Chapter 11 - Riley
I glanced across the kitchen and found Janella still standing in front of the front door. Her face was pressed against the glass, staring into the street. I almost would have laughed if she hadn’t looked like she was going to vomit.
“Janella, you won’t miss your brother. He knows where the front door is. If you don't stop pressing your face in the glass, your face will get stuck that way.”
She leaned back and threw a glare at me. “I know he knows where to go. I'm just excited to speak to him. And that maybe he will know something.”
I smirked, pulling a few sodas out of the fridge. I wiped down the stove and placed the pots of leftovers into the sink. I turned the faucet on and froze when I heard the front door open. I glanced over my shoulder as Janella pulled the door open. I could see Troy coming up the sidewalk.
Janella smiled, throwing her arms around Troy. Troy pulled her into a tight hug. “Hey sis.”
“Glad you could make it. I'm sorry if this got in the way of anything you had planned.”
Troy came into the house, and Janella shut the door. He glanced at me, and I gave him a nod.
“I would drop anything for you, Janella, and you know that. But I am wondering why the sudden invitation over? You sounded frantic on the phone.”
Janella swallowed, looking nervous now. “I was actually wondering if you knew anything about my birth parents?”
Troy’s eyebrow went up. “Oh, I don’t think I know much, if anything. Why didn’t you ask mom and dad?”
She frowned. “I have, but I wondered if maybe they weren’t telling me something. Or if maybe you knew something that they didn't.”
He gave her a sad smile. “You know mom and dad wouldn’t hide something from you.”
She chewed on her cheek and nodded her head. “I just wondered.”
Troy glanced at me for a second before looking back at her. “Why the sudden curiosity?”
Janella looked at me, and I cleared my throat. “She has a new discovery, and she was trying to find out where she got it from.”
“Oh? New talent?” Troy smiled. ''What did you learn?”
“In a way, it's a talent.”
Janella looked pale for a moment before she took a deep breath. “It would seem that I have magic.” She stumbled over the words, her voice cracking even.
Troy blinked, and his face twisted into confusion while he soaked her words in.
He looked at me and then back at her. His jaw moved, but he couldn’t seem to find words.
Finally, he pulled himself together. “What? Wait, hold on. You need to set the scene for me. What happened? Are you sure? How do you know?”
“We’re sure,” I said confidently.
“How do you know?”
I glanced at Janella, whose eyes went wide for a moment. I knew she clearly wasn’t going to tell her brother what happened in the woods. He didn't need the details of how I gave his sister an orgasm in the middle of the woods.
We hadn't even talked about it yet. We had been so wrapped up about her magic that we hadn't spoken about what had happened and what it meant for us.
“We were out in the woods. Someone told me that they saw an injured cat, and we went to check it out. No cat, nowhere to be found, but it would seem your sister has magic.”
“What happened during? How did you get the magic out?”
I couldn’t hold back a smirk, remembering how her body shook and the way her face shifted into release. She was having an orgasm just a moment before it happened. I didn't want to say that was what brought it out, but I was starting to wonder.
“I was so excited about finding the cat,” she blurted. “We were so worried for the cat, and I started getting frantic about finding it. But someone told us the cat had been found and returned, so I got so excited. It just happened.”
Troy looked between us. “Okay, so magic?”
I nodded. “You could smell it before you could see it. It just filled the air out of nowhere.”
“It was like a jolt of electricity went through my entire body, and there was a tingling through my entire body. I could feel it in my palms.”
Troy smiled. “Can I see?”
Janella frowned. “It won’t seem to come back. It was just for a moment.”
Troy nodded. “Well, that’s understandable. If you were just tapping into it, it can take time before it fully comes out.”
She nodded. “Do you have any advice?”
“Continue doing whatever you were doing. Practice makes perfect.”
“I’m sorry?” I said. I was pretty sure I had misheard him. “You wanna say that again?”
Troy shrugged. “I know they tell children who are coming into their power that they have to work at whatever it was that helped them pull it out in the first place. Sometimes it’s an emotion, sometimes it’s an object or a place.
I’d go back to the place you guys were at or get excited like that again.
Seems like yours is connected to your emotion. So, get excited like you had before.”
I almost laughed. It took everything in me not to blubber the words that she wasn't just excited but riding the orgasm coaster.
Janella shook her head. “But I’m not a kid. I'm an adult.”
Troy nodded. “Yeah, but there are tons of things that can cause a kid not to show signs. You could have put yourself in a dormancy. The same rules apply, though. You have to force your magic to the surface.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, considering what we were actually doing. I glanced at Janella, who looked at me with the same expression. We really couldn’t be considering it. It was a sudden thing that just happened. We couldn't plan for that again.
“Sounds like we will be doing some walking,” Janella chirped, her voice shaking now.
“Yes, walking. Sounds like it.”
“Do you want coffee or anything?” Janella looked at her brother, nervous now. “It's early. I can cook breakfast to make you come all the way out here.”
“I actually can’t stay. I told Mom I would stop by for breakfast. Do you want to join?”
I expected her to jump at the idea, but she shook her head. “No. You have breakfast. I’ll catch up with them at another time. Thank you for coming.”
Troy gave her a kiss on the forehead before heading out. The space fell quiet, and Janella tapped her hand onto the counter. “Could it be possible that it was the woods? Was it just me being connected to nature?”
“It could be.”
“And not the fact we were….” She paused, unable to say the words. She waved a hand between us.
“Fucking?” I asked.
She scowled. “We weren’t fucking, Riley.”
I snorted. “No, but you did have an orgasm. I don’t think it was the woods but rather the fact I was fingering you, and you had an orgasm.”
Her face went red now, and she looked away from me. “I, it’s…we...I...” She stammered for words, unable to put a sentence together. I could see how uncomfortable she was and felt that twist in my gut. Had she been regretting what happened? Did she wish it hadn't happened?
I thought of Troy’s words. Dormancy. Why did her magic go into dormancy? Most say it's because of feeling the need to be safe or suppressing. But she grew up in a loving family.
I ran a hand through my hair and grabbed my coffee. Janella tapped her fingers on the counter, the silence deafening between us. Neither of us needed to say it, but we both knew what it meant.
We had to do anything we could to figure out how to break the bonding issue we were having.
And if us having sex was the way to pull her magic out, then that was the next step.
But it wasn’t so simple. That was a line we would be crossing.
What was going to happen after? Were we going to be able to look at each other?
“I will need alcohol.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “It’s a little early for drinking.”
She scowled at me. “I’m talking about if we have sex, Riley. I can't have my mind working.”
I scowled. “You need to be drunk to have sex with me?”
She groaned. “I need not have my mind working. Please understand that this is not simple. It's....god...this is just screwed up.”
I smirked. “Why not just have another screaming match with me. That seemed to work.”
She threw me a look, and I pulled my hands up, knowing she wanted me to be serious. “How about we go to dinner. We can go out and have something nice, a couple of drinks, and by the time we get home, maybe we'll be relaxed. It won't feel so forced.”
She nodded. “Yeah. That actually sounds like a good idea.”
“Okay, then dinner tonight.”
The day went by quickly, and I kept thinking about the dinner. My mind kept thinking about what happened after. I didn't know where to take her that wouldn't make either of us uncomfortable.
An idea formed, and I decided to just create dinner at home. After my last meeting of the day, I headed home and started to cook. I opened a bottle of wine and set the dinner table. I lit some candles, and I dimmed the lights.
I was just taking out the dinner from the office when I heard the front door open. I turned as Janella stepped inside. Her eyes widened as she took the dinner and the quiet space.
“I thought we were going out.”
I shook my head. “I figured this would be easier. I have stuffed chicken with steamed broccoli and a side of rice.”
“It smells amazing.” She slipped her shoes off and shut the door. She walked over and took a seat. I walked over, setting a glass of wine down in front of her.
“I’m glad.”
“How many bottles did you buy?”
“Three. Since we aren’t going out, you can drink as much as you want.”
She took the glass and took a deep sip.
We both started to eat, and the space fell quiet. I became aware of what was coming. It was easy to think of this as something we had to do. I wanted to keep my emotions and thoughts separate, but it was hard.
I wasn’t the type of guy to say I needed to be in love to have sex, but I also wasn’t the type of guy to just have a woman in bed with me without feeling something.
Janella had finished a glass, and I poured her another. She chewed slowly, and I wanted to break the silence.
“Tell me something about you I don't know.”