by Penny Lam
They put us in separate cars, though neither of us were in cuffs. Maybe to keep us from talking, I don’t know. Maybe because the memory of Shep’s mouth on mine was still fresh in everyone’s mind, and things like that don’t get forgotten around here.
At the station I gave my statement, start to finish. I left nothing out. Not even the details of my relationship or the fight I’d had with Shep and Vickie. Jake just wrote it all down, though his cheeks tinged pink at some of the details.
“I’m glad he’s dead,” I say.
Jake gives a grunt.
And officer slides in and pulls Jake away for a moment. Sitting in the small interrogation room, it isn’t what I expected. They have an old couch in here that belongs on a curb or in a dump, but it’s comfortable enough if you don’t mind sinking in.
Jake returns, a small book in his hands. “So let me get this straight. You and Shep, friends all these years, and he never told you what happened to his parents.”
Heat burns in my gut. “Nope. Didn’t need to until I thought it’d hurt Vickie. I know they disappeared, but it wasn’t like when my folks did. It was obvious Shep’s parents were dead. I mean, I guess I always thought he’d did it. His dad was a real prick.”
“You thought he’d killed his parents, and you still love him?” Jake stumbles over the word ‘love,’ but I’m pretty impressed with how calm he is over something he obviously feels awkward about. If he’d kissed Shep like I had, I wonder if he’d be pink for other reasons.
“Yep, pretty much. Like I said, I was just worried about Vickie.”
“Well,” he muses, “You don’t need to worry anymore. This was in Miss Sampson’s jacket. It wasn’t Shep who killed his parents. He just protected the person who did. That boy can keep a secret.”
My mouth wants to hang open. “He always was loyal. Who did it?”
Jake shakes his head. “Naw. He can tell you if he wants. Seems to me a man who works so hard to keep someone’s secret deserves a bit of respect.”
“How… how does this affect him? Does he know?”
“He’s had a good chat with the Chief of Police and a department apology. But we’re letting the case stay cold. Opening it now ain’t gonna do anyone any good.”
Jake was saying they were going to break the law for Shep. Or at least ignore it. It’s something only a small town could get away with. This same small town that never accepted Shep, that made him feel like a stranger and a menace, is gonna protect him.
I’ll be damned.
“There was something else she had, but I’ll let Shep tell you about that, too.”
Vickie
The hospital gown crinkles each time I move. In the past few hours I’ve been swabbed, touched, patted, and hugged by strangers. But I told them Clay never raped me. It’s the only thing that’s helping me hold myself together. All I want is Shep and Buck.
Remembering Buck’s shout when Clay had me trapped… it made me feel light. Fluttery. They’d come. They’d come so fast, saving me, protecting me. Just like they said they would. Now I needed them.
There’s a rumble outside the sliding doors at the entrance of the hospital. I jump up when I see Shep’s Camaro pull to a stop. Both the driver’s and passenger’s doors open, and my breath leaves me. There they are.
The worry on their face crushes me. I know what they think. The same thing that everyone else here thought. That I’d been violated.
They’d come anyway. My love burst through me as I rushed through the doors, launching into Buck’s open arms. Shep came in behind me and we held each other. I was surrounded by love.
“Vickie--”
“I’m okay,” I say.
Shep’s voice growls in my hair. “You don’t have to worry. It doesn’t matter what happened to us. It matters that you tell us what you need, because goddamn, we’d do anything for you.”
I laugh and it feels good, so good. “I know. But you came just in time. I mean it.”
We cram into his car, me on Buck’s lap, and go home.
# # # #
It’s obvious the cops went through the trailer. There’s mud from their feet on my clean floors, and the closets were turned inside out. I don’t even care. Buck filled me in as we drove home, and, as long as my boys are free, I don’t mind.
The shower we take gets steamy fast. It ends with Buck in my pussy and Shep in my mouth and their hands everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.
When we’re out and toweled and sitting together eating cereal (I need to go to the store), it’s strange how easy it feels after such an ordeal. I mention this to them.
“Well, baby girl, they warned us about that. You might be in shock still. If it’s okay, I’d like to get you a therapist.” Buck looks at his empty bowl, like he’s worried I’ll be mad at him. I get it. Therapy isn’t something you do around here. It’s for city folks with too much money and time. At least that’s the general consensus. I’m interested, though.
“Okay.” I stir the milk in my bowl, turned pink from the marshmallows I haven’t eaten yet. I like to save them for last, like dessert at the end of breakfast. I realize something and my stomach drops. “Oh shit!”
Buck and Shep startle, and I blush, remembering that good girls aren’t supposed to cuss. “Sorry. I just remembered that I had something important for Shep, an envelope, and now I don’t know where it’s gone--”
“The police gave it to me,” Shep says, and I sigh with relief.
“What is it? Jake mentioned something, but he wouldn’t tell me, the bastard.” Buck looks accusingly at Shep, who’s smiling big.
“It’s something Grandma left me.” He goes and grabs the envelope from his jeans, which had been discarded on our way to the shower. Pushing it across the table to Buck, his smile gets even bigger.
“I found it. Your grandma had a hiding spot in a closet.”
We both watch, holding our breaths, as Buck opens the envelope and reads the letter. Then thumbs through the checks. His eyes grow wide. “Oh shit.”
“Exactly,” I joke.
“What are you gonna do with all this?”
“We are gonna do what we want. Whatever our dreams are now.”
He means it. It’s our future. Our dreams have been scattered, ever changing. Mine started with just getting out of the park.
Now, though? I just want to be with them forever.
Buck smiles and leans his chair back. “Well thanks, Grandma.” His grin turns devilish, and, as he sets his chair back and stands, it escapes no one’s notice that his large cock is hard again. My pussy starts to tingle.
“Vickie, baby. You know how I feel about cussing.”
Oh, I do. I do.
Epilogue
Shep
Sweat is sliding between my shoulder blades and across my chest. Buck tosses me a t-shirt. Instead of putting it on, I use it to mop up the excess wet. It’s the end of summer. We’re comin’ up on a year from when Vickie first stumbled into our trailer, including nine months since the incident with Clay.
The sun is beating down, but I don’t mind. The lake is there for after Buck and I have finished.
“Shep, at this pace we’ll finish in ten years,” Buck jokes. His blond hair is longer now, skimming his chest, and hanging in sweat-drenched locks. Like me, his chest has been browned from all our work outdoors. If I didn’t know his preference for camo and pro-wrestling, I’d think he was one of those California surfers.
“Shut up,” I shoot back. When I bend to get my paint brush he smacks my ass then cups it, squeezing. I give him a nasty look over my shoulder. “Keep that up and we’ll never finish.”
“I can’t help it. I love watching you work.”
We’re painting our house. Our house. Buck and I built it over six months, just the two of us. Grandma’s money turned out to be just enough if we kept our dreams reasonable. They weren’t just reasonable: They were perfect.
With the money from the cashier’s check, the sale of the trailer, and the seve
rance package Rick scraped up for me, we were able to set aside money for the rest of Vickie’s education, buy a plot of land out of town, materials and plans for a house, and settle with Bill.
That last part leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I think on it. I didn’t settle for much, just his medical bills. Apparently his lawyer told him to shut up and be content with that after more and more of their character witnesses started talking about what a good guy I was. Hell, I showed Bill the journal. Just so he’d know that he’d been hating on me while protecting my dad, who had not been a good man.
I guess when you’ve been angry that long, it’s hard to let go of it, even in the face of truth.
I paid, because I needed to leave Cedar Hills behind.
Our land is perfect. Fifteen acres, can you believe it? The earth has soil, not clay. A lake that we border. Trees. Grass. All the things we never had in the trailer park.
The house ain’t big. It’s four bedrooms, two baths, and a lot of open space. After living in the tight trailer, that had been Vickie’s second request. Lots of space, tall ceilings. Her first request had been a nice computer and a room that could be her office, where she was now.
The window was open and sometimes, if Buck and I were painting close to it, we could hear the clicking of the keyboard as she worked on her blog.
Her therapist, it turned out, was on the same page as her teachers. My Vickie’s got a talent for writing. She started the blog to work through what happened to her. To us. In town, we’d worried about our unconventional relationship.
On the internet? We were stars. Vickie makes her own income off the blog, talking about life out here with me and Buck. We’re going to farm some of the land, and she’s really loving the domestic shit. In another three or four years we’ll be mostly self-sufficient.
Don’t think we’ve cleaned up too much. Buck’s wish was about a half dozen cars. Not new. The rusted, decrepit bodies of the auction house beaters litter our front lawn. He swears he’s going to fix them up and sell them, but we’ll see.
We have to finish painting the house first.
Oh, and we have one other thing to prepare for.
Vickie’s voice calls out from the front porch. “I made tea, y’all. Come in and have a drink.”
Buck tosses his paint brush in the bucket and I follow suit. His arm drapes over my shoulder as we walk in. It’s hot as balls out here, but having his taut, sweaty body close to mine--
I’m not complaining.
Vickie’s sitting in the kitchen, fanning herself. The glasses are on the table, drops already dewing on the sides. “When’s the HVAC guy getting out here?” She’s been moaning for a month because we still don’t have AC, and, while the house is lofty enough to stay cool, she seems to need it frigid.
Taking in her swollen ankles and the massive, pregnant belly she’s rubbing, I guess I can’t blame her. “Monday, baby. Monday.”
“Could you call them again? I’ve got a feeling this baby’s coming before Monday, and I’m not bringing him or her home without AC.”
Buck starts playing with her hair, braiding it to get it off her neck. “I’ll call,” he soothes. “We’ll get it done. How’re you?”
“Miserable,” she sighs. “I want this baby out two weeks ago.”
“You’re forty weeks, Honey. It’ll happen when it’s time.”
She snaps at me. “Easy for you to say! You just have to stick your cocks in, willy nilly, and you’ve done your part! I’ve been carrying this baby--”
“For forty weeks.” Buck dodges her swatting hand while she hisses.
“I’ve been trying most everything to get this baby out.” She had, too. Walking each day, eating spicy foods, shoveling in a pineapple a day, and bouncing on this weird ass ball she bought on the internet.
“You walked yet today?”
“It’s too hot. I’ve been trying nipple stimulation.” My cock jumps at that. She eyes it and her lids get heavy. “That’s right, Shep. I guess playing with nipples is supposed to help get the baby out.” Her voice is raspy.
Buck’s hands slide down her front and grab her titties. Her big, big titties. They’d swollen, along with her belly, over the last few months. Now they were jugs that made Buck’s large, gripping hands look small in comparison.
Dropping to my knees, I scoot over until I’m in front of her. Buck eases the top of her maternity shirt down, exposing pink nipples so huge and enticing I lick my lips. “Let me help you with that.”
I latch on, and one of the swollen nipples grows tight under the rasp of my tongue. I’m gentle-- we learned the hard way that pregnancy had made her engorged breasts ultra sensitive. Sucking, I make slow, gentle pulls while my hands cradle the weight of her breasts.
Glancing up, I see Buck kiss her deeply. We don’t know who is the father of the child she carries. Neither of us care. I’m as thrilled to be sharing fatherhood with him as I am to share parenthood with her. We are a family of three, soon to be four.
Their kiss ends, and Buck slides down beside me. It’s hard for him to muscle in, our shoulders crowding for space, but he manages to latch onto her other breast. Now we are sucking her in tandem as her rapturous gasps fill the kitchen.
“S-sex can also b-bring, ohhhhhh, can help bring on labor.” Vickie’s hands are in our hair, but she doesn’t need to ask twice. I stand up and drop my shorts. Buck had her last. Since she’s hit the later stages, we don’t double team her. It’s too risky and besides, the logistics are ludicrous.
He eases her skirt off. I look down at her. She looks tired but glowing. Her breasts are spilling out of her shirt, which is stretched tight over her gigantic belly. A belly holding our baby. Buck spreads her thighs apart and I groan at how wet she is.
We help her up to the table. Buck supports her back. It’s too uncomfortable for her to lay all the way down. He pulls a thigh up, granting me easy access to her slick pussy. As I slide slowly into her, I lean across and kiss him.
Buck’s tongue swirls in my mouth and he tastes like sweat and beer. He breaks the kiss, nipping my lip. “Take care of our lady, Shep.” I love how thick his desire coats his voice.
It’s slow. Too hot for fucking and, despite her protests, I’m too scared of hurting Vickie and the baby. Still, it isn’t long before she’s tossing her hair and her legs are jerking. Buck reaches between us and thumbs her clit.
Goddamn, her pussy clamps on my cock and I come with her, rocking into her deep, warm depths.
With care, I ease out of her and she perches on the edge of the table, a hand on each of our shoulders. Her hair is damp like ours, her creamy skin flushed and dewy. She’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.
“Well, fudge,” she complains. “Still nothing.”
“We just got started,” Buck insists, going back to her nipple. Vickie grimaces, and I am about to slap his head for sucking to hard when he lets her nipple go with a plop and looks at me, eyes wide. “Shep,” he says, face awed, “there’s milk. You gotta try it!”
“Really?” Vickie sounds dubious. But Buck grabs both titties and squeezes firmly, and sure enough, tiny pearls of white pop out from her nipples.
My cock doesn’t lose its erection. If anything, I grow harder despite having just come. Sucking milk from Vickie’s tits has been a fantasy of mine from day one.
She quirks an eyebrow at me. “Well? Go ahead, I know you want to.”
Buck and I each grab a breast and start sucking. Fuck me, it’s sweet. I dare a harder draw and she moans, deep in her chest. Her hips are rocking, and I realize Buck’s hand is between her legs, rubbing her clit while we suckle.
A shudder runs through Vickie and then she jerks, her nipples tugging from our wanting mouths. “Ouch!” Her hand grabs her stomach.
Panic jolts through me and I’m standing. “What? What should I do? Are you okay?”
Vickie grabs her stomach once more, and my whole body feels like it could plummet through the floor. Feeling helpless, I rub her back, w
aiting. Finally, her eyes open and she starts rubbing her belly. “Guess nipple stimulation works,” she jokes.
It takes a moment for that to ripple through me. Buck gets to the conclusion first. “Oh shit, is this it? Are we having a baby?”
Vickie shrugs, so much stronger than us when it comes to this. “Well, I’m having contractions, at least. It could be a while, though. Help me off the table. I’m going to go walking.”
We ease her down, and she’s grabbing on us like we’re her totems. It makes me feel big. Strong.
“Oh! That’s embarrassing,” she groans.
“What?”
Her cheeks turn a dark crimson. “I peed myself a little.” Buck just laughs and starts helping her to our room. As they walk, her face keeps twisting.
“So help me, Vickie, spit it out. I’m worried sick here,” I say. Buck throws me a look, but I know he’s feeling the same way. Waiting has made us all happy but stretched thin.
“Um, I’m still peeing. Like, my legs are wet and it keeps coming.”
“Could it just be Shep’s jizz?” Buck looks wary.
“I don’t think so. Gosh, this is awful.” She looks at her distended belly. “Baby, listen here. You’re playing tricks on your mama and it’s not funny.”
Something tickles me, and I move to her. Yeah, it’s weird as hell, but I get down and smell her legs. My heart flips. “Buck, go help her change. Wipe her down, too, so she’s clean. I’m going to get the overnight bag and start the car.” Looking up, it’s Vickie’s turn to be surprised, her wide, brown eyes watering. “Baby girl, your water broke.”
We all beam for a moment before the panic and anxiety hits. I suppose that’s the way all adventures start, with uncertainty. But with these two (and soon to be three) by my side, I feel ready for anything.
I feel nothing but love.
