by Jenny Penn
“What? Some elaborate plan?” Konor cut her off, feeling the heat of his lust converge with the sudden flare of his temper. The two fires fueled an inferno, one that raged high enough to sear his ears as Heather remained pointedly silent.
“You really think that’s what’s going on here?” Konor demanded to know. “That both Alex and I are just playing some horribly mean-spirited joke on you? Is that it?”
“No,” Heather heaved a deep sigh as she begrudgingly gave in. “I don’t think you’re playing any kind of horrible or mean-spirited joke on me…but…”
“But what?” Konor pressed when Heather sputtered out, really not understanding why this was so hard for her. They were just three little words.
“I don’t know.”
Heather shook her head as if clearing up unwanted thoughts. The gesture spoke louder than her words as it hinted at the lie in her response. There was something there, something she couldn’t face just yet. That realization both saddened and touched Konor as he felt torn by conflicting needs.
The love aching in his heart flooded him with the need to wrap his arms around her, engulfing Heather in a warmth and security that assured no worries could survive or linger to plague her any longer. The frustration burning in his balls, though, had his fingers curling into fists as he fought back the urge to shake some sense in to her and demand that she face her fears.
Konor did neither of those things. Instead, he stepped back and nodded, accepting that she needed more time. So did he. He needed a new plan. They needed a new plan, Konor corrected himself, knowing nothing he did would work unless Alex agreed to go along with him.
Agreed, and then stayed away from Heather. Maybe that should be the plan—staying away, if such a thing were even possible. Standing there watching Heather drive off, Konor wonder just what the hell they were really going to do.
That question haunted him the whole ride home, but disappeared beneath the contentment that engulfed him when he wandered in the back door to find Alex and Taylor huddled over the dining room table as they worked on something, math from the sound of it.
“…and you see that’s why fractions and multiplication is important, because—”
“—you got to know your interest rates,” Taylor stated on cue, staring up at Alex as if he were some kind of magician revealing a whole new world to the boy.
“Otherwise…” Alex prodded pointedly as Taylor once again spoke up, this time repeating an all too familiar paranoia.
“Those greedy, fat bastards will rob you blind.”
“And just who are those greedy, fat bastards?” Konor asked, drawing both Alex and Taylor’s attention to him and hopefully a little sanity with it. That wish died in vain as Taylor answered without hesitation.
“Everybody, especially credit cards, banks, and government.”
“I work for the government,” Konor pointed out. “For God’s sake, Alex, you work for the government. In fact, you enforce its very laws. Not to mention that you are a part of everybody.”
“Taylor, do we have an answer for that accusation?” Alex asked the kid, who nodded dutifully.
“We should all aspire to be greedy, fat bastards.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Konor groaned, drawing out the sound into a deep sigh as he shook his head at Alex. “You don’t really think Heather is going to thank you for teaching her son to be paranoid much less use that kind of language.”
“Taylor?”
“Those are man words, not appropriate for mixed company.” Taylor informed him with a lofty confidence that was almost cute, but his words were far from adorable. “And this is a man conversation, not to be shared with the opposite sex.”
“That’s my boy.”
Alex laughed as he high-fived Taylor, but Konor was far from amused, and he knew for a fact that Heather would be, too. Hopefully, Taylor minded after his own words and never repeated this conversation to his mother. Either that, or he simply forgot it. That would probably be for the best.
Konor tried to help that along by changing the conversation to a much safer one. Tossing his keys onto the table, he asked Taylor if he was up for some real work. The kid was game as always to follow along with Alex and Konor’s daily workout routine. He even kept pace as they jogged all the way back to Heather’s place to return the kid home before his bedtime.
Heather greeted them at the door wearing a ratty robe with her hair pinned messily at the top of her head and her face covered in a purple cream that appeared to be drying into a plastic mask. Of course, ‘greeted them’ was an overstatement. It was more like she grunted and then turned and shuffled back off toward the kitchen.
“Oh, no,” Taylor breathed out softly. “Mom must have talked to Grams tonight.”
“Grams? You mean your grandmom?” Because Konor didn’t think she had anything to do with Heather’s current condition.
“Yeah.” Taylor nodded as he cast Konor a look too worldly for his age. “Grams is great…to me. To mom…I guess they don’t get along so well.”
That was news to Konor, who glanced up to catch Alex’s eye. He nodded, silently backing up Taylor’s claim as he gave the kid a gentle shove to get him started through the door.
“Don’t worry about your mother, kiddo. We’ll take care of her while you go take care of that stink,” Alex suggested as he followed Taylor into the entry hall.
“Okay.”
The kid nodded before taking off for his room while Konor saw to the front door. He turned around to find Alex staring at him, his features drawn into a pointed look that Konor knew all too well. Alex was wearing his cop face.
His expression was neither angry nor relaxed. His gaze neither narrowed nor trusting. His stance neither intimidating nor welcoming. Just like the rest of him his tone was bland in even, but Konor didn’t trusted it.
“Something happened today that you want to tell me about?”
“Things got a little heavy,” Konor admitted, keeping his voice low as he heard Ralph say good night to Heather in the kitchen.
The older man momentarily appeared at the head of the hall. He paused to shoot Alex and Konor a look that made it clear he expected them to fix whatever had Heather moping about before he disappeared down the hall that led to the bedrooms, leaving them in a hell of a bind because Ralph didn’t understand what Heather really wanted, or why they couldn’t give it to her.
* * * *
Heather understood, but she didn’t care. They wanted a declaration from her? Well, first they were going to have to prove themselves to her. She knew just how juvenile and difficult that sounded, but didn’t care about that either. She needed proof and she would have it, or they would not have the pledge they wanted. Those were her conditions.
She sat there on the couch dressed in her oldest, most disgusting robe, a pimple mask tightening across her face as her feet soaked in a foot spa that churned hot water over her ankles while she ate peanut butter straight from the jar using her fingers as spoons and listening to Konor and Alex whispering to each other in the hall.
They weren’t actually that quiet and she had very good hearing, not to mention she had a vent right over her head that allowed their voices to carry clearly through to the living room.
“Son of a bitch! Did you do her behind my back?” That was her Alex—honestly crude at all times. “And after I’ve spent half this week showering out the pain in my balls?”
“First off, that’s too much information, and nothing happened. If it had do you really think Heather would have answered the door dressed like your grandmom?”
That must have given Alex a pause because he fell silent for a moment before he spoke up sounding all the more confused. “Yeah, but if you didn’t dull that ache for her, why isn’t she half-naked and grinding against us? Huh? After all, the woman’s been acting like a cat in heat, all but howling for attention, and now suddenly she’s the bride of Frankenstein.”
Heather was half tempted to answer that one herself, but didn�
��t want to interrupt their fascinating conversation.
“Something is definitely up,” Konor muttered, making it sound like she was some kind of arch-villain in a movie and that he was the underdog hero about to face yet another unjust persecution.
He would, too, if he didn’t stop complaining, Heather thought to herself.
“Something is always up with Heather,” Alex noted dourly. “And something must’ve happened.”
“She’s cracking.” Konor all but relished those words, sounding so pleased with himself that Heather was half-tempted to say something to him, too. “This is just a desperate attempt to try and gross us out and prove that all we really want from her is to be pretty and easy.”
“If she’s really cracking then all we need to do is apply the right amount of pressure.” Alex sounded more eager than Konor, proof that she wasn’t the only one growing tired of these games. Of course, Konor considered himself a master of them, which meant they were far from over.
“Follow my lead,” Konor murmured as he moved into the living room and the edge of Heather’s peripheral vision.
They approached her slowly, cautiously, like hunters stalking up on skittish prey when really Heather was a predator in disguise. She’d known Konor would figure out her game and fully anticipated his next move. She, however, didn’t make a single one as they closed in on her.
They settled down on to the couch on either side of her, neither of them looking directly at her or speaking single word to her. That’s how they sat—in complete silence, tense and ready for battle as they watched the ballroom dancers swirl across the muted TV screen until Alex finally snapped, just as Heather knew he would.
“Are you mad about something?” He turned to confront her with that idiotic question, to which Heather responded in kind.
“No. Why would I be?”
“I don’t know,” Alex answered all too quickly, sounding completely insincere. “It’s just that you…”
His words faded away as Heather’s eyes narrowed on him in a warning that ultimately failed to impress him. Alex either couldn’t or wouldn’t stay silent, not that he ever could.
“Did you talk to your mom by any chance?”
That question was so stupid it didn’t even deserve an answer, but earned him a dirty look for bringing up that sore subject. Heather and her mother didn’t get along, not that they openly warred or anything like that.
Things were just always tense. Needless to say Heather was not her mother’s favorite. That honor belonged to her sister, who was thin and pretty enough to earn their mothers respect. The fact that Olivia’s life was a disaster was irrelevant.
After all, their mother wasn’t much better at managing all the little details that came with the monotony of everyday living. The fact that Heather had mastered those same details and managed to build a successful business out of them was totally irrelevant to her mother. The only thing that impressed her besides looks was money, and Heather made sure her mother never knew how much of that she had.
“I mean you just seem a little…” Alex faltered once again as he drew Heather’s attention back toward him. “You know…a little tense.”
“Tense,” Heather repeated, sensing that was not the word Alex really meant. She had a sick feeling she knew what word he really wanted to use. “You mean bitchy? Maybe a little PMS-y? Hmmm?”
“No!” Alex instantly denied with the indignant shape of his head. “No. I didn’t say that…but since you brought it up—”
“Oh, for the love of God, man, shut up!” Konor snapped, drawing an instant frown from Alex, who glanced around her to glare back at his best friend.
“I’m just trying to figure out what is going on here.”
“I already told you,” Konor repeated in exasperation, appearing to momentarily forget that she was sitting right there. “She is simply screwing with us.”
“Am I?” Heather glanced in Konor’s direction, not surprised at all to find him scowling at Alex as the heat in his cheeks began to darken his complexion.
“Well? Aren’t you?” Konor asked defiantly.
* * * *
Alex didn’t like the size of the smile spreading across Heather’s face. She looked like a goddess about ready to crush the two insignificant males before her. While that idea turned him on slightly, Alex didn’t really want to get crushed.
Smothered…maybe, especially if it involved the plump swells of cleavage starting to peak out between the fuzzy lapels of Heather’s well-worn robe. If Konor was right, and this was all an attempt to gross them out, then Heather’s plan had backfired because she looked cuter than hell.
That just went to prove how bad he had it. Alex had it bad enough to go to his knees for the damn woman, though she looked far from impressed as she warily watched him lift one perfect, dainty foot out of her foot spa. He paid her frown no mind as he began to rub the tension from her foot, certain he could massage a confession right out of her, especially if she was as close to breaking as Konor seemed to think.
Clearly that is exactly what Konor thought because he moved in close, backing Alex up as he settled his hands on to Heather’s shoulders and began to work the knots right out of them. For her part, Heather tried to keep herself stiff, but the truth was there in the husky undertones of question.
“What do the two of you think you’re doing?” Heather asked, clearly trying to mask the want thickening in her voice with the crisp cut of her words.
It didn’t work.
Alex could still hear the crumbling of her will-power echoing in the background. She was close to breaking. Konor was right. All they needed to do was apply the right kind of pressure.
“Proving that you can’t resist us,” Alex answered, capturing her gaze with his as he lifted her foot all the way to his lips. “And that there is nothing we won’t do for you.”
That was the God’s honest truth, even though Alex could see the doubt in her eyes. That glimmer darkened into a heated gleam as he began to nibble and lick his way up the arch of her foot to her toes, holding her gaze the entire time. He could see her breath catch and smell the hot flood of her arousal thickening in the air.
That wasn’t the only thing growing thicker with each passing second. He was hard and hurting, and had been that way for days. Weeks. Long, horrible weeks, and his patience was worn as thin as Heather’s robe. That was all that stood between him and the treat his mouth was really watering to taste.
He wasn’t the only hungry man in the room. Konor’s formidable control seemed to be crumbling or, perhaps, that was his master plan. Alex didn’t know, didn’t care. Right then his eyes were simply going dry as he watched, unblinking, as Konor began to nibble his way down the edge of Heather’s robe, pushing the soft fabric apart as he went in search of one plump tit.
She didn’t deny him, but leaned back, arching into Konor’s mouth as her fingers twined through his hair and helped guide him to the rosy-hued nipple all puckered and silently begging for attention. Alex was just about to rise up on his knees and fight Konor for that pouty, little berry when about the worst thing that could happen did happen.
“Hey, mom, do you know where I left—Ah!”
“Ahhhh!”
Alex wasn’t sure who screamed louder—Taylor or his mom—but at least the kid didn’t kick a whole tub of steaming-hot water onto his lap. Going down with his own holler, he fumbled with his belt buckle, making short work of it. It didn’t take him but thirty seconds to whip his pants off, but that was more than enough time for Ralph to come stumbling into the living room wearing a pair of sweats and a groggy scowl.
“What is going on in here—oh!” Stumbling to a halt, Ralph took a quick step back as his eyes landed on Alex and rounded as he slid down to take in the boxers doing little to hide his current condition.
“It’s not what it looks like!”
Sounding both panicked and desperate, Heather looked even guiltier as she jumped off the couch as if the seat was suddenly made of living
flames. Maybe it was. Konor certainly appeared to be in some kind of pain as he fell backward with a groan.
“That’s okay.” Ralph waved away Heather’s explanation as he began backing quickly up toward the door. “You’re a grown woman. I trust your judgment…but somebody should probably go talk to Taylor.”
Ralph spat that last bit out quick and fled, making it clear that person wasn’t going to be him. As for the kid, he’d split already, undoubtedly the very second he’d seen what he shouldn’t have seen. Taylor was, no doubt, whimpering in his room right then, thinking he was never going to be able to burn that image out of his mind.
Alex knew. He’d been there himself as a kid, which was just why he knew Heather was about to make the whole thing worse. Of course, that’s what moms did.
“Will you put your pants back on?” She snapped at him as she began marching toward the door. “For God’s sake, even Taylor knows not to prance around the living room half-naked!”
Alex might have obeyed that command if she hadn’t been moving so fast. As it was, he barely caught her before she made it through the arched entry into the hall.
“Hold up now.” Latching onto her arm, he pulled her to a stop. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
“To talk to Taylor,” Heather shot back, trying to jerk her arm free even as Alex hustled her back into the living room.
“Oh, no, no, no.” Alex shook his head at her, trying to hold back his smirk as he explained things to her. “That’s not a good idea.”
“I’m sure he has questions,” Heather argued, trying to step around Alex. “Now if you’ll—”
“I’m sure he does have questions,” Alex was quick to agree. “But trust me, the last person he wants to hear the answers from are you. Back me up here, Konor.”
“He’s not lying.” Managing to keep his features straight and his tone serious, he spoke with absolute certainty. “There are just some conversations that are ‘man only’.”
