LAKESIDE COUGARS 3. Copyright © 2025 by Misty Vixen.

Kindle Edition. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entire coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

ABOUT ME

CHAPTER ONE

“Finally,” Atticus whispered as he sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.

It was done.

After their furniture store run and the ensuing night of fun and relaxation that had followed, Atticus had dedicated the following four days to work.

Work and nothing but work.

Well, for the most part.

He couldn’t keep from having some fun when he was now living in a house with three cougars. But he had told them at the end of the night that he needed to get a new patch out and stop neglecting his email and do some other sorely needed ‘housekeeping’ that came from being a one-man creative show in the modern world.

His website needed cleanup and updating, his social media, his general online presence that he was forced to maintain. All of it needed attention.

And now he was finally, finally done with the most immediate of it all.

It had come at a cost, although right now he wasn’t sure how much. It had been a little obvious last night that each of the women in his life was getting a little annoyed with his absence. Edith had hid it well enough, but he could he read her pretty well at this point. Susan wouldn’t let go of him once he’d emerged from his office late last night. Kate had complained at him through text.

And Colleen…

Had fucked him into a coma last night.

That had been fun, but rough.

Although now that he was thinking about it and the haze of responsibility had been, if not dealt with then pushed back considerably, he was beginning to realize that maybe they were all more than just a little annoyed.

Crap.

He got up. It was Tuesday now, still relatively early in the morning. He had just a few things he’d needed to finish up and had also wanted to see if there was anything he’d screwed up launching the patch last night.

But all seemed well. No one had come screaming at him with game-breaking bugs and his e-mail was empty and his site was finally updated with the last of the new links and info.

He shut down his laptop, turned around in his swivel chair, and got to his feet.

It was time to spend some time with the women he shared this lakehouse with.

He took one step towards the door and his phone buzzed.

He sighed softly. Damn.

Pulling it out, he saw he had a message from Vetra. Oh. He hadn’t actually heard from her since their first real encounter.

Atticus, I am ready to spend time together today. Provided you have done–and will do–all that I have asked, we can make love in the evening. For extra incentive:

She had sent him a picture of her with her shirt lifted up. Not all the way, but enough that her firm, olive-colored breasts were somewhat exposed.

Double damn.

He felt suddenly torn yet again. Just as he had been torn between spending time with the others and getting his work done, now it was spending time with the others and Vetra.

This was getting to that ‘complicated’ part he’d been waiting anxiously for.

Well, time to face the music, one way or the other.

Atticus put his phone away for now and headed out of his office. He walked into the living room, where he found Colleen sitting on the couch and knew immediately that he had fucked up.

“...hi,” he said.

“Hello, Atticus,” she replied, just a little sternly.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

She opened her mouth but nothing came out. For a moment, she looked like she was trying to hold onto her frustration. When she tried speaking again, she seemed like she had held onto some, but not most of it.

“We are annoyed. Please sit, my love,” she replied.

“Sorry,” Atticus said as he sat down on the couch with her. “I’ve just been so fucking busy–”

“I know,” Colleen said, putting a hand on his leg. “Let’s just slow down. I’m not angry. Neither are Edith or Susan. But we are...a little frustrated.”

“Where, um, are they?” he asked, looking around, his worrying growing.

“Handling responsibilities outside the house. Edith has a piano lesson today and Susan is at the cat shelter. Given I’m the most stable of the three of us, I thought it best for me to handle this conversation. Also because I’m the most...understanding. Of this particular situation.”

“I’m listening.”

“I appreciate it. So, let me start by saying that this isn’t so much a fuckup on your part as it is a...I suppose, a failure of communication and expectation on both our sides. Again: not angry. It’s just...we’re very early in our relationship, all of us, so our emotions are running pretty high. Honestly, if this had taken place even a month from now, it probably would be a lot closer to fine. But basically, we didn’t really expect you to actually lock yourself away in a room for twelve to fifteen hours a day every day for four days in a row right after all of us moved in together.”

“That’s...fair,” he replied, feeling a little defensive. “I feel like I did a decent job of explaining just how much needed to be done, though. And how important it was.”

“I think you did. To me. I think the sentiment from Edith and Susan, and perhaps Kate, is that they’re mildly, mmm, disappointed to learn that you were able to actually do so.”

“Disappointed? I...I mean isn’t that kind of impressive? How many other guys can actually work for fourteen hours straight on something? Let alone something they’re passionate about?”

She smiled. “I know, dear. It is impressive. But this is why I am the one having this conversation. Because I understand what it’s like to crunch and grind on your passion. I understand how necessary that can be, and I have at least a vague understanding of how even more necessary it might be for someone in your field. But they’re feeling a little...well, let’s put it this way: you went from ‘I cannot stop fucking you’ to ‘I’m locking myself away in a room in the same house as you all day every day’. Does that make sense?”

“...oh. I-wait, so are you saying you all were hoping my horniness was going to be so strong I wouldn’t be able to stay away from you?”

“Well, less horniness and more love, but yeah, basically...what is this look?” she asked, her amusement coming onto her beautiful face.

“I just...okay, now I feel more in the right. I was doing a responsible thing. This is my career. And–” Colleen raised an eyebrow. Atticus paused, realizing at once he’d wandered back into potentially dangerous territory. “And I love you, and I’m most certainly falling for Edith and Susan, and I respect you all, it’s just...isn’t that the choice you would want me to make?”

Colleen’s amusement transformed into a more genuine smile. “Yes, Atticus. And honestly, I’m rather proud of you. For that and for this...I’m so glad you aren’t afraid to stand up to me if you feel like you should. It’s intensely reassuring. And you’re right, in that you made a good choice, the smart choice. However, the point I was ultimately going to settle on was this: I think it’s only fair that you attempt a more balanced approach.”

He found himself beginning to respond that he was operating on a timeline, a tight and rigid one...but was he? Was he really?

Cold Reset wasn’t broken. There were no game-breaking glitches or bugs, as far as he knew. Honestly, he had managed to write some very clean code and it had all layered itself so sweetly and finely that the patch wasn’t even necessarily crucial. It could have waited. He could have cut the hours in half and taken twice as long and basically nothing would have changed.

“...shit,” he muttered. He sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I am going to have to figure out a better balance. You’ve got to remember, I spent nine months in almost total isolation, crunching constantly, every day. That’s been my reality. And before then, it wasn’t like I had any experience trying to manage more than one relationship.”

“I know, sweetheart. I did take this into account, and I did explain this to Edith and Susan. And Kate. She complained to me about you. But they all said that was a very good point. And that’s why no one is angry. That being said...I think it wouldn’t be out of the question to perhaps try to do something to make up for, shall we say, lost time? And perhaps celebrate the fact that we’re all moved in?” she suggested.

“That’s a very good idea. I have actually been thinking of something similar.”

“And what did you come up with?”

“Date days. For each of you. I have some ideas of what to do, but also we can keep them flexible to do things you really feel like doing. Mostly it’ll be about each of you.”

“Well…” Colleen lost her smile, looking mildly guilty. “Try not to get too deep into that mindset. It’s about both of us. You and me. You and Edith. You and Susan. We. Us. Together. Don’t go down the path of sacrifice, Atticus. I know what lies down that path.”

“What does?” he asked uncertainly.

“Resentment. Heartbreak. I’ve seen it happen. You feel that you’re lucky just to have the relationship, and that you aren’t allowed to ask for anything in return, eventually. And that lets resentment in, one grain at a time, and it builds. I understand wanting to make up, if not for the past few days then for the feelings those days caused, rightful or not. That’s a good instinct. Just...be careful. Keep sticking up for yourself.”

He considered it. She had a point. And he did not want to do anything to mess these relationships up.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he said. Then winced a little as he recalled Vetra’s text. “There is, uh, one other thing.”

“Oh?”

“Vetra. She just texted me, like literally thirty seconds before I came out here. She wants to hang out today.”

Colleen laughed suddenly. “Oh, my dear, sweet boy...this is not going to be easy for you,” she murmured, her amusement returning. “Go be with her.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m not sure how long Edith is to be gone, but Susan is supposed to be at the shelter for a long stay today. Someone called in sick. And I’ll be all right, dear. I’m actually beginning to immerse myself in my own passion project.”

“Oh yeah? You’ve settled?” he asked.

“I have. I will tell you more about it...mmm, on our date day. Which should not be first. I imagine that might be your instinct, but Edith should be the first one you take on a date.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because she is the most insecure. Much as I love her, it is the truth. So, take her on the first date day. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” he agreed, pulling his phone out.

She laughed. “Already so eager. No lingering doubt over whether or not it’s the right choice to go running towards Vetra…”

“Wait, should there be?” he asked, pausing.

“No dearest, there should not be. Maybe send texts to the others, but no. They will understand. Also I imagine they will feel exactly what I do when they hear the news about the date days.”

“And what is that?”

“Overwhelming joy.”

“You’re doing a lot to hide your overwhelming joy.”

“I’m a little hungover. Had a bit too much weed and wine last night. And that session we had was rather...lengthy.”

“Yes, it most certainly was. And rough. Not that I’m complaining.”

“Neither am I. Now, make sure you clean up before you go off to jump Vetra. Also, please find out if she’s bisexual. I would give a lot to be in a threesome with the two of you.”

“So would I,” he muttered as he fired off a response to Vetra that he was free.

Her own response was very quick: Excellent. Would you be open to hiking around the hillside today? I want to get to know you before we have a proper ‘date’ and I do that best hiking in the wilderness.

He responded that he would.

Perfect. Please meet me at the Ranger’s Station within the next half hour.

Atticus grinned, gave Colleen a kiss, and hopped off the couch to get ready.

CHAPTER TWO

And there was the Ranger’s Station.

Atticus tried to quell the anxiety rising in his stomach.

He could do this, he told himself. He had been doing this. He was currently successfully navigating relationships with four different women, three of whom were cougars. Well...mostly successfully.

He did feel bad about how they felt. Although he felt he’d done a decent, or at least adequate job conveying just how intensely he would be isolating, he did feel bad about their reaction to it. Yeah, going forward he was definitely going to need to calibrate that more.

But the problem here was that Vetra was not like any of the other women in his life.

He wasn’t sure how he knew that, because he didn’t really know Vetra, but somehow he knew. It was obviously that she was different from Susan or Kate, even Edith. She was closest to Colleen, she had that kind of quiet confidence.

But there was a deceptive depth to her, an element of mystery added.

And not just because they hadn’t really gotten to know each other at all yet.

Enigma seemed to hang around her like an aura, a barely-perceptible shroud.

He had been drawn to Colleen and Edith partially because they were so noticeably older than him. At some point it had occurred to him that attraction just was and he’d stopped asking why, so he had never completely parsed why he liked specifically older women.

But he did.

And while he wasn’t sure what her actual age was (early forties?), Vetra was in some way older than either of them. There was a depth to her that didn’t exist in anyone else he knew. Atticus still wasn’t sure if that was merely perception or not, but he didn’t think it was. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she was some kind of retired Spec Ops soldier or something.

There she was.

He was pulling up to the station now and he could see her sitting casually on one of the benches, looking at him as he drove up. She wore dark clothes. A skintight pair of shorts that hugged her wonderful hips and a formfitting t-shirt. She also had coverings over her knees and fingerless black gloves on. And hiking boots.

He’d dressed in jean shorts and a t-shirt and was looking to break in his own new hiking boots he’d picked up during their latest trip out to Westfield.

There was something vaguely unsettling about Vetra, he realized as he parked and got out. It was a stillness, he realized. Just this absolute stillness to her when she was at rest. She vaguely reminded him of a preying mantis.

“Hello,” she offered, standing up.

“Hey,” he replied. “I’m really glad you agreed to this.”

She smiled, just a little. “So am I.” He walked up to join her by the bench, noticing she wasn’t turning to lead him to the trail. “There are things I require before going forward.”

“Yes.” He pulled out his phone and cued up all their test results. Each of the women had agreed to allow him to do this. And they’d all come back completely negative, as he’d expected.

“Thank you,” she murmured, accepting the phone and thumbing through it. He saw her eyes flick back and forth, up and down, consuming information in seconds. She was through reading everything very quickly. She looked back up. “And consent?”

He accepted the phone back and cued up the video he’d shot the night they’d gotten back from furniture shopping. All four of the women in his life sat scrunched up on the couch together. He had made sure to turn the volume down so only Vetra could hear as she scrutinized the video.

It was basically just Colleen saying that each of them were fully aware that she was courting their man, and they were all comfortable with any sexual and romantic entanglements they might get up to together, and the others agreeing.

“This is acceptable,” she said, a mildly amused smile on her face as she passed the phone back.

“Excellent.”

She crouched down and fished a slim black phone from one sock, navigated it for a moment, then passed it to him.

“Here is my reciprocal information,” she said.

Atticus accepted it and studied the screen. It was also a blood test for STIs, dated last week, everything marked negative. He nodded and gave her the phone back.

“I have no one else in my life at the moment,” she said. “I haven’t even been intimate with anyone in this town. In this state, really.” She paused. “I suppose I can’t say that for certain, factoring in who might have moved where. But suffice to say, it has been a long time since I’ve...copulated.”

“Unfortunate.”

“Perhaps.” Here, she turned towards the trail. “Shall we?”

He nodded. She began leading him away. His eyes flicked down to her ass and he felt a shiver of lust roll through him.

Good fucking lord was this woman in incredible shape. Slim and fit and pretty much perfect. She had the body of a twenty-something gymnast who had let herself go just a little and subsequently had padding in the perfect places.

Vetra paused before they could get far and when she looked back, a hesitant expression on her face, he suddenly wondered if she knew he’d been staring at her ass and was displeased. If that was the case, this date was not going to go well.

“I have learned from past experiences that I should warn you about the length of our hike. When I say ‘hike’, I mean that we will be out there for about six hours. Is this acceptable?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “although I will probably need a few breaks. I’m not in the best shape.”

She regained her small smile. “Really? I would have thought with so many women in your bed, your endurance would be high.”

He chuckled awkwardly. “That’s a good point. The only thing is that didn’t start happening until within the last...dear God, has it only been three weeks?”

“Wow. Three weeks. I’m impressed. Are you enjoying looking at my ass?” she asked as they hit the main trail and began ascending.

“Yes,” he replied.

She glanced briefly over her shoulder at him. Her eyes showed approval. “Very brave, but not arrogant. You are a curious individual.”

“Apparently.” He moved up to join walk beside her.

“I wasn’t complaining,” she murmured.

“I didn’t take it that way, I just would rather talk more easily with you than look at your ass.” He paused. “Well, for the moment.”

She laughed. “Good to know. It is nice to be appreciated physically and intellectually. So, what do you want to talk about?”

“First thing I want to know is: why did you agree to this?”

“Ah. Well...I suppose the short answer to that is that I am lonely. I haven’t had what I would call a genuine human connection in several years. To delve deeper, however, I think would require explaining my personal history.”

“I would love to hear your personal history.”

She glanced at him, one dark eyebrow arched. “What have you heard?”

“Literally nothing.”

“Is that why you’re so eager?”

“Yes! You’re very...cryptic. Very unknown. And not just to me, from what I can tell.”

“If you had to guess what my line of work was, what would that guess be?”

“Covert military.”

“Well...you aren’t completely wrong.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Don’t get too excited. I’ve never killed anyone. I’m no assassin or spy. I’m a scientist.”

“I still want to hear about you.”

“Very well, from the top then. I was born in Italy. My mother was a young, fiercely brilliant woman from a small seaside village that she knew was a dead end. My father was an American naval mechanic from Wisconsin who had found himself in much the same predicament as my mother, and that was why he joined the Navy and ended up meeting her. They were both very intense people who were never satisfied with what life had to offer. Their hunger for adventure was voracious. I was born about ten months after they met.”

She glanced his way, as though inviting comment.

“This is either going to be a very good relationship or a very bad one,” he said.

She nodded. “Yes. This one is a love story. Whenever anyone asked them how they could marry so young and so immediately and still be so in love decades later, they both had the same answer: ‘I just knew’. It seemed to explain it. I don’t believe in soul mates, but I do believe in compatibility, and I do believe that they were intensely, fiercely compatible.”

She led him off the trail suddenly, along a more rugged section of the hillside, into a patch of trees in the opposite direction he’d not so long ago followed Colleen.

“I was raised on military bases and in small towns for the first decade of my life. Then my father was involved in a scandal and dishonorably discharged. It took me years to get to the bottom of it, but in the end I discovered the truth: he had taken the fall for a corrupt higher up. I got my revenge on him, eventually. He died in prison a few years ago.”

“Wow,” Atticus muttered.

“Yes. I rarely seek revenge, but when I do, it is as justified as it can be. Anyway, we were forced to settle down back in my father’s small home town, as my mother had been shunned by her own family for the betrayal of seeking a life in the world at large. We spent four years there, my mother commuting to a college two hours away while my father worked in his father’s factory.

“It was a prison, for all of us. My mother was gaining a degree in marine biology that would free us. And it did. After that, we were dust in the wind. We traveled the world, as my mother had caught the attention of a prestigious international aquatic research institution that was very willing to accommodate her in exchange for her intense brilliance. She was smarter than I am now. Though not by much. She helped helm research expeditions that led to hundreds of discoveries and technological breakthroughs.”

“Holy shit. That’s...really impressive,” he murmured.

Every minute that passed he felt more outclassed.

“Yes, she was a very impressive woman. My father was less focused. He was more a jack-of-all-trades. Learned a million and one useful things, always taking whatever job caught his fancy, or he thought he could tolerate, once my mother had secured enough income to fund our lifestyle. For the next four years we spent each year in a different place. First India. Then Japan. Then Ireland. Then Australia. After that, we began hopping around faster, closer to every four months. I realized at some point those four years were for my benefit, so that I could complete a year of school all at once before moving on…”

She paused as they came out of the copse of trees and found another trail, this one more of an animal trail, gently curving around the hillside towards the back of it.

“Are you sure this isn’t boring you?” she asked.

“I’m sure,” he replied.

“All right.” They resumed their journey. “I learned much. My parents wanted me to go to college but we all knew that was off the table, at least for a while. So we kept traveling together, and compromised. I read books, took lessons from tutors, gained knowledge. Eventually, desire drew us apart. My parents wanted to go one place, I wanted to go to another. By then, I was twenty two. I knew how to earn money, how to look after myself, how to build a temporary life for myself. So we parted ways. I traveled for five more years until, suddenly, I missed the stability those four years in Wisconsin brought me.”

“Wow. Plot twist.”

She laughed softly. “Yes. I was very surprised by it. So I did what my parents wanted. I went back to the US and got a degree in biology. Took a lot of jobs. My mother being who she was opened a lot of doors for me. I studied creatures everywhere. Migration patterns. Effects on new habitats. Sicknesses and cures. Things like that. Whatever caught my fancy. Then I got bored of creatures after a decade, got a degree in Paris in chemistry. Traveled for a time longer. Eventually...I got tired of traveling. I wanted something more permanent, a life I didn’t just walk away from. So I did some research, bought a plot of land, had a house custom-built up on this hillside. That was about six months ago.”

“Man, that’s...quite the life.”

“So I’ve been told. And I agree, but at a certain point...I don’t know, thrilling adventure lost its appeal. I pulled a lot of military contracts in the past decade, doing research in dangerous parts of the world, guarded by men with machine guns and camouflage body armor. It got intense, sometimes. My hearing is a little damaged from gunfire and a couple of danger close ordnance drops. But I was remarkably lucky otherwise.”

The trail had slanted down at a sharper grade during the last of her tale, but now it was smoothing out.

As they walked, she focused on him once more. “Would you like to hold hands? This next stretch of terrain should facilitate it.”

“I would love to,” he replied.

She offered her hand, and he took it.

Her skin was mostly soft, callused and rough in some places, and warm. They laced their fingers together.

She smiled at him. “Why don’t you tell me how you came into this situation?”

Atticus laughed awkwardly and began to tell her.

CHAPTER THREE

“That is an interesting tale,” Vetra said.

“It has been beyond interesting living it,” Atticus replied.

They were still holding hands and it still felt great. She was still hard to read, but he was slowly beginning to suspect that this was because she was something of an emotionally flat woman. Not emotionless, but she likely didn’t experience hard spikes in either direction.

Or, inversely, she experienced very hard spikes but a lifetime of practice had smoothed them down and made them almost imperceptible to an outsider.

So far, she seemed pleased with the encounter.

They were off the hillside now. It had flattened into a tract of open land, bordered on one side by a dense forest and the other by a small river. The land and the river descended ahead into a valley that he had heard of but never actually gotten around to seeing.

This was where they were heading now, drifting gradually towards the river.

A few minutes passed as they walked. Vetra seemed to have fallen into a contemplative silence and he was happy enough to let her do so and enjoy her silent company in the warm Oregon air. Insects chirped and buzzed, birds sang and flitted among the trees or hopped along the river’s edge. He saw a collection of deer grazing on its opposite side in a glade.

This place really was beautiful, all of it lush and green. A gentle breeze blew softly and coolly across landscape.

“I will admit that I wasn’t completely sure how to handle you,” she said, speaking at last. “It was originally my intention to put myself in your hands and have you orchestrate a day together. But as time passed, something felt off about that. I thought perhaps then to do the opposite, assemble my own plans for a day together and take you along. But that wasn’t right either. I’ve honed my instincts over the decades and I listen to them. The issue with you, however, is that my instincts were not speaking clearly. Or, I suppose, loudly.”

“Huh. Um, kind of interesting choice to take me out to an isolated location with just the two of us then,” he replied.

“What? Oh, no. It was not a question of do I trust you. And I can defend myself if I have to. I wouldn’t have agreed to anything with you if I wasn’t quite confident that you are as you appear to be.”

“What do I appear to be?”

“A young man who means what he says and understands key social connectivity issues such as trust, respect, and communication. I believe you are acting in good faith, and will continue to do so. I believe that if I tell you no, you will respect that.”

“Good to hear.”

“Indeed. So, as I sorted through my thoughts and instincts, I ultimately realized that what I needed was a day free of distraction. A day with just you and I and nature. Nature is where I think best. Where I ferret out truths and answers.”

“That makes sense. What answer do you need to ferret out about me?”

She smiled a small smile. “Whether or not to allow you inside of me more than once. I know I want to make love with you, but that’s a singular event. And if you might be the person to help me with my bigger issue.”

“And that’s what we’re determining right now.”

“Correct.”

“What’s your bigger issue?”

She was silent for another moment. “I want a bit more time together before tackling that.”

“No problem. I’m glad you feel comfortable around me.”

Her smile widened just a little. “So am I.” Then it shrunk just a bit and an awkward look came onto her face. “I have a small confession.”

“I’m listening.”

She was silent for a moment longer and actually came to a halt as they reached the river’s edge. He found himself thinking furiously of what it could possibly be that she would actually have to confess that related to him, or maybe Colleen or the others.

“That day you and Edith and Colleen were on the hillside and swapping oral sex, I was there. I was watching.”

Wow, she was actually blushing.

“Oh,” he said. A moment passed. “Wow. What are the odds?”

“Not as terrible as you might think, but still, it was an oddly perfect moment,” she replied, not quite looking at him. “Are you upset?”

“No, not at all. I mean…” He thought back to that day. “We did actually say, out loud, that we would be comfortable if you were watching.”

“Did you know?” she asked. “Because that did feel a little too perfect.”

“No, this is a genuine surprise. I for sure didn’t notice you, and if Colleen or Edith had, I’m positive they would have said something. If not then and there then at least afterwards. If they’d even suspected it, they would have said something. So no, no idea.”

“Ah. I had been operating under the impression that you had become aware of my presence and wanted to tacitly acknowledge and sanction it without breaking the moment. Either way, I took you at your word and I watched.”

He laughed in honest surprise. “Wow. Uh...so was it a good show?”

“Yes, it was a fantastic show. It was very arousing. It caused me to go home and masturbate for the first time in a long while.”

They started walking again. She seemed relieved.

“That’s good to hear,” he said, feeling oddly proud.

He’d sometimes wondered how it would feel to be watched by a stranger, unknowingly, while having sex. Under most circumstances, he imagined it would be strange and uncomfortable. Not just for him but for the woman he was sleeping with.

This was probably one of the few situations in which it had come out for the best.

“If you want the truth, that’s what decided me. About you,” she continued.

“Really? Now I’m kind of curious, what’s the timeline on that? I mean when did you think to yourself that I was someone you might like to break your sex ban on?”

“It wasn’t a ban, exactly...mmm, maybe it was. To answer your question: the first time I saw you. When we passed each other on the path. I was heavily distracted, I had been thinking about a mathematical equation all day and a notion suddenly dawned on me and I wanted to get back to my home to cross-reference some old notes. Typically, I would not even had stopped for a cursory greeting, but when I saw you…”

Here she paused and he realized she was blushing again. “Well, let’s just say that everything came crashing to a brief halt inside my head and certain parts of my anatomy that had not been roused in months were very abruptly roused. I almost masturbated to you that night.”

“Almost? What stopped you?”

“I was too distracted by other things, a few books I was reading.” She paused again, looking faintly sheepish. “I apologize if this comes off as odd, my being more interested in reading than entertaining a fantasy about you, but I assure you it is not meant as a disparagement. Reading holds tremendous sway over me, so that it was even a question at all, that I even hesitated before finishing my shower, means I was greatly aroused by you...I hope I’m not digging myself a deeper hole,” she murmured.

“No! No, not at all. I believe you,” he replied, and again she looked relieved. “I get what you’re saying, and I also believe in context. I’ll admit that when I first saw you, there was something about you that made me think that sex was...well, I don’t know, beneath you? If that makes sense?”

She laughed softly, leading him down the gentle slope into the valley now. The small river murmured alongside them. He saw fish in the clear, clean water, darting to and fro. He wondered why he had never actually come back here. This valley seemed like the kind of place he and Kate and his brother would have loved to explore.

“I understand what you mean. I suppose, in some ways, I have spent portions of my life with this opinion. That the desires of the flesh are petty pursuits. I have not had the healthiest relationship with sex. It doesn’t help that I have a bit of a low sexdrive. But to continue this timeline question, I found myself enamored of you in a way I had not been enamored with a cute boy for years and years. You continued occupying my thoughts, but then after the incident on the hillside when I saw you in action, that changed things.”

“What about it? I will be glad to go down on you, by the way.”

She opened her mouth to respond, paused as that caught her off guard, and then laughed softly and shook her head. “I appreciate that.” She began to speak, paused again, then sighed in mild frustration. “I must admit that it has been a long time since I’ve had a...crush.”

He chuckled. “You have a crush on me, huh?”

“Yes, I do,” she murmured, sounding mildly annoyed. “And it’s a little annoying. You’re shaking my confidence. I suppose this is merely a function of arousal and infatuation, though I’m not sure why. Perhaps it serves to force us to strive that much harder for the attention of those we see as potential mates...not that this is a consideration for me.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, I go off on little tangents like this sometimes when I’m nervous.”

“I don’t mind at all,” he replied. “I like hearing you speak.”

“Do you now?”

“Yeah. You’ve got a really sexy voice and just that tiniest lilt of accent. I really like it.”

“I’m glad. I’ve never been too sure on my voice. Mostly I stopped worrying about it. But what I wanted to say was that it wasn’t your oral prowess that enamored me so, that made me sure I wanted to pursue you, it was the way you treated Colleen and Edith. The way you spoke to them. The comfort you offered them, the security, the patience, the kindness. And more than that, how they responded to you.”

“How do you mean?”

“I know both are divorced and they were painful divorces. Divorced women, especially older ones, they have difficulty trusting men. Relaxing around them. But they trust you. I could see it in the way they moved, hear it in their voices, and though I could not see their face from my vantage point, I knew that I would see the same in their expressions if I could. Talking your way into a woman’s pants is one thing, but getting her to truly relax around you? That’s a bit different. And I realized, more than sweaty, rough sex, I wanted that. I wanted your kindness, your patience, your honesty. I wanted to bare not just my vagina but my heart and my mind to you…”

She paused again, her expression troubled. “I apologize. It must sound like I’m proposing marriage. This must be a lot for a first date.”

“No, it’s fine,” he replied, and took her other hand as well so that they were facing each other. She looked up into his eyes, surprisingly vulnerable. “I’m not intimidated. I mean, well, I am intimidated by you, but not by your heart or your emotions. Your desire. I am...enormously attracted to you, and glad for your company and affection. I want you to feel like you can speak plainly with me. You aren’t going to scare me off.”

She continued staring at him, then abruptly she leaned forward and kissed him. Her soft, wet lips pressed against his own and she did not pull back. Nor did he. He leaned into it just a little, tilted his head just a little, deepened the kiss. Enjoyed it. Savored it. They closed their eyes, still holding hands, and kissed for one long, warm, wonderful moment on the riverbank.

She pulled away first, slowly. She was breathing a little faster.

“That was a very nice kiss,” she murmured.

“Yes, it was,” he agreed, laughing a little. His head buzzed from that kiss.

“Thank you, for those kind words. I will trust you. I will let myself enjoy this.” She turned, still holding onto one of his hands, and resumed walking.

He let himself be led along by her. She seemed to be wanting to go somewhere specific, although it could just be that she was generally so confident and certain she acted that way even when wandering aimlessly.

“I still haven’t gotten around to my original point,” she said.

“Why we’re doing this instead of a more traditional date?”

“Yes. Although I suppose it’s mostly explained by now. I do this a lot. I like to explore all the little side paths offered by conversation.”

“Colleen enjoys something similar.”

“I imagined so. The original thing I wanted to say was that you obfuscate my instincts, which is a curiosity in itself. With most people, I’ve become proficient enough at reading the human condition and the social contract that I can size them up with a fair amount of accuracy quickly. Consequently, when I meet someone I’m not sure about, it screws with my instincts. And these days, I really like that. It’s interesting.”

“So...what I’m hearing is that you like it when I screw with you?” he asked.

She slowly looked over at him as they continued their leisurely walk. “Perhaps. But take caution, young man, you’re in unexplored lands now.”

CHAPTER FOUR

The valley was turning out to be interesting in addition to beautiful.

It was clear Vetra had already spent a fair amount of time here. She had places to take him, things to show him.

She brought him first to a bucket that had been abandoned in a small pit in the earth some years or even decades ago. It had cracked in a few places and broken open, and dirt had filled it in an uneven pile, and in that pile ants had built a colony. They were marching through one of the big cracks in the side out of a tunnel when he and Vetra found it.

They watched for a time, and then she began leading him somewhere else.

The next thing she had to offer up was an ancient, petrified tree stump that sat in the exact center of a small glade that held little in the way of plant life. Buried in the stump was an old, old ax, made entirely of metal, rusted but intact.

Seeing that struck a chord somewhere deep in Atticus’s creative depths and he found himself staring at it intensely for a long time.

“What is it?” Vetra finally asked.

“I’m not sure,” he murmured. “It speaks to me, but I’m not sure what it’s saying yet.” He felt a flicker when he thought about his upcoming game. “My next project is going to be fantasy survival horror...something to do with that. Maybe a local legend or something.”

“I’m glad I showed it to you,” she said.

He kept staring at it for a moment longer, then pulled out his phone and took a picture of it. He continued staring as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, then roused himself and turned away. “I’m ready.”

She smiled and guided him out of the dead glade and back out to the treeline, which they resumed following.

“Does that happen often?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t say often. Definitely not with that intensity. Sometimes something just hits, an object or a location or sometimes it’s just an idea that hits me out of the blue. I know it’s important, creatively speaking. If I’m lucky, I know how it’s important, but sometimes it just slaps me in the head and I have to let it sit and stew for a while before I figure it out...what do you do for creative fun?”

“Lots of things,” she replied. “I’ve written science fiction, gotten a few novels published over the years. No hits but I still get royalties from a couple of them. Sometimes I create pixel art. I would say if I had a real passion it was tabletop roleplaying. I’ve created dozens of campaign modules for a few different RPGs. My favorite was, and still is, Warriors, Wizards, & Wildlands. I used to DM through my thirties whenever I could.”

“Holy shit, that’s fucking awesome,” he replied.

“I’m glad you don’t think it unbecoming of a genius. I ran into opposition more often than you’d think.”

“Seriously? People would give you shit for it?”

“Yes. While I loathe black and white thinking, as it is the reason for many of our societal problems, in my experience, most of my fellow scientists did really seem to fall into one of two camps. Either they were hardcore nerds who dove deeply into creative subcultures or they were staunchly against activities they deemed frivolous and thought it beneath them.”

“Sucks to be them,” he muttered.

“Indeed. We didn’t get along so well...have you ever played?”

“Yeah, I had about a year there where I played some W Three with some friends...how would you feel about DMing a session with me and my partners? I know I saw some of the official novels on Colleen’s shelf and she’s mentioned playing back in the day, and I bet Edith, Susan, and Kate would at least be down to try.”

“I would love to. I have a new module I’ve been crafting and it’s basically ready for a test run and it would give me a great joy to run one personally.”

“Awesome! We can make that happen.”

They kept walking and he found himself wanting to steer the conversation into more serious places. Vetra seemed to sense that, her body tensing ever so slightly, her already stoic expression becoming that much more stoic, almost stern.

“What brought you here? Or, more specifically, what made you want to settle down?” he asked as they continued their slow pace along the treeline.

“That’s a difficult question to answer,” she admitted after a moment’s reflection. “As I said, I’ve honed my instincts, and I know to listen to them, but the problem I’ve come to find is a disconnect between my mental self and my emotional self. Emotions have always been a difficult subject for me to grasp.

“It’s odd: I’ve often had a good grasp of emotional motivations in others, but not quite myself. I’m not sure if this is some form of self-awareness blindness, or perhaps a genetic quirk. All I know is that when I listen to my instincts, things tend to go well, and when I don’t, things go poorly. It’s only in retrospection that I can parse why my instincts told me what to do. I can only assume that they represent some deeper, more emotionally analytical part of my brain that I cannot directly access, but only subconsciously access.”

“That makes sense. I think that’s not a bad analysis of instincts.”

“It’s rather...frustrating. When I make decisions, I want to have all the facts. I want to know why I am leaning towards one choice or another. I’ve certainly gotten better about it. But to answer your question, my instincts told me that it was time to put my anchor down again. Only this time it felt different. Stronger, deeper, more powerful.”

“More permanent?”

She glanced at him. “Yes. Maybe. I’m not sure. I decided to at least treat it as such, knowing that I could still leave and put down roots somewhere else if I really wanted to. I have more than enough money for the rest of my life.” He made a small, disbelieving sound. “What?”

“It’s just...the fact that I’ve drawn the affections of a single rich cougar is pretty unlikely. But three? That seems impossible. Not that it will affect our relationship. Uh, whatever that relationship is going to look like.”

She laughed softly. “That is rather unlikely. How does it make you feel?”

“Honestly? Nervous. Confused. Uncertain. Fantastic. Maybe a little paranoid. Like I’m missing something really important. But I’m coming to terms with the fact that these are just my own insecurities, maybe my own trauma from being taken advantage of. Also guilty.”

“Because you feel you don’t deserve it.”

He chuckled grimly. “Yeah. It’s so bizarre. Being an unsuccessful, unattractive teenage and twenty-something guy is a special kind of hell. I guess everyone gets their own special kind of hell. But it’s a kind of hell that’s...lonely. Really lonely. The bad things that happen to you don’t really matter to most everyone else because you’ve got advantages in life they don’t, and I can’t even deny that. There’s everyday horrors I don’t really gotta worry about because of the color of my skin, because I’ve never questioned my sexuality, because I’ve got a dick.

“That doesn’t buy an easy life, just a less shitty one. And being awkward and unattractive and kind of antisocial, basically, what could be described as being a loser in high school, it forces you into a certain kind of mindset. If I were to be looking at my current situation from the outside in, I’d probably think I deserved this.

“I mean, I’d be jealous, for sure, but it’s like ‘Yeah, you seem like the kind of guy who should have four awesome women in his life, instead of some jacked rich douchebro who unironically identifies as an alpha’. But from the inside? Do I deserve this?” He sighed suddenly. “Sorry, this is probably whiny.”

“It isn’t,” Vetra said, her voice oddly gentle. “I understand exactly what you are describing. Or, well, inasmuch as I can, from the outside looking in. In my experience traveling the world for decades...people often don’t get what they deserve. People just get what life gives them. Because as much as everyone so desperately wants to believe it, there is no universal sorting system. If there is some kind of god, then that being has no practical bearing on our lives. Unless they are profoundly evil. The existence of childhood cancer, of the decay of dementia, of pet abuse, of torture, all of it points to a godless existence.”

“Dark,” he murmured. “But not wrong.”

“Pain is relative. Perspective is important, but we tend to want to minimize our own pain. And when it comes to deserve…” She sighed softly. “It’s very difficult to articulate. Looking at human relationships through a lens of ‘deserve’ is a dangerous game. People, on the whole, deserve to be happy, inasmuch as we deserve things. And happiness, on the whole, does rely on relationships. Humans evolved to be social creatures, it’s literally why we have civilization. Pretending otherwise is folly. But where do you draw the line? Because everyone deserves to have happy relationships, does that mean anyone is owed happy relationships?”

“Yeah, that’s a hard line of reasoning.”

“Exactly, it’s a difficult precipice to walk. That’s why, I believe, it’s best to eschew such thoughts. It’s important to try and keep a firm grasp on what you deserve within a relationship, and what the other person deserves, as well. Respect. Communication. Honesty. And all of this is complicated by the narratives we want to weave. We all want the sensitive loner to have the best life and the entitled jock to fall into a pit of despair, but we fail to account for the fact that perhaps the loner is an abusive asshole and the jock has a heart of gold. But do you deserve these relationships? I don’t know. What I do know is that you have them, and what you choose to do with them matters more than whether or not you deserve them.”

“...yeah. I guess that’s the best way to think about it.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

He realized she was leading him back into the woods now. He could see something through the trees ahead of them, what looked like an old structure.

“What’s that?”

“It was once a cabin, I believe.”

They threaded their way through the trees and came to stand before a half-collapsed structure. Time had taken it in bits and pieces. The paint was long since scoured away. No more glass occupied the window frames. Plants crept up the rain-eaten exterior and slithered in through holes in the walls. Most of the roof was gone.

“You aren’t unattractive,” Vetra said after a long moment.

“Apparently,” he replied, both of them staring at the ruins.

“You live in a society that has convinced you that if you aren’t a ten you’re a one. Capitalism sells insecurity. Everyone seems to know this but they give into it anyway.” She sighed. “I suppose I sound superior, talking about it like that. And it’s become clear to me that I speak from a privileged position. I know most people find me very attractive, even when I’m not trying. And while no one can realistically deny the Halo Effect, I’ve come to understand that...people don’t really control whether or not they’re attracted to you. They are or they aren’t. And we should all make peace with that.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the path I’m on. Now it just feels like...echoes. I mean, I can’t complain. I have the affection of four very attractive women.”

“Five,” Vetra murmured.

He chuckled awkwardly. “So, I’ve got you then?”

“More or less. Sexually speaking, at least. I am quite interested in you physically. And I’m finding the more time we spend together and converse, the more that is including your personality and your intellect.”

“That’s a little surprising.”

“I don’t need you to be a genius to like you, Atticus. And you’re plenty smart. You can hold a conversation and you’re curious about the world around you. Honestly that, combined with the fact that you listen is enough for me once I’ve felt the spark. And I have more than felt the spark.”

“Do you know why?” he asked.

“Why I’m attracted to you? Something about your face. Your eyes. And everything about your body just kind of adds up to just the right thing for me. You’re tall but not too tall. Skinny but not scrawny. I love this haircut on you. But also just...your presence. You said I had an aura, so do you. Beyond that, it’s hard to describe.”

“Well...good for me.”

“You’re blushing.”

“Uh, yeah,” he murmured.

She looked like she wanted to tease him a bit further, but instead looked to the decayed cabin. “I love places like this. It sparks the imagination. Wondering what may have happened here. Who lived here? Why was it built? What happened during its life? I know you feel it, too.”

He nodded. “That’s something I’m really looking forward to now that I live in Lakeside. Long walks through the forest, the hills, along the rivers. Coming across beautiful scenery and old oddities. There’s so much material for inspiration.”

When she didn’t respond, he looked over at her. She was looking at him. Something new seemed to have entered her gaze. A small, almost surprised smile touched her soft lips.

She took his hand again. “Let’s start heading back now.”

CHAPTER FIVE

When they got back to the hillside, she took him in a different direction.

He was curious but kept his peace.

Something had shifted in her, or perhaps reached a boiling point. There was a new intensity to her and it seemed to be gaining strength as she led him up a new path. This one eventually connected with a paved road that wrapped along the hillside.

“This is my private road,” she said as she led him up it. “I had it laid once I’d selected the property.”

“Don’t know anyone else who has their own private road,” he replied.

Up ahead, he could see her house.

It looked like the kind of house you typically saw influencers showing off in LA or Hollywood. Though more in style, not scale. It was a cube of tinted glass and polished steel, looking almost postmodern. A sleek midnight blue two-door vehicle sat in her driveway.

“Jeez, this place looks nice,” he muttered as they walked up onto the property.

“Thank you. I designed it all. Normally the places I live are a lot more modest, but I decided I might as well go all in this time.”

“Wow, yeah. You’ve even got solar panels.”

“Indeed. I’m more or less off the grid. I very much like my independence,” she murmured distractedly.

They came up to the front door and when she vigorously rubbed her boots off on the welcome mat, he did the same thing. She seemed appreciative as she pressed her thumb against a small pad of dark material beside the doorknob, then typed in a quick five-digit combination on a keypad above that. The door unlocked with a sharp clack and they went inside.

Inside, the home was immaculate.

They came into a space set between the kitchen and the living room. The kitchen was small but efficient. A small refrigerator. Small oven. Microwave. Sink. All of it made of shiny dark material. Everything looked so efficient.

Her living room had a midnight blue couch, a crystal coffee table, a fifty inch flat screen mounted on the wall, a desk up against some floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the descending hillside and the valley and forest beyond.

One entire wall was covered completely in bookshelves packed with expertly organized books.

“Man, this is incredible,” he muttered. “And everything looks so...new.”

“I like to keep my home clean,” she replied. “You’re the first person who I’ve allowed in here since it finished construction and furnishing.”

He focused on her. “Really? No one else?”

“No one else,” she replied. “I’m a rather private person and while I used to have quite an open-door policy for most of my life...let’s just say that I’ve been burned one too many times. Now I live alone, as secure as I can, in an isolated location.”

“Thank you for letting me into your home like this,” he said. “That’s an enormous display of trust.”

“It is,” she agreed. “Let me show you the rest.”

He sensed impatience in her. It was well-hidden, but it was there. He found himself praying that she was going to fuck him, or at least fool around. His desire, his raw lust for her, had been growing ever since he had seen her sitting beside the Ranger’s Station.

She was a staggeringly attractive woman.

Vetra took him deeper into her single-story home. She had a gym with free weights, an exercise bike, and an exercise machine that could be adjusted to work out basically any muscle. She had an office that was divided between a relatively normal looking home office and what for all intents and purposes looked to be an actual functional laboratory.

The tour ended in a modest bedroom mostly taken up by a king-size bed and an attached bathroom with a not-so-modest shower stall big enough he could have a foursome in it, and a hot tub. Again, all of it clean enough to do surgery on.

“This place is so damn...clean and sleek,” he said as they came to stand in her bathroom.

“It is,” she agreed. Something new was in her voice now. He looked at her. She was staring at him with something like contemplation, almost like she was trying to dissect a problem. “We got rather sweaty on that hike, would you care to join me for a shower?”

“Yes. Yes, I would,” he replied immediately.

She smiled. “Good.” Vetra began taking off her clothing. She peeled off her shirt and tossed it into a hamper, revealing more smooth olive skin and a black sports bra. “Tell me something,” she continued, leaning her fit butt against the sink and bringing one foot up to peel off a sock, “what is it about older women that gets you going?”

“Uh…” He took off his own shirt and then began eagerly unbelting his pants. “I’m not completely sure. Confidence is a pretty universal turn-on, I guess. And older women tend to be confident.”

“This is true,” she murmured, looking increasingly amused as she got her other sock off.

“And I guess there’s some element of, I don’t know, forbidden...ness, I don’t know if that’s a word but whatever. That’s in there. Like crushing on your teacher or your friend’s mom. It’s like a fantasy, you know?”

“That makes sense...tell me, the signs of aging, would you say they are tolerated or desired? This is something I’ve never quite been able to get a straight answer on.”

“I can only speak for myself, but I like the signs of aging. I’m not really sure why. Mostly in the face.” He chuckled awkwardly. “Crows feet are hot.”

“That is interesting,” she murmured. And now her skintight shorts were coming down, revealing a pair of black panties fitted equally snugly against her oh so smooth skin. “Is there an age cap, do you think? For you personally?”

“Um...I mean, probably? I don’t know though. I know it’s not the best comparison, but I see actresses that are into their fucking seventies now who are still really hot. There was a game that came out in the last few years, a huge RPG, and one of the characters was pretty up there in age. Like she was an elf or maybe a half-elf, and I think they typically live to be one hundred eighty, and she was pushing one sixty, and she was an adventuress and in fantastic shape, but also actually looked pretty realistic for a woman in her sixties or even seventies who was in that shape.”

“And you would have fucked her, given the chance?”

“Ohhhh yeah.”

She laughed, then pulled off her sports bra.

Oh dear God.

Atticus had been envisioning her naked since he’d first seen her and her tits did not disappoint. They were still pretty perky for a...however old she was. Soft olive skin tipped by small light brown nipples. Medium sized and wonderfully round and the way they bounced when her bra had come off sent shivers of raw desperate desire racing through him.

“How old do you think I am?” she asked, turning around slowly. She seemed to be enjoying his captivated stare.

His eyes drifted down to her wonderfully fit, nicely padded ass, clad only in the panties now. She slipped her thumbs into the waistband, began to pull them down so slowly, revealing the top of her ass, then stopped.

“Atticus? I asked you a question,” she murmured, as amused as ever.

“Uh...forty two?” he offered.

“Quite off,” she replied, and seemed to reward him by finishing pulling her panties down, revealing all of her ass.

It was beyond incredible. Firm, fit, pleasantly padded, supported by a nice pair of smoothly rounded hips. She was such a cleanly built woman. She turned around slowly, allowing him to admire her, and then showed him everything.

Her vagina was smooth and taut, surrounded by dark stubble, with a small bush still intact just above it.

“I trimmed this morning,” she said.

“You are breathtakingly attractive,” he replied.

She laughed softly, making her breasts jiggle pleasantly. “Thank you. How about you return the favor?”

“What? Oh, right.”

He had gotten down to his socks and boxers. He hastily discarded them all and then stood there nude before her, allowing her to study him in much the same way. Being scrutinized by her was admittedly pretty intimidating. She looked like a model and a porn star and a fitness instructor all wrapped into one.

“Very nice,” she murmured, then walked over to the shower stall, slid open the glass door, and turned it on. “Would it arouse you further to learn that I am older than all the other women you sleep with?”

“Yes,” he replied.

In that moment, Atticus was exceptionally grateful that his intimidation did nothing to interfere with his erection. He was at full salute and if anything was getting harder. Were they actually going to have sex? Or maybe just fool around?

Or, shit, was it really going to be just a shower?

He couldn’t read her well enough to determine anything close to an answer. Maybe even she wasn’t sure yet.

Well, he was fine playing it by ear.

Vetra reached in and ran her hand through one of the water streams. There were two showerheads, each mounted on opposite sides. She seemed satisfied with the temperature and turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“I turned fifty one last winter,” she said, and stepped inside the shower.

“Wow,” he murmured.

Jeez, fifty one. That definitely felt like some kind of milestone. He wasn’t exactly eager to start obsessing over age, but sleeping with a woman in her fifties at the age of twenty five kind of felt like a hell of an accomplishment.

Especially if that woman was fucking Vetra.

He followed her quickly and slid the door shut behind him. Atticus became immersed in a much smaller world of steam and warmth. A world inhabited by just him and Vetra and no one else in all of existence.

She stood beneath one of the showerheads, the water running down her glorious nude body, darkening her already dark hair and plastering it against her head and face. She was looking at him, smiling silently at him.

She looked so inviting.

He took the hint and stepped up to her, settling his hands on her smooth, wet hips, staring into her eyes. Atticus lingered for a moment, enjoying the sight of her exotic beauty, then he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

Vetra let out a quiet moan of pleasure as she closed her eyes, putting her hands on his back and pulling him a little closer. He deepened the kiss and slipped his hands slowly across her soft skin, back around to cup her fit ass.

She moaned louder as he tilted his head and parted her lips with his own and slipped his tongue into her mouth. Her sweet, natural taste flooded his mouth. Her lips were so soft and warm. So inviting. So hungry, he realized as she pressed herself more firmly against him and twisted her tongue possessively against his own.

He could feel her soft, wet breasts pressing against his bare skin as the hot, crystal clear water cascaded down their bodies.

His entire self pulsed with desire.

They continued kissing, their tongues dancing together, from her mouth to his and back again, the hungry need growing, becoming desperate. He ran his hands along her lean, smooth body. Along her back, around to her breasts, cupping them, enjoying the wondrous feel of them, playing his fingertips across her nipples and getting excited gasps of pleasure from her.

After a few moments, she pulled back.

“I need something,” she whispered, then paused, seemed to try to reel herself in. “I want something.”

“What do you need, Vetra?” he replied, playing the pad of his thumb across her nipple once more.

She gasped, blinked, shuddered. “Will you lay down and allow me to ride your tongue until I orgasm?”

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.

Her smile was a mixture of relief and gratitude. He wondered who wouldn’t let her ride their tongue but that didn’t matter right now.

All that mattered in this moment was pleasuring her.

He kissed her once more, firm and full on those luscious lips, then he laid down. She eagerly got down on the shower’s floor with him, hastily straddling his face.

“Thank you for this,” she whispered, as vulnerable as ever.

“You’re welcome, Vetra,” he replied as she settled into place.

Her vagina was directly over his mouth now, and as he snaked his tongue out and slipped the tip between those taut, wet, hot lips, he stared up at her. She was magnificent in her beauty, a vision of exotic elegance. Vetra gasped loudly and shuddered hard as he licked between her lips several times in a row.

He worked slowly, his tip teasing along her inner folds until at last coming to rest on her clit. She let out a much louder moan as he made contact and began to massage it.

“Oh my fuck-Atticus!” she cried as he pressed a bit harder with one firm lick.

His hands grasped her hips, holding her more firmly in place as he continued tonguing her clit. She moaned with utter abandon, the water running down her body and framing her staggering natural beauty. Her face twisted and broke as he tossed her into a tempest storm of bliss. He began using more of his tongue, going harder, then faster, then pulling back.

As articulate as she was, words seemed to fail her in that moment. She let out half-formed words, broken by cries of shocked bliss as he worked her clit with just his tongue. After several long minutes of this, he gripped her more tightly, brought her down just a little bit more, and then added his lower lip to his tongue.

She shrieked. Her hands sought his head, fingers running through his hair, then reaching out to the walls around her, then back down, like she couldn’t figure out what to do. She was close, he knew that much. She leaned forward suddenly, still hunched over his face, and placed her hands against the floor.

Vetra screamed his name and began to orgasm. He felt a hot spray of her sex juices escape her and join the shower water as it ran down his chin and cheeks and onto his neck and chest. She kept screaming with total abandon, lost in the raging maelstrom of ecstasy he had managed to deliver her to, and orgasmed hard and strong and furious.

He tongued her throughout it, and when it was finished, she almost fell off of him, collapsing onto her side next to him, gasping for breath.

Atticus waited, feeling particularly satisfied with himself. He had expected to get a reaction out of her, he had no idea it would be that strong of a reaction.

Without a word, Vetra picked herself up off the shower floor and slipped down between his legs. He watched, enthralled, as she wrapped her soft lips around his erection and began sucking him off. She seemed a little uncertain at first and he realized it had probably been long enough since she’d done this that she was uncertain.

But before long, she had a good rhythm going and the pleasure of her lips slipping wetly over his head sizzled through his body. He groaned and felt a shudder of ecstasy run through him as this beautiful genius sucked him off. She closed her eyes, moaning quietly as she bobbed her head, the occasional post-orgasmic shudder still running through her.

And then, about half a minute later, she abruptly stopped and climbed atop him. She straddled him once again, this time along his midsection, and as she grasped his erection, made eye contact for just a second. There was a question there, conveyed and answered in an instant.

Was he okay with this?

Hell fucking yes he was.

Atticus groaned loudly, hearing his own voice echoing inside the shower stall and then joined by her own moan of rapture as she slipped him inside of her.

“Oh my fucking hell,” she whispered as she settled herself down against him, taking his entire rigid length into her sweetly slick cougar pussy, “you are a big boy.”

“You feel very snug,” he murmured, his hands finding her hips again.

She didn’t respond, instead leaned forward and rested her hands against his chest, then rose up and slowly lowered herself once more. As before, she seemed vaguely uncertain, and as before, she quickly settled into a rhythm.

Atticus found himself pressure-washed by sexual gratification as Vetra fucked him. She was soon letting out a series of panting moans, her beautiful olive breasts swaying with the rhythm of their sex, her mouth open, her eyes unfocused from the sheer pleasure. He felt in much the same condition. She felt so firm inside, so tightly coiled around his shaft, gripping him with her slick, slippery insides and strong inner muscles.

And the heat.

Dear God was she so hot inside.

Hot and gloriously wet.

They shared no coherent words as they made love. He gripped her hips and soon was thrusting up into her, making her scream in bliss, and before he knew it she was orgasming again. He cried out and fought for his life to keep from joining her. This couldn’t be over this soon. He needed more. He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as they fucked through her shrieking climax.

Fuck, did this woman have a voice on her!

She laid herself against him, collapsing under the weight of the pleasure, and when she was finished coming, he grabbed her and flipped her over.

“Oh! OH ATTICUS!” she screamed as he began driving into her.

Now he held himself up over her and marveled over her wet beauty. This moment felt utterly unreal, an impossible dream. Even after everything he had experienced so far, having sex with Vetra like this, with such wild abandon and furious passion, it seemed an incorporeal unreality.

She wrapped her legs around him suddenly. “Yes! Fuck me, Atticus! Fuck me!”

He groaned. He was going to lose this one. Leaning down, he kissed her deeply and she moaned into it, wrapping her arms around him and holding on tightly.

“Go until you come,” she gasped when they broke the kiss. “Just fuck me harder and harder and don’t fucking stop until you shoot it into me!”

She was demanding now and he couldn’t have resisted her even if he wanted to. He held her tightly against him and screwed her hard and fast, burying his steel-hard erection into her over and over, pounding her until she was screaming from it.

He went until he came, and what an orgasm it was.

A lightning bolt and thunderclap that cracked the horizon. A torch tossed into an ocean of oil. Like a supernova, flaring in deep space.

He let out an inarticulate, guttural shout of mind-shattering ecstasy as the first burst of the orgasm slammed into him so hard it felt like a convulsion. He thought he might have been shouting her name as he came inside of her but it was hard to tell over her screams of bliss. Each fresh spurt that exploded out of him forced his hips forward and drove him as deep as possible into her.

He spilled his seed into her, pleasure erupting in a union of utter gratification and total release. He pumped her full of it, screwing her throughout it all, filling her up until he had nothing left to give and still going for a few moments longer.

Spent, he collapsed atop her, gasping for breath, and she held him, and they stayed like that in silence for a long time.

CHAPTER SIX

Eventually, he pulled out of her and rolled over.

Silently, Vetra got up on shaky feet and adjusted the temperature of the water to something noticeably cooler. She sat back, then laid back down beside him. For a long time she laid on her back with her eyes closed, not saying or doing anything.

Atticus did much of the same.

His whole body pulsed with post-orgasmic rapture.

Several minutes passed quietly as they cooled back down. Finally, they opened their eyes, got back to their feet, and began cleaning off.

“Are you all right?” he asked after several more minutes.

“...oh. I just realized how I must seem. Um, yes. I’m great. This is good stunned silence, to be clear. I’m sorry. That really, uh, shook me up. It’s been...mmm, good lord, how long? Seven years? I think, yes, seven years since I’ve had sex. And that was, ah...I wasn’t expecting that.”

“The quality of the sex or to have sex?” he asked.

“Both. When I began this day I figured I might have sex with you at the end of it. I thought we would hike, then have a ‘proper’ date day after that. But then during the hike, I found myself growing exponentially more amorous. I thought to myself then that I would take you back for a shower and a swapping of oral sex. But then, after you ate me out, I just...I had to have you. Inside me. All of you. I just needed to. And I had forgotten how overwhelming lust could be.”

“Do you regret it?”

“No,” she replied immediately. “I do not regret that. I’m just surprised by it. You...are rather good at that.”

“So are you.”

She laughed softly. “Good to hear.”

They kept washing up for a bit. Atticus found some soap and gently turned her around, then began running it across her back.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Now...I think I would like to meet with your lovers.”

He considered that. He’d already texted with them before coming to meet with Vetra and apologized for upsetting them, and they had responded well enough. On the one hand, he didn’t want to rub their faces in the fact that he was now spending time with his new...love interest? He wasn’t sure where they stood beyond ‘date for the day’, and he thought Vetra didn’t either.

On the other hand, all of them were very interested in meeting her.

“All right,” he said, going with his own instincts.

They were telling him this was the right move, even if he might have to put up with some snark from them.

Nothing new there.

“I apologize if I’m...off,” Vetra said after another moment. “This is very surprising for me.”

“It’s fine. Sex is a whole, you know, thing,” he replied. “It’s like shaking up a snowglobe really intensely, it takes a while for everything to settle back down.”

“Evidently,” she murmured. Another pause went by. “I don’t have the best track record with these types of encounter.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s all right. It all happened a long time ago. And it was more...disappointment than anything else. Disappointment in how willing some men were to throw everything away for a few minutes of pleasure.” She sighed. “But even that aside, my relationship with sex has always been...askew. Distant at best. And I was hoping we could discuss us. You and I, and what our expectations are, going forward.”

“I would very much like to do that, too,” he replied.

“Excellent. Let’s finish washing, and then I can put your clothes through my washer and dryer as an excuse to have you sit naked in my living room for forty minutes.”

He chuckled. “Well, I...forty minutes? That’s a fast washer and dryer.”

“Very fast. Cutting edge,” she agreed. “I value efficiency. Come.”

They finished cleaning up and as they did, Vetra seemed to move with a new energy. Her movements became tight and firm, more economic. He found himself falling in step, doing the same as he ran lathered soap over his body.

He also found himself getting hard again as he watched her move. There was definitely something arousing about a confident woman.

They rinsed the suds from their bodies and she killed the water. They dried quickly and she gathered up his clothes, removed everything from his pockets and his belt and laid it all out on the counter, then tossed his clothes in with a small load of her own into a washing machine he hadn’t noticed tucked away in the back corner of the bathroom.

Either in a sense of fair play or a desire to show off her own body, she also remained nude as she led him out to the living room. They sat together on the couch. She began to speak, then paused as she realized his eyes were down on her body. She followed his gaze, realized he was looking at her vagina, not her breasts.

“You want back inside,” she murmured.

He blinked, looked back up at her face. He laughed softly. “Yeah. I do.”

“You’ll get there soon enough,” she replied, her own eyes flicking down to his cock. He was mostly erect again. “But we must discuss. Would you like to state what you want, or would you like me to state what I want?”

“You go first.”

“Very well. As I’ve said, my sexdrive is low. I must admit that enough time has passed without any kind of sexual or romantic activity with anyone that I no longer have an adequate understanding of it, so I am in somewhat uncharted waters at the moment. Right now, I am...rather aroused. The strength of what has happened since meeting you is surprising. However, even with this in mind, my typical sexdrive strength and my own typical methods of living my life make having a romantic partner rather unfeasible.

“That being said, I am not free of a desire for romance and sex. I’ve been considering a way to have the best of both worlds: the joy of coupling and the sanity of isolation. In you, I see the potential to have both. I am attracted to you, we are clearly very sexually compatible. You show all the hallmarks of a good partner. And yet you are already in a relationship, several other relationships. I believe that in you, I can have a partner that I can be with and enjoy companionship with without neglecting you by living my isolated life. Does this make sense?”

“Yeah, honestly this all makes a lot of sense,” he replied, feeling his excitement growing. “This is actually kind of perfect because I really want to date you, too. Badly. But obviously my calendar is pretty busy and it’s going to remain that for...the rest of my life, ideally. We both can keep living our lives the way we want without neglecting the other.”

She smiled, and it was a very relieved smile. “Exactly. This is exactly what I was hoping for.”

“Perfect situations,” he murmured.

“You say that with significance.”

“Colleen told me about how sometimes perfect situations just sort of fall into our lap, but it’s exceptionally rarely. She described our own relationship as a perfect situation, and it’s kind of felt the same for me and Edith, and me and Susan. And now me and you. Shit. This is like winning the lottery five times in a row, this is insane.”

“It is rather unlikely,” Vetra admitted. “But that’s how luck works. Astronomically unlikely things do happen sometimes. And I think perhaps Lakeside is the kind of town that attracts women like us. Older, accomplished, lonely. And you were the perfect man to attract such a group of women.”

“Good thing for me you’re all so comfortable sharing,” he muttered.

She snorted. “Indeed. So, I have laid out my own desires. Why don’t you tell me what you envision as an ideal model for this relationship of ours?”

“All right. Uh. Well...you are so distracting.”

She smiled. “Try to maintain your focus.”

“I will. I mean, I am. Um, okay. So, you and me.” Vetra giggled softly. It sounded musical and just distracted him even more. He cleared his throat. “You and me,” he repeated firmly. “I want to date you. I want to have sex with you. I want you to be at least somewhat involved with the others. Oh, should ask this now: are you bisexual?”

“I am not,” she replied. “But I am open to viewing you make love with the others, and to be viewed by them. I might even be open to a threesome where no direct sexual contact occurs between myself and the other women.”

“That’s good news for me...bad news for the others. Well, sad news. They were all hoping to have sex with you.”

“I’m flattered, and if I was bisexual, I would have happily engaged in it with any of the women in your life. They’re marvelously beautiful.”

“Yes, they are.” He rapidly began sorting through things that needed saying, then happened upon the only real potential road-bump. “One thing I believe it’s only fair to say here and now, at the beginning: I want no other men involved in the relationship in any capacity.”

“I appreciate the honesty, and I’m fine with this. I have no intention of seeking out any other male company, sexually or romantically. Honestly in any capacity for the foreseeable future. So, I will agree to these terms.”

“Great. Hmm, as for specifics, I guess the offer I could put on the table is...one day together a week? With the potential for more, if one of us is feeling particularly needy? Or is that too much, or too little? Admittedly this is a stab in the dark.”

“I think that’s fair. One day a week together is a good start, though if my...neediness stays consistent, I may find myself calling on you more regularly.”

“That’s completely, totally, one hundred percent fine by me.”

Her smile grew a bit. “You are so very taken with me, aren’t you?”

“Beyond that.”

“It’s interesting. Normally...the men I’ve met in my life who are taken with me, they tend to fall into one of two camps. Either they want to conquer me and, if I had agreed to sleep with them, they quickly lost interest or grew resentful of me for the very things that drew them to me...or they continued worshiping me with a worrying intensity, trying to make me assimilate and control them. I’ve never met someone like you. If I had...I might have married him.”

“Oh. Wow.” The implication seemed to hang on the air. Atticus suddenly decided to pursue it, simply because it felt fun and mildly dangerous and because she almost seemed to want him to. “So if I was single right now, if there were no other women in my life…”

Her smile grew just a fraction of an inch. “Then I might just decide to dig my claws in and convince you to propose to me. I like my isolation, and there would certainly be an adjustment period, but I would make room in my life for you.”

“This sounds dangerously close to saying you see yourself falling in love with me,” he replied.

“Is that so dangerous?” she asked, her voice laced with a teasing demureness.

“...no, it isn’t.”

She stared at him with a sudden and almost feral intensity. He felt a pulse of excitement jolt through him. Before he could say anything, she rose lithely to her feet and came to stand before him.

“Allow me to show you what might have been a typical occurrence, had you taken me for a bride,” she murmured, and slipped down to her knees.

Atticus watched without a word as she tucked her chin-length black hair behind her ears and leaned forward. She cupped his balls in one hand and began to slowly, gently massage them. At the same time, she licked up the base of his erection and then slipped it into her mouth in one smooth motion.

He groaned quietly as she pushed her lips down his entire length and there she held it, his head going down her throat. She pushed it as far as she could and swallowed. He groaned much more loudly as all those slick, hot muscles tightened around his head. She looked very satisfied with that and did it twice more, then began bobbing her head with an aggressive speed. He watched, enraptured, as she coated his cock in a layer of her saliva.

Without a word, she stopped, rose to her feet, then climbed into his lap and straddled him, staring directly into his eyes the whole time.

He was breathing more heavily now, pure excitement boiling in his stomach and filling him with a trembling lust. She reached between them and slipped his erection into herself and they both shared a moan of pleasure as he penetrated her.

Vetra took him all the way inside of herself. Still staring at him, there she remained, a wild look entering her eyes.

She leaned forward a little and licked her lips. “What we speak now is fantasy, do you understand?” she whispered.

He nodded. Seeing her like this was beyond intense.

“Speak to me as if I was your new wife.”

What a curious twist on fantasy, he thought. What an exciting one.

She began to ride him and he kissed her, long and deep, then he pulled her closer so that she was leaned against him and her ear was close to his mouth.

“I love you, Vetra,” he whispered, and she actually gasped and shuddered. He had one hand on the back of her head and the other resting on the swell of her sweet ass. “I love you so much and I would do anything for you. I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

“You won’t leave me?” she panted, riding him faster now.

“I won’t leave you, ever. I am yours...and you are mine. I want you. I want all of you. I want your mind, your vast intellect, your spirit, your seductive body, your creative and passionate soul. I love you so much, Vetra.”

She tried to say something but then a spasm hit her and she let out an unexpected, half-choked shriek as she began to orgasm. He groaned, gripping her more tightly so that she wouldn’t fall off, and began to thrust up into her, hard and fast, and she shrieked louder and spasmed harder.

He joined her, his own climax coming hard and fast, whatever seed he had left in him spurting out of him furiously, pumping her full in another fruitless attempt to impregnate her. Their voices joined as their bodies had in a union of perfectly realized sexual rapture and unfettered gratification. She shook and trembled against him, screaming and crying out.

When it was over, she collapsed against him, panting.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Why?” he murmured.

“I threw that at you. I...was very swept up in the moment. That was unfair of me.”

“No, I don’t regret it, Vetra. At all. That was incredible.”

“It was so incredible,” she agreed softly. “Oh, that was incredible.” She fell silent for another moment, as if uncertain. “You don’t feel guilty?”

“You told me it was a fantasy, Vetra. I don’t feel guilty engaging in fantasy with you, especially if it brought you that much pleasure.”

“You knew all the right things to say...how did you know that?”

“I guess I just...read you? It just seemed right.”

Another long pause. “Would you do it again?”

“Yeah, definitely. Although...we keep this going and it isn’t going to be fantasy eventually. I mean, we probably aren’t going to get married–Colleen has claim to me in that regard–but the line between fantasy and you really falling completely in love with me, I think, is going to blur and then disappear.”

“I am prepared for this eventuality, if you are, Atticus.”

He thought about it, but he didn’t really need to. Wasn’t love the trajectory of all his relationships? Intense, passionate love? It felt enormous and living in its shadow should have, if not frighten him, then given him some measure of pause at least.

But it didn’t. This just felt...right.

And wasn’t tumbling headlong down the path of falling deeply in love with someone one of life’s greatest joys?

“If you can be sure that you won’t come to resent the other women in my life, then I am completely prepared for and welcoming of that eventuality, Vetra.”

She remained leaned against him, the side of her head resting against his own, for a few moments longer. Then, finally, she slowly sat up and looked into his eyes. She had just the faintest hint of unshed tears and a very vulnerable but happy smile.

“Then we shall continue to fantasize and see where this path leads us.” She gently wiped at her eyes and began to shift. A somewhat more grounded smile came onto her face as she looked down between them. He was still inside of her. “We need another shower.”

“We do,” he agreed.

“Come on, I wish to meet these other women I am to share you with.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Are you nervous?” Vetra asked as he honed in on his new home.

“No.” He paused. “Maybe a little.”

“Should I be nervous?”

“No,” he replied, and didn’t feel the need to amend that. “They all like you. They’re all eager to meet you. Although it’s just going to be Colleen and Edith there. Susan’s busy at the cat shelter and Kate’s busy with her rental responsibilities.”

“Does she feel odd about the relationship? Being all the other women involved have about two decades on average on her?”

“Um...a little. Mostly she’s just surprised that it keeps happening. Much like myself.” He laughed. “She made me promise not to fuck her mom.”

“Hmm. That would be a concern, given your success with older women.”

“I’m still really surprised. I never had any success of any kind with older women before Colleen.”

“Did you try?”

“Well...no. I guess that’s a good point. Now I kind of wish I would have. Although it doesn’t really matter, given my current luck.” They pulled into the driveway and got out. As they did, he looked over at Vetra. She was staring up at the lakehouse. “Are you nervous?”

“A little,” she admitted. “I’ve encountered a great deal of jealousy and hurt feelings in my life. For some reason, I’ve never really been jealous. But it seems to be the default for humanity. I worry about the...intimacy of our encounter. I also don’t wish to disrespect Colleen, or the others.”

“Trust me, they knew the extent of what could happen between us. They were encouraging,” he replied.

“All right.”

Vetra seemed to compose herself with greater ease than any of the other women in his life. They walked up to the house and he let her in. Colleen and Edith were sitting expectantly on the couch. For a moment he had to sit on the urge to laugh. He suddenly remembered when he and Colleen had been fucking on that couch and Edith had barged in on them and how hilariously awkward she was about it.

“Welcome to our home, Vetra,” Colleen said, both women rising to greet her.

“Thank you for having me,” Vetra replied, accepting a hug from Colleen and a slightly awkward handshake from Edith. “And thank you for letting me have your lover.”

“Oh, you’re quite welcome, I imagine he very much enjoyed himself,” Colleen said as they all got settled.

“So you did, um, you two fucked?” Edith asked.

Atticus laughed. “Yes, we fucked.”

“Twice,” Vetra added.

“How was it?” Colleen asked, leaning forward, her eyes flashing a little with interest.

“It exceeded my expectations in every capacity,” Vetra replied.

“No surprise there,” Edith murmured, already blushing.

“You’re both so horny,” Atticus said.

“I hope that’s not a complaint I hear,” Colleen replied.

“Nope, just an observation. Also, I think it would make Vetra feel more at ease if she heard it from you two that you both are okay with her and I getting emotionally intimate and pursuing a relationship.”

Colleen’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, wow. I didn’t think-holy shit, Kate was right. You seriously are the cougar whisperer. And, to be clear, I’m not unhappy by this development. I’m completely comfortable with it if you and Atticus have sex, date, fall in love, what-have-you.” She leaned forward a little. “Just so long as you make sure to remember who he comes home to.”

“I won’t forget,” Vetra replied easily.

“She gets really possessive of me,” Atticus said.

Colleen sighed. “Not possessive, just...okay fine, yes, a little possessive. I found a diamond of a man and I do not intend to let go.”

“Same,” Edith muttered.

“I don’t want to make waves,” Vetra replied. “I’m fine with sharing. In truth, as I’ve told Atticus, I’m very glad that he has other women in his life because I just don’t think I have enough of myself to give within a monogamous relationship.”

“I think Edith and I are there, too,” Colleen said, a little uncomfortably.

“That does seem to be a key component of why this whole sharing thing is working,” Atticus said.

“I’m also fine with it,” Edith said. “I was kind of worried I wouldn’t be near the beginning, but after seeing him with Colleen and Kate, and then Susan falling so hard and fast for him that she’s already moved in and is trying to have a baby with him...yeah, I’m fine with everything.”

“Oh,” Vetra said.

“Oh shit, should I not have said that? Fuck,” she muttered.

“Susan’s fine with it, we already talked about it. She’s fine with Vetra knowing. Honestly, I think she kind of gets off on the idea of people knowing we’re going to breed.”

“She definitely gets off on it,” Edith agreed.

“Interesting,” Vetra murmured. “Might I watch?”

“You can watch pretty much anything we do,” Atticus replied.

“Can we watch? Because I have leaned very firmly into my voyeuristic tendencies ever since hooking up with Atticus,” Colleen asked.

“We discussed that and yes, I’m fine with being watched,” Vetra replied. “Hmm, I suppose I should have filmed our first encounter, but it kind of...snuck up on me.”

“Oh, really?” Edith asked.

Vetra laughed a little awkwardly and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “Yes. I sort of jumped him in the shower...and then again on the couch. It was not my plan, it was very spontaneous.”

“What made that happen?” Colleen asked suddenly, leaning forward, interested.

“Many things primed me for it, but as for what the catalyst was? Admittedly, it was after he pleasured me orally.”

“Knew it,” Colleen said, grinning.

“It wasn’t just that, though,” Vetra continued. “It was...how to put it? The way he treated me. The way that made me feel. It felt like...he was giving me something that I didn’t know I was capable of wanting any longer. I thought some part of me, some important and integral component, was, if not dead, then dormant. But he found it and he resurrected it, and all at once, too.”

“Yes!” Edith cried, startling them. “That’s exactly what it felt like when he went down on me the first time! I thought I was broken, not just that I couldn’t be loved anymore, but that I didn’t even have the capacity to want to be, or I guess, even if I was being loved, it would be like trying to jumpstart a broken battery.”

Atticus almost pursued that in the moment, neither he nor Edith had told each other ‘I love you’, not yet, even though it was obviously on the near horizon, but he let it go for now. It could wait, much as he wanted to say and hear those words.

“I do know what you mean,” Colleen said. “I felt that, too.”

“Atticus is having difficulties, I think,” Vetra murmured.

“I don’t know why,” Edith replied, all three of them looking at him now. “Going around fixing broken, mature women.” She lost her smile. “That is to say, um, I mean not that I think you’re broken, Vetra,” she muttered awkwardly.

Vetra laughed easily. “It’s fine. In a way, I was, and still am. At least with regards to sex and relationships. And I would say it’s a very accurate statement. Something definitely feels fixed today as compared to the past several years.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to be of service,” Atticus said as they kept looking at him with their amused, almost hungry expressions. “It’s just still kinda weird. Also, a thought occurred to me, since we’re talking about filming sex acts. Um…” He looked at Vetra. “Could I get a picture of you topless with my dick in your mouth?”

She laughed. “Now there’s a question I’ve never been asked before...yes.” She stood up. “May I ask for what purpose though?”

“So–and I want to be clear, this had no bearing on any of our interactions or my motivations–Kate and I had a bet.”

“Oh, right,” Colleen murmured.

“What kind of a bet?” Vetra asked, smiling more as she shed her t-shirt.

“Basically, she bet I couldn’t hook up with you. She did it because I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be able to talk my way into your pants, and she wanted to kind of provoke me into trying because she thought I could.”

“Boy, was she right,” Vetra said, tossing her shirt aside and pulling her sports bra up.

“Good lord,” Colleen whispered.

“I’m jealous,” Edith said.

“I have good genetics and spend an unreasonable amount of time hiking through the woods on top of an exercise regimen,” Vetra replied, a little quickly. “I want to throw that in before you learned my true age.”

“Oh God, don’t tell me you’re like sixty five,” Colleen groaned.

“No, to answer the question: I’m fifty one.”

“Jesus,” Edith muttered. “Still very impressive tits, and everything else really, for being in your goddamned fifties.”

“Thank you. Anyway, your bet?” Vetra prompted, getting down on her knees.

“Right.” Atticus got to his feet and got his phone out. “She bet me a no-contact threesome with Colleen if you and I had sex. And while I know she will believe me, I would like to send her photographic evidence. Are you cool with that?”

“I am indeed,” Vetra replied as she unzipped his pants and began fishing out his cock.

Within a few seconds, she had it out and was staring at it contemplatively. Then she looked up. Good lord was she beautiful and seductive.

“Ready when you are,” she murmured, and slipped it into her mouth.

Atticus began to say something but words failed him in that moment and he just snapped his photo. She had his dick about halfway into her mouth, lips seal firmly around the shaft, staring up into the camera, looking absurdly sexy.

“Okay,” he said.

“You want me to keep going?” she murmured.

“Yes but given the fact that I’m going to hopefully be having that threesome today and we already fucked twice…”

“You want to save it up, that’s fair.” She tucked him away deftly and zipped his pants back up.

“Disappointing,” Colleen murmured.

“Don’t you start,” Atticus replied as he opened up his and Kate’s text chain.

“What was that, young man?”

He sighed and fired off a text: You are so fucked. He paired that with the photograph.

“I take it that it won’t be weird if I continue being topless?” Vetra asked, sitting on the couch.

“Nope,” Colleen said. “In fact…” She took off her own shirt and tossed it aside.

“Well if you’re going to do it,” Edith said, and did the same, then took off her sports bra.

Atticus stood there staring at them until his phone buzzed in his hand.

“Yes, dear?” Colleen murmured.

“Just...wow. You three are so crazy hot,” he muttered, sitting down between Vetra and Edith and looking at his phone.

YOU FUCK! Fine! I’ll be over in an hour.

“Oh shit,” he muttered.

“Good news? I must admit, I want to see sex happening in front of me. It’s been a long time since I’ve viewed live pornography,” Vetra said.

“Well, if Colleen’s down for it then you only have to wait an hour. Although God, Susan’s going to kill me if we do this without her.”

“Oh! I’ve been texting with her. She found someone else to take over and they’ve gotten a few new volunteers to deal with the more mundane stuff, so she’s coming home soon. Honestly, she should be home any–”

The front door opened up. Atticus realized that they’d all been distracted enough to miss the car door closing. Susan walked in and shut the door behind her, then stopped, taking them all.

“...oh wow, Vetra, hi,” she murmured, a dazed smile slowly forming on her beautiful face.

“Hello, Susan. It’s nice to meet you,” Vetra replied.

“Um, man, I guess if everyone else is going topless…” She set her purse aside and then took off her t-shirt and her bra.

Her massive pale tits flopped down and bounced like a seismic event as she tossed them both away.

“Good lord,” Vetra murmured.

“Oh, also, uh, should probably say this now: Vetra is straight.”

“Oh,” Colleen, Edith, and Susan said in the same disappointed tone.

“Sorry,” Vetra replied.

“No, don’t be sorry!” Susan replied quickly. “It’s fine, it’s not bad! I just...you’re so hot. But it’s fine! I won’t be weird about it.”

“Yes, we won’t speak of it again,” Colleen agreed. “Honestly, we three should be lucky to have found each other to...enjoy.”

“We are pretty lucky,” Edith murmured.

“So what’s up? I take it your date went well?” Susan asked, settling into place in the recliner, her huge tits swaying with each movement.

“Very well. We made love twice and I am very much beginning to fall for Atticus,” Vetra replied. “It’s coming as something of a shock to me, but certainly not an unpleasant one. And I’m looking forward to spending more time with him and getting to know you all.”

“Great! Another friend who’s fucking my boyfriend!” Susan replied enthusiastically.

“You like that specific part?” Vetra asked.

“Yeah! I’ve always kind of wanted to have girlfriends to talk to about, you know, everything with. And it’s just, you can’t really talk about everything...unless they’re also having sex with your boyfriend. I mean, obviously, you both know about it, but just-I don’t know. The idea always kind of appealed to me. I think the term is, uh...what was it? Sister wife?”

“Oh, yes. And I can see the appeal,” Vetra agreed.

“Yeah, though normally they don’t fuck each other,” Edith said.

“They claim,” Colleen replied.

“We can’t make that claim,” Susan murmured.

“So...an hour,” Atticus said, looking around at them again, his eyes coming to rest on Susan’s massive, pale breasts.

“An hour of torment,” Colleen replied, laughing.

“I’d like to hear about Vetra. I want to finally learn about you,” Susan said.

“All right, then,” Vetra replied, and began telling them what she had told Atticus earlier that day.

CHAPTER EIGHT

When Kate arrived, she had much the same reaction that Susan had.

Though hers was a bit stronger because by then everyone had actually just gone ahead and shed all their clothes.

“Wow, so is this a nudist household now?” she asked as she set her purse aside.

“Apparently tonight it is,” Atticus replied.

“Vetra, hi, wow you are beautiful,” Kate said as she laid eyes on their latest friend.

“Thank you. So are you,” Vetra replied.

“This is so crazy looking,” Kate murmured, looking across the group of naked people. “I’m very horny, though. I mean, now I’m more horny. So if you’re ready, I’m ready.” Atticus stood up and began approaching her. “Man, you gotta be horny as hell after spending all day in-Atticus!”

He swept her off her feet and began carrying her back to the bedroom.

“Yeah, he’s ready,” Colleen said as she and the other women stood up.

“We’re all ready,” Susan murmured.

He walked into his bedroom and tossed her onto the bed, making her shriek and laugh as she hit the mattress and bounced.

“Strip,” he said.

“Oh, he’s in a mood,” Kate murmured as she began acquiescing to his demand.

“He is,” Attics agreed, watching her.

“I’ve got something extra special for you for this threesome,” Colleen said as she walked up beside him.

“Oh?”

“Time to cash in on that promise of my ass.”

“Oh.” He found a stupid grin growing on his face. “Is that so?”

“That is indeed so, young man. You’ve been patient and I got ready while you were out. So you have a nice finish waiting for you.”

“I love you.”

She laughed. “I love you, too.”

“All right, Atticus,” Kate said as she rolled her panties down and laid in the bed bare before him, tan and smooth and perfectly seductive. “We had a bet and I’m good for my word. Also, by the way, I totally knew you could.”

“You’re such a fucking brat,” he muttered as he and Colleen joined her in bed.

“Yep!” She looked suddenly at Vetra. “Um, I’m hoping this isn’t weird.”

“It isn’t,” she reassured her, “I know about it all. Also, in the spirit of openness...Colleen, Edith...I was there that day on the hillside. I just happened to be walking the trail when I overheard you, came a little closer out of curiosity’s sake, and I was going to leave when I realized the nature of what was happening, but then I heard you say ‘If Vetra is watching, then we should give her a good show’, and I took that literally.”

Atticus studied both women for a reaction. Edith had started blushing badly and Colleen looked deeply interested.

“Well...that’s surprising,” she managed.

“Oh,” Edith said.

“Hopefully this isn’t a negative revelation. Atticus said you’d be fine with it.”

“I am,” Colleen said, glancing at Edith.

“Yeah, I’m, you know, I’m fine with it. Just...surprised. Carry on.”

Atticus laughed. “Okay, then.”

He crawled forward onto Kate and kissed her deeply, enjoying the feel of her soft, warm body against his own as she hugged him and pushed her tongue into his mouth. He made out with her for several long, lusty moments, then he rolled off of her and grabbed Colleen. She let out a small shriek of surprised joy as he pulled her atop him and began kissing her.

Her own tongue explored his mouth and twisted with his own as he tasted her, touched her, enjoyed her. She pulled back and he got an arm around Kate and pulled her closer so that she was alongside him and kissed her, then spent the next several moments switching back and forth between the two amorous women.

“You still comfortable with kissing?” he asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Kate replied, smiling at Colleen, who looked expectantly at her.

“In that case…” Colleen murmured, then leaned in and kissed Kate.

Atticus watched the two women begin locking lips right in front of his face. Kate seemed more confident this time around, and more into it. Her hand slipped out and settled on Colleen’s back, then slid down until it settled on the swell of her ass. Colleen did the same thing, groping her gently as they touched tongues, then began twisting them together with more passion.

“I can feel that,” Colleen murmured with a soft laugh, shifting slowly back and forth and grinding his erection between her thick thighs.

“We should tend to our man,” Kate replied.

“We should.”

They each kissed him once, then repositioned themselves, drifting lower until they were on either side of him, their faces near his crotch. They both leaned in, tongues out, and began licking. A groan of bliss escaped him as they dragged their wet, warm tongues over his head and up and down his shaft. Colleen took his balls in her hand and began massaging them slowly, gently, her skin so wonderfully soft and hot.

Kate took him into her mouth first, slipping her lips over his head and down his shaft. She started bobbing her head, slowly and smoothly at first, then picking up speed. He let out a fresh groan of pleasure as Colleen tilted her head and dragged her tongue across his balls.

“Someone likes that,” she murmured, and did it again and again.

After a moment, they switched and Kate began applying her own tongue as Colleen slipped her lips slowly and wetly across his head. He laid there in between them, the center of this threesome, and basked in their pleasure and their presence.

They took turns, switching back and forth, until Kate apparently lost patience.

“I need to ride,” she said, sitting up.

“Ride away,” Colleen replied, making room. “Because I’m pretty much there myself.”

Kate grinned fiercely as she mounted him, and she most certainly did ride away. Atticus was flooded with bliss as she slipped him inside of herself and began bouncing on him. She let out a strong shout of pleasure as she fucked him, and then a louder one as he grabbed her hips and began thrusting up into her.

“Fuck yes, Atticus!” she screamed, her breasts bouncing wildly.

She leaned down and kissed him passionately as she kept fucking herself hard and fast with his steel-hard erection. They became locked together in a dance of lust and ecstasy until Colleen all but demanded her turn.

And then he had his cougar lover riding his cock with an equal ferocity, taking his hands and bringing them to her big, swaying breasts as she panted and moaned.

He lost himself in the women, lost himself in the wild rapture of sexual gratification as they took turns, switching and riding and switching again, pausing to kiss occasionally. At some point he grabbed Kate and flipped her over onto her back, then gripped her ankles and brought them up high into the air, holding her legs open and then pressing one into the pillow beside her face as he drove hard and fast into her.

“OH FUCK ME!” she shrieked in shocked pleasure as she began to orgasm.

Atticus groaned loudly, clinging onto his own climax for dear life as he rode the pleasured pink waves of her wet, fluttering orgasm as she squirted out of her sex juices. She shrieked each time he pressed into her, shrieked with each unified hip thrust, completely adrift in the tempest seas of wild sexual abandon.

When she was finished coming, he pulled out of her and looked over at Colleen. He could tell it was time, they both could.

“How do you want me?” she asked.

“Doggystyle,” he replied.

She grinned and tossed him a tube of lube. He squeezed some into his hand and eagerly prepared them both for the big finish. She was on her hands and knees now and he settled in behind her, admiring her fat mature ass and the swell of her rounded hips.

Then he was going into her, easing inside of her tight ass, listening to her moan, feeling her shudder against him. It was dead silent in the room save for his heavy breathing and her sounds as everyone watched him work his way into Colleen’s ass.

He went deeper, and deeper, and deeper still until he was completely buried within her and his hips met her hot, sweat-slicked skin.

“Fuck, you have a huge cock,” Colleen moaned as he stroked into her, his hands gripping her hips firmly, fingertips digging in.

“It sure as hell fucking feels that way when he’s got it up your ass,” Kate murmured, looking mesmerized as she watched them.

“I volunteer my ass to find this out,” Susan said.

“So do I,” Vetra murmured.

“I will absolutely take you up on that later,” Atticus replied. “Goddamn you have a tight ass, babe.”

Colleen laughed, then moaned. “That’s because you’re so fucking thick. Mmm. Try to finish, this is a little rougher than I thought it was going to be.”

“I can stop,” he said, pausing.

“No, I want you to finish in my ass. Don’t worry, honey, I’ll tell you if I need you to stop. Just, you know, wrap it up.”

He chuckled. “All right.”

Atticus tightened his grip a little and resumed fucking her ass. She moaned, hanging her head and panting heavily. The pleasure consumed him with the force of flame. It didn’t take long for the utter rapture of her tight, mature ass to bring him to full ecstasy. She let out a cry as he thrust deeper into her and released the first spurt of his seed, and then he was pumping her full in hard, fast thrusts, the pleasure scouring his body.

When he was finished, he carefully extracted himself from her and sat down heavily on the bed, panting heavily.

“I think it’ll be a bit before I do that again,” Colleen murmured.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes, Atticus, I’m fine. Just going to be sore for a bit.” She slowly got to her feet and then turned to face him, smiling sweetly at him. “Really, you didn’t hurt me. It was nice, just...overexerting. Bask in the afterglow, my love, I’m going to take a shower and clean up your filth.”

“All right.” They kissed and then she headed off to the bathroom.

“That was intensely arousing,” Vetra murmured.

“Yeah, I think I need a turn,” Susan agreed.

“I want one, but...would it be too much to ask for a ride home soon?” Vetra asked.

“Yeah, I can do that,” he replied.

“I’m very much enjoying myself, but I am now remembering the fact that my social battery has been rather diminished by my isolation. I wish to be alone again.”

“Yeah, let me take a quick shower,” Atticus replied.

“I hope no one is offended.”

“I completely fucking get you,” Kate said.

“Yep,” Edith agreed.

“I’m not offended,” Susan said.

“Colleen won’t be,” Atticus replied, heading for the bathroom. “I’ll be ready to go in about five minutes.”

“Take your time,” Vetra said.

He slipped into the bathroom.

CHAPTER NINE

“You sure you’re all right?” Atticus asked as they drove along the lake.

“I’m sure,” Vetra replied. “Two things you must understand about me. The first is that I’ve always been something of an introvert and, consequently, I’m very comfortable with my own company. And a consequence of that is that my...tolerance is too strong a word, but it will have to do, my tolerance for social interaction is lower than most people’s. The second thing is that I can and will advocate for myself, and I did believe that I told you in the beginning I am very blunt.”

“You did tell me that,” he agreed. “Okay, I’ll take you at your word. I just, I guess I’m kind of overprotective once I get...involved, with a woman.”

“And that is an appreciated facet, Atticus. But it is also a potentially damaging one. You must take care to keep it in check.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I know how irritating it is when someone’s asking you if you’re mad about something, but you aren’t, but they think you’re hiding it so they keep asking, but you really aren’t, but now you’re getting mad because they won’t quit asking.”

“Exactly. It’s a question of insecurity, and you have nothing to be insecure about. I will let you know if I’m experiencing difficulty, or if you’ve upset me.”

“All right, and you’re sure you don’t want me to drive you to your actual house?” he asked as they pulled up to the Ranger’s Station.

“I’m sure. I want to walk back, clear my head, give me time to ruminate over this. I’m more or less certain I want to pursue a romantic relationship with you, but I need time to be completely sure on that. Will you be comfortable with it if I do not contact you for the next several days?”

“Yes, I will. Actually, that will be perfect, because I have to pack a lot of time-spending with the ladies in my life into the next four or five days.”

“Perfect.” Now she looked over at him directly from the passenger’s seat as they parked. “Thank you for today, Atticus. It was the best day in recent memory. The sex was phenomenal and the emotional connection and conversation were as well. And the next time we see each other, I would very much like rough anal sex from you.”

“I would very much like to give it to you,” he replied.

She smiled, then gave him a firm kiss on the mouth. “Farewell for now.”

“Farewell for now,” he murmured as she slipped out of his car and began disappearing up the trail that would take her home.

He watched her go, his eyes fixed on her fit, firm ass showcased so nicely in those shorts, then he started driving back home.

…

“Okay, what exactly is this all about?” Kate asked as everyone settled.

He’d called for a meeting almost as soon as he’d returned.

“I feel a little bad about disappearing for a few days and I know we’ve talked about it already, but it’s prompted me to want to do a series of date days with each of you. Mostly I want to celebrate our new relationship and I want to make you feel as good as you make me feel.”

“That sounds lovely,” Edith replied immediately.

“Yeah, I’m down for a date day,” Kate said.

“So am I,” Susan agreed.

“Who goes first?” Edith asked.

“You do,” he replied. “And just so it doesn’t get complicated, I picked the order mostly at random.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but everyone seemed, if not to buy it, then be comfortable with it.

“Well...okay then,” Edith replied. “When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh! What will we be doing?”

“I have an idea or two I want to surprise you with, all of you, but I also want you thinking about things you want to do with me. Edith is tomorrow, Susan is the day after that, Kate the day after that, and Colleen after that.”

“What about Vetra?” Susan asked.

“Whenever she’s feeling social again, we’ll have another day together after I’ve had my days with you all. Now, as for today…” He paused, then yawned. “Oh, come on! It’s not even six o’clock!” he groaned.

They all laughed.

“You’ve been busy fucking us and hiking all day,” Colleen said.

“Yeah, you pervert,” Kate agreed.

“Yeah, I’m the fucking pervert.”

“How about,” Colleen said, adopting her negotiating voice, “since Atticus has so much ahead of him for the next stretch of time, we spend the rest of the day relaxing? I wouldn’t mind getting a little baked and watching one of the dozens of movies on our to-watch list.”

There was a general murmur of agreement.

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing to do for the rest of the day for once,” Kate said.

“You’re becoming such a hedonist,” Edith said.

“Yes, I am,” Colleen agreed merrily, “and you’re welcome for helping you along.”

“What are we eating?” Atticus asked.

“I went shopping today and got all the ingredients for two homemade big-ass pizzas, so Edith and I will get started on that,” Colleen replied, standing up.

“Oh, thanks for voluntelling me,” Edith replied, getting to her feet as well.

“You know you can’t stand it when anyone else makes pizzas, they have to be just right.”

“You use too much sauce!” Edith complained as she followed Colleen into the kitchen.

Atticus laughed and got up. “I’ll go get the weed ready.”

It was definitely going to be one of those nights.

…

“Oh wow, what’s this?” Edith murmured sleepily as she emerged from their bedroom.

“Breakfast,” Atticus replied, flipping over the bacon. “It’s not ready yet, though.”

“You made me breakfast?”

“Yeah. It’s the beginning of our date day.”

When she didn’t respond he turned and looked at her. She stood in the doorway to the kitchen, naked, regarding him with a somewhat bewildered expression.

“...you all right?”

“Yeah,” she murmured, then yawned. “Um, I guess I’ll brush my teeth and get dressed.”

“Sounds good, I should be done by then.”

She stared at him a moment longer, then nodded and headed back into the bedroom. Atticus frowned slightly as he turned back to the stovetop. That wasn’t quite the reaction he’d been hoping for, but he had, for once, woken up before her. Before anyone, actually. All three of the lovely women he shared this house with had still been asleep when his phone had begun buzzing under his pillow. It was the best way he could think to wake up without waking them and it had worked.

But, he supposed, this might be weird for Edith.

It seemed she’d gone years, decades, perhaps her whole life without being with someone who did things like this for her.

He gripped the pan more tightly, feeling the stirrings of rage somewhere deep.

It seemed that every single woman he was dating now had endured varying levels of neglect, misery, and outright abuse. And while he was reluctant to say that someone deserved to experience it, he sure as hell knew that none of them deserved what had happened to them at all.

Each one of them was a good person, a fine woman.

It was occurring to him that while he had settled on the notion that his life’s purpose was to make video games, this was no longer true. Making video games was what he did for himself, his own pursuit, but his true life’s purpose was to be there for these women. To help them, care for them, make them feel good.

The bacon had reached its proper crispiness. He knew Edith liked it like him: almost blackened. He finished up and tossed the bacon on the plates. It was a simple breakfast of bacon, over-easy eggs, and hashbrowns, but he knew she would appreciate it. He finished prepping everything as Edith reemerged from their bedroom in a robe.

“Is this, uh, appropriate? For date breakfast?” she asked, more awake now.

He chuckled. “Yes, dear. Come on. I thought we could eat out back.”

“That would be wonderful.”

She got the door for him as he carried out their plates to the table on the back porch. As she got settled, he ran back inside and poured two glasses of milk, then joined her.

“This is really nice,” she said after a few bites. “Um, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Edith.”

She took a drink, then rubbed at her eyes, looking down at the plate. “Shit, I’m sorry I’m acting weird. This is just kind of...throwing me off. It’s good!” she added quickly. “This is good, I’m happy, to be clear. Just...emotionally, um...I mean, I never really had anything like this.”

“I’m sorry. I kind of figured.”

Edith stared at him for a moment, her expression uncertain and difficult to read, almost like she was trying to figure something out. Then she smiled with something like relief, then took a moment to compose herself.

“This is good,” she said, reaching out.

He reached out too and met her halfway, their hands touching in the middle of the table. “This is good,” he agreed. “You deserve this.”

Her smile slipped a notch. “I hope so.”

“Edith,” he said, a little more firmly, “you deserve this. You deserve to be happy.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

He leaned in and kissed the back of her hand, then they went back to eating. Conversation was light as they ate breakfast. Atticus had to sit on his anxiety that he’d fucked something up. He knew Edith was emotionally complex, even to herself.

Perhaps especially to herself.

He thought that she was still sorting the storm of emotions that had apparently hit her, but he also had the faint inkling that she had locked onto something specific. A decision, maybe, or perhaps a realization.

What could that be?

But he put that aside, too. Maybe it was just his anxiety, or if it wasn’t, he would find out when she was ready to tell him, if he wasn’t imagining it.

They finished up and brought the dishes back inside.

“Now what?” Edith asked as he began rinsing them off.

“How about you go get dressed and we have a nice walk along the lake, then we hit up your house for a few games of badminton? Then we can do something you want after that?”

The way her face lit up at that was a joy all its own. “All right! That sounds great.”

She laughed, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then hurried off to the bedroom. He watched her go, then slowly turned back to the sink and resumed putting the dishes into the washer.

Oh yeah, he was definitely in love with her.

CHAPTER TEN

“I never really do stuff like this anymore,” Edith said as they began making leisurely progress along the lake’s edge.

The day was still young, just past eight in the morning, and a soft gray cloud cover provided a pleasant shade and a cool breeze that turned what would otherwise be a blazing summer’s day into something much more satisfying.

He’d checked the forecast and it seemed the weather was on his side for this week of date days.

“Any particular reason?” he asked.

She sighed. “I guess it’s because I never really broke free of the ‘I have to keep doing fucking everything’ mindset. Idle time felt like wasted time.” She frowned. “Still does.”

“I know it’s not the best topic for a date day, but...have you given any more thought to therapy or medication?”

She tensed, her frown deepening a little, but she didn’t balk. “Yes, I have. And I’ve decided...that you and Colleen are right. I’m tired of being like this. Of feeling like this. I just hate it. It’s like there’s this alarm going off in my head most days. Like I’ve forgotten something terribly important or almost like I’m...guilty? Like I’m going to get caught slacking off. And I mean I know why I feel this way now. Talking with you and Colleen about this stuff, it seems obvious now that it’s my parents and my husband, years of pressuring me to be perfect and active all the time…”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No,” she said firmly, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together. “No, you should have. It’s good that you did. I’ve been meaning to talk with you about it anyway. I don’t want to deal with it, but I need to. And I’ll...need your help.”

“Anything I can do, I will.”

She smiled and stopped suddenly. He stopped with her, turning to face her. She wrapped him in a hug and squeezed tightly. He hugged back back, holding her, waiting for her to speak.

“Thank you,” she said after a long pause. “I can’t tell you what a goddamned relief it is to hear this coming from you. My relationship with...relationships is so fucked up. I’m so goddamned neurotic and I hate it and I know I need to fix it, I just don’t know how and it’s so scary. But it’s so much less scary to have you here just...supporting me.”

“I’ll be here for you, Edith,” he murmured, running his hands up and down her back, feeling the soft fabric of her summer dress.

“Forever?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Forever,” he replied.

She let out a slightly choked laugh. “You sure about that?”

“I’m sure about that, Edith.”

She sniffed, then gave him one final squeeze and released him. “Shit, sorry,” she muttered, wiping at her eyes.

“It’s fine, honey.” He offered her a tissue.

She laughed again, a more plainly joyful expression coming onto her face. She dabbed at her eyes, then blew her nose. “You are so much sweeter than anyone else I’ve dated,” she muttered as he accepted the tissue and slipped it back into his pocket.

“Apparently. I’m just glad I can be.”

“Saying ‘so am I’ seems like such an understatement.”

They resumed walking, lacing their fingers together again. For a time, they just strolled slowly through the grass, taking in the sights and sounds of early morning Lakeside. It was quiet, peaceful, only the very distant hum of the highway and the occasional chirping of birds and buzzing of instincts breaking the silence.

They walked until they reached Colleen’s bench. Here they sat together, looking out over the still waters.

“What’s it like, dating two rich cougars?” she asked.

“Um...not like how I expected,” he replied.

She laughed. “How so?”

“To be honest...I expected I’d have to put up with more bullshit. Especially as someone from a broke background. I thought you and Colleen would be more disconnected from reality. Or maybe more, you know…”

“What?” she prodded.

“Karen?”

She laughed loudly, startling some nearby birds that had landed to prospect along the water’s edge. “I suppose that’s a very fair fear. I ran with enough of them in my time. There’s a lot more of them in the bigger cities. I suppose I probably was one often enough when I was still married. Colleen...could be like that, sometimes.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, although with her, I don’t know, it wasn’t really...it was closer to standing up for herself and for me and other girls. She could really get in guys’ faces when they were being shitheads. But sometimes she’d just be in a mood and get pissy with people who didn’t really deserve it.” She frowned. “I shouldn’t be talking bad about her, it was a long time ago.”

“Not a bad instinct,” he agreed, “but revisiting the past isn’t all bad. It’s good to measure how far you’ve come, how far your friends have come...that being said, how are you doing? Like, in a broader sense now that you’ve moved in and gotten settled?”

“I’m...better,” she said after considering it a moment. “I think it still feels weird. Like, not completely real? When I go to sleep in bed with you and Colleen, and now Susan, it feels like something closer to an adult slumber party than real life. And part of me is curious to see how it’s going to feel when I really accept that this is my new normal, but part of me also doesn’t want it to stop feeling like a slumber party, if that makes sense.”

“That definitely makes sense. I feel the same way.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I bet. I’m also kind of feeling just happy all the time? But also nervous. Like some bad thing is going to happen that’s going to take it all away and I just can’t see it. But I also know I’m probably just being paranoid.”

“You’re being paranoid...but I get it. I’m feeling exactly the same thing.”

“That’s another thing I love about you, you get it, my anxiety. Colleen never did. I mean, she could understand some of it on an intellectual level, but not emotionally.”

“Yep,” he agreed immediately. “Someone who doesn’t have anxiety issues just doesn’t understand. Which is a double-edged sword. You don’t want them to have to understand, but sometimes you do, because anxiety is isolating.”

“Yes. It’s so fucking isolating. Just being alone with these fears all the time...I wanted to thank you for listening to me, and for trying to help me in ways that anticipate my anxiety instead of trying to ignore it. It feels, shit, I don’t know, it feels...amazing, I guess. I don’t really know how to say it.”

“Validating,” he replied, “like you’re not crazy.”

“Yes, exactly.” She pressed herself against him and he put his arm around her. “I cannot believe I would find the most amazing man at goddamned forty six. Or that I’d be sharing him with my best friends. And a couple other girls. And that he’d be half my age.”

“And I never thought I’d find such amazing women who actually got me and were cool sharing me and were twice my age and so fucking insanely hot.”

She laughed. “I’m very glad you feel that way. I’d kind of hit the point where I figured my looks would be, you know, tolerated in any relationship I got into.”

“Yeah, no toleration here. Just pure lust,” he murmured, putting a hand on her thigh.

She gasped and jumped a little when he slipped it into her dress. “Bad boy!” she hissed, grabbing his hand and smiling broadly.

“You like that,” he murmured.

“I do, you little pervert,” she whispered, looking around, “but...we need to wait. I have something I want to do that’s...mmm, sex-related. And we need to wait for that.”

“All right,” he replied, withdrawing his hand and instead pulling her a little closer to himself. “We’ll wait.”

“Dear God, thank you,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder. “The amount of times I had to shut down my ex-husband when he tried to get too frisky in public and he’d just fucking sulk for hours afterwards…” She sighed heavily. “Do I talk about him too much?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure, Edith. I’d tell you if it bugged me. It just bugs me that he was so shitty to you. You deserved so much better.”

“Well, now I’ve got you, and you’re better in a way I never believed was truly real. Also, dear fucking lord can you eat pussy. You are incredible at it.”

“Thank you. I’m very glad to be of service. And you are insanely good at sucking dick. Like...I didn’t know it could get that good.”

She smirked and tucked some blonde hair back behind one ear. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”

“Yep. Also you ride dick so goddamned well. Just-holy shit, you are so good at that.”

She laughed, blushing now. “Thank you. I must say you’re especially good at doggystyle. Just-you find the perfect angle and fucking ram it...shit, okay, we gotta stop talking about this. I’m getting too wet and horned up and you’re popping a wheelie.”

He laughed. “Is that what you call it?”

“Yeah, do they not say that anymore?”

“Can’t say I’ve heard it, or at least not for a long time. Maybe pitching a tent...no, nowadays they say shit like ‘bricked up’.”

“...oh my God, I’m so old,” she groaned. “That sounds so stupid to me.”

“I mean it sounds kinda stupid to me, too.”

She laughed again, then got to her feet. “Come on, let’s keep walking.”

He stood up as well and they resumed their languid journey.

…

Atticus was having some measure of difficulty focusing on the highway.

He was sporting a tremendous erection and Edith was right there, looking so perfect.

After their walk, they’d headed to her house and had a badminton game that lasted about an hour. It was clear she really loved it and could lose herself in it. He thought it was fun enough, but sports had never really called to him in the same way.

They’d gotten sweaty and he had wanted very badly to screw her in the shower they’d had after getting back to the lakehouse. But she said no, amused but firm, and had forbidden him from fooling around with any of the others while she got ready.

Then she proceeded to lock herself in the bathroom for another half an hour after their shower. And Colleen and Susan had been nearly overjoyed to tease and flirt with him mercilessly while he waited. So now he was almost trembling with sexual energy.

Especially because Edith had applied a lot of makeup and given herself that ‘naturally perfect’ look, where it seemed like she was at once both online influencer hot yet seemed like she hadn’t actually put any makeup on. She had on another summer dress, though this one was a lot more revealing.

It was shorter with spaghetti straps and a thinner fabric that showed plainly she was wearing no bra. He could see her nipples and she’d flashed him getting into the car, revealing she wore no panties as well and fuck now his desire for her was thundering through him.

She had promised to satisfy him soon.

They had taken her jeep and hit the highway to a mysterious destination about fifteen minutes down the way.

“Okay,” Edith said, “there. This exit. Take it and turn right.”

“Yep,” he muttered.

“Ooh, you’re so tense,” she murmured seductively as she put a hand on his leg. “Whatever will we do about that?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something, my dearest.”

She smirked and squeezed his thigh, then withdrew her hand. It was interesting, seeing her like this. He’d gotten a few glimpses of Edith in her completely confident and seductive form, but nothing quite like this.

It was like she was at last fully and completely aware of her status as legendary cougar to his twenty-something, nerdy cub.

And she was taking full advantage of it.

Wherever they were going, he planned to absolutely tear her up once they got there.

He followed her instructions, bringing them off the highway and into a section of Oregon that seemed fairly void of society, left mostly to nature. They passed a small cluster of buildings. A gas station, a restaurant, a small family grocery store, then drove on until she pointed him to a poorly paved road. He took it into the woods.

“Okay, nice and easy now, there’s a cliff up ahead. Just park in the dirt there,” she said.

He came to the end of the road and brought the jeep to a halt in the patch of dirt he found.

“Where are we?” he asked as he killed the engine.

There was indeed a cliff maybe twenty feet away from the dirt patch, edged by a simple wooden fence that clearly hadn’t seen any maintenance in years.

“This is our local lover’s lookout,” she replied, opening the door.

He joined her, feeling his erection straining against his jeans. They walked slowly up to the edge. The view as was phenomenal. Some fifty feet down was a dense forest and a glittering lake that let out into a river, driving a lazy path through the trees, off into the distance.

“Wow,” he murmured.

“Yep,” she agreed, sounding pleased with herself.

“What exactly does lover’s lookout mean?”

She lost some of her good cheer. “Oh God,” she groaned, “am I seriously that old? You don’t know about lover’s lookout? The place teens drive out to to make out and fuck? It’s like a cultural touchstone.”

“Okay, I get the concept, and I’ve seen it in old movies, but I’ve never actually done it, or knew anyone who had. Also, you aren’t old, society is just moving at a breakneck pace, culturally speaking...so you want to fulfill that wish or something?”

“Yes. I knew about this place and I actually came out here once with my ex-husband when we were in high school but he kind of chickened out and it just ended up being kind of unhappy.”

“In that case…” He grabbed her hand and began guiding her back to the jeep.

She giggled and blushed fiercely, letting herself be led along. He brought her around to the back and popped the trunk, then gave her a gentle push inside. He saw a blanket and pillow. They took a moment to get the backseat pushed down so they had the whole trunk to work with and then slammed the rear door shut behind them.

“Okay, let’s do this,” she whispered as he pushed her down onto the blanket and began lifting up the dress.

Atticus said nothing as he shed the dress and took off his shirt. He kissed her and she moaned loudly, immediately leaning into the kiss, grabbing him, pulling him against her fit, nude body. His hands went wandering, enjoying the feel of her soft breast in his grasp, its smooth warmth against his skin. Then down lower, to one firm hip, around to her fit, gently padded ass. Back around, tracing his way slowly along her inner thigh and making her gasp.

Her tongue went exploring in his mouth, but had a hard time continuing as he began teasing her clit with his fingertip. She kept breaking the kiss to gasp and moan as he pleasured her. They twisted tongues and locked lips for as long as she could manage, and then he kissed his way down her jaw, across her neck, lower to her collarbone and then to her breast, eliciting a series of pleasured moans from her.

He licked across her nipple as he massaged her clit, making her convulse and cry out.

“I want to be yours,” she whispered as he began sucking on her breast.

“You are mine,” he murmured.

“Say it again.”

“You are mine, Edith,” he replied more firmly, then she screamed as he slipped a finger inside of her. “You belong to me.”

“Yes…” she moaned, bringing her hips up in time with his finger as he worked her pussy. “Oh fucking yes…”

Atticus stopped fingering her abruptly and she cried out, this time in frustration. Before she could complain, he got down between her legs and began eating her out. She let out a renewed shriek of impassioned bliss and spread her legs out wider. It was a bit of a challenge to maneuver in the jeep, but he managed it.

He ate her until she had a wild, screaming full-bodied orgasm. She let out a series of half-formed words, incoherent in bliss as she trembled and shook like she was having a seizure. The only word he could actually make out was his name as she screamed it a few times while he ate her.

When she was finished, he shot up to his knees, banging his head on the roof and hardly noticing as he frantically unzipped jeans.

“Do you want me to suck–”

“No.”

The moment he was out, he got down in between her firm thighs and penetrated her. She moaned loudly as he pushed into her hot, wet depths. She took his whole length, wrapping her legs around him and crying out as he began fucking her immediately.

It was hard and it was fast and it was intense. The jeep bounced with the motion of their frantic lovemaking. He felt like he was aflame with utter lust for this beautiful, fit cougar goddess who was laid bare before him.

He drove deep into her, deriving such a deep and pleasured satisfaction that the rest of the world seemed to drop away.

There was just the two of them.

Atticus kissed her passionately as he drove again and again into her slippery, tight depths. The ecstasy was overwhelming and he felt something passing between them, some emotional depth that had not been there before.

Or perhaps it had, only now it was fully realized.

When his climax came, it was wild and intense, a thing that electrified his whole body as he began loosing his seed into her. He cried out her name as he came into her, pumping her full, and she squeezed him with her legs, forcing him as deep into her as she could while gripping him tightly with both hands, holding his head so that his forehead rested against her own and she stared directly and deeply into his eyes.

She held his gaze with her own as she squeezed his pulsing, orgasming erection with her strong inner muscles, a look of deep, loving satisfaction on her face.

She held him that way until she had gotten everything out of him, then she loosened her grip on him. He collapsed, gasping for breath, against her, face pressed into the pillow.

“Oh my God,” he moaned, trembling. “Edith…”

“Yeah?” she murmured.

“That was insane.”

“Yes, it was,” she said dreamily, running her hands slowly up and down his back. “Atticus?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Atticus pulled himself up to look at her again.

She looked serene, not anxious at all.

He thought he would be surprised when she said those words. Colleen told him it was coming, and he thought she was right.

But he didn’t feel surprised, or anxious, or worried about the weight of that responsibility.

He just felt contented joy.

“I love you too, Edith,” he said, and kissed her.

She moaned softly, settling a hand over the back of his head and extending the kiss. It was a less fierce kiss, a calmer kiss. When they parted, she looked as happy as ever.

“I’ve been wondering when I should say it,” she said quietly. “I knew it was happening early on. And every day that passed, it grew stronger, the feeling. I was nervous. But then I knew. It was that night you came to find me, when we talked outside, and I cried. That’s when I knew for sure. And I’m not scared anymore, not of this, at least. Not of loving you...being loved by you.”

“I’m so glad,” he murmured. “You’re so incredible, Edith. And I love you so much.”

She smiled wider, a vision of beauty, her face flushed, her hair a mess, her eyes sparking with love and joy and contentment.

“I feel safe with you,” she whispered. “I feel accepted by you. And that is more than I ever thought I would get. And it feels better than I could have imagined.”

“Good, you deserve it.”

“So do you. I hope you feel the same about me.”

He smiled. “I do, Edith. You make me feel like I can just...be myself. Like I don’t have to hide any part of myself from you.”

“You can. I love you, Atticus, and I will always accept you.”

They stared at each other a moment longer, basking in the moment. Then reality began to reassert itself and she shifted beneath him.

“Mmm...I could use more tissues.”

He laughed and pulled out of her. “Yeah, same.”

They got themselves cleaned up and dressed again, then he re-parked the jeep so that the rear was facing the overlook. They propped the trunk open and sat there with their legs dangling, looking out over the vast view.

They didn’t speak much for about half an hour, just held hands and leaned against each other and basked in glow of their newly confessed love. Eventually, they’d had their fill of the view and began driving back home.

The drive back was definitely different. There was a serenity there that hadn’t existed on the ride out, or ever before, when he thought about it. There was some connection there now, something different and deeper and more potent.

This was love, he supposed.

It felt amazing.

He never truly thought he’d be in love like this with more than one woman, and in this moment he felt a strong relief. Because he had wondered. Could he? Could he feel the same sense of burning, impassioned love for Edith that he did for Colleen? For Susan? Kate? Vetra?

Yes, he could.

What he was feeling right now didn’t seem to in any way clash with or diminish what he felt for Colleen. And it felt different, too. Distinct in its own way.

Truly, the last real fear he had was that there might actually not be enough of him to go around.

…

After the lovemaking at the lookout, they hit the lakehouse for another quick shower (and for her to wear something significantly less revealing), then headed out to Westberg for lunch at a Chinese buffet place she had a weakness for.

From there, he drove her around the town for a bit, sightseeing. As they did, however, it became increasingly obvious that she was getting pretty drowsy from the food and the sex. She seemed mildly embarrassed when she asked if they could take a nap.

“It’s your date day, babe,” he replied happily enough, because he was kind of tired, too, and took them home.

Once they got back to the lakehouse, they retreated to the bedroom, stripped, and laid down together in the cool darkness.

“This is embarrassing,” she murmured as he spooned her.

“Why?” he replied softly, his lips close to her ear.

She shuddered. “It’s so nice when you whisper in my ear...I’m embarrassed because it’s such a middle-aged cliché. Mom needs a nap.” She yawned. “Dammit.”

“There’s nothing wrong with needing some downtime, my love,” he murmured.

“We are so fucking when I wake up.”

He laughed. “Fine by me.”

He kissed the back of her head and felt a surge of happiness and contentment as she settled a little more into his embrace and let out a comfortable sigh. She was asleep almost immediately. He took a little bit longer to drift off, still hearing her declaration of love in his head as he fell asleep.

Atticus awoke some strange time later with a powerful erection and a hand on his chest. He opened his eyes as he was pushed onto his back and found Edith grinning fiercely, a look of almost feral lust in her eyes as she mounted him.

He let her handle him, let her grab his cock and slip it smoothly into herself, let her start fucking him, hard and fast. She gripped his shoulders tightly, still grinning fiercely as she began riding him. She moaned loudly and began crying out as she impaled herself with his erection again and again, rapidly increasing her speed until she abruptly stopped and began grinding against him, stirring his rock hard cock around inside of herself until she popped.

Atticus groaned as she began twitching and orgasming, her inner muscles convulsing reflexively around his dick, massaging it as she released her hot sex juices. She kept grinding, going back and forth now, as she climaxed, grunting and moaning as the pleasure wracked her body.

When she was finished, she leaned forward, panting, staring into his eyes. “Use me to make yourself come,” she whispered.

He grinned at her, then pushed her off himself and got her laying flat on her stomach. He penetrated her from the back, then laid down flat against her and reached up under her, grasping her shoulders from the front.

She let out a scream of pleasure as he began driving into her. Atticus didn’t let up, just kept pounding her pussy, hard and fast, doing exactly as she’d commanded. The pleasure mounted and he mainlined it.

He was coming inside of her within twenty seconds and the sounds of her screams of bliss were music to his ears as he filled her up.

They were both very awake after that, but as they got up and began washing up, he noticed a new energy seemed to have entered her.

“So now what?” he asked.

“Now...would it be shitty of me to ask you to help me do some stuff at the cafe? I’m suddenly feeling, I don’t know, energized about it. There’s some things I still need to get done before I can set a date for the grand opening, and I’ve been kind of putting them off, but all of a sudden I want to deal with them. It probably won’t be more than an hour, maybe two.”

“Like I said, babe, it’s your date day. If this is what you want to do, then I’m fine with it,” he replied. “Honestly I’m glad, I know how much you like the cafe and it did seem like you were kind of avoiding it lately.”

“I have been. It’s a lot of responsibility and I’ve been wondering about how much I can handle between it and my new relationship with you, and all the other shit I normally do...ugh, I’m definitely going to have to cut back. Probably cut piano lessons to once or twice a month, officially quit my part-time work drawing blood...I had kind of been getting tired of doing things, to be honest.”

“You’re a successful woman in her mid-forties who has done a lot with her life and is about to open her own cafe, I think it’s safe to say that you can take some stuff off your plate without feeling bad about it,” Atticus replied, running his hands up and down her bare arms.

“Yeah. I guess it’ll just take some time getting used to it.” She laughed suddenly. “It kind of feels like the only reason this whole harem thing is going to work is because we all are busy or huge introverts.”

“It’s still weird to hear you call it that, but I do think you’re right. You with your cafe, Colleen with her writing, Vetra and...everything she does, Susan with her, with our kid, me with our kid and writing, Kate with her lakehouses.”

“Very true. And I kind of agree with you, about the harem thing. I never thought I’d be involved in one, let alone find it...appealing.”

“Appealing, huh?”

She blushed, rolled her eyes. “Yes. Appealing. It’s so strange, but there’s just something kind of satisfying about seeing you with Colleen or Susan. I mean it’s good for them, I love both of them and want them to be happy, and you, obviously, but it feels somehow good for me, too. It’s...it feels very strange and I don’t fully understand it yet. Don’t know if I ever will. But there it is: I like it.”

“Well, I sure as hell like it,” he replied. “And I’m just glad it’s working for everyone.”

“Yeah, the only problem is that we’re probably going to fuck you to death.”

“Fine by me.”

She laughed. “All right, come on, let’s finish up. I want to do this.”

…

It felt strange to be back in the cafe again.

Atticus looked around, trying to think back to the last time he’d actually been in. They’d visited once sometime in the last week, or maybe the week before? Shit, he was genuinely losing track of time. So much had happened in such a short amount of time that it was stretching and warping his perception of its passage.

The thing he really remembered the most was coming here and doing some yardwork after getting a tour.

“So what’s actually left to do?” Atticus asked as Edith walked back behind the counter.

“There’s a bit of painting left to do, and I need to replace all the coverings for outlets and switches. I ordered a batch last month but it finally just got in, that was that package I grabbed after the badminton game. There’s a bit more stuff I need stocked, but it can be found at the grocery store. Honestly, most of everything I need to do is prepping the grand opening. Getting some fliers designed and then made, passed out, choose a date, deal with advertising, work with Colleen on having her big book-signing. Mmm…”

“What?”

She sighed softly. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m just roping Colleen, and now you, into helping me with this.”

“Well, I imagine there’s going to be some adjustment as Colleen and I figure out how much help we’re comfortable with offering once this place is actually open. We’re both creative types with that being our primary job, and bussing tables and working a cash register is admittedly somewhat at odds with that job, but I do know that we’re both happy to be helping you, Edith.”

“I guess I’ll just have to accept that...I also need to finally figure out who I’m going to hire. I’ve got some interested people, kids who need jobs, mostly, but I’ve always sort of kicked that can down the road because I guess I’ve been kind of scared to really pull the trigger on this.” She straightened up suddenly. “But not anymore. I’m going to lock this down.”

“What changed?” he asked.

“I think telling you that I love you. And hearing it back. It was like...the cornerstone of my new life that needed to be laid, and before it had been, everything felt ephemeral and uncertain. But now it’s laid, and everything feels so much more certain.”

He walked back behind the counter with her and settled his hands on her hips. “I’m really glad that I could help.”

She smiled and gave him a quick kiss. “So am I.”

“You know…” He looked around. “Maybe we could fuck in here.”

Her eyes widened and she began blushing. “Atticus! Are you serious!?” she hissed.

“You blush a lot, and yes.”

“You’re so filthy, you know that?”

“I do, because you and Colleen keep telling me. And I keep doing it because you and Colleen and Susan and Kate like it so damn much.” He slid his hands around to her ass. “We don’t have to fuck here, I just think it’d be a good idea to do it before we open instead of after. But if you’re not up for it…”

“Oh no, you are not getting off that easy,” she growled, and kissed him fiercely.

CHAPTER TWELVE

He and Susan hit the highway around one o’clock.

Unlike Edith, Susan not just preferred to sleep in, but valued it. So he hadn’t planned to actually start their date day until noon or later. After how successful his and Edith’s day had been, he was feeling pretty good about this one.

Their work at the cafe hadn’t been difficult, and the sex had been very nice. As had the rest of the night, as they’d spent it relaxing with the others in what he was hoping was going to become his normal night in his new household.

Susan was bubbly with excitement as they drove out. The day was sunnier but not overbearing and the air was flush with the scents of nature.

“I’m so excited,” she said.

“I can tell,” he replied.

“I’ve just been thinking about today after seeing Edith. Every time you guys came back to home, she seemed happier, and last night she just seemed, man, I dunno, almost high? I mean, she wasn’t, I know she wasn’t, but she was so relaxed and happy. And it’s really obvious that it’s because of you. And I haven’t had any kind of date like that for, shit, way too long. Also, there’s another reason I’m so excited…”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?” he replied.

“Today’s the day. I want to today to be the first day we really try. I’m ovulating and I haven’t had any birth control for three days now and you’ve been really good about not fucking me and I know it’s been weird, and believe me I’ve wanted to fuck you, too, but I wanted it to be kind of special…”

“Susan, it’s fine. I want to do this the way you want to do this. And I am fucking beyond excited for today to be the day, because I really, really, fucking really want to breed you.”

She smiled wider, blushing now. “I want it, too. So fucking bad. Although, you know, I was hoping we could talk about other stuff today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m crazy horny for you getting me pregnant and fucking me until I’m pregnant and fucking me while I’m pregnant...but I also want to talk about the other stuff. The domestic stuff, the family stuff that comes after.”

“I want to talk about that, too,” he replied.

“Okay, good. I just...I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about being a mother for so long and raising a kid with the perfect husband and you so are the perfect husband.” He snorted, he couldn’t help it. “What!? You are!”

“The perfect husband who also is dating and fucking four other women.”

“Exactly! I don’t mind sharing, Atticus, and this way I don’t have to worry about you running off or cheating on me–not that I would ever worry about that anyway with you!–but I know the chicks you’re fucking and also, you know, I get to fuck some of them, too. And also they like me, too, and they’ll help raise our child! It’s just a whole great, big, fun family thing. I hope that’s not weird.”

“No, it’s not weird. I mean, I imagine most other people would think it is, but who cares about them? And those are all good points. And I’m happy to talk about whatever you want to talk about, Susan.”

“Good! What do you think for names? I was thinking Chris for a boy and Linda for a girl. Although I’ve got a list, those are just my favorites. Although is Linda too old-fashioned now? I feel like I never really hear that name anymore...oh man, am I being annoying? I’m talking too fast again.”

“You aren’t being annoying, babe,” he replied. “It’s nice seeing you excited and into something. And I think those are fine names, but yeah, it would be nice to have a whole list. I always told myself that if I ever had a kid, I was going to be really careful with how I named them.”

“Fucking hell yes. Too many names out there that are easy to make fun of. Although it’ll be tough to think of that going into the future.”

“That it will. I’m sure Colleen can help, given how many characters she’s had to name. But it’s more than being bully fodder, although that is crucially important to avoid, it’s also the psychological implication of how and who they identify as for the rest of their life. Which itself is difficult, if not impossible, to really predict. I mean, I sure wouldn’t have thought to name a kid Atticus, and yet most people seem to think my name is cool.”

“It really is. Especially with the last name…” He glanced over at her when she fell silent, the way she’d trailed off. He raised an eyebrow. She looked reluctant. “So, um, I know that if you marry any of us, it’s going to be Colleen. But I was wondering if, you know, I could change my last name to yours? And just tell people we’re married?”

It struck Atticus then in some way that it hadn’t yet that Susan was profoundly in love with him. It almost startled him, but he was careful to keep it off his face.

“I’d be happy if you did that,” he replied.

Her face lit up. “Really!?”

“Yes, definitely. Susan Archer.”

“Mmm, Susan Archer…” she murmured.

Shit, well, he had to get that sorted today. He felt a little bad because while he sure as hell liked her, and that spark had connected them very intensely from the get-go, she clearly had already pole-vaulted over the love line, while he was still beating around the bush. It wasn’t even that he wasn’t in love with her, it was more just that not enough time had passed.

It occurred to him suddenly that out of them all, he and Susan would be the ones to have probably the most ‘typical’ looking relationship, in terms of how they lived their lives together. All the others were clearly going to be busy with their own lives, but he didn’t think Susan would be like that. Her great passion was being a mother...and a wife.

It was insane how lucky he was to receive her affection.

He needed to make this special, hearing ‘I love you’ from him the first time, like it had been with Colleen and Edith.

Well, considering what they were going to get up to tonight and how meaningful getting pregnant was to her, that seemed like a pretty good time.

There was the exit. He pulled off the highway and drove into Westberg, Susan regaining all of her bubbly joy.

…

“Okay, can I open my eyes now?” Susan asked.

“Yes,” he replied as he finished parking, “you can.”

She opened her eyes and leaned forward, staring up at the store they’d come to. Her eyes went wide and lit up.

“Holy shit! Seriously!? I used to love coming here and just browsing for hours,” she said.

“Edith mentioned that. And yeah, I thought we could come here, browse, buy some books and art supplies.”

Her smile faltered slightly and she looked at him. “Are you sure? That’s going to be expensive.”

“I’m sure, Susan. Honestly, I can afford it. And I want you to be happy, and you’ve been trying to get back into drawing, and you should. I want to facilitate that.”

“All right. I think I’m going to feel weird about it for a bit, though.”

“Why?”

They got out of the car and began heading inside.

“I’ve always liked drawing, and I guess I got pretty good at it, but I could never make it work as a career. And I know you said I should do it anyway, and I’m going to, but over the past few years it just became this kind of...I dunno, this whole thing. Like every time I went to do it, I just felt guilty. Like, ‘I can’t be wasting time with this when I should be doing something to unfuck myself financially’. So I’m kinda fucked up about it.”

“I’m sorry, Susan,” he replied, taking her hand. “Hopefully we can get to work on sorting that out quickly.”

“Honestly, just being in this relationship and moving into your guys’ place has done a hell of a lot to make me feel better.”

She paused as they came into the main lobby of the store. It was a combination bookstore and art supplies shop, split pretty much down the middle by a huge set of library-like shelves. Susan seemed briefly indecisive, then went to the book side first.

They began wandering among the aisles, perusing.

“We’re going to have to buy so many things,” she murmured. “A crib. Baby monitor. Changing station. Toys. And babyproof the house, too.” She groaned suddenly. “Ugh, I’m going to have to give up some stuff. I mean obviously weed and booze are out. But I need to eat healthier…”

“I’ll do it with you,” he replied.

She paused as they came to stand before the horror section. “Really? Why? What would be the point of both of us suffering?”

“A relationship is shared suffering,” he replied. “And being together. Supporting each other. And it won’t feel like we’re together as much if you’re having to go through caffeine withdrawal or avoiding unhealthy sweet snacks alone.”

She stared at him for a moment. “That is...painfully romantic. Oh my God, I am going to suck your brains out through your dick every night.”

He chuckled awkwardly, looking around. “Well...I appreciate it.”

She smirked and lowered her voice. “Edith mentioned your fun at the lover’s lookout. She said your tongue is the best thing she’s ever felt. It’s the same for me too, you know.”

“Also good to know.”

She opened her mouth to continue, then frowned, looked around, looked down, then back up. “Okay, I guess I should stop teasing, given I want you to...save it all up. Speaking of that, can you make sure everyone knows? I want them to see.”

“Wow, everyone there, live?” he replied, pulling out his phone.

“Yes. It’s...I didn’t know how much I like being watched having sex,” she whispered. “I mean, not by just anyone, it’s definitely something special because it’s all women who have been with you. And a few with me...shit, I’m so horny.”

“Let’s change topics,” he replied as he finished sending the general alert into the group chat.

“Let’s,” she agreed.

“One last thing, though. You want Vetra there?”

“I do.”

“All right. I don’t know if she’ll make it, her schedule is...complicated.”

“If not, that’s fine, too. But I do want her there. I also want to see her having sex with you. She must look amazing fucking.”

“Yeah, she does,” he murmured, firing off a text to Vetra, then putting his phone away. “Okay, focus, new topic. Or back to the original.”

“Yes. Our child. Oh, there’s going to be so many firsts to experience! First word, first steps, first playdate. We’re going to have to find other kids for them to play with.”

“Yeah, that’s going to be pretty important. We’re going to have to start getting involved with the community more. Mmm.”

“What?”

“Just...people are gonna figure out that we’re not a married couple, let alone that we live with two other women. And they’re gonna assume it’s more than ‘live with’, I mean especially if they pay any amount of attention to how Colleen and Edith are with me in public…”

“I don’t care,” Susan replied. “If they hate, let them hate. But honestly Lakeside isn’t really that bad with people judging. They’ll probably just think it’s weird. But there’s lots of weird people in the world, and they aren’t bad just because they’re weird.”

“Very true.”

She opened her mouth once more, then paused, a sly smile coming onto her face. “Okay, one more sexual question,” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“How would you feel about me breastfeeding you?”

“Oh, wow. That’s...quite the question.”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“I...would like to try.”

Her grin turned from sly to horny in an instant, then she began struggling to get control of herself again. And so did he.

This was definitely going to be an interesting relationship.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

They wandered the store for almost two hours, dividing the time about equally between the book side and the art side.

He bought her (and himself) about a dozen books altogether, and a lot of art supplies. Sketch pads, pencils, erasers, colored pencils and highlighters, a few other odds and ends that caught her eye. She had balked at the total when she realized all of it together added up to nearly five hundred dollars, but he’d told her it was fine and paid.

From there, he’d taken her to eat at a seafood place she loved and he’d been meaning to try ever since seeing it while driving around. The meal had been good, the conversation fun, but now that they were onto their next thing, he could tell it was still bugging her.

“I know it’s not like flicking a switch or something, but you don’t have to feel bad about the art store,” he said.

“I know,” she murmured, staring out the window. “I just...I don’t know. The thing I keep coming back to is feeling like a failure. I was supposed to get out there and make a name for myself, have a career, make money, buy a house. But I’m forty now, in debt. Well, not anymore...still feel weird about Colleen killing all that debt but mostly I’m just glad it’s gone. It was so draining, knowing it was there...but it’s like I never figured out how to live my life.”

“I don’t think that’s what’s really happening,” Atticus replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Okay, well, consider this: how many women out there do basically what you’re prepping to do now? Be a stay-at-home mom who relies on their husband for income because he’s got a good enough job? I mean, I get that’s not the norm, but the thing that you’re prepping to do? That’s, like, aspirational. And it would be different if you were the one wanting to have those things, but everything you’ve told me so far leads me to believe that it’s less about you wanting it and more about you feeling pressured to have it.”

“...yeah, that’s true. I’ve had a lot of different jobs, and some of them I thought I would like, and I kind of did, but not for long. And it was always miserable. And I just wanted to, yeah, be a stay-at-home mom. And yeah, I guess that’s true. I mean if they can do it and everyone’s like ‘good for you’, then why is it any different for me?”

“It isn’t, but that’s just an example. I think you should live the life you want to live, without guilt, if you can do so without taking advantage of or hurting other people. And you aren’t taking advantage of us. I mean, shit, I know Colleen and I are happier not having to deal with doing dishes or laundry the past few days, which you’ve absolutely picked up our slack on and we really appreciate it. We welcomed you into our lives, into your new life, you didn’t impose yourself, or trick us, or guilt-trip us, or anything.”

“That’s also true,” she murmured.

“I think it’s going to take time to start feeling good about it, but I also think that’s an active process.”

“What do you mean?”

He pulled into the huge parking lot of their next destination and started looking for a place to park. “I mean you’ve got to be involved in your own healing, and the changing of your own mind. You’ve got to remind yourself that this is okay, that you don’t have to feel guilty. And if you keep it up, I think that will probably diminish the amount of time it takes to feel better about it.”

“That does make sense. I just wish it felt better...oh shit, the aquarium?! I love this place! I used to go here whenever I could, but it was kind of expensive. I love fish so much!”

“Fish are pretty great,” he replied, parking. “Let’s go pay them a visit.”

Susan giggled and hopped out of the car eagerly. He found himself increasingly distracted by her bountiful body as he followed in her wake, his eyes glued to her broad ass.

Tonight was going to be amazing.

…

“Oh fuck, come on, come on, come on!” Susan groaned as he at last pulled into the driveway.

“I hope they’re all there,” Atticus replied.

“Yeah, me fucking too because I am not waiting. I am so fucking horny right now, I’m going to fucking lose my mind.”

The aquarium had been fun and he’d actually had at least one more destination in mind, but she couldn’t stop teasing him and he couldn’t stop looking at her huge tits or fantastically broad hips or her seductively beautiful face. At some point some kind of horny event horizon had been crossed and neither of them could keep it together any longer, so they’d left the aquarium after about forty five minutes and had immediately gone straight home.

He had gotten confirmation from Vetra that she wanted to view this, as she called it, mating session, and intended to be there. He’d told her to head over now before they’d started driving back from Westberg.

He felt about as horny right now as he had on the short ride home he and Colleen had taken the first time they had sex.

And Susan seemed to be in much the same condition. If anything, she seemed worse.

Atticus finished parking and hadn’t even got the key pulled from the ignition before Susan was out of the car. He laughed as he got out as well and she reached the front door and hastily urged him on. They both got inside and found everyone mercifully gathered in the living room.

“Oh wow, you two have it bad,” Colleen said as they kicked their shoes off.

“We do,” Susan agreed. “We’re fucking now. In my bed.”

Then she grabbed his wrist and began tugging him towards the basement.

“I don’t know how he’s going to survive all of us,” Edith said.

“Yeah, we do all have a tendency to get a little forceful when we’re horny,” Kate agreed.

“That trend will continue with my addition,” he heard Vetra said before he disappeared downstairs.

As soon as they were even near the bed, Susan let go of him and began stripping.

“Naked! Now!” she demanded.

Atticus responded by taking his clothes off. It had only been about a twenty minute drive, but it had felt like twenty hours, knowing she was right next to him and even hornier than he was and that what they were about to do was coming up.

There was a new kind of sexual energy buzzing around in him and he knew exactly why: he was going to be literally breeding her. He was going to be fucking her with absolutely no protection, nothing stopping her from getting pregnant, with the express intention of getting her pregnant. Already he was finding visions of fucking her while she was plump and pregnant filling his head, and he wanted nothing more than to fuck her brains out.

“Okay, come on!” she complained as she fell back onto the bed getting her panties off.

She tossed them aside, revealing her sweet pussy in all its glory. As he got his boxers off, Atticus took just a second to admire her in all her pale, voluptuous beauty. She was so decadently buxom and thick and curvaceous. So wonderful to take in, almost like a drug. He could sense the others around them now, settling in to watch and almost certainly film.

“Come on!” Susan cried impatiently.

He laughed and leaped onto the bed with her, and then they were kissing.

Atticus immediately began to fall into the bliss that was Susan’s soft, nude body. All her wonderful padding and gentle, generous curves. She definitely had the softest skin of them all, and she kissed so wonderfully.

His hands wandered across the topography of her beauty, not even being able to fully grasp her huge breasts. He kissed her and their tongues danced together as her taste flooded his mouth. Her sweet, natural taste that gave him a boost to his already unreasonable lust. He felt her hand go between them, wrap around his erection.

“I don’t want to wait,” she gasped.

Susan was almost feral as she pulled him more onto her and spread her legs out.

He had no problem complying with that order because he didn’t want to wait either. Settling between her thick, pale thighs, Atticus rested his head against her pussy and began to rub it between her lips. Fuck, he could feel the heat coming off of her, and she was as wet as he’d ever felt her. He looked up and almost laughed at the exaggerated expression of impatience on her face.

She began to say something and he plunged into her.

The groan Susan let out was primal, an almost guttural sound of sexual gratification. He pushed his way into her, burying his entire steel-hard length into her sweet, wet perfection with a loud, satisfied groan of his own.

He got his arms up under her legs and held them up as he began thrusting into her.

Susan let out a scream of rapture as he began ramming into her sweet spot. Atticus felt possessed as he thrust into her, his motions fast and hard and relentless. He was going for the kill immediately and he wasn’t even sure why, only that it somehow felt necessary.

She orgasmed in about fifteen seconds.

He groaned and grit his teeth, fighting to hold onto the climax that wanted so badly to escape him, to fill her with his seed, to make her fat and pregnant. Inside, she was fluttering and trembling and squeezing wildly, an absolute gush of hot sex juices escaping the seal of their copulation, spurting around his cock and splashing his balls and thighs and stomach.

Each time he drove into her, she shrieked and another spray escaped her.

It was relief, he realized as her first orgasm began to taper off, he was relieving her from the worst of her pent-up sexual energy. His own relief would come, but it would be at the end, and she needed it here and now.

When she was finished climaxing, he released her legs and leaned forward, pressing his hands into the pillow to either side of her head, holding himself up and staring down at her, locking eyes with her as he kept hammering her.

“Fucking yes! Fucking GIVE IT TO ME!” she screamed at him, reaching up and grasping at his back.

He resisted her for a moment, but gave in and let her hold him against herself, wrapping all of her limbs around him. He became lost between her thick thighs, feeling them against his sides, her calves against his lower back as she squeezed him.

Atticus kept pumping into her, thrusting wildly, the bed rocking beneath them. Susan shouted and moaned with utter abandon, and he was glad no one would hear this time. He wanted this to be his new normal for as long as possible, hearing her, and the others, screaming and shrieking in impassioned ecstasy as he drove into them.

His orgasm was coming, like a tsunami cresting the horizon, swallowing even the sun.

It blotted out his own internal landscape and he knew there was nothing he could to do put it off for much longer. Susan felt too good. Everything about her was too fantastical, too perfect. He felt her inner muscles squeezing and milking him, her wet heat not just massaging him but pressure washing him in an unstoppable torrent of sexual rapture.

It was almost there.

Right before it hit, right before that moment, another moment came. Staring into Susan’s bright blue eyes, wide and wild and sparking with love and lust, something happened. That spark they’d both felt the moment they’d met, it came back again, only a hundredfold more powerful.

It was more overwhelming than the impending orgasm.

“Susan,” he gasped, “I love you.”

She gasped as well and the look of sheer overwhelming joy that came onto her face filled him with a juggernaut force of loving happiness.

“I love you too, Atticus!” she cried.

They kissed and his orgasm burst into existence.

More than a supernova, it felt like its own Big Bang, a universe of bliss springing into existence.

From a certain perspective, he supposed that was kind of true.

The rapture not just overwhelmed him, but almost seemed to destroy him in that moment. His entire body convulsed with the bliss of releasing his seed into her, of impregnating her, filling her up in hard, furious spurts.

Each time a fresh burst of it came out of him, he felt it in his entire being and the sounds of rapturous release he made probably sounded like he was dying.

He wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but he finally washed back up on the shores of reality some time later, coming back to himself atop Susan, both of them gasping for breath, soaked in sweat.

Atticus stared down at her, his forehead resting against her own, and she stared up at him, a look of sweet serenity in her eyes.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He kissed her once more. “I love you, too.”

“I think maybe the new couple needs some time alone,” Colleen murmured.

Susan jumped, and he nearly did as well. They both had forgotten they weren’t alone.

“Sorry,” Atticus managed, lifting himself up and looking around.

Everyone was staring at them intently, blushing fiercely. Even Vetra.

“Don’t be sorry,” Colleen replied, and he was relieved to see her smile was a happy one. He was still so paranoid about jealousy. “This is a special moment, and we’re all allowed to have our private time with you, Atticus. Come on, everyone, we got what we came for.”

“We sure did,” Kate murmured.

“I sure did,” Susan said, reaching up and gently turning his face back towards her own.

Atticus kissed her and she held onto him and kept gently making out as the others left the basement.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Atticus started up the shower as Susan wiped at herself with the toiletpaper.

“I bet that’s the one that got me pregnant,” she murmured.

“I hope not,” he replied.

She looked up at him. “Why?”

“Because I want to keep trying.”

She snorted and flushed the wad. He pulled the shower curtain back further for her and followed her inside.

“It’s not like we have to stop just because I’m pregnant, silly boy,” she murmured.

He laughed, pulling the curtain closed, then found himself studying her. No, not studying her, just enraptured by her. She was radiant as she stood nude beneath the showerhead, the water cascading down her soft, pale body, darkening her chestnut brown hair. Her huge breasts swayed with each movement.

“What are you thinking?” she murmured, amused by his attention.

“You are so insanely beautiful,” he replied. “Also, your tits and your hips and your ass are all going to get bigger when you get pregnant.”

She giggled. “And my thighs. You seem kind of obsessed with those, you’re always touching them, running your hands across them.”

“I am pretty obsessed with your thighs.”

She frowned suddenly. “I’m going to get stretch marks. Well, more of them. Is that going to bug you?”

“Not for a second,” he replied, stepping up to her and putting his hands on her broad hips. “It won’t bother me, and I really hope you won’t let it bother you. You are so fucking hot, but it’s not like that’s why I’m in this relationship.”

She regained her smile, though it was more tentative. She reached up and ran a finger slowly down his chest. “Why do you love me?”

“Lots of reasons. I love you because you’re kind, you’re selfless. Because you care. Because you like cats.” She laughed softly. “I’m serious. Cats get a bad rep. People look at them and their aloofness, their temperament, and say things like ‘cats can’t love you like dogs do’.”

“That’s so fucking untrue. Cats just don’t fucking fawn over people. Cats love, and they want to, but they have standards, and won’t put up with bullshit.”

“Exactly. It takes a certain level of empathy and patience to love cats, and you have a lot of both. You’ve been through shit, and you didn’t let it corrupt you into unkindness and cruelty. That takes strength. I love you because you’re strong, and you make me stronger. I love you because you’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

Her smile came back full force. “You really think so?”

“I really think so. I believe so. Hell, by now, I know so. I can see it in the way you live your life, in the way you prepare for this, how seriously you take it. I know that you’re going to be patient and kind, and you’re going to be tough and strong when you need to be, and you’re going to do what needs to be done to be a good mother to our kid.”

“You’re the same,” she murmured. “Everything you said, you’re the same. You’re going to be an amazing father. I can already tell, you aren’t going to be like how a lot of women complain their husbands are. You aren’t going to shy away from any of it.”

“None of it,” he agreed.

And he somehow knew it to be true. He’d been admittedly on the fence about kids since he’d seriously begun considering the concept. The idea of being a parent, of having a family, appealed greatly. But he knew what a cost it would be, how much it would take from him. Not just in the beginning, but for the rest of his life.

But being here with Susan, in a house with Colleen and Edith, with Kate and even Vetra now, it gave him a sense of peace that was not deduced but simply known.

The future was unknown, and certainly darkness was somewhere on the horizon, but he had them, and they had him, and their child would have all of them to help raise, to protect, to teach. And giving up a piece of his life, of himself, didn’t scare him anymore.

As if sensing his thoughts, Susan asked, “Are you sure about this?”

He smiled and hugged her firmly. “I’m completely sure about this, Susan. I love you,” he murmured in her ear.

She shuddered and squeezed him hard.

After a moment, they separated and began cleaning each other.

…

Atticus ended up spending most of the rest of the day downstairs with Susan.

They had sex three more times. They couldn’t get enough of each other. He spent the night down there and screwed her twice in the night.

He couldn’t get the idea of breeding her out of his head and kept diving back into that sweet, perfect pink pussy.

When the morning came, she mounted him and began riding him before he was fully awake.

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” she moaned as she fucked him, her huge tits in his face.

“Really now?” he replied, his hands on her big ass.

“Yes! It’s someone else’s turn, right? Who are you dating today?”

“Kate.”

“See?! I shouldn’t be...mmm...but I need it!”

“Yes you do, you whore.”

She groaned and began riding him harder. He licked across one of her large, dangling breasts, then began sucking on one of her nipples, making her moan louder. He sucked on it until they both had orgasmed and he’d filled her with another load.

“So, I’m definitely going to be interested in breastfeeding,” he said as she got off him.

Susan looked back, grinning. “You pervert.”

“You suggested it.”

“I mean I didn’t say I’m not a pervert. And good, I want that. I want you to do that.”

“Then I shall.”

“Good, now come on! Don’t keep Kate waiting. That girl is rough.”

He chuckled as he threw off the blankets and got to his feet. “Yeah, she is.”

Atticus paused to check his phone and saw he had a text from her.

Hope you’re ready for a day in the woods.

She’d sent along a picture of herself in her bathroom mirror, wearing a tanktop that had been severely pruned from the bottom up, exposing most of her smooth, fit midriff, and a pair of very tight, very short jogging shorts.

God, he could see her nipples through the fabric.

He fired off a response saying that he was indeed ready. He checked the time. It was just past nine in the morning. Setting the phone aside, he hurried off to join Susan in the shower.

…

Kate pulled up to the lakehouse ten minutes later.

She got out of the car with a smile and a backpack.

“Here, packmule,” she said, tossing it to him as he walked over.

“Thanks,” he replied, catching it and looking inside. Food and water, mostly. Though he did notice a bottle of lube in there, too. He shrugged it on. “It’s so good, being treated with respect like this by my girlfriend.”

“Oh my God,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Like you don’t give me shit all the time!”

“Fair,” he said, walking up and putting his hands on her hips. He gave her ass a good squeeze when they kissed, then poked her exposed belly as they parted.

She let out a surprised shriek. “You fucker!”

He chuckled. “Fair’s fair.”

She sighed heavily, staring at him with her lips twisted, like she was contemplating where to hit him. “Come on, lover boy. Let’s get going. I’m aching for a long walk.”

“What happens if someone asks for help?” he asked as they started walking along the road, back the way she’d driven in from.

“I have a friend who’s in the hospitality and hotel business and I guess she just got laid off, so I’ve agreed to pay her two hundred bucks to basically cover for me today. Also, don’t talk to me about getting help for this whole thing, not while we’re out here together. I will talk with you about it, but tonight, when we’re stoned. I want to get stoned in your lakehouse with you. Can you agree to that? Please?”

“I can agree to that, Kate. No business talk,” he replied.

She looked relieved, which admittedly concerned him a little. He had figured she would have calmed down about the topic of conversation at least somewhat by now, but clearly it still had her wound up. Though the fact that she’d gotten someone to help, even temporarily, had to be a good sign. Or at least a small step in the right direction.

As they walked along the road, he thought about their past, about who she was to him.

She had definitely been his first real crush, and now that they were all grown up and spending time together again, he could really see why that had been the case. Kate was a badass, there wasn’t really any other way to say it. That she had gone out of her way to take on this business of summer rental management and that she’d successfully basically soloed it for as long as she had was insanely impressive.

He did wonder at her assertion that they wouldn’t have worked out as a long-term couple. That hesitation she’d been giving off in the beginning had evaporated. But was that because she now felt safe that while they were indeed in a relationship, it was still casual enough that she wouldn’t neglect him, or was it because her assertion had been wrong?

Did it really matter, though?

He supposed he was only thinking about it because it seemed obvious to him that if he’d never met Colleen or the other cougars now in his life, he and Kate would have made an amazing couple. But was that his being blinded by her grandeur? Was she right or was he right?

It didn’t really matter. That was not the path their lives had taken and, if anything, this one was much better. Hopefully for both of them. She seemed happy so far. She wasn’t jealous, and that was still a little surprising, because he remembered she had a problem with that in the past. Not exactly over other girls, they’d been a little too young for that concern, but for other things.

Kate had definitely gone through a phase where the words ‘that’s not fair!’ had been uttered with alarming frequency.

The road parted from the lake’s edge and she led him away from the road, sticking to the lakeside.

“Where are we going?” he asked, finally breaking the companionable, easy silence that had settled over them.

“The old junkyard,” she replied with a grin. “Remember how we used to break in there all the time?”

“Yeah. I also remember all the cuts and scrapes. That time I needed stitches and a tetanus shot.”

“Okay, I did apologize for that.”

“You pushed me off a car.”

“I thought you had better balance!”

He laughed. “It’s fine, Kate, I’m just fucking with you.”

“I do still feel bad about that.”

“I forgive you, Kate. I know you wouldn’t try to hurt me, not then and not now. You could be mean, but you were never mean to me.”

She heaved a sigh. “Real backhanded compliment there.”

“Are you denying?”

“No! I’m just...trying to feel good on our date day!”

“All right, all right, I’m sorry,” he replied, feeling guilty. Although also kind of confused. “Okay, we should probably set the precedent now. Do you want teasing or not? Because you very much started out that way.”

“I...don’t know,” she admitted, looking a little sheepish. “Sorry, I’ve been feeling kinda weird about you just recently.”

“Weird how?”

“Not bad! Just...I can’t stop thinking about you. And it’s kind of annoying, because I haven’t been boy-crazy like this since like a decade ago when the hormones started kicking in. And just so you don’t freak out or anything, I don’t want anything to change. I’m still cool with everything. Honestly, I’m happy. It isn’t even like one of those depressing romance love triangle stories where the girl who lost has to look at the other girl and kind of feel good for her because she deserves to be happy and he makes her happy!”

“I mean, yeah, that’s true.”

“Yeah, because you make these kickass women happy as hell. I didn’t really know about Colleen much, but Edith and Susan? Like, man, they have issues. And I say that with love! But they’ve had bad shit happen to them, and they deserve someone like you to make them happy. And now you have! Clearly you make Susan happy, good lord. Last night was…” She fanned herself. “Whew! But it isn’t like you aren’t making me happy, too! We date, we hang out, we fuck. It’s great. I just didn’t think, you know, I’d be this into you.”

“That’s fair,” he murmured, unsure of how to take this. Was it good or bad? It seemed good. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“It’s fine, I’m not sure either. I’m not even really complaining or asking for anything. I guess more just stating the truth. I see how you are with them and it’s given me a kind of clarity for how you are with me. I mean it’s great being on the receiving end of that loving affection, but seeing it from the outside gives it new context and I’ve just been thinking that I’m really, really lucky to have found you again and gotten in good with you and your new...crew of cougars.”

He laughed awkwardly. “We settled on harem.”

“Oh wow, you really decided on that for real?”

“Yeah. They wanted it. I can’t say I don’t want it.”

“Harem of cougars,” she said, laughing. “It’s like a manga fantasy or something. Except you actually fuck them all and they don’t try to kill each other for your attention.”

“So an actually good harem story,” he replied. “God, I wouldn’t want that. I hate tension and conflict. I wonder if that makes me a coward or something.”

“No, Atticus, it doesn’t make you a coward. It makes you normal. People like to act like cavemen were all mindless savages, killing anyone who disagreed with them, but we evolved to work together. Hell, I imagine physical conflict was probably severely frowned on because how the fuck are you going to band together to deal with a saber-tooth tiger if three dipshits are too beat up from getting in a brawl the night before over a rock?”

He laughed. “Okay, that is actually a great point.”

“People, on the whole, don’t like conflict. Or, I guess, real conflict. That’s why our fiction is so rife with it. There’s no more saber-toothed tigers out there to fight, so now we fight each other, or read about it, or play sports.” She smiled suddenly. “This is something I really love about you. It’s so easy to get into weird topics and you actually talk about them legitimately, like you really entertain the notions. So many people just can’t be bothered.”

“That is something I missed about you,” he replied. “We spent so long just...talking. Just hanging out in the woods, walking or sitting by a stream, talking about anything and everything.”

“Yes! And I want to relive that today, so come on!”

She took his hand and started guiding him along faster.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“What if we get caught?” Atticus asked as they slipped in through the hole in the fence around the back of the junkyard.

“Closed today,” Kate replied easily. “Old Earl is off in a boat drunk somewhere. I think he’s getting ready to sell it.”

“God, he still owns it? He was fucking old when we were kids.”

“Yeah, he’s pushing...seventy now? Seventy five, maybe. Tough old bastard. Plus, even if he was here, he wouldn’t give us shit. He knows me, knows my family, we get along. Man, there’s a lot of cars in here.”

“Yep,” he agreed, looking around.

This part of the junkyard seemed to consist mostly of stacked crushed vehicles. They towered overhead like rusted monoliths.

For the first few moments, they wandered in silence. There was an innate intrigue to junkyards, a tacit curiosity implied by the scattering of old vehicles, broken appliances, and mountains of random junk and scrap that people had abandoned there.

It was dangerous, sure, but to those of a certain mindset, it was worth investigating solely to engage in the ancient human tradition of exploration. He’d found his mind returning to this place over and over again as the years had passed, and being here again, he could see why it had lingered. There was just something inherently interestingly about the random proliferation of garbage.

“What are you thinking?” Kate asked as they wandered into a cul-de-sac created by the stacks of crushed vehicles and mountains of refuse.

“I was wondering about making a game out of this setting,” he replied.

“Oh yeah?” She looked around. “This would be a pretty terrifying setting for one of those ‘you can’t fight back against the monster’ kind of horror games.”

“It would be, but I was thinking more of something like exploration and survival crafting. Like a whole world like this. Call it Junkcraft or something. Although that’s probably been done. But something with more of a balance of story and environmental storytelling than the million other crafting survival games out there.”

Kate favored him with another beautiful smile. “That’s another thing I love about you. You were always so into playing pretend, going on adventures in the woods. Like, you’d commit, you know what I mean? Instead of just trying to act cool and tough, like your brother, and most of the other kids around.”

“I respect canon,” he replied, and she laughed.

“Exactly. Because that was the joy for you. It was never really a power fantasy to you, it was a story and even then you had a good sense of how to balance a narrative. And you were fair. I ‘rescued’ you as much as you ‘rescued’ me during those games. Although, was that fairness? Or was there some other reason you wanted me to save you?”

He chuckled awkwardly. “I mean, it felt pretty good to have a cool girl fighting bad guys to save me.”

“I knew it.”

“But yeah, I did want to be fair.”

“That’s really sexy,” she murmured.

He stepped closer to her and put a hand on her ass, slipping it into her shorts.

“No way,” she said immediately, though she didn’t try to remove his hand, “not in a goddamned junkyard. If you want me to blow you, you need to wait until we’re in the woods.”

“Okay.”

“You’re so horny.”

“I mean, good thing, right?”

“Yeah, that is a good thing...so are you and Vetra actually, like, together? I mean I knew you’d fuck. You’re the fucking Cougar Whisperer and Vetra seemed...lonely. But she also seemed crazy independent. So are you?”

“Um...kinda yeah?”

“Wow, what a concise answer.”

He laughed. “It’s the best I got. I mean, we hooked up. It was really good, surprisingly intimate. Like, it surprised her. I think it might’ve freaked her out a little, because she’s been alone for a long time. I think she thought she could one-and-done me, but then she discovered she was actually really into me. So we’re...seeing how things pan out, basically. I think the fact that she showed up to watch me breed Susan is a good sign.”

Kate snorted. “The way you so casually say ‘breed Susan’.”

“I mean that’s what was happening.”

“I know! It’s just funny. But man, that’s crazy! Four cougars, like for real? That’s gotta be some kind of record. I feel like cougars are normally pretty solitary.”

“...we are talking about mature women still, right?”

“Yes, you ass! I’m being serious.”

He laughed. “Sorry. And yeah, I agree. That was my impression. But at the same time, I dunno, maybe it’s just because they tend to be that way, not necessarily that they seek to. In my experience, older women are more chilled out. They have less to prove.” He paused. “Well...maybe that’s not always true. But my point was that I think they’d be more open to sharing than younger women.”

“Yeah, that tracks. Man. How do you not get intimidated? Because all of them but Susan intimidate me...don’t tell Susan I said that.”

“I won’t, and I kinda get it. She doesn’t really have that personality type. But the others? I mean, I am intimidated.”

“You have been fooling me.”

He laughed. “It’s been a bit of a road to get there. But honestly, horniness has been the best deterrent to intimidation. And I mean that both ways. Me being horny for them but also them being horny for me.”

“Yeah, I guess if some hot woman twice your age you’re trying to fuck comes onto you, that must make you feel better.”

“Very much so.”

She looked around, wrinkling her nose. “I’m cool with moving onto the woods, I forgot that this place kinda smells.”

“Fine by me,” he said.

She stole a kiss from him and then began jogging back towards the hole in the fence. He laughed and quickly followed.

…

From the junkyard, they walked southeast, making slow progress back towards the lake and the forest. He kept his hand on her ass and, when he could, slipped into her shorts. She seemed pleased with the attention, but would sometimes suddenly run ahead of him in a burst of energy, laughing and taunting him.

This was definitely the Kate he remembered, and he was glad by how little she had changed.

He chased her in fits and starts, at one point surging forward in a burst of speed and wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up to spin her around. She shrieked in surprised joy.

“Carry me,” she said as they were nearing the treeline.

“Carry you, huh? Like in my arms or on my back?”

“Back, I want a piggyback ride!” He hesitated, making a show of thinking about it, and she sighed. “I will blow you so good. I’ve been getting tips from Edith.”

“All right, then.”

She laughed loudly as he turned around. She hopped up onto his back and he supported her, settling his hands on the backs of her thighs as she gripped his shoulders. “So fucking easy.”

“I mean, blowjobs are great and Edith sucks like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Yeah, she was telling me about how it’s all about the head, and you gotta use your lips and fingers in certain ways to focus pleasure there. It makes sense.”

He was glad to find her weight pretty well distributed as he carried her along, and that the backpack didn’t get in the way. Though if there was anything important in there, she was definitely crushing it between them. But she was the one who’d packed it.

“You know, Atticus,” she said as they headed into the forest, her voice low and seductive and right in his ear, “if I ever want to get pregnant, I am absolutely going to let you do it.”

“Will you now?” he managed, clearing his throat.

She laughed softly. “Yes. Yes, I will. I’ll stop taking birth control and then I’ll let you fuck me as much as you want, all night and all day, until I get pregnant. And then I’ll keep letting you fuck me, I know that’s a thing you want. You want to fuck a woman who visibly pregnant, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do,” he agreed. “And you are really winding me up.”

“I’ll take care of you. Besides, we are totally fucking out here, just so you know. I’ve got the perfect spot.”

“Do you now?”

“I do, and it’s a surprise, and you’ll see later. Anyway...are you thinking about me pregnant?”

“You fucking know I am. How fat you’ll get.”

“Not fat!” she complained. “Plump.”

He laughed loudly. “Plump!?”

“Yes! You haven’t heard that!”

“I prefer fat.”

“Why!?”

“I dunno, it just fits. Susan likes it. Your ass would get fat, your tits would get fat...fatter. Hips and thighs…”

“Such a fucking pervert.”

“I’m a pervert surrounded by perverts because most of us are perverts who like to labor under the delusion that we’re not. Now,” he stopped suddenly and let her down, “I want that blowjob because I can’t think straight anymore.”

He turned to face her and found her smiling seductively at him. He stared at her, reveling in her beauty. She could definitely be an online model if she wanted to, she absolutely had the body and the looks for it. He reached out and lifted her shirt, exposing her breasts. She made a small gasp of annoyance, but made no move to stop him.

Atticus grinned his foolish grin of pure lusty joy as he felt her up, enjoying the feel of her soft, warm, smooth breasts against his palms. Then he stepped closer to her, sliding his hands back and around and down until he found his way back into her shorts, grasping her wonderfully fit, toned ass. He kissed her and she moaned softly.

They twisted tongues and locked lips until she broke it and, with that same seductive smile, got down on her knees. Atticus looked around as she began working his pants to get his cock out. They were decently hidden by the trees here, but it wouldn’t be that difficult to come across them.

“I’ll be quick,” she murmured as his erection came out.

“Prove it,” he replied, looking back down at her.

She narrowed her eyes, glaring up at him, then opened her mouth and started aggressively sucking him off.

He groaned as a wave of hot pleasure hit him, her lips going to work sliding up and down his head and shaft, bobbing for a few moments before pulling back and focusing entirely on his head. He groaned louder, putting a hand on the back of her head, as she began making her movements more shallow.

Her wet lips glided over his head again and again, and the rapture began to melt him. Edith definitely had a point. Taking the whole dick into her mouth might look good on camera, but doing it this way felt crazy good.

Kate moaned quietly as she wrapped her finger and thumb around his cock and began using it in tandem with her lips.

“Holy fucking shit,” he groaned as she increased the pleasure.

She laughed a little, pleased with herself, and kept going.

She proved it. She popped him in about sixty seconds. He groaned as she coaxed the orgasm out of him. She didn’t let up, just kept pleasuring him until he started busting in her mouth. More pleasured groans escaped him as he came and she drained him dry.

When she was finished, she leaned back and looked up at him with about as smug and satisfied a smirk as he’d ever seen on her.

“So what do you have to say to that, smartass?”

“You’re a whore,” he replied.

The look of shock on her face was perfect.

“I will use your balls for a punching bag!” she snarled as she got to her feet.

He laughed loudly as she pulled her shirt back down. She was trying not to smile. “I’m sorry, I had to.”

“Why did you have to!? Turn around, you prick.”

He turned around and she unzipped his pack and reached inside, dug around until she found something. He heard her drinking and began to turn but one hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder.

“I didn’t say you could turn around! Now answer me!”

He found it difficult to stop laughing. “Two reasons. The first was to put you in your place, to keep you from getting too smug.”

“Oh, you prick,” she growled, but she was laughing too. “And the second reason, dipshit?”

“I’m going to return the favor and you won’t be able to feel anything but overwhelming gratitude towards me.”

“Oh, you’re gonna fucking eat me?”

“Yes.”

“All right, do it.” She shoved whatever she’d been drinking from back into the pack and zipped it back up.

He turned around, found a suitable tree, and had her lean against it. Then he got down on his knees after taking one more look around and set to work pleasuring her. He listened to her start panting and trying not to moan too loudly as he started tonguing her clit. He wanted to do something similar for her and tried to get her off as fast as he could.

It was a near thing, but he was pretty sure he beat her time when she suddenly grabbed his head and started orgasming. She let out a series of choked-off shrieks as she struggled to keep her mouth shut, her hips bucking and her thighs trembling.

When it was over, she leaned back against the tree, panting.

“Okay, you’re right,” she murmured.

“Am I?” he asked, helping her back into her shorts.

“Uh-huh. I feel nothing but gratitude.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“How much did you think of me?” Kate asked suddenly.

“I mean, a lot,” Atticus replied.

They were making their way through the forest still. For about two hours they’d just wandered and talked, stopping occasionally when they found a familiar spot and reminiscing. Mostly they laughed and joked and poked fun at each other, but sometimes they grew more somber when the memories turned sour.

It wasn’t all fun and games.

But now it seemed like she was leading him somewhere with more purpose, though she had yet to actually say where.

He was okay with that.

Being with her again, here in Lakeside, walking their old haunts, it was magical in a way nothing else had been. Special in a way none of his time with the other women had been.

“How much did you jack it to me?”

He snorted. “Often enough...this is weird to talk about.”

She scoffed and came to a halt, looking at him with something like genuine surprise. “How are you still shy about sex stuff after all you’ve done with me? With your harem of cougars?”

He laughed awkwardly. “I don’t know! I guess it’s just threaded through my DNA. Although given the frequency with which we all screw, I’m pretty sure it’ll be fucked out of me by next year.”

“It’s gonna be fucked out of you by Christmas,” she replied. “I know I’ll do my part.”

“You just can’t keep your hands off me, can you?”

“Not now that I’ve gotten them back on you!” She grabbed his hand suddenly and began leading him off in a new direction. “Come on, I’ve got a special surprise for you.”

“I’m always down for those.”

She stomped through the underbrush, leading him deeper into the woods. The canopy overhead grew denser and the trees seemed to be packed more tightly together. It felt more like the deep woods than the outskirts of the forest. He hoped they could find their way back, but she always seemed pretty confident, and his own sense of direction was good enough that he should be able to point himself back towards Lakeside and walk.

The smell in the air changed suddenly as they broke through some dense bushes. The air was wet, he realized.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asked.

“Yep!” Kate replied, sounding immensely pleased with herself as she looked around, then shed her tanktop, freeing her bouncy breasts.

She had found a hot spring. It was small, about the size of a hot tub, and looked like a kind of perfect place to soak for two people.

“How’d you find this?” he asked, setting the backpack down.

“By accident. I remember hearing rumors that there were supposed to be a few hot springs in the area, but no one could ever tell me where. The summer after I graduated, I decided I was going to find one. And I did, finally, after like a month. As far as I know, no one else knows about this.”

“Did you tell anyone else?”

“No.”

“Maybe that’s why no one else knows, the handful of other people who have found them clammed up like you. Not that I’m complaining, this is really cool to have to ourselves.”

“Yep! And now I’m going to fulfill a fantasy I’ve wanted to for a while now. I remember the first time I found it and soaked in it, I wished so badly you were here to skinny dip with me and fuck me in the water. And you are, and you can!”

“I can,” he agreed, kneeling and untying his hiking boots.

She grinned and did the same thing. While he was still getting undressed, she went into the pack and pulled out a pair of towels that he hadn’t noticed. She laid them out on the ground beside the water and then began lowering her smooth, nude body into the hot spring.

Atticus finished undressing, took one more look around to confirm they were still alone, or confirm it as well as he could given the denseness of the woodlands surrounding them, then lowered himself into the water.

It was almost like being in a hot tub, just not as comfortably designed. The water had at least worn the rocky sides smooth over the years, and the bottom was just low enough that they could stand with their heads above the waterline.

He and Kate settled in and grinned at each other. He thought maybe she might like to soak a bit more, but she came in for a kiss almost right away. He returned it and sent his hands roaming over her body as she did the same.

This was definitely living a fantasy, he realized as they kissed and touched and caressed in the steaming water of the hot spring. There was a kind of wild thrill to it, an intensity that hadn’t been there the other times they’d made love.

As they kept kissing, she shifted, getting her legs wrapped around his midsection, grinning at him as she reached down between them and found his erection. Her fingers wrapped around it and she fit his head between her lips, gasping as she began rubbing it up and down, staring into his eyes the whole time.

Then she pushed it into herself and the pleasure hit them both like a sledgehammer.

She gasped as he gripped her, his fingertips digging into the smooth skin of her fit ass, and began to slide her up and down his erection.

“I have never fucked in water before,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his.

“It’s fun,” he murmured, his senses being mostly occupied by the utter bliss burning out from his core to consume his whole being.

“Of course you’ve done it before,” she said, laughing softly, then moaning.

“Colleen and Edith have hot tubs.”

“We are so fucking in them, because this is awesome-ah! Oh yeah, right there…” she moaned.

He tightened his grip and kept the angle consistent as he began sliding her faster up and down his cock. She was so perfect inside, so tight and wet and slick and hot. God, was she hot inside.

“Fuck me until I orgasm,” she whispered, “and then fuck me up the ass until you orgasm.”

“Is that what the lube is for?” he replied with a grin as he kept fucking her.

“Y-yes, it is-ah! Fuck, Atticus,” she moaned.

“I’ll fuck you up the ass, you little whore.”

She began to say something but cried out as he hit a particularly sensitive spot. Grinning, he worked that angle, going faster and a bit harder, and he had her orgasming all over his cock inside another minute.

When she was finished, she got off him and came around back to where she’d laid the towels down, catching her breath. After a moment, she returned, the tube of lube in her hand.

“Waterproof,” she said.

“Good to know.” She began to turn around. “Wait.”

“What?”

“I want it like how we were just doing it.”

“Oh, anal from the front? All right,” she said, grinning at him as she stepped back up to him, staring into his eyes as she bobbed in the water.

He applied the lube and set the tube back on the towel, then got her back up into position. Her eyes went wide as he penetrated her sweet ass and she gasped as he pushed slowly into her.

“Fuck, you’re thick,” she whispered, panting now.

“And you are fucking tight,” he muttered, relishing in the feel of her sweet ass clenched tight around his erection.

He was careful with her, sliding her up and down until he’d gotten all the way inside. He definitely wanted to do more anal like this, there was something extremely intense and exhilarating about looking into a woman’s eyes as you fucked her up the ass.

They began kissing as he slid her up and down, gradually increasing speed. She moaned into the kiss, breaking it occasionally to cry out. He kept fucking her ass until he popped. She gasped as his grip tightened and he thrust deeper into her. She held his eyes with her own, grinning open-mouthed as she clung onto him, urging him on with her body alone as he came inside of her.

He filled her sweet, tight ass up and then released her, panting.

“Fuck,” he whispered.

“Yep. Fantasy fulfilled,” she murmured dreamily. She dunked her head under the water and came back up, running her hands over her hair, squeezing the water out. “That was amazing.”

He murmured in agreement, a little dizzy now. They soaked there for a moment, enjoying the sensation, then Kate let out a small huff.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m annoyed, I’m too hot now,” she replied, hauling herself up out of the water. “I guess that makes sense. Normally I can soak for longer but normally I don’t have you pounding me.”

He laughed and joined her, settling on his towel as she did the same on hers. “Very true...so is this a good date day?”

Kate fixed him with a stare that for a moment unsettled him, like he’d asked the wrong question or touched a nerve, but after a few seconds he realized it wasn’t any negative emotion in her eyes. It was something else, something positive but intense.

“This has easily been the best date of my life,” she replied. “Being here with you again, it’s...made me realize, really realize, how much I missed you all those years. How much you meant to me. I always looked forward to you coming back in the summer, and God did I miss you after you left. And now that you’re back and we’re together, it’s just...kind of overwhelming.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked uncertainly.

“I mean, it’s a good thing, just...it’s a lot, is all. It’s like every time we get back together, it gets more intense than the previous time, emotionally. Mmm…”

“What?”

“Can I have you tonight? To myself? At my place? Will you spend the night?”

“Yeah, definitely. We’ll have to swing by the lakehouse to pick up some spare clothes and the weed, and to update the others, but yeah.”

“Thank you.” She slowly lost her smile. “Will it cause problems? With the others? I know they aren’t jealous, but...I dunno, sometimes I wonder and worry.”

“If it will cause problems, they’ll tell me,” he replied. “Or, at least, I’ll be able to pick up on it and I’ll ask them. I really don’t think it’ll be a problem, though.”

“If you’re sure. I just feel kind of weird sometimes. Like I’m always asking for more. We started this as a fling and then it became casual sex and now we’re full blown dating and now I’m asking you to spend the night. I just keep wanting more, when’s it going to become a problem? Because I’m your girlfriend, but I’m not your girlfriend, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it.” He considered pointing out that she’d been very specific about the nature of their relationship but didn’t, because this was her grappling with that very fact. “The biggest thing I’m finding about maintaining several romantic relationships at once is the adjustment period, finding balance, you know? Not just between me and one woman, but with all the others, too...what?”

Now she was grinning at him. She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m dating a guy who’s dating four other women, but...I was just thinking, I’m glad it was you. I’m glad this happened to you. You’re such a genuinely good guy. And you’re clearly staying one. This shit isn’t going to your head. Success, super hot older girlfriends who love you and fuck you all the time, moving out to some idyllic lakehouse, it’s not turning you into an ass. You know, any more than you already are, anyway.”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m an ass.”

“I’m a brat, at least when it comes to you, and you’re kind of an ass, and that’s perfect!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, come on, Atticus. Are you really going to sit there and pretend you don’t like it when I fuck with you so that you can tickle and tease and sometimes fuck me into my place?”

“I guess I can’t really say that,” he admitted.

“Exactly. Come on, let’s eat lunch.”

He laughed as he opened the backpack. “Nude picnic?”

“Sure, why not? This feels nice. The air is warm, the sun is warm, the company is hot.”

“Very hot,” he agreed, looking again over her sleek, nude body.

“Quit staring and give me my sandwich!” she complained.

He laughed and pulled one of the sandwiches she’d packed and wrapped in plasticwrap, then tossed it at her face. She cried out as it bounced off and dropped into her lap.

“You prick!”

“Hey, you asked for it, you fucking brat.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, then laughed and accepted the can of soda. He grabbed his own meal and started eating, wondering about Kate’s assertion about wanting more.

How much more would she end up wanting?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The day continued at a comfortable, leisurely pace.

After lunch and another soak, this one longer as they refrained from fucking again, they dried, dressed, and headed off once more.

They walked through the woods, reminiscing and chatting about whatever came to mind until it was almost dark. Kate was getting clingy, not that he minded. She held his hand or looped their arms together or asked for piggyback rides almost the whole time.

He remembered Colleen telling him ‘That girl loves you, Atticus’.

He wondered if it was true.

He wondered if he loved her.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like he did. Love kind of bothered him, because for the most part, it seemed pretty unequivocal. He’d been basically slapped in the face with the fact that he loved Edith and Susan. It had been a bit slower with Colleen, but he thought that was because he’d been...not resistant to it, but more disbelieving of it.

Atticus remembered fearing she would see him as a boy with a crush, declaring his undying love for the hot cougar who’d invited him into her bed. Obviously it hadn’t turned out like that, but once he’d accepted that he loved her, it had appeared like magic, snapping into reality all at once.

But with Kate…

He was questioning. Why?

It had to be because he’d known her longer, that was the key difference between her and the others. Unless her being his same age might have something to do with it, but no, that didn’t feel right.

It had to be their history.

It haunted him as they walked back to the lakehouse, where he found Colleen and Susan sitting on the couch, laughing over something.

“Well, look who’s finally back!” Colleen said, grinning. “We thought we’d have to go out there ourselves.”

“You could have texted,” he replied.

“We did.”

He frowned, dug his phone out of his pocket. “Oh fuck me,” he groaned. “I put it on silent apparently, when the fuck-dammit, I must’ve accidentally switched it to silent when I put it back from vibrate only.” He sighed. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right, lover of mine,” Colleen replied.

“Yeah, we figured you were having too good a time out there,” Susan teased, smirking at him.

“It was a pretty good time,” Kate murmured.

“Where’s Edith?” he asked.

“She’s in the bedroom, organizing. I don’t know if you said something to her, but she’s suddenly all fired up about the cafe, finally.” She paused, sighed. “I’m being mean, but you get what I mean.”

“I do, and I didn’t really do anything, she just...figured some stuff out.”

“Whatever happened, I’m very glad.”

“So am I. Um, is it cool if I spend the night at Kate’s?”

“I’m fine with it,” Susan replied.

“I am, too...so long as you don’t shirk your duties tomorrow.”

“My duties, huh?” Colleen fixed him with her stare, then one where she set her lips firmly and tilted her head down just a little. “All right! I promise. I’ll be here and ready by eight sharp.”

“Good. Have fun tonight,” she replied, smiling sweetly at him.

“You’re scary sometimes,” Kate murmured.

Colleen laughed easily. “It’s just a matter of knowing when to apply the right amount of pressure, is all.”

“Okay, now you sound like a serial killer,” Atticus said, heading for the bedroom.

“Thank you so much, love,” Colleen called after him.

He laughed and headed inside, finding Edith on the bed with her legs folded, a laptop in front of her, and an orbit of papers surrounding her.

“Hi,” she said, looking up after a moment. “You’re back.”

“I’m back, just for a moment, though. You okay with me spending the night with Kate?”

“Um...yeah, yes,” she replied, clearly distracted. She looked around for a moment at the varied papers, then sighed. “Sorry, I’m really distracted right now. I’m getting everything ready. I want the cafe grand opening to be soon.”

“How soon?” he asked, heading for the closet and grabbing a duffel bag, then shoving some spare clothes into it. “Like before the month is over soon?”

“Yes. And I think I can make it work. The mayor is kind of desperate to work with me and Colleen still, apparently. I sent an e-mail a few hours ago saying I was about ready and he responded almost immediately and enthusiastically, so we’ve got a call scheduled for tomorrow.”

“Any reason he’s so desperate?”

“Lakeside has always been one bad tourist season away from economic depression. That solar eclipse a while back was a nice boost but I think the boost is pretty much over. Having a new cafe and a world-famous author doing a book-signing for the first time in over a year is going to be quite the new boost, hopefully.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point. Hmm. Wonder if I could do anything to help somewhere down the line,” he murmured.

“Any ideas in mind?”

“I could make a small game set in Lakeside, something like that.”

“That would definitely be interesting.”

He finished packing, stuffing some edibles in there as well, then walked over and gave her a quick kiss. “All right, I’m going to spend the night with Kate. I love you.”

She smiled suddenly, and it was like the sun breaking on a dark day, her stressed expression disappearing in that instant. “I love you too, Atticus. I love you so much.”

“That is really good to hear,” he said, and for just a moment he was tempted to climb onto the bed and kiss her and maybe do a bit more.

But she was clearly busy, and this was Kate’s date day, so he gave her another quick kiss and headed out.

…

It was weird, being back at Kate’s place.

He’d come to hang out a few times during their youth, but for a reason he’d never been able to determine, her parents didn’t seem completely comfortable with his or his brother’s presence.

The house had since been repainted, from rustic yellow to cool blue, and it looked a lot nicer. The windows had been replaced, too. As she led him inside, he found that the furniture was all different.

“You did some redecorating?” he asked.

“Yep. As soon as it became mine. I hated the color scheme and the hardwood floors. Now I’ve got carpet everywhere, and it’s so much nicer. Here, gimme that edible, I wanna get my high on.”

“Same,” he agreed, pulling the container out of his bag.

“How much is this?” she asked, accepting one of the gummies.

“Ten milligrams. That tends to fuck me up, apparently, but not too much.”

“Fine by me.”

They ate the gummies and he walked to her bedroom, then paused when he found it had been converted into an office.

“My bedroom is the master bedroom now,” Kate said, coming up behind him.

“Nice.”

He turned and walked across the hall into the opposite door, finding a big bed awaiting him. He tossed his bag onto the floor at the foot of the bed and then spent a moment triple-checking his phone, ensuring it was on, at a volume that would wake him, and that he had two alarms set.

No way he was screwing up Colleen’s date day.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Let’s make some pizza, watch a movie, and make out,” she replied eagerly.

“That sounds like a pretty perfect way to end the date.”

Her grin broadened and she took his hand and began dragging him back to the kitchen.

…

“Atticus?” Kate murmured so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

It was raining now. It seemed to set the perfect atmosphere, laying here in the dark with her, nude and sweaty after a long session of slow but impassioned lovemaking.

His head was buzzing.

“Yeah?” he replied.

She didn’t respond for a long moment. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was high or nervous. Or maybe his own perception of time was more skewed than he thought it was.

“You okay?” he asked finally.

“Yeah. I’m good. I’m really good,” she said, then giggled softly.

They were spooning now, so he couldn’t see her face. She seemed relaxed, but she was also stoned and freshly fucked right now.

“So what’s up?”

Another bout of silence. Finally, “I think...I’m in love with you.”

“Oh.”

“...is that okay?”

He laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Yes, Kate, that’s okay.”

“I want to talk about it.”

“Let’s talk about it.”

“Okay, but I’ll want to talk about it later, too, when I’m not stoned.”

“I will talk about it as much as you want whenever you want,” he replied, and kissed the back of her head.

“No wonder I fell in love with you,” she murmured. “You’re too fucking reasonable.” She yawned. “I had such a bad crush on you when you left for the last time. And it stayed for a while, for years. I got so fucking sad when you never came back. It broke my heart.”

“I’m really sorry, Kate. I would have if I could. It broke my heart, too.”

“I know it isn’t your fault, I’m not blaming you or mad at you. Just saying it. But I was mad at you for a while, but eventually I realized it wasn’t your fault, because you couldn’t come without your parents. And then I tried to make myself forget about you. But I never did. I told myself it was just a stupid crush and we only saw each other once a year for a week, and eventually I bullshitted myself into kinda forgetting about you, or at least not longing for you.”

She fell silent again for a moment. His hand found hers in the darkness and he began rubbing the back of it slowly.

“At some point, it occurred to me that none of the guys I was trying to get with were working out. And I finally realized I was thinking about you all the time without realizing it. I was comparing them to you and,” she laughed, “no one fucking measured up to you. And I remember last year I told myself to stop it, I was just making you up at this point, I couldn’t possibly know what kind of guy you’d turned into by now, it had been over a decade. But now that you’re here? If anything, my psyche undersold you. You’re so amazing. And I think why I keep wanting more,” she paused, snorted, “no I know why I keep wanting more is because I fell in love with you somewhere along the line, missing you, and then you showed up and proved my love right a dozen times over...do you love me?”

“I was just thinking about this exact thing today,” Atticus murmured. His emotions felt curiously muted, only no, not his emotions, his anxiety. He felt it churning somewhere deep in his chest, but it was so faint it almost didn’t exist. “I asked myself this exact question today: do I love Kate? Am I in love with her? Falling in love with her? And I thought that I didn’t know, but then I thought, how can I not know? Love is pretty obvious, that’s been made plain to me just recently.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” she murmured.

“But thinking about it, and now hearing you say all this stuff, it was kind of like making everything click into place. And I realized the reason why I couldn’t answer the question right away was because I was pretty much in the same place you were. I did fall in love with you somewhere along the way, but I couldn’t see you anymore, so I buried it all. But now it’s come back up, and...yeah. I do. I do love you, Kate.”

“...is that okay? Will you get in trouble?”

“No, Kate. This isn’t going to cause problems...I think. Like I said earlier, we just need to modulate our relationships, figure everything out. Do you want more now? I mean, do you want to live together?”

“I dunno. I kind of like living here on my own. And I don’t think there’d be room for me over at your place. Not with four of you there now. I love you, but...I have come to really like my independence, too. And I’ve always kind of been afraid that I didn’t really want a relationship. But now it seems kind of obvious that I do...only if it can be with you, though.”

“So, do you want to keep doing what we’re doing? Maybe just a bit more of it?” he asked.

“Yes. I want that. That sounds really perfect. And sometimes you can come spend the night here. And we can fuck and tell each other that we love each other and it’ll kind of be like a little window into that alternate life where you moved back and we met again and fell in love and moved in together and everything’s perfect.”

“Best of both worlds,” he murmured.

“Yeah…” She yawned again. “Am I too independent for you? I mean, I’m not going to change, but does it bother you, even a little?”

He laughed. “Fuck no, Kate. I love it. It’s so hot.”

She laughed as well, then pressed herself a little more firmly up against him. “I’m really glad you’re not controlling.”

“Well...you like some controlling behavior,” he murmured, running a hand up to her breast and grasping it.

She gasped as he ran a finger across her nipple. “Okay, fine, yeah, some.” She shifted. “Are you hard again!?”

“Well yeah, I’m in bed with a naked you.”

She let out an exaggerated sigh and began pulling away from him. “Well, we can’t have that, now can we? On your back, mister.”

Atticus grinned and laid on his back. Kate mounted him.

Definitely a great end to a great date day.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Atticus was feeling damn good.

He’d woken up feeling refreshed with the mildest of weed hangovers on the first alarm. Kate had roused but immediately fallen back asleep. Tempted though he was to try and rouse her again for some fun, he let her be and headed for the shower, knowing he should save it for Colleen.

Even if Kate would probably be kind of frustrated that they hadn’t had a quickie before leaving.

Going through his morning routine had killed whatever was left of his hangover and he’d kissed Kate goodbye, then had driven back to the lakehouse, as he’d followed her in his car over last night, knowing she might not be able to drive him back.

Colleen hadn’t been up yet, so he’d taken advantage of that and cooked her breakfast, doing his best to emulate the omelet from Bargain Burgers and doing a pretty decent job by her reaction when she’d emerged from the bedroom.

The look in her eyes when she’d walked out and seen him finishing up had been first of surprise, then of a deep kind of double-helix of love and lust twisted and twined together.

After breakfast, they’d fucked in the shower and hit the highway.

Colleen wanted to see the coast.

Having only seen it once himself, Atticus found himself wanting to see it, too.

The atmosphere in the car was a beautiful cocktail of relaxed and excited, something he wasn’t sure he could adequately describe if asked.

The trip would take an hour and they were already most of the way there. Normally car rides bugged him, but this one had breezed by.

“Sometimes I lament that I was born when I was born,” Colleen said after a companionable silence had gone by for several moments. “Ever since we got together, I sometimes find myself wishing I’d been born around your own time, and we could have gotten together then. But others, I’m kind of more satisfied with this version of events.”

“Oh yeah?” he replied, glancing over at her.

Damn, did she look so good in her clean white sundress. It hugged her curves and was honestly probably the sexist thing she owned that she could reasonably wear outside and wasn’t a bikini.

“Yes,” she said, smiling lovingly at him. “I didn’t hate my life up until now, and more than that, all the experiences I had, everything that happened to me, the years that passed...I believe all of it morphed into a frame of reference, a lens that gave my appreciation of this relationship a clarity that wouldn’t otherwise exist.”

“That’s a good point.”

“Plus, I will admit that there is a part of me that really enjoys the element of...perversion that underlies our love.”

“You so very much love being the cougar to my cub.”

Her grin widened. “Yes. I do. I really do.”

“I love that, too. I’m glad it isn’t weird for either of us, that we can both just enjoy it without it getting in the way of the relationship.”

“Exactly. That’s something I love about you so much, you fucking get me, Atticus. You get me like no one else I’ve ever met has. You connect with me in a way that goes beyond words, a silent wavelength that transcends physical actions and has soaked into the source code of our love.”

“Someone’s feeling inspired.”

She giggled. “I am! I’ve honestly been in kind of a slump for the past several years, even before the divorce. Everything I’ve written, I mean...I did my job and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy any of it, but certainly the spark was gone. But now it’s back! Because of you. I’ve been burning my way through my latest novel. And I’ve made some decisions.”

He saw their exit and pulled off. “Like what?”

“I’m starting a new pen name. I mean, I’ll acknowledge it, it won’t be a secret or anything, obviously I’d be stupid not to use the audience I’ve built, but it will be new. It will be a fresh start. And it will be completely independent. I’m going to self publish it and source all the work myself. I’ve already headhunted and contracted a cover artist. I’m also going to stop making compromises. There were always compromises I had to make because that’s what my publisher wanted. And after a certain point, I had to make less of them, because I was more successful, but it had almost become habit at that point, and the romance genre demanded certain tropes...no more. I’m doing it my way while still crafting a good story.”

“Wow,” he murmured, pulling into the small coastal town Colleen had aimed him towards at the start of their journey.

They were making for a pier that held a strip of shops and restaurants.

“Yep. When I finished the divorce and moved out to Lakeside, I had the idea of a fresh start, turning the page, beginning a new chapter. But it never really seemed to happen. Like a fire never catching. It was like I was waiting for something. I think it would have happened eventually, but I was apparently waiting for you. And then you came and lit the fire with a goddamned flamethrower.”

“What’s your story about?” he asked, like he didn’t know.

“You and me, silly boy. It’s basically our story with some fictional elements.” She paused. “That’s okay, right? I just realized we talked about it but I never actually asked you.”

“That’s not just all right, that’s fucking awesome,” he replied.

She laughed. “I thought so. It’s already going to be a trilogy, but I keep coming up with more ideas and inspiration, it might go beyond that. God, that’s a big one I’m going to change. So much of romance is formula, and the formula always calls for ‘happily ever after’ as the ending. Even ‘series’ in romance aren’t really series, they’re just the same story told with variations for five different girls finding their true love, all sisters or friends or something. I want to know what comes next. I want to explore more into the territory beyond ‘happily ever after’.”

“Same,” he agreed, driving along the pier, then past it, and pulling into a small gravel parking lot that sat at the base of a lighthouse.

“I love these,” Colleen murmured, staring up through the windshield at the old, towering structure.

“I do, too. I’ve had some kind of idea of a survival fantasy game set on an island with the characters using an old lighthouse as a home base.”

“Now that sounds interesting. Could be pretty romantic, too,” she said, opening the door.

He got out with her and they started heading up to the lighthouse.

“After Cold Reset, yeah, that’s kind of my thought, too. It’s all optional in Cold Reset, and it’s going to be in my next one, but I think after that I want to do one that’s about romance. Like, not completely, it’s about survival, too, but I’m kind of envisioning something like a human guy washing up on the shore of an island with a group of women, most of them not human, and have relationship building/balancing be a part of the game.”

“Monster ladies?” Colleen asked as they headed up to the lighthouse, raising an eyebrow.

“Some, yeah.”

“Will there be sex in the game?”

He chuckled. “You’re into this, huh?”

“Yes.”

“There could be. I guess I could just commit and make it a sex game with more emphasis on story. Although at that point I’d have probably have to hire an animator. There’s only so much I can do.”

“Maybe. I bet you could figure it out. Come on.”

She took him into the lighthouse and they began working their way up the spiraling staircase. There was no one around right now and it felt a lot more romantic as a consequence. He followed her sweet, sundress-clad ass up the staircase until they reached the top and came to stand against the iron railing.

“Wow,” he muttered.

The view was a vision of intimidating natural beauty.

The ocean stretched away from them, tame today, the waves gentle. He looked left and right, down the coastline that spread out in slow grandeur. Mostly nature, beach and woodland, to the south, and the sleepy town stretched lazily to the north.

But the ocean.

It swallowed the horizon.

It seemed somehow bigger than the Earth itself.

“It’s something, isn’t it?” Colleen murmured dreamily.

“It really is.”

He took her hand and she laced their fingers together and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her skin was soft and smooth and warm. Welcoming. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder and sighing in deep contentment.

They stood like that together for a long time.

…

“You gonna put the others into your story?” Atticus asked.

They were walking down the pier now, sharing a bag of cotton candy they’d bought on a whim. From the lighthouse, they’d begun their slow stroll down it, seeing what there was to see.

“That’s what’s really giving me pause about making this more than a trilogy. The first three books are about you and me and all the loving, filthy cougar-cub sex and romance we get up to. But I need to talk more with Edith and Susan, with Kate and even Vetra.”

“You think they’ll go for it?” he asked, hoping that creeping heat he felt on his face wasn’t showing in the spring sunshine.

“Susan will. I teased the idea yesterday and she all but jumped on it. Edith...I’m not sure. I think Vetra will. I think she’ll waffle on it for a while, but ultimately she’ll admit to herself that she’s enticed by the idea.”

“...and Kate?”

Colleen smirked. She knew. She knew something at least.

“I’m not sure about her. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure either,” he replied.

“Hmm. How did yesterday go?”

“It went well. We had a really good time.”

“Did you now?”

He laughed. “All right, all right. Yeah, something happened.”

“And what might that be?”

Like she didn’t already know.

“You sure you want to talk about this during your date day?”

“It’s my date day, and you encouraged me to do what I want, and I want to talk about this. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

“Yes, Miss Silver.”

She looked over at him, her lips pursed, that look of amusement and annoyance he was not just familiar with by now, but honestly looking to see.

He liked provoking it for some reason.

“She admitted that she’s in love with me,” he said, growing a bit more serious. “And I admitted the same thing.”

“Finally,” she muttered.

“You were right, I guess.”

“You guess. I was right. Of course that girl loves you. How could she not? And how could you not? The real question is: will anything change?”

“I don’t think so,” he replied. “We’re still figuring that out, and we’ll be doing that for a while, I imagine, but she’s like the rest of you.” He paused. “Well, like you and Edith and Vetra.”

“Independent to a fault?”

“Yes, that. Although given the nature of your love lives, less of a fault than for some people. She can fuck off and do her own thing for days or even a whole week and, yeah, I’ll miss her, but I won’t exactly be feeling neglected. And I can kind of do the same thing and she won’t feel neglected because she likes her space. Just like the others, it works kind of perfect.”

“I’m hoping that remains true in the long run.”

“So do I. Sincerely. I’ll probably section off a night a week to spend the night at her house...and a night a week to spend the night at Vetra’s.”

“Sort of like a weekend.”

“Yeah...that won’t be a problem will it?”

Colleen smiled. “You know the answer to that, my sweet little cub. It won’t be a problem so long as you remember,” she grabbed his ass, “who your main cougar is.”

He felt a foolish laugh escape him. “Uh...yeah. I won’t.”

“I’ll bet you won’t. Did you like my ass?”

“What do you think?”

“I want to hear it.”

“I loved your ass. When you’re ready, I really want it again. I want it missionary.”

“Mmm. I’d like that. I think that’s your favorite position. Which is interesting.”

“Why?”

“I feel like most guys...scratch that, most people wouldn’t admit to that.”

“I didn’t exactly admit to it…” She raised one red eyebrow at him. “But yeah, by now I think the evidence is irrefutable. It’s my favorite position.”

“Exactly. It’s seen as so basic. That’s what the name itself implies: the only position ‘allowed’ by the religious extremists. It’s the most chaste position. But that’s not why you like it, nor do you like it because you’re vanilla. You like it because of its intimacy.”

“I’d say that’s accurate.”

“And I appreciate that about you. You don’t try to flex, you don’t pose. Your authenticity is absolute.”

“Well...I very much doubt it’s absolute.”

She sighed. “Fine, yes. For the sake of acknowledging actual reality, it isn’t absolute. But you tell the truth, sometimes to a fault. Which I appreciate. Relationships wither with bullshit. With easy lies and egos.”

“That’s very true.”

She perked up as they reached a dock that extended away from the pier. “Come on, there’s a great place to see fish up here.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

After watching the fish and taking a long, leisurely stroll, she brought him to a small seafood place with outdoor seating right at the ocean’s edge.

She got lobster and he had shrimp and salmon.

“Okay,” Colleen said suddenly after they’d spent a few moments eating, “bucket list.”

“Bucket list, huh? Shit, I’ll need to think about it,” Atticus replied.

“You don’t have one ready to go?”

“Not really, no. A lot got sacrificed in the pursuit of survival, let alone wealth. I kind of had to whittle my focus down to ‘finish game’.”

“Oh...yes. I suppose that’s a good point. I can’t claim I was ever starving, but I’ve been there. Though it was a very long time ago. And being a starving artist in the 90s isn’t really the same as nowadays. I mean there’s more opportunities for side hustles, but everything is stupid expensive. Do you want to travel?”

“I mean some, yeah. Be cool to have a classic Hawaii vacation. Maybe see Paris, the UK, Rome. I mean I’d like to travel with you. And the others. But I also think it’d be kind of wasted on me.”

“Why?”

“I kind of feel like I wouldn’t really appreciate it. I mean it’d be cool, but probably I’d mostly be thinking ‘I want to be home right now’, you know?”

“I do kind of know,” Colleen admitted. “I’ve traveled, and it’s nice. Great, even, sometimes. But mostly it was a hassle.”

“I would like to do a cruise, actually. Maybe we could all rent out a huge suite and take a cruise to the Bahamas or Hawaii, have a vacation there, cruise back.”

“Now there’s an idea we could all get behind.”

“I also used to really want to get my own booth and be on some panels at a gaming convention, but I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Now that I’m successful...I don’t know. The desire just kind of faded? Plus it just seems like such a pain in the ass to put up with.” He contemplated it for a second. “In the beginning I wanted fame and fortune, but then I got fortune and realized that was actually the better deal.”

Colleen grinned at him. “That’s a good thing to realize. Although I think maybe you shouldn’t abandon the idea completely.”

“Why not?”

“Conventions can be fun, especially if you’re a creator. I think it’s something you should experience at least once for yourself.”

“True. And now that Cold Reset is as big as it is, I could probably talk my way into one of the medium-sized cons. I guess I’ll give that some consideration. They used to mostly take place in summer but now they’ve shifted to autumn, so I’ve got some time.”

They ate and stared at the ocean and enjoyed each other’s company for a while after that. Atticus was discovering that he really loved this coastal atmosphere. There was something inherently calming about it, despite the terrifying vastness of the ocean. It was easy to get used to, apparently. If he hadn’t found his new life in the lakehouse, or if they ever felt like moving again, he could easily see getting a house near a town like this.

As it was, having it just an hour away meant he could come out here and visit often enough.

“What next?” Atticus asked after they’d finished.

“Now, we sit here for a bit longer and digest, then we’re going to rent a boat and take it out to that island over there and have a nice little walk, if you’re fine with that,” she said, pointing.

He had seen the island as they’d walked along the pier and found his curiosity piqued. He’d always liked islands.

“I am very fine with that,” he replied.

She rested her chin in her palm and smiled sweetly at him. “I love you.”

He looked back at her. “I love you, too.”

And for the next few moments, he knew what it was to have a romance intense and deep enough that you really could just sit there and look into each other’s eyes and that was more than enough.

…

Colleen worked the boat’s engine with a practiced ease.

Atticus sat at the front and watched her.

“Don’t you want to see the island?” she asked, smirking at him.

“I’ll see it soon enough. I’d rather see you right now,” he replied.

“You see me all the time.”

“And it’s still not enough.”

She sighed, blushing, and rolled her eyes. “You...are too good at giving me the butterflies, young man.”

“Good for me.”

“Good for both of us, but it gives you an advantage. You can talk me into pretty much anything...although, now that I’ve said that, I should probably also say that I want this to be a sexless trip. We are absolutely going to fuck today, but after we get back. I want to save up.”

“Fine by me, difficult as it will be to contain my unending lust for you.”

She snorted. “Unending, huh?”

“Unending,” he affirmed.

“You really are a goddamned unstoppable juggernaut of lust. I have no clue how you keep up with five of us. I mean, I know twenty-something men are horny, but good lord, Atticus.”

“Well, it helps that we’re all so sexually compatible, and you’re all so absolutely seductively gorgeous, and we don’t need to fuck around with protection.”

“Yes, I imagine the motivation is stronger when you know you get to creampie. Hmm.”

“What? You’ve got that smile on your face.”

“What smile?” she asked innocently.

“That horny smile.”

“I was just wondering...what physical aspect do you like best about each of us?”

“So, definitely a horny smile.”

“Answer, young man.”

“Oh, yes ma’am,” he replied, and grinned when he got that annoyed half-smile out of her. “With you...your vagina.”

She looked at him in genuine surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. Everything about you is hot, but you’ve got such a hot pussy.”

“Well...I suppose you’ve sure had enough time with it in your face.”

“I have, and that’s what I like best about you. Edith...mmm. I think her lips.”

“Yes, she does have those lips. They are fantastic for eating pussy, as I’ve always suspected, and apparently phenomenal for sucking dick.”

“Phenomenal,” he agreed.

“Kate?”

“Her tits. They’re just so perfect. Although her ass is a close second.”

“That girl is very beautiful. Susan?”

“Her thighs. God are her thighs just so perfect. So wonderfully thick and smooth and pale. I love being between them.”

“Yep, that makes sense. Now what about Vetra?”

“That...is an extremely difficult question.”

“I know, that woman is a sculpted statue of beauty. Just...so fit, so smooth, so clean. And fifty one!”

“Yeah. I think her ass. She has such a great ass. It’s that perfect blend of fit yet fat. Tight, but has some heft to it. The way it goes into her hips...I can’t fucking wait to fuck her doggystyle. She said she likes anal, so I can’t fucking wait to do that.”

“You’re really into anal,” Colleen murmured as she brought the boat up to a simple dock.

“I mean, duh. It feels amazing,” he replied, grabbing the dock and tying the boat off. He got out first and then helped her out.

“It must, given how you were reacting to it. It’s...oddly satisfying for me. Kate clearly likes it.”

“Oh boy, does she ever.”

They walked along the dock, which was simple but at least decently maintained, and came onto the shores of the island. It wasn’t particularly big, and clearly had been transformed into a tourist trap. Not that he was complaining.

There was a big laminated map right next to the dock at the start of a trail. It showed the interconnected web of a few different trails you could choose to take. Colleen grabbed one of the miniature pamphlet versions of the map and struck off onto the trail.

“I used to come here sometimes. Maybe once a month during the summers just after high school after my parents took me here once. I loved walking the trail. It’s so calming and peaceful.”

“It sure seems like it,” he replied as they made their way into a small wooded area.

Everything smelled of wood and the sea in all the best ways. Everything smelled fresh and vibrant, nature at its best. The sun was out, but it was obscured by some clouds, and the weather was a relaxed seventy degrees with a gentle breeze blowing in off the ocean.

As they walked, he noticed Colleen’s cheer seemed to fade. Not vanish, but definitely fade. Something was on her mind, bothering her. When she looked at him and caught him looking at her, she got a slightly woeful smile.

“You can read my mind,” she murmured.

“I can tell something’s bothering you,” he replied.

“It is. I mean, not really. And it’s a stupid concern anyway.”

“Tell me about it. I’d rather discuss it and at least try to soothe you instead of keeping it locked up and letting it fester.”

“That is logical...I’m just going to have to train myself back out of that. That’s all I did near the end. Anytime something was bothering me I just said it didn’t matter because there was going to be no resolution anyway, kind of like a survival tactic. But you aren’t like that, at all, and I have to remember that...it is dumb, though.”

“Then tell me your dumb concern and I won’t laugh at it,” he replied. “I won’t get annoyed, I won’t brush you off, I won’t feed you a platitude. I’ll try my best to engage with it.”

She was quiet for a moment longer, then she suddenly stopped him by a bench and sat down with him.

“I don’t have words to describe how much that means to me, or how reassuring that is. All right. I’m still anxious about our age gap. Not about what people think. Honestly, if anything, I’ve pretty much leaned into it with that regard. I like the idea of being seen with you in public. And it’s not even really the thing that bothered me the most that we had to settle, that I’m robbing you of your future life, because, well, that isn’t true. You made good points.”

“So what is it then?”

She balked momentarily, looking away. He thought he saw shame buried in her anxiety. It was awful seeing her like this. Atticus waited patiently.

“I don’t want to tell you, because I don’t want you to think I think badly of you,” she said finally.

“I won’t think that, Colleen. You’ve got an anxiety about something related to this relationship. Sometimes relationship fears are rooted in reality, in something the other person is doing, but it’s just as likely that the fears are irrational and don’t really reflect how you feel about the other person. Sometimes they’re insecurities, and those are reasonable things to have...I’m saying I won’t take offense if you want to talk about your insecurities.”

“That makes me feel better, actually,” she murmured. She paused for a long second, then let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I should just talk about this. I keep finding myself thinking about getting older, and going round and round about if you’ll really stay with me for the rest of my life, or if you even should.”

“Colleen,” he said, a little more firmly than he meant to. She looked at him, suddenly more worried. He took a moment to compose himself. “I’m not angry at you,” he said, “I’m angry at the concept of abandonment. I’m not going to abandon you, Colleen. Not if you get cancer, not if you get dementia, not if you get paralyzed. Not ever, not unless you betray me in some awful way. And it’s mostly because I love you, but also because...that’s unthinkably horrible.

“The idea of being faced with some horrific change that’s going to affect you for the rest of your life and suddenly the person you love most in the whole world just isn’t there anymore? The idea alone...is emotionally devastating to me. I’m not brushing off your fears and insecurities, but I want to be really, really specific here: I am not leaving. Whatever happens, we will handle it. Together. Because I love you, but also because I would never do that. It’s just not in me. And that’s the same for all of you. Edith, Susan, Kate, Vetra. I’m not walking away.”

Colleen stared at him for a long moment. She had taken his hand and was squeezing it painfully now. She sniffed and hugged him suddenly, tightly.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I believe you. I do believe you. And I will never leave you either, Atticus. I don’t want to be apart from you. I want you like this, in my life, for the rest of my life.”

“I want that too, Colleen,” he murmured in her ear, slowly rubbing her back. “And we’ll get that. However long our lives last, I’ll be there. I’ll always keep trying for you.”

“I’ll do the same.”

They hugged for another long moment, and finally she released him and they parted. She sniffed and reached into her purse, got out some tissues and took a moment to dab her eyes and then blow her nose.

“Thank you,” she murmured. She began to say something else, then hesitated. “I just realized...I’m not embarrassed.”

“Good.”

She smiled and sniffed again. “It is good. I’m not embarrassed, and I shouldn’t be because emotions are emotions and they come out and we should express them when appropriate, and this was appropriate, but I’m not embarrassed. There was always some level of embarrassment whenever I broke down before...but not now. Because you accept me. You really do. And you accept me and love me so thoroughly that I believe it, with all of myself. Not just my head but my heart and my soul, too.”

She took his hand again, staring into his eyes with something like wonder. He could feel that deep, wonderful connection between them opening up wider.

“I still don’t know if I believe in soul mates, but if there is such a thing as true love, then this is it. This is absolutely it.”

“It is,” he agreed, and leaned forward and kissed her.

She grabbed him and kissed him, and they stayed there making out on a bench on island off the coast of Oregon for a good long while, loving one another fully and utterly.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“What are you smirking at, young man?” Colleen asked with a quiet firmness as they walked down the trail along the lake’s edge.

“It’s too dark for you to judge my facial expression,” Atticus replied.

“There’s enough moonlight to see by and I can hear your smirk, Atticus.”

“I just...this is kind of a funny fantasy.”

“I’ve told you about this before!”

“I kinda thought you were joking.” She sighed. “I’m not giving you shit!”

“Sure you aren’t.”

“I just think it’s a little funny, is all. Not that I’m complaining about it at all. I am completely happy to fulfill this fantasy with you.”

“Mmm.”

A moment of silence went by as they walked on.

“Hopefully this isn’t too awkward for you,” Atticus said, glancing back over his shoulder.

“Nope,” Edith replied, “I’m fine. It’s amusing, honestly. Seeing you two fight.”

“We’re not fighting,” Colleen replied.

“Sure. The only thing I think that’s really interesting is that your fantasy involves me.”

“What? Why? I’ve wanted to fuck you since I first met you, and the fantasy of sharing a hot young guy with you in the lake? I mean, come on.”

“I get it, just...I guess I’m still getting used to the idea. And I’m fine with it, just…” She looked around nervously. “This is the only time I’m doing this.”

“If you don’t want to do this, Edith…” Colleen said, faltering as she led them down the path.

“No, I want to do it, I’m just nervous is all.”

Colleen lingered a moment, then nodded and kept going.

Atticus observed the interplay and reflected on it for a moment. While it was difficult to determine, he thought that Colleen and Edith were settling into best friends with benefits rather than lovers.

They had been slowly exploring the new aspects of their relationship ever since it had begun, and they would continue for a while yet, but the shape he saw the relationship taking as the dust settled from the impact of that particular bisexual asteroid seemed to largely resemble their old relationship, just a bit cozier and more sexual.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, he was encouraging of more intimacy between the two women, because it would make them happy. On the other hand, maybe it was for the best? In some ways, they were kind of incompatible.

Edith was too anxious for Colleen’s laid back approach to life, and Colleen was a bit too much of a steamroller for Edith’s controlled approach to life.

Part of him had been mildly worried that he’d be jealous, but he was happy he’d been able to dispatch that concern quickly and easily. While he knew that involving other men just wasn’t going to be on the table, he’d been pretty confident that he’d be cool with the women in his life getting more emotionally intimate with each other.

And they had, and he was.

Colleen stopped suddenly. They had reached her bench.

“Okay, this is a great spot,” she said. “There’s a bit of a drop-off close to the shore but it’s not so steep that we can’t enjoy a good fucking.”

“Shh!” Edith whispered as they set their towels down.

“We’ll be fine, dearest,” Colleen replied, smiling sweetly at her in the moonlight.

“Yeah,” Atticus said, stepping up behind her and placing his hands on her hips and his lips close to her ear, “we’ll be fine.”

She shuddered, then made a small startled sound as Colleen stepped up to her front and kissed her. She made another startled sound as Atticus grasped her bikini-clad breasts from behind and kissed the side of her neck.

For a moment the three of them stood there, kissing and being kissed.

“Okay, l-let’s get in the water,” Edith whispered after a moment.

“All right,” Colleen agreed demurely, looking at Atticus for a lingering moment before turning and heading off into the lake.

He smiled, taking Edith’s hand and following.

Since their talk on the island, Colleen had changed. It was like something inside her had at last settled, something that had been trying to find a place, or kept getting shook up and kicked around, had at last found where it was supposed to be and gotten locked in firmly. There was a peacefulness, a serenity to her that hadn’t quite been there before.

He had noticed the same in Susan and especially in Edith.

Kate would probably be showing similar signs. Would Vetra? No, he didn’t think so. She was now in a state of flux, a transitory period into her life as a lover once more. She needed to figure out what that meant to her, what he meant to her, and how to grapple with that new reality.

Atticus wondered suddenly if he was undergoing a similar experience and realized he must be. He sure felt better. Things had felt so ephemeral, transient almost, ever since coming to Lakeside. Moving in with Colleen and getting a solid answer on their relationship status, on her intentions, had helped settle it a lot, but not completely.

There was still some settling down, he decided as the three of them made their way into the lake.

The sun had come out while they were away and baked Lakeside for the second half of the day, warming the lake so that even now, about an hour after twilight, the water was still lukewarm and mostly comfortable.

They were all a little toasty. He and Edith had smoked a little, and Colleen had gotten a bit tipsy on wine while they’d been waiting for the sun to set. The rest of their time out on the coast had been pleasant and slow. After walking the island for a few hours, they’d gone to see a few of the other sights before making the drive back home and relaxing some more with Edith and Susan.

He’d wanted to call Kate, but she’d pretty much made him promise not to at the expense of Colleen’s date. She already felt bad enough about taking him overnight, not that it had actually caused any problems, but Colleen did seem somewhat possessive today, so he’d honored that wish.

Now he was in his swimming trunks with two cougars in bikinis in dark lake water, kissing beneath the moonlight.

Colleen made out with him first, slow in the beginning but quickly picking up intensity and passion as she shoved her tongue into his mouth and slipped her hands over his body beneath the water. He did the same thing, putting his hands down the back of her bikini bottoms and getting them around her fat ass.

He could feel his erection throbbing and straining against his trunks, desperately wanting out so that it could dive right in to that stunning, perfect cougar pussy. He groped and kissed Colleen until she stopped suddenly and turned to kiss Edith.

Atticus got behind Colleen and untied the top of her bikini.

“Atticus!” she gasped as it fell away, exposing her breasts.

“It’s still on,” he murmured, giving the lower band around her chest a little tug.

“Pervert,” she whispered, and kept kissing Edith.

“I like that he’s a pervert,” Edith murmured, getting her hands onto Colleen’s breasts.

“Both of you sluts like it,” he replied.

“You are on thin ice, mister,” Colleen whispered harshly.

“Am I now?” Atticus slipped a hand down her front and into her bikini.

She gasped loudly as his fingertip ran smoothly between the wet lips of her vagina. “Y-yes,” she managed, the moaned as his fingertip found her clit and began to massage it.

“Uh-huh,” he murmured in her ear.

She moaned again and then resumed kissing Edith.

He kept pleasuring her, loving the feel of ecstasy tremors running through her body as she was pressed up against him, sandwiched between himself and Edith. This was her date day and her fantasy and he intended to fulfill it as best he could.

Honestly it was his own fantasy, too.

Threesome in a lake with two cougars? Beyond fantasy.

He fingered Colleen until she had an orgasm that she had to cup a hand over her mouth to keep from shouting. She trembled and shook between them, her muscles clenching and releasing. When it was over, she eagerly turned back around and stared into his eyes, her hands going for his trunks.

“Let’s get this big thing out and into action,” she whispered as she freed his erection.

As she spread her legs a bit and he held her aloft in the water, he saw Edith’s hands snake around from either side and begin to grope her soft, wet breasts. Colleen gasped as at about the same time he penetrated her and Edith began playing with her nipples and kissing the side of her neck.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, already panting heavily as he began to slide her up and down his erection. “This is-whew! This is a little overwhelming.”

“Good,” he said, and kissed her.

They fucked in the lake, the pleasure unifying them as it consumed their bodies. It was so intense, having sex outside. Knowing how exposed they were, hearing the sounds of nature around them. The wind rustled the nearby trees, insects chirped, somewhere, an owl hooted. And, near at hand, Colleen panted and moaned quietly.

Or as quietly as she could manage.

Edith slipped one hand down between them and Colleen’s eyes popped open much wider as she began rubbing her clit while he fucked her.

“Oh my-shit!” she gasped.

“Shh…” Atticus murmured, putting a hand over her mouth.

She moaned in response. He chuckled, using his other hand and his hips now to keep fucking her, bouncing her on his cock in the water.

The sounds of her muffled moans was were absurdly erotic, and only grew more so as the two of them pushed her into a second orgasm. She shuddered hard between them, her eyes losing focus as they kept pleasuring her. He could feel her strong inner muscles clenching and fluttering as she gave herself to the climax.

When she was finished, she gently pulled Edith’s hand away and then patted him on the chest.

“You two fuck now,” she panted, “I want to watch.”

“Gladly,” he replied, slipping her off his cock and grabbing Edith.

She made a startled sound as he pulled aside her bikini bottom now and impaled her with his erection. She gasped, staring with wide eyes into his own as they began to make love. She was so wonderfully slick and tight inside, and she fitted so perfectly against him. She looped her arms around his neck and wrapped her strong legs around his midsection and let him fuck her.

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice heavy with pleasure, “this is definitely really good. Fucking in the lake is...oh yeah…” she moaned, biting her lower lip and closing her eyes. “Fuck my pussy,” she whispered.

“You two look so damn good,” Colleen whispered, watching them closely.

Neither managed a response as they continued making love, lost in their bliss. He had to admit, the open water did add an interesting element. There was always a sense of closeness, almost confinement when doing it in a hot tub, or that hot spring. This was open and free and somehow wilder.

He fucked Edith until Colleen decided she wanted some more. Edith hopped off and Colleen took her place and he fucked her for several more minutes until she had another full-bodied orgasm. Only this time she coaxed him into joining, milking his cock with her pussy until he was groaning and grunting, shooting his seed deep inside of her and filling her up with everything he had. They orgasmed together, sharing a loving embrace and bathing in the ecstasy until it had run its course.

After that, Colleen returned the favor that Edith had given her, rubbing her clit while Atticus fucked her, and they went until Edith orgasmed twice more and he came again, pumping her hot mature pussy full of whatever he had left in the tank.

And then the three of them drifted closer to the shore and sat there together, Colleen between Atticus and Edith.

“So, fantasy fulfilled?” he asked after a moment.

“Fantasy fulfilled,” Colleen agreed tranquilly.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Atticus frowned as his phone buzzed.

For a moment, he considered ignoring it, but only for a moment.

With this many women in his life now, there was no way he could fall back into his old habit and putting off looking at his phone when he was into his work. And as it was, he could feel the initial high of creativity wearing off.

After that wonderful night with Colleen and Edith, things were feeling a lot closer to normal again. He’d awoken early the next morning naturally with the sunrise. After a quickie with Susan, who he had awoken almost beneath, he’d showered and then gone right to his office after grabbing a breakfast bar and a glass of water.

He was thinking about Beneath Shadowed Skies.

He’d had a dream about it last night and had awoken energized and ready to start the initial planning session.

And he’d gotten it. He’d worked about four hours straight and had a broad sketch of the game’s basic premise and gameplay and overall vibe.

It had all felt good, the ideas pouring out of him onto his screen in a relatively smooth flow.

But this was where he pumped the breaks, accepted that he’d done a good, solid chunk of work and return to the rest of his life. He could probably get another couple of hours in later tonight, split between housekeeping on Cold Reset and more fleshing out in Beneath Shadowed Skies.

He checked his phone and felt his pulse quicken.

I’m ready to spend another day together, a more, shall we say, proper one? If you are interested, I can drive over to your place, and then we can head into town and spend some time together.

Atticus almost replied ‘yes’ immediately, but instead shot to his feet and headed out of his office. He headed quickly into the living room, hunting for Colleen or Edith or Susan, but the living room was empty. He heard typing coming from upstairs and hustled up there, finding Colleen’s office door most of the way closed.

He knocked.

“Come in,” she called after a moment.

He opened the door and found her at her desk.

“You’ve been working, too,” he said.

She smiled. “I have been writing my ass off. Eight thousand words already today. I haven’t had anything above a five thousand word day in...God, years. And there’s more to come, I can feel it.”

“That is amazing,” he replied.

“Thank you. What’s got you all excited?”

“Vetra wants to hang out. Where’s Edith and Susan?”

“Susan is at the cat shelter for a shift and Edith is out making a bunch of copies of the flier we put together after having her meeting with the mayor about the grand opening.”

“Ah, all right. Vetra wants to hang out for the day.”

Colleen smiled. “I was wondering when she’d come back. Sooner than I thought, actually. Well, go have fun dearest. I’m going to be glued to my laptop for most of the rest of the day probably.”

“Enjoy yourself,” he replied, giving her a lingering kiss.

“I will.”

He left her working in her office and responded affirmatively to Vetra, then headed into the master bedroom to get ready.

…

Atticus sat on the front steps and waited.

Both for Vetra to pull up (he could see her vehicle in the distance), and for Kate to respond. It had not eluded him that they’d never actually talked about her accepting more help. He’d been texting with her a little today, mostly making sure she was still feeling okay about everything that had happened during their own day together.

Thankfully, she was, but she was also busy today. The lakehouses needed resupplying and she was also trying to get photographs of the interior of Edith’s house for the decorator. Apparently she wanted pictures before driving out and actually inspecting the place herself to determine if it was a job she could take on.

Atticus wasn’t sure why that made sense, but then he didn’t really know anything about interior decorating.

So he hadn’t actually got a response back yet about Kate accepting help. Which was kind of proving his point.

But Kate was stubborn, and he knew he couldn’t make her do anything.

It occurred to him that almost all the women now in his life were like that. Really it was only Susan he felt like he could make do something, not that he ever would. But Colleen and Edith and certainly Vetra would simply dig in their heels and become immovable if they really wanted to.

There was something admittedly appealing about that.

And here was Vetra, pulling up in her sleek car. He got up and walked over to the passenger’s side, got in and buckled up.

“We’re all good?” she asked.

“Yes. Susan’s at the cat shelter, Edith’s out and about working on her personal project, Kate’s busy, and Colleen is writing. No one’s going to get annoyed that you stole me away.”

He thought she would laugh, or at least smile, but she simply made a small noise of affirmation and backed out, then started driving them to town.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“I am...feeling awkward,” she replied.

“Why?”

“I suppose I feel a little bad about springing that roleplay on you the second time we made love. It felt...like I was overstepping my boundaries.”

“Vetra, you don’t have to feel bad about that at all. I’m genuinely okay with it. I mean, more than that, I was really into it. And you came over that night, and then again when I was with Susan, and you had to sense that everything was fine. No one’s annoyed with you or jealous or anything.”

“Yes, but they don’t know the specifics of our encounter. Unless you told them.”

“I didn’t tell them about the husband and wife thing, but I could if you wanted me to.”

“That would make me feel better, actually.”

“All right, let’s do it right now.”

He activated the group text and started typing.

Hey, Vetra and I did some roleplay as deeply in love husband and wife during our original day together and Vetra’s feeling a little uncertain about it now and wants to know that you’re all fine with that happening.

“What are they saying?” she asked after a long moment passed.

“Still waiting,” he murmured.

Colleen’s reply came first: That’s so sweet, and yes, I’m completely comfortable with it. I mean shit, our first roleplay was cheating.

Then Edith’s: I’m fine with this.

Then Susan’s: that’s so cute!! I love it!

He read them to her.

“What about Kate?” she asked.

“Kate’s probably still busy with her responsibilities. I’m still waiting to hear back from her on something else anyway, but I’m positive her response would be the same.”

“Edith seemed...terse.”

“Don’t read into that,” he replied, putting his phone away, “she’s busy right now and busy Edith is blunt Edith. Trust me, she’s fine with it.”

“...all right,” she said. “I suppose I should lay it to rest.”

“You should definitely lay it to rest,” he agreed.

“I’m sorry. As I mentioned earlier...I think, mmm, normally my memory of conversations is pretty good but you have been clouding my mind lately...anyway. I’ve had experiences before where there were badly hurt feelings as a consequence of these types of interactions. I just want to be very careful.”

“You’re being very careful. You’re being more than very careful. You’ve covered your ass successfully. And, to be clear, that’s not the reason I think you’re doing this. I know you give a shit about everyone involved. But you can relax. There’s no uncertainty towards you, Vetra. No uncertainty towards the nature of this relationship, or what it might evolve into. If anything, I think they’re all relieved.”

“Why?”

“Because you fit very nicely into this dynamic, as you pointed out the last time we spoke of this. You’re a loner, and while I imagine that’s going to change to some degree, I imagine it won’t change to the point where it begins seriously encroaching on other relationships. And something really important you have to understand about our relationships is that we’re all open and honest with each other. Kind of uncomfortably so. Because that’s what it takes to realistically maintain this kind of relationship structure.”

“The polyamorous kind?”

“Yeah. Although according to Edith...and Susan...and Colleen, it’s closer to a harem.”

“I find that amusing. Who decided on that descriptor?”

“It was...shit, I can’t remember. Either Edith or Susan said it first, and it just caught, and now they all like the idea.”

“I assume the key difference between these two phrases is that in a harem, all the members are tied to one specific member, instead of an interconnecting web?”

“Yeah, basically.”

“Is it accurate?”

“It kind of is. It’s working out that way. I mean Kate and you are straight. There’s something being explored between Colleen and Edith, but they seem to kind of be settling on basically being best friends both dating the same guy who sometimes have sex with each other. I thought there’d be something between Edith and Susan, but they seem to be settling into the same thing.”

“Interesting. So, if I do fully commit to this relationship with you, I would be joining a harem. I’ve never done that before.”

“How do you feel about that?”

She smiled, and it seemed a lot closer to how she normally was. Calm, confident, a little coy. “The idea has its own appeal, I must admit. I do like the idea of having a built-in and safe audience to watch me make love.”

“You like that, huh?”

“I do, though I’ve found it difficult to engage with in the past decade. Too many men want to suddenly involve themselves. But in this relationship, I won’t have to worry about that.”

“No, you will not,” he agreed. “I will be the only man involved and all the other viewers are happy to remain viewers. Where are we going?”

“I want to do something normal with you,” she replied as she pulled off one of the main roads through town and onto the other, now heading back towards the highway he’d very first come in on. “I want to get some greasy food and bowl a few games.”

“That sounds right up my alley.”

She smiled at him and kept driving.

…

The bowling alley was pretty dead this time of day.

They got a lane at the far end of the building and put in an order for pizza and wings. He imagined it was pretty different from what she normally ate. He hadn’t looked in her fridge when he’d been there, but Atticus imagined he would have found healthy things. Maybe a lot of already-made meals, custom crafted by Vetra herself.

“I need your help, Atticus,” she said as they pulled their bowling shoes on.

“With what?” he replied.

“It’s difficult to describe.” She paused, finished tying her shoes. “Or perhaps I just don’t like talking about it, so the words don’t come easy.”

“Well, I’m here to listen and help if I can.”

She smiled a little anxiously at him. It looked so alien on her normally cool, cryptic face. “I do very much appreciate that, Atticus.” She paused for a moment longer. “Let me get my ball and bowl my first round.”

He nodded. They got up and went in search of their bowling balls. He got a twelve pound and she got a ten. He set his on the rack and sat back down. Watching her move was a pleasure all its own. She was effortlessly graceful and the way she released the ball with both force and poise was impressive. Even more impressive when she knocked down all the pins.

“You’re good at this,” he said as she sat back down across from him.

She smiled a small, modest smile. “I am.” The smile vanished. “Now...my problem. That I need help with. In a nutshell, it’s: I don’t really fit in anywhere I go. It’s such a cliched problem that nearly everyone is convinced they have at one point or another in their life, but for me it has persisted for as long as I’ve been alive. I...mmm, take your turn, I need more time to think.”

He nodded and got up. Grabbed his ball and hurled it twice. He knocked down eight pins and returned to his seat. Vetra got up and knocked down another strike.

“I’m not winning this, am I?” he asked.

“No, you are not,” she agreed. “In short, my problem is that I want to fit in somewhere. Or rather, I want to fit in here. But I want to do so without compromising my integrity, my lifestyle, myself. And this has always proven too difficult a task. Everyone I have ever befriended or gotten with was either like me and too self-involved to form a truly meaningful attachment or, if we did, to stay in my life, or they tried to craft me into a different person, to try and fit their life. That has been the spectrum of my life, and for most of my life, I liked it this way.”

“But not anymore?”

“Not anymore.”

She tilted her head, indicating she needed more time to think, and they went through another cycle of the game. She had another strike.

He definitely was not winning this game, not that he minded.

“Loneliness has been a companion my entire life, like a chronic illness. Sometimes it’s awful, but sometimes it’s nearly nonexistent. Mostly I’ve learned to tame it, make peace with it, find ways to hedge against it, and I’m rather good at it by now. But coming here to Lakeside was a conscious choice, an intentional effort to find a way to deal with it on a more permanent basis. And I believe that I have found my solution in the form of you and your...harem.”

“I see.”

She frowned, falling silent as their food came, thanking the woman who had brought it, and then resuming after eating two of the wings.

“I realize I am asking a lot of you. And of your lovers. I am asking you to make room for me in your lives, to help me grapple with the human condition and the broader existential horror of a universe devoid of inherent meaning, but I am asking. Because I think you may actually be the answer to this particular question that has plagued me my entire life.”

“In your mind, what does helping you with this actually look like?”

“That’s part of the issue: I’m not sure. I’m in uncharted territory. I have ideas, but nothing really concrete beyond ‘spending time together’. For the moment, I would like to continue our budding relationship. I want to be with you, spend time with your lovers. Go around town, perhaps have days in neighboring towns, walk the trails together...make love often.”

“You enjoyed that, huh?” he replied.

Her smile flattened a little, becoming more devious. “Yes. Yes, I did. And I want more today.”

“That can be arranged. And for the rest of it, yes, I want to help you with this. I want to help you feel like you belong somewhere. I like you, the others like you. I imagine the people you’ve interacted with in town like you at least somewhat, as mysterious as you are. We’ll help you.”

Vetra leaned back in her seat for a moment, her relief obvious. “Thank you, Atticus. This means a great deal to me.” Her confident smile returned as she rose smoothly to her feet. “Now, let’s continue with my domination.”

She walked up and took her turn, getting another strike, then walked back and sat across from him again. She smiled her coy smile again. “And then, later today, we can commence with your domination...of me.”

Atticus grinned back at her and got up to take his turn.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

It became harder to focus after Vetra said that last thing to him.

The idea of dominating her was an intensely intriguing and arousing notion for Atticus.

They continued bowling, and she continued dominating. She got a strike every frame save for three of them, and those were spares. Atticus thought maybe he’d be kind of annoyed at such an unfair game, but if anything, it just aroused him further.

She looked so damned graceful and seductive when she was in motion like that, and certainly there was a kind of universal truth to competence being sexy.

And confidence.

Vetra had been surprisingly nervous during all their time together so far, but now it seemed to have fallen away. She seemed very comfortable around him, her anxieties apparently laid to rest, and consequently, she seemed hellbent on teasing him sexually.

She gave him lots of little looks, often wore a confident little smirk, and seemed to linger whenever she was facing away from him and bending over even a little.

The pants she wore outlined and complimented her fit, gently padded ass perfectly.

Yeah, it was definitely harder to focus.

They bowled three games and then he took her to the grocery store, as she had some shopping to get done. He bought some things for his own lakehouse and from there she showed him the way to the private road that led up to her isolated home.

“I don’t show this to just anyone, you know,” she murmured as they drove up the hillside.

“I appreciate that,” he replied.

He thought maybe they would have sex when they got to her place, but she simply had him help her bring in and put away her groceries, then walked him back out and insisted they drive back to his lakehouse to deal with the groceries he’d bought.

She certainly noticed his somewhat frustrated glance as he pulled out of her driveway, then smiled and gave his leg a squeeze.

“Not yet,” she said with that same small, seductive smirk.

Atticus just sighed but otherwise held his peace as he drove on, much to her further amusement.

All that time, and through driving back home and putting away his own groceries, Atticus was thinking. He was pondering her issue. Her loneliness. He thought that he could help her, that they could help her, but he did wonder.

Vetra was a strange person.

He was getting along with her fine, and he wasn’t having much in the way of difficulty understanding her. Her mind, though vastly superior to his own in terms of intellect, did seem to operate on the same unseen, unspoken frequency as his own. He got what she meant when she spoke of loneliness.

He’d had his own, and, looking back on his life, Atticus hadn’t quite realized just how lonely he had been before meeting Colleen and the others.

And he wasn’t lonely anymore.

These relationships had cured him of it, and he thought that, while she wouldn’t be having sex with any of them but him, the relationships would do the same thing for her.

He hoped so, at least.

“Now what?” Atticus asked once the groceries had been put away.

“I’ve been meaning to visit the cat shelter,” Vetra replied.

“All right, that’d be good. I know Susan will be glad to see us. Maybe I can help her out, speed up her shift and get her home sooner,” he murmured.

“It would be good to have the others here, all at the same time,” Vetra replied with that sly smile.

“Uh-huh.”

Why did he attract women who seemed to absolutely thrive on teasing him?

Atticus gave her ass a hard slap as they headed for the front door. Vetra paused, looking back at him, her face as mysterious as ever, but she was blushing. Finally, she just gave her head a small shake as the hint of a smile crept on her beautiful face and she kept walking.

He followed her out to the car.

…

“Is she pregnant yet?” Vetra asked as they pulled up to the cat shelter.

“Not yet,” Atticus replied. “Believe me, we’d all know. She’s gone out and bought several pregnancy tests. She takes one about three times a day so far.”

“I’m glad she’s so enthusiastic about it. How are you feeling?”

“Honestly? I’m...nervous. But mostly happy.”

“I have some advice, on the subject of raising children. I realize it’s hypocritical, given I’ve never quite done it myself, but I’ve been around a lot of parents.”

“I am always ready and willing to listen to your advice.”

“Good. I appreciate that. My advice is this: Don’t assume you’re ready for parenthood. Prepare for it, by all means, but don’t ever let yourself believe the fiction that you are ready. Because no one is ever ready. Not the first time. Maintaining this sense that you are not ready will allow you to more fluidly adapt on the fly during the actual process.”

“That...sounds like great advice, actually,” he replied. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Let’s not keep Susan waiting.”

“Let’s,” he agreed.

They got out and headed inside. Susan was out of her chair and bursting with excitement by the time he was into the airlock. He thought maybe she’d taken a test just recently and it had come back positive, but as she embraced and kissed him once he got into the lobby, it became clear that she was simply excited to see him.

“I missed you!” she declared once she’d kissed him about a dozen times.

“I missed you too, pretty girl,” he replied, grinning at her, and she giggled fiercely.

“Hi, Vetra,” she said.

“Hello, Susan.”

“Having fun with my husband?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. You should get another turn, after he had days with all of us. Now that you’re involved, too, and you should get more time because you’re the most recent addition.”

“That logic tracks. And I appreciate the sentiment.”

Susan looked back to him, and the look she got immediately told him she wanted something.

“What is it?” he asked.

She opened her mouth, then sighed. “How did you know?”

“I can read you, dearest.”

“So annoying,” she whispered.

“Yeah, it’s not like you’re not annoying or anything.”

“I’m not!”

“Mmm-hmm. What is it, love?”

“Can you take care of the catboxes?”

He laughed. “Yes, dear.”

She smiled and kissed him again. “Thank you! Also…” She leaned in. “I will absolutely make it up to you later.”

“Definitely looking forward to that.”

“I’ll visit the cats,” Vetra said. “Unless you want me to assist you?”

“No, it’s fine. It’ll just be about ten or fifteen minutes. Then I’ll come visit the cats with you.”

Atticus grabbed one of the big bags they had for this occasion and began heading on his catbox tour of the shelter. Honestly, he was finding that he didn’t mind doing it. Sure, it didn’t smell good, but it seemed to him that he had either a less powerful nose or a stronger resistance to the smell. And it made Susan and Edith happy not to have to have to deal with it.

So he found a scooper and went to it.

Several of the cats were hanging out in the main catbox room, almost like they were waiting for him to clean up. He supposed they probably were. He’d be a little leery using an unflushed toilet, and they had to walk in their toilet.

Sure enough, as he cleaned the first box and moved onto the next, one of the cats hopped in and immediately began making use of it. One of the others approached him as he crouched and pushed against his leg with its head.

He couldn’t tell if the cat was telling him to hurry up or was showing appreciation.

Atticus chuckled and petted the cat a few times, choosing appreciation.

He kept at it, going until every box in the room was clean, then moved on to the other few boxes that were scattered around the building. Once he was finished, he tied the bag off and secured it in one of the big trash cans. There was still the feline leukemia catboxes to consider, but he would have to leave after visiting them, so he’d get to them later.

He found Vetra in the main room, sitting with several cats around her.

“I’ve considered getting a cat,” she said as Atticus sat down next to her.

“Same,” he agreed.

“Oh, can we?!” Susan called from the lobby. “I’ve been thinking about adopting one or two of the senior kitties! They never get adopted and they deserve to have forever homes, too.”

“Have you talked to any of the others about this?” he asked.

“I’ve spoken with Edith…”

“Okay, you need to talk with Colleen, too. And me, although I guess this is that. We’ll have a house meeting about it sometime soon, all right, babe?”

“Okay!”

He chuckled. Susan always seemed easy to please. Which was nice, considering how Colleen and especially Edith could be. Not that he resented them for it, but there was something nice about how uncomplicated and straightforward Susan was.

“Perhaps I could adopt two of the leukemia cats,” Vetra murmured. “I have a good home for cats, and I could make a few adjustments to make it better. I could get some automated food and water dispensers, and I know how to train myself to adjust to new routines fairly quickly. I’m almost never away from my house for a prolonged period of time, and even if I was, I have several people I could ask to care for my pets. I like cats.”

“That last one is pretty important,” Atticus said as Agatha settled on his lap. “Maybe we could take this one. She’s very grumpy, apparently.”

“For everyone but you!” Susan called back merrily.

“I’m always curious about the relationship between humans and cats. How cats’ behavior changes based on the human. And not even necessarily how the human treats them, just by their presence alone. I assume it must be smell-related, but I have wondered if cats have some other method of perception that we have yet to learn,” Vetra murmured, studying the white-haired cat.

“People have long believed cats have some kind of special sense...and a lot of other crazy things about them,” Atticus replied. “What do you believe? About mind power kind of stuff?”

“Mostly, I disregard it,” Vetra replied.

“Mostly?”

“I’ve ready some classified government documents that have stirred up some doubt. Nothing I can talk about, for legal reasons, but let’s just say that all of their research into mind-related phenomenon was not a failure.”

“...interesting,” he murmured, and wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to not ask more about that particular subject.

Not that he figured he could actually convince Vetra to reveal something she didn’t want to. She struck him as the kind of person who was a steel, triple-lock vault. Once she’d made a decision, she would enforce it to the end provided it remained logical.

He began to say something else as he continued petting Agatha, but she suddenly let out a low growl and tensed.

“Oops,” he murmured, pulling back. “Guess I pet wrong.”

“Perhaps,” Vetra murmured, but she seemed uncertain.

So did Atticus when he saw the way Agatha focused on the lobby, like she’d seen something she didn’t like. Maybe another cat she didn’t get along with. But he didn’t see any cats obviously in her line of sight. He thought he heard a car door slam shut.

Maybe she was just nervous because someone was here.

He heard the outer door open, then the inner door open.

Then he heard Susan say, “Travis? What the fuck are you doing here?”

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Immediately, he could tell something was wrong.

He wasn’t sure he’d heard that tone of voice from Susan before. Atticus gently shooed Agatha from his lap, and she left with a mild hiss. He noticed Vetra doing the same thing to the cats that had gathered around her.

“Suze, holy shit, you still look great, babe,” came the reply.

Oh yeah, this was not good.

“Don’t call me ‘babe’,” Susan replied. “Why are you here? I told you I didn’t want to see you again.”

“Well, not really. You didn’t tell me shit, actually. You just ghosted me. But whatever, I get it. The responsibility was too much to handle and so you ran back to your parents. I’m not even mad.”

“Travis, whatever this is, whatever you want, the answer is no,” Susan replied firmly.

Atticus and Vetra came to stand in the open doorway that divided the lobby from the main sitting room. He got a good look at her ex for the first time. He didn’t look like a techbro, but instead a techbro’s idea of a badass.

His hair was spiked, he had a few tattoos, a few piercings. He wore sunglasses and a t-shirt that had a generic figure T posing with the words REAL ALPHAS ASSERT DOMINANCE printed above and below it.

He looked like he’d walked out of a shitty 2000s video game.

“I can handle this, Atticus,” Susan said, but she looked scared.

“Who are you?” Travis asked, losing his shit-eating grin and taking off his sunglasses.

Atticus felt several different thoughts rush through his skull at that moment. He’d never really been much of a fighter, and he wasn’t exactly looking to be one right now. But he knew that this was an eventuality he might have to face, especially given he was dating not one but three women who had gotten out of bad relationships.

And this guy had the look of someone who would turn things violent if it suited him.

“I’m her fiance,” Atticus replied.

However he felt about his own abilities, he knew he wasn’t going to back down if challenged. That much was at least clear.

Travis frowned and his eyes dipped down to Atticus’s hand, then over to Susan. “Bullshit, you don’t have rings.”

“We don’t need rings,” Susan replied. “Why are you here?”

“To take you back,” he answered firmly, his gaze now fixed on Atticus.

He definitely was getting pissed.

“Well, that isn’t happening, so you can leave,” Susan said.

“Are you fucking serious right now? This guy? Christ, he looks like a teenager! This is sad, Susan.”

“You should leave,” Atticus replied.

“Should I? Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll drag your scrawny ass outside and shit stomp you until you cry for your fucking mommy, you little pussy. And then maybe I’ll come back and give Susan the hard fucking I know she wants, even if she’s being a dipshit and pretending she doesn’t,” Travis said, his words growing angrier.

Well, this was taking a poor turn.

“Travis–” Susan began, but Vetra stepped forward suddenly with a snapping sound that Atticus realized was a knife of some kind.

She held it up between herself and Travis, her expression flat, her eyes flinty.

“I suggest you leave this building and this town immediately, and do not return. I know how to defend myself and I have against pathetic worms like you my entire life. I’ll do it again. It will be self defense. I don’t even need this knife, I just knew you’re too stupid to recognize me for the threat that I am, so I brought it out for a little show and tell. Now, leave, or I will assist you in leaving.”

Vetra’s presence seemed to fill the lobby. It was dead silent. Travis looked like he was caught between doing as he was told and trying his luck anyway. Then a sound broke the silence: a low growl. Atticus realized Agatha had walked in and sat beside his feet.

The other cats present in the room, all of them fixated on Travis, picked up the growl and echoed it. The sound was shockingly ominous.

“Fuck this,” he said suddenly. “Fuck this and fuck you, you ungrateful bitch. I came back here to give you another chance but fuck you, I can go find a hundred sluts hotter and younger than you.”

He stormed out, banging the doors open and then, once he was in his car, peeling out of the parking lot.

“Jesus,” Atticus muttered. He looked at Susan, who seemed stricken with fear still. “Are you all right?”

“I’m...I will be,” she whispered. “Thank you. Both of you. Jesus. I had no fucking idea he was going to show up ever again.”

“You’re welcome,” Vetra murmured, slipping the knife away.

“I didn’t even know you had that,” Atticus said.

“That’s the idea of self defense,” she replied mildly, standing at the door now and staring out it. No doubt watching him drive off. “Are you all right, Susan?”

“I think so,” Susan replied.

Atticus walked over behind the desk and she stood up as soon as he was near her and hugged him tightly.

“God, that scared the shit out of me so bad,” she whispered, and she was trembling a little. “What if he’d shown up while you weren’t here?! I’m fucking alone here most of the time.”

“That is concerning,” Atticus replied.

“I have several self defense implements you can use. Mace, taser, knife. I can teach you to effectively use them all,” Vetra said, finally turning away from the door.

“I, um, appreciate that. Yeah, I guess I should get something at least...oh man, I feel so awful. I think I need to go home. But I can’t leave the cats...hold on, I need to make a call.”

“Maybe Edith could cover you,” he suggested.

“No, I want her home, too. No, a few of the newbies are scheduled to come in soon. They’ve been pretty enthusiastic about the job and are doing well so far. They’ll be here soon...ugh, should we call the police?”

“I’m always reluctant to rely on law enforcement,” Vetra replied, “but I suppose it would be logical. It is a good idea to have official reports of these kinds of incidents so that if they happen again, you’ll have an easier time building a case for a restraining order.”

She sighed. “Yeah...fuck, okay. I guess I should do that now.”

Atticus settled in to wait with her through the process and offer whatever support he could.

…

“Thank fucking God,” Susan declared as they walked in. “Finally home.”

“Hey, what’s up?” Edith asked. She was stretched out on the couch with her laptop.

“We had a bit of an incident at the cat shelter,” Atticus replied as they got out of their shoes.

Edith sat up immediately. “Oh shit, what happened?”

“My fucking loser ex showed up and was all ‘let’s get back together, I forgive you for your completely justified breakup with me’, and then he got pissy when he realized Atticus and I were together,” Susan replied.

“So then what happened?” Edith asked anxiously.

“I convinced him to leave, and, hopefully, not come back,” Vetra said.

“Yeah, Vetra is such a fucking hardass,” Susan replied, grinning. “I mean, I knew she was, but man was that intense. And then I called the police and they came in and took witness statements and all that jazz and now I just want to fucking shut off for the day.”

“I’m sorry you had to put up with that, Susan,” Edith said, standing and coming over to hug her.

“Thanks,” she murmured. “It sucked but it’s over. Hopefully. And Vetra’s going to show me some self defense stuff later.”

“I can show all of you,” Vetra agreed.

“Maybe for the best. Not sure what I’d do if my bastard ex-husband showed up,” Edith said.

“Should probably tell Colleen what’s up,” Atticus said.

“She’s still in her office writing,” Edith replied.

“You gonna be all right?” Atticus asked. Susan had pretty much not left his side since the incident. She seemed almost scared to let him out of sight.

“Yes,” she replied, offering him a brave smile. “I’m a lot less freaked out now...sorry for clinging onto you.”

“It’s completely fine, Susan.” He gave her another hug and a kiss. She still seemed reluctant to let him go, but she did. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting.”

He nodded and headed upstairs, where he found Colleen at her desk.

“What happened?” she asked the moment she saw his face. He told her. She frowned, an expression of angry concern coming onto her face. “Fucker,” she muttered finally. “Well, you all handled it about as best you could, I think. And now she’ll be more wary in the future…” She sighed heavily. “I did wonder if this was going to be an issue. He’s clearly the controlling type and they’re always the ones who get insane and start harassing women. Thank God he doesn’t live in town. Or, well, I suppose we don’t know that.”

“Hopefully he doesn’t. I can’t imagine him moving back here. I figured he just took a trip down from wherever he was after his latest relationship blew up in his face because he was missing Susan and figured enough time had passed that she’d forgotten how shit he’d treated her,” Atticus replied.

“Probably.” Colleen shut down her laptop and stood up. “Come on, let’s have a nice night together with Susan, make her feel good.”

“Agreed.”

They headed back downstairs.

…

A night of soothing Susan turned out to involve a raunchy comedy from the nineties, popcorn and Chinese takeout, then a board game they all played several rounds of.

It also would have involved weed, but she reluctantly but firmly decided not to. Which he took as a very good sign.

It also involved sex, and the sex was good. They’d gone down into the basement and fucked, just the two of them, intimate together in the dark. Then they’d made love once more in the shower, and after that she seemed almost completely relaxed.

Almost.

Now they were all hanging out down in the basement, as she’d gotten sleepy but hadn’t yet wanted to sleep.

“I have something to offer,” Vetra said when the conversation died down naturally.

“Ooh, what’s that?” Susan replied.

“You have indicated that you much enjoy watching sex, especially if I’m involved.”

“That’s definitely true,” Susan replied as the others nodded.

“Well, how do you feel about more...intense sex?”

“Good,” Susan replied immediately.

“I’d say it depends on the nature of the ‘intense’ sex, but I imagine I’d like it,” Colleen said.

“Well, I have something I like. Something I’ve been embarrassed to like, even though I know I shouldn’t be. And I’ve wanted to enjoy it with Atticus. And I’ve decided a part of the process of getting past this anxiety is to be watched by people I trust while doing it.”

“I’m so glad you trust us,” Susan replied, smiling sweetly at her.

“So am I,” Vetra said. “It’s been too long since I’ve been among people I feel I can really trust, but you all are something special. Anyway, uh, it’s anal. Rough anal sex.” She paused. “Rather rough anal sex.”

“I can do that,” Atticus said.

“So eager,” Colleen murmured, grinning.

“I mean yeah, Vetra has an incredible ass.”

“Would it be unseemly, or would you enjoy watching that?” Vetra asked.

“I would love to watch that. I really like watching when Atticus gets all, you know...dominant and rough.”

“I think we all like that,” Colleen said demurely.

“I sure like doing it,” Atticus replied. He took off his shirt and began undoing his pants. “I’m ready if you are.”

“I am indeed ready,” Vetra replied.

“I’ll just make room,” Susan murmured, getting up off the bed.

Atticus found himself with a massive grin to accompany his erection as he watched Vetra bend over, facing away from him, and peel her panties off.

This was going to be very, very fun.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

“My safeword,” Vetra said as she straightened up, fully nude now, “is pumpernickel.”

“Noted,” Atticus replied, making himself memorize it.

“That’s a good one,” Colleen said.

“Yeah, that’s never going to come up in conversation,” Edith agreed.

“How do you want to do this?” Atticus asked as Vetra stepped up to him, both of them standing at the foot of the bed now.

“I would like it to be...rough. And rude. No foreplay. Not yet, but when this conversation is over, toss me onto the bed and fuck me up the ass. The one thing I want to say first is: make sure you ease your way in first, then go as hard as you want as long as you want. And you can say whatever you want to me, demean me how you see fit.”

“Do you want me to demean you?” he asked.

She hesitated only for half a second. “Yes. I would like that. I won’t fight back, though. This won’t be a roleplay. Well, you know, beyond you saying cruel and insulting things to me. If it helps, perhaps you can imagine I have no choice but to submit to you, and you know that no matter what you do to me, I won’t complain...it will sort of be a roleplay.”

“We do so love our fucked up fantasies in this house,” Atticus replied.

“I’m glad. I certainly have some I wish to explore of the more...violent nature. Now, my ass is yours. Remember what I said.”

“I will.”

Atticus grabbed her roughly by the arms and threw her onto the bed. She was easily the smallest of them all, smaller even than Kate, so she was the easiest to handle. Vetra gasped as she hit the bed and bounced. She began trying to roll over onto her back, but he put a firm hand on her back.

“Uh-uh, you little slut,” he said, running his hand slowly down her back to the swell of her ass, “you’re taking it in the back door tonight.”

Vetra swallowed. “Yes, sir,” she whispered.

He pulled her roughly up onto her hands and knees, making her gasp. She looked flustered and he wondered how much of it was acting and how much was a genuine response to being treated this way by him for the first time.

Atticus made sure he gave little windows of time between each action. Not enough to break the flow, but enough to read her and see if she was having regrets. But no, she seemed fine so far, and he trusted her to use her safeword.

He found the lube and then got onto his knees behind her.

Good. God.

Her ass.

It was perfect in the way that Kate’s tits were perfect. Like, porn star perfect. It was fit, but had just the right amount of heft that it had that absolutely flawless teardrop shape. Her skin was pretty smooth and unblemished, and in the same way Susan’s paleness accentuated her body, so did Vetra’s skin tone. She was so intensely beautiful.

He had to have her right now.

“No foreplay for you tonight,” he murmured as he applied the lube to both of them. Vetra gasped as the substance ran down between her cheeks. “You’ve been bad.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she whispered.

“You will be sorry.”

He set the lube aside and settled up against her, then began working his way inside of her. She gasped, then groaned as he penetrated her sweet ass. Oh, was she tight. So damned tight. He took longer than usual to get inside, as he didn’t want to hurt her.

Well, no more than he was going to once he got going.

Vetra gasped and groaned, panting by the time he’d finished working his erection all the way up her ass. He gripped her hips tightly, digging his fingertips in and holding on more intensely than he normally would, and then he started giving it to her.

He didn’t go too hard at first, wanting to make sure she could handle it. She cried out and began moaning and panting more intensely, but otherwise she gave no indication she wanted to stop. All right then, time to take her at her word.

“Now it’s time for you to learn what happens to bad girls,” he said, and really started giving it to her.

The pleasure ate into him like acid as he started pounding her ass. He quickly found himself panting as he fucked her, his hips driving forward, slapping against her bare ass each time he pushed as deep as he could into her. Vetra’s moans and cries of pleasured pain were intensely arousing, making the sexual bliss that much sweeter.

“Please…” she moaned.

“Shut the fuck up!” he snapped and slapped her ass.

She cried out and began to orgasm. He grinned as he kept stroking into her, going even rougher now and making her scream.

“I knew you liked it, you little slut,” he growled at her as he felt her hot sex juices spraying his balls and inner thighs.

She tried to say something but nothing coherent came out as she climaxed. Atticus kept fucking her through it, making her scream with abandon as he pounded her ass. When she was finished climaxing, he suddenly leaned forward so that he was on his hands and knees as well, hovering over her. He went hard and fast, pounding her ass until she collapsed beneath his weight.

There he held her in place, grasping her wrists and pressing her hands into the small of her back. She cried out as he kept fucking her up the ass, holding her firmly in place, squirming beneath him. He kept that up for a good minute before knowing he was close to blowing off.

He let go of her wrists and then tucked her arms to her sides. He laid down flat against her and really started hammering, pounding her into the mattress and making her shriek.

“That’s right, bitch! Fucking take it, you whore!” he yelled at her.

He triggered right then and the pleasure was like a landslide, an avalanche of bliss that tore him away and threw him into the cavernous abyss of ultimate sexual gratification. He groaned loudly, thrusting deep and hard into her as he began unleashing his seed. He filled her tight, mature ass up in hard, furious spurts, each one sending a concussive shockwave of ecstasy through his body.

Atticus held onto her tightly until he was finishing coming.

“Need some space, Atticus,” she said after a bit.

“Oh right, sorry,” he panted, extracting himself from her ass and then rolling onto his back. “You okay?”

“I’m okay,” she confirmed. “Although I clearly underestimated how thick you were.”

“I made a similar mistake,” Colleen said.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“I’m sure,” Vetra replied. “Don’t worry,” she said, rolling over to face him with a tired smile, “if I had needed to use the safeword, I would have. You performed marvelously. That was honestly better than I had been hoping for. You improv fantastically.”

“Thank you,” he replied, chuckling awkwardly. “Glad it didn’t come off as cringe.”

“Anything but. Now, I need to clean up the mess you made in my ass.”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

He stood up, then offered her a hand. She almost didn’t see it, but then she did before hauling herself up completely, and a small, almost confused smile came onto her face as she took it and let him help her up.

They headed into Susan’s bathroom and got into the shower.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she murmured.

“You seem a little off. Which is fine, I just want to provide the, you know, aftercare however I can.”

She smiled a tentative smile at him. “I suppose I’m feeling vulnerable. Ironically not because of the anal pounding you just gave me, but that little bit of help you offered and the kindness you’re displaying now. I’m just...not used to it. Um, here.”

She passed him a rag and some soap and turned her back to him. He lathered it up and started running it across her skin.

“Sorry you’re not used to it,” he offered.

“I suppose I am, too. But I earned it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I spent too much of my life being...perhaps callous is too strong of a word, but brusque? I spent too much of my life cutting emotional consideration out of most social interactions. Certainly there were people and circumstances that called for it, and people who appreciated it, people like myself. But there were a lot of people, well...I hurt their feelings. I didn’t mean to, but at a certain point I did realize I was doing it, and I tried to be better about it, but at a certain point it became too difficult to care.”

“That...seems like a complex problem. I mean, I think for some people, pretending to care is extremely difficult. And for some other people, who are really sensitive to other peoples’ emotions and facial expressions, it’s easy for them to pick up on the fact that you don’t really care about their problems or what they’re talking about, and too many people take ‘don’t care’ as ‘actively dislike’.”

“They take it rather personally sometimes,” Vetra murmured.

“Exactly. I think some people are just going to be like oil and water in that way, and the best you can do is try to work on hauling your ‘don’t care’ demeanor north of that line into ‘polite interest’.”

“That’s about the same conclusion I reached some years ago. I’ve been trying ever since.”

“You seem to be doing better.”

“You haven’t seen my ‘don’t care’ face yet. I...find myself caring about everything you have to say.”

“Oh. Wow. I...did not realize that.”

“Yes. I’m rather taken with you. It’s mildly concerning.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m not used to being taken with anyone, let alone a man half my age who is already involved with four other women.” A pause. “I’m not saying I have issues with it, or that I want it to change, simply that it’s causing me...concern. Undue concern, but concern nonetheless.”

“I get that,” he said, and he saw her shoulders relax just a little. He set aside the soapy rag and began to massage her shoulders. “It’s new, different. It takes some getting used. Especially for someone like you.”

“You have strong fingers,” she murmured. “Someone like me?”

“A genius used to being completely independent, relying entirely on yourself to manage your emotions. In a way, I’m asking you to expose your heart to me in the most intimate way possible. And you agreed, and you feel good about that agreement and how it’s gone so far, but it’s still an anxiety-inducing experience.”

“Are you offended?”

“No. I’m not offended, Vetra. Concern, even paranoia, are honestly very rational reactions to allowing someone into your life, into your home, into your own body.”

“Into my heart,” she murmured. “And it isn’t entirely my choice. My heart is opening for you whether I would allow it or now. I am allowing it, to be clear, but…”

“But that’s what’s giving you your real concern.”

“Yes.”

“If it helps, I won’t take advantage of you. I’ll do my very best not to hurt you.” He paused. “Well, unless you ask me to.”

She laughed softly. “That does help, actually. And yes, I will be asking you to. That was very good rough anal sex. It hurt quite beautifully...that doesn’t weird you out, does it?”

“No. I mean, I don’t really get it, but I certainly benefit from it. And if you’re enjoying it, then I’m fine with it.”

“Good. I’m glad. I do quite enjoy it. That thing you did, where you bound my hands...made it much more intense. I think, perhaps, we might explore some more intense roleplay in the future if you don’t mind getting a lot rougher with me.”

“So long as it’s safe, I don’t mind a bit.”

She laughed and turned around suddenly. Her expression was grave. She looked up into his eyes and held them unblinking.

“Atticus, I think the next few days, perhaps the next week, may be rough for me. And if you’re really going to involve yourself with me, then it will be rough for you. I’ve seen this pattern of behavior in myself before, so I can predict it now. I may wish to...flee. My life. When I get too happy, I think this happens, out of fear.

“I think the fear that it will be somehow taken from me tries to force me to get ahead of the hurt and take it from myself. I don’t want that to happen. I think...this may be the closest I’ve ever come to actually finding happiness, a place I can actually settle in, people I can actually involve myself with on a long-term basis. I will need your help. I may call on you a bit randomly for help. I’d like to apologize in advance.”

“I accept your advance apology and forgive you, Vetra,” he said, taking her hands. “I’ll let the others know, and I will be here for you. If you need to talk at three in the morning or you need me to come over or you need to come over, just call and I’ll make it happen.”

“The others will...understand? I may need you even when they do.”

“I think it will take some adjustment, but I’m pretty sure they won’t mind. I’m happy to report that the women who have come into my life since coming to Lakeside all seem to be very empathetic.”

Vetra smiled, then. “Much like yourself.”

“Well...I try.”

“You succeed. Now, turn around and I shall return the favor.”

“All right.”

He turned around and soon she was rubbing his back with the soapy washrag, and they stayed together in that shower for a long time, enjoying the simple pleasure of each other’s company.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

“Will you spend the night?” Vetra asked as they dried off.

“Yeah. Let me just talk with the others,” Atticus replied.

She nodded. “I am feeling somewhat emotionally taxed, so I will say my farewells and then go wait in my car while you ask permission, and explain my...situation.”

“All right.”

He could sense that her anxiety had returned, but it at least seemed lessened. Perhaps returned wasn’t quite the right word. More like, was no longer being held in check by her iron will. He felt for her, though he was admittedly surprised to see this level of vulnerability from her.

They headed out and began dressing. Everyone had since drifted upstairs, where they had gathered in the living room. Vetra said her goodbyes and slipped out while Atticus lingered.

“Is everything all right? She seems a bit...stiff,” Colleen said.

“She is. First thing: it’s cool if I spend the night with her?” Atticus replied. The three women all nodded, though Susan looked a little disappointed. “Are you sure, Susan? That you’re okay? And okay with me leaving?”

“Yes, honey,” she replied. “I’m better now. Honestly I’m very chilled out, and I think Vetra needs you.”

“Well, you’re dead on about that. Second thing: she basically told me that whenever she gets...happy like how she is now, she kind of freaks out and runs away from her current life. She wants to put an end to that, and she needs my help. Our help, but specifically my help.”

“Help her,” Colleen replied immediately.

“Yeah, that woman is amazing, and she deserves to be happy,” Edith agreed.

Susan was nodding. “Yeah, and if anyone can help her, it’s definitely you, babe.”

Atticus grinned despite himself. “Well, thank you,” he murmured, then he cleared his throat. “She may be reaching out to me at...inopportune times. In the middle of the night, when we’re busy with something, so I’m basically asking you all permission to...temporarily prioritize Vetra over you all, unless we’re in some kind of genuine emergency. Is that all right?”

Colleen was the first to answer, and he had the idea that Edith and Susan were waiting on her. “Yes, Atticus. Permission granted, from me, at least. Sometimes, one of us is going to need you more than the others, and that’s fair, and we should recognize that.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Susan said. “I’m fine with it. Although I’d really like more sex soon. And snuggling.”

“You will have both tomorrow,” Atticus replied, then looked to Edith.

“Yeah, I’m all right with it,” she said. “It feels a little weird, but I’m just still getting used to the whole, you know, ‘sharing my very serious boyfriend with other women’ thing.”

“You know, at this point, I’d say you’re all my fiances.”

“Definitely,” Susan agreed.

“Certainly,” Colleen said with a smile.

“I guess that’s true,” Edith murmured. “I mean we’ve basically committed to each other. We’re living together, we’re in love, we plan to spend the rest of our lives together. Hell, we’re practically married at this point.”

“That is true,” he agreed. “Maybe I could get rings.”

“I’d like that,” Susan said immediately.

“I definitely would,” Colleen said.

Edith nodded. “I would, too. Also, uh, before you go, I have an announcement and a request.”

“I’m listening,” Atticus replied.

“So, my meeting went well and I’ve got a date set for the cafe opening. It’s in one week.”

“Wow, that was fast.”

“Yeah, it kind of just came on all at once, me wanting to actually do it? And that apparently worked well with what the city’s got planned for the incoming tourist season, which begins in the next two weeks or so, so it dovetailed nicely. So there’s some stuff we need to get done in the next week. One of the things is we need to get the fliers I made out to some other towns. I’ve already put in calls and sent e-mails and I’ve got about a dozen places lined up willing to let us advertise there. A few libraries, grocery stores, gas stations, places people will hit regularly. Maybe you and Vetra could take a little road trip?”

Atticus considered it. Not a bad idea, he’d be both helping Edith and helping Vetra at the same time. Plus an opportunity to get out and do some more driving. He was finding that now he was in Lakeside and settled, he kind of liked hitting the highway and just going.

“Yeah, I’ll ask her. She’ll probably be down for it. We can do it tomorrow,” he said. “And let me know whatever else you need to help with the cafe. Or the book signing. I assume that’s still on?”

“Yep, got it locked in,” Colleen replied. “I’m not sure how you’re going to manage all this.”

“Um...it’s going to require some dexterous time-management skills,” he admitted.

Colleen’s smile changed just a shade into something more sultry. “You should get going, young man, before I jump you.”

“Probably,” he agreed.

Atticus gave each of them a kiss on the mouth, Colleen’s lingering a bit longer, and then he headed out and joined Vetra in her car.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Everything’s good. They have been appraised of the situation and are comfortable with it. The only thing is, how would you feel about a little road trip tomorrow? Edith’s got her cafe grand opening locked in and she needs someone to drive out to a few neighboring towns and place some fliers.”

“I have nothing going on tomorrow that I can’t set aside for later, and I would like to do this.”

“Perfect. It’ll be just you and me.”

“I like that,” she said with a smile as she backed out.

…

Atticus came awake to pale blue moonlight.

He frowned, blinking, unsure of where he was. It looked only vaguely familiar, but the blue light was throwing him off. He looked up and saw skylight windows overhead, saw the shape of the moon through one of them.

He looked over and saw the other side of the bed was empty. That wasn’t good, even in his confusion he knew that. Reaching over, he found it cold.

Vetra. He was in Vetra’s bedroom. Right.

He looked around until he found his phone on the nightstand and checked it. Almost four in the morning. Where was she?

Getting to his feet, he thought back to how she’d seemed before sleep. The night had gone well enough. They’d made a meal of hamburgers together and eaten on her back deck in the cool twilight air. The conversation had been nice, mostly she’d told him about her life. He’d told her some about his own, though his paled in comparison to hers.

They’d made love in the shower again and then had gone to sleep.

She’d seemed fine, happy, content even.

Atticus slipped out of her bedroom and looked onto the back deck. Not there. Not in the bathroom, either. He drifted forward until he found her sitting on the couch.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” she said.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I’m having...emotional difficulties. I didn’t want to wake you.”

She sounded strange. Definitely not good. Atticus walked over and sat down beside her. Her face was flat, tinged just the slightest bit with anxiety.

“I want to help,” he said.

“I’m not sure how you can,” she murmured.

Well, this was freaking him out. It was like she was shutting him out.

“Why didn’t you want to wake me?”

“Because I didn’t see a way that you could assist me.”

“What’s actually wrong, Vetra?” She didn’t respond for a long moment. He sighed softly. “Vetra, you asked me to help you with a difficult problem that you’ve never found a solution to. That means you aren’t going to find this solution on your own. Which means you need to explore other options, which you have, with me. I think you need to be willing to explore new paths, even if it isn’t immediately obvious to you that it will lead to a solution. I think you’re scared, and you’re panicking, and you aren’t acting rationally right now.”

It took a moment, but finally she stopped looking out the window and looked to him.

“I am scared,” she whispered.

“I understand, and I’m here to help you. But you have to let me in,” he replied, taking one of her hands. She squeezed his hand intensely.

She had a strong grip.

“I’m scared because I don’t see a way out of this. I’m running into the same emotional territory I have a dozen times before. Two dozen. It’s just...fog. It’s all just panic fog, and I can’t see any way through, so I just run away instead. And I want to run away, Atticus. I really want to. These things I think will be anchors: my home, the land, the time and money and effort I’ve sunk into designing this place and making it my own, none of it’s working.”

“Fighting yourself is the hardest thing you have to do,” he said.

“I don’t know how to fight myself on this.”

“I know, but you’ve always found solutions for problems in the past. It’s what you do.”

“Not for this. I haven’t yet for this. I’m fifty one years old and this is the problem I never solved.”

“Which scared you, which trained you to stop even trying to fix it. I mean genuinely trying. I think you did all this, you built this new life here, with the hope, hidden from even yourself, that it would not so much solve the problem as remove it.”

“...maybe,” she admitted reluctantly, beginning to look away.

“Vetra,” he said firmly, pulling her attention back to him. “We need to start with something basic. Answer this question: why are you afraid of staying? Why are you afraid?”

“I’m not sure,” she murmured.

“Vetra, one of your greatest strengths is your rationality, your logic, your big, genius brain. Use it. Dissect this. Rationally, why are you frightened of sticking to a life?”

That seemed to startle her, just a little, and some of the anxiety and fear seemed to clear from her eyes. She frowned, but it was a more analytical frown. She looked down to the space between them, her eyes drifting back and forth as her vast intellect went to work.

“I suppose I fear it because I fear...being normal. Or what I view as ‘normal’. Ordinary. Average.” She slowly looked back up. “And I fear being tied down, being unable to live the life I want to live.”

“You’re afraid of something that won’t allow you to do whatever you want whenever you want,” he said. It sounded like an accusation.

Vetra’s frown changed a little, her expression becoming defensive. “That isn’t...completely true.”

“Isn’t it? What was the goal of your life? What were you reaching for besides more knowledge?” She pursed her lips and didn’t answer, seeming unsure. “Freedom,” he said finally. “You wanted the freedom to live your life how you saw fit. Which is rational. Everyone wants that.”

“Why is that wrong?” she asked.

“It isn’t. But I think that because you’re so damned smart and so successful, it went from a goal to a success to a lifestyle to a habit to an addiction. I think there’s some part of you that thinks if you can’t up and leave and go wherever the hell you want in the world at any moment, it means you’re trapped, and you need to prove it to yourself by doing it anytime things start to really settle. I think there’s a part of you that has somehow latched onto the belief that if you choose not to do it, it means you can’t do it, even though that isn’t rationally true.”

“Why would I believe that?” she murmured, but she looked worried, like she was afraid he might be right.

“Because emotions aren’t rational. Why do you think there’s entire fields of study dedicated to emotional intelligence? You have to know by now that there is a disconnect between your emotions and your rational mind. Which means you must think that you’ve conquered this disconnect. Which is why you are blind to the solution.”

“What is the solution?” she asked with sudden urgency. “This thing, this problem, it’s the last thing that really scares me. It’s so...powerful. It’s overwhelming, this urgent need to just run. To pack my things, hop in my car, drive to an airport, and buy a ticket going somewhere new. I’ve done it before. Many times. I used to love it, but now I hate it. I hate the power it has over me. I hate that I can’t stop it.”

“You can stop it,” he said.

“How?”

He sighed. This felt way above his paygrade and he was going by feel alone at this point. But it seemed to be working, and it felt right. “I think you’ve missed the solution because it’s so obvious. Because it’s so simple. What have you done in the past when you’ve encountered a problem like this? An emotional difficulty?”

“It depended,” she replied, a little cautiously. “Sometimes I would remove the problem. Or, if I couldn’t do that and it bothered me enough, remove myself.”

“And if neither of those options were available?”

“I would endure.”

“And what happened to the emotional problem?”

“Sometimes it endured, sometimes it faded into the background...so you’re suggesting I simply endure? Take no other actions?”

“No, not entirely,” he replied. “But that’s most of it. I think you need to just...wait this out. I think you need to live your life. Involve yourself more. With the town, with me, with Colleen and the others. I think...well, it sounds really cliché and simplistic, but honestly, the only way out of fear is through it. Or, at least, in this case it is. But I also think you should find a therapist.”

He could tell by the way her expression changed she didn’t like that idea. But she didn’t look away, and she didn’t disagree with him.

“I’ve tried therapy a few times in the past. It...did not seem to yield any meaningful results.”

“I get that, but I think it’s worth trying again. And, this is just a shot in the dark but...maybe those other times, you weren’t being entirely truthful with your therapists.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Vetra, I respect you a lot, but you do have that ‘I know better’ aura about you.”

She looked like she was about to argue, but the argument collapsed before it could escape her throat. “It comes with the territory,” she admitted begrudgingly.

“I get that, and it’s gotta be rough because, in so many cases, you do know better. And, of course, you’d feel that you know yourself better than anyone else. Because you are yourself. But you also know that some problems you can’t solve because you’re too close to them, you can’t pull back and get perspective, so you need someone else to help.”

She was silent for a moment, then she let out a long, tired sigh. “I suppose I must concede that point. You’re right about that.”

“Thank you.”

“Anymore insights?”

“I think you partially knew the solution, but I also think you rejected it because you didn’t want to face the fear. You didn’t want to endure the struggle, because it was going to be potentially one of the bigger struggles of your lifetime, because you kept running away from it, so it grew and grew and kept growing, until a hill became Everest. Each time you were confronted with this, it was bigger than the last time. And I’m not judging you.”

“I know,” she said, offering a tired smile. “It’s hard to talk about this, but I know that, at least.”

She fell silent. Atticus waited, hoping he was doing a good job of hiding his own anxiety. Colleen’s words of how it wasn’t fair to him, living this life with her and with women twice his age, because it would lob nuclear problems in his lap when he was used to handling mere grenades, came back to him. He felt so outclassed, so utterly dwarfed by this, but he seemed to be handling it well enough.

Was that illusion or was he actually doing this?

“I think you’re right,” she said finally. “About all of it. I need to face this. I need to stay here. I need to engage more with my new life and my new friends. And...I need to try therapy again. For real this time.”

Atticus felt relief flood him and felt his whole body relax, like he’d just defused a bomb.

He supposed, in a way, he had.

“I’m so glad,” he said.

Vetra laughed a little. “You should see the look on your face...you were terrified through all that, weren’t you?”

“I mean...not terrified…”

She laughed again, then slowly frowned and put a hand on the side of his face. “I’m sorry, Atticus. I’m sorry I didn’t wake you and ask you for help. I’m sorry you have to deal with this.”

“I forgive you for the first part, I don’t need to forgive you for the second part. This isn’t your fault, Vetra. That you have to experience this, nor that I have to. You were very honest about this, and I accepted this responsibility with both eyes open. So don’t feel guilty about this. You asked for help, I offered it. Let it be that simple.”

“I will try,” she replied. He waited. It seemed time to get back to bed, she seemed much more relaxed, relieved even, but she lingered, staring at him. “Why are you doing this?” she asked finally. “Why are you putting aside time, time that you should be spending with the other four women in your life that you love with a fiery passion? Why are you putting that time aside for me?”

“Because...I like you. I respect you. I want you in my life. But I think, beneath all that, the bedrock of the answer is two things. Because this is who I am, and because I think you deserve to be happy, and if I can make that happen, I want to. And I guess, maybe, beneath that is...because it’s what I believe in. It sounds so trite, but I think the meaning to life is helping other people, however you can, in that it gives your life meaning.”

“I agree,” she said, regaining her smile. “And I find myself feeling incredibly lucky and grateful right now, to have you in my life. So willing to help me.” She stood up and he did as well. “I’m ready to go back to sleep now, although...I also think I’m ready to take another pain in the ass.”

“Are you now?” he asked.

She laughed. “Yes, I am.”

“Then I am ready to give you one. Although…”

“Yes?” She paused in leading him back to her bedroom, looking over her shoulder at him.

“I just have one question...why is the moonlight in your room blue?”

“Oh, that. I had my skylights treated with something that turned the light very faintly blue. I like the color. Now, come on.”

As she led him back to the bedroom, he laid a hand on her fit ass.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

They had decided to take Atticus’s car.

With the sun climbing into the sky, he and Vetra hit the highway in a great mood.

When he’d awoken again, she was once more missing from the bed, but he heard her showering and realized she’d left the door opened. Feeling energized and horny, he’d joined her in the shower and found her in much better mood and very receptive to more fun.

So he screwed her doggystyle through two screaming orgasms and then had come deep inside of her fantastically slick, mature pussy.

It was a good way to start the day.

They’d had a light breakfast and then had driven back to the lakehouse.

They’d already hit the first place on their roadtrip, a gas station a few miles down the highway. He’d used the opportunity to refill his tank and buy an energy drink.

“You are so goddamned beautiful,” he said as he glanced over at her again.

“Mmm, thank you. But you’d better keep your eyes on the road,” Vetra replied with that satisfied smile she tended to wear around him now.

“Probably a good idea,” he agreed.

When she spoke again, it was more serious. “I feel like I didn’t properly thank you for last night.”

“I feel you most certainly did.”

She laughed softly. “I suppose, but...thank you. For choosing to stick with me, and genuinely trying to help me, when it would be easier to just let me do what I would do. I know your life isn’t easy right now, and you’re trying to divide your time equally between now five of us, so thank you. Truly. This is an extremely meaningful act to me.”

“You’re welcome, Vetra. I’m just glad I’m actually capable of helping.”

“So am I. What you said to me last night actually seems to be sticking. It’s giving me some real hope for a situation I haven’t had any for a long time now. That being said, I did want to clarify that if you do need time, to yourself or for the others, please let me know. I’m not in crisis and if I am, I will let you know.”

“I appreciate that, because after this road trip of ours, there is something I’m going to have to take care of.”

“What’s that?”

“Kate. She’s been crazy busy ever since our date day and she keeps avoiding an issue we need to talk about, which is her accepting help. She wants to do everything herself.”

“Mmm, a woman after my own heart,” Vetra murmured. “I imagine after Colleen’s and Edith’s, too. Interesting. You seem to attract fiercely independent women.”

“Lucky for me, given that’s apparently my favorite type of woman.”

“I wonder why that is.”

“I couldn’t give you a solid answer. There are lots of features in a person to be attracted to for a logical reason, but logic never truly factors into what gets us horny. It just...happens. And it just so happens that I love tough, independent women.”

“Boy did you ever get lucky.”

“Beyond lucky. The fact that I’ve managed to snag four of them is unreal.”

“Have you snagged me?” Vetra murmured.

He glanced over at her. “Haven’t I?”

She laughed. “Yes, Atticus. You have. You have very much snagged me. Especially after last night. Something feels...different, between us, after that. In a good way. A very good way.”

“Knew it.”

“Mmm...don’t get too cocky, now.”

“Hard not to, what with all the insanely beautiful women bouncing on my dick and you letting me dominate you up the ass.”

“That’s a fair point.” A few moments passed as they drove along beneath a clear, clean summer sky. “I have an awkward question.”

“I’m listening.”

“Do you fear parenthood?”

He laughed. “Well obviously, yeah.”

“Interesting.”

“Do you?”

“I feared it enough that I cut the ability to reproduce out of myself as soon as was possible.”

“When was that?”

“When I was twenty.”

“Oh, wow. I’m impressed. That must have been difficult. How’d you manage it?”

“I was in Sweden. Even back in the nineties, they were more progressive-minded in their stances on women. I knew I didn’t want to reproduce, I didn’t want to be pregnant, I didn’t want to even risk it. My mother understood but my father was reluctant. That didn’t last long, thankfully. Well, I suppose that isn’t entirely accurate. I knew when I was fifteen after I spent some time among pregnant teenagers and those who had kids already, and knew immediately it wasn’t for me. So I had been telling him for five years, but it wasn’t realistic that I could get the procedure until I was eighteen, so…” She shrugged.

“I imagine it’s turned out for the best.”

“It has. I never changed my mind. Not that I could have, anyway. But I did toy with the idea of adoption several times. Ultimately, I decided I’d rather be alone. I don’t think I’d be a good parent. I care too much about myself, about my time. Especially now. I’m fairly set in my ways. Although, hopefully, not completely.”

“You can still change, Vetra. You never lose that ability,” he said.

She gave him a somewhat cynical smile. “Do you really believe that? Or are you trying to make me feel better? I appreciate it, regardless.”

“I believe it,” he replied. “And even if I have doubts, I certainly believe it for you.”

“Why?” She sounded genuinely curious.

“Because you’re so fucking amazing. Even from just the sliver of your life I’ve seen, you’re such an amazing person. You’re a force of nature. I honestly believe that if you’d wanted to, you could have been a high-powered businesswoman or a four star General or a chief surgeon or a Senator, and done it well. You can change if you genuinely try.”

She laughed. “That sounds like a challenge.”

“Perhaps it is.”

“Mmm...you’re already so tuned into me. You already know me so well. How do you do that? I’m getting the idea it isn’t conscious.”

“It really isn’t. I mean, some of it is. I try to listen, I think about things, I seek out new information if I can, but...yeah, I just kind of say what makes sense in the moment and it almost always just works? I’m really lucky that way.”

“You have a natural gift of empathy that you’ve molded into something strong, and it’s landed you in the laps of five women. That’s still very impressive. Oh, there’s the second gas station.”

“Yep,” he said, hitting his blinker.

…

It was time to deal with Kate.

The day had been long and pleasant. Six hours on the road with Vetra, driving across their own little slice of Oregon and visiting the dozen and a half places Edith had ultimately selected. They’d visited, talked with the owners, (or whoever was on duty, at least), and placed their fliers. No one had said no, thankfully.

Atticus had been texting with Kate all through it, or trying to anyway. She was backed up and behind on everything, so texting had been sparse and frustrated. Presently, all four of the lakehouses were unoccupied, and were going to remain so for the next two days, which meant that she was pouncing on the opportunity to get a bunch of shit done.

And they still hadn’t talked about getting help.

He was going to have that conversation even if she took a swing at him.

Which she actually might, if she was in a bad enough mood.

Atticus drove along the lake’s edge and saw a few driving ahead of him. Probably headed to the trails or the mini-golf course or maybe the campgrounds. Summer was nearly here. It was May 26th and this was the last week of school for most.

He remembered his own school year bleeding over into June sometimes to make up for snow days in winter.

Did that happen anymore?

Well, best not to think about that.

Kate was at the last lakehouse on this side of the lake, tucked away almost up to the forest’s edge. For that reason it was desirable by some, that and the fact that it had three bedrooms instead of two, and a hot tub out back.

If he hadn’t been so hellbent on renting the lakehouse he’d spent his lost summers in, he’d have gone for that one.

There was her car, and there she was, on the porch, watching him come in, her arms crossed.

Uh-oh. She was definitely in a sour mood.

He pulled up and got out.

“You ready?” she asked immediately.

“Yep,” he replied after considering pointing out she was being a little rude.

Her flat expression said she was in no mood for anything but acquiescence right now. Well, he could give her some grace. That was something he’d learned about Kate during their first year: when she was pissed, she got pissed.

And she could really dig her heels in if you tried to drag her back to a good mood.

She held onto her anger.

“What do you need exactly?” he asked as she led him inside.

“Just hold the door,” she replied.

“All right.”

The front door to this cabin had apparently suffered some damage over the years and she’d been meaning to replace it for a while now. Evidently, the last group here had been a little rough and rowdy with it, slamming it repeatedly on their way out and in, and it had finally hit the point where it needed to be replaced.

An easy fix, provided you had two people.

Atticus held the door and Kate applied the powerdrill.

She had the screws out in under a minute and he hefted the door and brought it out onto the front porch and laid it against the wall. He grabbed the other one she’d already hauled up and held it in place while she screwed the new screws in.

“And done,” she muttered. “Let’s test it, make sure.”

They tested it, closing and opening it, making sure it locked, then stepped back onto the front porch. She studied it with a stern eye. It looked better, a shade lighter than the previous door, of a slightly different design. It seemed to go with the house better.

“All right, will you put the old one in the bed of my truck? We can toss it in the junkyard. I know a place we can just toss it over the fence, and-Atticus!” she cried, and he almost dropped the door as he picked it up.

“What?” he replied.

“You fucking scraped the paint off!”

He looked, saw a little bit of damage along the front of the house where he’d accidentally scraped with one corner of the door.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he replied awkwardly.

“Just-fucking go put the door away, I’ll be right back,” she growled, and stomped back inside.

Well, this was no fun.

Atticus hauled the door to her truck and carefully set it in the bed, then came back as she returned with a bucket of paint and a brush. He watched uncomfortably as she hastily painted it over, then brought the supplies back inside and returned a moment later. She slammed the door shut and locked it, but didn’t turn around right away.

Instead, she remained standing, facing the door, not moving or saying anything. Finally, she let out a huff and turned around.

“I’m sorry,” she said, but it sounded terse and she began to march past him.

“Kate,” he replied, turning with her.

“I said I’m sorry, I’ve got a lot going on right now. Can we please go, I have so much more to do.”

“Kate, please just wait a minute.”

She whirled on him and he saw she was starting to get red in the face. “I can’t wait a minute, Atticus! I have to do this shit! I fucking–” She hadn’t really been looking at him but mid-sentence her eyes connected with his and she stopped speaking.

She closed her mouth, a pained look coming onto her face, then she burst into tears.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

He opened his arms and she ran into him so hard she almost knocked him over.

“I’m sorry!” she cried as he hugged her.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, holding her tight as she squeezed him.

He put one hand over the back of her head after a moment and began to massage it gently. He waited as she cried against him, and it was a bad cry. She was sobbing uncontrollably. She was really damned stressed. He had a decent idea of why. She’d overwhelmed herself and she knew that he was right and she was going to have to make a change and accept help, but she really didn’t want to.

Hopefully nothing else had happened.

They stood there for about five minutes, her leaning against him, squeezing him, sobbing against his chest. He murmured quietly to her, rubbing her head and her back. At this point he knew that was the best thing to do. It was still uncomfortable, but he thought that was always going to be a factor of this kind of situation.

Someone he loved was in pain and he was used to being able to take a more obviously proactive role in healing or at least alleviating that pain. But until the crying storm had passed, there was nothing he could do but be a safe port in that storm.

The sobbing eventually became crying, and the crying eventually became heavy breathing, and eventually that settled into the occasional hitch in her chest and heavy sniff.

Finally, Kate pulled back. She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy, her nose running, her cheeks wet.

“Come on,” she said in a tired tone of voice.

He let her take his hand and lead him back inside. They went to the bathroom and she washed her face and blew her nose. Then she had him take his shirt off, spent a moment cleaning off the snot and tears, then walked deeper into the house.

He waited in the living room, shirtless, and heard the dryer start up somewhere.

Kate returned, looking better but still exhausted, and now embarrassed.

“We can’t stay long,” she said, then she sighed heavily and collapsed onto the couch. “I’m really sorry. I was a bitch. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“I forgive you, Kate,” he replied, sitting next to her.

A moment of silence passed. “I know what you’re going to say.”

“And?”

“And…” She fell silent, still not looking at him, staring out the window. A milder version of that same stubborn, angry expression came onto her face. It held, and he prepared himself for another, if gentler, outburst. But it didn’t come. “And you’re right.”

“Wow.”

She sighed. “Don’t right now, please.”

“Sorry, I’m just...surprised. And happy. I mean, hopefully you admitting I’m right means you’ll agree to get some help.”

She groaned. “This has kind of forced my hand. I overslept this morning because my fucking alarm fucked the fuck up, so I lost four precious hours that I really needed. And there was already too much to do, and just...ugh, goddamnit. So yes, you win.”

“I wasn’t trying to win.”

“I know.” She sighed heavily. “I’m fucking tired.”

“You’re burned out, Kate. You’re working yourself too hard.”

“I know. Fuck.”

Another moment of silence passed.

“So how can we help?”

“I was going to go to the store from here and buy a bunch of shit. Cleaning supplies, toiletpaper, papertowels, straws, paper plates, you know, restocking shit and cleaning shit to give it a good wash over. That’s most of what I have to do. It’s all easy, there’s just a lot of it...wait, where’s Vetra, I thought you said you were with her?”

“She’s hanging out at the lakehouse,” he replied.

“God, I’m cutting into your time with that fucking incredible woman for this horseshit.”

“You aren’t. We’ve had our fun for the moment, and she understands. Listen, how about this? I’ll get in touch with the others and see if they’re willing to help right now. I’m sure they are. Let’s make a game plan. I think it would make the most sense for you and me to hit the store and buy all the shit, then bring it back to my lakehouse and divide it up and we each hit a house, depending on who’s willing and able to help.”

Kate thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. It shouldn’t take too long to grab the shit from the store. By now we’ve got a deal worked out, so they know to have it ready for me in four different packages. All right, yeah, let’s do that. I can drive.”

“Perfect.”

They got up and she locked the door behind them as they headed out. Atticus hit the group text, which now included Vetra, as she began driving.

Hey everyone, Kate’s feeling overwhelmed and needs help. Who would be willing to take the job of cleaning and restocking a lakehouse? They all need it.

“I assume you’ve got a checklist of things that need doing?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do. I wrote it all down for myself to make it easier, I can send it to them,” she replied.

“Perfect.”

She’s got a checklist and will be providing all the supplies necessary so it shouldn’t be complicated.

Susan replied first and immediately: I’ll do one! I’m off today and kind of bored.

Then Vetra: I will help.

Then Edith: I can help, but I want the lakehouse nearest to us.

Then Colleen: I can help if it’s really necessary, but I’m still kind of on a roll, writing-wise.

Atticus considered it. “Is there anything else you’d need help with beyond this?” he asked.

“Yeah, some stuff, but it’s stuff you and me could handle. I mean, if you’re willing.”

“I’m willing, Kate. I do love you.”

She sighed, then laughed and rolled her eyes as she pulled up to the junkyard. She was blushing. “Yeah, I know...I love you, too.”

He texted back: Colleen, we can manage without you. Everyone else, thank you, we’ll be by the lakehouse within the next hour or so.

Atticus wondered if that was too blunt for Colleen, it was hard to convey nuance in text, but either it was fine or she really was too deep into her writing to respond, because she didn’t say anything else.

“Okay, we’ve got three volunteers,” he said as they got out.

“Who backed out?” Kate asked. “Uh, not that I’m upset.”

“Colleen. She’s elbow-deep in writing right now,” Atticus replied, grabbing the door and following her.

“Oh, yeah I get that. You got it?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s not really heavy, just unwieldy.” She snorted. “What?”

“I don’t know, that’s such a funny word. Unwieldy. Okay, here, just shove it up over the fence.”

He did, resting it against the top of the fence, then giving it a push. It went up and over, disappearing over the other side and landing with a series of bangs before finally settling among the garbage.

“You sure he won’t be pissed?” he asked as he dusted his hands off.

They began walking back. “He won’t even notice. Now come on, I really want to get this over with. I’m so fucking tired and there’s still so much more to do.”

…

Kate was right, the store was a quick haul.

They had four big plastic containers of supplies organized and sealed up, ready and waiting for her by checkout. She paid the hundreds of dollars it all cost, and then she and Atticus hauled it out to her truckbed and secured it with cords.

From there, they drove back to the original house they’d replaced the door at and dropped off each package. Atticus hauled it inside, set it on the living room floor, then they locked back up and headed on to the next house.

Finally, they arrived at the lakehouse where he lived.

They parked and Atticus began to get out, but Kate remained sitting. She hadn’t even taken off her seatbelt.

“You all right?” he asked.

She was gripping the steering wheel tightly, staring at the lakehouse.

“I’m...I don’t want to face them,” she murmured.

“Why? I mean, I know this is rough, asking for help, but–”

She sighed heavily. “You don’t get it, Atticus.”

“Then help me.”

“It’s...stupid, and humiliating.”

“We gotta talk about this, Kate.”

“It isn’t the whole...deal. About me asking for help. It isn’t that. It’s specific to them...and you.” She fell silent again. He waited. She heaved another tired sigh. “I guess we’re just going to sit here until I tell you and we don’t have time to waste. I’m the youngest. By far. And we’re all dating you. And I don’t want to be, you know, the stupid, inexperienced girl against all these fucking top-tier cougars who can handle all their shit like it’s nothing. I know you don’t think like that and I mostly believe they aren’t even thinking like that, but it’s...you know, it’s unspoken. Like I’m not good enough for you. Like I can’t keep up with them.”

“Kate,” he said.

“I know!” she snapped. “I’m being paranoid and insecure and I can’t help it!”

“Kate, I’m not trying to dismiss you, but you’re being more insecure than you know.”

“Why?”

“I mean…” He sighed, wondering how much he should say. “Without getting into details, all four of them have their own insecurities. Intense ones. And with the exception of Vetra, they’re all struggling with aging. I mean, it was a real concern that I’d just be happier with you. You’re young and hot, my own age, at the same place I am in life…”

“Shit, I guess that’s pretty obvious,” she muttered.

“Kate, you’ve all got strengths and you’ve all got weaknesses. You all have insecurities. And they aren’t just going to go away. But they can be weakened, but that takes intentional action. It takes you facing your insecurities and just...doing the thing that you’re scared of. I mean, God, Vetra…” He hesitated.

“What about her? It’s hard to imagine Vetra having real insecurities.”

“She does. She’s been in emotional turmoil just recently. Like real, genuine turmoil. Eh, I shouldn’t even have said that.”

“I won’t say anything,” Kate murmured. She smiled a little. “You’re good about that, keeping secrets.”

“Yeah, but I see it more as protecting dignity, and also just respect. No one needs to know about you sobbing against me for five minutes and utterly losing your shit if you don’t want them to. Everyone breaks down, and everyone has a right to privacy.”

Her smile widened a little. “You’re right,” she said. “I guess I have to just face this...and I know I’m being ridiculous. I know I shouldn’t be paranoid about them judging me, about you judging me. You’ve all been good to me, and you’re my friends. I should trust that.”

“You should. I love you, Kate. I respect you, and so do they. Asking for help doesn’t lessen you in our eyes at all. Honestly, I respect you more for doing it, because it’s the harder thing to do.”

She looked at him for a long moment, then sighed and shook her head with a small laugh. “Okay, come on, before I get crying again. And I love you too, Atticus. I really love you. God, now that I’ve said it, it just feels so good and so right.” She laughed suddenly. “I’m really happy with where I’m at. I know I’m stressed but ever since you came back into my life, it was like something that’s been broken for half my life was suddenly fixed, or something missing was returned, and everything is just so right now.”

“Same,” he agreed.

They shared a quick kiss and headed inside. Everyone but Colleen was waiting for them in the living room.

“Wondered if you were fucking out there,” Susan murmured.

Kate laughed, blushing. “Sorry, I’ve just been...it’s been a stressful week so far. And I wanted to say thank you. Seriously, thank you for this. I really, truly appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, Kate,” Vetra replied. “It’s the least I can do for letting me fuck your...fiance? Husband?”

“Oh God, I don’t even...lover works,” she said, laughing awkwardly.

“For letting me fuck your lover.”

“Yeah, same,” Edith murmured.

“Um, okay, so, Edith, you said you wanted the nearest house?”

“Yes.”

“Any particular reason?”

“I wanted to spend some more time in it because it’s kind of Atticus’s,” she replied, blushing herself now.

“Wow, you have such a bad crush on me, huh?” he asked.

“Oh shut up, young man,” she snapped, making him laugh and making her blush worse.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “Susan, you cool with having the first house on the other side, and then Vetra takes the middle?”

“Yeah,” Susan replied.

“I’m fine with this,” Vetra said.

“Perfect then. Get your shit and load up in Susan’s car. Kate, you head off to the last house and I’ll meet you there. I need to pop in and say hi to Colleen.”

“Yes, sir,” Kate replied with a smirk.

“He’s getting more confident,” Vetra said as they got up.

“Apparently,” Atticus agreed.

“I don’t mind,” Susan murmured.

He went to see Colleen.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

“So I was curious…” Kate said as she wiped down the window.

Atticus was sweeping. “Yeah?”

“Is Susan pregnant yet?”

He laughed. “No, not yet.”

“God, I can’t imagine it’s from lack of trying.”

“No, not that. Although I haven’t been able to spend as much time with her just recently. Everything’s been so busy.”

“Ugh, now I feel bad again.”

“Don’t. We’re happy to do this. And we’ve got plenty of time. We’re going to fuck next time I’m free, I’m sure. Especially since Colleen is so clearly into her book.”

“Oh yeah, did she ignore you when you went in?”

He chuckled. “Not exactly, but it was clear she was in the flow. I’m actually starting to understand what you all felt like when I was locked up for three days.”

“Yeah, but you’ve still got four other chicks to bang. I get that we’re friends, but it’s not really the same between me and them.”

“I get that. You seemed pretty comfy with Colleen, though.”

Kate didn’t respond. He glanced at her. She was blushing again. “It was...interesting,” she said finally, moving on to the next window.

“I bet.”

“I dunno, I don’t think I could eat pussy or scissor. But maybe I could be eaten by a woman...but that wouldn’t be fair, you know?”

“I get that, but I think Colleen would be willing to accommodate. I’m positive Susan would, she’s...rather taken with you.”

“Is she?”

“Yeah. I mean, they all are, except Vetra. Susan’s definitely the horniest of the group. I think she’d be happy to eat you, even if she knew you wouldn’t return the favor.”

“It feels kind of like taking advantage. She’s so...submissive.”

“She is, but it’s because she likes to be. It’s not really...how to put this? She gets something out of the act of doing it, she wouldn’t just be doing you a favor. She gets off on it.”

“Huh...I guess I can see it. I kinda get off on sucking your dick.”

“Lucky me.”

“Oh hell yes, you are so very lucky. Okay, I’m going upstairs, I need to hit the windows up there, and then once I finish that, I’ll mop the kitchen. Once you finish sweeping...clean the toilets?” He looked at her. “I’ll suck your dick! I just don’t want to deal with them!”

He laughed. “I mean, okay, yeah, I’ll take that deal.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re so easy.”

“Uh-huh.”

He slapped her ass when she walked past him. She turned to look at him with an expression of kindness laced with deviousness. “Be careful with the woman who puts your penis in her mouth, dear Atticus.”

“Noted,” he replied, and slapped her ass again when she began walking away.

“One of us is going to be the death of the other,” she said, heading upstairs.

Atticus laughed and got back to sweeping.

…

It took most of the rest of the day, but with the others’ help, he and Kate managed to knock off the rest of the things on her list.

Some pipes had needed tightened, some lightbulbs replaced, some paint touched up. A dozen other oddjobs that she’d been putting off for weeks now. It had felt good, checking things off a list with her. And her mood had not just improved significantly, but stayed improved.

When it was over, they went back to the lakehouse and she decided to have a party night, since she had no responsibilities tomorrow.

“Ohhhhh man, I feel it,” Kate said, and began giggling, which sent most of the others off giggling as well.

“We’re gonna get fat,” Colleen murmured, looking at the remains of tacos and burritos and nachos they’d ordered.

“There are worse things,” Atticus replied.

“Yeah, you can talk, you’re still twenty-something. You’ve got your damned metabolism,” Edith said. “God, I’ve already gained five fucking pounds since meeting you.”

“That’s not really a bad thing,” he replied, reaching over and giving her thigh a squeeze.

She let out a little shriek and jumped. “You’re gonna make me fat,” she groused.

“Are you a chubby chaser?” Colleen asked suddenly.

“I can’t tell if that’s insulting or not,” he replied.

“It’s not insulting...probably needs to be a better term for it, but no shade.”

“I dunno, I kinda like the word chubby,” Susan said. “Obviously I’ve got, uh, a little extra, so I’ve been sensitive to words around that my whole life, and chubby has always kinda not bugged me.”

“As I’ve said before,” Atticus said, then paused, his head suddenly swimming.

“Yes, dearest?” Colleen asked, and immediately started giggling again.

“Give him a moment, thinking’s new to him,” Kate murmured.

“I am literally going to put you over my lap and spank the fuck out of you,” he said calmly.

“Fucking do it. I fucking dare you,” Kate shot back.

Atticus frowned, then looked over at Susan, who was squeezed in beside him on the couch, Edith to her other side. Colleen was sitting on the floor with her laptop, half working like she apparently used to twenty years ago, and Vetra had taken the recliner.

“Give me some space,” he said.

“Oh shit, he’s really gonna do it,” Susan said, grinning broadly as she stood up and then helped Edith to her feet.

“Bullshit, he isn’t gonna do fucking shit,” Kate replied. “Give me a break, Atticus could never-Atticus!” she shrieked as he grabbed her and hauled her over onto his lap.

“What’s that, Kate?” he replied, laying her down on his lap. “Got something to say?”

“Don’t you dare!”

“You said I wouldn’t, Kate. Looks like I am...say I would. Admit it. Now. Or I’m gonna beat that ass.”

“No! You wouldn’t!” she declared, still giggling.

“Okay…”

He spanked her shorts-clad ass once, hard. She cried out. Everyone was watching them raptly now. He did it again.

“ATTICUS!” she cried, looking up at him over her shoulder, her expression pure shocked amusement shot through with intense arousal.

“I told you I would.” He spanked her twice more, then sat back, releasing her. “God, you have a hot ass.”

“You little fucker,” she growled, getting up off of him, breathing heavily as she straddled him. “Whatever am I going to do with you?” she whispered, her face an inch from his.

“Well...you could make good on your promise.”

“What fucking promise?”

“For cleaning the toilets?”

“Oh my God, you are such a fucker! You are so lucky that I’m deeply in love with you!”

“And that you liked being spanked?” he asked.

“I didn’t say that!”

“You didn’t have to.”

She glowered at him a moment longer, then sighed heavily. “Yes, fine, I liked it,” she mumbled, then began getting off him.

“Knew it.”

“That was hot,” Edith murmured.

“About to get hotter,” Atticus replied as Kate gathered her hair up in a ponytail and secured it with a hairtie, then got down on her knees.

She began unzipping his pants, then paused and took off her shirt, freeing her wonderful breasts, then unzipped him.

“Can I have his load?” Susan asked as she retook her seat beside him.

“What? Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Kate replied, pulling his erection out. “God, you’re so hard.”

“Weed makes me horny, apparently. So does disciplining mouthy bitches.”

“Ugh, you are so annoying!”

“Suck my dick, Kate.”

She glowered at him a few seconds longer, then opened her mouth and put his dick in it. She began bobbing her head aggressively, sucking him off fiercely.

“Okay, that is hot,” Vetra murmured.

“Very,” Colleen agreed, sitting up to get a better view.

Susan was getting naked beside him. Her massive breasts came out and then he got a flash of her sweet pussy as she squirmed out of her pants.

“God, you have such amazing thighs,” he murmured, running a hand over one pale, thick thigh.

“Thank you, husband,” Susan replied with a delighted smile. “I still can’t believe I’m naked and about to have sex in front of so many other people.”

“Hopefully we never fully get used to it...ah fuck, Kate,” Atticus groaned as she slowed a bit and began focusing on his head.

She sucked him and massaged his balls until she’d brought him close to climax, then she pulled back, falling back on her ass and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“There, duty paid, he’s all yours, Susan.”

“Thank you, kindly,” Susan replied with a big smile as she settled atop him, straddling him and staring down at him with that same mixture of excited lust and heartfelt love she always did. He groaned as she slid him smoothly into her intensely wet pussy. “Give it to me, my love,” she whispered as she began to ride him.

“You have such a huge ass,” he murmured, settling his hands on it.

Their session wasn’t long. Kate had wound him up and Susan felt so slick and soft and hot inside, riding him quickly but smoothly, stimulating him until he started coming inside of her. He grunted, his head absolutely singing with the edible he’d taken and the raw, unstoppable ecstasy of coming inside of Susan, knowing that he was trying to get her pregnant, feeling her huge, soft breasts pressed against his chest, her broad ass in his grasp…

He released her when he was finished and she remained on him for a time. He grunted as he felt her squeeze him with her inner muscles and she giggled.

“I bet I’m pregnant,” she whispered.

“When was the last test you took?” he asked.

“This morning. Mmm, I’m going to sit here a while, then I’ll go shower and take another test.”

And that’s exactly what she did. After about five minutes, she roused herself and stood up, cupping a wad of tissues Edith had gotten for her against her crotch and heading off to the bathroom. When she was gone, Atticus looked around and realized Vetra was staring at him intensely.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hello,” she purred. Her smile seemed almost dangerous.

“Uh...you doing okay?”

“I am finding myself intensely aroused,” Vetra replied. “Will you allow me to go for a ride?”

“Yeah, definitely,” he replied.

She stood up and pulled off her shirt, then the sports bra she wore beneath it.

“Good God, you’re hot,” Kate whispered. “You’re seriously over fifty?”

“I am indeed,” Vetra replied as her shorts came off and she walked calmly and confidently over to the couch.

He was already hard again by the time she settled into his lap.

…

Atticus opened his eyes.

His head still felt cloudy. He looked around and realized he was alone in his bed. He could hear someone talking. Kate, he realized, and Susan. He heard Edith laugh and Vetra murmur something. Okay, they were all up, probably having breakfast.

He felt his stomach rumble and hauled himself up out of bed. Ten minutes later, he was sitting down on the couch in his boxers with a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs.

“Man, you look hungover,” Kate said, laughing.

“So do you,” he replied.

“I’ve got a kink in my back,” Susan complained.

“Well, I don’t think that bed was meant to hold five people,” Edith replied.

“Glad I slept downstairs,” Vetra murmured.

Atticus was glad he found her still here this morning. She seemed like she’d been having a good time, especially as she hadn’t been stoned in a very long time and had decided to cut loose, but he’d been a little worried he’d wake up and find she’d slipped out sometime in the early morning. She still looked relaxed, happy even.

He took it as a very good sign.

“Where’s Colleen?” he asked.

“Same place as always now,” Edith replied.

“Man, she’s fucking into this book. Although I know how she feels, I’ve been feeling the itch to get back to work on my new game…”

“You should do that,” Susan said. “You’ve been very good to us and should definitely take some time for yourself.”

“Yeah,” Edith and Kate agreed.

“I guess so...anything on the agenda today?”

“Oh, yes, actually,” Kate said. “Got a text from that interior decorator. She’s willing to take on the job. She wants to come out and tour the house, get some pictures of her own. Today.”

“Shit, okay,” Edith replied, perking up. “I’m game.”

“I also got a legal agreement drawn up,” Kate continued. “I need to get it printed out, although first I want to send it to you and Colleen, for you both to look at and make sure nothing was left out or screwed up. Also, I want to get a safety inspection of the house, make sure everything is up to code. You know, plumbing, electronics, foundation, roof, all that jazz. I will pay for it.”

“Nonsense,” Edith replied. “I’ll pay for it. I certainly have the money.”

“Well...all right, I won’t say no to that,” Kate said, though she looked like she wanted to argue. “Also, I guess we should talk about some kind of schedule about the lakehouses, if you guys are really cool with helping more long-term. We need to figure out payments, too.”

“I’m good for payment, I’m doing this as a favor,” Edith said.

“Mmm, well now I feel a little weird about asking for money…” Susan murmured.

“Don’t let that stop you,” Edith replied firmly. “Money can be a difficult subject, but I want to simplify it as much as I can. I genuinely do not need the money at this point. And while I’m doing this as a favor, I do intend to take it seriously. Also, I won’t be able to help as much because of the cafe.”

“Well...okay,” Susan said. “What’s your offer?”

“I guess it depends on who all I’m paying,” Kate replied, a little awkwardly.

“I’m content to continue along as we have been,” Atticus said when she looked his way.

“Oh?” Kate asked, raising her eyebrows. “The way where you do what I ask and I repay you by letting you stick your cock between one or both sets of my lips?”

“I mean, if you’re comfortable with it…”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Duh, I’m comfortable with it. Yeah, that’s fine.” She looked to Vetra.

“My schedule is still rather busy, but...I do intend to help. That being said, I do not require pay.”

“I know Colleen already said she for sure doesn’t want to get paid,” Atticus said.

“Well, cool then. How does a hundred bucks a day sound?”

“Oh wow, that sounds amazing. I’ll have to figure out a better schedule for my cat shelter work, because besides babymaking, that’s my only other responsibility these days. But there’s new recruits there, and they seemed pretty gung-ho about it.”

“We’ll get it figured out,” Kate said. “And again, thank you, all of you, for doing this. It’s so appreciated.”

“We like you, Kate,” Edith replied, smiling at her. “And we help each other out. That’s what we’re about now.”

“It’s a good way to be,” Vetra murmured. She stood up. “That being said, I want to return to my home. It’s been very nice. Atticus, will you walk me out?”

“Yeah,” he replied, getting up.

They said their goodbyes and he walked Vetra out to her car.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“I am,” she replied with a serene smile. “I’m actually fantastic. I’m happy. Last night was wonderful. It was...freeing. That being said, I need a day or two to myself. I hope you won’t take it personally.”

“Of course not, Vetra. This relationship is about figuring out what makes us happy, calibrating ourselves.”

She stood by her car, door open, and favored him with a vulnerable, loving, sweet smile. “You’re the best man I’ve ever been with, Atticus. I mean that. I’m privileged to be dating you.”

“I’m extremely privileged to be dating you too, Vetra. And I really do mean that.”

She gave him a kiss. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Looking forward to it.”

She got into her car and drove away.

Atticus lingered for a bit, watching her go, then he walked back inside. There was work to do today and he intended to do it.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Atticus turned in his chair as he heard the knock at his door.

“Yeah?”

“Is that any way to talk to your lovers?” Kate called back.

The door opened up and he saw Kate and Susan standing there. The grins they wore worried him. There was something mischievous about them. Although honestly he’d been wondering how long it would take the two of them to realize they actually had a lot in common, personality-wise, and team up to take him on.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I’m done with my responsibilities for the day, provided nothing comes up, which it shouldn’t now that we’ve gotten all that shit dealt with, and I came over to hang out, and Susan and I decided that all work and no play makes Atticus a dull boy,” Kate replied.

“Is that so?”

Susan’s smile grew wider. “That is so.”

“So what are we going to do about it?”

“We talked and we decided we want you to take us up to the new movie theater to play some arcade games they’ve got there, then take us to Movies & Games so we can find a movie or two to watch, then we grab some burgers or something and come home and watch the movies.”

“And that will ensure I’m not a dull boy?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kate replied.

“Well, that and...other things that will happen later,” Susan said.

Kate blushed and cleared her throat. “Yes, other things.”

“Other things, huh?”

“Yes!” Kate snapped. “Now are you coming or are we going to have to make you come?”

“You might need to make me come, you’ve gotten pretty good at it,” he replied.

Kate sighed heavily as Susan giggled. “Just come on, loser!”

“Fine, fine,” Atticus said.

He went about saving his work and shutting down his computer. He’d admittedly spent most of yesterday working on his game after Vetra had left, taking breaks every couple of hours to hang out with everyone. He’d woken up early this morning and felt the urge to keep working, so that’s what he’d done after a quick shower.

And now it was pushing two in the afternoon, so he’d probably spent enough time working for the day. The urge had largely been satisfied.

He closed his laptop and moved to join the women.

“Where’s Edith?” he asked. He knew where Colleen was. While she’d been present during a couple of breaks, it was obvious that she was still even more into working than he was.

“At the cafe again, making sure everything’s just right,” Susan replied.

“Sounds like her. Hopefully she doesn’t work herself into a frenzy.”

“Hopefully.”

They got their shoes on and headed for his car.

…

“You know we’ve got like a million movies on demand, right?” Atticus asked as they began moving among the aisles.

“God, Atticus, what kind of retro nerd are you?” Kate replied, rolling her eyes. “You don’t remember being a kid, hitting the video store? Renting something for the weekend?”

He considered it. He knew what she was referring to, and that had been a bit more of a nineties thing, before his time. But he did have dim memories of doing something similar in the late two thousands.

“I suppose you have a point,” he replied.

“I remember,” Susan murmured, and she really did seem lost in nostalgia.

He realized, abruptly, that they were doing this for her. He probably should’ve picked up on that earlier, but admittedly, life had thrown a lot at him in the past month. And it wasn’t going to slow down anytime soon.

“Oh my God,” Susan whispered as she turned into the next aisle.

“What?” Atticus asked, going to join her.

He found her standing before a collection of boxed retro game consoles inside a glass case.

“Oh man, the Box64,” he muttered. “Such a weird name.”

“Did you ever have one of these?” she asked.

“No but my friend did when I was growing up. Played a lot of games at his place for a few summers.”

“Oh man, they’re still freaking two hundred dollars.”

“You want one?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll buy you one.”

“Oh, Atticus, I...I don’t know,” she murmured. “That’s a lot to ask.”

“It isn’t,” he replied, looking at her. “Come on, babe, you know how well I’m doing. And why do you think I wanted to get successful? One of my fantasies was always having a hot, kickass girlfriend and being able to buy her whatever she wanted. Also that she’d be a gamer, obviously. And I would fucking love to buy this for you, and some games, and then play those games with you.”

“Oh my God, that’s also my fantasy,” she whispered excitedly.

“Then let’s do it. You go find some sixty four games and I’ll go find some. Whatever catches your eye.”

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“I’m completely positive.”

“Thank you!” She kissed him and then moved more quickly down the aisle, hunting through the rows of old games in their big, clunky boxes.

“You’re a sweet, good boyfriend,” Kate murmured.

“I try.”

“You’re doing quite well. Now, let’s find my shitty movie.”

“Oh, so it’s going to be a shitty movie, huh?”

“Yeah, didn’t I mention that?” she asked, wandering off.

“No, you very much didn’t.”

“Hmm. Could’ve sworn…”

He sighed.

…

They ended up getting the console and a dozen games and two movies.

The games they bought, the movies they rented.

One of the movies was all right, the other one was indeed pretty shitty, but at least shitty enough to be entertaining, and the burgers were good.

As the day wore on and began to slowly bleed into night, Atticus felt a tension gradually building between Susan and Kate.

Not a bad tension, though. Not uncomfortable, more like anticipation.

When Edith came home, Susan went off with her to the kitchen and they whispered and giggled a lot. Then Edith joined them to watch the bad movie. When it was over, the tension was pretty obvious.

“Hey, what’s up?” Colleen asked, at last emerging from her office.

“Look who’s here,” Edith said.

“Hey, I was in the zone,” Colleen replied. “I also needed a nap,” she added sheepishly.

“We’ve just been watching movies, and we’re going to set up an old gaming console Atticus bought me,” Susan said. “But before that…”

“Yeah?” Colleen asked.

“Yeah, what’s going to happen before that?” Atticus asked.

“So…” Kate said, standing up, then balking when all eyes turned her way. She looked around the room awkwardly, blushing, pursing her lips. “I’ve thought about it, and talked with Susan about it, and I...am going to be eaten out by Susan. Without returning the favor.”

“Which I am completely fine with,” Susan said. “So long as you,” she looked to Atticus, “are pounding me from behind.”

“So a threesome then,” Atticus said, sitting up a little straighter.

“Yes, a threesome,” Kate agreed. “Also, um...if it doesn’t weird me out, I would be open to trying again with Colleen and Edith. But again, like...I wouldn’t be returning the favor. Which I know is being hypocritical but–”

“It’s fine, Kate. You’ve stated your terms clearly. And...I will think about it,” Colleen replied.

“Yeah, same. I mean, I’d probably do it,” Edith said. “Plus, it’s not like I never get eaten or anything.”

“Man, I bet you never thought you’d have so many cougars so willing to go down on you,” Atticus said as he got up.

Kate was blushing worse than ever. “Yeah...um, let’s go,” she said.

They began the exodus that was becoming more and more common in the lakehouse: two or more of them were going to have sex and everyone went because everyone wanted to watch. They chose Colleen’s bed, given it was so big, and the three participants began stripping down.

“I’m really excited,” Susan murmured.

“Same,” Kate replied. “Although I’m still kind of nervous.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite. Unless you’re into that.”

Kate laughed. “I’m not. Although I guess I’ve never tried it...but I don’t like the idea of teeth interacting with anything down there or near there.”

“Maybe Atticus could do a mate claim bite,” Susan said.

“A what?” he asked.

“Like in those absolutely filthy monster fucker novels,” Susan continued. “There’s a bunch of different cultures that all seem to enjoy the same thing: fucking the shit out of a girl from behind and then right when they come, biting her shoulder. Like, you know, claiming her.”

“I’ll admit, that sounds hot,” Kate said.

“It does,” Edith agreed awkwardly.

“Well, I’d be down to try it. I mean, I’m not gonna draw blood, but yeah, I’d do some biting,” Atticus admitted.

“Definitely hot,” Edith murmured.

“I think Edith wants to be claimed,” Colleen said with an amused smile.

“Maybe I do!” she shot back.

“It’s an appealing idea.”

“It is,” Kate admitted as she finished stripping and climbed onto the bed. “So I’m, uh, I mean...you know, ready to go.”

“I’m sure ready to go,” Susan said demurely as her own clothes finished coming off. She looked at Atticus. “I’m wet and ready for a pounding.”

“Fine by me,” he replied, walking up to her and giving her a long kiss, then climbing onto the bed and doing the same with Kate. “You lay down there, spread your legs.”

“All right,” she murmured, laying down near the center of the bed and opening her legs wide. She looked remarkably beautiful and vulnerable.

Susan climbed onto the bed and got onto her hands and knees between Kate’s firm, tanned thighs. Their bed was long enough that there was just enough room for Atticus to get behind her and fuck her doggystyle. He waited, though, staying in his position beside them as he watched Susan settle into position.

She smiled up at Kate, tucking a few errant strands of brown hair behind one ear and then running her hand soothingly along Kate’s thigh.

“Try to relax,” she said. “We can stop at any moment and I won’t be offended or anything. You can grab my head if you want. You can give me instructions, I take them well. I’m basically going to go until you come, and I’ll keep going after that if you want.”

“Okay. Usually I can keep being eaten even when I’m coming, so...uh, do that. I like it.”

“I will do that,” Susan replied.

Atticus, Colleen, and Edith watched intently as Susan leaned down. This seemed extremely pornographic, but also extremely intimate. Kate gasped softly as Susan exhaled against her bare pussy. Susan rested on her elbows, carefully parting Kate’s wet lips. She exhaled again, a bit harder, and Kate’s whole body trembled as she inhaled sharply.

Looking very in the zone, Susan stuck her tongue out and licked once, firmly, slowly between her lips. Kate cried out.

“Oh wow,” she whispered. “That’s...that was good.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Susan murmured, and then started licking.

She was definitely good at it. She said she hadn’t really experimented with girls in her past, but she seemed to be a natural at eating pussy. Or maybe she’d just watched a lot of lesbian porn. She looked intensely erotic as she began lovingly licking Kate’s clit, her movements languid and calm. Kate immediately began moaning.

“Someone’s very sensitive,” Colleen murmured.

“Kate’s a sensitive little slut,” Atticus replied as he began moving, horny enough that he needed to plunge into Susan’s sweet, wet vagina.

“Fuck...you…” Kate panted.

“You will.”

He got behind her and spent a moment admiring her huge, pale ass before slipping into the pink perfection that was her pussy. Another chance to get her pregnant. He grasped her hips and began stroking into her, making her let out a loud, muffled moan. As he fucked her, her eating of Kate’s pussy grew more intense, and Kate’s cries of pleasure grew louder in response.

Soon the sound of his skin slapping against Susan’s was fighting for dominance with Kate’s pleasured cries, though they didn’t really have a chance.

Kate was a loud one.

She orgasmed first, her fingers running through Susan’s hair now, and she grabbed Susan’s head and forced it down into her crotch as she came. Susan moaned as, at the same time, he began intensifying his pounding.

He wanted to fill her up.

Susan’s orgasm touched off just a few seconds before his own, and then he was coming. Both he and Kate were using her roughly, Kate forcing her face into her crotch, making her use all of her mouth to continue pleasuring her as she orgasmed, and he shoved himself deep into her as he pumped her full of his seed, thinking of her pregnant body.

Susan moaned loudly through it all.

When they were finished, he pulled out and sat down, and Kate released her, panting, gasping at this point.

“Oh...I’m sorry, I got...oh...kind of rough there. Oh my God, that was incredible,” she panted. “Oh my goodness, I cried a little. Shit.”

“It’s all right,” Susan said, sounding and looking deeply satisfied with herself as got up onto her knees. “I like being used roughly. Your pussy tastes nice.”

“Mmm...thank you,” Kate murmured, wiping at her eyes and laughing. “God, that was intense.”

“Still feeling good about it?” Atticus asked as Susan got up to clean herself up.

“Oh yes. I am. That was so hot. I thought it was going to be weird but it really wasn’t. And now I’m eaten and I’ve come and I’m very ready for a hard dicking.”

“I’m very ready to give you one,” Atticus replied, coming closer to her.

She smiled up at him and spread her legs wider.

CHAPTER THIRTY

After having sex, he and Kate ended up soaking in the hot tub to enjoy some decadence.

“How you feeling about it, now that some time has passed?” Atticus asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them.

“Good,” Kate replied with a serene smile. He was having trouble focusing on something besides her perfect breasts just beneath the water. “I still have this vague concern that I might regret it, I might get these bad feelings suddenly out of nowhere, but it doesn’t seem to be happening. And I don’t think it will. I mean, I’ve made out with girls before, like tongue made out, even before Colleen, so it’s not like I’m completely straight...I’m glad you aren’t weird about it.”

He laughed. “Why would I be weird about it? It’s two extremely hot women naked and performing a sex act that I’m also a part of, and everyone’s happy with it.”

“It’s just, you know, it’s a cliché that guys all want to see their girlfriend get with another hot chick and do sexy things. But I’ve come across a surprising number of stories where they got angry and jealous afterwards, even though they’re the ones who instigated it.”

“Oh...I guess that could make a certain kind of sense.” He sighed. “Humans relationship with sex are often so fucking fucked up. I know some of that is just instincts and emotions, but I wonder how much it would even occur to us to be this way if society wasn’t so fucking weird about sex.”

“I must say, this relationship is certainly a bastion of sexual health and joy,” Kate said, putting her feet in his lap. She smiled as he began to massage them. “You’re such a sweetheart.”

“I’m happy to be. Spent so long just wanting a relationship with a woman I could be nice to, do nice things for, just, you know, be with.”

“Same, although man instead of woman. And now I’ve got you.” She gasped as he popped something inside her foot. “That was good.”

“You thinking about doing anything else today?”

“No, if I can help it, I’m going to just crash here. I don’t want to go anywhere else today. Just be here with all my favorite people.”

Atticus switched to the other foot. “I think we can accommodate.”

…

The rest of the day was smooth and easy, as was the one after that.

Colleen wrote, Edith flitted about town, dealing with the cafe and her other responsibilities. Kate had to leave to deal with some lakehouse responsibilities. And he and Susan ended up spending most of the day playing old games together, and that brought him a comforting joy that at times bordered on overwhelming.

The day after that, they were two days out from the grand opening.

Atticus found himself in his car with Colleen and Edith, driving them into town.

“So what are we actually doing?” he asked.

“I told you already, silly boy,” Colleen replied.

“Um...shit, sorry. I’ve got a lot going on in my head just recently, and it’s never been all that great about memory as it is.”

Colleen laughed. “It’s fine. I get the same way. We’re going to the used book store.”

“What’s that place actually called? I always forget but I always remember it’s something a little ridiculous.”

“Hundreds & Hundreds of Used Books.”

“That is a weird name.”

“A little too literal,” Edith murmured.

“Yeah. You feeling okay?”

“I am. Just...preoccupied.”

“Understandable. So why are we going to the used book store?” Atticus asked.

“I want to give one more go-over on the actual premises to make sure everything is up to specs. The girl that runs the store has got spirit, but she’s a little novice when it comes to events like these,” Colleen answered.

“Makes sense. How’d she get a whole book store? Or is it part of a chain? I feel like it isn’t.”

“She inherited it from her dad. It used to be an antiques store, but it wasn’t doing so hot when she got it. She inventoried everything in the store, did some research, found out some of it was actually super valuable. She found some buyers overseas, sold it all off, and used the proceeds to convert it into a bookstore.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah...you know, she’s pretty cute. Mousy, nerdy girl with glasses and very nice breasts. I bet I could talk her into fucking you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“That...doesn’t seem like a great idea,” he replied after a moment.

“I’m not hearing a no…”

Atticus considered it. The idea of fucking a hot nerdy woman who was almost certainly in her thirties at least and owned her own bookshop was very appealing. He almost agreed.

“No,” he said. “Let’s not.”

“Interesting. Also, impressive. Why?” Colleen replied.

“I have enough women in my life that I’m intimate with. I think I need to just...stop looking for more, at the very least through the rest of the year.”

“That is a good idea,” Edith said.

“Yes, and I will respect it. Also, it’s a very respectable decision. It seems hard for men to turn down free, willing pussy, especially when it’s offered to be facilitated by their lovers.”

“Oh, it isn’t easy,” Atticus replied. “This isn’t really a happy choice, because I do want to fuck her based on what you’ve said, but I’m clearly still finding my footing balancing all you.”

“I love you,” Colleen said.

“I do, too,” Edith said from the backseat.

“I love both of you, too. So very much. And I want this to work more than I want to fuck new women.”

“How much more?” Colleen asked.

“A significant amount more.”

“Significant, huh?”

“I mean...you know, decently significant.”

Colleen and Edith laughed. “Well, that will do just fine, dear,” Colleen said.

“It’s so nice to have my man say that to me and I fully believe him, with zero doubt,” Edith said.

“Well, admittedly, it helps that there’s five of you in my life. But even if it was just one, any one of you, it would still be true.”

“It’s also nice to hear and believe that...can we stop by the cafe after we’re done with the bookstore?” she asked. Colleen sighed softly. “I just want to check one thing!”

“You said it was one hundred percent locked in,” Colleen replied.

“It is, I just...want to double-check. I’m sorry, nevermind.”

“No, it’s fine,” Atticus said, glancing at Colleen.

She seemed to rein herself in. “You’re right, it’s fine. I’m sorry, Edith, I guess I’m just stressed over my own stuff, too.”

“Thank you. I do feel bad, I know this is annoying. I just...can’t help it.”

“I get that,” Colleen said.

“Probably not the best time to ask, but have you at all looked into getting medicated, or therapy?” Atticus asked.

Edith sighed. “Yes, I did. Today, actually, I finally called a psychologist out in Westberg and set an appointment for evaluation. It’s three weeks from now, so it’ll be a bit, but it’s done.”

“Thank you, Edith. And I’m proud of you. I know this is a really rough topic and it’s not going to be easy, but I do really appreciate it. I want you to be healthier and happier,” Atticus said.

“Yes, you’re taking a good step forward...one I need to take, as well,” Colleen murmured.

“I’ll let you know how it goes. If she’s nice and effective, you can probably use her as well.”

“Here’s hoping.”

They were at the book store. Atticus pulled into the parking lot and parked. They got out and headed inside. The interior was quiet and cozy and comfortable. It didn’t have that old, cobbled-together feel that he noticed a lot of used book stores had. It was pretty modernized, the floor carpeted in dark tan, the walls painted a gentle ocean blue, the shelves made of good, dark wood, everything clean and organized in an air conditioned splendor.

A few people were browsing the stacks. They found the woman in charge and she did indeed turn out to be an attractive, mousy nerd girl in her mid-thirties that Atticus found himself attracted to. But he crushed that urge and watched Colleen work.

She asked about her books, about the place where she would sit, about making sure there was proper room for a line of people to form and, if that was too much, for the overflow to hang out. She asked if she had rearranged her book-stands to take advantage of where the bulk of the people were going to be, as they might be looking to buy other books.

For the most part, the owner had already taken care of these things, but she seemed happy to hear Colleen’s suggestions on how to better utilize the big day. Atticus ended up helping move a few tables and display stands.

As they walked back out, Colleen seemed a lot more relaxed.

“That went well,” she said as they got back into the car.

“It sure seemed to. You feeling good about everything?” Atticus replied. He brought them back onto the road and began making the slow drive down the way to the cafe.

“I am. A lot better, honestly. She seemed a little distracted in our other meeting, but she’d pretty much done everything I’d requested and she’d agreed to. I’ve done this a few hundred times now, so I’ve honed my instincts about book-signings. And they tell me this one is going to go okay, at least from her end.”

“What kind of a turnout do you think you’ll get?” Atticus asked.

“Well, considering I’m a successful, attractive female author with a worldwide audience, I imagine it will be fairly large. Several hundred at least. And that’s less confidence speaking and more experience. Even when I took charity cases like this to help isolated bookstores, I got several hundred people to show up.” She paused, sighed. “I sound rather callous, don’t I?”

“A little,” Atticus replied. “But not much.”

“I suppose that’s the nature of experience. Do something often enough and it becomes old hat. Fear gets replaced by boredom. I must admit, I’m looking forward to it. This is the longest I’ve gone without a book-signing since I began doing them. Have you settled on what you’re going to be doing during the big day?” she asked.

“Mostly helping out Edith,” Atticus replied, pulling into the cafe’s parking lot and bringing them to a halt. “I’ll go in with her to get the cafe set up and run the register with her and Susan. Vetra’s going to be in the kitchen. Kate will help out as she can.”

“Have you figured out long-term staff?” Colleen asked.

“Mostly,” Edith replied. “I’ve hired two for sure and I’m looking over three more. One of the ones I’ve hired has responsibilities to tend to, so they won’t start until the week after the opening, but the other girl should be there.”

“How many people have RSVP’d?” Atticus asked.

That was an interesting and clever idea Edith had come up with. On the fliers was a website and an offer for a free drink if you signed up and RSVP’d for opening day.

“Three hundred,” Edith replied.

“Shit, that’s a lot.”

“Yep. I’m kinda nervous.”

“We can handle it.”

“I hope so.”

“It’ll be a long day, for sure, but I imagine it will leave you feeling very happy and satisfied,” Colleen said as they walked inside.

“I hope so,” Edith repeated.

The cafe looked ready. Everything was swept and clean and fresh. It even smelled fresh. They watched Edith walk around it all. Among the booths and the tables, into the bathroom, the office, the storage area, the kitchen, worrying silently over it all.

At the end, she came back to stand with them.

“I know I’ve forgotten something,” she murmured.

“I think you’re paranoid you’ve forgotten something,” Atticus replied, taking one hand.

“Probably,” she murmured. She pulled her phone out and checked it. “Oh boy, T minus forty hours until launch.”

“Anything more you need to do? Or want to do?” he asked.

She was silent for two very long minutes as she kept looking around the cafe. Finally, she took a deep breath and released it. “No, there’s nothing. Nothing I can think of. I’ve gone over my lists a hundred times, triple checked that everything’s been done and done right. We’re ready. Or as ready as we’re going to be.”

“So...what do you want to do?” Colleen asked.

“I want to go home and get stoned and try to actually enjoy myself. I’ve nothing to do for the rest of the day and for tomorrow.”

“So, we’re corrupting you, huh?” Atticus asked as they walked back outside and she locked up.

“You have successfully turned me into a hedonist whore,” she replied, then looked around nervously. “That was a little loud.”

“It’s just us, whore,” Atticus replied, putting a hand on her mature, jeans-clad ass.

She sighed and blushed. “Yes, I suppose it is. And yes, you’ve corrupted me, and I want to go home and get high and have a threesome with you two and with you and Susan, and with you and Kate if she’s free.”

“Let’s see what we can do,” Atticus replied, and began leading the two women back towards the car.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

Atticus awoke to a shout that tore him from sleep in an instant.

He sat up, blinking awake, looking around for Susan, because it had been her who shouted. It was morning and he had that kind of instant awareness upon waking that came not just from being startled awake, but from a deep anticipation of the following day.

He saw Colleen and Edith sitting up beside him as well.

“What the hell was that?” Colleen asked groggily.

“I’m pregnant!” Susan cried from the bathroom. She stepped into the doorway, completely naked, holding a pregnancy test. Her face was alight with utter joy, but it immediately turned into embarrassment. “Oh God, I’m sorry! I scared you all awake. I’m sorry! But I’m pregnant!”

“Holy shit, are you sure?” Atticus asked, throwing the blanket back and getting to his feet.

“Yes! It’s very clear,” she replied.

“Congrats, Susan,” Colleen said, and laid back down.

“Congratulations, Susan,” Edith agreed, stretching. “What time is it?”

Before anyone could answer, Atticus’s phone began to go off, as did Edith’s. They both reached for them and silenced them.

“Seven, apparently,” Atticus said, then set the phone back down and hurried over to Susan, who was practically vibrating in joy in the doorway.

“Lemme see,” he murmured, taking the test from her.

Yeah, the little screen had a plus sign, and it was pretty strong and clear.

“I’m pregnant,” Susan said again, her smile so huge it would have been comical if it wasn’t so endearing.

“You’re pregnant,” he agreed. “Holy shit, babe.”

“I’m going to be a mother...and you’re going to be a father.” She looked down at herself. “You got me pregnant.”

He settled a hand over her stomach, making her shiver. “I got you pregnant,” he agreed, feeling somewhat stupefied himself.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “Oh man, I’m so happy. I was starting to get a little worried. But I’m pregnant!”

“Why don’t you two celebrate with some sex, I need the bathroom,” Edith suggested.

“We should absolutely do that,” Susan said, and began heading for the bed.

Atticus still had morning wood, so he happily followed.

“I suppose I should get up, too,” Colleen murmured sleepily. “It’s the big day, after all.”

“Sorry for waking you,” Susan said again as she laid down on her back and spread her legs.

“It’s all right,” Colleen said, laying on her side while rubbing one eye and watching as Atticus got atop Susan and penetrated her. “I never thought I’d spent a notable number of mornings watching the love of my life fucking another woman.”

“Me-oh!-either,” Susan panted.

It wasn’t a particularly long session. He got her off as quickly as he could, and then he shot his load into her, reveling in the unrivaled bliss of orgasming into unprotected pussy.

“Feel better?” Colleen asked once they were finished.

“Yep,” Atticus replied as Susan nodded serenely.

“Good, because I, too, would like to feel better.” She threw back the blankets, revealing her wonderful nude body, her legs open for him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, pulling out of Susan and moving over to her.

He still had morning wood.

…

This was it.

This was the big day.

And, for once, Atticus wasn’t nervous.

He did wonder if perhaps Colleen’s and especially Edith’s own anxiety was leaving no room for his own, but he didn’t think so. Or, at least, that wasn’t all of it.

No, he realized suddenly as he drove away from the lakehouse beneath bright summer sunshine, it was genuine confidence. It had been growing ever since he’d hit his first real bit of success, and it had hit a growth spurt when he’d had the hit with Cold Reset.

And then it gone on steroids when he’d met Colleen.

Was it something new, something added, or had it been there all along, waiting for the correct conditions?

He wasn’t sure, and probably never would be. Not that he particularly minded. He felt confident about today. Things might go wrong, but he felt capable of handling them. And so far, things had gone pretty well.

Would that remain true, when things actually went wrong?

He supposed he’d find out.

The final few days had been pleasant. Atticus had divided his time between getting some work done on Beneath Shadowed Skies and spending time with the women in his life.

“You nervous?” he asked as they passed the cat shelter.

“Not really,” Colleen replied. She let a few seconds go by, then sighed. “Okay, I suppose I am. I’ve done this a million times now, but...it’s been a while. And I’ve never done it in my hometown. It’s...different here.”

“I’m kind of surprised you never came back to do at least one, for nostalgia.”

“I considered it, but something stayed my hand. I’m not sure what, or why, even now. It at least feels right now...maybe it was a kind of resentment.”

“Towards Lakeside?” he asked, genuinely surprised.

“Yeah. When I was growing up here...I mean, I liked it, but at the same time, it felt so constraining. Confining. I wanted out. I wanted more. And when I got it, I felt so vindicated. I knew there was a whole world out there, a much more interesting world. But then the veneer faded, fell away, and eventually all that was left was a desire for quiet. A slow and peaceful life. It got so that all I could think of was coming back here. I suppose that’s trite.”

“Everything’s trite.”

She laughed softly. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Nothing new under the sun. It’s just so much more obvious once you get older, and also if you’re a writer. Once you learn the power of narratives, of themes and tropes and character arcs and genre conventions...it becomes obvious how reused everything is. And then…” She slowly looked over at him.

“And then?” he asked.

“And then, someone comes crashing into your life like an asteroid and changes everything. Suddenly even the sun seems different and new again. And everything seems new again. The veneer comes back, not as a shiny and polished as before, but it’s there. You meet someone who refreshes your life and teaches you to love again.”

“I’m really glad I could be that for you.”

“So am I. And so is Edith. And Susan. Clearly Vetra...how are you two getting along? It feels like I’ve seen more of her in the past week than I have my entire time living here.”

“That’s because you have,” he replied. “And it’s going well between us. Very well. She’s happy. I think she’s still struggling a little with...with her own personal demon. Well, I guess I know she is, she would have told me if she had gotten past it, but she’s doing well.”

“I’m glad you don’t tell me,” Colleen said.

“Really? I thought you’d want to know.”

“Oh, I do, to be clear. I definitely want to know. But that doesn’t matter. She has a right to privacy and my curiosity doesn’t beat that. And I respect you for that. Obviously, I appreciate it that you keep my own counsel private. Really, it requires something of a deft hand to navigate relationships like this.”

“It definitely does.”

They were approaching the cafe now. It had been a hectic day so far. Edith had driven herself to the cafe first, shooting out of the house about fifteen minutes after waking. Atticus and Susan had gone after her about twenty minutes later after a shower that probably ran on a little too long. Vetra had already joined Edith. They’d spent over an hour doing the stuff that they couldn’t actually begin doing until the day of. Mostly food prep.

Nine o’clock was opening time.

Edith had been a tightly contained wreck of nerves as she’d unlocked and opened the doors. Kate had been the very first person in, technically, coming in through the side two minutes before opening with apologies, as she’d been called away to deal with a minor plumbing emergency that had taken an hour to deal with.

People had showed up.

When Edith unlocked the doors, some twenty people had gathered. Mostly locals, looking to support their local business, but a handful of vacationers, too.

Edith took the register first, while Kate and Susan and the new hire helped her handle drinks up front and Atticus helped Vetra in the back kitchen make the handful of foodstuffs they offered. And the next four hours had passed in a blur.

More people came. Then more people came.

Then a whole metric fuckton of people came around noon, which made enough sense. They handled it, though. Vetra was a machine, working with relentless precision. She seemed to have an uncanny ability to know what needed to get made before it actually needed to get made. When he’d asked her about it, she said something about ‘predictive reasoning’.

Colleen had showed up about an hour before the lunch rush, had helped through it, and right after it ended, headed back home to get ready for her book-signing. For a reason she hadn’t really articulated, she wanted Atticus to come pick her up and drive her to the bookstore. Given the crowd had started to wear on him, he’d taken the opportunity.

The cafe was quieter still, they saw as they turned onto the main road and headed for the bookstore. Excluding their own vehicles, there were just four parked, and the interior wasn’t packed. He drove on.

“Colleen, I was curious…”

“Why do I want you to drive me?” she asked.

“Yeah. I mean, I’m not complaining, but it might’ve been a problem if the lunch rush had kept going.”

“I know, and in that event, I would have driven myself. The reason I asked is because...it was kind of a tradition with me and my ex-husband. And,” she continued quickly, “it was that I don’t like driving, so it became a thing he did: drive me to the events. And it was nice. But then it became something bad. He started resenting it, not that he told me. And eventually we had a fight over it. And then I just drove myself. And I wanted to overwrite that memory with something good, with you. And I didn’t tell you because...it all sounds so dumb. And now I kind of feel bad, like I was misleading you, because this had something to do with my ex...are you angry?”

“No, I’m not angry,” he replied. “I’m not disappointed or annoyed or upset. The only thing I feel that could be construed as bad is that I wish you had told me, because I would have agreed with the idea. Of overwriting the old, bad memories with something nice and new. But I can understand why you’d feel anxious about telling me that. And, if I can manage it, I would be happy to drive you to future events. Also just, you know, around. You didn’t really communicate that you don’t like driving.”

“I didn’t want to seem difficult,” she murmured. “Well, more so than I already am.”

He laughed softly as they approached the bookstore. “Colleen, you are not difficult.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you think so. And...remember what I told you.”

“Yep,” he murmured as they parked.

There were already a lot of cars parked. A big group of people, maybe fifty, had already gathered in the lot outside the store. They’d discussed how to handle this beforehand, because Colleen knew it was going to happen.

She would no longer be able to hide their relationship. Not that she was hiding it, exactly, but it clearly hadn’t reached the mainstream.

That was no longer going to be the case.

Someone noticed her car, had probably been watching for her, and pointed, and said something as they parked, and the awareness spread like wildfire. Suddenly everyone was looking. For a moment, he was worried they would mob the car, but Colleen had said that, for the most part, author crowds tended to be more reserved and reasonable than most other crowds.

And it was so. They held their place, if not their peace.

Yep, there were already a dozen phones out, no doubt snapping pics and recording.

“How exactly are we gonna handle this? Because I did promise Edith I’d be back…” he murmured, staring anxiously at the large group.

“Just make one appearance with me, and then you can go,” Colleen replied, and a new confidence had entered her voice.

Or rather, an old one.

He glanced at her. Saw her regarding the crowd from behind sunglasses she’d slipped on in the past few moments with an easy smile that showed no teeth. In that moment, she looked like the ice queen he’d initially imagined her to be.

That she was, in some ways.

“You sure they’ll let me go?”

“Yes. Just follow my lead, dearest. Watch mommy work,” she murmured. Then she leaned over and gave him a long kiss on the mouth and then got out of the car.

He got out as well. Several cheers went off and most of them clapped.

He and Colleen walked to stand in front of his car and for a bit just basked in the attention. This was a side of her he’d seen little more than flashes of during their time together.

Finally, she raised her hands, and everyone quieted.

“Hello, everyone. I’m very grateful for your presence today, I know some of you must have traveled quite a ways to see me. And I always appreciate that. Now, just so we can lay a few questions to rest right now. No, I do not have my new book ready. I’ve only recently begun writing it. Yes, I am going indie for this new book. No, the new book is not a sequel nor prequel nor midquel to anything. It is a brand new IP. And finally, yes, this is my man. This is my lover, my partner, my fiance. We are deeply in love and very happy together, and we’d rather not answer any further questions than that.”

“How old are you?!” someone called out almost before she’d finished speaking.

Atticus tried not to chuckle. Colleen’s smile grew a bit. She looked at him, head slightly inclined. They’d already discussed that, too. It was the one question she would be willing to ‘give them’, partially because it’d make for good marketing and partially because she wanted people to know that she was in love with (and fucking) a man twenty years younger.

She had been adamant to be sure that he was okay with it, and honestly, he was. He kind of agreed with her.

There was a part of him that wanted people to know he was in love with (and fucking) a woman twenty years his senior.

“Twenty five,” he said.

There was some murmuring, and most of it sounded appreciative. She’d said they would like it.

“Okay, okay, you got your one question. Now my lover has other business to tend to, and I have books to sign inside, so…” She turned and gave him a somewhat dramatic kiss, and he squeezed her ass, just a little. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too, Colleen. Go kick ass.”

She grinned and gave him another quick peck. “You, too. Give my best to Edith and the girls.”

“I will.”

They parted ways then, and several people asked more questions, but Colleen marched stolidly through the crowd to the front door. Atticus followed her advice, ignored them after giving a quick wave, and got into his car.

Despite the anxiety the situation had produced, he drove back towards the cafe feeling pretty good.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

“Are you doing okay, Atticus?” Edith asked.

He finished replacing the liner in the kitchen trashcan and turned to look at her. She had just come in from the front. She looked tired, but not harried. Her hair was still fixed and smooth, her makeup still in place.

They had been at it for eight hours and it was starting to get to him, but clearly not her. Nor Vetra, who had yet to slow down in the slightest. Kate had left but then come back, and she was still going, too. Susan was doing pretty good, too.

“Um...I’m tired,” he replied. “Which is embarrassing. I’m supposed to be young and hearty, but you and Vetra and Susan are still kicking ass. Shit, even Kate is.”

“Oh. You don’t know why?” she asked, coming over to him.

“Why I’m so exhausted? I guess because I sit at a desk most of the time and don’t really get much in the way genuine exercise.”

“I mean that’s some of it, but you’re an introvert, Atticus. Everyone else here is an extrovert. We gain energy from interacting with people, provided the interaction is positive. Which these have mostly been. You lose energy from interacting with people, or just being around them, in a busy environment. I’ve kind of been waiting for you to head out.” She winced. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”

“No, I mean, I get it...maybe I should,” he admitted. “I’m starting to get snappish and it’s getting hard to stay focused.”

“Atticus, go home. Or see Colleen, at least. This is my project, and while I know that you’re in my life now and you care about this, it is still primarily my responsibility. And I’ve got this. You were right, I was freaking out over nothing. I feel...in my element, here. I’m not overwhelmed, I’m overjoyed. I’m on top of this shit.”

“You are killing it out there,” he agreed with a tired grin. “I’m really proud of you.”

She smiled and blushed, then glanced back quickly over her shoulder and gave him a quick kiss after confirming no one was presently looking. She was all right with their relationship getting out, but she wasn’t nearly as brazen as Colleen.

“Thank you. And I’m very proud of you, too. And thankful. And I will show you how thankful soon enough. But go, go on, honey. You’ve more than done your duty.”

“She’s right,” Vetra said. They both looked over at her. “Sorry, I have good hearing. And I agree. Rest your psyche, Atticus.”

“All right, I will. Lemme say goodbye to the others. I’ll talk to you later, Vetra.”

“Talk to you later, Atticus,” she replied.

Edith nodded and he followed her back out. It was difficult to say goodbye to Susan and Kate without kissing them or making it obvious he was saying goodbye to a lover, but he managed it, and he slipped out the front door and got into his car.

For a moment, he sat there, indecisive. He wanted to go home, but he also wanted to see Colleen, see how she was doing.

He pulled out and headed towards the used bookstore.

…

Something was wrong.

He could tell that the moment he stepped into the bookstore. The crowd hadn’t really diminished, still some fifty or so people gathered in a line and a loose knot in the front lobby. He could tell by the quiet, strained atmosphere that something had gone wrong.

His heart struck harder as he realized this and he tried to get a look at Colleen through the crowd while moving among them. There was some whispering going on. He could still see her sitting at her table, but she was mostly blocked out by someone standing in front of her. She looked like she was talking quietly.

There was something immediately wrong about her expression and the way she was sitting, and the way the guy was standing.

“Excuse me,” Atticus murmured, pushing through the crowd and then walking up the line, his hand bunching into a hard fist at his side.

He hadn’t had to get into a fight back at the cat shelter, but he knew he could now. If someone was threatening Colleen, he knew he wasn’t going to have a problem risking pain to protect her. She looked over at him as he entered her line of sight and her expression changed into a complicated mosaic of emotions.

She looked anxious, afraid, angry, embarrassed…

But in that moment, mostly she looked relieved.

“You need to go,” she said, shifting her attention back to the man standing before her.

“Please,” he said as Atticus came up, “just one conversation. Please, Colleen. I came a long way to see you.”

“What’s going on?” Atticus asked.

The man looked at him. “Mind your business,” he said, a little gruffly.

“This is his business,” Colleen growled, her voice low.

The man had given him only a dismissive glance, but looked again. Now that Atticus could see him, he realized that he recognized the guy. For a moment, he wasn’t sure how he recognized him. He was about Colleen’s age, average height, a little under average weight, thinning dark brown hair, dressed nice, if a little messily.

And then it snapped into place: this was Colleen’s ex-husband. He’d seen them in a few photos together when he’d been doing his research near the beginning of their relationship.

“Alan, I don’t have anything left to say to you,” Colleen said, and her ice queen persona slipped fully into place, only this time there was no joy in it, no haughtiness.

Just ice.

“Colleen...are you...is he with you?” her ex asked slowly. He blinked a few times and Atticus tensed, wondering if there really was going to be a fight. He looked angry, and like he was getting angrier with each passing second. But he then seemed to regain control of himself. He looked back to Colleen, suddenly pleading. “Colleen, I just want one conversation with you. Please.”

Atticus looked at Colleen, who looked at him. He felt a maelstrom of emotions whip through him at light speed. He felt angry, protective, furious, a strange stab of jealousy, a cold slap of insecurity, and yet, like a golden beacon slowly gaining strength: compassion.

Compassion?

He looked at Alan, then back at Colleen. She was staring at Alan again. He knew exactly what she was gearing up to do: tell him to fuck off.

Part of Atticus wanted her to do that, wanted to join her in telling him exactly the same thing. But another part of him realized in a flash that this was the wrong choice for this particular situation. He wasn’t completely sure how he knew, or why he had reached that conclusion, but he knew it to be right.

He looked at Colleen, preparing to speak, but she seemed to somehow become of aware of his own inner thoughts (or, more likely was having something vaguely similar herself), and she looked at Atticus once more.

The quality of her expression changed. Some of the ice melted.

Not much though.

Just then, the woman who owned the bookstore (he’d learned her name was Mia), appeared.

“Is everything all right here?” she asked, no doubt having become aware that something was wrong.

“I believe so,” Colleen said. She looked to Atticus again. “What do you think?”

“Give him five minutes,” he replied.

Even though she had to know his answer when she’d asked it, (or maybe she didn’t, maybe she didn’t yet know him quite as well as she thought she did), she looked surprised. So did Alan.

“Fine,” she said, rising to her feet, “but he comes, too.”

“What? No,” Alan replied, looking over at Atticus, angry again.

“He goes where I go or no deal,” Colleen replied flatly.

Alan looked at her once more, and his expression said he knew she meant it. He sighed. “Fine.”

Colleen looked at Mia. “Will you please keep the group here? I need the back of the store for just a few minutes. Private conversation.”

“Um…” Mia looked uncertain, but ultimately nodded, apparently trusting Colleen to handle her business.

The three of them made a quick, very awkward walk towards the rear of the store. It felt somehow significant that they came to stand before the bookshelf that held her entire collection.

“Speak,” Colleen said flatly, “you’ve got five minutes. What do you want to say?”

“I...don’t know,” Alan admitted after a moment, shooting awkward, angry glances at Atticus, who stood at her side.

Colleen laughed, then sighed. “Jesus Christ on a motherfucking cracker, Alan. You drive across two states to confront your ex-wife and you don’t even know what you want to say.”

“I...take me back,” he said.

Colleen stared at him with genuine surprise. “That’s what you have to say? Fucking hell, Alan, if that’s all you’ve got, then you should go now.”

Atticus felt more emotions threatening to overwhelm him as he tried to parse his way out of this situation, because he knew it was important they not part on shit terms. He still wasn’t sure why, this was coming at him too fast, but he knew it was important.

For Colleen.

And he could see Alan’s resolve collapsing, could see him giving into anger.

“Are you seriously with this guy, Colleen? He’s a fucking kid, for God’s sake,” he growled.

“Oh, don’t you fucking dare try to fucking judge me after the shit you threw at me during the goddamned divorce proceedings you fucking–”

“Wait,” Atticus said, and startled both of them.

“What?” Colleen asked, tersely.

“I just-don’t let it end like this.”

“What?” Alan demanded.

He sighed explosively, frantically searching for the words. An idea popped like a flare and he focused on it, and on Alan. “Listen, Alan, your relationship is over. I’m not saying that to be an asshole or as a ‘fuck you’ or anything like that. I just mean that it’s over. I think you know this. I know Colleen knows it.”

Alan’s anger was continuing to build, honestly to flare if anything. Which made sense. “Listen, you little shit–”

“Alan–” Colleen began.

“Just wait!” Atticus snapped, startling both of them. “Please,” he said, calmer, and almost laughed at the irony. Now he was the one begging. “Just...don’t let this end ugly. If you walk away from this pissed off, if you say all the shit you’ve got bubbling up out of you, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Both of you.”

That seemed to have an immediate effect on Colleen, who relaxed slightly. She looked at Atticus with something like confusion and surprise, then slowly, cautiously looked at her ex-husband. He seemed confused as well, but also very tired.

All at once, his bravado seemed to collapse, as if he was picking up on the fact that Atticus’s words were true.

It was over. It had been over. And it wasn’t coming back.

For a moment, Atticus was almost suspicious by how fast he not just picked up on it, but seemed to actually acknowledge it. But then he had to concede that Colleen wouldn’t have married an idiot, or, at the very least, not stayed married to him.

“Just...say your piece,” Atticus said.

“He’s right,” Colleen said, sighing, relaxing more. “Alan, I imagine...I’m hoping that this is the last time we’ll ever see each other. I didn’t intend to see you again after the last time, but I’m willing to give you a few minutes to say whatever it is you wanted to say. If you’ve got anything left. To get closure.”

“...who’s fault was it?” he asked.

Colleen stared at him for a long moment, then sighed again, more heavily. “I...don’t know. I can’t answer that, Alan, because I genuinely don’t know. Both of us. It was your fault, because you wouldn’t talk to me. Because you refused to change in the ways that you needed to. And it was my fault, because I...wasn’t as good at listening as I should have been. Because I was very stubborn. Because I should have tried harder to get you to talk. And its both our faults for a million other little things. Our marriage died the death by a thousand cuts.”

“That makes sense,” he said quietly. He opened his mouth, then flicked another glance at Atticus: annoyed, vaguely angry, suspicious. “Did you ever cheat on me? I want the truth.”

“No, Alan. I didn’t. I never cheated on you. I...was tempted. More tempted than I feel comfortable admitting, and I flirted sometimes. But I didn’t cheat. Ever. Did you?”

“I…”

She sighed. “Really, Alan?”

“We just made out! Once,” he said defensively.

“Who?” she asked, crossing her arms.

He seemed to wilt. “No one you know. I was at a bar. It was two years before our divorce. I was drunk. I was desperate.”

He fell silent, his shoulders slumping. Atticus felt his temper flaring. Despite the argument he was making, he wasn’t feeling particularly forgiving towards this guy. But he forced himself to relax. This wasn’t about him.

“Are you sorry?” Colleen asked.

“Yes,” he replied immediately. “It was fucking stupid, but you had barely talked to me in a fucking month...yeah, I am sorry. I fucked up. Should’ve just gone home and...talked to you.”

“I accept your apology,” Colleen said slowly. She’d crossed her arms again. “And…” She sighed, shook her head. “I suppose I forgive you. It was complicated there at the end.”

“Thank you,” he whispered, his relief obvious.

“Is there anything else?”

“Are you happy?” he asked.

Colleen looked at Atticus and a small smile touched her lips. “Yes, I am happy.”

Alan sighed. “That’s good at least.”

“What about you?”

“Not really. There hasn’t really been anyone. I guess...if I’m being honest with myself now, I guess I’ve been holding onto hope that it could somehow work out between us. I kept thinking to myself how badly I fucked up, losing you. And it isn’t even the money. It’s...you. But now, looking back over everything, I don’t know...maybe we grew apart because we weren’t compatible anymore. And maybe there’s no way to change that, just...accept it.”

“I think that’s the right answer,” she said. “I don’t want you to hurt, but we’re different now, and accepting it and moving on is the only path forward.”

Alan nodded, slowly, reluctantly. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but then seemed to decide that was only a feeling, and there was no more left to say.

Finally, he simply looked uncertainly at Atticus. “Thanks,” he managed. Atticus to just nodded awkwardly. To Colleen, he said: “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Alan.”

He turned and walked away then, disappearing through the crowd and then out the door. Colleen let out a deep sigh. She grabbed Atticus then and leaned against him.

“I have no idea how you did that,” she whispered as he held her against him. “But thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Colleen,” he murmured. “You want to go home?”

He thought she might cry, but she didn’t. Instead, she squeezed him, kissed him, then straightened up. “No, I must finish my signing. I can handle it, there’s just an hour left to go. But...if it’s not too much to ask, I would like you to stay and be with me.”

“I can do that, Colleen.”

She smiled at him, a look of deep, loving appreciation on her face. “I appreciate you so much, Atticus. And I really want to talk about this, and I will. Once we’re finished here, because I have things to say. But just...I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”

“I love you too, Colleen. So much. I’ll always be here for you.”

“I know,” she whispered.

She gave him another kiss, then took his hand and began leading him back to the crowd, who were all staring with intense curiosity.

“Sorry, everyone, just a little...personal matter. Yes, that was my ex-husband. Thanks to Atticus, here, I got to experience my own little perfect book moment of closure. He’s the real deal. Now, let’s get these books signed,” she said, settling down at the desk. “And Mia, can you bring another chair for the love of my life? He will be keeping me company.”

“Of course,” Mia replied.

A moment later, Atticus found himself seated beside her, smiling awkwardly as the next fan came up with a book to sign.

He was still tired, worse than ever now, but he could do this.

For Colleen, he could anything.

…

Atticus came awake as he felt a hand on his arm.

For a moment he was utterly confused. He was in a car, with...he looked over, Colleen. She was smiling gently at him.

“We’re home,” she said.

“Oh fuck, I fell asleep,” he muttered, sitting up, blinking tiredly. “Shit, I’m so sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry,” she said, softly but firmly. “I’m very happy with you right now, Atticus, and I do want to speak with you, but...go speak with the others first. Because I think once I really get my hands on you tonight, I’m not going to be willing to let you go. So go speak with them.”

He nodded. That made sense.

Edith had been successful enough in luring people to the cafe that she’d run out of some key ingredients not long after he’d left. She’d ultimately called it and everyone had managed to get home ahead of him and Colleen.

Walking into the living room, he saw everyone but Susan sitting in the living room and talking. Edith was complaining to Kate and Vetra about a number of things she felt had gone wrong during the first day, but he got the sense that it was mostly mild complaining.

“Look who’s back...are you guys okay?” Edith asked.

“Yeah, we’re all right. Just tired,” Colleen replied. “Tell me about the day.”

Atticus caught eyes with Vetra and tilted his head. She excused herself and stood up, joining him back out on the front steps.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. Had a confrontation with Colleen’s ex-husband, but it turned out fine.”

“Goodness. That sounds intense.”

“It kind of was. Consequently, Colleen’s going to want me to herself tonight, so I’m checking in with everyone now before retiring for the night with her.”

“A most logical choice. I’m...I’ve been meaning to talk with you, and now seems like a great time. I wanted to thank you. Deeply thank you, for what you said to me that night on the couch. It has changed me. You gave me the courage to stay. To face my fears, to turn away from my urge to run. And finally, finally allow me to see what happens next. What’s on the other side.”

“What is on the other side of that?” he asked, genuinely curious despite his lethargy.

“Peace,” she said with a soft smile. “There is peace on the other side. It isn’t forever, I haven’t reached enlightenment, but the feelings subsided. They’ve come back twice since then, but then they faded again, faster each time. I think it really is just a matter of...waiting it out. Which is quite embarrassing, I must say.”

“Because it’s so simple?”

She laughed. “Yes. Because I could have faced this years ago. Decades ago. I just...didn’t. I think part of me refused to believe it was as simple as enduring it. Not that it was easy, per se, but it was simple. And it will come again, and it will cause suffering, but I now know how to handle it.”

“So, where exactly does that leave you and me?”

The quality of her smile changed to something a little surprising. She looked down and for once she was the one blushing. “That’s the other thing I wanted to talk with you about. It is...difficult for me to discuss.”

“I’m listening.”

“Thank you...for your patience. And kindness, generosity, respect. Your willingness to communicate with me.” She fell silent, still not looking at him. Instead she looked at her shoes for a long moment, then she looked up into the twilit sky. Finally, she took a breath and let it out in a soft huff and finally looked at him. “I’ve been in love before. Twice. So I know what it feels like. And I thought...after the last time, the ability to love had been torn out of me. Surgically removed and cauterized away. But, clearly, this is not the case.”

Atticus didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure what to say.

She smiled a little bit more confidently. “Hard to respond to, right? To be honest, I’m a little frightened. One of my larger fears is our age gap, to be honest. But I’ve spoken with Colleen and Edith and both of them assure me that you are genuine in your love of them despite this. And I am just five years older than Colleen. And I believe them, and I believe you, that it doesn’t matter to you. And it doesn’t matter to me. Clearly you are no ordinary twenty-five-year-old man. But I am falling in love with you, Atticus Archer.”

He laughed, a little foolishly. Hearing those words seemed to wipe away his lethargy in an instant. “Um...holy shit,” he said, and she laughed. “Wow. Well, I guess I can say this now: I am definitely in love with you, Vetra.”

It occurred to him that she had never volunteered her last name.

It also occurred to him that this had to be ridiculous. How could he be in love with five women? And yet he was. He knew he was. He knew it in the same way he knew the sun would rise tomorrow or rain would fall from the sky sometimes.

It was just obvious, a fact of life.

And it felt incredible.

“I suspected as much,” Vetra said, her smile becoming more amused. “I believe I will spend the night here. Even if I don’t get any...action, I want to be here. In this house. With you, and the others. With these people.”

“Colleen might hog the bed, which means Edith might have to share with Susan…”

“I don’t care if I have to sleep on the recliner. This is where I want to be.”

“All right then.” He laughed. “I love you, Vetra.”

She smiled. “Oh goodness, hearing that, seeing that handsome face of yours...I misspoke earlier. Maybe I was hedging my bets, like I always do these days. I am in love with you. How strange and ephemeral love is. How fast the distances can collapse. I love you, Atticus. I’m not scared of that.”

She kissed him and he kissed her back with a fierce passion, feeling her slim, fit body pressing against his own as they embraced passionately. When they parted, they were breathing heavily. Wow, this was an incredible day.

“You should speak with the others, you look dead on your feet,” she murmured.

“Thank you,” he replied emphatically.

She smiled and nodded, letting him lead her back inside. Everyone looked over, the conversation dying.

“You’ve got funny looks on your faces,” Kate murmured.

“Uh...we’re in love,” Atticus replied.

“We are indeed,” Vetra agreed with a deeply pleased smile.

“Called it!” Kate declared.

“You did indeed call it,” Colleen agreed. “Congratulations, you two. I’m very happy for you.”

“Me too. That’s so wonderful, Vetra,” Edith said, grinning tiredly at them. She yawned. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“No, we’re all sleepy,” Vetra said.

“Speaking of that, Edith, a word?” he asked.

“Uh-oh, someone’s getting a spanking,” Kate murmured.

“That someone is you,” Atticus said.

“Fucking try me,” Kate shot back.

He sighed and this time led Edith out onto the back porch.

“Colleen told me and Kate about what happened,” Edith said. “Also that she’s claiming you and our bed for the night. Which I’m okay with. Susan’s bed is just as comfy and she doesn’t mind sharing. How are you holding up?”

“Fantastically now,” he replied.

She laughed. “Yeah, I bet. Vetra is...quite the catch.”

“Every single one of you is. I wanted to check in with you, about how you’re feeling about how today went, how you’re doing.”

Edith smiled and gave him a hug suddenly, then a kiss. “You’re very sweet. I’m doing so well. Today felt like...a reawakening. Or maybe just an awakening. I don’t know, being in the cafe, serving the customers, I finally felt in my element! Maybe it’s dumb, but I feel like running a cafe and being in the thick of things is where I’m supposed to be.”

“That isn’t dumb, that’s awesome. I’m so fucking happy for you.”

“I...thank you,” she said. “There’s something else I really need to tell you. To say to you. I’ve been thinking about it. You’ve given me a lot, Atticus. You’ve given me many gifts, but the one I think I value the most...besides the love we share, is the gift of...oh dammit, I had the perfect word for this.”

She sighed. “Whatever, it’s the heart that counts. Atticus, I thought after my divorce I would have to choose between a relationship and respect. That I wouldn’t ever really meet a man who would actually respect me, treat me as an equal, encourage me to live my life the way I wanted to. And you proved me so wonderfully wrong. The gift you gave me was a relationship where I didn’t have to compromise my self-respect and my dignity just to not be lonely. And I will love you forever for that. And all the other stuff, obviously.”

He laughed softly. “That means a lot, Edith. A hell of a lot. I’m so glad to hear it, and I’m so glad you’re living this life now. You went through hell, and you didn’t deserve that. I’m just grateful that I could help make this happen at all.”

“You helped in a very big way, Atticus...okay, that’s what I wanted to say. I also really wanted to thank you for helping out today. You did so much, and I really appreciate it.” She gave him a kiss. “Now, go talk with Kate and Susan so Colleen can wrap you up in her web.”

He laughed. “You’re welcome. Where is Susan?”

“She’s soaking in the hot tub.”

“Ah. Makes sense. Well, I will do that.”

They headed back inside and he found Kate waiting for him. “My turn?”

He laughed and nodded, and headed right back outside. “You look dead on your feet, man,” she said once he’d closed the door.

“Thanks, babe.”

She snorted. “Sorry. So...emotions running high today, huh?”

“You could say that, and more of the same coming back home. Um...how are you?”

“I’m great, Atticus. You don’t gotta worry about me. Honestly, I’m better than ever. You did me a big favor.”

“Did I now?”

“Yeah. You finally got through my thick-ass skull and made me get some help. At this point I’m making enough money that I can hire a little more help. I’m working out a deal with a local contractor to help with the plumbing and electrical shit when it crops up. And, um...sorry about giving you such a hard time about it.”

“I forgive you. I do know how you can get at times.”

She sighed. “You can’t turn that off even for a second, can you?”

“What the fuck? You can’t turn it off even for a second. Don’t bullshit me.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, then both started laughing.

“You bring out the absolute bitch in me,” she said. “I still can’t believe you fucking spanked me. You fucking prick.”

“You earned it,” he replied. “And yeah, we do seem to have a rather antagonistic relationship.”

“You complaining?”

“No.”

“Good. Because you’ve easily got another fifty years of this.”

“Wow, you’re that committed, huh?”

“Oh yeah, you’re not getting rid of me. A boyfriend who is kind, hot, successful, fun, actually fucking gets me, is amazing in bed, supportive, respectful, communicative, and I can live my own life without worrying about neglecting him because he’s got four other girlfriends that I don’t even have to compete with? Yeah, there’s no way I’m ever letting you go now.”

“I guess I’m stuck with you,” he said, settling his hands on her hips.

“You are so fucking stuck with me...and I’m so glad.” She lost her smile. “I was scared I was kind of fucked before you showed back up. That I was too...complicated, difficult, stubborn, whatever, to date successfully. To, you know, find someone. And I was scared that I’d already found my someone and he was gone for good. And I was right, except for that second part. You are my someone.”

“And you’re mine,” he murmured.

She laughed. “Well, one of them.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, indeed. Speaking of your other someones, seems like I’m sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“You’ll have company. Vetra’s spending the night, too.”

“Ooh, I’d fucking love to stay up all night talking with that woman about her past.”

“I’m sure she’d love to indulge you. Now, if there’s nothing else…”

She smirked and gave him a quick kiss. “Yeah, yeah, go find your breeding bitch and then your alpha cougar.”

“You’re so rude,” he said, leading her back inside.

“That’s me,” Kate agreed.

This time she slapped him on the ass. He sighed and kept walking. He supposed that was fair. Atticus headed down into the basement and tracked down Susan, who was just getting out of the hot tub.

“Hey, lover!” she said, grinning.

“Hey, babe, uh…”

“I’m not drunk or high,” she said, “just exhausted and stayed in the hot tub for too long, so I’m dizzy. Will you keep me stable?”

“Yes, babe.” He laughed as he helped her keep standing while she dried off. “How are you?”

“I’m really good right now. I’m exhausted, dead on my feet really, but it’s that satisfied kind of dead on your feet, you know? I’ve put in a hard day’s work, but it meant something for once. It was helping Edith. And helping people get food and drinks. But not in...I don’t know, a demeaning kind of way? The atmosphere in the cafe was just so good, people were happy, not snappish. I feel really good right now...I’m pregnant.”

He laughed. “Yes, Susan. You are pregnant.”

“I’m sorry, I’m going to keep saying that randomly.”

“Don’t be sorry...good God, you have such massive tits,” he muttered as she kept shifting around, drying her pale, nude body off.

“Yes, I do. And they’re about to get bigger. Lucky you.”

“Lucky all of us,” he replied. “Good job with Kate, by the way.”

“Thank you. I’m just glad it didn’t get weird...okay, I’m dry.”

He hung up the towel and guided her over to the bed, where she flopped back onto it and laid on her back. “So, what’s up? You wanna…?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“I do, but I can’t.”

“Aw, come on, why not?” He caught her up on what had happened with Colleen. “Oh...wow, okay, yeah. I can see why she’d need you. I needed you after my stupid-ass ex tried to come back in my life. That being said...can I have you for, like, ten minutes?”

“Yeah, of course, babe,” he said.

“Cuddle with me.”

“I hope this isn’t you trying to seduce me,” he murmured as he laid down in bed with her.

“Take off your shirt,” she said.

“Is that a yes or a no?”

“I just want to feel your skin against mine, love of my life,” she murmured sleepily. He chuckled and did as she asked, then put his arms around her as she rolled half on him. “Now you’re mine.”

“I am yours,” he said, rubbing her back.

“Atticus…”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For...all of it. All the...everything. You saved my life. You changed it and you saved it. It was going nowhere. Last month, I was living with my parents, in debt, broke, depressed, miserable, working two jobs I fucking hated, never really had time for things I liked doing beyond helping with the cats. And now none of that is true. And I’m pregnant. I’ve waffled on it pretty much since I learned I could get pregnant. But now that I am? I just know. There’s no doubt at all. This is what I want. I want to be a mother, and I want you to be the father to our child, and I have all that. It just feels like...you’ve given me the rest of my life, Atticus.”

This was definitely a lot of emotional conversations being thrown his way. Not that he was complaining, but damn was it depleting his energy.

“I’m glad I could, Susan,” he said. “You’re a great person.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I do. You are. You’re a great person. Just because you had debt and got fucked over by your loser boyfriend doesn’t make you a bad person. You’re so kind and thoughtful and patient and loving. You are going to be such an amazing mother, and I am so damn happy that my first kid is going to be with you.”

“First, hmm?” she murmured.

“Well, I mean...Kate might wanna.”

“Yeah, and I might wanna again.”

“Also true.”

“Maybe I can give you the ultimate present: I can get pregnant a second time when she decides she wants to and give you a pregnant threesome.”

“That...would definitely be an ultimate present,” he murmured. “But don’t get pregnant just for that.”

She laughed, then yawned. “I know. Oh...I’m falling asleep. Shit.”

“Me too,” he said, and kissed her head. “I gotta get up and get to Colleen.”

“You do,” she agreed, a little sadly. “Edith will sleep down here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good.”

He got up and then helped her beneath the blankets.

“I love you,” she murmured.

“I love you too, Susan,” he said, and kissed her forehead.

Before he could even finish standing up, she was asleep. He laughed softly, pulled the blankets up a little more, then turned out all the lights but one of the lamps she had down there and headed back upstairs. There he found Kate and Vetra breaking out their own pillows and blankets. Vetra had indeed claimed the recliner.

“Go to your mistress,” Vetra said. “She awaits you.”

“All right...good night, everyone. Susan’s already asleep,” Atticus replied.

“Probably for the best, I’d probably fall asleep in the middle of oral,” Edith said, yawning. “Goodnight, dearest.”

“Yes, goodnight dearest,” Kate said.

“Oh my God,” he muttered.

“Goodnight, Atticus,” Vetra said.

“Goodnight, I love you all.”

He headed into his bedroom and found Colleen waiting for him in bed. She raised her arms. “Come here, my sweet.”

“Yes, my mistress,” he murmured.

“Someone else already got your shirt off…”

He chuckled, taking his pants off. “Susan. She wanted snuggles.”

“She does love to snuggle.”

He was naked quickly, though he almost fell over as he walked towards the bed, and Colleen laughed softly.

“Oh, thank you,” he said as he crawled onto the bed.

“I’m sorry, honey. It’s just amusing...did you talk with everyone?”

“I did. And, good lord, every single woman out there dropped an emotional tactical nuke on me. I mean, all good things, for sure, but just...holy fuck, I’m kind of overwhelmed.”

“In that case, I will keep my own tactical emotional nuke to a small tonnage.”

“I appreciate it...I’m sorry, there needs to be more of me for you,” he murmured.

“Atticus, Atticus,” she whispered. “Shh, no. You gave me...an incredible gift today. How the fuck did you do that? How the fuck did you even know to do that?” she demanded suddenly.

“With your ex? I...don’t even know. I just-like this storm of notions hit, and I couldn’t even sort through them fast enough, but it didn’t matter because I just knew, somehow, what to do. Or what had to be done, at least.”

“I thought I had laid everything to rest with Alan. I was sure of it. But...I hadn’t. And you knew that. You saw it. And you were right. You were dead fucking accurate. If we had walked away from that conversation angry, with evil words...I would have regretted it. Not a lot, it wouldn’t have weighed me down, but it would have bothered me for the rest of my life. And I don’t know how to thank you for that. I...honestly stand in awe of your emotional maturity.”

“I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

“That’s fine. Really, I just need you to hear this. I’m tired, too. Atticus, it would have been so easy for you to tell him to fuck off, or even just to step aside and try to let me handle this. But you didn’t. You stayed with me, and you stood up to me. I don’t even know if you realized you were doing it, but you did. I wanted to tell him to fuck off. I had been, actually, just before you got there.

“But you saw through the hurt and the bad feelings and the fact that this was my ex-husband and whatever the hell you might have been feeling in that moment, and you made the right choice. That is like...god-tier, Atticus. That’s incredible. You are an incredible man and I am lucky to be with you.”

“I feel the same way about you, you know,” he murmured, getting under the blankets with her now. “I mean, incredible woman, but otherwise the same.”

She snorted. “I’m glad you do. You handed me...a piece of my soul back, Atticus. You repaired something I didn’t even realize was broken. I don’t know how to repay that.”

“Don’t repay it,” he said, then yawned. “Don’t worry about repaying it. I didn’t do it to be repaid. I did it because I love you. You’ll do amazing things for me because you love me, too. Let that be enough.”

Colleen turned out the light and snuggled up close to him. She was soft and warm and loving beneath the blankets.

“Let that be enough,” she whispered. “That’s it, Atticus.”

“What’s it?”

“With you...I finally feel like enough.”

“You are enough for me. You’re more than enough.”

“Do you feel like enough?”

“...I do,” he said. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then that’s my gift to you, Atticus Archer. Because you are enough. Because you are so much more than enough. You’re so far beyond the pale of enough that you have successfully dated, fulfilled, and garnered the love of five different women. Do you have any idea how amazing that is? How unlikely?”

“I have something of an idea, yes,” he murmured.

“Good...Atticus?” she asked. She was pressed tightly up against him now, almost squeezing him, like she was afraid he was going to be taken from her.

He didn’t mind. He loved being held by her like this.

“Yes?”

“I want to get married. I want to have a wedding. I want you to propose to me.”

“All right.”

She laughed softly, her mouth right next to his ear now. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Colleen. I want it, too.” He yawned.

“You’ll get it, and so much more.”

“We all will.”

“Yes, we will. Now, sleep, love of my life. Sleep, surrounded by love in a home that’s yours and mine and ours, knowing that tomorrow will bring joy for us, and the day after that, and the day after that…”

Atticus fell asleep smiling, in the arms of the woman he loved and who loved him, in a home he shared with the others who he loved, and who loved him.

And was at peace.

THE END

Thanks for reading, reviews and ratings are really appreciated!

OTHER HAREM ADVENTURES

OUR OWN WAY (Modern slice-of-life.)

RAW (Stone age fantasy.)

A WARM PLACE (Post-apocalyptic winter survival.)

HAVEN (Post-apocalyptic monster killing & town building.)

MONSTER GIRL INN (Fantasy adventure slice-of-life.)

GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER (Fantasy adventure slice-of-life.)

BENEATH THE ASHES (Post-apocalyptic subterranean survival.)

DEAD FREEZE (Sci-fi/horror zombie survival.)

ABOUT ME

I write harem stories. Sometimes survival stories, sometimes slice-of-life, often both. I tend to emphasize things like trust, respect, vulnerability, and communication.

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This is my e-mail address: mistyvixen@outlook.com

Thanks for reading!