“Honey, shush,” said Natalie. “You’re lucky to be leaving so soon. You’re lucky even to just be…”
John knew what she wanted to say. He was incredibly lucky to be alive, and he knew it. The way he’d crashed down on the rocks must have looked hopeless to his mom from the top of the cliff, but only his arm had been damaged.
Elsa had been there with him, helping him to the surface after he’d gone under. She had saved him, and sacrificed herself to do it, and even then, John had been unable to swim well enough to keep from blacking out as his lungs filled with water.
“Your mom’s right, John,” said Olivia. “We’re all lucky. We shouldn’t take it for granted.”
John nodded. Another nurse arrived with the second wheelchair, and he climbed off the hospital bed and into it.
“Of course, I know,” he said. “For the next few days, I’m not interested in doing anything other than lying around the mansion and getting the rest and recuperation I need.”
Both his mom and Olivia rubbed him on either shoulder. He saw the same knowing look in both of their eyes and smiled to himself.
“There is one thing that we’ll have to go out for, John,” said Natalie. “If you’re feeling up for it, that is.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said.
His mom walked in between him and Olivia as two nurses wheeled them through the hospital. It was small and quaint, the same way everything on Blackthorn Isle was. Outside, the sun was high in the sky, burning down on the parking lot with such intensity that it made his eyes hurt a little just to be open.
“I’ll go bring the car around,” said his mom. “Wait here.”
John glanced over at Olivia. For the entire trip through the hospital, she had been looking at him, with a strange, unidentifiable emotion in her eyes.
“What is it?” he finally asked her. The maid smiled back at him. She was wearing a casual t-shirt and sweatpants, and John realized that it felt a little different talking to her out of uniform.
“You saved me, Count John.” Her voice was soft but full of love and appreciation.
“We’ve been over this before, Olivia,” he replied. “Just call me John.”
She nodded and blushed.
“John,” she said. “I care for you. And everything I said when you found me, it was the truth. I see you for who you are.”
John suddenly felt as though he was naked, as though the maid could see right through him. A smile crept across his face, and then he nodded to her.
“I’m glad,” he said. “It means a lot that you… understand.”
The car pulled into the pickup lane. The two nurses pushed John and Olivia forward, towards the passenger seats. John’s right arm was still in a cast and sling, but it was easy enough for him to make it into the vehicle with one of the women closing the door behind him.
Olivia’s leg had to be positioned in a way that kept it straight and immobile. A nurse fit one of the wheelchairs into the trunk, and then carefully closed the door on the maid’s side. John touched Olivia’s leg and winked at her.
“I’ll have to help you get up the stairs when we get home,” he said.
“We both will,” added Natalie, from the front seat.
It took them only a short couple of minutes to make it back to the mansion. John felt as though he was coming home and realized that it was now what the place represented in his mind. He lived there now, at the Ludling Estate, on Blackthorn Isle, as the Count. That was his life, and the acceptance of it had been a subtle background process.
John helped his mother move Olivia into her wheelchair and set her leg into place, and then the three of them headed inside. He opened the door for the maid and smiled as her cheeks flushed red with embarrassed gratitude.
“Looks like our roles have shifted, at least until you’re healed,” said John.
“Count John, please!” Olivia looked a little exasperated. “John, I mean. I can still take care of you, sir!”
John leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. His mom was waiting for them in the lobby, and he could see her shooting a halfhearted glare at him and Olivia. Some things would never change, he thought to himself.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you to your room. And if you need to get up and down floors, for any reason, I think the servant’s elevator should be a workable solution.”
“Hold on.” Natalie crossed her arms and stood in front of them, projecting a serious amount of both motherly responsibility and authority. “We only have about an hour before we have to leave for… well, you know. You two should start getting ready.”
John nodded and wheeled Olivia forward and around his mom.
“Of course,” he said. “I think it’s important that we be there.”
John had never spent much time in Olivia’s room before and felt strangely embarrassed at that fact. The maid looked over her shoulder at him as he wheeled her in.
“This is it,” she said. “Sorry, it’s a little messy. I left in a bit of a rush when… all of it happened.”
John nodded. The chamber was spotless, and he wasn’t sure what mess she was talking about. Her bed was small, either a twin or a double, and the room had a distinctive teenage girly feel to it, with a pink laptop sitting on a desk, several stuff animals arranged together in a corner, and boy band posters on the wall.
“Wow,” he said. “If I had seen this before, I think I would have had a different image of you in my mind.”
“Oh, shut up!” Olivia playfully swatted his arm. “John, I might need help with… well, it’s kind of embarrassing for me to ask, but…”
She blushed, and pointed to her wardrobe. John looked at her confused for a second before the obvious clicked in his head.
“Oh! Uh, yeah, of course I can help with that.” He scratched his head and wheeled Olivia over to her bed. “No prob.”
He helped her out of her wheelchair, and then walked back over to where the girl’s clothes were neatly folded and stored away. Olivia instructed him in which ones to taking out, settling on a very formal and mournful looking black blouse with a gray skirt.
“Thanks,” said Olivia. “Then if you can just help me, well, you know…”
John nodded. He sat down on the bed next to her, feeling strangely aware of their proximity, and the fact that they were alone in the room. Slowly and carefully, he helped Olivia out of her t-shirt, trying to glance away as he realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her big, soft boobs bounced into view.
“John,” said Olivia. “Can you help me with my sweatpants?”
It was hard for him to focus as he moved closer to her, feeling himself growing increasingly excited as he began to slide the baggy sweatpants down her waist. He had to take care to carefully work it around the bandage, and as he soon discovered, Olivia wasn’t wearing any panties.
“There you go…” said John. Neither of them moved for a second. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at her gorgeous naked body anymore, and began to draw closer to her almost as though being pushed by a strong wind.
Olivia didn’t say anything. Instead, she took the hand of his good arm and pulled it onto her chest. John felt his cock hardening in his pants, and leaned in and kissed her deeply.
He had to move carefully, being mindful of his own broken arm and her injured leg. John slipped his own pants off, leaving his shirt on, and then worked his cock out into the open. Olivia smiled at him and nodded as he moved forward, accepting him as he moved onto her.
She was warm and wet, as ready for him as she had ever been. John was eager and incredibly turned on, but there was something about the situation, and the experiences the two of them had shared over the past few days that let him move with gentle care and control.
“Oh…” Olivia formed the word with her lips in a seductive circle, pushing it out as John slowly slid his cock inside of her. It felt amazing, hot, moist, and velvety, and John slowly began to pump as he stared into her eyes.
The pace of their breathi
ng increased and then drew to match each other. John kissed Olivia’s neck and cheek, and then her lips, their tongues moving in to meet each other’s and rubbing together.
It felt so hot in her tiny room. John grabbed at Olivia’s breasts with his good hand and tried to keep his cast from pushing roughly against her skin. He continued moving up into her at an even pace and it felt almost as though they were stealing the moment, trying to stay quiet and keep the world from knowing about the dirty coupling happening behind the closed doors.
“Yeah, that’s it,” whispered John. “Oh man, Olivia.”
She ran her hand through his hair and bit her lip. John thought about how many times the two of them had been together since he’d come to the island, starting on that eventful first day. He wanted to have her, to take her, whenever he wanted, but along with his lust came something else.
John wanted her to be with him, and he could tell from her soft, loving eyes, that she felt the same way. She was the only one who knew about him and his mother now, and level headed as always, she’d been accepting and open to it.
“John, please,” whispered Olivia. “Don’t stop. I’ll be okay, keep going.”
John began to fuck her a little faster, testing the waters as his cock slapped into her pussy, churning her juices around with sexual intent. He felt like he knew her so well, and yet still knew so little about her. She was Olivia, the gorgeous maid who was looking out for him like an older sister.
“Yes, oh John!” Olivia moaned and then dug her fingers into John’s back with much more intensity than he’d been expecting. He took it as encouragement, and began to push into her faster, and faster.
“Olivia!” John leaned in and kissed her. For a moment, their injuries were forgotten, along with their responsibilities, their roles, and the events of the past few days. The only thing on either of their minds was the pleasure of their bodies, pushing together against each other with a pressing, lewd need to find release.
“Oh!” Olivia jerked underneath him, her hips pushing up on her uninjured side. John thrust hard a final few times, and then could contain himself no longer. His cock began to blast out his hot, sticky load, shooting into her with intense sensuality.
They stayed like that for several minutes, their half-broken bodies tangled together on her tiny bed. They would have stayed that way for even longer if it weren't for the sound of Natalie’s voice, calling to John from upstairs.
“We don’t have long, you have to get changed!” echoed his mom. “I’ll be waiting outside, please be quick.”
John smiled at Olivia.
“Come on,” he said. “It’s time for us to get going.”
CHAPTER 41
It took John longer than he had expected to help Olivia into her new outfit, and then put on his own clothes up in his room. He was wearing a somber looking black suit, and when he stepped outside into the yard, the sun felt hot on his back.
The three of them rode together in the car to the Blackthorn Cemetery. John helped Olivia out of the car and into her wheelchair, and then pushed it forward along the footpath. There were fewer people than John had been expecting, though given how Elsa had died, he felt as though he shouldn’t have been surprised.
“It’s been a tough week for the island,” said his mom. “You were still asleep for Erik’s funeral, and not well enough to travel for Sam’s.”
“Yeah,” said John. “I wish I could have been there.”
The gravestone that stood at the foot of the rectangular burial hole was small and inconspicuous, at least compared to the other mounds on the nearby plots. John saw that Erik’s was practically a monument, and wondered if it had just been one more thing he’d been trying to compete against his grandfather with. He pushed the thought out of his mind, feeling as though it was somehow irreverent.
Kari was there. John slowed to a walk as the three of them approached the group of people. She looked over and met his eye for a moment. John wanted to call out to her, or smile at her, or do anything just to let her know that he was there for her. Somehow, it didn’t seem right, as though in his heart, he knew that the best thing he could do for her was to just stay away.
Her black dress looked tight and restrictive, as though it was designed to keep her emotions subdued. She looked at John again, and then walked into an open area of the cemetery, away from the initial proceedings of the funeral.
“I’ll be right back,” said John. Both Olivia and his mother gave him gentle, approving smiles and he was glad for once that he didn’t feel like there was a need for him to explain.
He walked over to where Kari was, feeling the hot sun now more than ever. There was so much he felt like he needed to say, to apologize for. As John stepped up next to her, none of the words came to him, as though all of his eloquence had been lost in the events of the past few days.
“Hey,” he finally managed.
“Hey,” replied Kari.
There was a silence between them. The wind blew across the grass and John felt as though he could feel the pain in Kari’s heart, almost too much for her to bear.
“How are you holding up?” John looked over at her and watched as she slowly pulled her gaze up from the ground to meet his.
“About as expected.” The words were rocky and a little shaken as they left Kari’s mouth, but she paired them with a tiny, forced smile. John took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for everything. You were right about what you said… about me, and how things have been.”
Kari didn’t say anything for a moment. John felt like it was getting hotter by the second, and a lump was forming in his throat. He wanted to suffer, he realized. He wanted her to yell at him and lash out at him, to deal with her pain by inflicting some on him.
“John,” she whispered. “I was in love with you.”
John felt his heart twist in his chest. He hadn’t been expecting her to say that, and it had even more emotional force than anything else she could have said.
“I know how hard this must be for you,” he said. “I’ll go.”
John turned to leave.
“Wait.” Kari was looking at him with eyes that looked like they were past the point of having any tears left to cry. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
John stepped back towards her and waited for her to continue, feeling a strange, heavy feeling against his temples.
“John, I found a note from Elsa, written just before she… passed away.” Kari paused and took a deep breath, a gust of wind blowing a couple of free strands of her hair across her face. “I know everything.”
John’s heart beat faster, almost violently. This was what it had all been about, from the start. His secrets, the control they gave other people over him, and the stupid lengths he had to go to in order to protect them. He felt like he wanted to throw up.
“Everything?” John almost whispered the word and even then it was a struggle to get it out.
“Everything, John,” said Kari. “I’m not sure what my sister wanted me to do with it, but I know everything. The death of the private investigator, the death of… my father, and…”
Again, it was Kari’s turn to struggle with her throat. She swallowed hard and looked John right in the eyes.
“I know about my father and Elsa, and I know about you and your mother.”
John was the past the point of knowing how to respond. It felt like a bomb had been dropped right in front of him, but he’d seen so many explosions in the past few days that it no longer meant anything. This time, all he wanted to do was lean into the blast.
“Oh,” he said.
Kari shook her head, and took his hand. Her touch was as soft and gentle as it had ever been.
“John, I’m so sorry,” she said quietly. “It’s always been this way, on Blackthorn Isle. It makes sense now, why you had to push me away, and why Elsa…”
John nodded his head slightly.
“I’m sorry, Kari,” he said. “I should go.”
He didn’t just mean to leave the conversation, or the funeral. John felt it was time for him to leave the island, to give up playing at something bigger than he was. But as he tried to step away, Kari’s grip on his hand only tightened.
“I understand now, John,” she said. “And I… don’t want you to go.”
The wind blew across the cemetery. Over by Elsa’s funeral plot, the proceedings were beginning. John looked at Kari, who still looked like she had something to say.
“I’m not going to tell anybody or judge you for it, John,” she said. “I can’t say that I really understand it, but things happen. You’re here for me right now, even after what I said to you. Maybe we can both still be there for each other, as friends.”
John looked at Kari’s face and saw the sincerity in her expression. Could they really just be friends? It was like playing chess with an elephant in the room, biding its time until it felt like flipping the table.
“To start, I mean,” continued Kari. “I still have… well, I haven’t forgotten how it felt for us to be together.”
John shrugged his shoulders. A powerful sense of relief began to spread through his body, from deep inside his chest all the way out to his extremities.
“I’ll always be here for you Kari,” he said. “That much, I can guarantee.”
Kari smiled at him and squeezed his hand tightly.
The funeral was a much more cathartic experience than what John had been expecting. There was a picture of Elsa on a stand next to her grave, and looking at it made him feel a mix of sadness and guilt, but also a responsibility to carry on.
Her casket was carried out and set into the grave by a couple of men that John didn’t recognize, and one that he did. Chad Dorsky had a solemn expression on his face, and slowly played his part in the ritual, assisting in the act of putting Elsa’s body to its final rest.
The reverend said a few more words, and then the grave was filled with dirt. John smiled at Kari one last time before heading over to join Olivia and his mom. He would have to head over to her mansion later, and make doubly sure that she was handling it okay.
Illicit Inheritance: The Complete Collection (Taboo Erotica) Page 29