by TJ Klune
“About?”
“You’re really good with them. The kids. They’re lucky to have someone like you.”
He sighed as his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Yeah, I guess. Marina’s still trying to convince me to stay.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Because I belong in the classroom,” he said. “I’ve always loved it there. If things were different….” He shook his head. “I don’t know. This was always temporary. I’ve learned so much over the past couple of months, and it’s helped me to see things in a different light. I want to try and incorporate that more into what I teach. These kids, they’re… learning. They’re growing. And by the time they get to me, the shape of who they’ll become is starting to be defined. I think I can help them more at that stage than any other.”
“That makes sense, I guess.”
“But what about you?”
I blinked. “What about me?”
He glanced over at me as we stopped at a light. “I know we’ve talked around it a little. But what about after you graduate? You could come back. You know Marina would love to have you. And you speak to all those kids on a level I can’t.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
“It’s time to start,” he said quietly. “Because it’ll be here before you know it. I know you have your heart set on social work, and it’s admirable. But this is a form of that too. The world needs voices like yours, Kori.”
I groaned. “Can we just… not, yet? School starts again in a couple of weeks, and I need to focus.”
“Okay,” he said easily. “Whatever you want.”
HE STOPPED in front of the house. I wanted to take his hand in mine, but that wasn’t something we did. Not yet. I told him I’d talk to him later and got out of the slut machine.
Then I paused.
Fucking Kai.
I whirled around.
He arched an eyebrow at me.
Goddammit. “Griffin is nice.”
“He is,” Jeremy agreed.
“And he’s into leather.”
“True.”
“And he’s successful. His suit said so.”
“Um, okay?”
“I’m not any of those things. I’m not nice or into your scene, and I’m broke all the time because the system is built in a way that ensures I’ll never be out of debt.”
He was frowning. “What the hell are you—”
“But I like you. A lot. And even though we’re not… we’re not doing anything about it right now, I just want you to know that. But if you don’t want… this, or if you think Griffin is someone who you—”
He laughed.
I glared at him. “It’s not funny, you dick! I’m trying to be—”
“Kori, shut up.”
“Fuck you. If you think I’m just going to—”
He pushed his sunglasses back on his forehead. “I told Griffin I wasn’t interested.”
“And furthermore, I’ll—wait. What.”
He grinned. “He asked me out again. I told him that I was flattered, but it wasn’t going to happen.”
“Oh.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Oh. And no, you’re not nice all the time, and no, you’re not into leather, and no, you’re not rich, but if you think any of that shit matters to me, I’ve been going about this the wrong way.”
“Huh,” I said. “How about that.”
“You’re so dumb.”
“Hey!”
“It’s you, Kori,” he said. “It’s you, because of all the things you are and all the things you’re not. That’s what’s special. That’s what’s important.”
I absolutely did not sigh dreamily. “Asshole.”
He chuckled. “Jealous, huh?”
I grimaced. “I’m not proud of it, so if we could never bring it up again, that’d be great.”
“Because you’re the type of person who’d let that go if the situation was reversed?”
“I regret everything,” I muttered. “All of this. I take it all back.”
“Nah,” he said. “I don’t believe that. We good? Because I really need to leave. If I don’t, I’m going to kiss you until you can’t breathe, and that’s not something we can do yet.”
I sniffed daintily. “Of course you want to do that. I am the light of your life.” I turned to walk toward the house when he said my name again. I looked over my shoulder.
He slid his sunglasses back down over his eyes. I hated how much it worked for me. I needed to reevaluate every choice that had led me to this moment. “You and me?” he said. “We’re going to be amazing, Kori. I promise you that.”
And because he was the worst, he gunned the engine and pulled away.
“You won’t always get the last word, you prick!” I shouted after him.
Chapter 15: I Hate Everything About Jeremy Olsen
THE SECOND thing happened the weekend before our last week at Phoenix House.
And it was all Jeremy’s fault.
Regardless of what he’d say after, I would never forgive him for as long as I lived. If, at that moment, in the fallout that burned around us, he’d been struck down by a bolt of lightning, I would have danced on his smoking corpse.
It began, as most things do in the twenty-first century, with an order from Amazon.
“WHAT IS it?” I asked, staring down at the small open box on the table. “And why did you get it for me? It’s not my birthday.”
Sandy shrugged. “I know, but I thought it’d be fun. Help you relieve some of that… pressure.”
The object in the box was about the size of an egg, though a little longer. It was purple and had a small circular cord attached to one end. I picked up the paper that came with it. “For the discreet thrill-seeker, SensualFlirt brings you the next wave in technology. Give in to the pleasure with the Magic Egg, a wireless massager that dares you to believe in the impossible. The vibrations are controlled by an app for iPhone and Android. In private or in public, you or a partner are in control of the experience. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch!” I slowly looked up at Sandy, who was smiling serenely. “You bought me a wireless anal vibrator.”
“I did,” he said. “You’re welcome.”
I turned and walked out of the room.
“Where are you going?” he shouted after me.
NOW, IT should be said that when a drag queen buys you a sex toy, it’s easy to pretend it doesn’t exist. After all, you never had one like it before, had never even really thought about anything like it, and so it shouldn’t matter in the slightest. It was easy to forget about.
Which is exactly what I did.
For two hours.
It wasn’t until I was sure Sandy was out of the house with Darren, heading to Jack It to prepare for the show, that I opened my bedroom door. “Hello?” I called, just to be safe.
No answer.
“Just going to get a drink of water,” I said to myself. “That’s it. Just mosey on down to the kitchen and get some water.”
I moseyed. I moseyed hard.
I ignored the box sitting on the table. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. I drank half of it before I smacked my lips. “Ah. That’s better. Now I’ll just go back to my room and that will be that.”
For some reason my legs ignored me and carried me to the table instead. “No,” I scolded them. “Stop it. You stop it right now.”
They didn’t listen. And what was weirder was when my hands (independent of my brain) reached down to grab the box. I had lost control. Something had taken over. I needed a priest. It was obviously a sex demon, and an exorcism was necessary.
It was the only explanation.
I told myself it was because I wanted it to be out of sight. Jeremy was coming to pick me up to go to Jack It for Sandy’s show, and I didn’t want him to think we lived in a house of sin should he need to come inside to use the restroom before we left.
I set it down on my desk and
ignored it, going back to my closet to pick out an outfit for the night.
“Hey.”
I whirled around.
There was no one there.
I was hearing things.
“No, you’re not,” a high-pitched voice said. “It’s me, the Magic Egg.”
“What the fuck,” I muttered.
“Do it. Stick me up your butt. Just try it. Just a little. I promise it’ll feel good.”
“Oh my god.”
“Come on. Do it. Do it.”
“Fuck you.” I turned back to my closet.
And for some reason, five minutes later, I found myself sticking the Magic Egg up my ass after having downloaded the app.
I hated everything.
“Oh, crap,” I groaned. “Except for this. What the hell.” There was some minor discomfort, but it faded quickly. I grimaced as I wiped the lube on my hands against the wet towel I’d used after getting out of the shower. I rolled over on my back, giving myself some time to get used to the feeling. I’d had bigger things in my ass before, so it wasn’t bad, but it was still intrusive.
“Fucking Sandy,” I muttered. I thought about pulling it out and finishing getting ready, as Jeremy was supposed to be here in ten minutes, but since it was already in me, I figured it wouldn’t hurt just to try it out.
For science.
I slid my thumb along the screen, squinting up at the light. The app was just a picture of an egg, not giving away anything for someone who might snoop. I pressed my thumb against it, and the app launched.
The first thing it said it needed to do was sync with the vibrator.
“I probably should have done this first,” I muttered. I hit the button to sync it up, wincing in preparation in case it exploded.
It didn’t.
It only took a few seconds before a colorful animation popped up: an anthropomorphic egg waving with a stick arm, a word bubble popping from its mouth. THIS IS GOING TO BE EGG-CELLENT. ARE YOU EGG-CITED?
I really hated everything, especially when I saw the slider across the top went from 0 to EGG-STREME.
“Egg puns should not be allowed in sex toys,” I told it.
The egg stopped waving and pointed up at the slider. Another word bubble appeared. FORGET YOUR EGG-SPECTATIONS.
I almost threw my phone across the room.
Instead, I ignored the egg and moved the slider up to a three.
Nothing happened.
I frowned. “Of course it’s broken. I don’t know why I’m even doooooh my god.”
The Magic Egg began to vibrate.
And it was glorious.
Two minutes later, I was up to a five and writhing on my bed, hard as a fucking rock, groaning incoherently about scrambled eggs being my favorite thing in the world, and any vegetarians or vegans I might know could fuck right the hell off.
I panted as my phone buzzed in my hand.
I brushed the slider back down as I opened the text. The vibrations ceased instantly.
I’m here. Ready?
I blinked. “Oh no.”
I jumped up from the bed and frantically tore through my closet. I found the jeans and shirt I was going to wear and threw them on the bed. I picked my briefs up off the floor and pulled them on before dressing quickly. I grabbed my wallet and phone and keys before giving myself a once-over in the mirror. My eyes were dark, and I licked my lips. I looked fine. No one would be able to tell I’d just fucked myself with a toy from Amazon.
It wasn’t until I was halfway down the path in front of the house that I realized I still had a Magic Egg in my ass.
I stumbled.
Jeremy looked concerned, starting to get out of the Jeep. “What the hell? Are you okay?”
“Fine!” I squeaked. “So fine! Just—I need to go back inside for a minute!”
And then I had the most terrible thought that, in the end, would be entirely blamed on Sanford Stewart.
What if I didn’t go back inside?
Oh, what a wicked thing to do.
No one would have to know.
Unless I told them.
I grinned at Jeremy.
His eyes widened as he sunk slowly back into his seat. “What is going on?”
“Nothing,” I said innocently, and I fucking slinked to his slut machine. “Nothing at all.”
I DIDN’T turn it on as we drove downtown, but I was constantly aware it was there. Every time we hit a pothole, every time I shifted in my seat, I couldn’t help but hiss out a breath. The third or fourth time I did this Jeremy stopped his babbling about whatever and asked, “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”
“Nope,” I said quickly. “Not hurt. I’m wonderful. Perfect, even. Like you wouldn’t believe. Do you like buying things on Amazon? I like buying things on Amazon, even if I don’t buy said things and they are given to me as a gift instead.”
“Are you… asking me to buy you something?”
I laughed wildly. “Not at all. What a nice night this is! All those—hit that pothole! You hit that fucking pothole as hard as you can!” I slapped my hand over my mouth.
“What the hell,” Jeremy said faintly.
I was sweating by the time we reached Jack It and parked in the lot behind the building. It was already full, but we found a spot near the back in the shadows. I climbed gingerly out of the Jeep, wondering if I was going to be clenching my ass all night. At least it looked good in these jeans. Oh, who I was I kidding. It looked good in most things.
Jeremy rounded the back of the slut machine, a frown on his face. “Seriously. What’s going on with you?”
“No touching, right?”
He frowned harder. “Right. I mean, I know we’ve talked about it, but you don’t have to act like it’d be the worst thing in the world.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that. It’s—would you do me a favor?”
“Of course.”
“Hold my phone tonight?”
He looked confused. “O… kay. Why can’t you hold it?”
“Just take it,” I growled at him, shoving the phone into his hands.
He fumbled with it but managed to keep from dropping it. “You’re being weird.”
“You have no idea. There’s an app on the home screen. Looks like an egg. Open it.”
He looked at me for a moment before glancing down at the phone. The screen lit up his face as he tapped the app. It opened, and there was a moment of silence before his brow furrowed. “What is this? And why are there so many egg puns? I’m offended, actually.”
“See the slider across the top?”
“Yeah.”
“Move it to three.”
“But—”
“Just do it.”
He did.
The Magic Egg immediately started vibrating, and I couldn’t help but groan as I slumped against the back of his Jeep. He gaped at me as my body twitched, head rolling back as I swallowed thickly.
I barely heard him when he said, “Is this… are you…. Corey.”
And then he was in front of me, with only the sparest of breaths between us. He reached up like he was going to put his hand around my throat, but instead reached behind me and grabbed the Jeep, blocking me in. I turned my head to the side and felt his nose graze the shell of my ear. “Is this what I think it is?” he whispered, and fuck me, the last time I’d heard this tone in his voice, he’d had his cock in his hand and was talking about fucking me.
“Yeah,” I managed to say.
“It’s in you right now.”
“Yeah.”
“And you want me to control it.”
I nodded furiously. “This isn’t against the rules. We’re not touching.”
He chuckled darkly, his breath warm on my cheek. “Oh, it’s certainly skirting the line. And you know it.”
His other hand came up, this one with the phone in it. My eyes widened as his thumb pushed the slider up to a five.
The effect was immediate. I jerked my hips as the intensity increased and b
it my bottom lip to keep from crying out.
And then, just like that, it was over.
He slid it down to zero.
He stepped back and grinned at me as he put my phone into his pocket. “Ready to go inside?”
“This was a very bad idea,” I breathed.
JACK IT was packed. We pushed our way through the crowds, people calling out my name in greeting. I nodded at them but kept moving, not wanting to be stuck down here with the commoners. We reached the door that led up to the Queen’s Lair, and the bouncer blocking the door nodded in greeting. “Corey,” he said as he opened the door. “Go right on up.”
I thanked him with a smile, but before I took the first step, the bouncer reached out and pressed a hand against Jeremy’s chest.
“He’s with me,” I said.
The bouncer eyed him warily. “Helena knows?”
“Yeah.”
He dropped his hand. “All right. Have a good night.”
He closed the door behind him as we walked up the stairs. “What was that all about?” Jeremy asked.
“You’re not allowed up into the Queen’s Lair unless Helena says it’s okay.”
“And she’s fine with me?”
“Yeah. She told me earlier you could come up. You should feel honored.”
“I do,” he reassured me.
I opened the second door at the top only to find Helena snarling at Paul and Darren as they fumbled with her corset. Vince was standing as far away as possible so he wouldn’t face her wrath. Charlie was ignoring everyone as he fiddled with his camera. “Is this your first fucking time? Do I need to find new help? Because right now, I am considering firing you both.”
“Shut up,” Darren muttered. “We’re fixing it. It’s not our fault you let it get tangled from last time.”
Helena turned her head slowly to look at him, eyes narrowed. “What was that?”
Darren rolled his eyes. “I love you.”
“Of course you do. I own you.”
“Jesus Christ,” Paul mumbled.
“Um,” Jeremy whispered. “Maybe I should just stay back here.”
“It’s fine,” I told him. “Helena gets like this before every show. This is normal. No one has been stabbed yet, so it’s actually going pretty well.”