by Amanda Bowen
Did she know? There’s no way she knows, is there? I mean we were so quiet. At least I think we were? Oh this is awful I’m not ready.
That thought made me seriously pause. Not ready? This was totally uncharted waters for me, how could I be ready? I wasn’t about to pick it apart now, not after I had promised myself I wouldn’t. So I took a deep breath and let it out, a tiny smile coming to my lips.
Despite the blush I could already feel of course.
“Did you want to take it over? I thought I saw Tex’s bike out front earlier.”
I trailed off, and it was Callie’s turn to sport a little blush.
“No, that’s cool. Though if he’s still there later then I should probably make sure we’ve got a slice of that pie he likes set aside for him in the cooler. I mean, not that I think he’d just come over here for pie or anything.”
I smirked, because he was over here at least once a day. My smirk faded though as my gaze went back to that lunch kit. Why was this making me nervous? After what we did, and how they didn’t act like I was anything but precious after? Why was I even worried?
I pushed that pesky self doubt aside and gave Callie a grateful glance.
“Thanks. You didn’t have to, you know. They’d have been fine coming here to get it like usual.”
She waved her hand airily as she moved to answer the cafe’s phone.
“Don’t worry about it Thea. I mean, you’ve done stuff like this for me before. You’re always helping everyone else, and come on. Like I’m paying it forward, you know? And I mean if what I’m thinking is going on is going on? Girl you better go for it.”
My cheeks are definitely on fire now, yep, better hope I can calm it down before I get over there.
Fanning myself I checked the bakery case one more time and maybe I slipped a couple of fresh muffins in a bag for Mike and one of those cinnamon rolls Gunner liked in another. It really felt sort of nice, to have someone to spoil. That it was two?
Those two in particular, made my heart race a little. I smiled as some of the regulars dropped some extra money in our tip jar on the way out. A quick glance showed that a couple of them had left a tip on the table too. A bit of pride swelled for a moment in me because we might never compete with a big chain restaurant but what we had was special.
I carefully picked up the to go kit and balanced my hand under the cardboard bottom. I would be mortified if I spilled the food and drinks. Especially mortified if anyone saw me do it. One of the exiting customers rushed and held the door for me and I gave him a brief smile even though my attention quickly went across the lot to the strip mall where Gunner’s studio was.
I stepped through and got out of the way politely as the man walked past me. I couldn’t recall having ever seen him before. That sparked a return of the uneasy feeling I’d woken up with and my smile faded.
He gave me a look and something about it was off too. I took a breath and stepped back, and then took another whole step back. Something was telling me that turning my back on this guy wasn’t a good idea and I trusted that feeling.
I trusted it even more when his smile got small and almost nasty before he turned to walk the other direction.
What the heck?
I made a mental note to remember the details of his appearance just in case. Including the car he was driving, a banged up dark colored wannabe muscle car. I couldn’t see the plate, but I did feel a sense of relief as he got in and roared out of the lot.
Even if he almost clipped one of the bikes parked in front of GB’s Tattoo. I saw the door pop open, but I couldn’t tell who it was before it shut again. Did I need my eyes checked? Shaking my head I walked to the end of my bit of sidewalk before carefully crossing the parking lot.
Weird. Maybe I should let Callie and our wait staff know about that guy. Or see if he paid with a card.
I shook it off though as I stepped up on the sidewalk outside the tattoo shop after deftly weaving through the bikes, admiring the chrome and the style of them before I reached the door. Before I could open it, it swung outward and a grinning Mike held it for me.
Something about his smile and the almost boyish look that came up in his eyes made me feel a little shy - but really wanted, too. I smiled back and shook the lunch kit carefully, my voice holding a soft lilt that I almost didn’t recognize.
“Callie said you guys wanted some turkey subs so she got lunch together and…”
Mike smiled and clapped his hands together before he held the door for me. I felt that sense of unease again, but I knew that it wasn’t Mike at all. Just the remnants of what had just happened. I shivered anyway as I stepped through, and Mike took the food from me, setting it down and he quickly took my hand. His other swept the hints of bangs from my forehead, and the look of concern he had was so sweet I almost cried.
“You okay babe?”
Thea
I nodded, even if I wasn’t too sure of the answer myself. Gunner’s voice swept through my haze and I looked up as he came out of his station area. “Hey is that the client?” He trailed off as he saw the food on the table, and Mike’s look of concern as I swayed where I stood.
Gunner rushed over and took my other hand, and then he and his twin sat me down on the little client couch up front. Mike got me a drink of water from the cooler and I took a sip with a sigh.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it’s like something’s off but I’m not sick I promise. Just dizzy is all.”
Oh no, I must look awful if their expressions are any indication.
Mike encouraged me to take another drink, and he and his brother exchanged glances. Almost like they were somehow speaking without words. Gunner sighed, glancing back to his station before he looked at me again.
“Can you let Mike take you home? Can Callie handle the cafe?”
I heard my voice replying, trying to tell him that it would be fine, I couldn’t just abandon my business twice in one day. Gunner seemed to be thinking hard, and then he snapped his fingers.
“Okay. I get that. But I have a couch in my office, you go lie down a little.” Before I could protest, he kept talking. “You’ll be just across the way, if something happens, but you can rest a bit and see if this dizzy spell goes away. Tex, go run over there and tell Callie what’s up but don’t forget you’ve got an appointment at two.”
I watched the rangy tattooist head out to trot across the lot at a good clip before I shook myself and got my attention back on Gunner.
Maybe this is the right idea after all, I just feel so dizzy and sleepy right now. This is nuts.
I let Gunner and Mike help me up, and my knees buckled a bit. My hands clung to them both, and I couldn’t help a soft giggle that escaped my lips then. This might not be conventional, what was happening. Not at all. But seeing how they both were doing their best to take care of me? It was an incredible feeling.
* * *
Mike
I don’t like how pale she looks. She seemed fine right up until she brought the food in, then poof. All pale and shaky.
We got Thea settled on the couch in Gunner’s office, Gunner pulling a blanket out of the little closet and putting it over her. As much as she made soft protests she was very quickly asleep and I felt helpless.
“Think maybe, this is because she didn’t eat anything? You know she gets busy, Callie tells Tex that she’s always having to remind Thea to eat.”
Gunner shushed me a second and pulled me out of the office. He looked as frustrated and helpless as I felt and he shrugged a little.
“We’ll ask her when she wakes up. Get her to eat something before one of us takes her home, maybe.”
I watched as he smacked his hands together before he headed back to his station and I shook my head. He knew that we might have to sweet talk Thea a little before she’d do it. But I was pretty sure she would.
There was a tightness in my chest as I looked back at the office, and I dragged a chair so I could sit next to the door. This way, I could see the fr
ont in case a client came in, and hear Thea if she woke up and wanted something. It wasn’t the most comfortable chair, but it’d have to do.
I wasn’t about to leave my girl unprotected, even if the shop was really safe. My girl, well, more our girl. I still was having trouble parsing it, but it was real. I thought a lot about what she said, about the potion. I was still sure I believed her, no matter how crazy that might sound to anyone else if I said it outloud.
I mean, what about this day was normal though? I went from a sad sack hungover asshole to being given a surprise I’d have walked over broken glass to get. Thea, she was so soft, so sweet. I shifted on the chair, reminding myself she wasn’t feeling too good to keep that little twitch of my dick from growing.
If this meant going further and further away from normal, to have Thea? Hell sign me up, sign us both up. I mentally danced around a few things here, I knew I was doing it too. I believed her about making potions. I even was on board with believing they worked because I had some pretty damn compelling physical evidence that said they did.
I felt myself chewing the inside of my lip and forced myself to stop, raking my hands through my hair instead to let some of the nervous tension leave. So, if Thea made potions, and the potions worked? What did that mean? Was she a witch, or just someone that had a talent for potions?
Totally uncharted waters, Mikey boy. Totally uncharted waters.
I started to make a list of questions to ask Thea, that might help me ease into the idea that she was a witch. Most people? Didn’t even believe in magic anymore, despite what the history books said. It was easier to write off the things that were once common than to try and understand what had changed.
It’d be easier to pretend she isn’t, but I can’t do that. I’d be making her less than she is, if it’s true, if I did that.
I shook my head, a huff that sounded like a growl under my breath. Thea, I knew just from talking to her over the last few months, she’d had enough of that. No matter how sweet she was, how caring. There were always people to prey on that. People who wanted others to be less, just to make themselves feel powerful.
I swore to myself that nobody would ever do that to Thea again.
* * *
Thea
I woke up with a small start, disoriented and blinking as I sat up with a shiver. Pulling the blanket up tighter to me I looked around as things came into focus. The couch I was on, a nice desk, a few chairs. There was the smell of leather too, from the jacket that was hung on the back of the chair behind the desk.
Mmm it smells like Gunner in here.
His office then, and I felt a sense of safety settle over me then. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t, I knew in my gut that neither of my guys would leave me somewhere that wasn’t. My guys, and I drew in a breath, biting my lip.
It really happened, and I think I figured out why I’m feeling dizzy and off kilter too.
There was a tiny part of me that didn’t think that there was any way possible that Thea Holmes was hot enough, smart enough, sexy enough for one man like the Blankenship brothers. Let alone both of them.
But my heart was telling me that I was. That I had enough love, enough caring, that I could be. The way they’d both looked at me when I’d had that initial dizzy spell? That wasn’t twins having a prank on a girl.
There’d been real, true concern in their eyes. The empathic part of me had felt that wave of protectiveness too, when Gunner was trying to urge me to let Mike take me home. They could have been angry at me, because of the potion. Even though it hadn’t been me that caused us to drink it.
But they hadn’t been angry, they’d been confident. I was what they both wanted, and they were both strong willed men. Take charge men, even if Mike would claim he wasn’t. He knew how to follow his brother’s lead, I knew that. But when he’d kissed me, it was for him.
I knew there’d be questions later. I mean honestly how couldn’t there be? They’d want to know if I was serious about what I’d said. They’d want proof. Normally even thinking about that sort of thing might have brought on feelings of panic.
But with them, I just knew they’d listen. They wouldn’t judge before giving me a chance. Magic was so rare, and those of us that had it were always cautious. Making a joke about it. Claiming it was sheerly just entertainment value, like I did with our potions sales.
Nostalgia, for a past that most people nowadays really didn’t believe in. It was better for us though, I had to admit. I could help people and I didn’t have to worry so much about things that my ancestors had faced.
Even though magic in the past had been widely accepted as just another facet of nature, something had shifted. None of the members of what was left of the magical community knew what it was. Just that there were less and less of us.
I shifted on the couch, swinging my legs over before I stood up and making sure I was okay to walk. In all of the rush of today, I’d forgotten that Brenda was supposed to come tonight for her potion. There was still enough in the container for her to use, we’d gotten lucky in that. But really, I should be there when she came to pick it up, right?
Swaying again, I stayed put for a few heartbeats before I took the few steps to the door. I had the blanket wrapped around my shoulders now and it really took the chill off. It definitely didn’t hurt that it smelled like Gunner either.
I turned the knob to open the door only to have it swing open wide. Off balance I crashed into Mike’s chest, his arms automatically going around me. I nearly melted as he moved to cuddle me in closer. Feeling his breath ruffle my hair, listening to his heart pounding in his chest. It was shockingly intimate, despite that we were both still fully clothed.
“Mike,” I squeaked, I know I did but that didn’t stop me. “I think I know why I’m all off.”
I stepped back a little, so that I could see his face and of course I blushed. Just a hint of pink on my cheekbones that warmed my face. Not a bit like the fire that would come after I finished what I needed to say to him.
“It’s because I need to have you the way I did Gunner.”
I bit my lip as I looked up at Mike, and for a moment I saw confusion chase across his handsome features. Those lips I was already aching to nibble again, the way his eyes went to half closed, the way his tongue darted out to wet those lips? My cheeks definitely felt on fire as I felt the growing ache in my pussy and that soft wetness that was making it silky.
The moment it dawned on him fully what I meant, his eyebrows shot up and a pure look of hunger came up into those deep blue eyes of his.
“You mean now, Thea?”
I nodded, shifting in his arms just to ease that ache between my thighs. I’d make it up to Gunner, but right now I just needed Mike.
“Now, and fast. Can you feel it?”
I took his hand and led it up to rest on my chest, just between my breasts. My heartbeat sped up to match his.
I’m glad I was right. This is a lucky, easy fix.
He didn’t resist as I pulled him into the office, and he let me go enough to close the door and lock it. Taking the blanket from around my shoulders he laid it on the couch before he quickly helped me strip out of the sensible pants I’d changed into and he undid his jeans, pushing them down to his knees before he sat on the couch and beckoned me over to straddle his lap.
Thea
I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but before I could think I was doing it. Straddling Mike’s lap, stroking his already hard dick as I took it out of his underwear. I knew what it tasted like, knew how big it was from earlier. Somehow though I still felt surprised, feeling his dick in my palm.
Gunner was big too, but Mike felt thicker and I was so ready to find out how different he’d feel. A few firm strokes had his head going back and he groaned. I loved that sound, I wanted more of it. But this was a different sort of urgency, and I went up higher on my knees so I could easily guide the tip of his dick into me.
I gasped, I couldn’t help it. He looked up at me but I sh
ook my head as I slowly lowered myself onto him. A wild part of me wanted to just slam down, even though I knew better. So close to losing control. But I put my hands on his shoulders, he put his hands on my hips and together we took it slow.
It seemed to take forever, but finally I had him fully inside me. I had to stay still, just letting myself get used to the feel of him. I felt so full, much like I had with Gunner but there was just that subtle difference. I blushed harder because that stray thought had come to me.
At least now I know I can tell them apart in the dark.
I started working my hips first, panting a bit before I used my thighs and hands on his shoulders to move myself up and down on his dick. The friction was so exquisite that I was moving faster without thinking about it, Mike’s hands skated up from my hips and up under my shirt to play with my breasts and I gasped.
He played with my nipples, already aching and taut, turning them into throbbing peaks with very little effort. I could see the grin on his face as he toyed with them, and I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips at the joy he had.
I knew what I needed, I needed him to come inside me. Later, I’d need to take Gunner somewhere and give him a blow job. Everything would be even then, and we’d be free to do what we wanted. When we wanted and how we wanted. This though, I just felt it deep in me, was important.
I couldn’t have explained how I knew or what would happen if we didn't. I hadn’t had the time to research into my inherited books. Even so, this felt right. Not just the fire of lust, of need, but that feeling of completing something that was undone. I was feeling that in spades.
I started deliberately squeezing my inner muscles, gripping his dick with my pussy on purpose every time he was fully seated inside me. Mike’s eyes went wide the first time I did it, he looked up and saw my smile and he was swearing under his breath and telling me how good it felt.