Chapter 17
KYLEN
“What’re you going to do while I’m at Nolan’s?” I ask.
Arek’s hand reflexively tightens around mine.
We’re walking down the street on our way to Nolan’s condo, which he shares with Coach Tavis and Tavis’ sons.
We’re talking about the best way to figure out groupies at Hush Anonymous.
Like an invisible orgy or gang bang, but I kind of feel like no light in the room is going to be a little… difficult to allow it to be safe.
You can follow the movement of limbs and shit in the dark with one partner easily enough. Maybe two partners, but I think that might be pushing it. Beyond that?
The idea is that this is a safe space to explore different configurations and hookup styles under the comfort of anonymity. Which means I like the idea of adding groupies because maybe going to the Omega orgies is a little intimidating with so many people seeing you.
I know that feeling. I’ve never been to one of their orgies for that reason alone. Not because I didn’t want to.
In a way, I made Hush Anonymous strictly for myself. I wanted to have sex, but my anxiety and constant embarrassment kept me crippled and unable to go through with it.
So I love the idea of adding groupies and gang bangs into Hush Anonymous. I’m just not sure how to make that happen in a way that makes sense.
“There are some shops close by. I’ll check them out,” Arek says. “Probably call my siblings since we haven’t talked in a few days.”
I look at him. “Are you close to your siblings?”
Arek nods, though his expression doesn’t change. It rarely does. “Yes. More so than anyone else.”
“They’re your best friends?”
The corner of his mouth ticks up as he looks at me. With amusement? “I suppose so, yes.”
“You have a twin brother? That’s what you said, right?”
He hums, nodding in agreement. “My parents are in a same sex relationship. When they decided to have kids, they chose three surrogates to implant at the same time so we’d all be born on the same day, creating triplets, so to speak.
Orev and I split apart, though, so they ended up with four kids and a set of quads instead. ”
“Orev. That’s an interesting name.”
“I think my uncles chose our names, actually.” Arek tilts his head to the side. “I’ve heard my uncles, Avory and Ellory, comment on it a few times.”
“Really? That’s really cool.”
“I don’t think my fathers were finding names they liked, and as the story goes, Uncle Ellory somehow convinced them to let him and Uncle Avory name us when we were born. Which means, I think Uncle Ellory actually named us.” He pauses before adding, “Except Adalaide. I named her.”
My eyebrows knit together. “I… what?”
“She was born wrong,” he answers, shrugging.
“So she worked hard to change the parts she didn’t feel comfortable in.
One of those was her name, so I named her, which actually felt really…
long overdue. She never felt like her dead name.
She was always Adalaide in my head, but maybe I didn’t realize that until she told us she was in the wrong body. ”
I’m incredibly confused by much of Arek’s explanation. Right up until he said ‘dead name,’ and then I understood. “Oh. You named her,” I agree, smiling.
“Mmm,” he agrees, a smile touching his lips.
I grin because it’s clear that he truly does love his siblings. I lean into his arm a little more, and he kisses the side of my head.
“Your siblings don’t attend Longwood U, though. Do they?”
“No. Adalaide and Rosalie attended school online. Orev attended Rainbow Dorset University for a couple of years on a fast track. He was able to test out of most of his core classes, so it made it easy for him to graduate early.”
“They all graduated already?”
“Yes. Adalaide and Rosalie work in various departments at Van Doren Tech. Orev is in the tech lab.”
“I don’t mean this to come out as… judgmental, but if they’ve already graduated, why haven’t you?”
“I graduate this year,” he says, amused. “I stayed home with my sisters while Orev was at RDU. Now he’s home, and I’m here.”
“You take care of your sisters.”
He shrugs. “Against their will, but yes. We do.”
We stop in front of Nolan’s building, and Arek brings me to his chest. His mouth covers mine in what can only be described as a possessive kiss. I sink into it, letting him take my entire will away.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come up?” I ask when he releases my mouth.
“Go on,” he says, though his arms don’t loosen their hold. “Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll come get you.”
“I can walk on my own, you know. I’ve made this trip many times.”
“I don’t want to walk you home because I don’t think you can survive it without me. It’s not about protection and safety. It’s about wanting to spend all my time with you, little kit.” He kisses my nose, and I flush as a sappy grin spreads across my face.
It’s a strange feeling not wanting to be out of someone’s company. Especially since that someone is Arek Van Doren. We’ve been in DIK together for just over two years, and I’d never have thought I’d feel that way about him.
I wave awkwardly as I walk to the door, looking back at him every few steps. He remains where I left him, hands in his pockets, and his shirt loudly reading, ‘Do you want to bounce on it?’ Every time I read the words, my skin heats because I feel like it’s directed at me.
Ducking inside the elevator, I close my eyes and will the blush to seep away.
It’s just a shirt and not one he actually bought.
Apparently, his siblings thought it funny to replace his usual shirts with these, and it’s now a thing.
What is Arek wearing today? It’s almost a disappointment when we’ve already seen the shirt.
He must be running out of new ones at this point.
The door to Nolan’s condo is ajar when I step out of the elevator. I knock and slowly push it open, poking my head inside. Kole is sitting on one of the big living room chairs, legs tucked under her with her textbook in her lap. She glances up and then looks back at her work.
This is probably the longest that Kole hasn’t spoken to me. The unease in my chest at my twin being angry with me has a very loud voice in my head, urging me to apologize and make it right. But this time, I didn’t do anything wrong. I have nothing to apologize for.
“Hey,” Nolan says as he comes around the corner with a smile. “Come in.”
I shut the door behind me as I kick off my shoes and follow him to the dining room to take a seat with my tablet. He joins me, hands flat on the tabletop. “So?”
I raise an eyebrow as I navigate to the digital notebook dedicated to Hush. “So what?”
“Hush is going well? How you imagined it?”
“Yes, actually. Hush is bringing in a lot of money, I think. We’re still playing with how much information to show so our audience understands how it works.
I think we’re going to take notes from Rumor and Confessions and assign everyone ‘stage names’ so that we’re using those when we assign rooms. That way, we can show the screen and our audience can follow along through the whole experience. ”
“I like that. Make it obvious that there’s no script or planning. I think that’s why our accounts have such a following. We aren’t scripted. Not even on an amateur level,” Nolan agrees.
I nod. I’ve checked out the frat accounts. More out of curiosity than anything. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t watched other porn too—both created in studios and those on ReachMe, so-called self-made porn stars.
I have to admit, the scenes are best when no one pretends to have a script at all.
“What’s up with you two?” Nolan asks.
My chest tightens when I think he’s talking about Arek. When I look up, he’s looking at Kole still in the living room. My chest releases, and I shrug. “She has a problem with me dating Arek.”
Nolan nods and then seems to hear what I said. His eyes turn to me with surprise. “Van Doren?”
“Yes.”
Kole rustles in the living room, and then she’s standing beside me a minute later, her arms crossed on her chest. I don’t give her the satisfaction of meeting her eye.
“You have a problem with Arek and Kylen dating?” Nolan asks.
I still don’t look at my sister as I scribble some notes onto my tablet that I’ve been thinking about for a few days in preparation for this meeting with Nolan.
“Yes,” Kole answers, and I roll my eyes in the direction of my tablet.
“Why?” Nolan asks.
Kole doesn’t answer for a minute. “Are you seriously telling me you don’t?”
“Yes,” Nolan says, shrugging. “He’s a nice guy.”
I can practically feel Kole frowning. “He’s violent and dangerous.”
Once again, I roll my eyes. I’ve never seen Arek display either of those things.
“Oh, yeah?” Nolan asks, amused.
“Did you see the way Harold was all beaten and battered after his date with Kylen? You think that’s a coincidence, given the way Arek watched him with murderous intent?”
My hand stills mid-word.
“Did he say Arek did that to him?” Nolan asks.
“No,” Kole says. “He said he fell down the embankment leading to the East and West dorms in the woods. Where no one saw it happen.”
“And you don’t believe him.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Arek came back to the frat house with us. He walked with us. He walked all the way to the second floor and continued to the third, where his room is,” I defend without looking up.
“You think that means he didn’t leave again?” Kole snaps back.
I slam my digital pencil on the table and look up at my sister. “You know what? I don’t care what stick you have lodged in your ass, Kole. You don’t get to decide whom I do and don’t date.”
“He covers you in bruises!”
“I LIKE IT!” I shout back.
Tense silence settles around us. My hands shake. I feel like screaming as Kole stares at me.
“I appreciate you always wanting to protect me, Kole. I do. I love that. But I need you to back off. I’m not going to stop seeing him, and I don’t need you to understand.
I just need you to accept it. If you can’t support us, then…
keep it to yourself, but I’m not going to be in the presence of your constant hostility.
You are causing me stress and hurt. Not Arek. ”
“Harold hasn’t texted you since your date,” Kole accuses.
I shrug. “I never wanted that date, Kole. You pushed me. Maybe he realized I wasn’t interested and stopped texting.
I believe him when he said that he fell.
There’ve been complaints that the path is dangerous in the dark since it was put into place.
Bottom line is that I was never interested in Harold. You wanted that for me. I didn’t.”
Kole’s expression softens a little.
“I’m not a little kid anymore,” I say quietly. “I’m not going to be attracted to someone just because you want me to be. I’m not sure if you got the memo, but that’s not how attraction works.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes. But her defensive, closed-off stance drops, and her hands rest at her side now.
“I like Arek. I like the way he treats me. I like the way he talks to me. I like being bruised by him. It’s all consensual. I promise.”
You’d think that talking to my sister and Nolan, who is practically my brother, I wouldn’t blush at my own words. That’s not the case. My cheeks burn, but I hold my sister’s stare.
Kole huffs and drops into the chair beside me. “Fine.”
We don’t talk about Arek for the rest of our visit. Coach Tavis comes home an hour later with subs and his sons in tow. We eat around the table, talking about the new groupie addition to Hush Anonymous, to which Orion is immediately interested.
I text Arek as we get ready to leave, something that Kole doesn’t miss. Her irritation spikes again, but she doesn’t say anything. Not while we’re saying goodbye to Nolan, Tavis, Orion, and Skye. Not while we’re alone in the elevator. Not when we walk out of the condo and Arek is waiting for me.
My smile can’t be helped as I join him, and he wraps his arms around me, kissing me possessively in greeting. With my hand in his and Kole silently fuming at my other side, we head back toward campus.
“Where did you go?” I ask.
“There are a few shops around the corner that I wanted to check out. I made something for you. Let me have your phone.”
Kole seethes beside me at the command for my phone. Without comment or question, I slide my phone from my pocket and hand it over. Arek releases my hand and fishes something made of yarn from his pocket. He slips my phone inside and hands it over. A little knitted holder for my phone with a handle.
I grin as I take it from him. “You made this?”
Arek’s arm wraps around my hips, and I feel him shrug as I examine it. It’s blues and greens with a stripe of white separating the two shades.
“The café was hosting a crochet club meeting and invited me to join. So I joined.”
“You made this on the first try?”
I catch a smirk from the corner of my eye. “Not my first try, no. My uncle crochets. Usually dicks, but he tries to do pussies too.”
I laugh. Even Kole snickers, though she tries to hide it.
“Tries to make pussies?” I ask.
“He’s not interested in pussies, so that meant he had to study them, which he found incredibly disturbing at all the folds and stuff.”
“He’s gay, huh?”
“Yes,” Arek answers, grinning. “He might not have been before, but the horror my Uncle Avory describes on his face as he’s trying to figure out how to replicate a pussy in yarn never fails to make me laugh. No matter how many times he tells the story.”
“Why does he crochet genitals?” Kole asks.
Arek snorts. “I don’t know, but I can tell you that since my second-oldest cousin was born, we all received cuddle cocks and pillow pussies as ‘welcome to the world’ gifts—just so we had both options available to us.”
“Oh my god,” I say, laughing.
Kole laughs too, though she again tries to hide it. Then she links her arm with mine, and I grin. The tension I’ve been carrying since she walked in on me and Arek that first morning begins to melt away, and I think maybe we’ll be okay now.