Chapter 9
Samuel knocked on his father’s shack door, eyeing the Bird House. He’d called ahead, not wanting to interrupt the honeymoon in progress.
“Hey,” his dad said, eyes looking him over upon opening the door “We still not touching?” he asked.
“Definitely not,” Samuel said, stepping inside the small room. “I figured it out.”
“What out?”
“Ever since we touched, something’s been off.”
“Ah, fuck,” he muttered, shaking his head as he sat on the single cot.
“You were definitely right about shit getting out but in this case, I think it’s better that it’s out than in.”
“What is it?” he asked, looking up at him.
“It’s just as you said, the darkness attaching itself, only there was something strange about its behavior that’s been plaguing me. It’s not just hiding it’s masquerading.” Samuel watched his father’s face. “Do you have a gift that allows you to change things? Like Lazarus?”
He shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of. Why?”
“Because your shadow is not alone. And whatever is tagging along is hiding in your gift. And I think I know who and how.”
His father stood at that news. “What is it?”
“Lazarus was with Cherie. I was with Cherie. We both become one with her, you understand?”
He nodded but Samuel saw he didn’t quite get it.
“When I became one with her, what Lazarus put in her got in me and fucked with my own ability to see things fully or correctly. Then when you and I touched, his bullshit got in your power and used it to hide from me because he knew I would see. But your power seems to be wrestling it and causing this…” Samuel struggled to find words for the feeling. “Itch,” he half growled, making claws out of his fingers while wanting to shred something.
His father slowly sat, seeing it. “Fucking filthy seed of Satan,” he seethed. “If he’s that strong, we definitely need to join together.
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“Why?”
“What if our powers mixing makes him stronger?”
“What about Maggie?”
Samuel sat on the small stool.
“She acts as a kind of bridge you said.”
He nodded with a worried look. “Exactly.”
“What about Lesion? You said he gave you something that helped, maybe he has some way to…I don’t know, create a fucking block.”
Again he shook his head, wishing he fucking knew.
“Wait a minute,” Ruckus said. “That other niece. Beth. She’s got a gift.”
Samuel regarded him, confused. “Like what?”
“Compelling. She compelled me.”
This had Seer’s attention. “How do you mean?”
“She wanted something from me, and I was compelled to give it to her. Have you not seen anything with her like that?”
He shook his head. “No. I tried to see, and I saw the same light as her sister but…nothing definitive.”
“If she really does have that kind of gift of impression,” Ruckus said, “or if she’s really able to block our gifts, then maybe she can block part of it?”
“How would we test this?” Samuel wondered. “Without risking too much?”
His father appeared stumped with that one while Samuel felt like they needed to talk to Maggie and Beth about it. “We need to meet with both of them. And Lesion. See what we can figure out.”
“I want to bring Gracie,” his father said.
“Why?” he wondered.
He looked at him. “Because I need her with me.”
Samuel wondered if something was wrong. “Any particular reason?”
He considered a moment before giving a shrug. “She’s mine. I want her with me.”
It wasn’t the answer he’d expected or the problem he might have assumed.
“Is that a problem?”
“No,” Samuel said. “Just wanted to make sure everything was okay between you.”
“It’s…” his father paused, lowered his gaze a little, then returned it to his. “Surreal.”
He nodded with that answer. “I can imagine.”
That earned him a likewise nod. “I’m sure you can.”
“We can ride back together. There’s a meeting at the Basilique this evening. The Belle Eveque wants everybody there for it.”
“What’s it about?”
“I think the ball.”
He appeared confused and worried. “Are we required for that?”
“Not sure, really. Mah-Mah likes to get everybody together. But whatever they need…” Samuel shrugged. “I’m there.”
His father lowered his head and shook it. “Wherever you go, son. Whatever you do.” He angled his head toward him. “I’m never leaving you again.”
The need to hug his father and not be able to brought a surge of fury to him. “Come on. Let’s go figure out how to get this sonofabitch out of our life.”
****
Felix beat Nitro up this time, determined to return the favor of cooking. After tiptoeing to her closet and getting the yellow sundress she’d planned to wear along with clean undergarments, she made her way downstairs. A ten-minute shower and ten more minutes in the mirror blow drying her hair and she was done. She looked at her reflection in the body mirror hanging on the back of the bathroom door, hoping he liked it. She’d made it herself. Simple and modest with a slight heart shape at the stretchy cleavage and fitted at the waist. Her favorite part was the full skirt. You couldn’t find a dress like it unless you made it yourself, which is why she took to making her own clothes. There was always something wrong with everything she bought. Figured it was easier sewing it right from the beginning rather than try and modify.
She left off shoes as usual. She hated them except when necessary. Which would be soon with winter coming, sadly. Being barefoot gave her a free feeling and yet a sense of belonging to the land.
She peeked up the stairs on the way to the kitchen, finding her door still shut. She eyed the clock over the apron sink as she raced to the fridge, hoping he slept in. It was six-thirty in the morning, but she was sure he was an early riser. Thank the lord she was good about stocking food. She had enough to make an impressive spread.
An hour later, she eyed the covered dishes on the counter, making sure she wasn’t missing anything. Grits, hashbrowns and fresh onions—fried in the grease of the bacon she’d cooked. Homemade biscuits with fresh butter and her very own homemade strawberry jam. And fresh eggs. Over easy. Her brain once again returned to the scene of the sex crime from the night before where she’d been a guilty, silent witness. Guilty for all the dirty thoughts she’d had. And was currently having.
She hurried to set the table when the temptation to worry about hiding what she knew returned. Don’t even think about it. She didn’t have a set of dishes but everything she did have was unique and nice. In fact, no two dishes were the same in her house. Her house. She’d been living alone for only two years and had never loved anything more. Until Nitro. Having him there made her realize she was so wrong about loving solitude. She did love it where her parents were concerned but now that she’d experienced being with a man like him… wow. Hello three hundred and sixty spin and floor catching her astonished ass. Fine ass. Finest ass he’d ever seen she happily clarified, her smile coming unbidden with the frantic butterflies in her stomach.
After everything was set and ready she let out a breath, looking around. Coffee.
Putting the water on, she snatched the drip pot from the counter and hurried to the sink.
“Smells fucking amazing.”
She let out a yelp as Nitro sauntered into the kitchen. “I’m…getting you back,” she said, breathless while facing the sink. Merciless measles he was formidable in only jeans. Dear, dear, God, thank you for this man in my kitchen. Please let him really like me. Help me do the right things and say the right things and not scare him off.
She glanced over her shoulder, finding his head angled on her. “Aren’t you a ray of sunshine.”
She stifled the giant laugh that nearly burst forth. “I love yellow.”
“And yellow loves you.”
Her tummy danced from the affection in his tone. “I’m making coffee if you prefer to wake up before eating. I have your plate fixed and covered in the warmer.”
“I think I’m starving for my punishment first.”
What was it about his answer that caused such havoc in her? Starving and get and my. Even the punishment part meant things that had her quaking and measuring her pace. Running around the kitchen wasn’t a good look. She got his plate and set it before him then lifted the lid.
“Holy shit, there’s a buffet here.” He looked up at her and she nearly got lost in his pretty eyes.
“Your eyes,” she whispered, then realized it was the wrong time. She hurried to her chair, ready to watch him eat.
“Freaky?”
“I forgot to mention it when you asked for…compliments.”
He raised his brows. “Now I’m curious if that fell under those blasphemous thoughts you had.”
She shook her head. “I just think they’re…nice. To stare at,” she added to the weak compliment. “I’m not as good as you with this.”
“Me?” He grinned, stuffing his mouth with a piece of bacon then immediately groaned with an appreciation that made her happy. “Lucky for you, I’m a natural born teacher.”
“And I’m a natural born learner. It’s all good practice.”
He ate another piece of bacon, and she watched his mouth, the sight of his tongue sweeping over his lips giving her a thrill. “What all do you want to learn?”
She held her hands tightly in her lap at hearing an eager hunger with his curiosity. Least that’s what it sounded like. “Whatever is needed for…having a husband. Eventually,” she said, clearing her throat when her voice faltered.
“What happened to having a partner?”
She stared at the second sexy appearance of his tongue moving in a slow lick over his perfect lips. “I…isn’t that the same thing?”
He grinned with a nod. “Yes ma’am.” He took another sexy bite of bacon. “I’m happy to be of service. Use me however you need to perfect your wifely duties.”
Her bottom shifted in her seat to ease the tingle in her privates his offer gave while wondering what he was offering.
“You slept good?” he asked, making her heart stutter.
“Yes,” she hurried way too fast.
“Mmm,” he said, shaking his head after taking a bite of the potatoes. “This is the best food I’ve eaten since a young boy.”
She smiled, relieved. “Good. Try the biscuit,” she urged. “I made it from scratch. And the jam. And the butter.”
His brows raised as he took a bite then came together with his bigger, “Mmmm, damn.” She watched his tongue perform oral sex on his lips again. “You made these?”
She nodded, so happy with his reaction. And aroused.
“What can’t you do Petite Pwah?”
She again managed to hold her huge laugh back. “Many things,” she said.
“Like what?” he asked, taking another bite.
“Well…I know most things you need to know when… living alone.”
Every time his eyes landed on her it felt like he was touching her somehow and it always stole her breath. “So… you mean wife things?”
She gave a nod under his burning stare. She jumped to get the kettle when it whistled, feeling like she’d narrowly escaped a hungry predator.
“What do you want to know?” he asked as she poured the water over the top of the coffee pot. She added another hand to keep the kettle steady as the question unraveled her.
“Just…things a wife needs to know. To be a wife.”
“Well…you’ve got the cooking and the cleaning down to a perfection,” he said as she pulled two coffee cups from the hooks. “The only thing left is the bedroom topic.”
She brought their cups to the table and set them down, needing something to focus on besides the heat she could feel coming from his eyes. What was he doing? Offering to teach her? She wanted to know the answer to that but was scared to find out. “Yes,” she said, managing a firm answer while focusing on the creamer and sugar bowls.
“You want me to instruct you? With words, of course,” he added when her spoon clattered out of her hand.
“Uh.” She swallowed. “Words are…I mean that would be…one way of learning.” Oh God it sounded like she wanted the other way. She did but didn’t want him thinking that!
“What do you have questions about? Let’s start there.”
Oh mercy. She brought her cup to her lips, considering the answer then remembered to hand him his coffee. It’s just an educational discussion. Like questions about birds and their reproduction. “I don’t um. Know what men want. Or how to do things. Of the…sexual kind.”
He continued eating like the topic was nothing but the weather. “Every man is different,” he said. “Wow, you have me wondering why I’ve never liked grits,” he muttered, shoveling a spoonful in his mouth. “So…some men are very traditional. They want to have sex without making a big deal about it. Lights off. Nothing to see or do but get it in and get it out until he has an orgasm. You don’t want that kind of man.”
“I…I don’t?”
“Oh, hell no,” he said with an incredulous look at her. “You want a man that won’t orgasm unless you do. And that would require him to do things to you.”
As hard as the topic was to talk about, her curiosity was right up there with her arousal and terror. “How would I know which kind of man he is?”
“You ask that before marrying him.”
She let out a gasp, her face heating at the embarrassing idea.
He set his fork down and leaned back in the chair, finishing his bite with slow chews and tongue action. “It’s either that or find out the hard way after the fact and hope he’s up to changing.”
To ask and not ask both made her nearly nauseous. Add the fact that he was talking about her marrying somebody else, and she was ready to vomit. “Maybe marriage isn’t something I’m cut out for. What if I can’t…do the wife things right?”
“If he’s a boring moron, you just have to lay there and do nothing, really.”
She returned her spoon to her cup, stirring for the sake of having something to do with her hands and eyes while he gave her sex advice. “And if he’s not? If he’s…the other kind of man?”
He was quiet and she dared a look at him. There was a question in his gaze that had her needing to pant. “Do you know what masturbation is?”
She lowered her head quickly and nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you know how that’s done?”
She hated her bats and her homeschooling life in that instance. Her no siblings to talk to about anything, her parents too old fashioned to even consider what she should be told. “I feel like it’s stupid that I have no idea. I was homeschooled and have no siblings and my bats were—”
“Hey,” he said, cutting her off. “Don’t ever apologize for not knowing things like that. Ever.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look up as she nodded.
“Would you like me to teach you what that is? I’ll teach you everything you need to know but only if you want me to. And whenever you want to stop learning, just say it. Say Nitro, that’s enough. And I’ll stop.”
It was just sex education. It was God’s design, nothing to be ashamed of. “Okay,” she said.
“What would you like to know first. How a man masturbates or how a woman does?”
“A woman?” Crap she needed to think before she opened her mouth and showed just how unqualified she was to be a wife.
“Yes. A woman can masturbate and have an orgasm too.”
“But isn’t…that something you do…alone?”
“It can be. You can do it alone or you can do it with your husband during sex. Or maybe he’ll want to watch you touch yourself.”
Her privates pounded with those words as she fought to appear unaffected. “I thought…an orgasm was what you did inside the woman?”
“It is. But it can also be done outside the woman. Remember what your dumb boyfriend did?”
She couldn’t even bring herself to laugh as she nodded.
“Where he did that is one of the ways to bring your orgasm.”
“But…” she shook her head, staring at the table. “It didn’t work.”
“Because he didn’t know what he was doing.”
She licked her lips, sucking in a breath. “How…can you be sure it’s not…something else?”
“Because I know.”
She hated answers like that. “But how, can’t you just…explain how you know that?”
He let out a sigh. “I guess I can’t be positive. But I would wager my Swamp Dragon on it.”
She flicked her gaze up to his long enough to see he was of course staring a hole through her. “That doesn’t really tell me how,” she muttered, feeling hot all over.
“There’s only one way to know for sure.”
“How?” she asked, managing to look at him this time.
“You would need to masturbate.”
She closed her eyes panting while panicking. “I’ve…”
“I’ll tell you how. You’ll do it and have an orgasm and then you’ll know I’m right and you’re not broken. If you can have an orgasm masturbating then you can have an orgasm with oral.”
“Oh God,” she muttered, covering her face then lowering her hands.
“It’s just an orgasm, Petite Pwah. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
The casual way he said it didn’t begin to settle her nerves.
“But…I don’t think you’re ready,” he said, taking his plate to the sink while her mind heard you’re not mature enough yet.
“Okay,” she forced out. “Tell me how to do it.”
She sat with her eyes closed, waiting for his rejection and when she opened them he was sitting down again. “Now?” he asked.
She nodded before she could chicken out.
“You want to do it here or would you like to go somewhere more comfortable?”
Her panic returned at that. “I thought…you were just going to tell me and I’d…try it later.”
He shrugged. “Or that.”
She licked her lips, wondering what he was saying. Was he going to walk her through it? She would die. Did he want her to? He’d said a husband might want to watch. She remembered the purpose of all of it. To learn how to be a wife. That started with maturity and courage. “Here,” she whispered. “Tell me what to do.”