CHAPTER 12
Reece
Pa was having a blast teasing Ma over the introductions with Artemis, Cadmus and Bromm.
She had no clue what to make of Arty, that much was clear, and she was even more out of sorts over Bromm’s apparent rejection of his royal heritage.
Of course I knew well enough that he wasn’t outright rejecting his title, merely the nonsense that came with it.
Especially considering he was something like the thirty-sixth in line for the throne.
I didn’t like contemplating the Griknot Royal family’s line of succession.
The King and Queen had way too many kids.
I thought four or more was just excessive, but they had close to sixty at this point and were showing no signs of stopping.
I mean, what was the point? They had their heir, and they had the spare, and I understood that Griknot culture was inherently sexual which typically meant they reproduced more than any other race, but I was pretty sure their goal was to reach one hundred.
One hundred children.
It was absolute insanity.
I didn’t think Bromm knew all of their names, and I was fairly sure he hadn’t even met most of them.
I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it.
Much like how Ma couldn’t wrap her brain around how a prince couldn’t be interested in exploiting his title.
It just wasn’t done.
At least not in her social circles.
‘Oh, stop it, Roger.
I don’t know why you’re making this such a big deal,’ she smacked him on the stomach when he wouldn’t stop laughing.
‘Come on, honey.
It’s funny and you know it,’ he responded through his chuckles.
‘I just haven’t met a royal who didn’t want to flaunt his social status, that’s all,’ she explained through a pout, and it was that lip jutting out that finally made me step in.
‘Leave her alone, Pa.
It’s not her fault Bromm’s different.’
‘And that girl, Artemis.
She’s… unusual,’ Ma continued and even I had to snicker alongside Pa and her inability to process my friends.
‘Yeah, she’s definitely one of a kind, but in the best way.’
Ma levelled me with a look that spoke more than words, immediately making me shuffle uncomfortably where I stood, no longer able to look her in the eye.
‘And just how close are you with Artemis, exactly, Reece Hastings?’
‘She’s a very close friend,’ I replied automatically, but I was too quick even to my own ears.
‘Uh huh.
Just a friend?’
‘Oh, leave him alone, Ari.
Let him crush on the girl in peace.’
‘I don’t have a crush on Artemis,’ I protested, but neither parent believed me.
TO be honest, I wasn’t even sure I believed it anymore, but there was no way Artemis was going to look twice at me.
I had been firmly cemented in the friend zone, and the worst part was I was the one who put myself there.
Regardless, I didn’t want to get in between what she was building with Bromm and Cadmus anyway.
I wasn’t adverse to polyamorous relationships but I had never considered being in one myself, let alone as one of many sharing the same woman.
I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been for her already dealing with two relationships when she had never even had one before, and I wasn’t about to add to her troubles by bringing my feelings into it.
Feelings I weren’t even sure were romantic anyway.
Oh, who was I kidding? Of course they were.
I just didn’t want to admit it out loud because that would mean I would actually have to acknowledge it.
Besides, I was happy being her friend.
I had never had a friend like her before either, and I didn’t want to ruin it with pesky feelings I didn’t even know for certain would grow more than they had. Things were good as they were and I had no intention of ruining it.
‘I wonder when he’ll come back to us…’ Pa stage whispered.
‘I don’t think he even remembers he’s got company,’ Ma whispered back.
‘Must be some daydream.’
‘Stop,’ I whined.
‘I’m not that bad.
Arty and I are just friends, I swear.
Nothing more.’
Ma simply shrugged and head into the room she was sharing with Pa with a noncommittal, ‘If you say so.’
Pa waited for the door to close behind her before he took his turn to interrogate me.
‘So… When did you figure out you liked her?’
I froze, not wanting to tell him that moment.
It was the first time I had ever seen her as a woman, and she had been naked between Bromm and Cadmus in full view of everyone at the behest of an evil scientist who wanted to get her pregnant, who was also watching her fuck.
It wasn’t exactly the most romantic instance, nor had I figured out immediately that my feelings for her stemmed any further than friendship, but I couldn’t deny that I had been turned on by their display.
Ignoring the rest of that scenario, of course.
The most eye-opening moment for me, however, was just a few days ago.
We had just come back from rescuing everyone at the pirate’s compound and I had gone upstairs to check on her and Cadmus, only to hear them in the midst of the throws of passion.
Something inside me had latched onto those sounds.
Images manifested inside my mind where I was somehow a part of their moment, where Artemis was draining my balls dry the way she so clearly did his. Again. And again.
When I had offered to take Addy’s place standing guard it had been for purely selfish reasons.
It was perverted of me, I could admit that much, but I wanted to stay and listen.
I wanted to hear them find pleasure in each other.
And I wasn’t the only one. Tormik and I had both stood by the elevator, erections tenting our pants as they strained to be released.
An understanding had passed between us, then, a camaraderie borne of the same longing.
We wanted Artemis, but she didn’t want us, yet neither of us was willing to leave her side despite the unrequited feelings.
‘I don’t think you want to know the answer to that, Pa,’ I finally admitted.
‘Ah,’ he winked.
‘Gotcha.
Well, do let us know when I can start calling her my daughter-in-law.
I would love for you to bring her home so I can watch your mother squirm. You were right when you said she’s one of a kind.’
And then he disappeared into their room, leaving me standing there biting my lip as I contemplated this new series of events.
Feelings for Artemis aside, I still hadn’t come clean about everything.
I didn’t want to worry them any more than necessary after the ordeal they had just endured, but they were still unaware of how utterly unique Artemis was.
And now, me.
The guilt over that decision still plagued me later that night as I lay in my own bed – thankfully alone since there was more than enough space for everyone to have their own rooms – and contemplated what my life had become.
Soon enough, those thoughts turned back to memories of Artemis.
Her completely devotion to those she cared about.
The way she had saved my life multiple times, and now my parents, too.
The way her jumpsuits outlined her curves, the sway of her hips when she walked, the way her bare breasts bounced as she fucked her men…
And the sounds she made… fuck.
I could listen to her day and night and never tire of it.
I wanted to be the one to make her sigh in pleasure.
I wanted to be the one to coax out those little breathy moans. I wanted to be the one to feel her clenching around my cock as I made her come.
I glanced down at my erection that was so hard it was pointing straight up at the ceiling.
I palmed my shaft, fighting the need to fuck my hand to chase the relief my body demanded.
My morals were the only reason I held back.
It wouldn’t have been right of me to tease myself to thoughts of her when she didn’t know. I had no consent from her for any of this, let alone the lusty thoughts running through my brain on a near constant loop. Ever since I had first admitted to myself that I was attracted to her I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head.
The way she looked pressed up against Bromm, her olive toned skin next to the blue of his a sight to behold.
And then against Cadmus’s purple tones… I was ashamed to admit that I had imagined him wrapping her up in his wings more than a few times while he plunged both of his cocks into both of her holes, or how Bromm’s tentacles would tease her, their pleasure-enhancing natural lubrication making her tingle deliciously in all those hidden places only the luckiest of men would ever have access to.
But I wasn’t one of those lucky men, so I had to stop this madness before I went too far and I wouldn’t be able to return.
I released my cock and let it bob above me, twitching with each thought of her that passed through my imagination.
I wouldn’t get myself off to her.
Not unless she was a consenting partner. Reece Junior would just have to deal.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to lay still until sleep finally, blessedly came for me.
*
A knock on the door roused me from my sleep.
Or at least I thought it did.
As I blinked my eyes groggily and stared at the offending barrier, then let them slide shut again when no other sound came.
It must have just been a dream.
But then it came again, soft and tentative like whomever was on the other side didn’t actually want me to answer.
I debated ignoring them, but after the third pathetic attempt I decided it was best to just see what they wanted.
I rose with a groan, my body protesting the movement when all I wanted to do was crawl back under my covers and go back to sleep.
I dragged myself over to the door with a bow-legged gait as my erection either hadn’t died from last night or had popped up again to greet me in the morning.
Either way, walking with it added another layer to my awkward stumbling.
It quickly deflated when I discovered who was waiting on the other side, however.
‘Oh, uh, good morning, Reece,’ he stammered as if he hadn’t actually expected me to answer.
‘Tarren.
What do you want?’
He straightened at my harsh tone, the familiar mask of his arrogant indifference slamming into place.
‘I have just finished a shift guarding the prisoners.
I was told to retrieve you to take my place.’
I sighed, annoyed with myself for forgetting that I had signed up for that.
So far I hadn’t been needed, but I should have expected the summons sooner rather than later.
I was only exempt from my duties due to my parents, but that was only a temporary reprieve.
I wasn’t exactly in the mood to stand guard over the people who had accused me of a horrifying crime I hadn’t committed, stolen me, then tortured me.
Those bastards didn’t even view me as a person, stripping me of my name only to be replaced by a number.
I was just a science experiment to them.
An object. A possession.
I had signed up for guard duty out of anger, a sudden need to see them behind bars.
But Now that anger had dimmed to a simmer in the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure that was the best decision I had ever made.
Oh, well.
Too late to back out now.
‘Right. Thanks.’
He looked like he wanted to say something else, his mask slipping just enough for me to catch the flash of hesitation in his eyes, but then it was back in place.
This was the Tarren I had grown up with, his cutting remarks and blatant racism the only version of him that I knew.
The only one I was comfortable with, because at least I could ignore him and pretend he wasn’t worth my time.
I could ignore the fact that he had his own demons that plagued him, that he was only doing his best even if he kept fucking it all up.
He must have seen that decision in my expression because he gave me a curt nod before stalking off down the hallway to his own room, his duty done for the evening.
I quickly dressed, braided my hair back so it was out of my face, laced up my boots and was out the door in five clicks.
When I reached the lower deck where the prisoners were being held, I couldn’t help but stop to do a quick check that everything was as it should be.
Artemis had pointed out before when she had given me the order to lock them all up that there could have been booby traps or other devices hidden within the cells, and there was a niggling in the back of my brain that told me I had missed one.
I hadn’t found any in my first scan, or the second one I had done just to be thorough, but the doubt persisted.
Entering the web was as easy as breathing now.
The world fell away until it was nothing but background noise, the dark void with its interlocked glowing lines taking precedence inside my head.
I could still hear what was going on around me in the physical world, but my focus was now on searching for any signs of technological deception.
Yet, when my search came back empty again, that persistent niggling remained.
My gut was telling me I was missing something, but I just couldn’t figure out what.
Maybe I could keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary while I was stationed down here.
Briefly, Artemis’s face flashed through my mind, a subconscious push to do what I should have done before now, but I was man enough to admit that I had been distracted by other priorities.
Now, however, I could focus on solving this puzzle, but I wouldn’t do it without help.
I made the decision to hunt down Arty when my shift was over to get her input on the situation.
If I was right then we could be in big trouble and not even know it, but there was still a high probability that I was simply being paranoid.
I wasn’t willing to take the risk, though.
When I returned to my body, the web dissipating around me, I watched with morbid fascination as the blue glow from activating the use of my nanites quickly faded back to allow the ship’s fluorescent lights to take over once again.
I braced myself for whatever was coming next, though I doubted anything would happen immediately.
No, if The Program prisoners were planning something, they were biding their time.