Kenny is wrapped in a towel and barefoot. She’s got a row of spikes encircling her neck, and my cock is ticking back to life at the sight of her. If it weren’t for the unexpected company, I wouldn’t resist the effort.
“I’ll look ridiculous in a turtleneck.” She chews on her lip. “Besides, she’ll grow suspicious if I try to hide it. I need to work it.” She speeds off to the bedroom to presumably pull off the miracle of “working it,” and I make use of myself by putting the flowers I bought in a vase.
I take a breather as I wait for the water to fill. Outside the kitchen window, a three-quarter moon spreads its light over the snowy world. I think back to the fairytales I used to read to Molly. The princes and the princesses. Kenny is the princess in my fairytale. Although, it’s a slightly sadomasochistic fairytale at the moment. And fairytales always have a happy ending—not even Blair can ruin that. They also come complete with a witch, and I think I’ve just discovered Blair’s new role in my life. Let’s hope that bucket of truth I doused her with evaporates her to nothing.
Kenny steps back in the room wearing a low cut sweater, jeans, and the boots I gifted her with. Her dark hair frames her face, and the spiked cuff around her neck looks a lot more costume jewelry and a lot less obscene paraphernalia.
“Well done.” I wrap my arms around her, still amped from that heated exchange. “Does your mom know about us?”
“Not yet.” She pulls her lips to the side. “I’ll let her know we’re dating, but maybe I should ease her into the engagement. I’d hate to kill her on her first night here.”
“Fair enough.” I narrow into her with a devilish grin. “Whips and chains—good or great?”
Kenny bites down a smile and pulls me in. “Spectacular.”
Kenny and I walk through the dark night and into the bed and breakfast at the top of the property. Mom is already settled at the dining room table with a woman who I presume is Kenny’s mother, and my eyes have to readjust a moment as I spot my father seated beside her.
“Dad?” I’m dazed seeing him here in my childhood home without my mother shouting at him at the top of her lungs for child support.
Molly enters the room with a pot roast and potatoes as if she were about to break out an entire Thanksgiving dinner.
“Dad?” Kenny’s mother touches her hand to her chest. “Oh my God, is this Pennington?” She leaps to her feet and engulfs both Kenny and me in an all-encompassing hug. She has the same dark hair as Kenny, although short, and her eyes are a honeyed brown.
“Nope—not Pen,” I say, pulling back. “Cruise Elton.” I offer her a hand, and she gives a light shake, unsure of what to make of me.
“This is my oldest.” Dad pipes up and something warms in me. I’m not sure I’ve ever been introduced as his offspring before. “Kendall, nice to see you again.” He offers her an embrace and slaps me on the back for good measure.
“Oh my goodness!” Her mouth rounds out with surprise. “Little Cruisy! I’m so sorry I didn’t put two and two together. I’m Karen. So nice to meet you.” She looks to Mom and closes her eyes a moment. “And, you’re Samantha! What a small world.”
“Just Sam.” Mom winks as everyone finds a seat.
“Kendall?” Her mother makes a face that suggests she should explain a few things.
“Oh…” Kenny swallows hard before taking a seat next to me. “Cruise and I are…um just friends.”
Friends? I’m not sure I was expecting my demotion to sink so low.
“Now, now—don’t be shy,” Mom sings like a canary. “These two are indivisible with injustice for all.” She gives a hoot into her wine. Just the thought of what might come next, makes me want to crawl under the table and bring Kenny with me. “You can practically see the steam rising out of the guest house the way they parade around.”
Nice touch.
I glance over at Kenny with an apology written across the disgruntled look on my face.
Her cheeks have entered tomato territory, but it’s her lusciously swollen lips, the perfect curves hedging out of her sweater that make me want to whisk her away from here in the event my mother has another live grenade stashed in her arsenal. Who knew Kenny would need protecting from my mother, of all people.
“Parade around?” Karen shoots a look to Kenny. She looks more amused than angry, although to be fair, I don’t know her. She could be on the cusp of a full-on rage for all I know.
“Come clean, Kenny.” Molly joins in on the fun as she turns her attention to Kenny’s mother. “She told me a few weeks back I’m gonna be an aunt.”
A collective gasp circles the table—Kenny’s being the most dramatic.
Fuck. Leave it to Mom and Molly to tag team Kenny in front of her poor, unsuspecting mother. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hopped the next plane to L.A. after this fiasco.
“So not true.” Kenny spits it out with venom aimed right at Mol. “Nobody is going to be an aunt.” She gives a nervous laugh to her mother.
How the hell does Molly know about that?
Mom clears her throat. “Excuse my daughter. She’s prone to exaggeration. They are not having a baby. Isn’t that right?” She looks to the two of us, and we deny the bullshit Molly decided to confetti the table with. “They’re simply engaged.”
“Kendall!” Karen’s face lights up like a flare.
Shit.
It looks like my mother and sister have managed to inflict both Jordan women with third degree facial burns. Although, according to Kenny, her mother has long since bypassed the Jordan phase of her life.
I look to Kenny, urging her to deny it if she wants to. She certainly has the opportunity. In the least she could back pedal and say we’re dating, but doesn’t. Instead, she sits there with indistinguishable choking sounds emitting from her throat, reminiscent of earlier this evening. A severe flashback of Kenny writhing over the bed sears through my mind. Not even the fact both our mothers are in the room has the power to kill that fantasy come to life from replaying itself in real time.
I doubt I’ll be fessing up to the fact I’ve never used that “leash” before. That it was a gift from Cal of all people. He gave it to me as a gag gift on my birthday the week before Kenny arrived. He’s been living vicariously through my sexual renaissance from the beginning. It was his way of outfitting me to live out every one of his warped fantasies. Although, in hindsight, this one wasn’t all that warped. It was fan-fucking-tastic, and for damn sure I won’t be sharing any of those details with Cal.
“So it’s true?” Her mother looks from me to her.
“Looks like congratulations are in order.” Dad puts on his bartending hat and pours us each a much-needed glass of wine, Molly included, and she guzzles it down before any kind of toast has a chance to commence. “To young love.” Dad raises his glass while looking directly at Kenny’s poor unsuspecting mother. “May we never forget the bittersweet fruit of its vine.”
We? Bittersweet?
Karen raises her glass, and they exchange sad smiles with the pretense of joy. I get the feeling Dad was a player long before I ever walked onto the field.
Dinner goes off mostly without a hitch, other than the fact Molly’s cooking leaves something to be desired. The food is cold and flavorless, much like the relationship I’ve had with my father these past twenty-four years. I’m open to seeing that change, though. Kenny scraped clean all of the sludge that once lingered inside me.
“So, have you thought about a wedding?” Mom asks, stoking the flames.
“I’m sure they’re not at that stage yet.” Karen shoots a look to Kenny that suggests we’d better not be. She moves her attention to me, cold and steely. “Cruise? How do you plan on supporting my daughter?”
“Supporting?” Kenny scoffs. “I’m sorry this isn’t nineteen fifty-five. Cruise doesn’t have to support me at all.”
Kenny shoots me an apologetic look, most likely because I have been supporting her, and I really don’t mind. Soon I’ll make her my wife and the mind-blowing sex won’t fe
“I’m a graduate student,” I interject. “I’ll be working on my doctorate in the fall. I’ve been granted a fellowship and am currently in the middle of a teaching internship.” Why does it feel like I’ve just spewed out an interview for some tame boardroom position? More like bedroom, and being with Kenny is anything but tame as evidenced by the shiny metal choker cuffed around her neck.
Dad places his hand over my shoulder and gives a slight jostle. “A fellowship? That’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you, son.”
Son? He’s going for the gold tonight.
“So the wedding…” Karen drives us back to the subject at hand, and surprisingly she turns to my father. “We’ll finally be family.” She looks up at him with a startled smile as if she had always wanted to be “family” with my father. I’m feeling rather lucky this matrimonial mix-up didn’t happen years ago because I would awkwardly, yet willingly, be fucking my stepsister.
I give a sly grin at the idea.
“We’ve always been family.” He counters. “Would you like to take a walk?”
“I would love to.” Karen rises hypnotically, and they head toward the entry.
“What the hell was that about?” Molly snipes. She’s not one to be dragged off into the arena of the awkward, willingly. Her eyelashes are crusted over with mascara, and she’s got on way too much war paint in general. I would like to know what the hell that is about.
“They had this thing.” Mom swipes the air like it’s no big deal.
“What thing?” Kenny’s eyes and breasts both manage to provide a three-D spectacle. Not that I mind.
“They dated,” Mom whispers. “It was long after he and I disconnected. They were hot and heavy for a good long while, and then all of a sudden she took off to California, and he was with Jackie.”
“Bet he cheated on her.” Molly huffs. “Guys are assholes.”
“Mind your P’s and Q’s.” Mom swats her on the arm. “And what’s this wine guzzling business?” She swipes the glass out of her reach. Not that it matters. It’s long since been drained.
“Cruise isn’t a cheat.” Kenny picks up my hand and holds it to her chest as if I were a life raft.
“Cruise is an open cheat,” Molly corrects. “He sleeps around because his dick suffers from the need to be strangled nightly.”
“Molly,” I bark at her. All that talk about her needing a father figure filters through my mind, and I’m moved to bolt her in her bedroom for the next four solid years as a tribute to good parenting.
“You think you’re so perfect,” she shouts back. “You and that little hoe you’re shacking up with, when just a year ago you were peddling the fine art of abstinence and taking me shopping for purity rings. Boy, you sure stomped out that bag of ‘chastity’ shit like it was on fire.”
“You can go now,” I say it low because if I raise my voice I might lose it and flip the damn table over to keep her from babbling like an idiot.
“I will go.” She rises. “Just know I happen to respect your new girlfriend more than you because at least she’s honest and cool. Instead of trying to buy me a wedding ring for Jesus, she took me to the free clinic and got me on the pill.” She tosses down her napkin and bolts from the room.
“What!” Mom snatches at her crutches before hobbling after my apparently sexually promiscuous sister.
“I’m so sorry.” Kenny reaches over and lays her hand on my arm to soothe me.
“Don’t be. Molly has spun her last fucking lie—”
“I can explain everything.” Kenny blurts it out before I can finish.
I freeze a moment. Kenny wouldn’t take Molly to any free clinic and put her on the pill.
Kenny’s eyes elongate. She sucks her cheeks in as if alluding otherwise.
Oh shit.
“Does this have something to do with the fact she thought she was going to be an aunt?” I ask, but she doesn’t say anything. “Kenny?”
“Um…” She touches her hand to her chest just the way her mother did when she was nervous. “It was sort of an accident. She’s a lying little...” Her fingers fly to her lips. “I mean, I’m sure she’s a nice person once you get to know her. It’s just that I haven’t really seen that side of her yet.”
I start in on a slow, sober laugh.
My father has a very obvious hard-on for Kenny’s mother, my sister is having sex with prepubescent boys, and it was Kenny, of all people, she manipulated into helping her get on the pill. Shit.
I stand and pull Kenny into my arms.
“My family is completely insane.” A smile breaks loose on my lips as I take in the inordinate amount of beauty God saw fit to gift her with both inside and out. I lean in and crash my lips against hers until my body stirs to have her in all four corners of this oversized house.
A soft bubble of laughter gets caught in her throat. “Sounds like we might be related.”
“Maybe sooner than you think,” I say. “Last fall, Jackie and my dad filed for divorce. They’re just buying time under the same roof.”
She sucks in breath. “That’s terrible!”
I nod in agreement. “So there’s nothing else you want to tell me? Any baby news? Any more rides to the free clinic?”
Her mouth opens then quickly closes.
“I’m not keeping a single thing from you,” she whispers as her face lights up like a Christmas tree.
And deep inside, I wonder if she is.
On Saturday night, Tri Delta is having a party. Kenny asked me to join her, but I assured her I’d be okay at home, working on my thesis. Besides, she mentioned Lauren asked her to do her a favor, and I didn’t want to get in the way of a girls night out. But as soon as she left, I felt the vacuum in the room. Kenny takes the air, the life all with her. I can’t stop thinking about all those amped up frat boys attacking her like a group of hormone happy bears, so here I am, ready to cross the threshold into debauchery.
Tri Delta brims with mostly female bodies. Back in my scrotum-slinging days, this would have been an estrogen-laced paradise. For sure this is a much bigger venue and far more popular than the party Pen threw at Sigma Phi the night Kenny arrived. This time, all of Garrison decided to show. Although, in Pen’s defense, it was Christmas break, and most people had flown home for the holiday. I’m glad things worked in reverse for Kenny—those Christmas kisses were the best gift ever.
A bevy of scantily clad co-eds fills the room, each displaying a unique level of undress. Bra straps seem to be the order of the day, skinny jeans so tight they look like they might need to be peeled off—complete with G-strings spiking out the back, showing off whale tails of various shapes and sizes.
A bubbly coed dips her hand into the back of my jeans, and I take a giant step forward, only to have a brunette press her pillowy chest against mine. Her lips come into my face at Mach five and I’m quick to step away.
“Whoa, ladies.” I hold up my hands and make a break for the nearest wall, otherwise known as the observation zone.
I pan the room for Kenny. As soon as I spot her, I plan on making a beeline over. I have every intention of hitting on the most beautiful girl in the room. And if I’m lucky, maybe she’ll let me haul her upstairs and offer her another private “lesson.”
I’m sure she’s been swallowed alive in a sea of testosterone by now.
Off to my right, a group of guys play beer pong. I hike a leg against the wall and watch as they toss a plastic ball at a mass of red solos.
The object of coming to one of these events is to get laid. If they have any inclination to unzip their pants, for reasons other than urination, then isolating themselves is going about it the wrong way. At least invite some girls to play. Amateurs.
“Hey, handsome.” Blair springs up like an apparition. Her hair is pulled back so tight she looks ghastly. “Tall, dark, and lonely tonight?
“Just looking for Kenny.”
She makes a face. “Oh, I bet right about now she’s hooking up with some poor, unfortunate soul—ready and willing to bless ‘em with that body.”
“In your dreams.” I try to make my escape, but she yanks me back by the shirt.
“So why the big mystery?” Her dark eyes slit to nothing. “I would assume if you’re so close to Kenny, you’d at least mention the fact you had an ex-fiancée. Or maybe it’s not me you’re hiding from her. Maybe you’re just embarrassed by who you used to be.”
I look right at her, and it feels like I’m seeing her for the very first time. The way her jowls protrude, her red lips are drawn in like a slash as if someone lanced her face.
“Embarrassed?” I balk. “About what? The fact we met in youth group and decided to save ourselves for that magical someday, until you decided to feed the masses with your body? Guess what, Blair? I finally figured it out. You did me a favor. Without your insatiable desire to cram as many dicks inside you, I would’ve never met someone amazing who I actually fell in love with and who treats me with a level of respect I never knew possible.”
Blair’s features harden. Her eyes gloss over with tears, red as Tabasco.
“She’s upstairs, probably screwing some guy—or girl,” she hisses. “She doesn’t seem too picky. Hope you have a fantastic unhappily ever after.” Blair hits the door and disappears like a phantom.
Upstairs? Probably just some device to land me near a mattress. I take the stairs two by two and open and shut doors at random.
I make my way farther down the hall until the noise from the party is quickly replaced with deafening silence. Voices murmur from behind the walls of an adjacent room—a guy and a girl. The door is cracked open, so I peer inside.
A familiar mane of dark hair stands before a tall, very bald douchebag.
There they are, Kenny and Cal.
“It could just be this one time,” she purrs, running her hand down his shirt. Her fingers work on unbuttoning his jeans, and my chest constricts at the sight. Kenny just threw a brick at my heart. “I won’t tell if you won’t,” she coos.
I lean up against the wall and try to catch my breath. Kenny giggles from the other side, and her voice drills through me.
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