Chapter 9
CHAPTER
NINE
TRENCH
Sleep came easily last night. And I came easily this morning when Jess technically broke her promise.
I paid her back in the shower, when she came with my fingers buried inside her and her nails buried in my back.
The way she’d moaned my name… I almost begged her to let me mate her, then and there.
It might kill me when she leaves.
I imagine I’ll feel like the creature in front of her now, lifeless with my chest cracked open.
She glares into the chest cavity, worrying her lip behind the clear face shield I found for her.
The notes on the pad beside her take up at least ten digital pages, and we’ve only been in the lab for an hour today. She hasn’t even poked or prodded anything yet.
“Your notes didn’t specify if they run on four or six legs.” She looks up at me and then back down, lifting one of the front legs and grimacing at the sharp claws.
“They can move on any combination of two, four, or six.”
“They present bipedally?” She puts the leg down and turns her focus on me.
“It’s a lumbering walk, but I have witnessed them do it when trying to see over things or at a distance.”
She nods, tapping her stylus in her left hand. “Have you ever seen a gorilla?”
I shake my head, and her lips twist to the side in a frown as she looks down, adjusting her gloves before she manipulates the cavrinskh’s leg again. “Gorillas have a similar skeletal structure despite having one less pair of arms. The front set being longer makes me think they have a similar posture when standing on all six.” She gets a strange look on her face, looking toward the corner, unfocused. “On all sixes?”
She shakes her head, lapsing into silence again, and I wait.
I’m not sure she’d hear me if I spoke.
It should be boring, watching her work, but it isn’t.
Another ten minutes pass, and she looks up, a curious concentration on her face. “How much of this do you want to know?”
She belatedly waves at her notes, and I say, “I want to know everything.” About her work, about her…
“Here’s my initial observation notes. Correct me if I go wrong. They’ve got a primate-like body and canine skull with a trisecting lower jaw that would remind me of a beak if it was more keratinous.
“Based on the musculature, I’d guess the tail is prehensile?”
“It is.”
She nods, marks something in her notes, and crosses around to stand beside me to point at the hair covering its back. “ These are keratin, more like porcupine quills than actual hair. Have you seen a porcupine?”
I shake my head. “But Kimba has threatened to make us all watch nature documentaries after the meetings.”
“Well, porcupines are adorable, but they’re covered in things like this that are sharp and barbed, it’s a defense mechanism they’ve evolved. I wonder why the cavrinskh would have them, when they’re clearly predators.” She shakes herself as if only just remembering what she was talking about. “The rest is almost like polar bear fur?”
Nodding toward the fur lower down, she runs her gloved fingers over it. “I have to put it under a microscope, but I think the follicles are hollow.”
When she looks up at me, her eyes are bright, and her smile is dangerously sweet despite the gore.
I have no idea how it feels to be that happy.
Something shifts in my chest, and I know I’ll have to settle for the warmth that comes from having made her happy.
JESSICA
The way he’s looking at me tells me he didn’t hear the last bit. But I’d prefer to know what he’s thinking, rather than talk about the similarities to shark teeth.
“Maybe we should take a break.” I look at the clock and he looks too. “Time for lunch?”
I lean over to put the tooth back in place, and the move brushes my hip against…
Freezing, I look up at him, knowing my eyes are too wide. He’s frozen too.
“I assumed it got smaller when you’re cold.”
He offers me a wince that I think is meant to be a smile. “It doesn’t get smaller around you.”
But he takes a step back. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
Taking a deep breath as I strip off the gloves and face shield, scrubbing my hands as I think. Trench waits for me as I turn off the sink. I try not to look down as I pass him and lead the way out of the lab.
I had thought we could get it out of our system. I was wrong.
Throwing my coat over the back of the couch, I go straight to the kitchen and wash my hands again. Just to be safe.
The water is blissfully warm without the warm-up period I’m used to on Earth.
“Thank God for geothermal heating. My fingers had started to get stiff.” I open and close my fists to work some of it out. “My turn to make lunch.”
“If you insist.”
I pull open the fridge and quietly wonder what it would look like without the things specially ordered for me.
There are a dozen things I could make, a dozen more that make me tired just thinking of the prep time. But when I move a jug of what I think is orange juice, inspiration strikes in the form of a yellow block, wrapped in plastic.
Grabbing it out, I consider my options.
The cheese is imported from a small coastal town in Oregon, a sailing ship on the black plastic label instead of a cow.
Still, it’s the good stuff.
“Have you ever had a grilled cheese sandwich?”
Shaking his head, Trench sits on a barstool across the island from me. “I have not.”
“Do you like cheese?”
He nods.
“And bread and butter?”
This time he laughs. “Yes.”
“Good. Then you’re in for a treat.”
I set the cheese on the counter, digging out the butter while Trench pulls the sandwich bread out from a cabinet I couldn’t have reached.
There’s not enough protein in my plan, so I keep digging. “Everything in the fridge is okay for you to eat, right? No allergies?”
When I look up at him, he smiles like he’s laughing at me, and I’m sure I look like a gremlin.
“Everything in there is edible for me as well.”
I pull out a packet of tomatoes and smack him in the chest with it. “You won’t be laughing when I’m done.”
“I’m not laughing now.”
“Aren’t you?”
He tips his head in a little bobble. “Maybe a little.”
A tone echoes behind him and he goes to check on it, leaving me alone with a stove that is user-friendly enough I don’t have to wait for him to get back, even if it takes me a good three minutes to locate the pans.
When he comes back, I slide him a plate with three sandwiches stacked on it. “I made you plain, so you can experience the pure joy of it. But I also did one with ham slices, a little mustard, and sprouts, which I’m still a little surprised were in there.”
I glance back at the fridge as if it’s going to tell me how they came to be inside it.
“And what about the bottom one?”
I pick my sandwich up, as if to toast him. “My favorite, with tomato and an egg. It’s runny, so don’t freak out. And ideally I would have put avocado on it, but I couldn’t find any. I’m not even sure they import them.”
“We’ll check after we’re finished.”
I lean on the island, watching him as I take my first bite.
He studies all of them before picking them up and taking a bite of each in turn.
Holding the plain cheese, he looks from it to me. “It’s not a balanced meal.”
“No, but it is a delicious one.” I smile at him. “Some people eat the plain ones with tomato soup. I did not want to take the time to make it, but we can always do this again.”
I take another bite and wiggle at the delicious taste.
“You really love food, don’t you?”
Nodding, I manage to swallow before saying, “If you’ve got to eat, you might as well enjoy it, right?”
He picks up his second sandwich, looking at the ham slice a moment too long. “I like when you’re happy.”
It’s strange how innocent those five words are… and how they send my mind spiraling.
I focus on my food until a different sound echoes. This time from beneath my plate.
The message icon pops up in the corner of the island and we both look at it for a moment before Trench hits it.
“It’s for you.”
He swipes his hand and the message slides to me like it’s on ice, not a screen.
The words make me scowl. “The Agency would like me to know that my university is curious about my progress and they are too… as if I didn’t just send them a report.”
I don’t like what I find attached. “They gave me a checklist.”
“What kind of a checklist?”
“Measurements they’d like me to take— Jesus .”
“What’s wrong?”
“The Agency wants a cohort of one hundred men.” I laugh uneasily. “I am going to need a lot of lab assistants.”
“So you need ninety nine more?”
I look up at him and bite my tongue.
No. I still need one hundred.
I don’t want to share his data.
That is a complication I didn’t foresee.
Somehow, Trench’s measurements… they’re mine.
But if I stop taking them, there’s no excuse for the things I want to do to him—with him.
“Probably time for a visit to Margot’s,” I say.
“We’ll need to call ahead since I don’t have a membership, and you’re not bonded.”
I nod. “Right. We should do that now. Before I get sucked into a different project and they have to remind me again.”
“Okay, but only after you’ve finished eating.”
I grimace at him, but I do as he says.
When we’re both done and the dishes have been slid through the little window, he takes me to the living room and puts through the call.
It connects almost immediately.
“Hello,” Margot says with a smile that makes me feel like she knows something I definitely haven’t told her. “It’s very nice to meet you, Jessica.”
“Hi.” I give her a small wave, because I don’t know what else to do.
“Did you get my present?”
“I did.”
She looks past me before sitting back in what looks like a very expensive office chair. “Good. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I need to set up a visit.”
“Is that right?” Again, a quick glance behind me. “What kind of a visit?”
“A work visit.” Unfortunately. “My directive includes some Agency related requirements and I need to get measurements.”
“What measurements would those be?”
“General sizes with associated data and then some sample collection.”
She snorts when I say the word sample.
“I think we’re all going to have fun with that.”
“But not too much fun,” I say.
“I’ll set up some specimens and you can come down to take your measurements, etc.” She glances past me and then looks back. “I’m sure you’ll bring your bodyguard with you, but for your safety and club liability purposes, I’ll have to insist that you let one of my employees act as your assistant.”
“That’s fine.” I consider. “You may want to assign a helper to each specimen. Someone they’ll be more likely to…” My brain short circuits for a moment trying to decide between scientific term and colloquialism.
“Get hard for?” Margot suggests.
“Exactly.”
She smiles and I wonder if she’s laughing at me. “It’s only fair. They’re getting paid to do the hard labor.”
“It’s not that heavy of a burden.” I start to look at Trench, but I catch myself before I do.
“The Agency is asking for a fairly large cohort. And I was hoping that you could facilitate that, since you are affiliated.”
I hear nails clicking against a screen as she types. “How many?”
“At least one hundred.”
“You’re here for what, three months? They certainly wanted you to be bogged down. All work and no play, as they say.” She chuckles to herself. “Why don’t we do this: I’ll set you up with a series of appointments and you can teach my girls how to properly collect the information you need.”
“That will work.”
She glances toward something off screen. “I am certain that when I put out the call, we’ll get a hundred men who want to play. Is there any number that is too many?”
“I don’t think the Agency would be upset if you managed to get every single man on the planet.”
“Well, we can’t manage that, but we’ll do our best.”
“If you could get some bonded men in there too, I’d appreciate it.”
“Definitely.”
Margot confirms the time and ends the call with a wink.
“Is it going to be uncomfortable for you?” I ask, looking up at Trench.
“No.” He brushes my hair behind my ear. “I would ask that I’m not in the room if you decide to suck another man’s cock.”
He tries to smile, but doesn’t quite manage it.
“I don’t want to suck anyone else’s cock.” I palm him, initially to prove a point, but my mouth waters and I go to my knees.
“You don’t need to do that, Jess.”
“I know.” I nuzzle the tip of him. “Do you want me to stop?”
“It shouldn’t matter what I want,” he says.
“It always matters.”
“Then, no. I don’t want you to stop.”
But I do stop, glancing back toward the doors.
“Did you change the locks yet?”
He grits his teeth and unwraps his hand from me, pulling me to standing. “No. I haven’t.”
“How long will that take?”
“Half an hour. Maybe more.”
I am impatient. I know that, but right now, I don’t care.
“Your room or mine?”
He laughs, just one low breath, and then he picks me up, carrying me up the stairs and to his bedroom. But he doesn’t let me at his cock again. He drags my pants and socks off and buries his face in my pussy.
TRENCH
I could drown in the taste of her.
She is perfect and I am an addict who aches to have her in every way.
“Jess?”
She hums a little sound that lets me know she heard me.
“Have you used the toy Margot gave you?”
“No.”
“Have you been taking the Vitamin S she sent?”
She hesitates and when I raise up, she bites her lip and nods. “Yeah.”
“Don’t go anywhere.”
I go to her bathroom and take a minute to clean it before I grab the bottle of lube and return to her.
Her eyes go wide when she sees it in my hand. Maybe she forgot how big it was.
Dropping it to the bed beside her, I straddle her hips and kiss her as sweetly as I’m able. “I want to fuck you, Jessica. I want to mate you and make you mine. But I’m not going to trap you here. So, unless you tell me no, I’m going to fuck you with this fake cock and pretend that it’s mine you’re squeezing down on. I’ll pretend that it’s my cock filling you, on the verge of flooding you. And when you come, I’ll know that it’s my cock you want inside of you too, isn’t it.”
She swallows and when she nods, it brushes her cheek against mine.
“If I could—”
I cup her face and press my thumb to her lips.
Neither of us need that wish spoken. I kiss her until she melts against me and then, I kiss my way back down her body, grabbing hold of the dildo that matches my skin as I go.
Of course Margot sent her one with a skin suction adapter, like she knew.
Like she wanted to test our resolve. Or maybe she just knew that being together would be too much to bear.
I work my pants open, but not so far that I spring out of them. My cock doesn’t need to be involved in this.
I know how these work in theory, but when I press the base of it against the flat plane above my own cock and the suction cup takes hold, it works better than I expected.
Jess looks down at it in awe and the barest glimpse of disappointment.
“Want me to put it away?”
“No. I want to have my cake and eat it too.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means I wish it was the real thing, but if this is the only way I can have you, I can’t really complain, can I?”
I kiss her so that I don’t apologize.
And while our lips are still connected, I guide it into her.
She draws back on a gasp.
The way it spreads her—the way I want to spread her—makes my cock ache, straining against the fabric keeping it safely tucked away.
Jessica writhes and scratches at my arms holding her down. She sobs my name when she comes and I have to pull back as my cock finally wins its battle against my pants and springs out. Streams of dark cum hit the bed and I jerk, thrusting against the sheets as it pours from me.
I wait until we’ve both stilled to draw the facsimile cock from her.
Her pussy is soft and swollen and I lean down to place a kiss against it before she laughs and wriggles away from the cum that made it onto the sheets.
On her hands and knees, she looks at me like she’s trying to burn the sight of me into her memory.
“That,” she says, pointing at the place where the fake cock sits above my real one, “Is mildly terrifying… but it does give me an idea.”
She says the last part in an offhand, far away voice, so I don’t ask her what she means. She crawls to me and works a nail under the suction cup and pulls it from me, tossing it toward the bathroom. “Come here.”
She takes off her glasses and scoots to the foot of the bed and when I go to her, she licks the remnants of my cum from my shaft using the flat of her tongue while whimpering.
“Trench?”
It’s my turn to make a noise in response.
“I want to get some things.” She sucks at the tip of me, moaning like I’m her favorite dessert.
“Anything you want.”
Chuckling, she strokes me and looks up. “You only say ‘anything’ because I’m about to let you throat fuck me.”
It’s not true.
“You want to come in me. I want you to come in me.” She takes my hand and draws it down her stomach, slicking my fingers through her wet and swollen pussy.
But she doesn’t stop there.
“It’s going to take some work.” She guides my fingers to her ass and shivers when I swirl and press at the hole. “But I really want you to come in me. And if I can’t have your cock in my pussy…”
She doesn’t finish the thought. She sucks me into her mouth and takes me as far as she can.
Vitamin S gets rid of gag reflexes too, so she just keeps going.
I close my eyes when they cross and I hold her head gently, letting her take as much of me each time as she wants.
But when I warn her, I feel her laugh against my skin, and she presses herself down even further than before.
When I come, it’s so deep in her throat, she doesn’t even have to swallow until I pull back.
The last of my cum fills her mouth. She smiles at me, one dark line dribbling out the side of her lips. Swiping it back up, she shows me the dark pool filling her mouth before she sucks the last of it from her finger and swallows it all down.
I go to my knees in front of her and drop my head to her shoulder.
If she was mine, I wouldn’t let her out of this bed for a week. I would lock this place down tight and if anyone tried to take me away from her… I don’t know what I’d do.