Divided

by Evangeline Anderson

  “Look at her,” Far said to his twin again. “Before we find Vashtar or do anything else, we need to make sure she doesn’t freeze. Now, come on.”

  He lay down on his side, taking Becca with him. She was dimly aware of his broad, warm chest pressed against her shivering back and it did feel good. But it simply wasn’t enough. She knew that having Truth on her other side so that her smaller form was bracketed by the big male bodies would help. But would the dark twin bend his no-contact policy, even to keep her from freezing?

  “P-please, Truth,” she managed to get out through numb lips. “S-so c-cold. And you won’t…w-won’t even be r-really t-touching me.”

  “She’s right,” Far said from behind her. “None of our physical bodies are touching, no matter what it feels or looks like here. We’re actually back in that vast holding facility all in our separate tanks.”

  Truth muttered a low curse. “I suppose you’re right,” he said at last. “Very well, I will do this, but only because it isn’t real.”

  It felt real enough to Becca. I’m going to freeze, she thought miserably. I bet my body is going into hypothermia back in that damn slime tank. And all because we can’t figure out a way to make any blankets or clothes appear in this stupid mental internet place.

  Just as she was sure she was a gonner, Truth lay down on the bed facing her, and scooted close.

  Immediately, Becca began to feel better. But she still needed something more.

  “Arms,” she gasped. “P-put your arms around m-me.”

  From behind, she felt Far wrap his arms around her at once. Truth did the same though a little more hesitantly.

  The moment she felt their long, muscular arms overlapping around her, Becca at last began to feel warm. It started as a tingle in her toes and fingertips that grew and grew. Then a flash of warmth, like a wave of hot air, rushed through her arms and legs. But though the tingling heat felt wonderful on her extremities, it didn’t quite reach her core or her face.

  “Rebecca?” Truth murmured, bending his neck down to look into her eyes. “Are you feeling better?”

  Becca looked up, meeting the dark twin’s gaze. His pale eyes blazed with concern for her—concern and other emotions he wouldn’t speak aloud. They were emotions he denied he even had but he couldn’t hide them from her. Not when they were so close.

  It’s all right, she wanted to tell him. I feel for you too. I’m scared too. But it’s going to be all right…

  “Rebecca?” he asked again.

  Driven by some instinct she didn’t quite understand, Becca answered him, but not with words. Tilting her chin, she captured his sensual mouth with hers in a long, sweet, close-mouthed kiss.

  Truth groaned and started to pull away. Then he seemed to change his mind. Burying one hand in her hair, he pulled Becca forward and kissed her back, taking her mouth with a single minded intensity that made her moan.

  The dark twin took her open lips as an invitation. As his tongue slipped inside her, Becca felt the warmth penetrate her at last, starting where their mouths were joined and rushing over her face like tiny, tingling flames.

  So good! Mother of God, so good!

  She kissed Truth harder, pressing forward to rub her bare breasts against his broad chest. At her back she felt Far murmuring encouragement. She could feel his long, hard shaft pressing against her ass, branding her there. At the same time, Truth’s cock was rubbing hard against her lower belly.

  The realization that both men were touching her so intimately gave Becca pause. She could feel guilt hovering just on the horizon and a little voice whispering that good girls didn’t do this and she would be punished if she didn’t stop.

  But it’s not real, she reminded herself. We’re not even touching, no matter how good it feels. It’s all in our heads.

  The rationalization was enough to push back the guilt and let her really enjoy the intimate, three-way embrace. She writhed between the big, male bodies, pressing her breasts against Truth and her ass against Far. Hands stroked her everywhere, sliding over her shoulders and down her sides, cupping her breasts and caressing her thighs. It felt incredible and even better, she was finally completely warm through and through for the first time since she’d taken off her protective suit.

  Becca wasn’t sure how far it would have gone if Truth hadn’t finally pulled away from the kiss. With a low groan, he sat up and put his head in his hands.

  “Truth?” Becca sat up too and Far sat up on the other side of her.

  “Brother?” he asked quietly. “Are you well?”

  “Apologies…” Truth’s voice was hoarse. “I…we shouldn’t have. I don’t know why I…why I…”

  “Why you couldn’t resist kissing our lady as she lay between us?” Far asked softly. “Why you find it so hard to ignore your natural instincts?”

  “I should have been stronger. Should have resisted.” Truth ran a hand through his short hair and looked away guiltily.

  “It’s my fault,” Becca said quickly. “I’m sorry, Truth. I was just so cold and I had this idea that if I kissed you it might, um, warm me up.”

  “And did it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

  Becca nodded quickly. “Oh, yes! Being between the two of you is better than bundling up in the quilt my grandma made me.” She felt her cheeks get warm as she said it but there was no denying the truth of the statement. She was toasty warm now even though they were no longer entwined.

  Truth frowned. “What is a quilt?” He looked at Far. “And I want to hear it from Rebecca—not you.”

  Far shrugged, his broad, bare shoulders rolling with the motion.

  “I have no idea what a quilt is, either. I didn’t make an exhaustive study of Becca’s culture—I just looked into a few things she liked.”

  “Well, that’s good to know, anyway,” Truth muttered. “So, Rebecca?”

  “A quilt is a kind of thick blanket made up of different colored squares all sewn together to make a top piece and a bottom piece.”

  “Different colored squares?” Truth asked. “What colors?”

  “Well, the one my grandma made me was pink and yellow and—Oh!”

  Her eyes grew wide. The quilt she was describing—the one her grandma had made for her back when she was twelve—was suddenly lying neatly folded across the bottom of the bed.

  “Is that it?” Truth’s eyes were also wide.

  “Should we touch it?” Far reached for it without waiting for an answer. He unfolded it and frowned. “It doesn’t appear very warm.”

  “It should be, though,” Becca said. “Between the top and bottom cloths it has a layer of batting in between. That’s like, uh, stuffing,” she explained, seeing Truth’s confused look.

  Far frowned. “But I thought stuffing was what you put inside the cavity of the avian your people eat for giving thanks.”

  Becca tried not to laugh. “That’s a different kind of stuffing than what we serve with the Turkey at Thanksgiving. We…wait. What’s that?” She sniffed the air and then looked down at the quilt. “Oh, no…”

  “What?” Far still held the pink and yellow quilt which now seemed fuller somehow. And lumpier, Becca thought.

  She leaned down and put her face close to the patchwork design and inhaled deeply. The scent of sage, breadcrumbs, and roasted turkey met her nose. Becca sighed and sat up.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Truth wanted to know.

  “Nothing. Only that we finally somehow get a blanket to appear and we can’t use it because it’s filled with dressing. That’s a food made of breadcrumbs and herbs,” she explained, seeing that Truth still looked confused. “It’s also another name for stuffing.”

  “What?” Far sniffed the blanket too and wrinkled his nose. “That smells…strange.”

  “With good reason. You don’t usually stuff a quilt with Stove Top,” Becca said. “I meant cotton stuffing when I first described it but I don’t blame you for not knowing what I was talking about. Put it off the bed before it
leaks, okay?”

  Far pushed the heavy, dressing-filled quilt off the bed but there was a thoughtful look on his face.

  “Did either of you notice that we’ve finally managed to make a projection?”

  “A what?” Truth demanded.

  Becca was already nodding. “He’s right,” she said to Truth, excited at the realization. “I said ‘quilt’ and you guys reinforced the idea so it came into being. Then Far was asking about stuffing and that happened.” She nodded at the quilt.

  “You’re right. This must be what the voice meant when it talked about projections,” Truth said thoughtfully. “Projections of the mind brought to reality in the Mindscape. But why were we finally able to do it just now?”

  “We did it in a limited way when we first got here with the bed,” Becca pointed out. “It gained more details and became more bedlike as we all agreed it was in fact a bed. Maybe our minds just have to align or something. We have to all be on the same page.”

  “Let’s try it again,” Far suggested. “What should we try to project next?”

  “You mean other than the door out of here?” Truth growled.

  “No exit is needed, Brother. Not now that we’re beginning to get the hang of this,” Far said.

  “Let’s try for another blanket.” Becca wrapped her arms around herself. “Now that we’re not, uh, touching any more, I’m beginning to feel cold again.”

  They closed their eyes and concentrated on a blanket but to Becca’s disappointment, nothing appeared. Now that she was no longer wrapped in the naked three-way embrace, she was really beginning to feel chilly. She imagined her naked body floating in the icy slime and shivered.

  “What’s going wrong?” she asked, opening her eyes at last.

  “Why isn’t it working?” Truth demanded, also opening his eyes.

  “I have an idea but I don’t think you’re going to like it,” Far said quietly.

  “You might as well say it.” Truth made an abrupt gesture. “Go on.”

  “I think,” Far said slowly. “That making something appear…making a projection if you will…requires a kind of energy source.”

  “What are you talking about? We were just sitting here when we made Becca’s blanket, uh, kilt appear,” Truth pointed out.

  “Quilt,” Becca corrected. “A kilt’s a whole other thing.”

  “As you wish.” Truth made an impatient gesture. “The point is we were resting and just talking about the blanket-thing made it appear.”

  “Yes, but what were we doing directly before?” Far prompted.

  “Touching each other,” Becca said in a low voice. “And kissing.”

  “We were generating energy,” Far said. “The three of us together were building up a kind of charge. And coming closer together—aligning our minds, if you will.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Truth said flatly. “You’re saying that in order to get around here—to make projections and find Vashtar—we have to do things we…I…swore not to do?”

  Far shrugged. “It might be the only way to find what we need and get out of here.”

  Truth’s frown deepened into a scowl.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Why don’t we try it again?” Becca interrupted before the two of them could really start fighting. “Let’s test Far’s theory. Well?” She looked at both of them. “What do you say?”

  Far shrugged. “I don’t mind.

  “Well, I do,” Truth growled. “I swore I would not…do such things again.”

  “Look, Truth, I know how you feel because I feel guilty too,” Becca said. “I mean, I was going to be a freaking nun. I wasn’t supposed to wind up with even one guy, let alone two. But that’s the beauty of it—we won’t really be doing any of it, no matter how real it feels.”

  “Becca is right. This is the perfect place to channel emotions we might otherwise want to ignore or hide,” Far said. “No matter what this strange simulation might tell us, our physical bodies aren’t able to touch.”

  Truth looked down at his hands for a moment.

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Of course he is.” Feeling bold, Becca leaned toward him and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then she turned to Far and did the same. The light twin gave her a significant look and stroked her cheek.

  “Come, Brother,” he murmured. “What can one little trial hurt? If my theory proves incorrect, you can always go back to your vow. In the meantime, you can help us test it without even breaking that vow.”

  Becca could tell Truth wanted to listen to what they said—wanted it badly. She remembered what Kat had said, about the dark twin feeling like he had to fight his natural instincts. What a relief it would be for him to give in! For you, too, whispered a little voice in her brain but Becca ignored it.

  “All right,” Truth said at last, looking at both Becca and Far. “What do you want to do?”

  “Merely make a series of tests to see what generates the most energy and how we can best harness that energy,” Far murmured.

  “No, I meant…” Truth cleared his throat. “Sexually.”

  The soft, deep growl of his voice and the need burning in his pale eyes made Becca feel flushed all over. Looking at Far and seeing the same desire filling his much darker eyes intensified the feeling until she thought she would die if they didn’t both touch her again.

  “Let me be between you,” she murmured, wondering where she had the nerve to be so bold. “Let’s kiss and…and touch some more. And this time I want to kiss both of you.”

  “Agreed,” Truth said and Far nodded. As though by mutual consent, the three of them lay down again and cuddled close together.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Truth couldn’t believe he was doing this, couldn’t believe he was breaking the solemn vow he’d made to himself so soon.

  I’m not really breaking it, he reminded himself uneasily. We aren’t really here—this is all in our minds. It’s not real.

  It certainly felt real, though. The smooth, rounded curve of Rebecca’s ass pressing back against his shaft, which was so hard Truth felt he could fuck his way through solid rock with it, felt real. And the sounds of her and Far breathing was also real. Her soft, light panting and Far’s deep murmurs of encouragement…

  For the hundredth time Truth told himself that the sound—and the sight—of another male touching the woman he loved ought to enrage him. Yet when he raised his head to watch as Far and Becca kissed, he felt only another surge of lust at the sensuous picture the two of them made together.

  What’s wrong with me? he wondered. Why can’t I feel the way I should?

  Far caught his eyes and stopped kissing Becca long enough to murmur,

  “Brother, our lady’s breasts are sadly in need of attention. Would you mind tending to her nipples as I continue to take her mouth?”

  Truth knew it was wrong but he wanted to do it—he wanted to share. And when Becca gave a little moan and turned on her back obligingly, he found himself completely unable to resist the ripe peaks of her nipples. They were hardened by the chilly air and as dark and sweet as berries. Gods, how he wanted to suck them!

  Unable to stop himself, he cupped one full tit and brought the tender point to his lips. He rubbed it over his rough cheek, scratching her lightly with his stubble until Becca moaned again. Then, unable to hold himself back any longer, he sucked the sweet, ripe bud into his mouth, drawing hard to take as much of her full breast into his mouth as he could.

  Becca moaned and arched her back as Truth nursed first one nipple and then the other. Her little hands were clenched into fists and Far was no longer kissing her, Truth saw. Instead his twin was watching as he sucked Becca’s breasts, his black eyes half-lidded with lust.

  Truth returned his stare challengingly at first but then he realized that Far wasn’t challenging him at all. He was watching for pleasure—watching because it made him hot, the same way watching his twin kiss Rebecca made Truth hot, if he was being hones
t with himself.

  “It feels good, doesn’t it, Brother?” Far murmured, a small smile playing around the corner of his mouth. “And you seem to be giving our lady much pleasure. Tell me something…do you think she’s wet?”

  Truth stopped sucking Becca’s nipples.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Why don’t you find out?” Far suggested. “With Becca’s permission, of course.” He looked down at her. “Mi’now, would you spread your legs so that Truth can pet your soft little pussy? He wants to know if he’s pleasing you.”

  Becca’s eyes grew wide and she bit her lip. Truth could see her struggling with herself and remembered that she had admitted to feeling guilt about their three-way entanglement too—but at last she nodded.

  “All…all right,” she whispered. “I guess that would be all right.”

  “Thank you, Becca.” Far pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then looked up at Truth. “Do it,” he murmured. “Spread our lady’s thighs and stroke her warm, wet cunt.”

  The erotic words and the mental images they called up sent a hard shiver of lust through Truth’s entire body. He shifted uncomfortably on the bed, trying to make more room between his thighs. Gods, if he got any harder he was going to explode!

  “Do…” His voice came out so hoarse he had to clear his throat and start again. “Do you want to touch Rebecca as well, Far?”

  “I want to watch,” Far murmured. “I want to see you bring her pleasure while I hold her in my arms and feel her quiver from your touch. Can you let me do that, Brother?”

  Truth knew exactly what his twin was doing, knew that Far was manipulating him into sharing Becca. And yet…somehow he couldn’t make himself mind. In fact, he felt eager to do as Far asked. No, eager wasn’t the right word—it was more like hungry.

  “All right,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll touch her while you watch. Will that make you happy?”

  “Yes,” Far said simply. Stroking Becca’s hair out of her face, he leaned down to her and murmured, “Truth is going to stroke you now, mi’now. Can you spread your thighs and let him in?”