Royal Flush

by Ella Goode

  “No. My mom is going to redecorate one new room every month. That’s just the way she moves. Our house has like, twenty rooms, so it’s in a constant state of renewal. I promise you that Mom would think it was fun.” Mel shrugs. “I’m not forcing you. Just something to think about. I mean, not to be rude, but if your mom can do this”—she gestures around the room—“with the budget she has, I can’t imagine what she’d do in my house.”

  “I’ll, uh, mention it to her.”

  “Awesome.”

  That was a weird tangent, but I am going to bring it up to my mom because she loves decorating and shit so it’d be wild to have her do that for a living. In fact, if the whole decorating thing works out and my mom can quit at the factory, I’d be glad to break into any damn computer system that Mel wants.

  I lead Mel down the hall to my bedroom. This is one place my mom hasn’t touched. It’s dark, like a cave. I have a futon and four computer screens. Mel gasps.

  “Wow.”

  “I am a hacker,” I remind her.

  “Yeah, I guess I didn’t realize what that meant exactly.”

  I motion for her to take a seat on the futon. “My place isn’t exactly set up for guests.”

  “No. This is fine. So how does this work?”

  “The easiest types of hacks are social hacks and since I have you here, this should be a breeze.” I pick up a headset.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to pretend to be your company’s IT administrator and the network admin is going to give me all the necessary details to break into the system.” I fit the voice modulator over my throat. “These guys are going to ask me things like your dad’s last purchase and what his mother’s maiden name is. You think you know those?”

  “Sure. I’ll look up his mistress’s Instagram account. She’s always taking photos of jewelry or clothes or a bag and putting gross captions on it like ‘gift from my boo.’” Mel pretends to fake gag.

  “You do some research while I make the call.” It goes as smoothly as I’d anticipated. With Mel’s help and her inside knowledge, I had the network admin resetting the email address for the company’s internet to a dummy account I created and then they sent me a password reset link. After ten minutes, I’m in and staring at ITM’s company database. “What are we looking for?” I ask, moving the mouse around.

  Mel rises and leans over my chair. “There. Click there.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Melody

  The folder pops open and I see all three of my aunts’ names listed as well as my two uncles. The shocking part is seeing that my name is also listed. There is no sign of my father’s name on that list. I read it again, double checking that I’m not seeing things but I’m not. Everything is right there in black and white. My name is definitely listed instead of my father’s. I click on my Aunt Sue’s name first, reading over the section which lists that she owns one sixth of the company’s shares. That seems to go along with what I know. The company is broken up amongst the six children. I click back out of the folder then click on the file with my name on it.

  “I still can’t believe your family owns ITM,” Brad says. I can hear the awe in his voice. “They began envisioning and then building computers in the 40s. They finally got things right but it took them until the 60s to do it.” Brad gives me a little history lesson about my own family’s company. It’s terrible that I don’t know this information already. I really should know it but when I was with my grandparents they never talked about work. They wanted their time with me to be about family. It was always about being together and having fun. Sometimes I think they were trying to make up for what my father lacked.

  When I lost them, I didn’t want to know anything about the company because it reminded me too much of them. I’d lost them both within a short period of time. You never think you’re going to lose the ones you love; you always think there’s plenty of time. Looking back on it now, I realize I should have asked my grandparents more about the business. That I should have made it a priority to know about my family’s company. Seeing my name on these papers makes me feel a little foolish. All this time, this was right under my nose and of course my father hid it from me.

  “Yeah,” I manage to answer Brad even though my mind is racing in all different directions. I didn't get the technology bug like the rest of the family had on my father's side. I do remember doodling our company’s logo on a scratch pad when I was about thirteen. I would always see it around. My grandma found it and put it in a frame. That became a thing she did with most of my work. Whether it was something as simple as a logo or a larger picture that I’d drawn, she’d hang it around the house. Once she’d even used one at a launch for a new ITM laptop. She had it imprinted on all of the boxes. I’d been so excited. It made me feel as though I’d been a part of it.

  “Are you reading this?” Brad asks, breaking me from my memories. “The shares are yours.” My eyes scan over the document again. They’d given me my father’s shares or what should have been my father’s shares.

  “When I graduate high school.” I point out the stipulation to Brad.

  “You could graduate tomorrow if you wanted. You have the credits.” I turn in his lap to look at him. I’m about to ask how he knows that little tidbit of information, but duh, he’s a hacker. He’s right, though. The classes I’m taking now are to make sure I can get into the best school possible. They’re not the ones I need to really follow my dreams to be an art major. That’s what I want more than anything.

  “He’ll never let this happen.” I can’t see my father handing the shares over to me. I keep reading the documents. He only oversees the money that is put into my account quarterly. No wonder the man is nice to me and not my mom. I’m the cash cow.

  “I’m rich.” It dawns on me.

  “Mel, you’ve always been rich.”

  “No, I’ve always been under my father’s thumb.” My mom is too, a little, but still I can’t find myself to be angry at her. “What happens if I die?” I gasp as I realize what I said. Brad’s arm that I hadn't realized had wrapped around my waist tightens.

  “You think your father would kill you?”

  “Maybe I watch too many True Crime shows.” I'm honestly not sure what my father is capable of.

  “I notice you didn't say no.”

  “This is a lot to take in. But do I think my father could kill me? I would hope not. Do I think my father loves me? No.” That’s a question that I can give a solid answer to. I click out of the folder because I don’t know what to do with it. I need time to process all of this information.

  “Mel.” Brad says my name softly.

  I turn to look at him. “I’m eighteen. I don’t know what to do with a company like this.”

  “You don’t have to take it. I’m sure you could sell your shares to your aunts and uncles.”

  “No!” He raises his eyebrows at my half shouted response. “They left it to me. I can’t just sell it. They wanted me to have it.” I drop my head down onto Brad’s chest, burying my face in his neck while secretly breathing him in. Something about being in his arms is comforting. “I could take it all away from him.”

  “You could,” he agrees. His hands roam over my back. My eyes fall closed. “Hurt him like he’s hurt my mom.” I sit up to look at him. “Doesn't that make me as bad as him?”

  “You’re only taking back what is yours, Mel. He made his bed and he’ll have to lie in it.” I worry my lip between my teeth. He’s unmade a lot of beds in his life. I don’t think he has any left and I’m guessing his mistresses aren't going to stay in the ones he’s put them in without the cash flow he once had.

  “Like your mom. I don’t think you’ll be tossing her out of the house and telling her to get lost.”

  “Never!” She wasn't the best mom at times but she tries her best and I love her. This could be wonderful for her. She could get out from under my father. She could get under this new guy. “This could change our lives.”<
br />
  “It’s clear your grandfather knew what he was doing when he left your father’s shares to you, Mel.”

  “I know nothing about the company.”

  “You’ll learn.” I drop my head, looking down at my hands. I’m horrible. I don’t want to sell the company but I don’t want to run it either. Again, I would be doing a career I never really wanted. I sigh internally, knowing that the money would change my life but I'd still be living one that I didn’t choose for myself. Brad and I sit in silence for a few moments. I keep running everything through my mind, trying to make sense of it all.

  “You could help me. You could run my shares.” The idea hits me out of nowhere and before I could stop myself, I’ve blurted it out. Brad looks as shocked as I do at the idea. Instead of waiting for an answer, I do the one thing I’ve been dying to do. I kiss him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Brad

  I don’t know what makes my head spin more—her words or her lips on mine. My hands fall to the indent in her waist. Her tits brush against my chest, branding me like a hot iron. The matter of her family’s business is pushed out of my head. There’s only room for one thought at the moment and that is how do I get her shirt off her head without breaking contact with her mouth?

  It’s not possible, I find two seconds later as Mel and I engage in a slight wrestling match to see who can peel off the other’s clothes faster.

  “Fuck. I think I ripped your shirt.” I curse as I hear the soft fabric tear.

  “Who cares? I hate this shirt.” She pushes me back onto the bed, bare legs on either side of my hips, her hot pussy burning through her pale pink panties and my boxer briefs. I could go up in flames any minute. She’s a literal fire hazard. She’s so hot. She frees her tits and they bounce like juicy fruits in front of my face. It’s an irresistible temptation. I dive in, ravaging one breast and then the other.

  She gasps and clutches my head tight to her chest. This is good. This is very good. Tutoring is the best job in the world. Also hacking. I love hacking.

  “What are you saying?” she laughs.

  “I have no idea,” I mumble. I hadn’t realized I was saying anything. I just want to eat her up. I want to taste every little part of her, particularly the hot, wet part between her legs. “Come up here.”

  I pull her up higher until that slip of silk is level with my mouth. I nudge my nose along the crease of her leg and fill my lungs with the sultry musk of her sex. This is it, I think. This is the pinnacle of my existence. Nothing is going to get better than this. I draw aside the wet fabric and drag my tongue across her sex. Her head falls back and a low, come-inducing moan slips from her mouth.

  “Oh my God.” She shudders.

  “Yeah?” There isn’t anything like having the girl of your dreams treat you like a deity, but she’s the real otherworldly being here. Her pussy is slick and pink. She tastes like a decadent dessert--the kind you can only get at the restaurants with tablecloths and real silverware. I’ve never eaten in one of those places. Never felt like I belonged there, but there’s no awkwardness here.

  I dive in, licking my way around the edges, tonguing her folds aside, sucking on the tiny hooded clit. She moans again when I slide a finger inside of her. She’s hotter here, a veritable inferno. If this is how I die, it’s such a fucking boss way to go. Her tight walls clench around my finger and my mind goes blank as the thought of my dick inside of this hot, narrow channel is enough to send me to the cliff.

  “I gotta have you on my dick,” I tell her. It’s half an order, half a plea.

  “Yes, God, yes.” She scoots down. We pull off my underwear. I have hers halfway off her hips when she gasps.

  I stop immediately. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “Your-your…” She points to my cock, standing up straight and ready. It throbs and jerks at her attention.

  “Yeah?” I reach down and grasp it, pinching the base to stave off the orgasm that wants to shoot through me and paint her tits white with my cum.

  “It’s not going to fit.” She starts to swing off the bed. “No way.”

  “Babe,” I plead, catching her and pulling her back into place where she’s straddling me and her juicy pussy is wetting my abs. “It’ll fit. I promise.”

  “How? You have some special trig formula that you haven’t taught me?” She sounds incredulous. “I don’t even wear the big tampons. I’m small.”

  A groan escapes me. “Don’t I know it.”

  She narrows her eyes. “Have you done this before?”

  “No.”

  “Then how do you know it’s going to work?”

  “Because it’s worked for a million people before us. You and I are proof that no one has died as a result of sex.” I cup her sex and finger her gently. “You like this, right?”

  She catches her lower lip between two teeth and nods. I gently push another finger inside and fuck her slowly. “How’s that?”

  She takes a shaky breath. “Nice.”

  Nice is not how I’d describe the hot suction against my hand. It’s more like...fuck, I don’t know. There aren’t words to describe it. “It’s gonna feel even better when my dick is here instead of my fingers. I’m gonna fill this pussy up and it’s going to be good. Real good.”

  Her breaths are coming in short pants now.

  “Scoot your sweet ass a little lower and slide that pussy of yours on my dick.”

  She places her hands on my chest and pushes herself down until her slick cunt hovers over the aching head of my steel hard cock. I bite my tongue and hold my breath as she eases onto my shaft. With one hand gripped hard around the base of my cock and the other on her hip, I watch as she takes me into her body.

  A sharp hiss snakes through her teeth as the tip penetrates that tight warmth.

  “You okay?” I ask.

  She nods and smiles, the corners of her lips a bit trembly.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “A little? It’s not so much pain as I’m”—she sinks down an inch more--”stretched.”

  I choke. “That’s one way to put it.”

  “Does it hurt for you?”

  What a fucking sweetheart. “No, babe. It’s all good. It’s all so good.”

  “You’re shaking though.” She strokes a hand down my biceps.

  I hadn’t even realized. “It’s because this is better than I ever imagined it to be.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” I pull her down so I can kiss her because there aren’t words in my vocabulary to express my intense desire, the way just looking at her makes me full. I show her with my tongue and lips and mouth and teeth that she’s everything to me—that if I only had one meal left to eat, I’d want it to be her, that if I only had one hour left in my life, I’d need it to be with her. I kiss her with everything I have in me and she slides home.

  I start to move, slow at first, but she matches my rhythm, swiveling her hips and bearing down. My balls draw up tight and even the soles of my feet feel sensitive to the tight air in the room.

  She fucks me and I fuck her until I’m not just shaking but sweat beads on my chest and my breath can only come in heavy gasps. I shaft her hard and fast.

  “Come for me, babe,” I beg. My orgasm is knocking like a fist on a fragile glass door. Any minute, my cum is going to rocket out of my cock and fill her narrow pussy.

  “I am. I am,” she cries and I feel it—her juice coats my dick. I let go, shooting my massive load inside of her hot cunt. The release goes on, like an endless wave. Her cries mix with my shouts and her juice and my cum until we’re one being, fused by our love.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Melody

  I lay on top of Brad knowing my mind should be a million other places right now with the information he found. I would say it’s almost like winning the lottery. If someone asked me, ‘What’s the first thing you’re going to do?’ I would say, make love to Brad, because that’s what I’ve been wanting to do since the moment he kissed me outside of
my house.

  “You okay?” His fingers trail up and down my back, comforting me. Okay is not the word that I would use to describe how I’m feeling right now. Between all of the information we discovered and making love to one another, it’s the first time in a long time that I don’t feel weighed down. I can finally see a way out from under my father’s grasp. With that knowledge and all of the pleasure that Brad gave me, I’m on overload. It's nice to feel wanted, something I haven’t felt since my grandparents passed away. Sure, my mom loves me in her own way but she’s limited in what she can give me emotionally. My mind races with so many thoughts as Brad continues to soothe me.

  “I feel free,” I admit. I sit up on top of him, not caring that I’m naked. I’ve never shied away from nudity; it is the natural human body form. I always felt that women were beautiful but staring down at a man between my thighs I am starting to realize that men can also be beautiful.

  “I know my mind is all over the place. I can’t imagine where yours is.”

  “I don’t know why they did it.” I run my hand up Brad’s chest, enjoying the feel of his chest hair on my fingers. I’ll be able to sketch better the next time I draw him. Hell, this time I’ll be able to sketch all of him in detail. From his handsome face to his defined muscles and let’s not forget his… My thoughts are interrupted by Brad.

  “Tell me about them,” he asks. So I do. I don’t know how long I go on for but as I talk, the memories come flooding back, one after the other. I’ve never had the opportunity to share details about them before because no one cared to ask. It feels good to give them a bit of life by sharing things about them.

  “I miss them.” I can feel my cheeks are wet. Brad sits up, kissing them.

  “Your father was the black sheep, Mel. You were the star. A little bit different but in a good way. You sound a lot like your grandma and I’d bet everything that after the way you’ve talked about how your grandfather treated her that he never thought he would have gotten anywhere without her.”