13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Remington James
T he sheer delight I feel over having all the guys together at the cabin is making me downright giddy. I felt bad asking Charlie and Cal to meet us here, knowing their reluctance to hang out at The Bends, but it would not have happened otherwise. “This is one of those things we call ‘leave it alone’s’ not sure if you heard about ‘em or not…” I can’t help but wrap my arms around his waist. Wilder thinks he needs to have a talk with Uncle Skip about the way he treats me. The others all agree that ‘Captain Crazy’ uses me. But what they don’t understand is that it’s not going to change. He was saddled with his twelve-year-old niece at the worst time of his life. I should just be grateful he didn’t abandon me like Relia had.
Cal grills the steaks while he and Grady discuss baseball. Specifically, Cal accepting a new offer to train with a minor league team in Florida a mere fifty miles from my school. Yes, please. Although, I don’t want to be pushy about it. Charlie and Wilder have been sticking near me. It’s sweet, but I keep tripping over them.
Each time I look them over, I have the impulse to slap my cheeks. Not one, but all four. With their shirts off, sporting athletic shorts and the delicious muscles that wind me up. I’m talking v cuts that my tongue wants to run down, strong arms that I want to run my hands over, and… ooo, just the thought of other appendages makes me light up bright red. How in the hell? Maybe it’s the way the universe is giving me reparations for the first part of my life. I never want to take them for granted for a single solitary second.
“Leave it alone? You mean like he does when it comes to asking everyone you know to help him?” Wilder adds. He’s not wrong.
“Ugghh… he has a valuable lesson to learn about demands and leverage. Like if he needs people more than they need him, he isn’t in a position to make demands. Most people learn that around five years old. Yet, he does it all the time.” He must have Charlie on speed dial, since Wilder helped with his security camera problems he’s knocking at his door more, Cal has to listen to him constantly at work, and Grady hasn’t been exempt, his wheedling him to make an appearance in the parade for James’ Flicks n’ Fun still rankles me.
“Speaking of… what was wrong with his security program?” Charlie crosses his arms while staring Wilder down. “Remi said there was a problem. What did you do to fix it?” His tone isn’t what makes me bristle, it’s the way he’s looking at Wilder like he suspects him of something.
“I fixed it by initiating a recursive quantum reboot, by cascading the binary interface through a parallel distributed server node.” He punctuates his statement with a cocky half smile Charlie’s way.
“Wha-” I start to ask him.
Charlie scoffs, “Are you being serious?”
“No. There was spyware, so I removed it. Know anything about that, Gibson… the spyware? Weren’t you the one that picked the security equipment up for him?”
I look back and forth between them trying to gauge how likely it is that fists are about to be thrown. There always seems to be an underlying tension between them even when they are agreeing.
“That would’ve been tricky. Remi picked it up with me, it came fully boxed up, and we delivered it to Skip. Unless I’ve become a magician it wasn’t me.” Charlie keeps his voice light, but I’m still worried that they’re going backwards with this whole discussion.
Droolius splashes about in the lake with a stick in his mouth. I’d love to jump into the water to cool off with him, the heat of the afternoon is stifling. But I’d go in alone. Grady won’t go in again, since I dared him, because Father Lowe coming to my cabin for a blessing spooked him. He remembers the blessing done in the lake years previously and how six more people had drown. Wilder won’t purposely go in and based on the anchor he’s sporting in his pants I’m wondering if he’d sink. Cal and Charlie… I won’t even try. They keep their backs to the lake as much as they can.
Cal mentions that it’s a minor miracle that Skip has left us all alone today, while he’s at James’ Flick n’ Fun, when his phone buzzes with a text from him. “Speak of the devil,” he grumbles, holding up his phone. “Do I answer him?”
“I think not,” I say indignantly. “It’s your day off. Besides his latest kick is reconfiguring the bumper boat pond.”
“No one can ever accuse your uncle of having a lack of ideas. Not that they’re great ones…,” Cal says while grabbing my hand to pull me towards the food. A mix of medium rare steak, wilting salad, baked potatoes and the latest mystery food from Ceily’s kitchen.
I poke at it with my plastic fork. “You just pulled this out of your fridge for funsies, right? Not to be ingested?”
Grady taps at it with his plastic fork. “I’m noping out on that. Maybe it’s for Droolius.”
Wilder plops the plate onto the ground by the grill, but other than the flies it’s left alone. “When do you start the mural downtown?” He runs his hands across my back as he passes me.
Yesterday, Ceily asked me to paint the east wall of Hidden Treasures with a mural depicting life in Lake Hollow. Other than keeping it PG she doesn’t care what I choose to put on the wall. That’s an honor and at the same time a pressure. “Tomorrow. The weather looks good for the next five days, which should be plenty of time.”
“Need any help?” Cal asks licking some butter from his potato off his finger. “I can carry your equipment around, fan you, move the ladder into position, give you back rubs or massages, I mean really anything.” He laughs while Wilder rolls his eyes at him.
“Keenan is about all the help I’ll be able to stand. I could use some ideas. I didn’t grow up here, but all of you did. What needs to be a part of the Lake Hollow homage?” I slip Droolius a hefty portion of my bloody steak, while watching for their reactions.
Muttering under his breath, Wilder says, “Graves and ghosts?” Thankfully, no one but me hears him.
I pinch his leg and mouth, ‘Stop it’ at him when he looks at me in irritation.
“Obviously the lake, but Skip would be upset if you don’t include the Funpark. It’s been a part of the community for over fifty years,” Charlie answers with a smile. “You should add some birds and frogs, too.” He winks at me. Could he be any cuter?
Grady adds, “The Splash brings in a lot of tourism. You should include the music festival in some way. I like everything you draw, I’m sure whatever you do will be fantastic.”
They all toss around ideas while Cal stays silent, chewing his steak. Finally, he says, “Don’t include the lake in your mural.” We’re all hushed as he continues, “Paint what the town makes you feel, keep it abstract. Don’t paint the lake. It’s just a bad reminder of how cursed that fucking thing has made this town.”
The guys go on discussing Skip having an idea or two about what I could paint, but I’m focused on Cal. He turns to his side slightly wiping his eyes. When he looks back my way his face has fallen. His unpredictable reaction gives me pause.
Cursed? Does he know something we don’t?
Blasted Romantic Ruin music envelops me as I spin away from Grady, accidentally knocking into Cal. We’ve all had a couple of shots. I’ve made two pitchers of margaritas heavy on tequila. If I’m still dying of heatstroke, I’m too tipsy to notice now. Wilder tosses a chewed up frisbee for Droolius to fetch, Cal and Grady are attempting to dance with me, but I’m more effort than style. Bouncing around the room off the beat of the song, they both give up trying to match what I’m doing. Charlie cleans up our mess.
Squealing at the song that comes on, I proceed to hop around more aggressively in the open space in the living room. Wilder wraps an arm around my waist to hoist me up in the air. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” he loudly whispers in my ear.
My only response is a light bite to his jaw, my hand caressing across his midsection. His emotional support snake that he has tucked in his shorts makes me lose my train of thought. I’d love to take it out and play with it, but there are three other people here. But could I? Mmmm… I must pause too long with my eyes trained on it, since he tucks a finger under my chin to raise my eyes to his gorgeous face. He leans in again. “That power slide move earlier… fuck that was hot, if we ditch these guys, you can shimmy shake all over me. Deal?”
Oh, freaking help me. That smirk. The impulse to pull him into my bedroom regardless of anyone else is only outweighed by wanting all of them in the room with us.
Cal’s fingers entwine with mine as he gets my attention. “I have your gift bag in my truck.” His tone is taunting and he has a twinkle in his eyes.
Finally. He’s kept the bag, teasing me about it since the night after Grady’s party. “Get it. Get it now.” I grab him by his forearms. “Do it.”
The next few minutes are a flurry while Cal runs to his truck to get my gift bag full of toys from Keenan. When he returns with it, I’m back to dancing to an upbeat bop that is causing Droolius to yip. Cal takes my hand again, turning to Charlie. “Drop that fucking sponge and come with us.” He straightens up in response, tossing it into the sink.
The corresponding clap and high-pitched shriek from me could not be helped. I think he’s talking in terms of everyone… all five of us. Ha. Think again, you horny little beast, I tell myself.
Turning to Wilder who is lounged across a recliner, and Grady who is leaning against the doorway into my bedroom, Cal states, “We get to play with the toys first, this time.”
Wilder shoots back, “I’m setting a timer.”
“Pfft… dream on.” He asks me, “When do Skip and Nat get done tonight? Are they closing up at the Drive-In?”
They debate logistics, while I’m mentally already splayed across my bed begging for them. In reality, I start to dance in place because all the liquids I’ve consumed for the past couple of hours that are blowing my bladder up. “Be back,” I say, kissing Cal’s hand before dropping it.
No bathroom mirror should ever be consulted after a day in the sun, and alcohol. My flabbers are gasted. My normally stick straight hair is fuzzy, strands hanging loose from the impromptu knot I tied on my head. I forgot makeup earlier, but a smudge from my marker is on one cheek, a bug bite or impending pimple of doom is flaring to life on my chin. I’m a particularly alarming shade of red from the sun and heat.
“Well, this is a choice,” I mutter to myself slapping cool water on my face. The light shuts off and back on twice. “Oh, hi. Didn’t take the hint with the prayers, huh? You’re about to get a whole lot of eyefuls of things, Win. Or Katie… or Win?”
I’d hoped when the strange cabin shenanigans hadn’t happened since Father Lowe’s visit that it had worked. Guess not. “Win, babe, if you’re trying to communicate with me, I need you to be more direct, okay? I’m not good with hints, obviously.”
Making haste while I let my hair down and run a brush through, spritz some perfume over me, and grab a few of the condoms from the stash I have in my tampon box, I’m more than ready for sexy play. Most of the lights are off in the cabin when I leave the bathroom. Cal calls out, “In here.”
All of the guys are standing at the door that leads to the lake from the cabin, the purplish dusk turning darker. “Are you leaving?” My astonishment bleeds through. I was only in the bathroom five minutes tops.
I’m led by them with no explanation to Grady’s cabin at the end of the row. “I don’t g-”
I’m cut off by Grady as he says, “No one wants a surprise interruption.”
Our Pillowbiter’s playlist starts, while Cal and Charlie each lead me into the bedroom Grady points to that isn’t being used by him. A bare bed with just a sheet on it, the comforter and loose sheets still sitting on a corner chair await us. “What do we have in here… let’s see, hm?” Cal kicks his sandals off by the door looking into the gift bag that is getting rather rumpled looking from all its travels. Charlie softly closes the door, turning to me and biting his lip as his smile grows wider.
The contents of the bag get dumped onto the bed, “This,” Cal picks up vibrating nipple clamps, then tosses a package at Charlie, “that,” he examines a strangely shaped vibrator, “could be fun.”
He puts his phone on the dresser and the techno beat of Sunshine by Wuki makes me wiggle in place. Charlie moves behind me, swaying while kissing my neck. His hands lightly rest on my stomach. This man can move. “How can you dance so well?” I murmur in a loved-up haze.
“No idea. Maybe it’s just natural?” he playfully replies. We keep going, he spins me away from him and then into his arms, while Cal strips his shorts and underwear off.
“Clothes. Off,” he says while taking me from Charlie.
My shirt gets tossed, baring my braless chest, and the frogs I drew like a totem pole on my breastbone, hearts traced around my nipples. I hear Cal groan, “Christ, somehow I almost forget what seeing you naked does to me, and then...” He squeezes his dick like he’s hoping to get it to behave.
Charlie and I both pull our shorts and underwear off at the same time. My hands have a mind of their own, when I reach out and stroke each of their dicks at the same time. Flushed, his breath choked off, Charlie holds up the item Cal threw to him. “Do we even need these?”
With chemistry off the charts, we don’t need anything, but I admit Keenan’s presents allow for exploration that I’d never come up with on my own. “What is that? Ooo… uh, yeah, yeah, we don’t need them, but I want them,” I say taking the half opened vibrating anal beads package.
Charlie sits on the side of the bed, pulling me to him. “Where’s your marker?” he asks me while giving me a kiss that makes my legs start to shake. Cal throws it, hitting him in the side of the head. “Thanks for that,” he says snidely to him.
They decide to have me draw a bird or frog wherever I kiss them. My tongue slides up the underside of Charlie’s erect dick, I pop the lid off the marker, using one that’s not permanent. “Even on…” Winking at his surprised face, I add, “kidding, kidding.” I wasn’t, but I draw a frog with kissy lips on his hip instead.
Cal has me lay back on the cool white sheet of the unmade bed to attach the nipple clamps. He straddles my legs. “Tell me if it’s too tight.” The smooth silicone clamps pinch each of my nipples, putting me on the edge of pain. “Does it hurt?” Cal asks while Charlie lays on his side next to me, his hand cupping the underside of my breast, as he kisses it.
Before I answer, Charlie says, “Loosen it up.”
“Mmm… no, it’s good. It’s just a different sensation. Turn it on.” When he does, my toes start to curl immediately, my pussy, already getting wet, feels like it’s flooding. This is a new favorite. Damn.
“Instant winner, based on that sound.” Charlie chuckles, running his hand down my side. The moan I let loose can’t even communicate how turned on I am. Cal reclines next to me on the opposite side of Charlie, both their hands giving me pleasure. The two fingers Charlie’s inserted rubbing over the fleshly sensitive spot under my pubic bone move at a steady pace. Cal’s thumb softly draws circles over my clit.
“That’s right, sweetheart, that’s right. Just let loose,” Cal’s voice sounds throaty.
My pants of breath as they both take turns kissing me, make me feel lightheaded. The writhing of my body increases as that pulsing wave inside rolls over me, slamming me with an orgasm that makes me shout out, “Oh, Oh… fuck yes!”
Charlie quickly and carefully removes the nipple clamps, giving me soft feathery kisses where they’d been attached. One of my hands combs through the hair on the back of his head, holding him there. The ache left behind is almost more delicious than having them on. I press a hand over one, humming.
Rolling condoms on both of the guys, I eye up the anal beads. “Which one of you wants the beads?” I raise an eyebrow, trying not to laugh at the surprised look on their faces.
“That’s for you… right?” Cal asks.
Mmm, yes one of them taking the beads would be for me. The thought makes me wonder what Wilder and Grady may be up to without me. Charlie pulls my attention back with his kiss to the nape of my neck. “Rem, no more toys, right now.” He takes the now vibrating beads from my hand, tossing them on the floor.
Well, then.
Laying back on the bed, hooking a finger their way, I go up on my elbows to watch them approach me. Two best friends that the more I get to know, are not much alike. Cal is passionate and at times brash, Charlie thoughtful, steady, and sweet. Both complement each other. Back on my side, Cal holds me against him, Charlie is on his side facing me. His hand traces down my cheek. “Do you know how much we love you?” I pull him closer using a hand on his hip. “There is no one else,” he pushes inside me, “ever, that could take your place. Ever.” His thrusts are deep and measured.
Cal holds me tightly, I feel the coconut smelling lube from the gift bag being smeared over the pucker of my asshole, followed by him pressing the tip of dick in and then out a couple of times. “In… I need you in,” I say to him clutching at his thigh that is slung over my leg.
The spiraling from my second orgasm comes right before they both come. Laying sandwiched between them both, it takes five attempts of catching my breath to say, “What’s that sound?” Worried about the strange rattle, thinking maybe Grady’s cabin is now haunted because I’m here.
Charlie looks over his shoulder and then falls back laughing. “The anal beads traveled across the floor to the wall.”