Brick by Brick

by Maryn Blackburn

  “Only a little. The ointment stuff helps a lot.”

  “Good. You all slicked up with it now?”

  “I guess. I used it before I left the hotel.”

  “Next time, I want to watch.”

  “No,” Gage said.

  At least he still held on to some shred of his dignity where James’s demands were concerned.

  “Boxers down, and present your butt to me.”

  Gage’s voice boomed. “Is bent over the counter all right?”

  He must be nearer the phone. “Sure,” I said.

  “Natalie’s really working you now,” James said smoothly.

  Gage said, “She’s got two hands. Working you too, I think.”

  James chuckled. “Yeah, she is. Long arms on that woman. I’m not touching you now, just eating up how good it looks.”

  “Don’t look for too long.”

  “Why, is there something you want?”

  “You know I do.”

  “Say it, Gage. I like to hear you say it.”

  “I know. Fuck my ass. Please.”

  “Maybe in a little while. Now, I have to play with it. My finger’s there, tickling at the outside, and going in just a little, not even up to the first knuckle.”

  Gage’s breathing was louder.

  “Does that hurt?”

  “No. Please.”

  “Please what?”

  “Please slide your finger in all the way, slow.”

  “My pleasure. I’m up to the first knuckle now, pushing but not hard. I love how tight you are, and how slippery. Second knuckle?”

  “Yeah. More. All of it.”

  “Of course. Here you go, all the way in, right to the web. And I’m turning it a little, just staying in there deep. Hard to say which I like more, seeing it up close or your face while I do it.”

  “God, James, it feels so good. So right.”

  “That’s because it is good. It is right,” James said. “I need to know how hot it’s making you.”

  “I could come in, I don’t know, a couple of minutes.”

  “Take it out,” James said at once.

  “I really miss it. I feel empty.”

  “And none of that hurt?”

  “No. I’m fine.”

  “Good, because you’re going to take two fingers, and once they’re in nice and deep, I’m going to fuck you with them. If you ask nice,” James added.

  “Please, Jamie, please, put two fingers in my ass and fuck me with them, right now.”

  “All right. Slow and easy again. No rough stuff for you until you’re healed.”

  “Whatever you say. Both at once?”

  Had they forgotten I was on the extension? Maybe so. Since my cramps were bad enough that this wasn’t arousing me, I suppose it didn’t matter.

  “Yes. The pointer and the middle finger together.”

  “They feel big.”

  “I know. Let yourself stretch, and stop if it hurts, even a little.”

  “Up to the first knuckle,” Gage reported.

  “Good, I’m going to hold it right there for a minute, until I feel you get loose.”

  I’d have hung up if the click wouldn’t have reminded them I existed.

  “I’m looser already. Because I want you. Can I put them all the way in?”

  “No, but I can. God, Natalie’s doing me so fast my skin’s hot.”

  Gage didn’t laugh. “Me too. All the way in now.”

  “You like that, my fingers deep inside your ass?”

  “I don’t like it; I love it.”

  “I know. Natalie’s on her knees in front of you now. Want her mouth?”

  The idea of taking his thick penis in my mouth brought my gorge up, but I waited it out. I wouldn’t vomit, since I’d hardly eaten.

  “Oh, yeah. I love the way she looks up at me when she’s doing it. Those green eyes, like a cat.”

  “Yeah, I’ve always liked that too. Spit on your hand, or lick it and drool. Get it wet, like Natalie’s mouth.”

  The idea of spitting made my nausea rise, and the sound of it forced me to clamp down my throat.

  “I’m moving my fingers in and out, not a lot. From the second knuckle to the web and back again, while Nat’s looking up at you like she does. Tell me when she makes you come,” James said.

  “Soon. Real soon. Natalie, I’m going to come in your mouth, I am, is that okay?”

  I couldn’t answer. Despite my efforts, I retched in a halfhearted attempt to empty my belly. I was glad I hadn’t eaten dinner.

  “It’s fine,” James said. “Hot. She’ll swallow.”

  A tinny, high keening sound, made near Gage’s phone, almost pained my ear. The familiar mew was shorter, and I understood he’d held his mouth closed when he orgasmed, as long as he was able.

  “Good, good boy.” James purred his approval. “I’m taking my fingers out, and taking Natalie back so I can come in her mouth too.”

  Again I retched silently.

  “Not Natalie’s mouth,” Gage said. “Mine. I owe you, and I want to so much.”

  “It’s easier on the phone,” James said.

  “I know. You taste good, salty, and I’ve got so much of you in that I’m almost choking. But I don’t mind.”

  “Faster, Gage.”

  “Yeah, faster. Like this.”

  “Even faster. Now, take it all.”

  Gage made a too-convincing gagging sound. “It makes my eyes water, so they shine when I look up at you.”

  James bawled like a steer in an old Western.

  “Guess we all know what that means,” Gage said. “Sorry, I can’t swallow. Someday, huh?”

  “It was good even without. Think you can sleep?”

  “I’m thinking I might wash my hands and crash on Rowan’s sofa. Would that be too weird, if she comes home and I’m here?”

  “Well,” I said, “sleeping in her bed would be weird, but in the living room with your shoes off seems okay. To me.”

  “To me too,” James said and yawned.

  “Then that’s what I’m going to do. You guys go back to bed. Good night. And thank you. Both.”

  We hung up. James came out of the bedroom, blinking in the light. “Babe, I know you feel awful, and I’m sorry. Come to bed? Even if I can’t make you feel better, I can hold you.”

  It made me feel better. Love’s like that.

  * * * *

  Gage called the next afternoon, late enough that I knew he’d been hoping James would be home. He wasn’t.

  “She’s back.” Gage’s relief was evident. “Got home a half hour ago.”

  “Where was she?”

  “A retreat. I didn’t know this last rehab place hosts them, once a month. A long-term-goals thing. I guess some people who were drug users start drinking or sleeping around, like that. They help each other figure out what’s still missing in their lives that’s making them do self-destructive shit, and how they can stop.”

  “That sounds like a good thing.”

  “It is, I guess. She came home all hot to do something with herself. Until she saw me, anyway.”

  “You’re still there?”

  “Yeah. What’s the point of going home when I’d just keep checking back here? I could talk to people from here as easy as there. I’ve had the cell glued to my ear for five or six hours. Thanks for reminding me about the charger.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I hated to pick it up again after Rowan was done being pissed at me and went to shower, but I knew you’d worry.”

  “I’ve worried all day. Even though I don’t know her, I’m glad she’s home and it was nothing.”

  “Yeah, me too. I worried about you too. Are you still sick? I could send a catered dinner or something.”

  “No, I’m cooking. It’s only bad for about a day and a half; then I’m okay.”

  “Listen, is it a hassle if I stay awhile, since I’m here anyway? There’s some stuff I should do that’s easier in person.”

/>   “Of course. I’m still on my period anyway.”

  “Give me a break, huh? If it was just sex with a beautiful woman, I wouldn’t have to go to Tucson. This place is crawling with them.”

  “No kidding. Well, except the beautiful-woman part.”

  His exasperated noise crossed the wires, but he didn’t scold or offer a pep talk. “I was thinking I’d come back Sunday, in time for dinner. Out. You’ll be feeling okay by then, right?”

  “I feel okay now.”

  “Good. Want to try Scapaletti’s again, or someplace else?”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The dry cleaner saved the linen shift, although it cost extra. If Gage was going to be taking us to nice restaurants, I should probably set up the sewing machine and make some dresses I didn’t hate. And nag James into buying a sport coat or even a second suit.

  While I fussed with my makeup, I amused myself with fantasies of chauffeur-driven trips to Rodeo Drive’s exclusive shops, where chic sales people would find perfect little dresses that fit like a dream, with three- and four-digit price tags, plus a shoe closet to match, and last a team of stylists working on my hair and face and nails.

  In the mirror I glimpsed a Mona Lisa smile. If I asked Gage for it, my silly daydream could be real.

  That was no fun.

  The woman in the mirror wore a dour expression now, but her hair looked good. I admired the deep red nail polish against the wheat color of the cheap linen dress. James, of course, didn’t really see me as I was, and Gage’s standards were crazy low if he thought I was a beautiful woman.

  Now the mirror me smiled, but only for an instant. It wasn’t me that kept Gage coming back.

  * * * *

  “I hope you are feeling better,” the same waiter purred, pulling out my chair. Both James and I faced the room, so Gage wouldn’t have to.

  “Yes, thank you,” I said. Of course he remembered us, since we’d supplied a movie star, a bloodstain the size of a butter plate, and a tip half the size of the dinner bill.

  The table was set for four, but the waiter didn’t scoop up the extra setting. Instead he brought water and the warm bread basket. “A drink, or some wine, until the others arrive?” he suggested.

  “I really liked the wine we had last time,” James said, scowling at the wine list, “but I don’t know what it was.”

  “Our cellar’s finest white,” the waiter said and pointed to an entry with a jaw-dropping price.

  James looked sidelong at me, apparently considering something, then grinned. “Yes. We’ll have a bottle, if it’s already chilled.”

  “Of course.” The waiter hurried away.

  “You’d better hope he’s buying,” I said, taking a bread stick.

  “I’m working on that assumption. Although our credit limit’s high enough if he isn’t.”

  “Next time, we’ll buy. Mexican?”

  “Good. I can afford that. Here he comes.”

  Gage shuffled toward us, his head down. I didn’t watch his approach, since he wouldn’t want me to draw attention to his entry. The woman walking a few feet in front of him blocked my view anyway.

  I wasn’t quite surprised when she stopped at our table. Gage pulled out her chair, then slipped into his own.

  “I hope this is okay,” he said.

  “Welcome back,” I said. “You must be Rowan. I’m Natalie, which you probably figured out, and this is James.”

  “Which I also figured out.” She had a lovely smile, wider than her brother’s, but was not a pretty woman. “Pleased to meet you both.”

  We women smiled tentatively at one another over our menus. The men’s lust seemed barely contained, the sexual tension across the table thrumming. I hoped it wasn’t as obvious to Gage’s sister as it seemed to me.

  She broke the ice, thank goodness. “I’m his half sister, and I drew the short straw. I must look like my dad, because I sure don’t look like Mom. Or the lovely Gage, adored by millions.”

  Her brother wrinkled his nose, as adorable as promised. If they hadn’t arrived together, I’d never have taken Rowan for a blood relative. Where Gage was lithe, she was sturdily built. Where his face was long and angular, with a small jaw and semi-Asian eyes, hers was rounded, with a broad smile and large gray eyes. They peeked through reddish-brown hair stylishly tousled and shorter than her brother’s lanky near-black locks. The only trait they shared was creamy pale skin, although her arms were lightly freckled.

  It hit me as an afterthought: Rowan not only didn’t look remotely like Gage, she also didn’t look remotely like a drug addict. I’d expected a female Gage, a beauty who’d fallen on hard times, with a skeletal frame and hollow, burnt eyes that had seen too much, not the merry, healthy woman explaining herself to her kid brother’s friends.

  “I must look like my dad too,” Gage said. “Beats looking like a skank who slept around and wasn’t smart enough to use birth control on her one-night stands.”

  “Watch it. That’s my mother you’re talking about.”

  “Mine too. At least you’ve got a picture of your dad. Marty’s production company was going to be in business as soon as the papers were drawn up. He’d have a role written just for Mom. Yeah, right.”

  “Nobody’s ever promised you something if you slept with them?” she asked.

  Gage scowled at her. She scowled back.

  “My dad was Gary,” Gage said, “or maybe Barry. Possibly Jerry, definitely not Larry. A soldier. She doesn’t even know what branch of the military, but she loves a man in uniform. Maybe it was a postal employee.” Seeing his sister’s annoyance, he added, “That’s her shortcoming, not ours, okay?”

  Her face relaxed. “I guess. I’ve thought about trying to find Marty, but I never will. He was probably married, and a loser besides.” She frowned at her menu. “What’s good here?”

  Our waiter arrived with the wine. Gage glanced at Rowan. “None for me, thanks,” he said.

  “Me, either,” she said.

  The waiter addressed James. “Sir, if you’ve changed your mind about the bottle—”

  “Nope. My wife and I will enjoy it.”

  He went through the tasting ritual, pronounced it fit to drink, and watched the waiter pour two glasses, mine first.

  “Are you ready to order?”

  “Not yet,” I said. “Could we have a few more minutes?”

  As soon as he left, I said, “I hope this doesn’t make you uncomfortable. I didn’t think about both of you not drinking.”

  “I’ll drink again,” Gage promised, “since I never had a problem with it. Did you?” he asked his sister.

  “No. Well, kind of. I never got the moderation part down, not reliably. So I think I might need to become a nondrinker.”

  “We could have the waiter take it away,” I offered.

  “I’m okay with you drinking in front of me. Ro, are you?” Gage asked.

  “Fine. Enjoy.” She smiled big. False? “I’m going to have to get used to other people doing what they want to do, right?”

  “Right,” Gage said. “With help if you need it.”

  “I’m good for now. Anybody had the shrimp polenta?”

  We followed Pasquale’s recommendations. With a glass of wine in us, both James and I became pleasantly loose.

  Gage did most of the talking, entertaining us with a series of little stories laced with wry opinions, most about the last six days he’d spent in Los Angeles.

  “My agent had me meet Autumn Lockwood.”

  “Who?” I recognized the names of most leading ladies.

  “The next big thing, apparently, with these huge perky breasts. An oxymoron—is that the word, Natalie? She was pretty if you like the type, I guess, but all I could think about was, what if they cast me in a role where I have to touch them? They creep me out.”

  “You’re an actor,” James said. “Fake it.”

  “I won’t have to. My agent said we had no chemistry, and said I was fat anyway. I should have gotten fish
and some kind of salad. And no pasta.”

  “Then why did we come to an Italian restaurant?” Rowan poked Gage’s midsection with one finger. “Fat, my ass. Well, my ass is fat, but my brother’s not.”

  “I’m in love with the cannelloni,” James said, “and you look fine. Both of you.”

  I cleared my throat loudly.

  “All three of you.”

  “Thanks,” Rowan said. “Natalie, do you know where the ladies’ room is?”

  “Sure. Mind if I join you?” A glance over my shoulder as we left the table showed Gage leaning toward James, as intent on whatever he was saying as any devoted acolyte.

  In the restroom, when I washed my hands, I was careful not to touch the linen dress to the sink. I remembered how the fabric darkened when I’d used cold water on the bloodstain. I moved away to set my purse on a long counter below a big mirror. What was wrong with my hair?

  “I’m lopsided,” I said when Rowan joined me.

  “Me too. One side’s only a B-cup.”

  I laughed. Rowan searched her purse, unloading keys, a wallet, a smartphone in a yellow case, a pack of tissues.

  Finding a hairbrush at last, Rowan tried to coax some extra height from her short haircut. “You know, you don’t have to pretend,” she said, back brushing lightly.

  “Pretend?”

  She bent to examine the lower doors of the toilet stalls. We were alone. “You’re not just Gage’s friends.”

  “We like him, a lot.”

  “And fuck him, maybe also a lot? Don’t worry, Natalie. We’re all grown-ups here. Whatever you and Gage do behind closed doors is fine with me.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. “Thank you.” I guess.

  “Before you start asking yourself how much I figured out and whether you still have to watch what you say, I know it’s James too. Are you both healthy?”

  I felt my face warm. Someone knew about us, without so much as a hint or a slip. “Yes. Of course.”

  “Fool around with anybody else?” She had the grace to add, “As if that’s my business, huh? Sorry. I guess you never stop looking out for your kid brother.”

  I had to return her smile. “Before Gage it’s been just us, for almost ten years.”

  “Really, ten? That’s terrific. Really.” She made a face at herself in the mirror. “This is as good as it’s going to get. Ready?”