Chapter Fourteen
Fourteen
Elsie
When I reached the bottom stair, I stopped and covered my heated cheeks with my hands, trying to cool them down. Were penises supposed to get that big?
I mean, sure, I’d seen a few before, but Johnny Marsh’s sure hadn’t been that size.
He put my hand on it the night of prom and asked me to jerk him off since I wouldn’t have sex with him.
That was a mistake because he continued to find times to get us alone and put my hand on it again.
Then he asked me to suck it, and I was done.
I didn’t even like him that much. I’d just dated him because I was trying not to love Calvin.
Then there had been Jack Freeman, my freshman year of college, and he’d almost taken my virginity, but I stopped him before it happened. He got angry, and we broke up. I hadn’t gotten a real close look at his penis since he hadn’t asked me for a hand job, but it had been smaller than Johnny’s.
Brent East had been my one and only relationship that got serious enough for me to consider possibly having sex, but in the end, I couldn’t with him either. I’d been saving myself for Calvin. Wanting that first time to be with him.
I hoped that penis size didn’t run in the family. If Calvin was that size, then I might be a virgin forever. I mean, that thing wouldn’t even fit in a vagina. Would it? And the metal balls I’d glimpsed just under the rim of the head? What in the heck?! Ouch! Did females have sex with him?
I let out a small laugh.
Yes, they did. Even with his monster penis.
I’d also seen the rest of him. To say he was sculpted was an understatement.
And covering all the hard, defined muscles was colorful tattoos.
I didn’t study them as I momentarily gawked, but I saw a flame, a snake, and crossbones, I thought.
I wasn’t sure. The snake was coiled around his upper right thigh.
Suffice it to say, I’d never seen a naked male body like that one before.
The others had all seemed very … underwhelming.
“You good?” a male voice asked.
My head snapped up from the floor, where I’d been absently staring while thinking about Forge’s naked body, to see Ransom and Noa.
“Uh, yeah,” I stammered, feeling incredibly awkward.
“Sorry about Forge,” he said.
I shook my head and smiled shakily. “It’s fine.”
“It must have been a nice view,” Noa said in a singsong voice, then winked at me. “She’s still blushing.”
“It’s not. He’s fucking ugly,” Ransom told her, scowling.
She let out a trill of laughter, then wrapped her arms around one of his. “Don’t be jealous. I didn’t see anything. Besides, your naked body is the only one I want to see.”
He nodded, still not looking happy, then slid his arm around her waist and continued on toward the kitchen.
Glancing up the stairs, I decided I’d better go, too, before Forge came down. I wasn’t sure I could face him right now. Noa was right. I was flustered. I wanted to go back to my room and close the door, but I might pass him on the way.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to shake that off, then followed the others. We were adults. He hadn’t been embarrassed. No big deal. It was fine. I was fine.
Well … maybe not fine exactly. I’d never look at a naked man the same again.
I feared no one would ever meet that expectation.
Except the penis size. That was a no. A tampon any bigger than the regular size made me uncomfortable.
I was positive my vagina wasn’t built for a penis Forge’s size.
I wondered where he found females that had a vagina big enough.
“Good morning,” Winslet said as I entered the kitchen.
“Good morning,” I replied, glancing around to see Oz seated at the table beside her, Ransom making a plate of food at the stove, and Noa at the espresso machine.
“Got another letter for you from Calvin,” Oz said, nodding his head to an envelope on the table.
I’d written him back two days ago and given it to Winslet. I wanted to take his letter and go back to my room to read it, but then again, there was the passing-Forge thing.
“Thanks,” I told him and went over to get it.
I knew they read the letters. They had to print them out for me. Forge had handed me the last one, and it hadn’t even been folded or in an envelope for privacy. Not that Calvin would say anything that I didn’t want them to read.
“Forge showed her his junk. She’s a little rattled,” Ransom informed the rest of the kitchen.
Oz’s brows shot up. “What?” His tone took a cold edge.
“I walked out of my room and—”
“Jesus, she’s not a kid. She’s seen a naked man,” Forge’s voice cut Ransom off, and I jumped, startled by the sound of it.
Needing to do something other than stand here and continue to look awkward, I put the letter in my back pocket and walked over to the espresso machine.
Noa was trying not to grin at me over her coffee cup.
She hadn’t been the one shocked by a pierced penis in a hallway first thing in the morning.
But then she wrote sex scenes it probably wouldn’t have phased her.
“What the fuck did you do?” Oz demanded.
I winced, and Noa broke into a grin.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “It’s funny though.”
“I sleep naked,” Forge told him, as if that explained it.
“And?”
“I had just gotten out of bed. I forgot I didn’t have on boxers when I opened the door.”
Silence.
Until Noa spit her coffee back into her cup and burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry!” she said. “But this just keeps getting funnier.”
I just wanted everyone to stop talking about it. Turning back around, I smiled at Oz, which was hard because he could be intimidating. Especially when he was scowling. “It wasn’t a big deal. Really. I’ve seen naked men before. It was shocking,” I admitted, then shrugged. “But it’s fine.”
“Fine?” Forge asked, sounding offended. “Pickles, nothing about my naked body is just fine. It’s a work of fucking art.”
My gaze swung to his, and Noa laughed again.
“Jesus,” Oz muttered.
“Why are we talking about Forge’s naked body?” Kash asked, walking into the kitchen. “And a work of art is a bit of a reach there, brother.”
Eh, I don’t know about that, Kash. But I wasn’t about to say anything.
“I can strip down right now if I need to prove my point,” Forge told him.
“Already told you I didn’t want to kill you today,” Ransom reminded him.
Forge rolled his eyes and headed over toward me or the espresso machine. I was frozen and knew I needed to act casual.
“Or you can tell my baby brother how good I look naked.”
I swallowed and let out a nervous laugh that sounded forced. “Uh, um, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
He flashed a cocky grin before reaching past me to take a mug from the cabinet. “Although you didn’t look long enough,” he added quietly.
There was a flutter in my stomach that I hadn’t expected. One that I’d only felt with Calvin. But that was years ago, back when I thought that we might become more. I had long since let that go.
“Bane, Halo, and Hawks come back today,” Oz said.
I wanted to sigh in relief at the subject change. They had planned to return on Monday, but Halo’s horse won, and they’d stayed an extra day to celebrate.
“Linc called a meeting at his place once Bane is back. Info on the issue with Telos.”
I spun back around and looked at him. He glanced at me, then back at his plate as he filled his fork. I wanted him to elaborate, but he didn’t.
“Who’s staying at the house with the girls?” Ransom asked.
“You,” Oz replied.
When no one said more about it, I realized I was going to have to wait until they decided there was something for me to know.
“How are you feeling?” Noa asked Winslet.
“The sick is almost over,” she replied. “That was the hardest part.”
I moved back as Forge took his coffee and went by me to go get a plate.
It was really hard not to look at his crotch.
I was now curious if I could see how big it was in jeans.
I hadn’t looked in that area before. Quickly, I turned to the espresso machine and busied myself with making a cappuccino the way Winslet had shown me.