I didn’t see him there again.
~~~~
Thom tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear and spoke. “I told Eric and Mattie what was happening that week. I left a lot out. I didn’t tell them about the Program setting or anything, because I was so embarrassed an audience had seen all of this. I was so humiliated that I didn’t want them to know. And then I guess I blocked most of it out, shut it behind a door for all these years. But I told them what Gareth himself was doing to me, and that our father was facilitating it. Then Eric… fixed things the best way he could. They haven’t called me ‘Thomas’ once since. Things were bad for a long time, but Eric and Mattie were there, no matter how bad things got or how wretched I was.”
We had another staring contest. There were no tears this time.
t seemed certain that Matthew and SammyJo were pairing up. I talked to Eric about what I’d seen between them. He thought I was putting him on.
“No, really! I bet you,” I said positively, “SammyJo will be moving into the lean-to within a fortnight.”
“What’re the stakes?” Eric asked.
“If I win, you get my Water Duty for a week,” I said, thinking. “If you win, we… I… with Thom.”
Eric laughed. “That sounds like you win either way!”
“I always win. Well, choose your own stakes, then.”
“I’ll take your bet, with the stakes as they stand. You’re on.”
We shook on it.
I thought of the farmer’s power converter and felt as though I’d turned my head to face it. The flashing amber light transitioned to flashing green.
Later, I heard Eric telling Thom about the bet.
“Matthew and Sam?” Thom said. “Really?”
“Eric?” I called from up the trail.
“Yeah?”
“Come with?”
Eric jogged from the lean-to to me. “Hey!” he laughed as I pulled him over the trail to the shack.
We ran along, hopping tree roots and dodging rocks. I hurried him into the small building and locked the door. I stripped the clothes from Eric’s body right in front of the doorway, covering him with kisses—especially on his arms.
I led him to the oak bureau that was against the back wall. He undressed me in front of it. He kissed me as he began to touch my clothing and didn’t let up even after he’d removed the last of it.
“Hhnngh,” I told him as his mouth moved down my neck. “Want to try something,” I whispered. A statement; a question.
He nodded. “Yeah?”
“Experiment?” I sort of clarified.
“Yeah?”
We both were panting and smiling, still breathless from running and from each other.
I lay over the bureau and let the back of my head hang down over its side. “Stand before me!” I commanded imperiously as I pointed at where I desired him to be.
He chuckled at this and quickly obeyed.
I pulled him closer, until his dick was in my mouth and down my throat.
Eric made a strangulated noise of pleasure and I released him. His eyes were full of question marks.
“Okay, so… try to be predictable, because when you’re all the way in, I can’t breathe,” I told him.
He nodded and I hung my head back and slid him into my mouth again. He pushed in and out of my throat with an easy rhythm I could breathe to. Naked Eric was standing beside the bureau and leaning over my naked body and fucking my mouth, and I was monumentally enjoying it.
“Uhh… hh… hh… hh…” sounded from my throat as he stroked in and out of it.
When he came, it was all the way past the back of my throat. I felt it flowing toward my stomach in a warm rush.
No gag reflex in this position; I’m liking the physics, I thought happily. It had taken me months to figure out the answer, with lots of R&D time, but I’d finally done it. There’s usually a solution available when one’s stubborn enough. Virtually nothing is impossible.
That wasn’t all that had happened, though. Once Eric had settled into his rhythm, he’d leaned down and begun licking me, and bestowed me with a few fireworks shows of my own.
Late that afternoon, Matthew threw a party. He’d been saving Zebra Cakes for a special occasion and had even found Day of the Dead decorations. We cooked a feast, enjoyed music, and lounged around the fire.
“What’s the party for?” Sam asked. “Finishing the wall?”
“Not even close,” Thom said, shaking his head and smiling at me, then turning his face away.
“Oh,” I said, realizing what the party was about. “Matthew!”
Matthew smiled at me and I looked at Eric, who wore his Cheshire Cat grin.
I blushed. “Seriously?”
Thom laughed. “Congratulations,” he said to me. He looked at Matthew and Eric. “Pay up, guys.”
“Wait,” I said to Thom. “They both bet against me?”
“Excuse me! I thought it was physically impossible,” Matthew insisted.
Eric held himself completely motionless.
“I can still see you,” I teased, elbowing him in the ribs.
Thom laughed again. “I think you guys have some groveling to do.”
“It’s going to take more than that to get them out of this,” I declared. I hugged Thom.
“I always had faith in you,” he assured me.
Sammy looked confused.
“I’ll explain later,” I promised. The impetus behind the party wasn’t the only thing I had to tell her. Matthew’s Kit Time was about to start paying off for him and Sam both.
Eric hugged me. “Okay, I’m taking your Doody Duty away. Permanently. Does that help get me forgiven?”
I hugged him back. “It’s a start.”
Matthew and Sam were whispering to each other. I saw him lean down to kiss her, and felt elated for them. And vindicated.
“Guys,” Matthew addressed us.
We all looked over to see him standing with an arm around Sammy’s shoulders.
“Sam’s moving in with us tonight.”
I hugged them both. We all grinned and bumped fists.
“Welcome home,” I told Sam.
So Eric got a week’s worth of my Water Duty heaped on top of my Doody Duty (but he plunged cheerfully off toward the lake with two buckets when he had to make good on it). If Thom felt lonely or like a fifth wheel, he didn’t show it. I wondered how he’d felt about the stakes when Eric told him, and how he felt about Eric’s losing the bet.
When Matthew and Sam left to collect the last load of Sam’s things, I sat on my sleeping bag and spread a blanket over it. While I smoothed wrinkles from the blanket, I said to Eric and Thom, “I think both of the bet’s payoffs should be collected.”
They beamed and high-fived. Go Team Us!
ur large lean-to still felt roomy, even with another person in there. SammyJo slept by the far wall, next to Matthew. Matthew was next to Thom, and I was between Thom and Eric.
That night, I slept with Eric spooned behind me, with my arm stretched out and the back of my hand under Thom’s side, just beneath his rib cage. He faced away from me, but he’d tucked his hand under mine, palm to palm. I leaned forward to whisper good night with my lips brushing the back of his ear. I kissed the base of his neck, blowing hot air along the upper part of his spine and watching goose bumps appear there. I tilted my head and pressed my nose and forehead to him for a few seconds, feeling how the curves of my face fit the back of his neck. I Squeezy-Eyesed against his skin, and then I settled down with Eric. I was cozily ensconced in our Bob.
The first time I woke up, Thom was still facing away, sleeping peacefully. I watched him in the moonlight ghosting through the curtain-door’s openings, and then I fell asleep again.
When I awoke the second time, I found Thom had rolled over to face me. He was looking at our hands, at the way they fit together. A glow issued from my palms. I wriggled my fingers slightly, showing Thom I was awake. He looked from our hands to my eyes.
“Luminous,” he commented softly, kissing my palms’ blue radiance.
Eric had stopped snoring. I turned my face partway toward him, and he kissed the space between my lower jaw and my ear.
I gave Thom’s hand a tug. He traversed the few inches of space we were separated by like he was transporting himself miles. An eternity was locked in that instant. I slipped my fingers behind his neck, into his hair, and then his lips were against mine and his tongue was in my mouth.
Eric was biting gently at the nape of my neck. Then less gently biting and kissing at my shoulder. I wrapped my right foot out around his ankle.
Thom pressed his body so hard to mine that I could feel his heart galloping against my chest. Thom’s fingers gently touched the wild roses all along my side, underneath my nightshirt. He held my right breast in his hand and his thumb stroked over it, stroked over the roses. He moaned quietly into my mouth, pulling back momentarily to check how I was feeling about where things were going.
“Yes,” I whispered, and he kissed me again, so desperately.
Eric slowly unbuttoned Bob and slid the cloth away from my body, and he and Thom both watched the Angel’s Glow in the roses undulate as I breathed. The tiny points of blue lights were like constellations. Eric and Thom were spellbound by the effect. Finally, I tugged Eric’s ankle with my foot and pulled Thom in to kiss me again.
Eric moved his hand across me and slid his fingers down my stomach, tracing circles over the wild roses and past where they ended. Thom kissed down my neck, across my collarbone. My senses overloaded. For once, I kept completely quiet. Tiny flashes of light flew around in my vision long after the fireworks show faded.
Thom leaned his forehead against mine and Eric leaned his against the back of my head, and I trembled between them.
“Here,” Eric whispered. He pulled my hip back onto him so I was draped over him, making me more… accessible.
My nails bit into the back of Eric’s leg, and Thom’s fingers moved over the slippery flesh between my legs. Eric scratched his fingernails up and down the front of my thigh, while Thom strummed me backhandedly. I loved the way their fingers and mouths played over my skin. In seconds, my body became a frenzy of involuntary motion again. And again. And again. Then once more. This time, a small cry broke free from my mouth. So soft, Matthew’s and Sam’s snores nearly drowned it out.
Thom didn’t remove his hand, but he stopped moving it. He waited for me to be still, but every breath he took moved his hand, and that moved my body. After a few seconds, he tentatively twitched one of the fingers he’d almost lost. He pushed it into me.
“Thank you, Joes,” I said softly. Thom and I broke into giggles.
Thom moved his finger, exploring my body from the inside. I moaned loudly. It was an accident—out of my control. Matthew and Sam stirred slightly and we froze, stifling laughs. A moment later, snores filled our home again.
Thom’s hand resumed moving. He pressed his ear to my cheek, listening to my shivery, shuddering breaths. Feeling them.
Eric pushed his hand against Thom’s. I hadn’t expected that. My body jerked hard and my breath caught in my throat.
“Hold,” Eric told him.
Thom obeyed, becoming a statue.
Eric stroked me, his hand bumping into Thom’s, making his command for Thom to stay still all but impossible. I climaxed again. Thom pressed his head against mine, murmuring as he felt the muscles inside me rhythmically, reflexively squeeze around his finger.
Eric expounded softly, “Every time she…” He kissed me behind the ear, his thought trailing off. “You should see her eyes then…” He trailed off once more, and picked the thread back up: “Immaculate.” Then, “More soon.” He grinned goofily, and we all shook with silent laughter. An odd little speech, to be sure. In any case, it was a suggestion that we’d perhaps gone far enough for the night. None of us wanted to wake up Matthew and Sam.
Thom sniffed at his fingers, then licked them the same way Eric had when he’d first touched me like that. Ha! The way Eric was licking his own, now. Yep. My guys. Not picky eaters.
Matthew and SammyJo snored on.
“I’m going to go… do… thing,” Thom whispered, leaving the lean-to.
I kissed Eric. “I’m going to attend,” I said, and Eric settled comfortably back into our bed.
I left the lean-to and circled to the boulder at the back corner, where Thom had gone to Do Thing. He hadn’t expected me to follow, and he smiled at my approach. I smiled too, feeling oddly shy. I leaned back against a birch tree for a moment and watched him. Bob’s buttons were undone and the shirt fell partway down my back, hanging from its sleeves at my elbows. I moved to sit beside Thom on the rock, wrapping my arms around him and kissing him. I placed a hand on Thom’s arm and felt how his muscles moved as he Did Thing.
When he finished, Thom encircled me with his arms and scrutinized the glow along my side. “It means something, doesn’t it?” he asked softly.
“Probably, knowing Gareth.”
“I keep thinking I see something in it. I mean, aside from the roses. When I stare at it long enough.”
“Let’s get to sleep,” I advised, stifling a yawn. “It will come to you in time, if there’s really something to see in there.”
“You’ll let me study it?”
“I’ll let you anything.”
He must’ve been satisfied at the sincerity he heard.
Thom and I returned to our blankets, and I nestled between him and Eric for bed. Matthew and Sam continued snoring loudly on the far side of the lean-to. Eric was snoring, too; his breaths were soft, warm puffs against my neck. Thom settled in and pulled the blanket up over us.
“The answer’s in there,” he said with certainty.
“The answer?”
“Yep. And I’m going to find it,” he told me, bringing his lips to mine.
“And then what are you going to do with it?” I asked before he could kiss me good night.
“We’re going to figure out what Gareth did and we’re going to fix it.”
“Mm-kay.”
Thom kissed me again.
The next day, all of us—Eric, Thom, Matthew, Sam, and I—hiked out to a shuffleboard court Matthew had recently discovered. We spent most of the day out there, playing shuffleboard and holding an extended picnic. Thom and I took a short walk. Beyond a hill and behind the trees, out of sight and hearing of the others, Thom pushed me up against an old shed, and we leaned on the shed’s rough green shingles while making out. Then I lay on the ground in the cold grass and Thom joined me. There was a chill to the air and a breeze kicked up around us. It made me shiver, but Thom’s skin was warm and he covered me with his body like a blanket.
After, we went back to shuffleboard and picnic. I ran to our group, hopping on Matthew’s back and challenging him to battle. We had a quick fight, then he and Sam demonstrated what they’d been working on.
Eric and Thom relaxed in the grass next to the shuffleboard courts, leaning against a wall and sitting side by side. I stretched out upon them and watched as Sam and Matthew had a tame fight. He was right. She was learning fast.
“Girl fight!” Matthew requested, ready for a break.
I stood and tossed Sammy a drink, giving her a moment to rest. Then we circled each other, smiling. Sam charged and I deflected her punch. I kicked, and she got out of the way before my foot made contact. Our fight continued for a good ten minutes.
After our mock battle, in which Sam had acquitted herself well, we hugged.
“Girl-on-girl action,” Matthew said, and the guys all grinned.
I impulsively whispered into Sam’s ear and she laughed a yes, and we both looked over at Matthew, who was unashamedly staring at us.
Sam tangled a leg with mine and slid her arms around my waist, and I held my arms around her waist, too. We very slowly shared a passionate kiss. We let it drag on until we had to break away in giggles. Sam and I gave each other a quick, friendly kiss and hugged again be
fore breaking apart.
Our guys were speechless for a moment.
“Well, that’s going in the Vault!” Matthew announced.
Thom smiled, but didn’t say anything. I wanted to nibble at his earlobe.
“That was totally hot,” Eric told us. Such a Matthew-y thing to say.
“Team Us!” Sam and I high-fived.
Then we tried to go back to shuffleboard, but I couldn’t leave Eric alone. He didn’t seem to mind.
“It’s ‘Soon’ now,” I said to Eric and Thom the next night, tugging at their hands. “I have a present for you. At least, I think it’s a present. I hope it is.”
Matthew and SammyJo arrived at our lean-to just as I began to write where we’d be for the evening on our chalkboard.
“Where are you all going?” Sammy asked.
“Night mission. Top secret,” I kidded. I looked from Matthew to Sam, then back to Matthew. “Lean-to’s yours all night tonight, kids.”
Sam and Matthew bumped fists.
Eric and Thom and I grabbed our bags and made our way through the woods, to the shack.
Eric locked the deadbolt and Thom lit a few candles. Eric settled into his chair, content to wait. I picked up the tent lantern we’d never bothered to use, tested it, and hung it from a pendant lamp over the table. I fastened them together with a carabiner snagged from my backpack. I left the lantern switched off, though.
Thom and I stood in the center of the room. He was cautious again about touching me. At first. Because of Eric, I think. Instead of making him undress me, I stood before him, pulling off my clothing. And then I stood in front of him naked, and he contemplated everything about me. Every breath, every piece of the carving, every scar; every detail of my body. He reached out to touch me and I smiled as I caught Eric’s wink while glancing his way. And then I couldn’t look at Eric, because Thom was all over me.
Survial Kit Series (Book 1): Survival Kit's Apocalypse Page 35
