by J. Judkins
Angel let out a sigh of relief, apparently reassured Kim was unhurt. She smiled at her, and Kim hefted up her pillow. Both grinned at each other.
The attacks came simultaneously. Angel’s pillow hit Kim in the side a mere half-second before Kim’s struck Angel in the head.
Kim threw herself into the fray with a laugh of savage glee, her blood singing, inspiring combat music ringing in her ears. She rained fluffy white death upon Angel, blow after punishing blow.
Kim was no shrinking camper, content to hide and snipe unnoticed from a distance. She was an up close and personal hardcore gamer, hardened by years of online battles in war-torn environments. Kill and be killed. Blue versus Red. Horde versus Alliance.
Death held no terror for her. She’d experienced it so frequently it had become a mere annoyance, a way of keeping score. She’d killed thousands and defiled numerous corpses, laughing with maniacal glee while she did it, and would kill thousands more before the day she grew bored and found something else to do.
Angel was thrown on the defensive, but only for a moment. She quickly realized how pointless it was to avoid attacks that could inflict no lasting harm, and struck back just as savagely.
It occurred to Kim, even as the conflict raged, that Angel should have held the edge in strength, speed, and pretty much anything else that mattered in a fight, but she never took full advantage. Even Angel’s attacks seemed to gradually become less frequent, as if exhaustion had become a factor. Kim felt as if they were evenly matched, as if Angel’s purpose for fighting was simply to fight, not to achieve victory.
When Angel dodged completely off the bed, Kim thought she’d won. She rose up on her knees and peered over the edge, only to realize too late that Angel set her up.
Angel stuck her head up only for an instant. She gripped the first two layers of bed-covers and yanked, throwing Kim onto her back. There was no time to recover. Angel was on her at once, using her weight and superior leverage to pin Kim’s arms above her head. This being Angel, she immediately seized her advantage and kissed her without mercy.
In what was becoming a disturbing pattern of late, Kim felt her willpower to resist draining away with each passing moment. Her body was already responding, turning against her, eager to return Angel’s embrace and touch her in return. Kim mustered her dwindling reserves of resistance. She only had seconds left. If she was going to stop Angel, it had to be now. No second chances.
Not to be overly dramatic, but Kim estimated she had one, single breath left. One chance remaining to her. If she delayed it for any reason, Angel would have free reign to do what she wanted. Not only would Kim have lost any and all desire to stop her, she’d become a willing participant, a mindless slave to her passions.
Kim needed to act, and she needed to act now! This was her last chance!
Everything came down to this moment. This one! Final! Moment!
One breath, and that was it!
Make it count!
"Ah, Angel," Kim gasped.
Aaaand there it went. Her one chance, wasted!
No more resistance. No more willpower. Nothing remained for her at all.
Kim’s mind was lost to her, lost in a frenzy of heated passion. Clothes were flying this way and that, or were pushed aside as eager hands sought the warm flesh beneath. Angel dove in as if she were starving. Kim’s intellect was wondering, ‘why were we resisting, again?’ and she couldn’t think anything to tell it. Her body simply loved it and couldn't get enough.
Score one for passion.
Chapter Forty
Angel was a corrupting influence. What amounted to a perfectly ordinary pillow fight had devolved into sex within minutes. Such things weren’t supposed to happen. The fact that it did happen to her made her wonder what else she didn’t know, which should worry her.
Kim also noticed she wasn’t feeling as self-conscious as she should have been, lying naked and more than a little bit breathless next to Angel, their clothes scattered to the four corners of the room. This solidified her belief that Angel’s influence caused her own perceptions to change. The extraordinary had become commonplace.
What surprised Kim about Angel’s behavior was that Angel stopped herself at all. She’d assumed Angel preferred the marathon, multi-hour, keep-going-until-your-partner-can’t-move style, but that didn’t happen today.
Now that she thought about it, the idea of them spending all their time in bed sounded a trifle unrealistic. Last weekend must have been an exception to the rule. A special occasion, and not simply because it had been their first time.
Kim’s thoughts were interrupted as Angel lazily ran her fingers down her side. She did her best to ignore it, realized she couldn’t, and eventually rolled away, putting her back to her.
Angel didn’t take the hint. She shifted closer, running her hand along Kim’s back, instead. “Is something wrong?” she asked.
“I was just thinking, we can’t spend all our time in bed.”
“I agree. Would you like to try the kitchen?”
“That’s not what I had in mind,” Kim snorted.
“Living room couch?”
“No.”
“Up against the wall?”
“No!”
“In the shower?”
An image flashed in Kim’s head which caused her to hesitate. Angel noticed her reaction and perked up. “You like that one?”
“I was just thinking about it.”
“Good. Let’s try it.”
“No, Angel.” Kim left the bed and cast about, looking for her clothes.
Angel reclined in sexy pose number three, her limbs artfully arranged for maximum effect as she watched, half lying on her side with a faint smile on her face. Kim tried to ignore her, more than a little intimidated at Angel’s sex drive. Surely she didn’t want to do it again so quickly. Angel just had her evil way with her for over an hour!
Then again, perhaps that was to be expected. Since their first night together, Kim had yet to do anything to satisfy Angel in turn. This time had been no different. She still had her tried and true reasons why she hadn’t, the primary being that she wasn’t in love, taking solace in the fact Angel didn’t seem to care if her own needs were being met or not. Instead, Angel remained focused on making Kim as happy as possible.
It didn’t seem likely that it could continue forever, but that was a matter for another time. Kim put the matter from her mind.
“We probably should take a shower, anyway,” Angel said. “I don’t know if you realize it, but you smell like sex.”
“Yeah. I wonder how that happened,” Kim remarked dryly.
Angel looked at Kim as if she were an idiot. “We did spend a good amount of time--”
“Yes, I know that, thank you,” Kim slipped on a pair of panties and stepped into her pants, wondering if she was going to be blushing like this every single time she dressed in front of Angel.
“Why are you bothering getting dressed if you’re about to take a shower?”
Kim didn’t have an answer prepared. “So I don’t have to carry my clothes around?”
Angel didn't reply. She continued to watch Kim as she finished dressing, her lovely blue eyes missing nothing as they tracked Kim’s every movement. Kim tried not to notice her scrutiny. She ignored her bra for now, pulled on her shirt, buttoned up half the buttons so it wouldn’t fall open, and headed toward the door.
“You’re wearing my panties,” Angel pointed out.
Kim froze. She hung her head, one hand reached out to the door frame to steady herself. Almost made it. Two more steps. She’d almost gotten away, too.
“Take them off,” Angel said. “I need them.”
“Find your own!”
“I did find them. I know exactly where they are. You’re wearing them.”
“Did you deliberately wait until after I was finished dressing before pointing this out?”
“Oh, yes.” Angel nodded. “It was deliberate. You were in a rush and weren’t paying atte
ntion.”
“Really,” Kim deadpanned.
Angel rested on her back and looked to the ceiling, hair spilling out onto the pillow. “I suppose in a way that was kind of evil of me,” she said idly.
“I’m leaving now.”
“When you get back, I have a present for you.”
Once more, Kim paused at the door. “For what?”
“Because I wanted to do it. It’s also for our anniversary.”
“Remind me to tell you how calendars work,” Kim said with a sigh.
Angel sat up so suddenly her breasts stopped moving a half second after she did. “I know how calendars work. I just don’t know how your calendar works.”
“Calendars are the same no matter where you live in the world,” Kim said, averting her eyes, wishing Angel would just stop it with all her sex games. “Could you please put something on?” she pleaded.
Angel stretched out on her stomach in yet another provocative way to snatch up her discarded shirt from the floor. She slipped it on, fussing with the shirt and making a few minor adjustments to her breasts solely for Kim’s benefit.
Deliberate, thought Kim. All of it.
Angel didn’t bother putting on anything else. If anything, the sight of her wearing nothing but a shirt was even more distracting.
And Angel manipulated her into insisting on it. Truly, Angel’s techniques were nothing less than a higher form of art. No wonder she’d fallen victim to it.
“Different languages,” explained Angel. “We have different names for the same things. I admit, however, the time does seem to pass differently, here.”
This caught Kim’s attention. “Differently, how?”
Angel ran a hand through her hair. “I’m uncertain how to explain. Time seems slower to me. The minutes, hours, and days. It seems to me as if time should be passing by much faster, but it’s not.”
“The clock on my car runs fast. Is it like that?” asked Kim.
“In a way. If I compare what I feel to a clock, then it’s as if my internal clock is insisting entire weeks or months have gone by.” A shrug. “I know it isn’t true, but the feeling remains.”
Kim nodded. It was one more piece of the puzzle. If Angel came from a spacefaring race that spent their entire lives on starships, days, months and years could be nothing more than outdated concepts.
Or perhaps her sense of time was calibrated for life on an alien planet. Or set for galactic standard time, or something. There was no way to know for certain. This particular piece of the puzzle would have to be set aside until more pieces fell into her possession.
The thought reminded Kim of the one year anniversary present. A calendar, not a clock. It seemed appropriate, now.
Speaking of which…
“You mentioned a gift. Are you going to do things and offer me gifts each time you want to do this?”
“If by this you mean sex, then no. I'll have to get creative." Angel nonchalantly reached for a pillow and set her hand on it. "Will you tell me no if I simply ask?”
“No fair threatening me,” Kim said, then realized she’d been staring at Angel out of the corner of her eye.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Why did Angel bother putting on a shirt if she was going to do things like that?
Because you insisted she put it on. Idiot.
“I’m not threatening you, Kim,” said Angel. “My hand is resting on the pillow for a completely unrelated reason. I wasn’t going to pummel you unmercifully with it.”
“Liar.”
“Go take your shower so I can take mine. I still want to give you your present.”
Instead, Kim picked up the only remaining pair of panties off the floor. She tossed them underhand to Angel. “Put these on.”
Angel held them at eye level, stretching them slightly between her hands. “Aren’t these yours?”
“Just put them on, please,” Kim insisted again, “and don’t sniff them.”
Angel paused, then gave Kim an innocent look. “It hadn’t occurred to me.”
“Well, don’t.” Kim waved a hand, trying not to watch and stare. “Just put them on.”
Angel fell into sexy pose six, easing the garment up her long legs. Kim’s mind went blank at the sight. Her hand once again sought the doorframe to steady herself and she shielded her eyes, trying to make the action look as if she were nursing a headache.
Everything about Angel is beautiful. Why is she even bothering with the seductive posing? Surely she has to realize she doesn’t have to try?
Angel must know. She had to know. But there was no way Kim would ever tell her that.
Kim made it to the hallway and locked the bathroom door behind her, thankful she’d gotten away. Angel was such a sex-crazed pervert, threatening to sniff her panties before putting them on. What in the world was that all about?
She turned on the water, letting it run cold but not too cold.
Another week of this is going to kill me. I’ll be dead from sexual exhaustion by then.
She’d never had a cold shower, before. Not deliberately. Now seemed the perfect time to see if they worked as their reputation implied.
Chapter Forty-One
Angel’s ‘anniversary’ present was revealed to be a brand new and probably expensive telescope.
“What do you think?” Angel asked.
Kim walked a slow circle around it. “Where did you get this?”
“The pawn shop. Do you like it?”
I don’t even like astronomy. “Will it fit in the car?” Kim asked, avoiding the question.
“It disassembles, so yes. Do you like it?”
Again, Kim declined to answer. When she’d received a similar telescope from her mother on her last birthday, she’d accepted it for the gift it was. It was the thought that counted, not the gift itself. Her mother meant well.
But because this gift came from Angel, specifically from Angel, her motives were suspect. It seemed clear Angel hoped the gift would pay off in the short-term. Probably the long-term too, now that she thought about it.
And yet, the obvious explanation seemed so straightforward and self-evident it made Kim doubt her conclusions. A gift of this magnitude seemed extreme. Simply put, why bother? If Angel’s old methods weren’t working or had failed, then yes, Kim could see her buying expensive gifts to compensate for her lapse. But why bother if they weren’t failing?
Was this the first in a wave of romantic gestures to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that Angel wanted and expected sex and lots of it? Couldn’t Angel have accomplished the same results with something less expensive, such as candy or jewelry or a new game on Kim’s greed list? Why this expensive thing?
Kim looked at the booklet which doubled as the instruction manual. Ideal for observing and photographing, it told her. Sharp, high-contrast views. Automatic, computer-controlled star finding. All very impressive for someone interested in astronomy. Which she wasn’t.
She could think of several examples of Angel’s persuasive talents off the top of her head. Gifts were completely unnecessary. Some of them were-
“I’m glad you like it.”
Kim hadn’t realized she was grinning to herself until that moment, and immediately made herself stop. She put a frown on her face. The situation didn’t deserve a smile. Angel was doing it to her again, manipulating her for her own selfish ends. All because she wanted sex.
Kim let a bit of her irritation seep into her voice. “Is sex all you think about?” she asked.
Angel blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t have to buy me expensive things each time you...want to.” Kim nudged the telescope with her foot. “Isn’t this a bit extreme?”
Angel set her hands on her hips, her eyes burning with intensity. “Is that what you think of me? You think all I’m after is instant gratification? Well, that’s not why I did it. Yes, I planned ahead, and yes, I was thinking of you when I bought it, but I’m not so shallow as to want something right away each time I choose
to do something for you!”
Kim’s mouth fell open. Angel looked angrier than any other time she’d seen her. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“That’s right. You weren’t thinking. I don’t think in the short-term, Kim. You should know that.”
It was true, Kim realized. All of it. She should have known better. Angel wasn’t shallow at all. Her mind was far too complex.
Kim looked at the telescope again, this time seeing it in a new light.
Angel bought it for me because she wanted to make me happy.
The thought seemed foreign, but at the same time, it seemed right.
Did that mean…Angel genuinely cared for her?
Kim did her best to suppress the thought, recognizing she was daring to hope. She couldn't afford to think that way. According to what Angel told her before, love was nothing more than an arbitrary side-effect. Surely, Angel felt nothing for her.
And yet, she couldn’t help but wonder. Somewhere along the line, had Angel’s feelings become genuine?
Kim’s heart felt light, elated with the possibility of it.
Wouldn't it be nice, if it were true?
The unknown feeling persisted and refused to go away. Recognizing she couldn’t stop it, Kim tried to find a reason for it. Why did she want it to be true so badly? She wasn’t in love with Angel. Angel wasn’t in love with her. It didn’t matter that Angel wasn’t in love with her.
It didn’t.
“It’s a wonderful gift,” Kim said, and then, feeling brave, she gave Angel a quick kiss. “Thank you. I’m sorry I accused you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Wasn’t it expensive? It looks expensive.”
Angel waved a hand. “Not at all. I traded in your other telescope for this one as part of a deal.”
“Oh.” Kim appraised the telescope once more. “That explains why I haven't seen it around, lately.”
“In any case, my gift wasn’t given in anticipation of a direct return. We don’t have to have sex right away.”