightbefore Wednesday in my apartment. I simply had no desire to make the two-hour drive after our training session, and she made the most of it. She somehow discovered the bondage gear I had ordered with the buttplug, and wanted to make our last night together memorable. She demanded, really, I tie her wrists to her ankles and fuck her in every hole for as long as I could manage. In her words, she wanted to be “unable to walk until school started up again”, and I saw no reason to decline, leading pretty much to a repeat of the night I had used the Cialis pill.

The next morning, we were still butt naked in bed, when she started acting pensive.

“Alright, spit it out. What’s up with the fidgeting act?” I finally gave in to her blatant attempt to make me ask.

“Well ... when I go home ... you know, when we all get together, we normally...” She wanted to avoid speaking it out loud.

“ ... engage in a massive family orgy. Yes, I know. It wasn’t lost on me that I somehow found myself alone these last few Christmas Eves.”

“Well ... what if they, like, want me to join them? What do you want me to do?”

I blinked at her, unsure how to answer, since I had not expected that development. Was she seriously seeking permission to have sex with other people? What did she think we were to each other!?

“Personally, I’d say fuck ‘em.” I chuckled and got out of bed. “But you? We’re not a couple, Ava. There’s no love between us, so there are no feelings you could hurt by sleeping with someone else.”

I didn’t even realize how quiet it had gotten, until I turned around in search of my clothes and finally noticed the look on her face.

“You ... don’t ... love me?” She didn’t quite look like she was hurt, but certainly sad.

“I think we had that discussion before.” I replied, as diplomatic as I could.

“I just thought ... After how we were this last week...” she said in a weak voice.

“Ava, what do you think this is?” I asked while waving my hand from her to myself and back, getting more serious now, and she gave me an uncertain look. “This is not us becoming girlfriend and boyfriend. I think I made it very clear that I have no interest in being part of your family anymore, and that didn’t change. Did you think you could make up for the years you were shitting all over me, by spending a week as a decent human being and getting me off a few times?”

“No! ... Of course not.” She did, though. I could hear it in her voice and see it in her eyes when she denied it. “But I told you I’ll do anything you want! Just tell me what!” I believed to hear a smidge of disappointment underneath the desperation.

“You know, I’ve thought about this a lot since Danny asked me that same question. And I kinda got the conclusion that there isn’t some kind of great gesture you could pull off, that could somehow magically fix this. All nine of you made it very clear, for a long time, that you had no interest in having me around. That killed any meaningful relationship we once had, and I’m still not sure why I should bother to build something new. The shit with Logan’s tuition definitely just proved that, at least when it comes to Aaron and Claire, I was dead right to not believe the bullshit they told me.”

“Not me, though?” she asked, hopeful.

“I admit ... You, Danny, and John seem to be trying to do better.” I sighed. “When you asked me to help you make dinner, I could tell you never did that before, but wanted to learn. Since I did my own laundry in the house already, I also know that you never did that before either, but you did it here. Most importantly, though, you told me about the installment plans für tuitions, instead of covering for Aaron like you would have in the past. I appreciate that.”

I could literally see her eyes lighting up when I said that. Suddenly, however, she became pensive again.

“What if ... Mom is, like, not happy about Dad taking your money, either?” she said, carefully watching my reaction. “I think she knows about the payment options. And from what she told me on the phone the day before yesterday, I think she’s really mad at Dad because of it.”

“So?” I said, and she looked at me confused. “Okay. Let’s speculate for a bit. Since one of her more valued children left the house, she probably went directly into your room after we left, maybe sat on your bed, thought about you, and did all the other chliché shit mothers do when they miss a child that just moved out. Then she possibly found the financial paperwork you left on your desk.”

“How do you...?” She looked at me in almost shocked surprise, which told me that, what Claire had told her on the phone, was exactly what I had just surmised.

“I spent years trying to understand your behavior. I became quite good at it.” I waved her off. “Anyway, she knew since then. That was six days ago, Ava. In those six days, did she call me? Did she apologize? Did she do anything to get me my money back? No, she spent the last week bickering with her husband, but in the end, she just accepted the money and didn’t do shit about me being fucked over yet again.”

“But she really sounded like she was really mad with Dad. I think...” she tried, though I talked right over her.

“When you learned about what Aaron did, it took all of thirty seconds before you made the decision that I deserved to know, and she’s had six days now. Sure, maybe she didn’t want to show up empty handed, only offering useless platitudes, but did you hear anything about Logan being told to get a job? Did she say anything about applying for student loans? Did she say anything about how her own job hunt was going so far? Is she talking to Logan about transferring here, where it’s cheaper to study, even without the scholarship?” Ava looked down, telling me all I needed to know. “She had a lot of options, made her choice, and she didn’t choose me.”

To my surprise, Ava got out of the bed, walked over to me without bothering to put some clothes on, and hugged me.

“What if, like, I’d rather stay here with you for the Holidays? You don’t have to be alone again.” she asked, quietly.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Mia and her parents, working through the Holidays, remember?.”

“Oh ... right.” she sighed before falling silent for a moment. “Then ... you really don’t have any problem with it if I join them?”

I suddenly realized that I could actually use her for something else. I turned to hug her naked body from behind and wrapped my arms around her shoulders to pull her into me.

“No, I really don’t have a problem with you joining them. If they wear condoms.” I let one hand wander downwards and lay it onto her lower belly. “This is mine, remember? Did you ever come around to check my nightstand?” She shook her head, telling me that she never made sure if her dialpak actually held real birth control pills or not. “Do you want to risk one of them knocking you up?”

“Oh!” I heard her grasp. “But ... We never used condoms before...” She looked up at me, silently asking me to elaborate.

“I’m kinda curious to hear how I compare to them.”

“I could tell you that right now!” she giggled, pointing at the drenched sheets and various toys strewn across the bed and floor. “I never came so much or so hard before. And, no, I’m not saying this to make you happy or stroke your ego.” she smirked, wiggling her butt into my groin, enticing an involuntary twitch from my still spent and aching dick.

“Why, thank you, Princess.” I smiled and kissed that spot on her neck, earning me a soft humm. “But I think you should give them a chance to step up their game after telling them that you can squirt with me.” I chuckled. “You remember the talk we had over breakfast the other day? If they think you’re happy with what they give you, they’ll just do more of the same. So, tell them that they can get rid of the condoms as soon as they actually satisfy you the way I did. And it has to be one-on-one, without Claire’s or Danny’s help, since I didn’t have that either.”

“I can do that.” she finally said after mulling it over for a while, though I could hear and see that she was not really happy. I thought I knew what the reason for her trouble was.

“Fine. I’m gonna be perfectly honest with you. Yes, I have an ulterior motive. I think this would be a great way to get some payback from them. I mean, since it was Logan who worked the hardest to keep me out of the family, and Aaron and John were all too fine with enjoying the benefits that came from it, I think it would only be fair to restrict their own access a little. Hence the condoms. And I wouldn’t be against Claire, Danny and Maggie learning what they missed out on. You said you would be Okay with being used for a little revenge. This certainly won’t hurt them. At least not too much, and only their pride.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, in a much lighter voice after I was seemingly honest with her, before showing me a mischievous smile accompanied by a girly giggle. “I’ll make sure to tell them every little detail of what you did to me! And especially for how long you did it to me!”

“That’s my good girl!” I whispered, before giving her another quick Kiss on her neck and hearing her sigh in satisfaction. “But no making stuff up!”

Of course, my suggestion about Ava demanding condoms had an additional purpose, but I was not eager to tell her about that. If Aaron and Logan behaved like I expected them to, they would berate her nonstop about letting them lose the condoms without even trying to step up their game. It would show her who she blindly served for so long, and what it got her. Then it was up to her how she wanted to deal with it.

We packed her belongings, drove her home, and stopped on the way to get two packs of condoms she could present to the others when the big orgy started. From there, I drove directly to the office and made my way to Bill.

I had thought about spending the Holidays with Mia’s family since they invited me, and was somewhat concerned about Christmas Morning. If they chose to get me a present as well, even if it was just some useless little thing out of consideration, I would look like an idiot if I had not prepared any presents myself. The question of what kind of present to prepare was quite hard, though, and after two days of intense brainstorming, I finally had an idea I thought would fit. I needed Bill’s help for it, however, which was the first reason why I had to talk with him.

When I asked him about the necklaces we used for high-risk principals, he was all too willing to let me buy two of them, and even accepted my five $100 Bills with an almost stoic face. I chose designs I thought would fit with what other accessories I had seen Mia and Nora wear.

The second reason for my visit to his office was to speak about my IT certifications. This did not play out so well for me. While Bill was sympathetic to my situation, he did not see the need to have his company pay for any training or education that was not necessary for an employee’s job.

While I was disappointed, he had done way too much for me to argue about it. I felt like I already owed him, and was immediately embarrassed that I had asked him in the first place. He noticed my sudden moodswing, and clarified that, should it become necessary, we would talk about it again. With this simple assurance, I felt somewhat relieved, and my big fear of being replaced by someone better qualified was mollified. At least to a degree. I would definitely look up other ways to get those certifications before they became relevant.

After that, he spent a good half hour giving me the bullet points for my assignment.

I never had lived with a client before, much less on watchduty, but I wouldn’t be alone in their house. The Miller’s were holding some kind of party on Christmas Eve, so there would be quite a few of us present. After that, while Bill would respect the Miller’s request of having only me in their house, the real guard would stay on the low while keeping himself to the outside perimeter. After all, officially, I was just Mia’s chauffeur, so I could not be left in charge on my own. Especially since they now knew who the stalker was.

Apparently, James Campbell worked for one of the many charities Nora was involved with, and had fixated on her through that, even though Nora herself swears to never have met the guy. After the briefing, I made my way back home, cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, prepared a little something for Christmas morning, and wrapped the presents for Mia and Nora before going to bed.

I arrived at the Miller Household at Ten A.M. sharp, and was greeted by Nora. Although ‘greeted’ would be the wrong term, since she immediately sent me to an entertainment room in the basement to keep Mia and Jack company.

When we had reinforced the building, the Millers had also signed off on having this room turned into a kind of safe-room. Since it was in the basement, it had solid stone walls. It also had its own bathroom, and the phone- and internet connection also started there. After we had installed a reinforced sliding door that only had a handle on the inside, this was the safest place in the whole building.

“Tim!” Mia greeted me cheerfully, while Jack only released an unmotivated ‘Hmpf’. “I see Mom wanted you out of the way as well?”

“She was a little curt with me, yes.” I chuckled. “So, what are you doing down here?”

“They have these lame ass parties every year. Seriously, who throws a party for their business associates on Christmas Eve!?” Jack rolled his eyes as he answered. “Anyway, we kinda got into the habit of hiding out down here and watching movies, while they make sure everything’s perfect up there.”

“Come on!” Mia grunted, as she pushed her brother to the outer seat of the sofa they were sitting on, scooted next to him, and finally patted the now free seat next to her on the other end. “Join us! Mom said you wanted to watch Christmas movies yourself, before they invited you.”

So, I sat next to her, and we started our movie marathon with ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ with Jim Carrey. I couldn’t help but notice how Mia sat decisively closer to me than to Jack, and was surprisingly eager to watch the movies I listed as my annual go-to choices. We had just finished ‘Scrooged’, when Mia announced that she would have to leave us to get ready for the party. I looked at my watch before blinking at her back as she left. Our team was scheduled to have a final roll call an hour before the party was supposed to start, and that was still an hour away. I just shook my head, as I heard Jack laugh about my confused display and put on ‘Die Hard’.

To my great relief, watching a movie with Jack alone was not even nearly as uncomfortable as I feared it would be. The way he had grilled me about my job, income, and finally even past girlfriends, had me almost thinking he was fishing for blackmail material to get back at me, and I was fully expecting it to continue once Mia was out of hearing range. That changed when John McClain blew half his magazine into one of the baddies from underneath a table, and both of us quoted the iconic line “Thanks for the advice!” in unison. We looked at each other and just started laughing.

It was like one of those old stories about two guys getting into an argument in a bar, settling it with their fists, and then drinking together afterwards as friends. He was my mortal enemy when he was still in high school, but that ended when I knocked him on his ass. Instead of carrying a grudge against me for it, it had somehow put us on equal ground. I shook my head at the realization when I noticed that it was time for my roll call.

I was assigned to Mia, which I had expected, since we were roughly the same age and it would be less conspicuous if I was near her. So, armed with a radio, I changed into my suit and took position at the front of the stairs, waiting for her to show up. When she did, however, my jaw involuntarily dropped.

She stepped out of the room, shortly followed by Nora, both of them wearing matching long, chiffon evening dresses. While Nora’s dress had a dark gray base color, topped with a beaded, light gray sheath around her shoulders, Mia’s dress was the exact same, only with the color scheme inverted. Both of them had their hair in a french twist, their faces enhanced by the most subtle makeup that merely accentuated their entrancing features, and they even wore jewelry that wouldn’t pull any attention away from their faces. They saw me standing in the hallway, stopped, and looked at me with expectant looks.

“Wow.” I finally said after finding my voice again. “You’re beautiful!”

Since I did not address either of them specifically, nor both of them at the same time, each of them took my comment personally. And in quite different ways.

“Why, thank you, young man!” Nora beamed, as she stepped next to me and hooked her arm into mine. “Flattery will get you anywhere!”. Then she looked at her daughter, waiting for her to join us.

Mia was still staring at me. When she had stepped out of the room, she looked at me with an almost smug grin, like she was daring me to give anything other than a compliment after seeing her dolled up. Hearing my compliment, though, her eyes had widened and her mouth had opened a little, before she blushed and averted her eyes. Apparently, calling a woman ‘beautiful’ was a little beyond the scope of what she expected from someone who’s not her boyfriend.

She finally caught herself, gave me a happy smile as she hooked herself into my other arm, and we made our way into the main hall. To my slight irritation, she held onto my arm even after Nora had excused herself to find her husband. And, even though it made my job a lot easier, I was even more irritated when she kept holding on to my arm throughout the entire evening. She even kept me close while she talked with some of her girlfriends from the cheer team, who also had influential parents that attended this party. At least none of them were brave enough to ask about it, or even point it out.

I found myself actually enjoying the evening. This might not have been the kind of party a regular seventeen-year-old would think about when intending to have a good time, but it was the first party I got to attend in general. Also, after everything that had happened between us since I became her chauffeur, and everything Nora had informed me about, it was also a lot easier to accept my enjoyment of Mia’s presence than Ava’s. A few times, I even forgot that I was there to work. That changed rather abruptly, when I was called over the radio.

“Rainbow!” The angry voice of our on-site commander called out his favorite nickname for me, which, as I was assured, had nothing to do with my sexual orientation, but something about not having gone through basic training. “Front Gate. Now!”

“What’s up?” Mia had somehow immediately picked up on my concerned look.

“Don’t know, yet. Got called to the front gate.”

“It’s not...” Now she was concerned as well.

“No. If it was anything safety-related, they wouldn’t call your escort away. And, yes, I heard how that sounded. Don’t you dare call me a Gigolo when I get back.” I grinned to calm her, and she actually slapped my chest after snorting a short and unladylike laugh that somehow turned my grin into a smile.

My good mood was not to last. When I arrived at the gate, the man in charge was waiting for me on the inside of the driveway.

“Listen ‘Kid’” he used the nickname Bill had reserved for me with contempt. “I know the Boss has taken an interest in you, but I don’t need your private crap to interfere with our operation! We’re here to work! I’m gonna give you five to either sort it out or get your ass home. This is exactly why I objected to letting a fucking high school student help on actual jobs.”

He turned and left me completely stunned, still unsure what he was even talking about. That is, until I heard Grandpa Mike’s voice.

“Prick! Who does he think he is!?” he swore under his breath.

“My Boss. At least as long as I’m outside the office.” I explained, not believing that he had decided to show up unannounced, but knowing it could only mean problems. Then I turned around and was shocked again when I saw Claire standing right next to him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You need to come home, Honey! Please!.” she pleaded.

“I’m working. YOU need to go home. Now, please.”

I had already turned to go back inside, when Mike spoke again.

“Tim! We’re not leaving without you.” He actually folded his arms in front of his chest as he said it. The whole thing was starting to piss me off, big time!

“You two heard what my Boss just threw in my face about you being here, and you still refuse to leave!?” I asked incredulously. “So, first you empty my bank account, and now you make a scene in front of a client’s house so I can’t earn anything as well? Is this your newest bright idea to get me back home, after your demands didn’t work and trying to force me home backfired spectacularly? I guess I should be thankful you showed up with this asshole instead of the one you married. Aaron would be lying on the ground with a dented face by now and I’d be out of a job.”

It looked like my words caused Mike to lose at least some of his confidence. Either he feared me knocking him down for continuously pressuring me, or he finally realized that this shit would probably backfire as well. Claire tried a different approach by addressing my emptied bank account.

“Honey, I swear to you I had no idea about the payment options! I gave your father hell after I found out! Please, you HAVE to believe me!” The pure desperation in her voice made me almost believe her. “I know it’s my own fault, but I miss you, and I don’t want you to miss out on any more family events. It’s Christmas, Honey, please come home and spend it with us.”

“Sure. You didn’t know and weren’t fine with it. Even if I were inclined to believe that, does it change anything for me? My bank account is still empty, which means that I still need to work through the next two days instead of satisfying your needs to have some extra company. And regarding that sudden need to include me, I still haven’t heard why you would suddenly want that.”

Just as expected, she wrung her hands as her eyes darted around, trying to figure out what to say, but ultimately came up with nothing. That was made quite clear when, instead of giving me an answer, her sobs just intensified and even more tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Tim, what your mother says IS true.” Mike proclaimed angry now, seeing his daughter’s dismay. “You said it yourself, there is no danger of anyone coming after us anymore. What ulterior motive could she have? She just wants you home!”

“What ulterior motive could she have? What about her Golden Boy’s next tuition? You know as well as I do that there’s no way in hell they’ll save up twenty fucking grand in just six months. Where do you think they’ll look for more money then?”

That caused him to groan in frustration, but when he spoke again, I did not hear any attempt to refute my accusation.

“We can work something out about that. But not until you stop acting like a child and listen to us for once! Be a man, do the right thing, and come home with us! Your mother needs you, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let you just cast her aside.”

“Look at you.” I laughed mockingly. “Already getting pissed because I’ve ignored you for three weeks. How about I keep ignoring you for the next three years, like you did with me, and then we’ll see if you’re still eager to ‘be a man and do the right thing’. Just for the record, Mike, I AM working something out. By working at my job! Unless you fuck that up for me next. So, please, just fucking leave already!”

A particularly pathetic sounding wail from Claire pulled my attention to her.

“Please! Baby, I just don’t know what else to do!” she brokenly pleaded again between sobs, tears now streaming freely down her face, while Mike looked at me angrily. “I would give you the money back, but Aaron transferred everything the next day, so I don’t have it anymore. Please, please, I need you home! It’s Christmas!”

She really looked heartbroken. I remembered the day I got back from the hospital and found her crying into Aarons shoulder in their bedroom. Back then I was confused at how little it affected me. This time, however, I knew exactly why her display didn’t reach me.

“After you Lot did shit-all for me, I still protected you in that parking lot. I also took care of the Bookie, got rid of those videos, helped out with your money troubles for Logan’s sake, and helped with your parents’ fuck-up by letting Ava stay with me. And now, when I have to take care of the damage all that caused for me, you show up and tell me what I need to do for you next!?” I said while shaking my head, and turned to Mike. “How about YOU start acting like a man, get her home, and take care of her yourself instead of pushing that shit onto me as well.”

“Do you seriously want to tell me that you have no feelings for your mother anymore? Or any of us? Think hard if that’s really what you want. You only get one family.”

“That’s rich, coming from someone who never had any reason to complain about the family he got. You know, believe it or not, but when I sat in my car with Aaron a week ago, we had an actual conversation. Like a real father-son moment. I really felt like things could get better between us, because he sounded so honest when he finally showed some consideration for me. And what did it fucking get me?! Now please let me demonstrate to you what kind of family values I was taught by your daughter.” I said and, as soon as I closed my mouth, turned to walk back into the house, ignoring Mike’s stunned look...

“You don’t get to choose family, Tim.” I wasn’t sure whether he asked me to keep putting up with Aaron, like it was expected of a family member, or if he wanted to point out how he kept trying with me, despite my stubborn misbehavior.

“You DO get to choose if you want one, though. And I got used to not having a family a long time ago.” I called back over my shoulder, and saw Claire slump to her knees and bury her face in her hands.

Re-entering the house, I found the commander and told him to simply call the police if Mike wasn’t gone in a minute. It earned me another angry look, but it was all I could do short of physically removing him and Claire myself. As much as I would probably enjoy that, it would most definitely be cause for my removal from the team. Instead, I returned to Mia’s side, who refrained from outright calling me a Gigolo, though I did hear her comment to a few of her friends about how my ‘companionship’ came at an ‘hourly rate’.

At the end of the evening, Mia had actually managed to make me forget all about that encounter with Mike and Claire, and I found myself once again enjoying her company. While the Millers retreated into their bedrooms to get out of their party clothes, I helped oversee the caterer packing up and leaving the premises. Then I was shown to a guest room while Michael took the night shift.

Christmas Morning started at Five A.M. for me, since Michael’s replacement would arrive an hour later and I needed to get ready before that. So, half an hour after my alarm rang, I joined Michael freshly showered, groomed, and dressed in the kitchen. When I turned on the oven to place my prepared pastries in it, Michael raised an eyebrow at me.

“You’re just gonna start baking in a client’s kitchen? At 5:30 in the morning?”

“Don’t worry. I talked to Mrs. Miller.” I answered.

I had not talked with Nora about using her kitchen, and under different circumstances I wouldn’t dream of doing something like this, but with the rather special relationship I had with this family, I was sure they wouldn’t mind. Especially after tasting what I was making.

Michael and I had just gone over the day’s schedule with the new guy, and consumed our second cup of coffee while letting the pastries cool down a little, when it was time for him to leave. As soon as I closed the front door behind him and the other guy left to check the surveillance system, I heard movement on the first floor and walked back into the kitchen. By now the whole first floor was smelling like cinnamon and roasted almonds. When Nora stepped into the kitchen, wearing a thin morning gown and a big bright smile, she immediately commented on it.

“Hmm, it smells good.” she said with closed eyes, wiggling her nose. “What is it?”

“Swedish Tea Ring.” I answered, placing one of the still warm things on a plate and presenting it to her, together with a cup of coffee. “I hope I didn’t overstep.”

“Oh, heavens no! Do you have any idea how nice it was to wake up to that christmassy smell?” she said, accepted my offering, and thanked me with a quick peck on my lips before taking her first sip of the coffee. “My! This is ... what brand is this?”

“The one in your cabinet. I added a little salt to the grind. Apparently, it reduces something that causes the bitterness and dulls the flavor, but I can’t pronounce it without getting a degree in chemistry.” I chuckled, and she gave me an acknowledging look before studying the pastry.

“Oh. My. GOD! That’s delicious! You made this?” she commented with big eyes after taking a bite, and I nodded. “What is this exactly?”

“Kind of a mixture between a Danish and a Cinnamon Roll. Glad you like it.” I smiled, and she leaned her back against me, not forgetting to wiggle her butt into my groin, when the kitchen door opened and George entered. Nora was obviously unimpressed by his arrival and didn’t even attempt to step away from me.

“George! You absolutely have to taste this!” she proclaimed, and then removed a piece of her pastry to offer it. He accepted it and nodded in approval.

“Try the coffee too. This boy is just a box of unexpected talents! You know,” Nora started, while raising her arm and placing her hand in my neck, pulling my face closer to hers. “If I wasn’t already married ... Well, no matter. I’ll just have to ask Mia to share you with me from time to time.”

With that, she pulled my face the rest of the way to hers and gave me a long loving kiss right in front of her husband, who did not protest in any way. Instead, he was eyeing the coffee with suspicion. Any thought I might have had of protesting her repeated insinuation about me and Mia was immediately blown out of my head. I did not have the time to enjoy this as long as I would have wished, though, as we all heard another two sets of feet rushing down the stairs.

Checking the living room, we found Mia and Jack attacking the presents under the Christmas tree like I thought only little children would. Although, the stuff they found in those presents was anything but child’s play. Everything was highly expensive, and, at least to me, seemed a little superficial. Like money, makeup, and spa tickets for Mia, or even more money and a trip to Mexico for Jack.

As Nora and George joined their children, I moved back into the kitchen to further cut up the Tea Ring, in case anyone else wanted to try it. When I left the kitchen and moved back into the living room, I was surprised when Mia jumped up, walked over to me while keeping her hands hidden behind her back, and acted a little shy.

“I ... uh ... I got you something. As thanks for ... teaching me all that stuff, you know?” she said, barely able to look me in the eyes, and finally pulled her hands from behind her back to present me with a tube-shaped wrapped box.

I blinked at her for a moment, but then unwrapped it. It was a doormat that said “There is no place like http://127.0.0.1”.

I have to admit, my first impression of it was that she simply googled “Housewarming gift for Nerds” and ordered the first thing that came up. I quickly realized, though, that it did prove she tried to get me something I would probably like, while taking my interests into account and remembering that I had my own place. She indeed put some thought into my present. There was no way I could possibly talk that down.

Thinking about that as I thanked her, a genuine smile spread on my face, which seemed to make her quite happy. Although her father, once again, looked anything but. That only worsened, when I pushed my hand into my knee pocket, pulled out one of the gift-wrapped little boxes, and presented it to her.

Mia got big eyes, just like her mother behind her for some reason. Then she enthusiastically grabbed it from me, tore the paper off, and slowly opened the little jewelry container. I mentally praised past-me for his foresight, as she ran over to her mother to show her the golden necklace with a thick heart-shaped pendant.

“Tim ... this ... this is...” she stuttered while shaking her head. Apparently, just like calling her beautiful, gold necklaces are also something I wasn’t supposed to get for a not-girlfriend.

I simply walked over to her, ignoring George’s death stare, and helped her put the necklace on.

“Look at the backside of the pendant. You see the circular indentation?” She checked, nodded, and looked at me eager to learn what it meant. “Press it twice quickly.”

She paused, then did as told. Within a few seconds, four phones chirped to life. Mine, Jack’s, and both of her parents’. All four of us received an alarm with her name and current GPS-Location. Mia looked a little confused as Nora broke out in laughter while I simply grinned at her. She didn’t seem to get the meaning, so Nora explained it to her.

“Honey, don’t you remember the Bodyguard-reference he made the day he started as your chauffeur? I know you have watched the movie since then, so you should remember that alarm-pendant the Bodyguard gave her to use when she’s in danger. I guess now he’ll always have to come running when you’re in trouble.” she said the last part with a devious smirk directed at me.

Mia’s eyes widened once again, and showed a reaction much stronger than I had intended, as her mouth hung open. I really had not intended for the gift to have such a strong effect. As I had already thought about when I went Christmas shopping with them and Ava, it was simply a matter of principle for me to not make useless and/or meaningless crap-presents the recipient wouldn’t even like. Apparently, I had grossly underestimated how girls like to overthink simple gestures like that.

Not entirely sure how to handle this situation, I moved back into the kitchen, shortly followed by Nora, as I heard Mia and Jack move back upstairs.

“You know, that was a smooth move for someone who claims to not be interested in my little girl.” she chuckled and caught me off guard. “Though, I have to admit, I’m a little jealous. I would have thought our relationship was a little further advanced, and yet, I’m the one who didn’t get a present?”

Now she looked at me with a cute pouting expression. I smiled, pushed my hand into my other knee pocket, and pulled out the wrapped necklace I had gotten for her. She was giggling as I placed it around her neck. Hers was not golden with a heart-shaped pendant, but silver with a moon-shaped pendant.

“I hope I managed to pick something in your taste. It works the same way as Mia’s. You can program a fifth emergency-number into it if you want, though once I don’t have to chauffeur Mia around anymore, I guess you better replace my number with the new guy’s.”

“New guy!? Who said anything about letting you leave, Lover?” she mused with a thoughtful look before giving me another kiss, and then continuing in a sultry tone. “God, if only the kids were out right now, I’d fuck you right here on the counter! But I do believe you deserve something extra for those presents.”

As she said it, she opened my fly, pushed her hand in it, and fished my quickly hardening cock out. She kept her body pressed into mine, the thin material of her morning gown doing very little to obscure her hard nipples, and gave me a scorching kiss as she let her hand stroke up and down my shaft.

As soon as she broke the kiss, she slid down on her knees to wrap her lips around it, and started bobbing her head back and forth. I involuntarily groaned as the pleasure started getting too much and, just in that moment, the kitchen door opened and George walked in. I was half expecting him to kick me out of the house for doing this with Mia and Jack just upstairs, but instead he simply turned, locked the door, and then patiently waited for Nora to complete her task.

Suddenly, Nora removed her mouth from my rod, and started jerking me at a crazy speed.

“We don’t have much time, Lover. Even with the door locked, if the kids show up they would ask what we were doing in here. George!” she said in a surprisingly commanding tone. “Grab three pieces of the tasty treats my Lover prepared for us, and put them on a plate!”

George did as commanded and handed the plate to her after she got back on her feet. She held the plate underneath my Cock, and resumed jerking me off while whispering into my ear.

“You don’t know yet, but I love the taste of cum! And when I made my little Georgy eat your creampie out of my pussy, after you fucked it so thoroughly, I think he developed a taste for it as well. Though, he is still reluctant to admit that.” she chuckled as George shuffled uncomfortably. “So, I need you to come now! Shoot your lovely cream over our pastries! I need that extra icing. I’ll make sure he eats all of it once we’re back in our bedroom!”

Just like when I did it with Ava, I wondered why dominating someone sexually got me so riled up. Don’t get me wrong, given the choice, I would rather make love than force myself on anyone, even if it was what my partner wanted. But it just had that certain effect on me. When Nora noticed that I did react to those words, but not nearly as intensely as she would have liked, she decided to try something else.

“You might wonder why I told him to put three pieces on that plate. Well, I think it is a damn shame that our little Babygirl left without tasting those treats you created. Would you like that, Lover? Would you like to see my little girl unknowingly eat your cream, not even suspecting that I milked it from your fantastic fat cock? Or would you prefer it when the first time she tasted your cum, it came directly from the source?”

Suddenly, images of Mia, wearing her cheerleader uniform while kneeling in front of me with my cock in her mouth, flashed through my mind. That did it. As I saw the impotent protest creep into George’s eyes, it was just that last little push I needed to spray all three pastries with my cum, shocking even myself with the sheer amount I produced despite how fast Nora pushed me towards my release.

“Yes, such a good and healthy boy! Look how much he can shoot out for us, George! Give me all that delicious frosting. Such a lovely treat!” she proclaimed, and started squeezing my shaft from the base to the top, making sure every drop I had would be put to good use. When it seemed like I could not produce any more, she leaned down and sucked me clean.

Finally, she straightened back up and took a big bite out of the piece with the most cum on it while humming in bliss. She smiled at me as she stared into my eyes and chewed. I had a hard time sorting through my emotions at that moment, but one thing was clear: This was fucking hot! The first time Tess had swallowed my cum, I felt like she ultimately accepted everything about me, because if THAT didn’t repulse her, nothing of me could. But seeing Nora outright taking it from me, like she was craving my cum, was one hell of a step up.

She quietly laughed at me standing there dumbfounded with my dick in the open, before she turned and motioned for George to open the door. I quickly got my pants sorted out before the two of them left the room, but my thoughts lingered on Mia. There was no way in hell Nora would actually do that to her daughter ... was there?

In any case, she came a long way since telling me in my apartment that she couldn’t be a dominant partner for her husband. ‘Not having that in her’, my ass!

I did find the empty plate in the kitchen later that day, though I never found out if Nora actually made Mia eat my cum on a pastry. I simply wasn’t entirely sure if I even wanted to know, so I didn’t ask about it either.

After the four Millers had made themselves presentable, I had to accompany them to a church where they attended a morning mess. That was followed by all of us driving over to a venue one of Nora’s charities had organized, to assist at giving out food. By the time we made it back to the house, it was well into the late afternoon, and they opted to simply order some takeout and watch movies together.

I did notice, however, that Mia had stuck to my side the entire day, and did not seem like she was particularly unhappy about it. Thanks to that, I kept noticing how she was absentmindedly playing with the pendant of the necklace I got her, while staring off into space.

This was pretty much the uneventful pattern for the following day as well. Mia and Jack met up with a few friends, and, while I had planned to keep a respectful distance and simply observe the surroundings, they went to surprising lengths to include me. Mia even kept up her behavior from the party on Christmas Eve, and persistently stayed close by my side. But other than that, nothing mentionable happened until it was time for me to go home on Sunday.

Since I would get to go home that morning, I was assigned the night shift leading up to Sunday, and was accordingly tired as I placed all my stuff in the car while Mia watched me.

“So...” she started when I was about ready to drive off. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sorry, what’s tomorrow?” I asked, noting the way her breasts were pushed in my direction since she was fidgeting with her hands behind her back. “I wasn’t told anything yet, but if you need me around, I’ll be here.”

That made her smile again.

“Just a little get-together with some of my and Jack’s friends.” she said, and chuckled as she heard my groan. “Don’t worry, we won’t practice, so they have no reason to think you’re there to ogle anyone but me. I’ll need to go shopping for snacks, but It’s at Six in the afternoon, so you won’t even have to get up early!”

“Alright.” I sighed with a grin. “Then I’ll see you ... at Three?”

She nodded, her smile widening, and I turned to open the car door. Just at that moment, Mia stepped closer to me, leaned in, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. That sure woke me up again.

“Thank you.” she whispered while fumbling with her pendant, so there was no way for me to tell if she was thanking me for accompanying her on Monday or for getting her that gift.

Then she simply turned and walked back into the house, giving me one last look before she closed the door, and her smile widened for some reason when she saw that I was still watching her.

My mind was racing at that point. She was hot, sure, no question about that. And it really did seem like Nora had told me the truth about Mia wanting to do better. But I still did not believe we were compatible. For starters, she was going to leave for college in a few months. And everything I had told Ava about the problems with finding a new girlfriend were also still true.

But what if I rejected her? If what Nora had told me in the kitchen was true, I had unknowingly led Mia on. Rejecting her now would cause problems with the job! I needed that job! Maybe I should just go along with it, until she herself realized that I was definitely not boyfriend material.

I shook my head about my stupid thoughts, got in the car, and drove off a little too fast. How the fuck did I even get to this point!? How did I go from not wanting to touch the bitch with a ten-foot pole, even when she and Ava paraded around the house in bikinis, to getting off on the mental image of her blowing me? And after barely two weeks of spending time with her, no less! I spent the entire drive home trying to figure out how I even felt about Mia.

I could somewhat understand that many men would enjoy seeing a woman they hate on her knees, sucking their cocks. Though, after having been excluded from the family, and seeing how mundane the act had become to them, sex became something special to me. Which, in turn, begged the question when the fuck Mia had become someone I would like to share that with. And, yes, what I had done with Ava during that last week was also anything but meaningless.

Yes, Mia was a fucking bitch when the bullying in school was still going strong. But, in all fairness, ever since I had taken care of the football team, I’ve had barely any contact with her. After all, we never shared any classes together, and I was no longer around when she visited Avaat the house, so she no longer had any opportunities to piss me off. And then, during these last two weeks, she had undoubtedly turned a new leaf.

I actually managed to accept these conclusions by the time I drove through the gate of my apartment complex. Stepping through my door, I was damn glad I had cleaned the apartment the day before I left. It just was a completely different feeling coming into your own home after a few days of work, and not being distracted by any chores that need to be done before you can start to relax.

My relaxation time was not nearly as long as I had hoped, though. I managed to throw my clothes into the washing machine, take a shower, and plop onto the sofa with a snack, when my doorbell rang. As soon as I opened the door, Uncle John rushed past me to the middle of the living room.

“Why are you here?” I asked, not bothering to close the door.

“Well, apparently I’m the one who upset you the least out of all of us. So, Danny thought it would be best if she sent me.” he explained, matter of fact.

“Okay.” I drew that word out a little too long, not sure if he wanted to make a joke. “But I wanted to know why you are here, not why you are here.”

“Oh. Of course. Uh...” he acted a little too pensive for comfort. “Well ... We have kind of a situation at home. We need your help with it.”

I blinked at him, and, as soon as I understood what he had just said, stepped behind him, grabbed him by the shoulders to turn him towards the door, and started gently but steadily pushing him towards it.

“Tim! Please! Hear me out!”

“Nope. I’ve had about six hours of sleep over the last three days. There’s no more helping anyone in me today. I’ll eat my sandwich, then I’ll drop dead ‘till tomorrow. Which is when I have to work again!”

I had pushed him into the hallway in front of my door, and was just about to slam the door in his face, when he stunned me by shouting in a desperate plea.

“WE’RE BUYING THE HOUSES!”

That made me stop. After a moment of consideration, I groaned, opened the door again, and allowed him back inside.

“Fine. I don’t assume you’re willing to spend $140,000 dollars to get me to do you a favor. So, I’m assuming that you buying the houses has something to do with the problem you need help with?”

“Claire and Ava moved in with us.” he nodded.

I raised my eyebrows in wonder, and fully realized this wasn’t just an attempt to continue what Claire and Mike had started two days earlier. I offered him a seat on the couch that he gratefully accepted, and moved into the kitchen to get us each a cup of coffee. I sure as hell needed one. When I got back, he was on the phone with someone who sounded very happy that he survived our initial encounter. I placed his coffee in front of him, sat down myself, and started devouring my sandwich while he finished up his call.

“Okay. That was Danny on the phone, by the way.” he explained.

“Get to the point, John. I didn’t lie about being tired. Even though that worked quite well with your wife, when you all asked me to let Ava live here.” I grinned, and he laughed.

“Well, first of all, I have to ask you a serious question.” He took a deep breath. “Is Ava in danger of getting pregnant?”

That question floored me and sent my mind racing. I quickly understood, however, that my plan must have worked a little too well. I decided to not play any games and be honest with him.

“I take it she told you about me switching out her birth control pills?” He nodded to confirm my question. “Don’t worry. Even if Ava wasn’t my sister, so our children wouldn’t be born with weirdly prominent chins, I’m a seventeen-year-old high school student. I have absolutely, definitely, one-hundred percent NO desire to become a father! I just used it as a plot to play into her kinks.”

He let out a loud sigh of relief before he pulled out his phone again, held it to his ear, and simply said “He didn’t switch them out. She’s safe”. He then dropped the phone on the seat in between us, and finally slumped down on the sofa like I just let all the air out of a blow-up doll.

“So ... what happened?” I asked after watching him for a minute, and he grunted before opening his mouth.

“We all got together in my house, like every year. We had a nice lunch, and were Okay for the most part.”

“Just Okay?” I asked, and he gave me a somewhat plaintive look.

“I know you probably don’t want to hear that, but Claire is ... not doing too well. I’m sure you noticed how she looked when she and Mike showed up.”

“Actually, I didn’t. What do you mean?” I admitted, and he at least made an attempt to hide his disappointment.

“She doesn’t sleep much anymore. Or eats, for that matter. Danny thinks she’s a little depressed. It was even worse when they came back after meeting you.” he said, and searched my face for any reaction. I made sure he would not find any, causing him to let out another sigh before he continued. “Anyway, we were doing mostly Okay. Ava had spent the entire day telling us about her stay with you, and the more Ava told us, the better Claire got. Apparently, you did a really good job with your Sister. Despite hating her, you showed her more care than Aaron had in a long time, but still managed to satisfy her. That gave her a new perspective.”

“Dude, I’m long past hating any of you.” I injected, and he perked up at that. “It’s like I told Ava. I don’t care about you anymore.” He slumped down again. “Okay, most of you. Logan can eat a bag of dicks for all I care. What he did to me disqualified him as a brother indefinitely. And your parents should stop acting like I’m a stubborn child they need to force to behave. Ava and Danny seem to try, and you at least tried once, so I can be friendly with you. Only Aaron is probably going to need a pretty good dentist if I ever see him again.”

He suddenly laughed about that.

“If only you knew.” Then he saw the look I was giving him. “We’ll get to that. I can see where you’re coming from, though. I just hope that, one day, you can see that Claire is trying too. Aaron really screwed her over on this one. That’s also one of the reasons they’ve moved in with us.” He took a breath to steady himself, straightened up, and then fixed me with a stern look. “As I said, we were Okay until dinner was over, and we got together for some fun. Then Ava pulled out the condoms and told us what was what.”

“I take it the male part of the family didn’t like the idea?” I grinned evilly.

“Not funny, Tim! I’d never have thought this shit would happen!” This took me aback. I had never heard him swear before. “We all agreed to use them, although Aaron only agreed begrudgingly. And by that, I mean that he tried to use her submissiveness to let him go bareback at first. It was nasty, Tim. That was the first time I realized how far he was taking this crap, but Ava insisted everyone use them. That showed Danny how effective your plan was, despite being so simple.”

“I’m glad it worked.” I nodded, trying not to show how much that praise got to me.

“When Claire noticed what Aaron was doing, she got right in his face and told him to respect their daughter’s wishes. You know that she was already angry with him because of your money, and after noticing the change in Ava, she wasn’t going to let Aaron undo that. So, he agreed. Then...” he took another deep breath. “ ... after about an hour, Claire stormed into the room, walked directly up to Aaron, and punched him square in the face.”

“WHAT?” I wasn’t sure if I was shocked or happy about the development...

“Yeah. Apparently, Aaron stealthed Ava.”

“What?” This time, I was just confused.

“Oh, it’s when the guy stealthily takes off the condom to have bareback sex with a woman without her knowledge.”

I stared at him for a good ten seconds with a stupid look on my face.

“Honestly? I’m more surprised that there’s a word for that, than about Aaron doing it.” I said, matter of fact. “But I still wouldn’t have thought he’d do that to his Princess!”

“Tim ... did you expect that to happen when you told Ava to make us wear condoms?” he asked quietly.

“Fuck no!” He actually flinched back when I looked at him angrily. “Look, my grand idea was to kinda limit his access to Ava, like they limited mine. But I thought that, If I simply told Ava to not let him touch her, he would just get it from someone else instead. But if she made him use a condom, he would still have access to her, but finishing would be just that little bit less satisfying and keep nagging him. Especially if he knew that she wouldn’t make me wear a condom! I wanted to hurt his pride, and make him experience being excluded himself. Not the shit he pulled!”

John thought about what I said, and finally nodded.

“Yeah, I think I understand what you mean. Although I’m starting to think you’re a closeted sociopath.” he chuckled, but then turned serious again. “Well, Claire and Aaron got into a massive fight over it. In the end she decided to simply not go back into their house and made Ava stay as well, since she didn’t want her to be alone with Aaron and Logan.”

“There a reason you specifically mentioned Claire’s boy toy as well?” That caused him to wince once more.

“Well ... that was the other thing. While Aaron lied about accepting her conditions, Logan did exactly what you thought Aaron would do if Ava denied him. He couldn’t even be bothered with the condoms. He just took off with Maggie and didn’t look at Ava the entire evening. That hurt her even more than what Aaron did. She told Danny that, at that moment, she thought she understood a little how you must have felt ever since you found out about us.”

“Not like it’s a contest, but she had at least one parent stand up for her.” I dismissed Ava’s relayed statement, and immediately felt like an ass about it, though I would not admit that to him. It helped that he only gave me a mournful look and didn’t comment on it as well. “So ... what does all that have to do with you buying the houses, and what do you need my help with?”

“To answer your first question, we’re not specifically buying the ones you printed out. We plan on buying the Condo near campus, but we found another one that’s closer to us. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and doesn’t look as bad as the one you picked out. The price is about the same, though, so that won’t be an issue.”

“Okay. But whyyyy?” I asked, trying to make him get to the point again.

“We thought that, for now, we could let Claire and Ava live in it. I know, it’s not what you had planned.” he hurriedly added the last part after seeing my expression change. “But think about the possibilities! You could let her pay rent with your cash as well, which would mean that you could use the money even sooner! Rent for a house is much higher than for a room in a Condo!”

“Sure it is!” I said angrily. “Only I’d have to tell her about HAVING that cash, and when you collect more than ten grand a year in cash payments, your bank will notify the IRS, which will ask where that cash came from. If you point to Maggie, Ava, and Claire paying their rent with it, they’ll look into their finances and notice that they shouldn’t have that kind of money, considering how they’re all unemployed!”

“Not necessarily. You see, after what happened, Mom and Dad decided that they want to be closer to us and support Claire. Officially, I could rent out to them.” he said confidently. “And if Claire and Aaron reconcile and move back in together, the house would be free for you to live in and pay rent yourself.”

“You serious? So, Mike’s gonna be able to pester me every day from now on?” I asked.

I could see this was not something he had thought about, and his enthusiasm was severely diminished. Though, after some consideration, I decided to let him go ahead with his plan. If the grandparents had a place to live closer to all of us, maybe they would finally stay long enough to actually work on our relationships instead of going on another cruise. Also, John knew a lot more about money than I did, and he had access to people who knew even more about it than him. If anything, I believed that he had no interest in being audited by the IRS. Then I noticed something he had said.

“Wait. If Claire and Aaron reconcile? Not when?”

“Yes.” he confirmed sadly, and noticed my skeptical face. “Tim, when Claire and Dad came back after meeting you on Christmas Eve, she was devastated! It took Mom and Danny almost an hour just to get her to stop crying.”

“Okay? What’s that have to do with Aaron?” I asked, and he sighed. Suddenly, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, and his tone became rather serious.

“I’m not going to ask you to forgive us. Danny and I talked a lot about it, and ... I admit ... I liked having my wife and daughter to myself. I liked that we had more women than men in our groupings. I know we were the ones who screwed this up, and we screwed it up rather thoroughly, so I accept your position in all of this. Claire knows this as well.”

“Appreciated.” I commented, which he simply ignored.

“But you have to understand that Claire feels like she’s running out of options, and she’s suffering for it. The one single road left was to bide our time, and somehow, someway, show you that we’re sincere when we tell you that we want you back. ‘Baby Steps’ is what Danny called it. So, Claire got it into her head that giving you a proper Christmas with the whole family would be a good start. Instead, you had to work through the Holidays while the rest of the family had fun after taking your money. Not only did that ruin her hope for Christmas, what you told them also made us realize that we can’t simply bide our time anymore. You can’t be sure we’re not just doing it so you’ll help with Logan’s next tuition payment, until that’s actually due and they don’t need you to pay for it again.”

“But why would that make her think about separation from Aaron?”

“Tim, I’m saying that she feels like she lost you, her youngest child, because of Aaron’s latest screw-up.” he explained gravely. “By the time you could be sure that she’s not doing it to keep you from filing for emancipation and retain access to your bank account, you’ll be eighteen and probably skip town, and she’ll never see you again.”

“True.” No sense in denying it, since I had just told Ava how I indeed planned to do just that once I graduate.

“Don’t get me wrong. There is no question that she will keep trying for your forgiveness, but we can all see that she doesn’t have much hope left. Nonetheless, she will always try to be a mother for you, and if there’s even the slightest chance that Aaron could cost her yet another child by continuing to screw up with Ava, she will drop him like a hot potato.”

“That’s ... drastic?”

“Not for her. Not anymore.” he concluded dryly.

It sure sounded nice, but I was utterly unprepared for any of it. I needed time to digest it all.

“Look, I’ve...” I stopped to think about what I even wanted to say. “Okay. Right now, that’s just too much for me to handle while I’m running solely on caffeine and sugar. Go ahead and buy the houses. If you need more money, give me a call. Can you find someone who’d be happy with cash payments to fix them up?”

“I don’t think that would be a problem.” he nodded, obviously trying to suppress a smirk.

“And ... tell Claire...” I sighed, and noticed him looking at me in hope. “She didn’t lose me because of Aaron’s actions. She lost me because of her own actions.” The hope instantly vanished from his face as his shoulders slumped. “If she really wanted to have a relationship with me, maybe Danny should help her to find out how we got to this point in the first place.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused, causing me to groan.

“I’m gonna be perfectly honest with you, John. It’s awesome to hear she’s standing up for her daughter, but why the fuck couldn’t she do the same for me? I spent four fucking years learning how to care for myself while listening to you all fuck each other senseless! Ignoring my injuries whenever I got beat up in school may have been Aaron’s idea, but no one forced her to go along with it. That, and everything that came after it, were her own damn decisions.” I had to calm down quite a bit, before I could continue. “You’re right about one thing, though. There’s no way I’d believe anything you say, as long as Logan’s tuition-crap isn’t solved. So, maybe she can use that time to find out what exactly made her think she only had two children instead of three. Then we’ll see if this is even worth trying.”

Adding that last part was a big mistake. The way his eyes suddenly lit up was slightly disturbing. I think his only takeaway from what I had said was that his sister may still have a chance to get me back, as long as she was willing to work with Danny. At least that was the impression I got from that huge-ass smile that crept onto his face. In reality, I had no hope of her finding out anything that could excuse her behavior in any way, or make me believe it wouldn’t just happen again.

I had to admit, however, If Claire was truly suffering so much from me not wanting to be with them, the chances of her screwing me over once more were relatively small. IF it was true. And if I couldn’t get a good reason for why I should risk letting her back into my life, she at least had to explain her earlier behavior to me, so I could avoid going through all that shit again if I ever find a wife. Not that I had high hopes for that.

“Thank you, Tim!” he said as we rose from the sofa, to suddenly crush me in a bear hug I was totally unprepared for.

“Yes, fuck off already, I’m tired!” The irritation in my voice did not phase him in the slightest.

After he left, I cleaned up the table, and finally made my way into my bedroom. Lying in bed, I couldn’t help but think about how nice it would be to have a tight female body pressed into me again.

I was just on the verge of falling asleep, when my phone chirped. Groaning about the disturbance, I picked it up to find a message from Danny. It read “Thank you!!!!!”, followed by a photo of Claire clinging to John, her face wet from tears, but looking like she just won the lottery.

What the fuck did John tell them!?

Chapter 18

As I had promised, I showed up at Mia’s house three hours before their friends were scheduled to arrive, and she immediately jumped into the passenger seat before I could even turn off the engine. I drove her to a few stores to get snacks and supplies, since she wanted to prepare some Guacamole herself, and Nora had told her about my proficiency in the kitchen. I just hoped she didn’t tell her about it while presenting her with a specially glazed piece of pastry.

To my great displeasure, the whole time we walked through the store side by side, while she happily chatted away and inquired about my opinion on different ingredients for party snacks, my mind would not stop imagining us as a couple doing their weekly grocery shopping. It did not help that she immediately hooked herself into my arm and used me as a shield whenever some guy looked like he wanted to approach her. To my even greater displeasure, I enjoyed that.

“So ... what kind of Guacamole do you wanna make?” I asked, partly in an attempt to distract myself from how her breasts felt against my arm.

“There are different kinds?”

She turned her face to me as she asked, but did not move away from me, so our faces were disturbingly close. Completely unconsciously, my eyes dropped down from her eyes to her lips, and when they moved back up, there was a satisfied, almost smug half-grin on her face.

“Yeah. There are.” I fought to gather my wits again. “There’s the classic version, a spicy one, creamy, some people like to put bacon in it...”

My voice trailed off as her expression changed upon hearing me mention the word ‘creamy’. That, in turn, made me remember Nora’s words when she put my own cream on the pastries, and the fact that I never inquired about whether or not Mia actually ate one of them. Now she looked at me with a wide grin.

“Creamy. I definitely like the creamy version. If you make it.”

And with that, the minx turned and made us continue walking, leaving me lost for words and desperately trying to figure out if there was an actual insinuation, or if I just imagined it because of what I knew. Just like on my way home the day before, I spent the entire drive pondering how I even got to this point with Mia.

Any doubt I may have had about her intentions was cleared up, however, when we were in the kitchen together. It started with subtle and seemingly innocent touches whenever I passed her something or had to step closer to her to give instructions. But when we were done and I wanted to taste-test our creation, I scooped a little bit of the Guac up with my finger.

Before I had a chance to taste it myself, Mia grabbed my hand, pulled it to her face, and then engulfed my finger with her lips while looking directly into my eyes while slowly sucking it into her warm mouth. I almost shivered as I felt her wet tongue meander around my sensitive fingertip. The sensation caused me to involuntarily swallow while my blood rapidly rushed into my groin.

“So I can compete with Mom, huh?” she nonchalantly commented on the tenting in my pants, before turning towards the door and leaving the room to get ready for the arrival of their guests.

Was THAT the reason for her weird behavior during the last few days!? Surely she could not be still hung up on that simple comment I made in the car weeks ago. I was left speechless once again, as I watched her behind sway out of the kitchen, displaying a whole new level of confidence in the way she carried herself. I finally reached the conclusion that it would be better for me if her affectionate demeanor was actually nothing more than her attempt to get a rise out of me, and joined Jack on the couch.

The ‘Party’ was interesting. It was like a tamer version of what I had imagined high school parties to be like after seeing them in movies. Maybe fifteen to twenty people showed up, mainly girls from the cheer team and their boyfriends who, incidentally, were also Jack’s friends.

There was music, but barely anyone was dancing. Instead, most people had gathered in the kitchen and were eating pizza while talking and laughing. After learning that Nora and George would be out of the house for this party, I had expected it to be a lot ... wilder. But since I still got push notifications for every mobile device appearing on the premises, I was kinda glad they didn’t invite any more people.

I noticed two things in the makeup, though. First, Ava had apparently not been invited. And second, including me, there was an equal amount of men and women in the house.

I tried to keep to the sidelines, preferring to not draw any unneeded attention to myself, since the last time I was close to some of these guys was a rather violent altercation. Mia, however, had completely different ideas. She made it a point to drag me around like she did at the party on Christmas Eve, and made sure everybody knew that I wasn’t crashing her party. Once she had introduced me to basically every single guest, I decided to address Ava’s absence.

“You seem to have invited the whole cheer team, but where’s Joan and Ava?”

“Oh, Joan’s in Ohio. And Ava...” she looked a little uncertain. “I did call to invite her and bring Logan along. But she said she wasn’t in the mood. I don’t know about Logan. Haven’t heard anything back from him.”

I watched her demeanor a little more closely after that, though I could not reach a conclusion as to what it could mean. Maybe it was because she knew that I would not have enjoyed being around Logan, or she was worried about Ava.

She continued keeping me close for a while as she mingled with the different groups. I felt extremely uncomfortable. Not only did I have nothing to add to their conversations, I could also see the disapproval regarding my presence on some people’s expressions. But as time went on, and more alcohol was consumed, that seemed to change. Although I only noticed that after I was suddenly approached by one of Jack’s former teammates.

“So, I hear you’re working as an escort now.”

“What!?” I asked while turning towards the voice, and found myself face to face with Jack’s best friend. The one who got that very close look of my knee after I had knocked out Jack. To my surprise, he handed me a beer.

“My girlfriend was here on Christmas Eve. Mia told her something about your ‘hourly rates’?” he chuckled, and it was not a mean laugh. He was joking, and I was greatly confused.

“Uh ... well...” I stammered as I accepted his drink and immediately eyed it suspiciously, looking for powder residues and excessive foaming. He noticed my confusion, and his demeanor turned awkward.

“Tim, uh ... Look...” he said, not looking me in the eyes. I didn’t think he even knew my real name! “College is very different from high school. Truth is ... I made an ass of myself pretty quickly. My attitude didn’t fly with anyone from the new team, and they let me know it. I kinda learned that my shit does stink. I’ve had to do a lot of self-reflection, and...” he sighed “I’m sorry for all the shit I pulled on you, man. I was a giant asshole, and you didn’t deserve any of it.”

“You ... well ... thank you?” I was still unable to form complete sentences.

This was highly unexpected. Borderline surreal! Though, at that very moment, I realized something essential that no educator or responsible adult would ever say to a child. Beating the shit out of him and his teammates was fucking therapeutic!

Not only had I already paid them back, I had also bested each and every guy who thought he could use me as a punching bag, and then put the whole ordeal behind me with newfound confidence. I finally understood how that male bonding moment with Jack on Christmas Eve was even possible.

“I got to say, though, it looks like you did well for yourself after our last clash.” he grinned, his hand gesturing up and down my body. “Kinda makes me wonder if Mia’s joke about your job was really just a joke.”

“Well, at least half of it was true. I do get paid by the hour to be around her, just not to be with her.”

I found myself chuckling while answering him, and decided to at least acknowledge his efforts by taking a small sip of the beer he had given me. After that, though, I had no idea what to say to him. There was an awkward silence between us until Mia suddenly jumped up behind him.

“Hey! We’re gonna go down to the entertainment room to play a few games. Wanna come too?” she smiled, her eyes jumping between the two awkward guys that just reached some kind of truce.

“Nice! I’m game! How about you?” he looked at me expectantly, like he was genuinely hoping I would join as well.

As I had already realized after Nora told me about Mia’s honest efforts to change, I did not want to discourage him if he, too, wanted to better himself. And I was inclined to believe him when he apologized. After all, he had just publicly humbled himself in front of his old friends. If this was just the buildup to another ‘prank’, it would have to be a ridiculously elaborate one that somehow required them to put me in a false sense of security. Somehow, I doubted they would put that much effort into it. These guys would just jump me when I was occupied with something else.

So, I told them that I would join them in a minute, made my way to the bathroom, and emptied the beer bottle into the toilet. I rinsed it out a few times before I refilled it with water. I was only inclined to believe him, after all. And, strictly speaking, I was on the clock. If Mia told me to drive anyone home, and Bill found out I couldn’t because I had been drinking, I could kiss my job goodbye. If there had been something in that beer, I would be seeing some expectant and appraising looks as I sipped away at the bottle.

I got those looks, albeit not in the way I had feared. As I entered the entertainment room, everyone else had already seated themselves in a kind of big circle and started a game of Truth of Dare.

“Tim!” Jack called out upon noticing me. “Just in time! Truth or Dare?”

“Uh ... do I have to?” I wasn’t particularly happy with either option.

“Don’t be a downer, Dude! Truth or Dare!”

“Fine.” I sighed and seated myself next to Mia on the sofa. “If I choose Dare, I kinda suspect you’ll get me drunk. So ... Truth, I guess?” I prayed he wouldn’t ask anything too personal.

“How many girls have you slept with?” he grinned. So much to my delusional prayer.

“Does it count when I only ate her out?” I asked, and noticed the first set of peculiar looks, though they were from the females in the room exclusively, and not necessarily directed at me but at each other. Jack snorted a short laugh while shaking his head. “Then, One.”

As expected, the guys in the room exchanged sneering looks. Totally unexpected, however, were the completely unfazed looks on the girls’ faces when they heard about my inexperience.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Mia hurriedly injected, while grinning at me madly. “How many WOMEN have you slept with?”

“I already answered a question.” I smirked upon remembering the conversation Mia and I had in my car.

“Wait, what!?” some random redheaded girl I never bothered to learn the name of asked with an actually confused look.

“He thinks there’s a difference.” Mia explained, still grinning.

“Alright, next question!” One of the guys, who was a senior at our high school, called out. I assumed it was my turn now, so I was trying to figure out what I should ask, but he simply continued talking! “How does it feel to get stabbed?”

“Come again!?” The redhead’s boyfriend joined the conversation, so the guy who asked me the question pulled out his phone, while the redhead told her boyfriend what she had heard about my parking lot escapades.

The senior-guy apparently found what he had been looking for on his phone, and held it out to the redhead’s boyfriend. I recognized what it showed. And then I recognized the senior. That was the guy who took the photo of me when I went to the pizzeria after being released from the hospital! The whole situation grew increasingly uncomfortable for me.

“Holy Fuck!” the redhead’s boyfriend called out. “They fucked you up, man!”

“Yes, they did.” I commented reluctantly. “Shouldn’t I get a turn to ask you a question now?”

“No.” Jack informed me while laughing. “We already know each other. You’re the new guy here, so you have to answer more questions.”

“Fine.” I groaned. “To answer your question then; getting stabbed hurts. Don’t know how to go into details there.”

“Would you describe it as a stabbing pain?” the redhead joked, and most people found it funny. I wasn’t one of them. This whole thing started to feel like they were making fun of me again. Interestingly, Mia wasn’t too pleased either. She actually looked quite pissed about what her friend just said.

“Okay, now wait a minute!” the redhead’s boyfriend followed up in an irritated voice. He was one of those who displayed their disapproval about my presence at this party. “Last time I saw you, you were still Logan’s fat little geek-brother. Now you’re hanging out with the Cheerleaders! The fuck happened with you!?”

I had originally planned to stay non-confrontational. After all, this was a client’s house. The way this guy was talking, however, caused that resolution to waver considerably.

“I improved myself.” I shrugged my shoulders. It was not lost on him how my tone suggested he did not improve.

“A little overly self confident, don’t you think?”

“You think? I lost nearly forty pounds and got in shape. I make roughly forty grand a year while still going to high school, and I live in my own apartment now. Meanwhile, you are ... still good at playing with balls, I believe.” I had to smirk when I heard the others chuckle. “Of course, maybe you’ll prove me wrong, make your way into the NFL, and someday become famous. But until then, what did you do to be proud of? What exactly sets you apart from all the other former team members in this room?”

My smirk widened when I saw him glance around the room, hoping his friends would help him out. I could literally see his need to assert himself over me as he searched for anything he could use to debunk my claim and put me down again.

“I definitely had more than one girlfriend!” was all he could come up with.

“And how’s that an achievement?” I asked, causing the male part of the room to look at me in disbelief, which made me realize I had to elaborate. “Look at that girlfriend of yours in your lap. You think she’s happy to hear you boasting about having many girlfriends?”

“‘Course! She knows she got the best!” He sounded so smug, I thought he actually believed it.

“Really!? You really think she’s gonna introduce you to her parents, saying ‘Mom, Dad, this is WhatsHisName. I’m his fourth girlfriend this year’? At best, you just called her superficial and yourself her arm candy. Outside of School, nobody’s gonna congratulate you on that.”

I chuckled when I saw the effect this had. On one side were the guys, who probably wanted to defend themselves but couldn’t correct me without publicly admitting that they weren’t the players they claimed to be in front of their friends. On the other side were the girls, who, at least in part, suddenly had contemplating looks on their faces.

“Oh please! That would help him! You guys can use it to bond with your bosses.” one girl remarked dismissively. Apparently, I found the feminist in the room.

“Sure. If he’s looking to go into male dominated and low paying blue-collar jobs.” I said matter of fact, causing her to raise an eyebrow in doubt. “I’ve been working in a security firm since I was fifteen. And, based on the assignments we get from corporate clients, I can tell you for a fact that companies are not looking to hire walking sexual harassment lawsuits into positions that pay anything worthwhile. They’re looking to hire responsible and reliable people. Switching partners every few months tells them you’re neither.”

“Tim?” Mia suddenly called out to me in a magnificently dry voice. “You sound like my father.”

I blinked for a moment, unsure how to respond. Then I decided to simply keep going like the two of us were already used to.

“Well, with me being a year younger than you, that would probably be weird, but you can call me ‘Daddy’ if you want.”

“EWWW!” Mia screamed, but she was laughing while doing it. So were most of the room’s occupants. Apparently, none of them thought I could possibly be serious.

When Mia was done laughing, though, she inconspicuously turned in her seat and leaned her back into my front. So, after I had involuntarily imagined us as a couple during our shopping trip, now we were sitting on the sofa like one as well!

“Alright, Mr. Relationship Guru. How many girlfriends did you have?” the feminist asked.

“Only one. And I was very happy with her.” I worked hard to maintain my smile as I answered.

“Oh yeah! You never told me what happened to Tess! Spit it out!” Mia demanded, tilting her head upwards to look at her, not bothering to move away.

“She transferred to the California office in July.” I was not going to tell these people what really happened to Tess. And, honestly, she did move in July.

“Office? OHMYGOD! How old is she!?”

“Thirty. When she moved away, that is.” That was met with general obvious doubt.

“Pic or didn’t happen!” Jack called out, so I pulled out my phone and looked for a photo of Tess.

I had no desire to argue about my honesty in this discussion, so I decided on a rather risque selfie we took right after one of her crazy sex-moods. While it wasn’t revealing too much of our bodies, it was still pretty obvious that we took it naked in bed and covered in sweat.

“Wow!” was all that Mia said, while I received approving comments from the other guys.

“You tapped that?” the redhead’s boyfriend asked, completely unimpressed by the look it earned him as I put my phone away.

“Yes. I did. Probably because I don’t refer to her as ‘that girl I tapped’.” While he ignored my look before, I think the cold tone of my voice finally did the trick, because now he had trouble holding my gaze.

In retrospect, I must have had murder in my eyes. Everyone other than the recipient, though, seemed to interpret it in a different way, because I noticed most of the females in the room regard their chosen partners with another set of peculiar looks. It could be my imagination, but it seemed reproachful. Meanwhile, Mia casually grabbed one of my arms and wrapped it around her.

It also seemed like sharing a photo showing Tess and me in postcoital bliss set a new mood in the room. I was finally no longer the prime target for their Truth or Dare, which I was especially happy about since all the questions revolved around sexual experiences.

After about half an hour, there was one question that finally escalated everything.

“Mia!” Jack called out. “Truth or dare?”

“Mhmmm ... Truth!”

“I can’t help but notice the way you’re sitting right now.” he grinned, and I felt Mia’s body stiffen as everyone in the room smirked. “How’d that happen?”

“I ... well ... He’s doing a lot for m ... us. He’s here a lot! Of course I’m getting ... comfortable with his presence.” she stammered, patting my arm to seem extra casual about it. And of course, she was immediately picked again to elaborate.

“Okay, Mia! Truth or Dare?” the redhead grinned mischievously.

“Tru ... Dare!”

I guess she suspected a follow-up question to our seating arrangement and wanted to avoid it.

“I dare you to take your Bodyguard to the next room, and, for ten minutes, find out just how comforting he can be.”

Guess she should have picked Truth after all. Mia remained stoically silent for a moment, but then grabbed my arm, got up from the sofa, and, accompanied by the laughter and calls of encouragement by her friends, dragged me out of the room. As soon as we were out of sight, however, her hand miraculously slipped into mine. She led me into some kind of guest bedroom and closed the door behind us.

“So ... what now?” she asked timidly.

“I guess we do the dare.” I chuckled, stepped behind her, and placed my hands on her hips.

Slowly, I slid my arms around her, encircling her waist. Then I gently pressed her body into mine. My boldness took her by surprise for a second, but she immediately relaxed once I buried my nose in her hair. I gently squeezed her in a bear hug and, when it was time to normally let go, simply didn’t. Apparently, she really was comfortable with me. But then I should have known that already after she sucked on my finger in the kitchen.

Once I felt she had fully embraced the situation, I decided to continue. I let my left hand slide upwards on the right side of her body, until it came to rest on her shoulder. Now I had one arm wrapped around her waist, and another wrapped around her upper body. Mia’s reaction encouraged me again. She grabbed the arm around her shoulders with both of her hands, leaned her head back into my chest, and let out a content sigh.

“Huh. I really do feel safe with you.” she suddenly whispered softly, not making any attempt to end our closeness.

This was the first time she had verbally admitted this, and it made me weirdly happy. I started lightly scratching my fingernails over her exposed upper arm. I was content to simply stand there like this for the remaining nine minutes, enjoying the feeling of her body pressed into mine and her scent filling my nostrils. I quickly learned how much I underestimated Mia’s willingness to go further, as she turned her head, tilted it back, and kissed me.

The kiss rapidly escalated in intensity. Within seconds, I felt her tongue lick over my lips and opened my mouth to accept it. As our tongues massaged each other, I felt her press her bottom into my groin, which caused me to pull my hand from her shoulder and cup her breast instead. I couldn’t feel much through her bra, but the soft muffled moan that I felt more than I heard it, made her approval of my actions known.

When she reached one of her hands behind her and slid in between our bodies, so she could rub my groin, I had to stop her.

“No.” I breathed, as I took hold of her arm to stop her hand’s movement. “The Dare was to let me comfort you, not the other way around. I have only seven minutes left, so I better get to it. If that’s what you want.”

I waited, motionless, for maybe five seconds, before she nodded and resumed our kiss with renewed passion.

I wrapped one arm around her shoulders again and placed my other hand on the outside of her thigh. She was wearing a skirt that stopped about two inches above her knees, so, without breaking our kiss, I gradually worked it upwards until I could place my hand on her bare thigh. As soon as I felt my hand make contact with her skin, I also felt her press her butt into my groin again.

Slowly again, I moved my hand around her thigh until it landed on the front of her pelvic bone. Mia automatically spread her legs a little to make room for it. I let my fingertips slide inside the hem of her lace panties, and then sent them on their way south. When they made contact with her soft patch of frizzy hair, she shivered a little in anticipation.

At this point, her breathing had become slightly ragged, and one of her arms was wrapped around my neck to pull my head down to hers and make sure I wouldn’t break our kiss. I cupped her sex and noticed with satisfaction how wet it was, but decided to knead it for a moment, just to be sure she was definitely wet enough to not hurt when I invaded her. Gently, I massaged her outer lips with slightly spread fingers, so her clit would be positioned right in between my middle and ring finger and receive its very own stimulation.

She started to gyrate her butt into my groin, feeling my erection press into her ass, and thereby telling me that I was doing a good job so far. As my middle finger finally slipped into her, her mouth smashed into mine so strongly my lips hurt a little.

I pushed my middle finger to the second knuckle into her and curled it, and found something I had not encountered since Tess. That spongy, bean shaped spot in her upper vaginal wall with a soft walnut-shell texture. As soon as my fingertip pressed onto it, her whole body jumped and she produced a surprised but loud moan of approval. This was interesting!

Deciding to give her my A-Game, I recalled every lesson I had received, and let my ring finger join the first one that was already inside her. Then I pushed them as deep into her as possible, massaging her walls all the way up, while making sure the heel of my hand would rub over her clit. With Tess, doing this before attacking her G-spot had seemed to increase her arousal and heighten the pleasure of subsequent stimulation. It worked with Mia as well. I wondered just how compatible we really were.

I steadily massaged her insides for roughly two minutes, before I decided to go for gold. I pulled my fingers back until I was two knuckles deep and her clit was now under the palm of my hand, and then roughly attacked that spongy patch. I was basically beating it with my fingertips, and her hips started violently shaking within a minute of me doing it.

“OH GOD, YES! KEEP GOING! DON’T STOP! YES! YEEEES!!!” she suddenly screamed when she was almost unable to stand by herself. I had to hold her upright with my other arm that was still wrapped around her upper body and massaging her breast.

I complied and kept beating that spot for another minute, until the pain of her nails digging into my arm got too much to bear. I pulled my hand out of her, loosened my grip on her shoulders, and she dropped to the ground. I refused to wait until she caught her breath.

“I still have four minutes left!” I said, as I got to my knees in front of her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and made her lie on her back.

I spread her legs and dove in. My fingers slipped back into her as deep as possible without any noticeable resistance, while my lips latched onto her now clearly protruding clit. My hand rotating as it pushed in and out of her at ridiculous speed, I massaged her clit with my tongue, and my free hand was pressed onto her lower stomach to keep her hips from squirming too much. I had to suppress my smile when she pulled her knees to her chest and grabbed my hair with both hands, so I could maintain the suction.

“FUCK! Yes! Eat that pussy! Go on! EAT IT! GOD that’s SO GOOD!” she demanded with a cute squealing voice, and I saw no reason to not comply.

After a minute, I pulled my hand back a little, and roughly attacked that special spot again. It was the perfect thing to do. Her continuous moans gradually increased in volume, until it peaked in an almost screeching sound, her knees started violently buckling, and visible tremors traveled over her muscular stomach.

“FuckFuckFuckFuckFUUUUUUUCK! I’M COMMMIIINNNGGGGG!” she screamed out in pleasure as her body started violently thrashing about.

I had actually managed to give her a second orgasm before my time was up! Going by the sheer volume of her scream, it was much better than the first one she had while standing. Any inhibition she might have had about the others hearing us was completely gone.

Finally, when the spasms subsided, she writhed on the ground while letting out a prolonged mixture of a moan and a laugh, as I continued to gently kiss and nibble on her lower lips. It took her another minute to gather herself again, but when her eyes focused on my face again, she grabbed me by the sides of my face and pulled me in for another passionate kiss.

“Holy fuck, Tim! That was awesome!” she laughed.

“Told you I love eating pussy.” I chuckled back.

“I should’ve tested that claim a lot sooner!” She let one of her hands slide down my body again, and lightly rubbed my erection over my pants. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take care of you now?” There was a glint in her eyes accompanying the sultry smirk on her lips.

“Who says I don’t want you to!?” I asked in mock shock. “But are you sure you want to risk the others coming in to look for us? The ten minutes were up almost a minute ago.”

That got her back to reality, and, as she chewed on her bottom lip, she seemed to contemplate her options. That made me laugh.

“Alright, come on. Let’s go back.”

I helped her up, gave her a once over, and then grabbed her hand to lead her out of the room. The way back to the entertainment room was made hand in hand, with her fingers interlaced with mine, and she regarded me with a look of almost wonder. Maybe, not demanding to get my own urges taken care of had a special effect on her.

Before we reentered the room, she pulled me down for another passionate kiss. But when we did rejoin the others, we were greeted by loud and cheerful calls of congratulation.

“How was it?” the redhead asked, smirking.

“Very comforting. Thank you.” Mia grinned back.

“Yeah, we heard.” That statement was made in an unusually uncomfortable, almost whining tone by her brother Jack, whose ears were bright red, which caused their friends to break out in even louder laughter.

When she realized that her brother had just heard her orgasm, probably both times, she seemed embarrassed and quickly excused herself for a trip to the bathroom.

“And how was it for you?” the feminist inquired with a daring look.

“You want a play-by-play, ask Mia. Preferably not right in front of her brother.” I laughed. “But I don’t like talking about that with other people. Especially without the other party present.”

That somehow took her aback, and I soon saw her look transform into approval.

When Mia returned from her bathroom break, she unapologetically sat on my lap and wrapped my arms around her midsection after leaning back into me. Obviously there was no reason for her to try and hide anything anymore after what we just did. She did hide something else, though. My dick was thoroughly hardened and refused to go down, since I still had the taste of her pussy on my lips, and the general theme for the ongoing Truth or Dare was also rather suggestive.

As Mia sat on my lap, she used every opportunity to grind her Ass against my erection. She insisted on leaving her drink on the small table instead of simply holding onto it, so she regularly had to move around to get to it and place it back after taking a sip. Every time she did, I could almost hear her giggling over the frustrating effect it had on me.

I could be wrong, but after roughly half an hour of this, I was convinced she was testing how far she could go before I simply threw her over my shoulder and carried her out to fuck her forcefully. Needless to say, I was not going to do any of that as long as there were other people in that house. I had not been drinking, so I did notice how pissed off redhead’s boyfriend was at me for putting him down in front of everyone. I would not give him any openings.

That is how the party continued until, at around midnight, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, scowled when I saw the notification about a new mobile device connecting to the WiFi, and turned to Mia who watched me intently.

“You expecting anyone else?”

She shook her head with a confused look, which was repeated by Jack after I asked him as well. I tried calling Michael, who should be sitting in the surveillance room on the first floor, but he did not pick up. That caused my scowl to deepen, which Mia immediately noticed. Her confusion turned into concern when I pushed her off me to stand up.

“I have to check on something real quick. Be right back.” I said, and gestured to them to stay seated. Mia, however, stopped me when I was just about to reach the doorway.

“Shouldn’t we come with you?” I could be wrong, but I got the impression she did not want me to leave her alone. Though I couldn’t tell if she was concerned about me leaving, or being left alone with her friends who would surely bombard her with detailed questions about what had happened when we were alone together. Jack picked up on what we were talking about and stepped behind his sister.

“No, don’t worry. Maybe Ava simply decided to show up a little late. But, just to be safe, stay in here and close the door behind me.”

She didn’t get to close the door behind me. Right at that moment, James Campbell stepped into the doorframe and, upon recognizing her, pointed a gun at Mia. Like a reflex that I could not explain where it came from, I immediately stepped in front of her, just in time before Campbell pulled the trigger.

It was a weird little gun. The silencer he had attached to it was longer than the barrel of the gun itself, and when he pulled the trigger, I didn’t hear the loud bang I expected. I wasn’t trained to handle guns yet, but I did get the facts drilled into me. So, I knew that silencers did not work like movies claimed they do. The mechanics of his gun, the metallic sounds of the hammer being released and the slide moving back and forth, were louder than the propelling charge being ignited. So, at that moment, I actually thought he was shooting me with a BB-Gun. That is, until the pain exploded in my right shoulder.

Like every time I was around the Millers, I was wearing my usual IIA-Vest, but he hit me right in the shoulder strap. Those straps might not have contained any gel to stop bullets, but had multiple layers of kevlar that would surely be able to stop a damn roundball. So, why did that hurt so fucking much!?

I heard Mia scream as pandemonium broke out in the room behind us. I reached forward with my left and grabbed Campbell’s outstretched arm as he stepped back into the hallway, pushing the gun downwards and to the left away from us. It took long enough for him to pull the trigger three more times before I finally wasn’t in its crosshair anymore. The first two hit me in the front of my vest, and I STILL felt the impact! The third one, however, hit me in my left thigh, since I was stupid enough to make my first step to follow him into the hallway with my left leg. This last impact felt like he hit my leg with a baseball bat! Suddenly, I couldn’t put any weight on it anymore and somehow ended up going down on my knees while still holding his gun-arm with my left.

I have to hand it to Mia’s big brother, though. The guy did not hesitate for even a millisecond when it came to protecting his sister! The moment he heard her scream, he wrapped one arm around Mía’s waist to pull her further into the room, while simultaneously grabbing the door with his other hand in one fluent motion. By the time I had redirected Campbell’s gun to point at the floor and was down on my knees, I heard the door behind me slam shut and the automatic locks engage.

The shock of this guy suddenly showing up, paired with the more than concerning pain that quiet little gun had caused, made me want to end this as quickly as possible and throw caution out the window.

Hearing the door slam shut caused Campbell to raise his head and look at the newly appeared barrier between him and his target. Being on my knees when he looked up allowed me to drive my right fist directly into his throat with everything I had, though I screamed when it connected with his adam’s apple. I didn’t scream with anger, but because the pain in my shoulder grew to previously unknown heights when I put my weight behind the already connected punch. His eyes flew wide open as he let go of the gun to grab his gagging throat with both hands.

I didn’t register at all that, at that point, he was basically already incapacitated, so I followed up immediately with a strong left hook to his ribs. I heard a faint crack and he opened his mouth in an almost silent gargled scream, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, before he fell to the ground. I followed right behind him to make sure he stayed there.

Sitting on Campbell’s back, I took stock of the situation, and realized how many mistakes I made. The gun was on the ground, which meant that I had unconsciously let it drop to punch the guy in the chest. The wheezing sounds that emanated from underneath me made me worry about the consequences of what I did to him. And finally, I didn’t have anything to restrain him with, other than my own hands, so now I was stuck in this position.

The whole crap-situation could have been fully avoided if I had simply closed that damn door instead of debating with Mia first. I was the one who configured the router to give us a warning and a headstart, and then I didn’t act on it. Because I spent the entire evening suspecting Mia’s friends of plotting something, even washed out the damn beer bottle that I considered potentially spiked, but that had me so occupied that I completely forgot about the real reasons for my presence there! All the while, I was wondering why the fuck the pain in my shoulder and leg wouldn’t let up! Quite the opposite, actually, it seemed to get worse the longer I knelt on him while holding him in place.

After a few more seconds that felt like an eternity, Michael came running towards us while heatedly talking into the radio he carried, and thankfully relieved me of any decision making responsibilities.

He stopped barely long enough to take in the situation, before turning towards the door and using the intercom to make sure nobody in there was injured. My attention on Campbell, I could only hear his conversation that concluded with him telling Jack to keep the door closed until he got the all-clear, but couldn’t see his expression. I also noticed how he simply ignored the pleading inquiries about my status that came through the intercom.

I did not notice him kneeling behind me to wrap something around my thigh, until I felt a sudden but massive pain when he roughly tightened it. He then beckoned me off Campbell, cuffed his hands behind his back, and proceeded to order me to lay down on my back. I had to suppress another scream when Michael then pressed both of his hands onto my shoulder. It was at that moment I realized that the damage this weird little gun had caused was probably worse than I initially thought, and the persistent pain made sense.

“Why didn’t you answer your damn phone!?” I asked him through gritted teeth.

“Fucker tricked me. Saw him on the monitor at the front gate, called it in and then wanted to catch him. By the time I got there, he had already slipped into the garden. One of those damn kids left the patio door unlocked. When I got to the stairs to the basement, I heard the screams. I’m sorry man!”

At least I knew why he showed up just seconds after Campbell did. I stayed on my back, eyes pressed shut against the pain Michael’s hands caused while I continuously cursed him for it, when I unexpectedly heard a clinical female voice.

“What have we here?”

I opened my eyes and, to my greatest relief, saw four paramedics drop their bags to the ground. One of them, the woman who had talked, was kneeling next to Campbell.

“Punched his throat and probably broke a rib.” I managed to inform her, which she acknowledged with a simple grunt herself.

“He’ll be fine! This one’s in worse shape.” Michael told them in a demanding tone, which did not help me calm down in the slightest.

The paramedic made a gesture for Michael to take his hands off my shoulder and make room for them, but then pressed a gauze pad onto it instead after she had cut open my shirt. Her partner repeated the procedure with my pants, and suddenly everything happened quite fast.

They loaded Campbell and me onto stretchers to carry us out of the house, loaded us into the waiting ambulances, and off we went to my first ambulance ride I was awake for. My concern grew significantly when I heard them making calls through their own radios that spoke about GSWs, while attaching various things to my body and strapping an oxygen mask to my face.

It didn’t help that Micheal stayed back at the house to wait for Bill and assist the police. As much as I tried to act tough, at that moment I wouldn’t have minded to have someone I knew by my side. Though, the female paramedic seemed to notice and graciously held my hand during the ride, which I admit was nice. Maybe she was just taking my pulse, but I enjoyed it anyway.

After arriving in the ER, I was rolled into the Trauma Bay and given the once-over by a doctor and multiple nurses.

“Can you tell me your name?” the doctor asked loudly as he leaned over me and looked into my eyes like he was searching for something.

“Timothy Brown.”

“Very good, Timothy. You seem to have been shot.” he said, as they unburdened me of my remaining clothes.

“Thought it was a BB-Gun.” I groaned back.

“BB-Gun?”

“Was too quiet. No bang.” The pain of their rough treatment made it hard to talk.

“Probably a small caliber then.” he mused, more to the nurses than me. “There is no exit wound on the leg or shoulder, meaning we’re gonna have to go lookin’ for those bullets. Shoulder looks like it was hit by shrapnel, though. The bullet possibly shattered when it passed through the vest.”

They worked on me for the following few minutes, while inquiring about allergies, medications, and many other points I answered as best as I could. I don’t know if that is standard procedure, but I got the impression that fucking sadist simply wanted me to stay awake while they prodded my wounds.

“Alright, he’s stabilized for now. Timothy, we’re gonna sedate you now and roll you into the OR. Don’t worry, we’re gonna take real good care of you!”

“Insurance card in my left knee pocket.” I croaked as the pain suddenly lessened, and that weird sensation of heaviness spread through my body before I passed out.

I fucking hate being anesthetized. You don’t fall asleep like they claim, you pass out! That feeling of heaviness that starts in the arms, then creeps in the chest, and finally spreads across the body before it seeps into your head. That is followed by the sudden dizziness that increases at an alarming rate and feels so unnatural you just know it’s a bad thing, so you try to fight it and stay awake but ultimately lose that battle. It’s the ultimate loss of control, you’re completely at someone else’s mercy, and it’s scary as hell! But the next thing I knew, I woke up to a rhythmic beeping sound, with a nurse standing next to me watching a monitor.

“What happened?” I croaked groggily, my throat feeling unusually dry. “I thought I was going into surgery?”

That made her laugh.

“Mr. uh...” she leaned over to check my chart. “Mr. Brown. Your surgery was yesterday. You are now in the ICU.”

‘Yesterday’, she said! My brain strained to make sense of that information. The party started on Monday. When Campbell showed up, it was around Midnight. That would mean I was rolled into surgery in the early hours of Tuesday. And now it was the next day? Did she mean it was Wednesday now!? She had to be joking! It would explain why my mouth and throat were so dry, though I didn’t feel like I was out for that long. Actually, I still felt like I had just closed my eyes!

“I was just in the ER!” My confusion made her chuckle again. That woman REALLY needed to work on her bedside manner.

“Anaesthesia will do that for you. Your chart says they had to remove a lot of small shrapnel pieces, so there was a remote possibility one was overlooked or found its way into an artery. In such cases, we let the patients sleep a little longer, so we don’t have to re-intubate if any complications arise and make it necessary to go back in. No need to worry, you’re recovering just fine.” she patted my right foot. “Though, our patients here are usually not awake, so we don’t have much entertainment to offer. I’d recommend you try to go back to sleep until the doctor can take a look at you in the morning. Then we’ll put you in a regular room and you can see visitors.”

‘In the morning’. So it was night out. I couldn’t see any windows, so I was unable to check. I also didn’t see my stuff anywhere, so I couldn’t even attempt to call someone with my phone. I couldn’t ask her any more questions either, though.

As soon as she finished her last sentence, she simply turned and walked away. I was about to protest and call her back, when I noticed how quick she was moving. Guess she had more than enough on her hands, and my brain was working well enough by now to take an inventory of myself and recognize that I did not need immediate help.

There was no more pain in my extremities and I was wide awake. Remembering how scared I was during the ambulance drive, I was surprised how calm I was now. My right arm was fixed in a sling that was strapped to my torso, while my left arm had an IV running. My right shoulder had a massive gauze pad taped to it that went from the middle of my pec, over my shoulder, to the top of my shoulder blade on my back. My left leg was raised on some kind of pillow, but my thigh looked weird. Like they put a dozen layers of gauze pads on the wound, and then taped it all together.

Just as advertised, there was absolutely nothing for me to do other than to sing made up songs in my head to the beat of the heart monitor. Since there was no way for me to go back to sleep in that fully illuminated room, I inadvertently started thinking about Mia, asking myself if she and her friends were Okay.

It also made me think about why we did what we did. I enjoyed making her climax tremendously, just as I enjoyed the cuddling on the sofa that followed, but still couldn’t see either of us pursue a romantic relationship with the other. But then, why did I step in front of Mia when Campbell pointed a gun at her? I don’t think I had any particular desire to protect her. Though, it was also different from when I stepped in front of those three guys in the parking lot. I just acted without thinking.

Luckily, I merely had to ponder for another three or four hours before a doctor showed up for his morning round.

I learned that this Hospital Stay would last for at least a week, and, since I was unable to walk to the bathroom anyway, the catheter would stay for a few days as well. Apparently, the multitude of wounds presented an increased risk for infections, and the wound in my leg was ‘packed’ so it would heal from the inside out. Both things they wanted to keep an eye on. That meant I would have another week at home before I had to decide if I was well enough for school, though the Doctor was already pessimistic about it.

“The first bullet shattered after it passed through your vest, Mr. Brown.” the doctor informed me. “But before a bullet passes through a vest, it pushes the whole thing several inches inwards. In your case, it caused a luckily clean fracture in your collar bone. That will be quite uncomfortable for a while.”

“Fuck’s sake. I broke a rib a few weeks ago. That thing JUST finished mending!”

“Yes, I saw that in your file. Sorry about that.” he chuckled. “At least the next two shots hit the vest directly. We did an ultrasound but don’t expect more than marginal bruising in your abdomen. The leg, however, got the worst. It’s going to be Okay eventually, but we can’t close it up. Your body would capsule off the cavity and create a cesspool for bacteria. Thankfully it was a very small caliber, the wound is relatively shallow, so I’d say ... about three weeks before we can stop packing it and let it close by itself, if it heals without complications.”

“Well, thanks for fixing me up! Guess I’ll just have to wait then.”

He smiled, nodded, and moved on to the other beds in the room, to check on the patients that were not awake yet.

When they finally rolled me into a small private room, the nurse handed me a bag with my belongings. I was pleasantly surprised to see my phone still being alive. Until I tried to call Paul and it died. I also noticed that I needed to replace almost everything in my wallet, since it was in my knee pocket right underneath where I was hit, and everything was now covered in dried blood.

My next surprise came an hour later, when Paul arrived with not only my stuff, but also with Bill, a police officer, and Mr. Miller in tow.

“Hey, Kid!” Bill called out. “I hear you’re up for visitors? I took the liberty of sending Paul into your apartment to get you some things.”

He sounded unusually upbeat, while Paul simply handed me the bag with my missing entertainment, phone charger, and clothes. I barely got to thank them before Mr. Miller demanded my attention.

“Timothy. Thank you.” he simply said, as he presented me with his outstretched hand, like he wanted me to shake it. “I owe you for this.”

I shook his hand, but wasn’t particularly comfortable with him thanking me for helping Mia, after I spent hours trying to figure out why I even did it.

“No, you don’t. You should thank Jack. I was just defending myself at that point, but while the others were all panicking, Jack immediately jumped into action, pulled Mia out of harm’s way, and got her to safety.”

I could literally see his chest swelling with pride as a warm fatherly smile spread on his lips. I couldn’t help but envy Jack at that moment.

“I will let him know. But before you were ‘just defending yourself’, you literally took a bullet for my little girl. I will not forget that.” he said in an insistent voice.

Before I could answer him, the police officer stepped forward. I gave my brief statement that, apparently, was corroborated by the surveillance tapes and the others’ testimonies.

“So ... how is he?” I asked carefully after finishing my tale.

“Who the hell cares!?” Mr. Miller asked roughly. “Let him suffer! The man tried to kill my daughter!”

I could not dispute his feelings, but I was seriously scared about the repercussions of what I did to him.

“As far as I know, he’s breathing through a tube for now. It’ll take some time before he’s healed up enough to be properly processed.” the officer informed me, and I visibly cringed.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yes. But I wouldn’t worry too much, Mr. Brown. It is pretty clear to us that you acted in self defense.” Hearing the officer say this, I took a breath of relief. That prompted Bill to take over, as he tossed me a gun that looked remarkably like the one Campbell had used.

“It’s a Ruger SR22.” he said.

“You have his gun!?” I wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea to touch the thing.

“No, notice the orange Tip, Kid. That’s just a model I brought along so you can take a look at it. It has quite a fanbase when it comes to quiet killing. Campbell didn’t just use a silencer to muffle the ignition-noise, but also loaded the thing with subsonic ammunition.”

“Subsonic .22s? Would they even have enough power to do real damage?” I asked like an idiot, not thinking about the fact that I was lying in a hospital bed after being shot with it myself. I didn’t know much about guns, but I had heard the guys at work make fun about .22s more than once.

“Oh yes, definitely. They can penetrate a skull alright, but then don’t have enough energy left to do it a second time, meaning the bullet bounces around in the victim’s head and literally shreds your gray matter. It also has the added benefit that the recoil is much weaker, making it easier to handle for amateurs. And...” Bill paused to throw a careful glance at Mr. Miller. “ ... going by Ms. Miller’s height, compared to where your shoulder wound is, we’re fairly certain he was aiming for her head when you stepped in front of her.”

“That is why we believe you acted in self defense.” the officer added when I saw Mr. Miller’s hands clench into tight fists. “He entered the house with clear intent, and your actions to stop that seem more than justified.”

“But why!? What’s his problem with Mia?”

“Deluded stalker, Kid. Going by what was found in his apartment, he was completely fixated on some fantasy world, and spent his Holidays ruminating about spending them with Mrs. Miller. He finally reached the conclusion that it must be her children that stopped her from starting a new life with him. So, he decided to do her a favor and free her from that burden.”

I could just shake my head.

“Well, at least they don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

Just as I said that, Nora opened the door. To my astonishment, Mia rushed past her to my side, and placed one soft hand on the side of my face while using her other hand to hold one of mine.

“Welcome back.” she smiled as her thumb started brushing over my cheek, though I could see that her eyes were tired and slightly reddened.

“You Okay?” I asked, unsure how to handle this situation.

“Am I Okay!? What happened to not catching a bullet for me, huh!?”

Her voice was unusually soft, though it was also wavering as her eyes started to glaze over. Which was also noticed by everyone else in the room. Bill and Paul smirked as they stepped to the side, Nora grinned while watching her daughter, and Mr. Miller went back to looking unhappy, albeit not nearly as much as when Mia presented me with a Christmas gift.

“Yeah ... We really have to stop reenacting that movie, don’t we?”

Mia’s smile widened as she suddenly leaned down and placed a soft kiss directly on my lips. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, there was no attempt at introducing her tongue to my mouth either, but it was slow, tender, and savoring. And lasting. It was at least a minute before she broke that kiss. Even then, when I opened my eyes again, she refused to move her head away or take her hand off my face, but instead pressed her forehead to mine and resumed stroking my cheek with her thumb.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” she whispered softly, and that somehow unnerved me.

It was the officer clearing his throat that pulled my consciousness back to reality, while Mia completely ignored the people standing around us.

“Well, I got everything I need. I’ll be on my way then.” he smirked, tipped his hat to the people in the room, and left.

With the officer gone, I finally noticed how many people were still in the room, and I was basically naked under those covers. I grew rather uncomfortable, especially with Mia so close to me with only a blanket hiding my bits. Luckily, Nora seemed to notice my uneasiness, stepped behind her daughter to gently grab her by the shoulders and pull her off me.

“Come on, Honey. Let’s go see to it that your savior has everything he needs.” she grinned, and led Mia out of the room. I immediately seized the opportunity.

“Mr. Miller, Sir ... I need you to do me a favor.”

“Name it!” he immediately agreed.

“I need you to take Mia home and force her to watch the second Speed movie.” I said, matter of fact, causing him to look confused.

“The ... what?”

“You know, not the one with the bus. The one with Discount Keanu Reeves on the boat.”

“I know the movie, Timothy. Why do you want me to make her watch it?”

“Because Sandra Bullock spends the entire movie telling everyone how relationships born from extreme situations are doomed to fail.”

While Bill and Paul suddenly burst out in laughter, Mr. Miller lookedthoughtful for a moment before his entire expression lit up.

“Good man!” he was already in motion before he had even finished saying that.

Paul decided to do the same as the officer, and, after he assured me once more that he was only a phone call away should I need anything else from my apartment, left the room as well. When Nora came back, alone, she gave me a lecture regarding the stunt I just pulled on her poor daughter, though it was clear she saw it more as a prank than an actual attempt to get rid of Mia.

I spent the next half hour talking with Bill and Nora, getting updated on what happened with the other attendants of the party after I was taken away. Simultaneously, Nora fuzzed around the room to make sure I was well taken care of by the hospital staff. All that came to an abrupt stop, however, when the door opened again and someone else entered the room.

“You seem to be alright.” Aaron noted, in a remarkably cold voice that drew everyone’s attention.

That tone irritated me at first. Then I remembered what Uncle John had told me about Claire and Ava moving in with him, and understood Aaron’s coldness. Not that it was particularly new to me anyway, but it was clear he blamed me for his marital troubles.

“Why are you here?” I asked, not eager to have any kind of confrontation with him in front of people I had to work with.

“The hospital called, had to sign some paperwork. Do I have to get you anything?”

“You don’t have to do anything, Aaron. Paul has me covered already.”

“Good. Take care of yourself. I need to get back to work.” he proclaimed, and left the room as unceremoniously as he had entered it.

“Who was that!?” Nora asked, notably confused, causing me to pause for a moment before I answered.

“My father.”

This caught her unprepared, and the room fell silent as awkward glances were exchanged. They had heard about my familial problems, but this was the first time they had witnessed it. Well, Bill had witnessed some of it, but nothing blatant like what just happened.

“Excuse me for a moment.” Nora said in a stern voice, before she hurried out of the room.

“Oh god, please don’t run after him and make a scene!” was all I could think of at that moment, but my prayer was not granted. Shortly after Nora had left the room, we could hear her heated voice being carried through the corridors. The pitying look I received from Bill did not make this any better.

When Nora stepped back into the room two minutes later, she seemed a little embarrassed, but quickly started buzzing around the room again as if she was trying to actively avoid addressing it.

“Nora, I need to ask you a favor too.”

“What is it?” The caring tone she used made me smile.

“I understand why you had the urge to go after him, and I appreciate that you have that urge. But can you please not try the same with the rest of my family? I really don’t need any more of what just happened.”

“I’m sorry, Timothy, it’s just ... I know it’s not my place to meddle with your family situation, but how can he just leave!? His child has been shot!” she said, obviously unable to contain her anger on my behalf. When my expression told her how it didn’t phase me anymore, however, she looked at me in regret and sighed. “I promise not to try again. However, I should get on my way then and have a talk with George, so he doesn’t get tempted to repeat what I just did.”

“I’ll accompany you, Mrs. Miller. I need to get back to the office anyway.” Bill added.

And with that, the both of them left the room and I was alone again.

In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what would happen if Nora called Claire, or if Mia called Ava. If what Ava had told me before Christmas, and what John had told me about Claire, was true, they would probably show up and try to take care of me. But then again, that was the very same inner debate I had during Thanksgiving break. The key question was IF their words were true. And, being totally honest, even if I knew for a fact that they genuinely wanted to care for me, I simply didn’t want to rely on any of them.

I was mostly left alone for the rest of the day, and quickly realized that I preferred it that way when it was time to use the bedpan. Apparently something the doctor was looking forward to after a surgery, but for me it was probably the most humiliating experience I ever went through. Paul had brought my Laptop along, so, since Nora had helped me get WiFi access, I could entertain myself in peace. I also had a TV in my room, but I quickly learned that Daytime TV sucks ass!

The next day, however, I had to deal with a peeved Mia entering my room without even knocking. She just strolled in, sat in the chair next to my bed, and then simply stared at me with her arms crossed over her chest. Directly on her heels was Nora, who looked at the scene with her usual amused smirk that she showed whenever she watched us interact with each other.

“W ... What?” I asked Mia, a little afraid of her.

“Speed 2? Really!?”

“I thought it was warranted.”

“Why do you think I would even want a relationship with you?” she sounded surprisingly dry.

“Well, that kiss you gave me yesterday wasn’t exactly platonic, was it?”

I don’t know how it happened, but there was amusement in my voice by now. And when I saw her eyes zoom around the room and her shoulders lose some of their stiffness, I also smirked a little.

“What do you even have to complain about? I’m a catch!” she suddenly announced with newfound self-confidence.

“Yes, you are.” I nodded honestly.

“Then WHY are you being difficult?” And she was back to being annoyed. I ignored the glare she threw at her mother when Nora failed to suppress her snorted laugh.

“Firstly, I don’t have time for a girlfriend, since I work roughly seventy hours a week.”

“I seem to remember you being around plenty so far.” she dismissively waved her hand.

“Secondly, you know my background. I’m not the most popular guy in school. You sure you want to go to the Prom with THAT guy?”

“Oh you’d be surprised. You just saved my life from a psycho with a gun! And half the cheer and football team witnessed it, Buddy!” she said triumphantly, and I wasn’t sure what to expect once I got back to classes. Though, I decided to push forward instead of asking for details.

“You realize that I’m a year younger than you, right? You’ll leave for college in ... what? Six to eight months? I’ll still be in high school. And I’m not planning on going to college after that, so I won’t follow you. Not only would this relationship be based on the suspension bridge effect, it would be long distance.”

“Christ, Tim! It’s not like I’m planning our wedding here! Sure, maybe you’re right and this won’t work out, but why wouldn’t you even want to try!?”

“Honestly, you’re gorgeous, I DO have fun when you’re around, and I’m obviously attracted to you.” With that she perked up again. “But let’s be honest here. We barely know each other.”

“That’s obviously a non-argument.” she said matter of fact. “Look how close we got in the past few weeks. Of course we’d learn even more about each other over time!”

“Which brings me back to my very first point. When would we spend time together?”

“No problem. Someone just tried to kill me, in my own home, no less! I might tell Daddy that I won’t feel safe unless the guy who saved me sticks around for a while, so I can sleep in peace. That would solve two of your objections. You’d still be working your usual hours, AND you’d be spending time with me!”

I can’t even begin to describe the smugness that dominated her expression at that point, nor the look of sheer amazement she got from Nora. I suddenly remembered my encounter with Nora in their kitchen, when she also said something about not letting me go after the stalker problem was solved.

“Wow. I didn’t know you’d go that far to keep me around.” I marveled.

“Take it as a compliment. I never thought I’d have to argue with a guy so he’d spend time with me. I’m starting to get a little insulted here. At least you can’t run from me for now.” she responded in mock offense. “Look, we don’t have to put a label on it if that makes you feel better. Let’s just ... agree to get together more and see where this goes. How about that?”

Honestly, that sounded like something I could enjoy. It would give her time to get some distance from the incident and sort out her feelings. And if she still insisted on getting together, she would realize how much baggage I carried before it got too serious.

“Alright. That sounds like I would enjoy it.”

“Good! Because I like you. And I don’t think you’d have done that to me if you didn’t like me back.”

She said ‘done to me’, instead of ‘done for me’. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn’t talking about Campbell, but about what happened on the Dare before Campbell showed up. I just hoped Nora hadn’t heard it as well, so I decided to speak up before she had a chance to ask questions about it.

“I’d love to spend more time with you and see where it takes us. Maybe not right now, but...”

“Wait! Not right now? What does that mean?” I wasn’t sure if she sounded confused or suspicious.

“Mia, I’m pretty much incapacitated and naked under these covers.”

“You are?” she raised an eyebrow and sounded intrigued, as her hand crept towards the edge of my blanket, only to be stopped by a chiding Nora.

“Yes. Because of this...” I gestured to the sling holding my arm in place “ ... I can’t put a shirt on. And if you look down, you’ll see that bag of pee hanging on the side of my bed.” She looked down, but didn’t react to it in any way. “So, I also can’t put any shorts on. Which is probably a good thing, because there is a hole in my leg, and I haven’t had a shower in three days. So, any clothes I’d put on right now would probably have to be burned tomorrow.”

“Ew! Way to paint a picture.” she laughed in fake disgust.

“Think about that the next time you walk into an invalid’s room without knocking, and be glad I didn’t have to use the bedpan yet! My point is, I appreciate you visiting, I really do. But this also really isn’t the kind of experience I want to share with people.”

“I don’t care about that, don’t worry.” she dismissed my entire speech.

“Well, I DO care. This is ... uncomfortable for me.”

“OH MY GOD! You men are all the same!” Nora suddenly shouted, and I was taken aback about how similar that sounded to when Mia had said those exact same words to me in the car once.

“What?” Mia asked, now clearly confused.

“I’m sorry, Timothy, but this is ridiculous.” Nora said before turning towards Mia. “He’s embarrassed, Honey. He doesn’t want people to see him being laid out.” Abruptly, her tone softened considerably, and she turned back towards me. “There are people who care about you, you know?”

Now Mia was looking between me and her mother in total bufflement. Either she was irritated that her mother cared about me as well, or Nora had not told her about the meeting with my father the day before.

“I appreciate that, but I’m not used to it. Can’t we do this when I’m a little less exposed, and maybe even able to walk again?”

“Are you sure?” Nora asked, in a sickeningly caring tone that irritated Mia even more.

“Yes, very sure.” I assured her, and she looked like she was trying to assess if I actually meant it.

“Alright.” she sighed. Then continued in a ribbing tone. “Come on, Honey. Let the Man suffer in silent solitude.”

“Fine.” Mia reluctantly agreed. “But you call if you need anything. Promise me!”

I blinked at her for a moment, and then nodded.

“Good!” she smiled, gave me another soft kiss, and then moved her head to the side to whisper in my ear. “Fair warning, though. This isn’t because you stepped in front of me to catch that bullet. The hug before you got into my panties should tell you as much.”

I could only shake my head, as I watched the two of them leave my room.

Chapter 19

Even though Nora was openly mocking my decision to refuse visitors while I was incapacitated, she and the rest of the Millers seemed to respect it. Which I greatly appreciated, as it would be another two days before the doctors decided that I would get my catheter removed and be allowed to use the bathroom. My ‘silent solitude’, as Nora had called it, was interrupted in the afternoon of the following day when I received an unexpected text message from Ava.

“hey kathy asked if I could give her your phone number”

I stared at her message for a full minute before I decided to reply.

“Who TF is Kathy?”

“girl from cheer team bout my height red hair”

“No idea who you’re talking about. So, no.”

“why would she ask for your number though”

“Don’t know, don’t care. Just don’t give my number to other people.”

Of course I knew who Kathy was as soon as Ava gave her description. It was the girlfriend of the guy who made fun of me for only having slept with one single girl. The guy I put down for thinking he was God’s gift to women, simply because he knew how to throw a ball. His girlfriend suddenly asking for my number did not make me excited. No matter what the two of them had planned that would require my phone number, I wanted no part in it. I was more concerned about Ava’s inability to use punctuation in her texts, than the remote possibility of hooking up with Kathy.

It didn’t end there, though. About two hours later, when I was just trying to distract myself with a little work on my laptop, I got another text from Ava.

“mindy and laureen are asking for your number too”

“Who TF are Mindy and Laureen now?”

“other girls from cheer team”

“Only girls from the cheer team I know are You, Mia, and Joan. That’s it. Answer is still no. Don’t give my number to other people.”

“mindy wants 2 know if U R seeing someone.”

“Tell her that I am, so she stops asking.”

“Why are they asking me for your number and if you have a gf. what happened”

“We played Truth or Dare at Mia’s. Things escalated. I’m a Sex God now and their boyfriends can’t compare anymore.”

“Yeah right” This was followed by a multitude of eyeroll and laughing emojis. At least she took it with humor.

This wasn’t good. Mia had suggested that my popularity might have gone up after her friends saw me push Campbell out of the room, which would probably entail a significant improvement of my school life. Though, at that moment, I had other scenarios on my mind.

If Ava asked her friends why they wanted my number, they would surely tell her about what really happened at Mia’s. Consequently, she should be able to guess that I was in the hospital. At that moment, I would learn whether or not the rest of the family somehow shared Aaron’s renewed resentment towards me.

But, thinking about it, Ava did not ask about where or how I was. So, either her friends hadn’t told her yet, or she really didn’t care. Or, maybe, she did know, but had also learned about my wish to not be on display, and they simply chose to respect that. But if that was the case, why wouldn’t she even ask how I was? Thinking about it further, though, I remembered Aaron showing up because the hospital called him. If he knew, the rest of the family should know as well. That was days ago, so I should have heard something by now, but maybe this was the logical outcome after they had seen how reluctant I was to let them help me after being stabbed?

My thoughts kept circling around that question, making up countless possible explanations for this situation. All the while, I couldn’t even decide how I would feel about any of those possible explanations. Only one thing I knew for certain: The family seeing me this helpless was something I wanted even less than Nora and Mia seeing me like this. I couldn’t tell how long I sat there, lost in my thoughts, until I was abruptly brought back to reality by the dulled sounds of distant explosions.

After looking around confused for a moment, I realized that it was pitch dark outside and colorful sparks were visible in the distance, partly obscured by the treeline. Then my phone went off, announcing the various New Year’s greetings. Last year, I had gotten those solely from the people at work, so I was expecting the same now. To my surprise, now I got messages from the people at work, all of the Millers, almost my entire family except for Aaron and Logan, and a few girls I had met at Mia’s party. Apparently, someone had given out my number.

And then it hit me. By my own choice, I was sitting alone in my hospital room on New Years Eve. And I even almost missed it completely over contemplating the current situation, while everyone else was probably celebrating right now.

I watched the pretty lights for a while, before I slid further down the bed to put my head on my pillow and get to sleep.

The next day, my long awaited liberation came about. After almost a week of being restricted to lying in that bed, the swelling in my leg wound had reduced enough, and, in the absence of any signs of infection or inflammation, I would finally be freed of my catheter!

You can not imagine the elation I felt when I was finally sitting on the porcelain behind a closed door, instead of having someone watch me use a bedpan. Though the broken collarbone quickly reminded me of my remaining restrictions after the deed was done. Being allowed out of bed was proof that my healing process had progressed smoothly, so being discharged the following week was a real possibility now.

Despite the doctor’s warnings, I tried to get out of bed as soon as the catheter was out and almost fell flat on my face. The leg did not hurt at all anymore while I was lying in bed, but when I tried to use my thigh muscles to walk, it suddenly hurt a lot! According to the doctors, who expected that outcome and had a wheelchair already waiting for me, it would take a while and quite some painful effort before I could make full use of that leg again. At least I could wear shorts again, not to mention enjoy my last few sponge baths without a tube in my dick!

Two days later, on the morning of January 3rd, I was released, and immediately realized just how complicated my life would be in the near future.

I managed to put some sweatpants on, and was even able to pull a shirt over my head with only slightly unbearable pain levels, but tying my shoes one-handed was simply impossible. Dressing myself would be a challenge, but I could manage as soon as I got my hands on a shoehorn. At least I didn’t have to climb stairs to get into my apartment. I realized the real problem when they wheeled me out of the building, though.

The Land Rover I drove when chauffeuring Mia was an automatic, but since I was out of commission, they had driven it back to the company parking lot. My Jeep, however, was a manual. With my right arm strapped to my torso, there was no way for me to safely shift gears while driving. Even if I managed to dress myself, I couldn’t drive anywhere myself. At that particular moment, I couldn’t even call for a cap, since I had no money in my pocket that wasn’t dyed red.

I was just standing in front of the hospital’s entrance, pondering on whether I should call Paul and ask him for a ride, when the problem was solved by an unexpected benefactor.

“Need a ride?” Jack’s voice called out from a few feet to my side.

“Oh!” was my entire comment upon realizing who just called out to me.

Truth was, I wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea. I was used to being on my own and having to constantly defend myself, so people seeing me in this state, and people knowing I needed help, made me ... anxious. That was also the main reason why I didn’t want the Millers to visit me before. Ultimately, though, I didn’t have much of a choice. Even if I blew him off now to call someone else instead, he already knew anyway.

“Yes. Thanks. I didn’t plan that far ahead, to be honest.”

He just grinned and patiently watched me as I shuffled towards his waiting car. He then helped me into the passenger seat, put my bag and crutch in the backseat, and we drove off. He was quiet for about five minutes before he spoke up in a confusingly regretful voice.

“Dad told me what you said when he thanked you for saving Mia.”

“Uh ... Sorry, but what did I say?”

“That he should thank me instead of you.” The regret was gone from his voice. Now he sounded stern. Almost angry. And I had no clue why.

“Is that a bad thing somehow? You did good. You reacted when the others were panicking.”

“I fucking locked you out of the safe-room!” he suddenly got loud. “You took a bullet for my sister, and instead of fucking helping you, I slammed the door in your face!”

That surprised me. But what surprised me even more was the sudden drop in my anxiety level.

“So?” I asked calmly, which made him look at me like I lost my mind. Only then did I understand how this must have been eating away at him for the entire week I was in the hospital. “Jack, you did good! I mean that! There were ... what? Nineteen people on your side of the door? ‘The needs of the many’, and all that.”

“The What now?” he asked, visibly confused, but had also calmed down a little.

“Seriously, Jack. That movie is possibly a cultural heritage at this point.” I shook my head in disapproval. “What if I hadn’t been able to take him down? How many of you would’ve been shot if that door was still open?”

“Yeah, sounds nice when you put it like that in retrospect, but at the end of the day, I was ... simply...” his voice trailed off, but I already knew what he was complaining about.

“Course you were. I’d be surprised if you weren’t. Some random asshole with a gun showed up in your house and started shooting people! Ever heard of Fight or Flight?” he hesitantly nodded his head. “You might think you chose Flight because you slammed the door shut. But Flight would’ve meant running. Instead, you had the presence of mind to not only slam the door to protect yourself like you claimed. You grabbed Mia and pulled her into the room before you closed it. You did your job as her big brother.”

He drove on for a minute or two, eyes focused on the road, before he responded.

“Thank you, Tim.”

“I didn’t say that to make you feel better. I meant every word. Now, if you wanna help me, I’ve been craving a proper meal for a damn week, but I’m pretty sure whatever I have in my fridge has gone bad by now.”

“Grocery store it is, then!” he proclaimed, in a distinctly better mood, and drove us to a store relatively near to my apartment. That made me stop.

“Jack? I just realized that I never told you where I live. How did you know which direction to drive in?”

“Well, about that...” Suddenly, he looked a little guilty again. “Mom and Mia MAY be waiting for us at your place?”

He really ended that sentence like it was a question. I wasn’t sure if he was asking for permission or acceptance.

“Why?”

“Mom has something to talk with you about. Don’t ask me, she didn’t tell me.” he quickly prevented my obvious question from being asked. “But when Mia heard, she insisted on coming too, to ‘make sure you settle back in Okay’. I think she just wants to see your place. Dad would probably be there as well if he didn’t have to work.”

As he looked at me, trying to gauge my reaction, my first impulse was to ask them to leave as soon as we arrived. But, honestly, Nora and Mia were the two people outside my workplace that I’d deem most likely to actually care for me, given how I saved Mia’s life and witnessed Nora’s behavior after Aaron showed up in the hospital. The deciding factor, however, was how I felt two nights before. Sitting all alone in that sterile Hospital Room on New Year’s Eve sucked.

“Alright.” I nodded after reaching a conclusion. “Let’s finish up so they won’t wait too long.”

After that, we drove to my apartment building and, as threatened, were greeted by Nora and Mia, who looked a little worried about the way I groaned while moving, but accepted my assurance that I was okay.

Entering my apartment, Mia and Jack acted much like Ava had on her first visit, though they quickly found different things that held their interest. While Nora helped me put the groceries away and clean out my fridge, Jack inspected my TV-assembly, and Mia took a good look at the photo collage of Tess. So, I took that opportunity to speak with Nora.

“Jack tells me you have something to talk about?”

“Yes. It’s actually George’s idea, but I think you’ll like it.” she smiled. “Seeing as you are a little restricted for now, we thought it would help if we hired a housekeeper for you.”

“What for?” I had expected a lot of things, but not that.

“You can barely walk, Tim. Much less push a vacuum around. How do you plan on carrying around a basket full of wet clothes? And I won’t let you live on pizza for the six weeks it’s going to take your collarbone to heal, young man!”

I had to blink a few times after hearing all that. Not because of what she said, but because of how she said it. I know this probably sounds weird, but it sounded every bit like a mother scolding her child, and it made me grin.

It did not change my stance, though. I conceded that it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world if they saw me injured, but accepting their help and thereby admitting that I needed it ... that was still not going to happen. Also, there was no way in hell I would let a complete stranger rummage through my home under the pretense of cleaning.

“Okay, MOM.” I chuckled, and she raised an eyebrow at me. “I really appreciate it, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Right now, the only two things I really can’t do are tying my shoes, and driving. And the only reason I can’t drive is that my Jeep’s a manual. I’d have to reach over with my left to shift gears.”

“Are you sure?” she asked in a doubting tone.

“It’s not like I can’t move the arm at all. The hand works fine, so I can hold stuff” I didn’t point out that I couldn’t lift the arm, or move it in any way that required my chest muscles. She eyed the sling holding my arm critically, but ultimately nodded. “My vacuum barely weighs twenty pounds, so I can easily handle it one-handed. And if you look over there, you’ll notice the dryer is directly facing my washing machine, so no need to carry around wet clothes.”

“Still...” She sounded worried.

“Look, I promised Mia to call if I need anything. I have no desire to starve. So, if I notice that I was wrong, I will call you and take you up on your offer. How about that?”

She pondered my words for a moment, and then nodded.

“Fine. But I will talk with George about it. He is determined to help you out while you recover. I’m afraid it’s a question of principle with him, and I’m not inclined to talk him out of it. Which brings me to my next point.”

By now, Mia had joined us in the kitchen and was intently listening. Nora grabbed her purse, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to me. After I had unsuccessfully tried to open it, Mia took it from me with an exasperated eye roll, opening it for me.

“Physical Therapy?” I asked after studying the papers.

“Yes. I hear they are the best in town when it comes to limb injuries. We took the liberty of booking your sessions for the next two months in advance. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of the cost! We insist!”

Her tone told me, in no uncertain terms, that this was non-negotiable. Honestly, that place looked expensive, so I was reluctant to accept. But the hospital had indeed warned me about the need for physical therapy, so I knew I would have to do it regardless. Why not accept this offer and have ‘the best’ work on me?.

“Thank you.” That made Nora and Mia smile.

“Yo, Dude. Where’s your toilet?” Jack suddenly injected himself.

“Through that door and to the left, Honey.” Nora informed him before I even had a chance, pointing at the direction of my bedroom, not realizing what she had just done.

Mia immediately got a very suspicious look, as her eyes jumped between Nora, me, and the doorway her mother had just pointed out.

“How do you know where his bathroom is?” There was no confusion in Mia’s voice. Instead, and I could be wrong here, it sounded more like an accusation. It did not phase Nora at all, as she calmly and instantly had her reply ready.

“Don’t you remember how he took me shopping the week before Christmas? We had to stop by here because he was waiting for a delivery.”

“Oh.” It seemed like Mia had bought that explanation. Crisis averted.

“So, you’re sure you’ll be fine for the time being?” Nora asked me like nothing remotely concerning had happened.

“Yes. Very sure. And if I discover that I was wrong, I’ll keep my promise.”

“Okay. We will hold you to that.” Nora smiled, before she turned to join her son who just walked out of the bathroom and towards the door. Mia, however, stayed behind for a moment.

“You sure you don’t want me to stay a little longer?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think I’m a good host right now. There’s not much I can do for the moment.” I replied innocently.

“You haven’t had a proper shower in a week, right? I could help with that.”

“YEAH, I’M JUST GONNA LEAVE NOW.” Jack shouted from the living room, covering his ears with his hands while his mother had trouble concealing her laughter.

Mia’s eyes widened as her face got a little red. She stood on her toes, gave me a peck on the cheek, and quickly joined her mother and brother on their way out. I smiled happily the whole time I watched them leave. Not because they left, but because I genuinely enjoyed their company. I was already planning to invite them over again, once I got a handle on my kitchen.

A few minutes after they left, my doorbell rang. Wondering if they forgot anything, I activated the monitor to see who was at the gate, and my smile died. On the sidewalk, looking incredibly insecure as she nervously fidgeted with a piece of paper, stood my mother. She was flanked by John and Danielle. It could be an effect of the camera, but she looked different. Like she lost weight, but not in a healthy way. I remembered the conversation I had with John the day before Mia’s party, where he mentioned that Claire had trouble sleeping and stopped eating.

“Yes?” I asked, after pressing the button for the intercom.

“Oh! Honey? It’s me. It’s your mo ... It’s Claire.” she stammered, and I saw Danielle place a hand on Claire’s shoulder for support. “Could I talk to you? Just ... just for a minute, I promise!”

She was basically pleading, looking desperate as she wrung her hands in anticipation. I was, for the second time that day, remembering my lonely New Years Eve, and found myself entertaining the idea of letting her in, even if it would mean that she would get to see me in such a weakened state. I could also get answers to my questions about how much they knew, and why nobody but Aaron made an appearance. But why did they have to come as a package!?

By the time I looked at the monitor again, I noticed how long I had been debating this with myself. I could see Claire’s shoulders had slumped and her head was hanging low. Now John was rubbing her back, like he was comforting her. Just as they turned to leave, I pressed the button to open the gate. They abruptly stopped, turned, and Claire quickly rushed towards the front door, which I also opened for her with the push of another button.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. As I looked through the peephole, I could see Claire do the same. I leaned my crutch against the wall so I could use my one good hand to turn the door knob, and pulled the door with me as I hopped backwards on my right leg. I could see Claire’s eyes fly wide open as I reached for my crutch to stabilize myself again.

“What happened to you!?” she shouted and rushed through the door to hold me by the waist, like I needed her support to stay upright.

As soon as the sound of her voice ebbed away, I could hear fast paced feet sprint towards my door.

“You don’t know?” I asked, my eyes narrowed and my brows frowning. I was sure she knew. Aaron definitely knew! So she had to know.

“No! Oh god, Baby. Sit down!” she insisted and started gently pushing me towards my living room sofa.

“Holy Shit!” I heard John’s voice and Danielle’s gasp once they stepped through the door after Claire and got a good look at me.

“You really don’t know?” I asked again, this time in a clearly doubting tone, after sitting down.

“No! How would I? What happened? Are you Okay? Of course you’re not okay, I’m sorry, I just...” I wasn’t sure how I should take her continuous stammering, so I interrupted her.

“The hospital called you guys to sign the paperwork.”

For some reason, that information caused Danielle’s expression to darken.

“Nobody called me!” Claire protested.

“Well, they must have called. Aaron showed up the day I got out of the ICU to sign what they needed.”

Claire just blinked at me in shock, visibly unable to comprehend what I just told her, and I heard John growl something unintelligible.

“That rotten bastard!” Danielle suddenly called out, before turning to Claire. “They must have called the house phone.”

Then it clicked. Claire had moved out. John had even told me about her and Ava moving in with him. I had thought about that when I wondered why Aaron was so cold towards me!

“I can’t believe he wouldn’t tell me about something like that! How could he not tell me that one of our children is in the hospital!?” Claire breathed out, staring into space and shaking her head. “I don’t believe this.”

“What happened?” John asked that question for the third time, but his voice was surprisingly demanding.

“You know the client I was with on Christmas Eve? Ava’s friend, Mia?” They all nodded. “She invited me to a party the day after Christmas. Then her mother’s stalker showed up and shot me four times.”

“He ... WHAT!?” they sputtered.

“Yes, we were equally surprised.” I tried to joke, but just like the time I was assaulted in front of the house, my humor fell flat, so I continued. “Two got stopped by my vest, though. I got one in the shoulder that also broke my collarbone, and one in the leg. Was in the hospital the entire last week and got released today.”

By the time I finished, Claire’s breath was stuttering and her body trembled. I actually couldn’t tell if she was angry or trying to stop herself from crying.

“The entire week...” she whispered between heaved breaths. “You were in the hospital, all alone, the entire week.”

Danielle sat next to Claire and took one of her hands in an attempt to calm her down. I wasn’t entirely sure how I should deal with this. There was no way she was just acting. She was genuinely hurting on my behalf. And she was genuinely disturbed about not being able to be there for me while I was in the hospital. At least, that’s what this looked like for me. Still, even now I would rather have them leave as soon as possible, so I could limp through the apartment in peace.

I got to my feet, or rather on my foot, and moved into the kitchen to get Claire a glass of water. Only when I turned did I notice how John was directly behind me and watching my every move closely, like he was ready to catch me if I were to slip or something. That just enforced my need to get them out of my space.

I reluctantly handed John the glass so he could bring it to Claire. There just wasn’t any way for me to carry it, unless I left my crutch behind to jump the entire way back to the sofa on my healthy leg, probably losing half the water by the time I reached her.

“You said you wanted to talk. What about?” I asked, after she had taken a sip and I was back at the sofa.

“I ... yes ... of course.” Claire collected herself. “Honey, I came to apologize.”

All three of them looked at me like it was my turn to say something now. I wasn’t sure what they expected, however. Then it suddenly hit me. The last time I had heard about Claire, it was after John had given her the good news that I was willing to give her another chance. Though, in my opinion, he had grossly misrepresented my words.

“Okay. What for?”

“For ambushing you on Christmas Eve. I’m sorry if that caused any problems with your job. I was ... desperate. But John apparently told you already. He told me that you wanted to know exactly how we got to that point, and I want to give this to you.”

This was taking quite a toll out of her. Then she started looking around, until Danielle handed her the mangled paper I had seen her hold when she was standing in front of the gate.

“I thought ... I was afraid ... If I tried to just tell you, you’d get mad at me and tell me to leave before I could finish. Then I would never get the chance to actually apologize. So ... I wrote it down.”

As she looked at me pleadingly, I was disturbed at how much it affected me. Just like there was genuine hurt before, now there was genuine hope and sadness in her eyes. On an impulse, I took the paper out of her outstretched hand and nodded. It was actually multiple pages of paper. Again, I was slightly disturbed at how much it affected me when Claire’s visible worry was replaced by a relieved and hopeful smile.

“Okay. I’ll read it.”

“Thank you, Honey.” she whispered.

“But it’ll have to wait, since I have some things to take care of before that.”

When I said that, I was fully expecting them to get the hint and give me the space I obviously needed. I thought wrong.

“Of course, Honey. Take as long as you need. I’m just glad you accepted it.” Claire said, not making an effort to get up from the sofa. “Is there anything we can help you with? Do you need anything from the pharmacy?”

“Yes, I could use a little peace and quiet. So, if you could go home, that would be awesome.” I said calmly while extending my good arm to gesture towards the door, though Claire looked like I slapped her.

“But ... Honey, don’t you need someone to help you?” Claire asked, as she got off the sofa and stood in front of me, looking concerned.

“No, I really don’t need help. I’m good. You can leave.”

“Honey, you’re clearly hurting. Please, let me help you!” she implored, but I REALLY didn’t want them to.

“I don’t need, nor do I want, YOUR help! Now, for the THIRD time, I’d like you to leave!” I finally snapped, and the effect was imminent.

Claire’s shoulders had slumped and her head was hanging again. As she was looking at the floor, I could still see the tears creep into her eyes before she quietly spoke.

“Of course, Honey. I understand. I’ll leave you be. I’m sorry.”

And with that, she turned and walked out through the door. I didn’t care for John’s unhappy look before he followed her outside. Danielle, however, stayed rooted to her spot.

“What?” I asked, challenging her to try me at that moment, though she didn’t bite. When she opened her mouth, it sounded more understanding than accusing.

“I don’t blame you, Tim. But you need to know that she really is suffering. I spent a lot of time with her since they moved in with us. She does love you. And she is desperately looking for ways to gain your forgiveness.”

Then she turned and followed after the other two. I hobbled to the door and locked it, but on a whim, I activated the monitor. I saw Claire slowly walk towards the gate, her shoulders shaking and one hand covering her eyes, John close behind her.

I took another deep breath to steady myself, just like before I opened the door for them, and turned to my coffee table where Claire’s letter was waiting for me. It took me a long time, during which I simply stood there and looked at it, before I sat back down and started reading.

My dear youngest Child,

I love you. I’m sorry I lost sight of that fact. I know I deserve every punishment you could ever want me to endure, but I am scared even that might not be enough to gain your forgiveness. Because, the more I think about what happened and when it started, the more I find that I need to apologize. But, in all honesty, I know that I have no excuse for what I did to you.

The truth is, I made a lot of mistakes raising your brother from the very start. He was my first child, so I was constantly scared. Being the little sister myself, I never experienced taking care of someone before I was suddenly a mother responsible for a little life. It was overwhelming.

I relied a lot on your father. With Logan being his first born son, Aaron knew exactly what he wanted your brother to be when he grew up, and how to get him there. When your sister came along, I was a little more experienced, a little more self-confident, and I had found some kind of routine in dealing with nightmares and feeding times. Just like Aaron knew how to take care of his son, I immediately knew how to take care of my daughter. I’m sorry to say, when you came along, it was purely routine, and with the three of you born so close to each other, I was tired.

While I nursed your brother for as long as I could get away with, you were put on formula when you were four weeks old. While I got your brother every piece of clothing he could possibly wish for, you were there when he grew out of them. While I ran to the hospital every time Logan had a slight cold, I had learned how to almost sleep through your crying by the time you got your first colic. And I chose to trust that your father would do for his second son what he was already doing for his first son.

I was told that these things are perfectly normal, and that I shouldn’t blame myself for those early times of neglect. But I know now that it fed into what ultimately destroyed your love for me. As weird as it sounds, it somehow caused me to think of you as more independent.

When you were fine despite me putting in so much less effort, I grew complacent and concentrated even more on Logan. At that time, I had failed to understand that you weren’t fine despite my lack of attention, but that Logan was fine despite me being overbearing.

That escalated when the Time for Logan’s initiation into the family drew closer.

I knew I had to keep a closer eye on him and Ava. With your sister so close behind him, Logan would be dying to let her in on the secret. That’s how it was with John and me, so I was prepared to take special precautions. But somehow, I never made the connection that your birthday was just as close to Ava’s, as Ava’s birthday was to Logan’s. In my mind, while Ava’s initiation was directly tied into Logan’s, your’s was still more than two years away, so I didn’t have to think about it. By the time I did have to think about it, we had drifted so far apart that I no longer knew how to even approach you about it.

Your father was a big proponent for the notion of Men raising Men, and Women raising Women. So, I relied on him to take care of our sons so I could care for our daughter.

I failed to realize that, while I was making the extra effort so your sister wouldn’t feel like “the Middle Child”, Aaron was fully consumed with his first born Son, and you got left behind.

I failed to see that, when you started to distance yourself from us, it wasn’t because you were independent, but because we had hurt you so much you didn’t want to be around us anymore. For us, calling you by that name was just harmless ribbing. Had I made the effort to actually spend some - any - time with you, I might have seen how much damage we were causing.

I failed to understand that, while my own father had taught John to stand up for himself, it was wrong of your father to demand the same of you when you started coming home beaten and bruised. Never in my life would I have thought that it was your own siblings who cultivated that abuse, and that I was facilitating it.

I failed to comprehend the full meaning of that fight you had in school, when you finally stood up to your tormentors. When I thought about how far you had to go to defend yourself, I understood how bad the bullying must have been. But instead of realizing that we shouldn’t have left you alone with this, I made the worst mistake of them all. I decided that you were not just more independent than your siblings, but that you were able to fend for yourself.

You started earning your own money, and, while your siblings were still completely dependent on us, you stopped asking for allowances, special snacks, or expensive clothes. Instead of wondering if it was healthy for a fifteen year old boy to take care of himself, I used it as an excuse to drift even further away from you, and enjoy the pleasures I shared with your siblings.

Please know that I am not trying to make excuses for anything I did. I know it was wrong, I know I was stupid, and I know I hurt you. I just need you to know how it happened.

The day you came home on your sixteenth birthday, to find us celebrating by ourselves because we all had forgotten about your special day, it all came crashing down on me. I had already lost that special connection a mother should have with her child. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how disappointed my Mother was with me. But the truth is, when she told me to fix our relationship, I simply didn’t know how anymore. Instead of pulling myself together and working to regain your love, I chose to bunker down, stick my head in the sand, and let things go on like I was used to.

The day you risked your life to protect us from those three men, I thought my world would end. I finally found the courage to make an effort, but by then it was too late. Whatever relationship we might have had, I had allowed it to completely wither away.

And finally, I need to apologize for the worst I did. Even today, after spending weeks talking it over with Danny, I still can’t fathom how I could become so distant from my own Child that I wouldn’t notice the pain in his eyes while he grieved over the loss of the woman he loved. I will never forgive myself for letting you experience that pain all by yourself. I will never forgive myself for letting you feel so alone. I will never forgive myself for pushing you so far, that you almost lost the will to live yourself, and I still didn’t see the warning signs. That alone has proven to me that I was a miserable excuse for a mother.

I have to confess that Danny told me about the night you two spent in the living room after your panic attack. Hearing about your continued suffering, that I caused, hurt already. But it was something else that broke me. It was when you told her that the best part about the night you spent with me wasn’t the sex, but the way I held you afterwards. It was that moment when I finally grasped how much I took from you, how you were forced to grow up way too early, and I broke down on the spot.

The next time I saw you, you were dropping Ava off at our house so Danny could prepare her for the interview with the social worker. Seeing you in the car, ready to pull away again, I had to hold on to the porch-railing to stop myself from pulling you out of that car and forcing you to accept my love. But I knew it was wrong, because I knew it was my own fault that I would have to force you in the first place.

I know there is probably no chance for you to ever forgive me. I neglected you. I hurt you. I pushed you out of our lives. And I justified all of it by telling myself that Aaron would know better how to care for a boy. But I am your mother, and I should have remembered what that means. I should have remembered that you needed a mother, just as much as Logan and Ava needed me. You didn’t deserve any of it. I am sorry for all of it.

You are my youngest Child, my Baby, and I will always love you. Even if you never want to have me around again, I will love you from afar. But if you ever find it in your heart to award me a place in your life, I swear to be there for you.

I know that you can’t trust me anymore. Or any of us, for that matter. The fact that you had to work through Christmas, while we enjoyed the Holidays spending your money, proved that. So, attached to this letter, you will find a bank statement from your grandparents. They established a College Fund so, while I know that this is merely a first small step in trying to prove our sincerity, you can at least be sure that we are not trying to get close to you to secure Logan’s or Ava’s tuition.

I love you. Your Mom.

With a single eyebrow raised in skepticism, I flipped the last page of Claire’s handwritten letter to find the printed bank statement. The grandparents truly had deposited fifty-thousand dollars in a college fund, which meant that I truly didn’t have to worry about my siblings’ tuitions anymore. Or at least before I turned eighteen and could remove the parents from my bank account. There was only one big problem with that. I was not included in the listed beneficiaries.

While I had told the grandparents that I wasn’t planning on attending college after high school, John and Danielle should have told them by now that I was indeed planning on taking college courses that would cost me a four-digit sum to start out. So, while I appreciated the reassurance, I kind of would have expected to be included in that fund, especially after I had paid eighteen grand for Logan’s education.

I also wasn’t sure how to feel about Claire’s letter. While it sounded genuine and sincere, and I could actually feel her remorse, it didn’t even touch on half the things I would have liked to hear about. Yes, she had listed the main events that had led to our current situation, and she had attempted to explain her motivation behind some of them. There still wasn’t anything in that letter I didn’t already know, except for the age at which she put me on formula, perhaps.

I had told John that I wanted to know exactly how we got to this point, not just speculation about the highlights. I asked for that because she still couldn’t tell me why she would change and suddenly treat me like her actual child. The only takeaway I got from Claire’s written words, however, was that she confused my self-preservation with independence, and, when she realized her big mistake, she accepted it anyway, since sleeping with Logan was more pleasurable than working on our relationship. In short, that letter contained no reason for me to expect anything to change.

On the other hand, while the letter may not contain an explicit reason for me to trust her again, her actions over the holidays could indeed indicate a change. She did separate from Aaron to protect her daughter. She was trying to get my attention. She did show undeniable regret over no longer being part of my life. Maybe, when I kept asking them what changed so I could believe anything they said, this was my answer. They simply couldn’t put it into words.

By the time I reached that non-conclusion, I had sat on the sofa for over an hour, and my stomach was making noises announcing my need to finally eat something proper. I dropped the letter back onto the coffee table, got off the sofa, and hobbled into the kitchen eager to prepare something that didn’t taste like sludge.

Seriously, I understand that it is easier for hospitals to make the same meal for everyone, so everyone gets something that doesn’t contain allergens, spices that could upset a patient’s stomach, or anything that would influence their blood sugar too much. But I like to taste and chew my food!

Another frustrating thirty minutes later, though, I found myself ogling the takeout menus hanging on my fridge, despite promising Nora I wouldn’t rely on those. It was surprising how many unconscious movements my arm normally makes that now hurt like hell, though I could deal with those. The real problem was how much longer everything took. I had the foresight to gather everything I needed before I started, so I wouldn’t have to jump around on one leg. But simply standing on one leg, since I couldn’t lean on my crutch AND prepare food with only my left hand, was taking a big toll on me.

Before I could reach for the takeout menus, however, I heard a key being inserted into the lock of my apartment door, and spun around with my biggest kitchen knife raised over my head ready to be thrown at the intruder.

I paused when Ava waltzed in, carrying the same overstuffed sports bag she had used the last time she moved here. My astonishment grew when, right after Ava, Claire walked in as well, also carrying an overstuffed bag.

“How the fuck did you do that!?” I asked a shocked Ava, and noticed I was still ready to throw the knife. She quickly raised her hands over her head, pointing at the keys she was holding.

“I still have the keys you gave me.”

“Oh.” I remembered giving her those keys, and realized she never gave them back. I lowered the knife, and looked at Claire. “And what are you two doing here?”

Claire stepped forward, squared herself out as she took a deep breath, and spoke in a stern voice.

“Even if you deny it, you do need help. Danny thinks you just don’t want to admit it because we are the ones who hurt you the most, so you don’t want to seem vulnerable in front of us. But I am your mother, and I will take care of you!” she said the last part with absolute conviction, even punctuated it with a subtle nod at the end.

Fucking Danny and her uncanny ability to only reach the right conclusions when it’s the least convenient for me. When I angrily stared at Claire, the confidence she had displayed until then wavered, and she started fidgeting again. Then she spoke in a much smaller, imploring voice.

“Please, Baby. Let me do this for you. I promise I won’t get in the way. I just can’t go back knowing how much you’re hurting again.”

That pleading tone of hers affected me in a much different way than her attempt at being stern. My eyes started roaming her body, taking in the full effect of her unhealthy weight loss. Then they involuntarily jumped to the letter on my coffee table, and when Claire followed my gaze, I thought I could see her bottom lip tremble a little. Finally, I turned back to look at the kitchen counter, taking in the barely started lunch I had been working on for almost an hour, with no hope of finishing it by myself. I made a decision.

“You know where the guest room is.” I sighed, before hopping back into the kitchen.

The only thing I actually finished was the sauce. I managed to cut up the chicken into more or less equally sized chunks and place them in a bowl with the seasoning, but then had trouble mixing it all because I couldn’t hold the bowl in place. I managed to fill the rice and water into a pot, but then it was so heavy I couldn’t get it out of the sink without the help of my dominant hand.

Just when I sighed in frustration about my misery, without saying a word, Claire reached past me and heaved the pot out of the sink. She placed it on the stove before looking at me expectantly, still not saying a word. Oddly enough, her silence made it much easier for me to accept her help.

I handed her the spoon and pointed at the bowl containing the chicken and seasoning. She immediately understood and started mixing it thoroughly. Just then, Ava joined us.

“What are you making?” she asked, sounding way too happy for someone who, just minutes prior, almost got a kitchen knife thrown at them.

“Sesame chicken in hoisin sauce, rice, and bacon wrapped snow peas.” I answered matter of fact. “You get to wrap the snow peas.”

“Nice. Picking up right where we left off before Christmas!” she beamed and stepped past me, eager to continue her cooking lessons.

I instructed her on how to wrap the bundles so they wouldn’t come apart while frying, and turned on the stove so the rice could cook while Claire, like on autopilot, started roasting the seasoned chicken. Then I suddenly realized I had nothing to do anymore. They were working well together, so, even if I could do anything, I wasn’t needed. So, I chose to sit on one of the bar stools and watched them work. Honestly, I thought I could get used to this.

When everything was cooked just right, they prepared the plates, laid the table, and we could eat. After I had spent almost an hour desperately trying to make myself something to eat, those two had completed seventy percent of the work within fifteen minutes. There was no way they’d leave again after that demonstration, and everyone at the table knew it. Even their complimenting my recipe did not help me over this defeat.

After I had filled myself with the first decent food in a week, I decided it was time for my first shower in a week as well. I had not noticed Claire following me into my bedroom, until I had grabbed my change of clothes and ‘walked’ out of my closet.

“What do you need?” I asked, seeing her demure stance.

“I said I’d help you. That is obviously something you will need help with.”

“No way.” I refused her as decidedly as possible.

“Honey, please! What if you slip?” she was pleading again. I already hated it when she did that, but this was not something I would budge on.

“I have a little stool on the balcony that I use as a table. I’ll place it in the shower and sit on it.”

“But wha...” she started.

“I said No! I’m not getting into the bathroom with you!”

There it was again. That look on her face like I had slapped her.

“Okay. I’m sorry.” she said in a meek voice, hanging her head to look at her feet. “Do ... Do you want me to get your sister instead?”

I groaned.

“Look. I’m not getting in there with Ava either. I don’t want you in there because the last time the nurse put my arm into that sling, she warned me about something she lovingly called ‘The Armpit of Doom’.” Hearing this, her head shot up and she looked at me with big eyes, before she tried to suppress a chuckle. “Trust me on this. You don’t want to help me there. But if you would get me the stool from the balcony, that would be nice.”

She hesitated for a moment, but eventually left the room to return with the little seat. She placed it in the tub before reluctantly leaving, though she stopped at the door.

“I ... I’ll be right outside the door, Honey.”

She didn’t give me time to respond, as she already started to close the door from the outside. I noticed, however, that I didn’t hear the latch snap. I figured it would be the best I could hope for without throwing a temper tantrum.

I grunted and groaned while getting out of my clothes, and felt a little out of breath when I was successful at last. When I removed my arm out of the sling, however, a rather loud sound of pain escaped my mouth.

“Are you Okay, Honey?” I heard Claire’s concerned voice, and saw her fingertips reach around the door, ready to push it open should the need arise.

“Yes. Progressing smoothly. Thanks.”

“O-Okay. Remember, I’m here! Just ... say the word.” It was remarkable how clearly I could hear the inner conflict in her voice, between the need to respect my wishes and the urge to help.

I shook my head, but couldn’t stop myself from grinning. This was just too surreal. Honestly, Danny was right. Under different circumstances, I would enjoy their eager servitude greatly. If they wanted to bathe me, bathe away! But as things were, I did not want them to see me weak. I wanted them to know that I didn’t need their help, and that I was perfectly fine without them. This current situation was the complete opposite of what I wanted, and it wasn’t easy for me to come to terms with it.

Since the hospital staff had flat out refused to place waterproof gauze pads on my packed leg wound, I opted for a navy shower despite desperately wanting to enjoy the hot water a little longer. It would have done wonders on my strained muscles and aching back from the prolonged time I was standing in the kitchen while leaning on my right leg only.

I can tell you, the ‘Armpit of Doom’ is a thing! And I realized that it wouldn’t be just the one with the sling, but it’s also hard to clean your left armpit with only your left hand. Especially for a righty like me. After finishing my much too short shower and drying myself, I actually opted to simply use some surgical disinfectant as a deodorant to keep myself odorless for a while. Then it came to getting dressed, and the pained groaning started again.

By the time I had accomplished even that task, I finally capitulated and asked Claire to help me back into the sling. I hadn’t even completely said her name, when the door flew open and she jumped into the bathroom. Seeing me being more or less fine, she took a deep breath and helped me out. She immediately noticed how beat I was, and, without a word, ushered me into bed where I instantly passed out.

I woke up maybe half an hour later. I still felt drained, but waking up in this familiar environment instead of the sterile hospital room had me in a way better mood than the days before. Then I heard their voices in the living room. I carefully got out of bed and crept towards my door as quietly as possible. Looking round the corner, I saw Claire and Ava sit on the sofa.

They seemed to be discussing what they saw in the photos and selfies of me and Tess. They went on for a few minutes, commenting on all the places and situations we documented with those photos, until their tone turned sad.

“I can’t believe how happy he looks in them.” Claire remarked.

“Yes. It’s sure been a while since I’ve seen him like that.” Ava commented.

“She is beautiful. They both look so much in love.”

“Yeah.” Ava shifted a little. “She ... was beautiful.”

Hearing Ava correct her slip up and reminding her of Tess’ fate, Claire stared at her daughter for a moment before seemingly looking at the floor, shaking her head.

“Does ... Have you heard anything about him looking to date again?”

“No.” Ava sighed. “Some girls from the cheer team asked for his number and if he’s single. They’re, like, the most popular girls in school, and they wanted to invite him to their New Year Eve party. But he ... well ... he was very clear about not giving his number out. I mean, it’s been over three months since she died. I don’t know how long it’s normal to ... you know...”

“He must still miss her so much.” Claire leaned forward, covering her face with her hands. I could barely hear her muffled voice when she spoke again. “How do I fix this, Sweety? How can I ever make this up to him? I don’t know what to do!”

Ava reached over to wrap her arms around her mother and pulled her into an embrace. I watched on as the two of them simply held each other wordlessly for about a minute, but could hear one or both of them sniffle from time to time. I decided to creep back into my room.

At least now I knew why Ava never asked how I was, when her friends asked for my number and relationship status. They hadn’t told her about what happened at Mia’s party.

The next day, I had to visit my GP so he could check on my wounds himself. Before that, however, I learned how the following few weeks would play out with the two of them living with me. I came out of my room in the morning to find Claire already in the kitchen.

“Making breakfast?” I asked, noticing the smell of bacon and the already set table.

Hearing my voice, she turned to me, folded her hands in front of the apron she must have brought with her, and looked at the floor by my feet. The weirdness of this display was enhanced further when she spoke with the same meek voice she used the day before, after I had kicked her out.

“Morning, Honey. I asked Ava what you like for breakfast. I hope that is Okay.”

She had even found the prepared dough pieces in the freezer and used them to make the bread rolls. I blinked at her for a few seconds before I found my voice.

“Yeah ... Sure. Uh ... Thanks.”

I was a little unsure about this situation, and decided to simply sit down at my small kitchen table. She immediately filled a plate, placed it in front of me and a quick peck on my cheek, and then continued on in the kitchen.

Following breakfast, I was planning to repeat the bathroom-procedure from the previous day. Claire had a different idea, though, as she insisted on not simply standing in front of the door this time.

“We talked about this yesterday, Claire.” I complained. “It worked out fine without you, didn’t it?”

“No, Honey, it didn’t. You managed to clean yourself up, but the pain almost took you out. There is no need for you to torture yourself when your sister and I are perfectly happy to help you out! I will not let you do this by yourself and possibly hurt yourself even more than you already are.”

I was surprised how adamant she was about this. Especially since it was such a sudden stark contrast to the demure display I had just witnessed in the kitchen. Honestly, I preferred her this way. If I wanted to live with a slave, I wouldn’t have helped Ava, but instead abused it like Aaron and Logan had. So, while I was reluctant to let her help me, I was also reluctant to discourage her new conviction.

“Fine.” I groaned, and saw her expression light up. “Let’s get this over with.”

She was unbelievably careful taking off my clothes. She wasn’t as practiced as the nurses in the hospital, but still managed to do it while causing only minimal discomfort on my part. When I sat down on the little stool in my tub, she made sure the water had the right temperature before letting it anywhere near me.

“Don’t worry about getting the wounds wet. The doctor’s appointment is in two hours, and they’ll change all the bandages and the packing anyway.” I informed her, and she nodded.

She still turned the water off after getting me sufficiently wet, and opted to gently scrub me down with a sponge. I watched her face attentively the whole time. When she slowly lifted my right arm and heard my pained reaction, there was what seemed like genuine worry in her eyes. That calmed me down a little. When she started working the soapy sponge around my lower stomach, though, there was a quick and obvious reaction I didn’t like, and I could see a glint in her eyes as they locked onto my erection.

She moved the sponge further down, rubbing it over my balls, and finally wrapped it around my shaft to clean in with slow strokes.

“I think it’s clean now.” I said after a few strokes. The coldness in my voice surprised even myself a little, and her hand immediately stopped moving.

“But ... Don’t you want me to...” she asked, confused.

“No.”

“Oh. I understand. I’m sorry, Honey.” she sounded meek again and hung her head, but this time I couldn’t give in. “D ... Do you want me to get your sister for this?”

“It’ll go away on its own once you stop stimulating it. Can we just finish, please?”

“Of course.”

It was clear that she wasn’t just disappointed, she was hurt. But I couldn’t help her with that. I may haven’t had a chance to jerk off in a week, but I’d rather stay celibate for another five weeks until my collarbone stops tormenting me, than to become dependent on them for that as well.

She finished with the sponge bath, rinsed me off, and then dried me off without another word. Even when she helped me get dressed, I got the impression that I had just beaten her into submission by refusing to let her jerk me off.

When it was time for the first appointment with my GP, she insisted on driving me, and I realized that she seemed to have time on her hands despite Tuesday being a weekday.

“I take it you haven’t found a new job yet?” I asked her.

“No.” she sounded a little uncertain. “But I have to admit that I haven’t honestly looked into getting a new job. At least not since Thanksgiving. I was too occupied with the ... trouble at home.”

“Hm. Understandable.”

“And ... since I’m now looking after you, I thought ... I would at least wait until you can use your arm again before I start looking again.”

I had suspected as much. Though, it gave me an idea that would possibly help me accept her help.

“Well, when you’re taking care of me, how about I just pay you what I would otherwise pay for a day nurse?” I offered.

“Pay me?” She sounded confused at first, but then her voice shifted to a mixture of nervousness and embarrassment. “How much ... would that be?”

“I googled that yesterday. Lowest for the level of care I need right now would be somewhere around $420 a week. I obviously can’t afford that while paying the rent and everything else. So, if you would do it for half, while living with me for free...”

“Yes!” she quickly accepted after her eyes grew big towards the end of my offer. “Thank you, Honey!”

The eagerness in her voice surprised me. She must have had some money troubles. Well, I knew they had money troubles, but maybe they got even worse somehow. She was, after all, already living in my apartment for free, and before she moved herself into my apartment, she was living in John’s house for free, so it’s not like she was facing some kind of existential crisis. Though, who knows what Aaron had done to their bank account after his wife and daughter left him.

And then, from the very back of my head, another thought struck me. She didn’t even let me finish my offer after she heard that she would be living with me. Maybe that was the reason she accepted so eagerly. Not the money, but the assurance of being able to stay with me?

My thought process was interrupted when the examination started. Just like when I was stabbed, he didn’t let me wait long before calling me in. First thing he did was order some X-Rays. Then I went back to have my wounds examined. Claire kept to the background, in the very same pose she had used in the kitchen, causing the doctor to throw her a few irritated side glances. Though, when he started unpacking my wound and removed the gauze pad from my shoulder, she got her first actual look at the damage on my body, and gasped as a sad look overtook her face.

“Why are these wet, Mr. Brown?” the doctor asked in obvious displeasure. “I imagine you’ve been through this often enough to know that you shouldn’t shower with these kinds of wounds.”

The way he phrased it, it sounded like I constantly had some kind of deep wound on my body. Something Claire heard as well, as I could see another wave of sorrow wash over her face when I glanced over to her.

“Listen, Doc. I’ll have to pull down my pants to let you and at least one of your pretty nurses put their faces close to my junk, in order to have this leg examined. That is NOT going to happen unless I take a proper shower beforehand.”

His nurse giggled hearing my words, and the Doctor started to grin.

“Well, I guess you have enough experience to be careful. Make sure that no soap comes into direct contact with that bullet wound. That would be bad. And it would hurt!”

“Promised.” I answered, as he smeared some kind of iodine ointment on a thin gauze strip.

“Now, this might sting a little.”

“AHFFFUUUUuuuucckKKK!” I growled through my teeth when he suddenly started pushing the damn gauze strip into the hole in my leg, using a giant cotton swab to pack it.

Claire immediately was by my side. She seemed torn between wanting to hold my hand, and the urge to run away. She compromised by holding my hand, but kept her back turned to what the doctor was doing. I could be biased, but there was a lot of gauze going into my leg, and I failed to see why less of it wouldn’t work just as fine.

After that was done, he took a look at my shoulder and determined that I should return in two days’ time, so he could remove the multitude of stitches and go over the X-Rays with me. I had to blink a few small tears out of my eyes by the time he was done, but we managed to get me dressed and out of the building.

“Are you Okay, Honey? Do you need anything? Can I do anything?” Claire was almost frantic again.

“I’ll be fine, thanks. Let’s go home and pick up Ava.”

“What for?”

“Doesn’t she need any supplies for school? I know I do!”

I also needed some other things that I couldn’t ask them to get for me, so I needed her to drive me. But I also couldn’t get those things with either Claire or Ava looking over my shoulder, so I needed them occupied with their own shopping spree.

“Wait ... You...” She half turned back to the doctor’s office’s entrance, and finally realized that we simply left the building without stopping at the front desk. “He didn’t give you a sick note?!”

“Don’t need one. And even if I did...” I quickly added to stop her protest. “ ... I’ve been out of school for six weeks already. I kinda have to go back, or my attendance drops too low.”

“Are you su...”

“YES!”

I really didn’t mean to get loud, but after what just happened in there, I couldn’t help but be on edge. And having to constantly reassure her, which basically amounted to constantly arguing about what I needed and wanted, got me riled up. Once again, she hung her head and apologized in that submissive pose. I just rolled my eyes and got into the car.

Back in my apartment, I recovered some cash from mycloset while Claire was fetching Ava, and then returned to the living room to wait for them.

“We’re going shopping?” Ava asked, half suspicious and half hopeful.

“Yeah. Let’s get everything you need for school.”

“Everything? I might need a few clothes.” she carefully tested the waters.

“Sweetheart, don’t impose on your brother.” Claire abolished her.

“No, that’s fine.” I quickly interjected, thankful for Ava’s unknowing assistance in having them occupied while I did what needed to be done. “I’m pretty sure I got enough for the both of you to get whatever you need, and our school supplies.”

“Of course, Honey. I’m sorry.” Claire immediately confirmed.

“Alright, that’s it!” I snapped at her. “Why the fuck are you behaving like I bought you on an Ukranian website and you can’t file for naturalization yet?”

This took her aback.

“I ju ... just...” she threw a look at Ava. I couldn’t tell whether she was looking for words or support. Then she continued in a quiet voice. “I just don’t know what else to do to make you happy.”

And then it dawned on me. That must have been the conclusion they reached on the sofa, after I had crept back into my room.

“You want to make me happy by playing the ... what? Submissive slave?” I asked incredulously.

“No. More like ... devoted wife.” Ava clarified.

“Seriously?” I asked, and they both nodded. Apparently, my joke about buying her on an Ukrainian website wasn’t so far off. “Okay, listen. Dial down the servant act. While I’m hurt, I need a caregiver, not a damn slave.”

Both of their eyes widened immensely as they stared at me open mouthed. I think they had expected me to simply tell them off, instead of asking them for something else. And they especially didn’t expect me to ask Claire to be exactly what she wanted to be for me according to her letter.

Suddenly, a massive bright smile spread across their faces, and while Ava skipped to the door to hold it open for me, Claire rushed to my side to help me get outside and into the car.

The shopping in the Mall went off pretty smoothly. Once Claire and Ava were looking for clothes, I hobbled out of the door and visited every store I could find that sold paysafecards and VISA Gift Cards for cash. By the time the two women were done, I had bought ten cards, charged with one-hundred dollars each.

Back home, I immediately went to my computer and got to work. I had developed and published quite a few browser AddOns and Apps over the past few years, and had the option to place a “Support the Developer”-button on my profile pages. My plan was to use that button to transfer the cards I just bought to my PayPal account, and then transfer the funds from my PayPal account to my bank account.

This way, I could safely include that money in my tax forms, and didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to track that money’s origin. I had previously dismissed the idea, since it was unreasonably time-consuming in relation to how little money I could clean that way. There were also only so many stores I could buy the cards from before they would start to recognize and possibly report me, especially with all my current injuries. Crutches and bandages left very lasting impressions on peoples’ memories, since it’s relatively uncommon to see it on people. Also, PayPal and similar services have a history of closing people’s accounts down for suspicion of fraudulent activities, if the accounts fill up too quickly.

By the end of the week, my PayPal account would be a thousand dollars heavier. In addition to that, I could deposit eight-hundred dollars a month directly into my account without exceeding the ten-thousand dollar yearly limit. There was only one other problem I needed Claire’s help with before I could put any of it into my bank account, but we could address that later. I wasn’t sure how she would react with the way she had acted the past two days. At least, when dinnertime came around, I could already tell that she had taken my request to heart. She was less of a catalog wife, and more like ... a mother, really. I wasn’t opposed to that.

We followed a pretty set pattern for the following two days, with Claire helping me in the bathroom, Ava helping me when cleaning the apartment, and both of them helping me in the kitchen. Until my next visit to the doctor presented me with the next catastrophe. After he had repacked my leg, which I really didn’t think was necessary but got overruled, he removed the stitches from my shoulder. Then he cleared me to start physical therapy.

According to him, there was a recommended rest period for wounds depending on their severity, but the earlier I started PT, the more effective it would be. When I told him about the place the Millers had booked for me, he was very eager to send me on my way. Apparently, they really were the best, and he had quickly confirmed with them that I could show up for my first session.

In short, it was hell. The guy working with me was not only sickeningly upbeat and optimistic while he tortured me, he was also relentless. I’m not gonna lie, I had to unsuccessfully try and suppress more than one sound of agony when he made me leg press. It didn’t get better when he informed me that I was pressing all of twenty pounds. All the while, Claire was standing by the sideline, biting her nails.

By the time we were done, I was reduced to a panting mess that could barely find the strength to leave the room again. Claire had to support me most of the way back to the car and into the apartment.

“Holy!” I heard Ava’s gasp. “Why’s he pale like a ghost? What the hell happened!?”

“Don’t get me started!” Claire said, then heatedly let out a breath of air. “First the doctor digs around in his wounds, then the physical therapist makes him exercise the leg to exhaustion. Help me get him into his bed, Sweetheart.”

As soon as I was lying down, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of fading pain. I felt them relieve me of my shirt, pants, and socks, but couldn’t bother to complain or protest. Then something remarkable happened.

I felt Claire carefully lie down to my left, and push one arm under my head. Then I felt my face being gently cradled to her chest, as she dragged her fingernails through the short hair on my neck and softly hummed to me. This was unbelievably comforting. Just like two months earlier, that Mom-smell filled my nostrils again. That distinct smell of times past, when the world wasn’t such a scary place yet and my Mother would always comfort me. Without even realizing that I was doing it, I started rubbing my face against her supple, ample breasts, until she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her chest, revealing her bra-clad bosom to me.

Suddenly, I was rubbing my face against the bare skin above her bra cups. Her skin was warm and soft, her smell was more intense, and I buried my face in her malleable pillows.

“Is that Okay, Baby?” she whispered, and I just nodded.

Encouraged by my nod, the hand that wasn’t cradling my head to her bosom reached up. She pushed it into her bra to pull out her breast and adjusted it so her hard protruding nipple was poking against my lips. Like on instinct, I opened my mouth, closed my lips around the bumpy areola in front of me, and started sucking on it.

“Oooooh!” I heard Claire’s breathy whisper. “My good boy. Go ahead, suckle on Mommy. Let me nurse you.”

She let go of her breast, and placed the now free hand back in my neck to scratch the sensitive skin. Again I felt goosebumps spread across my whole body, and this time I was sure she could clearly see the effect it had on me. This time, we were in a much bigger bed, in a brightly lit room, where nothing obscured her view. I no longer cared. This was too good, and I was in no state to be embarrassed about her finding my sensitive spots.

I mean, how could I not enjoy this? I had trust issues. And abandonment issues. And Mommy issues, no question about those. But can you fucking blame me!? What she was doing in that exact moment addressed all of those issues, while also touching on all the insecurities and needs I had tried my best to keep suppressed for years! And I was too fucking exhausted to try and keep that up.

“I see you like sucking on Mommy’s breasts.”

I don’t know why, I just nodded again without letting go of her nipple. I started swirling my tongue around it as I continued to suck on it.

“Ava! Come over here.” Claire suddenly called out, and I soon heard Ava announce her presence. “Your brother needs your help with this, Sweetheart.”

I didn’t know what Claire meant by ‘this’, since I was completely absorbed in her soft breasts. But I felt the mattress shift when Ava lay down on top of my right leg. Going by the feeling of skin on my own skin, she was naked.

“Pull down his shorts. Carefully! Do not hurt your brother!” Claire’s voice was stern, demanding. Then it returned to the alluring soft whisper I loved so much. “Did my Baby Boy’s cock get hard for Mommy? Don’t you worry, Baby. Let Mommy and your Big Sister take care of the hurt. Just keep suckling on my boobies while we make you feel really good.”

And with that, I felt my shorts slide down my legs and past my feet, before Ava pressed her tight body against my skin. I could feel her smaller breasts press into my thigh, and my shin rub against her sex. Then I felt delicate fingers wrap themselves around my dick.

“Mhmmmm, Mom, he’s ROCK hard and pulsing!” Ava commented.

“Well, take care of him already. Show your brother how much you care for him.”

And as soon as Claire had finished her instructions, I felt a soft pair of plumb lips kiss the tip of my cock, before they parted and slid down my shaft. I felt the skin of my Cock being pulled into Ava’s warm mouth when she started sucking, while her lips slid up and down my length and her tongue massaged my crown. I could hear the soft moan escaping her throat while she pleasured me. The heavenly sensation after my prolonged abstinence caused me to involuntarily bite down on Claire’s nipple.

“Yes, Baby.” she giggled. “I remember you did that when you were a little boy, too! Bite Mommy’s nipples if you want to.” As she said that, she pressed my face into her tit with more force. “I’m sorry Mommy doesn’t have any milk for you. I hope you can enjoy sucking on them regardless.”

I didn’t last long. Within maybe two minutes of being totally absorbed in this soft, comforting, and loving embrace, while Ava sucked the life out of me, I started spurting into her mouth as violent spasms ran through my body. All of a sudden, I heard Ava gag and felt her pull her head back.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Claire proclaimed, and immediately I felt my dick slam into Ava’s throat as her face was smashed into my groin. Finally opening one eye, I could see that Claire had reached down to place a hand on the back of Ava’s head, forcefully pushing her down onto my pole. “Don’t you ruin your brother’s orgasm! Swallow all of it. Keep his Cock in your throat until he is done!”

She grabbed a handful of Ava’s hair, and pulled her head from side to side, rubbing her face into my groin and causing my dick to rub along the walls of her throat. Once again, seeing Ava being used to such a degree pressed one of my buttons. Especially since Claire was utterly dominating her, while she was acting like a caring and loving Mommy for me. I felt my orgasm reach a new high, and, while Ava’s face progressively reddened, I could hear her choke on the never ending stream of semen shooting out of me.

I would have been concerned for Ava if she hadn’t started fondling my balls as if to coax as much cum out of them as possible, and I could feel her literally dripping wet pussy rub against my leg.

After what felt like an eternity, the spasms eventually stopped and Claire allowed Ava to pull her head off my Cock. As soon as my cock vacated her throat, she immediately swallowed once loudly, then took a few deep quick breaths, and finally swallowed a few more times.

“Was that good, Baby? Did you enjoy your sister choking on your fat cock?” Claire cooed in a loving voice, and I nodded. “That’s good. Mommy wants her Baby Boy to be happy and to feel good. Your big sister is a submissive little cumslut, so you can use her however you want to get all this bottled up cum out of your system. She likes it that way.”

As if on cue, I felt Ava lean back down and start kissing all around my shaft.

“Oh my, Baby.” Claire said in surprise. “You’re not getting soft? Do you still have more for your sister?”

For the first time since all this started, I released Claire’s nipple to say something.

“It’s been a while since I had a chance to...” I let my voice trail off. For some weird reason I couldn’t immediately point out, using profanity in front of Claire felt wrong at that moment.

“How long, Baby? You can tell Mommy, don’t be embarrassed.” Claire asked in a concerned voice.

“25th.” I reluctantly admitted, and buried my head back in her naked breasts to feel her hard nipples rub over my face.

“25th? You mean... December 25th!?” Claire was shocked. I nodded and couldn’t resist the urge to resume sucking on her nippple. She reached down, grabbed my dick, and pushed it to the right. “Ava, lay your head sideways on your brother’s stomach, so you face this magnificent cock of his.”

“Yes!” Ava moaned eagerly and did as told.

“Get comfortable, because you will stay there and keep sucking him off until you completely emptied his balls. You will swallow everything he gives you, you understand?” I felt Ava nod against my stomach. “Good girl.”

While Claire resumed cradling my head, cooing softly into my ear, Ava grabbed my shaft with her own hand and started slowly rubbing it while suckling on my tip. Simultaneously, I could feel Ava starting to rub her naked pussy against my shin again.

“I’m sorry, Baby.” Claire cooed while one of her hands slid over my chest and down my stomach, before she started dragging her nails across my lower stomach and pubic bone in a big, continuous circle. “I would tell your sister to fuck you with her tight little pussy, but I’m scared it would put too much of a strain on your wounds. Enjoy this for as long as you need. Mommy and your Big Sister will work your cock until your balls are completely drained. Then you can sleep. We both love you.”

And they did just as Claire had promised.

After Ava had coaxed a second load out of me, and kept sucking and swallowing through my orgasm, it took her a moment to get me hard again while Claire continuously encouraged me to give my sister’s mouth more of the cum she craved so much. To my surprise, they eventually succeeded, and the whole thing started again. When Ava swallowed the third load without ever taking her lips off my cock, I was completely done. Despite both of their best efforts, I wouldn’t grow hard for a fourth run. I was utterly spent. But I was also completely relaxed and could only think about succumbing to my exhaustion.

All the pain in my body was gone! The pain in my leg and chest was gone, because I wasn’t straining my wounds while being comforted like this. The pain in my back was gone, that came from leaning on that damn crutch the whole day. And my muscle pain was gone, because this session had freed every muscle in my body of its tension. This was heaven. I was totally relaxed and, for the first time in years, felt like someone cared for me. I couldn’t express how thankful I was.

“Sleep, my Baby. Just close your eyes. Mommy will be here if you need anything.” I heard Claire’s soothing voice again.

Without even questioning what I was doing, I reached down with my left hand and cupped Ava’s face, which was still lying on my hip, suckling on the tip of my softened dick like it was a pacifier. I could hear Ava sigh in content over the unexpected affectionate contact. I just couldn’t help it after what they had just done for me.

“Thanks, Sis.” I mumbled my sleepy reply, and could hear both of them gasp. “Thanks, Mom.”

And then I was out.

Chapter 20

This was fucking bad! Very, very bad. I realized that it was bad the moment I woke up in the morning, wondering why I was naked, and the memories flooded back into my mind. I couldn’t believe that I allowed them to see me like that, no matter how exhausted or in how much pain I was. I was supposed to be used to that crap by now. And I thought I was beyond it.

Of course, Claire is my mother, and Ava is my sister. That’s just a biological fact I can’t change, no matter how much I thought about it since Ava’s sixteenth birthday. So What, if I called them ‘Mom’ and ‘Sis’? Those are just words to describe the familial relation we had to each other. It’s not like I dropped the L-bomb, THAT would have been a lie.

The problem was that, after I finally called them ‘Mom’ and ‘Sis’, the L-word was surely the next thing they expected to hear from me. This was a sign that their efforts were appreciated. And now look at what kind of situation we were in, that finally made me appreciate their efforts. Right after they had given me sexual relief.

They would think that the only reason I called them by those titles was because they got me off. Which it wasn’t! But if I went back to calling them by their names now, when we weren’t in bed, this would become the only possible conclusion. If I didn’t go back to using their names, however, they would still remember what it was that got me to this point. Either way, it was the wrong message I sent.

It really wasn’t like that. It wasn’t emptying my balls into Ava’s mouth that caused this change. Though, I wasn’t really prepared to have that discussion with them yet, so what the hell was I supposed to do now!? I had to keep calling them like I did last night. At least, that would give me some time to fix this, and maybe get this crap back on track.

I got up and slid across the mattress to sit on the edge of the bed, gathering my thoughts. Then I found my crutch, put on some shorts, got three hundred dollars in cash out of the safe, and hobbled into the living room where Claire was already busy preparing breakfast.

“Good Morning, Honey!” she smiled at me after I joined her at the stove. She leaned over and kissed my cheek, but then looked at me expectantly.

“Good Morning ... Mom.”

The way her smile turned into a beam of pure happiness told me everything I needed to know. She immediately helped me to the table, made me sit down, and continued her breakfast preparations.

Soon after, Ava sauntered into the room, dressed in nothing but her small black no-show thong and a fitting sports bra. She was incredibly attractive, and the sway of her hips told me that she knew it. She walked up to stand next to me, leaned down with her arms crossed behind her back, and also kissed my cheek.

“Good Morning, little Brother.” she whispered in my ear, giving me a perfect view of her shapely figure. The only reason I didn’t get turned on by it was the inner discussion about last night’s slip-up that still went on in my head.

“Good Morning, Sis.”

Just like Claire, she also developed a magnificent smile upon hearing me say it. She gave me a second kiss, this time on the lips, before sitting down opposing me. When Claire joined us at the table and everyone had a chance to eat something, I started on the day’s plan.

“So, what’s the chances for you and Aaron getting back together?” I asked, causing Claire to blink at me in confusion for a moment. Then she shared a look with Ava, collected herself, and sighed heavily.

“Until Monday, I would have said the chances are slim.” she reached over and took Ava’s hand. “He hurt your sister when he lied to her, and he’s shown little remorse even after we moved out. But now? After hiding from us that you were in the hospital after being shot, I feel ... I feel like I’ll have to make a decision between him and my children. That is not a competition he could hope to win.”

She looked at me with conviction, and I believed her.

“What about Logan?” I asked next, trying to keep my voice free of emotions and judgment, and saw both of them exchange looks. “He’s one of your children as well.”

“He’s a dick.” Ava suddenly huffed.

“Yeah, but to be fair, he’s been a dick for a while. It’s just the first time you were on the receiving end.” I reminded her.

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, since she squeezed her mother’s hand and looked at the table in regret after I said it.

“I’m sorry, Tim.” Ava’s voice was remorseful. “When he totally ignored me, like I wasn’t even worth his time if I wouldn’t let him fuck me however he wanted, I felt so ... unwanted. I cried, like, the whole weekend. I can’t even imagine how I must’ve made you feel over the years.”

I refrained from repeating the comment I made when John told me something similar. It wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“Appreciated, but not what I meant. The question is how Mom’s gonna deal with it.” I looked at Claire, waiting for an answer. I deliberately asked how ‘she’ is going to deal with it, not how ‘we’ are going to.

“I don’t know, Honey.” she sighed. “After we moved out, he came over the next day. He did apologize to your sister, saying that he didn’t mean to hurt her, that he simply didn’t realize what effect that could have on her. Then he offered to make it up to her ... but once he realized that none of us was in the mood to continue, he just left. He drove back to his college dorm. just ... I don’t know.”

I did not like the look she gave me. Like she was asking for my opinion. I wanted to know what they were thinking. Learn about their plans on how to turn this shitshow around, and gauge their resolve to follow through with it. If I were to give them my opinion on Logan, tell them how I wasn’t in the least surprised about him not staying to support and help them through this, they would know what I wanted to hear. The danger of that influencing their decision was too great.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t care what you do.” I clarified, and saw both of them flinch again. “Let me finish. I don’t care, because I wouldn’t be able to condone or condemn either decision you make. Aaron and Logan are both burned for me. I want nothing to do with them anymore. But that’s different for you.”

“How do you mean?” Ava asked carefully.

“I’ve dealt with their shit for years, and I’m no longer willing to tolerate either of them in my life. But that’s just me. For you, it’s new. I couldn’t really blame Mom for wanting to try and work on their marriage. They were happily married for over two decades! And, who knows, maybe what happened on Christmas is my fault. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have demanded they use a condom, and the whole debacle would’ve possibly never happened.”

Yes, it was a test. I just hoped they wouldn’t suspect as much, and sincerely think about their options before making a decision. I didn’t want them to say whatever they thought I wanted to hear, just to then turn around later and do what they actually wanted. So, I gave them an Out. The reasons I just listed were genuine points that would excuse getting back together with Aaron and Logan without having to fear my resentment.

“Can ... Can we think about it, Honey?” Claire asked.

“Sure. You should, to be honest.” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to keep my facial expression neutral so as to not give my true feelings away. “But while you think about it, I need you to drive me to the bank.”

“Why?”

“I need Aaron removed from my bank account.” I answered matter of fact.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Claire just commented with “Oh.”

When we had finished eating, I got up to hobble into my bedroom, I went into my closet, got a change of clothes, and then made my slow way into the bathroom. Though, instead of Claire, like I had expected, Ava showed up to help me.

After I overcame my initial surprise, I allowed her to help me. She must have talked with Claire about this, because she knew exactly what she had to do and how to do it without hurting me, never skipping a beat. When she had started soaping me up with the sponge, though, she broke the silence for the first time.

“I don’t need time to think about it.”

“Huh?”

“Whether I want to get Dad and Logan back. I don’t need time to think about it. I already told you that I’m yours. If anything, I’m even more sure of that than before Christmas.”

“Oh?” I felt my eyebrows rise. “And how did that happen?”

“Yes, little brother, I like to be used.” she said, and started soaping up my dick, which quickly hardened despite having a quite important discussion at the moment. Then she continued in a rather sultry voice. “What you saw Mom do to me last night, when she forced me to take your cock down my throat, completely ignoring my choking and gagging ... it was a lot more than what you did to me. But I love it that way with her.”

“Wouldn’t you be better off with more guys, then? Logan and Aaron could give you that.” I remarked, and she looked a little angry at that.

“No, they couldn’t. I love it when Mom does it to me, but that’s because I know that she’s also looking out for me. She would never allow anyone to really hurt me. And the same goes for you. Dad and Logan want to do it to me, you and Mom want to do it for me. I only managed to see that after I spent time with you. You knew that I’m submissive, and yet you were always holding back to make sure I’m enjoying it first. And I love you for that.”

Was that it? Was that the point where she expected me to say that I love her too?

“Okay. So, what do you want from me, then? Tell me.” By now she had dropped any pretense about cleaning my cock. She was simply jerking me off with a soapy sponge, so I had a little trouble articulating myself.

She got down to her knees and placed her mouth next to my ear.

“It wasn’t just Mom who wanted to be the devoted wife for you, Tim. I want to devote myself to you too. I want you to use me whenever and however you need. If you want me to stay naked in your home, only wearing high heels to be always sexy and accessible for you, I will. Or maybe you’d prefer thigh high stockings? A corset maybe? A permanent buttplug, so you can fuck my tiny little ass anytime, without much preparation? Or put a leash on me, I don’t care. I will do whatever it is you need. If you want me to spend the entire night with your cock in my mouth, and swallow your load every time the stimulation makes it hard, I will do it until my stomach is so full of your cum that I have to puke to make room for more.”

“Where the hell is that coming from!?” By now my eyes were huge. I was shocked. But also extremely turned on.

“I promised to be yours and yours alone. You showed me the difference between being used, and being used for fun. And then I go and give myself to someone else. Look how that turned out for me.” My eyes were closed as the pleasure got to me. “Yes, wouldn’t you like to have your sisterly cumslut as your personal fucktoy, little Brother? Please, please, accept me.”

And with that, she nibbled on my ear and her hand went into overdrive, jerking me off in long and quick strokes.

“I wasn’t planning on kicking you to the streets. But ... How much of a wife do you want to be?” I asked, trying to hold back my moans.

“If this is you asking if you can fuck Kathy, Mindy, and Laureen, I’m perfectly fine with it. But I will probably restrict myself to you. I know you would take good care of me. I think a man like you is rare.” Then she leaned forward again, and whispered in my ear. “My pills are in my bathroom, next to the sink.”

And with that, she leaned down and basically kissed the tip of my dick. Her lips parted just enough to barely encompass its opening, so when I started shooting, it went past her lips and filled her mouth. She moaned until my spasms subsided, then got up and opened her mouth to show me how much was in there. But she didn’t swallow. When she rinsed the soap off my body, she still didn’t swallow. While she dried me off and helped me get dressed, I could see her cheeks still puffed up and her jaw move, like she was savoring the taste. And when she finally walked out of the bathroom, she was still unwilling to free her mouth of its contents to comment on Claire’s curious look.

That was a side of my sister I had never seen or heard of before. But why did she point out where she kept her pills? Did she want me to know that she was still safe, or did she hope for me to reinstate the fantasy I had provided during her last stay in my apartment? She had to know this couldn’t work out, right? And she had to know me well enough by now to realize that I wasn’t looking for their devotion.

I shook my head. No use to speculate. I had stuff to do. When I got back into the living room, Claire was already waiting for me. She must have taken her own shower while Ava helped me.

In the bank, we quickly learned that removing Aaron from my bank account was harder than I thought. While Claire might be the one who opened the account with me, Aaron was still listed as the third co-holder with equal rights as Claire and me. So, as long as Claire couldn’t provide the bank with a court order regarding his loss of custody over me, he would retain that access.

“Fine. I’ll trust you.” I said, as Claire gave me an apologetic look, and turned to the clerk. “Let’s open a new account for me with only my mother as a joint holder, and then transfer the money from my current account into the new one.”

While the clerk got to work, Claire grabbed my hand and even interlaced her fingers with mine. I could see her bottom lip tremble a little as her eyes were getting glassy. I had not expected this to mean so much to her. Not wanting an embarrassing emotional scene in public, I chose to squeeze her hand in an attempt to calm her down, but that only made it worse, as she let out a short uncontrolled chuckle! So, next I tried to distract her.

“Maybe you should open an account for yourself while we’re already here?”

The clerk perked up while Claire blinked at me.

“Why?”

“Well, according to Steve Harvey, every couple should have at least four accounts. A shared household account for the bills, a shared savings account for vacations and unexpected expenses, and two individual accounts for the partners to do as they like, so they won’t have to justify or explain every little personal expenditure.” I explained, and she looked at me in a mixture of amusement and amazement. “I just spent a whole week watching Daytime TV in the hospital, what did you expect!?”

That made her laugh.

“Okay, but what would I put into that account? The joint account with your fa ... with Aaron is basically empty.”

Huh. Did she just consciously avoid calling him my father? That was a nice gesture!

“Ah.” I said, as the Clerk immediately lost interest in our conversation, and pulled out my cash to hand her three-hundred dollars.

“What’s that for!?” she sounded genuinely confused. And more importantly, she didn’t even once glance at the eight-hundred Dollars I was still holding. She was simply wondering why I gave her money.

“Have you forgotten already? Being my nurse? That’s for this week.”

“Oh. Yes. Of course I haven’t forgotten.”

She very obviously forgot about it. Completely. I had wondered if she accepted my offer to pay her so eagerly because she had money trouble, or because it would mean she could definitely stay in my apartment to take care of me. I guess I had my answer right then.

I gave the remaining cash to the clerk to put into my new account, and told him to transfer almost all of my money from my current account into the new one as well. With that, I had $2,600 in the bank, safely out of Aaron’s reach, and once I got back home and could transfer the money from my paypal account, I was definitely able to pay the bills on the first and wait until my salary would come around.

As soon as we were back in the car, Claire reached over and took my hand again.

“Honey, I ... I just want to thank you for giving me a chance. I promise I won’t disappoint you again! I love you very much!” she smiled, and then looked at me with that expectant look I was growing accustomed to.

“Sure.” I responded lightheartedly, emphasized by a nod, and could see from her wavering smile it was not what she had hoped to hear.

What did she expect? I acknowledged her status as my mother and gave her a chance to not immediately screw me over again. She should realize herself that, while this was a long way off from love, it was already a lot better than what she could have expected a month ago.

“Then ... Do you ... need anything else?” she asked, her tone was distinctly less happy.

“Lowes.”

“Lowes? What for?” she asked, but started the car and pulled out of the parking lot without delay.

“They have canes. I want to get rid of the crutch.”

“Doesn’t the crutch work better than a cane?”

“Don’t know about that, but in Dr. House, it looked easier to handle than a crutch. I’ll also look less like I’m a total invalid.”

That got a look from her. First it was disapproving, but quickly turned into pity.

“Honey, no offense, but you’re barely able to wash yourself right now. So...” she let her voice trail off.

“I said ‘less like a total invalid’, didn’t I?” I chuckled, and the topic was done.

While I entered the store, Claire opted to wait outside. I didn’t know why, but I suspected it was because she wanted to avoid the temptation to talk me into a more stylish crutch instead of a cane. I spent a good half hour there, accompanied by a quite eager sales clerk who appreciated my Dr. House reference much more than Claire had. Apparently I wasn’t the first one to ask.

When I came out of the store, Claire hastily ended a phone call.

“There you are. Honey, I’m sorry, but do you have anywhere else to go today?” she quickly asked, a little nervous.

“No, why? You got something planned?”

“No, no. Johnny needs me for something. Could we stop by his place before we go home? Unless you’re tired, of course. I could drop you off before I meet with him.”

I could clearly hear her voice shift halfway through. That offer to drop me off and then visit her brother without me was just an afterthought. She not only wanted me to accompany her for some reason, I was fairly certain that she wouldn’t have a reason to visit John at all if I wasn’t accompanying her. I managed to not let my suspicion show and agreed to go with her.

The reason became pretty clear shortly after we arrived. As soon as we stepped through the door, Claire vanished with John, while Danny offered to keep me company in their living room. Though, I refused to sit next to her on the sofa when she offered me the seat.

The last time I was in this house, we had discussed buying the foreclosure houses at the kitchen table. The last time I was in their living room, however, was Ava’s sixteenth birthday. When I saw Claire fuck her brother on that very sofa Danny was now sitting on, and later saw Maggie suck off her father on that same sofa. Looking for alternatives, images of Logan fucking Danny on the Loveseat popped into my memory. The only piece of furniture that didn’t spark memories of the discovery that started me on this journey, was the armchair, so that is where I sat while ignoring Danny’s curious look.

“So.” she said, and straightened herself out after moving seats to sit a little closer to me. “How are you?”

“Fine. How about you?”

“You sure you’re ‘fine’, Tim? I thought we were past you holding back.” she smiled.

Realizing she ignored my question to keep digging, I understood what she was doing.

“So it wasn’t John who Claire was on the phone with when I came out of the store, it was you.” I observed, and her smile vanished. “How about you get to the point and simply tell me what you need this time, instead of trying to sneakily coax information out of me?”

She shifted uncomfortably, and it wasn’t just because of my cold tone of voice. I instantly knew my assumption was correct. It was remarkable how often that happened whenever I simply assumed they were trying to deceive me in some way. Now I knew they needed something from me. I took a good look at the room and the connected doors, waiting for one of those to open and reveal some sort of surprise.

“I’m sorry. Old habits. I assure you we don’t plan on deceiving you or anything like that. I just thought it would be better to ease into the topic.” She sounded like she actually meant it, and I decided that there was no use in speculating. I would learn the truth one way or the other anyway.

“Alright. Then, why am I here?”

“I hear you called Claire ‘Mom’ again.” she smiled again, waiting for me to say ... something. When that didn’t happen, and I just looked at her waiting to continue, she did. “And yet, you still refuse to respond when they tell you that they love you.”

I looked at her in astonishment for a moment before I found my voice again.

“Refuse? Danny, I’m not punishing them.” I said matter of fact, and could see I had hit the nail on its head by the way she recoiled in surprise.

“You ... you’re not?” she sounded just as astonished as I had felt a few moments ago.

“No. Why would you even think that? Did it never occur to you that I’m not refusing to say it, but simply refuse to lie about it?”

“You mean...” Her eyes grew big. That was obviously not a possibility she had entertained so far.

“Yes. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear from me, but that’s how it is. And it’s been that way for a while.”

“A while...?” She was still shocked. She REALLY never thought it possible.

“I couldn’t tell you the exact time. But, somewhere around Ava’s seventeenth, when I had effectively moved in with Tess and my life was on that short-lived uptake, I ... kinda took stock of myself. And I realized that what I felt for you all was more akin to familial obligation than love. We just ... grew apart, I guess.”

“Tim, that doesn’t happen so fast.” she protested. Either she was drunk, on drugs, or in denial.

“Danny, just because you only learned about what was going on at Thanksgiving, doesn’t mean that it only went on since Thanksgiving.” I said sternly. “At fourteen, I was already reduced to the position of roommate. At fifteen, I had to get a job to support myself. At sixteen, we had reached the point where my birthdays didn’t register anymore and Claire didn’t know how to initiate a conversation with me. And now, at seventeen, I could only think about getting out of that house, while they didn’t even notice me being gone. Stop acting like it happened over night!”

“But ... we’re your family! You don’t just...”

“Yes, you ‘just’. You offer couples’ therapy, right? Tell me, why do long distance relationships fail so much?”

She looked at me for a moment thinking about it, then her expression darkened.

“Because distance breeds loneliness. It’s a gradual decline in intimacy, from the loss of trust to the loss of feeling loved. With the lack of physical and emotional support, it’s only a matter of time before people start looking for that support somewhere else, and their original partner gets slowly removed from their thoughts.” she answered quietly.

“Doesn’t that sound familiar?” I asked, with a single raised eyebrow.

“But that’s romantic love. That’s different.” she tried, and I could hear she wasn’t convinced herself.

“No, it’s not, and you know it. Affection is Affection. It’s the very same neurological process, with the very same chemicals involved. The difference between the love you may feel for a friend and the love you feel for your family, are familiarity and emotional intimacy. You grew up with these people, you know them better than anyone else in the world, and you know they got your back unconditionally. I may have grown up with you people, but my own mother couldn’t tell you what my favorite food is, and I certainly don’t expect any of you to have my back.”

She looked almost panicky when I finished.

“But, you are calling her ‘Mom’ again!”

And now she sounded panicky, as well.

“Yes.”

“If you don’t love her, why would you do that?” Her tone had moved on to urging. Why was she so desperate?

“That’s ... hard to explain.”

“Well, try me!”

I groaned. It actually wasn’t hard to explain, I just really didn’t want to.

“Did they tell you when I first called her that?” I asked, and she nodded. “Did you read the letter she wrote for me?”

“Yes. I read all her letters. The one you got wasn’t her first attempt.”

“Look,” I sighed. “spending New Year’s Eve all alone in a sterile hospital room was a rather sobering experience. So when I read her letter ... I decided to believe her. It didn’t really explain what I wanted to know, but what was in there made sense. So, I was inclined to give her a chance. That was the reason I allowed them to move in and risk letting them help me. And then they actually helped me. Claire actually behaved like I would expect from a mother. She really tries to take care of me.”

“But you still only said it out loud after they both went to bed with you.” she noted. “Why?”

“That’s ... I hadn’t received any love or emotional support from any of you for years. Like in your explanation just now, I had to move on and find it somewhere else. And then they move in and genuinely take care of me. They ... The whole thing last night was ... Being treated so tenderly, with love and care, while their sole concern was to make me feel better ... Of course that affected me.”

“I understand.” she simply nodded.

“And to top it off, I’ve been in constant physical pain since fucking Thanksgiving! In the past eight weeks, I was beaten, stabbed, shot, and had multiple bones broken! Just when my damn broken rib heals, I get a broken collarbone instead. I have a hole in my leg that hurts like hell, my chest hurts because I keep cramping whenever I unconsciously move my damn shoulder, and my back hurts from leaning on the fucking crutch the whole day.” I was now wildly gesturing around with my healthy hand while my voice heated up. “And then they do that to me, and all the pain is gone! Completely! My muscles relaxed, my back relaxed, nothing strained my wounds ... it was heaven!”

I had to calm down and collect my thoughts before I could continue.

“But the real deal wasn’t what they did, but what they didn’t do. I had my first P.T. session yesterday, and I was a mess afterwards. When they got me into bed, they had me at my absolutely fucking weakest and lowest. They could’ve used my condition to secure a roof over their heads, by telling me how I could have them every day if I let them stay. They could’ve used it to find out if I really burned all that stolen cash, by asking for the combination to my safe. Or they could’ve used it to get back at Aaron, by stopping what they were doing and refusing to continue until I called him. But they didn’t do anything like that. They really only cared about making me feel better because I was in pain. That’s what I want from my family. So, I acknowledged that they are my mother and sister. But I don’t fall in love from a blowjob.”

“So, when you told Claire in the bank that you trust her...” her voice trailed off, and her hand moved in a circular motion, encouraging me to complete her sentence.

“ ... I meant that, after I had risked letting them move in and they didn’t give me any reason to regret that decision yet, I’m now willing to risk trusting her with my bank account. As little as there is in it.” I said, not pointing out how this wasn’t really a new risk I was taking, since she had access to my old account as well. If I wasn’t so embarrassed about how much I already owed Bill, I’d have asked him instead of Claire.

“Little?” she perked up. “Didn’t you find the documents for the college fund attached to Claire’s letter?”

“I did. What of it? It’s nice to know that they don’t have to use my money again in half a year, but it’s not like Logan’s college will give me my money back so he can pay out of the fund instead.” I commented nonplussed.

“No, but...” Now she seemed just as confused as I was. “You can take your money back from the fund.”

I blinked at her. That was news to me.

“Danny, do you happen to have a copy of that document lying around? Because, as far as I remember, the beneficiaries of that fund were explicitly listed. My name wasn’t in that very short list.”

“WHAT!?” I suddenly heard John’s distant voice through the kitchen passthrough, and my and Danny’s heads snapped towards it.

Next, Danny’s head snapped back to me, regarding me with a nervous and embarrassed look while I glared daggers at her. So that was the reason for her panicky behavior and why she tried so urgently to get favorable statements about Claire out of me. She had her and John listening in on us.

“Not trying to deceive me, huh? Just making it seem like we’re having a private conversation, so I say shit you knew I wouldn’t say with her next to me. How about, next time, you try to parent-trap us to ‘sort out our differences’?” I said in a mocking voice.

That got to her. And, yes, I enjoyed it.

Suddenly the kitchen door opened when Claire and John stepped into the living room. Both of them looked just as embarrassed as Danny did, as they sat next to her on the sofa, though Claire looked as distraught as the day she left after handing me her letter.

“I’m sorry, Honey. I ju...”

“I don’t care.” I interrupted. “I really don’t. You needed answers and wanted a ‘Professional’ to lead the conversation.”

Danny saw me make air quotes around the word ‘Professional’, but refrained from voicing her disagreement. John did it for her.

“Tim, I know this looks bad, but we all really only had the best intentions!”

“You be quiet, please. You’re the reason we are in this situation in the first place.” I countered, and he recoiled in surprise like his wife did a few minutes earlier. “After you visited me on Christmas and told me what happened here, what did you tell Mom about my demands?”

He collected himself before he spoke.

“I told them that you were willing to try again, as long as she worked with Danny to make sure we all knew how we got to this point, and can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Uh-huh. What I actually told him,...” I explained, turning towards Claire and Danny. “ ... was that it pissed me off how Mom showed up at a worksite and put my job at risk by demanding yet another thing I do for her, while she was still unable to give me any reason for why I should even try. So, the next time she wanted to talk with me, I wanted to hear EXACTLY what happened for her to simply forget about having a third child.”

“Oh boy.” Danny sighed while Claire slumped in her seat. Only John looked from face to face, looking for an explanation.

“I wasn’t willing to try again, John. I wanted her to work with Danny, so she would realize why I had no reason to give her another chance.” I let that stand for a moment, to make sure it had the intended effect before I continued. “Of course, that’s obsolete now. If you hadn’t misunderstood, she wouldn’t have written that letter. Without the letter, I wouldn’t have allowed her into my apartment, and she would still be just Claire to me. So, there was progress.”

“So ... is there hope?” Claire was silently crying again, and yes, it got to me. But I had to be clear here.

“Look, Mom. You all don’t get to treat me like dead weight for half a decade, and then fix everything by acting like decent human beings for a week. I don’t know what it is you’re hoping to achieve here, but this is not going to go the way you apparently think it will. Let me be perfectly clear. I don’t need any of you. I might need help right now, but I don’t need your help. Since I saved their daughter’s life, the Millers have offered to hire a housekeeper for me, to take care of all the cooking and cleaning. And you saw that I can very well take care of bathroom duty myself. It might not be pleasant, but it’s possible.”

“I understand.” Claire sniffled, but I was relentless. She needed to know where she stood.

“I might acknowledge that you are my mother, but it’s gonna take a long time before I’ll see you as my mother. That is also the reason why I insisted on paying you as much as I can. It makes it easier for me to accept your help. It also gives you some form of limited independence from Aaron, so you can make up your mind about your marriage without having to worry about immediate money issues.”

“Wait. Make up her mind about Aaron!?” John asked, irritated. He was obviously not in favor of the two of them getting back together.

“I asked her this morning about the chances of the two of them reconciling, and she wasn’t certain. She needs time to think about it, and I understand that. I also told her that Aaron and Logan are dead to me, and that I want nothing to do with them ever again. But I do understand that Mom spent half her life happily married to the guy, and that Logan is her son, so I could never blame her for wanting to work on those relationships. There’s a real possibility that your whole family would still be happy if I hadn’t rattled the cage with Ava.”

“You rattled the cage!? Is that how you see it?” Danny asked in a concerned voice.

“Danny, you all were happy as long as I wasn’t around! No matter what you’re telling me now, you were! Up until her parents pressured her into fixing our relationship, and I made Ava demand the use of condoms, none of you ever saw an issue with anything that happened here. That’s not an accusation, that’s just me stating a fact. Mom needs to make up her mind. If she chooses to go back to her happy family life, with her parents, her husband, and two of her children, we can all go our separate ways and chase our own happiness.”

“But I don’t want to abandon you again!” Claire protested in tears.

“BUT!” I raised my hand to signal her to wait until I finished. “If you choose to try and possibly fix our relationship, that will cost you your husband, your first born son, and possibly your parents. You can not work on our relationship without acknowledging what they did and act accordingly.”

“Tim!” Danny called out in shock, and I looked at her annoyed.

“What, you don’t agree? Let’s look at this logically. Remember what I told you all the day after Ava’s birthday. ‘A change like that doesn’t just fall out of the fucking sky’. It took them watching me getting stabbed in an attempt to protect you, for you to finally think that I may be worth their attention. Don’t even try to deny it, Danielle!” I quickly said, seeing her opening her mouth. “You made an effort long before that, I’m not claiming you didn’t. But you know damn well that it was THAT day things started to change for them.”

“Fine. I admit you are right.” she begrudgingly mumbled.

“Thank you. Now, it was Ava who made me the laughing stock at school, but after she witnessed me getting stabbed, she’s already started to stand up to her friends, defending me and working to correct the damage she caused. But what did Logan do? When I was then trying to protect all of us from his bookie, he stole the evidence I gathered and screwed it up because he couldn’t stand seeing you care for me. Your reaction to his behavior was to reward him for it with a foursome. And where is he now? He left you as soon as he realized that he wouldn’t get any more pussy from you. His school doesn’t start for another week or so, he has no goddamn reason to move back into his dorm and leave Mom with this shit alone!”

Claire looked at me in shock, but I could see the wheels turning in her head as she went over what happened during the past seven weeks. This is exactly what I didn’t want to do. I wanted Claire to make up her own damn mind, without me having to point all this shit out to her! At this point, Danielle just pissed me off for forcing this situation. But now I had to continue to make them stop pulling shit like this.

“And where’s Aaron?” I pressed on. “He saw everything you saw, he heard everything you heard, but did he ever do anything to fix our relationship? No, instead he now blames me for taking his daughter away from him. Think about it. He resents me so much for making his daughter demand the use of condoms, he wouldn’t even tell you that I was shot and in the ICU! Why wouldn’t he want anyone to know that I was in the hospital? What would’ve happened after you heard about my hospitalization, that he could possibly have a problem with?”

I sat there looking at them, but especially at Claire, who was now visibly pale.

“I ... would’ve run to the hospital ... and Ava would’ve as well.” she whispered, barely loud enough for any of us to hear. I nodded.

“He would’ve rather let me die alone, than risk you running to me.” I confirmed in a grave voice. “Now comes the hard part. If, after everything that happened to me, and after everything I did for you all, he’s still so against me being part of this family, what do you think you’d have to do if you wanted him back?”

It wasn’t just Claire’s, but all three pairs of eyes locked on to me, that grew wide as they realized what all that meant. So, I pressed on.

“Same thing for Logan. He claimed things would change when you all sat right next to him, but what did he then actually do? Now that he left to get his rocks off elsewhere despite knowing full well how much you could need his support at the moment, what would you need to do if you wanted him to stay?”

Now their expressions soured. But they knew I was right. Logan had absolutely no reason to not be with his family at that moment. And there was certainly nothing important enough to simply abandon his distraught mother, or to not check on his recently shot little brother, if he actually cared for either of us.

“Getting either of them back into your life, and being part of my life, are mutually exclusive concepts.” I continued. “They don’t want to share you or Ava, and they don’t want me back in their lives. So, you have to make a decision for yourself.”

All of them sat there shell shocked. They never thought we had reached that point, but that was their own fault. I didn’t raise Logan to be a pampered child who never had to fear the consequences of his actions, they did. I also didn’t marry a man who would cast out one of his children simply to maintain the female-to-male ratio in his secret incest orgies.

But Claire knew exactly where we stood now. She had the happy life with two of her kids, a husband, and her parents on one side, and the long hard road to redemption without her husband or parents on the other. Either way, in the end she would most likely lose either Logan or me. I had given her every incentive I could think of to take the easy road.

Well, I could think of one more incentive, actually. After what I heard Claire and Ava talk about when I found them on the couch in my living room, and after what I read in her letter, I knew she was concerned about my love life. She felt responsible for me being unable to move on from Tess, because none of them was there to help me properly grief. I would have to show her that this wasn’t the case. Only then could she truly decide what she wanted for herself, without being influenced by fearing the consequences of leaving me behind.

“And what about your sister?” Danny asked. “She is planning to completely devote herself to you, you know?”

“Yes, she told me something along those lines. She’s in for a surprise of her own. This morning, in the bathroom, she showed me a side of herself I never knew existed. I have to admit, if that’s how she normally acted at home, I can somehow understand how Aaron and Logan were tempted to let it escalate. She knows exactly how to press someone’s buttons. But then again, maybe she wouldn’t be that way if Aaron and Logan hadn’t escalated it.” I shook my head. “Anyway, she seems to think we’re gonna pick up right where we left off before Christmas, and I’d take care of her sexdrive. That’s not gonna happen.”

I heard John clear his throat. Whether it was about my declaration of not fucking Ava, or because he also felt the temptation to use Ava beyond her safe boundaries, I couldn’t tell.

“Uh ... Why not? You don’t ... want to?” he carefully asked.

“Dude, look at me. Did you listen when I talked about being in constant pain? It’s gonna be another four whooping weeks before it’s safe to take that sling off. And even if my healing comes along so smoothly that they can stop packing my leg in a week or two, it’s gonna be a while longer before I can walk or even stand without a cane. How many positions do you know that have no risk of a body part slamming against your thigh, chest, or shoulder?”

“Oh.” he commented. “Wow, that sucks.”

“Yeah. That’s what sucks about all of this.” I commented with very audible sarcasm, seeing Danny throw her husband a withering look as I got out of the armchair. “I think we covered everything. Take your time to talk it through. I’m gonna call an Uber to get home.”

And with that, I left them behind in their stunned silence and pulled out my phone to order a ride home. Halfway there, I decided to check in with Mia. It had been almost two weeks since she proposed our ‘Let’s see where it takes us’ relationship, and I thought that was enough time for her to make sure she actually wanted it.

“Hey.” I greeted her after she picked up the call.

“Tim? Everything alright?”

“Yes, why?”

“You said you’d call if you needed anything. I was a little worried that I hadn’t heard anything from you for so long. And a little insulted.” she chuckled. It made me smile.

“Sorry about that. Ava and my mother moved themselves into my apartment to look after me. So, I was alright. Don’t know how long they’ll stay, though.”

“Oh? That’s ... nice of them.” I could hear a slight tone of irritation in her voice.

“So ... I’m calling because ... how are you?”

Why was this so hard!? Oh, right, because I never asked a girl out before! Mia seemed to pick up on my blundering attempt. There was a moment of silence on the other end.

“What?”

“I kinda wanted to hear how you are.”

“Really?” Now she sounded amused. “Interesting.”

“Why is it interesting?”

“Well, it kinda sounds like you’re missing me.” She spoke like she was sharing a secret.

“Mhm. What if I am?”

“I’ll be over in an hour!” she said excitedly, and the line abruptly went dead before I had the chance to say anything.

About fifteen minutes later I got an unexpected text from Nora.

“Just be honest with her. No matter what she asks”

I furrowed my brows for a moment, but quickly made up my mind. If she wanted to go into details, she would have done so with her first message.

“Okay. No matter what, I’ll be honest. Has she eaten already?”

“No. Though I’m sure that topic will come up anyway, Lover.” Followed by a devils emoji.

And my brows furrowed again. But, again, I decided to simply see what would happen.

Back in my apartment, I found Ava sitting on the couch.

“So...” I started, a little awkwardly. “I kinda have someone come over. Wanna make some snacks together?”

That made her perk up in obvious interest.

“Who’s coming over?” she asked as she got off the couch.

“Mia.” I avoided looking at her, and could feel my neck get warm.

“Oh. That makes sense.” She said it so matter of fact, like it was the obvious conclusion, that it gave me pause.

“It does?”

“Of course. You saved her life! I would be surprised if she wouldn’t want to ... thank you.” she grinned, as we got to work.

I decided on making some Bruschetta and had Ava start on removing the seeds and watery insides from the tomatoes, while I gathered the spices and herbs.

“So, where’s Mom?” she asked casually.

“Still with John and Danny at their house. I’m not sure when she’ll be back.”

“Did something happen?” she asked, obviously concerned, and her hands stopped moving.

“Not exactly. We had to clear the air, and now she has to make a decision. You do too, for that matter.”

“I do?” Now she sounded even more concerned.

“When you said that you wanted to devote yourself to me ... I admit, it was hot as fuck.” She showed me a mischievous grin upon hearing that. “But you need to understand that I won’t be able to do much for the next four weeks. That’s when I’ll probably be able to move my arm again without cramping up in pain.”

“Oh!” her eyes got big.

“The leg could take even longer. And...” I sighed. “If Mia and I ... Right now, we only want to see where it takes us. We won’t be a couple or even exclusive. But if we find ourselves heading for exclusivity, I will honor that.”

She thought about it for a moment, and then surprised me tremendously.

“Tim, I don’t need you to fuck me to get off. There is a lot more we could do that I would enjoy. I meant it when I said that I’m submissive. If you wanted to edge me for the next four weeks while making me suck you off five times a day, it would only make me hornier. And about you honoring a commitment you make...” she paused to make sure she had my full attention before she continued. “ ... that is exactly the reason why I chose you over Dad and Logan. My decision stands. I’m actually very happy that you think about dating someone again.”

I blinked at her as she gave me a genuine smile. I had SO not expected that. But it made me immediately look at her differently. I nodded and we continued on our task. About ten minutes before Mia’s arrival, Ava made herself scarce, though she wouldn’t leave without wishing me good luck.

About half a minute after she had closed the door to her bedroom, I could faintly hear her talking on the phone. I knew, now I had really given Claire every incentive I could think of.

Only a few minutes after Ava had withdrawn into her room, I heard the bell on the gate ring and saw Mia’s car on the monitor. I let her into the apartment and she wasted no time. I immediately had her lips pressed onto mine, and found myself enjoying this more than I would have expected.

“Just in case it wasn’t clear, I missed you too.” she smiled after breaking our kiss. “And no, I did not change my mind over the last two weeks.”

I leaned in and gave her another kiss. I just couldn’t help it, but the contented sigh she produced as a result of my action made it even better.

“Have you eaten yet?” I asked, and she shook her head. “Nice.”

I led her into the kitchen where she placed the mouth-sized pieces of roasted bread on a plate, and then we moved into my bedroom where we lay on the bed facing the TV to watch some shows on Netflix.

“These are fucking awesome!” she proclaimed after tasting her first bite of Bruschetta.

“I thought, if you were hungry, we could order a pizza or something. That would go well with it.”

“You know, in the hospital, I said I wasn’t planning our wedding. But maybe I should rethink that.” she laughed.

“Wow. Talk about being easy.” I laughed, to which she slapped me on my healthy leg.

“Now that I think about it, I AM lying on the bed of the guy I have the hots for, even though he still has pictures of his ex-girlfriend on the wall.” she said in a taunting voice, but quickly noticed the change in my expression and got a little insecure about it. “What?”

“About Tess ... she ... didn’t really move away.” I said, and she immediately increased the distance between us before looking at me with accusation in her eyes.

“Are you telling me she’s still around, or that she’s still... around-around? Like, as your girlfriend, around.”

“No!” I quickly tried to clarify. “Nothing like that. I wouldn’t do that! The truth is, she ... didn’t just move away. We also never broke up. She died in September. That’s why I have ... trouble taking her pictures down.”

I held my breath, waiting for her to say something. I was fully aware that probably no girl likes to hear that the guy she was making a move on was still hung up on another girl. Dead or alive.

“Oh. Oh, shit!” she breathed out as she fully realized what I just told her. “That ... I’m so sorry.”

I nodded, still unsure what to reply whenever I received condolences over Tess.

“Look, the thing is ... since she died, I ... didn’t really think about getting into another relationship. But, that thing you offered, about us seeing where it leads us. I would ... like that.”

Her eyes grew big when I finished speaking, and a brilliant smile spread on her face.

“Say, Tim, is there any way for me to cuddle up to you without you screaming in pain?” she asked, still grinning.

“Uh ... yeah, sure. The leg is actually fine, most of the time. Weirdly enough, pressure doesn’t really hurt that much, as long as I don’t use the muscles in the thigh. It’s the collarbone that’s really annoying me, actually.”

She immediately crawled over to my left side, pushed herself under my arm to wrap it around herself, and then carefully pushed her leg onto mine, attentively watching me for any sign of displeasure that I was sure as hell not going to give her. When she had reached a position she liked, with her basically lying on my left side, she kissed me again.

“Well ... I don’t think I ever got a compliment like that. So, I’m the gal that might be able to cure grief. God, I’m awesome!” she said in obviously overplayed smug self-satisfaction that made me laugh.

“Possibly, yes.” I said, and kissed her again.

We spent the following hour watching our shows, before I noticed how high her thigh had ridden on my leg. She was now lightly rubbing it against my groin, and I felt my dick harden. I think she felt it too, because she immediately looked at me with a sultry grin, and we engaged in a passionate kiss as the pressure of her leg on my engorged member increased.

“You know,” she said through her ragged breath. “I still owe you from the Dare, don’t I?”

“Are you sure?”

“Damn, yes, I’m sure! I want you, Tim! But...” she glanced at my sling. “How?”

“Can you promise you won’t lean on my chest?” Her eyes showed doubt, which meant that, with my leg exploding in pain every time I tried to use the muscles in my thigh, basically all the positions for penetrative sex I knew were out of the question. “Alright. How about we repeat the dare with a little alteration?”

She liked that idea. Her clothes were gone faster than I could blink, and I marveled in her beauty.

“Damn! You really are beautiful, Mia.”

There it was again. That marvelous smile before she started pulling on my sweatpants and my dick sprang right at her face.

“Damn! So are you, Stud. And not as small as I was made to believe!” she exclaimed happily.

“Now, how about you swing your leg over me, so I can get to work, hmm?”

I did not have to tell her twice! We actually found a position that worked with my injuries. I was lying on my back, with my head propped up on a pillow. When she threw her leg over my torso, she automatically presented me with a perfect view of her already glistening pussylips before she slowly slid backwards. With her body scooted back until her knees were next to my shoulders, all she had to do was lean back a little and she would be smothering me with her folds. I felt my dick jump a little before she grabbed it as she giggled.

“Let’s see who is better, shall we, Stud?”

And with that, she lowered her head onto my cock while simultaneously leaning her ass back. I absolutely feasted on her. First I tried dragging my tongue over her labia, and already heard her moan. Then I started nibbling and licking her inner lips, and that seemed to do the trick. She was so occupied with moaning, she had trouble keeping my dick in her mouth.

I remembered my discovery from the day we got together in her home, and slowly dragged my hand up her thigh, squeezed her asscheek on the way, and finally slid it underneath her. I let my nails slowly drag over her pelvis as I started nibbling on her clit, and that provoked an unbelievably cute squeaking noise out of her. Finally, I let my hand slide down her pelvis until my fingertips were close to my mouth, removed my lips from her clit, and massaged it with my fingers instead. The way she wiggled her butt in my face told me that she enjoyed a little teasing. But I wasn’t planning on teasing her for too long.

I removed my hand from her clit, slid it over her ass to reach for her dripping opening, and pushed two fingers inside it. She moaned loudly before her mouth threatened to rip the skin off my dick. I turned my hand so my palm would point down. Then I shoved my two fingers as deep into her as possible, and she let out a lustful scream around my cock. That morphed into a symphony of moaning when I moved my fingers in a scissor motion inside her while kissing her inner thighs.

I had one big advantage over her. Whenever the excitement got to me and I was dangerously close to cumming, I could just flex my shoulder. The pain that shot through me was just enough to basically reset my lust. I could go on like this for hours! She, on the other hand, couldn’t, as she quickly announced.

“Oh GAAAWD, YES! KEEP THAT UP! Fuck me with your fingers, you STUD! Yes, YES, YESYESYESYEEEEESSSSSS!”

And she flooded my face and chest in her juices. But I didn’t stop. As soon as she erupted in that orgasm, I pulled my fingers back a little, found that bean shaped bump again, and massaged it as strongly as I could.

“OH! OOOOOOH GAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAWD I’M STILL COOOOMMMIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!”

Her entire body was convulsing so strongly that I had trouble keeping my fingers on that spot. I kept tormenting her for another minute before easing up and letting her calm down a little. But this wouldn’t be half as fun if I stopped now.

When she had calmed down enough to register my hard swollen pole in front of her face again and resumed her sucking, I went back in as well. This time, however, I also closed my lips around her clit and sucked on that just as hard as she was sucking on me.

She continuously moaned around my cock, never losing her eagerness, until she erupted in yet another screaming orgasm with a sound so high pitched, I was sure my windows would burst.

“OH MygoooOOOODDDD YEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”

Then she simply collapsed forward, her arms listless at her sides, my cock still in her mouth. Then her lower body collapsed and now literally smothered me with her drenched pussy folds. Luckily for me, her 110 pound frame didn’t put too much pressure on my chest, and I could easily push her down a little.

I let her lie on top of me for about three minutes, all the while gently kissing and nibbling on her inner lips and savoring her taste, until she stirred again. To my surprise, she got off me to lie down in between my legs, and started vigorously jerking me off.

“I want you to come all over me! Go on, Stud! Cover me in your cum! Do it! I want it! Now!”

And as if my body was just waiting for her command, I literally exploded! I wasn’t sure if it was because I stopped my orgasm multiple times before and it somehow accumulated, but I don’t think I ever shot that much cum. A seemingly never ending stream, one massive jet after the other painting her face and tits. The problem was, she didn’t stop jerking me off! She never even slowed down! Instead, after I had stopped shooting my cum and it started only running out of me, she used it as additional lubrication and concentrated her efforts on my crown, massaging it in rapid circular movements with one hand while the other furiously jerked up and down my shaft, accentuated by loud wet sounds.

“You like that, Stud? I won’t let this end for you as easily after you forced me through three massive orgasms! Feel that!”

She knew exactly what she was doing. My tip had grown so extremely sensitive that it almost hurt, but at the same time, it simply felt heavenly. It was like one massively drawn out orgasm that simply wouldn’t stop as long as she didn’t stop the intense stimulation. Sadly, after merely ten seconds the feeling got so intense that I could no longer lie still, and she had to stop as to not let me strain my wounds.

I lay on my bed, panting, sweating, and unable to form words. Instead, I just grabbed her by the throat, pulled her face to mine, and kissed her. Not giving the slightest of shits about her face being literally covered in my cum. She eagerly returned my kiss by pushing her tongue into my mouth, and we enjoyed our mutual post orgasmic closeness.

Another minute later, we both just dropped to the mattress and refused to move.

“That. Was. FUCKING AWESOME!” she suddenly shouted, and I laughed. “GOD! To think I made fun of you in the past! What a fucking idiot I was!”

I couldn’t help it, I felt good about what she just said.

“No hard feelings. You, my dear not-yet-girlfriend, have quite a few tricks up your sleeve as well. Iknew girls can be multiorgasmic, but I never heard about extending a man’s orgasm!”

“Well...” she seemed a little shy all of a sudden. “That’s not ... exactly ... what that was.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was planning on a little payback, actually. I never came so hard in my life, Tim. And you didn’t stop. You just kept me going the whole time. Normally, when you do that to a man, it gets more and more intense, until they can’t bear it anymore. Just like for me. But I decided to have mercy on you. I didn’t want to really hurt you.”

“Really?” I asked in wonder.

“Yeah. It’s called ‘post orgasm torture’. Look it up.” she smiled happily. A sight that should NOT accompany the word ‘torture’. “So ... where’s Ava and your Mom?”

“Uh ... I think Ava is in her room, and the mother is visiting her brother. No idea when she’ll be back.”

“Thank god! Then only Ava heard us.” she giggled, but then turned serious disturbingly quickly. “Alright! Truth or Dare?”

“What?” I laughed at her sudden change of topic.

“You said we’d continue the Dare ... with slight alterations. We finished the Dare. Now we continue the game. So, choose. Truth or Dare.”

“Well, I don’t think I’ve got another Dare in me for a few minutes, so Truth.”

“Did you have sex with my mother?”

Her face was perfectly neutral. There was absolutely no emotion to be found anywhere. After I quickly suppressed the early onset of a minor panic attack, and my brain started working again, I remembered Nora’s textmessage.

“Yes.” I reluctantly said. To my great surprise, Mia simply stared at me expectantly. “Uh ... Truth or Dare?”

“Truth” she grinned. I calmed down significantly.

“How’d you know?”

“Mom and I talk about everything. And I mean everything!”

“Oh shit!”

“No, that would’ve become relevant if you’d tried lying to me.” she laughed.

“How long have you known!?”

“She told me last Monday, after we got you home.” She shrugged her shoulders, like it was no big deal. “After she heard our discussion in the hospital, she understood that I was serious about you. So, she wanted me to know beforehand, instead of it coming out accidentally when we are an official couple and the reveal screws things up. And before you ask, no, she didn’t even offer me one of your special glaze pastries. They kept them all to themselves. She just wanted to see your ... reaction.”

“Well ... okay. So it’s safe to assume you’re not going to kill me for it?” I asked very carefully.

“No. I can understand why you’re reluctant to get into a relationship again. And, while I will stake my claim on you, as long as we’re not official or exclusive, I won’t make a drama of it. And, anyway, if Dad can have a lover, Mom deserves a good one too!”

I could just blink at her after that. It seemed to amuse her. Finally, we decided to order pizza, not forgetting about Ava, then went back into my bedroom where she cuddled up to me under the covers. There was no more discussion. We simply enjoyed each other’s company while watching our show until we fell asleep.

At that moment, I was pretty sure I could be happy with this girl.

Chapter 21

Waking up next to Mia was ... different. When she was awake, she always had that distinct air of dominance around her. She was the Go-Getter type and I couldn’t dispute her having quite a few distinct character traits she shared with her mother in that regard.

But when I watched her sleeping next to me, she was simply cute. She had curled up into my side, in an almost fetal position with one of her hands holding on to my shirt, and her face buried into the side of my chest. When I placed my hand on her curved back, she let out a sleepy, unintelligible mumble in a high girly voice, asking me for five more minutes of sleep. Hearing it, my mouth stretched into a wide smile before I simply watched her sleep for another minute...

I leaned down while suppressing the pained groan to not disturb her too much, kissed the top of her head, and carefully extracted myself from the bed to visit the bathroom. The cane actually was a lot easier to handle than the crutch, though Claire was still right, as it didn’t give me quite as much support as the crutch.

Entering the living room, something felt off. It took me a moment to realize that I had grown accustomed to finding Claire already up and about when I got out of bed, but this morning the whole apartment was quiet. When I checked the guest room, I found Ava in bed. Just Ava. And there also were no sounds coming from their bathroom. It seemed like Claire never made it back from John’s.

A little worried, I grabbed my phone.

“Yes?” I heard Danny’s tired voice.

“Hey, it’s me. Is Mom still with you? She didn’t come home.”

There was a moment of silence before Danny answered, which made me nervous.

“Yes. She’s still here. She needs a little more time.”

“Oh, alright. Then I can stop worrying. Sorry for calling so early.” I apologized, and tried to end the call when I heard Danny call out to me.

“WAIT! Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“That you were worrying when you noticed that she never made it home.”

“Of course I did. Why would you think I wouldn’t be worried!?” I felt a little offended.

“Well, after yesterday... ”

“For fuck’s sake, Danny! I took on three armed men to protect the woman after she did nothing to earn it for years. You think now, after she started caring for me, I somehow wouldn’t give a shit if she went missing!? I said that we grew apart, not that I no longer cared, and certainly not that I wished she’d vanish.”

“Oh. OH!” She didn’t sound happy, or shocked, or surprised. It sounded like she realized something or had an idea. That was weird. “Alright. Thank you, Tim. I don’t know how long she’ll stay, but she’s safe.”

“Okay. Then ... Bye.” I ended this more than a little weird call and moved into the kitchen to start on breakfast.

When I had finished preparing the waffle batter, I didn’t want to disturb either of the girls in their slumber. While I might have been used to getting up in the early hours, they weren’t. And it was a Saturday, after all. So, as quietly as I could, I went into my bedroom to get a change of clothes and then took care of my morning routine myself. Surprisingly, I felt myself missing Claire’s help. It was surprising because I still remembered vividly how I felt about her seeing me so weak just a week ago. And now I was catching myself thinking how nice it would be to have her scrub me down.

After my morning rituals, I plunged down on the couch exhausted and started watching TV on low volume. Apparently the TV was still too loud, since, not even two minutes after I sat down, my bedroom door opened and a half sleeping MIa walked out. Dressed in only her panties and one of my T-Shirts, she trudged over to me, plunged herself on the couch to my left, and cuddled up into me. She didn’t even say anything before she rubbed her face against my shoulder, got comfortable, and closed her eyes as if to keep sleeping.

I wasn’t exactly against this. Quite the opposite. Seeing how much she enjoyed this physical closeness between us made me happy. It did get a little weird though, when, another minute later, Ava’s door opened and she basically repeated Mia’s actions. She also walked out of her room dressed in nothing but her panties and one of my shirts, before plunging herself onto the couch on my right. Ava, however, thankfully avoided cuddling up into my side. Instead, she lied down and placed her head on my healthy thigh.

Mia spontaneously woke up completely and looked at us with a peculiar expression, when Ava suddenly spoke in a sleepy voice.

“Don’t look so surprised. He saved me too, you know?”

“Oh.” Mia responded instantly as if what Ava just said made any sense, before her face took on a thoughtful look for all of ten seconds, she shrugged her shoulders, and then cuddled back into me again.

I sat there for about a minute trying to figure out what they had just talked about, waiting for them to say anything further that would make sense to me, but they seemed to be content with this situation.

“Okay, does anyone want to enlighten me?” I finally asked.

“You’re cute when you’re slow, little brother.” Ava mumbled, Mia chuckled, and then they went back to being silent.

I shook my head and decided to resume watching TV while attempting to move as little as possible to not disturb them in their slumber. After about half an hour, though, Mia started stirring.

“I hate to say it, but I’m kinda getting hungry.” she said in an annoyed tone.

“I have the waffle batter ready in the kitchen. If you want, I can get the iron out.”

“Waffles!” Ava suddenly shouted and jumped off my lap. “Are they as good as your pancakes?”

“It’s hard to screw up waffle batter.” I shrugged my shoulders, inwardly grinning because I knew that Claire only made regular Waffles.

“So...” Ava started while plugging in the waffle iron. “ ... where’s Mom?”

“John’s.”

“She Okay?” she probed casually.

“Yup. I’ve talked to Danny shortly before you got up.”

“When’s she coming back?”

“No idea.”

“Oh.”

Mia followed our exchange quietly sitting at the dining table, while her eyes jumped between me and my sister like she was watching a tennis match. I think she drew her own conclusions, given how much she already knew about my family life, but refrained from commenting until the food was ready.

“You know, I think I really need to rethink that whole marriage thing. They taste way better than regular waffles.” she said, earning herself an eager nod from Ava.

“They’re buttermilk waffles. I like the taste better.” I explained matter of fact. “So, want to tell me now what that exchange between the two of you was about?”

That caused them to exchange a quick look before Mia acted a little shy as she spoke up.

“Well ... remember the idea I had about how I could get Dad to ... help us spend more time together?”

I had to think for a moment before the conversation came back to me.

“Yeah. I think. You said something about needing me to stick around to calm yourself, after Campbell broke into your house.”

“Not exactly.” she corrected me. “I said I might need the guy who saved me to stick around, so I could sleep peacefully.”

“Oh!” I finally understood the meaning of her words and got a little concerned. “You have trouble sleeping?”

“Yeah. Though, you went through a lot more than I, how are you so cool with it?” she looked at me with a pleading expression. That must really bother her, and I had no idea.

“Well, I can tell you that alcohol doesn’t work at all.” I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “When we get asked that question by clients, we normally tell them to secure the house, talk with people, exercise, and get closure. We already secured your house and I assume you’re already talking about it with your parents. Personally, I’m simply too exhausted at the end of the day to think about it, but I hear Yoga works for people.”

“What do you mean by ‘closure’?” The tone of her voice told me that she already tried my first three suggestions unsuccessfully.

“Campbell was in worse shape than me. He was still in the ICU, breathing through a tube, when I was released. If you realize there’s no way for him to try that shit again, it should help you get over it. Even when he gets released from the hospital, I’d be surprised if he wasn’t going directly to jail.”

“Oh!” She got a thoughtful expression, like she was already starting to make plans on how to achieve that.

“Wait!” I said, turning to Ava. “You too!?”

“Three armed men came for Mom and me, and then I saw you get stabbed fighting them off. Of course I had nightmares for weeks after that.” she explained, like I had just noticed that fire was hot. “The only time I really slept well was when I crawled into your bed.”

She just admitted this like it was no big deal for an eighteen year old girl to sneak into her little brother’s bed to seek comfort. And right in front of her friend. Of course, for any normal person, it probably wasn’t a big deal. Mia didn’t know that I woke up kneading Ava’s breasts that day, while burying my hard cock into her asscrack. Nor did she know that Ava liked and even encouraged it.

“Maybe you should offer Mia to come around and sleep with you as well. At least until she gets her closure.” Ava suddenly proposed without even looking up from her plate.

I looked at Ava for a moment like she was joking, but when I turned to Mia, she had lowered her head a little closer to her own plate, every few seconds raising her eyes to see my reaction through that curtain of hair that now hung down freely. So much to her usual go-getter attitude I had admired just an hour ago. But I could hardly blame her. I never considered the effect this might have on her.

“Would that help?” I asked, and Mia shyly nodded her head in confirmation, before I gestured to the sling holding my arm. “Then, sure. For the next four weeks, you’d even be safe from me molesting you in your sleep.”

That made them both laugh, though I suspect Ava’s laughter was more about assuming I’d molest Mia regardless of my injuries, and Mia’s laughter was more an expression of relief. In any case, Mia quickly gathered her things and got dressed.

“I’m going home to tell Mom and Dad, and gather a few things. Thank you, Muffin.” she said, before planting a passionate kiss on my lips that ended way too soon, and left for her car.

I was a little taken aback by the pet name she had chosen for me, but the longer I thought about it, the more I liked it. Not just her choice, but the fact that she called me by a pet name in the first place.

“You sure you’re Okay with this?” I asked Ava as soon as Mia had closed the door behind her.

“Yes. Very sure. And the way she reacted to our cuddling on the couch tells me she will be too.” she answered, but turned and left with a smile before I could ask her what she meant.

The only thing I worried about was Claire, but she did not return that day. By the time Mia arrived with her overnight bag and made herself at home in my bedroom, Ava and I had already started on dinner, after which all three of us got comfortable on my bed to watch a movie.

That’s when I understood Ava’s words about Mia. Ava did not plan on leaving us alone. When we crawled into bed to watch the movie, Mia cuddled up on my left side so as to not aggravate my collarbone. Ava wanted the same, though in order to not hurt me, she had shifted down a little and placed her head on my stomach instead of my chest. Mia did not even bat an eye. Instead, she looked at Ava with a weird look of ... pity. It was that look in Mia’s eyes that finally made me understand how hard those experiences must have been for them, and got me thinking about Ava’s change of behavior after the incident.

Somehow, it made me angry at myself. After not noticing Tess’ cancer, I swore to myself to never overlook something so important again. And while, yes, I tried to get away from the family, and was still sure that I felt no love for them anymore, I was still trying to help them. I should have picked up on something like this if she actually had trouble sleeping because of it.

I suddenly found myself stroking Ava’s hair in an attempt to soothe her. I felt guilty for not noticing her fears. And I only noticed what I was actually doing, when I felt Mia’s hold on my arm tighten. Worried about her realizing how unusually comfortable I was with my big sister cuddling with me, I glanced over at Mia, but all I saw was a content smile on her face as she watched what I was doing. Apparently, she really understood.

As I felt Ava’s and Mia’s breathing slowing, I, too, fell asleep before the movie had ended.

The next morning, I was awoken by the smell of bacon. Looking around, I noticed the two scantily clad beauties still by my side, so there was only one other person who could possibly be active in the kitchen. I carefully extracted myself from underneath Ava and Mia, grabbed my cane, and made my way into the kitchen where I found Claire, who had finally returned.

“Good Morning, Mom.” I greeted her, but did not receive an immediate reaction.

She turned to me, but there was a sad half-smile on her face. Like she wasn’t sure if she was actually happy or not.

“Good Morning, Honey.” she finally replied, with a voice that lacked any hint of confidence, before hastily continuing her breakfast preparations.

“Mom. What’s wrong?” I stepped closer to her, as she stopped any movement upon hearing my question. I watched her stare at her hands for a moment before she spoke in a shaky voice.

“Let’s talk about this when your sister is up, and after your girlfriend leaves.” She took a deep breath to get her voice under control. “Just tell me one thing. Is there a chance for me to fix this?”

She still had not looked me in the eyes.

“Did you make a decision?”

“Yes.”

Going by her demeanor, I could already guess what she decided on, and while I wasn’t happy to see her so troubled, I also felt a strange wave of anxiety wash through me. Dare I hope to maybe, possibly, have a family again? I stepped closer to wrap my healthy arm around her and spoke in a quiet, soft voice.

“Just be my Mom. That’s what I’ve been missing.”

That was as far as I dared to go when asked about the possibility of reconciliation. I felt her tremble against my body as she tried to maintain control over her emotions. Then she rapidly nodded a few times before her shaking hands continued their work.

When Mia and Ava walked in, their reactions to seeing Claire were polar opposites. Ava immediately ran towards her mother, thoroughly happy to see her again, and embraced her in a tight hug. Mia, however, stopped dead in her tracks, and looked quite uncomfortable before rushing back into my bedroom to get properly dressed. Consequently, breakfast was a rather quiet affair with Mia avoiding Claire’s gaze, and Ava simply happy with enjoying Claire’s presence again. Soon after we had finished, Mia packed her things, thanked me for letting her stay with a quick kiss, and then left for her own home.

Claire maintained her silence even after Mia was gone. She cleaned up the kitchen without saying a word, helped me in the bathroom without commenting on anything, and finally just sat on the couch to stare into space. Ava looked pensive, obviously wanting me to approach this situation, so I sat on the couch to Claire’s right and directed Ava to sit on her left.

“Alright, Mom. Let’s talk. What’s going on?” I asked, trying to sound encouraging.

Claire took a breath so deep it caused her whole body to straighten up, before letting it out in a long drawn out sigh. Then she turned, used both of her hands to hold Ava’s, and spoke.

“I spoke with an attorney on Friday. I’m divorcing your father.” she said in the most caring and loving voice I had ever heard her use, looking directly at Ava.

“Good!” Ava replied, surprising everyone with how stern she sounded.

“You ... you’re not upset?” Claire asked, clearly taken aback.

“No. Why would I? If Christmas has proven anything, then that he doesn’t really care about me. Did you happen to notice that he NEVER apologized to me? He also never called me after we moved out. It’s like he doesn’t even care if we’re Okay. If he only cares about me as long as he gets to fuck me, I think we’re better off without him.”

“Oh god, I’m so glad, Sweetheart!” Claire suddenly called out, and embraced her daughter in a tight hug that lasted a good minute. When they separated, she looked at me. “So, there you have it, Honey. That’s my decision. I see it just the way your sister does, and I choose to try and get you back into my life. No matter how hard it’ll be, I will not leave you again.”

There were tears in her eyes, but it was the way she carried her body that was concerning. I couldn’t tell if she actually chose divorce to rebuild our relationship, or if she only realized that Aaron was an asshole and I was her only alternative.

“If you spoke to an attorney on Friday ... Where were you yesterday?” I asked, still attempting to not allow even a hint of accusation or displeasure in my voice.

Claire had obviously expected that question, and wasn’t eager to discuss it. But she knew that she had to tell me something if she wanted to erase my doubts, and I could see her physically harden her resolve.

“Honey ... after you left Johnny’s ... I wasn’t in a good place.” she started. She did not look like she was rehearsing something, or like she was looking for excuses. She simply wasn’t proud of what she was about to tell us. “I finally understood that I’ve ruined everything.”

At that point, she broke down in tears. I did not interfere with Ava’s attempt to calm Claire down, though I also didn’t assist her in any way. I was occupied with trying to figure out what my words in John’s house must have caused. I didn’t have to think long, though. I had, after all, relentlessly pointed out how this family was utterly broken. And, while I never outright said so, she knew that it might be Aaron and Logan who started to see the women of the family as their personal pleasure-dispensers, but she was the one who allowed it in the first place and then cultivated that mindset by participating unconditionally for so long.

As soon as she had calmed down enough to speak without being constantly interrupted by the sobs rocking her body, she continued.

“I allowed my husband to think of his family as nothing more than his personal property. I have spoiled my oldest child so much that he now thinks about nobody but himself. I allowed them to abuse my daughter to the point it almost ruined her life. And I neglected and alienated my youngest child to the point he no longer loves me. I don’t have a job, I don’t have a home, I don’t have a family. I ... I ruined everything.” she concluded in defeat.

Hearing her words soured my mood immensely. I had hoped she chose to work on our relationship because it would be what she truly wanted, but it sounded like she only came back to my apartment because I was her sole alternative. To my surprise, Ava’s mood had also darkened. She looked angry! And that anger was also present in her voice.

“Mom! How can you say you ruined everything? I think I turned out well! I don’t blame you for what Logan and Aaron did, because they didn’t do it when you were around. You DID look out for me. And don’t blame yourself for Logan being a selfish asshole, either. Yes, you spoiled him rotten, and it probably went a long way in forming his character, but you didn’t set out to make him a selfish asshole.”

“I know, Sweetheart. And you can’t imagine how proud I am of you.” Claire said, after taking a steadying breath. “But I reached a conclusion. I screwed up, so I have to fix it.”

With that, she turned to me and grabbed my hand as well.

“Honey.” she continued. “I know what I just told you sounds like I already gave up, and that I see you as some kind of consolation prize. But I promise you, I’m not! I will work on our relationship, not because I have to, but because I want to. I will be your Mom again, not to get a roof over my head, but because I want to be your Mom. And I will earn your love back, no matter how long it will take. But I will not start by lying to you, so I had to tell you how I felt after you left.”

She could see the doubt in my face, and immediately addressed it.

“I could try and get Aaron back, but I will not give you up in exchange for him. If he wants to be my husband and Ava’s father again, he first needs to be a father to all of his children.” she stated firmly. “I could try and make Logan come home, but I will no longer reward his selfish behavior. If he wants to be part of this family, then he has to treat us like one as well. Just like I will show you that I love you, so you will allow me to be your family again.”

I believed her. And as the realization that I believed her words set in, that strange wave of anxiety got stronger.

I had given her every reason I could possibly think of to go back to her easy life. Every incentive to collect Ava, drive home, and keep going like she had for the past four years while letting me live my life away from them. But she chose me instead, and I could not detect any sign of deception in her words, expression, or voice. She looked at me pleadingly, but I was convinced that was because she was pleading for me to give her a chance.

At that moment, I was glad I sat down on her right hand side. This way, my healthy left shoulder was pointed at her, so I could extend my arm and pull her into a hug. A gesture she gratefully accepted, and soon Ava joined in as well. We sat like this for a long while. It would be a long way before we would be fine, but this was the first time in almost half a decade that I was actually looking forward to living with those two.

We spent the rest of the day on the couch, enjoying the Sunday. We had said everything that needed to be said, and Claire was content with enjoying this new found peace with her children. Though, by the time I felt the need to lay down, and Ava wordlessly joined me, Claire seemed to remember something.

“Honey?” she called out so I would turn back to her. “Do you already know when your girlfriend will come back?”

“No. And she’s not my girlfriend. Right now, we’re just seeing where this goes. But, honestly, I don’t think we’ll get there.” I shook my head.

“Why not? She seems to really like you. And I don’t think you’d take a bullet for just anyone, so I’d say you like her just as much.” she explained with a one sided smile, no doubt remembering how I protected her and Ava as well.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “But I’m not boyfriend material. She’ll notice soon enough.”

Claire blinked at me in confusion, but I was too tired to engage in a lengthy discussion at that moment, so I simply turned and left for my bedroom where Ava was already waiting for me.

The next day, Claire played every card she had to stop me from going to school, but ultimately decided to respect my decision. Though, even then she assured me that she would stay close by, so if my leg started making problems or anything else happened, she would be there to pick me up five minutes after I called her. I had to admit, that raised my mood significantly, since I was seriously unsure about what I should expect.

I had doubts about Mia’s claim in the hospital regarding my increased popularity after taking a bullet for her in front of witnesses. In my head, they all still saw me as the asshole who ruined their football season once, and even after that, I did not make any friends when I was attacking everyone after Tess’ death. So, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for one or more of them to bump into me on purpose, despite the very obvious sling strapping my right arm to my torso, and the very obvious cane helping me walk.

To my great relief, however, most people simply ignored me. There were no attempts to exact revenge, though there also was no one offering to hold doors for me. So, while I wasn’t in any danger, I was already somewhat exhausted by the time lunch break came around.

I was just munching on one of the chicken ceasar wraps Claire and I had prepared in the morning, when Ava and Mia sat down on either side of me.

“Hey, Muffin.” Mia smiled, and even gave me a little peck on the cheek.

“Hey, little brother.” Ava joined, before she, too, gave me a peck on my other cheek. Then, however, she noticed my face and looked concerned. “You Okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, though I was looking around the room to check if anyone noticed that public display of affection and took offense in it. “Just a little tired from moving around so much.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to be back in class already? Can’t they extend that online thing you did before?”

“No. They told me from the beginning that those are only a temporary replacement for the classes themselves. I can’t take any tests at home without supervision. And even then, my attendance is already down a month. At some point they’ll tell me to just get home schooled or repeat the year.”

“Wow, that sucks.” Mia commented, before Joan and Jenny joined us at the table with some guy I didn’t know in tow, and looked at me in surprise.

“The hell happened to you!?” Joan asked, pointing at the sling holding my right arm in place, while her sister looked at me uncomfortably.

“Don’t you know what comes after No Nut November? I went a little overboard towards the end.” I deadpanned, and Jenny almost spat her drink across the table while Joan, Mia, and Ava burst out in laughter.

I also heard laughter from three members of the football team who were on their way to join our table. Looking around, I suddenly noticed how basically every seat in my direct vicinity had been filled within two minutes of Mia and Ava joining me. This was weird!

“Okay!” Joan commented after calming down. “That explains why your right arm’s in a sling, but what’s with the cane?”

“Wait, you haven’t heard!?” one of the jocks jumped in who was one of Mia’s guests that night. “He got shot at Mia’s party.”

“WHAT!?” Joan screamed, as the guy pulled out his phone and started swiping.

“Here. I got this from Jack.” he said after he found what he was looking for and placed his phone in the middle of the table.

It was the surveillance video of the Miller house. But I quickly noticed that someone had not just copied the splitscreen mainfeed, but actually cut a video out of the separate feeds. First, it showed the entertainment room with all of us sitting in that circle, until I got up and had my short conversation with Mia. Then it cut to Campbell jogging down the hallway, and then back into the entertainment room just as Campbell raised the gun.

I felt a curious uneasiness rise from my lower stomach to my chest. It felt ... weird. Especially in my chest. Like, you know you have to burp but it just doesn’t happen, so you feel a persistent pressure in your chest and throat. It unnerved me, and I quickly found myself fidgeting, running my healthy hand through the hair at the back of my head in an attempt to distract myself from it. I became antsy.

Next, the video showed me jumping in front of Mia, and, even though all we heard were the panicked screams of the room’s inhabitants, the way my body jerked back made it very clear that I got shot in the shoulder. Then I saw myself grabbing Campbell’s gun and pushing it downwards. We could clearly see the gun going off three more times before I dropped to my knees. The last thing I saw, before I had to look away, was Jack slamming the door shut.

This was the first time I saw this. Until now, I had very successfully avoided thinking about it in any mentionable capacity. It was actually quite easy to not bother myself with it. While I was in the hospital, I was safe. Then, when I was home, I had the family shit to deal with. But now I was just having my lunch, surrounded by a lot of people I wasn’t exactly emotionally close with.

Somehow, I didn’t feel hungry anymore. I actually felt kind of nauseous and could feel my heartbeat quicken in addition to that weird pressure in my chest. This was bad. I recognized that feeling now.

I pushed my left hand underneath the table and started tracing my fingers with my thumb, concentrating on getting my breathing under control. It didn’t work as well as when I did it with both hands, but the key was to concentrate on something other than the onsetting panic, and that worked. At least somewhat.

“Holy FUCK!” one of the Jocks laughed. “Was he just shot FOUR times!? And he still DESTROYED that Dude!”

That didn’t fucking help calming me down! Like, at all! Now I was thinking about Campbell. The police officer who visited me in the hospital told me that I probably didn’t have to worry about ramifications. That they thought my actions were within the bounds of self defense. But I hadn’t heard anything official since then!

I know it’s completely ridiculous, but I didn’t react to the footage of me being shot. What got to me was the part showing what I did to Campbell, and then not making sure he would be able to keep breathing. If he somehow got out, there would be hell to pay! What if he got out while I was still unable to move properly? I wouldn’t be able to keep the family safe! And what if they determined my actions went beyond self defense and he SUED me?

Now my hand was trembling and tracing my fingers wasn’t helping at all anymore. I had to get out of there. Maybe if I told them that I needed to take a leak, they wouldn’t think too much about it.

And just at that moment, I felt a small hand slip into mine underneath the table.

I don’t know if Ava noticed what was happening to me, but as her fingers intertwined with mine before giving my hand a firm squeeze, she simply continued watching the guys discuss the video with a small smile on her face, never looking in my direction as to not alert her friends. Somehow, that did the trick. My breathing calmed, my heartbeat slowed, and the tremor in my hand lessened. I squeezed her hand back in gratitude and saw the smile on her face widen a tiny bit.

“So, how are you now?” Jenny asked, pulling my attention further away from my fears.

“I’m Okay, mostly. He pulled the trigger four times, but only two bullets actually made it past the vest. It’s gonna be about four more weeks before the sling goes away, but with any luck they can stop packing my leg in a week or so.” I explained.

“Packing your leg? What’s that?”

“Oh.” Ava jumped in, throwing a compassionate glance my way. “According to Mom, they take a bunch of gauze and stuff it into his wound like they’re loading a canon.”

“Seriously!?” Jenny asked incredulously.

“Yeah.” I confirmed. “I really can’t recommend getting shot. It sucks on multiple levels.”

That caused them to chuckle again.

“So...” Mia started with a contemplating look. “It’s gonna be at least four weeks before we can continue our lessons?”

“What lessons?” one of the Jocks asked perplexed.

“He’s teaching us self defense techniques. Or, he was teaching us.”

“That’s your decision.” I said. “We were using the company gym, so if your father calls my boss, I’m sure they could work something out and get someone else to teach you.”

“No.” Mia stated firmly. “I’d rather wait until you’re up again. I’m already used to you manhandling me.”

That caused another round of laughter and a bunch of suggestive jokes to go around the table. When it was time for us to part ways again, Ava gave me a questioning look. At that moment I knew that she had indeed noticed my state, and gave her a grateful smile combined with a reassuring nod.

Mia’s claim proved to be true, though. The rest of the day, Jack’s Director’s Cut of the surveillance feed made its way through the student body, and I noticed several small groups huddled over their phones before regarding me with peculiar looks. By the time I left the lunch table the following day, that I had once again shared with Ava, Mia, and their friends, people that hadn’t talked to me in years were suddenly eager to greet and hold doors for me. Could this be the reverse effect of what happened in my freshman year? If the cheerleaders make fun of you, the jocks follow suit, and you soon become a free-for-all. But when the cheerleaders flock to you in their free time, the jocks also join in, and soon you become part of the popular crowd? While it seemed possible, it happened a little too quickly to be plausible.

I really didn’t care about that. Though, I did appreciate the sense of security that came with it, since the following few weeks were quite busy and eventful outside of school.

I had showed up at the office to make sure they knew I was back to work, though I would work from home. I could just get rid of the sling while programming, and let my arm rest on my desk instead, without the need to run around. And if anything came up, I had a Mom nearby that was eager to help wherever she could. So, my days were back to starting at Seven A.M. with the drive to school, and ending at around Eight P.M. when I finished with work.

In addition to that, Claire’s divorce was at a stalemate. Her lawyer quickly discovered that there weren’t enough assets to make her happy. I was the only minor amongst their children, and not only was I basically self reliant already, even if it went uncontested I would be almost eighteen by the time the divorce went through, so there wouldn’t be much child support either.

My siblings being over eighteen, and me having my own apartment, also meant that Claire wouldn’t simply get the house to let us live in it. Though, even if she were to get the house, she couldn’t afford it. The house was valued at $320,000, with them having roughly $260,000 equity in it. That meant, if Claire wanted to keep the house after I graduated High School, she’d have to pay $30,000 for her half of the remaining mortgage, followed by another $130,000 for Aaron’s half of the house.

No, the house we grew up in would have to be sold and the proceeds split after paying off the bank. That hit Claire and Ava harder than I thought it would. I guess three people living in a two bedroom apartment, no matter how nicely I thought I had decorated it, wasn’t their idea of a long term solution.

But then came the big one. I didn’t understand even half the words that guy used, but according to John, who had accompanied his sister to the lawyer, they would probably lose at least eighty percent of the investment they made shortly before Claire lost her job. The contract they signed didn’t allow for the account to be split, so they’d have to pull out prematurely and split what was left.

At least she’d possibly get some “maintenance” from Aaron. At least I hoped so, since, according to the lawyer, there are laws in place that don’t categorily fuck over the husbands despite what I read online, and it didn’t matter whether or not Claire was employed. It only mattered whether she could be employed.

With their bank account being scrubbed clean for their big investment, Claire and Ava were now depending on me for everything. Before they moved in with me, I could save up $720 dollars each month from my regular salary and build up my nest egg. Now, however, I was down to saving maybe $70 dollars per month, even after I used as much cash as possible for our regular shopping, school supplies, and their allowances. There simply were too many expenses that I couldn’t pay with cash, or that were too high to pay with cash without raising eyebrows

Seriously, though, what is it with female toiletries!? I’m perfectly happy with my 3-in-1 shower gel that doubles as dish soap and triples as laundry detergent if needed. Why do the both of them need three different shampoos each, depending on whether they want to smell like a coconut, repair their perfectly fine hair, or moisturize their skin? Why do they need deodorants that are half the size of mine, but cost twice as much because the ingredient list is as long as my arm? On the other hand, I did enjoy their feminine fragrance whenever we cuddled up, so maybe I shouldn’t complain about that. And thanks to the $1,800 a month I could transfer from the cash pile in my closet to my new bank account, I really didn’t have any reason to complain about money either.

The main problem, however, was that Aaron simply refused to cooperate. He wanted his family - read that ‘his women’ - back, while Claire refused to go back to how it was. For obvious reasons, though, both were reluctant to take it to court and risk exposing the details of their ‘irreconcilable differences’.

Mia also got her closure. I’m not entirely sure how they did it, nor was I sure if I even wanted to know, but I suspect her father pulled some strings. Somehow, he managed to get access to the still intubated and restrained Campbell, and let Nora tell the man how she felt about someone who comes after her children, mercilessly shattering his delusions. As far as I heard, he entered some kind of semi-catatonic state after that and would be transferred to the mental ward as soon as he had recovered enough to be moved.

Though, according to Bill, that was extremely stupid and dangerous. While it did indeed help Mia, this whole thing could’ve just as well blown up in their faces. If Campbell hadn’t broken down, he could have instead delved completely into a murderous obsession with Nora. I wasn’t sure what George Miller would have done to the guy in that case.

As far as my own medical recovery was concerned, they stopped packing my leg a week later, just like we had hoped. The P.T., however, would continue for a lot longer before I wouldn’t need a cane anymore. The therapist wasn’t particularly happy about the switch from a crutch to the cane, but he accepted it. Here, too, Claire was with me the entire way. She accompanied me to every session that I now had to attend at least twice per week, and did what she could to raise my spirits afterwards.

Mia also helped a lot. With all the time we were spending together, I found myself enjoying her company more and more, and genuinely missed her whenever she wasn’t around. I felt myself falling for her. And that was kind of a problem.

Since she still had some trouble sleeping alone even after getting her closure, she spent a lot of her nights in my bed. Though, we were seldomly alone in it, since Ava was still joining us, and I was reluctant to tell her off after learning that she, too, had trouble sleeping since the parking lot incident. With Ava sleeping right next to us, and my mother only thirty feet away in my relatively small apartment, there wasn’t much room for romantic activities between Mia and me.

It also didn’t help that I was still refusing to rely on Claire and Ava for my sexual release, despite my broken collarbone stopping me from doing much myself, so I hadn’t seen any action since that evening before Claire came back from John’s. A situation that quickly caused some trouble for me, when Mia, Ava, and I were in bed watching another movie.

Our now usual sleeping arrangement consisted of Mia cuddled up to my healthy left side, while Ava would cuddle up on my right side, but with her head on my stomach to stay away from my collarbone.

One evening, the TV screen suddenly showed a particularly raunchy sex scene. I could feel Mia getting some ideas about what we were presented with, and felt her lips pressed against my neck. But when I looked at her pleadingly, hoping she would have mercy and stop teasing me, I noticed that she wasn’t paying me any attention. She was watching Ava’s face, which was transfixed on a massive erection that I had developed without realizing it.

I only saw it because I wanted to know what Mia was looking at and craned my head. Until then, my view of my groin was obstructed by Ava’s head. Looking back at Mia, her expression was free of judgment. She was simply studying Ava, who was studying my hard dick producing a tent in my pants. The worry about what kind of conclusion Mia might draw regarding Ava’s relationship with me quickly killed the mood, and my erection was completely gone before Ava could show any incriminating behavior.

Mia did not comment on it in any way, though two nights later, we found ourselves in a similar situation. This time, however, Mia had purposefully provoked it by cautiously rubbing herself against me, while also kissing and licking my neck and ear. As soon as she noticed the effect it had on me, she stopped everything and watched my sister instead.

Ava had, again, completely forgotten about the TV. The tent in my sweatpants was apparently a lot more interesting than the show we were watching before. She didn’t do anything too telling, but one of her hands that was lying on my lower stomach was now slowly wandering downwards in the most minute increments before she caught herself.

From that day on, and to my dismay, Ava and Mia started spending a lot more time together.

Over the following few days, whenever Mia was in my apartment, they would withdraw into Ava’s and Claire’s room for “Girl’s Talk”. On occasion, when we were spending time together and I entered the room, they were caught up in a whispered conversation that abruptly stopped as soon as they noticed me. I have to admit, that kinda pissed me off, since I would feel myself being thrown back to my time in the family home as a fourteen year old.

The whole situation escalated another few days later, when we were all in bed again.

I was already dozing off when I suddenly felt Mia’s hand slip into my pants and wrap her fingers around my dick. In my already half sleeping mind, I simply enjoyed the feeling of her delicate fingers probing my cock, pressing her thumb on different parts of my shaft as if exploring it, before sliding further down to grab my balls and gently stroking them. She had me hard in no time.

When she pulled her hand out of my pants again and licked her palm, I finally woke up enough to remember that we weren’t alone. I looked to my side and could see that Ava was lying on her side with her back to us, but that back was firmly pressed into my side. By the time I looked back at Mia to tell her to stop, her hand had already found its way back into my pants.

When I opened my mouth, she simply cupped it with her other hand to stop me from speaking, and smiled sweetly at me. Her intention was clear now. She was doing that on purpose. She wanted to play around with Ava next to us.

The weeks of no release, coupled with the naughtiness of the situation and Mia’s encouragement, won against my reluctance to play along. Mia had positioned her mouth close to my ear, so I could hear and feel her hot lustful breath, only interrupted whenever she kissed the side of my neck. Simultaneously she started jerking my shaft in painfully slow and long strokes.

After about a minute of that, she used the hand cupping my mouth to turn my head away from Ava and towards herself, removed it from my mouth, and shut me up with a passionate kiss instead. Her tongue invaded my mouth and massaged my own, as her hand kept rubbing along my dick at a steady pace. When I opened my eyes, I could see that she was again attentively watching Ava for any reaction to what we were doing, as she slowly and carefully pushed down the waistband of my sweatpants and exposed my hard cock to the air.

Mia, now less careful with what she was doing, spat in her hand for extra lubrication before rubbing it all over the tip of my cock. I unsuccessfully suppressed a small jerk that traveled through my legs, and felt Ava now press her butt into my hip. That was it. She was awake and surely knew what we were doing literally behind her back.

To my surprise, though, instead of making herself known, I could see her thighs rubbing together while one of her hands seemed to make the journey towards her nether regions. Looking at Mia, I saw a mischievous grin appear on her face as her eyes sparkled.

Watching Ava’s reaction to what we were doing, Mia was now resuming my handjob with less inhibition. For the following few minutes, she didn’t care about making noises anymore, though she didn’t go so fast it would cause my body or the mattress to move too much and force Ava to acknowledge what was happening. Then she placed her mouth close to my ear again and spoke in a whisper that, in the quiet room, was surely loud enough for Ava to hear as well.

“Come for me.” and she increased the speed of her jerking hand significantly. “Don’t you want to shoot all over my hand, Stud? Right next to your oblivious sister? Come for me, Tim. Come right next to her. Don’t hold back. I’ll catch it all. Just come!”

And with that, she leaned down, wrapped her lips around my tip, and jerked me off into her mouth. I came in seconds and felt my body tense up as I emptied myself into her waiting mouth. And, apparently, Ava came as well! While I shot rope after rope, my eyes jumped between the sight of Mia’s lips around my cock, and the sight of my sister rubbing herself right next to me. Suddenly, Ava’s body slightly trembled and her legs stretched out. Mia continued sucking on my tip and slowly stroking my cock until Ava’s body relaxed. Only then did Mia wordlessly pull my pants up and snuggle back against my side.

Within no time, I could hear the both of them breath their slow and deep breaths, telling me they were asleep. I, on the other hand, was wide awake and horrified.

Mia had just jerked me off, even used her mouth on me, right next to my sister. She knew Ava had started masturbating halfway through, and climaxed around the same time I did. Mia had deliberately done this. But for what reason? What was she trying to achieve!? And what would happen now? I only saw one possible course of action: Deny any knowledge of what Ava had just done! So, the very next day, as soon as the opportunity arose in the morning, I turned to Mia.

“What the fuck was that last night!?” I asked, trying to sound as pissed as possible.

“Why? You didn’t enjoy me sucking the cum out of you?” she simply grinned.

“Not with my fucking sister right next to us! What if she woke up!?”

She suddenly looked at me with pity in her eyes. Like I was a little child that didn’t understand something obvious.

“Muffin, she was awake.” she smiled. “Didn’t you notice that?”

“No.” I stood by my decision to keep denying everything.

“She did even more than being awake. She came just seconds after you did.”

Interestingly, her voice did not sound like she was building up to some kind of blackmail. She simply informed me of a fact.

“No, she didn’t.” I insisted, causing her to sigh.

“Look. I’m pretty sure she likes you, Tim.” she said in a soft tone.

“Likes me? You mean, like,...”

“Yeah. I meant it as in being attracted to you. And not just physically, but emotionally.”

“You say that like it’s the most normal thing ever.” I said, after realizing that she was sounding more supportive than condemning.

“Yeah, well, I can’t really blame her.” she sighed again. “I talked to her a lot over the past few weeks. And I have to say, I kinda get it. For me, you took a bullet in a heated split-second decision. But for her, you actually risked your life to protect her after having enough time to think about it, knowing you’d be risking your life. She feels safe with you around.”

“So what!?” I called out, all pretense of my disapproval gone from my voice and demeanor. That little piece of information Mia had just given me was genuinely shocking. I knew Ava wanted to have sex, but I didn’t know about her developing those kinds of feelings for me! “Do you feel safe around Jack? Or your Dad? Does that make you attracted to them as well?” I asked, not believing that she would be actually okay with this. To my astonishment, she simply shrugged her shoulders.

“I mean, it’s not like I never thought about it. Jack IS my big brother, I’ve idealized him for a long time. But while I would never actually act on it, things for you and Ava are different.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Your history, Tim!” she threw her hands in the air as she said that. Somehow, someway, we had started our first argument. Not only was it about my sister being attracted to me, but also about Mia telling me that it was perfectly understandable! “Look, you barely spent any time together since even before you entered high school. And then, when you come back into her life years later, you’re a completely new person! Of course her inhibitions about you being siblings are lessened! She might know that you’re her brother, but when she looks at you, you’re probably just that hot guy who cares for her so much he’d put himself in danger to protect her. If I didn’t know you, and someone told me that you’re her little brother, I’d laugh in their face!”

That actually sounded like it could make sense. The big question was, who came up with that? Was it Mia herself, simply reaching conclusions after trying to make sense of what she had seen, or was it Ava who had possibly thought this whole elaborate plan up to get Mia on board with our relationship? I couldn’t decide, but I also couldn’t face this discussion at that moment. So, I decided to run. As best as I could with a cane. I shook my head, signaling that I didn’t share her opinion, and got out of bed to hide in the bathroom.

With my leg no longer being packed, I could finally enjoy proper showers again. Naturally, I used that time to come to terms with what I had just heard from Mia.

My biggest fear was still the possibility of our relationship not working out. Let’s face it, teenagers don’t normally think long term, and what she just told me about my sister was not something you’d want an angry ex to know about. Even if we became a couple now, she was going to leave for college in a few months and stay there for years. Who was to say she wouldn’t find someone else? Then she would carry around knowledge of what was going on in this family and be a continuous threat.

But even if that came to be, I had saved her life! And I knew about her father’s sexual preferences that could damage his business reputation just as much as she could damage mine. Mutual assured destruction, and all that. As long as she didn’t turn into another Logan and secretly recorded me with Ava, damaging our reputation with rumors would be all she could do.

On the other hand, if we ended up as a couple and didn’t split up during her college years, I would have a girlfriend that, apparently, wasn’t exactly opposed to my family’s activities. I was pretty sure that was kinda necessary if I wanted the family to be a part of my life. If I were to spend my life with a woman, there was no way I could keep something so big a secret from her indefinitely. Sooner or later, it would all come out. In this case, maybe the emphasis was on ‘sooner’.

My sling came off in the first week of february, little over a week after I had my discussion with Mia. I was now completely pain free as long as I didn’t try to walk, which meant that I was officially cleared to get nasty in the bedroom again. As soon as I got the news, I called Mia to deliver the good news.

“Hey Muffin.” She happily greeted me after the first ring.

“Hey yourself. Guess who has two fully functioning arms and is planning on using them to carry you into his bedroom?”

“Probably half the guys in school. And possibly a few of the teachers as well, if we’re honest. But they’re out of luck, because I have that guy I’m kinda seeing.”

I could hear how much she enjoyed turning that around on me, and I had to admire how quickly she got back with that line.

“Oh, are you now? Sounds kinda serious?” I chuckled.

“Yeah. Kinda just happened. But, seriously, are you telling me that your Collarbone is fully healed?”

“Yup.” I confirmed proudly. “So...” I let my voice trail off.

“If I tell you that I’ll be over in about two hours, how easy would you think I am?” she asked, not in a way to shut me down, but as an actual question.

“Pretty easy. But I reckon, the fact that there’s just that one guy you’re easy for balances it out, doesn’t it?”

“You got a point there!” she laughed. “Alright, see you in about two hours!”

I informed Claire and Ava about Mia coming over for something special, and they quickly offered to spend the night with John and Danny, so Mia and I would have my apartment just for ourselves. Before they left, though, Claire came over to me and embraced me in an unusually tight hug before telling me how happy she was for me. She actually left the apartment with a marvelous elated smile on her face.

I used the two hours I had to prepare something to eat and clean up a little, but as it turned out, Mia was much more eager to start than her words on the phone led on. As soon as she entered my apartment, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a kiss, pressing her body into mine.

“I’ve waited way too long for this!” she breathed between kisses, as her eagerness to press herself into me caused me to tumble back and fall onto the couch. She didn’t waste any time before jumping onto my lap, straddling me. “Do we need to go to the bedroom or can we just continue here?”

“Mom and Ava are out. Not coming back before tomorrow!” I replied, pushed my hand into her hair at the back of her head, and pulled her into another kiss.

My hands started roaming her body. They found their way underneath her clothes, and continued to expose her trim body. One hand pushed the back of her shirt up, while the other pushed the hem of her yoga pants down. My hands were now stroking and kneading her flesh, while she rubbed her body against mine.

She leaned back to look me in the eyes, causing my hands to slide across her hips to her front. Since they were still underneath her shirt, I couldn’t help but push them upwards over her belly, to grab a handful of her firm perky breasts. I don’t know what she saw in my eyes, but she had a very pleased look on her face.

She rocked her hips back and forth a few times, grinding herself on the hard object in my pants, before her own hands wandered down my chest and over my stomach to open my belt.

Next she opened my pants and, as soon as she had lowered the zipper, hopped off my lap to pull my pants off completely before losing her own as well. Then she did something new. She straddled my legs again, her thighs spread widely, awarding me a clear view of her pink pussy lips only inches away from my hard cock that lay atop my stomach. Then she reached down and played with it.

Her hands gently stroked over the sensitive skin, barely applying any pressure, and driving me crazy. I was already leaking precum onto myself when she finally wrapped her fingers around it. But even then she only teased a handjob. She greatly enjoyed seeing the lust and want in my eyes, as I tried to resist the urge to take her forcefully.

She used her fingers to smear my leaking precum all over my tip before she finally grabbed my dick properly and scooted up a little, so her clit was pressed against the bottom of my shaft. Only then did she start moving her hand up my length. Her hold on me concentrated on my tip, grabbing it only to massage it in a circular motion, before slowly pulling upwards until it fell out of her grip.

“Stop teasing me! I need you, Mia!” I groaned, and she chuckled.

Wordlessly she reached for her purse and pulled a condom out.

“I’m on the pill, but I don’t want to risk anything. I’m definitely way too young to get pregnant!” she explained in a still wanton voice, as she used the opportunity to tease me a little more by rolling the condom over my dick.

I simply nodded, lost in my lust that she had expertly raised to almost unbearable heights. She lifted herself up on her knees, lined up my tip with her opening, but still refused to stop the teasing. Instead of sitting back down and allowing me to finally penetrate her, she dragged my tip up and down through her inner lips as her tongue invaded my mouth. Her moaning drove me crazy as I grabbed her asscheeks with both hands, giving them a forceful squeeze.

“OH my god! PLEASE!” I moaned, when she lowered herself barely enough to let my tip enter her opening.

It did feel different with a condom, but she had me way too horny to care. It wasn’t the physical stimulation that had me going. It was her teasing, her ragged breathing, her lustful moans, and that sultry smile on her beautiful face that made me want this girl more than I could express.

Slowly, inch for inch, she lowered herself onto me, finally allowing me to enter her wet canal. As soon as she was fully resting on my thighs, she simply sat there with closed eyes and her mouth opened in a silent moan, while both of us savored the feeling of our first time being joined.

When she started riding me, she did so in cautious movements. Her hips raising and lowering in maybe two inch increments, while her pussy clamped down on my cock almost painfully.

“Oh, Tim! TIM! I love this!” she moaned, before she leaned in for another kiss.

“You have no idea how much I want you!” I moaned back, and her riding gained in speed and force.

We breathed into each other’s mouths, unwilling to move away too far and risk missing the display of need on the other’s face. I was now thrusting up into her, meeting her movements while resuming the kneading of her ass. Then she leaned fully back, placed her hands on my knees to support herself, and started riding me with reckless abandon. Every time her hips raised, I would gain a perfect view of my dick invading her. And then it happened.

The next time she leaned forward, the movement of her hips never slowing down, her head dropped next to my face and I could hear her breathy voice.

“I love you!”

As soon as I heard it, I knew for sure I felt the same. I had felt myself falling for her for weeks now, the only thing holding me back was the family situation, but she had shown signs of being fine with that. At that moment, I wanted to risk it.

“I love you too, Mia!”

Hearing me say it pushed her into overdrive. Her hips moved faster than I thought possible, as she wildly grinded herself into my groin until her lungs pushed a high pitched scream out of her, and I felt her body tremble. I wrapped my arms around her torso and held her in place, her breasts smashed flat against my chest, until her shaking subsided.

I wasn’t done with her yet, though. I used my hold on her torso to lift us both off the couch, turned, and lay her onto her back. Then I leaned forward and started fucking her as forcefully as I could. The condom did a surprisingly good job in helping me last, as Mia wrapped her legs around my hip as if she had to stop me from pulling out.

“I love you!” She moaned again. “I do! I DO! YES! YEEEES!”

I felt her tremble yet again, her nails scratching over my back, and her pussy massaging my cock as the ripples of her orgasm traveled through her. That pushed me over the edge as well. With one forceful thrust, penetrating her as deeply as I possibly could, I joined in her orgasm and unloaded myself into the condom.

When our spasms had finally subsided, we lay there panting, covered in sweat, kissing all over our faces. Then we didn’t move for a long time, simply embracing each other and reveling in our postcoital bliss. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t pull out of her, since she still had her legs wrapped around my waist. Finally she spoke.

“Let’s take a break. Then we’ll continue in the bedroom.” she laughed.

We moved over to my dinner table, not bothering to put on clothes, and sat down to eat. But now, that we had reached that stage, there was something we had to discuss before we could move forward.

“So...” I started pensively. “Now that we told each other how we feel ... I guess there is something we need to address.”

“And what’s that?” she asked casually, not even looking at me.

“Ava.” That caused her to finally put the food down and fix me with a calculating look.

“Okay.” she said, before taking a deep breath. “I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m not exactly the possessive type. But I do expect the guy I’m with to be faithful. Now, that being said, what you told me in the hospital was mostly true. I am going to leave for Northwestern in four months, and I’m gonna be away for three years before I get my degree and can join Daddy’s company. But I won’t be gone for four years. I’m going into the JD-MBA program. Double the course load, but it takes ‘only’ three years.”

I swallowed my comment about three years not being that much better than four. It didn’t seem necessary anyways, as her eyes had taken on a rather regretful look. Though, it vanished after a few seconds before she continued with newfound resolve.

“I plan on holding on to you. After all, since you put Craig in his place, half the cheer team wants you too. And I’m the one who got you.” she chuckled.

“Who’s Craig?” I asked, confused, not necessarily surprised about the second part. I knew that since Ava had told me how they asked for my number and relationship status.

“Kathy’s boyfriend?” she tried to elaborate, but saw equal confusion in my eyes. “The guy who tried to make fun of you for only having one girlfriend so far.”

“Oh! That guy!” I called out. “But what does all that have to do with Ava?”

“Well ... Look.” she sighed. “Ava’s been my best friend since we were in kindergarten. She’s like a sister to me. And, as I said before, I can’t really blame her if she wants to be with you after what you did for her. So ... how about ... I give you a limited hall pass?”

“You ... what?” I was stunned.

“I’m not gonna tell you what to do. Whether you want to go down that road with Ava will be your decision. But IF you find yourself ... tempted ... you have my blessing. At least she can’t steal you away from me. Not like you two could marry.” she grinned. Then her grin turned mischievous. “And, maybe ... Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Ava and I have some fun together.”

“You and Ava!?” I asked incredulously. I knew Ava had boyfriends over the years, but I never knew she had a girlfriend.

“Girls like to experiment sometimes.” she shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, it’s your decision. But you don’t exactly look like the thought appalls you.”

I had to find an excuse. And fast! I couldn’t very well tell her that Ava had already spent quite a few nights in my bed as my literal cumdumpster.

“Well, it was hard not thinking about it during the last week, after you pointed it out.” That part wasn’t even a lie. Since she pointed it out, I had thought much more about it than before. “And I could see that you weren’t wrong.”

“Really. Is that so.” she grinned again, and I got the impression she was thinking about ways to tease me about it.

“So ... are we, like, official now?”

“I’d say we are, Muffin.” God, she had a gorgeous smile!

“You sure that’s what you want? I’ll be working a lot.” I reminded her.

“I know, and I’m not complaining.” she said firmly, and noticed the doubt in my eyes. “Look, I thought about that already. You told me in the hospital that you’re working about seventy hours each week. But that’s including the almost forty hours in School, right? So, by the time I’m back from Northwestern, you’ll have settled into a nice nine-to-five. Then I’ll be the one who’s probably working longer hours than you, while Daddy’s showing me the ropes in his firm.”

“Awwww.” I laughed. “You make it sound so romantic!”

“Oh, you want romance?” she asked with raised eyebrows before nodding as if to concede. “Okay. Ava told me that she and your Mom are basically depending on you right now. And that they probably will depend on you at least until the divorce is through. And I have to admit, seeing you step up and provide for your family...” she leaned towards me to whisper the next part. “ ... kinda makes me want to lose the condom the next time you mount me.”

I blinked at her for a moment, surprised by that brazen statement. For a split second, I wondered how choosing a father for her children based on his ability to provide was in any way romantic. But then I remembered how rich that girl was. She didn’t need my money at all. She was simply telling me that she was willing to start a family with me, and it fucking floored me for a moment!

“In that case I need to start making plans for Saturday.” I proclaimed.

“Why? What’s Saturday?”

“Valentines Day.” I reminded her, and her eyes got wide. “How about we go on a proper date? I think it’s high time.”

We did not finish our meal. Instead, after hearing my plan to take her out on our first date, she moved seats in favor of sitting in my lap. Two minutes later, she had me so hot again that I simply grabbed her, carried her into the bedroom, and we resumed our activities from earlier.

That night, I fucked her in every position we could think of until the pack of condoms was emptied, and thanks to the condoms lessening the intensity of her tightness, I was pretty sure she enjoyed it just as much as I did.

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 withmyself.

“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.

Ava didn’t object. I saw her open her mouth and close her lips around Mia’s clit, while my dick was still buried in her canal. This was a whole new level of kinky for me, and I was extremely happy that Mia did not want to exclude my sister. I was almost overtaken by what I was seeing and hearing, but then Mia grabbed Ava’s hips and pulled them towards her own face as well!

“Keep fucking me, Muffin! Please! Fuck me while I eat your sister!” And then she buried her face in Ava’s crotch and got to work.

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I started fucking her with vigor now, my balls slapping against Ava’s forehead only increased my lust, but for Mia and Ava it must have been even more stimulating than for me. The way I was positioned behind Mia caused my dick to scrape over her G-spot with every thrust, and soon I felt her walls clamp down on me and ripple around my shaft, as she buried her teeth in Ava’s folds. That, in turn, set Ava off, who suddenly loudly moaned before letting out a wail of pleasure which she silenced by burying her face even deeper into Mia’s soaked pussy.

That was enough for me.

“I’m close too!” I groaned, remembering that Mia didn’t want me to come inside her without a condom.

Mia gracefully jumped over Ava, kneeled behind her head, and then pushed my sister’s mouth over my cock.

“Suck it! Suck your brother’s cock! Make him come with your mouth!” she panted with glee, and Ava complied.

Like on autopilot, I grabbed Ava’s hips as soon as I felt her tongue massage my tip, pulled her to me and returned the favor by sucking on her engorged clit. Within seconds I exploded into her mouth while Mia held her in place, forcing her to swallow, until I removed my lips from Ava’s clit with a loud smacking sound. Then, as if to make the whole thing absolutely perfect for me, Mia pulled Ava’s head off my cock, turned it upwards, and gave her a sloppy kiss. I could see saliva and white strains of my cum run down Ava’s cheeks after they escaped through the corners of her mouth. At that moment, I wished I had a camera handy.

I was almost ready to go again by the time they were done, but they both seemed to be content with simply lying back down to simply enjoy the relaxing feeling their orgasms had caused. Not eager to push Mia too far too soon, and given how I just got a quite satisfying release during my very first threesome, I didn’t complain. I simply lay down next to them and resumed my duty as Mia’s big spoon.

The very next day, something quite interesting happened in school.

I was on my way to the cafeteria for my lunch break, when I heard my name being called over the PA system, telling me to show up in the principal’s office. I had no idea what they wanted from me. I hadn’t had any contact with the man since the day he tried to expel me in my Sophomore year, and immediately contemplated whether he could use the widespread video of my clash with Campbell against me somehow.

That worry was quickly heightened when his assistant led me into his office. I found myself not only confronted with the principal himself, but sitting in front of his desk were also Coach Jenkins, my English teacher Mrs. Jenkins, and, most surprisingly of all, Bill!

“Boss?” I greeted him, unsure why he was there.

“Employee?” he greeted me back with a grin, and I instantly relaxed. If he was making jokes, it probably wasn’t anything bad.

“Mr. Brown.” The principal joined in. “Thank you for joining us so promptly. There is something we need to discuss. If you would, Mrs. Jenkins?”

“Yes.” she nodded, and then turned her attention to me. “You see, over the last two months since school started again, a number of girls from the Cheer Team approached me. Apparently they became quite interested in some kind of self defense training you gave young Miss Miller and your sister.”

“Okay?” I drew that word out, signaling my perplexity.

“Not just girls from the cheer team, actually.” Coach Jenkins now added. “I was also approached by a few girls during gym classes, and even some of the boys from the team who wanted to ask for their girlfriends.”

“Ask about what?” I inquired.

“There appears to be a substantial demand by the female student body to make self defense for women available as an additional extracurricular activity.” the principal explained. “The unfortunate events Miss Miller was involved in seem to have left her peers in a rather ... wary state.”

Why the fuck was that guy talking like he was reading off a press release!?

“Yes.” Bill finally joined the conversation while throwing the principal a doubting look, probably having thought the same thing as I had. “Long story short, your English teacher here called Mrs. Miller, who then called me. Personally, I think it’s a great idea.”

“You do? Really?” I asked doubtfully, remembering the rather intimidating Welcoming Speech he gave me two years ago.

“Of course there would be limits as to what we would teach those girls. The styles and techniques you learned by now are probably a little too ... uh ... fierce.” he explained with a side glance at Coach Jenkins. “The plan would be to host a class that lasts half a semester before it starts over and allows a new set of students to join. That way the classes would be relatively small, making it easier to supervise.”

“Oh!” I said with audible relief. Three months would be enough to teach the basics and cover all of the purely defensive moves. As I told Ava and Mia before, the real key was repetition, not a constant stream of fancy new techniques. “Alright. But ... why did you call me here, then?”

Now Bill was looking at Mrs. Jenkins while pointing his hand at her, like he was asking her to explain.

“The thing is, Mr. Brown, the girls who have come forward to ask about the school establishing a class like that, were specifically asking about you teaching them what you taught young Miss Miller and your sister.”

“Oh.” I said, now with audible displeasure.

“Your employer assures us that you would be perfectly suited to teach the girls. So, the questions we have for you are: Would you be willing to take on that responsibility, and would you be able to do it with your injuries?” she continued.

I contemplated her questions for a moment.

“Well, I don’t have that much free time, Mrs. Jenkins...” I started, but the principal interrupted me.

“Oh, we already talked about that with Mr. Carter.” he nodded towards Bill. “If this were to happen, we would brand it as a cooperation between the school and Carter Security. Naturally, the time you spend teaching your peers in our gym would be part of your working hours.”

I had to admit, that would make this quite attractive for me as well. I could spend two extra hours after classes in the gym with the girls, then go home instead of heading for the office and work another two hours remotely. My hours would stay the same, but I’d get home at Five instead of Eight in the evenings. Also, I now knew why the principal was speaking like that. If he was ‘branding’ this, both the school and Bill would use it for PR work, so the principal was trying to suppress his usual distaste for me.

“Alright.” I said, and looked at Bill out of the corner of my eye. “If I say that my leg should be healed up enough for this, would that mean that you’d make me haul the computers through the offices again?”

Bill laughed and shook his head. I could also see slight grins form on the others’ faces.

“In that case, yes, my leg would be fine. In fact, my physical trainer expects me to lose the cane over spring break.”

“That would be perfect!” The principal called out. “With your commitment, Coach Jenkins can write up the usual consent forms for the students to take home and present to their guardians during spring break. We could then start a test run for the remaining half semester once school starts up again.”

“Thank you, Mr. Brown!” Mrs. Jenkins suddenly said with surprising gratitude in her voice.

“No problem. I’ll get paid for it.” I chuckled. “Do you need anything else from me?”

“No, thank you. I think we took enough time out of your lunch break already.” the principal assured me, and I left after giving them a final nod.

As I stepped out of the room, though, I found myself blocked in by a group of girls, with Ava and Mia in the middle.

“So?” Mia asked excitedly. “Are you gonna do it?”

“You kno ... Of course you knew. They called your Mom, after all.” I suddenly realized. “Well, yes. Coach Jenkins will write up the forms for the ... club ... or whatever they’ll call it, and then we can start after spring break.”

As Mia threw her arms around my neck and kissed me in front of all her friends, the other girls started giggling in excitement and assured me how they couldn’t wait for our lessons to start. I wasn’t entirely sure why they would be so eager, but maybe the principal was right about them being affected by Mia’s stalker encounter.

I continued my new school life until spring break arrived, and with the end of the quarter, the school sent out progress reports. To my greatest pleasure, my grades had improved significantly! I had improved by at least a full grade in every subject, except for gym class which I couldn’t participate in since mid-November. When I showed Mom my report card, she was over the moon.

“I’m suddenly a solid-B student!” I exclaimed in wonder.

“Oh, I’m so proud of you, Honey!” Mom smiled, and she actually looked proud as well. “Those last few months were so hard for you, but you still managed to improve!”

“I honestly can’t say that I spent any more time studying than before.” I replied a little unsure about this development. “I still work my usual hours and even have a girlfriend to entertain now. How’d this happen!?”

For some reason, Mom’s proud smile turned into genuine happiness. She refrained from commenting further on it, but simply moved into the kitchen with a noticeable spring in her step to prepare something special for us to eat. Only when we sat down at the dinner table, as a small family, happily chatting away about our days, did I realize why my grades had improved and why Mom was so happy about it.

The one thing that changed was my environment. I had a Mom who was acting like a Mom. I had a sister that cared about me. I could sit down at my desk without being distracted by thoughts and worries about what the family was doing behind my back. I could go to school without feeling like a pariah. That was all. I didn’t study more than before, but the time I did spend studying garnered better results.

Because I was happy.

A few days later came the event that finally made me understand the weird happenings in my bedroom. Mom had asked me to help her with the grocery shopping, so we were out of the Apartment for a good two hours. When we returned, however, she showed a rather peculiar behavior by keeping me out of my bedroom. She insisted I’d help her put away the groceries while constantly checking her watch. Then kept me occupied with menial tasks until the doorbell rang and she all but ran to open the door.

As soon as Mia stepped into the apartment, Mom grabbed her purse, mumbled something about having to meet up with Danny, and left in a hurry. Mia, for her part, was again an absolute vision of beauty.

“Are we going out?” I asked a little perplexed about seeing her all dolled up.

“No, Muffin.” she said, before wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me in for a passionate kiss that instantly sent my blood into my nether regions. “But we are doing something special.”

“Ouuuh, I like the sound of that!”

“I was hoping you would.” she laughed. “Now, before we start, there are a few things I need to tell you.”

She grabbed my hand, led me to the couch, and made me sit down before she plopped herself into my lap. Then she continued.

“First of all, I won’t be home during next week. Dad has some business in Europe and the whole family has to accompany him.”

“Oh.” My disappointment was clear, but she quickly placated me with a kiss.

“Sorry, Muffin. I’d love to spend the whole week with you, but I can’t. But that brings me to my next point. You won’t be alone. I decided that it is time to give your sister a little reward. She worked really hard to rectify her mistake.”

“Which mistake?” I asked dubiously, half expecting to hear about something my sister did that I didn’t know about yet.

“The mistake of painting you in a bad picture amongst her friends.” Mia said firmly. “You might have wondered why so many of the girls were so happy about you accepting to be our trainer.”

“I did notice that.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, what you didn’t notice - because she didn’t want you to notice, so you wouldn’t think she only did it to gain your favor - was that your sister spent the last four months telling everybody and their parents what an awesome guy her little brother is.”

“What?” I asked incredulously. I remembered that she stood up for me during one of their cheer practices, when one of the girls had called me ‘Tiny Tim’ again, but since then I never was around her in school enough to notice anything.

“MhHmm.” Mia nodded. “She told everyone how you stood up for her in that parking lot. How you let her live with you when she needed a place. How you’ve been teaching us self defense. How you take care of her and your Mom. And even how much you changed physically, with all the training you’ve gone through. She’s using every opportunity she can get to praise you into high heavens.”

“Huh. I had no idea.” I really hadn’t. But a lot of things made sense now. Especially why so many of the girls asked Mrs. Jenkins about me in particular as a trainer for the self defense course.

“As I said, that was her intention. Though, I did almost slip and tell you.” she giggled. “Did you notice those displeased looks on the girl’s faces when I told them about us becoming a couple? That was envy, Muffin. So, I think she earned a little show of appreciation for her efforts.”

“Fine by me. What do you have in mind?”

Suddenly, she pressed her body closer into mine.

“That brings me to the other thing I have to tell you.” she said, and then leaned forward to position her mouth next to my ear. “Your big sister is a little submissive in bed, Muffin.”

I blinked in surprise. Was this going the way I thought it would!? I sure hoped so!

“You mean...” I let my voice trail off, hoping she would elaborate herself, so I was in no danger of revealing anything I shouldn’t know.

“She doesn’t get off on pain, so don’t go buying whips and clamps.” she giggled, before her eyes took on a lustful sight and her lips curved in a sultry grin. “But she does like it rough. And today I want you to give it to her rough.”

With that, she got off my lap, grabbed my hand, and led me towards my bedroom door.

“Just relax.” she said, as her hand grabbed the doorknob. “And keep an open mind. You liked what we did so far, didn’t you? I’m sure you’ll like what’s next as well.”

And with that, she opened the door and led me inside.

Ava was lying on my bed, naked and on her stomach, her legs spread just enough so we could get a clear view of her sex. She was wearing a sleeping mask for some reason, but I knew she was awake from the way her body had tensed up when she heard the door open. Now I knew why Mom had kept me away from my bedroom. She must have known about this and helped them!

Mia walked us next to the bed before starting to undress herself. I was completely taken in by the sight of Ava. The way she was lying on my bed made her ass look like a soft pillow that I just wanted to bury my head in. Upon closer inspection, I could see small drops of dew appearing along her inner pussy lips. She was definitely awake and getting aroused in anticipation.

Suddenly, Mia’s hand appeared in my field of vision as she trailed her fingers up Ava’s thigh, before lightly scraping them along Ava’s slit, causing her legs to tremble. With her hand now squeezing Ava’s left buttcheek, Mia turned her attention to me.

“Come closer, Muffin. Explore your sister’s body.” she whispered, and I felt my dick twitch.

I stepped forward and placed my hand on the inside of Ava’s thigh, feeling her muscles twitch when my fingertips made contact with her skin. My hand slowly moved upwards and, as my index finger gently scraped along her labia, Mia’s hand moved inwards to assist my own in its task to probe my sister’s sex. As my fingers found Ava’s clit and lightly pinched it, Mia’s fingers moved up along Ava’s folds before she pressed the tip of her middle finger against Ava’s butthole, not strong enough to penetrate it, but firmly enough to let Ava fear an attempt at dry probing.

Encouraged by that display, my own fingers moved away from Ava’s clit to part her inner lips. We could actually hear how wet she was. When my fingers reached Ava’s entrance, I pushed two of them inside while Mia started dragging her fingernails along my sister’s spine. Ava immediately reacted by releasing a soft moan. The display of her writhing body, as I slowly fingered her, was spectacular. I never had such a great view when I did this before, and could see Ava’s skin being pulled towards her center as I shoved my digits as deep into her as I could.

After about a minute or so, Mia made Ava kneel upright on the mattress, leaned down herself, and started kissing her. Ava, still wearing the sleeping mask blocking her sight, tried to return the kiss but more than once puckered her lips towards the air.

Then Mia moved her kisses down Ava’s body, along her collarbone and finally onto her nipples. That looked so incredibly sexy that I wanted in on that. So, I kneeled behind Ava myself, moved her head to lean to the side, and started kissing her neck. But then I felt Mia’s hand on my shoulder, gently guiding me so my kisses trailed along Ava’s neck, over her cheek, and finally to the corner of her mouth.

I glanced at Mia, making sure this was really what she wanted, and saw her nodding in encouragement. So, with Ava’s naked ass pressed into my groin, my hand slipped under her chin and moved her head to face straight at the ceiling, before I leaned forward and kissed my own sister on the lips, right in front of my girlfriend.

Mia, in turn, didn’t wait long, and simply joined in. Three mouths, and very soon three tongues, battling for contact with each other. From then on, we couldn’t wait anymore.

I jumped off the bed and started undressing myself. My rock hard cock pointing straight at the objects of my desire. While I was removing my clothes, Mia helped Ava get off the bed and kneel on the floor instead. As soon as I was naked, she placed both of her hands on either side of Ava’s head, and pointed her face at my groin.

“Put your hands behind your back and open your mouth, Babe.” Mia whispered, and Ava complied. She opened her mouth with a moan and even stuck out her tongue in anticipation.

There she sat, my big sister, with her perky tits jetted outwards to put them on display, her mouth wide open and her tongue hanging out, waiting for me to use her mouth as my personal fuckhole. And I didn’t wait long. I stepped forward, placed the tip of my cock on her tongue, and she immediately started sucking me with loud moans.

“Yes, Babe, taste him. Taste your brother’s cock. Isn’t it the best thing you ever had in your mouth?” Mia asked sinfully, and Ava moaned her approval as the speed of her bobbing head increased.” Just wait until he gives you his extra tasty cream!”

And with that, Mia leaned past Ava to twirl her tongue around my nipple, while simultaneously placing a hand on the back of Ava’s head. She started pushing Ava’s mouth down my pole until I felt the head of my cock past her tonsils and heard her choke, but she never tried to pull back or even resist Mia’s guidance.

“Just remember now, Muffin, she likes it rough.” Mia said, before grabbing Ava’s head with both hands to move it forcefully now, instead of just guiding its direction.

There I stood, in my bedroom, with my girlfriend forcefully fucking my big sister’s head onto my cock.

“GWACH - GWACH - GWACH” was all I could hear from Ava, as the head of my cock hit the back of her throat over and over again, every time Mia pushed her into my groin with a big grin on her face.

“Yes, Babygirl. Please your brother.” Mia said through her own panting. “God, this is so fucking hot!”

I had to agree, and grabbed a handful of Mia’s hair to pull her face towards me. We passionately kissed, our tongues wrestling, while she used Ava’s mouth to please me. Then she suddenly leaned down, pulled Ava’s head off my cock, and started blowing me herself. Ava’s face was now shoved into my balls, which she instantly started licking with gusto.

Then I felt my cock shove back into Ava’s throat for a forceful fucking, and back into Mia’s mouth for a luscious blowjob, and back into Ava’s throat as Mia kept alternating between those two options. I was lost in my lust, all thoughts about the implications and possible consequences forgotten, wiped from my consciousness.

But then it happened. Mia jumped up, her eyes wild, and pushed Ava’s head onto the ground while she was still on her knees, so her ass was pointing up.

“Come behind her, Muffin!” she commanded, and I eagerly complied. She motioned for me to kneel behind Ava and grabbed my cock, pointing it towards my sister’s sopping wet hole, and used her other hand to squeeze my ass. “Now I’m going to get a condom and then you will finally plunge that fat cock of yours into your sister.”

“No!” Ava shouted. “Fuck the condom! Just fuck me, brother! Please! Now! I need it! I’ve waited for so long! PLEASE JUST FUCK ME!”

Mia’s eyes grew big and her entire body grew still.

“But ... Ava ... He’s...” she stammered.

“I’m on the Pill, Mia! It’s Okay! Please, I want to feel my brother inside me!” Ava pleaded, and Mia’s eyes jumped between my eyes, my cock, and Ava’s pussy. “I want my brother to feel me!”

“Okay.” I just said. “I’ll fuck you raw, Princess.”

Ava moaned loudly upon hearing me call her by my intimate nickname for her. The nickname that reminded her so much of how our relationship had changed, by hearing how the intonation I used had changed.

If at all possible, Mia’s eyes grew even bigger. She just stared at me for a few seconds, before I could see that lustful glint appear. She kept her hold of my cock, still pointing it at Ava’s entrance, while the hand on my ass finally started pushing me towards it. Slowly, painfully slowly, I closed the distance, but she stopped pushing me as soon as she saw the tip of my cock make contact with Ava’s sensitive skin. Then she just looked at me.

I grabbed Ava’s hips with both hands, looking Mia directly in the eyes while she kept holding my cock in place, before pulling Ava with all the strength I had back into me, burying myself inside her at once. Ava wailed in pleasure.

“GAAAAWD YES! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, LITTLE BROTHER! FUCK ME!”

And I did. Too worked up from what had happened so far, and remembering that she liked it rough, I mercilessly slammed into her repeatedly. With every forceful thrust I felt my tip pass that tight ring inside her again, and every time I felt that extra tightness around my tip, Ava let out a shrill shrieking sound. I was a little concerned that Mia might be put off by that display, but instead she seemed to be getting turned on even more, as she panted loudly while watching me brutally fuck my own sister.

“That’s how you like it, Princess? Me fucking you however hard I want?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“YES! YES! FUCK! YEEEEES! USE ME, LITTLE BROTHER!” she screamed without inhibition. We continued like this for a few minutes before I could feel her clamping down on me. “CUMMING! I’M COMING! OH GOD! I’M FINALLY COMING ON MY BROTHER’S COOOOOCK!”

And her whole body started violently shaking as a continuous moan filled the room.

That ripped Mia out of her trance. By what I saw in her expression, it was clear that she had made up her mind about all of this, and now she wanted to join in. She jumped up, lay on her back in front of Ava, and spread her legs wide. Then she grabbed Ava’s hair and shoved my sister’s mouth into her pussy.

“Keep going, Muffin!” she commanded, before shifting her attention back to Ava. “Now eat my cunt, Babygirl! Your brother’s going to violently ram his fat hard cock into you until you make me come! But you better hurry up, because if you come before me, I’m going to torment your pussy until you scream as punishment!”

And with that she grabbed Ava’s head with both of her hands again and started smashing her face into her pussy. Ava, once again, was eager to please, though it was hard for her.

“AAAAARRGH! INTENSE! TOO INTENSE!” Ava screamed as she removed her mouth from Mia’s pussy for a second, but Mia was just as merciless as I was and simply pulled Ava’s face back into her folds, choking off her growling.

I kept pounding away as hard as I could, and soon felt the telltale signs of my own orgasm.

“Oh fuck! I don’t think I can go on much longer!” I warned them.

“You hear that, Babygirl?” Mia taunted. “If you don’t put some effort into this and make me fucking come, your own brother is going to flood your insides with his spermMMMMMMM OOOHHHHFUUUUUCK!”

Apparently that had sent Ava into overdrive, and she used every trick she knew to make Mia happy.

“OH GOD! MUFFIN! She LIKES the idea! The little slut WANTS her brother to come inside her!” Mia moaned, apparently just as turned on by the idea as Ava and I were. “Would you like that, Muffin? Unloading inside her? Shooting into your sister? Paint her walls, Stud! Do it! DO ITTTTTT! YEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!”

And with that, Mia erupted in her own orgasm. She thrashed around as her whole body spasmed, her legs jerked, and her chest trembled. Ava kept sucking on her folds throughout the whole ordeal.

When Mia came down from her climax about a minute later, she sat next to us and pushed her hand underneath Ava’s body. Her hand found Ava’s clit and started viciously rubbing it.

“NO! NO! NOOOOOOO! TOO SENSITIVE! PLEASE!” Ava pleaded, but Mia simply placed her hand on Ava’s neck to keep her head pressed onto the floor, while she kept on tormenting my sister’s clit in addition to my relentless pounding. Suddenly, Ava released another scream and her juices started shooting out of her, squirting like the first day the two of us shared my bed, drenching my lower body and Mia’s arm.

And that was finally too much for me. My balls tightened, my back muscles tensed, and I groaned loudly as I slammed into my sister as deep as I could before shooting jet after jet of my hot cum directly into her womb. I kept myself buried inside her until my cock stopped twitching, while Mia never ceased stimulating Ava past her limits.

After roughly thirty seconds, Ava simply passed out and her upper body collapsed to the ground and slid forward, causing my cock to slide out of her with an audible “Plop”. When her body stopped sliding over the floor, her ass was still slightly raised, so her pussy was put on display and we could see it still convulsing.

Mia wasted no time, and as soon as she saw my cock covered in my sister’s juices, took it into her mouth to clean it up.

“Oh God! Muffin!” she moaned between sucking me and taking deep breaths. “I can’t believe you just creampied your own sister ... Making her squirt... “ suddenly her voice morphed into a growl. “And I fucking loved it!”

As she said that, she dove down to push her face in between my unconscious sister’s limp legs, and started loudly sucking my cum out of Ava’s dripping pussy. I could hear the slurping sounds while Ava’s legs started twitching like someone was lightly electrocuting her.

Somehow, this stopped me from getting soft. This whole situation was just too much, too surreal, too intense.

When Mia had finished cleaning my sister, she simply jumped onto the mattress and pulled me on top of her, causing me to fall in between her widely spread legs. We kissed for a long time, as I rubbed my hard length against her sopping wet center.

We noticed Ava stirring, and Mia motioned for me to help her up onto the bed.

“You want to see the cock that made you come?” she asked Ava. “Yes? You want to see it stretch me out as your brother shoves it into me now?” And when Ava nodded again, Mia reached out to pull the sleeping mask off Ava’s head.

Ava immediately grabbed my cock and pulled me into Mia, just like Mia had done before. But instead of then simply watching as I fucked into that readily waiting hole, Ava returned yet another favor by also pressing one hand flatly onto Mia’s lower stomach, while placing her other hand on Mia’s clit, rapidly massaging it in a circular motion while I fucked away.

Mia’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as Ava hooked her free arm into one of Mia’s legs, and pulled it further upwards to give me even better access. I slammed into my girlfriend with increasing speed and force, trying to meet Ava’s intensity in pleasing Mia. Now it was Ava and I who relentlessly worked on Mia’s pussy until, after merely five minutes, she couldn’t bear it anymore. Needless to say, we refused to let up.

“OH GAAAAWD! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOUUUUU!” Mia screamed as she exploded into her own orgasm, and finally collapsed just like Ava had before.

But I wasn’t done! I was so close to coming again! I just kept fucking my girlfriends limp body until I felt my balls tighten again. Then I grabbed Ava by her hair, pulled her head down so it lay sideways on Mia’s lower stomach, pulled out of my girlfriend, and started shooting my second load of the evening into my sister’s open mouth.

She swallowed everything. Even the last spurt that wasn’t forceful enough to reach Ava’s mouth and instead landed square on Mia’s sex. My big sister simply extended her tongue and sensually licked my cum off my girlfriend’s pussy, all the while looking deeply into my eyes!

When I was done, I fell onto the mattress myself. With the last of my strength, I pulled the two sexy girls against me, so we could cuddle up in complete satisfaction.

As we lay there, I finally got it. I finally understood what Ava had done.

Not once during the whole three months of buildup to this situation since I learned about Ava’s sleeping problems, did she initiate anything between the three of us. She had always acted pensively and timidly, seeking Mia’s permission for everything, and making a great show out of displaying how new all this was for her. Tomorrow, Mia would be sure that she was actually the one who pushed me towards fucking my sister for the very first time. There was no danger of her freaking out now. I could have a girlfriend that was perfectly content with me fucking my family members.

I wasn’t too sure if I was allowed to be happy about that, since it meant that Mia was tricked into this. Kinda, at least. Did it even matter, though? Sure, if we had straight up told her about everything that had happened between Ava and me from the beginning, chances are she wouldn’t be here right now. But then again, given how eager she was to support Ava in her pursuit of me, and how much she herself risked pushing me towards accepting a sexual relationship with my sister, she could just as well have accepted it.

As if she could sense my thoughts about her, I heard Mia mumble a sleepy “Love you two”, and saw Ava regard me with a warm smile.

That got me thinking about my sister. I did notice how much better my school life had gotten. Looking at it objectively, a change like that was unlikely to happen simply because of a video showing me getting shot, and it happened way too fast to just be caused by sharing my lunch table with the cheerleaders. So, I was fairly certain that what Mia had told me about Ava’s quest to raise my popularity was true. She did stand up to the other cheerleaders right in front of me, after all. And she was the first to take my side when Aaron emptied my bank account.

If Ava had really spent the last four months secretly trying to undo the damage she caused, while simultaneously working on improving our relationship at home ... Then it would be the exact thing I had always hoped to one day see from my big sister. I looked at her, returning the warm smile she was giving me.

I pulled the both of them tightly into me, and placed a kiss on the top of Mia’s head.

“I love you too.” I said, then turned my head towards Ava. “And I love you too.” I added, before kissing Ava’s head as well.

I felt Ava hold her breath for a moment before she wrapped her arms around my chest and squeezed me so tight I feared my ribs would break again. Then she buried her face in my side while I felt her body lightly jerk every time a soft and choked sob reached my ears, and tears ran from her eyes onto my skin.

Chapter 23

The rest of the night was quiet. I kept holding Ava close to me as she cried herself out on my shoulder. I have no idea how long we just lay there, but she made me repeat my declaration of loving her as well as Mia two more times before she finally calmed enough to fall asleep.

The next day started out a lot earlier for me than for those two, since I had to show up in the office, while they didn’t have to go to school. After I had showered and gotten dressed, Mia and Ava were still cozily wrapped in my sheets.

“Love you.” I told my girlfriend, after giving her a loving kiss.

“Love you too, Muffin.” Mia sleepily replied, closed her eyes again, and was out like a light.

Then I moved over to the other side of the bed. Ava was awake and looking at me with a mixture of a pout and insecurity. I smiled, placed my hand on her cheek, and leaned forward. Her eyes widened a little, before her brows furrowed like she wanted to start sobbing again, but I stopped that by giving my sister a tender morning kiss as well.

“And I still love you too, Princess.” That made her smile, though her eyes were still a little moist.

“I love you, little Brother.” she whispered. “I swear I will never forget it again.”

Wherever Mom went before Mia showed up, she wasn’t back yet, so I made my way to the office after only drinking my coffee instead of enjoying breakfast with her.

Since my contract was for a twenty-eight-hour week, I normally worked for four hours a day from Monday through Friday, and then a full eight-hour day on Saturday. But whenever I didn’t have to go to school, I opted to put in six hours from Monday through Thursday, and finish with a half day on Friday. That allowed me a full free weekend!

At least that was the plan.

About an hour before quitting time, John called me, telling me that there was a problem and he’d like to meet me at the condo we had bought near the community college’s main campus. Sighing, I told him the time I could be there and he eagerly confirmed that he would meet me then. After I finished my day, I drove over to the condo while pondering on what would be waiting for me.

“Tim!” I heard John call out, as he jumped out of his car.

“John!” I mimicked his tone, before quickly dropping to a neutral voice. “So, what’s the problem?”

“Let’s go inside first.” he said, before unlocking the door and beckoning me to enter.

“Speaking of which ... What the hell happened with the door?” I asked, pointing at the entrance that had been widened significantly.

“Wheelchair accessibility.” he responded while shrugging his shoulders. “With this place being so close to campus, only having a single floor, and your tendency to get seriously injured, I decided to put up a little extra money and make the whole place disability-friendly. I’m also doing the same with the house for Mom and Dad. They don’t need it right now, but at their age ... You never know. I’ll show you all the other changes later. First, we have to talk about something.”

After we walked inside and he closed the door behind us, he reached into his jacket, pulled out an envelope, and presented it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked after checking over the ten pages of legal text I had pulled out of the envelope.

“Essentially, it’s a partnership agreement.” he grinned. “I created a Holding and I want you to be the controlling partner, since it’s your money that I used for funding. And I named it ‘T.B. Holding’, so it would be kinda weird for me to have a company named after you. If your first name started with a ‘P’, though, I would’ve named it ‘PB&J’. Shame, really.”

“Wait ... what?” I asked perplexed, partly because I didn’t understand how he could simply create a company with me as a partner without telling me, and partly because I worried about his sense of humor.

“I created a holding company.” John started explaining, a little slower this time. “I then transferred the cash you gave me to that company and used it to buy this condo and the house, so both belong to the holding now. The partnership agreement would make us both directors of that holding, but you would be the majority partner calling the shots.”

This time I understood what he said. Though, I still was confused about the details.

“How in the hell did you simply transfer all that cash to a company!?” I asked.

“It wasn’t simple, but it’s possible. You see, the holding is currently owning three assets. The condo, the house, and an imaginary software for online warehouse management that we’re licensing out for $6,500 per warehouse. I know someone, who knows someone, who, in turn, knows someone across the border. I gave them the cash, they split it across twenty of their people to each buy one of our licenses, and the money arrived in our bank account as legitimate revenue.”

When he finished, he stood there with a smug grin on his face. If my math was correct, whoever helped him took roughly a thirteen percent cut. That was ridiculously little as far as I knew, but maybe a thousand dollars per person was worth more south of the border. I had a sneaking suspicion I needed to check, though.

“So ... You gave that money to someone who has twenty Mexican warehouse managers who can smurf the money back into your bank account. What do they use their warehouses for?”

“Avocados.” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

I decided then and there to not ask any more questions, hope this wouldn’t come with strings attached, and never use their services again. I also decided that I should try to find some time to create some kind of online warehouse management software. It didn’t need to be good, or actually work, but I should be able to point at something in case the feds ask questions about it. Maybe it would be enough to modify some open source software that already exists.

Grunting, I read through the partnership agreement. I’m no lawyer, but the language was easy enough to understand. I would be the majority partner, so, while John took care of legal matters because I was a minor, he couldn’t just do with my money and assets as he pleased. It also contained all the procedural details for when he would remove himself from the holding after I turned eighteen. It sure looked like he didn’t intend to screw me over, so I signed both copies and handed him one.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” he smiled, before he continued in a business voice. “Now we have to talk about the condo. The contractor did a fine job. Until now, that is. Apparently, they have another project that takes precedence right now, so they stopped showing up.”

“Oh. How long is that other project gonna take?”

“He couldn’t give me a detailed timeframe, but they definitely won’t be back before Ava and Mia are supposed to move in here.” he sighed.

I looked around the rooms and, while they had indeed fixed the damages the previous owners had caused to spite the bank, the interior was still unfinished. There was no paint on the walls, no lights installed, a few drywalls had to be sanded, and the bathroom with the big door for wheelchairs was missing all the fittings.

“So, get someone else.” I proposed, and he sighed again.

“Already tried. I think we’ll have to finish this ourselves.” he answered in a tone that told me, without a doubt, that he had no desire to do manual labor in any capacity.

“And by ‘OURselves’ I assume you mean...” I let my voice trail off.

“You and the girls, yes.” he nodded with a straight face.

“Thought as much.” I grumbled, silently reminding myself of the money this would bring in. “I changed my work schedule over Spring Break, so I’ll have some time in the afternoons. And Saturday is completely free. But leave the girls out of it. I’m not sure about Maggie, but if I ask Ava to hang a single picture, I’ll have to learn drywalling afterwards.”

That made him laugh.

“Yeah, I’m afraid I also neglected to teach my little girl about home improvements. But won’t this be too much for you alone?”

“Looks worse than it is, I think. The most complicated thing is the bathroom fixtures, because I have no idea what wheelchair bound people need. But I learned how to take care of the essentials when Tess had a dripping faucet. Not much you can do wrong. Worst case scenario, the warm water will come out of the cold water tab and vice versa. When I’m done with that, I’ll sand the walls and paint everything in a nice white. That way, the girls can easily decorate however they want. What about furniture?”

“Trip to Ikea after they got a good look at the rooms?” he offered.

“That’s gonna be your job, then. I’ll do the manual labor and you go shopping with the girls.” He actually groaned about that. “And don’t forget about the bathrooms and the third bedroom. Pick some general stuff for those as well.”

He nodded, but then shoved his hands into his pant’s pockets to just look at me as I pulled out my phone and started walking from room to room, taking photos of everything that still needed fixing. When he had quietly followed me through the condo for quite some time, I finally had enough.

“What is it?” I asked with a wary voice, and I could see on his face how he was trying to decide how to approach whatever subject had him worried.

“Well, you mentioned spring break.” he said before pausing. This was visibly uncomfortable for him. “So, Logan came back.”

“Okay? You do remember me telling you that I don’t want anything to do with him, right?”

“Yes! Yes, I do. But, since he’s back from college, and my parents are still in town, the family is using that opportunity to have a little get-together tonight. If you’d like to join u...”

“No.” I flat out refused before he could even finish his sentence, which he acknowledged with a single nod. Though, he did seem surprisingly sad about that.

“Danny said you most likely won’t be interested. I still thought there may be a chance. You could just stay away from Logan?”

That display of his was intriguing! It really looked like he genuinely wanted me to participate, though he didn’t seem to understand why I would never want to contribute to that shitshow.

“Why are you so eager to have me attend?” I asked him with a single raised eyebrow. “What, now that you’re five girls to four guys, you’re afraid you’ll need help or something?”

“It’s three guys for four girls, actually, given that Aaron is not invited until he properly apologized to Ava, and Claire ... Well, Claire is not in the mood to participate.”

His face showed an undeniable level of bitterness that piqued my curiosity.

“Not in the mood?”

“Yes. First, she took your advice to heart and doesn’t want to do anything that would allow Logan to think his behavior was condoned. She and Danny talked about it the whole day yesterday, and they agree that Logan needs to realize his behavior can have consequences. So, he, much like Aaron, will have to make sure he treats everyone with respect if he wants to participate.” I took notice of him saying ‘they agree’, not ‘we agree’. “Second, she flat out refuses to do anything that you’re not part of.”

“Wait, what!? Are you telling me that she’s been at your place since yesterday and you never fucked?” I asked, my brows raised high in surprise, ignoring his scowl at my choice of words.

That would certainly explain why he didn’t seem too happy with me at the moment, but I had trouble believing Claire never joined in on the fun.

“Yes.” he said, then he seemed to realize something and rushed to continue. “But that’s not why I’m inviting you! I’m inviting you because I also want you to feel like a part of this family, and I regret that you’re not interested. Though, I can understand that you’d rather stay away than be confronted with your brother.”

I had to stop myself from laughing. Not only did he still not understand what my problem with all this was, he also didn’t seem to realize how much contempt he’s been displaying for me since the topic fell onto Claire refusing him.

“Logan has nothing to do with it.” I said firmly, causing him to look rather confused. “Well, Okay, not nothing, but it’s not because I want to avoid him. I just don’t think anything good could come of me participating.”

His face contorted in confusion. “How could it be bad if...”

“Because a pity fuck won’t make me feel like being part of any family!” I interrupted him with exhaustion straining my voice, feeling my patience tested from having to explain myself, and continued with my voice slightly raised when I saw him open his mouth to protest. “Yes, yes, it’s not a pity fuck, sure. Even if that were true, that’s how it’ll always feel to me. If you really wanted me to join, you would’ve asked after you found out that I turned sixteen, and before your fun time with your sister depended on it. If the girls really were interested in doing anything with me, at least one of them should’ve shown some interest after I lost all that weight, and before they felt like they owed me. Now I have a girlfriend who actually wants me, and, since I don’t see sex as a recreational activity like you all seem to, I’m not planning on fucking around behind her back.”

He sullenly looked at the ground for a good while, before he spoke with a voice befitting his expression.

“You’re right. There’s probably nothing I could say or do to convince you that we’re not just asking you out of guilt. Because we do feel guilty. But we don’t see sex as a recreational activity! We show our love that way. It has brought us closer tog...”

“DUDE!” I interrupted him with a shout as I felt a sudden anger explode inside me, and he looked at me taken aback. “You’re about to have a family orgy with the guy who LITERALLY tried to sell out your wife, your daughter, and your sister to a bunch of rapists to save his own skin! The guy who left your sister, his own MOTHER, behind when she needed his support! Don’t fucking tell me this crap brought you all closer together, because that’s bullshit and you know it! It’s about getting your fucking rocks off, plain and simple. That’s why I was excluded when you all thought my dick was too small for your liking, and it’s why Logan is still included despite not giving a SHIT about you all. What you do has NOTHING to do with love!”

He stared at me wide eyed and open mouthed. The uninhibited anger in my face and the borderline rage in my voice stunned him. But the asshole just didn’t get it. Sure, since they were barring Aaron from attending their get-togethers until he showed that he cared about Ava, maybe what John said was actually true and it really was about showing their love to each other. But did he seriously not understand what that meant for me? For the one guy in the family they excluded from being ‘shown their love’?

“I have to make a few trips to Home Depot. Thanks for the invite, but maybe it’s best if we just remain business partners.” I concluded after taking a few seconds to calm down. “Tell your family that if they fuck Logan, they deserve him!”

Without waiting for him to pull himself together, I walked through the door and got into my Jeep.

When I entered my apartment, I found Ava sitting on the couch alone. Mia had gone home already, so she got comfortable with a bucket of ice cream, wearing a way too big and worn out sweatshirt with faded sweatpants. Everything about her appearance said she was planning on having a relaxing night in, which confused me for a moment. When she saw me, she instantly jumped off the couch to practically throw herself at me.

“You’re back!” she beamed after giving me a kiss that would be more appropriate from a girlfriend than from my sister. Even if I was fucking my sister.

Being greeted so happily, right after John’s reminder of how none of them wanted me, did a great job in raising my spirits. I found myself smiling as I wrapped my arms around her, squeezed her ass, and returned her kiss. Going by the increase in strength of her hold on me, and the soft contented moan she let slip out, it seemed to please her.

“I see you’re all set to enjoy a relaxing evening?” I finally commented with her body still pressed into mine, eyeing the bucket of ice cream.

“When school’s out, I like to use the first few days to refuel.” she giggled. “Why?You have something planned for us? Or do you wanna join me?” I felt my smile widen when she looked genuinely hopeful about me spending the evening with her.

“No, sorry. I’ve gotta get changed and make a trip to Home Depot. Promised someone I’d help him fix up his place. But I thought you would go out tonight?”

“Huh?” Now she looked genuinely confused. “Why would I go out?”

“John told me. They’re having one of their get-togethers.” I said, finally releasing my hold on her and moving towards my bedroom. “With Logan back from college and the grandparents still in town, it’s a rare opportunity.”

“Oh! No, I’m really not interested.” she replied casually, before her voice dropped to a suggestive tone. “I already told you, you’re the only one who gets to pound this little pussy of mine.”

That almost made me stumble as I missed a step.

“And besides.” she continued, casually again. “Dad still hasn’t apologized, and Logan’s still an asshole. So I’d rather spend my time on the couch with the brother I love and that actually cares about me. And takes care of me.”

She added that last part with another sultry look. Though, the beginning of her sentence had me thinking about something else as I entered my closet and got rid of my clothes.

“Well, I understand that Aaron isn’t invited until he makes amends for the crap he pulled on you, and Logan can’t participate unless he treats everyone with due respect. And Claire’s already been there since yesterday, so, if you wanted to go, I’m sure she would keep an eye on Logan and make sure you’d have fun.” I called over my shoulder as I pulled on my worn out work clothes that I had also used when renovating my own apartment.

I didn’t even register how there was no reply from her, until I came out of my closet and saw Ava sitting on my bed looking rather alarmed for some reason.

“What?” I asked, after noticing her expression.

“You’re mad that Mom went.” she said softly, but with concern in her voice.

“Why would I be mad?”

“If you’re not, why did you call her ‘Claire’ instead of ‘Mom’ just now?”

That made me stop dead in my tracks.

I hadn’t even noticed that I did that. I also never realized, until that moment, that I had not only called her ‘Mom’ since the day of my first P.T. session, but even thought of her as my mom since we had that talk about Tess. And now she was back to being ‘Claire’.

I sat on the bed next to Ava, who immediately reached for my hand to hold it, and leaned into me.

“I guess I am a little annoyed that she’s taking part in it.” I lied. I wasn’t just annoyed, I was pissed. But it was clear she knew that already.

That bullshit John had just thrown at me, about how this is their way to show their love for each other, must have played a bigger part in my current opinion of my mother than I had thought. Though, I didn’t think I should tell Ava about that conversation with her uncle. It would just cause more unnecessary tension.

She started wringing her hands while keeping her eyes fixed to the floor, before she took a deep breath. “I don’t think she’s taking part in anything.”

“What do you mean?” I eyed her suspiciously. “John also told me she wasn’t in the mood, but I have to admit ... I find it hard to believe that she would spend two days in his house, watching them all go at it, and never join in on the fun.”

Ava sighed as her shoulders slumped a little. It looked like she was surrendering to her fate or something.

“Look ... I didn’t want to point that out because I was scared that you’ll think I’m trying to influence you ... but that’s exactly what Mom’s doing. She watches them have fun, but doesn’t join in.”

“Why not?”

“It’s her punishment.” Her voice was dire and full of regret when she said that.

“Sorry, what!?” I couldn’t believe what I heard.

“She refuses to do anything, unless you’re involved and willing.” she nodded. “Remember the day of your first P.T. session? She didn’t even try to get something out of that for herself. She called me into the room to take care of you, but she herself was happy to just hold you.”

“And what if it’ll take me quite a while before I’m willing to do anything with her?”

“Then, I think, she’ll be going without for however long it’ll take you.”

“I would’ve thought ... with you two sharing a bedroom...” I said, and Ava started chuckling.

“Oh, no! Mom doesn’t swing that way. Maggie and I enjoy it. Danny will join us on special occasions, like you saw on my birthday, but she doesn’t get anything out of it. Mom is completely straight.”

I could only shake my head as I stared at Ava. Though, once my mind started wrapping itself around the idea, I realized John’s bitterness might’ve been about something other than Mom’s refusal to fuck him. It may have been on his sister’s behalf, as he feared for her happiness.

“How in the world did she come up with that?” I finally asked.

“We spent years enjoying ourselves while excluding you, so now she makes her satisfaction dependent on yours.” Ava shrugged. “Honestly ... I kinda understand her. I’m doing the same thing after all.”

“I mean...” I sighed. “I don’t understand it, honestly. I really meant it when I told you that you’re free to join them. What’s wrong with this family will not be fixed as long as we continue excluding people just to please someone else, so I will never ask you to do that. That’s what caused this whole mess in the first place. I know all that. But, the thought of them fucking Logan, after everything he did ... it just pisses me off!”

“Of course it does! You’re not asking Mom and me to exclude him, and we’re not doing it to please you.” she reassured me, but quickly backpaddled, just like I did in my conversation with John. “Okay, we are partially doing it to please you, since we are feeling guilty for what we did to you. But I want to be only with you because ... well, because I feel like you’re the only guy who’s worth it. And Mom wants to be only with you because she wants to make up for the past. But even without that, what Logan did proves that he only sees us all as readily available pussy, not as family, and letting him have us will only encourage that.”

We sat quietly for a while, with her hugging my arm and resting her head on my shoulder. I have to admit, Ava telling me all that made me feel even closer to her than I felt after her affectionate greeting.

“Why did you forgive me?” I heard her whispered question.

“You made up for it.” I said, and she raised her head to look at me questioningly. “You stood up to your friends to make them stop calling me by that stupid nickname. Then you took my side instead of covering for Aaron, when he emptied my bank account. And ... Mia told me that you spent the past few months working to improve my reputation and undo the damage you caused. A lot of the things happening in school make a lot more sense now.”

Now she looked a little embarrassed.

“She told you?”

“Yeah. I’m glad she did. It convinced me that I have a sister that cares about me.” I said, turned my head, and kissed her forehead.

“I really love you, Tim. I don’t think I can ever make up for the years of hurt I caused you, but I’m damn well gonna try. You did so much for me ... Even after I was a bonafide Bitch to you and didn’t deserve your help, you still came through.” I felt her grip on my arm to tighten. “I never thought that what I did to you would have consequences. I just wanted to make Logan and Dad happy. Until I saw you lying in that pool of blood after you got stabbed.” She shook her head. “I thought you’d die protecting us, while Logan just ran away! And the more I thought about everything I did, the more ashamed I became of myself. You deserve so much better than what you got from me. Last year, you asked us all what changed for us to suddenly care about you. That’s what changed for me. I will do everything I can to be the sister you deserve, and make sure you know how much we love you. Because you’re the best thing that ever happened to us.”

That made me smile. I believed her.

“I love you too, Sis.” I patted her hand that was almost cramping from holding onto me.

“Can I come with you?” she suddenly asked.

“With me?” I had completely forgotten that I was getting ready to start working on the condo. “Oh, uh ... that’s gonna be a lot of dirty work. So, the direct opposite of what you wanted to do. You sure you want to come?”

“Yeah!” she nodded eagerly, and I realized that I could really use her help, even if she didn’t get to hold a hammer.

“Alright.” I shrugged, and she jumped off the bed to rush out of the room.

I found her already waiting for me by the door when I came out of my bedroom after stuffing my pockets with some cash. I decided to drive her to the condo first, so she could get a look at it.

“Wow. Looks like you got your work cut out for you, huh?” she commented after walking through every room.

“Looks worse than it really is. But I think I could actually use your help. As you have seen in my apartment, I lack taste.” That made her chuckle. “If I do this alone, I’ll paint everything gray and call it mission accomplished. So ... imagine you’d live here, how would you decorate?”

That made her whip her head around to look at me suspiciously through narrowed eyes.

“Really? You’re asking your sister how she would decorate? Your friend gives you a lot of leeway when it comes to decorating his place, don’t you think?”

“Why? Maybe he’s even more autistic than me when it comes to this?” I grinned.

She accepted that with a smirk and got to work by familiarizing herself with the condo.

“So, if I’m to imagine myself living in this room...” she asked me with a raised eyebrow after checking out all three bedrooms, the smile never leaving her face. “ ... who should I imagine living in the other rooms?”

“Maggie.” Now the smile died. She had obviously expected - or hoped - for a different answer. “The third room ... Don’t know yet. Maybe you and Maggie can think of someone.”

She thought about that for a while, but seemed to quickly catch on and understand what this was for. She made a few notes on her phone, and then we drove to Home Depot. While she got the different paints and wallpapers she had thought up, I went through the different isles with my phone in hand, getting all the tools and parts that I needed to finish the renovation.

She seemed less motivated to help since she learned that she would live here with Maggie instead of whomever she had hoped for. That impression got confirmed a few hours later.

I had spent about two hours installing all the fixtures in the bathroom, followed by another hour of sanding and priming the drywalls in the living room, before I checked in with Ava. She had decided to paint her room in a very faint mint green, which I found horrible, but I didn’t have to live in it. For the first few minutes, she simply ignored my presence as I went about reinstalling the covers for the power outlets where she had finished painting.

“You don’t want us to live with you anymore?” she suddenly asked with a level voice, not turning around to look at me.

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” Now she did turn around. She looked sad and was clutching the side of her shirt, showing me how this was bothering her quite a bit.

I stayed seated on the ground where I had sat down to reinstall the power outlets, and beckoned Ava to sit in front of me. She quickly followed my suggestion and then waited for me to start talking.

“Promise to keep this a secret.” I said.

“I promise.” There was absolutely no hesitation on her part, but her face also didn’t show the slightest hint of her not taking this seriously.

“How much do you know about ... how we solved the problem with Logan’s bookie?” I asked carefully.

“How we solved it?” She mocked. “As far as I know, you went to Austin in some cloak-and-dagger operation, stole the money from their partners, and then pinned it on the bookie.”

I nodded.

“Do you know what happened to the money?”

“I never asked.” she said matter of fact. “But I assume some of it is in your bedroom.”

That surprised me.

“How...”

“Oh, please, Tim. When you came back from the hospital, Mom and I were practically glued to your side since you couldn’t even tie your shoes by yourself. We’ve never seen you use an ATM, but you still paid for most of our shopping with cash. You also paid Mom in cash when she acted as your nurse, and you give us our allowances in cash. Even just now at Home Depot you pulled a wad of cash out of your pocket. And you always go into your bedroom when you need some more.”

“Does Mom know too?” I asked after I recovered from the surprise.

“No idea.” she shrugged. “But I think she’s had too much else to worry about, to also think about where your money comes from. We see you working enough anyway. I just never knew you could buy entire houses in cash.”

“You can ... but we didn’t.” I grinned, and she perked up after hearing me say “we” again. “If you spend too much at once, the government comes knocking to check where it came from. I gave John the cash to buy this condo and a house closer to his, but he used funds from his new business to pay.”

“You also bought a house?”

“The grandparents are gonna ‘rent’ the house.” I nodded again while making air quotes. “The idea is to let you and Maggie ‘rent’ this condo, since this is so close to the HCC campus. Then John banks a few hundred bucks of the cash every month as your rent payments. After you and Maggie finish college, we could collect actual rent payments from the next tenants.”

“You’re giving Gramma and Grampa a house? After...?” Her voice trailed off, but I knew what she meant.

“Maybe it’ll help.” I shrugged. “I’m thinking about buying a winemaking set for Granny and a craft beer homebrewing set for Grandpa. Maybe they’ll take it up as a new hobby and stay around, instead of fucking off on another year-long cruise.”

She sat there staring at me, visibly stunned by my revelation. Then her eyes dropped to the floor while she seemed to be thinking it over. I don’t know what kind of conclusion she reached but, after about a minute, she suddenly looked at me with admiration in her eyes, which was somewhat lessened by the sad smile on her lips.

“Why don’t you tell them?” she finally asked quietly. “If they knew that you’re the one making all of this possible, and not Uncle John, I’m sure they would do anything to get back into your good graces.”

“Yeah, great, cause that’s what I always wanted.” I said with disgust. “Grandparents who only give a shit about me when they find out that I have money. Let them think it’s John who’s making this all possible. It’s better that way. As soon as any of the others find out about the money, there’s no way I’ll trust anything they say or do anymore. That’s why I really want you to not tell anyone about this.”

She got on all fours, crawled into my lap, and cuddled herself into me.

“My lips are sealed. I promised.” she said, and we sat there for a while before she spoke up again. “So ... you’re not kicking me out? I don’t have to move here?”

“No, I’m not kicking you out. But, honestly, I would prefer it if you moved in here with Maggie.”

“Why?” She sounded business-like. I was sure she would try to negotiate.

“Well, let’s be honest here, we are three people living in an apartment with two beds.”

“Given what we do in those beds, there shouldn’t be a problem if it’s a little cramped.” She giggled. “And now that your girlfriend is sharing you with your sweet and loving big sister, why don’t I just move into your bedroom and let Mom have the guest room for herself?”

I sighed, realizing I had to address this carefully.

“Ava ... Do you think this is healthy?” I asked. “When you told me that you want to devote yourself to me, it made me happy. And horny. I’m not gonna deny that. But don’t you want to find a boyfriend for yourself?”

“And who would that be? I already told you that you’re the best thing that ever happened to us.” She sounded defiant, almost insulted by my suggestion. “Look at the other girls in the cheer team. Their boyfriends are all boys who never accomplished anything. Boys who think with their dicks and believe they somehow deserve everything. They’re all like Logan. You want me to hook up with one of those assholes just to have hooked up with someone?”

“Oh, I’m not advocating for those guys, believe me. But, once you enter college, that market should look a little different. There’ll be many guys that are a lot more mature than high school jocks. And you’d have a lot more chances to get to know them if you didn’t live in your little brother’s two-bedroom apartment with your mother.”

She remained seated in my lap, her face now buried in my chest, and her hand clutching at my shirt. I actually got the impression that she looked like a little girl, afraid of being left behind.

“Look at me, Ava.” I continued, and it took her a few seconds before her eyes met mine. “I’m not looking to get you out of my life. And I’m also not going to throw you out of the apartment. If you absolutely don’t want to do this, Maggie can live here alone for all I care. But ... Do you remember the conversation we had last year in my car, when I drove you home because of the social worker?”

She squinted her eyes a little while trying to recall what was said that day. It looked cute.

“Yes.” she finally nodded. “You were afraid that I’d end up as ‘the secret side chick’ of some asshole if I didn’t get my submissive tendencies under control.”

“Exactly! Now, if you want to be with me because that’s what you really want, I won’t stop you. You’re my sister and I love you. But I’ll be damned if I turn into another Logan and abuse this to keep you as my own side chick.”

“But you’re...” she attempted to protest, but stopped herself. Instead, she let out a sigh before smiling at me. “That’s exactly the reason why I think you’re so much better than the other guys. Fine! If you want me to try, I’ll move in here with Maggie. I’ll even keep an open mind and look for someone to date. But I’m warning you! I don’t expect to find someone anytime soon.”

I wrapped my arms around her body and squeezed a little, coercing a content sigh out of her. Without another word, we got up and resumed our work in the room until we had it completely painted.

We had one short interruption, though. After about another hour, my phone pinged to notify me of a new message. It was from John, and only read “You were right. I’m sorry”.

At first I assumed he had told his wife about my outburst and she helped him understand what I meant. The real meaning, however, became clear when we arrived home and were met with a bit of a surprise.

“Hey kids!” Claire greeted us from the couch she was sitting on. She sounded upbeat, but her wavering smile made me think it was forced. “Where were you two?”

“Uh ... Ava helped me with something.” I answered, eyeing her carefully in an attempt to understand why I doubted her good mood. “Sorry, if I had known you’d be home today, I’d have given you a call.”

Hearing my comment, her shoulders slumped slightly and her smile wavered even more.

“Ah ... no problem, Honey. You hungry?”

She didn’t even properly look at me as she asked, and didn’t wait for an answer before she turned to walk into the kitchen to start dinner preparations. Whatever made her uncomfortable, I opted to not force it out of her.

Ava and I cleaned up before entering the kitchen to help, but Mom’s subdued mood was strangely overbearing. We also barely spoke during dinner, since Mom merely poked around on her plate while Ava kept throwing our mother concerned glances. In the end, Mom left her barely touched food on the table and announced that she was tired.

Ava gave me an apologetic look before rushing after her, leaving me to deal with the dishes by myself.

I don’t know if she did it intentionally, but she left their door cracked open when she joined Mom, so I could faintly hear what was happening in there while I placed mom’s plate in the fridge and loaded the dishwasher.

“What’s going on, Mom?” I heard Ava ask softly. “You barely touched your food.”

There was silence for a few seconds, before I heard the sheets rustling when Ava must have been joining Mom on the bed, followed by another uncomfortably long moment of silence.

“Come on, Mom. Talk to me.” I heard Ava’s follow-up.

Again, Ava’s words were met with silence. I started to feel anxious about this whole situation, and looked around the room in an attempt to find something to do with myself. Mom not talking with Ava was too strange to just file away as a bad mood!

That’s when my eyes fell upon Mom’s purse. Maybe I could find some clues to her behavior in it.

Hearing Ava’s whispered voice that was now too low for me to make out her words, I stalked over to the small bag and opened it. There was nothing suspicious in it, but I found her phone. Making a quick decision, I restored its previous appearance and left to start my PC.

Booting up my phone surveillance software, I immediately went for her messages. Sure enough, there was a lot to take in. Chats and messages with the whole worried family over the past few months confirmed that Ava had told the truth about Mom only watching their get togethers without participating. Apparently, she had not joined in on any of their fun since that epic thanksgiving-blowout four months ago. There was only one sole exception to her self-imposed celibacy, which was the night they ‘cared for’ Logan after the bookie had roughed him up, and even then she rather took on the role of a director than letting him fuck her.

The rest of the family did not seem too happy about her decision. While most of them were simply worried about her wellbeing, I now realized that this had played a big part in Aaron’s suddenly heightened resentment towards me. His own wife was refusing him pleasure, and he held me responsible for that. When his daughter then denied him bareback sex shortly after, it made him snap and try to forcefully take back his women. As that failed so spectacularly, he held me responsible for that as well, since Ava only demanded the use of condoms because of me.

Most insightful were the newest messages, though. None of them went into details, but something happened between Mom and Logan shortly after they had all gathered in John’s house, and none of the family members ever got to even take their clothes off. There were multiple messages from John and the grandparents, asking if Mom was alright. Danny, however, had sent her multiple messages telling Mom that she was ‘doing the right thing’ and comforting her. That was quite interesting. In any case, John’s message about me being right was suddenly put into a new light.

I had shut everything off, when I noticed Ava standing in my doorway.

“Tim...” she started, looking forlorn as she fidgeted around with her hands.

I understood what she wanted without her having to explain, got up from my chair, and gave her a quick peck on her cheek as I passed her on my way to their bedroom.

Mom was still in their bed, above the covers, positioned in something that was halfway towards a fetal position. I watched her for a moment, her chest slowly moving as she breathed, it almost looked like she had fallen asleep. But then Ava probably wouldn’t ask me to check on her. So, I sat on the edge of the bed, causing her to stir a little.

“Sweetheart” I heard her small voice. “I told you I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

I lay down behind her and, as I slid my left arm underneath her head and wrapped my right arm around her torso, heard her gasp when she realized that I was not Ava.

“I find that a little hard to believe, Mom.” I said softly, pulling her closer into me and feeling her hand affectionately grasp the arm I had wrapped around her. “We can talk about it, or we can just lie here for a while.”

I worried about overstepping. Whatever was bothering her, she obviously didn’t want to talk about it, so maybe me forcing my company onto her was the wrong move.

Those worries were quickly eliminated when I felt her hand squeeze my arm, and push herself even closer into me. We silently lay like this for a few minutes, before she took a deep breath.

“I don’t know if I should tell you.” she suddenly said.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to undo the progress we made so far. I’m scared of losing you again, Honey.” she whispered, and I could actually feel her lightly tremble. I believed her claim about being scared.

“I take it this is about Logan and Aaron?” I asked, and felt her grip on my arm tighten.

“Just Logan.” she sighed. “I’m ... trying to reach out to him.”

As soon as she finished that statement, her body tensed up significantly, and it felt like she was even holding her breath.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked, feeling her body twitch in surprise. She turned her head to look at me astonished.

“Aren’t you mad?” Her voice was a perfect fit to her expression.

“Mom ... I never wanted you to simply cut ties with the rest of the family. I had to tell Ava the same thing today, so it’s probably my fault you thought that was what I wanted.”

Now she turned her whole body towards me. Though, her eyes told me that she wanted me to elaborate. So, I did.

“I didn’t say those things in John’s house so you’d abandon Logan. He is your son. You should care for him. We both know from experience, if he’s left to his own devices, he’ll fuck up his life in a matter of months. He needs your help.” I said with every ounce of conviction I could muster. “I wanted you to realize that, if he doesn’t get a wake-up call and pulls his head out of his ass, he will pull you down with him. That’s what I meant back then.”

Within a mere second, her whole body relaxed, her eyes glistened, and she threw her arms around my neck.

“Oh, Honey, thank you! I was so worried you’d think I went behind your back!” she cried out, albeit quietly.

“Well, I’m not gonna lie. When John told me about your plans for tonight, I got pissed as all hell.” I continued, and felt my words restore the tenseness in her body. “I just couldn’t understand how, after everything we went through, and after everything he did, you people would still fuck him.”

Instantly, her elation evaporated again as she pushed herself off me so her face was about a foot away from mine. Then she looked at me with a shocked expression, before she spoke in a hurried and pleading voice.

“Honey, I swear to you that is not what happened, and not what we had planned! Danny and I had come up with a gameplan. Logan needs to learn to respect us. So, when he arrived, we all sat down to talk. That’s all we wanted. Just talk a little to learn what he was doing this whole time and why he basically left his sister and me behind. The plan was to make sure he understood that he could no longer simply expect us to do anything for him. But ... Just as you said in John’s house ... He just wanted us to get out of our clothes instead.”

“Sounds like him, alright.” I said in a dry voice, causing Mom to sigh.

“Well, Danny said that we must not give in. Not that it was very hard at that moment, because the more he pushed back, the more frustrated we got. So, finally, we told him that, if he wanted us to treat him as a member of this family, he must first treat us the same. Then he got angry.”

That did somewhat surprise me.

“What do you mean by ‘angry’?” I asked.

Before she answered, she buried her face back into my chest, so her voice was a little muffled now.

“He said that we made him feel like the black sheep of the family by ganging up on him like that. But when I tried to assure him that I do love him, he just said that if I actually loved him, I wouldn’t take this away from him. Then Danny tried to explain that nobody is trying to take something away, but that we need him to understand that this is a two-way street. So, he suddenly called her selfish.” I felt my shirt getting wet where her face was buried in it. “Then ... he got up, walked to the door, and said ‘I thought I could count on you all, but I guess I was wrong’, and left.”

I was stunned. Feeling like the black sheep of the family, because they were ganging up on him. Feeling unloved because they excluded him. Calling Danny selfish, because she went along with it all to get something out of it for herself. And, finally, leaving the family behind after realizing he wouldn’t get any support from them. Did that little fucker seriously just fast-track through the past five years of my life, simply because they refused to drop to their knees and suck his cock as soon as he arrived!? While all they wanted was to have a talk with the guy? How fucking self absorbed could someone be!?

But then I realized something else. He wasn’t self absorbed. I just hoped the rest of the family finally saw the guy for who he really was.

Hearing her hiccups pulled my attention back to her.

“You know he’s just used to being able to manipulate you all? And now that his usual tactics no longer worked, he didn’t know what else to do and fled.” I asked softly, trying to reassure her, and felt her nod her head.

“Yes, Honey. I know. But it’s still so hard. I never realized how bad things had gotten until that moment. How far gone he was. I screwed up so badly.”

Now she was sobbing almost uncontrollably, so I simply held her for as long as she needed. When I tried to soothe her by stroking her hair, her sobbing intensified instead, and she clung to me like I was some kind of life boat in the middle of the ocean. Only then did I finally grasp just how badly this encounter with Logan had affected her. For me, it wasn’t nearly as surprising. And I had written him off long ago. For Mom, it was all relatively new.

“It’s not all on you, Mom. But at least you are trying to fix it.” I tried, but it did not have the desired effect.

“But it’s so bad, Honey. What if I’ll never get through to him?” she asked, clear anguish in her voice. So, I tried a different angle.

“Mom, look at us right now. Remember how fucked up our relationship was just half a year ago? I was done with this family, and convinced there was no happy end for us. We still got ways to go, but you did manage to prove me wrong by constantly showing me that you do care So ... if you managed to hold onto me, who was dead set on leaving to never hear from any of you again, I don’t see why you couldn’t get the same result from Logan.”

Her initial response wasn’t verbal. Instead, she simply pushed her arms around my torso to pull herself back into me. I was a little unnerved when I heard her take a deep breath while her face was still buried in my chest, and felt her arms squeeze me. This wasn’t her taking a steadying breath. This seemed like she wanted to take in my scent. It got a little more unnerving when she spoke.

“Thank you, Darling.” she said, her face still buried in my chest. That was the first time I heard her call me that. Until that moment, Ava was ‘Sweetheart’, I was ‘Honey’, and ‘Darling’ was reserved for Aaron. Her husband. “But I don’t think your situation is comparable to your brother’s.”

“Why?”

“Because what you wanted was a family that cared for you as much as you cared for them. Even then, it only worked because you gave us the opportunity to work on it. Logan...” she sighed. “Logan wants something else. And it doesn’t seem like he’s willing to accept anything else.”

“So ... you gonna give up?” I asked, more in a teasing manner than as an accusation.

“No!” she said firmly after tilting her head back and finally looking at me. “My decision still stands. I screwed up, so I have to fix it. But I’m glad I have you and Ava supporting me. Especially with the divorce still going on.”

Not sure how to respond to that myself, I chose to simply hug her tightly, hoping it would be enough encouragement for her. Of course I was planning on supporting her. Everything I did so far was in the hopes of them taking the chance and working on our problems. However, I felt like this conversation had taken on a rather emotional tone, and I was worried she would use the L-word again, about which I was still unsure how to respond. And if I refused to say it in this kind of situation, it would only discourage her.

Thankfully, Mom chose to rest her head on my upper arm, closed her eyes, and soon I heard her slow and deep breathing telling me that she had fallen asleep. Knowing that me moving would only wake her up, I soon followed suit. Though, the real shift in our relationship started the next day.

Ava, again, chose to help me with the condo renovations after I got back from work. We painted Maggie’s room in a faint baby blue, that I found equally horrendous to the faint mint green Ava chose for her own room. Then we also managed to finish painting the third room in a barely noticeable beige that made me wonder why we even bothered to paint at all.

Pleased with our progress, we arrived home to yet another surprise from Mom.

She was standing in the middle of the living room, fully dressed and made up like she had always done for work, her hands folded in front of her body.

“Hi!” she said with a smile, before her face and tone changed to show determination. “Tim, Darling, I need to speak with you.”

“What happened?” I asked, in a tone that maybe was a little too stern.

“Nothing bad! I just ... I have to ask you for a favor.” she said, while silently asking me to sit on the couch with a gesture of her hand.

As I sat, I noticed that she had moved the armchair so it stood directly opposing the couch. When she sat in it, dressed the way she was, it felt like I was called into HR. Not entirely sure what to expect or how to react to this situation, I waited for her to start. She took a deep breath as if to steel herself, and began her sale’s pitch.

“Darling, I need to ask you for some money.” she declared, then looked at me with her lips pressed tightly together, apparently in anticipation of my refusal.

I immediately had my suspicions and threw a look at Ava, who raised her hands in defeat while shaking her head, informing me that she did not tell Mom about the cash in my bedroom.

“Okay. This looks like you put a little too much effort in to just ask for twenty bucks for gas money. So ... how much do you need?” I asked.

“You know how I’m still looking for a job.” she rushed to continue, completely ignoring my question, and reached down to pull a stack of papers from underneath the coffee table. “I am looking, but it seems I’m ... not what they’re looking for.”

She finished that sentence with a mixture of regret and embarrassment as she handed me the stack of paper. As I inspected them while trying to contain my confusion, I realized that the first page was a list of potential openings for law office clerks, the job she had performed in the past. The rest of the stack were rejection letters. As far as I could tell, she had sent an application to each and every job offering she could find, and got rejected every time.

My brows furrowed as I skim-read some of those rejection letters. I would’ve expected a certain level of professionalism from law firms, but some of them made no secret of the fact that the only reason Mom got rejected was her age. At forty, she was somehow too old for them to do their filings. At least that explained the embarrassment that had found its way into Mom’s voice.

“Then, what do you need money for?” I asked, still not picking up on what she was trying to achieve.

Before she answered, she pulled another stack of papers from underneath the table and handed it to me as well. This time, it started with a printed sheet listing job offerings for legal assistants. This list was a lot longer than the one for office clerks. The rest of the stack was a bunch of information from HCC regarding their workforce certification programs. Now her question made sense.

“Alright. So, how much do you need?” I asked again, causing her to tense up and regard me with a tentative look.

“Thirteen hundred dollars for the first semester.” she finally said barely loud enough for me to hear, and with her eyes locked onto the table between us. Then she looked up at me and continued with hurried words. “I know how hard you’re working to keep food in the fridge, so I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t convinced that it would help! It’s only two semesters in total, and you can see how much more job opportunities it would get me. I saved as much as I could from the money you already gave me, but I just don’t have enough. And I promise...”

As she continued her rapid-fire delivery of arguments for why this would be beneficial for us, I felt a little smile spread on my face. If she was this reluctant to ask for that amount of money, and had put in so much effort to sell this idea to me, I could be sure that nobody had told her about the money. Or the holding I was now partnered in with her brother. It also told me that she was still trying to set a positive example, instead of being content with using my money.

“Alright!” I called out while chuckling, halting her barrage and causing her to blink at me. “I think this is a great idea. I was thinking about taking a few courses myself anyway.”

“You were?” I heard Mom and Ava ask simultaneously.

“Yes. I was thinking about securing my job. The ones I was looking at are mostly online courses, but, who knows, maybe we can join forces to embarrass Ava and Maggie on the days I have to be there.”

“Oh thank you, Darling!” Mom exclaimed, as she rushed around the table to kneel next to the armchair I was sitting in and wrap her arms around my neck. “You have no idea how important this is to me. I know money is tight, but I couldn’t ask anyone else, since my parents just put most of their money into that college fund and John just bought that house.”

That part made sense. So, she really didn’t ask me because she somehow learned that the cash didn’t go up in flames. Though, there was one thing I still wanted some clarity about.

“Mom, why is this so important to you?” I asked. “I mean, sure, being independent and all that, but we made due so far, and I don’t think I was rushing you to find a job.”

Somehow, this caused her to revert back into the tentative state she had shown me when I asked about how much money she needed.

“Well, you see, I spent a lot of time talking with Danny. She’s helping me get back on track. And ... she gave me a list with ... goals.” Mom explained, her eyes involuntarily darting around the room.

“What goals?” I asked, intrigued from her behavior, and she sighed as she seemed to resolve herself.

“Danny came up with a six-step-program for me. It’s supposed to help me ... well ... get my shit together, really.”

“Huh. What steps?” I asked, now smirking about that shyness in her demeanor.

“Well, first, to properly apologize, of course. Take responsibility for what I did to you. Second, what Danny called ‘Walk the Talk’. Identify what caused my behavior and then avoid it. Third, to be there for you and to make sure you know that you, especially, can count on me.”

As she listed off those points while counting them with her fingers, something in the back of my mind started calling for my attention. Though, I couldn’t quite place it, yet. I was sure, however, that the second point on her list was the reason she had stopped attending the family orgies, and the third must be the reason she found the resolve to move in with me when I was hurt.

“Fourth,” she continued after shifting uncomfortably “is to make sure you never feel like I’m forcing it onto you. And fifth is to show you that I can be a proper Mom for you.”

By this point, I had realized where that weird feeling tugging on my brain came from. I had to fight back the grin my lips wanted to form, so Mom wouldn’t think I didn’t take her seriously. I would need to have a serious talk with Danny about this.

“Didn’t you say there were six steps?” I asked in an attempt to distract myself from my realization, since I remembered what it would be.

“Yes. But the last step requires me to finally get a job.”

“Ah. Like, be a proper role model to your children again?” I asked, no longer able to fully suppress my smirk.

“Uh, yes.” Mom responded, eyeing me for a moment. “That’s exactly how Danny phrased it.”

“Yeah, thought as much.” I chuckled, as I pulled out my phone and started typing into the search bar. “You know, when all of our problems started, I tried to read up on it. I found the most helpful articles on psychology sites, but the most articles that helped came from reddit subs and self-help guides for neglected kids. And ... I quickly noticed a recurring theme when it came to the reasons why most kids became so estranged from their parents.”

As I spoke that last sentence, I handed her my phone. She hesitated for a second before taking it, looked at the screen, and then her expression darkened.

“I’m not an addict, Tim!” she finally called out, looking at me with a hurt expression.

“Look at the list underneath the headline, Mom.” I simply said.

“Wait...” Mom stammered. “That’s ... That’s exactly the list Danny gave me.”

“Yes. ‘6 steps to regain your children’s trust while in Recovery’.” I quoted.

“But ... I’m not in ... Why would she...” She was still unable to form a complete sentence.

“I mean, let’s be honest here. I highly doubt there’s a list titled ‘6 steps to regain your children’s trust after you refused to have sex with them’. I guess she made do with what she had. And let’s not forget that it did work, didn’t it? I think that’s all that counts.”

Hearing me say those last few words, she perked up.

“Do you really think that?” she asked, not in a disbelieving way. I got the impression that she simply wanted me to confirm, again, that our relationship had improved so much.

“Yes, I do. Now, let’s clean up, change, and start dinner. I’m starving!”

Over the following two days, two things happened.

First, Ava and I finished the condo to the point John could show it to the rest of the family. I was in the office when he did, but I heard that Ava held true to her word and did not comment in any way when Mom, Maggie, and the grandparents started praising John to high heavens for his great investments.

Second, I decided to make further use of my surveillance software on their phones, and listen in on Mom’s last few counseling sessions with Aaron. I’m not exactly proud of violating her privacy like that, or of betraying her trust, but I needed to know. I had to be sure her intentions were genuine. Yes, she had gone to great lengths in order to regain my affection, but after years of lies, secrecy, and cruel pranks, I hope it is understandable that my trust-issues with my family didn’t vanish over the course of a mere few months.

I did not have to wait long for that confirmation.

“Oh, get off your high horse, woman!” I heard Aaron say in an annoyed voice, when I listened in on their tenth counseling session. “You screwed up just as much as I have, so stop placing all the blame on me! Let’s just get back together in OUR home and work this out!”

“Not without Tim!” I heard Mom shout in an angry voice. “Yes, I fucked up just as much as you have, Aaron. Maybe even worse. But, contrary to you, I’m doing EVERYTHING I can to show Tim that I changed and be his Mother again, while you still blame him for what YOU screwed up! He’s been nothing but a godsend to Ava and me.”

“How was he a godsend, Claire?” I heard an unfamiliar voice. This must be their counselor then.

“For one, we had a place to stay. We didn’t sleep on my brother’s couch for the last two months, that’s for sure. And that’s only because Tim allowed us into his home. He also paid for EVERYTHING Ava and I needed, since he closed our joint account! Without Tim, we would have been completely lost!”

That was news to me. And, apparently, for the counselor as well.

“He ... what? Aaron, you left your Wife and Daughter penniless?” She sounded genuinely astounded.

“Yes, he did!” Mom answered for Aaron. “His exact words were ‘Let’s see how long you can hold out without my support’. He thought he could force us to come crawl back this way. But, surprise, I didn’t even have to ask Tim for help. He himself offered it before I could even gather the courage to ask even more of him. He’s even offered to pay for my college courses, so I can finally get a job myself!”

“Excuse me, Claire, but ... how is Tim paying for all of that? Isn’t he still in high school?” I heard the counselor ask in doubt. Surprisingly, I was more confused by her constantly calling them by their first names than irritated about being doubted.

“He’s affording this by working his butt off. My boy leaves for school at seven in the morning, and comes home from work at eight in the evening. At the earliest! He’s more of a Man than my husband when it comes to taking care of his family, and that’s after what we put him through! The least you could do is to acknowledge his achievements, Aaron! But, no, you keep making fun of his job because it’s in IT. Not that it would make a difference anyway.”

I smirked at that jab against Aaron, but I was happy about something else. Yes, Mom was placing blame on Aaron, but that was for not wanting to work on our relationship. And, even in front of a stranger, she fully admitted her part in all this, defended me, and put me above her husband. At that moment, I clearly felt my affection for her regrow.

“What do you mean, Claire? It wouldn’t make a difference?” Aaron asked, I thought he sounded a little scared.

“Aaron, our boy was shot! And you CHOSE to not tell any of us and leave him all alone in the hospital!” Mom’s voice was trembling at this point. Whether from anger or sadness, I couldn’t possibly tell. “That showed me a side of you I could never accept. I could never live with a man who would do THAT to his own child. I don’t think I could ever forgive you for that.”

What followed was a moment of silence on their part. It was actually so long that I checked my internet connection. Then came the surprise, when I heard the counselor sigh.

“This was only the tenth of our twelve sessions, but I will inform the judge that I don’t see any possibility for reconciliation. What Claire just told you is, in my opinion, not something she can move past.” Then I heard the counselor sigh before she continued. “I have to tell you that my letter for the judge will include the reason for why I reached that conclusion.”

I listened to Mom and Aaron make their farewells to the counselor before Mom left the room. Then I listened to her walk through a few doors, heard something that sounded like the lock of a toilet stall click, and finally Mom’s sobbing.

Chapter 24

Listening to Mom crying through the bug I had on her phone was surprisingly hard for me. I suspected it was because of the definitive end of her marriage, and her crying about this caused conflicting feelings in me.

On one hand, I could still understand why she would be saddened by the end of a twenty-year marriage, and I wanted to comfort her. On the other hand, it made me wonder if she would have rather stayed with him despite everything that happened.

When Mom made it back into my apartment a few hours later, she had cleaned up well enough to not show any signs of her crying. To my big surprise, though, the very first thing she did after stepping through the door, was to embrace me in a tight hug. She didn’t say anything while holding onto me, nor did she answer when I asked where that hug came from, but when I wrapped my arms around her shoulders to return the hug while holding her head to my chest, she, again, simply took a deep breath as if to take in my scent.

After about a minute, she simply let go of me and walked into her bedroom.

I had not called her while she cried in that bathroom. I wasn’t trusting myself to not make a stupid comment about the possible reasons for her emotional outburst and reveal that I listened in on her. Instead, I had decided to prepare her favorite meal, placed a bottle of white wine in the fridge, and let her speak at her own pace if she needed to.

It worked. As soon as she stepped out of her room after changing her clothes, smelling the frying catfish and hush puppies, her face relaxed into a smile. Then she stepped into the kitchen, hugged me from behind, and held onto me while I worked on dinner.

This even intensified when Ava returned from her shopping trip to Ikea with Maggie and John. Not only did my sister immediately pick up on Mom’s mood, she seemed to also reach the same conclusion as I had. So, instead of asking what happened, she simply joined us in the dinner preparations by asking me to talk her through preparing the tartar sauce.

Mom’s mood improved a lot as she silently watched her children prepare a family meal. The smile on her face when we finally sat down and ate was warm and happy.

When we sat on the couch afterwards, I had Mom and Ava cuddled up to me on either side, each holding a glass of white wine, and it took a while of silence before Mom felt like talking.

“The counselor decided today that we no longer have to attend any more sessions.” she said out of the blue. “She’s going to inform the judge, so the divorce can continue.”

Ava and I both thought about that for a few seconds.

“And ... how do you feel about that?” Ava asked.

“Scared, to be honest.”

“Why?”

Mom sighed.

“The fact that your father left Tim alone in the hospital had her realize that our problems go beyond what she could work on. Her job was to try and make us find some common ground. Overcome our differences to the point we could work together. In reality, Aaron would need to work out his differences with Tim, and not only is that outside her expertise, it would definitely take more than the twelve sessions the Judge had ordered.”

As Mom explained this, she had wrapped herself around my arm, in addition to holding my hand in both of hers.

“But, why does that make you scared?” I asked, still not understanding her emotional outburst.

“When the judge hears about that, there’s no way for Aaron to gain custody of you.” I snorted at that, like I would’ve ever gone along with that anyway. Though, she ignored it to instead continue in a low voice. “But, with me being basically unemployed, homeless, and penniless, I’m not sure I will be awarded custody either. I can’t lose you again, Tim. I just can’t.”

I couldn’t help it. Despite the dire mood, that last statement of hers made me extremely happy.

“Mom ... I’m pretty sure that’s not how this works.” I smiled.

“It’s not?” Ava managed to ask first.

“I don’t think so.” I said while shaking my head, before turning my attention back to Mom. “If the state hates one thing, it’s giving away money. And if you don’t get custody, while Aaron can’t get custody, the state would have to pay for me. So, you’ll get custody.”

It was a poor attempt at a joke, but it worked. I felt her body relax against me and saw a weak smile appear on her face before I continued.

“Seriously, though. Remember what your lawyer said in January. Because of my apartment, there’s a chance the judge won’t give you the house with the custody ruling. But, let’s be honest here ... I’m still a minor. They can’t just assume that I’ll be able to keep making rent, so it’s likely you’ll get the house until I graduate high school. Though, if they argue that you could pay the rent with your alimony, we’ll just stay here. Either way, you’re not homeless.”

“You really mean that?” she asked pensively, her eyes glazing over. “You’d be fine with me staying?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. “It’s a little cramped right now, but by the time the divorce is through, Ava will live in that condo John bought.”

“Oh, Darling, thank you!” Mom proclaimed while throwing her arms around my neck and placing a wet kiss on my cheek.

Ava had a big smile on her face as she watched this spectacle, but her happiness suddenly deflated.

“What is it?” I threw a questioning look in Ava’s direction, but it took her a moment to answer.

“I’m sorry. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be happier here. But ... I’m still sad about the house being sold. That’s my home. I grew up in it.”

She actually sounded extremely sad. So sad, in fact, that Mom quickly untangled herself from me to rush over and wrap her arms around Ava instead, trying to soothe her with soft cooing words. It didn’t seem to work that well. I had no idea how much this meant to her. And, hearing the way Mom spoke to Ava, it became pretty clear that losing the house she raised her children in was hurting her just as much.

Watching this display, my thoughts drifted to the stack of cash in my bedroom. Now that their marriage counseling failed, it would be roughly a month before the judge worked through the petition and came up with a ruling. After that, there was a mandatory waiting period of sixty days before the divorce became final. That would give me three months. That is, if Aaron stopped fighting it.

Remembering the meeting with her lawyer, I knew there was no way I could clean enough cash to buy out Aaron by myself. Even if I found a way, I would still be a minor and couldn’t buy the house, though I suspected he wouldn’t let me buy it anyway. I also didn’t think I could take out a loan against the new house and condo to pay off Aaron through the holding John had created, because those two simply weren’t worth enough.

However, this was obviously extremely important for Mom and Ava. So, I made a quick decision, despite my better judgment.

“There’s one thing we really need to talk about with your lawyer.” I said, pulling Mom’s and Ava’s attention back to me.

“What is it?”

“The joint accounts. I have no clue how they’re handled in a divorce.”

“The what now?” Ava asked.

“In a divorce, they split their assets. That means everything that has value and either of their names on it. I’ve had a joint account with Mom and Aaron for a few years now, and I have another joint account with only Mom since January. When we opened the new one, I transferred what little money was left after Aaron paid for Logan’s tuition into the new account, but now I have no idea if we owe Aaron half of what was in there. I also don’t know if he’s entitled to half of what’s in the new one, since we opened that after she moved out, but before she started the divorce.”

“No! That’s entirely your money!” Mom protested. “That’s your salary. We never contributed a single cent to your bank accounts.”

“Yeah, but your names are still on the accounts.” I shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know if they count as yours.”

“Let me find out, then!” Mom declared, got off the couch, and walked into her bedroom to get her phone like I had hoped.

As soon as she stepped through the door, I seized the opportunity to get off the couch myself and walked into my own bedroom to call John, asking him to meet me in the condo the next day. I would have to be there anyway, since someone - namely me - had to assemble all the furniture the girls had picked out today.

By the time I finished the call and walked back into the living room, I found my visibly distraught mother sitting on the couch, a shell shocked expression on her face, while Ava was desperately trying to comfort her. When she noticed me coming closer, Mom’s expression turned to pure anguish.

“Darling ... I’m so sorry.” she pleaded. “You were right. Aaron’s going to get half of your money as well.”

“What!?” Ava shouted. “But ... you said you two never put any money into his accounts. That’s ... how!?”

“She said that, regardless of who deposited the money, it technically counts as part of my estate because the bank has me listed as a co-owner with unrestricted access. And therefore ... It’s a marital asset. If it was a savings account we opened for you as a child, or a custodial account, it would be safe. But...”

My mood soured the moment I heard the word “custodial”. Two years ago, when Mom took me to the bank to open that account with me, she wanted to open a custodial account. I fought her tooth and nail on it, because I didn’t want to have to ask for their permission every time I needed to use the money. The change in my mood must have been reflected on my face somehow, and Mom misinterpreted the reason for it. She immediately started crying while continuously apologizing for still causing so much trouble.

I swallowed my anger, sat back down next to her on the couch, and simply hugged her. It took a long time until she had cried herself out, though by that time, she had stopped apologizing. Instead, she had started basically begging me to not leave her over this.

I couldn’t believe how utterly broken she seemed. If nothing else, this just served as yet another proof of how frightened of losing me she truly was, making it clear how taxing the past few weeks had been on her. Though, to my surprise, I did not just feel compassion for her. Somehow, in the very back of my mind, I started feeling a little annoyed. Irritated, even. However, I did my best to not entertain that unexplained mood swing and concentrate on getting Mom to calm down.

“Mom, it’s okay. It’s not really your fault.” I said, trying to make my voice as soft as possible.

“No! It’s not! It’s not fair. He just took all of your money for Logan. You just started saving up again. And now it’s taken away again! I’m so sorry!” she just continued to sob.

This whole thing had backfired tremendously. I hadn’t really thought about the joint bank accounts, and Aaron getting half of my shit was as much of a surprise to me as it was to them. I only asked her to clear that with her lawyer to get her into her bedroom, so I could sneak away and call John. I didn’t want to make her feel even worse than she already had, and grew a little desperate - or more like impatient - to get her to stop crying.

“Mom! I was the one who demanded a joint account. The bank recommended you open a custodial account, but that would’ve meant I couldn’t do anything with the money without getting you or Aaron to sign off on it. I told you that this was my money, so I should have unrestricted access. This was my own decision. And I was also the one who encouraged you to start the divorce. None of this is your fault.”

Shifting the blame away from her caused her sobbing to lessen in intensity, but that was it. So, I changed tactics.

“Okay, look. Yes, it sucks. But I don’t blame you, and I’m pretty sure we’ll manage. If this is what it takes to be done with the whole deal, so be it. My bank account was steadily filling up, so it’ll continue to fill back up after this is over. And, honestly, ... it’s like you said. He just emptied it. There’s not much I’ll lose. Trust me, nothing will change.”

Almost all of this was a lie, of course. It pissed me off more than I could put into words that, thanks to the cash I had cleaned through my developer pages, Aaron would, once again, take thousands of dollars from me. And I couldn’t do anything about it besides trying to lessen the amount he’ll get.

If Mom or Ava suspected that I had just told them a white lie, neither of them chose to show it. Mom’s mood improved at least to the point where she finally stopped sobbing.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah. But, I admit that I’m less than thrilled about handing Aaron my hard earned money. So, tomorrow, we’re going to HCC and enroll. Both of us. That’ll be a little less he’s getting from me, and you can tell the judge that you’re in school instead of being unemployed.”

“Hm” was her entire reply, and also the last thing we heard from her for the rest of our time on the couch.

When it came time to go to bed, Mom was still clinging to my arm. That didn’t change when I got off the couch. I couldn’t tell if she was doing so to seek comfort or to literally hold on to me, but I felt myself reminded of the time I came home after being assaulted in front of the house. Back then, she also refused to let go of me, and, just like then, it caused mixed feelings in me as I still had no idea how to handle it. Though, I did remember how she wordlessly decided to crawl into bed with me that day, and, as expected, she did the same thing now.

I surprised myself again, as I had to stop myself from groaning internally when I came out of the bathroom and found her already under my covers. The irritation and annoyance I felt over her neediness grew with every second she was forcing herself onto me, and I just couldn’t understand why.

Again, I pushed my feelings down, lifted the sheets up, and lay behind her. She instantly scooted back to press herself into me before draping my arm around her. I noticed she wasn’t wearing much, apart from one of my shirts she must’ve grabbed while I was in the bathroom.

“I’m sorry.” she whispered. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”

I didn’t answer. I felt my patience slip away. I just wanted to fall asleep and spent a few hours blissfully unaware of the shit my father was piling onto me again. But I also knew that she had to talk this through, or she wouldn’t get over it herself.

“I guess I’m just a little stressed. And I didn’t have much chance to release ... I mean ... The last few weeks ... months ... were...”

She didn’t finish that sentence, but I understood what she tried to say. I had seen the texts on her phone, the discussions with the rest of the family who implored her to stop punishing herself and join them again. Maybe...

I was now her big spoon, with her head resting on my left upper arm, and my right arm draped around her midriff. On impulse, my left hand slid underneath her shirt, with my fingertips trailing along her skin. As they passed her belly button, I felt a light tremble travel through her body and heard her gasp. It didn’t deter me, and as my hand traveled up her soft body, my arm pushed her shirt up, exposing more and more of her skin. If she needed release so I could sleep, I would give her that release and be done with it.

“Baby!” she almost whined when my hand took a firm grasp of her breast, and I felt her hard nipple press into my palm.

I still refused to speak. Instead, I let my right hand travel downwards her body and pressed it against her lower stomach, right before my fingertips would rest on her pubic bone. Her breathing was heavy by now and she gyrated her naked ass into my groin, causing my dick stiffen in record time. For some fucked up reason, me getting hard at that moment irked me.

Feeling the hard nipple still pressed into my palm, I stopped kneading her breast to instead pinch that protruding little pebble, and was instantly rewarded with another needful moan from her. Then I finally parted the fingers of my right hand and allowed my fingertips to slide down on either side of her clitoris, which caused her entire body to twitch.

I continued by sliding my fingers down even further, massaging her labia while rubbing the palm of my hand over her clit. And then it happened.

“Oh, Baby! Yes! Thank you!” I heard Mom’s panting. “My Baby Boy is so good to his Mommy!”

I frowned, finally understanding where all this annoyance I felt towards her had come from. Before I could even say something about it, however, she spoke again.

“Be a good boy for Mommy, Baby.” she moaned.

Suddenly, I just wanted to finish this. I no longer cared about getting her properly warmed up, or making sure she was sufficiently wet. I just pushed my right hand further down to cup her entire sex, roughly kneaded it for a second, and then plunged two fingers into her canal.

As soon as my fingers were buried so far inside her that the heel of my hand was now pressed against her clit, I felt her instantly climax. Her inner walls contracted around my fingers as she stretched her body and stiffened. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

“Oh GOD! Baby!” she paused for a second to catch her breath. “Mommy needed this so badly! It’s been so long! You’re so good to Mommy! Such a good boy!”

Ths was, again, the wrong thing to say, as I felt outright anger well up inside me.

I didn’t want to hear her happy moaning. I didn’t want to hear how much pleasure I was giving her. I didn’t want to hear what a good fucking boy I was. Couldn’t these people take care of themselves for once!?

My left hand, which had played with her breasts and nipples until now, quickly moved out of her shirt. Before she had a chance to protest, it covered her mouth, stopping her insufferable declarations of pleasure. Then I continued my assault on her sensitive sex.

My fingers inside her started moving with vigor, though I kept my fingertips pressed to her upper walls in an effort to look for her G-spot. I did find a patch of tissue about the size of a grape that felt spongy, but lacked the walnut texture I had felt within Mia and Tess, so I wasn’t sure if it would work. I attacked it regardless.

I kept my hand firmly on her mouth and muffled her squirming moans, even when she raised both her hands to grab my arm and I felt her nails dig into my skin. Though she only held onto it, not attempting to pull it away.

“Why is it always my job to make you happy?” I growled without letting up on my assault. “Why is it always me that has to take care of your needs and make sure you’re happy!?”

This got her attention, as her eyes grew wide and locked onto me.

I removed my hand from her mouth long enough to pull my left arm out from underneath her and roll her onto her back. It quickly clamped down onto her mouth again before she had the chance to say anything.

Leaning over her, my fingers still working inside her, I looked directly into her eyes.

“Logan messes around with fucking rapists, so I have to risk my fucking life to fix it for you. You fuck up Ava, so I have to let her move into my home to fix her for you. Aaron pisses away your bank account, so take mine instead! After you spent years not giving a shit about me, you one-sidedly decide to move in here, regardless of what I think about it! Now I have to give away what little I have left, to get rid of your damn husband! Why is it always me who gets to deal with the consequences of your bullshit!? And now YOU complain to ME about being stressed and needing release!?”

Looking at her underneath me, tears were streaming down her face. Her eyes were contorted in sorrow as she let go of my arm so she could place her hands on either side of my face and carefully sweep her thumbs over my cheeks, directly underneath my eyes. At the same time, though, her hips were still grinding into my hand, I could see her stomach muscles spasm, and I could still hear her muffled moans.

Suddenly, her legs parted, as if to either grant me better access or invite me to go further. I thought it was time I got something out of this whole mess myself, and quickly climbed in between her now widely spread thighs, but refused to remove my fingers from her gushing pussy.

“Lift it up!” I said firmly, while pressing my fingers strongly against that spongy patch on her upper walls.

Her body shuddered as her eyelids fluttered, but she complied by pulling her feet towards her ass. Then she planted them on the mattress to either side of my knees and pushed her hips upwards as far as she could manage. It was just high enough.

I readjusted my hand, so my fingers could stay inside her without my hand being in the way for what I had planned next.

“Baby!?” she asked, as soon as I took my left hand off her mouth to grab my cock instead, lining it up with her opening. Without pulling my fingers out of her, I shoved my cock inside her as well.

“OH FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK!” she wailed upon the sudden intrusion. “MY GOooOoOOD!”

I didn’t care. This was for me now, not for her. I recklessly slammed myself into her until I bottomed out and her arms thrashed around underneath me. My fingers were now lodged in between the shaft of my cock and her pussy walls, my fingertips pressing into her G-spot stronger than before. Simultaneously, the tip of my cock was stimulating her A-spot, and it seemed to be almost too much for her.

As I continued to repeatedly slam myself into her almost violently, I also started rubbing the palm of my hand against her clit. With this, I had to make quite the effort to hold her hips up, as her own legs seemed to lose all of their strength.

“You Bitch!” I growled through gritted teeth. “You fucking Bitch! You happy you have such a good boy, who keeps taking care of you ungrateful fucks!? After all these years of not giving a single shit about me, I’m still here for your pleasure. Must be nice, huh!?”

She didn’t try to answer anymore. She held my face in her hands while moaning her delight, as I buried myself balls deep into her over and over again. After a few minutes of this, however, I reached my limit. Just as Mom removed her hands from my face to instead hide her own behind them as if to hide her shame, and let out yet another loud orgasmic scream, I emptied my balls as deep inside her as I possibly could. Her knees were quaking and I had to push my arm underneath her to hold her up.

As soon as I shot my last spurt of cum into the depths of her canal, I collapsed on top of her, my face resting on her collarbone. To my big surprise, despite what I had just done to her, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and held my body against hers.

“Shhh. It’s okay, Baby.” she cooed. “Let it out. I’m here. I’ll hold you.”

At first, I had no idea what the fuck she was talking about, but I was too exhausted to care either. That changed when I felt the wetness on her skin, and suddenly realized that it wasn’t sweat. I was crying!

As I lay there, trying to hold in my own sobs, I felt the mattress shift behind me. Then, two slender arms added themselves to Mom’s, which were wrapped around me. And, finally, Ava’s face appeared next to mine, placing a slow, affectionate kiss on my cheek.

Replaying what just happened in my head, I finally understood the real reason for the sorrow in her eyes. I must’ve been crying the whole time I fucked her. That was why she had swept her thumbs over my cheeks, because even then, there were already tears on my face for her to wipe away. She wasn’t sad about me insulting her, she was sad about me hurting.

“I hate you for abandoning me like this.” I said quietly, after I had regained at least some control over my voice.

“I know.” Mom whispered. “And I deserve it.”

“I hate this situation we’re in. Every time something finally goes right for a change, another major screw up happens that I have to deal with.” I added, noting how neither Mom nor Ava loosened their grip on my body.

“Hm” I heard from both of them, while feeling Mom nod her head in acknowledgement.

“I can’t keep up if it continues like this.” I admitted, in an even lower voice than before, and, this time, it took them a few seconds before answering.

“I know, Baby.” Mom said, matching my low volume. “I know we screwed up. It was wrong of us to pile all of this onto your shoulders. I know how much damage we caused you.” She paused, and started lightly scratching the back of my neck. “We only have to get through this divorce. I swear to you, Baby, I will make up for everything I did! Whatever it takes, I will help you heal. And I will take care of you instead of being a burden!”

“We both will.” Ava added with conviction, before kissing my shoulder.

I didn’t know if I could believe them. Not because I questioned their sincerity or intentions, I was past that weeks ago. I simply had no idea if it was even possible for them to deal with whatever came up in the future, because they had relied on me to deal with the real hardships. I didn’t know if I wanted to do this anymore. But, at that moment, I chose to cling to that hope of them stepping up. I pulled myself closer to Mom, followed by Ava pulling herself closer into my back.

“My beautiful Baby Boy.” Mom softly cooed while stroking my hair. “Sleep now. Tomorrow it’s going to be better. I promise.”

I don’t know if it was the physical exhaustion, the muscle relaxation my orgasm had caused, or the emotional drain I was under, but I did just as Mom told me to and was asleep within a minute.

When I awoke alone the next morning and the memories flooded my mind, I noticed three things.

First, I felt strangely liberated. I had no idea why, but I felt even better than after that epic thanksgiving-blowout, where I finally, after years, had the chance to air out all my grievances with the entire family.

The second thing I noticed, however, was that, despite the positive side effect, I was fucking embarrassed! Iwas a working, self-reliant man who takes care of shit ... and I cried like a damn child in my mother’s and sister’s arms because daddy was mean to me. Fuck. My. Life! I would have loved to simply sneak out of the house and avoid Mom and Ava for the following few weeks, but I had to take Mom to the college campus and enroll at some point.

Finally, after I came to terms with what I did, my third realization set in. Guilt.

Just a few mere days ago, I had told John how I don’t see sex as a casual recreational activity, how it actually meant something for me, and how I would stay faithful to my girlfriend. And then I went ahead and fucked my Mom. Somehow I didn’t think Mia would just accept that, even after she gave me permission to do it with my sister.

Shaking my head, I got out of bed and collected a few clothes. While I was in the closet anyway, I also packed a sizable amount of cash into my sports bag for my meeting with John later that day. Then I snuck into the bathroom to take my shower and get dressed.

I felt mildly relieved when I realized that I wasn’t just alone in my bedroom, but that I was actually alone in my apartment. I had no idea where Mom and Ava went so early on a Saturday, but I suspected they probably just went shopping, so I grabbed the sports bag full of money, as well as my barely touched toolbox, and drove to the condo.

Four hours of lifting, carrying, and assembling IKEA furniture had me sweating like a pig, even in spite of the relatively mild late march temperatures. Staying true to the safety standards I had established during my apartment’s renovations, I had managed to rip my shirt full of holes already, so I simply discarded it. So, when the family suddenly walked through the door, answering the question of Mom’s and Ava’s whereabouts and allowing them to see me shirtless and covered in a sheen of sweat, the first thing I heard was Maggie whistling at me.

“I have to say, little cousin.” she said while sauntering over to my side, where she wrapped one arm around my waist and started trailing the scars on my torso with her extended index finger. “Seeing you like this, with those scars giving you that bad boy look ... Maybe we should get together some time.”

She looked up at me with a suggestive smile, which I initially returned with a grin.

“Yeah? You know who else thinks that?” I replied with a raised eyebrow, that dropped before I continued with a firm and clearly unamused voice. “My girlfriend.”

She looked rather rattled as she quickly backed away, but I appreciated that she got my meaning without a need to explain any further. Maybe that reaction was harsh, but the guilt I felt over what I did with Mom the night before had returned with a vengeance as soon as Maggie put her arm around me.

And, honestly, while I may have forgiven her parents, that only happened because they actually put in an effort to earn my forgiveness. Just like the new feelings I developed for Mom and Ava only existed now because they redeemed themselves by reversing the damage they had done and continuously showing that they cared for me. Maggie, however, was still the same superficial bitch I had come to know her as.

“Now, now, Pumpkin!” Grandma entered the conversation with a playful chiding voice that instantly had me on edge, since the last time we spoke to each other wasn’t exactly on good terms. “She gave you a compliment. A well deserved one, as I see. Take it as one.”

“Grandson.” I heard Grampa’s voice next, as he greeted me with a nod.

“Grandfather.” I imitated his tone as I returned the nod, before I returned to my work, not eager to start a discussion.

“I see you were busy.” he continued while looking around the room.

Mom and Ava were keeping themselves to the background, though they were looking at me with disturbingly bright smiles.

“Yeah.” I sighed somewhat exhausted. “Bathroom’s done and ready to be stocked. So is the kitchen. I also put in the carpet in Maggie’s room. Good thing you brought them along, because I get the feeling the bigger furniture is not meant to be dragged around after assembly.”

“I told them not to buy all that cheap Swedish stuff.” he shook his head, with an expression of silent suffering.

“It would have cost us a fortune to buy solid wood furniture, Dad!” John called out, as he and Danny entered the house carrying baskets full of small decorations and dust catchers. “Girls, how about you go into your rooms and figure out what goes where.”

With this, Ava and Maggie, followed by Granny, skipped into Maggie’s room first, from where we could hear their vivid discussion. Though, Ava planted a kiss on my cheek as she passed me.

“So, I take it, furniture alone wasn’t enough?” I asked, gesturing to the baskets John and Danny were carrying.

“Of course not!” Danny revolted. “They’ll have to live here, Tim.”

“If you say so.” I chuckled.

My chuckle died down when Mom took possession of my arm, the guilt flaring up yet again, though she didn’t let herself be influenced by that and simply kept smiling happily at me. She also kept that up the entire time we walked through the condo, so I could show them how much I had accomplished so far.

After everyone had gotten a firm grasp of what was left to do, we started assembling all the furniture, while Grandpa was outside taking care of the little green patch in front of the condo. Only then did Mom finally let go of me, though she and Ava made sure to stay close to me.

It took two hours before I finally managed to signal John that I wanted to catch him alone. Since the others were now all working in Ava’s room, I walked into the third bedroom which was furthest away from them and, about a minute later, John joined me.

“Sorry about showing up with the entire family in tow.” he started before I could even open my mouth. “Claire and Ava showed up this morning to talk with Danny, and then I couldn’t find a plausible excuse to not let the others come with me.”

He looked surprisingly guilty about this. And, as if to prove his point, Danny walked through the door at that moment to wordlessly stand next to him, regarding me with a curious look.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t think you’d call them intentionally after I told you that I needed to talk.” I waved his concern off. “So ... that contact you had for cleaning the money. Is that still an option?”

He thought about that for a moment.

“I guess so.” he mused, but then he looked at me alarmed. “This isn’t about Aaron taking your money, is it?”

“No.” I said, feeling embarrassed again. “You heard about that, huh?”

“Yes. Sorry. When the girls start talking, they’re not exactly quiet about it.” he chuckled, earning him a slap on the chest from his visibly unamused wife.

“Yeah. Great. Anyway!” I quickly continued to steer the topic away from what happened, not thrilled about prospect of learning how much they actually knew, and handed him the sports bag. “Think you can get them to clean that too?”

He opened the bag, looked inside, and then looked at me.

“That’s more than the last time.” he deadpanned with a raised eyebrow, as Danny pulled the bag towards her to look inside as well.

“It’s $450,000.” I informed him, and saw his second eyebrow lift to join the first one while Danny choked a little.

“Correct me if my math is wrong.” he started slowly, with a suspicious tone. “But, that would make $600,000 dollars you gave me to clean so far. Didn’t you say that you only kept ‘two or three’ bricks?”

“Well, I lied.” I shrugged, seeing their eyes widen in realization. “Shocker, I know! Do you think you can get them to clean it? If they keep their previous rate, they’d need sixty smurfs, and we should come out with $390,000.”

“The warehouses aren’t the problem. They have hundreds. Though, that amount could draw attention on our side if it comes in too quickly. Maybe we should let them work on it over the next few months. How quickly do you need it?”

“Three months, at the earliest.” I said, and he nodded. “So, since you two seem to have all the insight ... Why does Mom seem so disturbingly happy today?”

“Make sure we have a minute?” Danny asked while looking at John and placing a hand on his biceps, who simply nodded and left the room. She waited patiently for him to close the door behind him before she spoke again. “Despite what he said earlier, he doesn’t know what happened last night. He only heard your Mom and me talking because, when she told me about Aaron getting half of your money, she was angry and got louder.”

“But you know everything?” I asked, my voice dropping.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Tim.” she said firmly, pointing a finger at me. “What happened last night was a good thing! We’ve been waiting for something like this to happen. That’s why she and Ava are so happy today.”

That took me by surprise.

“I’m sorry ... what? How the hell was that a good thing!?”

Ignoring my incredulous tone, she sat down on the bed and patted the mattress with her hand, signaling me to sit next to her. When I did, she turned a little, so she could look at me directly.

“Tim ... every time something bad happens to you, what do you tell us?” She looked at me expectantly, but continued when she realized that I had no idea what she wanted from me. “You tell us that you’re perfectly fine! No matter how much obvious pain or distress you were in, it’s always been ‘I’m fine, I’ll manage, go on with your day’.”

“So?” I asked, not understanding how this could be of significance. After all, I was fine. I did manage.

“You were obviously NOT fine!” She sounded a little angry. “You weren’t fine when you were beaten bloody, you weren’t fine when I found you in the living room, you weren’t fine when you got stabbed, and you most certainly weren’t fine after you got shot and left alone in the hospital! But you kept insisting you were fine because you knew that...” She took a moment to compose herself, knowing that this would be the first time she openly admitted what their negligence had done to me. “Best case scenario, we wouldn’t care. Worst case scenario, we would use it to hurt you again.”

She was absolutely right. I had never thought about it to that extent, not even after Mom had said something similar when she moved into my apartment, but, hearing Danny say it in such detail, I knew she was spot on. Danny, John, and Mom wouldn’t have cared. Before last Thanksgiving, they probably wouldn’t even have noticed. Aaron would’ve made fun of it, since, no matter how serious my situation was, he was all too eager to find confirmation in his belief that I was less of a man than his Golden Boy. Logan would’ve used it to hurt me more, and Ava, in her quest to please the real men in her life, would’ve done everything they demanded of her to help.

“Now, you may not have outright said that you needed their help, but you did admit that you won’t be able to keep up if you don’t catch a break soon. You would have never admitted that if you didn’t finally trust them enough to not use that knowledge against you. You finally opened up to them! For the first time in years, you honestly told them how you felt. And, granted, telling Claire that you hate her for abandoning you doesn’t sound like a good thing, but it was necessary to start the healing, and I had already warned her that this would probably happen. Without that, she had no chance to ever rebuild your relationship. That’s why your mother and sister are so ‘disturbingly happy’ today.”

“So...” I started, not entirely sure how to handle this situation. “What am I to expect next, then?”

“Support.” was all she said, in a tone like it should be obvious.

“Meaning...” I let my voice trail off.

“You’re not gonna get rid of ‘em.” she nodded with a serious expression before it lighted up and she giggled. “It’s not a bad thing, Tim. They want to prove that you can rely on them, even while they have to rely on you for other things.”

I don’t know whether she was a lot better at that therapy-thing than I gave her credit for, or if she had just accidentally hit another big doubt that had lodged itself into my thoughts, but I decided to just let it go and see where this would take us. Maybe she was right. And, if not ... I would manage.

As I got off the bed, she raised as well to give me a tight hug before letting me go. When we walked back to the others, they were already done with the last piece of furniture and happily chatting away about the best placement options for their dust catchers.

“Alright.” I said loudly to get their attention. “I think you ladies can take care of the aesthetics without my help. I’ll need a shower, and then Mom and I need to go spend some money.”

“OH!” we heard Maggie shriek in delight. “You going shopping? Can I come too?”

All of us stared at her for a second, before Granny gently smacked her over the back of her head with a disapproving look. Though, I didn’t necessarily disapprove. I thought she was just trying to lighten the mood, until Granny explained to her the reason for my need to lighten my bank account, after which Maggie quickly apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought yesterday.” I shrugged.

“You don’t?” Grandpa asked, making no effort to hide his skepticism.

“I thought about it the whole morning, but ultimately took the liberty of calling Mom’s lawyer. When Mom filed for divorce, I had ninety-five hundred saved up again.” I paused briefly when I heard his approving whistling. “But almost two thirds of that is pre-tax income from my developer pages, so he can’t take all of it. The court should consider this when dividing ‘their’ assets. There’re also a few expenditures I can make without owing him that money afterwards, so I can lessen that amount as a whole.”

“Which are?” Grandpa asked, and I noticed how, by now, every one of them was practically glued to my words.

“The $2,600 dollars I spend each month for rent, utilities, and groceries, for one. Then education. Enrolling Mom will be thirteen hundred, enrolling me will be seven hundred, and I paid for all of Ava’s and my school supplies after christmas break. After all that, he’ll get two grand from me. At the most.”

“That’s ... still a lot of money.” John said carefully, and I had to suppress the urge to smirk when my eyes fell on the sports bag he was holding.

“Sure. But he’ll pay me back. With interest!” I remarked with an evil grin.

That caught them by surprise, and they looked at me like I had just made a threat against my father. After a few seconds, however, Mom looked like she wanted to smack her own head.

“Child Support!” she called out, and I chuckled.

“Bingo! Apparently, the courts don’t give a shit about me having a job, being a minor and all that, but they will acknowledge that I have my own health insurance through that job, so he won’t be able to claim those deductibles for me. There are actually quite a few things he can’t claim, since he hasn’t supported me financially for quite some time. He’ll most likely have to pay about seven-hundred dollars a month in child support. Now, if we can get him to stop stalling, the divorce should go through in three months.”

As I said that number, John’s eyes widened in recognition, and I could clearly see that he immediately understood what the money I asked him to clean was for. He didn’t comment on it, but his expression brightened significantly.

“That would mean...” I continued. “ ... he’ll pay me - or, he’ll pay Mom for me - seven-hundred dollars a month for the five months until I turn eighteen. That amounts to twice of what he’ll get from me.”

There was a moment of silence, then Mom spoke up.

“If Aaron stops stalling.” she said, but it was clearly more of a question.

“Yeah. About that.” I said, feeling a little uncomfortable. “I kinda thought you could ... offer him the investment account if he agrees to an otherwise fair split.”

“WHAT!?” Grandpa thundered suddenly, causing several people in the room to flinch. “You want Claire to give up a six figure investment, just so you can get a few lousy grand for yourself! How selfish can you be, boy!?”

Most eyes in the room were locked onto him with an incredulous look. Me? I felt a familiar numbness come over me, and prepared myself for the mother of all arguments. What held me back was Mom, who wrapped her arms around me in a protective gesture and glared at her father. Before I could voice my displeasure, though, others did so for me.

“Mike!” Granny said quietly. “Shut up!”

“Excuse me!?” he retorted, still angry.

“No, seriously Dad.” John implored his father as well, though he wasn’t quiet about it. He looked as angry as Mom. “You need to shut the hell up!”

“I will not...” Grandpa started flabbergasted, but John cut him off.

“How selfish can HE be!? Do I need to remind you of that college fund disaster YOU insisted on, while he did nothing but support us all! HE went to Austin and took on those men for us. HE let Claire and Ava live with him when our guest room was already occupied by you. HE has paid for EVERYTHING they needed since Aaron cut them off completely. And while YOU’ve been sitting around in my living room, driving everyone crazy with your never ending criticism of everything we chose for this place, HE’s been spending his entire school break actually working to make this place livable!”

The vehemence with which he attacked his father took me aback. And, as far as I could tell, everyone else as well. What concerned me, though, was the way he shook the sports bag around. Like he was a hair’s breadth away from telling everyone how it was actually my money that bought this place, as well as the house the grandparents were about to move into.

“Son, we talked about this already. He only supports his family when he benefits from it!”

Now I felt the numbness being replaced by quiet anger, though I still held back from letting him know how I felt about what he just said.

“You can’t be still spouting that nonsense, Mike!” Danny remarked. “How in the world did he benefit from anything that happened during the past four years!?”

“We all heard him on Thanksgiving.” Grandpa threw his arms into the air, and sounded like he couldn’t believe none of them would see the obvious. “He didn’t go to Austin to help any of us. He called it ‘self preservation’, if you care to remember. He let Claire and Ava live with him because he needed someone to help him while he couldn’t even get dressed by himself. And he’s helping you renovate this place because, in case you didn’t notice, there’s a third room here! So, now that Claire is taking college courses as well, I bet you he’ll tell her to move here with Ava, so he’ll get his apartment for himself again.”

Looking around the room, I saw most of the family shuffle around in discomfort while exchanging pleading glances between themselves. It seemed to me like they wanted to refute his arguments, but simply didn’t know how. And that’s when it hit me and my anger vanished in an instant.

Half a year ago, after I had dealt with the bookie and wanted to go back into my apartment, they wanted me to stay. I asked them all for a reason to believe their assurances about things being different now, though they couldn’t think of anything. What stood out to me in this moment, however, was the fact that everyone had the exact same look and demeanor as back then. It made me wonder where we would be today if I had been able to give them the benefit of a doubt back then.

“Huh. I see your point.” I said calmly. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

Instead of retorting, Grandpa took a look around the room and, not finding any support, let out an annoyed tone, shook his head, and wordlessly left.

“I’m sorry, Darling.” Mom said, giving me a worried look.

Since she was still hugging me in that protective and comforting way, I placed my arm around her waist, hugged her back, and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry. I really do understand where he’s coming from. He’s where I was half a year ago.”

Mom looked at me open mouthed, though my attention was drawn away from her when I heard John groan.

“No, he’s not. You had good reasons to not trust us anymore. He...” John paused to let out a sigh. “He KNOWS that there’s no way for Claire to get that investment account. I explained that to him after we had that meeting with the investment firm, and they showed us the contract that doesn’t allow for a split of the account. Whether she demands her half or gives it away, it doesn’t make a difference in the amount of money she would get out of it. And, please, tell me where your personal gain was when you got stabbed in that parking lot! It’s so frustrating to argue with him. It’s like I’m talking to a wall!”

I had to smirk at that, since I had no doubt that was also how Grandpa felt when he tried to force me into compliance. An impression Granny quickly confirmed, as she stepped next to her son and fixed me with an apologetic look.

“Please, Pumpkin, don’t be mad at him.” she pleaded. “Claire will always be his little girl, no matter how old she gets.” she looked into space while shaking her head. “He’ll come around. Just know, I do not blame you for this in any way. And I can’t blame you for how long it took us to fix this.”

“If only there was a way to prove to him that you don’t care about the money.” Danny said, while throwing a strained look to the sports bag in John’s hand.

“Yes. If only.” I mused, not yet ready to make that announcement, before turning back to Mom. “Anyway, are you ready to go?”

She nodded in confirmation and we said our goodbyes.

The drive over to HCC was quiet, though my thoughts kept going back to the confrontation with Grandpa. Truth was, if I truly didn’t care about the family anymore, it wouldn’t have hurt so much when they ignored and discarded me. I just still had trouble admitting how much I cared.

All the while, I could see Mom throw concerned looks my way from the corner of my eye, while she was fidgeting around with her hands. Though, she didn’t actually say anything until I parked the car and was about to open the door.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Darling?” Mom asked suddenly, still looking worried.

“Yes.” I gave her another reassuring smile. “Though, I really don’t get what I did to him. Why does he mistrust me so much?”

Curiously, that question made her look at her feet like she was ashamed.

“You didn’t do anything to him.” she started in a careful and calculated tone. “He’s been that way since ... Since we met you on Christmas Eve.”

When I thought back to that day, I couldn’t suppress a small scoff.

“So, he’s angry at me because I didn’t come home when you asked?” I inquired, causing her fidgeting hands to move even faster.

“No. He’s angry because you ignored my reaction to your refusal to come home.” she clarified quietly. “He still thinks you should have swallowed your pride and shown ‘compassion for your crying mother’.”

The air quotes she performed made sure that I knew this was only a quote of what her father had said, and not an accusation from her to me. Though, I guess she would’ve had every right to make that accusation. After all, back then, I really didn’t care.

“Oh.” was my entire reply. Seriously, what else was I supposed to say?

Of course he cares about your happiness most. He’s your father. - That would’ve sounded like just another cheap shot at her own parenting during those dreaded four years.

Can’t blame him for being angry after seeing his daughter cry. - That would’ve sounded like just another cheap shot at her ignoring my depression.

Those thoughts must have played out on my face.

“Darling, don’t worry about it!” Mom said in a hurried voice. “I know why you couldn’t come home that day. You needed the money after we cleared out your bank account. I never blamed you for it! Not even for a second!”

“And I believe you.” I said, taking a hold of her hand and squeezing it, causing her to smile.

When we finally made our way into the admission office, I learned an interesting lesson. Colleges don’t give a flying fuck how you pay, or where that money comes from, as long as they get money from you. I could’ve paid for all of my certificates with the stolen cash! I even got the feeling they would’ve happily accepted a bag full of bloodied ten dollar bills with a smile, and never asked questions about it. I filed that away for later, when I had to pay for the following certifications and Mom’s second semester after the divorce was through.

When we left the building, Mom was hanging onto my arm again, regarding me with a strangely admiring look for the entire way to the car. Even during the drive home, I caught her looking at me that same way, while, every few minutes, squeezing my thigh or rubbing my arm.

During the following weeks, she continued that behavior and was even joined in it by Ava. Both of them used every opportunity they had to show their affection towards me. Every greeting and goodbye was now accompanied by kisses on the cheeks and endless ‘I love you’s. They demanded to hear how my days were every time we came together at the dinner table. After every self defense class I taught in school, Ava went on and on about how much her friends had praised me afterwards. And each evening that wasn’t spent with Mia, was spent cuddling on the couch with my Mom and sister.

On the days Mia didn’t stay overnight, I woke up the next morning with one or both of them cuddled up to me in bed. Of course, they both had picked up on my guilt about what I did with Mom despite having Mia as my girlfriend, and they seemed to respect that. So, whenever they snuck into my bed, they were more or less fully clothed and nothing ever happened. At least nothing overtly sexual, though another form of affection had manifested itself over those days.

Mom also called her lawyer and instructed her to make Aaron’s lawyer the new offer. If he stopped stalling or otherwise making problems, he could keep the investment account while they split everything else fairly. It took him a few days, but he ultimately agreed. I guess he finally came to terms with the reality of not being able to force Mom and Ava back into his life.

It was about two weeks after the confrontation with Grandpa, when something happened that had an disturbingly strong effect on me, and finally made me realize how far we had come.

I awoke unusually early in the morning, feeling the urge to visit the bathroom, and found Mom curled up at my side with one hand holding on to my shirt. Her face, a relaxed mask of contentment, was buried into the side of my chest as she slept peacefully.

I slowly and carefully extracted myself from her hold, not wanting to disturb her slumber. Though, it seemed like my mere absence was doing just that. As soon as I raised off the mattress and turned around, I could see her body stir and her face scrunch, as her hand slowly and aimlessly moved over the still warm patch of fabric my body had left behind.

At that moment, I did not yet understand what was happening. However, when I returned from the bathroom, it was obvious that Mom’s sleep had turned from peaceful to restless. She was now on her back, the blanket was kicked down to her knees, and her pillow had been pushed away. Her face was also still showing a slight frown. All of that only lasted until I got back into bed.

As soon as I lay back down next to her, she turned to wrap an arm around my stomach, pulling herself into me until she could rest her head on my shoulder. While I draped the covers over us, she also pushed one of her legs over my waist, laying herself half onto me. Before I could even think up a comment, the hand of her arm that had wrapped itself around my waist drifted upwards, until it came to a rest cupping my cheek.

“My beautiful boy.” she mumbled barely louder than a breath, clearly still half asleep, and her face relaxing. “Love you so much.”

And with that, she returned to her deep and steady breathing, signaling me that she was back in wonderland. I think I stared at the top of her head for a full minute before I realized that I was smiling happily. As I kissed the top of her head, to which she reacted by squeezing herself even tighter into me and releasing a contented sigh, I felt the urge to tell her that I loved her too. I was now believing them when they said it. And I felt more than just gratitude for them being part of my life again.

The day we all met up in court, so the judge could make the final divorce decree, held a few surprises with lasting consequences. I was mainly there to show support for Mom, so I was a little rattled when the judge suddenly spoke to me directly.

“Young man.” he said, after Mom’s lawyer had announced the new agreement and he had looked through the paperwork. “I have here a note from your parent’s counselor. It informs me that you were the one who took over all financial responsibilities for your mother and sister. Is that true?”

I blinked at him for a second, then, seeing Mom’s lawyer urgently waving her hand up and down, hastily stood up before answering him.

“Uh, yes ... your Honor ... I have a part time job and some extra income from my work as a software developer.”

“And, may I ask, that is enough to house and feed three people?” he continued with a skeptical glance at me.

That look he gave me bewildered me a little. I looked at Mom’s lawyer for guidance, though she just shrugged her shoulders, so I decided to speak up.

“Your Honor, between school and my jobs, I work roughly seventy-two hours per week. So ... yes, it’s enough.”

“Commendable.” he simply nodded, before signaling me to sit back down and turning his attention to Mom. “Mrs. Brown, was your son truly able to come up with enough money for all of your and your children’s needs?”

“Most of them, your Honor. Since my husband removed me from our joint accounts, and also removed us from his insurance plans, we had to give up our cars and make use of the free clinic instead of our family doctor. But he was able to cover most of everything else.” Mom explained, a little hesitant.

I hadn’t even thought about either of those things. Since they had moved in with me, we went everywhere together. At first because I couldn’t go alone, and then because they demanded to spend as much time as a family as possible. I had simply assumed it was a coincidence that we always used my Jeep. And after they never said a word about any problems regarding their health, I also never noticed their change of doctors.

“Hmm.” The judge hummed, seemingly in thought. “I see that you have both agreed on a mostly even division of assets. However, I see the need to make a few adjustments to that.”

I could see Aaron stiffen up at that before the judge continued with a louder, firmer, and official sounding voice.

“After reviewing the financial documents, the amount Mr. Brown is eligible for from the joint account between Mrs. Brown and their youngest child is set to $1,701.90, after deducting the outstanding taxation in the amount of $853.20. In addition to that, Mr. Brown will reimburse his son for twenty-five percent of the cost of living he had to pay on his own during the last four months.”

Mom’s head whipped around to look at me with wide eyes, though I had to work too hard to suppress an involuntary laugh to acknowledge her. Twenty-five percent of the living expenses for the past four months was equivalent to the living expenses of one month. In Numbers, that would be at least $2,400 Dollars, depending on what the judge constituted as living expenses. So, basically, Aaron wouldn’t receive shit from me! In fact, he already owed me money! But the judge wasn’t done yet.

“After reviewing the information I received from their marriage counselor, I award custody of their sole minor child to Mrs. Brown. Child support is set to $730 dollars per month until Timothy Brown turns eighteen or graduates high school. Further, Mrs. Brown is awarded maintenance in the amount of $970 dollars per month for the next twelve months, since she provided sufficient proof that her current qualifications no longer allow her to find employment that could sustain her and their child, and is now enrolled into a workforce qualification program.”

Now Mom was smiling brightly. Seeing her at that moment, I couldn’t help but notice how much all that stress must have really had weighed on her. With the stress gone from her face, and her body relaxing for the first time in months, she looked at least five years younger. Then the judge said the line that broke the spell again.

“The remainder of their estate will be split evenly, as per their agreement.”

With this, it was official. Mom would not get the house. The house would go on the market instead. I just hoped it wouldn’t be sold before John and I could make our move. Maybe I could persuade Mom to help with that timeframe, without letting her know what was happening in the background and ruining the surprise.

When the judge’s gavel hit the table, Mom and Aaron were both looking at me. Or, better yet, Mom was looking, Aaron was glaring.

Mom’s look communicated mostly relief, but also a little sadness. Probably about the finality of the divorce and the loss of the house. Meanwhile, Aaron’s glare let me instantly know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he would never be my Dad again. The slap the judge had handed out to him during his decree was the final nail in that coffin, after he had already blamed me for causing this whole mess in the first place. Now he must’ve been feeling like my continuous meddling had interfered with his plans.

Strangely enough, though, I didn’t feel much more than mild disappointment about the prospect of no longer having any hope for reconciliation with my father. I guess I had already come to terms with this possibility long ago.

Naturally, there was no celebration. The family did come together in John’s house, though. There was an excessive amount of alcohol consumed while I tried to stay away from Grandpa, as to not provoke any unnecessary arguments. A task that turned out to be tricky, however, as he was very eager to lighten Mom’s mood, while Mom would still insist on me being an integral part of every family event. Even this one.

I managed to slip into the kitchen with John for a few minutes, so we could converse about the progress of the money laundering. We decided on him talking with Mom as soon as the opportunity arose, to make sure she wouldn’t agree to any offer without consulting him first. Then John surprised me by suddenly wrapping me in a manly bearhug, holding it for several seconds.

“Thank you for taking care of my sister, Tim.” he whispered after finally letting go of me, though he placed a hand on my shoulder instead. “Don’t let Dad’s crap get to you. Everyone else can see that you ARE caring for this family. I don’t think I could’ve achieved half of what you did if I were in your shoes. In time, he will see that too.”

With that, he squeezed my shoulder, handed me a beer, and left the kitchen just in time for Mom, Ava, and Danny to enter instead. However, once they had noticed me, their conversation stopped. I felt like they were somehow appraising me. Mom then stood to my left, while Ava hip checked me after walking over to my right...

“And how are you, little Brother?” Ava inquired with a compassionate look.

“What?” I asked, unable to hide my confusion. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

I thought I could see a shadow of disapproval cross Danny’s face.

“Because we all saw the look your father gave you after the judge finished talking.” Mom explained while wrapping an arm around my waist, like she did so often now. “And we’re a little worried about you.”

Despite everything, that made me smile and return the gesture. I pulled her closer to me before answering her.

“Look, Danny warned me about my habit of claiming to be alright despite not actually being alright. But I’m not lying this time. I don’t know...” I paused to try and find the right words. “I guess it would’ve been nice if, in the end, everyone was happy, but ... I made my peace with this outcome a while ago. It would’ve taken a miracle by now to make him change his view. So, this time, you really don’t have to worry.”

All three of them seemed to contemplate whether they could believe me, but ultimately accepted my answer with a nod.

“Now the more pressing issue is the question if you are okay.” I continued, poking Mom with my index finger which caused her to giggle.

“Yes, Darling, I’m okay.” she assured me. “I admit, it’s a little sad. You said it yourself once, we had been married for more than two decades. I spend more than half my life with that man by my side. But I’d rather lose him than my children. Actually ... I’d even go so far and say that the loss of the house hurts more.”

That was unexpected. I had seen Ava and Mom mourn the house sale, but I didn’t really understand their reasons.

“Why?” I decided to simply ask, and it was Ava who spoke up first.

“Tim ... I know that you’re not going to fondly remember the last few years you spent in our home. But...” she hesitated. “Please don’t misunderstand. It’s just, for me, for fifteen of the eighteen years I’ve been alive, I do have fond memories of that place.”

“And it’s the home I raised my Babies in.” Mom added while nodding in approval about her daughter’s thoughts.

“Huh.” I deadpanned. Not because I somehow disapproved of their statement. Quite the opposite, actually. I could see their point. I just never saw it their way, as the last few years had been so prevalent in my memory that I couldn’t see the thirteen years that came before Logan’s initiation into the family fun. Sure, those weren’t great either, with Logan being the apple of their eye since birth, but they were a lot better than the years after I became his target.

Also, as Mom made her short statement, I could clearly see that she wanted to say more, but held back for some reason. As if to confirm my impression, Danny stepped next to Mom and placed a hand on her back while giving her a small nod, like she wanted to encourage her to speak up.

“I’m ... I’m a little scared, now that the house is gone.” Mom said in a small voice.

“What about?” I asked. “You know you don’t have to pay me any rent, so you can use the alimony and child support for a new health and car insurance.”

Somehow, that seemed to have been the wrong thing to say, as she wrapped both arms around me now.

“That’s kind of the problem.” she said. “I love you, Tim. And I never want to lose you again. But I’m afraid that ... when I have to rely on you so much ... you might doubt my intentions.”

At that moment, I realized that I wasn’t the only one affected by Grandpa’s words. His tirade about me being selfish had shown both, Mom and me, how difficult it was to prove sincerity once the trust was gone, and she knew that she had lost my trust.

“I think we’ve made enough progress to be past that. But, even if we weren’t...” I tried to emphasize my following words by tightening my hug. “ ... I know you’re not staying with me because you have to. Even if the condo didn’t have a readily waiting third bedroom, as Grandpa pointed out, you could also go back to living with John if you just needed someone to support you. So, I know you’re staying with me because you want to ... well, stay with me.”

“Oh, Darling!” Mom sighed as her arms squeezed me back. “Thank you! I love you so, so much! I promise you, I will never again forget that!”

“I love you too, Mom.” I chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

I said it without even thinking about it. It just came out. It took us a long time and a lot of work, but saying it felt not only like the right thing to say at that moment, but also like the truth. I only realized what I had done when all the heads of the women surrounding me whipped up and around to stare at me.

“You ... You said ... You love me?” Mom stuttered, wide eyed and her voice full of disbelief, but refusing to move her body even an inch away from me.

“I did.”

Mom took my face in both of her hands, while her gaze stayed focused on my eyes. I could see her own eyes glazing over before thick tears started rolling down her cheeks.

“You love me?” she asked me to confirm again, which I did with a nod. “My Baby loves me again! I’m getting my Baby back! I love you more than you can imagine! I love y...”

She couldn’t continue. Her voice was wrecked with violent sobs while she clung to me like her life depended on it. I chose to let one of my hands move up her back until it reached her head, and gently held it against my chest while she cried herself out. I could also see that this emotional display affected Ava and Danny in a similar manner as it had Mom. Ava couldn’t hold back too long before she had to join in on the hug, while Danny left the room to let us have that moment.

Chapter 25

When we finally came out of the kitchen and Grandpa noticed Mom’s reddened eyes, he looked like he was about to explode again. Luckily, Granny grabbed and pulled him out of the room before he could. I don’t know what she told or did to him, but I suspected that Danny had filled her in, because when they returned, Grandpa seemed rather subdued and made no more attempts to separate Mom from me.

At least once per hour, Mom would lean closer to whisper into my ear how much she loved me, just to hear me say it as well. This was always followed by her showing me a bright smile and giving me another kiss on the cheek. It was pretty obvious for everyone in the family that we had made some kind of breakthrough as soon as they saw her, but everyone picked up on the details just as fast.

I had to admit that, while I still had a pretty big workload, especially with my newest side project of turning John’s fictional online warehouse management software into a real one, my life had turned out to be pretty good again. That is, until I hit the usual and mostly expected bumps in the road.

As soon as Aaron’s lawyer sent over the necessary paperwork, I transferred the money the judge had awarded him to Mom’s personal account, so she could deal with it when the time came. My bank account was dangerously thin now, but I had continued to funnel cash into my paypal account and, now that the divorce was final, transferred enough into my bank account to pay all the bills. Now the waiting game started, to see if he would hold up his financial obligations as well.

Which he did. But he couldn’t stop himself from getting one last punch in.

“This is the entirety of the child support until he turns eighteen, plus the reimbursement I apparently ‘owe’ him.” Aaron said in a cold tone after handing Mom a check over $5,810 dollars. “I want nothing to do with that boy, and I don’t want you to mention him to me ever again. You’ll get your maintenance monthly.”.

Then he got up from the table and left Mom - and both of their lawyers for that matter - in stunned silence.

I did not learn about this happening until a few days later. Mom’s amped up affection was already a little over the top since my breakdown in the bedroom, but now it became almost concerning. She literally hung onto me whenever she had the chance, reassuring me that she would never abandon me again. It became borderline creepy when she started sending me little text messages throughout the day, something she had never done before. Things like “Going grocery shopping. Anything you want? Love you, Darling” or “Dinner at seven. Love you so much”.

Since Dinner in our house had always been at seven, I suspected those messages were solely a means to remind me how much she loved me. It took me a while to coerce her into finally telling me what exactly happened between Aaron and her. I admit, after I learned the facts, I couldn’t help but appreciate her efforts.

Three weeks went by like this, until the next big event happened. Actually, it was bigger for Ava and Mia than me, since it was time for senior prom.

Just like for our Valentine’s date, I decided to pull all the resources my bedroom closet had to offer, and go all out for them. I rented a limousine, booked a photographer, and paid for Ava’s dress. I even agreed to accompany Nora when she wanted me to get a suit that would match her daughter’s prom dress, despite her telling me that said dress would be a sparkling rose gold in color.

The tailor did a fantastic job, though, and I surprisingly acknowledged that I didn’t look half as ridiculous as I had feared. The suit itself was a regular black suit with a white shirt. But he made me wear a vest and tie that were apparently made from the same material as Mia’s dress, in addition to stuffing a strip of leftover cloth from her dress into my breast pocket. It wasn’t anything I could wear ever again, but, according to Nora, this was an extremely important memory for a girl and had to be perfect.

When the date ultimately arrived, I learned that she was right. Ava and Mia spent almost the entire day getting ready at Mia’s house. I went ahead and picked Ava’s date up, so we could meet the girls together.

Ava’s date, however, surprised me, as the guy had been out of the closet for a good two years at that point. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the guy, and we had a lot of fun making jokes about my sparkling getup during the drive to Mia’s house. It just reminded me of Ava’s reluctance to look for a partner. I just hoped she would pick that back up once she entered the college scene.

Our first stop, after enduring a lengthy photo-op with Mia’s parents, was the local park, where the professional photographer I had booked waited for us. Much to Ava’s and Mia’s delight, I might add. After the photosession came the candlelight dinner in a Brazilian steakhouse, before we drove to the hotel ballroom the school had booked for the event.

With me being the sole male junior at the senior prom, I had worried about feeling out of place. That did not happen. Mia and I danced, laughed and kissed, and her friends had all come to accept me. It became pretty clear, however, that the evening would not play out like I had seen in Hollywood productions.

The main reason for this prom was for the seniors to spend a special evening with each other before they all parted ways and dispersed across the country. So, I let Mia take the lead and decide what she wanted to do, and was completely happy with her decision to spend as much time as possible with her friends. Even when prom ended - and, no, we didn’t make Queen and King - they opted to relocate the party into an all-night diner, since they simply didn’t want it to end. But, eventually, it did.

Ava’s date had taken a taxi home at about two in the morning, so, when it was time for us to leave as well, the three of us were alone in the Limo.

“Muffin...” Mia started, about then minutes before we arrived at her home. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

I threw a quick glance at Ava, who seemed as clueless as I was, before giving Mia my full attention.

“What about?”

“You know the success rate for long distance relationships, right?” she asked, not hesitant or sad, but rather business-like.

“Yes, I do.” I said, a feeling of uncertainty settling in my stomach.

“Well, I talked to Mom ... And I think we have two options.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “The first option would be to preemptively break up. Or say that we’re taking a break.”

“A break.” I deadpanned. “A three-year break doesn’t sound very likely to end in a happy ending. But I also don’t want to break up with you just because of the possibility that something may happen.”

“Neither do I!” she reassured me with a firm nod. “But you have to admit ... chances are, something will happen. The double major at Northwestern is going to be hard. And demanding. I won’t be able to come back for the first few months at all. And even after that, I probably won’t even be back for a few of the holidays.”

“Oh.” I had no idea it would be that bad.

“Don’t get me wrong, Muffin. I do love you! I’m not planning to be with someone else, and I still plan on us being together when I come back from University. But ... Three years is a long time. And I don’t know if I ... The question is if you can allow me to, maybe ... if I get weak, could you allow me that. I won’t go looking for a partner, or a replacement for you. But, maybe ... instead of breaking up ... we could open up our relationship for the time I’m away.”

I could see how uncomfortable she was. She tried to be realistic about our situation and cover her bases, but didn’t want to sound like she was looking forward to something like this, or even just looking for excuses to sleep with others. Not that I would have thought that about her, since I’ve known her for long enough to know better. I could tell from my time with Tess that I would be perfectly happy without sex for a few months, as long as the one I loved was waiting for me. Mia was much the same in that regard.

“Well, I guess it would only be fair, right?” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “I mean, you’re fine with Ava and me. So, if I said ‘no’, it would be kinda hypocritical of me.”

“Not necessarily. Things between you and Ava are ... different from what I mean.” Mia remarked, throwing her own side glance at Ava. I wondered if there was something she didn’t want to say with Ava present, or if she wanted to say something that Ava would have objected to. “I’m not looking for something like that. I’m just trying to figure out if you could accept me satisfying my purely physical needs with someone else, if I can’t make it home to you.”

I thought about it for a moment.

“Well, I’m gonna be honest with you.” I said, and saw her tense up. “If you can agree to two conditions, I’d rather go along with it than end our relationship.”

“Okay?” She sounded guarded. “What conditions?”

“First, no consistent hookups. The line between lust and love is thin.” I said sagely. “The more often you sleep with someone, the more likely emotional attachment becomes.”

“I agree!” she said, now a smile on her face. “As I said, I’m not looking for a stand-in boyfriend anyway. What’s the second condition?”

I took a deep breath.

“If you do find yourself developing emotions for someone else ... I want you to immediately take a break, think about what you want going forward, and then tell either me or your fling that it’s over. Don’t string me along, and don’t give someone else false hope.”

I had expected her to fight this one, or at least deny the possibility of it ever happening, but she didn’t. Instead, her smile widened.

“I agree again! Though, I’d like the second rule to apply for both of us.” she said happily.

“Why only the second rule?” I was confused.

“Because I already told you that I’m fine with you and Ava.” she clarified, taking hold of Ava’s hand. “I started this between you two. I can’t tell you to stop now. And, honestly...” Her voice took on a sultry note. “ ... I still expect her to keep you satisfied for the next three years, so you don’t have the opportunity to get attached to someone else. Well, Ava and Mom.”

That confused me even more, as the two girls giggled.

“Don’t let her know that I told you.” Mia explained. “But Mom’s already making plans for the day after you turn eighteen. Not that she went into great detail when we talked, but I hear she’s glad that it’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving break starts, so she doesn’t have to worry about you being too exhausted for school the next day.”

As the two girls saw my eyes grow to the size of saucers, they laughed even louder.

When Ava and I finally arrived back at the apartment after dropping off Mia, I paid the driver a sizable tip. Though, before he was even around the corner, Ava wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a deep sensual kiss.

“Thank you, Tim.” she breathed into my ear while I came up for air. “This evening was great.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist before I answered.

“Why? What did I do?”

“You made it possible. Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten to wear this dress, have that nice dinner, or even the opportunity to spend a few carefree hours with my friends. I love you, little brother.”

I smiled as she kissed me on the lips again.

“My pleasure. And I love you too, big sister.”

With that, we finally walked into the apartment to get rid of our constricting clothes. However, instead of simply walking into her bedroom, she grabbed Mom’s hand as she passed the couch Mom was sitting on, and pulled her into the bedroom as well. It took me a while of contemplation before I simply let that one go. Mainly because the only explanation my teenage-mind would come up with was that Ava wanted Mom to know about my now open relationship with Mia.

Those thoughts, however, didn’t seem completely unsubstantiated when Mom and Ava joined me in bed, wearing nothing but skimpy panties and shirts that looked to be two sizes too small. I have to admit that I had quite some trouble falling asleep that night.

Four weeks after prom, and ten days before the divorce would become final, came graduation day.

The ceremony itself was quite boring, to be honest, but John used that opportunity to let me know how much bigger the holding’s bank account had gotten. The money hadn’t been cleaned completely yet, but it would certainly be enough to achieve our current goal, as he had already made an offer for the house.

The end of the ceremony was anything but boring. I had expected Mia and Ava to repeat the pattern from prom night, spending as much time as possible with their friends. It turned out, however, that quite a few of them were already missing, and the whole affair became very emotional for them. I actually spent most of the day simply consoling both of them, though it was admittedly hard for me as Mia’s own date of departure was only a week away.

When the day finally came, our goodbye was even more emotional than what I had seen before. Yes, I was afraid that she would get attached to someone else, but I chose to just let things happen as they happened. That was one of the big lessons I had learned after I admitted my exhaustion over the constant need to deal with possible threats and problems.

I felt myself reminded of the time after Tess had moved away. Back then, the guys at work had done everything they could think of to keep my mind occupied, and distract me from missing her. This time, it was my family that jumped to the task. There were no invitations to their ‘orgies’, which had now significantly decreased in size, since Aaron and Logan were excluded, while Mom and Ava still had no interest in them. There were no more advances made by any female of my extended family since I made it clear that those weren’t appreciated. They simply wanted to show they cared for me, be there for me, and support me.

A favor I was determined to return.

John had managed to steer Mom towards accepting the offer for the house that was made by our holding company, without her realizing that it was our holding company. Since it was summer break for me, I spent the afternoons leading up to the big reveal by moving Mom’s old furniture from the storage unit back into the house, and completing the picture with new stuff to replace what Aaron had claimed for himself.

I was a little concerned for Mom, though. According to Danny, she still refused to take part in any sexual activities that I wasn’t part of, not just their get-togethers. So, with my continued refusal to do anything with anyone but Ava and Mia, she was still refusing herself any release. True to my new resolve, I decided to let things simply play out. She was sharing my bed, though nothing sexual ever happened in it. I would let her decide whether she wanted to change that.

On Friday, June 13th, almost exactly seven months after my seventeenth birthday, the divorce was final.

Much like the day of the divorce itself, the family came together to make sure Mom would be alright. John and I decided to use that opportunity for our reveal, so, shortly before it was time to leave, he slipped me the deed for the house. I already had the keys, since I needed them to put the furniture in.

“Alright everyone, we’ll have to take Claire home now.” John declared loudly, causing a confused murmur to travel through the room, but he ushered them towards the door without a further word of explanation.

Seeing him happily smiling, they collectively decided to not ask any questions, and simply let him surprise them. Naturally, Mom and Ava drove with me, and I could see their confusion grow even more when I didn’t turn to drive towards the apartment. However, Mom’s face did not only show confusion. I thought to see uncertainty, that morphed into fear after a minute.

“Don’t worry, Mom. Do you trust me?” I asked in a soft voice.

“Of course I do, Darling.” she responded firmly, but then her voice turned apologetic. “I’m just ... I don’t know what to expect.”

“Something good, I think.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it, feeling her return the gesture as a small smile came upon her face.

That smile vanished another minute later, as she realized where we were going. The rest of the drive, she simply alternated between staring at me with big, hope filled eyes, and the scenery flying past us.

When we arrived at the house, I walked around the car to open the door for her, and she tentatively took my offered hand to get out of her seat as well. Then, she just stood there, wringing her hands, as the rest of the family took position.

“Tim? Can I leave you the honor?” John asked, with a big smirk on his face.

“Right.” I said ceremoniously, before taking Mom’s and Ava’s hands, and leading them into the house.

“No!” Mom called out upon seeing her old furniture where it had stood for so many years before. “But ... We sold the house! How!?”

John laughed at the astonished faces surrounding us while Danny clung to his arm with a bright smile on her face.

“Yes. You sold it to ‘T.B. Holding’, Mom. That’s me! Well, it’s eighty percent me and twenty percent Jo...”

That was how far I got before Mom threw her body into mine, wrapped her arms around my neck, and forcefully pulled me towards her for a very unmotherly kiss.

“Oh, my Darling Son!” she called out half laughing, half crying. “I can’t believe this! You saved our home! I love you so much, Baby!”

As she said that, she covered my face in dozens of little kisses. I knew this house meant a lot to her, but I really only understood how much it meant to her at that very moment. Soon I felt Ava’s arms wrap around my torso, as she, too, started thanking me profoundly for saving her childhood home.

“By the way, Mike.” Danny finally couldn’t contain herself any longer. “T.B. Holding is also the same company that bought your new house. And the condo for Ava and Maggie. John and I just acted as Tim’s intermediaries”

I saw Grandpa stare at her baffled, while Granny was simply glad to see her daughter and granddaughter so happy.

What followed was a tour through the house, so Mom and Ava could see the new furniture I bought, and how I furnished the rooms. When they realized that I retained the old room arrangements, and even placed everything in Ava’s room as I had remembered, it earned me another round of kisses and hugs. When we passed my old room, however, Mom stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” I asked, noticing her stare towards the room.

“Your old room ... It’s empty.” she responded quietly, like she was lost in thought.

“Yes. So?”

I had a suspicion regarding her statement. I wanted her to say it, though.

“What if...” she started tentatively before turning towards me. “What if I’d rather stay with you, Darling?”

“In my apartment?” I asked, and her eyes dropped to the floor.

“If ... that’s where you want to stay.” she hinted, and I could no longer suppress my grin.

I acted like I thought about it for a second, but couldn’t keep that up for long while looking at her desperate display.

“Well, now that you mention it ... My lease is only for a year.” I mused, and noticed the gleaming hope in Mom’s eyes when she suddenly looked up at me. “Since I was sixteen when I signed it, the conditions are pretty bad. So, the plan was for me to sign a new one, with the regular conditions, once I turned eighteen. I guess, if you want me to stay with you, I could...”

“YES!” she suddenly burst out. “Oh, Darling! Please! I have dreamed of having my Baby back home!”

“Alright.” I said, and, again, she threw herself against me, thanking me over and over again for that ‘gift’ I made her.

I decided against listing off all the facts that played into this decision at that very moment. After all, my apartment’s rent was paid up until the end of the lease now, so unless I could find someone to take it off my hands, it would remain readily available for me anyway. Also, living with my family rent free sounded a lot better than paying twelve-hundred dollars each month for a smaller place. But, at that moment, having my ecstatic mother clinging to me, for no other reason than my decision to live with her again, felt simply good.

The following weekend, everyone helped me move back into the house. Mom and Ava were absolutely delighted the whole time, even the taxing physical labor couldn’t dampen their mood. However, the move presented us with a significant logistical problem. My apartment was a lot bigger than my old room, had a lot more furniture than my old room, and we were reluctant to simply throw away all that furniture that was barely six months old.

“You know...” Mom started, after catching me alone. “I don’t want to seem pushy, Darling. But I’ve gotten used to sleeping next to you. So, how about we turn your old room into your new office? And in the evenings ... you just ... share my bed?”

It wasn’t my proudest moment. The first thing I thought of after hearing her offer, was not that my mother had asked me to share her bed. But the fact that Aaron’s wife had asked me to share her bed. And, for some reason, I felt an involuntary twitch in my dick when I imagined how he would react to the news of me taking his place.

My second thought was even more concerning, though. I realized that I may have actually, fully, and in every sense of the word, already stolen his wife from him. Despite her being my own mother. And the thought did not, in any way, disturb me. Quite the opposite, actually.

“Yes.” I grinned. “I’d like that.”

As she presented me with another brilliant smile before giving me a rather sensual kiss, we informed the others to leave most of the furniture in the apartment. If I found someone to take the lease, maybe they could use it.

That impression I got from Mom intensified later that day. As we sat on the couch with her leaning into me and my arms wrapped around her, she started to lightly caress my arm with her fingertips. It seemed like she was doing it absentmindedly, since her focus stayed on the TV screen, but my reaction was to lower my head to enjoy the scent of her hair. The next thing I knew, she turned her head to look at me, and then our lips met.

First it was tender and loving, her soft lips pressed against mine, but it lasted way too long for a simple affectionate peck. Soon I felt her lips part, and her tongue lick over my lips. They readily parted to allow her intrusion, and instantly my own tongue was darting forward, gently massaging hers.

This kiss lasted even longer, and had us panting in no time. Only when I felt her hand on my own did I realize that I had grabbed her breast and was kneading it as we kissed, and she was pressing my hand against it.

Her other hand landed on my thigh, from where it slowly wandered upwards until she found my erect cock through the fabric of my pants. While I massaged her breast, she rubbed along my length, and our kiss intensified.

“Mhmmmm seems like my big, strong boy could use some help with that.” Mom purred, looking at me questioningly. “Do you want Mommy to take care of that for you, Baby?”

I was suddenly so unbelievably horny that I could only nod my head.

She grinned and smashed her lips against mine again, as her hand started pushing down my sweatpants. Just when I wanted to lift my butt off the couch to help her, she pulled her head back and stood. She grabbed my sweats with both hands and basically ripped them off me before throwing them over her shoulder. Then, slowly and with a sultry look on her face, she beckoned me to stand up as well before lowering herself down to her knees.

The sight of my Mother kneeling before me, admiring my engorged organ, was more stimulating than I had expected.

She raised her gaze to my eyes, licked her lips, and then slowly leaned forward.

“I love you, Darling.” she breathed. “And I love my Baby Boy’s big, hard, cock!”

With that, she closed her eyes and leaned all the way forward, rubbing her face against my cock while humming in delight. Then she opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and continued to rub her face against my cock while also licking my balls. My tip was leaking precum at an alarming rate, and the pure visual would’ve been enough to make me cum if she had continued.

I lost my composure.

I grabbed her face with both hands and started humping. My cock rubbed against her soft cheeks, her soft lips, and her soft tongue, while she continuously moaned her approval. Then she pulled her head back, grabbed my shaft with one hand, and engulfed the tip with her mouth.

She bobbed her head over my cock in a steady rhythm while her hand rubbed my shaft in a twisting motion. She didn’t apply much force. Her grip wasn’t tight and her sucking wasn’t strong. But it was the sight of her loving eyes locked onto mine, the sensuous sounds, her eagerness to make me feel pleasure, that ever so slowly pushed me towards my orgasm.

She worked eagerly towards that goal for a good ten minutes, but when she felt my cock swell, she stopped and waited until I had calmed down. Then she worked on me for another ten minutes, until she felt my ball sack tighten as I approached my climax for the second time, but, again, stopped and applied a deathgrip on my shaft until she felt confident that the onset of my orgasm had subsided. Finally, when I felt my orgasm approach for the first time yet another ten minutes later, I couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Let me come.” I pleaded, causing her to take her mouth off my cock, but she continued to jerk me.

“You want Mommy to make her Big Boy come?” she moaned with a lustful grin.

“Yes!” I hissed.

“Then say it, Baby. What do you want?”

“I want Mommy to make me come. I want to come all over my Mommy’s face!” I panted, and she moaned even louder.

“With pleasure, Baby! Come all over Mommy’s face! Mark me! I’m yours! Only yours!” she said, wrapped her lips around my shaft again, and started sucking me with a vengeance.

As my orgasm came, she leaned back, pulled her shirt off with one hand and in one fluent motion that caused her big tits to jiggle, and jerked me faster.

“Cover Mommy with your cum, Baby! Cover me! Mommy’s face! Mommy’s big boobs! Cover it all!”

And I did. I shot an untold number of big fat robes of my semen all over my mother, who delighted in the warm material splattering on her skin, while my whole body shook as my muscles seemed to fight to keep me standing.

Finally, my knees buckled and I fell backwards onto the couch, where I lay exhausted and breathing heavily. When I was able to open my eyes again, I saw my mother trying to scoop the massive load I had deposited on her face into her mouth. I weakly registered that there was even more on her breasts, and asked myself where the hell that had all come from, until I remembered that it had been a few days since Mia’s departure.

“I love you, Mom!” I said after my lungs had calmed down, though that’s also the last thing I remember from that evening. The exhaustion from the move, followed by that relaxing release, must have taken its toll. I woke up the next morning still on the couch, where someone had covered me with a blanket.

On my way to the bathroom to get ready for work, I found her in her - our - bedroom getting dressed.

“Mom. I’m sorry about yesterday.” I said as I entered the room. “I don’t know how I could just fall asleep!”

I was seriously embarrassed about falling asleep after a single orgasm. I was way too young to have that shit happen to me. Mom, however, simply smiled a reassuring smile before wrapping me in a hug and giving me a loving kiss.

“I know how tired you must have been, Darling. And I did try to make it as intense as possible when you finally came.” she grinned. “Don’t you worry. Rather, look forward to tonight. I have something special planned. Now off you go. Don’t be late for work!”

That last sentence was interesting. She started it in an endearing tone, but seamlessly switched into stern Mom-mode when reminding me to not be late. So, unwilling to incur the rightful wrath of my mother, I did as I was told.

When it was time for me to leave work, I sent a quick text to Mom, telling her about my impending arrival. To my surprise, I got a text back just a few minutes later, telling me that “they” weren’t ready yet, and I should maybe grab a quick bite to eat. About an hour later, I got the All Clear.

As I stepped into the house and called out for Mom, she called me into the living room. Looking around, I still couldn’t find her, so I called out again. Then she sauntered out of the kitchen, and came to stand next to the dinner table.

My eyes almost popped out of my head as I took in her appearance.

Her long golden blonde hair was hanging down her back in waves, while looking like shiny strains of silk. Her makeup was discreet, but accentuated her beautiful blue eyes perfectly, as well as the barely noticeable touch of rogue on her cheek bones. Though her lips were painted in a bright red, and she was standing in front of me wearing a black, floral lace lingerie set that almost fried my brain.

It stared at her feet, wearing five-inch stilettos that caused her calve muscles to look extra firm. My eyes traveling upwards, I saw that the thigh-high stockings strapped not to a garter belt, but somehow directly to her midrise panties. Above her taut stomach, she wore a lace balconette bra that was connected to a choker, just like her panties were connected to her nylons. She was completing the set with gloves that reached up to her elbows. All of it was created in a material so thin, it was see-through where the floral pattern didn’t obscure the view.

I love the view of a naked woman. But what Mom was wearing at that moment was uncompromisingly enhancing everything about her body. It was sexy and so form-fitting that it didn’t leave much to the imagination. But it hid just enough to not seem slutty or cheap. She was sin personified, and my dick got harder than I thought possible in an instant!

Mom had a satisfied smile on her beautiful face while watching my slack-mouthed expression. Though, as she immediately noticed the straining bulge in my pants, that smile widened even more.

“You like what you see, Baby?” she asked before turning around.

I let out an involuntary sigh as I saw the back of her panties vanish between her plum buttcheeks. Even they were perfectly framed and supported.

She laughed at how speechless I was, which caused me to remember how words worked.

“You ... My god, Mom! You look so unbelievably hot!” I stammered.

She gracefully walked towards me, her hips swaying with every step in a hypnotizing manner.

“Thank you, Baby. I’m glad I can be sexy for my beautiful Darling.” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled me in for a savoring kiss. “Now, I told you that I prepared something special for today. And, no, it’s not just what you see me wearing. It gets a lot better, trust me. But first, I think you will need this.”

As she said that, she gestured to the table. Only now did I notice the glass of water standing next to a little saucer plate, which held a pill that looked suspiciously like Cialis. When I looked at her with a single raised eyebrow, Mom giggled.

“I found them when I cleaned out your bedroom in your apartment yesterday. They’re yours. So, you should know the dosage and whether it’s okay to take it.” she explained, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Even in this situation, she was remembering her responsibilities as my mother and wouldn’t just give me any old blue pill. I took it, grabbed the glass of water, and washed it down.

“Good Boy!” she breathed, before giving me another scorching kiss. Then she took me by the hand and led me upstairs, where we came to a halt in front of our closed bedroom door.

“Now, the real surprise is inside.” she said as she started to undress me. “But before I open this door, know that this is just as special for her as it is for you.”

I blinked at that comment, but decided against asking for clarification. I would learn what this wasabout soon enough, and my brain was so overloaded with carnal lust that I probably couldn’t process much more anyway.

When she had me stripped to my shorts, she grabbed my hand again, opened the door, and led me inside. This was the second time my eyes tried to leave my head. Right in front of our bed stood Ava, facing the door, in an outfit that was an almost exact replica of what Mom was wearing. There were only two differences.

First, her outfit was white instead of black. While Mom was Sin incarnate, the pure white color made Ava look like a symbol of innocence. If it weren’t for the second difference, which were the additional accessories to Ava’s outfit.

She was blinded by a silky, white sleeping mask, and her arms were fixed behind her back in a white leather contraption that bound her forearms together while causing her to push her perky breasts towards us. As I watched her stand there, I noticed that her mouth was open, her body was slightly trembling, and she was positively panting. On closer inspection, I realized that the reason for her quite evident arousal was a light buzzing sound emanating from her crotch. I couldn’t see it directly, as she was rubbing her thighs together, but I could see that her panties were already soaked.

“Oh shit!” I mouthed, and Mom giggled again.

Suddenly, I felt Mom’s hands pulling my shorts down before she reached for the dresser and grabbed a condom. As she opened the wrapper and started to roll it over my now steel hard cock, she leaned towards my ear and spoke in a breathy voice.

“You should know that I took a page from your playbook, Darling.” She showed me a mischievous smile when I turned my head to look at her. “I kinda messed with her birth control pills after you agreed to move in here. I didn’t actually switch them out, of course, but I made a few comments over the last few days that made her think of the possibility.”

Just as I was wondering why she would say that right in front of Ava and thereby destroy the illusion, she swayed over to stand next to Ava, reached up, and removed two earplugs that had apparently blocked Ava’s hearing. She must’ve stood there for who knows how long, blinded, unable to hear, and her arms tied, while a small vibrator was working her clit. When Ava felt Mom’s hands touch her skin, she gasped.

“You can use her however you want, Darling.” Mom continued. “She’s yours, just like I am. Do whatever you want with your big sister. Mommy will even help you.”

With that, Ava moaned in apparent need as Mom reached down, extended a single finger, and pressed it against the vibrating thing in Ava’s panties. Her whole body shook violently, and I even debated if she just had an orgasm. Or, better yet, how many orgasms she may already had while standing here alone in this room, waiting for me to arrive.

As I stepped closer, Mom grabbed Ava’s shoulders and turned her to face the bed. Then she shoved her forward. With a loud yelp, my sister fell face first onto the mattress. Not skipping a beat, Mom straddled Ava’s back. Sitting there, facing me, Mom reached down with both hands, placed them on Ava’s butt cheeks, and pulled them apart.

“See this, Darling? Mommy prepared her for you already.” I looked closer and saw the outline of a buttplug through the thin fabric of her panties. Of course it was the one I had gotten for her, and I could see it vibrating as well. “She’s all lubed up and ready to go!”

Then, still spreading Ava’s ass apart, she leaned forward and placed a kiss on her daughter’s left butt cheek, leaving a bright red imprint from her lipstick behind.

“Baby?” Mom suddenly said in a motherly voice. “Mommy needs you to be a very good boy now, and mercilessly abuse your sister’s tight little asshole!” With this, we both heard Ava release a low, guttural noise from the depths of her throat. “I need you to take your hard, big, fat cock, and shove it deep into your sister’s bowels over and over again, until you explode inside her. Can you do that for Mommy?”

As Mom pushed two fingers underneath the hem of Ava’s panties and pushed the fabric out of the way, I almost filled the condom without even touching my dick!

I reached forward and carefully worked the buttplug out of Ava’s ass, as Mom readily spread her daughter’s legs as far apart as she could manage. Though, as it turned out, I wouldn’t have needed to be that careful, since Mom had used so much lube that it almost fell out by itself, once Ava stopped clenching around it.

As soon as it came out, I marveled at the sight of my sister’s gaping asshole between the cheeks that were spread apart by our mother, and that bright red kiss-mark next to it. I couldn’t hold back any longer and did as Mom had asked me.

In one steady movement, I pushed myself into my sister’s ass to the hilt without stopping.

Ava released a loud grunt through gritted teeth as she felt my member invade her, though as my balls slapped against her labia, the groan was replaced by a shrieking sound and her sphincter clenched down on me hard. This time, I was absolutely sure that she had an orgasm.

Mom removed a hand from Ava’s ass to place it on the back of my head, pull me towards her, and pushed her tongue into my mouth as I slowly fucked Ava’s ass. Like a piston, I shoved my cock into her, while her sphincter never stopped clenching as she seemed to have one continuous climax.

“OH! GOD! YES!” Ava screamed, every word punctuating one of my thrusts. “I! LOVE! YOU!”

“Give it to her, Darling!” Mom added. “Wreck your big sister’s ass! She needs this! She wants this! This is her atonement for all the hurt she caused you! She wants you to hurt her! So fuck the little slut!”

Despite her words penetrating the deepest parts of my carnal brain, I knew she didn’t really mean it. This was just dirty talk to make Ava feel like she was being used. Though I wondered if there wasn’t a little truth in Mom’s claim, since Ava had said something similar once in the middle of sex in my apartment.

So, I deviated from the slow piston-like thrusts, and instead risked actually shoving my cock into her ass once.

“YEEEEEES!” Ava screamed loudly. I stopped for a moment while buried inside her, then pulled back and started fucking her hard and without mercy. Now her words were punctuated by almost pained grunts every time I bottomed out. “JUST! LIKE! THAT! FUCK ME! FUCK! MY! ASS! WRECK! IT! RUIN! IT!”

And then she started moaning in absolute pleasure again. I kept going like this for maybe three minutes before I couldn’t hold on anymore, slammed into her extra hard one last time, and filled the condom with my first load of the night.

When my body had finally stopped shaking, and I had pulled out of her, I saw Mom lean forward and reinsert the buttplug. Then she lifted herself off Ava’s back, leaned down next her head, and whispered something I couldn’t understand into her ear. I only saw Ava nod to confirm whatever she had heard with a contented smile on her face. Though I could see that her face below the sleeping mask was also streaked with tears!

“You okay?” I asked in a worried tone, and Ava nodded again before she spoke.

“Yes, little brother. I’m more than okay. I love you!” she replied, before Mom grabbed her shoulders again, and turned her onto her back. “This was perfect. Please don’t worry. It hurt, but that’s what I wanted.”

“Why!?” I asked incredulously. I knew full well that she may have been submissive, but she did not enjoy pain!

“Because I hurt you more than I could imagine.” she said, matter of fact. “No matter how much I do to make that right, it will never be enough. And yet, you did so much for us.Tim ... I love you.”

Suddenly I was stunned. Her last words sounded like a lot more than her usual, sisterly ‘I love you’. I looked at Mom and saw her nod, as if to confirm my thoughts. That was what Mia didn’t want to say out loud when we were in the limousine. She knew my sister well enough to realize that Ava didn’t just have the hots for me. And I had no idea how to respond to that.

“Ava ... I ... I don’t know how to...” I stammered, but before I could attempt to form a complete sentence, Mom gently placed her hands on either side of my face.

“You don’t have to, Darling. She just wants you to know.” Mom said softly, giving me a piercing look that didn’t waver until I nodded.

“Let’s get rid of this.” Mom said, pointing at the condom covering my still engorged cock. The Cialis was doing a fine job, it seemed. Then she leaned into my ear and whispered barely loud enough for me to hear. “Try not to make any sounds until you’re back, Darling.”

I gave her a questioning look, but she waved me along without further explanation.

It must have been a comical display as I basically tiptoed into the adjoining bathroom with my hard rod bobbing in front of me. I got rid of the condom, carefully closed the door to give my dick a quick wash for my own feeling of cleanliness, and then tiptoed back into the room.

Mom placed a finger to her lips to signal me to keep quiet, and she gestured for me to stand next to the bed where Ava lay waiting. However, she had moved Ava so her head was hanging off the side of the mattress. Then Mom grabbed a little notebook from the nightstand and held it in front of me, showing me a handwritten note that said “Surprise nipple pinch”.

Shrugging my shoulders, I reached out and grabbed one of Ava’s pointy and hard nipples between my thumb and index finger and squeezed. Ava’s reaction was intriguing! She gasped, her flat tummy quivered, and she bit her bottom lip.

Wanting to explore this further, I let go of her nipple and took my time deciding what part of her body I should stimulate next. After about twenty seconds, I repeated Mom’s action from earlier and pressed a single finger against the vibrating clit-stimulator in Ava’s panties, causing her to cry out a surprised moan and her knees to shake. Next, after another quiet waiting period, I dragged my nails over her taut stomach, which made her writhe on the bed. Finally, I let the tip of my dick hang about an inch above her mouth.

Mom and I could both see her nose wiggle for a second, before she pensively opened her mouth and slowly craned her neck to explore that smell. She flinched a little when her lips made contact with my cock, but as soon as she realized what it was, she hungrily sucked on it.

Mom stood behind me, her arms wrapped around my midsection with her hands flat on my lower stomach, while nibbling on my earlobe. My eyelids fluttered when the sensation, paired with the feel of her soft pillowy breasts pressed into my back and Ava’s lips around my cock, flooded my senses. Though, I abruptly regained control of my thoughts when Mom started pushing me forward. I resisted, and she pushed with a little more force.

“Not with her hands tied to her back.” I said sternly while looking directly into her eyes and, to my surprise, a proud smile lit up her face.

She let go of my body and walked around me to kneel on the ground next to Ava’s head.

“Do you hear that, Sweetheart?” she said, while one of her hands caressed Ava’s bulging throat. “Your little brother doesn’t want to forcefuck your throat while you’re all tied up. He’s afraid to choke you. Can you believe this? How much he still cares about us, despite everything we did to him, to push back his own desire just to protect you?”

Somehow, that put Ava into the next gear. It almost felt like she wanted to suck the skin of my cock entirely while she moaned in pleasure. Mom, meanwhile, leaned down and placed a kiss on Ava’s throat, leaving yet another perfect imprint of her lips in bright red lipstick behind, before raising off the floor and standing behind me again.

“We already worked that out, Darling.” she whispered. “Her legs are free. She’ll use them to signal us if you need to stop.”

Then she licked my ear, as she, again, wrapped her arms around me. This time, however, she didn’t place her hands flat on my lower stomach, but instead on either side of Ava’s face, before pushing herself against my back again.

“Now fuck your sister’s throat, Baby.” And she pushed her body closer into me, until my hips moved forward. “Use every hole of the slut for your pleasure! But don’t come yet. We have a better place for that delicious cum of yours, although I’m sure she would love it if you were to pump your load into her stomach.”

With that, we heard Ava moan yet again, though it was choked out immediately as I pushed past her tonsils. This, again, was so much better than any experience I had with Ava before, simply because Mom was guiding me through the abuse of my sister’s body. I pushed my cock deep into Ava’s throat, while Mom held her head in place for me, so I could fully concentrate on the feeling without any distractions.

I did, however, keep an eye on Ava’s feet. Mom pushed me forward until my cock was fully engulfed in my sister’s esophagus, and then held me there while gently moving Ava’s head to create friction. Simultaneously, I felt Ava’s throat muscles massage my shaft as she swallowed over and over again. Mom kept me from pulling back way past the time I was comfortable with, because I feared for Ava’s oxygen supply, but it seemed to be okay for her.

I had to smile when I finally noticed how Ava lifted her toes, while the soles of her feet stayed pressed to the mattress, every time Mom pushed me forward until my ball sack would rest on her nose. And every time Ava’s toes would lower themselves again, Mom would back up and allow me to pull my cock out so Ava could breathe.

I had to admit, this was fucking awesome. I couldn’t believe how much planning they must have put into this. Messing with Ava’s birth control, so she could have that fantasy of the ultimate submission back. The matching outfits. The subtle, nonverbal signals they had worked out. The prepared handwritten note that lay readily available on the nightstand. This whole thing was orchestrated from start to finish, for the sole purpose of making this as hot as possible. I didn’t think Mom only came up with all this the day before like she had claimed, and I loved her for it.

“Mom, I’m close again!” I panted after a few minutes, and she reacted by quickly grabbing my hips and pulling me back.

As soon as my cock had vacated Ava’s mouth, it jumped up and smacked against my stomach with a loud wet sound. The cialis was still working, while I got stimulated in various ways, and I noticed that this wasn’t exactly the best thing to do.

Mom must have seen the look on my face, as she addressed it immediately.

“Baby, what is it?” she asked, her voice full of compassion.

“I think the pill, combined with the never ending turn-on, is working a little too well. It’s getting a little uncomfortable.” I admitted, before seeing another sultry smile appear on Mom’s face.

“Oh no! My Baby Boy is hurting!? Mommy absolutely can’t have that!” she cooed before leaning down to Ava. “Sweetheart, your little brother’s beautiful cock is hurting! We have to act fast and make it better, don’t we?”

“Yes, Mommy!” Ava confirmed in a girly voice and nodded her head, taking me by surprise. I had never heard her refer to Mom as ‘Mommy’ while acting like a little girl. Though, I had to admit, it was very effective!

Mom crawled onto the bed to turn Ava around and take off the restrains holding her arms in place. As it turned out, however, she only did so to take off Ava’s bra. As soon as she had unclasped the strap from her bra, she put Ava’s arms into the restraint again and made her lay on her back in the middle of the mattress. Then she leaned over to pull Ava’s panties off and remove the clit-vibrator as well.

She hooked her arms underneath Ava’s knees and made her spread her legs for me. One of her hands slowly moved to the upper side of Ava’s knee, before it just as slowly moved up her thigh, and was finally placed flatly on Ava’s lower stomach, the tips of her fingers pressing onto the skin right above her clitoris.

“So, Baby...” Mom started, as her hand slid further down, over Ava’s clit, and her fingers finally parting her pussy lips to let me look directly into her canal. “ ... does this look like a warm, wet, and snug place to put your hurting cock in?”

Yet again, my eyes were bugging as I watched Mom’s behavior.

“It does.” I said, leaned forward, and gave Mom a sinful kiss. “Though I have to ask. Ava once claimed that you were straight. I have to say, you’re quite comfortable with her body for a completely straight woman.”

Mom’s expression changed into one of longing. The hand that wasn’t spreading her daughter’s pussy lips let go of Ava’s leg, and instead came up to caress my cheek.

“This is because it’s you, my Darling.” she whispered. “Your sister is right, I don’t swing that way at all. But I love you two dearly. And I would do anything to make you happy. Absolutely anything!”

And with that, she pushed two fingers into Ava’s sopping wet hole as deep as she could, while looking me deep in the eyes. We could hear Ava moan and wail in never before heard intensity while Mom fingerfucked her. Then she pulled her fingers out of her daughter’s pussy, raised them to her face while still staring into my eyes, and opened her mouth.

I couldn’t let her. I could see how much of a hurdle this was for her to conquer, so I grabbed her hand and guided it to my own mouth instead. Her eyes grew wide as I started sucking her fingers clean, but then I could clearly see a thankful smile appear, perfectly accommodating her love-filled eyes.

Ava’s heavy panting pulled us out of our trance. Mom removed her fingers from my mouth to wrap them around my shaft instead, and guided me into my sister.

“Now, Baby, fuck her for real. Use her last hole to your heart’s content!” she said, before leaning down and placing the last kiss on Ava’s body, leaving the third bright red imprint right above the hood of her clit.

To my astonishment, she didn’t raise her head. Instead, she turned her head to face me, and then let it rest on Ava’s lower stomach, watching me penetrate my sister from up close.

“Yes, Baby. Push it all the way in! Stretch her slutty cunt with your fat cock! Do it!” she cheered me on, and I saw Ava shake her head from side to side as I entered her.

“Oh my! Oh God! Ohmygod! OhmygodOhmygodOhmygaaawwwd!” Ava moaned in increasing volume, but maintaining that girly voice. “He’s stretching me so much, Mommy! It’s so much! It’s almost too much for my tiny, little pussy!”

“Take it, you little slut!” Mom responded, while her hand came back up to massage Ava’s clit. “This is what you’re for! Giving pleasure to your little brother! Like a good big sister should!”

“UUoooohh YES, Mommy!” Ava said, as the verbal stimulation affected her like Mom had obviously anticipated. “I can take it! I can take care of my brother! He can use me as much as he wants! Whenever he wants! However he wants!”

I had experienced Ava’s little girl act in my apartment before. But this time, with her thigh high white stockings, her smaller boobs right next to Mom’s big tits, and her thin small frame right next to Mom’s voluptuous body, really sold it now. I actually felt like I was stealing my little sister’s innocence, instead of playing into my slutty big sister’s fantasies. In no time, I started fucking into her with reckless abandon.

“OH GAAAAAWD! MOMMY! HE’S SO BIG! SO THICK! I DON’T KNOW IF I CAN TAKE IT MUCH LONGER!” she screamed, and it worked again, as I now slammed into her almost violently while Mom’s fingers on Ava’s clit were nothing more than a blur.

“But you have to, Sweetheart! You’re such a good girl, letting your brother wreck your tiny pussy! I’m so proud of my little girl! But don’t worry, even if it’ll be too stretched out when your brother is done with you, I’m sure he’ll keep using you until your insides are shaped into the perfect sleeve for his cock.” Mom cooed, before placing another kiss on Ava’s lower stomach. Then she turned to look at me again, another wicket grin on her face. “How about you, Baby? Are you close? Are you ready to fill your sister’s fertile and unprotected womb with her own brother’s potent seed?”

We heard Ava draw in a sharp breath through clenched teeth, and I felt her walls contract around my shaft.

“Yes, Mom! I’m close to bursting! I want to fill her up so bad!” I panted.

“Then do it, Baby! Come for Mommy! Fill your sister with your hot cum! Get the bitch pregnant with your Baby and claim her! BREED the slut!”

With that, Mom’s head snapped down and her lips engulfed her daughter’s clit. I could see Mom’s cheeks being sucked inwards as soon as her lips connected, and the subtle movement of her jaw told me that she must have been massaging it with her tongue.

“MOOOOMMMYYYYY!” Ava’s ear piercing scream filled the room, and I felt the walls of her canal ripple around my cock. She threw her head wildly from side to side as she screamed in orgasmic pleasure, her body violently convulsing as best as it could with her arms bound behind her back, and I felt her juices spray out around my invading cock.

That did it for me. I slammed myself into her with as much force as I could muster, and erupted inside her. My orgasm was so forceful that my vision blurred and I momentarily lost all strength in my legs. My cock twitched inside her four, five, eight times, before my climax finally subsided. Though, as soon as I pulled out of Ava, Mom leaped forward and started sucking like she wanted to forcefully extract the last few drops left inside of it.

When she released my cock with a loud pop, I felt extremely relaxed. But I knew I wasn’t done yet. The last time I took a Cialis, my erection held on for three hours, and we had barely passed the one-hour mark so far. That turned out to be quite a problem when Mom scooted up to Ava’s head, lifted the sleeping mask off her face, and started laughing.

“She’s out. Totally and completely out. You actually wrecked her, Darling.” she said, before turning Ava onto her side to remove the bindings from her arms. Then she gently stroked her daughter’s hair, softly kissed her cheek, and quietly wished her sweet dreams.

“Uh ... Mom?” I said, trying to get her attention. “That complicates things.”

As Mom turned towards me with a questioning look, her gaze dropped to my crotch almost instantly.

“Oh! Oh my!” she said, eyes wide. “Baby, you already came two times!”

“Doesn’t really matter with those pills.” I said, matter of fact. “They work for a time, not for a number of releases.”

“What!? But with your father, even if he took...” she said, her eyes still wide in wonder, before catching herself. “I mean ... Well ... how long do they usually last?”

“Last time I took one of those pills ... three hours.”

Now it was her eyes that were bugging out. Her head whipped around to the nightstand where her alarm clock stood, and I could see her calculating the time.

“That means...” she let her voice trail off.

“Yep. Good to go for a while longer.” I confirmed with a chuckle.

Suddenly her demeanor changed. Her eyes dropped down to my still throbbing cock, as she chewed on her lower lip. Her fingers trailed up her body, over her stomach, and finally drew circles around her hardening nipple. Then her eyes looked up again, right into my own.

“Baby...” she breathed, while crawling towards me on all fours until she reached the edge of the mattress and got off the bed. “ ... you know, watching you and your sister was affecting me as well.”

“I bet it did.” I said with a grin, liking where this was going. She stepped closer to me, still absentmindedly caressing her nipple, as she pressed her body into my side.

“Can I be totally honest with you, Darling?” she asked, giving me a doe-like look.

“Of course!”

“Darling ... I want to be everything for you. I want to be whatever you need me to be at the time. I can be your loving Mom who nurses and cares for you.” she said, as she placed a hand on my cheek to lovingly caress it with her thumb. “I can be your Mommy, who takes care of your hurts and pains.” she now let her hand slide down onto my chest, and caressed the thick scar on my rib cage. “Or ... I can be your slut, who drains your balls in every way you want me to.”

With that, her hand dropped further down, so her fingers could wrap themselves around my shaft.

“How about a slutty Mommy?” I asked with a cheeky grin, and her eyes lit up.

“Oh, my sweet, sweet Boy. Did Mommy’s games get your cock hard? Are you hard for Mommy now?” she asked, now a gleam in her eyes, and the grip she had on my cock tightening. She absolutely preferred what I had suggested above anything else.

“Yes, Mommy.” I breathed as the pleasure started to build up.

“Do you want Mommy to be naughty for her little boy?” she breathed as the speed of her hand increased. “Would you like your Mommy to be your sexy, always horny fucktoy? To teach her beloved darling Son about women?”

“Get on the bed!” I commanded abruptly, grabbed her by her hips, and lifted her off the ground.

She squealed in delight when I threw her on the mattress right next to my sleeping sister, and crawled up to her.

“Did you like seeing your sister’s pussy, Baby? Would you...” She hesitated only for a moment. “Would you like to see Mommy’s pussy as well?”

When I nodded, she sat up to take off her bra. Then she quickly got rid of her panties as well, leaving her stockings and the choker on like she did for Ava. Again, I had to marvel at the difference in effect. The pure white garments had given Ava a look of innocence. The black garments wrapped Mom into an aura of an experienced and sensual woman.

“Go on, Baby. Look closely at Mommy’s pussy. You can play with it, if you want.” she whispered, her voice almost ragged in anticipation.

I dove right in. I made long strokes with the flat of my tongue along her cleanly shaven labia, savoring the taste while forcefully massaging them. In no time she had gripped a handful of my hair, pulling my face into her center as she moaned. I let my right arm snake around her leg, so my hand could rub her lower stomach. My left hand joined my face between her legs, so my thumb could start massaging the tissue around her convulsing entrance.

She mewled in pleasure as I enjoyed every second of it. After a few minutes she reached her first orgasm, which caused ripples to travel along her taut stomach muscles.

I kept going.

When her convulsions let up, my right hand wandered down her stomach, until my fingertips reached her clit, which was now protruding from its hood. I alternated between rubbing the hood with my fingertips, and pinching her clit between thumb and index finger, causing her to whimper and wither beneath me until I heard her moan loudly.

“Oh Baby! You’re soooo good to Mommy! Such a goooood Boy! Yes! Keep going! Yes! YES! MOMMY LOVES YOU! MOMMY LOVES YOOOUUUUUU!” she screamed as her second orgasm hit.

I still kept going.

I kept it up throughout her orgasm. Her legs wouldn’t stop trembling, her stomach wouldn’t stop quivering, and her wails of pleasure only grew in intensity. When she started to repeatedly stomp onto the mattress with her feet, I moved my face up to suck and lick her clit, and pushed my thumb into her gushing hole.

“AAAAAAAAAARGH” I heard her scream as the pleasure got seemingly too much for her, but her hand was still gripping my hair and pulling me into her.

So, I kept going. I ate her out for another half hour, making her orgasm two more times. Finally she pulled my head up and away from her sex, but she didn’t want to stop.

“Baby! Mommy needs her little boy’s fat cock inside her now! Mommy needs you to fuck her!” she growled.

“With pleasure, Mommy!” I replied.

I kissed my way up her body until my head was high enough to bury my face in her soft pillowy breasts. Then I grabbed my cock, lined it up, and slammed into her.

“YES! Come back inside Mommy! I’m yours, Baby. Mommy will be yours and yours alone! Now fuck your Mommy, Baby!”

I slammed into her over and over again, and it was heavenly. When Mom screamed out her fourth orgasm, she got a desperate look. Then another mischievous glimmer crept into her eyes.

“Did you like filling your sister up, Baby?”

“Yes!”

“Did you like claiming your sister’s womb as your own?”

I shuddered. “God, yes!”

“Did you like the fantasy of impregnating your sister, Baby? Did Mommy’s darling Boy like the idea of putting a Baby into her?”

“Oh God!” I groaned, as my body shuddered so hard that I lost my pumping rhythm. That was all she needed to know.

“What if Mommy told you that she couldn’t afford her own birth control pills, after we lost our health insurance?” she panted, and started pushing her hips up to meet my every thrust. “What if Mommy told you that, if you filled her up with your cum now, she could get pregnant for real?”

My eyes widened as I imagined my mother walking around the house with a big belly.

“Would you like to claim your Mommy’s womb like you claimed your sister’s? Give yourself a real little sister, Baby? We can feed her, clothe her, raise her together. And when she’s old enough...” she dropped her voice to a conspiratory whisper. “ ... we can teach our little baby girl how to take her Daddy’s fat cock!”

I instantaneously exploded inside her with a roar!

“YES! YES BABY! FILL MOMMY WITH YOUR SEED! COME FOR MOMMYYYYY!” she screamed in bliss, as her legs wrapped themselves around me to hold me inside her.

That was, without a doubt, the most intense orgasm I had in my entire life. It felt like my insides were being pulled out of my stomach. I literally saw stars. I couldn’t breathe for half a minute. It was fucking fantastic!

After feeling my cock pumping inside her at least a dozen times, I collapsed on top of her, my face buried in her ample breasts. As her legs lost their grip on me, her arms wrapped themselves around my head to hold my face to her breast. My mouth found one of her nipples and I started gently suckling on it, while she caressed the short hairs in the back of my neck.

We lay like that for what felt like an eternity, until we heard Ava’s voice.

“That was so fucking hot!” She said, causing Mom and me to start laughing as we didn’t even know she was awake again. “If that’s how it looked when he fucked me senseless the last time he used one of those damn pills, I know why I was sore for days afterwards.”

She waited for Mom and me to stop laughing, before piping up again.

“So ... Can we do this again?”

- EPILOGUE -

It’s been five years since I moved back into the house, and I still live here with Mom. Well, actually, I now live here with Mom, Ava and Mia.

As it turned out, Mia did manage to make it home for every holiday, birthday, and even most special occasions like our anniversaries. I never asked her if she made use of the hall pass I gave her that day, but, after her freshman year, she told me to forget about that crap because “hookups without feelings just don’t do it for me, and I’m not going to let you go”.

Mia has of course learned what is really going on in my family. Ava had all those elaborate plans to ease Mia into it, though they all flew out the window when Mia unceremoniously walked in on us. She had heard Ava’s voice through the bedroom door, thought she was with me, and wanted to join in. She didn’t expect that Ava was with me and Mom, but took it surprisingly well. Apparently, after she had already accepted that her BFF since childhood had feelings for her own brother, there wasn’t much need for mental gymnastics to also apply that logic to other family members.

It did, however, get her thinking. Something she didn’t share with anyone at first, though Ava and I noticed how she started subtly teasing Jack. When she realized that he did indeed react to her physically, she came to talk about it with us.

In light of her mother’s ... openness ... with her daughter, I did feel the need to discourage her from trying anything similar with her father. I can accept that he likes to be dominated in bed by his wife, but I assured her that it could do a lot of damage to a guy when his children find out about it and can no longer see him as an authority figure or lose their respect for him. She accepted that. She now has a lot of fun tormenting her brother with ‘accidental’ run-ins after showers and wardrobe malfunctions. Apparently, she’s not really opposed to the idea of him one day succumbing to her temptations. I think we have a very happy future ahead of us.

Mia’s earliest prediction came true, though. By the time she finished her degree at Northwestern, I had settled into a (mostly) regular 9-to-5 in Bill’s firm. After finishing with my last IT certification, Bill decided that it was time to hire someone else for the regular IT-maintenance. He now uses my expertise to venture into ‘Cyber Forensics’ instead. Though I absolutely fucking abhor that job title. If you hear someone use the C-word, chances are they’re either a sales rep, PR person, or a politician with an agenda, but probably not someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

I also still give self defense classes at my old high school. When I graduated and the school was about to scrub the course, a surprisingly high number of parents petitioned to keep it going. This provoked some media coverage that was grade-A publicity work for the firm. So, naturally, Bill agreed to let me continue.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I’m financially set, since my hourly wage tripled after Bill found out just how desperate companies really are to get their IT working again without having to disclose a ransomware infection. Which, of course, doesn’t stop us from continuously cleaning the cash, even though that turned out a little different than we had planned.

Since Ava called me out on my promise to not throw her out, she moved back into the house the day after we had our little fuckfest with Mom. Without Ava there, Maggie decided that she, too, would rather stay with her parents. In search of a solution, I talked to Bill, who pointed me towards some trustworthy social workers he knew. We made a quick deal: If they knew kids like me, who needed to get out of their homes fast, they’d get to stay in one of the rooms in the condo for free, provided there were no drugs brought in or parties held in it. Officially, though, I paid their rent in cash. In addition to the rent we paid in cash for Mom’s house and the grandparent’s house, and the still ongoing funneling through my developer pages, AND monthly cash deposits from the four of us ... we’ll have all the cash cleaned in another five years!

So, even though Mom doesn’t have to work anymore, and I could and would happily provide for her, she insists on making use of the degree I paid for. After she left college, she found a new job fairly quickly as a paralegal in some law firm.

She, under Danny’s professional guidance, is still trying to get Logan to turn a new leaf whenever he shows up, though that doesn’t happen nearly as often anymore since nobody wants to let him anywhere near their panties. Everyone other than Mom in the family has pretty much joined my camp and wants nothing to do with him anymore. Maggie grew tired of being treated like a booty call, while the grandparents got pissed when he neglected to mention that he flunked out of college in sophomore year, so he could keep taking money from their college fund. John and Danny help Claire in her quest, but don’t see much hope unless he hits rock bottom for some reason and is forced to acknowledge his own shortcomings.

I don’t blame Mom for trying. Quite the opposite, actually, since my position is still the same. Logan is her son, she should care, as long as she doesn’t enable him. If there’s a chance they could make him correct his behavior, I’m not gonna stop them from trying. But I also don’t help her, since my position regarding that hasn’t changed either.

I’m also still trying to work out the kinks in my relationship with my extended family. To this day, I still don’t feel like attending any of their orgies. Though, truthfully, it’s hard to even call them that anymore, since Mom and Ava are apparently satisfied with me alone and don’t attend them either. Aaron and Logan are naturally no longer invited, and the grandparents are getting on in their years. So, it’s really just John and Danny having occasional fun with their daughter.

Now, I have absolutely zero interest in Maggie, since she is STILL the same superficial bitch she has always been. Why would I waste my time on her, if I can have all the loving and caring sex I could ever wish for from Mia, Mom and Ava? I have no interest in Danny either, because she’s still the psychologist who fucked my family while ignoring my suffering. She did redeem herself to some extent by helping Mom fix our relationship, but that’s where it ends. My negative impression of her is still too strong to desire her in any capacity. And I have no interest in John because ... well, I just don’t swing that way.

What else ... ah, yeah, Aaron! The reason he gave Mom my child support in one big check, while paying her alimony in monthly installments, was not the size of his bank account. He could have paid her off after he got his half of the house sale. No, he wanted to use the monthly check as an excuse for monthly meetings, to keep working his way back into her favor. Sneaky bastard!

Didn’t work, of course. After he finally realized that he had forfeit any chance of that when he told her how I was dead to him, he tried to backpedal on that one. Suddenly, he did want to hear about me, and even feigned interest in getting to know me again. That blew up in his face spectacularly when Mom overheard his muttered curses at me after dropping me off at home again. She blew up in his face! None of us ever saw her that angry before, as she mercilessly berated him for using one of their children in that way. The neighbors even thought about calling the cops. Luckily, he ran before she could get physical, and finally ceased his doomed attempts.

After that, Mom found another highly effective way to get me off: She now likes to sit me down, wrap her tits around my cock to massage it, tell me how I successfully stole her from my father, and then alternate between sucking me off and listing all the aspects in which I surpassed my father. It’s fucking glorious, really.

I hear he still lives alone. Apparently, it’s hard to go back to regular monogamous relationships after you spent years enjoying the perks of regular incest orgies. Every time he gets with a woman, she quickly gets turned off by his semi subtle advances towards their friends, sisters, and even daughters. Who would’ve thought that shit is a hard sell for the vast majority of women?

Which brings me to the here and now, as I stand in the jewelry store. Mia and I have been together for almost six years now, lived together for more than one, and established our careers. Nora and Mom are both getting a little restless, and keep prodding me about when I will ask her the big question.

We will definitely wait a while longer before thinking about kids, but I’m certain that I would have no regrets if I were to spend the rest of my life with her.

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25