Caged: A Twisted Fairytale Retelling

by Lena Mae Hill

  “Really?” I asked, arching into his touch.

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice incredulous. “This is…awesome.”

  “I told you it felt good.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s make the most of it. I’m going to wash your feet like a real servant and work my way up from there.”

  By the time he finished, the water didn’t feel as warm anymore, and I had turned to lava. I was so hot I thought my skin would start smoking at any moment, and so relaxed that my whole body felt limp. William had washed and massaged from my feet to my scalp, even shampooing my impossible hair.

  “I think if I tried to fly right now, I’d flop on the ground like a jellyfish,” I said. “My bones have melted.”

  “Me, too,” William said, which I didn’t understand, because I hadn’t massaged him at all.

  “Not all of you has melted,” I said, pointing to the fifth limb that boys had.

  “You can make it melt if you want,” William said. “Trust me, it won’t take long right now.”

  “Can I touch it?” I asked.

  “You really don’t have to ask,” he said. “I just touched literally every inch of your body that’s humanly possible to reach.”

  He was right about being relaxed. After only a few minutes, he pulled my hand away from massaging him, pressed out bodies together, and squeezed me hard until his muscles were shaking. Warmth bloomed between us, and William let out a low groan. After a long minute, he pulled away. “Sorry,” he said, his face bright red as he pulled me under the water.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” he muttered. He quickly lathered his hands and washed both our bellies, then turned off the water, which had gone tepid. After drying off, I shifted into a bird, and he wrapped a towel around himself before stepping into the hall.

  “William?” his mom called from the room where she said. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Uh…maybe you dozed off.”

  “Who were you talking to in the shower? Did you bring that girl back here?”

  “No, Mom,” he said. “Leave me alone.”

  “I thought I heard a girl’s voice.”

  “Do you see a girl?” William asked, gesturing back toward the bathroom, careful not to turn so she could see the bird on his other shoulder.

  His mom sighed. “Goodnight, honey.”

  “Goodnight,” William said, starting toward the bedroom.

  “Oh, and William?”

  He sighed. “Yeah?”

  “I’m glad y’all have stopped drinking. If the girl’s the reason for that, you can tell your brother that she’s welcome here any time, witch or no.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Astrid

  “Good shower?” Evan asked, cocking an eyebrow and smirking at us.

  “So, that’s how it’s going to be,” Daniel said with a huge grin. “When you said show her the shower, you didn’t mean show her how to work it and leave like a gentleman. And I thought I was the dog.”

  “You gotta grab the bull by the horns, right?” Jack asked with a wink.

  “Did you hear Mom?” William asked. “She said Astrid is welcome here any time. I guess that means we’re all good tonight.”

  “Since when do you care about breaking Mom’s rules?” Daniel asked.

  William shrugged and set me down on the bed. “I want her to like Astrid, that’s all.”

  “I bet you do,” Daniel said.

  I shifted back into human form, and they all gaped at me for a second. I was starting to appreciate the power of being naked.

  Jack hopped up from the bed and rifled through the dresser. While we showered, he’d changed into a pair of drawstring pants that hung low on his hips, and I took a moment to admire him as he searched the drawers. It wasn’t just my naked body that had power. It was everyone’s. I thought of how good it felt to be pressed up against William with the warm water flowing over us and nothing between us. How firm and wide Evan’s chest was. The strength in Daniel’s ropey arms. And the lines on Jack’s lower abdomen that formed a V-shape pointing down into his pants that made me gulp.

  He turned and handed me a folded T-shirt and a pair of shorts. “We wanted to talk to you,” he said. “Now that you’re back from your couple shower.”

  “Okay,” I said, pulling the shirt over my head. It smelled like soap and a faint hint of Jack.

  Jack sat down beside me. “We were just talking about how this is going to work.”

  “You mean hiding from your mom tonight?”

  “No,” he said, running his palms down the front of his thighs. “With us.”

  I turned to the others for help, but they were all looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for an answer. “I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “What’s the question again?”

  “I know you’ve been busy, you know, running away from home and worrying about where to live so you probably haven’t thought about it, but…well, we have.”

  I nodded, though I still didn’t know what he was asking. I waited for him to go on.

  “We don’t have to talk about it now if you don’t want, but we just wanted you to know that we all like you.”

  “I like all of you, too.”

  “We don’t want to pressure you into anything,” Jack said. “So, you can have the bed and a couple of us can sleep on the floor. Or, if you want one of us to sleep in the bed, the other one will sleep on the floor. And you don’t have to do anything but sleep. We’re not expecting anything.”

  “Whoever you want to be with, we’re going to say yes, though,” Daniel said, his grin in place. He wiggled his eyebrows, giving me a meaningful look. “You already got a taste of what I have to offer.”

  My body tingled at the memory of his mouth on my skin.

  “We all know you’ve been…doing stuff…with my brothers, and we’re totally okay with that,” Jack said. “I just wanted you to know that we talked, and it’s not a secret. So, you don’t have to feel strange about being open with us, or like you have to sneak around the way we are with Mom.”

  “I don’t,” I said.

  “And if you want to do more, we’re okay that you’re exploring your sexuality with us,” Jack said. “In fact, it’s pretty awesome. We’re not going to think anything about it if you want to…you know. Experiment until you figure out who you want to be with. It’s not like we’re pillars of purity, and you’ve never had a chance to do any of that, so you’re curious about different people. And that’s totally cool.”

  I nodded again.

  “So…just let us know,” he said. “You take the lead. You can do as much or little as you want. You can always tell us what you want, or when to stop, and we’ll respect that, no questions asked. We want you to be comfortable and have fun and enjoy yourself. With whoever you want to be with.”

  “I want to be with all of you,” I said.

  “But, like, who do you want to be your boyfriend?” William asked.

  “All of you.”

  They looked at each other. After a minute, Evan shrugged. “Works for me.”

  “Witches do have more than one guy,” Daniel said. “I never thought I’d want to be one of those guys, but…”

  “But we’d never met you,” Jack said, his knuckles brushing my knee. Warmth spread up my leg, settling between my thighs. I seemed to have an endless hunger there that woke at the touch of a hand.

  “So…if you’re ready for bed,” Jack said. “Just tell us who you want in your bed.”

  “This is fine,” I said. “Like we said earlier. I’ll sleep between you and William.”

  Jack swallowed. “I might need that cold shower first.”

  “That’s all there is left,” William said with a smug smile. “We used all the hot water.”

  “Perfect,” Jack said, standing and sauntering out of the room. Though he’d been the first boy I’d ever seen up close, the first boy I’d ever talked to, or smelled, or touched, I hadn’t been as physically close to
him. I wondered how his hands would feel on my skin, how warm his mouth would be, what he would feel like under his clothes. I longed to be as close to him as I’d been with the others, to feel as good with him as I had with them.

  Instead, I slid into the bed beside William as Evan switched off the light. Jack hadn’t asked me to shower with him, after all. I didn’t know why, but I had this funny feeling like I’d done something wrong, but I didn’t know what. Then William scooted over and kissed my cheek. “Thanks for the shower,” he whispered. “This is officially the best night of my life.”

  And then I felt all better.

  When Jack came back a few minutes later, the four of us were all in bed. Jack slid into bed carefully, as if afraid he might wake us, but I was still wide awake.

  I scooted toward him, reaching out. He lay on his back, his hands at his sides, like Mother Dear always left her empty bodies. I snuggled close, as I had with the bodies, but I didn’t have to pretend he was awake or fully alive. When I laid my hand over his heart, I could feel it pounding hard inside his chest instead of slow and faint like an animated corpse. His skin was cold and damp from the shower, but I could already feel the heat under it coiling up, rising to meet my palm.

  Jack curled his arm around me, pulling me against him. “You’re awake.”

  “I shouldn’t be,” I whispered in the darkness. “This was the longest day of my whole life.”

  The day played over in my mind, all the strangeness and wonder of it. Daniel climbing up and making my body feel alive. Mother Dear coming home and telling me I wasn’t really her daughter. Leaving my tower for the very first time, and learning about a shower, the poverty of shifters, and that they didn’t really care about princesses at all. From what his mother had said, she seemed more concerned with the fact that I was part witch.

  “You can go to sleep,” Jack said. “We’ll keep you safe.”

  “Thank you.” I ran my hand across the expanse of muscle in his chest, then down over the ridges in his abs. I circled a finger around his bellybutton, stroking the tiny hairs that grew there. His skin shivered, but he didn’t move. “Do you want to touch me, too?” I whispered.

  “Do you want me to?”

  “Yes.”

  “My brothers are all right there.”

  “I know.”

  “You don’t care?”

  “I want them to be here,” I said. “I like knowing we’re all together.”

  “You’re one of a kind,” he said with a whisper-laugh. He rolled toward me, wrapping his arms around me.

  “I know,” I said. “That’s because I’m the only real princess.”

  “No,” he said. “It’s because you’re you. No more and no less.”

  No one had ever said anything like that to me. I had always been the princess, prepared to play a part, to gain an advantage. I was a bargaining chip, a maker of treasure, someone’s daughter. I had never just been me. And I loved it.

  I slid my hands over Jack’s smooth, warm skin while my feet slid against his, tangling with them under the sheets.

  “Can I kiss you?” he asked, cradling my cheek in his palm.

  I remembered Daniel’s mouth on my body, and I nodded. Instead of pushing off the blanket and moving down, he lifted my chin up. His mouth brushed mine, and a thousand stars shimmered to life inside me. No one had ever kissed me like that, so softly it was like he feared I’d crumble to dust and disappear if he pressed too hard. But I knew I wouldn’t. I knew because the others had shown me. They may not have kissed my mouth, but they hadn’t been afraid.

  The others had all made me feel good, but they hadn’t wanted me to do anything. Jack’s mouth demanded a response. I pressed my lips harder against his, marveling at how much sensation was in my lips. His lips responded to mine, pressing harder, then softer again. His hand still cradled my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. Somehow, even having our mouths touching with all these clothes between us still made my heart pound and my blood sing.

  I could feel every change in pressure, the heat of his mouth hidden inside. Slowly, his lips opened against mine, drawing mine open. He drew my lip gently between his teeth, his tongue tracing along it, then let my lip slide out again. I gasped at the warm wetness between his teeth, and a shudder of longing went through me. I hooked my leg over his hip, squirming against him to get that delicious feeling when his hardness pressed against my softness.

  Jacks’ tongue slid against mine, the friction of it making my whole body feel as wet as the inside of his mouth. I moved my tongue against his, tasting him, inhaling the scent of his skin. It was different, having something to do. It made me not only want to learn about my own body, which I’d never paid much attention to, but to learn all about his. I wanted to wake his blood the way Daniel had woken mine. I wanted to make him feel as good as he made me feel.

  We kissed, and kissed, and kissed. Jack rolled onto his back, pulling me on top of him. I liked lying along the warm, hard length of his body, feeling our breath synchronize, our hearts beating together in mutual rhythm like a dance. I sat up to tug off my shirt, wanting my skin against his. Then I lay back down and kissed him more, until I was drowning in all the need coursing through me. The more I squirmed against him, the more I needed.

  I remembered what Evan had said the first time I’d felt like this, when I’d told him to make it go away. He’d said that sex was like what we did, only bigger. Today everything I’d done had been big. “Do you want to do sex?” I whispered.

  Jack hesitated, then drew back. “Right now?”

  “Yes.”

  Jack’s hands rested on my sides. “Are you sure? Now? We don’t even know each other that well, and we’re not alone…”

  “Stop questioning it, or I’ll come over there and do it for you,” Daniel said, his voice muffled like he was speaking through a pillow.

  “I want to feel good,” I said.

  “There are other ways,” Jack whispered, his hands moving down to my waist, my hips.

  “I’ve had other ways,” I said. “Evan said it’s even better than those. Is something wrong with sex? Why don’t you want to try it?”

  “I do,” he said, his voice kind of choked. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I just want you to be sure.”

  “I am sure,” I said. “If it feels good, I don’t see why you have to know each other well or be alone. I like you, and I want to feel good with you.”

  “It can hurt a little the first time.”

  “You’re not going to talk her out of it,” William said from across the bed. “She’s very persistent.”

  “Let me get a condom,” Jack said.

  “Where is it?” I asked, running my fingers down the front of his neck. “Is it this?”

  “No,” he said, laughing quietly. “It’s in the drawer.”

  He got up, and I heard plastic ripping, and then he was back. This time, he didn’t have his pants on, and his warm legs tangled with mine again. We lay face to face, and he slipped a hand behind my head, drawing me in for a kiss while his other hand tugged my leg over his again. His fingers touched me first, and then his body touched me, pressing harder and harder until something in my body gave way, and I let him in. Pain clenched somewhere up inside me, and I gasped, tears springing to my eyes.

  Jack stroked my hair back and kissed me softly. “Are you okay?”

  In the moonlight, I could see his eyes shining with concern, his brow creased. He hadn’t meant to hurt me, as my mother had said he would. It was an accident.

  “Is that it?” I asked. “Did we do it?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m just waiting for you to get comfortable.”

  I ran my hands along his strong arms, his muscular back, his scratchy cheek. His skin was warm despite the cool night breeze sweeping in the window and washing over us like the moonlight. I breathed in the scent of him, gazing into his blue, anxious eyes. All around us, I could hear the breathing of the others, of my boys. This is what I’d wanted with them and not
been able to name. I had finally absorbed one of them, drawn him into my body, claiming him as part of me.

  In a minute, the painful tightness eased away, and Jack started to move against me. I could feel him inside me, the strangeness and wonder of it increasing as he moved, his lips pressing softly against mine, his strong arms cradling me like I was made entirely of treasure. And then it didn’t feel strange but good, so good I had to bite my lip to keep from making a sound. I knew that no matter how long I lived, no matter how much treasure I made or spells I learned, I would never forget the magic of this moment.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Astrid

  I woke to find myself resting comfortably between two warm bodies. I nestled against them, relishing the smoothness of their skin against mine.

  “Can I wake up like this every day?” William asked from one side.

  “Not every day,” Daniel said, sitting up in the far bed. “Sometimes I get to wake up like that.”

  Evan was nowhere to be seen.

  “How long are we planning to hide a girl here?” Jack asked, propping up on one elbow to smile down at me. He leaned down and kissed my nose. “You good?”

  “I’m good,” I said, smiling up at him. I felt a strange shyness when our eyes met, as if being closer to him had made me more of a stranger instead of less.

  “Hungry?” he asked.

  “Famished.”

  Daniel ducked out of the room for a second before returning to report that their mother had gone to work. When we stepped out of the bedroom, an unearthly aroma of wonderfulness met us. It was smoky and salty and pure goodness. I sniffed my way along the hall, ignoring the chuckles of the guys. In the small kitchen we found Evan standing at the stove, his hair wet from the shower and dripping onto his shoulders. I didn’t know if my mouth was watering from the salty, smoky smell or the sight of him standing there in a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips. His broad shoulders and muscular back drew my eyes like the scent had drawn me to the kitchen.

  “I got toast,” Jack said, grabbing a loaf of bread and dropping slices into a square black box.