Too Long a Soldier (Kingdom Key Book 3)

by TylerRose.

  “Whatever it is, it’s cruel. Stop it,” Tyler told her.

  “Not my call. I was asked to participate and I am obliging. Where did Jerome take you?”

  “Pennsylvania. To see the stars up in the mountains.”

  “I’ma sock Gable in the arm and make him start takin’ me places like that. I am, by the way, understanding what you were saying about the man thinking he owns the woman he fucks. Gable is getting more possessive every day, especially when he beats me in a match.”

  “Nice to know you’re desired, isn’t it?”

  “Can’t say I’m hating it,” Star smiled.

  “Wanna really drive him crazy?” Tyler asked. “I mean outta his mind insane?”

  “Yes!”

  Tyler grinned. “I’ll be right back.” She ported to the freezer and back. “Eat this,” she said, holding out a frozen pudding on a stick.

  Star opened it and chomped down.

  “I hope you don’t bite his dick like that.”

  Star stopped in mid-bite. “Oops.”

  Tyler opened the other and demonstrated how to eat a pudding pop nice and slow, with licking and long sucks down the entire length, with Star laughing the entire time. Finished with it, Tyler licked the stick clean.

  “Best done while pretending to be absolutely oblivious and ignoring the men,” she concluded.

  “What else can you teach me?” Star asked, going for the spoon the floor again.

  “Lots, if you really wanna learn.”

  “I do. I’ve never had a relationship like this. Earth men are very different from Bomarians and Taveragians in a lot of ways.”

  “Have you said I love you yet?” Tyler asked.

  Star was disquieted. “Oh. No.”

  “Do you love him or is it just fuckin’?”

  “I don’t know about love. Sex is pretty damn good. Have you done beads?”

  “Numerous times in varying sizes. Gable got some?”

  “He’s making me wear them all day too.”

  Tyler chuckled. “Yeah, I remember them days. Wait until he pulls out a plug for you.”

  “Plug?”

  “Small fake cock with a tapered end to keep it in place. Usually goes up the ass.”

  “Oh my god!” Star blurted. “These things are normal?”

  “Depends on who you ask,” Tyler said. “It’s shocking for some. Nothing to me. Anything two people find pleasurable is normal for them, as far as I’m concerned. He’d really like it if you licked his nipples now and then. I’ll tell you to do it after sucking a small ice cube for twenty seconds.”

  “You musta been well worth the money, honey.”

  “Not because of anything like that. My telepathy was coming through. I knew instinctively how every man wanted his lover to be. So I did. I knew exactly what they wanted to hear, what they did not want to hear, what their deepest desires were. Not much was that repugnant. Pretty mild stuff, overall. So I did it or let them do it.”

  “What’s the kinkiest thing you’ve ever done? Kinky is the word, yes?”

  “It is. But kinky is in the eye of the beholder. Like the plug. Shocking to some, nothing to others. I was once paid an extra ten grand because I let a guy whip me with a belt for half an hour. Another paid me the same to watch me hump his wife with a strap on for an hour.”

  “Strap? On?”

  “Fake dick in a harness, worn around the hips.”

  Star just blinked at her.

  “You’ve never seen anything like that? Taverages doesn’t have these kinds of toys?”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Okay. Go find Gable and tell him you need to wear actual clothes. You and I are going out. I’ll be ready in half an hour.”

  Star took the spoon with her to take to the sink, meeting Roc in the hall.

  “Hello again,” she smiled at Roc. “Feeling better?”

  “Not really. But the food is downstairs.”

  They walked together.

  “I’m going out with Tyler. Not sure how long we’ll be.”

  “Take your time,” Roc said, and turned into the living room to retrieve her book.

  Star continued down to the video store, ignoring the stares when she found Gable in the gym.

  “Snickerdoodle?” she sing-songed nice and loud. “I’m going out with Tyler. You wanna pick out my panties for me?”

  He turned to the guys. “S’cuse me, fellas. Important decisions to be made affecting the lives of millions.”

  He took her by the hand into the empty office and locked the door, and fucked her up against it. Quickie it was, and he finished in just a few minutes.

  “Where you going?” he asked when he was done.

  “Tyler’s gonna show me what a strap on is,” she smiled innocently.

  Gable blinked at her sideways. “Who you think you gonna use it on?”

  “Didn’t say I was gonna buy it.”

  “Okay, good. Because you aren’t.”

  “But couldn’t you wear it and fuck me in both holes at the same time?”

  He stared at her, and dug out his wallet. “Take fifty bucks and buy whatever you think looks like fun for use on you.”

  She smiled. “I have to change clothes. I’ll put this on when I get back. Can I take the beads out too?”

  “No. You gotta suffer until you get back.”

  “You’re mean,” she complained.

  He opened the door and smacked her on the ass. “Don’t you forget it, toots.”

  “Just you wait until the next time you lose,” she warned him, and headed upstairs.

  Jerome, Roc and Tyler were in the kitchen, Jerome handing car keys over to Tyler.

  “Hello, Jerome,” Star said, startling Roc right out of her chair to flee the room.

  Star saw the angry glare Tyler leveled on Jerome. “I’ll be down in ten minutes,” Star said, and went to change clothes.

  “What are you doing to Roc?” Tyler asked before Star was even out of the room.

  “An important lesson in perspective,” he replied, folding the newspaper to another section.

  Furious, Tyler grabbed the center of the paper out of his hands and threw it in shreds to the floor behind her.

  “What the hell?!” he snapped.

  “It’s cruel and you will end it now.”

  “If I don’t?” he challenged her.

  “I’ll know what kind of man I’m involved with and he’s not the man of integrity I thought he was. Do us all a favor and take a good look at the face you’re showing. Because I don’t like the face I’m seeing. Not one bit!”

  “My goal is to help you.”

  “I don’t need your fucking help! Not when that help hurts someone else who doesn’t deserve it. Roc hasn’t done anything wrong. Not one damn thing to deserve what you’re doing to her emotionally. And she’s your ally?” She paused to humph at him, eyes full of contempt. “Some ally you are.”

  She walked away. “Tell Star I’m waiting in the car. I’m too pissed to look at you.”

  Down the outside stairs to the Challenger. Started, pulled out backwards from under the shed into the back lot, a joint sparked up. Star came out in a couple more minutes and they shared the joint on the way to Franklin Park Mall at Monroe and Talmage.

  Directly to Fredericks of Hollywood for matching lace bra and crotchless panty sets. Then to the lingerie section of an anchor store for more classic, every day pieces.

  “You’re a size medium,” Tyler told her. “If it’s a numbered size, go for an eight to start and we’ll try up or down depending on fit.”

  Short nightgowns, chemises, Tyler pulled five items for Star and a few for herself. They stopped for lunch, watched the people passing by. Then to the car and their next stop was a windowless box of a building between a bar and a paint store.

  “How about we talk now?” Jerome asked Roc.

  Tyler’s words and her anger had gotten to him. Normally, he’d have been answering back, voice rising as his girlfriend’
s did. The suddenness of her fury had all but silenced him. The feel of her anger in her energy, as it reacted with his, had a particularly unpleasant sharp edge to it. Even if he didn’t think what he was doing was cruel or wrong, he would put an end to the game and, thus, to Tyler’s anger.

  “Five or six times since yesterday at five pm? With eight hours asleep. Five or six times in nine hours of wakeful activity?” she questioned.

  “Why do you think she’s so mean when she sees something she doesn’t like? Imagine living like that for three months. I’m not saying what happened to you wasn’t horrible. It was. Of course it was. What you are is damned lucky to be alive. And damned lucky they didn’t have time to do more. You are so fortunate not to have become pregnant. But someone else in this house lived something a hundred times worse. Two, three, five times a day, every single day, with the promise that he was going to kill her when he was finally done with her. Any minute he could have killed her. She’s so traumatized that she woke up fighting last night when I touched her, because she was dreaming he was coming for her to do it again. You were taught not to fight. She was taught to fight, and got the crap beat out of her many times for it. Still she was prepared to pop the piss outta him and take another beating. So yes, it was the worst day of your life. But your worst day doesn’t compare to her best day with him. If you need to talk about it, see me privately. Don’t bring it up around Ty anymore. Experiment ended.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Starbird breathed, seeing all the…stuff.

  “Be cool. It’s just sex,” Tyler said, picking a wall to start at.

  “You humans are some sex-crazed people. What is that?”

  Tyler followed the eyes. “That is a very large cock on a sword hilt.”

  “It’s huge!” Star whispered loudly.

  “They make one with a fist end too. Personally, I prefer an actual fist.”

  “You do? He does that? Is he good at sex?”

  “Ah, ah. I am a virgin. We don’t have sex. We have extremely heavy petting with orgasmic conclusions.”

  Star snerked. “Still sex, even if he ain’t put his cock in you yet. What is this?”

  “Clit clip.”

  “Huh?”

  “You don’t have a clit. Human females do. It’s a nub at the top of the vagina. How much money he give you?”

  “Fifty. I was told to buy something for use on me.”

  “Yeah. Gable is very hetero. He will never want any sort of penetration toys for himself. Ahhh, he’ll like this.”

  She showed a pair of tweezer nipple clamps on a beaded string.

  “Especially if you wear that slit bra thing you bought. Put that on first and then these.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “You could beat him to the punch and get a small plug. He’ll get something bigger than you’d want,” Tyler said, going to the appropriate wall. “This one is too small. It’ll slip out. This one is too thick a bulb end for a starter piece. This jelly looking thing is your best bet. An’ if he hasn’t already, take a small bottle of dish soap up to his bathroom so you can clean things there and not have to bring them to the kitchen.”

  She pointed up to a partial mannequin.

  “Strap on.”

  Star’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my. You’ve done that?”

  “Once for an easy ten grand and never again.”

  “So what did you have in mind for when he loses a match?” Star asked her.

  Tyler showed her a small double loop of leather with snaps. “Get him hard and this goes around the base of the cock. The other goes around the top of the sack.”

  “Will he hate it?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “I’ll take it, ‘cause I am hating these beads.”

  “You’ll like them again later,” Tyler said, looking at the miniscule leather section.

  Cheap flogger with too big a price. A crop or two. A little paddle not really worth bothering with. Largely unimportant and unimpressive.

  “Let’s go. We can come back another time,” Tyler said, grabbing a pair of red, fuzzy handcuffs and almost matching blindfold.

  “Are those for me or you?” Star asked.

  “You. Trust me.”

  “I do. I thank you for taking the time.”

  “I got nothin’ but time right now,” Tyler mused, and waited by the door while Star concluded the transaction.

  On the way home, they stopped at Taco Bell to bring home supper. Twenty five tacos with extra cheese. Twenty taco supreme with extra cheese. Twenty burritos. Ten nachos and thirty cinnamon crisps.

  Someone from the back read a monitor and came forward to look. “Seriously? You didn’t push extra buttons”

  “No mistakes,” said the cashier, taking Tyler’s money.

  “We live with pigs,” Star said, deadpan as could be.

  “Mark each bag with a T for taco, TS for taco supreme, and B for burrito so I know without looking what’s what,” Tyler said.

  One of the managers gave them both a small drink while they waited.

  “Jerome didn’t look happy when I left. You mad at him?” Star asked when they sat at a nearby table.

  “Did he call off what you were doing to Roc?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then no, I’m not mad at him. I did not appreciate the emotional strife he was putting a friend through.”

  “She agreed, you know,” Star pointed out.

  “Sometimes people agree to things not comprehending what they are getting into,” Tyler replied. “She did not realize until the fourth time you got her. After that, it was only cruel. I’m not gonna harp on it. It’s done. Fine. Leave it lay.”

  “Okay. Man, I can’t wait to get these things out. They’re hurting.”

  “Go into the bathroom now and take them out,” Tyler said, producing a plastic sandwich baggy. You’re too much a beginner to be expected to wear them this long. Go quickly. Wash them when you get home, not in the sink here. The food is almost ready.”

  Ten bags of food in a box, and another with hot and mild sauce packets and they were on their way. Tyler gave the manager a twenty buck tip, telling him to buy everyone a slush. At home, she took two taco supremes, a nacho, and five packs of crisps for herself and invited Roc to come up and watch a movie. Roc indulged in a burrito and a nacho and sat in the second recliner recently added to the room. Tyler put in Dances with Wolves.

  “I need to be closer to someone,” Roc said when she finished eating. “Can I sit with you?”

  Pausing the movie, Tyler scooted over in the big chair to make room.

  “I’m sorry Jerome played this game with you,” she said as they settled under a blanket.

  “Don’t be,” Roc replied. “It isn’t your fault. It was my own. That’s the end of it. It did give me a new perspective and for that I thank you. Let’s just watch the movie,” she concluded, plucking out a cinnamon crisp.

  Button pressed and Tyler had to explain how supplies were in short supply. While this was fictionalized, similar enough things were happening to make much of the movie realistic enough to get the point across.

  “Costner has a cute butt,” Roc said. “I saw it in Robin Hood.”

  “You’ll see it in this one too,” Tyler grinned.

  About half an hour later, Jerome came knocking at the door. It opened and he came in, halting upon seeing them side by side under the blanket together.

  “Will you come see me when you’re done, Ty?”

  “Two hours,” she said.

  “Okay.” He back-tracked out of the room and closed the door.

  “He thinks you’re mad at him,” Roc said.

  “I know.”

  “Are you?”

  “No, but he can sweat it for a while,” Tyler said.

  Movie over, Roc went for a walk around the building and Tyler knocked on Jerome’s door.

  “Let’s talk on the roof,” she said, and ported.

  She was waiting on the cement square around the chimney, a chickadee per
ched on her finger. It flew off despite his careful approach.

  “We’ve never discussed scenarios and how I’d want things handled,” she said.

  “Like what?” he asked, sitting next to her, letting her lead the conversation for now.

  “If I’m a hostage, kill the fucker. On the spot. Don’t hesitate and don’t worry about me. I’ll port if I can or drop to the ground. If I’m injured enough to be put on a machine to keep me breathing, let me die.”

  “Okay. What else?”

  “Willing or not, please do not bring emotional or physical harm to a friend in my name. That’s not what I’m about. Any perceived benefit isn’t worth it. It’s going to be a long time before Roc can hear Star say hello and not remember being raped by three soldiers.”

  “One did the rape. The other two only held her down.”

  “You think that matters?!” she snapped. “Three men participated in a brutal violation of her sacred person. Which one did what is wholly irrelevant. You should have let it go. I would think, considering that you created Safe Haven after the rape of your friend’s mother, you’d know better.” She stopped herself, reined her emotions in. “Look, I’m not mad anymore; but I am not happy about what you chose to do to someone you call friend. If you thought you were protecting me, don’t. I don’t need that kind of protection.”

  “She thanked me for it, you know. She really wanted to understand.”

  “She didn’t need the education,” Tyler replied, on the edge of fury again. She stopped herself once more and took a breath.” She’s such a sweet soul. You have no idea how much she wars with herself that she is going to have to kill men in February. Being of a pacifistic society, the idea is anathema to her and causes great anxiety. She doesn’t know that she’ll be able to do it.”

  “Can you make her not be there?” he asked.

  “Between you, me an’ the chimney, she’s not going to be there. Don’t let on to them, though. In the end, it’s gonna be you an’ me and no one else. The two of us have to be rock solid with each other in every way. I know what you can do. You have to trust that I know what I’m doing, regardless what it looks like.”

  “I know you do, babe,” he said, taking her hand. “Now it’s time for you to know something. If I see someone being disrespectful toward you, I will stop it and correct them. On the spot, friend or not. Agree or don’t, but you can’t stop me from stopping someone else from being a disrespectful ass. I suggest we just drop the topic entirely since we’re never going to see eye to eye on it.”