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The Family Room Ch. 01

By: Mused



I followed a trail of oil drippings down the street. I tried not to stare at the jalopy that had collapsed in our driveway, but it was like a Salvador Dali painting. Strike that, not even Dali could have conceived anything as surreal as the slapped together AMC Gremlin. 

The car itself wasn't too much of a problem, the real problem was it's owner, Erin. Ever since my family moved to Saratoga Spring she had been a fixture around the house. She and my little sister Julie were inseparable. They had been best friends since the day they first met, Julie cried for days after Erin's family moved to the next town. It was just six miles away but to an eleven year old kid, five years away from sitting behind the wheel, another suburb might as well be on another planet. 

They found a way around it, by spending the weekends at one or the other's house and spending the rest of the week on the telephone. 

Once Erin got her hands on what passed for a car they were reunited. Which isn't bad in and of itself, I'm happy that my little sister is happy, but having Erin around the house so frequently became hazardous. She had a serious crush on me. What started out as an innocent schoolgirl crush on a college boy changed when she turned eighteen. Fawning turned to flirting, her clothes shrank and when we were alone she seized every opportunity to touch and tease. 

That was the start of my problems, what normal twenty-four year old guy wouldn't want a hot, blonde, eighteen year old girl lusting after him. I shouldn't have minded at all, but a relationship with Erin never felt right. 

I hadn't surrendered to her flirtations and was glad, giving in would have been a betrayal of my sister's trust. 

I trudged across the driveway. My day at the Video Hut had been cut short by a little squirrel's unfortunate run-in with a power transformer. No power meant no computers, and that meant no more work for this exhausted part-timer. I was anxious to get upstairs to soak in the shower with minimal teenaged interference. I tried to enter the house as quietly as possible, slipping in through the kitchen door. My steps slowed as my shoes thumped on the hard linoleum floor. 

I heard a whimper in the family room. It was probably nothing, just the girls doing God knows what. I heard the whimper again, it was Julie. Ignoring the risk of near molestation by my sister's best friend I decided to investigate. 

I peeked around the corner and saw my sister. She was sitting close to Sam, Erin's brother. He was a mechanic in town. He was also twenty-six, far too old to be alone on the couch with my little sister. 

The creep had one arm wrapped around her waist, the other was underneath her lilac tank top. Julie wriggled beside him. Her lips were moving but I couldn't hear what she was saying. My ears weren't functioning at that point. Sam released her waist and snaked his other hand beneath her top. He cupped both of Julie's breasts, they appeared to be too large for his hands to accommodate. 

I felt very envious of Sam at that moment, a revelation that caused me to look away in embarrassment. My eyes fixed firmly on the hardwood floor, without the distraction of Julie's body I heard what she whimpered. "Stop, Sam. Please." I tore my eyes from the floor and looked at her face. Her eyes were red, this was happening against her will. 

I had planned to throw Sam out for trying to make it with my sister all along, but now he would be lucky if I didn't crack his shaved head open like a piñata. I tore into the room and grabbed Julie's arm, tearing her free from her molester. 

"Shit, Rick!" Sam seemed amazed to see me. His tiny eyes darted between me and my sister. He jumped off the couch and scrambled to the door.

"Get back here, Sam." Did he think I would let him run off after what he tried to do to my little sister? I was on him in a second. I grabbed the back of his t-shirt, tearing a jagged clump of the black material. He threw an elbow that caught me squarely in the gut. As I doubled over he grabbed me in a headlock. His wiry arms tightened around my neck, cutting my air supply.

Julie bounded off the sofa and delivered open handed blows to Sam's head and arms. She screeched at him, demanding he let me go. He unwrapped one hand from my throat and shoved my sister back against the sofa. Sam isn't a big man, puberty only seemed to have had minimal effects on his growth, but Julie was a tiny thing. Watching her barely five-foot tall frame bounce on the sofa cushions boiled my blood. 

Sam was older than me by two years and had been a decent wrestler in high school. Those types of credentials are of little use against a pissed off big brother, I supposed my nine inch height and fifty pound weight advantage also worked in my favor. Sam never even realized his headlock had been broken until he found himself cart-wheeling over the couch. He crashed into a table, knocking over a crystal vase full of peach roses. 

After a few more moments Sam was nothing more than a battered heap in the driveway.

When I got back to the family room Julie was on her knees gathering the spilled roses. Tears streamed down her pretty face. I looked at the mess. Mom's anniversary roses, reduced to trampled petals and a puddle of water. 

Her tank top was torn, exposing too much of her chest. She tried to cover herself with her arms, but she was too well developed. I unbuttoned the dumb blue vest that was part of my work uniform and covered my little sister. I took her hand and lifted her from the floor. I almost led her to the couch but thought better of it, instead we sat together on the loveseat. Julie leaned close to my side and I put an arm around her.

"I didn't think you'd be home." Her tears soaked through my shirt. Her makeup would stain the white material but I didn't care. She held me close, her breath came in ragged gasps. I stroked her hair as gently as I could. "I trusted him," she said between sobs. "He said he only wanted to kiss." 

She explained that Sam had been paying a lot more attention to her the last few weeks. The last time my sister had been at Erin's house he asked her out. My sister, being hopelessly romantic, invited the little grease monkey over this afternoon.

Julie relaxed in my arms, it looked like all of her tears had been cried. We straightened the mess made by my tussle with Sam. The vase had survived the fall, good thing too, because explaining the missing flowers would be difficult enough. Julie sopped up the spilled water with a wad of paper towels. She seemed to be in better spirits now, she certainly looked healthy covered in my blue vest.

"What?" she asked, holding the blue polyester close to her chest.

She had caught me staring. "I was just thinking." 

"Thinking about what?" 

I couldn't tell her what I was actually thinking about. I needed to say something charming. "I was wondering why Lance and I don't look that good in our vests." Apparently, I didn't know the difference between charming and moronic.

She giggled and thumbed one of the oversized plastic buttons. "Well I can't comment on Lance, but you look pretty cute when you wear yours." She sent a soggy white projectile my way. A mass of wet paper towels splattered my face. She was up the stairs and in her room before I could even think about retaliating.

Later that evening I went to my sister's room. She was laying on top of her bed wearing a jersey nightshirt. I had to be at work early the next morning, but I wanted to see that Julie was alright. I sat on her pink bedspread, she crawled across her mattress to settle against my side. 

"I liked Sam," she confessed, "I couldn't believe an older man was interested in me, it made me feel like a real adult for the first time." She looked at me. "I'm not a slut, Rick." I told her she didn't have to defend herself to me. "We were just kissing, then he pulled me to the couch. I told him it was too fast, but he wouldn't let go, not even after I told him no."

I rubbed her back through the jersey nightshirt. I didn't want her to cry again. 

"Rick, he wanted to have sex with me." I had drawn that conclusion from the way he pawed her. "I've known Sam forever, he's Erin's brother. Why would he do those things to me?"

I had no answers. I wanted to tell her that all men were like that, savage, sex-starved maniacs. That would scare my little sister straight, keep her a virgin for life. 

She sniffled as tears pooled in her green eyes. I couldn't lie to her. She was nineteen, I couldn't treat her like a helpless little girl forever. "Some men are more aggressive." Aggressiveness must be a shared trait in Sam's family. "Physical love is all they see and all they want." 

My mind flashed a picture of Julie. I could see even more of her pale flesh exposed by the torn shirt, my imagination didn't stop there, it treated me to a fantasy where her lilac tank top had been sufficiently damaged to reveal the tip of one of her rosy nipples. I rubbed my temples, trying to erase the images from my head. 

I scooted away from her, feeling very uncomfortable. "Physical love is important." I glanced at her and the way her body filled out her nightgown. "It's very important, but it's not enough."

"Sam was like a brother to me." Julie held my gaze. "When he kissed me everything changed between us."

"Would you have let him." I swallowed hard. "Would you have let him go very far?" It was none of my business, but I wanted to know.

"I don't know." She scanned the floor for a second before meeting my eyes. "He was so rough, I want my first time to be more romantic. I want it to be with someone who really loves me."

"I know what you mean," I said, eliciting raised eyebrows from my little sister. I intended my comment to be pretty ambiguous, but she apparently caught my unintentional confession. "I just happen to believe that your virginity is not something to 'lose.' Your first time should be with someone special."

"Rick?" My name had never been called so softly before.

"What?" 

She looked at me for a moment, as if sizing me up. "You've never made love before, have you?" 

That was an interesting choice of words. Certainly a lot kinder than coming right out and asking me if I was a twenty-four year old virgin. 

I shook my head. "No, not all the way at least." She wanted to know what I meant. "Remember Renee?" She did. "She used to use her mouth on me." Julie's pretty cheeks flushed dark pink. "And I used to, uh, return the favor." 

I must have been as red as Julie by now. She sprang from the bed. She went to her dresser and gazed at the mirror, staring at her own delicate features. I stared too, with her green eyes, small mouth, and long mane of straight brown hair parted in the middle it was hard not to stare. It occurred to me how perfect she was.

My body reacted, pitching an inappropriate tent in my cotton shorts. I shielded my lap with one of Julie's frilly pillows. I had to look at something, as long as it wasn't her, so I opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out a miniature photo album. Family pictures, what better way to tame a boner. Unfortunately for me the photos were from last summer, many featured Julie frolicking in a modest black swimsuit in the shallow water of Lake Jude. A modest one piece suit was supposed to be just that, modest, but on Julie's figure the black Lycra looked anything but.

I clapped the album shut and stuffed it back in the drawer. I had to get out of there. Julie giggled as I bounced up off of her bed and retreated somewhat hunched over towards the door. 

A light touch on my forearm stopped me. "Thanks again Rick," she said. One look into her adoring green eyes made me forget about my condition. How could I have had such thoughts about her? I craned my neck to allow my petite little sister to press her soft lips to my cheek. A lock of brown hair obscured her angelic face, I brushed it aside then reluctantly left.

The next afternoon I came home to find the old Gremlin parked in the driveway once more. This time there was no hesitation, no slipping in unannounced. I burst through the kitchen door calling Julie's name.

False alarm. My sister was on the couch with Erin, they giggled at the television. Yesterday had never happened as far as they were concerned. 

Erin leered at me, she flashed a suggestive smile. "Welcome home Prince Charming," she purred. Julie also smiled, the quick and bashful smile of a little sister, before looking back at the T.V. 

I went back to the kitchen to find something for dinner. I opened the refrigerator door and found an uncovered plate with a cold turkey sandwich, some potato chips and raw vegetables. A little note rested under the plate with the words 'for Rick' in Julie's handwriting. Being the heroic big brother obviously had it's advantages. I set the plate on the counter and chomped into the sandwich. I tasted Dijon, she even remembered what kind of mustard I liked. 

Soft footsteps padded behind me and a set of arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders. I felt a soft body press against my back. I was never in the mood for Erin's advances, after what her brother tried to do to Julie they were particularly unwelcome.  

I pried myself free from the arms and turned around. "Oh. Julie, it's you." My little sister looked embarrassed, she thought I was rebuffing her affections. I took her in my arms. "I thought you were someone else." I allowed a few inches to separate us, just in case my body decided to misbehave as it had last night. 

I rested my hands on her waist just above her hips while we talked. She asked me about my day at work and what I was going to be doing in art class tonight, inconsequential stuff that nobody besides Julie ever seemed interested in. After a few minutes, Julie glanced at the clock on the microwave. "I better get back in there, no telling what Erin gets up to when I'm not around." 

I gave a grim laugh then released her. 

I carried my plate to the kitchen table. After a few minutes I once again heard footsteps on the linoleum. Slim female hands gripped and massaged my shoulders as I chewed. Warm lips kissed my left ear, goosebumps grew as two more tiny kisses teased my earlobe. A hot breath warmed my neck and the scent of strong perfume wafted into my nostrils. Something was wrong, Julie wasn't wearing perfume.

I jerked away from the table. The chair legs made an awful noise as they scraped the floor. 

Erin, my sister's best friend and the blonde bane of my existence jumped into my arms and kissed me. She probed my pursed lips with her tongue, pulled back and then smacked her gums. "Do I taste Dijon?" she asked. 

Her hair had been freshly bleached, every last brown root had been eradicated. She was taller than Sam at five foot ten inches. Her limbs were long and graceful, she had played basketball and volleyball in high school. The former had earned her a scholarship to play for Choteau University this coming fall. Her face was long and lean, like the rest of her body, her brown eyes were large and her nose was slightly prominent. 

She was tall, beautiful, blonde and nineteen years old, on top of that she was totally obsessed with me. Any sane man would have returned the affections of such a lovely young woman, but there was something about her, about the whole situation that felt wrong.

"Hey handsome." She promptly backed me against the counter. "I heard how you wasted my brother yesterday." She didn't appear to be angry over what I'd done. "I told him Julie would never put out if he tried his macho act on her but you know how you guys are. I swear he can be such a caveman sometimes, always thinking with the wrong head." She reached down to squeeze my crotch. 

My hips jerked to escape her touch. I slid past her back to the kitchen table. "If I ever catch him near Julie again, one or both of those heads will be ripped off." 

She thrust her lips, in an imitation of an ape. "Ugh, me keep him away from Rick's cave. He no go near Rick's woman." She giggled and smacked my chest. "Don't worry, I'll make sure my brother doesn't get his spear anywhere near Julie's wooly little mammoth." 

Her nipples poked through the thin fabric of her plum halter top. My eyes were drawn to her pert breasts. She noticed and smiled. "Sam has a thing for girls with big tits. I think all guys do." Erin took my sweating hands and placed them over her moderate-sized breasts. "I know they're not perfect, like your sister's, but I've never had a complaint." 

I squeezed the spongy cones through her halter top. They felt so firm compared to my old girlfriend Renee's, the only other pair I had ever touched. "That's it Ricky," she cooed.

My thumbs grazed the dark aureoles that were shadowed beneath the thin fabric. "I shouldn't be doing this," I said, "not with you."

"Pretend I'm someone else, then. One of your slut girlfriends, that bitch from your art school." I squeezed her again, my face moved closer to her wide mouth. "Or Julie." That name brought me crashing back to reality. I released Erin and squirmed away, gathering my plate I retreated upstairs. 

I sat at my desk and stared at the calendar on my computer. No matter how long I stared it still read Friday, which meant two whole days worth of avoiding my sister's oversexed friend. My parents were halfway across the country visiting family, so I would receive no help from them. 

I shut down the computer and went to bed. After an hour of turning beneath the covers I debated the merits of a trip downstairs to raid my parents' movie collection. A soft knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. My own room was no longer a safe haven. Another knock, I ignored it too. The knock came again. I sighed as I realized I would get no rest, unless I unlocked the door and shooed Erin away.

"It's you!" I pulled my little sister inside. My eyeballs scanned the hallway, fully expecting to find Erin lurking about. 

"I take it you're glad to see me," she said. I would have been glad to see anyone who wasn't tall or blonde at that moment. "Erin's going home tomorrow morning, I thought you'd want to know." 

"How early?"

"Early. You'll still be snoring away long after she's gone." I'm sure I looked relieved, because Julie softly laughed. "Sweet dreams Rick." I bent down and our lips connected for a quick peck. 

I was at ease again. The mattress became more comfortable and the sheets less constrictive, within minutes I drifted to sleep. My dreams were sweet for a while, Julie and I were still kids splashing and playing in the shallow water under Miller's Bridge. I dreamed of Erin and what we had done in the kitchen and what we could have done if I hadn't stopped when I did. The nightmare turned frightening when I realized that Erin had morphed into Julie. We were no longer children and the games we played were no longer innocent. 

The sun stung my eyes, I had forgotten to close my curtains last night. It was six in the morning, I didn't have work today but a grumbling in my gut made going back to sleep impossible. I stumbled downstairs for some breakfast. 

Erin was already awake. She was dressed in one of Julie's nightshirts. The hem looked far less demure on Erin's long legs than it did on my sister. She sipped a cup of coffee. 

"Good morning lover boy." Her lips curled in a smile as she sashayed over to the sink to pour the remains of the cup down the drain. She made a big production out of opening the dishwasher. I was treated to a pretty explicit view of her cherry red thong underwear as she bent over to stuff her cup on the top rack. 

She reveled in the fact that I was looking at her, I averted my gaze and turned to leave. 

Her arm gripped my shoulder, jagged fingernails dug into my flesh. "I have to leave, Ricky. Come talk to me for a minute before I do." 

I said nothing, just followed her to the family room. Erin peeled off her nightgown, then reclined on the couch. She wore nothing underneath, besides the thong. I sat alone on the adjoining loveseat, my eyes were afraid to look away from the floor.


The Family Room Ch. 01



My lungs gorged themselves on huge breaths, I wanted to let her down once and for all. 

"What's the matter, don't you think I'm pretty?" Erin summoned the voice of a normal teenaged girl.

I dared to let my vision take in her lean body before settling on her brown eyes. "Of course I do, you're a beautiful girl, Erin." Staring at her doe eyes I wasn't sure if I could resist anymore.

"Then why don't you look at me?" I was looking at her now, I told her so. "It's not the same, it's not the way you look at Julie."

"Julie's my sister."

"Don't hand me that bullshit." All innocence disappeared, there was venom in her voice. "I've seen the way you two watch each other." Erin stomped her heel against the sofa cushion. She looked at me and smirked. "You took her to the movies again last week. You always take her to the movies. Do you touch her in there, Ricky? Do you wait for the theater to go dark, then put your hand down her panties?"

She only wanted to upset me, get me to do something I would regret. Speech wasn't easy but I reclaimed my vocal cords. "Is sex the only thing you ever think about?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Of course it is. You're no different Rick Martin, neither is Julie." 

The mention of my little sister's name brought me to my feet. "Stop saying those kinds of things about Julie!" 

Erin looked pleased. She climbed off the couch and stood before me. Her long red fingernails rubbed the bare skin exposed by the v-neck of my undershirt. "I'm beginning to suspect that the two of you are already doing it. Is that why you got so jealous and beat the shit out of Sam?"

I bristled at her accusation. "I'm right aren't I Ricky? You couldn't stand to see your little Julie get it on with another man." She gripped the v of my shirt and ripped part of it open. I flinched. "Of course you only heard her side of the story. Sam told me she practically begged for it. He said our little Julie wanted it so bad she just about raped him."

My face must have turned an awful shade of red. Aside from yesterday afternoon, I had never been so angry in my life. Blinded by rage, I almost raised my right palm. I would have liked nothing better than to slap the smirk from her face. 

I breathed deep and reminded myself that I wasn't like Erin and I sure as hell wasn't like Sam. I turned to leave but Erin leaped on my back. Her lanky female body wrapped around my torso, disrupting my balance. We stumbled backwards, landing on the couch. 

Erin was like a wildcat clawing and biting, kissing and licking my body. I was too stunned to move. She ripped off her thong, literally tearing the nylon at the leg. She stuff them in my mouth, I gagged at the taste and spat them out. She ripped my shirt the rest of the way, baring my entire chest and stomach. I struggled to break free but she used her long legs to pin my shoulders to the couch. She stretched forward on powerful thighs and rubbed her hairless pussy in my face.

I clamped my mouth shut, I didn't want to taste her.

One of my arms worked free from her bony knee and wrapped around her slim waist, I shoved her off. Erin hit the wooden floor with a smack. "You bastard," she yelled. She lost all composure and jumped back on top of me. "Why won't you eat my pussy, I need to get off." I grabbed Erin's shoulders and tried to restrain her without hurting her, but she wriggled free from my grip and latched onto my lips with her own. I felt a sharp pain, she had bit down hard on my lower lip drawing a trickle of blood. 

Erin screamed, then she was off of me. My petite little sister had a secure grip on the thrashing girl's blonde's tresses. 

"Get off of him you whore!" Julie spat. She threw Erin to the floor and mauled her, like a mother bear protecting it's cub. Her hands rained down in a shower of fists and slaps and scratches. Erin cried out underneath, she begged my sister for mercy.

Julie finally stopped. Her chest heaved, she tried to catch her breath. 

The battered Erin slinked upstairs to gather her things. She wore only a pair of jeans and a bra as she limped outside. 

Julie was on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chin as she cried. I slumped down to the hardwood and sat close to my little sister. "Julie I'm so sorry." I put my arm around her. 

"What do you have to be sorry for?" She sniffled as she looked at me, one of her slim fingers touched my sore lip. She showed me the spot of blood on her finger. "I'm the one who left you alone with that slut." Julie ran her warm hands over the scratches on my chest. 

I actually wondered if there were more to her actions than just being the protective little sister. I silently cursed Erin for putting such ideas in my head.

"I'm sorry this had to happen," I said, "sorry that you lost your best friend."

"But I didn't," Julie replied, shaking her head ever so slightly. 

Acting on a sudden impulse I inched forward until our faces almost touched. Her breath tickled, it was warm and shallow and somewhat ragged. Her eyes closed as my lips traveled a few more inches to touch hers. We kissed for a long moment, before I pulled away. 

I waited to see what would happen. Julie opened her eyes and flashed me a brilliant smile. It was six-thirty in the morning, she had on no makeup and her brown hair was wild from sleep and the fight, but still my little sister looked like the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I had to kiss her again. I leaned forward, but this time she took the initiative and pressed her mouth to mine. Her lips opened, permitting my tongue to search every inch of her little mouth. The moment when my little sister's tongue first entwined with my own I wondered if any kiss would ever be as important as this one. 

Julie broke contact and leaned back against the sofa. I took her supple breasts in my hands, even through the fabric of her nightshirt they felt like heaven. I wanted to see them and wanted to touch her bare flesh, more than anything I wanted to taste them. I reached down to Julie's thighs and grasped the hem of her nightshirt. She raised her butt off the floor as I worked the garment over her curves. 

Once the shirt pulled free from her tangled brown hair she giggled and tossed it over my head. Her sweet scent prevailed in the cotton fibers of the cloth. 

I had never seen her like this before, wearing nothing more than a pair of white cotton panties. My tongue was plastered to the roof of my mouth. I had stared at her, open-mouthed, so long that my saliva had all dried up. 

My little sister, barely five feet tall, but with the curves of a goddess. She really was perfect. Ultra-fit stick figures might sell lingerie catalogs, but deep down, engraved in every man's genetic code is the desire for a woman like Julie. A woman who is blessed with the kind of feminine symmetry that has been immortalized in stone and canvas by the master artists for centuries. 

My mouth was drawn to the pale rose nipple of her left breast. It was soft and stiff, salty and sweet and thousands of other competing adjectives, all at the same time. She cradled my head and sighed my name repeatedly while I took turns at each pink nubbin. 

I pulled myself away from my sister's chest to remove my torn undershirt. Julie frowned when she saw the scratches, bites, and small bruises caused by Erin. She caressed my bare chest with her long, unpainted fingernails, any residual pain melted away. 

She looked so lovely wearing only white cotton panties, I was almost disappointed when she peeled them off. The dark curls of her bush were exposed to a male for the very first time. "Oh God, Julie. You are so beautiful." I told her what I had always believed. She blushed at the compliment. "I mean it. You are the most perfect thing I have ever seen." 

She leaned back on the floor. I knew what she was offering and I knew I would accept. I had never been this far with any woman. Renee had come close, but in the end there was a barrier with her, just like there had been with all of the others. 

I wanted to have sex, every non-eunuch past the age of twelve does. At least I was always mature enough to realize that I wasn't ready, or perhaps I was too immature to be ready. I looked down at Julie, there was no barrier, no fear, no insecurities; just the way I felt about her. I had never wanted anything the way I wanted her. 

I stripped off my shorts and hovered over her. I touched her body, placing nervous caresses over her smooth legs and the downy soft brown hairs of her forearms. I couldn't neglect her chest, my fingers paid special attention to breasts now flattened by her horizontal position. 

I rested my hand on her stomach and felt the abdominal muscles tense. "Rick," she breathed my name. Maybe she was having second thoughts and wanted to stop. She closed her eyes and extended her lips. She wanted another kiss and I was happy to oblige. 

We both wanted it, this was really going to happen. I got into position above her, bumping the head of my penis against the entrance of her vagina. She grunted as I pressed inside. She was so warm, the tight walls of her vagina were like nothing I'd ever felt. I took it slow, sinking a bit until I reached a thin membrane. The tip of my penis touched the proof of her purity. I would have to break through, there would be blood and pain. I didn't know if I could do that to my baby sister.

Questioning green eyes looked up at me. "Rick, what are you doing?" my sister asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"Didn't you take sex ed?" She seemed amused.

I touched the velvety skin of her stomach. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Oh." She took my left hand with both of hers. "I'm a tough girl, Rick." She was, Erin had found that out. 

I nudged the membrane, she squeezed my hand tight. She cringed then nodded her approval. I pulled back an inch then thrust forward, just enough to tear through her cherry. She forced an agonized moan through her teeth and pleaded with me to hold still. After a minute she nodded, and whispered for me to proceed. 

I inched forward until the entire length of my penis was sheathed within her. I pulled out, almost all the way, until only my head remained inside her walls then pushed forward. I repeated the motion a few more times, she bucked her hips in an effort to meet my thrusts. We were inexperienced and clumsy, but after a little patience we established a rhythm. She spread her legs slightly, allowing me full access to her body. I wasn't sure if I made any noise, but Julie whined through her nose with every thrust.

We made love, together on the family room floor. The cold hardwood on my knees contrasted with the soft, warm girl beneath me. I slowed just enough to plant a light kiss on her mouth. She touched my face and I drove my hips harder, touching places no one had been allowed to go. 

She came calling my name, yelling it loud enough for the neighbors to have heard. I didn't care if they had, I was too caught up in the moment. Her walls milked my erection, prompting my own orgasm. The first shot of semen ejaculated into her body. I realized the sudden pregnancy of my virginal little sister would be pretty difficult to explain so I pulled out. The rest of my ejaculate landed on her skin. Harmless pools of sticky liquid formed on Julie's chest and stomach.

Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. She looked a little scared, I wondered if she regretted what we had done. I used my torn, bloody undershirt to clean up the mess I had made on her stomach.

To be continued... 



The Family Room Ch. 02



"Oh God Rick," Julie sat up, tears slid down her pretty face. "What just happened?" 

I had made love to my little sister, right on the floor of the family room. A moment ago it had seemed so right and so natural, but now with my sister crying naked beside me, it felt anything but. A light sheen of sweat moistened her body, plastering strands of long, brown hair to her cheeks and back. Her large boobs swayed with each panicked breath. 

Her tears flowed faster. "How could we? How could I, with my own brother?" She rose from the floor, leaving her discarded clothes behind. 

"Julie." I followed her naked body up the stairs but she wouldn't stop. She slammed her bedroom door in my face. What had I done? I went back downstairs, the smell of sex was everywhere. The family room was disheveled, I imagined my parents walking in with the evidence of our sin all around. I scrubbed the floor where our naked bodies had laid, scouring the spot of pink moisture that proved my sister was no longer a virgin. I sprayed air freshener, enveloping the room in a mist of cinnamon sticks so thick that I almost choked on it. 

I could scrub and wash and spray all night but I was convinced my parents would still know what we had done. Somehow, I thought, they'll know. 

Deep down I knew better. My parents would have no clue, as long as I remained calm. Our incestuous mistake would remain a dark secret forever, never to be repeated. 

What if Julie tells? My life would be over. I had to go to pack up my things, then go to the bank and withdraw all of my money, then gas up my car and get the hell away from Saratoga Spring. No, I had to calm down. She would never do that to our parents.  

That night as I sat on my bed I listened to isolated sobs in the next room. For the first time in my life I couldn't go in and comfort my little sister or promise her that everything would be alright. 

My little sister had gotten hurt and it was because of me. I couldn't control myself. I was no better than Erin or Sam. As if stealing my sister's virginity wasn't enough, I still wanted her, I ached for Julie. What kind of pervert was I? 

Despite my fears the sun came up the next morning. As it did every day for the rest of the week. The summer sun was still shining as I headed out the following Saturday night. I found my parents in the family room watching an old western. They were on the couch, my mother's head reclined on my father's shoulder. His arm was wrapped securely around her waist. 

Julie was with them. She sat alone, curled up in the loveseat. She wore the same nightshirt as last Saturday, I had peeled it from her body right before we... I didn't want to think about it anymore. I was through feeling guilty, it was a mistake, everybody makes them.

I could forgive myself easy enough, but Julie's forgiveness would be a different matter. She hadn't talked to me all week. She wouldn't look at me or acknowledge my existence in any way. What if she hated me forever?

I fastened the last button on one of my Dad's old dress shirt. The sleeves rested a good two inches above my wrists, but it was the only thing I could find, since Mom had donated my old clothes to Goodwill. I cleared my throat, announcing my presence. My parents looked up, Julie stared straight ahead at the television. "Where are you off to, a big date?" My father asked. At least his question elicited a reaction from Julie, she tentatively looked me over.

"Sure Dad, I always wear a smock on a first date, you know how messy things can get." My parents giggled.

"I'm giving art lessons at the Community Center tonight." I had volunteered as part of a program at school, for students who are considering teaching careers. "Can you believe they're giving me extra credit to watch little kids make messes?"

"College sure has changed since my days. When your mom and I were still in school the Saturday night activities weren't nearly as wholesome." Mom slapped his shoulder. He grinned, the skin around his eyes and mouth creased. At fifty-five years old Dad was finally beginning to show his age.

I checked my watch and saw that I was already running late. "Got to go," I said. 

My parents wished me luck, Julie remained silent. 

A lovely amalgamation of sawdust and paint fumes assaulted my nostrils. The community center had opened a month ago, so it still had that distinct new building smell. Mr. DeBerg, my art instructor, had told me about the school's teaching program at the center and I was among the first to volunteer. Six weeks of babysitting and I would have a course credit to show for my efforts. The art room's walls were fresh and white, the linoleum floors sparkled from a fresh waxing. Not for long, I thought. I suspected the place would look like an exploded rainbow by the end of the night. 

A trickle of toe-headed suburbanites had made their way to the little easels set up in the center of the classroom. I glanced at the lesson plan to see that my college had assigned finger painting as tonight's activity. Someone must have hated the janitorial staff around here. 

I heard wailing just outside the door. There was a small red-headed boy crying in the hallway. A young woman in a green summer dress attempted to soothe the child. She was petite with a very nice body and long, crimson hair that flowed down her back in loose coils. I didn't need to see her face, I guessed she would be gorgeous. 

She spoke to the boy, her voice was like an angel's harp, delicate and graceful. She promised him a milkshake on the ride home if he behaved in class. I recognized that melodious voice.

"Renee?" I stammered. My old girlfriend had picked this moment to reenter my life.

The wispy green dress fluttered as she turned. Same dimples, same freckles, it was indeed my Renee. 

"Rick." She seemed pleased to see me. "What are you doing here?" 

"Teaching a class," I said. "Or at least trying to teach." I looked directly at the boy. "I seem to have misplaced one of my students." 

She turned back to the boy. "Tyler, I need to talk with your teacher a moment." She placed a slender hand on his head, tousling red hair. I noticed her fingers were ring-less, that was a welcomed bit of news. "Will you be a good boy and go inside the classroom for me?" The boy nodded. 

I patted his red head as he walked past. "Cute kid," I said as soon as we were alone. "He looks just like you." 

"Tyler's my nephew," she said. More good news. "You look good," she said. She looked better. "Still dreaming of being an artist?"

"No, I've set my goals a little lower. From starving artist, to starving art teacher. I guess either way I'm destined to straddle the poverty line."

"Money isn't the most important thing in the world, Rick. My ex-fiancée was an English teacher. He always told me that his greatest rewards came from teaching." I nodded, I would find out soon enough. "Then he found something that had even greater rewards. Banging the Spanish teacher under his desk."

"Ouch." I grimaced.

"That's what she said after I caught the two of them." 

My wristwatch beeped, it was seven. "I guess I should get class started." Renee nodded and turned to leave. "You could sit in if you want, at least until your nephew feels more comfortable." She hesitated. "Come on, I could use another adult's opinion on my teaching skills, or lack thereof."

I felt like doing cartwheels when she agreed. For the next hour I stood back and watched in horror as students slopped finger paints on their easels. I went from child to child and examined warped renditions of household pets, family members, and cartoon characters that wouldn't have looked out of place on a Rorschach test. At eight, class was dismissed, but I had to wait behind until all of the children were picked up.

Renee bowed to look at her nephew's smeared masterpiece. The poor kid couldn't even pronounce perspective. Nevertheless, she patted his red head and proclaimed him the Andy Warhol of finger painting. 

"So, how was I?" I tried to approach her but stumbled on a carpet. Little Tyler laughed.

"Clumsy, but cute," she said.

"Thanks. Maybe you could tell me how much I improve after next week's class."

Renee frowned. "Sorry Rick, but I'm only filling in for my brother. He'll be back in town by next weekend." She must have seen the disappointment in my eyes. "Maybe you and I could get together and catch up one night. Like Friday?" 

I felt something in the pit of my stomach. It was a pain, like a pinprick. I knew it was guilt, but I had no idea what I had to feel guilty about. I agreed to the date. 

A million questions clattered around in my skull as I said goodnight. Was I still in love with Renee? Had I ever been? And why, in the very deepest darkest portions of my soul, was Julie's name whispered.

Friday morning came quicker than I would have liked. My family was eating breakfast in the kitchen. Bread was burning in the toaster and oatmeal bubbled on the range. My eyes stung, they were bloodshot and sore from two weeks of restless sleep. I rummaged through the pantry. I searched for a box with enough cereal to halfway fill a bowl, finding none, I made due with a concoction made from Captain Crunch and the settled contents of what had once been Cocoa Pebbles.

I stumbled to the table and plopped down on a hardwood chair. I buried my spoon in the bowl. I wished I could have managed a few more hours of sleep, but I had promised Lance a full day. 

Julie was at the sink drinking a tall glass of orange juice. Her pink nightgown rested halfway to her knees, affording me a decent view of her shapely, young thighs. Thighs I had been between. I ripped my eyes from her body and returned to my meager breakfast. Was I some kind of freak? 

My appetite abandoned me as I stirred the milky, powdery mixture. "Mom, can't you buy some new cereal at the grocery store?"

"Not until someone eats what's in the pantry." Moms just don't get it. "Besides you need a healthy breakfast if you want to keep up with your date tonight." 

I spit a spoonful of milk. "What? How did---"

Mom winked. "Renee called the house while you were at school last night," she said. 

Julie dropped her glass in the empty sink, it shattered into a hundred pieces. She didn't say anything, just reached in the galvanized basin and attempted to gather the shards.

"Julie, be careful!" Mom shouted. "Do you want to get hurt?"

Mom helped with the mess while Dad patted me on the back. "Renee? Your Renee?" he asked. I nodded. "It's not often that you get a second chance with 'the one.' Don't screw it up this time." 

"It's just one date," I said. "Don't start engraving the wedding invitations just yet." I still remember how heart-broken my parents were when Renee and I called it quits. I don't think they were even concerned about the fact that she was the one who left me.

I stirred my bowl until eight o'clock, when my parents left for work. I was alone with Julie. I wanted to say something, but I might as well talk to a block of ice. She was still in front of the sink, scooping up the last bits of glass with a dustpan. Buttoning the white shirt of my store uniform was a task, my eyes constantly shifted from the buttonholes, to Julie's legs, then back to the buttonholes. 

"I don't understand why you're doing it," Julie said. Those were the first words she had spoken to me in nearly two weeks. She dumped the dustpan of glass in the trash. I slipped my blue vest on and stared at her. She had turned to face me. "That witch already dumped you once and she'll do it again if you let her. She doesn't love you. She never loved you." Julie left me in the kitchen.

Two years ago Renee ripped out my heart. There was someone else, I never asked who but I presume he's the man who became her fiancée. 

"So you're the expert now?" I found Julie curled up on the loveseat in the family room. "Romantic advice from a nineteen year old girl who's never had a boyfriend last more than a week." She huffed as I stood over her. "You wouldn't know love if it were right in front of you!" 

She closed her eyes. I felt awful for yelling at her. I didn't want to fight with her, I wanted... I couldn't have what I really wanted, but I would have settled for having my best friend back. At the very least I didn't want my little sister to loathe me for the rest of her life. 

I sat on the loveseat and tried to hug her. She was cold and stiff in my arms. "You'll be late for work." Julie pushed me away.

I didn't see my sister again that day, when I got home from the Video Hut she was walled up in her room. She wanted nothing more to do with me, I couldn't say that I blamed her. 

I picked Renee up at her apartment, a modest little place downtown. She looked stunning in a little black dress and heels. I had never seen her so dressed up before, when she was into painting she always dressed like a hippy. 

"That's a good look for you," I said. Her face mirrored her red hair. 

She suggested we see the new sci-fi picture, I reluctantly agreed. I had planned on seeing Invasion of America with Julie, but I figured that would never happen. 

After the movie we had dinner in one of the nicer restaurants downtown. The fancy Italian cuisine was a far cry from the pizza and hamburgers that Julie and I consumed after our movies. I hoped I could afford the bill when it arrived. 

We caught up on the past two years. She had decided her paintings were a lost cause and took a job at the bank. She had been engaged to the aforementioned schoolteacher, but canceled the wedding soon after learning of his infidelity. 

I told her about my bland life, which mainly consisted of my art, my school, and my job. I admitted to a few blind dates, but nothing that lasted.

"So there hasn't been anyone special?" she asked. I must have looked puzzled to her. "You never got serious in the last two years?"

I scratched my head, this was a delicate subject. Before two weeks ago the answer would have been a resounding no, but Julie and I had gotten serious, very serious, even if it was only that one morning. "There is this one girl..." I realized my verbal slip-up. 

"Is?" Renee asked.

"Was," I amended. "There was this girl. A really special girl. We got pretty serious, but it didn't last."

"Bad for her, good for me," Renee said. "What happened?"

We were related would not have been a well received explanation, so I had to think before slowly proceeding. "My parents wouldn't have approved." That was definitely understating it.

"You broke up with the woman you loved because your parents wouldn't approve? You really are Mr. Squeaky Clean."

I forced a laugh. If only it were that simple. 

The rest of dinner was pleasant enough. I had just enough in my wallet to cover the bill and Renee was gracious enough to take care of the tip. 

The evening drew late, we decided to say our goodnights. We were alone beneath the hazy lights of the streetlamps. The shrill call of crickets echoed amongst the dwarf trees and shrubs that landscaped Renee's apartment complex.

A racing engine announced an approaching vehicle, the crickets went silent as a sports car zoomed past in a bloody red blur. "Rick, I've missed you." She looked at me with eyes that were flawless emeralds. Her fingers reached the back of my head and curled in the short hairs. She brought me down for a kiss. Her lips were warm and aggressive, this was not the mouth of the shy little oil-painter that had caught my eye during class. 

I ran my hands up her shapely body, her curves had improved in the last two years. I closed my eyes as I touched her, after a while I forgot that she wasn't a brunette. Renee moaned as I pulled my lips from her, then moaned again as I kissed the soft skin of her neck, tasting the bitterness of her perfume. 

This is wrong, my conscience screamed as I touched her. The words ricocheted inside my skull. Words I needed to ignore, Renee was back in my life for a reason. 

She doesn't love you, she never loved you. That was a dirty trick, speaking to me in Julie's voice. My conscience was getting desperate, all I had to do was give in to Renee and my life would be normal once again. 

I looked in Renee's eyes. She wanted me. She wanted to do all the things we used to do, and the things I was always afraid to try. I followed her into the apartment building. She lived on the first floor, I don't think we would have made it to her door otherwise. 

She's not the one, my conscience screamed so loud it hurt. I slapped my temples, Renee asked what was wrong. I didn't answer, this wasn't the time to tell her I was hearing voices.

She dropped to her knees and undid my fly. Her warm mouth engulfed my dick. My pesky conscience went silent, God, how I'd missed her mouth. I let her suck, my hard dick deserved to appreciate the full talents of her mouth. 

I was ready to surrender, to do anything she wanted, but the voice returned. Julie, it whispered. Renee's eyes opened as I backed away. My penis pulled out of her mouth with a wet pop. "I'm sorry," I said. My trembling hands fumbled to close my zipper. "We can't do this." 

"I'm sorry too." Renee straightened her dress and got back on her feet. She knew I was completely serious. "Is it because of her? Your mystery woman." 

I nodded and closed the door to her apartment on my way out. 

The house was dark and quiet when I arrived home. I climbed in the shower to scrub any traces of my old girlfriend from my body, then changed for bed. I was about to lie down when that pesky voice once more invaded my head. 

What are you waiting for? Tell her now, it said. 

Stupid conscience, it had already cost me Renee. Now it expected me to go and tell my little sister I was in love with her. Why didn't it just tell me to go jump off a bridge? Despite my better judgment I couldn't stay out of the hallway, within moments I was standing in Julie's bedroom.

The room was barely lit. A glitter lamp flitted weak silver light from the nightstand. The walls were pale pink, her bed and canopy were covered with frills and lace. Her entire bedroom seemed like a shrine to femininity. 

She slept on her back. The twisted sheets and covers proved that sleep had not come easily to my little sister. Her eyes were shut tight, her mouth slacked open a tiny bit and a purring snore escaped her pink lips. 

I called her name softly. I sat on her bed and placed my hand on her uncovered shoulder. She stirred then rose, squinting in the dim light to see who had disturbed her. She picked her wristwatch off the nightstand and wrinkled her nose, she was surprised it was still early. 

"Rick?" She rubbed her eyes. 

Her covers drifted to her waist. She wore a satiny purple camisole, I took a deep breath and tried to focus on her green eyes. "You were wrong." I tried to touch Julie's shoulder but she squirmed away. "Renee still loves me." 

Julie's sweet face soured. "Then why aren't you with her?" 

I was about to answer when she turned her back to me. I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at me. "Because I don't love her." I released her and she turned away. She slumped to the bed and buried her face in the pillows. 

I felt like the biggest piece of garbage on the planet. "I'm sorry about what I did to you. I never meant it to happen, I would never hurt you, Julie." My eyes burned from tears that were imminent. 

She shuddered against her pillow. I had made her cry again, I was such an asshole. 

I wanted to say the things that had been on my mind for two weeks, to tell Julie that I loved her, that I always had. Instead I begged for her forgiveness. "Please don't hate me, Julie. I am so sorry for what we did. What I did. I swear I'll never touch you again, I won't even look at you if that's what you want. I'll move out, I'll live far away, just don't hate me."




The Family Room Ch. 02



She looked at me for a second. Her mouth opened as if to speak, but no words escaped. Her green eyes were waterlogged with salty tears, she turned away, clutching the wrinkled sheets to her chest. 

That was it, she would never forgive me. I climbed off her bed, lingering for a moment to watch her. Why wouldn't she look at me? 

I was dizzy as I inched through her bedroom door. I prayed that she would stop me, bounce into my arms and whisper how desperately she loved me. Maybe she would invite me to share her bed. 

Maybe I needed to see a shrink, she was my sister, why was that so hard for me to understand. I looked at Julie one final time. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the pink sheets. Her brow furrowed, she was deep in thought, probably deciding whether or not to report me. 

I closed the door and leaned back against the cool wood. I hadn't realized how bad I was sweating, the thin cotton undershirt I wore was stuck to my back. 

My face was wet where sweat and tears intermingled. What the hell was wrong with me? I could be at Renee's right now. She would have told me that she loved me and never wanted to lose me again. I could be wrapped her arms making love in her bed. Instead there I was, in the dark hallway, jilted and crying against my little sister's door. 

I needed to retreat to my own room, maybe I would never come out again. I was so drained I felt like sleeping for the next week. I banged the back of my head hard against Julie's door, it hurt but I deserved it. 

My name was called, barely a whisper. Julie called it again, this time a little louder. 

I took a deep breath and cracked open her door. She was on top of the covers. Her perfect body was covered by the satiny camisole and a pair of knit cotton pajama bottoms. "Rick, I don't hate you." Her eyes locked on mine and I believed her. The things we had done on the family room floor confused her and scared her, but at no time had she never hated me. There was love in the smile forming on her face, love for me. 

"I..." It was the perfect time to tell her how I felt, if my mouth would have only cooperated. "I don't hate you either." Well, maybe later. Julie climbed out of bed and straightened the covers. My eyes never left her body as she primped and smoothed the bed. She slid between the pink sheets and patted the space beside her. 

I swallowed hard and joined my sister. This was what I had wanted all along, but still I trembled, unable to eradicate all of my fears. She scooted close. The freshness and warmth of her body stilled me. She was looking at me, the same way Renee had in front of her apartment building. 

Cold sweat squeezed out of every pore in my body. The first time had been so sudden, two bumbling virgins guided by impulse and instincts. This time was different, I was in my little sister's bed, she had invited me to lay with her. We kissed, not as the result of confused hormones but because of something real and powerful.

Our mouths played for a while, until I caught her pillow-soft bottom lip between my teeth. She wrapped her arms around me as I tenderly chewed and sucked her moist lips. She pulled free and leaned against the headboard. She sucked her own bottom lip and moaned as she tasted our combined saliva.

I went for another kiss. Our lips connected and she pressed back against the wooden headboard, knocking it against the wall. I froze. What if our parents heard? Feeling Julie's lips against my own, made me forget about the risks. 

I yanked my undershirt off, the hairs on my chest bristled with static electricity. My forefinger hooked onto the front of her camisole, giving my digit the good fortune of nestling between slick satin and her luxurious cleavage. "Julie, you'd better take this thing off, before I tear it off." I tugged on the camisole. 

"You beast," she said, between giggles. She pulled off the slip of fabric and laid it on her nightstand. Her newly exposed skin danced with the glittering light from the lamp. 

Julie snuggled next to me. I held her as tightly as I could without hurting her. Her skin was so warm and smooth compared to my own. I could feel the softness of her breasts mashed between us. 

I leaned down to take one of her pink nipples in my mouth. My lips feasted upon the hardening nubbin of her left breast. 

The salty taste of her rosy skin almost overwhelmed me. I pulled back, gasped for breath, then went back for more. I remembered to breath through my nose this time. My mouth would have been content if it remained linked to her pink nipple forever, but it's twin was in need of attention as well. 

After a few more minutes I pried my mouth from my sister's breasts. I gazed at her pajama bottoms, remembering the wet, forbidden treasure between her legs. Julie knew what I wanted and rose to her knees. I tugged the drawstring of her knit bottoms, they fell down her legs and collapsed around her knees. She had mint green cotton panties underneath, I licked my lips when I saw the tuft of dark hairs pressed against the fabric. 

I worked at my own shorts contorting my long limbs in an effort to disrobe. The shaky surface of the bed was not cooperating. I managed to work the shorts under my kneecaps, but lost my balance. Like a fallen oak I crashed face first into the mattress. I rolled to my back and kicked off my shorts. Julie giggled like a little girl, at least someone was amused by my lack of coordination. 

"Cut that out, unless you want Mom and Dad to hear," I said. Julie laughed again, at least she was quiet about it. 

She climbed on top of me, bringing our crotches into contact. I could feel the heat of her pussy through our underwear. She rubbed herself against my erection, alternating between soft bumps and determined grinds. My dick throbbed from the friction. Her moisture soaked through the cotton panties and dampened my own briefs. 

I wondered why my conscience had abandoned me. I had expected it to show up, screaming words such as wrong, immoral, taboo, and incest. Of course if it had, I wouldn't have listened. 

My insides surged, I was about to make a major mess in my briefs. I imagined Mom digging the soiled briefs out of my hamper. Sorry about the mess Mom, not sure if it's my cum or Julie's. 

My little sister relented just as I was about to erupt. She crawled off of my body and peeled off her panties, the mint green crotch was dark and sticky with moisture. 

I tried to finish stripping, but Julie's slender hand pressed against my chest and forced me back to the bed. "I'll take care of this," she said. She gripped the striped waistband and snapped it against my stomach. "You big klutz." She grasped the waistband again, pulling my briefs down this time. She stopped as my fully erect dick popped into view. 

Her slender fingers wrapped around my rigid shaft. She looked down at it, fascinated. I don't think she had ever seen one in person. "It's amazing," she said. I'm not horse hung, or anything, but I am pretty tall and everything is in proportion. She gripped the flesh tighter, forcing me to gasp. She told me she could feel my pulse. 

She stroked it once then released, I moaned my disapproval. "Lift your butt," she said. Once I complied she slid my underwear completely off. 

She hovered over me, dragging her long hair over my naked body. She nuzzled my face, rubbing her cheek against my own, then kissed me. Her tongue explored every inch of my mouth, not stopping until I pinned it with my own. We embraced once more, the skin of our naked bodies rubbed together creating more wonderful friction. 

The barriers between my erection and her warm pussy were gone, laying in mint green and white heaps on the floor. My dick was squeezed between Julie's thighs, the top of my shaft wedged between her moist vaginal lips. Soft pubic hairs caressed my shaft, I was in heaven.

My hands gripped her slim waist, just above the flair of her pelvis, I rolled our bodies until we had traded places, she was now on her back. My left hand explored her soft body, reaching for her slit. I dipped my index finger just inside the fleshy lips, it came out glistening. We were both ready. 

Her thighs parted, and I climbed between. My dick was once more allowed entry to the vaginal equivalent of nirvana. I never wanted to go so long without being in my little sister again. 

I sank myself to the hilt. The fit was snug, but at the same time perfect. She smiled at me, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled with a radiance only found on a woman in love. 

She moaned quietly as I started to piston. The left side of her face curled into a crooked smile as the head of my penis reached places deep inside her body. She controlled her voice, which was fortunate because this was not a moment I wanted to share with the rest of our family. 

The first time we had made love she orgasmed loud enough to bring the roof down around us. Her hands slithered around my back, she scraped my skin with her long fingernails. She was about to cum. 

"Oh God, Rick!" Her moan was a little too loud. I cupped my hand over her mouth, and listened for any signs of our parents. The hallway sounded quiet so I proceeded, setting her off. She whined and yelped beneath me in the throes of her orgasm. She arched her back and struggled against my palm. What if she couldn't breath?! I replaced my palm with my lips. She relaxed, I felt cool air shoot out of her nostrils, at least she was breathing. Julie stopped struggling, with a satisfied moan she melted into my kiss. 

I started to thrust my hips again. Her wet, clenching pussy had taken me to the brink. 

I had cum in her last time. It was just one squirt, before I pulled out, but I could have made my sister pregnant. She wasn't on the pill, I didn't have condoms and I had no idea when her last period was. 

Despite my misgivings I came in her again. Only two squirts of my seed found their way to her body before I regained my senses, but it could have been enough. I untangled Julie's legs from my back and hauled my ejaculating cock out of her body. The final squirts of semen landed outside, on her supple skin where they could do no harm.

Julie didn't panic this time, nor did she slink away in disgust. She sighed and cuddled against me, telling me how good it had been. I felt proud that I had satisfied her. There were a million other emotions clashing together in my head at the moment, but I concentrated on pride.

Julie said nothing. If she struggled with any of the same emotions then she did a great job of masking them. She remained quiet, but looked content. She closed her green eyes until her chest rose and fell with gentle waves of sleep. 

It had been my intention to get the hell out of her bedroom before being discovered, but I was spent from the long evening. I didn't have the will to unwrap her arms from around my body. What was wrong with two adult siblings sleeping naked in the same bed? I knew it was a huge risk, but after two weeks without much sleep my judgment was not especially sound.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. I had to work until early evening. Lance would grill me unmercifully about my date with Renee, my parents would be even worse. I leaned over and kissed the top of Julie's head, when I did the worries melted away. 

I yawned, I would have no trouble sleeping tonight. I set my watch to go off at four in the morning, plenty of time to escape to my own bedroom, then closed my eyes and fell asleep beside my baby sister.

To be continued...



The Family Room Ch. 03



"How did the date with Renee go last night?" Lance glared at me from behind thick, plastic-rimmed glasses.

I set a case of DVDs down on the floor. I'd dreaded this moment. 

Lance and I had been best friends since pre-school. We had gotten our first jobs at the Video Hut when we were sixteen. Over the past eight years we'd been through high school, college, and various attempts at full-time careers but somehow we always ended up back here. He had always taken the job a little more seriously, so it was no surprise that he had been promoted to manager. Having your best friend for a boss was pretty decent, the pay was still microscopic but the hours were flexible enough to never interfere with my academic endeavors, which at the moment consisted of studying for a teaching degree. 

"Come on man, don't hold out on me. You look like a guy who got some pussy, spare no details."

My friend was not one to mince words. "Sorry to disappoint Lance-a-lot, but things didn't work out." I sliced through some packing tape and unsealed the case of movies. Fifty copies of some cheesy horror remake, if the theaters couldn't sell this garbage how did the regional offices expect us to. 

"The girl you've been in love with your entire adult life wants to get back together with you, and you're telling me things didn't work out. You're going to die a virgin." 

"Renee and I, we just don't click anymore."

"You don't have to click, Rick." He seemed amused by his rhyme. "You just have to take your clothes off and hop in bed. There are some excellent pamphlets I could recommend on the subject." Now I was the one amused. "For a guy who struck out with his old flame last night you sure are in a good mood." 

How could I not be in a good mood after waking up in the arms of the woman I love. I wished I could tell him but since that woman happened to be my little sister, I couldn't. I felt like I needed to tell someone, anyone, everyone, but my life would be over if anyone ever found out. Even my best friend.

"Well at least you have options. You have that hot Erin girl whose nuts for you, I'm sure if you wanted some tension relieved you could always hook up with her."

"I don't think so," I said. "She and Julie had a falling out." 

"Julie wouldn't have to know. I would be more than happy to keep your sister occupied." Lance grinned.

My temperature rose. I knew that my best friend had the hots for Julie, he had made that abundantly clear in the past several years. The ironic thing was that I always found the idea of Lance and my little sister together to be taboo, it had always been out of the question but now it was for different reasons.

"Wow, I've never seen that shade of red on you before," Lance said. "I was only kidding about Julie." He hit my back. "I wouldn't have sex with her, but if she wanted to do some topless housework at my apartment..." 

"Oh, shut up." I shoved Lance playfully.

The sun had just set when I pulled into the driveway. I called to my family but received no reply. I peeked in the garage window, the convertible was under tarp but the sedan was gone. I went into the kitchen and found a note from my parents, they had a conference in Fresno and would be gone until Tuesday. That piece of news certainly brought up some possibilities. 

I had just stepped out of the shower when I heard my discarded pants beep. I fished my cell phone out of the pocket and pressed receive. 

"Hello," I said, as I rubbed my hair with a bath towel.

"Hi Rick," a feminine voice, sweet as honey, spoke. "My parents are out of town for the weekend, I've got the whole place to myself. I was wondering if you'd like to come over for some dinner and a movie. I could use the company."

Julie wanted to pretend like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I wondered if we were. 

"I would love to. I just have to ditch my bratty little sister first." Her pretty laugh warmed me through the phone. I glanced at the time on my cell phone display it read 8:07. "I'll be over around 8:10" 

I slapped on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and combed my hair. I padded barefoot down the stairs. The smell of cheese and oregano wafted into my nostrils. Smelled like Julie ordered pizzas, the empty boxes in the kitchen confirmed.

Julie was in the family room, sitting on the loveseat watching TV, her legs demurely crossed. She was casually attired, with a pair of denim capris and a peach tank top with spaghetti straps. The top framed her breasts beautifully. I took a deep breath so she would notice me. 

She turned to smile at me. Her makeup was so light, I wondered if it were even there. "You're early," she said.

"Are you mad?"

"No." Her green eyes sparkled. "That's just more time I get to spend with you." I felt the heat of a blush creep over my cheeks. "Come on things are getting cold."

"No they're not," I said, sitting beside her. My body crushed the worn cushions of the loveseat. The backs of my fingers caressed her arms, leaving trails of goosebumps in their wake. I kissed her almost bare left shoulder, she shuddered. 

"The pizza is getting cold," she breathed.

"I like cold pizza." I kissed her neck then her ear and her cheek. Julie turned her head to face me. She looked like she was going to speak but instead closed her eyes and offered me her lips. I kissed them, unconcerned about the smears her light pink lipstick made on my mouth. 

When were younger we used to sit together in this very loveseat and watch old monster movies. My parents thought it was cute, the way she begged me to hold her during the scary parts. I wondered what they would say about the way I held her now.

"Rick." She pulled away from my mouth. "I paid for those pizzas out of my savings and I would get pretty pissed off if they went to waste." She had quit her job at the mall last year and hadn't looked for another since. A year of living off of savings had turned my little sister into a bit of a cheapskate.

"Alright," I conceded, releasing her voluptuous figure. "I am getting a little hungry. A man can't live on your lips alone." 

"Veggie for me and Canadian bacon for my handsome brother." She handed me a huge plate, the crust was scarred and burnt, the cheese was dry. "What's the matter, don't tell me you have something against Pizza Sub."

Anyone with taste buds had something against Pizza Sub. Pizza Submarine was a local place that, despite it's name, did not sell submarine sandwiches and the claim that it sold pizza was dubious at best. 

"Let me guess," I said, "Dina delivered." Dina was one of her high school friends. A sweet girl that, unfortunately for me, was quick to share her Pizza Sub employee discount. 

I took a bite, it was pretty awful, my face must have said as much.

"Don't be such a drama queen," Julie said, "so it's not Wolfgang Puck."

"Wolfgang Puck? This isn't even Chuck E. Cheese. I'm not so sure it's even food."

"Who cares, as long as it's free."

"Free?!" I spit my second bite into a paper napkin. "Julie I swear to God, if this pizza was dropped on the floor or something---"

Julie laughed at my little outburst. "Relax, it wasn't dropped." I took another bite. "It's just a little old." I scrambled for that napkin again as Julie giggled uncontrollably. 

After spitting, I turned my attentions to my sister. "Alright you little tightwad, you think that's funny? Wait till I get my hands on you." She climbed off of the loveseat and tried to run. I caught a smooth, partially covered calf and pulled her to my lap. I kissed her, tasting the sauce on her lips. Even Pizza Sub tasted good on her. "We should watch the movie before you have your way with me." Julie reached under the loveseat and pulled out a DVD case with a cheap, generic cover. It was Invasion of America the sci-fi picture I had seen just last night. "Don't tell me you already saw it," she said. I nodded. "Oh great! You could have told me before I spent half the day downloading and burning this thing." She hit me in the chest with the slipcase.

"Renee and I saw it," I confessed. "She remembered how much I like sci-fi and I didn't think you would ever speak to me again."

"Renee, huh?" Julie huffed, folding her arms as she locked eyes with me. "Just what else did you two do last night?"

Yikes, it didn't take my sister long to settle into the jealous girlfriend role. "We saw the movie, then we ate at some Italian place, it was expensive, you would have hated it." I smiled, she didn't. "Then we went back to her place."

"Her place?!" Julie bounced up from the loveseat. Agitation jiggled her body in a most fascinating way. "Richard Henderson Martin, what did you let that slut do to you? When we had sex last night, had 'it' already been inside her?"

"No. No! There's only been you, Julie. Renee wanted to go farther, I had to literally yank my dick out of her mouth and come straight home." 

She didn't look very comforted by my confession. 

"I would never betray you. I love you too much." That last part just kind of slipped out. I'd thought about telling her I loved her earlier, but wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it. I know when I was nineteen it wasn't something I was looking for in a relationship. Heck, I'm twenty-four and it's never been at the top of my agenda.

A smile spread across Julie's smeared lips. She sat down close to me. "I love you Rick." A soft caress of my face with her petite hand followed her confession. "I think I've loved you since the day I was born." My mouth opened, I tried to speak but her fingers hushed my lips. "Even when I was a little girl I knew you were for me." Julie leaned forward and our lips made contact. We kissed for over a minute, eventually my lungs needed more air than my nostrils could supply. 

"Rick," she said. A spaghetti strap sagged over her left shoulder. "I'm not a little girl anymore" She certainly wasn't. "But you're still the one for me."

I pulled the tank top off of her gorgeous upper body, then leaned in close to join my mouth to a perfect breast. The large nipple hardened as I suckled. I switched from one breast to the other, applying suction to the gloriously supple flesh. Milk was absent from her generous chest, but my thirst was sated nonetheless. 

I kissed the nipple one last time before tasting the glorious flesh that made up her bosom. Julie released a contented mewl and cradled my head. My heart thudded against my breastbone as I lavished the pale skin of her breasts. I found her rubbery nipple once more and nipped it with my incisors. She made a noise, like a little peep. I pried my mouth from her body and leaned back against the loveseat, my stomach rose and sank as I attempted to regain my composure.

Julie removed my t-shirt, pulling the garment up and over my head. She tossed it to the floor, where it came to rest next to her discarded tank top. 

She climbed on my lap, our half-naked bodies embraced. Her chest rubbed mine, she moaned as my hairs tickled her sensitive, pink nipples.

Our mouths joined again, locking together as if there were magnets in our lips. My hands snaked around to her back and pulled her warm body closer. She wriggled for a moment then stilled. I think she could feel the beat of my heart, it thumped wildly against her mashed breasts. 

The kisses and the feel of Julie's body against my own caused me to lose myself. I didn't want this to end, ever. 

She slid off of my lap and stood before me. Her long brown hair draped over her shoulders, covering her breasts. I remembered when she hit puberty how she had grown her hair long and worn it like a shield to conceal her rapid development. I always found it strange that some girls were embarrassed by their large breasts, while others would mortgage their house for plastic monstrosities that couldn't even compare to the real thing.

I bounced to my feet and pulled Julie close for another kiss. It was a bit awkward this way, since Julie was barely over five feet. Her fingers gripped the back of my head, threading through my short, dark hair. 

She pulled my head down as our tongues battled. Her tongue reached out for mine. My own tongue waited in ambush, it pinned hers down. We relocated the battle to her mouth where I was defeated. She gloated as I paused to swallow a mouthful of our intermingled saliva.

Kissing Julie was fine, but our parents were gone for the weekend. These opportunities would be rare as long as we both lived at home, I wanted to seize the opportunity to further explore her body. 

I worked at the button of her capris, then the zipper, until I was able to peel the unyielding denim past her butt and sexy thighs. She stepped out of her pants and kicked them on top of the shirts. Next to fall were her pink panties, cotton, high-cut and unbelievably sexy. 

I grasped her tiny hand and lowered my naked little sister to the sofa. She sat on the cushions and leaned back, offering me her curvaceous body. I kneeled before my goddess and spread her smooth thighs.

She asked if I was going to take my jeans off. I shook my head. I didn't need to have them off for what I was about to do. I dipped my face close to her pussy, inhaling her unique scent. Her soft, brown pubic hairs tickled the tip of my nose. The scent of her arousal was amazing. Fresh, tangy and so spicy that it cleared my sinuses. I realized that I had smelled traces of the same piquant odor for years, on her clothes and on her skin, without ever considering it's source. I moistened my lips and prepared my tongue. 

I had done this a few times to Renee's fiery red pussy. Giving her oral sex had brought me immense pleasure, almost as much as receiving it. I parted her moist lips with my fingers and gazed at the glistening, pink flesh within. 

My mouth opened, my tongue dipped in for it's first taste. Her juices might not be a threat to dethrone any of the 31 flavors at Baskin-Robbins but it was delicious just the same. I teased her labia, then repeatedly lapped my tongue along the length of her little furrow. Julie whined beneath my tongue. She purred my name, encouraging me to go faster. 

I noticed the emergence of her little clitoris. My lips latched onto the pink nub, I licked and sucked as she bucked her hips. She shuddered and her thighs tensed, but I kept teasing. I wanted to give my little sister as much pleasure as I could. 

Julie went over the edge as I bared my teeth and gently nipped her little clit. Lithe legs climbed over my shoulders, she gripped my hair with both hands and grated my head against her sweltering pussy. I stopped licking for a moment as she rode her powerful orgasm out. Her crotch ground to a halt against my face. She released me, fresh air flooded my lungs as I pulled away. Using the back of my arm, I wiped oily streaks of her moisture from my face. My little sister had soaked me.

She smiled at me, not a doting little sister smile, this was a woman who was just pleased by her man smile. "Your turn, baby," she said. Baby. That was the term of endearment our parents reserved for each other.

We swapped places, I was on the loveseat and Julie kneeled on the floor. She unsnapped my jeans and pulled them off. I hadn't put any underwear on after my shower. 

"Ooh big brother isn't wearing any underpants, how kinky."

"I am not kinky," I said. "I just haven't done my laundry yet."

"Lucky me, there's one less obstacle in the way." Julie took my hard dick in her hand. She studied it with her green eyes and explored it with her fingers. She jerked it a few times, sliding the loose skin along the bar of erect flesh. "No wonder you guys are always playing with these things." It was like a novelty to her. 

She leaned close, so close her warm breath made me jump. Her pink tongue darted from between her lips to touch the sensitive head. She raised my dick, angling it so it stood at full mast and planted a chaste little kiss on the underside of my shaft. My hips jerked.

"Let me know if I do anything wrong." She put the entire head in her warm little mouth. Oh God, there was nothing wrong about anything she did. True, my little sister was no blowjob veteran, but her eagerness and tenderness made up for any lack of experience. 

"Oh Julie, you have no idea how good that feels," I moaned. She smiled around my dick, maybe she did. 

Blowjobs were just as I remembered them, warm, wet and amazing. How could I have gone so long without?

My loins stirred, I was so close, but the evening was young and I didn't want to cum too soon. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours I preempted a blowjob. Julie whined when I pulled out of her mouth. 

"Julie, one of these days I want to find out if you spit or if you swallow. Until then there are a few other things I want to do to you first."

"Anything you want baby," she said. Her cheek nuzzled against my knee. 

"Julie." I took a small hand and helped her to her feet.

"Yes Rick?"

"You keep calling me baby." 

Her eyes roamed the hardwood floor. "I... I'm sorry. I'm not trying to gross you out or anything, it just sort of comes out."

"It's okay, I kind of like it." I pulled her naked body to mine. "I kind of like you." Our mouths met for a slow kiss, her soft lips were something to be savored. "I kind of love you." 

I picked her up, cradling her in my arms. I carried her out of the family room and headed up the stairs. She felt so light in my arms, there was no effort involved. I breezed down the hallway, past her bedroom, she gave me a questioning look. 

"This time we're going to do it on my turf," I teased. She cuddled close, pressing her forehead against my neck as I pushed open the door to my room. 

The blinds were closed, only the dim light of my computer monitor lit my way. I intended to deposit her on my disheveled bed, but a stray shoe interfered. My bare foot collided with the size thirteen sneaker, sending is both tumbling. 

I managed to maintain balance long enough to deposit Julie on my bed. She squeaked as her body bounced on the springs. My landing wasn't so soft. I fell to my knees, where my torso slammed into the side of the mattress and box springs.

"Baby are you alright?" Julie's voice was an even mix of genuine concern and suppressed hysterics. 

I assured her I was fine, then staggered to my feet rubbing my sore sternum. The skin was tender and red, a nasty bruise was sure to follow. 

"Good, wouldn't want to put you on the disabled list right before the big game." She caressed my chest, soothing my pain. 

I crawled on the bed and sat beside her. "How do you want to do it?" she asked.

"Ladies choice." 

Julie nodded and crawled to the middle of the bed. She stayed on her hands and knees, presenting me with a lovely view of her rounded backside. 

I moved closer to her. Her perfect, symmetrical, white butt was directly in front of me. I bent down and placed a kiss on each soft cheek. I caressed her for a moment, my fingers dipping to the softness of her thighs and then to her moist slit. 

My erection had never subsided, now it would be put back to use.

I placed the head of my dick against her warm pussy and slowly penetrated her from behind. She was still incredibly tight, but inch by inch, her willing body allowed me full access. After a very slow penetration, I was all the way in. 

I didn't move right away, I wanted to enjoy our union and I wanted to touch every inch of her naked body before the weekend was over. I reached out and massaged her back. She rolled her head and whispered my name. My hands traveled over her shoulders, they inevitably wandered toward the breasts that dangled beneath her body like fleshy pendulums. I squeezed and manipulated them in a gentle milking motion. 

My dick moved inside of her. My fingers were still wrapped around her fleshy bosom as I drove deeper and deeper. She grunted as I touched places in her that she didn't even know existed. I pulled out again, all the way, then slammed my crotch against her butt. My ears filled with the melody of flesh against flesh. 




The Family Room Ch. 03



Julie emitted a loud cry. I slowed to check on her.

"Don't you dare stop, Rick," she threatened. She didn't have to worry. I don't think anything short of our parents walking in would have stopped me. The stirring in my loins had started again, I was close. I pumped into her with more urgency, I wanted to give her an orgasm first. I pumped faster, racing to bring my little sister off. "Oh Rick. Oh baby." She pounded and clawed at the surface of my bed. 

She buried her face in my pillow to stifle her screams. Mission accomplished.

The clenching of her vaginal walls intensified with her orgasm. Her pussy milked my cock, desperate for sperm, too bad it would go thirsty. Julie and I had made love twice before, both times I had pulled out before delivering a significant amounts of semen.

"I'm about to cum, I have to take it out," I said. I started to slide out.

"You don't have to," she moaned. Julie rocked her butt backwards to impale herself once more.

"I don't?" I asked. Her long brown hair swished as she shook her head. 

I didn't ask for an explanation, I had her permission and that was enough. I drove into her pussy using up the last reserve of my strength. Mind-altering, toe-curling bliss enveloped my body as spurt after spurt of warm cum left my dick. She felt my seed enter her and felt the bliss too, she squeezed my pillow between her hands and urged me to fill her. 

She must be on the pill, I thought. There was no other explanation, unless she wanted to have my... No, she must be on the pill.

We collapsed. I rolled on my side and pulled the wrinkled sheets over us. Julie lay next to me, her back pressed close to my front. We spooned, nestled close together like old lovers. I breathed in her sweet smell and kissed the top of her head before giving in to sleep. 

The bed was disturbed, I snorted awake. I heard the mattress springs squeak. Julie had rolled away from me and was stretching on the side of the bed. I felt cold without her warmth. The clock on my VCR flashed ten-thirty. 

"Where are you going?" I was still drowsy but managed to climb out of bed and stop her at my doorway.

Her face was illuminated by the lights in the hallway. "We can't stay together tonight," she explained.

"Why not? Mom and dad aren't home. I thought we were---" My protests were cut short by Julie's fingers upon my lips.

"We are," she assured. "I'm having a guest tomorrow, and I don't want her to see us in any compromising positions." Did she say 'her?' 

"We only need to keep our distance until tomorrow night." 

"Who, Julie? Who is coming over?" I knew I wouldn't like the answer.

"Erin. She wants to apologize." I thought they would never speak to each other again. Had she forgotten what Erin had done to me? "I've felt terrible about our fight, she's been going through some tough times at home. Her parents are splitting up, they're fighting over the money and the townhouse. She really needs me." 

Divorces could be rough on the children, no matter what their age. I remembered when Lance's parents separated ten years ago, he went through a period of irrational and self-destructive behavior. Maybe that was why Erin had been so aggressive lately. 

Regardless, I wasn't as forgiving as my sister. "Our lives are different than they were two weeks ago." I ran my thumb down her left arm. "We're together now, not many people would understand."

Her face soured. "You think I would be stupid enough to tell her about us?" 

"Of course not, but it could be dangerous to let anyone get too close." Especially her, I wanted to say. 

"I love you Rick, but you can't ask me to give up my friends."

"No. Julie, I would never..." Why bother arguing, I could never win. 

She took my cold and clammy hand. "Maybe you should call Lance and see if you can work tomorrow."

"Maybe," I conceded. I was never crazy about working Sundays, but where Erin was concerned I wanted to be anywhere she wasn't. "Julie," I caught her wrist as she turned to leave. "I don't want to wake up without you."

Julie's green eyes shimmered. "What about Erin? She'll be here early."

"I'll take my chances, baby."

"Oh Rick." She pressed her body to mine, then joined me back in our bed.

To be continued...



The Family Room Ch. 04



The air-conditioner thermostat was set low, too low. A chill had settled over the house. The air in my room may have been cold but my bed was nice and warm. I had been awake for several minutes but had yet to move. I was more than content to watch Julie breathe peacefully beside me.

How could I be so blessed and cursed at the same time. Blessed because sharing my bed was the most spirited, beautiful, compassionate and loving girl I had ever known. Cursed because she happened to be my little sister. Our type of relationship was supposed to be limited to places like the Appalachians or Ozarks, not the suburb of Saratoga Spring. 

She stirred, shading her green eyes from the sunlight peeking through the gaps in the mini-blinds. "Morning beautiful," I said. She rubbed her face. "Rough night?"

"Yeah," she answered. "My boyfriend can be rather insatiable in the sack." She buried her face in my chest then looked up at me. "But I love him anyway." We came together for a kiss. 

"How perfect is this girl?! She doesn't even have morning breath." 

"I wish I could say the same about you, Mr. Sleeps With His Mouth Open. I thought you'd never stop snoring." I must have looked a bit sheepish. "But don't worry, I still love every inch of you," she said, reaching to place her palm on the top of my head.  

"I think I'm going to have to do something about this stick your poking into my leg." She reached under the covers and grasped my erection, stroking it up and down. Only her second time touching one of these things and my little sister masturbated me like an old pro. Her slim fingers slid over the loose skin of my shaft bringing me to the edge. 

My left hand snaked under the sheets, settling in the softness between her legs. Her curls rubbed my palm as I cupped her pussy mound. I probed her sex with a finger. She was damp and warm, I made her more so. 

My thumb swirled over her clit. "Oh Rick," she whispered. I parted her labia with my index finger, slipping it into her slick tunnel. She begged me to explore her, whispering my name over and over. I was so focused on touching her that I nearly forgot about her hand sliding on my dick. A familiar tingle within my body reminded me and foreshadowed an impending orgasm. 

She drained me last night, every drop of semen my body could produce was either in her or on her but today was a different story. After sleeping peacefully in her arms I felt like I could shoot a bucketful.

Julie placed her free hand over mine to hold me close to her pussy. She released my dick, hunching her hips against my probing finger as she rode out an orgasm. She bit her lip, I think she was trying to resist the urges to call out. 

She regained her senses and took my penis back in her small hand. I was determined to cover that hand with my sperm. Tingles took over, every muscle in my body relaxed as I shot. Semen squirted out of the little slit, jet after jet landed on my pelvis and Julie's stroking hand.

She grabbed some Kleenex from my desk and dabbed the cum from my body. She daintily wiped her own hand clean then discarded the tissues in my wastebasket. "Did I do okay?"

"You were terrific; a four-star hand job," I assured.

She threw herself against me, wrapping her arms in a firm hug. "I love you," she whispered. I leaned down to kiss her. Our lips had just met when the doorbell started to ring rapidly downstairs. She released me. "Oh shit! What time is it?" Julie glanced at my VCR clock. "Damn it, nine! That's Erin." Julie bounded out of bed and ran from my room, her boobs bouncing deliciously as she did, leaving me doubly frustrated.

Just what I needed right now, Erin. The girl who had practically tried to rape me, of course that incident had lead to Julie and I being together, so maybe Erin wasn't all bad.

***

Julie dug through her dresser, she was just as bad as Rick when it came to laundry. She found a clean nightgown, an ancient white cotton shirt with teddy bears, she threw it over her naked body. She frowned at the reflection in her mirror. The nightgown was a throwback to her junior high days, it no longer left much to the imagination. 

She sprinted down the steps. The doorbell had ceased ringing, she didn't want Erin to leave. Julie threw open the door. "Hi." She struggled to catch her breath.

"Hi yourself," Erin said. "Did I wake you." 

"Yeah, but don't worry about it, I overslept. Come on."

The way Erin gawked at her body made Julie wish she'd had time to get properly dressed. "You look 'interesting' this morning," Erin said. She tugged on the far too short hem of Julie's nightgown. "Dressed to impress?"

"No!" her denial was swift. "It's laundry day. You know how it is."

They passed through the family room where Erin noticed the dirty plates and the pile of clothes by the sofa. "More laundry?" she asked.

Julie felt her cheeks warm as she nodded. The two young women went up the stairs to Julie's room and soon they were laughing and giggling. One might think their fight had never occurred. They talked for over an hour, catching up on the past two weeks. 

"I've noticed a certain glow to you this morning," Erin said after a while.

"What do you mean," Julie asked with a forced laugh.

"Oh come on Jules! You didn't sleep in your bed." The sheets and pillows were meticulously arranged. "You're completely naked under that nightgown." Erin leaned forward to sniff Julie's neck. "And since when did you start wearing aftershave? Play dumb all you want but I know it's aftershave." She sniffed again, putting her nose against Julie's chest. "The same brand my brother and father wear." Erin flashed an awful smile. "I think our little Julie has finally been made into a woman."

Julie faked a laugh. "I think you have sex on the brain, girl."

"There are a lot worse things than sex. Violence, crime." She thought a minute. "Violent crimes, puppy euthanasia, rape." That one stung. "And incest." 

Julie stomped her foot, without a bra her breasts were free to swing. "You really should cover those things. A girl with a body like yours shouldn't walk around half dressed. She might give her older brother the wrong idea." She took Julie's hand and smelled the skin. "Or the right one."

Could she smell his semen? She hadn't washed her hand, she only wiped it with a tissue. Julie jerked her hand from the blonde's nose. "You promised you wouldn't talk about Rick. I thought we were still friends."

"Crazy girl. We are friends, best friends." Erin wrapped her long arms around Julie's petite body. "Friends who tell each other their deepest, darkest secrets." Erin leaned close, putting her pronounced nose against Julie's sweating skin. She inhaled the sent of Rick's aftershave. "Friends who share everything." 

There were rattles in the kitchen. Rick was downstairs eating breakfast.

"Speaking of something I want you to share." Erin let her go and slithered into the hallway.

Julie felt the tears in her eyes, they stung. What had she done? Erin wasn't the same person anymore, her best friend had been replaced by an obsessive deviant. She wanted to help Erin, at least help the girl she remembered but not at the risk of losing Rick. Nothing was worth losing Rick.

***

I watched one of mom's plates drop after I pulled it from the cabinet. It clattered and wobbled but through some miracle it hadn't broken upon impact with the countertop. Unfortunately my clumsiness had alerted Erin to my presence. There were times that I wished I wasn't tall. What you gain in height you inexplicably lose in coordination. 

"If it isn't the tall, not-so-dark and handsome Rick," Erin greeted.

"Hello Erin." She was standing in the opening that separated the family room and the kitchen. Her long legs looked even longer in a pair of ivory shorts. She was still blonde, still sexy and still infatuated. "Where's Julie?" I asked, desperate for my little sister's supervision.

"Oh, she's probably in the bathroom douching. You put an awful lot of sperm in her last night." 

"Erin don't be ridiculous, Julie's my---" 

"I know, I know. She's your sister. You sick fucker! Your clothes are still in front of the sofa. I could smell you on her skin. You were all over her last night, probably even this morning. Why don't you just admit it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Admittedly a lame denial.

"What the hell is wrong with you Rick Martin?" Erin was crying just a little. "I've been thrown myself at you for two years and you've never even looked twice. Your own sister wiggles her little butt once and you jump into bed with her, breaking every kind of natural law."

I had never considered the fact that somewhere deep down Erin might have harbored human feelings, some of them apparently for me. What could I say? I wasn't about to admit guilt so instead I offered a lame apology for hurting her feelings. 

"Shut up Rick, just shut up!" Erin screeched. "You know what I think? I think you're a coward playing it safe. Big, brave Rick Martin. He's so intimidated by real women that he stays home and bangs his little sister." Her wide mouth curved in a sly grin. "You just wait until this gets out."

"Erin, you can't say anything." Actually she could, especially since I was stupid enough to admit my guilt. "I mean you wouldn't tell. Julie is your best friend. You would ruin her life."

"Ruin her life?" she retorted. "You're her brother and you're fucking her. You're in no position to lecture me about ruining her life. She would gain a lot of sympathy if I told. The poor young woman who was seduced and raped by her monster of a brother.

"Your life, on the other hand, would be over. Incest is a very serious crime Ricky, even when it's among consenting adults." She grabbed my butt through the material of my khaki work pants. "A prime piece of ass like yours wouldn't last too long in the Saratoga Spring penitentiary." Erin ran her long fingernails across my cheek. "This cat has claws Rick." 

I was forced to once again consider my escape options: pack clothes, withdraw money, write note to Julie. She took my blue vest from the kitchen table. "I could be persuaded to remain discreet. Julie is my best friend after all and I'd do anything for you Ricky. We can discuss our little problem when my working man gets home."

She pushed me to the door. "I'm not leaving Julie alone with you," I said.

"Don't be so paranoid. I wouldn't harm a hair on her little head. Or anywhere else on her body, for that matter. Besides, you don't really have a choice in the matter, Ricky. I have your dad's cell phone number. I could leave him a very juicy bit of voicemail."

I grabbed the vest and headed for the video store. I almost ran over two curb on my way. 

My hands were still trembling as I punched in my time card. Poor Julie. I was worried about her but Erin held my life in the balance. I had no choice. 

"Morning Ricky!" I almost collapsed when my friend and boss greeted hello. "Jesus, you're a bit jumpy this morning. What's the matter, inhale too many of them paint fumes in class?" 

I didn't answer. I trudged to Lance's tiny office and collapsed in the desk chair.

"You don't look so good." I felt unbelievably nauseous. My stomach could have exploded at any moment. A cold sweat trickled down my back and I swore I was fevering. "Are you sure you feel like working both shifts?" Lance asked.

I nodded even though I wanted nothing more than to run home. How could I have left Julie alone with her crazy friend? "I could use the distraction." 

"Rick, if there's anything you want to talk about let me know. I would do anything for you, buddy." Lance didn't prod any further, he knew I would come to him when I was ready. He patted my shoulder and headed to the front.

All through the day I thought of my career, my future, but especially I thought of Julie. Erin could ruin my life. I knew it would be her word against ours but somehow, someway the truth would come out. My reputation would be ruined, my family would disown me and any hopes of becoming an art teacher would be dashed. 

There was one thing that made itself clear to me during that long day: I needed help. Lance and I had remained friends when his parents had divorced ten years ago. That was a tough time for him. He had started shoplifting and even began to dabble in drugs. 

His mom and dad were so worried they shipped him to a psychiatric center halfway across the state. Even when his parents almost gave up hope, I stuck by him. I went with his family every weekend to visit him in that dismal place. I hoped he would stick by me after I told him about Julie.

***

"Sit your little butt down, Miss Martin!" Erin grabbed Julie's arm and pulled her back to the sofa.

"Come on Erin, I want to get dressed." She was tired of wearing nothing but the undersized nightgown. The hem left very little to the imagination, especially when she was sitting down. "At least let me put on some pants."

"Don't you want to look hot for Ricky when he comes home?" 

"Why would I want that?" Julie asked. She hoped she sounded convincing.

"Please!" Erin reached down to the pile of discarded clothes and picked up a pair of pink panties. "Did Rick take these off? Did he pull them over that round little butt and then slide them down your legs?" She let the panties flutter to the floor.

Erin's long, red fingernails touched Julie's exposed thigh. She jerked at the contact. "I'll bet he dreams about your thighs. They're so smooth and perfect." 

"You should go," Julie said. "Whatever you think Rick and I do is wrong. He's my---"

"He's your brother, I know. Good girls don't have sex with their brothers and our little Julie is a good girl. Still, I have my suspicions." She leaned close to Julie's ear and whispered. "I'll bet your mom and dad would like to hear about my suspicions." 

"No!" Julie's jerked again, but Erin dug her fingernails into Julie's leg. Julie whimpered.

"I won't tell them if you're a good girl, Julie. A good girl who is honest to her friend." Erin caressed the length of Julie's thigh, making trails of red on the pale skin. She moved slowly toward the hem. "Do you like it when he does this?" she whispered. "Do you like it when Rick touches you?"

Julie closed her eyes and nodded. She wished it would stop. She wished Rick were home. Erin's hand reached under the hem and grasped the brown curls of her pubic hair, pulling, hurting. "Maybe we should shave you."

"No, Rick likes it this way."

"Does he now?" Erin pulled the nightgown up, exposing Julie's pussy. She scoffed. "I can't believe he chose that bushy little thing over mine." She covered Julie back up and scooted away.

*** 

During evening break Lance and I went over to Pizza Sub, his treat. He had tried to cheer me up all day and somehow in his sick mind he thought this would help. 

"Check out the bod on the blonde girl," Lance commented. 

Even in the ridiculous yellow uniform the young woman drew stares. "That's just Dina. One of my sister's friends." She was a cute girl, average height, and long blond hair tied in a ponytail. She had a lean athletic body that Lance was more than happy to drool over. 

"Look at that butt; she must work out." He peered over the top of his menu, trying to look as casual as possible.

"She was captain of the girls' basketball team last season." I said. "I'd be glad to introduce you sometime but right now we need to talk about something."

"Anything for my best employee, who also happens to be my best friend," he said, tearing his eyes from Dina.

My voice grew quiet. I was taking an enormous chance confiding in another person, even if that person were my best friend. "I'm involved with this girl." Lance's face brightened, he probably suspected something far worse than romance problems. I wouldn't disappoint him there. "She's probably the last girl on earth I should have ever laid a finger on, but I did. I couldn't help myself. She's beautiful and perfect. She makes me happy; when we're together I feel invincible. I think she's the one Lance; the one I want to spend my life with.

"That doesn't sound like much of a problem. It sounds like you found your soul mate." Lance set down his menu. "I just have two questions: when is the wedding and will there be an open bar?" His little joke actually depressed me more. "Apparently it's not that simple, is it?"

I shook my head no. I could anticipate his next question before he even asked. There was no turning back now. I would share this awful secret. "It's Julie. I'm in love with her."

Lance nodded, as if the whole thing made perfect sense. His smile turned south and his eyes opened big as Frisbees. The enormity of the situation hit him. "Julie! Your Julie?!" His voice was too loud. "You've been having sex with Julie Martin? Your own sis---" 

My hand clamped over his mouth. Our struggle knocked the glasses off his face, they clattered to the table. I had made a huge mistake, best friend or not. 

I removed my hand from Lance's mouth. He was silent now but his lips still moved, constantly mouthing the word 'Julie.' 

Dina arrived to take our order. "Rick, how are you?" Dina asked. A big smile dominated her tanned face. She was a sweet girl, I had always preferred her to Erin, even more so now. "How's your sister?"

"Oh, he's keeping her happy," Lance said. I kicked his shin under the table. Dina giggled at the faces Lance made.

"Dina, this is my best friend who would do anything for me, Lance Mathers. Lance, this is Dina." The two shook hands and exchanged hellos. A look from her boss encouraged her to proceed with taking our orders. 

Since it was his treat I let Lance order whatever he wanted. Unfortunately, I had no idea that pineapples and anchovies were on the toppings menu, even less that anyone would be sadistic enough to put the two together. I thought Pizza Sub was bad before but after gagging down a slice with salty fish and tropical fruit I'll never be the same.

Lance chomped his first slice of pizza. He had no qualms about talking with his mouth full. "I know you're not Mr. Smooth around the ladies, but you never had any problems finding a date. So why her? Why your sister?" 

Lance had grown up an only child. I didn't know if I could make him understand, but I tried. "I always had this ideal of what my perfect woman would be like. How she would look, how she would act, how she would make me feel. I know it's stupid and I know it's cost me in the dating department but it was something I felt strongly about.

"There was an incident at home, it was sort of traumatic." Lance narrowed his eyes as I explained what happened with Sam and then with Erin. "I was sitting on the floor, looking into Julie's beautiful eyes and it hit me. My perfect woman, the girl I had waited my whole life for lived right in the next room.

"Now that we're together the thought of spending my life with someone else is just... I can't imagine it. The thought of Julie with another man turns my stomach. 

"I can't go on a big rant justifying what we're doing, I know it's incest. It's just that I feel like Julie and I were always meant to be together. That's why we were born into the same family, so I could be with her from the day she was born to the day I die." My eyes were stinging, I don't know if I had tears in them or not, just in case I wiped at my eyes.

"Man, Rick," Lance said. "I had no idea. I mean I really didn't." He might not have understood the feelings I had for my sister but at least he hadn't recoiled from my confession. "Good thing I never tried to put the moves on Julie, you would have beat the shit out of me." We both nervously laughed. 

Dina came to the table to clear our plates. "Not very hungry, Rick?" she asked.

"He's been having some romance issues," Lance explained. I wanted to kick him again.




The Family Room Ch. 04



"Aw poor boy." Dina patted my shoulder. 

"But I'm going to see that everything works out," Lance assured her. He couldn't assure me.

"Any friend of Julie Martin's big brother is a friend of mine." She ripped up the bill and handed it to Lance. Her hand lingered on his for a while. "Your dinner was on me." 

He smiled garishly, if it wouldn't have seemed so tacky he would have flashed me a thumbs up. 

"We're going to have some nice lunch specials this summer. I'm sure it wouldn't be too unhealthy for you boys to stop in for pizza every once in a while."

"I think pizza is a very important part of a balanced diet," Lance said. I was envious of their ability to flirt so openly. Dina winked goodbye then carried our dirty plates away. "Buddy, you can count on me for any help you need. It's the least I can do for the man who introduced me to the future Mrs. Lance Mathers." 

He blew a kiss to Dina as we left. Had Lance always been this way around women or was it because of Dina? I wondered if I acted the same way around Julie. I had to concede that I probably did.

The rest of the evening we used any free time to discuss my problems with Erin. The clock must have been sedated, it had never seemed so sluggish. 

We closed up the store, dimming the lights and locking the door. It had been a long time since I had pulled an all-day shift. Twelve hours is an awfully long work day, made even longer by the things I had been going through.

"Don't worry, Rick." Lance put his hand on my shoulder before I climbed in my car. He squeezed. "I'll think of something."

I pulled into the driveway, parking beside Erin's jalopy. The perfect end to the perfect day. I went inside and found Julie still dressed in her tight nightgown. She sat on the sofa next to Erin. The TV was turned up loud, they were watching a talk-show. Erin laughed freely at the risqué jokes; my sister sat stone faced. I wondered what kind of torment she had been put through. 

"Look Julie, your prince is home," Erin said.

Julie gave a rusty smile, probably her first since I'd left.

"Your sister and I had a very interesting conversation today. Didn't we Julie? 

Julie nodded, her eyes were red.

Erin got up slowly and walked to me. "She told me all about your first time." She unbuttoned my vest, then my shirt. "Right there on the floor." Erin pointed to the area in front of the sofa and frowned. "She spread her little legs and let you pop her cherry. You! Her own brother!

"That's not even the worst part. She told me she loves you. What a little slut, falling in love with her brother!" 

Julie cried hysterically. I tried to go to her, to allow her sobbing body to relax in my arms. Erin grabbed me. 

"She wants to marry you, Rick. She wants to have your---"

"That's enough Erin." I ripped free from her fingernails and went to my sister. 

I stroked Julie's hair, her sobs subsided. She looked up and kissed my chin. 

"Come on Jules," Erin reprimanded. "You call that a greeting? Plant one on him. I know you want to."

I loved holding Julie. She belonged in my arms, but not like this, not for Erin's sick entertainment. 

"Kiss him you slut!" Erin demanded. I bent down to plant a quick kiss on Julie's mouth. Enough to express love without fueling her disturbed friend any further. 

"That was pathetic," Erin said. "I should just call your father's cell phone right now." Erin grabbed the telephone off of the coffee table and started dialing.

I cradled Julie's head in my hands and looked deep into her green eyes. I leaned in for a slow, passionate kiss. We kissed for almost a minute before Erin pulled us apart. 

"That's enough." She pushed Julie away. "Rick has to fuck me if you expect me to be quiet." 

"I can't! I'll do anything but that." Her silence was important but I couldn't betray Julie, no matter the consequence.

"You never finished the job, Ricky. You never finished eating me. I think, in exchange for silence about your incestuous little love affair, you should finish what you started."

"Please Erin," I said, as if she could be reasoned with. "If you have any compassion at all---"

"I would have shown you compassion if you'd given me the chance, but you were too busy sneaking around and fucking your own sister. 

"If you want my silence you're going to have to lick me, Rick Martin. But it won't be my pussy this time." She grinned, "You're going to lick my asshole."

"Oh God," I protested. 

"Please Erin, don't make him do that."

"Then he has to fuck me." She read the horror on my face. "Don't worry Ricky, I'm on birth control unlike a certain slut we know." She turned a disgusted face toward Julie. 

"One fuck and it's all over. I'll be out of your lives. You can crawl back into the shadows and live incestuously ever after." 

She feigned a yawn. "Almost midnight. I think you should get a good night's sleep before you decide." Erin pulled her car keys out of her shorts pocket. "You had better have an answer by tomorrow evening, Ricky, or else I talk to your parents. Goodnight lovebirds." 

She playfully pinched Julie on the arm. "Don't keep him up all night."

We had been silent ever since climbing into my bed. Julie was the first to speak. "Mom and Dad would never believe her. It would be her word against ours." 

"It doesn't matter if they believe her or not. We would live under a microscope. They would be terrified to ever leave us alone again, the thought 'what if it's true' would always be in the back of their minds. I don't think I could live like that."

"We could move away, go where no one knows us. I wouldn't have to change my name. Everyone would assume we're married." She sat up, leaning against the headboard. She was only nineteen, too young to even consider such things.

"You would be giving up your friends and your family and everything."

"Everything but us." 

I wouldn't ask her to sacrifice her future for me. I would deal with Erin somehow. I put an arm around her. She was shivering, the past day had been such a frightening ordeal. "Relax, baby," I whispered in her ear. 

She smiled sweetly and stroked my cheek, letting me know what would help her relax. "I don't want to worry about tomorrow or our future," she said, pulling off her nightgown. "Let's pretend there is only tonight."

I pressed close to her, kissing her moist lips. She took my left hand and delivered it to her chest. I rubbed each perfectly formed breast in turn, teasing both nipples into hardness. Her body melted under the covers, she pulled me with her.

I climbed between her parted thighs and looked into her green eyes. How had I done it? I was awkward, dull and unexceptional, yet the most wonderful girl in the world had fallen hopelessly in love with me. She was willing to give up everything and everyone just to be with me. 

She wrapped her shapely legs around my hips, pressing her calves against my butt. Her fingers wrapped around my erection, she showed me the way. 

She exhaled as I slowly sank inside. We stopped for a moment, laying perfectly still with our bodies molded together. How tragic if we could never be together like this again. 

She rocked her hips, a wordless alert that she was ready to continue. I slid my dick out and then in. We fit together so perfectly, like a jigsaw puzzle. We were born to be together. 

My control waned. I pumped faster, pausing sporadically for one of her sweet kisses. "Julie is it true." My voice joined the sounds of our lovemaking. "Is it true that you're not taking the pill?" 

Her eyes opened wide and locked onto mine. The look said it all. 

Her wild and tangled hair made her seem so feral, so primal. We were more than siblings now, even more than lovers. She was my mate. 

Julie was first to orgasm. Her petite body thrashed beneath me. Little grunts and mewls escaped her lips and her fingernails scraped my back. 

Her vaginal spasms were determined to milk me of my seed. The urge to procreate was too strong for me to pull out. "I love you," I said. My shaft pulsed as warm jets of semen inundated her even warmer insides. 

I laid down beside my little sister, cradling her in my arms. "I will always love you, no matter what happens."

To be continued... 



The Family Room Ch. 05



My ears rang as Vin Diesel put another round into the bad guys. I've seen all of his movies, not necessarily by choice. There seemed to have been a decision at the Video Hut corporate offices that if you were going to play a movie on eight screens, simultaneously, then it damn well better have something or someone blow up. Not coincidentally we had very few female applicants. 

The ringing telephone was hard to hear over Vin's explosive arsenal, but I caught it just in time. Answering phones was supposed to be mister manager's responsibility, but Lance was too busy yakking with a customer. "Video Hut, this is Rick."

"I made myself cum twice thinking about what we're going to do tonight," a female voice purred. I didn't say anything. "I'm at the drug store picking up some things. I've got to make sure I'm clean down there for you, Rick."

"Erin." I glanced in Lance's direction, he was still occupied. "I don't think I can---"

"Sure you can, unless your slut sister exhausted your little dick last night. That nasty bitch probably lets you cum in her, well you can cum in me too. Hey, I have to let my working man go, I don't want to keep the pharmacist waiting." She giggled. "I'll call you tonight and we can plan our little tryst."

I returned the phone behind the counter.

"Who was that?" Lance asked.

"No one," I replied.

"Well it had to be someone to make you turn all red. Was it Julie?" I wished he would just drop it. "Come on we'll talk about it at lunch, I'm buying."

We ended up crammed in the same old booth at the Pizza Sub. In the twenty-five minutes it had taken me to pick off the leathery dots of pepperoni that scarred my first slice, Lance had downed an entire pineapple-anchovy pizza. He wouldn't have taken so long had he not flirted with our waitress, Dina, at every possible opportunity. I think he set a record for grape soda refills.

"You're going to be peeing all day if you don't slow down."

"I know what I'm doing," he assured me. Here's a tip, if a guy says he knows what he's doing with lips stained purple from too much grape soda, then he has no idea what he's doing.

Dina brought him a full glass. "Here you are." She ran her fingers through his hair. She handed him a yellow bill with a heart drawn inside a zero. "No charge for my knight in shining armor."

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"Dina's car is in the shop and we're giving her a lift to pick it up. Some jerk did a hit and run after our date last night, put a pretty good dent in the door."

"I just introduced you two yesterday. You've already been out with her?"

"We're going out tonight, too. A girl like that you don't wait around for." He pointed to Dina, her toned body was bent over another table laying out menus. "I think we're getting serious."

"You've never been serious in your life," I said.

"I know, but I've never been with anyone like Dina before. Every time she looks at me I feel like I could lift a bus. Has a girl ever made you feel that way?"

I nodded. "Only one." 

Dina had changed out of her uniform. She wedged herself in the seat next to Lance. I could feel their breaths from across the diminutive table. "You sure you're not sick?" Dina asked laying a hand on my forehead. "You look awful pale."

"I feel awful pale," I said, propping my head up with an elbow. 

"We just need a way to cure old Rick of his female problems," Lance said. I glared at him. He'd better keep his mouth shut.

"That could take awhile," Dina said, giggling at my expense. She turned red when I didn't laugh along. "I can find someone else to take me to the auto shop."

"No, it's okay, we want to." Lance took a bite of pizza. "I also want Rick to actually eat his lunch, for a change."

I exhumed the least blackened disc of pepperoni from it's cheesy graveyard and popped it into my mouth. I chewed as little as possible and swallowed. "There I ate, can we go? Just smelling this place is making my stomach turn."

Dina glanced at Lance. Surprise was evident on her tan face. "I've never seen you like this before, Rick. Maybe talking about it would make you feel better," Dina said. I looked into her pale blue eyes, she wanted to help. I could never tell, that was the nature of what Julie and I had gotten ourselves into. "I can't believe you would let some girl get you so crazy?"

Some girl? I almost laughed in her face. Did she think I would endure this kind of torture for 'some girl?' No, there was only one.

"Tell me, Rick." Dina was like a bloodhound on the scent. I'd known her long enough to know that she wouldn't give up easily.

"You're right it's just a girl," I dabbed my face with the napkin then threw it on my plate. I contorted my legs enough to wriggle free from the booth and glared down at Lance. 

Lance checked his watch. "You're car has got to be all patched up by now." He put his hand on her shoulder. "We should probably drop our grumpy friend off at the store, first." The climbed out of the booth and Dina ran to the back to grab her purse. 

This was my opportunity to warn him. "Listen to me Lance. When she gets you alone she's going to stop at nothing to get you to spill it about me. I've known this girl since she was thirteen, gossip is like crack to her."

"So what do I tell her?" Lance seemed a bit worried.

"Tell her it's some girl I met online, at school or that I'm coming out of the closet, anything you can think of." I grabbed the collar of his red polo shirt. "Just don't say anything about Julie." I let him go just as Dina returned. 

Dina giggled as Lance straightened his clothes. "She must be something else to get 'laid back Rick,' this worked up."

"She's something else, alright," Lance agreed dancing on one leg. "Before we leave, I really have to use the bathroom."

Lance pulled up to the curb of the Video Hut. I had withstood five minutes of Dina's interrogation. When I climbed out of Lance's pickup truck my body was rigid and my teeth tingled from constant gnashing.

Dina stayed in the middle of the bench seat close to Lance, despite the vacancy. She winked at me and flashed a mouthful of teeth. She looked confident but my best friend would never crack, he wouldn't betray me in a million years. Lance took off across the parking lot, shooting over speed bumps.

I almost thought my secret was safe until the tires of Lance's truck screeched. The vehicle came to a sliding halt. "Jesus!" I shouted to no one in particular. He couldn't even make it out of the lot. 

I had no idea what became of Lance after that. He called an hour later and said something about being stuck at the body shop. Wherever he and Dina were, I could guess the subject of their conversations. I was so stupid for trusting Lance with my secret. It had felt like such a relief unloading some of my burden, but it wasn't worth losing Julie. 

"Hey Nick," I called to the fellow part-timer who was on duty. "I'm running to the back for some inventorying." Nick didn't say anything, he just nodded dumbly humming some pop song and drumming on the counter with his fingers. Teenagers are so weird.

The stock room was uncarpeted, just four walls plastered with some old posters and filled with cartons of DVD's. I had to sort out the movies that were being released Tuesday. This was something Lance usually did, but since he was off divulging the secrets of my soap-opera life to his girlfriend, the task fell to me. Anything to keep my mind occupied. I found the cases stamped for this Tuesday and piled them by the door. I made sure to stack them extra high because it really pissed Lance off when he had to stand on a chair to reach the top.

It was after three and not even a trip to the Pizza Sub had totally vanquished my appetite. I went into Lance's office, which was nothing more than an oversized closet packed with a desk and computer. I had brown bagged today, with a peanut butter sandwich and cheese curls, not exactly gourmet, but better than anchovies and pineapple. I snagged a Coke from the soda machine and sat down to eat. I was chewing the first bite when two small hands clasped over my eyes. 

"Guess who," a voice caressed my ear. I dropped the sandwich and reached behind me to cup two soft butt cheeks.

"No fair peeking," Julie said swiveling the chair around until I faced her. 

"I didn't have to peek, I know when my woman is around."

"Oh, so I'm your 'woman' now?" she asked as she climbed on my lap. I got hard the second her warm thighs settled on my own. My dick strained to burst free of my khakis, it knew when a willing pussy was near. 

"Woman, girlfriend, light of my life, main squeeze," I said pinching her butt, "take your pick."

"I think we'll stick with girlfriend," she said giving me a kiss. Julie ground against my lap until I begged her to stop. I could have easily came, but didn't want to walk around with a mess in my underwear for the rest of the day. Heeding my pleas Julie climbed off.

She stood before me in a gauzy pink dress, it had an antique floral print. The hem reached almost to her knees, exposing just the tiniest bit off her tantalizing thighs. The dress really complimented her curves, but then again curves like hers were complimented by anything.

She took in the surroundings, the desk, the computer, the tent in her horny brother's trousers. "So this is where you work?"

"Of course it is, you've been here a million times."

"I know but I've never been in the back before," she locked her eyes on mine, "it seems so taboo." 

"I'll tell you what's taboo, a young man about so high." I placed my hand on top of my head. "About to undress his sexy little girlfriend, who also happens to be his sexy little sister." 

"But what if they get caught?" she asked, feigning a gasp.

"They'll just have to be quiet." I reached over to lock the door.

"Alright then, undress your girlfriend that also happens to be---" My lips silenced her. I tasted her mouth as I reached for the hem of her dress. She stepped back a pace and raised her arms, allowing me to pull the delicate fabric over her curvaceous body. I draped the empty garment over the back of the chair. She had on a pair of ivory panties and a matching bra. She turned around so I could unclasp her bra. I fumbled with the hooks and eyes for awhile, until she tired of my effort. "Boys," she mumbled. She took the initiative and with little more than a flick of her willowy wrist, her perfect breasts were freed. The restrictive nylon fabric had left little red lines and wrinkles in her otherwise smooth skin. I ran my fingers over one pink nipple, tickling and teasing as it hardened.

"Ricky," she moaned. She took my head and cradled it to her soft breasts. I forgot about Dina learning our secret, I forgot about Erin and what I'd have to do in exchange for her silence. There was only Julie, and my need for her. I nursed each pink nipple, taking turns, a futile attempt to satisfy my hunger for her. 

"So, which one is your favorite?" she asked after a few moments.

My lips relinquished one of the little pink nubbins with a pop. "What do you mean?"

"My boobs, which one do you prefer?" 

"Well, your right one has that cute little birthmark next to your nipple," I said pressing the tip of my finger against the tiny spot of dusky brown on her pink aureole. "But the left one is a little bigger." I pretended to weigh each breast in the palm of my hand.

"Yeah," she said squeezing my crotch, "but size doesn't always matter."

"That's not nice," I grabbed a nipple and tweaked. She yelped, I tried to shush her, but her giggles were infectious. Besides, it wasn't like anyone could hear us over Vin Diesel and his one man war against something or other. 

"You didn't answer," she said. 

"Baby, I don't know, that would be like asking a father to choose between his children." I went back to nursing.

"Mm, Rick. Someday, do you think you'll ever want..." she trailed off as I applied more suction. I didn't want to talk about a future that might never be. 

She pulled my face from her chest and gave me her sexiest smile. "I know you're a boob man but there are some other parts of your little sister that need attention." I wasted no time in dropping to my knees. I was like a Roman before the altar of Venus. "Someone's an eager beaver."

"Or just eager for beaver," I said as I grabbed her classy ivory panties and tugged. I worked them over her shapely hips, exposing the nest of brown curls that I had become so well acquainted with of late. I looked forward to becoming even more acquainted.

Our relationship was socially wrong, morally wrong as well as illegal. My best friend Lance had reminded me of these things yesterday, I had reminded myself constantly these last few weeks. The way I saw it, I had no choice in the matter. How could any other girl ever make me feel the same way?

Her panties gathered in a soft little bunch around her ankles. She stepped free and I brought them to my face. That smell.

"Careful, you might get addicted."

"I already am." I leaned close to her crotch, bringing my nose straight to the spicy source. Smelling wasn't enough, I had to taste. My ears and face were burning up, her pheromones conquered my brain. Every cell, every molecule in my body was saturated with the need to become one with her. 

Was it our fault we were born to the same parents? Was it our fault that we fell in love? Maybe there was no justification for what we were doing, but it seemed to me that there were plenty of problems in the world bigger than the two of us.

I offered her my chair, I wanted Julie to sit and be comfortable while I took care of her. Her little butt settled against the edge of the seat. She pulled her knees together, a chaste reflex that she remedied as I caressed the tops of her thighs. She wouldn't deny me. "Just what do you plan on doing to me?" she teased as I leaned closer to her delicious pussy. Without a word she knew what I had planned, I broadcast it with the hunger in my eyes.

"Rick," she exhaled my name as I tasted her. My tongue caressed her slit, from the bottom to the top. I was slow at first, lapping the tangy dew and teasing her tender folds. At her prodding I increased speed, I increased pressure too, driving my tongue as far inside her as I could manage. Her little pink clit hardened and I shifted my efforts there, it drove her wild when I nipped at it with my teeth, then sucked on it with as much force as my lips could muster. 

I abandoned her clitoris for a moment, moving lower. I stiffened my tongue and drove it into her channel. I could taste her very essence now. My face was masked with Julie's slick juices. They were all over the chair, I would have some explaining to do if Lance came back and sat in a puddle. 

I moved my mouth lower to the swell of her soft butt. I paused for a moment, working up the courage to go through with it. I had one alternative to having sex with Erin tonight, that was by performing analingus. I could see Julie's other hole, it was tight, wrinkled and mysterious. There was a muscle there, it tensed when my finger prodded it.

"Rick what---" Julie started, but an experimental lick quieted her. It tasted interesting, not at all what I'd expected, a mix of sweaty, salty and interesting. I pulled away, smacking my lips, I tried to decide if I liked it. Julie looked down at me, she couldn't believe what I had done.

"I wanted to try you first, if I have to do that to Erin---"

"Don't humiliate yourself for that blackmailing bitch." She stroked my hair. "Just fuck her and let it be over." Julie's face was scarlet, she seethed at the thought of me with another woman. "I promise not to get jealous."

I squeezed her warm thighs and smiled. "You won't get jealous, huh? Didn't you break a girl's nose in fifth grade, when she gave a valentine to the boy you liked?"

Her face softened, the red faded to a girlish pink. "I just get a little possessive of what's mine." She threw her legs over my shoulder and drew me back down to that amazing pussy. "And you are most definitely mine." I feasted on her juices again. My fingers tickled her clit, prompting her to tighten her hold around my head. The only sounds I heard were her moans and the rubbing of the butter-soft skin of her thighs as they passed my smoldering ears. My vision was dark and blurred, the only thing I could focus on was her pussy. She was all I could taste and feel, my four senses were dominated by Julie, bringing her pleasure was the only reason I had been born. I sucked the folds of her labia as her thighs relaxed, her legs draped over my shoulders and the balls of her feet rubbed my back. She came on my tongue, muffled moans escaped her lips as her pussy secreted even more juices into my thirsting mouth. 

"Oh wow!" she gathered her breath. Julie reached down to feel her pussy and the moisture it had produced. "Maybe I should get property of Rick tattooed down there," she said.

"No, no ink," I said brushing her smooth tummy, "not on my baby sister."

"No ink," she agreed. "But I think there's another kind of liquid I would settle for." Her eyes were fixed on my tented khakis. "Okay big brother, saddle up," She got out of the chair and patted the seat. Her voluptuous body jiggled with such a hypnotic quality, I was powerless to resist. 

Before my butt even hit the seat she had my pants unzipped and around my ankles. She opened the fly of my checkered boxers and extracted my erection. I expelled every bit of oxygen from my body as she took me in her mouth, my lungs must have shriveled to the size of raisins. The suction, as her lips glided over the loose skin, drove me wild. Her warm mouth was heaven, if my dick couldn't be inside her pussy, then this was where it wanted to be. She pulled it out, just for a second, to offer the sensitive head a lick, then returned it to the comfort of her mouth. 

This was only the second blowjob she had ever given. Third time was supposed to be the charm but Julie was doing just fine on try number two. I felt a tingle race through every nerve and pore in my body. She was giving me an orgasm. The cute little mouth she kissed our parents with was about to be bathed with my cum.

"Your about to find out," Julie said, popping my dick out for a moment. "You're about to find out if your little sister spits or swallows." She gave me a jerk with her slender fingers and I erupted. She shrieked as the first squirt landed on her bare chest. She covered my dickhead with her mouth just in time to receive the second, third and fourth. 

She tried to swallow some, but it was just too much for her first time. She gagged and coughed, she was choking. "God, Julie here." I grabbed a plastic wastebasket from under the desk and held it under her head. I rubbed and patted her naked back as she coughed up strands of semen and saliva and who knows what else. I gave her my half-finished can of Coke, she drank until her throat was soothed. 

"Better?" I asked.

She nodded, her face red from the exertion. "Rick, I'm sorry, I tried---" I cut off her apology with a kiss. I could taste the sweet cola in her mouth. She moaned into my mouth as I wrapped my arms around her hips, letting my fingers cup around the soft cheeks of her butt.

I zipped my fly back up and watched as Julie got dressed. Usually I got off on watching women undress, but there was something so hot about watching my sister hide the secret places I had probed from the rest of the world.

"If we get caught we'd never be allowed within a million feet of each other," she said as she worked her panties up her thighs and under her dress.

"Don't worry we're not going to get caught. I'll take care of Erin tonight and then we can both stop worrying." My hands went to her butt again as I leaned down for a reassuring kiss. I wished I was as confident as I sounded. I saw the door open behind Julie, I should have pulled away faster, but when she was in my arms my brain just didn't work the same.




The Family Room Ch. 05



Lance dropped his keys on the floor when he saw us. The chink of those keys hitting the concrete just about scared Julie to death, she went white and red at the same time. I had confessed everything to Lance, but it hadn't prepared him. He saw who I was with and where my hands were. He could see what we had done by the looks on our guilty faces and our disheveled clothes. If he couldn't see it, he could definitely smell it. He took off his glasses and examined the lenses, he rubbed them with his sleeve as if we were a smudge that would go away. I was still holding Julie when he placed the glasses back on his face. 

"Oh my God!" She buried her head in my chest, like an ostrich in the sand.

Lance couldn't speak, he just stood there, watching us. I stroked Julie's long brown hair as she shuddered and whimpered. 

I cleared my throat, wondering how to tell her. I figured the honest approach would get me in the least amount of trouble. "He knows."

She looked up at me, then to Lance, who's skin color would have made a lobster jealous, then back to me. Her eyes were narrow and her dark eyebrows scrunched. Oh crap, I had seen that look before. I had received it from my sister more than a few times in her nineteen years. I was in trouble, major trouble.

She took off from the back room like she had been propelled from a cannon. I had to race to catch her. When she didn't make a sound in the parking lot I knew that this would be bad. She wouldn't answer me or look at me. We were on the road when she finally spoke. "Pull over," she said, her tone was pure ice. She pointed to a little city park.

She shot out of her seatbelt and cut through the playground, scattering sand and cypress mulch and dodging a group of preschoolers. I apologized to the mothers and their small children as I followed. She headed for a walking path, a gravel trail that ran in a circular pattern around a shallow pond. "Julie where are we going?" She didn't answer, just ignored me, crunching gravel beneath her sandals.

She didn't stop until she reached the far side of the pond. There was no one else on the path, the only other souls in the entire park were back at the playground. 

"How could you Rick?" she was crying again. God, I hated it when she cried. I hated it more when I was the cause. "I trusted you, I loved you.!" I was disturbed by her usage of past tense. "Don't you understand that I can never be the kind of girl that you can brag about to your stupid buddies! God, you're such an idiot! We're not normal Rick." I didn't know if she was just venting or if she meant what she said. "We can never be normal. If you want someone normal, someone you can bring home to mom and dad, and tell all your friends about, it can't be me." 

"Just listen a minute." I tried to put my arms around her but she backed away. "He's been my friend forever." I realized that was a terrible defense, considering what Erin was putting us through. "Julie, I love you more than anything on this earth. Sometimes I think I love you too much. No one has ever made me feel the way you do, no one ever will. I was just so confused, I had to tell someone. Lance won't say anything and neither will I, not again."

She seemed to soften. "Next time you're confused, come talk to me. Okay?" Just like that she had forgiven me, unconditionally. I nodded, taking her into my arms. Since there was no one around I pressed my lips to hers. We kissed, if not quite in public, then at least out in the open. The warm breeze was invigorating, as was the even warmer body I held close.

"Rick." She pulled away from my lips. "Promise me you won't ever screw this up."

That evening my family gathered in the dining room. My mom had found a recipe for jalapeno meatloaf. Sometimes when mom found a new recipe it could be an adventure. This stuff wasn't bad, but my appetite was still puny and Julie's wasn't much bigger. I was literally on the edge of my seat, Erin could call at anytime. Julie and I had been home a few hours, still not so much as a ring. 

"So, Rick are you teaching tonight?" my mom asked. I wasn't paying attention. I sat on the hardwood chair, lost in my thoughts. I pressed the bare fork tines against my bottom lip while she repeated her question.

"Oh, uh, no," I said. "the community college and the rec center have dropped the program. Money problems, I think."

"That's terrible, you loved teaching that art class," my dad said as he sawed a slice of meatloaf.

"Yeah, but there are things I love more." My eyes darted to Julie as she sipped a glass of ice water. She blushed as she sat the glass down. 

"Think of all the disappointed little kids, deprived of art, and creativity, and my baby boy as their teacher." Mom stabbed a spear of broccoli. 

"Yeah, but think of all the janitors, spared---" The phone chose that second to ring.

"Hang on honey." My mom sprang to the kitchen to answer it. She returned a few seconds later. "It's Erin." Julie started to get up. "She wants to talk to Rick."

My heart had to be audible to everyone, it was the only thing I could hear. My parents exchanged a conspiratorial smile as I creaked out of my chair. "I'll get it in my room." Another smile from my parents. Julie wasn't smiling though, to her credit, she adopted a face of stone.

"Hello," I squeaked into the phone.

"Mm, hello sexy," Erin's voice was a slow purr. "Have you been thinking about me?" I had, but not in any flattering ways. "I've been thinking about you and what I'm going to do with you. You don't know how many times I've fucked my fingers pretending they were you. I want to see your dick so bad, I want to touch it and taste it. Oh Ricky, I'm going to slobber all over it."

"That wasn't the deal," I said, "the deal was sex, just one time, then you get the hell out of my life."

"That's still the deal," she hissed. "If you can satisfy me." This wasn't good, she was already waffling. "Who knows, you might forget all about fucking your little sister. I'm a real woman, Rick, one you don't have to be ashamed of."

That was enough for me. "God damnit Erin, if you don't leave my sister out of this---"

"You'll tell on me?" she asked. She had me by the balls and she knew it. "Look Rick, I'll be home alone tonight. Daddy is working nights and Sam is out with the boys. Get here at ten, I'll unlock the doors."

My fingers clenched around the handset of my telephone. "I don't know---"

She was quick to interrupt. "I'll lay down on the bed with my face down and my ass up. You won't even have to look at me, you can just fuck me full of your sperm or lick my asshole. I don't care how rough or kinky you want to get, as long as I get to cum."

"Alright." I wanted it over with.

Erin squealed like a spoiled child. "Ten, Ricky," she said, "and you only get one chance."

I hung up. There was a twinge in the pit of my stomach, like I was going to be sick. I lay down on my bed and covered my face with a pillow. After ten minutes the phone rang. "Hello," I said, more than a little agitated.

"Hey Rick," Lance said. "I'm sorry about walking in on you today, did Julie ever forgive you?" I told him she had. "I take it tonight is still on with Erin." I relayed the last conversation. "Ten o' clock, huh? Look, just hang in there." 

I lay on my bed, alone, as the hours ticked away. The clock on my VCR taunted, green LED counting down to the apocalypse.

It was past nine when I went to say goodbye to Julie. She was already asleep. I wondered how she could sleep so soundly tonight of all nights, then I saw the bottle of Nyquil on her dresser. There was a wastebasket full of wadded up Kleenex beside her bed, poor little thing. She breathed softly through her nose. Laying like that, with her long brown hair draped beneath her body like a second mattress, she looked even more beautiful than usual. I leaned over and covered her lips with my own.

I stayed that way, pressed to her mouth. I was a condemned man enjoying a final kiss from his sweetheart before heading to the gallows. I lingered at her door for a minute, watching her chest swell and fall and thinking how much I loved her. I shut the door and turned to find my dad in the hall. 

My pulse quickened, had he seen me? I shrugged it off, no and even if he had it was just a little kiss.

"Kind of a strange situation you've gotten yourself into, isn't it son?"

I was going to have a stroke, twenty-four years old and I'd be eating from a tube. "Dad I..." This was it, doomsday.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. Erin is a very pretty girl and I think she has always had a bit of a crush on you." Good old imperceptive dad. "It must be weird for your sister though, her brother and her best friend."

"Oh it's weird alright." I agreed.

"Well stay safe tonight," he patted my shoulder, "and remember, I'm too young to be a grandpa." When did my dad become Dr. Ruth?

I stayed in my car for awhile after the engine shut off. I looked up at Erin's duplex. The paint was peeling and the windows were open. There was movement between the curtains in her room. She was waiting. 

True to her word the front door was unlocked. My legs were rubber as I climbed the stairs to her room. The house was heavy with the smell of air fresheners, and backed-up plumbing. My jaw and hands trembled. 

The door to Erin's room was cracked open. I rested my forehead on the cooling wood and peeked inside. Dirty clothes and discarded papers were strewn about the floor, as I entered I had to practically leap over a pile of dirty thongs. As promised Erin's face was buried in the mattress, her skinny butt was thrust upward. I could see the smooth lips of her pussy peeking out from between her legs, she wagged her ass back and forth. 

Did she think that would entice me? I didn't think she could even get me hard, a theory that was disproved by a stirring in my jeans. I started toward her then stopped. She was so hot, a breathing fantasy offering herself to me. What was I doing? I couldn't allow myself to lose control.

"Come on, Ricky, fuck me." She turned her head, her blue eyes and white teeth sparkled in the dimness. 

"No talking," I reminded her, "and keep your face down." She nodded and reassumed her position. I crawled on the bed, unzipping my fly as I eased up against her. Erin's smell was so thick in the cramped little room I almost choked. I reached through my boxers to catch my half hard dick. She was mewling and moaning and thrusting that little bottom against me. It was hard to control myself, to not just give in and let myself go, like I did with Julie. 

With my right hand I took my penis and put it against her vagina. I rubbed my sensitive head between her warm, wet lips as my dick reached full solidity. My left hand caressed her butt cheeks. She felt so different, where Julie was soft and supple, Erin was more toned and rigid. 

I would push in and ride her rough, that's what she deserved, that's probably what she wanted. The cheeks of her ass tensed and relaxed as the first inch slipped inside her vagina. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I groaned and doubled over falling against Erin's lean body, we tumbled to the mattress. She giggled and ground her backside into my hardness.

I rolled off of her, she was still thrusting her butt and her hands were stuffed between her legs. God, my stomach was killing me. I crawled out of her bed and zipped up my jeans, all the while bent and clutching my gut. "You can't be done yet," she said turning around.

"Head down," I ordered. I fought against the pain and the guilt, but together they were too much to overcome. "I forgot a condom. I'll go and get it." I ignored her reminder that she was on the pill and stumbled to the driveway. The fresh air did wonders for my stomach. I reckoned the distance from Erin's bedroom also helped.

I gorged my lungs on the night air. It was fresh and clean, I felt anything but. All I could think about was my sister. I would betray her if even a little part of me enjoyed myself with Erin, there was no way I could do that. I took out my wallet and made sure I was carrying my bank card. I could make a stop at the ATM and withdraw just enough cash to get me the hell out of Saratoga Spring. Julie had offered to come with me once, I hoped that offer still stood. 

Someone moved out in the street, two someones actually.

It was Sam, home early with one of his trash friends. "Rick?" Sam's friend asked in a quiet voice. 

I knew that whisper, it was Lance. "What are you doing here?" I asked, matching his tone.

"Looking out for my best friend." Lance towed a black bag. Every few seconds he took a nervous glances at Erin's window. I stuffed my bank card back in my wallet.

"This guy," Sam said putting his arm around Lance, "this guy is one hell of a pal. He wanted me to tell you that." Sam slurred half the words, belched the rest. He looked at me for a second, as if trying to recall my name, then stumbled off to his front door. 

"I'll take care of everything," he said, eyes fixed on Erin's window. "Go home, Julie must be worried sick about you." 

I nodded and started to put my key in the door lock.

Lance cringed and took a quick peek at Erin's window. "Why don't you take my car, it's parked down the street." We exchanged keys.

"Lance---"

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "Just remember, this guy is one hell of a pal," he emulated Sam's slurred speech.

I didn't ask what was in the bag, I didn't question how Lance would take care of things. I just wanted to go home.

I never checked the clock, so I had no idea what time I had gotten in. Julie sat up as I entered her room, her sheets were clutched in her slim fingers. She plucked her watch from her nightstand and squinted at the little numbers.

"Didn't go through with it?" she asked. It must have been relatively early.

I sat down on her mattress. Her bed was soft and pink, it's inviting warmth was where I wanted to be. "Julie, when did my life deteriorate into some big melodrama?"

"Probably the moment you first kissed me." Her voice was weak and groggy, effects of the Nyquil.

"Probably," I agreed as I scooted closer. I leaned down and kissed her again to show her I didn't regret any of it. I settled down next to her. There was a chance our parents might intrude, but I was fully clothed and on top of the covers so we looked innocent enough. 

My mind wandered for a moment to Erin. I wondered, for the first of many times, just how Lance figured on procuring her silence. I wished a capful of medicine would allow my troubled soul to sleep. I rested my head against Julie and breathed deep. I allowed the smell of her hair and the softness of her skin to be my lullaby. 

To be continued



The Family Room Ch. 06



"Hello," my voice cracked as I answered the phone.

Lance's voice languished amid the bullets and explosions of the latest Vin Diesel flick. 

"You have to speak up--- I said you have to speak up!" Beside me Julie rolled over, she pulled the pink blanket over her bare shoulder and snuggled close.

"Are you coming to work today?" Lance had asked that question every day for the last three. I hadn't been to work or even seen my best friend since the night at Erin's house. I told him I didn't know if I would make it, while I stroked my sister's long brown hair. "Don't tell me you have something better to do." 

No, just someone, I thought.

"Come on, man. I had to fire Nick for pissing off a customer, I need help down here. I saved your ass, now save mine."

He had saved me all right, it's been three days without so much as a peep out of Erin. "Let me ask permission." I cradled the phone between by ear and shoulder and nudged Julie's shoulder. She snorted as she stirred, then sat up and yawned. 

"What?" she asked.

"Julie, baby, would you mind if I went in to work today?"

She kissed me on the mouth, her hand wriggled under the sheet to find it's way to my lap. She squeezed my semi-hard penis. "What do you think?" she asked. Her eyes narrowed like a cat.

"Sorry Lance, maybe tomorrow."

"Come on Rick, you are so pussy whipped. I never thought I'd see the day that Rick Martin---"

"Wrong number," I told Julie as I placed the phone back on the cradle.

She sighed as her hand released my dick. "One more day of playing house before Mom and Dad come home." 

That's exactly what we'd done while our parents were in San Antonio.

"Maybe we should have went with them," I said wrapping my arms around her. "Just think, in a whole other state where nobody knows us. I could hold you in public and kiss you, no one would even bat an eye."

"No one but our parents," she giggled as I kissed her. "Besides, we weren't around for their first honeymoon, why should we be for the second?"

"We could keep them out of trouble." My hand went to her breast and squeezed.

She hissed and bit her lower lip. "Yeah, but who would keep us out of trouble?" 

I kicked off the sheets and eased her down on the squishy mattress. "I guess we'd just have to get in trouble." My fingers tickled their way down her ribcage. I stalled on her stomach, swirling the pad of my index finger around her little navel. I bent down and kissed, leaving a pool of saliva just above her belly button. I blew cool air on the puddle, she forced a laugh through clenched teeth. Goosebumps raised on her soft skin and she cooed my name.

My fingers traveled south, to the nest of brown curls, the very pussy that had whipped me. I teased her folds, beckoning moisture to lubricate her in preparation for what was to come. "God Rick, stop fooling around down there. Just put it in."

"Again?" I raised to my knees, maintaining a shaky balance on the shifting mattress. "Aren't you worried that you'll get bored with me?" She pounced like a feline, planted her claws in my chest and forced me on my back. She climbed on top of me and slid her naked body across mine. She smiled victoriously, seductively. "I let you win," I said.

She reached behind her delicious body until her fingers closed around my erection. "Now you're going to let me have my way with you." Julie's lips sagged in a mocking frown. "Can you believe you missed work for this?" She pressed the head of my penis against her vagina, it stretched slowly, to permit my entrance. 

Julie sank all the way down, until she was sitting on my lap. My hands cupped the soft globes of her butt as we savored our togetherness. "Julie," I said.

"What," she answered. Her voice was dreamy and light.

"Remember the other day when you made me promise not to screw things up?" She nodded letting me know that she did. "If I ever screw us up, I'm going to jump right off Miller's Bridge."

"At Lake Jude? But you're not a very good swimmer," she said.

"That's the point." I took her hand as she started to move again. 

Julie rose and fell on my hardness, moving as slow as the tides. After ten minutes she had worked her way to a rapid bounce. I loved it in this position. All I had to do was lay back and watch her beautiful body jiggle with each gyration while she pleasured herself. I wished I had a bag of popcorn and maybe a napkin to clean up the mess once we had finished. And we did finish. A geyser of cum erupted almost without warning, spraying her insides with my semen. My offering triggered Julie's own orgasm. She hunched over me and rode out the waves of pleasure, bringing me even more pleasure by mashing and rubbing her spongy boobs across my chest.

The telephone rang again. I reached for Julie's nightstand and picked up the phone. I didn't feel like talking at the moment, so I delivered the handset to Julie. "Hello?" she said looking a bit flushed. "Oh, hi Mom. What am I doing?" She cringed as she tried to think. She couldn't tell Mom she was lying naked on top of her brother. "I'm just catching up on some reading... Oh, it's just some sappy romance novel, teenage melodrama that sort of thing... I don't know where Rick is, I think he's been spending all his time with a new girl." I started to snicker beneath her, she shushed me. "Well, all I know is she must be making him happy, because he's walked around with a goofy smile on his face ever since you guys left... Don't worry, I'll stay on top of things." She wriggled her hips and my softening penis slipped out. "Give our love to Dad. Bye."

"You'll stay on top of things?" I asked suppressing a laugh.

"On top of, underneath, beside, any other positions you can think of?"

"Just one, but you'd have to bark like a doggy." I tried to sit up but she tackled me back to the mattress. Just for the record, I let her win again. 

"Well, well nice to see you could make it," Lance said. He balanced precariously from his office chair. "And just in time to help me with these damn cases you were nice enough to stack."

"I guess we're even for Saturday, when you left me alone with Nick."

"Hey don't bring Nick into this, at least Nick was responsible enough to show up for work on time and not leave me hanging for three days. Of course he was also responsible for calling a customer who tried to return an opened disc a 'cock-sucking bastard,' so it looks like I'll have to settle for you."

"So," I said as I grabbed a box off the stack, "how's Dina."

"She's been acting kind of weird about the whole thing with you and your sister. I didn't know how to tell her, the way you told me. I just blurted out that you were fucking Julie."

"You...? Jesus, Lance you're so stupid. It's bad enough that she knows, now she thinks I'm some kind of pervert."

"She doesn't," Lance said, "not really." That made me feel better. "I'm sure she'll come around."

"Somehow, I doubt it."

"She will. I can be pretty persuasive with people, take Erin for instance." I grabbed another box from the stack and tossed it to Lance. "You haven't heard anymore from her have you?"

I was in mid-reach for another box when I stopped. "How did you do it, Lance?" The question had been eating me up. I had done a pretty good job of avoiding it since that night, when Lance assured me that everything would be taken care of.

"So did you see the list of new releases for the fourth quarter? Better start saving---"

He was giving me an out. I wouldn't have to ask, he wouldn't have to tell. All I had to do was shut up about it. "How did you do it, Lance?"

"Just forget about Erin. She got what she deserved and you're free of her meddling forever." 

I got that pain in my stomach again. I clutched my midsection and slumped against some boxes for support. Lance tried to help but I pushed him away. "What did you do to her?" I demanded.

Lance's eyes shifted around. "I can show you. But you can't tell anyone." He looked in my eyes and reiterated. "Anyone!" There was something about his tone that was wrong. 

He led me to the office. Lance reached in his pants pocket and pulled out a jangling ring of keys. He kneeled down beside the desk and unlocked a file drawer. Worst case scenarios ran through my mind, what if he pulled out a bloody knife or a pistol? I was afraid for him, in a tiny way I may have been afraid of him. The drawer rolled open and he extracted a videotape. 

"The only other copy was sent to Erin." The moment the black plastic touched my hand, I chilled. "She won't bug you anymore."

"Lance," I whispered.

He recognized my fears, his face softened. "What? Did you think I killed her or something, chucked her off the bridge? She's fine, not a hair on her little blonde head got harmed." He snatched the tape from my fingers. "This tape gets you and your sister off the hook for good. I'd let you watch, but I know how big a pest your conscience can be."

I watched the tape, a few days after I found out about it, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else. I swiped Lance's keys from his desk while he was with a customer and hid the tape in my lunch sack. While he was at the Pizza Sub I popped the tape into the little T.V. in the backroom. 

The night vision of Lance's camcorder gave the screen a green, ethereal sheen, I could see Erin's sleek body, glistening with sweat and in the same position that I had left her in. She still had her face buried in the blankets and her pert little ass raised for my return. 

I recalled the odor of sex drifting through the air like an invisible fog, her smell had been strong in the tiny room. I could almost smell it again as I stared at the little screen. I had found it so much more pungent than Julie's own, almost sweet odor. Sam must have smelled it, his eyes closed and his chest expanded as he appeared in the doorway. 

Sam was older than Erin, a good seven years older, a fact that made their impending coupling seem all the more perverse. He approached his sister slowly, afraid to make a sound. His hands headed straight to her buttocks. His fingers gripped the firm cheeks, producing a shiver throughout the length of her body. 

Sam withdrew a few steps. He looked like he was having second thoughts. "Don't get shy on me, pretend I'm your sister," Erin said. 

Her words set Sam off. I imagined that I had not been the lone target of his sister's teasing and flaunting. Sam groaned and kneeled on the edge of her bed. He had already yanked off his ash gray muscle shirt. How could Erin not feel that something was amiss. Sam's body was thinner, more wiry than mine. Combine that with the fact that Sam was around six inches shorter than me, and the charade should have ended from the start. 

From behind Sam buried his face in his sister's drooling pussy. He trailed wet licks and kisses from her labia to her butt cheeks. Within a minute she raised her head and screamed my name. Her window was still wide open, allowing a gentle breeze to tousle her short blonde hair. Any neighbor who happened by would have known what she was doing. 

Sam worked open his zipper and pulled off his black denim shorts. White Fruit of the Looms were the next to fall. "Oh baby let's do it," Erin said as she rolled around to face her lover for the first time. Her eyes transformed into silver dollars, two huge, perfectly circular objects. Those wide eyes told her who had eaten her pussy, who had brought her to orgasm and who wouldn't stop there. "Sam?!" she screamed. "Sam!"

Sam climbed on top of his younger sister. He used his wiry body to pin her down. Erin screeched as his short, thick erection bumped against her swollen pussy lips. "This is what you wanted," Sam said, sinking his dick inside. "All the times you've teased me and taunted me. You wanted this." Sam planted kisses on her neck, breasts and protesting lips.

"Sam, I'm---" she grunted as he invaded her. "Sammy please! Ouch, you're my brother."

I turned away from the television screen. I could hear Erin's mattress squeak, Erin squealed and cussed as he drove harder into her. I glanced back at the screen long enough to see Sam pull out. His seed arced across his sister's midsection, some spurts landed as far away as her heaving chest, while others couldn't make it past her smooth crotch. Sam offered a lame apology, about being drunk as he rolled off his sister. He snatched his clothes from the floor and retreated from her room. Erin wasn't cussing anymore, she wasn't yelling or moaning. Her hands covered her face and her chest was heaving. I turned off the T.V. I couldn't bear to watch her cry.

I yanked the tape out of the machine. I thought of everything Erin did to my me, and everything she tried to do. She would have ruined my life, the life I wanted to build. Lance was right, she deserved it. Deserved it? As soon as the thought escaped my subconscious I threw the tape on the ground. I crushed it with my foot, stomped on it, tried to grind it into dust with the sole of my shoe, anything to make the guilt go away. The guilt wouldn't be so easily dispatched, it festered in my stomach. I suffered through pain for the rest of the day, but that was okay, I deserved it.

Lance, grinned at me he returned from lunch. I wanted to hate him, how could my best friend do something so reprehensible. I wanted to hate Sam for what he had done on that tape and I wanted to hate Erin for being the cause of it all. Most of all I wanted to hate myself, because deep down I knew that everything that had happened was my fault alone. 

I brushed past Lance, ignoring his calls as I walked out the door. I knew where I had to go, but drove around the city for a few hours to build up the courage.

My heart pounded as I stood outside the duplex. I rang the doorbell. It didn't seem to be working, maybe I should just forget it. Finches fluttered out of a boxwood hedge as my fist struck the front door. 

I hoped her father wouldn't answer. No, that badger of a man's truck was absent. He was probably still at some construction site, or drinking beers at the bar. I knocked again, harder this time, prompting the neighbor's dog to bark. I heard fussing on the other side of the door as a deadbolt was turned. The knob twisted and the sun-bleached brown door creaked open.

A sleek feminine form stood dressed in a red cotton nightgown. Her long legs were capped by white socks. I hadn't seen Erin dressed like this in a long time, she could almost pass for innocent. Her short blonde hair was a mess, her face was shiny and clean, free of makeup.

"What do you want?" Her words were followed by a quick yawn. She used her red fingernails in an attempt to tame her locks as she waited for my answer.

"I just wanted---"

"To gloat? Don't worry Ricky, you and your sister don't have to worry about me anymore. Your little plan worked."

She tried to shut the door but I stopped her. "Erin, I didn't plan any of it. I swear, I had no idea this would happen to you." I took her hand, but she yanked it away.

"Well it did, Ricky. My brother fucked me. He was drunk and horny, and since I'm such a whore, he just walked right in and fucked me." Erin covered her face, hiding the tears I didn't want to see. 

"I'm sorry Erin, oh God I'm so sorry." I handed her a plastic shopping bag emblazoned with the Video Hut logo.

"Is this some kind of bribe?" she asked taking the sack. I shook my head no. She reached inside and pulled out a handful of plastic bits and knotted tape.

"No bribes, no blackmail. I want this off my conscience Erin, I'm living with enough sin. Now you have the only two tapes." 

"This isn't a trick? There are no more copies?"

I shook my head no. 

"Am I supposed to accept your offering and forgive you, so you can go home to Julie with a big smile?" I shrugged, unsure of what was supposed to happen next.

"It doesn't work that way, Rick. I won't bother you anymore. You're not going to live happily ever after, you picked the wrong girl for that." I backed away from the porch, deep down I wondered if she was right. 

"We did it again," she said with a sniffle. My body went cold and stiff, all the blood had frozen in my veins. "That same night. Sam came in my room to apologize and it just happened. I'm not in love with him or anything, but it felt so good, I wanted it. 

"The morning after I woke up, he was gone. Not just out of my bed, but out of my life." She brushed a tear away. "It's going to happen to you too. Julie can never be what you want her to be." Those were Erin's parting words as she softly shut the door and locked the deadbolt.

I started my car and thought about what Erin had said. What did I want Julie to be. My lover? She was my first and only. My wife? That would never be possible, not in any legal sense. The mother of my children? 

I wondered if I was any better than Sam. He had left, just picked up and walked right out of Saratoga Spring. How many times had I contemplated running away. Would that have made me worse, for running out on Julie and my family, or better, for abandoning any silly notions of love and seeing our relationship for what it truly was: wrong and doomed. 

That night, I drove out to Lake Jude. I pulled over and parked in a little gravel lot. Dad used to drive Julie and me out here when we were kids, to fish under Miller's Bridge. As I stepped out on the bridge I wished I'd brought a jacket. 

A bronze plaque proclaimed that the taxpayer's of Saratoga Spring had dedicated Miller's Bridge in 1971. I must have crossed this bridge a thousand times and never noticed the plaque before. One-hundred-fifty feet below spires of mist hovered over the warm waters of Lake Jude. I leaned against the guardrail and let the night breeze cool my face. Every once in a while a car would pass, I was invisible to them as they hurried across the bridge. I sighed. I wished I could become invisible, just disappear off the face of the earth. Then Julie could have a normal life.

One-hundred-fifty feet down, then nothing but water. Algae-stained freshwater, it was the most peaceful thing I could imagine. This part of the lake wasn't very deep, fifteen maybe twenty feet in a few spots. I smiled, if Julie knew what I was contemplating she would throw me off the bridge herself. The poor little thing would be devastated. I decided I'd hurt enough people for one lifetime and backed away from the guardrail. I'd be damned before I ever hurt Julie again.

There was a light on the other side of the bridge, a little bait shop. I remembered the times dad would pass me a five dollar bill and send me to buy a coffee can full of worms. The times Julie came with us she always wanted to tag along with me. She always begged me to buy her a Coke from the vending machine, it was the only place that still sold glass bottles. I had a sudden craving for Coke in a glass bottle.

I used the footpath to cross the bridge, even though the last car had passed a while ago. 

The lights were still on at Jerry's Bait Shop, the open sign was still glowing blue. The door rang as I stepped inside. The cramped store was layered with bait, lures, maps and nets. Anything a fisherman needed had somehow been crammed into an area no bigger than a one-car garage. There was an older man, around sixty, seated behind a counter. He was hunched over an archaic television set, studying the weather forecast despite a choppy reception.

Everything in the little store smelled like mud or fish or plastic, at times two or more of those odors joined together for a nasal assault. I grabbed a jar of catfish bait and twisted off the cap. I winced, how had they managed to fit that huge a stink inside that small of a jar?

"Yeah you son of a bitch, you would do that," an aged voice grumbled.

"Excuse me?" I asked placing the jar back.

"Oh, not you son." The old man switched off his television. "Damn weatherman called for rain this weekend, kills all my business when that happens." He flashed a mouthful of tobacco stained teeth. "You been in here before?"




The Family Room Ch. 06



"It's been a while," I admitted. 

"Well that's all right, fishin' is like family, it's in your blood. I'm Jerry, by the way, owner and proprietor." He extended a hand browned and hardened from years spent at the lakeside. I shook it.

The old fingers were leathery and strong. "Quite a grip you have." 

"Fightin' cats will do that to you. Caught a catfish damn near fifty pounds right under that bridge last week."

"You have such late hours. When do you find the time to fish?" 

"Hell, I'll be closing up soon, cats don't start feeding until after midnight. I'll let you in on another secret: all that fancy gear I sell, the reels and bait and whatnot, they aren't worth a damn for cats. All you need is a pole and worms."

Jerry looked at me, a gleam in his sunken eyes. "You don't look like you're in any hurry to get home, so why don't you come on down and fish a bit. You can use one of my poles, all you got to do is buy the worms."

I was in no hurry to go anywhere, so despite the strangeness of the situation, I agreed. I followed Jerry across the bridge and down to the lake. He talked all the way down the rocky incline about catfish. There was something so uncomplicated about him, not uncomplicated in a dim or stupid way. He knew what mattered most in life, for him that was fishing.

We sat on a pair of large rocks protruding from the uneven earth, limestone, smoothed by decades of floods and the backsides of weary fishermen. He had a lot to say, between cigarettes. I heard all about his first wife and their messy divorce, how he'd sworn he'd never repeat the process, but did twice more. The business at the bait shop had been declining thanks to the big discount stores underselling him, he cursed Sam Walton more times than I care to recall. He also talked about his scare with prostate cancer, his doctor's assured him it was probably nothing, but he had a follow-up appointment the next week. 

I remained, freezing my ass off until the first rays of dawn reflected in the misty waters. I had listened to Jerry go on all night, nodding and agreeing when it was appropriate, all the while silently contemplating my own future. 

"Well." Jerry lifted his old body off of the rock that had served as his chair. "I've wasted enough of your time, Rick. I guess after listening to this broken down old man your problems don't seem so bad." 

"They're still pretty bad," I admitted. I handed him back the ancient pole he had loaned me. 

"Keep it Rick, never know when you might feel like coming down here again. Maybe you can unload some of your problems the next time." 

Of course I couldn't tell him about Julie, but I could ask his advice. There was no harm in that. "Jerry." My voice caught as soon as I spoke his name. He was stretching his cramped legs. "What if the one thing that made you happier than anything else, was destined to bring misery to everyone around you?" If there was ever anyone else I confided in it would be this old man. I hardly knew him, but Jerry had laid his own life bare in an effort to make mine seem a little less bleak.

"I would say to hell with everyone else. If she makes you happy, she's special."

"She is, but how---"

"How did I know it was a she? Why else would you be out here freezing all night with the likes of me?" 

"I guess you're right." I yawned. "Sorry we didn't catch anything."

"Ah hell Rick, I never catch anything down here."

"But you said you caught a fifty pound catfish last week."

"That's just bullshit I tell the customers to buy whatever bait I'm trying to get rid off. Anyway, it got you to come down and listen to my bellyaching for damn near five hours. Honesty can be overrated sometimes, especially among fishermen, Rick." He clapped my shoulder and started up the hill. 

I promised Jerry I would come see him again.

I pulled in the driveway just as Mom and Dad were leaving for work.

"That must have been some shift you worked at the Video Hut," my Dad said. I didn't feel like a confrontation, I was too exhausted. I shuffled past their car. "Rick, I don't mind you not being at the airport when our plane landed, you had work that was fine. But coming home at six in the morning?"

I leaned on the hood of their sedan. "There was something I had to straighten out." My sentence began and ended with a yawn. 

"We're happy that you found someone special, Rick," my mom said, "but you had your us worried sick all night. Your sister fell asleep on the couch waiting up for you."

All night as I sat under the bridge I had replayed Erin's words to me. 'Julie could never be what I wanted her to be.' I realized then as my mother spoke just what it was; what I wanted Julie to be. "I'll talk to her," I said, kissed my mother's cheek, then ducked in the house. 

I tossed my keys and vest on the kitchen table as I headed to the family room. Julie was on the couch, curled up, with a crocheted orange blanket draped over her body. 

"Julie," I whispered sitting on the couch beside her. I touched her cheek, then nudged her head slightly. She whimpered and blinked awake.

"Rick?" She threw off the blanket and embraced me. "Why didn't you come home? Don't you know how worried---"

My fingers hushed her lips. "Julie," I said. "I want you to be my sister." She looked at me with sleep-starved eyes. "No matter what else happens, always be my sister and love me unconditionally."

She nodded and rested her head on my chest. She was breathing softly after a moment. I was exhausted, but couldn't sleep. I pulled the orange blanket over Julie and contented myself with holding her. As I held her warm body in my arms I hoped and prayed that I would never have to let go.

To be continued...



The Family Room Ch. 07



Jerry was wearing a flannel shirt when I stopped in the bait store the next week. How could anyone wear flannel in August?

"You're smiling. I assume everything went well at the doctor's?"

The old man nodded, a yellow grin followed. "No cancer, just need to take better care of myself." He narrowed his tired eyes. "How about you Rick, ever work through them problems of yours?"

Julie had her period last week, so one huge weight had been lifted off my mind. Other than that, my life was as perfectly imperfect as ever. "Let's just say 'that time of the month' came and went, so I'm happy." I moved to the soda machine and inserted a handful of quarters. The glass door unlocked and I reached through a wall of mist to pull out two frost-cold bottles of Coke.

Jerry hunched over the counter, I had given him a tiny, first peek into my life. "So no Rick Juniors just yet?" He pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket, ignoring his own no smoking signs.

"Not for a while I hope."

"Just don't wait a whole lot longer." Jerry blew a halo of smoke my way. I coughed "Before you know it, you're my age and then it's too late. Three wives, Rick, not a one of them stuck around long enough to start a family."

"Maybe number four will be different."

The old man snuffed his cigarette on the counter. His lip curled as he chuckled. "Listen to me son, there'll never be another one like the first." He was right about that. "Learn from this old dog's mistakes, and don't let my past become your future."

"What would you suggest I do?"

"Hard to say, considering you have told me next to nothing about this girl." Reflexively, he lit another cigarette. "But if you're serious enough to be 'almost making babies' with her, then I'd say you ought to just take off and marry the girl. The sooner the better."

"You make it sound awfully simple," I said. It was only in the last week that I had even conceded to the chance that Julie and I could have some semblance of a future together. "Looking to drown a few worms?" Jerry drummed the top of an old coffee can. 

"Absolutely, but not tonight. I promised my parents no more late nights for a while. I'm as close to grounded as a twenty-four year old can get."

"Your lady friend must be pretty disappointed, what with you stuck at home." Jerry seemed amused by my predicament.

"She's coping." I raised the coke bottles and told Jerry to take it easy. Before I walked back across the bridge I slipped the last of my quarters inside the newspaper dispenser outside of the shop. I grabbed the last copy of the morning edition.

"I haven't had one of these in ages." Julie put the glass bottle to her pursed lips and sipped the sweet cola. She licked her pink mouth. "Remember when we used to walk across the bridge to that little bait place?"

"Yeah," I said clinking my bottle against hers. She hopped on the counter and crossed her smooth legs. She had squeezed into a tiny pair of denim short shorts. "Since when did you start wearing clothes like that?" I asked.

"Since I wanted you to notice me." Her butt grazed the amber Formica as she slid off the countertop. Her bare feet slapped the linoleum floor and she turned around to model her little shorts and golden tank top. The faded blue material stuck to every curve, I wondered if it had been plastered on. "How do I look?"

"You look decent."

She smacked her palm on the counter. "Decent? Rick Martin, I haven't walked around with a wedgie half the day, just for you to think I looked decent!"

"Alright, you look hot." I approached and reached behind her to knead a denim-enclosed buttock.

"That's better." She surrendered to my explorations, resting her cheek against my chest. 

"How hot?" She stepped back and twirled a strand of long brown hair between her fingers. "Supermodel hot? Girl next door hot?"

"Baby, the girl next door has nothing on the girl in the next room." I stepped forward bringing our faces close together. The tips of our noses grazed, and her breath warmed my lips. 

"You're such a suck up." She patted my cheek.

"I know." I held her hand against the side of my face. "But you're so much fun to suck." I yanked her golden tank top over her chest, letting it rest above the swells of her breasts. I took a salty nipple between my lips, while my fingers attempted to breech the waistband of her shorts. The denim was so tight she gasped when I managed to work an entire finger inside. She told me it was pinching her, so I relented. 

I knelt, those little shorts now dominated my entire field of vision. I pulled the button free from the eye and worked the zipper down. Working the tight denim over her full hips was like peeling an onion, I had to tug a couple of times to free her shapely thighs, but once that was done the shorts came off with no more difficulty. How had she managed to fit so much girl into such a small amount of denim?

I gazed up at my Julie, long brown hair spilled over her shoulders and down her sides. Her pale skin glowed in the window light. I sighed. How had I denied myself for so long. She was kind, caring, beautiful and devoted to me in every way. I thought about the previous failed romances, all the torture I'd put myself through over girls I hardly knew, and this had been waiting at home for me all along. 

Julie leaned back against the counter, she gasped as a drawer handle pressed into the soft flesh of her panty-clad butt. I put my hand between her and the handle, acting as a shield, I couldn't bare to see her in discomfort.

Her paper-white cotton panties had me spellbound, little high-cut things. I could see the shadow of dark hairs, the tuft of her bush, through the dainty fabric. She noticed me staring. "What, these aren't sexy enough? You know, I'm not going to break into the Victoria's Secret collection for any old occasion."

"No, they're perfectly sexy." I snapped the lacy waistband. "Anyway, it's not the wrapping that matters, it's what's inside the box." She giggled. I realized what I'd said and stifled a laugh of my own. "Julie, may I unwrap your box?" She nodded her consent and I dragged her panties to the floor.

My fingers caressed the tops of her feet, trailing outward to her ankles. She was amazing. Places that were rough and sinewy on my own body were soft, and smooth as cream on hers. I tickled my way up her calves and thighs, tracing the contours of her legs. I allowed my hands a moments rest, they found solace on her full hips. I leaned close, bringing my mouth to the apex of her femininity. She was getting wet, I could see and smell the evidence. I kissed the triangle of dark hairs, dipping my tongue into the treasure they guarded. I pulled away and gazed at her adoring face. Without uttering a word she pleaded with me to continue, her green eyes begging me to use my mouth until she writhed to an orgasm on my tongue. 

There wasn't enough time to pleasure her that way. Returning to her little tuft, I gave a long slow lick up her lubricated slit. It was a promise that my tongue would return when we were less rushed. 

I swirled my tongue around in my mouth, I wanted to distribute her flavor to as many taste buds as possible. Meanwhile, my fingers continued their journey northward, pressing against a thin layer of flesh to climb her ribcage like the rungs of a ladder. The second I reached her armpits and she doubled over. "Looks like I found your ticklish spot, little sister." My fingers transformed from explorers to conquerors, she was at my mercy. She was out of control, wiggling and jiggling with laughter. 

Julie brought her arms down hard in defense. My left hand wasn't fast enough, it found itself trapped by her armpit. Not a bad place, but I was partial to another of her warm, wet furrows. "Rick." Her voice was as sugary as any cola. "Mom and Dad will be home in a few minutes." 

Less than fifteen, according to the clock on the microwave. My left hand wriggled free from under her arm and sought out the silky curls of her bush. "This won't take long." My forefinger breached the tight lips of her vagina, sinking into her delicate warmth. She was soaking inside. She was wet because of me, wet for me. Julie moaned as I twisted my finger, pressing deeper inside her snug channel.

"Rick." She panted. "Be careful down there. You don't want me to make a mess on the kitchen floor, do you?" I pulled my index finger halfway out of her sopping hole and planted a kiss on her engorged clitoris. I teased the swollen nub with my thumb and thumbnail. She gurgled and purred. My middle finger had been waiting patiently, he wanted nothing more than to join his overworked comrade within my sister's silky channel. "Two fingers? You wouldn't be loosening me up for something bigger, would you?"

"Of course I am. Now if you could just hand me one of those bananas." I could feel her spittle rain down on my forehead as she snickered. She was ready. I eased my fingers out of her and stood back up. I brought my oily fingers to my nostrils and drew in her fragrance. She bit her bottom lip as she watched me lick and suck the glistening juices from my fingers. I offered her a taste, she gave a tentative lick, tasting my salty skin mingled with the sweet traces of her own syrup. She took both of my fingers in her mouth and sucked. My right hand went to the button of my work pants. The khaki material collapsed to the floor around my ankles. My red-striped boxers were next to fall. 

"Little sister," I pulled my fingers from her mouth. "I am going to bend you over this counter and pump you so full of my sperm that you'll have to sit in the sink and drain with the dishes."

She turned around, presenting her round ass. "This counter?" She patted the linoleum and narrowed her green eyes at me. "But this is the counter where Mom makes our dinner." She was right, dinner would never seem the same. "And Dad pours his morning coffee right here." She bent over, her breasts hung low, brushing the top of the counter as they swayed. The cool Formica further hardened and erected her pink nipples. I couldn't believe we were actually going to do this, right here in the kitchen. What if Mom and Dad came home and caught their own son and daughter together, our naked bodies entwined in the very place where the family meals were prepared and consumed.

I allowed my fingers one final journey, between the supple valley of her butt cheeks. My fingertips parted delicate flesh as they traveled south, over mysterious territory, until reaching the intended destination. I spread her labia, creating an entry point to allow my dick easy access to her warmth. She was wet and accepting. I pushed, invading her body until my pelvis rested against her soft rump.

I reached around to cup her breasts. They were slightly more than a handful, plenty to drive me wild. I pulled almost the whole way out before thrusting back in. Her breasts pulsed in my hands. I leaned over to clear the hair from her left ear, I gave the lobe a little nip, then whispered how much I loved her.

Our bodies slapped together filling the kitchen with sound as she met each thrust. The hum of the refrigerator was joined by the sounds of our lovemaking. My love for Julie overtook me, wrapping it's honeyed tendrils around my brain it squeezed until I almost lost control. Julie breathed my name, asking me to slow down. I had almost forgotten where I was, who I was with. I pulled out of her, still rock hard, my testicles ached for release. Julie turned around, she asked why I had stopped. 

I rested my hand on her slim shoulder. "I was hurting you."

"No, baby." She touched my cheek. "You were making me cum too fast, I want it to last, just a little longer." She turned back around, once again offering her luscious backside. 

I sank inside, we promptly recreated our lost motion. I couldn't cum in her, not this time and not until she started the pill. But the pill was no guarantee. I remembered the lecture from health class, as good as the birth control pill was, it wasn't one-hundred percent effective. 

Julie came, she screamed my name. Her pussy tensed and relaxed on my hard dick, in seconds I would paint her insides, planting my seed in her womb. Next month would see a repeat of last week, the two of us waiting and wondering, unsure if her period would arrive.

A car door slammed outside. Great, the parents. My dick escaped her spasming hole. Julie spat and cursed as she tugged the thin cotton of her shirt over her voluptuous torso. My little sister called our parents terrible names, some were combinations of cusswords even I had never put together. I made a mental note to never come between my sister and her climax. I pulled my pants and boxers back up, making sure that everything was properly buttoned and zipped. Julie somehow managed to repack her derriere in the tiny shorts. I took her white cotton panties from the floor and stuffed them in my hip pocket. 

Just as we parted our parents walked in the kitchen. Julie greeted them with a lop-sided grin. 

"Uh oh," Mom said, "what do you look so guilty for?" I prayed that neither parent would notice the wet patch between the legs of Julie's shorts.

"What would this little angel ever have to feel guilty about?" Dad kissed the top of Julie's head. "Unlike a certain young man I know, she hasn't been sneaking around with a secret someone."

"You wouldn't know it by the way she's dressed," Mom teased. "Aren't those shorts a bit revealing?"

"Don't be such a dinosaur, Mom." Julie grabbed her half-empty bottle of Coke off the counter and chatted with my parents. She was cool as ice. I, on the other hand, couldn't be trusted. I retired to my bedroom, anxious for an opportunity to purge the lust from my system. 

I flopped on my bed and unzipped my pants. I listened for any signs of my parents, it sounded like they were both still downstairs. 

I reached inside my boxers and located my semi-rigid penis. It was slick, the remains of Julie's pussy juices had mixed with my own sweat to create a pretty effective lubricant. I stroked myself, thinking about Julie and the secure grip of her little tunnel. After being pleasured by my little sister there was little hope that my hand would ever be sufficient again. I cursed my parents for spoiling our fun and making me resort to this. I slowed down, this wasn't working. I laid on my back and tried to stroke myself that way. I imagined Julie's bobbling body riding me and felt a surge in my groin, but it still wasn't enough. 

I rolled on my side and felt a pressure against my hip. Her panties. I still had those lacy, little white things bunched up in my hip pocket. I pulled them out and brought the soft cotton to my face. I inhaled, the aroma of her skin and her arousal had been trapped by each fiber. While I inhaled I reached down and wrapped my fingers around my erection once more. It took only a half dozen strokes before my shaft spewed forth the first clear stream of precum. I wrapped the cotton of Julie's panties around my dick and collected another squirt of precum. There was a quiet knock on the door. My entire body lurched. I scrambled to zip up, fortunate that I avoided injury. The door eased open. 

I shoved the soiled panties back in my pocket. My nerves untwisted a bit when I saw that it was Julie. She came in and sat beside me on the disheveled mattress. I tried to put my arm around her, but she slithered away.

"I just want to talk," she said. That was fine, talking was fine. "Do you ever feel ashamed?"

"Ashamed of myself?" I cursed myself for being so eager to touch her. 

"Ashamed of us, of what we're doing." In the corner of her eye a tear formed. "If they had come home a minute sooner, they would have caught us. I wouldn't have stopped, they could have walked right in and I would have kept fucking you." I pulled her to me, she didn't want to come at first. Her body shook with sobs. "I'm a slut."

"Don't ever say that." I kissed the top of her head. "You're my sweet little sister."

I could hear my parents talking and laughing in the kitchen. "What if they catch us?" she whispered. 

"They won't." I wiped a tear off her cheek, wishing it were true. I reached between my ankles, under the bed, and pulled out the newspaper I had picked up. "I was thinking about checking out some apartments from the classifieds this weekend."

Her body went rigid in my arms. "You're moving out?" She looked at me with frightened eyes.

"Not without you." My words calmed her. "I'll find a better job, you could get one too." She didn't like that part. "Just part-time," I added.

Another tear dripped down her cheek. "I guess I could take one for the team. What about Mom and Dad? What would we tell them? That we're moving in together?"

"I've thought about that too. Maybe I could move out by myself." She sniffled, prompting me to continue. "Then after about a month I could complain about needing a roommate to help with the bills."

"And who better to volunteer than your sister." She leaned up to kiss my cheek. 

"My sweet little sister." I kissed the top of her head. "Just think of it Julie, our own place, our own rules."

"Our own bed." Her eyes closed, she was visualizing it. "I thought you didn't like to think about our future."

"I just wanted to make sure we had one." 

"Well we do." She gave me a crooked smile and pressed a fingernail into my chest. "So don't screw it up."

The door opened again. We scooted away from each other as Dad peeped in. "What's going on?" That's parent-speak for what the hell are you doing in here with the door shut.

"We're just talking, Dad." Julie smoothed her hair and smiled. 

"Sorry for interrupting, sweetheart." He would never suspect anything where she was concerned. "Your mother wants us to go out for dinner tonight. So you kids get cleaned up." He started to shut the door, then paused. "Oh, and Julie, she wants you to put on something a little more, uh, modest."

Now when Dad says out for dinner, he doesn't mean high society gathered for a banquet at some expensive restaurant. No, he meant a discounted chicken dinner at the local pan-fryer. 

We were seated at our table by a waiter whose face was as slick and greasy as anything on the menu. As we waited for our order he kept gravitating to the table. He was a constant presence, hovering around Julie, trying to get glances down her top. When the food finally arrived, he spent a little too much time arranging Julie's plate. As he turned to leave, I saw brief evidence that I wasn't the only one who Julie could make hard.

"Rick, stop fidgeting," my Mom said. "What has gotten you so upset?"

What indeed! Just the waiter checking out my sister. Didn't he know that I was the only one allowed to do that? Of course, I couldn't tell Mom any of that. I looked down at my plate. "That stupid waiter didn't give me a drumstick." Smooth, Rick.

"He didn't?" Mom said through a mouthful of cole slaw. "I'll call him back over." 

"No!!" I practically screamed. I didn't want him within a hundred feet of my Julie.

"It's okay Mom, he likes breasts just fine," Julie said. Was she going to tease me like this, in public? Two could play that little game.

"Maybe so, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a little leg. Or a juicy thigh. My left hand dropped from the table and found it's way to Julie's silky smooth leg. She had changed into a canvas skirt, much more demure than the shorts, but it afforded me less hindered access between her legs.

"Are we ever going to meet this mystery woman of yours, son?" Dad asked.

I didn't hear him, I was lost somewhere beneath her skirt. He repeated the question. "Uh, yeah. Definitely someday, when I'm ready."

"You don't sound very sure of her," Julie said.

I looked at my sister, when she smiled at me I knew that I'd never been more sure of anything in my life. "We're just taking it slow." I slid my fingers along the velvety skin of her inner thigh, moving slow, towards the source of the warmth radiating beneath her skirt. 




The Family Room Ch. 07



My fingers brushed soft hairs. Christ, she hadn't put any panties on. Julie closed her eyes as my finger dipped into her slit. I made my move, with my right hand, I reached for her plate.

"Hey, let go of my leg." She caught me just as I lifted the drumstick off her plate." She slapped my hand, I relinquished the morsel. Under the table my finger was two-knuckles deep within her dripping vagina. 

"Rick, stop teasing your sister," my mother said. Julie's thighs closed, trapping my hand. She gave me a look that let me know stopping was not an option. She was so unbelievably hot down there, my fingers felt like they were in a pressure cooker. I couldn't believe that she was allowing me to plunder her little treasure just feet from our parents.

Up until a little while ago the restaurant had smelled like oil and chicken and biscuits. Now all I smelled was the sweet odor of Julie's arousal. I wondered if anyone else could discern the delicate aroma. 

Julie moaned as I pushed my finger as far up her sopping pussy as the unique angle would allow. 

"Are you alright sweetheart? You look flushed." Dad reached across the table and placed a hand on Julie's forehead. "You feel warm." I could have told him that. 

My father had seen the flush and felt the heat of her arousal. I felt like the biggest deviant on the planet. I tried to pull out of Julie, but her squeezing thighs wouldn't relent. My left hand was trapped in a very feminine vise. 

"I'm fine Daddy." Julie brought her elbows to the table as I snuck a second finger inside. "It's so good." She grabbed her cloth napkin and twisted it.

"It is good, but it's rich stuff." Dad patted his stomach. "I'll pay for eating all this oily food tonight."

"You mean I'll pay," Mom said, "I'm the one you share a bathroom with." My parents laughed and kissed. They had no idea what their children were doing under the table.

Julie's pussy clenched and milked my finger. After a while it relaxed. She had her orgasm, somehow masking it from our parents. She freed my hand from her clenched thighs, I brought it above the table, close to my face. I sniffed as discreetly as possible, in full view of my parents I put the two fingers in my mouth and sucked off every last trace of her juice.

"Are you folks enjoying your meal?" I almost chomped down on my poor digits, the damn waiter had snuck up behind me. Oh God, had he seen? My parents assured him the meal was delicious. "What about you Miss, are you satisfied?" Julie bit her lower lip and nodded. "Good." He rested his hand on Julie's shoulder, touching the soft strap of her tank top and the softer skin around it, as he handed the bill to my father.

The sight of his grease-stained fingers gripping her delicate shoulder made me seethe. Did that bastard want to lose that hand? Fortunately for him, a family three tables down required his service. He thanked my father and excused himself.

"He seemed nice," Mom said. 

Julie turned to me, she saw my face and giggled. "Did you see how he carried all four plates at the same time?" she asked. "I just love a man who knows how to use his hands." Her right hand sneaked under the table and squeezed my crotch. 

"I can't remember the last time you went out with a young man, Julie." Mom frowned. "A nineteen-year-old woman, like you, needs to get out of the house a little more often."

"I keep myself entertained," she countered. Her right hand pulled my zipper down. Her slender fingers invaded my fly. "Besides, I have Rick for company." She found my penis and gripped it in her slick fingers. 

I really wished we had gotten a seat in the back of the restaurant. Fortunately, the lighting was dim and everyone around seemed too preoccupied with either consuming or conversing to take notice of what Julie was doing. She hauled my dick free from the fly of my jeans. The air conditioning was cool on the sweltering head of my penis. 

Beads of sweat collected on my brow as she stroked me under the table. "It's good that you and your brother are close," Mom said. If she only knew how close. "But he has a life of his own, he won't be around forever."

"Rick?!" she said, fixing her green eyes on me. "You wouldn't abandon your little sister, would you?"

"Well, I..." I couldn't talk, not while she brought me so much pleasure.

"Baby, she's a lovely, nineteen year old," Dad said. "She could get into a lot more trouble out of the house than she ever could in."

While our parents debated the aspects of Julie's love-life they failed to notice her left hand drag an extra cloth napkin from the table. She knew I was about to cum. My dick tensed as a bit of pre-cum spurted from the eye. She wrapped the napkin over my dick and kept jacking, through the stiff linen, as jet after jet of semen spotted the bright red napkin with splotches of damp maroon. Even after I finished spurting, I struggled to catch my breath. She dabbed the soiled napkin around my shaft, trying to mop up any excess moisture. Satisfied that I was satisfied she tucked my dick back in and allowed me to zip up.

I looked at the napkin, we both did, globs of my cum were smeared all over the cloth. She couldn't just toss it on the table for the busboy to take care of. I watched her fold it into a small triangle. She glanced around for signs of over-friendly waiters, seeing none, she tucked the little piece of evidence away in her purse.

"I need to clean up," Julie announced. 

She rose from her seat, I touched the small of her back as she passed by. I wondered if my parents had ever noticed our little exchanges; had they ever wondered about the soft touches I gave Julie, or the loving glances she reserved only for me. No, they were just thankful for our 'closeness.' Being close to your sister does have it's advantages.

Julie had always tended to take a while in the bathroom, but twenty minutes was ridiculous, even for her. My chicken had been reduced to a pile of gnawed bones and I was getting tired of waiting. 

Mom tapped Dad's shoulder and pointed behind me. I spun around in my seat to find Julie, cornered by that greasy waiter, outside the bathroom door. 

He had a death wish, there was no other explanation. I shot out of my seat, ignoring Mom's pleas that I not meddle. I closed on them fast, the little waiter flinched and held up a menu, as if that would shield him. I seized Julie's hand, she had never looked more pleased to see me. "Rick! You remember Steve, our waiter."

"I'm sorry man," the waiter squeaked. "I didn't know you two were together." Oily sweat oozed out of the pores on his forehead.

"Keep away from my sister," I warned. He nodded. 

Julie giggled as I led her back to our table. "Now who's the jealous one," she teased.

Mom didn't look nearly as pleased when we came back. "Richard Martin, I don't believe you." Her arms were crossed. At least she hadn't used the dreaded middle name, that was only reserved for when I really screwed up.

"Nice job son," Dad said, slapping me a high-five across the table.

"You're not helping Donald." Mom smacked his shoulder. "Do you want our daughter to turn into an old maid?" 

Dad and I both answered yes.

It was getting late by the time everyone finished eating. Dad pulled out his wallet and reached for a pair of twenties to settle the bill. "I don't have any small bills," he said, "what should I do for the tip?"

I got up and spotted the greasy waiter, he had been moved to the other side of the restaurant. "I'll give the little bastard a tip," I said caressing my fist.

Mom shrugged and fished through her purse for a five. "Save your money mom," Julie suggested. She stood next to me. "We might need it to bail Rick out of jail tonight."

I slapped her bottom, thrilling to the fact that she wore nothing beneath the thin canvas skirt. I received another warning about teasing my sister.

Julie and I waited outside in the half-empty parking lot. Summer was drawing to an end and the days were getting a bit shorter. Eight o'clock and the moon was already showing. "I wish they would hurry up," Julie said. She kicked at a pebble of loose asphalt with her sandals. "How long does it take to use the bathroom?"

"Julie, remember that passage in the Bible that says, 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone.' Well in the case of marathon bathroom usage, you are a particularly sinful young woman." I put my arm around her.

She snuggled against my side. "Sometimes a sin can be good. Like when a boy sticks his hand up a girl's skirt, or when that same girl makes the boy cum in her napkin. And right in front of their parents, no less." I started to harden again, sometimes sins were very good. 

She noticed the bulge in my jeans and gave me a sinful little smile. "Ricky," she whined, "I don't think we made very much progress here." She tapped the sensitive lump. "Could I try again? Tonight?" Asking was no longer necessary.

I heard my mother's high-pitched laughter, strange how similar it was to my sister's. Dad put his arm around her, just as mine retreated from Julie. 

"They look so happy." Julie squeezed my hand. They did look very happy, as happy as I felt standing next to my sister. "They had no idea they were on a double-date," she whispered in my ear. 

To be continued...



The Family Room Ch. 08



I toweled my hair, squeezing out the damp as I stepped inside my bedroom. I bumped into something. "Ow, what the hell?!" I pulled the towel off of my face and found that I had almost trampled my mother. "Sorry, Mom. Didn't see you."

"That's alright, honey." Mom was not as petite as Julie, but the laundry basket she lugged still looked hopelessly oversized in her arms. 

She dug through my hamper, weeding out anything that wasn't white. Two child-births and fifty-four birthdays had taken their toll on her figure, but she was still a lovely woman. I wondered if I was looking at my mother or Julie, in another thirty-five years. "Anything else you need cleaned?"

My work pants and vest were draped over my desk chair, I tossed them to her.

"You've got something in your pocket," she said. 

Oh shit, I knew what she'd found.

"Rick, do I even want to know why these are in your pocket?" She held Julie's little white panties between her middle and forefinger. 

I was such a dope. Why hadn't I given my sister her panties back. I couldn't look at her, or the panties, my head sank and I locked my eyes on the carpet. The blue fibers of my rug were crushed, the area around my bed was sprinkled with crumbs. I had eaten a sandwich in here for dinner the previous night. No napkin, no plate, why had I been so careless. Why was I always so careless.

I took a deep breath, but remained silent. I hoped she would assume they belonged to some random girl, a 'conquest' of mine. 

Would the size, or the brand name on the waistband give me away? She might see the little tan stain made by her daughter's aroused pussy and the crusty remains of my dried pre-cum. She would realize what we'd been doing.

I was brave enough for just one glance. I watched long enough to see her unfold the panties and study them a bit. My eyes retreated back to the carpet. I had no idea how thorough her examination was. After what seemed like hours she spoke. "Why do you have your sister's underwear?" 

My blood pressure was off the charts. This would be my own personal Armageddon. I stuttered and spat, my lips tried to form words but my mouth was numb and useless. 

"It's normal for a young man to get... certain urges." Her voice was devoid of any anger or disappointment. I had prepared for the day when my horrible secret was exposed. Some nights in my dreams the screaming and the accusations, that would surely be leveled my way, played on a loop. 

I never expected my mother to remain so calm. "There's nothing wrong with taking care of those urges yourself." She wadded the panties up and placed them on top of the clothes basket. "But not like this, Rick Respect your sister's property a little more." She thought I was jacking off with them. 

I nodded dumbly as she left me. I exhaled. I never imagined that being accused of masturbating could feel so liberating.  It was near midnight before I gathered the courage to creep out of my room. The trip across the hall seemed to take hours. Every squeaky floorboard and every crackle of the settling house made me anxious to retreat. The shadows were alive, dark formless shapes that could, at any moment, morph into a parent and send my life straight to hell.

No amount of fear would have kept me from Julie. My desire for her had only grown stronger since our foreplay in the restaurant earlier that evening. We had masturbated each other in a room filled with a hundred people, while our parents ate dinner a few inches away. 

I longed to touch her again, to smell and taste her. She was a part of me now, her pleasure was more precious than my own. When she had asked if we could continue tonight my heart quivered. I would do anything to make her feel good.

"Rick." Julie's voice was a faded whisper. I tiptoed into the darkness of her bedroom. The door closed behind me with a muffled click. "Maybe we shouldn't." Her warning was mumbled and weak, she crawled out of her jersey nightgown, even as the words formed on her lips. Still no panties, she wanted to be ready for me.

"Of course we shouldn't." My lips were pressed against her ear, my splayed hand rested on her stomach. "But that won't stop us, will it baby?"

She shook her head. I shrugged off my hunter green terry robe, a breeze from the air conditioning raised goosebumps on my skin. 

Julie's green eyes opened wide, she was surprised that I had gone naked beneath the robe. "What if you had bumped into Mom out there?"

I remembered the look on my mother's face when she found Julie's panties in the pocket of my slacks. I imagined her finding me in the dark hallway, slinking around in little more than a bathrobe. "She thinks I'm a pervert as it is."

"She's not alone." Julie giggled. She spread her legs, giving me the invitation I wanted. I threw myself on her bed, bouncing a few times. The mattress springs yelped. "Are you trying to wake them?" she asked. The pop of skin on skin echoed in the room as she smacked my butt.

"Are you?" I pulled her over my lap and cupped my palm to deliver anemic blows to her backside. Just hard enough and long enough to turn her creamy flesh pink. She squirmed and did a poor job of stifling her giggles. "Naughty little sisters need to be punished." 

"Rick Martin, if you don't let me go this instant---" I pinched her nose shut, her giggled threats turned distorted and nasal.

My fingers kneaded the soft mounds of her buttocks for a while, inching down to the delicate skin stretched across the backs of her thighs. Every few caresses I allowed a thumb to graze her dewy pussy. Julie moaned when I did, my touch was having it's intended effect. 

"I'll call Mom!" she purred, "I'll tell her you're teasing me again."

"Go ahead, call Mom." I smacked her butt again, even lighter than before. "She can find us in bed together and see what a little slut her daughter has become." By the time I realized what I'd said it was too late.

I hated the way she looked at me. Her bottom lips clenched and quivered. I felt like such an asshole. She wriggled to escape my lap and sprang out of bed. For a second I thought she would run to our parents. 

"Julie, wait!" I put my hand on her shoulder, the way she flinched let me know it was not welcomed there. "I didn't mean---"

"Then why did you say it?" She turned to face me. Her arms were crossed, coiled over her ample chest. 

"I don't know. I was only trying to talk dirty to you. I'm an idiot. Please, baby, don't be angry with me."

"Do you think I'm a slut?" Her voice trembled, for a moment she was not my lover, but my vulnerable little sister again. 

I put my hand on her shoulder, this time she let it stay. "Of course not Julie. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." 

She pulled me close, and scraped her fingernails across my back. After a moment she leaned up to kiss my neck. 

"I guess that means you forgive me," I said. 

"I always will." She cupped her hand over my lips. "No matter how many stupid things come out of your mouth." She pulled her hand away and replaced it with her mouth. We kissed for several minutes. Our lips were like old friends, familiar and comfortable together.

She broke the kiss and sighed. "You know, I think we're setting some new Guinness records for the shortest fights." She was right, our two little lovers' quarrels had lasted a combined twenty minutes. 

Her eyes darted to the unkempt bed. She flashed a sexy grin. "Ricky, let's set some new records for makeup sex."

"Speed records?" I couldn't resist teasing her.

She pressed a long fingernail against my right bicep. "Endurance records, for your sake." 

I followed her back to bed. Her swaying hips held my interest the whole way. I expected her to lay down, but after crawling on top of the covers she remained on all fours. The bed squeaked as I joined her. She shushed me again, with Mom and Dad just down the hall we had to be cautious. 

Julie and I had only had sex while our parents were at home once before. That was the night my previous life was laid to rest beneath the sheer, pink canopy of this very bed. What a glorious funeral it was. That was also the night of my disastrous date with Renee. There would be no more Renee, there would be no more anyone except Julie. 

My pelvis bumped against her butt. I rubbed my hard shaft against the moist outer lips of her pussy. My penis was surrounded by her soft pubic hairs and buttery thighs, it was heaven. I slipped the head inside her, inching forward, forced to stop by each squeak of the bed. 

The mattress had never seemed as noisy when our parents were gone. Every movement seemed like it produced a popping spring, or a thump as the headboard smacked the wall. 

I slid my penis in, all the way, until my groin pressed the softness of her butt. Her insides caressed and gripped my penis. I pulled out of her, almost to the head, then pushed in again. 

We established an excruciatingly slow motion. She whined my name, it was a little too loud, so I smacked her butt. I always strived to be gentle with my petite little sister but tonight it was even more important that we remain quiet.

I pulled out again, this time the head of my dick popped free from her clenching vagina. She whined for me to quit teasing. My penis was slick and oily from her juices, I fumbled to reinsert it. I did and drove into Julie, hard. She lost her balance and we tumbled to the mattress. The entire bed frame creaked. 

As we landed it felt like I had touched something inside her body. She moaned as I thrust again. I didn't try to quiet her, I had to find out how far inside her I could touch. 

My loins tingled, I would cum soon. I should pull out, I told myself. I should finish on her stomach, let my sperm wither and die on her skin.

Julie's period had come and gone, almost a month late. We had been lucky, but now she was fertile again. We had agreed that she would start the pill, but had never quite worked up the will to ask the doctor. 

I pulled her by the waist until she was on her knees again. We stayed connected the entire time. I recommenced pumping, and smiled as Julie orgasmed beneath me. She rammed her butt backwards, impaling herself on my erection. She pivoted her hips inviting my hardness to rub every square inch within her clenching walls.

Her pleasure was enough to instigate my own climax. "Julie," I said. Her voice was dreamy as she asked what I wanted. "I want to look at you when I cum." I pulled out and scooted backward. She twisted her body and rolled onto her back. I bent down for a brief kiss then reinserted myself in a missionary position.

I pushed in all the way, pressing her crotch so closely with my own that our pubic hairs mingled and twisted together. 

I searched her green eyes until I found what I was looking for. I saw a sparkle in those emerald pools, a radiant twinkle that flared like a supernova when we were together like this. Satisfaction washed over me, I was the only one who would ever see it. 


My penis squirted milky jets, sowing my seed in her willing insides. I was so lost that I didn't hear the headboard tapping the wall, didn't hear Julie's wails as a second orgasm claimed her. 

I had just expelled the last stream of cum when I heard my father's harried cries. "Get away from my daughter you sorry mother fucker!" 

Rough hands wrapped around my right arm, fingernails dug into my bicep. I tried to dismount from Julie, as I did I was flung from the bed. My entire right side crashed into the nightstand. My elbow impacted with the wall, denting the sheetrock, my hand smashed into her glitter lamp. Julie screamed for our father to stop. I felt the warm wetness of my own blood, I had cracked the lamp and was lacerated pretty badly. 

The overhead lights came on. My mother was at the switch, she gasped and looked away. 

"Rick, your hurt." Julie dropped her blanket, ignoring her own modesty. She covered her mouth and pointed to my arm. I looked down to see my wrist and palm crisscrossed by crimson rivers of blood.

My father seemed stunned, he tried to apologize. For a moment he was my father again, but seeing my nakedness, with my penis still semi-rigid and glistening from Julie's juices, set him off again.

"Get the fuck out of my house." His voice was so dark, he didn't even sound like my father. 

I stood using the edge of Julie's mattress to steady myself. I was light headed from my fall into the nightstand and the shock of the situation. I held my injured hand close to my body, I didn't want to bleed on anything. My chest stained red as warm beads of blood dribbled down my torso. 

My sister was hysterical with tears, Mom was crying. Everyone was crying except for my father, he was too furious for tears. Julie wrapped something around my hand, her nightshirt, to stop the bleeding.

"Don't fucking touch him." My father pushed me away from her, shoving me hard into the headboard. I exhaled as my ribs slammed into the solid oak. I gasped for air as sharp pains raced through my midsection. I recovered quickly and for the first time I considered defending myself. I balled my left fist, wanting so badly to strike back, but I couldn't. I couldn't hit my father.

He saw my fist and looked at me. For the first time I realized he had tears in his blue eyes. "You have to leave Rick. You have to, before something happens that we'll both regret."

Julie took my arm, she begged me to stay with her, but I struggled free. No sense in ruining her life. Mom tried to cover Julie's naked body with a pink blanket, but the girl screamed and told our parents that she loved me. I threw my robe over my shoulders and slumped to my own room. 

It had taken me a while to dress, with only one hand, but I had managed to slip into a pair of green sweatpants and a t-shirt.

My door opened and Dad walked in. He seemed to have calmed down. His face was no longer masked by fury and betrayal, now he appeared sullen and heartbroken. "Do you have somewhere to go?" he asked. 

I told him I would stay with Lance for a while. I inferred from his tone of voice that he wasn't asking on his own behalf. It wouldn't have mattered to him if I slept on the street. He put something on my dresser, a crumpled one-hundred dollar bill. "Take this."

"I'm not taking your money," I said. I rummaged through my closet until I found an old duffle.

"It's your mother's money. She wants you to have it." 

I looked at the duffle for a moment. I had used it for gym class, sleepovers, family vacations. I never thought I'd be using it for something like this. The zipper was broken, but I couldn't have worked it with only one hand anyway. I stuffed as many changes of clothes as I could manage within the folds of the black canvas. Enough to get me through a week at Lance's apartment, or wherever I wound up.  

My Dad stuffed the hundred dollar bill in amongst the wadded clothes. "Are you finished?"

I pulled on a pair of sandals and nodded, wiping a stinging tear from the corner of my eye. I slung the strap of my bag over a shoulder and followed him to the hall. I had never moved so slow in my life. Behind Julie's door I could hear high-pitched weeping. Our mother was trying to comfort her, but she was in so much pain. Pain I had caused.

Once we were downstairs, away from my sister's cries, I talked to my father. "Dad." The words were so thick in my throat, I could have choked on them. "I love her." 

He stopped. Was this what he wanted to hear, was there a chance he understood? "You think that makes it okay?" he asked. "You have no idea how much worse... If you were curious, or experimenting and it meant nothing to either of you, I think eventually I could have lived with that. Maybe even have forgiven you."

"Then why can't you---"

"Because she's my daughter! Your little sister, for Christ's sake! Did you think, for even a minute, about what you were doing to her?" 

I was silent. He would never understand. We passed through the family room, right past the very spot where, earlier that summer, Julie and I had lost our virginities together. I remembered how scared we had both been, now I could appreciate why. 

I grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter as my dad worked at the lock to the door. He held open the screen door, his eyes rested on the linoleum floor. I thought about saying goodbye, but didn't. Not like he would have answered me anyway.

I allowed myself to cry, now that I was out of the house. I tossed my duffle in the trunk and leaned against the side of my car. Through tear-moistened eyes I looked up at the window to my old bedroom. The light was on and I saw a female silhouette behind the mini blinds. I wondered if it was Julie, or my mother. Whoever it was went to my desk and extinguished the lamp.

My house disappeared in the rear-view mirror, another part of my life laid to rest.

The bait shop was still aglow, I knew that it would be. Before the door had even stopped ringing my bloody hand was resting on the counter.

"You're hurt." It wasn't Jerry but a woman. Her hair was dark, judging by her salty roots this particular shade of brunette came from a box. 

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Linda," her voice was husky, the effects of a cigarette habit. "If you're looking for Jerry he's down at the lake." She looked at my injured hand, still wrapped with Julie's nightgown. "Are you in trouble?"

I almost laughed. "I'm in so much trouble." She took my good hand and led me behind the counter, giving up her stool so I could sit. "Will he be long?"

She frowned. "All night. He told me to close up at midnight, but I guess I forgot the lock." I still didn't know who she was, other than someone named Linda. "I'll bet your Rick." How did she know? Was my face on the ten o' clock news? Incest fiend on the loose. "Jerry's talked about you a lot. Can't seem to figure you out." 

She showed me a tarnished ring, capped with a microscopic diamond. "Jerry and me are engaged."

"Congrat---" I tried to reach out my left hand, but a sharp pain in my ribs stopped me.

"Save your congratulations for after the wedding, honey." Linda sighed. "I been waiting six years for that old dog to live up to his promise." I guess he was a little gun-shy after three previous marriages. "Let me see that hand." 

I presented my injured hand and cringed as she peeled the cloth away. The skin beneath was crusty and sticky with dried blood. A cut ran diagonally across my palm, but it didn't seem to be very deep.

"You're healing up," she said. "I don't think you'll need any stitches." She pulled a tin box from under the counter and unfastened two rusted latches. Inside were rolls of bandages and tape. "Now I'm no doctor, but you'd be surprised by how many hooks I've removed from a certain old man."

Linda was gentle as she spread ointment on the cut, soothing and cleansing the wound. She did a masterful job dressing and wrapping my hand. After she applied the last bit of tape, she asked if the bandages were too tight. I shook my head no.

She admired her handiwork. "I think I got in the wrong business." I tried for a polite smile but failed. She was such a sweet lady, why hadn't Jerry mentioned her. 

"I don't suppose you want to talk about it?"

I didn't. I really didn't, but what did it matter now? I had come here to confess everything to Jerry. He had been such a good friend that he deserved to know the truth about me, before I did anything drastic.

I told her everything. She never cringed, never recoiled, never judged. She just listened. When I finished, Linda sighed.

"Oh Rick," she reached for my bandaged hand. I pulled away, instinctively fearing that she wanted to hurt me. "I wish I could give you some advice, but this is a little out of my field of expertise. I couldn't pretend to know why you chose your sister, but it sounds like you truly love her." 




The Family Room Ch. 08



I truly did. That love was reconfirmed numerous times in the two hours I spent telling my story.

"You have someplace to go?" Linda asked. 

I nodded. It wouldn't be home, it would never be home again. Lance would have me, he would be thrilled to open his tiny apartment to me. 

That wasn't my place though, my place was with Julie. If I couldn't be with her than I'd rather not be at all. I thrust out my bottom lip and exhaled, letting my warm breath rustle my bangs.

"Rick?"

"I'm ready," I said after a moment. "Ready to go. Tell Jerry, I'm sorry I didn't say... Don't forget to lock up." 

My sandals scattered pebbles of asphalt as I walked back across the bridge. The clouds were gone, at least the ones in the sky, it seemed as if they had abandoned the atmosphere to take up residence in my soul. My parents hated me, I would never see Julie again, I just wanted it to be over. 

The night was still and the stars bright. I studied the round face of the moon and the winking stars. I'd be just as well off falling in love with one of the celestial bodies in the sky, that's how impractical my love for Julie was. My love for her had cost me everything. I always knew that it would, no matter how much I allowed my feelings to delude me, deep down I knew.

The swishing of the water grew louder as I neared the side of Miller's Bridge. This time I didn't stand on the edge of the guardrail, I straddled it. A breeze came off the lake, it slapped my face with a gush of cool air. It screamed at me to step back. The moist air begged and pleaded, don't give up, you have too much to live for. Water poured over my face. I was crying, why was I crying?! Tears couldn't help, they couldn't give me Julie, and they certainly couldn't save me. 

I thought about my family. Would Mom and Dad be there when they buried me? Would there even be a funeral, or would Dad have me cremated and pitch my ashes down a storm sewer? 

I leaned over the bridge, the water seemed closer than ever. I heard my name, a siren's call, only this siren begged me to turn away, to not give myself to the waters. 

***

Julie tiptoed into the family room. Her father was on the sofa. His legs were folded so his knees almost grazed his chin. She had only seen him cry once, at Grandma June's funeral. There were only a few tears then, just a dribble down each cheek. Tonight, he was crying like a little child. 

Rick used to cry like this, as a boy, but since he became a man tears never seemed necessary. Except after their first time, when he must have thought he was losing her. He came to her room and begged her forgiveness. She had always loved Rick, but that night and those tears made her realize how much.

Her father's tears garnered no such emotion. 

She saw the vase on the table behind the sofa. It had once held a dozen beautiful peach roses, but now it was empty, a barren hunk of crystal. She wanted to take it up and smash it over her father's head. Make him bleed, hurt him the way he had hurt Rick. She choked on a sob, how could she think such things. 

Donald Martin noticed his daughter's presence and in moments they were in each other's arms. 

She didn't ask him to let Rick come home, she didn't beg. She knew what the answer would be, so there was no point. They held each other for what seemed like hours. "Daddy why?" She didn't think she had the courage or the will to ever speak to him again. 


"He killed us," Donald said at last. His words were separated by shallow breaths into her hair. "He killed our family."

Julie used the sleeve of her robe to wipe a string of mucous from her nose. "No Daddy, you did."

Her father's palms went to his eyes, they couldn't stop the tears.

"I love him Daddy." Her red eyes managed to sparkle through the tears as she said it. 

Her father uncovered his face and slammed a fist into the back of the couch. A spring popped. "You can't love him. He's your brother." He made it sound so simple, as if there was a file somewhere filled with a list of the people you could and could not be in love with.

"I won't let you go anywhere near him." 

"I'm nineteen years old, you can't stop me!" Her voice and temperature rose.

"The police can," he said. He was bluffing wasn't he? He would never call the police on his own children. Then again, she never thought he would say or do the things he had done to Rick. 

"Sweetheart, I don't blame you for what happened. You were taken advantage of by someone you trusted."

He never took advantage, she thought, he never did anything but love and protect me. And now he was out there, alone. Rick was so in love with her, so devoted, it scared her sometimes. She remembered the time in the park, their only real fight. It had lasted all of fifteen minutes. She made him promise that he would never screw their relationship up. Her brother was awkward, insecure and hopelessly romantic. No one loved her the way Rick did, he said he would throw himself off a bridge for her. 

An image popped in her head of police dragging the shallow water of Lake Jude. Her body trembled as she raised from the sofa. He would do it, she realized. "Rick's in trouble," she muttered, as if her father would care. She scrambled off the couch. 

Her father took one of her icy hands. "Sweetheart I---"

Julie dug her fingernails into the meat of his palm. Donald Martin yelped and released her. It had felt good, no matter how bad she felt. 

This was her chance, while her father was still clutching his bleeding hand. She ran to the kitchen. Her heart beat fast, she spotted the keys on the counter by the microwave. The counter where she and Rick... she had to stop him. Her father was close behind, sliding on the slick linoleum. He begged her to stop. She yanked a kitchen chair from under the table and tipped it on it's side. His feet tangled in the legs of the chair, he fell with a crash.

Donald Martin called out in agony. He begged, pleaded for her to help him. He may have been her father, but if he had been dying on that cold kitchen floor she would have left him. 

She didn't care if he called the police. They could lock her away for assault or auto theft or incest, she had to find her brother.

Julie raced her parent's sedan through the streets of Saratoga Spring. She was halfway to Lake Jude before she realized the headlights were off. She slammed the brakes as soon as she spotted Rick's empty car in the gravel lot. She burst out of the car screaming his name. No answer. She glared into the dimness across the bridge, he wasn't there. A chill wind rustled her hair, she was too late. She leaned over the guard rail, screaming his name, but she was too late.

She could barely see through her tears. How could he do this to her? How could he destroy the one thing that had ever been perfect?

"Julie." Her own name, spoken from her brother's lips, was the most wonderful thing she had ever heard. He was standing at the top of the little dirt path that led under the bridge. She bounced into his arms and tackled him to the cement. She wanted to be furious at him for scaring her like that, but was incapable.

She kissed him, over and over. Sometimes the kisses were long and passionate, sometimes short successions of pecks. When she finally stopped there was an older man and woman standing over them. 

Julie climbed off of her brother and helped him sit up. She grabbed his bandaged hand and examined it, she hoped she hadn't hurt him. She must have made an odd sight, sitting there on the concrete in nothing but a nightshirt and her opened bathrobe. 

Rick wiped away the tears she hadn't realized were on her cheeks. "Julie," he said, "I didn't think I would ever---" She interrupted him with a kiss. 

He broke free from her lips and motioned to the older couple. "These are my friends Jerry and Linda." She nodded politely, her arms still wrapped around his chest. He faced the older couple. "This is my sister." She went rigid. "Don't be upset," he whispered. 

He needn't have worried. She couldn't be angry with him, not tonight. 

To be continued



The Family Room Ch. 09



I could have died, no doubt some would think I should have died. I straddled the guardrail to Miller's Bridge not for drama, not as a cry for help but because I truly thought that my life was over. I was prepared to jump. No one could have stopped me, Linda's harried pleas had no effect. 

Julie was the one who saved me. She was still at home, miles away, but she saved me. Etched in my memory was her lovely face; I thought about her vivid green eyes that only lit up for me and came to a realization. Life as I knew it was indeed over. Nothing would ever be the same, there was no turning back. 

But my new life had just begun. Our life had begun. A life with Julie. How could I have even considered destroying anything so perfect?

My hand hurt like hell and the throbbing in my ribs made breathing uncomfortable. I was so drained I leaned on Julie for support, not the first time I'd done that. Physically I was in terrible shape but emotionally I was born again. 

She cradled my bandaged hand and reached up on tiptoes to kiss me. The pain melted away. I lost track of how many times she kissed me. Linda and Jerry had retreated to their bait shop long ago. I had spent the better part of half an hour on Miller's Bridge clutching Julie's shivering body while she kissed me over and over. 

A car sped across the bridge, it's horn blared as it passed. 

Julie was silent for a long time after we climbed in the front seat of my car. She played with a silken strand of her long brown hair and tucked it behind her ear. Sealed off from the cold winds that climbed from the waters her body had finally stilled. "Don't ever do anything like that again," she said, retying the waist of her bathrobe. 

"I was so confused Julie. I messed everything up; I messed us up. I thought you would be better off if I were down there." I tapped the window and pointed to the rolling water.

"Don't you ever say that Rick Martin." Julie squeezed the cloth of my t-shirt. Her face was contorted into the most adorable scowl I had ever seen. "What would I do without my big brother?"

I threw my head back against the seat and sighed. "Get married, start a family, live a normal---"

"I don't want a husband unless he's you." Her shrill words forced me to look at her. "I don't want kids unless they're ours." She touched my cheek. "Rick, you are my normal life."

"I can't get rid of you can I?" I asked. 

Those green eyes sparkled once more. "Not ever." She closed the gap between our seats and kissed me.

I put the keys in the ignition and started the engine.

"Where are we going?" she asked. 

"Home."

My legs were numb from pressing against the wooden rail all night. A few more nights like that and I would have been in a wheelchair. Whoever invented futons needed to have his ass kicked. 

I always assumed there was a secret laboratory where little people with big Napoleon-complexes designed ways to punish the tall. Futons, sub-compact cars and low-hanging chandeliers all must have sprouted from their diabolical minds.

There was only one good thing about spending a night on Lance's cheap little futon and that was my futon-mate. 

"Rough night?" Julie asked.

"Not as rough as it could have been." I touched her cheek with my bandaged hand and kissed her cracked, dry lips. 

She mumbled something against my lips then kissed me back. Every morning, I thought. It would be like this every morning from now on. Julie was completely mine; there were no walls to keep us apart or parents to conceal our feelings from. 

Her lips escaped from mine and she repeated what she had mumbled moments ago. "Promise me again, Rick. Promise we'll stay together." Her unpainted fingernails danced across my ribcage as she spoke. The skin was black and purple with bruises but the pain was gone.

"Always, baby," I said, kissing her again. My lips touched her cheek, then her neck, then her chest. Her body was close to being unclothed beneath the sheets, only her pink panties stood in my way. I stroked her bare tummy then kissed her more firmly, tasting her mouth with my tongue. 

She sat up; the sheets crept down her pale body, taking my breath away. She lifted her butt and pulled the pink panties off. I could smell her in the sheets, in the air and on my skin. The sweet, demure odor of a little sister mingled with the exotic, spicy odor of an aroused female.

She jolted at my first touch. I ran my forefinger along her slit. Her moisture increased as did the smell of her arousal. The piquant aroma drifted through my nostrils, enshrouding my brain with lust.

I pressed my finger against her opening, testing. She was not quite wet enough for a comfortable entry but I could remedy that. I leaned over her most private place, letting my chin drift over the brown triangle of feathery pubic hairs. I angled my head and dipped my tongue in her beautiful pussy; the tang of her honeyed juices tasted unbelievable.

She gasped. Her fingers gripped the back of my hair, pulling roughly at the roots. She mewled as I lapped her pink slit, stealing every trickle of juice that I could reach. "You're going to spoil me," she said.

What are big brothers for? I drove my tongue farther inside her delicious pussy, pausing to suck and kiss the tender pink folds and hard little clit. She bucked her hips against my mouth. Moisture inundated my lips, letting me know that her body was more than ready to receive me now. 

I flicked her little clit with my tongue, she gasped. "Do it like that Rick. Lick it." Who was I to deny her?

She held my face against her crotch, burying my nose in her curly little bush. She quivered as my tongue lapped up and down the length of her furrow. Her pussy clenched and contracted as an orgasm gripped her, it milked my tongue as if it were a penis. 

She bounced on the futon pad, the bucking of her hips forced my neck backwards, bent at a painful angle. I grabbed her butt and held her still against the mattress pad. Whiplash caused by cunnilingus would have looked pretty silly on my medical records.

She settled down and laid back. Her face was scarlet, her pussy was drenched. She looked down at me, her breathing slowed to normal.

"Are you alright?" I pulled away from her sodden pussy and kissed the inside of her bent knee. She closed her eyes and nodded. 

I pressed my pinky finger against her vagina, it slipped in to the second knuckle with little effort. She was more than ready. My penis replaced the finger, nudging it's head between her slick folds. 

This would be special. Our first time away from home. We were almost on our own. The path we started down that morning in June on the family room floor had led us here, to Lance's tiny apartment and an even tinier futon. 

Not exactly the life I had planned for myself but that didn't mean I regretted it. I leaned down to kiss her and reminded her how much I loved her. I moved inside her, driving my shaft in to the hilt. I went slow, only speeding at her request. 

A life with Julie. Those words echoed in my head as her slick walls milked my penis. We rocked together in perfect rhythm, like perfect lovers. 

I rolled us over so she could be on top. Her thighs strained as she raised and lowered herself on my penis. I laid back and allowed my fingers to appreciate her soft butt as it bounced in my lap. 

Her jaw went slack as she came, riding out her orgasm on my hips. That was enough to light my fuse. A tingling, like an electric current, started deep within my body, it passed through my balls and intensified as it surged through the length of my penis. The head of my dick exploded, a geyser of cum sprayed her insides. I wondered, as I did every time my ejaculate coursed into her body, just how far the path would take us.

"Rick, I love you so much." She hunched over me and lavished my face with little kisses. I stroked her lower back, feeling my penis soften within her.

"Good morning Martins, I... Holy shit!" Lance yelled as he stepped out of his bedroom.

I pulled Julie's body to mine and threw the sheet over us. 

"I am so sorry guys." Lance covered his eyes as we dressed. "I guess I have to get used to having company."

Julie wriggled into her panties. I grabbed my bag of clothes and pulled on a pair of jeans. The button was troublesome because the wrappings were coming loose on my right hand. All of the 'activity' with Julie had loosened the tape.

"Baby, let me see your hand." Julie had thrown one of my t-shirts over her petite frame. She unwrapped the gauze, exposing my wound. The cut still looked pretty nasty, like someone had played connect the jagged red dots-- but it was healing. 

"Maybe you could kiss it and make it better," I suggested. She didn't like that idea.

There was a time when I envied Lance and the independence his tiny apartment afforded. That was before I ever had to call the cramped rat-hole my home. 

I missed my real home, I missed my real bed. I surveyed the wound on my right hand and realized that I even missed my parents. 

I dipped my spoon in a heaping bowl of cereal. There wasn't any milk, at least not any that I trusted, so I ate it dry. Lance grabbed a box of cereal out of the cupboard and shook it. There was only the sparsest of rattles. "Hey man, thanks for eating all of the Cocoa Puffs. You could at least throw the box away."

"There's cereal in it," I said. Julie giggled as she stood by the toaster.

"There isn't enough cereal in that box to fill a shot glass, unless you expect me to eat the cereal-flavored powder at the bottom." Lance crumpled the box and stuffed it in the trash. He glimpsed at Julie, gazing a bit too long at the shapely legs that extended from beneath the shirt. 

I cleared my throat.

Lance looked at me, embarrassed. "How did your first night treat you?" he asked.

"Excellent," I said. "You can't beat a futon. Although I would certainly like too."

"Alright, I get it, you're tall." He snickered. "Looks like Julie found a way to make you comfortable."

She sat beside me and munched on a piece of dry toast. "Why don't you sleep on the futon and let us have the bed. It would be a shame if that queen-size mattress of yours never saw any action."

"Ha ha, short-stuff. Ask your little friend Dina if my bed has ever seen any action." 

My sister sprang from her seat and threw the uneaten toast away. She was in the bathroom before I could ask what was wrong. 

"What's the matter with short-stuff?"

"Dina won't talk to her anymore. Not since..."

"Oh, sorry." Lance opened the door to the ancient refrigerator and pulled out a plastic carton of milk. He squinted behind his glasses and read the expiration date. "August twelfth. Do you think it's still good?"

"Today's the thirtieth."

He unscrewed the cap and a cheesy-sour odor enveloped the kitchenette. "Does Julie like yogurt?"

"Throw that crap away." I pulled the neck of my shirt over my nose while Lance poured the clotted contents down the sink drain.

"I talked to the regional director the other day and he gave me permission to hire an assistant manager. "It's full-time. Five hours a weekday, fifteen on weekends. I was thinking about Lucas but you know what a screw-up that kid is."

"Yeah, you need someone more trustworthy than Lucas." I took a spoonful of cereal.

"Exactly. I need someone more mature, someone I can trust."

"You need someone who's desperate and won't gripe about the lousy pay."

"Someone who will gladly work nights, showing up with a big smile on his face."

"I might be desperate but it will be a cold day in Hell before I smile at the Video Hut." I frowned to express my point.

"Your hired, providing you can start at five o'clock tonight."

I nodded. I hated the thought of working so many hours but Julie and I needed the money. 

"Would you like to bring Julie to work with you tonight?" Lance asked.

"She doesn't need to be babysat, she's nineteen years old."

"I wouldn't ask if it weren't important. You really caught me off guard showing up on the doorstep last night. It's not that I don't want you here, I do, but I have plans that can't be broken." 

"Plans involving a certain blonde. I presume."

Lance grinned slyly. "You presume correct." He flushed the sink with steaming hot water, the stink of the milk dissipated. He picked his blue vest off of the counter and slipped it on.

"I still don't think it's fair." I crunched a spoonful of cereal. "Why do I have to work the night shift while you get to work days?"

"Because I'm the manager and you're the assistant manager. There's a whole pecking order we have to follow. You don't have such a bad job, sure the hours stink and the pay is lousy but you finally have some responsibility. I know how much you love responsibility." 

I frowned as he smacked my shoulder. "I'll even let you hire some help. Maybe you know someone who could use the work, someone you could trust. A young lady perhaps."

That brightened my mood. "I don't know," I said. "I'll have to see how she feels about Vin Diesel movies, first."

"Julie will do fine as long as the two of you stay away from the back room." Lance glanced at his watch. "Remember Rick, five." Lance turned the deadbolt on the apartment door. 

"Pick up some more milk if you go out," he said halfway through the door. 

A high-pitched scream emanated from the bathroom. 

"Oh, pick up some bug spray too. There's a bit of a silverfish problem in the bathroom. I've been trying to kill those little bastards forever." He flashed five fingers at me then disappeared out the door.

I knocked on the bathroom door to see if Julie was okay. She mumbled something about humongous silverfish then flushed the toilet.

She looked a little pale when she emerged from behind the warped oak door. Her tiny bare feet took deliberate steps as she wobbled back to the kitchen. She poured a small glass of water and drank it down.

"What's the matter baby?" I asked. She pored a second glass and hunched over the sink. "Tummy problems?"

She finished her water and set the glass in the sink. "I keep thinking about Daddy laying on the floor. I hurt him, Rick; I hurt him bad."

Julie winced and grabbed her stomach.

Guilt. I had become well acquainted with that particular emotion over the summer. I held her close as she wept, I knew from experience that the guilt and the pain wouldn't go away on their own.

"I want to go home." She shuddered from a sob. I think she felt the muscles in my arms tense around her body. "Not to stay." She quelled my fears. "I left the sedan on Miller's Bridge. I have to take it back."

I didn't think I would ever have the courage to go back to my parents house after last night. Julie was asking me to go back the very next day. 

I stroked her back through my baggy t-shirt. She couldn't wear my shirts forever, eventually she would need clothes. I didn't have enough money to supply her with much of a wardrobe. What little I made was earmarked for a lease on a new apartment. At home we both had closets and dresser drawers full of clothes. 

We also had parents; parents who we had devastated less than twelve hours ago.

I was not naïve enough to think that my parents would be working that day. One, if not both, would remain at home in case their children were bold enough to return. I swallowed hard; it was lunacy to even consider going back but it only took one look at Julie's heartbroken face to make up my mind. 

***

She could sense her brother's jitters as he followed her down the street. He was all over the road, swerving into the curb at least once. He was terrified and she didn't blame him but they couldn't leave their parents car to rust on Miller's Bridge.

They were taking an awful chance. Her father may very well have made good on his threat to call the police. She imagined pulling into a driveway swarming with cops. Auto-theft, assault, incest; she might never see the light of day again.

She dismissed the thought right away, Mom would never allow that. Last night, after Rick had been thrown out, it had been Mom who calmed her father's temper. It had been Mom who held Julie tight and promised that everything would be alright. She couldn't have meant it but it was nice to hear. 

Julie sighed relief. The cul-de-sac was empty, the driveway was empty. There were no flashing lights, no sirens, no S.W.A.T. team. She shut off the engine and thought all of those things might not seem so bad compared to her father's anger.

Rick circled the cul-de-sac. He parked the car so it faced the open street. He appeared to be preparing to make a fast getaway if the need arose. She hoped it didn't.

His discomfort had been palpable ever since she suggested they return home. She could almost hear the sweat as it dripped from his pores as he joined her on the front porch. 

It was a hot, dry, August morning. Despite the heat and stagnant air she felt a chill the moment she pressed her finger to the doorbell. 

Just yesterday she and Rick would have walked through the unlocked side door into the kitchen. Today they had to ring and wait at the front door like a pair of strangers. She heard fingers turning locks and tried to make herself as presentable as possible, which wasn't easy with no makeup, no hairbrush and the fact she was only clad in one of her brother's shirt.

She and Rick exhaled in unison when their mother, not their father, opened the door.

Julie hadn't expected a teary, loving reunion and her mother didn't disappoint. Beth Martin thanked them for bringing back the sedan. A few cold words of appreciation appeared to be the limit of her cordiality. Julie didn't blame her, it was still too soon.

"Julie needs some things," Rick said, before their mother could close the door on them. "Is it alright if we take her clothes?"

Beth Martin pulled back from the door and glanced towards the family room. Whatever she saw must not have concerned her, she turned back to her children and nodded.

Julie stared at her bedroom and sighed. Nineteen years worth of gifts, family heirlooms and memories. Now they were just things, useless junk that filled up a room no longer hers. She wished she could take more of her belongings: books, music, and knickknacks but there wasn't enough room at Lance's apartment. 

Rick had already carried down two lawn and leaf bags full of her clothes. Her closet was nearly empty and her drawers had been stripped bare. Rick held open a sack as she tossed the last of her panties inside. There was one last item, a black swimsuit. She had no idea when she would have the occasion to wear her swimsuit but she took it.

"Another full load." He pulled the drawstring and slung the crinkling sack over his shoulder. He tousled her already disheveled hair and carried the sack out to the car.

She pulled a forest green Rubbermaid container from under her bed. The lid came off with a clack. Sweaters, sweatshirts, flannel pajamas, she would need these things in the fall. She unfolded another trash bag and shook it open. She stuffed her warm clothes in pell-mell, it didn't matter if they wrinkled. 

There was a fluffy red sweater at the bottom of the container. White snowflakes covered the chest and shoulders; it had been a gift from her Grandma June last Christmas. She never wore it, not even once, the sweater was absolutely hideous. 

Poor Grandma June, she had been so sick. Everyone knew that it would be her last Christmas with the family. A sob caught in Julie's throat. She realized that it had been her own last Christmas with the family. Tears burned her eyes. She wondered if she had made the right decision. Each time Rick left her to haul a load of clothes to the car she wondered if any man was worth losing a home and family. She would wonder, then he would return and look at her with compassionate blue eyes, giving her the answer.




The Family Room Ch. 09



She handed him the sack full of her cold-weather clothes and he sighed. "Last one," she promised.

"Once we get our own place you might not have use for clothes anymore." He bent down and kissed her tear-stained cheek, then carried the bag away, leaving her to wonder once more.

There was a knock on her open door. Had Rick forgotten something? Julie looked up from the floor and saw her mother.

Beth Martin tried to look stoic but her daughter knew better. "Don't forget your coat, it's downstairs in the closet. Don't let your brother leave without his. And make sure he wears it when the weather turns. You know how that boy likes to freeze himself in the winter. Just like his..."

Just like Dad. Julie nodded. She took her purse from the bed and made sure her bank books were all accounted for. Her savings were pretty much depleted but at least she could offer something to Rick.

"Is there anything else you need?"

Julie needed her mother. She needed her father too but was able to concede that he might be a lost cause. She wished she had the ability to admit those things. "There are some things in the bathroom." 

Her mother followed her down the hallway to the bathroom. She hovered around Julie like a shadow, constantly watching. 

Was she afraid I would steal anything? Julie wondered.

Makeup, perfume, her toothbrush, tampons, she gathered everything she would need. The more she could stuff in her overflowing leather purse, the more of Rick's meager paycheck they could save.

"Is Daddy... Is Daddy alright?" Julie asked her mother. That was the real reason she had came, she had to know. The last time she had seen her father he was laying in a twisted heap on the kitchen floor. His pain had made her happy at the time, now it made her miserable. 

Her mother hesitated before answering. "... he's fine, sweetheart." She covered her mouth, like she was reprimanding herself for calling Julie sweetheart. 

Julie exhaled. "Thank God, I was so worried. Can I talk to him?" 

"He's at work. I... He wanted me to stay home today in case you came back."

"Oh." Julie opened a drawer and hunted for a tube of facial cleanser.

***

Four bags of clothes, no wonder it seemed like she never wore the same outfit twice. If I had that many clothes I would only need to do laundry once a year. Her immense wardrobe fit in the trunk, barely. I had to wedge my own clothes in the back seat of the little import, not an easy task but fortunately I had less than four bags. 

A garden hose hissed in the next yard. Lenny Feldman, the nice old man who lived next door, was watering his azalea bushes. He offered a wave and a genial hello as he sprayed the thirsty leaves. 

He had no idea what was going on at the Martins' house. He probably assumed the twenty-four year old neighbor kid was finally moving out. He probably thought it was about damn time. 

What would my parents tell Mr. Feldman and the other neighbors? They're bound to be asked why Julie and I had abruptly disappeared. 

They could lie or tell the awful truth, it was no longer my concern. I wouldn't see Mr. Feldman water his azaleas anymore or smell the smoke from the Bell family barbeques or step in the messes left by the Crenshaws' yappy little dog. 

Mr. Feldman shut off his hose and waved again, then it was back inside to find Mrs. Feldman. I took one last look around the cul-de-sac and decided it was time to go find my Mrs. Feldman. 

The air-conditioned kitchen felt fantastic, Dad had the thermostat set perfectly low. Out of habit I opened the refrigerator door and reached for a can of soda. My fingernail was just under the pull-tab when I realized I probably wasn't welcomed to it. I put it back and closed the door.

I heard Mom and Julie talking upstairs. I didn't want to interrupt so I sat on the foot of the stairs.

There was a cough on the sofa. I saw the top of a graying head peeking over the back of the upholstery. My heart hammered as I approached my father.  

He was sitting up, but just barely. His left leg was in an air cast; his right hand was covered by a large pink band-aid. He looked so feeble and old. How could this be the same man who instilled such fear in me last night?

"Rick?" my father asked. His voice was groggy, the result of pain medications.

My guilt was back, as strong as it had been last night. It flooded my conscience, I was drowning in it.

"Hi... Hi Dad." I didn't know what else to say. I moved closer, settling down on the loveseat.

"How is." He moved a little, shifting his weight then grimacing. "How is your hand."

I showed him the wicked looking scratch on my palm. He grimaced again. "No stitches at least," I said.

"Wish I could say the same." He held up his own injured hand. "Three stitches." He pointed to the air cast. "Broken ankle. Your sister packs quite a punch for such a tiny thing."

"Dad I'm sorry." I wasn't exactly sure what I was apologizing for. Was it our fight, his injuries, Julie?

"I know you are, Son. I know."

"She's here Dad, I brought her. Do you want to see her?"   

"No," he said, leaning back on the sofa. "God no." He didn't want his little girl to see him like that. He didn't want her to see what she'd done to him. "Rick." He wiped a string of saliva from his mouth. "I would be furious with you if I weren't so doped up on codeine. Don't..." He wiped his mouth again. "Don't come back for a while. Just don't." His pupils were large black discs. 

He groaned and stretched on the couch throwing his head back. I couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep, either way our reunion was over.

*** 

She needed two hands to keep her purse from spitting out it's contents. Her mother was watching her in the mirror, eyes fixed like a bird of prey. A long, skinny wrapper rolled out of Julie's purse, a tampon. 

Her mother retrieved the tampon from the floor and held it up. "Have you been using these? I mean you haven't missed a period, have you?"

Julie went white. "I missed one." Beth Martin went whiter. "It was just a little late."

"Oh my God! How late?"

"A month, but I had it last week." She hated recycling the same lie she had used on Rick, but her mother had enough to worry about. Julie wasn't ready to add the threat of grandkids to that list. 

"We're careful Mom," she lied. 

"Julie Alyssa Martin." The dreaded middle name. "Don't fib to me. I saw how careful you were last night. Rick was no more protected than you were."

"I love Rick and no matter what we decide it's---"

"Are you ready, Julie?" She spotted Rick in the mirror; he watched her with his compassionate blue eyes. He gathered her purse, holding it shut with his long fingers. "Your clothes are all loaded, I just hope there's still room for us." He kissed the top of her head when she almost smiled. "Your carriage is waiting, baby."

"Wait!" Beth Martin almost shouted. She hugged both of her children at the same time, wrapping around their necks. "Don't forget your coats." 

She fixed a kiss to each of their cheeks before they left. Her parting words urged her children to drive carefully.

"We are careful," Julie repeated under her breath. Her period had been late before, it was nothing to worry about.

To be continued...



The Family Room Ch. 10



Julie gnawed on her bottom lip. She thought about the damage just done to her brother's credit card account as she towed a white paper bag, stuffed with new clothes, through the crowded aisles of the department store. She fought through the aisles, feeling a bit like a salmon trying to swim its way up upstream through a river of shuffling feet and flailing elbows. 

The day before Labor Day sales had brought countless shoppers to the mall, many of whom regarded bargain hunting as a competitive sport. For the most part she was confronted by families. The children of those families could be divided into two distinct camps, the disinterested and the disgusted. Both camps took measured steps, their shoes weighted by lead, iron and assorted heavy metals, making it clear that all were crossing the final Ts on a respectable wardrobe for tomorrow's first day of school. 

There were droves of such children, from preschoolers to teenagers. Some were only a year or so younger than Julie's nineteen, but in light of the events that had transpired over the summer, she felt like a sage and battletested adult when compared to the shallow and sallow teenagers who drifted about.

She recognized a boy that had been in her algebra class last year. Was it Kevin or Devon? Julie was embarrassed to realize she no longer remembered his name. He offered a shy wave from across a rack of dress pants and an even shier "Hello". 

For the briefest of moments Julie Martin the carefree, teenaged high school student was resurrected. She flashed her small, white teeth in a smile that made the boy turn pink. She had turned a lot of boys a lot of colors with that smile, but she was no longer interested in any of them. Only one man deserved to see her smile. 

Rick, her big brother. They were together now. Together. She thought it strange that such a simple word could bring color to her cheeks. 

Anytime she felt lonely, and that had happened many times in the past seven days, he was there, doing his best to fill the void that had been created by the sudden loss of mother, father and home. 

An entire way of life, an easy and comfortable way, had been lost. The fact that she was nineteen, a woman of such short tenure, made coping all the more difficult. She surely would have crawled home to her parents like a worm, if not for Rick's understanding. He had been everything she needed: a friend, lover and most importantly a fiercely loyal and protective big brother. She only prayed that he would retain all of those qualities once he noticed the changes that were occurring within her body.

Her stomach grumbled. She reached into the leather purse dangling from her shoulder and unwrapped a raisin granola bar, ate half, then rewrapped and returned the uneaten portion. 

Such disturbances had been occurring for a while now, bouts of nausea that she blamed on the most convenient excuse, be it greasy food, stress or the occasional stomach virus. Excuses had been enough to alleviate Rick's worries but she couldn't keep lying to him forever. Eventually he would realize what it meant when she spent early mornings on her knees, retching into the white, porcelain toilet.

Her most wonderful dream and fiercest nightmare had been brought to life by the results of a home pregnancy test, a test she had taken in secret two nights ago. Second and third opinions were needed, so she bought every brand of over the counter test she could afford. Each time the results were the same, a positive test and Julie hunched over the yellowed tile of the bathroom sink, her warm tears mixing with the faucet water.

A screeching scream focused Julie's attention on a rack of earth-toned autumn jackets. Three small children, all boys under five, giggled, screamed, wrestled and crawled beneath the racks of hanging outerwear. Their harried mother clung to the straps of a green canvas handbag and stomped the filthy tiled floor with a high heeled foot. She begged the boys to be still.

A tall, weedy man, presumably the father, yanked the oldest boy from beneath the rack of jackets. He delivered a swat to the boy's bottom, not a vicious blow, but it was enough to send a stinging message. Julie involuntarily clenched her own buttocks, remembering how effective such messages had been when delivered by the hand of her own parents.

The boy rubbed his backside while the father wrangled the two younger brothers. He commanded them to behave, unless they wanted to receive a similar punishment.

She thought about Rick, imagining him in the role of disciplinarian. Someone so patient and gentle could never do anything to harm a child. Their children would be more spoiled than some of the things in Lance's refrigerator. Julie bit the corner of her lip to preempt a smile. She turned and sighed. Her brother would make such a wonderful father, if only he would realize it.

Julie wandered through the petites section and found herself, not accidentally, amongst maternity clothes. She pulled a white top from the clearance rack. The short-sleeved linen top looked strikingly similar to one she already owned, sharing the same feminine lines with one major exception, room at the waist designed to accommodate the expanding abdomen of an expecting mother. 

She considered buying the top but imagined Rick finding it amongst her wardrobe; that wasn't the way she wanted him to find out. She hung the top back on the rack and retreated from the maternity section just as a woman pushed a squeaky-wheeled stroller past Julie's toes. The woman paused, she peered at Julie for just a moment, then continued on her way. 

A stroller, a baby stroller. Julie followed the woman through electronics, around hardware and beyond large appliances, always keeping her distance and behaving as discreetly as possible. She felt compelled to steal a glimpse at one of the beautiful little things that grew inside her, a real live baby.

She was not discreet enough. The stroller wheels ceased their squeaking motions partway through the kitchen gadgets as the mother abruptly stopped and turned around. Julie froze at first, unsure of how quickly the woman would scream for security. She grabbed the nearest item on display, a package of surgical steel knives, and pretended to read the lifetime sharpness guarantee.

She felt like melting into the cracked tile floor. The woman surely thought Julie was some kind of wacko, the package of steak knives clutched in her hands only enhanced that image. 

Julie felt the eyes of the woman roam across her body, undoubtedly recording each feature and detail, making the police sketch artist's job that much easier. Her face would be on TV tonight, John Walsh would urge the entire country to be on the lookout.

"Julie?" the woman asked, speaking in a husky, but familiar, voice.

Julie blinked a few times and studied the woman, a woman who was younger than her inflated body had first suggested. She could never forget the distinct smile that greeted her, specifically the quarter-inch gap between the front teeth. It was her former classmate Tracy Adkins. 

Tracy had been in her biology and English classes during junior year, before abruptly disappearing. Her friends had said Tracy dropped out of school the week before final exams. There had been rumors as to why she dropped out, of course, most speculated that she and her boyfriend had gotten in trouble together. But those kind of rumors always made the rounds in high school. 

Julie never believed that studious Tracy Adkins had become a teenage pregnancy statistic. Yet, there she was, baby in tow.

"Tracy!? What happened to you?" Julie rarely asked such dumb questions.

"He did." Tracy motioned to the stroller. An infant boy sat half asleep, holding aloft a head much too large for his diminutive body. 

Julie used her fingers to hide a giggle as the baby slumped against the padded back of the stroller seat. He was so adorable, like a doll come to life. 

"This is my little Taylor." Tracy kneeled in front of the stroller and smoothed the wispy golden hairs that sprouted from the baby's otherwise smooth scalp.

Julie pursed her lips. She felt a pang deep within her chest as she studied the baby's half-closed, brown eyes. Was she capable of producing something so wonderful? She shut her eyes for just a moment and saw herself pushing a stroller. She imagined a little baby boy, his head capped with dark hair, his eyes a deep blue every bit as soulful as his father's. 

She opened her eyes and felt another pang, located not in her chest but in her stomach. A sound like the baying of wolves penetrated her abdomen, a low, primal rumble that demanded sustenance. 

"You sound like you're as hungry as I am," Tracy said, "would you like to join us for a snack?"

Julie nodded and within minutes she found herself in the middle of the noisy food court, seated in front of a giant bean burrito and a heaping dish of chocolate ice cream. She took a bite of each; the dissimilar flavors meshed together to satisfy her strange craving.

Tracy chattered about some mutual friends while she picked at a Romaine salad. Julie wasn't really paying attention, reserving her focus more for the baby's deep set eyes than whatever Tracy was talking about. "You're so lucky," Julie found herself saying. She licked a bit of refried beans from her finger.

Tracy snickered as she popped a cherry tomato into her mouth. "Lucky? My parents want nothing to do with me. They're ashamed, Julie; do you have any idea what that feels like?"

It feels like the end of the world. Julie wanted to say it but remained silent. 

She had been disowned by her own parents because of the relationship she and Rick shared. Julie wondered how they would react if they learned she was pregnant; she wondered how Rick would react. 

"Could I--would it be alright if I held him?" Julie asked. It had been years since the last time she held a baby.

Tracy nodded and un-strapped the baby from the seat. Julie lifted the boy and cradled him in her skinny arms, remembering the proper way to support his tiny head. The baby, who appeared to be so chubby and robust, felt fragile in her arms. He was completely dependant on his mother; he needed her. 

Miniature fingers closed around a strand of Julie's long, brown hair. The baby liberated a single hair, tearing it out by the root. Julie's scalp stung but the pain was tempered by adorability of her assaulter. 

The baby opened his jaws and stuffed the silky hair in his mouth, spitting and slobbering at the strange taste. He cooed, then yawned, snuggling his head into the crook of her arm. 

"Taylor's wild about you," Tracy said. "He never sits still for anyone."

Julie smiled so wide her lips strained. "I've had some practice. I used to baby-sit for the neighbors all the time."

"A sitter, huh? Sure could use one of those. Five months without a night off has left me a little crazy."

"I'd love to--call me anytime."

"Great! I think I have your number; do you still live at home?" Tracy asked.

"No, I moved out with..." Julie maneuvered a spoonful of melting ice cream to her lips before rephrasing. "I moved in with my boyfriend. We're staying with one of his friend's downtown, just until we find something nice."

Tracy pinched Julie's shoulder and chuckled. "Living with a boyfriend? That doesn't sound like the sweet little Julie Martin I remember. I'll bet your dad was thrilled to hear that piece of news."

Julie's chin sagged. Her memory cruelly replayed Donald Martin's reaction to the discovery of his daughter and son in bed. She handed the baby back to Tracy and smiled sadly. "I have Rick; he's all the family I need." She touched the baby's warm cheek. "At least for now."

Tracy gathered her things and said goodbye, leaving Julie to sit alone and listen to the laughter of happy families and the squeaking of stroller wheels.

Rick was not anxious to become a father, she knew as much from the way he skillfully dodged her attempts to discuss the subject, but she couldn't hide her pregnancy from him forever. 

By now he would have noticed the extra weight, even if he was too sweet to mention it aloud. Next would come the doctors with their shots and tests and ultrasounds. The medical bills would pile up floor to ceiling. 

He wouldn't be happy but would he hate her, would he leave her? Doubts flew at Julie like daggers, doubts cold as steel, doubts that cut and pierced. 

Sometimes she felt silly for imagining such gloom and doom. Rick had sacrificed so much just to be with her. After all they had been through, how could she even think of losing him now?

*** 

The corners of my mouth lifted as Julie's long fingernails tapped the keys on the cash register. She had mastered the succession of keystrokes that unlocked the cash drawer and proudly made change for her first customer. She glowed like a new mother while handing the man two crisp dollar bills and a quarter. 

He smiled, thanked her and pocketed his cash, all the while trying to sneak glances at the glorious chest that lay hidden behind a very blue and very loose vest.

From my vantage point the blue Video Hut vest draped over the length of her butt, proving that the term "one size fits all" didn't necessarily apply to curvy little nineteen year olds. 

The formless khaki slacks and white oxford shirts that made Video Hut employees the fashion plates of the retail world had to be special ordered in the petite sizes her body required, so for the time being she made due with tight fitting indigo jeans and the pure white tank top she had purchased at the mall. 

Loaning her my credit card had been a very sound investment. A tiny cleft of spectacular cleavage peeked out from the neckline of the shirt, displaying the demurest of creases in her pale, supple flesh. As always, she managed to display just enough skin to turn my knees to oatmeal every time I glanced her way.

I smacked my palms together, applauding the swiftness she displayed in mastering the cash register. 

She looked at me for just a moment, then chewed on her pink lip, refocusing her eyes on the countertop. She had been doing that ever since returning from the mall; it was as if she couldn't bare to look at me. While never an extrovert, Julie had rarely seemed so withdrawn. I could understand if she felt guilty about what happened with our parents, I felt guilty too, but I couldn't understand why she was so apprehensive around me.

Less than an hour before closing time, with the store empty of customers, I cornered her behind the cash register. 

"What a week," Julie said, wringing her tiny hands. Her eyes remained locked on the register, her thumb nervously tapped the cancel key. 

My fingers touched her cheek, feeling tension even in those fine muscles. 

"They never kept me so busy at the mall, not even at Christmastime," she said.

There had not been a drastic increase in business that week, with the exception of a spike in loitering amongst the male customers. 

She slipped out of her blue vest and laid it on the counter. Trickles of sweat traveled across the milky skin of her inner arm; moisture soaked the back of her tank top.

I reached in the pocket of my vest and pulled out a folded sheet of paper and a pen. "Here baby, the regional office wants you to fill this out. It's for their files."

She unfolded the paper and hunched over the counter. "An application? Doesn't a girl usually fill this out before she gets the job?"

"Sleeping with your boss does have its advantages," I said. Resting a hand on the back of her tight jeans, I felt the soft cheeks of her butt.

She tensed for a moment, then seemed to relax with the intimate contact. "Is that why Lance made you the assistant manager?" she asked.

"Very funny, Miss Martin." I smacked a butt cheek.

She giggled as the pen scratched across the paper, filling the page with feminine handwriting. She stilled only when she reached a space reserved for the name of her spouse.

"Would it be okay if I wrote: my big brother Rick?" She tapped the paper with the tip of the pen, leaving little ebony splotches.

"I don't think the regional office would approve of that." I leaned down to kiss the tip of her ear.

"How about you? Would you approve?"

"What do you think?" I whispered. My tongue wormed its way inside her ear to swirl around the unexplored cavern. The taste was strange and bitter but I didn't care; any flavor produced by her perfect body was delicious.

She reached back to steady herself, resting a hand on my thigh. I took the rubbery cartilage of her ear between my teeth and gently chewed, making her lean on me even more.

She tensed again as she reached the next question. "What about children?" Julie had developed a peculiar way of saying children. From her lips the word sounded like a statement, a question and an exclamation all rolled into one. 

Releasing her ear, I leaned back to better look at her. "What about them?"

She pointed to the top corner of the paper tapping the empty box with the tip of the pen.

I glanced over her shoulder, squinting to read the smeared print. It wanted to know how many children the applicant had. Grabbing the pen, I drew several fat zeroes.

"Rick." She whined like a little girl deprived of a new toy. Her mouth clamped shut. As if realizing her faux pas she cleared her throat with an extended grunt. Once more she summoned the voice of a sultry young woman. "How much do you love me?"

"I really..." The words rattled up my throat where they promptly died on my tongue. 

She turned to face me. Her eyelids and chin sagged. Something about her gaze made me uncomfortable, it seemed like she was afraid for some reason. Afraid of me. 

Eager to lighten the mood, to make her look at me with emotions other than fear, I reached deeper in my vest pocket and extracted a pair of crumpled envelopes. One printed with each of our names.

"What's this?" she asked, unsealing her envelope. She pulled out her first paycheck and squeaked. "Two-hundred dollars! Rick!" She jumped in my arms and kissed me.

"You deserve a lot more, but I don't have control over the salaries."

She folded the check and tucked it back in my pocket.

"What are you doing? It's your money. You earned every penny of it."

"It's our money. I want to take it to the bank and open a joint checking account; that would be so hot."

"You think a trip to the bank would be hot?" I asked.

"Mm, just thinking about sharing a checkbook with you is making me wet." She reached up on tiptoes to plant a kiss on my chin. "We'll sit down at the end of each month and pay bills together. I'll even let you touch me underneath the table." 

She giggled as I slipped a hand underneath her tank top and caressed her sides. "I'll always let you touch me, Rick. Even if I get fat and cranky, you can touch me anytime you want."

"Fat? What are you---"

"I want you so badly." Her voice was a girlish hiss that taunted and teased my ear. 

I opened the zipper on her jeans, releasing a musky heat through the open fly. She kissed me, wriggling her pink tongue between my lips. My hands wandered to her chest, as they so often do. I fondled and squeezed the breasts that had begged to be fondled and squeezed all evening. She raised her sleek arms, allowing me unfettered access beneath the thin, moist fabric of her top.

"You look so beautiful, baby, but I wish you would wear something a little more conservative to work tomorrow." I squeezed her pink, erect nipples. Between my pinching fingers, the nubs puckered and hardened further. 

"You couldn't stand the way those men were looking at my body, could you?"

"God no, it drives me crazy when they look at you like that."

She grunted as my hands slid down her waist, grunted again when my thumb dipped in the little divot of her belly button. 




The Family Room Ch. 10



"It drives me crazy too. You're the only man I want looking at me and the only one I want touching me." She held my palm against her warm skin. "Am I the only woman you want to touch?"

I was relegated to groaning and nodding. 

"Take me to the backroom," she begged. Her slender fingers idly loosened the first four buttons of my white shirt. 

"Sex at work?" I said, teasing my little sister with fake apprehension. "We could get in serious trouble. The regional office---"

"To hell with the regional office." Her fingers threaded through my hair, twirling and pinching. "To hell with everyone, except us."

I leaned down to kiss her soft neck, leaving a snail-like trail of saliva from just below her ear to the curve of her slender shoulder. She lowered her eyelids as I sucked the salty-sweet skin, marking her pale flesh with tender patches of lavender.

"Run to the back and get ready for me," I said, my lips hovering on the surface of her skin. "We're locking up early."

She scratched her fingernail across my chin. "Closing early to ravish the shy little trainee in the backroom; what would Lance say?"

"He would probably say it's the new store policy, if all the shy little trainees were as pretty as you." I slapped her butt through the tight denim jeans as she rubbed past, disappearing into the darkened backroom. 

I turned the lights down, then flipped the door's generic orange sign to read: Sorry We're Closed. After twisting the locks I made my way through the silent store; my heart thudded the entire way to the black, windowless backroom.

I called Julie's name, receiving only a giggle in way of a reply. A tap on my shoulder forced me to turn. After grasping at nothing I felt another tap. I spun the opposite way, almost pirouetting on my heels, but there was nothing but blackness.

A warm breath tickled my ear, it whispered my name. There was another tap on my shoulder, followed by two small hands firmly squeezing my butt. This time a flash of pale skin passed the side of my face. I lunged sideways, catching a handful of ripe, naked flesh.

"Put me down you animal." Julie screamed as I hoisted her over my shoulder. Her legs kicked without much vigor and her fists lightly drummed my back.

"Not so fast, Miss Martin. Before I set you free you have to promise to help me with a little problem." I rubbed her naked butt, kneading the pliant flesh in the dark.

Her struggle lessened. "What kind of problem?"

"There's a hot, naked girl in my arms. I can't see her but she's making me so horny it hurts." I lowered Julie to the floor and placed her hand over the bulge in my pants.

She squeezed my erection and sighed. "I can probably help you out." Her arms curled around my neck and pulled me downwards, where her warm lips delivered a kiss to my own. After running her luxurious fingernails around my neck and across my chin she released me. 

The zipper to my khaki pants opened, allowing a rush of cool air to invade my fly. Warm fingers wormed my erect dick out of the boxer shorts where a warmer mouth engulfed the sensitive head, bathing the spongy flesh with saliva. 

How I wished for a flashlight or the anemic illumination of a candle, anything that would permit me to see Julie's sexy, pink lips as she bobbed along the length of my penis. 

I may not have been able to see but I could sure as hell feel. She treated my straining shaft like a Popsicle, licking and sucking harder than she ever had before. Like a Popsicle, I was in serious danger of melting, leaking my sticky juices inside of Julie's considerate mouth. 

Cool air hit my wet penis. I felt neglected until her flexible little tongue twirled around the spongy head, reapplying a warm coat of her reassuring saliva. 

My body screamed for release but I needed to hold out longer, to sample every pleasurable sensation that her lips and tongue could provide. 

Julie once more encircled my shaft with her mouth, applying a Hoover's worth of suction to the smooth, sensitive skin. My legs tensed and my knees buckled. No matter how fiercely I tried, I was doomed to an early ejaculation when treated to my sister's mouth. 

I wondered what Julie would do with my cum. Would she let it seep out of her mouth onto the floor? That would be an interesting stain to explain to Lance tomorrow. 'Sorry buddy, my sister doesn't like to swallow.'

My toes scrunched in my shoes and my eyebrows twitched as the first spurt of cum surged from my penis. Sticky semen splashed against the roof of her mouth. Julie didn't pull away; she let out a startled hum that only increased my pleasure. Her mouth slid backwards until only the head remained hugged between her lips. One set of slender fingers stroked the shaft, while the other danced over the wrinkled skin of my ball sack. She enticed so many jets of milky sperm to abandon my prostate that I thought I would cum forever.

When the torrent ended she released me. Cool air rushed out of her nose, tickling the tip of my wet, spent penis. I cursed the blinding darkness, wanting to see her beautiful cheeks plumped with my cum. 

I heard a loud, forced swallow, and a wet cough. She had never done that before, my little sister had just swallowed my sperm. 

"Problem solved?" she asked. I could smell the bitterness of my seed mixed with the sweetness of her breath.

"Yeah," I said. Not brave enough to taste her mouth, I blindly searched out a cheek. "How about you, baby? Any problems you need help with?"

She snatched my hand and guided it to her pussy. She was moist and sizzling hot as my finger slid along her crease. The digit sneaked into her soggy pussy where it climbed upwards, snaking inside of her tight channel, slipping and sliding through the oily passageway.

I wanted to bring her off with my finger, then lap her spicy juices from my own skin, but she had different ideas.

"Put it in me," she begged. "I want the real thing, not a dinky little finger. Please, Rick."

"You're wearing me out, baby; I don't think I can get it up again." It was a lie, my penis had already sneaked through the open fly of my pants.

"You can get it up for me, can't you?" She unbuttoned my pants and pushed them down my legs. Her fingernails brushed across my pelvis, poking and tickling until her quarry was captured. Her fingers wrapped around my hardness. She sighed against my chest, standing the hairs on end. 

"You're such a pushover," she said, stroking the stiff column of flesh.

"Only for my sexy little girlfriend, who also happens to be my sexy little sister." I leaned forward, our lips somehow met. I kissed her mouth without hesitation, tasting only a distant hint of my seed.

She stepped away, severing our contact. The blur of her chalky skin faded into darkness. 

"If you can find me, you can have me." She had meant to sound husky but her tiny voice cracked and strained with the effort.

"I can't see anything, Julie. What if I never find you?"

"Use that divining rod you've got hanging between your legs. Let it lead you to moisture."

My penis lurched at the suggestion; it wanted nothing more than to bury itself in her wet, pink tunnel. I stabbed my long arms into the blackness before me and slowly moved forward. My fingertips quivered, anticipating first contact with smooth, female skin.

I must have circled the backroom a dozen times, my arms grasping at nothing. Sweat collected on my back, gluing the white cotton shirt to my clammy skin. The hunt was hopeless; it was too dark. 

I prepared to give in, to offer Julie my unconditional surrender, until my ears discerned a hissed breath. The breath of an excited woman.

Moving towards the sound, my nose captured a delicious whiff. I imagined spicy juices that dripped from Julie's enflamed pussy, then trickled down the skin of her bare legs, following elegantly curved trails. 

Sniffing the air like a foxhound I moved swiftly, following the scent of her arousal. The musk grew stronger and stronger until finally, I could feel the heat radiate from her perfect body. 

I moved in slow circles around her. Like a planet rotating its sun, she was the radiant center of my universe. My fingers grazed her skin on the final pass, eliciting a girlish giggle. 

With a growl my arms encircled her waist. She pressed her back against my front. The little fox had no illusions of escaping this hound. I squeezed her breasts, feeling the hard nipples burrow into my palms. 

She curved an arm over her shoulder and stroked my right cheek, cooing my name while I manipulated her tender breasts. 

Reaching down, I cupped her fuzzy, drooling pussy. I may have been unable to see but I could feel her arousal. And I could smell it too, drifting through the air like a garden of fragrant herbs while my fingers raked the short brown thatch of her pubic hair. 

My hard penis sawed between her thighs, caressing her dewy vulva with each pass. Once sufficiently coated with moisture, I pressed the swollen head to her opening. Moist lips parted around my penis, hugging and welcoming. I slipped past pink folds, entering her from behind, pressing and burrowing through the sweltering tunnel. 

She grunted as I bucked my hips, grinding my pubic bone hard against her soft butt. Her odor grew thicker; it coated my nostrils. With each breath I could almost taste her. The scent, while unabashedly sultry was at the same time pure and demure, a constant reminder that it was my little sister writhing beneath me, a constant reminder to remain patient and gentle.

"Give it to me, Rick," she mumbled. Apparently she didn't realize how pure and demure she was supposed to be.

I stroked her sweaty back, asking her what she wanted. 

"I want you, Rick. Give me your cum, all of it." Her tiny voice was barely audible over the slaps produced by colliding flesh. Her ragged breathing and clenching pussy had me ready to shoot.

"Oh, Rick." She moaned in her little sister voice. "It feels so beautiful. You're so beautiful. Our babies will be so beautiful..."

Despite the fact that she was already my lover, and had said far more provocative things while in the throes of passion, those last words on my little sister's lips seemed so wicked. Like a boundary was not only crossed, it was obliterated. 

I pulled out of her clenching tunnel and grunted. Semen sprayed the outside of her pussy, forming sticky puddles that clung to the mat of fuzzy brown pubic hair.

"Rick, don't!" she whined. Realizing at once what I had done, she fumbled to force my softening penis back inside her body. 

I reached around her hips, fumbling until I located the hard, little clitoris. She begged me to stop, begged me to cum inside of her body but I increased the pressure on her clit, tickling the little nub with the pad of my right thumb. She grabbed my wrist, squeezing hard as her knees buckled.

"Oh God!" Julie cried, losing her balance. She stumbled forward, grasping at my shirt in an attempt to save herself. Buttons popped as the white shirt flew open. I grabbed for her waist but the sweat-slicked skin squirted free from my grasp. She fell forward, into what sounded like a pile of boxes. 

Something whizzed past my face, crashing to the floor. It was a case of DVDs. There was another crash and then another. I felt Julie back in my arms, clutching my waist for protection. Her tiny voice squeaked as she buried her cheek against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her naked body and waited for the commotion to stop. 

Boxes fell in front, behind and all around the room. I imagined the meticulous columns of stacked cardboard tumbling like brown dominoes, scattering to the floor and splitting into a zillion pieces. It was a miracle that neither of us were touched in the chaos.

When the crashing and thudding finally stopped I cautioned Julie to stay put while I found the lights. 

The simple act of throwing a light switch became quite an adventure. I pushed and kicked, climbed and crawled through a jungle of overturned boxes, prodding the darkness, feeling my way until I found the wall, then the door, then the light switch.

The backroom was flooded with humming fluorescent lights. Once my eyes adjusted to sudden brightness the carnage was assessed. Boxes were strewn across the entirety of the backroom. Most had been sealed with inflexible shipping tape, saving the lids from splitting open, so at least it could be said that an even larger disaster was diverted. 

Julie stood naked amongst the scattered boxes. Her cheeks and her chest painted red with blush. Her body was safe but she must have figured that her job was not. 

She didn't have to worry. If Lance went into a tizzy I would gladly take the blame, but I couldn't let her know that, occasions to play the teasing big brother grew fewer all the time.

I shook my head and clucked my tongue, turning her even redder. "Now who's the clumsy one?"

To be continued...



The Family Room Ch. 11



Julie had spoken once all morning, mumbling a few words about feeling sick to her stomach again. The only sounds out of her since were ominous groans, emanating deep within her belly. More than likely, she was still upset about the chaos we had created at the store last night. 

I passed by Lance, who leaned on the gritty counter, munching a spoonful of cold cereal, and settled at the table across from my sister. 

Julie hoisted a slice of cinnamon toast from the paper plate and turned it in her fingers. She took a bite, nibbling at the sugary crust. A little pink tongue sneaked out of her mouth, cleaning the sugar crystals from two very dry lips. She flipped the toast back on the paper plate, scattering crumbs, and hopped out of the seat. She scrambled towards the bathroom without uttering a word. 

"Did you have any trouble sleeping on the airbed?" Lance asked. To my great relief the morning's silence was broken.

"No, it was pretty comfortable. At first the vinyl was sort of chilly, but we managed to warm it up."

"I'll bet you did." He grinned knowingly.

"I'll pay you for the bed, just as soon as I cash my paycheck." 

"Don't be ridiculous." Lance swirled his spoon in the cereal bowl. "Think of it as a gift for my favorite couple. Anyway, eighty dollars is a small price to pay to stop you from whining about the futon every morning."

"At least let me give you something." I reached into my hip pocket, pawing at my wallet. "A hundred bucks, to help with the rent." I offered him the last scrap of green paper tucked in my wallet, the hundred dollar bill my mother had given me the night I was thrown out. 

His eyes narrowed behind his wiry glasses. "Rick, chill out, you paid your debts." He rattled the box of strawberry cereal I had picked up at the supermarket.

"A box of Frankenberry hardly makes up for taking Julie and me into your home. Without you I don't know what we would have done. We had nowhere else to go---"

"That's right, you had nowhere else to go." He tipped the bowl and slurped down the sweet, pink milk. 

Copper pipes hissed in the ceiling, the sound of waste water being rushed away to the sewer.

"Is short-stuff planning to spend the entire day in the bathroom?" Lance asked.

"She's got a little stomach bug; she thinks it was something she ate." 

Lance nodded and dropped his bowl in the sink. "And what do the Martins have planned for this muggy Labor Day?"

I leaned back in my chair. "A long day of house hunting or more appropriately, apartment hunting."

"Well, in that case I have some good news. I talked to the super last night. He said a place should be opening up in building number four next month; we could be neighbors."

"No offense, buddy, but Julie and I have had our fill of indestructible silverfish. 

"She circled a few nice places in the classifieds last night. We won't be able to afford any of them, but it'll be nice to know what might have been, because, considering our salaries, we'll probably end up living in some glorified utility closet."

"Not everyone can afford this type of luxury." Lance waved his arm, emphasizing the apartment's messy, cramped confines. "I just hope living here hasn't raised your standards of living too high, because, to tell you the truth, it'll be nice to have some privacy again. 

"Do you realize this was the first morning I didn't wake up to the sounds of you and Julie in the throes of passion. If I fucked the same girl that many times in one week my dick would look like a limp piece of macaroni."

Julie emerged from the bathroom. Her steps were imprecise as she padded across the apartment floor. She flopped on the half-inflated airbed, draping her bare legs over the side, drawing my eyes to those smooth, pale, femininely curved calves.

One leg stretched high above her body, the short hem of her nightgown afforded me a quick flash of white cotton panties. She waved at me with one compact foot and said, "Rick, come keep me company." Her tiny voice strained into a whine. 

"You are such a lucky bastard," Lance said. He clapped my shoulder just as his cell phone rang. After digging it out of his pocket, he headed for the privacy of his room.

***

The airbed shifted as Rick sat on the mattress beside her. He touched her tummy, drawing spirals with the pad of his index finger in an attempt to quell her nausea.

"Why did I swallow your nasty stuff? I've been puking it up all morning." Julie moaned. The acid in her stomach churned and swirled.

"Don't be such a drama queen. You swallowed my sperm, not arsenic."

"It might as well have been poison, as sick as I feel." 

"Are you sure that's why you're sick?" he asked.

She turned over on the bed. Propped up by an elbow, she focused her dark-ringed eyes on his handsome face. "What do you mean?" Her words trembled as did the lips that formed them.

"I mean that when I feel really guilty about something, I feel sharp pains right here." He pressed his palm to her belly, an action that forced her to gasp for air. "Sometimes it makes me feel sick for days." His palm stayed in place, resting on her pregnant stomach. She wondered if he somehow knew.

"If there's something you're not telling me, Julie, something you feel bad about, you don't have to keep it inside."

"I'm fine, really. I think it's just the stomach flu; it's been screwing me up inside."

"Should I take you to the doctor?"

"No!" Julie shouted. "We can't afford the doctor, not without insurance. It's nothing serious, really." She hated to lie to Rick, but knew he wasn't ready to hear the truth.

"You didn't have to swallow it," he said.

"I know, but I wanted to. I would do anything for you, Rick." Anything. 

His hand felt so warm on her stomach, so comforting. It was a father's first contact with his child, even if he didn't know it yet.

Julie tasted saliva and phlegm and bile all rising in her throat. She gagged and started to rise. Fortunately, it was a false alarm, her stomach calmed and so did she. Her sweaty hand covered Rick's as she eased her head back against the malformed feather pillow.

Lance emerged from the bedroom. He was dressed for work, with the exception of a frayed black baseball cap turned backwards. His face looked even paler than she felt.

He folded his cell phone and stuffed it in his pants pocket. "That was Lucas." The words were slow and deliberate. "There was some kind of accident at the store." He struggled into a blue vest. "The backroom is...it's a mess. Every goddamned box...on the floor." 

Lance ripped the cap off his head and crumpled it in his fingers. "He said that's the way it was when he opened, but you know what a klutz that fucking kid is."

"I guess we should cancel our plans for today," Rick said, hopping out of bed.

"No, you promised your sister that you would look for your own place." Lance's voice was harried but firm as he squeezed into a pair of canvas tennis shoes. "And I don't want to see the two of you show up for work tonight without a signed lease." Lance gave up on tying his shoes, settling for a pair of messy knots that he tried to not trip over as he scrambled out the door. 

Julie crawled across the wilting airbed, rolling off the side to the floor. Every movement produced sickening pulsations deep within her stomach, rising higher and higher, too high to hold back. Julie raced for the toilet. Throwing open the lid, she kneeled before the white porcelain and retched.

A woman who introduced herself as Ms. Horowitz had precisely timed her meeting with Julie and Rick in the covered parking garage that adjoined the apartments at Shade Tree Manor. She regarded the young couple with a warm, toothy smile, giving Julie the impression that beneath the smart business attire was an amiable person who would treat her tenants like family. 

They toured the facilities first, stopping in a coin-operated Laundromat, then moving on to the vigorously equipped gym before concluding with a stroll around the indoor swimming pool. 

The apartment was every bit as lovely as the ad promised. The carpeting was new and lush, the kitchenette was downright airy compared to that elbow-buster of Lance's and the bathrooms were absolutely immaculate, not a silverfish in sight.

They followed Ms. Horowitz through the smallish apartment. Ironically it had been dubbed a budget apartment, ironic because the rent was twice as expensive as anything they had budgeted.

"As you can see the master bedroom is quite spacious, with it's own half-bath." The woman closed the simple oak door and opened another on the adjoining wall. "We also offer a second bedroom that our tenants tend to use as a nursery or a child's room."

Ms. Horowitz closed the second door and smiled again at Julie, lines creased her fine Semitic features. She seemed like such a nice older lady; she wore too much makeup but she would have made a great superintendent. 

"Do you have any children Mrs. Martin? ...Mrs. Martin?"

Mrs. Martin? On instinct Julie glanced over her shoulder. Had her mother suddenly appeared? She was awkwardly silent for a moment before realizing that she was supposed to be Mrs. Martin. 

"Not yet." She didn't say no or nope or not on your life, she said not yet. Rick was oblivious so she said it again. "Not yet but I hope---"

"We won't be having children anytime soon," Rick said. He draped a long arm around Julie's shoulders.

She recalled the results of her home pregnancy test and bit the inside of her cheek to suppress a frown. They would be having a child much sooner than he imagined. 

Julie's stomach complained, loud enough for Rick and Ms. Horowitz to hear. She apologized and clung to Rick's arm as they concluded the tour. 

"It's a beautiful place. Too bad we'd have to harvest a few organs to afford the lease." Rick's voice echoed in the damp parking garage while Julie munched on the end of a granola bar.

"Why haven't we at least talked about it?" Julie asked. 

"The rent is too expensive. You know better than that." 

He cleared a loose strand of brown hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Rick was always doing that, treating her like a stupid little child. She was growing tired of it.

"Both of our paychecks combined---"

Julie growled. "I'm not talking about the damned apartment!" Was this to be it? Was this to be judgment day? She had to unburden herself of the secret before it devoured her insides.

Rick's head slowly lowered to the roof of the car. "Oh God, not babies again," he mumbled. "Julie, we definitely don't have the time for this discussion. There are two more apartments---"

"You're doing it again, avoiding the subject." Her shrill voice bounced off the concrete walls, ricocheting from pillar to pillar in the dank garage. 

Strange emotions coursed through her body, her cheeks burned with fire and her forehead throbbed. She hadn't been so angry in a long time. She hadn't been so angry with Rick in an even longer time; the feeling was almost alien to her.

"We gave up our home and our family to be together!" She tried to control her voice but failed. "I try to talk about starting a new family, one of our own, but you just treat me like a dumb little girl who doesn't know any better." Warm tears strained from her eyes. "I've been trying to tell you..." She tried to tell him again but failed. 

"I'm so scared, Rick," she said, gasping and falling to her knees on the damp concrete.

He was beside her, reaching beneath her arms to pull her close. 

Julie struggled, trying to create a gap between herself and the man who made her so crazy with guilt, love and a billion other emotions. His hold was like quicksand, the harder she struggled the deeper into his embrace she sank. 

"Don't be scared." Even his voice, as it whispered in her ear, suggested protectiveness, it suggested the unconditional love of a big brother. 

She didn't feel any braver, but allowed herself to relax, to surrender. 

"I promise we really will talk about it, later."

Julie huffed and struggled again at that terrible word "later." She didn't want later or someday or eventually; she wanted now. Didn't he know he was only delaying the inevitable? In a few short weeks she would be ripe, fat, leaving little doubt as to her condition. Little doubt that he would hate her.

"Don't be upset." Rick leaned down until the tips of their noses touched. How dare he be a rock while the pieces of her shattered world were ground to dust. "My beautiful, little Mrs. Martin." 

Mrs. Martin, her mother's name, the name Julie desperately wanted for her own. That name, his words, rescued her, taking away her fear and her pain, if only temporarily. 

"Call me that again," she muttered.

He pressed his lips to hers. "Mrs. Martin," he mumbled. The words morphed into a kiss.

She wrapped numb fingers around his neck, pulling him closer. Her cheeks warmed again, not out of anger this time. They stayed warm, through the next two visits, first the Wilson Creek Townhouses, then Burlington Place and all the way home. 

"I want to celebrate," Julie said. She climbed on her brother's back, wrapping her bare legs around his waist as they stepped inside the sanctuary of their temporary abode. Her morning sickness finally dissipated, taking with it the anxiety that prevented her from feeling like her normal self. 

She had found their new apartment, a simple ad in black newsprint culled from an entire sea of black newsprint. She circled the ad twice in blue ink, instinctively knowing that the "clean, affordable studio at Burlington Place" was destined to be their first real home away from home. 

There had been no guided tour, only a borrowed key and a Xeroxed list of rules. The place was cozy, the perfect size for two young people, and possibly a third, Julie noted, providing that third person was small enough. Yes, it was indeed clean and affordable, and once the lease was signed it would be theirs.

Rick carried her to the half-inflated airbed and deposited her on the sagging vinyl. He pressed the black, plastic control button affixed to the electrical cord and plumped the airbed to a more comfortable firmness. 

"I know how we should celebrate." He laid beside her and grinned. 

She wanted to frown, to let him think that she was disappointed with his libidinous suggestion, but could only meet his smile with one of her own. "That's how you always want to celebrate," she said. "I think we should do something summery, like have a barbecue or a picnic."

Rick stroked her knee, giving her tingles in places she didn't realize could tingle. "Take off your little shorts and I can have one heck of a picnic right here." He rested his cheek against the crotch of her canvas shorts. She was sweating from the September heat and desperately in need of a shower. But still, he rested between her thighs as if it were the most luxurious place in the world.

She giggled, pushing his head aside. 

What a summer it had been. Three short months ago, during the infant days of June, Julie and Rick were entrenched in the nearly two decades old role of a sister and her brother. Who would have imagined that by Labor Day, the unofficial last day of summer, they would have found themselves recast as young lovers ignoring the ancient taboos of incest while taking the first precarious steps of a new life together.

He fingered the waistband of her drab shorts, idly trying to open the plastic button with his thumb. She swatted his wrist to deliver a blow in the name of virtue but hoped that he wouldn't stop touching her. She never wanted him to stop touching her.

"Behave yourself, Rick," she said, "unless you want me to spank you."

"What part of my body do you plan on spanking?" he asked.

She tried to swat his backside, but he intercepted first one wrist, then the other. She allowed him to wrestle her back to the bed, where his lips seized control of her own. 

She pinched his lips tight and separated them from her own. "There will be plenty of time for those kinds of celebrations once we're out of this dump. We should go outside and enjoy the weather; we should go swimming. I brought my suit."

"You expect me to watch my goddess of a little sister splash around in a tight, wet bathing suit? You'll have me walking around like a hunchback all afternoon."

She never quite understood Rick. She allowed him almost perpetual access to her naked body, yet still he spoke about her as if she were some kind of exotic beauty queen.

Rick kissed her flushed cheek and grinned. "I brought my suit too but just remember, baby, I'm not a very strong swimmer, so be prepared to give mouth to mouth." 

He rifled through the sloppy stacks of clothes that teetered on the seat of the futon, rooting out his nylon swimming trunks. 

She remembered images from the two past summers of those fire engine red trunks plastered over his lower body and his tanned shoulders and chest as they glittered with beads of sweat and water. She had lost her breath each time his tall, lean body emerged from the pool, the lake or anywhere she could drag him in those trunks. Her pulse quickened even as the memory faded. Maybe she understood the way he felt about her body after all.

"Do you want to try the pool out back?" he asked, refolding a pair of boxer shorts that had tumbled to the floor.

"I've already checked it out," Julie said, her compact body halfway buried in a black garbage bag.

All of her clothes remained stored in stretched out garbage bags, a depressing reminder of the hasty retreat from their parents' home. 

"We should definitely find somewhere else to swim, unless you feel comfortable wading in the primordial ooze."

The swimming pool at Lance's apartment complex seemed to fulfill the dual purposes of filamentous algae garden and insect breeding ground.

Julie looked forward to having a closet again, a closet and a huge oak dresser, even if she had to share both, especially if she had to share both. Suspecting that the black one-piece bathing suit had settled to the very bottom of the bag, she shoveled through wads of panties and knotted bras until she found it. 

Extracting the swath of black Lycra, she held it triumphantly overhead, treating it like a nugget of gold found at the bottom of a mine. She heard a whistle. It was Rick, leering at the discovery of her ebony treasure.

The suit was downright conservative compared to the barely there bikinis worn by her friends, but clinging to Julie's figure it had always attracted a fair share of attention. She wasn't interested in attracting attention today, she only wanted to keep Rick's blue eyes from wandering to the skimpier, skinnier girls.

"Why don't we try Lake Jude? The county put a new truckload of sand on the swimming beach," she said. 

Julie felt like a total jerk. They hadn't gone anywhere near Lake Jude in more than a week, not since the night he contemplated taking his own life on Miller's Bridge. 

She tossed the black suit over her shoulder and grabbed his hand, weaving their fingers together. "I'm sorry, Rick. I didn't even think about---"

He quieted her with a kiss. "It's okay. I could stop at the bait shop to visit Jerry, see if he has any new fish stories."

Julie smiled, squeezing his fingers tight. "I'll let you hold my hand, if you buy me a Coke."

He leaned down to kiss her cheek, then stroked away the wet spot he had made. "Go put your little suit on."

She bounced to the bathroom and stripped out of her shorts and top. After sliding out of her panties, she unhooked the bra and watched it helicopter to the floor. 

She stepped through the leg holes of the suit, wriggling as she willed the stretchy black Lycra to conform to her changing body. The suit was almost painfully snug, especially on her thighs, butt and waist. She glanced in the bathroom mirror where an otherwise slim body bulged embarrassingly in those crucial areas. 




The Family Room Ch. 11



Julie took a deep breath, steadying herself in the doorjamb. As she stepped out of the bathroom the chill of the air conditioner raised the tiny hairs of her arms. She cleared her throat, wanting his opinion, doubting that even her brother would want to be seen swimming with a girl who looked like the manatee in black. 

His naked back was to her. The fire engine red swimming trunks climbed over his long legs and pale butt, settling around a hopelessly slender waist. He turned around and wolf-whistled.

"Baby, you look hot," he said.

She couldn't decide if he was being charming or charitable. "Hot!? I look like a beetle." 

Rick had gathered a pair of clean bath towels from the closet. She snagged the purple one and wrapped it around her figure.

"Julie, don't be ridiculous. You're the most gorgeous---"

"Look at this blubber, Rick." She opened the towel and pinched the shallow layer of extra padding that had settled over her inner thighs. If he mentioned anything about there being more of her to love she would smack his handsome face.

"You've been under stress, with a new job, a strange home and everything that happened with Mom and Dad. A few extra pounds and some gray hairs are only natural."

"Gray hairs?!" she exclaimed, grabbing a fistful of her long brown locks. "I'm only nineteen." 

"Julie, I was joking," he said, combing through her hair with his fingertips. "See? Still a perfect little brunette. 

"I wouldn't care if you weighed three-hundred pounds and had hair whiter than Grandma's bed sheets. You will always be a living, breathing goddess." He put a hand over the chest of Julie's swimsuit and squeezed a pendulous breast.

She huffed as her nipple hardened behind the black Lycra. At least there was one part of her body where she knew he would appreciate the weight gain. 

She stroked his forearm as it traveled from breast to breast, delivering his fingers to her flesh. "Rick, would you still love me if my boobs withered away to nothing?" she asked. 

"I'm your brother, not a saint," he said. The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk that promised he would love her no matter what. She would put that smirk to the test in a very short while.

He squeezed her breasts again and stared deep into her eyes. His blue, her green, mixing, melting. 

"You're still gorgeous and you'll always be gorgeous, so stop worrying."

Before she could respond, the straps of her suit twisted over her shoulders until they were halfway down her bare arms. 

"We should probably delay our swimming for a bit." He pinched her stiff nipple as soon as the suit was out of the way. The jolt born in her sensitive pink nub flowed through her body, producing another jolt between her legs. 

"Why?" she asked. The word was partway between a whisper and a gasp. 

"I can't go into the water for at least an hour after I finish eating you."

He pulled the crotch of the black suit to the side. Her short pubic hairs were already matted; they glistened with salty sweat and the musky proof of her arousal. The aroma was headier than usual today, but he didn't seem to find it any less desirable.

Rick extended his tongue, collecting the dew from her petals in a gentle upstroke. He smacked his lips in satisfaction before sending his tongue to fetch another taste. 

God! If he received half the pleasure from her mouth that she received from his, Julie would never again hesitate to suck Rick's penis. Maybe she would even try swallowing his semen again. Maybe.

Julie parted her thighs as his tongue stopped lapping and started probing. She surrendered to the wet, warm, bumpy, invader, chewing her lip as his pink stroked her pink. A sharp intake of air collided with a muffled gasp deep within her throat, creating a high pitched moan that served to welcome and encourage the conquering hero.

He disengaged from her pussy. Without his warm breath and tongue at the apex of her thighs she felt empty. A feeling that disappeared the moment his rigid finger replaced the absentee tongue. 

Julie pinched her eyes closed as her brother touched mysterious places, places only he could find. 

She opened her eyes to find two pools of blue staring back at her. They kissed, he shared his tongue, shared the spice he had harvested from between her legs. Julie was not put off by the flavor, a phenomenon owing more to the fact that the vessel from which she sipped was her brother's sweet mouth than to any Sapphic tendencies.

Like the teasing tongue before, the finger too abandoned her vagina, replaced by something thicker, hotter and even more alive. A definite upgrade. 

Rick narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth and stabbed her flesh with his own. He impaled her repeatedly, deliciously, with motions designed not to take life but to create it. 

Create life, something they had already done that. Would he be here right now if he knew? Would he be ravishing her naked flesh, panting and thrusting on top of her body? She didn't know, and it was not knowing that drove her mad.

In her fantasies he was perfect, so caring and understanding; Rick would take the news in stride. He would squeeze her hand and kiss her belly, then they would go out to celebrate by purchasing cribs and strollers and beautiful, tiny, little clothes from the baby section of the department store. Their only disagreements would be blue or pink.

A cessation of the wonderful feelings brought Julie back to reality. Her brother still filled her but the movement had stopped. She felt the dull throbs of his stilled penis, blood as it rushed through every vein in that wonderful bar of life-giving flesh. Rick's blood, it was the same blood that flowed through her veins and the same that flowed through the veins of their child.

His body shifted, forcing the penis a fraction of an inch deeper. The movement gave her the tiniest twinge of pleasure. "You're being awfully quiet," he said. "Is there something bothering my Mrs. Martin."

She wanted to buy a spiral notebook and scribble that name hundreds of times on every page.

"Take me." Her voice was louder and sadder than she intended it to be. "Take me away from Saratoga Spring, Rick. I want to get away from friends who aren't friends anymore and parents who are ashamed to call me their daughter. Make love to me Rick, and take me away, just for a little while." Away from Saratoga Spring. Away from the memories, both good and bad.

Rick nipped her chin with his teeth. He licked and sucked the smooth skin under her jaw while his long fingers cupped her warm cheeks. His lower body moved again, pressing hard, shifting both the bed and the bed sheets with his motion. 

She opened her mouth and surrendered to the pleasure. Such enormous pleasure, it numbed her body and her mind.

Julie came first, curling and stretching her body beneath his. She writhed, seized by the enormous pleasures of climaxing with the man she loved. 

When the sensations faded she once more found herself staring at Rick. His handsome face was scrunched in a mask of bliss. His nose wrinkled and his lips puckered, as they always did in the moments before his release.

Seeing his immense pleasure brought her immense pleasure. If only he knew how much he was adored, she thought as she touched his cheek. A stream of sticky warmth injected deep within her body.

Rick muttered a cussword and pulled out, shooting ropes of whitish goop at her groin and thighs. 

Abandoned again. Julie wanted to protest but figured the effort outweighed the gains; it was too late to make a twin. She struggled to regain her breath while Rick's sperm cooled on her thigh. Lovemaking on an air mattress had been a unique experience. She imagined it was like having sex on a heavenly cloud. Sex with an angel, she thought, as she snuggled against her brother's heaving chest.

"Rick?" she said, rolling on her side to face him. "Why don't we move into the new apartment right now? We don't have much to pack."

He snickered. "I don't think the couple that still lives there would appreciate our intrusion. Besides, we need to find some furniture first. You'd feel pretty silly living in a big empty room."

"Not after living in this pigsty. Look at this mess: garbage bags, clothes everywhere." Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper, "and that naked couple who are always doing it."

"I like that couple," Rick said. "Especially the girl, she's hot."

"She thinks you're pretty hot too." Julie leaned against his chest, kissing the muscle of one shoulder. His body responded predictably, with the spent penis regaining some semblance of an erection. "She also thinks you have amazing recuperative powers."

Julie closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against Rick's body, reveling in his masculine scent. She purred like a contented kitten. "Rick, have I ever told you how happy you've made me."

He stroked her naked back. "Practically every day, baby."

"This summer, with you, even when it wasn't so perfect, has been the happiest time in my life but do you ever wonder what our lives will be like a year from now, or two years? I keep seeing us in that beautiful apartment at Shade Tree."

Rick snickered. "And what are we doing there, besides working three jobs apiece just to pay the rent."

"You're trying to make me dinner. Mm, it smells like spaghetti red. Unfortunately you used too much red and not enough spaghetti." She could see everything behind her closed eyelids, as if there were a second set of eyes transmitting pictures to her brain. She wanted Rick to see too. 

"And what is my beautiful Mrs. Martin doing while the culinary disaster lays waste to her kitchen?"

"I'm fixing the baby's room." 

Julie realized what she had said. Her eyes fluttered open. 

Rick's eyes were already opened and they were studying her. "That's some wild imagination you have, a pricey apartment and an even pricier baby on two Video Hut salaries."

"You make it sound like children are luxury items."

"Well, they probably are. It's not like you can get clothes, food and diapers for free. Not to mention the doctor and hospital bills. Julie, raising a baby is a serious commitment; it's a living, breathing, little human not some Cabbage Patch doll you can dress up and stuff in a box." 

Her eyes burned. Rick Martin, a month away from twenty-five and working his first full-time job, had the gall to lecture her about responsibility. He was treating her like a little girl who wanted to keep the stray dog that followed her home. 

She decided to tell him the truth. He would be made to understand, whatever the consequences.

***

"Food, clothes, bills, money, those are just things, Rick. How can you compare things with a life, especially a life that we created."

I wondered why she couldn't understand, why she insisted on arguing. "We have no business creating life at all." 

"What...? What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't be dumb, Julie. You know what we are."

She scooted away from me, just a foot or two, but there was something ominous about the distance created. "What are we?! Goddamn it, tell me what we are, Rick!"

"We're brother and sister. It's dangerous enough that we're... that we're..." Together, in love, why had those words suddenly become so difficult to say? "Have you forgotten what happened with Erin? With Mom and Dad? What do you think would happen if you pushed around a carriage full of our fucked-up babies. Showing everyone I've ever known the three-eyed nieces and flipper-handed nephews that their own aunt gave birth to."

She rolled on the mattress, showing her back to me. I grasped her shoulder and forced her little body to face me. "Look at me, Julie! I promised we'd talk about this, so let's talk. Let's talk until we both turn purple, hopefully by then you'll get it through your thick, stubborn skull that we are not going to have any babies!"

"What if it was too late, Rick?" The words were hollow. It was like her mind and her mouth were in two different places. "What if I was already pregnant?"

To be concluded...



The Family Room Ch. 12



"Quit stalling and answer the question, Rick. What would we do if it was too late? What would we do if I was already pregnant?" Julie's eyes squeezed into angry little slits. The wicked rasp of her breath drilled through my ears.

My response was long in coming. "I could take you to the women's clinic," I said, unlocking my jaw. "A doctor could---"

Her eyes and mouth flew open. "Oh my God, you can't...you can't be serious."

She regarded me with such bitter coldness; I was a stranger to her. "You mother fucker!" she screeched. Her right hand curled into a fist, striking me hard against the left cheek. I didn't react to the blow so she swung again, striking my jaw with as much force as her skinny arm could muster. 

She whimpered and rubbed discolored knuckles.

I reached for her in a foolish attempt to make peace. She struck me with an open hand, raking her sharp fingernails across my cheek. 

Touching the stinging skin, my fingers came away streaked with blood. 

Julie jerked off of the bed and hovered over me. She was raised on the balls of her feet, her shoulders arched. She tried to make her tiny body appear as intimidating as possible.

I was sick of her stubbornness, sick of her attitude. She was a nineteen year old brat, not a mother and I wanted her to realize it.

"Would it be like this with your kid?" I asked, smearing warm blood across my cheek. "First night the baby won't stop crying you smack it around until it bleeds. Or would you just cover it's face with a pillow, smother it until..." I fell silent. Such terrible words had never passed through my lips. Words made even more terrible by the fact they were directed at Julie.

"You Goddamned sick mother fucker!" Skinny arms thrashed again, raining stinging slaps and sharp claws to my face, neck and chest. 

I grabbed her forearms, stopping the assault, holding firmly, squeezing her arms tight enough to produce a wince. Not wanting to hurt her, no matter how furious she made me, I relaxed my grip. Julie tore free, stumbling sideways into the futon, scattering the stacks of my folded clothes with a flail of her arms.

She sloppily readjusted the black bathing suit, covering the portions of her body I had exposed prior to our lovemaking. She struggled into a wrinkled t-shirt. It was backwards and inside-out but she beat her arms, forcing the white cotton to conform to her torso.

"God damn it, I hate you." The words were spat from her lips. She rushed to the tiny kitchenette and yanked open a drawer, tearing it off it's rollers. Something glinted in her hand as she charged the bed. 

A paring knife, did she mean to stab me? 

"You psychotic little bitch!" I tried to scramble from the airbed but the shifting vinyl surface hindered my movement.

She plunged the knife through the bed sheets, tearing through the thick vinyl. Cool air rushed through the wound as the bed rapidly deflated. In seconds my body touched the hard floor. 

She raised the knife again, keeping me guessing as to whether or not she meant to do harm. The blade never fell again, Julie hurled it towards the kitchen, where it ricocheted off the toaster and clattered to the floor. 

She forced her breaths through a wide mouth, trying to regain control of herself. I had never seen Julie so upset, not at me, not at my parents, not at anyone.

Spittle rained from her lips, cooling my enflamed skin. I noticed another glint of metal in her hand, the keys to my car. She was leaving me.

Despite my simmering anger, despite every stupid and irrational thing I had said, I had no desire to see her go. If there was something I could have said or done to pacify her I would not have hesitated. "Baby, please---"

"Don't you ever call me that! Don't look at me, don't touch me and don't ever come near me!" Tears washed her cheeks, tears of anger, sadness and pain. "I'll tell everyone that you took advantage of me. That you raped me and..." She sobbed, unable to continue. She wouldn't tell anyone that. 

Every conceivable human emotion flickered in her wet green eyes, every emotion but love. Ties had been severed, a connection lost. I was no longer her friend, no longer her lover. Worst of all I was no longer her brother. The love was gone, all of it.

And so was she.

***

Columns of light escaped through slits in the drawn curtains. Their presence announced daytime, but what day? Julie blinked swollen eyes, wondering how long her slumber had lasted. She focused on the pink canopy of her old bed as memories of last night chilled her body. She rolled over on her side so she could bury her face in a pillow. 

The bedroom that had been her kingdom for nineteen years was a strange and foreign place without her prince. Her prince? Julie was disgusted by the thought. Her brother had turned out to be a dragon, breathing fire with his words, hateful words that ransacked her dreams and laid waste to their future together. 

Everything she had feared came to be. Rick hated her and he hated their baby. He had reacted so badly to the hypothetical question, to a mere what if. How would he have reacted had she divulged the full truth, that she truly was pregnant. Would he have forced her to have an abortion?

Julie had no choice but to leave, depriving him the satisfaction of leaving her first.

Without money or friends, she had traversed every mile of street and side street in Saratoga Spring. Not an inch of paved surface went untouched by the commandeered tires of her brother's car. After running the gas tank to near empty, Julie conceded that her options were limited. She could return to Rick or return to her parents. Both options were frightening but at the moment she perceived her parents to be far less so.

Donald and Beth Martin must have been shocked to find their tear soaked daughter heaped on the front porch, clad only in a bathing suit and t-shirt. She had shivered in the night air for almost an hour, trying to summon the courage to press the doorbell. 


Her parents had taken her back without hesitation. Thank God for that. Julie had no idea where she would have gone had they turned her away. She stayed in bed the entire night, her own strange bed.

Her mother tried to offer company, launching skilled attempts to pry information in an inoffensive, motherly way. The two talked about friends no longer friendly and relatives no longer relative. They talked about everything, except Rick. Julie never wanted to talk about Rick again, even if he was all she could think about.

Despite the much needed warmth that resulted from the reunion with her mother, the sky eventually grew too dark and the moon's glare too bright. Unable to pretend insomnia, Julie surrendered to a sleep without rest, a sleep with far too many startled awakenings and far too little peace. 

When she finally awoke, it was not to the gentle appeals of a mother but to the agitated moans of a father. "I told you this would happen; didn't I?" Through the closed door her father shouted. "I Goddamned told you!"

She imagined her father's chest puffed, strutting about like a rooster. And why not, he had been right all along.

The bedroom door cracked open. To Julie's relief, it was her mother who quietly slipped inside. 

Beth Martin sat at the edge of the bed and did little more than watch her daughter. She watched with eyes of warmth, compassion and forgiveness, the eyes of a mother. "Sweetheart," she said, opening her arms.

Julie, the woman who had run away with the man she loved--thought she loved; Julie, the woman who carried a child conceived with the man she loved--thought she loved, was transformed in that moment. As if traveling backwards through time she morphed into a dependant little girl. Feeling utterly helpless, she clung to her mother, hoping to find some small measure of support.

"Sweetheart, please tell me what happened."

Julie shook her head. Warm tears rolled off her chin, dripping to her mother's sweatshirt. "I can't, you'd hate me too."

"Julie, I'm your mother. There isn't a single thing you could say, not in any language, that would make me hate you or your brother."

Julie sniffled, summoning what remained of her tattered courage. "He said horrible things about me and about our..." She pressed her face to her mother's shoulder. Tears flowed freely. She couldn't tell, she could only cry so that's what she did, soaking her mother's ash gray sweatshirt for what seemed like hours. She cried until the need for food overtook her sorrow.

"Come on, sweetheart, I'll fix you breakfast." Beth paused, glanced at her wristwatch and amended, "I guess lunch would be more appropriate at this time of the day."

Julie inched out of bed, feeling sicker and dizzier than her condition alone should have accounted for. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to eat. She wanted Rick and that made her want to throw up even more. 

Had she been in bed forever? The muscles of her body felt like they had atrophied. She readjusted the black Lycra swimsuit while stretching stiff joints. She arched backwards to combat the pressure on her spine. The action prominently displayed her stomach, too prominently.

The eyes of a mother had not missed the subtle changes in her little girl's body. "Julie Alyssa Martin!" she hissed, forcing each syllable through locked jaws. "You're--oh my God!" She dropped to sit on the mattress, quickly sprang up, then dropped again. 

The mother's eyes never left her daughter's stomach, not for several minutes. She stared, as if equipped with some manner of x-ray vision that allowed her to view the baby that grew within her baby. 

Julie prepared for the worst. Would her mother be as angry as Rick, her words even more horrible? Was that even possible?

Beth Martin threw her arms around Julie, crying tears her daughter had already spilt.

"Please don't tell Daddy." Julie pulled away from her mother. Just imagining her father's reaction created a chill.

"You can't expect me to keep something like this---"

Julie's arms wrapped around her mother's neck. "Please mommy, please mommy... please! He'll hate me and throw me out. I don't have anywhere else to go. Please..."

Beth Martin held her daughter. She comforted, whispering promises that everything would be all right. She had done the very same thing more than a week ago, when Julie and Rick had been caught making love. She had been wrong then as well.

Julie sagged against her pillows, still hungry, still exhausted. Her eyes stung too badly to hold open, she didn't even try. Gripping her mother's hand she drifted off, ignoring her body as it tensed and cramped from fear and hunger.

She awoke a short time later to the sounds of quiet tapping in the hallway. Crutches, or a crutch, maneuvered across the hardwood floors of the house. She knew her father had been hurt from his fall in the kitchen but had no idea how badly.

Two voices sounded on the other side of the bedroom door. A quiet conversation was taking place, one where her name was whispered extensively. She recognized another name just as easily, a name that even whispered made her sick with heartbreak and fear. Then came the moment she feared almost as much as anything Rick could do to her. Her mother softly murmured pregnant and baby, two words that at one time had seemed almost magical but now were the verbal incarnation of everything she dreaded. 


Julie braced herself for the violence of her father's reaction.

He muttered a curse. With a garbled voice he repeated the same curse. He shouted so loud the neighbors must have heard. This time there would be no chest puffing, no finger wagging, no boasts of vindication. 

A fist struck the door, restarting the tremors in her body as it pounded repeatedly. She feared the wood would splinter in it's jamb. He called for her in a voice thick with anger and pain, the same agonized voice that had called for her as he laid bloody and broken upon the kitchen floor.

Beth Martin urged her husband to let the girl's emotional wounds heal before trying to inflict his own. Her words must have worked, the pounding stopped. The tapping of crutches on the hardwood floor restarted, moving slowly down the hall and then even more slowly down the stairs.

The confrontation she dreaded was averted. She was safe, her baby was safe, for the moment.

The world outside Julie's room fell silent. She gripped the edge of her sheets, letting the smooth cotton absorb the sweat from her palms as a horrible, eerie silence built. Silence was everywhere when it should have been nowhere. There should be yelling, screaming, fighting but instead there was only ceiling pulsing, wall quivering silence. Cold dampness covered Julie's entire body as she anticipated the moment when the entire house would blow apart.

Finally the explosion came. The grating sound of glass crashing through glass echoed throughout the house. Downstairs in the family room a crystal vase had been hurled through a television set.

***

A car whizzed across Miller's Bridge, the driver passing close enough to spray me with warmth from his exhaust. 

"We're both going to end up road kill if we stay up here." Lance's protests had been as constant as the wasps that flitted in lazy orbits overhead.

"Don't be such a coward," I said. Leaning over the guardrail, I gazed at the foaming green water below. "You only live once, Lancelot."

"And not for long if you stay up here," he said. Lance joined me at the rail, clutching the steel bar with white ghost's hands. He shifted his concern from the traffic to the distance between the bridge and the lake.

Lance's hands were glued to the railing, his feet were rooted to the concrete. He motioned to the little bait shop using his chin as a makeshift thumb, "That Jerry, he's a real character."

"Yeah, I thought you'd like him."

"You're lucky to have a friend like him, someone you can trust."

"Someone else, you mean." I smacked Lance on the back, causing him to gasp as he widened his stance.

I sure didn't feel lucky. Even after spending the afternoon with two of my best friends I felt more depressed than ever.

For the past three months it seemed as though my every emotion, high and low, revolved around Julie. Now, with no outlet for my hope and fear, my pride and insecurity, I feel only a great emptiness.

"There's only one thing that stops me from jumping," I said, gazing into the water. "What's that, a craven fear of heights?" Lance's focus darted from the trees across the lake to the smoky purple sky to his dusty truck resting in the gravel lot.

"A promise. A stupid promise I made to a stubborn little girl." A promise that I would never do anything to hurt myself. If only I had promised to never hurt her.

Another car zoomed across the bridge, it's hungry tires chewed bits of gravel and broken asphalt.

"She pretended to be so confident, like she needed to be a mother." I spat over the rail, watching my clear saliva disappear downward, where I knew it would become part of something bigger, part of the lake.

"The happy homemaker, only nineteen years old. How fucked up is that?" I asked.

"Totally fucked up," Lance said. "Your sister would have been much better off listening to you, Rick Martin, the world's foremost authority when it comes to responsibility. After all, you're so dependable and mature---"

"Shut up, Lance." I wasn't angry at him, or the sarcasm that sharpened his tongue. I wasn't angry at all, just empty.

"Would it really be so bad to give her what she wants?"

"Does she want to answer the questions everyone will ask? Who's the father, why aren't you married, why are you so close to your brother. She'd be living a nightmare of a lie and she deserves so much better."

"That's not my buddy Rick talking, that's his bully of a conscience."

"I can't ruin her life, I can't."

"Sounds to me like that's exactly what you're doing, ruining Julie's life and your own to boot. Why don't you at least talk to her, tell her why you're concerned. I'll bet she'd understand."

My face and upper body were covered with partially healed scratches, the results of last night's conversation. No, her mind was made and once that happened reasoning with Julie Martin is like reasoning with a stone slab. 

"She's just a kid, a selfish little kid!" I stepped back and kicked the guardrail. My boot struck hard, clanging against the steel. "If the stupid girl wants a family so bad let someone else knock her up. Let her sleep with every man in town for all I care." A fleeting image of my Julie with another man turned my stomach.

"We'll see how she likes being a mommy complete with nausea and mood swings. If she thinks she's putting on weight now, you just wait until her belly swells. She'll wish she never..." I stopped. Like puzzle pieces everything fit into place: mornings locked in the bathroom, her overly-emotional and sometimes erratic behavior, the extra weight that had troubled her.

"It's too late." The words were squeezed from between my locked lips. My jaw fell; it dangled uselessly. She never told me it was too late. All the hypothetical questions, the constant what ifs and nagging what woulds. Julie had been pregnant the entire time. 

The things I said to dissuade her echoed in my head, the awful, horrible things. She had to listen to every selfish, disgusting argument I could conjure, knowing all along that it was too late. 

Lance looked at me funny. His lips moved in silent speech. No, he was talking but I could hear nothing over the ringing in my skull, nothing save for the drumming of my heart.

***

Julie rolled on the bed and punched the tower of pillows her mother had stacked beneath her shoulders.

Every time! Every single time her body relaxed enough for a peaceful slumber she was disrupted by memories of Rick. She would imagine that his long arms were wrapped around her body. She would imagine until she could almost feel the softness of his breath as it tickled her neck.

Far worse was the masculine scent of his aftershave. If only the scent of limes, spices and unabashed masculinity that lingered in the fibers of her bed sheets were imagined. The scent served as a bittersweet reminder of the secret trysts she and her brother had while still under their parents thumb. She drove her elbow into the mattress, hard enough to pop a spring.

The familiar tap tapping of a crutch sounded in the hallway, followed by gentle rapping on the door. In a shaky little voice, voice hoarse from too many sobs and too little rest, Julie permitted her father entry. 

She hadn't seen him since that night, the night her life changed--the first night her life changed. Looking so much different than she ever remembered, it was a feeble old man who held an injured foot aloft as he balanced on an aluminum crutch. 

His free hand, a hand bandaged and wrapped with gauze, caddied a steaming mug of alphabet soup. He set the mug on the nightstand, sloshing a dribble over the side. 

He touched her forehead with his palm, a ritual Donald Martin had performed many times when his little girl was sick in bed with the flu. This may have been the first time his touch failed to comfort her. 

He pulled a napkin-wrapped spoon out of his shirt pocket and placed it beside the mug. "I had a chat with your mother," he said, balancing himself at the bedside.

"I heard." Julie tried to smile, but it hurt too much. She focused her gaze on the edge of the bed, fearing and at the same time hoping he would sit and join her.

When he showed no signs of sitting she took the spoon and dipped it in the mug. Absentmindedly she hunted a noodle R, an H and an M. Richard Henderson Martin. She sighed and tipped the spoon, spilling the letters back into the soup. She chose instead to sip a mouthful of broth straight from the mug.




The Family Room Ch. 12



"You must be happy with how things worked out," she said, staring into the mug. She hunted once more for the R, H and M. "Everything except for the...the..." She didn't have the courage to say baby in her father's presence. 

Donald Martin wedged his crutch between the footboard and mattress. He sat on the edge of the bed, close to Julie's covered body. "I would never wish my little girl this kind of pain." He looked at his bandaged hand and offered a grin that more closely resembled a toothy frown. "Not even after she tried to break me in two."

Julie sniffled loudly then hugged him, finding a measure of comfort in her father's arms for the first time in a long time.

"Forgive me for the way I've behaved, sweetheart. The way I treated you and your brother, it..." He covered his face, snuffing a tear.

"It makes me sick to think about what the two of you were doing...what you were doing behind my back. It was such a shock, seeing you...seeing both of you, my two perfect children."

Julie's heart ached; she felt anything but perfect. 

"My sweet little girl, always so mature, and my son, the most honest person I've ever met. I used to brag about you both...I never even suspected..."

For the first time Julie felt ashamed of what she had done, ashamed that she was no longer her father's innocent little daughter. She had tasted the forbidden apple and as punishment she would bear her brother's child alone. 

Her father peeled the warm blanket from Julie's body. She had changed into a pair of her mother's pajamas, frumpy flannel things that hung limply from her small body, but without the cover she felt cold. He watched her stomach rise and fall with each breath. This early in the pregnancy the changes to her body were not particularly noticeable.

He closed his eyes and reached beneath the baggy flannel top to contact her bare skin, resting his palm over her navel. 

He must have felt it, felt the change, because he removed his hand as if it had been burnt.

He cleared his throat. "Rick was the one boy--one man I could always trust. He never lied, never let me down, not once. Look what happened; look what he's done. Goddamn it, Julie, look what he's done!"

Her father clenched his uninjured hand and raised it above his shoulder. Julie braced her body and covered her face, unsure if his target would be her bed, her wall or herself. 

His fingers uncurled and drifted down to cover her small, trembling hands. He uncovered her face and delivered a fatherly kiss to her forehead. 

"We have to control our temper," he said through gritted teeth. "Short tempers and hard heads are sort of Martin family curses, curses that you and I seem to have inherited the worst of. It can make us do things we regret, things we can't take back. 

"When some things get broken, sweetheart, we can't always put them back together." Donald Martin got up. He winced as his injured foot contacted the unforgiving hardwood.

Julie sipped from the warm mug. She watched her father balance on the crutch as he ambled away. The damage done to his body would heal, she assured herself. But would the damage done to her heart ever be so fortunate?

***

My left leg maneuvered over the chain-link fence. Stretching on my toes, to avoid snagging my groin on the rusted steel, I lifted my right leg over the barrier. My foot came down crooked, sending shockwaves of pain from my ankle to my brain. Both legs buckled, compromising my balance. In less than a second my chest slammed into the manicured lawn.

I gasped and sputtered, coaxing bluegrass-scented oxygen back into my lungs. Two houses down, the Crenshaws' little dog heard the disturbance and yapped. I imagined the neighbors peering from every available window, squinting into the darkness to see "that no-good Martin kid" passed out on his parents' back lawn. 

Gathering my wits, I brushed flecks of wet grass from my clothes while high-pitched barks pierced my already throbbing skull. I hissed at the obnoxious terrier, begging it to shut it's snout. For the first time since being weaned, the little dog followed a command.

I was directly below Julie's bedroom. Thick, pink curtains hung flaccidly behind the screen and glass of the window. There was not so much as a trace of light behind the curtains. The darkness forced me to remember my words from yesterday. I'd called her stupid, called her worse, all the while having no idea of the burden she carried.

A leafy lilac bush grew beside the house, growing fat and happy in the shade. I reached to the base of the bush, parting the fronds of it's companion ferns and gathered a few pea-sized rocks.

I'm aware that tossing pebbles against the window is the most hackneyed device in the most hackneyed romantic movies but sneaking around my parents' backyard after dark had transformed me into a creature of necessity. A creature who wanted to wake her, and her alone. 

The first pebble hit the screen, scraping and thumping as it bounced. The second pebble hit higher up, clacking against the glass. Hopefully, she would find my sudden appearance in the middle of the night romantic; that was the best case scenario. Worst case scenario, I didn't want to think about worst case; I had been living worst case long enough.

There was a flash of movement behind the curtains, I could see it, even in the darkened bedroom. A latch clicked and the window groaned open. 

Julie's face hovered over me. Paler than I'd ever seen her, she appeared to be the ghost of our relationship. "What do you want?" She attempted to purge all emotion from her voice. It was a poor attempt at dispassion, the sadness that tinged each word was unmistakable.

"I wanted to see you."

She raised her head in profile as if to say, "Here I am. Glut your eyes and your soul on what you have lost." 

The romantic speeches that had turned circles in my head were forgotten. "Come home, Julie," I blurted, "home with me, where you belong. I love you."

"You wouldn't have said those things if you loved me." She leaned on the windowsill, letting her green eyes search the sky.

I realized she was afraid of me, a notion that filled me with more self-loathing than I had ever experienced in my life. "You should have told me, Julie. I would never--"

"You would have, no matter what you say. You think I'm too young, and too stupid."

Her words and the tears that slid down her cheeks made my heart ache. Any anger that lingered between us melted away, leaving only hurt.

"No, Julie, no, this has nothing to do with you. You're not stupid and even at nineteen you're more mature than I'll ever be. You'll make a great mom but... This is about me; it always has been. I'm...so..." I felt tears but didn't want to cry. I wanted Julie to see I could be strong; she needed me to be strong.

"What is it Rick? What's the matter?"

"I'm scared, Julie. I am so scared." That was it, my admission, my excuse, whatever you want to call it. I laid myself bare so she could see the true Rick Martin. On the outside I was a man, nearly twenty-five, but on the inside I was a frightened, worthless little child.

Julie smiled, her thumb smeared a warm tear across her cheek. "You don't think I'm scared? I've been here all alone, wondering what I would do without you. I know it's only been a day but it felt like ages."

"You have nothing to worry about, Julie. When you babysat for the neighbors you were so fantastic, their kids practically worshipped you.

"I'm the one who's going to screw everything up. You never saw me teach art class; it was a disaster. I don't know anything about kids or being a parent. What if I can't do it?"

"It's alright if you screw up. We'll both screw up, lots of times. There's no handbook, Rick, no can't fail, one hundred percent guaranteed way to be the perfect parents. Our parents certainly weren't perfect but we still turned out okay."

"Some would argue that point." Our parents would probably be loudest among them.

"Rick Martin, you are the most honest person I know, sometimes to a fault. Your whole life you've put the concerns of the people you love above your own. I think maybe that's why I've always loved you so much. Because, even though you're terrified of the work, the expense and the responsibility of having this baby, you're still standing outside of my window in the middle of the night telling me that you love me.

"That's why I know you'll be a great dad."

I could feel Julie's confidence in me. It coursed through my body like adrenaline, taking away my fears, at least for tonight. "I want to try. I want to try my best but not here, not in Saratoga Spring. Staying here would be too dangerous."

As if to underscore that danger the porch light flashed on next door, illuminating the Feldman's backyard. A sliding glass patio door whooshed open. Lenny Feldman and his wife peeked their wrinkled heads through the opening. 

My voice didn't lower, despite the audience. I called to Julie all the louder, all the clearer. 

"I love you Julie Martin. I want to take you away, as far away as we can stand to move. We'll go halfway across the country if we have to, someplace where nobody knows us as anything but Rick Martin and his beautiful Mrs. Martin. We'll find someplace safe, where we can raise our children together." Did I just say children, as in more than one?

"For that, I would move halfway across the world," Julie said, smiling as she fought back a sob.

Mr. Feldman gasped and grabbed the sleeve of his wife's bathrobe. They slithered back inside, coughing and choking and clutching at their feeble hearts. It looks like accusations and explanations would be my parting gifts to our parents.

Julie backed away from the window, disappearing into the darkness of her room. A light flashed on and she reappeared at the window, glowing in the gloriously soft lamplight.

"Rick." She sighed. "I used to dream about this night when I was a little girl, the night my dashing prince would call to me from outside the window. He would slay the dragon then whisk me away to a big, gray and black stone castle, just like in a fairy tale."

"Sorry I ruined your plans."

She rubbed her face, fighting back tears. "You didn't ruin them, Rick. You were my dashing prince all along, the man I wanted to whisk me away. Every dream, every fantasy, it was always you, even before I knew why."

I had nothing to say.

"I'll only take a minute, wait for me."

"Baby, I've waited nineteen years for you." Despite the impatience that crowded my voice, I would have waited another nineteen years if needed. "I'll be in the driveway."

She nodded, smiled, then disappeared into the room. The chain-link fence, once the foreboding barrier of my youth, was nothing more than a hurdle. I found myself pacing in the driveway in no time. Sitting down on the hood of my parent's sedan my right leg danced uncontrollably. I was desperate to hold her and to feel her. Attempting to still my trembling body, I took deep, calming breaths.

***

Julie closed the window, forgetting the latch. She paused in front of the dresser mirror, examining red and puffy eyes, cheeks streaked with makeup, and limp, tangled hair stuck to the side of her scalp.

Rick won't care. She knew he would love her no matter how red and puffy her eyes, how streaky her face or how limp and tangled her hair. And she decided he'll love her no matter how fat his baby makes her. He'll always love her no matter what, as a brother and as a man.

She jerked open the bedroom door, determined to run straight to his arms. In her haste she almost collided with her parents.

Donald and Beth Martin stood in the hallway, like a human wall blocking the way to Rick. They had heard everything; they knew what she and her brother conspired to do.

A defeated smile came not from her mother but from her father. Deep down he must have known that, however wrong it seemed, what the siblings felt for each other was real. 

Her mother could only weep so she wept the saddest, happiest tears Julie had ever seen. Julie felt her own tears, the sad tears of a daughter losing her parents and the happy tears of a young woman on the cusp of fulfilling her dreams.

Julie fell against her mom and dad. With her embrace she shared the pain and, she hoped, a portion of her own joy.

Her mom kissed Julie's cheeks repeatedly. She brushed a few stray locks of hair from Julie's face and tried to clean some of the smeared makeup with the pad of her thumb. Once a mom always a mom. 

Julie turned to her father. If her mom's face had been a mask of restrained joy, then her dad's was one of tempered pain. Rarely does a father endure losing his little girl twice in a lifetime, let alone twice in little more than a week. To his credit, if Donald Martin felt anger he buried it in a very deep grave. 

He pressed his lips to Julie's forehead, all the while holding her close. "Take care of him, Julie," her dad said as tears dripped from his cheeks. "Take care of my son."

Julie looked up at her father and smiled, both inwardly and outwardly. She remembered what he had said the night her relationship with Rick was discovered. He had pronounced their family dead, naming Rick as it's murderer. He was wrong. Their family might have changed a lot over the past summer but a part of it lived on. 

She conceded that her family would never be the same again, she even conceded that her love for Rick would never be fully accepted by their parents, but as long as the old wounds continued to heal there remained hope for her once happy family.

In turn the mom and dad each touched the swell at their daughter's stomach. Giving Julie reason to think that maybe, just maybe, within lay the quickest route to reconciliation between her parents and her brother.

Her parents' relaxed their hold, releasing her forever. 

She gave Rick no time to react. Before the kitchen door could even squeak in it's hinges, she had him pinned to the hood of the sedan. Julie covered every inch of her brother's face with warm kisses. She climbed on top of him, settling herself over his lap, inviting his long arms to wrap her.

Julie brought her lips close to his ear. "Promise me we won't fight, not ever again."

"Baby, I can't promise that." His arms wrapped snug around her waist. "You know we'll have arguments..." He trailed off. His hands ventured from the small of her back to settle over the swell of her stomach. His mouth curved in a lopsided grin, doing nothing to hide the fact that he was still terrified. 

"I won't let you go," he promised, "not ever again."

***

Julie squeaked and squirmed as I gathered her in my arms and carried her over the threshold of our soon-to-be no longer temporary home. Her pretty voice hummed a few chords of the wedding march as I caddied her towards the bedroom. 

"It was a beautiful ceremony," she said.

It was beautiful, especially when Julie and I whispered to each other the vows intended for Jerry and his bride, Linda.

Julie had not been among the flock of desperate hens who instigated an impromptu battle royal as the bride tossed her bouquet of paper white daisies. Tradition said whoever escaped the fracas would be next to see a wedding day. Julie shunned the old tradition. She told me she was happily resigned to the fact that she would never be officially married.

Several times during the ceremony and the reception the old guilt, that three months ago almost drove us apart, reared it's unwelcome head. The sight of Linda in her wedding gown as she hugged her own ancient mother severely tested my composure.

That Julie would never experience such a day, the kind of day dreamed about by little girls and grown women alike, devastated me. She caressed my cheeks as if sensing my apprehension. 

"Two more weeks until forever," she said. 

For us forever consisted of a move to an obscure town off the Oregon coast. A place called Stanley Island.

Stanley Island was a resort town for millionaires who had made their fortunes on the internet, a place that the locals referred to as Key Northwest. The town had attracted us because it was in the heart of a burgeoning area rich with jobs. Even more attractive was the fact that it was about as far from Saratoga Spring as two could get.

"Two more weeks until I finally put that art degree of mine to good use," I said.

A girlish giggle escaped her pretty pink lips, she covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry, but I can't picture my big, handsome brother working for an interior designer."

"It's not like I'll be arranging orchids or Feng Shui-ing anybody. They're paying me to paint."

"Someday your walls and ceilings will hang in museums: latex-based on drywall by Rick Martin."

"Make fun all you want but for every can of Dutch Boy I slap on someone's wall I'll be painting a canvas portrait for a husband and his wife, or a circus mural for their child's bedroom. And far more important than anything I do," I said, "my expecting 'wife' will be provided with free health insurance."

It had been three months since I learned of Julie's pregnancy. At the time she hadn't really shown but now, during the frosty first week of December, her condition was unmistakable.

Despite her increased weight, carrying her to Lance's bedroom, right to the foot of his meticulously arranged bed, was no task at all. The jersey bed sheets were tucked snug, snug enough to bounce a coin. I wondered how well they would bounce a hormonally charged young woman as I deposited her on the springy mattress. 

I would always be her big brother, that being the case the impulse to tease was too great to ignore. I arched and rubbed my back, wiping phantom sweat from my brow. "Pretty soon you're going to be too big for me to carry."

Julie's hand went to her stomach; her mouth made a little O. "Rick Martin, just be glad you didn't put twins in me; my poor little body would crack like an over-boiled egg."

The ivory dress she had donned for the wedding complemented her very pregnant body perfectly. I shimmied out of my suit jacket, unable to take my eyes from her beauty. Color flushed her face and neck, leaving no doubt that she wanted me every bit as much as I wanted her. 

She reached to the key that promised freedom from her dress, the zipper nestled between the blades of her slim shoulders. Unable to reach, she twisted on the bed as helpless as a box turtle on it's back, an ill-advised analogy to make in the presence of a pregnant woman.

"Need help coming out of your shell?" I asked. The question earned me a puzzled look. I eased behind her and worked the zipper down, slowly uncovering her back. 

I fingered the shoulder straps of her bra, a nursing bra worn prematurely. She knew how it affected me; she knew how she affected me.

Julie turned around and peeled open a bra cup, exposing a beautiful, naked breast. 

I attached my lips to the dark, swollen nipple. Suckling at her bosom, I imagined the warm milk that would flow after our son was born. I shuddered against her flesh as I pondered how women were capable of creating so many magical things.

She moaned as I mouthed the rubbery nubbin, pulling from her nipple with a moist pop. I massaged her glistening aureole as her body raised an inch from the bed. She created enough distance between her backside and the mattress to slide the crumpled dress over her butt and across her thighs. 

Now only the bra and a demure pair of off-white panties stood between me and my Julie. 

She unfastened the bra, draping it over the dusty brass headboard, then wriggled out of her panties, flipping the scrap of fragrant cotton to me.

I crushed her most personal article of clothing to my chest, then let it drop as I hastened to remove my own clothing. My trembling, sweating fingers went to work unfastening the belt around my waist. As I undressed, her naked butt ground against the surface of Lance's bed, wrinkling the comforter and creating streaks of moisture wherever the lips of her dewy pussy contacted the beige fabric.




The Family Room Ch. 12



The gyrations of her body atop the bed weakened my knees. The overt signs of approaching motherhood had done nothing to temper my attraction to her. Even with one extra curve she was still my perfect and petite little Julie, the woman I would love forever.

Delaying no longer, I escaped the last vestiges of clothing by struggling free from my shirt, refusing to pause for even a single button.

"Rick!" She giggled when she saw that I had not worn underwear. 

"Sorry, baby. I forgot the laundry again." I brushed my hands over her parted thighs, the thighs I wanted to stay between forever.

She moaned, stretching her ankles towards the corners of the mattress, inviting me to explore her body. "I don't think Lance would appreciate us defiling his bed," she said.

My voice adopted a playful tone. "We've already defiled every other hunk of furniture in this dinky apartment. What makes his bed so special?"

She giggled. "You're so awful, Rick; he's your best friend."

"No, he isn't." I took her small hand and kissed the delicate fingers.

The playful expression disappeared from her face. "I can't wait until we have our own bed, not just our own bed but our own bedroom and our own kitchen and our own bathroom and a family room for our perfect little family."

"It will be perfect." I rested against her swollen belly, feeling the taut skin against my cheek. Our home, our child. How could anything created with Julie be anything but perfect.

My fingers drifted to the short curls between her legs. Wet fur greeted my fingertips, the feminine drool a testament to her hunger. Her clit was already engorged so I concentrated there. The initial contact made her groan. The groan changed to a mewl as I pinched and massaged her little pleasure spot. Her whispered voice begged me to do with her body as I pleased.

I was more than happy to oblige since my pleasure only came from her pleasure. I knew how much stress the standard positions put on her ripe little body and I couldn't bear to see her in discomfort so I squeezed her tiny hand in my own and invited her to climb on my lap. She did so, resting her knees on each side of my legs. She settled down, facing away to insure that her protruding belly would not come between us.

I guided the head of my penis to her moist opening, feeling a surge of electricity as our most private areas touched. She settled down on the shaft, moving slow as if to savor every inch of our union. Once the joining was complete her soft butt rested against my lap. I draped the long brown hair, parted so evenly in the middle of her scalp, over her shoulder. It's silky softness cascaded down her equally silky and soft skin. 

Greeted with an unobstructed view of her naked back, my fingertips and eyes competed in a race to memorize every tiny freckle and every shadowy vein that inhabited the vast expanse of soft, pale and perfect skin.

The glows of love, lust and motherhood conspired together to make her pale skin shimmer in the soft lamp light. Unable to resist I kissed her slender shoulder and discreetly shifted my hips, a motion designed to beg without words for her help in bringing us a release so desperately needed. 

Her thighs flexed. The muscles in her shapely legs tensed as she raised from my lap, hovering for just a moment before driving herself down on my erect penis. She repeated the motion again and again, helped with my hands under her butt. Our groins mashed together, filling the tiny bedroom with a symphony of squishing slaps and hissing mattress springs.

I noticed her naked little hand curled on top of the comforter; the sight of her bare ring finger brought a rush of guilt to my conscience. She would have her ring someday. Perhaps once our new life was underway I could afford a modest ring but for now something else would have to do. When she walked down the street I wanted everyone to know that Julie Martin was loved.

I remembered the ritual that proved popular during adolescence and applied my lips to the side of her neck and sucked her salty, sweet skin hard. If she couldn't wear my ring at least she could wear my mark.

"Rick, are you giving me a hickey?" She sounded amused, enough so to temporarily cease her motions.

I answered with an unsteady voice. "I'm...I'm marking my territory."

"I think you already did that." 

Julie gripped my hand with her naked fingers and placed it against her abdomen. The weight of guilt immediately lifted from my soul. She helped me realize that the creation of our child spoke of a greater commitment to one another than diamonds or gold ever could.

Julie raised herself on her knees again, beckoning me to drive my shaft into her, pleading with passionate whispers.

I would do anything she asked for as long as she asked. My motions restarted and I imagined doing this with her one or two months from now in our own home. No doubt she would be even less petite with a tummy stretched to full capacity. In all my life I had never seen such a clear picture of the future. It wasn't a promise, or even a hope, my life with Julie would be perfect. 

The image hastened my orgasm; my entire body tightened as ropes of semen jetted into her warm insides. I reached for her clit, manipulating it until she writhed on top of me. Her moist walls contracted around my spent penis; I held her tight as she wriggled, riding out the unsteady waves of her climax from the safety of my lap.

When it was over, when her body relaxed in my arms she turned around. Her green eyes trained on my blue. "Will we live happily ever after?" she asked.

I folded my arms across her back and kissed the top of her glistening forehead. "As long as our ever after is together, we'll be happy." I kissed her and hugged her, offering reassurances that she probably didn't need.

My life began in Saratoga Spring; for twenty-five years it was the only home I had ever known. Now, after incredible circumstances, I was leaving that home to never again return. I wish I could say that Julie and I left on better terms; I wish I could say that there were hugs and tears of joy and that our friends and family all turned out to see us off but I can't. Our forbidden relationship had opened so many wounds among the people we loved that a truly happy ending was not to be.

That doesn't mean I didn't try for Julie's sake. I called my parents before we left. My car was stuffed with our things. There was barely enough room to flex my elbows but I forced my trembling hands to grip the cell phone while she dialed. Julie leaned her head against my shoulder, trying to show her support.

To both of our chagrins my call was answered by the robotic voice of my father's voicemail. 

Knowing it may well be the last time they ever heard my voice I opened my heart, fighting through tears and an uncooperative throat. I wanted my mom and dad to know that I loved them and that I loved Julie and would take care of her. That was all I could manage before my voice surrendered. I closed the cell phone and stashed it in Julie's purse.

Even if they hated what Julie and I were doing, I knew that deep down they still loved me. They wouldn't have let her go that night if they didn't still love me.

My sister placed her little hand over my arm, trying to bolster my courage. I looked at her, the woman carrying my son, and almost forgot about the family I had lost.

Six months ago, as I sat on the floor of the family room, who would have guessed that an irrational impulse to kiss my little sister would lead me down such a strange path. Rick Martin, the irresponsible little boy who was too terrified to grow up, was a few thousand miles from starting his life anew in some place called Stanley Island, Oregon. A new life as a husband and father, no less. I guess for the right woman anyone can change. For Julie I found the ambition I'd thought lost and the backbone I never knew I had.

The old taboo is long forgotten and the girl I grew up with, the little sister I loved and protected in my own clumsy way, is the woman I now call my wife.

The End

I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who made it through all twelve chapters of The Family Room. Please let me know what you thought of the novella: what you liked, what you didn't like, what drove you nuts. Your comments are very important to me as are your votes.

This is the first novella I have ever shared with an audience and, quite frankly, I found the experience totally exhilarating. I care a great deal about the main characters and, creative juices permitting, would love to revisit them sometime during their future, let me know what you think about that as well. 

Mused