by Meg Ripley
Finally she collected herself and went into the house. It still felt strangely still and suspended, even with the sound of the crew's voices filling the halls. It was as if the walls absorbed them, adding them to the thoughts, memories, and secrets that they already held. Madison placed her keys in the same wicker basket by the back door that she always did, wondering how many more times she would actually do that, and cautiously entered the dining room.
It took several seconds before one of the crew members noticed her and straightened from where he leaned over the array of computers they had set up on the dining room table. The juxtaposition between the gleaming technology and the delicate lace tablecloth made her smile, thinking that in the years that her grandmother was still lucid, she probably would have been fascinated by the entire experience.
"Hey, Madison," he said.
She waved and Jesse looked up at her from the other side of the room where he seemed to be trying to fix one of the cameras.
"We're just about set up here. I just finished setting up the cameras in the upper floors and the hidden passageway. All that's left is getting all of the audio linked up and then we can get started."
His eyes sparkled and she smiled at him.
Suddenly she felt a touch on the back of her pants and the spicy smell of Noah filled her lungs. Gently tugging her closer to him with the finger tucked into her belt loop, he looked over her head at the rest of the crew, who didn't seem to notice his hold on her.
"Are we about ready to go?" he asked.
The firm and deliberate pressure of his hand at the back of her pants brought the tremble back to Madison's belly and she fought to keep her breath controlled. She didn't want the other members of the crew to notice the way he touched her, or the way that simple touch made her feel.
"Yep," Jesse said, "We can get started."
"Perfect. Let's go dark."
Someone flipped the switch on the generator-run floodlight set up near one wall and the room went dark except for the blue glow from the computer screens. Madison felt Noah's face came close to her ear.
"You're coming with me," he whispered before lifting his voice louder to talk to Jesse, "I'm going to start in the basement. Why don't you head upstairs and we'll work our way back here."
Before Jesse could acknowledge the idea, Noah gave a firmer tug on her belt loop and started leading her backwards out of the room. When she had stumbled a few steps backwards, he released her and let her turn around, then resumed his grip on her with his finger through one of the loops on the front of her pants. With the beam of his flashlight illuminating the floor in front of his feet, Noah led her down the hallway, through the kitchen, and down the stairs into the basement.
A chill rose up through her as soon as they descended the stairs. She liked that space just as little as she had the day before, and the fact that it was creeping close to midnight didn't help the eerie feeling that slowly crept up her spine and sent a shiver at the base of her neck. They had only made it halfway into the room when Noah extinguished his flashlight.
Madison gasped and instinctively reached out for him, grasping at his shirt and trying to pull herself into his arms. He took her by her upper arms and held her still.
"I want to do a little experiment," he said calmly.
"What kind of experiment?"
Her voice sounded timid in the darkness, but hearing him responding to her helped to calm the nerves that were giving her the compulsion to run. She still wasn't convinced that there were disembodied spirits lurking throughout the house, but there was definitely something in the darkness, a feeling that kept her just on the edge.
"Sometimes," Noah said, starting to guide her backward slowly, "we like to use what we call trigger objects. We believe that it can help the spirits connect with us when they see items or people or situations that they find familiar, or maybe that upset them. This gives them the motivation to communicate with us. I want to use you as my trigger object."
Madison felt her back touch the wall. The stone was cold and uneven against her, but Noah's hand on her belly kept her in place.
"How?" she asked.
"Can you imagine what it must have been like for the people who were kept in this basement?" he asked.
She gasped as she felt him lift one of her hands above her shoulder and the cold clamp of metal close around her wrist. A second later, he lifted the other hand and she realized he was locking her into the chains that hung on the wall. She made a sound of protest and pulled against the chains, trying to release herself. In the darkness, she was starting to panic.
"Shhhhh," he hushed her quietly.
She felt his body come closer to hers and his fingertip touch her lips to quiet her. The warmth of him close to her quickly eased the anxiety building within her.
"They were in constant darkness," he whispered and she felt him step back, "But it must have made the rest of their senses much more intense."
****
Her body shook slightly and she ached to get closer to him, but instead, she stayed still and quiet like he had instructed her, falling further and further under the power he had over her with each second that passed. He leaned forward so that his mouth brushed against her ear but his body stayed just far enough away that she couldn't yet feel his heat.
"Their sense of hearing," he gently whispered and she heard a fluttering sound followed by the soft metallic hiss of his zipper going down.
"Their sense of taste."
The tip of his tongue lightly brushed and parted her lips as she opened her mouth further to take him in even further. An instant later, his finger touched her tongue and she tasted something salty and slightly sweet against his skin. She closed her lips tightly around his finger and gave a gentle suck, pulling more of the taste into her mouth.
"Their sense of anticipation."
His fingers came to the buttons on the front of her shirt and worked their way down, releasing them at a torturously slow pace. When her shirt finally sprang open, she felt him blow a stream of cool air across the swell over her breasts and down the soft curve of her stomach. She whimpered and the feeling stopped. As soon as she quieted, the air returned and continued along the dip of her waist and then along the top of her pants to trace from hipbone to hipbone. Her hands lifted slightly and wrapped around the chains, gripping them tightly to give herself stability against the intense feeling.
The fear was gone now, replaced by absolute focus on the sound of his breath, the lingering taste of his skin on her tongue, and the shivering anticipation of further touch. This focus was so deep it startled her when his hands came to the shackle at one wrist and released it. He caught her hand as it dropped and she heard him whisper again.
"Their sense of touch."
He drew her hand closer to him and she felt him place it on his firm chest, then slowly guide it down so she could feel the smooth, hard ripples of his abs. She felt the trail of coarse hair leading down from his navel and she let him trace it with her hand until her fingertips brushed the soft, hot skin of his erection. A moan escaped her and she bit down on her bottom lip, but before she could wrap her hand around him, he lifted it up again. He touched his lips to the inside of her wrist and Madison felt her knees buckle slightly.
"If there are spirits down here," he whispered, "What do you think they are thinking?"
"That you should release my other hand."
"Oh, really?"
Noah stepped closer, bringing her free hand to the back of his neck and pressing down on it so that she held him. She could feel his hard thick shaft graze her belly and her breath caught as he pressed against her to stroke it against her smooth skin.
"Mmmmhmmmm," she murmured in affirmation.
"And why is that?"
He nipped her bottom lip with his teeth and she moaned ever so softly.
"So I can explore my senses more."
Noah released her other hand and she immediately combed her fingers back through his hair, gripping the back o
f his head so she could pull his mouth directly onto hers. Her wet lips parted willingly beneath his and their tongues tangled.
"Which senses?" he asked breathlessly when their kiss finally broke.
"Hearing," she whispered and bit into his neck, bringing out a deep groan.
Madison smiled and kissed the place she had just bitten.
"Touch."
She hungrily kissed her way along his neck and then brought her fingers to his broad shoulders so she could run them down his thick arms to his large hands. Once they traced beyond his fingertips, she brought her hands back to his chest and flattened them, smoothing them down his chest and tight stomach so she could feel every curve and plane of his body. Her fingernails scraped lightly over his hipbones and she heard his breath catch in his throat.
"Taste."
Madison lowered herself to her knees. Using the position of her hands as guidance, she leaned forward through the darkness and ran the tip of her tongue slowly along the underside of his shaft. When she reached the head, she was rewarded with the same slightly sweet, salty taste he had spread on her tongue as she gathered a drop of liquid that slipped across the tip. The darkness around her brought incredible awareness to each of these senses, elevating the experience so that she could revel in the tiniest details of her fingers tightening on his hips, the groans emanating from his throat, and his hips rocking subtly to press the his ridged and eager cock against her soft lips. She complied with the request, opening her soft mouth further and drawing his entire length across her wanting tongue.
Noah's hands dug feverishly into her hair and she felt the muscles of his hips begin to spasm as he seemed to arch back slightly, his sounds increasing so they seemed to surround her and push her forward. She had just gotten into a smooth, steady rhythm when sudden footsteps made her pause.
"Noah?"
Jesse's voice rang throughout the basement and Madison felt Noah begin to pull away, but she held him in place, unwilling to release him just yet
"Back here," Noah called in a slightly strangled voice.
She smiled, loving how the simple glide of her mouth was shattering the dark, intense shell around him. Jesse's footsteps approached.
"I've been listening to what your recorder's been picking up. There've been some interesting," the beam of a flashlight fell on her and Madison heard the air stream out of Jesse as he paused a few feet from them, "…EVPs."
Madison hadn't realized that Noah had his recorder with him, or that it linked directly to Jesse so that he could listen to whatever the recorder picked up in real time. She glanced up at Noah and from the look on his face, he had forgotten about it, too. The thought that Jesse had been listening, however, just made her body clench harder and a shiver that had nothing to do with the eeriness of the space roll down her spine.
Carefully withdrawing Noah from her mouth, she took the waistband of the pants pooled at his ankles and pulled them up as she stood, catching his lips in a kiss before taking the tips of his fingers in hers and guiding him toward Jesse. When she reached the slightly flustered-looking man, she released Noah's fingers and lifted her hand to trace the lines of Jesse's face, then brush her fingertips across his lips.
****
"Just you listening?" she asked quietly.
Jesse nodded, his eyes traveling down to gaze across her breasts and the lush curve of her waist.
"The rest of the crew went out for coffee."
She laughed softly.
"So it's just us here?"
He nodded again and she saw him lick his lips. She leaned in and kissed him, pressing her body to his so he could feel the warmth of the skin exposed by her open shirt coming through his own clothing.
She didn't say anything when she ended the kiss, but looked at both boys in turn, took Jesse's flashlight, and started back through the basement. After a few seconds, she didn't hear them following her, so she paused long enough to remove her shirt and tossed it back toward them. She heard it land near their feet and the click of Noah's flashlight as he turned it on to find out what she had thrown. There was a moan that was slightly softer than Noah's and she realized it was Jesse.
Continuing to weave through the basement, she stopped to remove her shoes and leave them a few feet apart. Finally she heard footsteps that told her the boys were following her and she smiled. She was quickly running out of clothing to leave as breadcrumbs, so she had to be strategic. Shaking her hair down, she looped her ponytail holder around the doorknob to the basement door and then shimmied out of her pants. She laid them out in the middle of the hallway and hurried toward the stairs leading up to the second floor. Stopping just long enough to slip out of her panties, she draped them over the newel post and ran the rest of the way up the stairs. Even without the benefit of the flashlight, she knew where she was going, and when she reached the landing, she turned off the light.
Moonlight coming through the large windows on either end of the hallway created a pool of illumination beside the closed door she had forbidden them to open, and Madison stepped into the light. She leaned back against the wall, bending one knee so she could rest her foot to the wall behind her. Seconds later, she heard the boys climbing the stairs and her excitement built. They both stopped as soon as they got into the hallway and stared at her, the shock and desire mirrored on their faces.
"Do you remember when I told you that you couldn't go in this room?" she asked, her voice hot and powdery.
They nodded and she pushed against the wall to straighten. Opening the door just enough to fit through, she slipped in, unhooked her bra, and held it out into the hallway so all they could see was her hand as she let the thin lace slip from her fingers onto the floor. She stepped back into the middle of the room and a second later, the door slowly opened the rest of the way.
Noah stood closest to the door, his hand pressed in the middle of it, and Jesse stood beside him, both watching her hungrily. She bit her bottom lip and took another step back toward the massive four-poster bed set in the center of one wall so it protruded into the room. They nodded and she returned the gesture.
"That," she said, stepping back again until she felt the edge of the bed against the back of her thighs and sat, "is because it's mine."
The two men hovered in the doorway and she smiled, sliding back further on the bed and patting the spaces beside her with her hands.
"You can come in now," she purred.
Noah was the first to surge forward. He crossed the room in two long strides and pressed her back onto the bed with an intense, crushing kiss. The warm, smooth skin of his chest melded with her breasts and stomach, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. As their mouths played across each other, Madison felt the mattress beside her dip down and realized Jesse had climbed onto the bed with them. She took one hand from Noah's back to feel for Jesse and found him kneeling beside her.
Madison grabbed a handful of Jesse's shirt and nudged it up, wanting him to be as bare as Noah. He complied with her suggestion and she heard him toss the shirt aside so she could rest her hand on his belly. It didn't have the same chiseled muscle as Noah's, but the contrast between the two men's bodies was delicious, like enjoying the different textures in a sinfully decadent dessert. Noah pulled his mouth away from hers and kissed his way down her body until he backed off of the bed and stood, kicking his shoes off while unbuckling his belt.
Taking her eyes from Noah, Madison slid up into a sitting position, and then turned to mirror Jesse's position so their bodies just brushed against each other. She heard him draw in a breath as she touched her lips to his neck and ran a hand down his chest. He tucked a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to his, lowering his mouth to cover hers and slipping his tongue between her lips. They kissed languidly until she felt Noah climb back on the bed behind her and wrap his arms around her waist to pull her back against him, taking possession of her.
She leaned back against him, nestling her hips back into him, groaning slightly as she fe
lt his erection again. It pressed into her, nudging her as Noah dropped his mouth to the curve of her neck and shoulder. One of his hands closed over her breast, filling his palm so he kneaded her gently but insistently, while the other slipped around her hip to dip between her thighs. He eased them apart and finally touched her, bringing a gasp from her lips. Her body was hot and wet, and Noah's fingers slid easily across her as she met Jesse's eyes.
Jesse watched Noah touch her for several long seconds before he mimicked Noah's actions of climbing off the bed to finish undressing and return to his place across from them. Madison's eyes trailed down his body and watched Jesse stroke himself. She whimpered at the sight and felt Noah twitch behind her. His mouth came to her ear as his hand left her breast to take her hair, coiling it around his palm to hold it away from her shoulders and neck.
"You want him, Baby?" he asked.
She nodded, but at the same time arched her back to press harder into him.
"You want me, too?" he asked.
Madison turned over her shoulder to kiss Noah, reaching to her side to grip his thigh. He kissed her back passionately, then pulled just enough away so he could talk.
"I think that can be arranged."
Noah used the hand in her hair to turn her gently and push her forward so that she caught herself on Jesse's hips. She indulged herself by drawing her tongue in one, long lick along the entire length of his shaft before opening her mouth to take him in completely. Just as she felt him settle against her tongue, Noah pulled her hips back and buried himself inside her. Madison cried out, but didn't release Jesse, not wanting to lose the decadence of both of them within her.
They fell into a perfect rhythm, Noah's thrusts and the dominant pressure of his hand on the back of her head leading her along Jesse's length until both men were moaning and she could feel their bodies tensing. Suddenly, Noah stopped and Madison felt him withdraw from her body and his hand leaving her hair. Jesse touched her neck, carefully easing her away from him, and then leaned down to kiss her. As he guided her back onto the bed she realized that Noah was no longer there, but was standing on the floor at the foot of the bed.
