Sinful Surrender

by Houston Havens

  He cringed, tilted his head, and used his hair as a shield to hide his embarrassment from Fay. “Don’t call me that in front of her.”

  “Why not?” Roxie snickered. “You’re the baby brother of the Abán clan, ain’t ya?”

  “Come on, Roxie. No speaking Cherokee in front of Fay. Why did you bring that tray up here anyway? I got her breakfast.”

  “You know Logan as well as I do. He won’t be happy until this food is delivered.” She plunked the tray down beside Fay and smiled. “Welcome to this crazier than crazy house. I’m Roxie. I cook and clean for these boys, until one of them gets busy and finds a wife. You all right, dear?”

  Fay glanced at Roxie and gave a quick smile before darting her gaze back to Arlo. “Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

  “Why, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Roxie chuckled and made her way back to the door.

  “I’m sorry.” Fay looked back at Roxie. “I feel like I’ve seen you before.”

  Arlo smiled. “You mean, déjà vu—already seen.”

  Roxie waved her hand. “Oh that happens to me all the time.”

  “Does it?” Fay’s body straightened. “Are you a mind traveler?”

  “A what?” Roxie’s eyes rounded. “Why that sounds down right spooky.”

  Arlo came to Fay’s rescue. “Never mind, Roxie. Thanks for bringing the tray in.”

  “Okay.” She stepped outside the door. “Remember, hon, if you need anything, you’ll find me in the kitchen.”

  “Thank you,” Fay said before Roxie closed the door.

  Arlo cocked a brow at the trays of food. “I hope you’re hungry.”

  Fay’s gracious smile eased his guilt over the interrogation and for what Drakker had put her through yesterday. “I’m starved. Whatcha got?”

  “Everything, it would seem.” He reached over the tray he’d brought up and touched her cheek, drawing her almond-shaped eyes to his. “I am sorry about yesterday and last night.”

  She stiffened. “You heard about what happened? Or did you stay to watch the mind traveler break?” She dropped her violet eyes to his Adam’s apple.

  He swallowed hard. Her lips pressed into a fine line, telling him she knew the answer to the question.

  “So, you despise me.”

  He felt his back muscles tighten with shock. “Not at all.”

  Surprise contorted her pretty face. “You don’t? But I admitted to—”

  He got up and moved the tray between them. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “So, it’s true? You were a spy for the Underworld government.” He shrugged, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “So, what? Now you’re ours.”

  “You mean—no, I was talking about when I confessed to liking what Drakker did to me. You must think I’m a whore.”

  “Damn, woman.” He sat back from her. “Why would I ever think that? You’re not a mutant.”

  “I thought…well…I admitted to liking…It’s sick. I know, but I…God Almighty Arlo, you saw me on all fours, begging Drakker to…you know. I’m so embarrassed.” She covered her face with her trembling hands.

  He pulled them down and held them in his adoring caress. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. It was the herb talking, I’m sure.”

  “I don’t know. I’m so confused about who I am and what I want now.”

  “Do you remember our little chat by the campfire the first night?”

  She smiled. “How could I forget? You made me laugh a lot, and—”

  “And…everything I said was filled with innuendoes and flirtation.”

  She covered her widening smile. “So, I wasn’t reading into it, huh?”

  “Nope.”

  “But, what’s that got to do with—”

  “There were some very romantic overtones in your response to those innuendoes, not kinky ones. That’s why, my little filly, I know when we kissed at the river your true desire was falling head over heels for a more sensuous kind of sex.”

  “I thought so too.” She frowned. “But now, I don’t know. I love the idea of romance, but I have to admit, I don’t know what romance is. I’ve never had romance.” She heaved her shoulders. “Except for what I fantasized it to be like.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sex in my world is…well, is to make babies. And only when the Underworld government runs the licensed sex lotto.”

  “Licensed? A sex lotto? What’s it for?”

  “It allows several winning couples to partake in sex with a chance it might lead to a baby. Anyone who seeks to break the law and have unlicensed sex, risks censure and death if the woman gets pregnant out of the seasoned lotto.”

  “Wow. So, what is the average person supposed to do about his natural urges? What if he never wins the lotto? Then what?”

  “He or she will be a virgin forever, unless they go to one of the masturbation clinics. There, a person can use a sex toy to get rid of their virginity. But, you’re still alone in a room. There is no mixed couples’ masturbation area, guess it would be too tempting.”

  “Those places must be packed.”

  “Not really. Most won’t go because rumors say the government workers at the clinics will sterilize you. The way I saw it was, why go there when you can do it at home. Alone is alone, right?”

  “Pretty much. So, how do people get together?”

  “They don’t…really.”

  “To prevent pregnancy does the Underworld government encourage same-sex gatherings?”

  “Oh my God, no! Are you kidding? Bisexual and homosexual sex are considered treason against the Underworld government’s religion. You’ll be shot on the spot if you get caught in any gay or lesbian acts.”

  “Jesus, so how can anyone take care of a natural urge?”

  “The Underworld government doesn’t care if you have urges. All sexual feelings of any kind are to be denied. They are not to be followed except through the designated clinics. So people who want sex have to find a place with no government surveillance cameras—”

  “Should be easy enough. What’s wrong with your home or private quarters?”

  “Our homes, streets, public transits, and buildings, as well as all our personal communication monitors within our homes and buildings are all live feed. Everything we do goes right back to the security stations.”

  “Shit, forgive my French. But that’s an invasion of your personal privacy. How do you people live under such conditions?”

  “Lawbreakers make illegal sex fast and then pray she doesn’t get pregnant.”

  “Damn. Don’t you have constitutional rights? That’s no way to live. Denial of attraction and love would kill any songwriter or poet’s creativity.”

  “We can only get black-market poems and music.”

  “Why?”

  “Those art forms would encourage people to desire love and sex. As you can see, there is no time or place for romance. So, I don’t know what romance is except for what I’ve imagined it to be in my mind.”

  Arlo laughed. “Well, after hearing all this, I’m quite sure you’ve never had romance. Romantic sex can only be fulfilling when partners are in love. And there doesn’t seem to be room for love in your world. You really have no idea what romance is, do you?”

  “I thought what happened between us at the river was romantic, but last night what happened with Drakker was—”

  “Drakker? Hon, that was far from romance. If you weren’t being interrogated, it would have been called erotic foreplay. It ain’t nowhere close to the kind of love, sex, or romance I’m into.”

  “I thought I felt love with you. I think about you all the time, until…I’m so confused. I’ve seen a few things when mind traveling, enough to have fantasies. But until I did a little more research last night, I didn’t even know there were so many different kinds of sex.” She looked away. “Anyway, I’m sorry, Arlo.”

  “For what?”

  “For hurting you. You’re being so understan—”

  “You haven�
�t hurt me.”

  “Arlo? During the interrogation I acknowledged my desire to be with Drakker.”

  “Well, he would be the man for that kind of stuff. He’s into the titillation of a prolonged bondage seduction kind of sex. Nothing wrong with it as long as he can get his pecker to cooperate. Me, I couldn’t do what he does.” He reached for her chin. When she turned her face away, he knew something was wrong. “Fay, nothing between you and me has changed because of yesterday’s interrogation. Just like I confessed that night by the campfire, I desire you. I still desire you, probably even more.”

  “What?” Her eyes widened. “You can’t possibly want anything to do with me now. I mean…to be with me…in a sexual way. I…well, I…just can’t sleep around. You’re brothers. That’s even worse. It isn’t right, nor is it moral.”

  He laughed. “Well, first let’s establish normal. Because here, brothers of one bloodline will all marry the same woman.”

  “Wait. Drakker was saying something about this last night, but I couldn’t wrap my head around what he was talking about. I was still in a brain fog. Let me get this straight. A woman can marry two or three men?”

  “Or more.”

  “But, not at the same time, right? Last night, Drakker made it sound like your mother married all of your fathers, all at the same time.”

  “She did.”

  “She was married to three men? All at the same time? Wow.”

  “Here, when a woman marries within the bloodline of brothers, there is one wedding preformed for them all. If you married me and my brothers, that’s how our marriage would be. But, now, when our mother married, there was a tri-marriage ceremony done. Our mother married into three family bloodlines, not one. Drakker and Logan’s fathers were distant cousins, but they were both best friends with my dad. All of them were the only boys born into their bloodlines.”

  “Ah! That explains it!”

  “Explains what?”

  “I get it, I think. Now I don’t feel so uncomfortable about what I saw Roxie doing in Logan’s den.”

  “What? When did you see Roxie? What was she doing in Logan’s den?”

  “I guess you didn’t notice. But, when she entered the room, I was embarrassed.”

  “I noticed your deep flush.”

  “My reaction was because I’d watched Roxie having sex with two men.”

  “I don’t follow you. Are you saying you’re into voyeurism? You and Logan will hit it off as well.”

  “No. I’m a mind traveler. I watch for a living.” She waved him off voyeurism and that train of thought. “Roxie wasn’t being immoral…” She shook her head as if he were slow. “Remember the older guy who met us when we arrived? He took your horses to the barn.”

  “You mean Sam?”

  “The man with the sleepy eyes. The guy Moochy ran off with.”

  “Sam. He’s one of Roxie’s husbands.”

  Her smile stretched across her face. “Yeah, and I’ll bet her other hubby has unique, distinctive eyes that make you think he’s wiser than his years. They twinkle all the time. His skin is well kissed by the sun. He’s much younger than Sam. He has a white, toothy grin, and he wears an old brown cowboy hat with a frayed rim.”

  “Sounds like you’re describing Ricky. How do you know them?”

  “I don’t, except for what I saw of them in my mind travel. That’s why I was embarrassed when I saw Roxie. I thought I had viewed her being…immoral. I felt like she wouldn’t want anyone to know she’d slept with two men. Yet, I knew.”

  “Ah, so that explains your ruby face.” He smiled at the pinkness dusting her cheeks even now. “And that brings me to my second point. Morals. They’re not the same here as they are in your world. Sex is a wonderful, basic need of all humans. But, we do believe in the sacredness of one woman’s faithfulness and love to a single group of brothers or men.” Arlo stroked her cheek. “I know this is all so different from your beliefs.”

  “Faithfulness isn’t a problem. Where I come from, sleeping with the brother of the man you’re involved with is considered a sin, punishable by death.”

  “I’ll take a wild guess. The reason for the lotto sex is because the Dirt Dwellers are overpopulated.”

  “You guessed right.”

  Her perplexed expression worried him. “Well here, sex with your mates is whenever you feel like it. Did Drakker take you to his bed last night?”

  “No.”

  “At the river, did I take you?”

  “You know you didn’t. But, I wanted you to.” She looked away. “And last night I wanted Drakker. You can’t tell me it was the herb. My need continued after the drug wore off.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I’m so confused!”

  “After what I just told you, you shouldn’t be.”

  Her head snapped up as she shot daggers at him with her stare. “Well, I am!” She hid her face again. “One woman with two men?”

  “As I said, here it’s accepted. It’s normal.”

  “Well, it’s not where I come from.”

  “So, in spite of what you’ve learned, you’re feeling guilty because we kissed at the river, and you liked it.”

  She looked up at him. “I did. I really did.”

  “Now, because of last night, you discovered you have a wild side. A side Drakker can fulfill. So you’re feeling a similar want and desire for him.” At her nod, he smirked and hugged her tighter against him. “This isn’t bad news. I thought I’d never be married because of Drakker’s kinky desires. Then…you show up. What luck. We find a woman who is into both kinds of sex. This is great news!”

  She pushed out of his arms. “I understand you boys share, but I still thought you’d be upset.”

  “After what Drakker did to you, you were bound to have some kind of feelings for him. I’m just happy they’re feelings of affection and not hate.” He raised and dropped his shoulders. “So, love us both.”

  “Both?” Her face wrinkled into a pruned expression. “I don’t know if that’s possible.”

  “Every Airborne woman is honored for her ability to love more than one husband, and yet not favor one over another. Women can truly love many and be true to them all. I’m sure that’s why God gifted them with childbirth. A mother loves all her children, no matter how different. This is the true wonder of a woman.”

  “I don’t know what to think. I do care about you, but—”

  “Okay.” He took a deep breath and let it go. “I know this is way too early to confess, but we don’t have the luxury of time on our side. I love you, Fay.” He pulled her willing body against him, placing a loving kiss on her lips. “I fell in love with you at first sight. I know it sounds crazy considering your braid was a ratted mess with loose hairs all over the place. Ash covered your face, and you had a bloody nose going like a waterfall over your top lip, but it happened for me like that.”

  Her gaze besieged him then twinkled. “Well, had I known I looked that bad, I would have waited to kiss you until after the bath.”

  “Hell, I’m handy with the spit and polish. I had your bloody nose stopped and cleaned up before you even woke. You looked nothing but sexy to me.” He caressed her with his stare. “Your kiss at the river told me you were attracted to me as well.”

  “Oh, Arlo.”

  Her look of remorse broke his heart. He had to find a way to get her to understand.

  “How can I—” She fisted her hands. “I begged your brother to fuck me last night.”

  He unclenched her fists and encased her hands in his. “Get this through your thick Dirt Dweller head. It doesn’t matter to me or Drakker.” He pulled her to him and kissed her with a passion and a longing he could no longer hold back. Fay responded by opening her mouth to accept his tongue but a moment later jerked away.

  “I can’t do this!” She jumped up from the window seat.

  “Fay, what matters to me is what we’ve got. What we share. How we love each other.” He pulled her back to him. “Tell me what you’re fe
eling right now in your heart belongs only to Drakker, and I’ll leave you be.”

  “That’s what’s so wrong. I feel something for you and your brother.” She pulled at her hair. “I’m sick in my head! I must have dented my brain in the crash,” she shouted over his chuckles as she tore away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. “That or it’s got to be the drug. Please tell me it’s still working through my body. That’s got to be it, the herb. I can’t…” Fay turned away. When she turned back around, he could see the confusion in her pleading eyes as she said, “I can’t. It’s not right. I shouldn’t be feeling anything for either one of you. It’s too soon.”

  “The heart knows no time, Fay. When the right souls meet, the merge will happen, in spite of all the chaos happening in your life. It’s happening between us, and with you and Drakker. I’m sure you’ll feel something for Logan soon.”

  “Logan!” Her face flushed. “No! No way. He’s handsome, but he’s arrogant and cold.”

  “As our leader, yes, he’s withdrawn and guarded. As a man, a side of him you haven’t seen, but when you do you’ll without a doubt fall in love with him. I’m telling you, this is fate. It’s the reason you fell from the sky right into our hands. You’ll see. You’ll find feelings for Logan.”

  “Never.”

  He laughed. “Well my little filly, when a woman takes a man here, the laws states she automatically marries his brothers as well. Logan will have husband rights with you.”

  “What?”

  “It’s the law.” He smirked. “Just be grateful I don’t have thirteen brothers.”

  “Oh my Lord, that’s crazy!”

  “Is it? In your world a woman craves love and devotion from one man and rarely gets either from him, or so I’ve gathered from what you’ve said. Our women get that, plus honor and trust from all of their men. Each man can fulfill some or all of the wonderful aspects of his woman’s needs. Me, I’m a poet, a romantic, and a listener. When you want candles, bubble baths, or just a chat to get something off your mind, I’m your man. Drakker’s an alpha male. He’s all physical. When you need to feel rescued or find adventure on the wild side of life, you’ll find it with him. You won’t get romance from him, but you’ll find temptation and lust for sure.”