Honest Masks

by Barbra Novac

  The view was beautiful. The setting sun lit the valley so that trees still stretched toward it, and birdsong rang in her ears. Chloe stopped crying to hear it properly, a strange sound, like a bell ringing out two notes.

  “The bellbirds sing every night, but I never get used to the majesty of the sound.”

  Chloe whirled around to see a young woman standing next to her. She had to be in her late teens. She had a serious but very warm face, and she smiled a cheery smile at Chloe.

  “Hi. My name is Melinda. I’m a resident. I hope you don’t mind my intrusion. I heard you crying, and as much as one thinks it’s best to be alone in times like these, really you’re better to have a friend nearby.”

  Chloe didn’t want to fight her. She seemed nice, and it did feel good to have a woman by her side. “I confess, I was crying. I am really sad about something. But I’m happy to be distracted for a minute. You’re a resident? Do you work the loom?”

  “We all learn that from when we are children, and yes, I take my share, but I’m off to university in the States next year. Harvard Law. Law’s my passion.”

  “Wow, you may find you want to settle over there.”

  “I will for work. It’s better for my chosen profession. But I’ll come back here all the time. This is my home. My blood. I’m one of the enormously privileged members of this community. Nothing will make me forget that, and I’ll fight hard to be sure nothing takes it away from me.”

  “My great-grandmother was one of you as well. She moved, though.”

  The young woman’s eyes lit up. “Really? But that is wonderful. That means you are one of us! I’ve never heard of one of us coming back after so long. You must be filled with relief.”

  “Right now I wonder if it is more of a prison than a home. My mother killed herself searching for the spirit of this place.”

  “Then you, more than anyone, must be here. Like your mother and your great-grandmother, this is the only place you can be free.”

  Chloe smiled at her and started to walk back toward the barn. Melinda moved quickly to catch up with her. “If you’re conflicted, please don’t be. This is part of you. Just as it was your mother and her mother and your great-grandmother. You belong here.”

  “Thanks, but I think I will walk alone for a while now.”

  “I have to go for dinner. I wish you great luck in your soul-searching.”

  Chloe stood still to allow Melinda walk farther in the same direction alone. Turning back to look over the valley, she wondered how her mother would like it here. That question was easily answered. Her mother would have loved it. She ached for it every day of her life just as Chloe knew she would if she walked away from it tonight.

  The sun almost set completely when Chloe realised a stubborn streak kept her from this place. The farm and everything it represented held all her dreams come true, plus dreams she hadn’t known to ask for. This place did belong to her. She’d felt it in those first few conversations with Max online and seen it in James’s eyes the first day at the coffee shop.

  Max suffered under the weight of the decisions of his parents, just as she did. Imagine his pleasure at finding her. At bringing her home and righting the wrong. The terrible injustice caused to her great-grandmother and the women in her past. Chloe saw, with a great, sudden clarity, that she and Max belonged together, and that James, in his gentle goodness, made that happen.

  She rushed up to the house. Running through the front doors, she arrived breathlessly in the great lounge room. Max turned from his position at the window, and James jumped immediately from his place on the sofa.

  “I’m so sorry for hurting you!” she blurted out, panting through her words. “I love you both, and I want everything that you want for me.”

  Max crossed the room faster than James and had her in an embrace that felt like he would never let go. He kissed the top of her head and then worked his way down to her mouth, kissing her softly over and over. Chloe tilted her head up to meet him, and they dissolved into a deep, passionate kiss that held a promise of forever.

  Only James could lessen the grip Max had on Chloe, and he moved in just long enough to kiss Chloe in his slow, seductive way. Chloe, relief and gratitude flowing through her, felt something else stirring deep within when James kissed her. James kissed her with the same passion again as Max pulled his own hands away. The stirring deep inside of Chloe moved to between her legs. Her knees buckled slightly as the spirit of the kiss made its way through her.

  Max said, “Chloe, I think it is time for us to go upstairs. Tell us you feel comfortable enough for us to make love to you, because we have both been hungry for it for weeks now.”

  Chloe recognised dampness between her legs. With her heart racing, she said, “Yes. I’m ready. Oh God, I’m so ready!”

  Pulling away, James took her hand and guided her toward the door. Chloe followed James, finally, as he led her upstairs. Behind them, Max followed.

  At the top of the stairs, James turned her in the direction of Max’s bedroom and walked her toward it. Once inside, Max closed the door behind the three of them.

  Chloe marvelled at the beauty of the room. The entire house was sophisticated and elegant, but this room showed the passion of real love. In the brief seconds she had to look around, she saw a fat, roaring fire and a large bathroom with a walk-in closet. A huge, white faux-fur rug took up the length of the room. The king-size bed had black satin sheets and several throws made from the factory cloth.

  The only light in the room came from the fire. With the reflection flickering in his eyes, James moved toward her, meeting her upturned face with his kiss. His lips were soft but demanding, wanting from her, his tongue yearning and searching hers.

  As Chloe kissed him and immersed herself in the feeling manifesting between her legs, she felt another pair of hands come from around her sides and work to undo the buttons at the top of her dress. Max was behind her, gently, insistently, undoing each button in its turn, determined to have her naked in front of them.

  Max worked the buttons from their holes and gently pulled the dress and its silk slip off Chloe’s shoulders so that they fell to her waist. She was now naked to the waist in front of both of them for the first time. James reached down and caressed her left breast while Max reached around and fondled her right.

  Chloe closed her eyes, determined to enjoy and internalise every sensation of the two men and all they could do to her. Max rolled and lightly pinched her nipple while James stroked and massaged her breast. The sensations threatened to engulf Chloe so that she disappeared into them. With the three of them alone in a little world, Max said, “I think we need to get undressed and get into bed.”

  James pulled away from Chloe, smiling at her, and lifted his T-shirt up over his head. Flickering flames left a rosy glow on the deeply tanned skin, giving James’s naked flesh a deep, rich glow. Chloe caught her breath. His muscles, his tan, everything about him said power, possession, and strength. She looked away from his perfectly formed chest to his eyes and saw the wild, dark mischief of the pirate there again. His black eyes danced, fiery flames reflected in them, as Chloe interpreted the depths of desire they displayed.

  “Take your clothes off, Chloe. We both need you naked,” he said.

  James turned and walked toward a chair on the other side of the room, unbuckling his belt as he walked. He sat in the chair and busied himself with removing his shoes and socks. Chloe turned around to see Max unbuttoning his shirt. His tux jacket lay discarded against another chair and his tie with it. He moved toward Chloe and kissed her hard on the mouth, letting his tongue work its way into her, exploring every part of her. Chloe revelled in the kiss from Max. All those moments she sat on the other side of the computer wishing she could feel his lips and his tongue were realised in this marvellous moment.

  Max pulled away, giving her room to take off her clothes. She’d worn a small black G-string with the stunning dress. She undid the final button so the dress could slip off with ease
. She stepped out of her delicate sandals, then smoothed the dress over the round of her belly and allowed it to fall freely to the floor.

  “Phew.” James whistled. Chloe turned toward him and smiled a sweet, seductive smile. She felt sexy. These two desirable men wanted her. They loved her body and appreciated it for its curves.

  James stood up and pushed his jeans to the floor. As he came back up again, Chloe couldn’t take her eyes away from his hard erection. His penis stood thick and long, veins pulsing blood through it, making it alive and ready to give her pleasure. Chloe salivated looking at it. She couldn’t work out where she wanted that first.

  Without ceremony, she slid the G-string down her legs so that it sat in a pile of wrinkled lace at her feet. She stepped out of them, shamelessly revealing her thatch of black curls to James, who had his eyes glued between her legs. His gaze travelled back to her face, and he said, “Come here!”

  She walked toward him as he walked toward the bed. They met there. James slid his hand between her legs immediately, and Chloe hoped he could feel the thick, gluey wetness that signalled her readiness. He stroked her silky softness, sending Chloe into a spin of competing sensations. Her nipples hardened in response as James dipped to taste one, then the other.

  Chloe turned her head to see Max walking toward the bed completely naked. His muscles didn’t have James’s swell, but he was perfectly proportioned. His tan was an allover one, while James had obvious tan lines. His long pole was a little thinner than James’s, but longer and finer. His shaft bobbed up and down as he walked toward his two lovers on the bed.

  Max leaned in and kissed Chloe as James continued to fondle her sex and kiss her nipples. Chloe thought she’d gone to heaven.

  Max, intuitively connected to Chloe, as usual, pulled his face away and said, “James, let’s give this little lady so much pleasure that she’ll never want to do without either of us again.”

  James lifted his face and grinned at Max. Resting his hand on James’s chin, Max leaned in and kissed James deep and long directly in front of Chloe. Chloe sighed, James’s fingers still between her legs, watching those two beautiful, masculine men -- tongues entwined, lips enmeshed -- kissing each other with more softness and sensuality than Chloe had ever seen.

  James took his fingers away and encouraged Chloe to sit on the bed behind her. She crawled backward, setting herself up in the very middle of the beautiful cloth lying over the bed.

  “Lie on your back, my beautiful Chloe,” said James in barely more than a whisper. He crawled along the bed next to her and lay down, pressing his body into her side so that she could feel his flesh-covered iron bar pressing against her thigh. Chloe lay back comfortably and turned her face toward James, who leaned down to give her more deep kisses on her mouth.

  Chloe felt a pair of hands start at the base of her inner thighs and travel up toward her groin. The hands gently pried her fleshy thighs apart, lightly massaging and stroking the soft, vulnerable part of her leg. Chloe lay there, deeply engaged with James’s kiss, her legs spread wide apart.

  Suddenly, she felt warm breath against her sex and then the light, quivering touch of a tongue. As she kissed James, Max licked and nibbled at her outer labia, running his tongue through her dark, silky hair, up and down the outer flesh of her vagina. Max swirled his tongue without pulling her open.

  The ache at the entrance to Chloe’s tunnel throbbed with the most delicious agony. Max’s breath came in gasps all over her skin as his tongue continued to lick and lap without actually breaking its way in.

  James lifted a hand to pinch her nipples softly, first one breast, then the other. He stroked his fingers gently around each breast and down to the top of her swollen belly, then back up to her breast again.

  As if working to the instructions of a conductor, James ran his fingers around her breasts with a little more insistence while Max used his fingers to ease Chloe’s outer labia apart. His fingers slowly pried at her flesh, but his tongue was there first to probe and explore its way around the inside of Chloe’s hot sex. He ran his tongue down to her opening, thrusting it just inside and rolling it around and around the aching walls, massaging and teasing at the same time.

  James kissed her and played with her warm, tingling skin, and Max worked his magic on her pussy. Chloe knew she’d come in a glorious minute. She let herself go, seeing no reason to hold back. Max slid his tongue out of her hole and moved it to her clit, closing his lips around it and sucking with the softest vacuum and flicking it with his tongue.

  Lurching skyward, Chloe arched her back and moaned aloud as she came in a huge rush into Max’s hungry mouth. In the distance, she could hear James’s exclamations and enthusiastic encouragement as she felt wave after wave roll over and around her pelvis, the orgasm wrenching tide after tide of ecstatic fluid out of her.

  Chloe relaxed into the warm, soft bed, the delicious numbness of postorgasmic splendour taking her over completely. She could sense the men changing positions but felt too high on her own pleasure to pay it much heed.

  “Oh Chloe, Chloe, you’re incredible. I love you,” James was saying as he climbed on top of her. She spread her legs as wide as she could, encouraging and inviting him into the depths of her body. In one thrust, she felt James’s hard rod plunge into her slippery sheath as he cried out in ecstasy.

  Max crawled up next to them as James shamelessly plunged his hot, hard flesh into her over and over again. Max pressed his own manhood to Chloe’s lips, and she took it willingly. She opened her wet mouth as easily and happily as she had opened her sex. James leaned down and kissed her over and around Max’s cock.

  Max moaned out his evident pleasure. “Oh God, yes. Both of you suck my cock.”

  Driven wild with lust, Chloe let her tongue gather as much saliva as it could and lashed it all over Max’s member. James’s tongue wrestled with hers over the hard, hot flesh as they sucked wildly on each other and on Max’s beautiful rod.

  “Jesus.” Max panted.

  Chloe reached up and placed her hand over Max’s balls and felt them twitch in response. He was close to coming. She pulled her hand away to help him last as Max pulled his dick out, leaving the two to keep kissing with intense passion.

  Then Chloe saw James suddenly lift out of her, but he didn’t move off her. Looking down at her, his eyes glazed with lust, he said, “Stay there just a minute.”

  Glancing off to her right, Chloe could see Max working hard behind James. Oh God, he’s lubing him up, she thought, and she almost came on the spot. James looked at her and through her as he was prepared.

  James leaned back so that his member was completely out of Chloe now. Soon, his face took on the glow of ecstasy and he let out a sensual sigh, and she knew Max was in place.

  Carefully, she felt James’s penis at her gateway again, and Chloe manoeuvred herself up to meet him so that he could come in at a better angle. The tip of his shaft entered her. Then as James sunk into place, deep inside Chloe, she heard Max say, “Oh God, fuck her while I fuck you. Oh, that’s beautiful.”

  Chloe parted her legs as wide as she could without interfering with the complicated stance. Soon James sunk all the way down to be at one with her body, and she could feel him pressed hard against her chest and her belly. His dick was lurching into her with such powerful strokes, it took Chloe a while to realise it was Max driving the strokes.

  That realisation tipped Chloe over the edge. With her arms out wide beside her, holding the bedspread into balls of cloth in her fists, Chloe arched her back and came again, her vagina sucking on James’s dick like it was a straw.

  She felt James cry out, and his seed splashed all over her inner walls. Max called out at that moment, his demented groan signalling his own orgasm.

  A minute later, Max rolled happily to the side. James fell off Chloe as well to her other side, and the three of them lay patient and still, letting the intense pleasure of the moment wash all over them.

  * * * * *

  Chloe lay between
the two men as they each nuzzled her neck, kissed at her ears, and fondled her breasts. No one said a word as they lay there, relishing in the aftermath of lovemaking.

  A huge explosion out in the yard interrupted the peace.

  “That sounded like it came from the factory,” James cried as he jolted out of bed. Max had already flown to the window, leaving Chloe bewildered and shocked on the bed.

  “Shit! The factory’s on fire! Sound the alarm immediately!”

  Max raced to a chest of drawers and grabbed jeans and a T-shirt. Throwing them on, he fled from the room. James had his clothes on by now and flew to a small electrical box on the wall in the corner of the bedroom. He opened it up and hurriedly pushed a series of numbers into a keypad. Immediately a huge siren went off, loud enough that Chloe felt sure it was heard all over the farm.

  Chloe’s mind was spinning. She couldn’t work out what was going on or what she was meant to do. James ran to Chloe and said, “Sit here so I know exactly where you are. That way if I need to, I can come and get you.” And he sprinted out of the room.

  Confused, Chloe sat listening to the bustle outside. Different sirens were coming up the hill now; Chloe suspected fire engines were on their way. At that moment, another explosion went off in the direction of the factory.

  Chloe ran to Max’s open clothes drawer and grabbed a T-shirt. She slung it over her head and raced to the window. Flames -- large, orange, dangerous flames -- came out of the window of the factory on the east side. My God! The beautiful cloth. The fire will destroy the loom!

  People below ran from all directions to try to save the building. Huge flames licked out the top of the structure now, telling even a novice like Chloe the flames were spreading dangerously fast. In the distance, she could see Max, yelling instructions at firemen, and James, managing the domestic hoses and working with the others to put the flames out.