So we decided, once the weekend was over, we’d head back to campus and we’d wait.
*
After another impromptu nap, I headed up to my room to shower and get dressed for dinner. Cleo found me in my bathroom braiding my hair. She looked great, as usual, wearing a nice gray sweater with a blue collared shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans with her white sneakers. She looked quite sharp and I told her so. As a thank-you, she grabbed my butt.
“I’m almost ready,” I said.
“Take your time.”
“We have reservations. I don’t want to take too long.”
Cleo sat up on the counter. She had this dreamy look in her eye. I blew her a kiss. Just as I started to put the finishing touched on my lip gloss, Cleo took my hand. I gazed back at her, confused until she slid a ring onto my finger. She gently let go of my hand and leaned back against the mirror. I examined the ring closely. A modest round-cut diamond was embedded deep into a hexagonal white gold setting. The metal around the band was etched with leaves and flower petals. It was old and classic and very Southern. It was simple and beautiful. I never would have picked something like it for myself. I wasn’t the only one who came into the weekend armed with surprises.
I swallowed, doing my best to keep the tears to a minimum even though my eyes began to mist up. “When did you—”
“Omi helped me. She knows a guy.” Cleo shrugged like it was no big deal.
“It’s…I…It’s perfect.”
She flicked my braid on my shoulder, then gently swept my bangs to the side. “You already said yes, so, ya know.”
I grabbed her hand and laid a full kiss right on the center of her palm. “I love it and I love you.”
“When we get back from dinner you can show me.”
I looked down at the ring again. “Oh, I will.”
*
Cleo’s face when we arrived at the restaurant could only be described as priceless. We walked, fingers intertwined, to the front door.
“What’s the punch line, B?”
“Nothing.” I laughed. “I remember a lot of things too.”
“The Melting Pot, though?” Once upon a time, she’d told me that it was her favorite restaurant, though she’d only been there once. Maxwell had decided to go there for his graduation dinner, but Cleo’s father vowed they’d never return once he got the bill. Fondue for six was a little expensive. Daddy didn’t know it yet, but he was picking up the bill for tonight.
“If I had done things right the first time, this would have been our first date.” I opened the door for her. “After you.” She leaned down and grabbed my ass. I giggled as she gave me a gentle nudge inside ahead of her. I gave the hostess my name.
“Good evening, Miss Jones. The rest of your party is waiting for you.”
I thanked her and ignored the strange look I knew Cleo was giving me. The young woman led us to the back of the restaurant, to a large table surrounded with our friends. I’d invited everyone I knew Cleo would want to see. Tokyo I did not invite for obvious reasons. Kina and Camila promised me that she would stay at the house.
“You’ve been busy scheming, huh?” Cleo said.
“This is how it should have been,” I replied. “With our friends.”
“Lemme see. Lemme see,” Amy squeaked. She almost ripped my shoulder out of its socket as she tried to get a look at my ring.
“Did you tell her?” I asked Cleo.
“No,” she grumbled. “I told Camila, though.”
“I told Ginger.”
“And I told Amy.”
We both glared at our friends. Could no one keep a secret? Cleo took my jacket and I slid into my seat next to Ginger.
Ginger reached over and lifted my hand. “It’s gorgeous,” she said.
“It’s not as big as that leprechaun’s testicle Camila gave you, but I like it,” Cleo replied.
“So do I,” I added. She had a point. Ginger’s wedding ring highlighted an emerald the size of a golf ball.
“Faeth, you couldn’t scrounge up some tail to bring with you?” Cleo asked.
“I did.” She pointed to Andrew. “He’s a great date, yeah.”
“How you doing, baby boy?” Cleo asked him.
“Good,” he replied with his dreamy smile. Cleo had stuck to her promise and cut her time with Andrew down a lot to spend more time with me, but I appreciated their relationship more now and I saw just how much she loved him. I was able to see, too, that he wasn’t a threat.
As the night wore on, I snuggled closer into Cleo’s side. I let her feed me when she wanted to and I didn’t pass up the chance to steal a kiss at every opportunity. I was so in love I thought I might burst. Finally, we packed it up before they kicked us out, but soon the conversations resumed in the parking lot. Eventually, our friends were ready to go. As was I. We said good-bye to Danni and Amy before they hopped into Danni’s Jeep. Camila, Ginger, and Faeth headed toward a slightly wooded area beside the restaurant so they could vanish.
“Andrew, kid. We’re heading back to the city. You need a lift?” Kina asked. Monica jiggled the keys to her car. He glanced nervously between us. I had already called him that afternoon and told him to pack an overnight bag, but I wanted to see how Cleo felt about my idea first.
I gripped her hand. “I thought Andrew could come home with us. We can show him the new house?”
“You want to?” Cleo asked him, pleased.
“Yeah.” He shrugged bashfully.
“Home it is.”
Chapter Twenty
Benny
Waking up with a man in my bed was another first for me. We didn’t have a crazy threesome or anything close to that. But after we introduced Andrew to Mama and showed him the town house, we decided to watch movies. I tried to play off just how exhausted I was, but I didn’t make it very far into our on-demand selection. I woke up in bed with my arm slung over Cleo’s stomach and my head on her chest. Andrew was reclining on her other side. They were watching South Park.
We had a lazy start to the next day. Neither Andrew nor I was in a rush to get back to campus. There was something nice about getting away every now and then, especially when you have more than forty roommates. Before lunch, Andrew slipped into the bathroom. I watched Cleo as she put up her hair and stepped into her sneakers.
“Whose turn is it to feed today?” I asked.
“His. Why?”
I’d thought so, but I wasn’t sure. “I was just thinking.”
“I was going to wait until we got back to campus.”
“You don’t have to. If it’s okay with him.”
She finished securing her hair and walked over to where I sat on the bed. “Are you sure? The group is, you know, one thing. But I know how you feel about the one-on-one feedings. The last time we tried that, it didn’t turn out so well.” It wasn’t an encounter I’d forgotten. We’d been studying one night in Cleo’s bedroom. It was her turn to feed Camila and she asked me to stay, to watch. I was uncomfortable with the whole situation. I could barely handle the thought of Cleo having to feed Camila out of necessity. Witnessing their intimacy firsthand was too much for me to handle. But instead of telling Cleo, I stayed. I played off the panic attack I suffered near the end of their coupling as a sudden need to pee. I’m sure I gave us away to Camila even though she never brought the incident up again.
Cleo and I lacked a great deal of communication at that time. Andrew would be with us after graduation, and where Cleo would probably leave the house to meet with her other feeders, her feedings with Andrew would most likely always be under the roof we shared. Everything Andrew had told me about his relationship with Cleo was true. They loved each other, that much was obvious, but it wasn’t in any way romantic. Cleo was relaxed with him in a way she wasn’t at ease with other people, besides myself. She talked to him, really talked to him. I wanted to see what they were like together when it came to a blood offering.
The bathroom sink shut off.
“Ask him,” I
said with a little more confidence as he came back into the bedroom.
“Ask me what?”
“Would it be cool if I fed here?” Cleo said.
“Yeah. If Benny’s okay with it, I don’t mind,” Andrew replied. “You want to do it now?”
“Sure,” Cleo said. “Why not?”
I slid back on the bed to give them some room while Andrew started digging through his bag. I frowned at him when he produced two condoms.
“What are those for?” I asked before considering my words more carefully.
Andrew smiled like he knew what I was getting at. “Just a catching mitt of sorts. I come a lot.”
Cleo agreed with a reluctant nod of her head. “He does.”
“So? Do you wear one every time?” I asked Andrew.
“No, but—”
“Don’t use one now. It’s fine.”
“Okay.” He tossed the condoms back on top of his bag, then took a seat on the bed beside me. Cleo stepped between his legs and unbuttoned his jeans.
“Baby, move right here.” She patted a spot on the sheets slightly behind Andrew. I realized as I shifted into place that I was in the perfect position for Cleo to look me in the eye as she fed. They had a quick discussion where Cleo told Andrew to “hold it.” I could only assume she meant his erection.
The rest of the dance I knew well. I watched as she gently gripped his neck and tilted his head to the side. She licked his throat as she did with the rest of us, quickening his pulse through his arousal, stroking the pounding of his blood closer to the surface. Andrew groaned as she struck, a deep baritone grunt that I could feel in my own stomach. He cupped himself. I was sure to catch the onslaught of his first ejaculation.
Cleo’s eyes held mine, burning and glowing as she took what she needed from him. Her purring grew stronger, as did Andrew’s grunts and groans. He trembled at regular intervals. Just as I caught an unfamiliar scent, which I thought was his cum, spilling into his hand, Cleo reached out for me. I held my breath until her warm fingers brushed my skin. She touched my cheek first and then my chin. Her hand moved lower and I inched closer, eagerly moving forward until I sat up on my knees. She cupped my face and slid her thumb into my mouth. My moans matched Andrew’s as I sucked her hand with enthusiasm.
I opened my mind to her.
“I want you.”
She growled and took her final drag from Andrew’s vein. He shuddered one last time. After she sealed her bites, Cleo moved out of Andrew’s way. He turned just enough that I saw that the front of his T-shirt was covered in his cum. He was still erect.
“I’m gonna shower and change,” he ground out, still trying to catch his breath. I knew his pain. He was just getting keyed up. One of the curses and blessings of being a feeder. The drawing of blood is just the start. You want more. You want to finish things.
Andrew shut himself in the bathroom as Cleo and I eyed each other. I’d closed my mind again. We both had to work for it. There was cum on her shirt too and a little on her pants, but it didn’t bother me. She started shucking her clothes off anyway.
“He’s gonna be in there a while,” she said. “You should be naked.”
“Is that how you want me?”
Cleo’s head cocked to the side. Anger touched her brow as her demon teetered toward its limit. She wasn’t used to waiting.
Cleo grabbed my ankles and pulled me to the edge of the bed. My pajama pants and my underwear were ripped off with one quick tear. When she flipped me on my stomach, I was able to scramble a whole foot away before she was on top of me, grinding her wet heat against my ass. I arched back, forcing my leg between hers just as she got a good grip on my hair.
She pulled my head to the side. “Is this what you want? You want me to ride you rough?”
I thrust back, rubbing myself against her thigh. She tugged my hair a little harder. The perfect amount of pain. “Say it.”
“I want you so fucking bad it hurts.”
“Well, fuck me, then.”
Cleo was on top, her hips posed behind my body in the perfect position to guide every moment and every movement between us, but instead she bumped me hard, once, twice, encouraging me to take the lead. She released her hold on my hair and I dropped myself to the bed, raising my ass and pussy against her thigh and her crotch in a shameless, prostrating display. I rubbed myself against her, wiggled my pussy up and down, feeling my juices slide along her skin, and I felt her heat and her wetness too.
She slapped my ass. “You can do better than that.”
“I’m trying,” I whimpered, feigning desperation and fear. I could feel it in her grip on my waist. I was doing exactly what she wanted.
“You’re not trying hard enough.” Forcing my stomach flat against the comforter, Cleo rode me, using my body to stroke her clit. I arched back at every opportunity, rubbing myself along her skin, skirting that thin line, needing just one final push to make me explode. I felt Cleo’s tongue on my neck before I could ask for it. Her fangs inside gave me that extra shove. The rush of the shower running was lost, scrambled among the sound of my screams.
*
That Tuesday was my last Tuesday as president of the Alpha Chapter of Alpha Beta Omega sorority. I opened my door for a final hour of sister counseling. A few girls poked their heads in to say hello, but I think knowing that Amy and I would be passing on our responsibilities in a short twenty-four hours might have dissuaded them from striking up a fresh session. We still had our scheduled meeting with our sister-queens, but this time we’d be finalizing the ballots for the chapter elections.
I was finishing my reading for my media and culture class when I heard a soft knock on my door. Jill was standing in the hallway. “Hey, Benny. Can I come in?”
“Hey. Yeah.” I pointed to my vanity stool.
Jill grabbed it and dragged it over to my desk, grinning at me with her mouth full of metal. Those braces made her look so young, but just as sweet as she really was, once you got to know her. “Hi. Did you see the e-mail from Professor Fitzer?” she asked.
“I did.”
“She’s out for the whole week. I’m so excited.”
“I’m just hoping she doesn’t stick it to us when she gets back.”
“She might.” Jill laughed and started nervously rubbing her knees. I knew she didn’t stop by to talk about our German professor taking a week off to take care of her sister. “So I’ve decided to run for health and wellness chair.”
“That’s a great idea,” I replied.
“I know the sister-queens take care of us, but I want to do more campus outreach. I had some ideas for a freshman sex-ed program. I thought if I could get the whole chapter on board and maybe even the guys, we’d show that Alpha Beta Omega can have a positive influence on the whole school.”
“Jill, that’s great.”
“So you’ve made it official with Cleo?” She wouldn’t look at me then.
“Yeah.” I thought I should hug her, but I stayed where I was.
“Can I see?”
I held out my hand. She took my fingers and turned my palm to the side. “It’s a really pretty ring.”
“Thank you, Jill.”
She let go of my hand and everything about her seemed to deflate. She sagged in her seat, staring at the floor, and a few moments later, her chin began to tremble. “I’m really going to miss you.”
I leaned forward and put my hand on her knee. “We can still be friends. I’ll only be an hour away, and I’ll be back to see Ginger and Camila.” I didn’t know what else to say, which always seemed to be the case with Jill. I did care about her now. She was a good girl. Over-the-top in so many ways, but she was a good person, with a huge, pure heart. Sometimes, though, one person’s happiness, no matter her intentions, is another person’s pain. When she jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around my neck, I didn’t have a choice but to hug her back. It didn’t feel like an obligation this time. I wanted Jill to be happy. I cared about her.
“I
won’t call you or anything. I know you guys will want your time alone. But do you promise you’ll come visit?” She sniffled.
“I promise. An hour is much closer than you think.”
“Hey, ladies.” I looked up to see Amy cautiously creeping into my room. “It’s meeting time.”
Jill wiped her eyes and made a quick break for the door. “I’ll see you later.”
“Hey.” She stopped and looked back at me. “Breakfast tomorrow. Just me and you.”
Like that, her face lit up, even though her eyes were still wet. “Okay. I’ll see you then.”
*
That Thursday night, the girls elected Kendall, a junior econ major and one of Natasha’s feeders, to the office of chapter president. I handed over my copy of Robert’s Rules of Order along with a goodie bag of upper-level chapter swag. Kendall loved the engraved ABO iPad case I’d picked out for her. Camila was nice enough to put an iPad in it. Jill won the post of chapter health and wellness chair. I promised her I would come back to support any of her community programs.
I saw the rest of the semester through. The second week of May, Amy, Samantha, Anna-Jade, Ruth, Maddie, Gwen, Laura, Melanie, Irene, Ebony, Kyle, Julia, and I graduated. We all wore a red rose on our gowns for Ginger. Though she couldn’t walk across the stage with us, she was there, perched on the closest power line with seven other blackbirds, looking down as each of us made our way across the graduation stage. Mama was there with Douglas and a rather unhappy miniature pinscher who looked like he was anxious for sundown.
After commencement, we all met back at the house for a small reception with friends and family and our sisters who’d decided to stick around. Douglas and the movers had already packed up my room. The girls would be passed on to their new demons over the course of the summer, just in case some plans changed here or there. Before I left, I gave my ruby necklace back to Camila. We both managed not to cry.
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