Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) (11 page)

“I… It’s not that I’m uncomfortable that you guys touch,” I stumble over my words when Cort catches up to me. “I’m way cool with that.” I look into his amused gray eyes as he smiles at my discomfort, silently laughing at me. His face is deliciously flushed pink. “I… I’ve just never touched
there
or seen anyone touch
there
. That’s all.”

“Aw… you’r
e innocent. That’s so sweet,” Cortez teases me, opening the front door and walking me out. “Say penis…” I shake my head no. “Dick.” I gasp and wildly shake my head. “Each one will get far worse than the last until you say it. You’ll have to say them all to get me to stop,” he warns. “Pecker,” he says and I bust out laughing.

“Oh my God!” I shriek while choking on laughter
as I leave ShadowHaven and start walking down the mile-long drive towards home. Thank goodness my house is just at the end of their driveway. Gotta love how the elite fence themselves in together.

“Hey, now, you told me to smack you every
time you turned blasphemer,” Cort warns a split-second before I’m thwacked on the ass. I’m pretty sure the letch copped a feel at the end of the swing.

“Ouch! You’re hitting harder every freakin’ time,” I complain
, rubbing my stinging ass cheek.

“
Rod,” he says with an evil glint in his eye and a devious smirk curling his lips.

“Hey, Cort?” I abruptly ask
, stopping in my tracks. I give him a serious expression as I wait for his answer.

“Yeah?” he asks, voice filled with suspicion.

“You have a penis, right? But you like to stroke dick, peek at peckers, rub a stiff rod, and suck cock, right?” I start running before I finish my sentence. My skirt flies in the air as I pump my legs. I don’t care that I’m flashing my ass, because if he catches me, I’m screwed.

I’m tackled in the yard. Cort’s arms go around
me so I don’t hit too hard. I’m thankful that it’s dark outside or he’d see how badly I’m blushing. Saying that phrase was the naughtiest thing I’ve ever said.

“You can’t outrun me,” he
breathlessly pants into my ear. Cort roughly flips me over so that I’m face up. He lies on top of me and my eyes bulge in shock. I’ve never had a guy touch me with his body before. “Faith,” he softly whispers, fingers brushing strands of hair off of my forehead.

“Yeah?”
I meep out.

“I like all of those things,
” he easily admits. “But I’m confused because I’m not like Ezra. I’m not happy with just that. I see girls and I want them, too. I’m not gay, not even if Ezra wants me to be. I still get this way for a pretty girl.” My breath hitches when he shifts his hips, showing me the way he gets for pretty girls. My skirt bunches up until the only thing separating us is my panties and his pants. The hard ridge of him pushes against my soft flesh. I suck in a gasp of air as my eyes bug-out.

No way does that fit inside a girl. No fuckin’ way.

“Whoa…” I breathe out in a daze. My body lights up from the contact. My mind doesn’t understand what’s happening, but my body doesn’t give a shit. It likes this. It wants more. It makes me spread my thighs and press harder so I can feel
that
rest against what’s aching between my thighs. Cort shudders above me and moans, and twists his hips a little bit.

“See, I wouldn’t like that so much if I was just into Ezra or people
like
Ezra,” he stresses. “I’m not innocent… at all. But… I am innocent when it comes to girls. No matter how much I flirt, they always think I’m trying to make Ezra jealous. Faith, you don’t care if I’m gay or not, or whatever I am. You’re my friend. But I think you like me this way, too. Maybe just a little bit?” he softly coaxes in a hypnotic voice.

“I… I’m not sure,” I
stammer, body shivering for some unknown reason. I’m nervous as all hell. “I’ve never… oh, hell, it does feel nice,” I readily admit. My body rises to seek the pressure of his, and this time it’s me who twists us together, deliciously rubbing our naughty parts.

“I’ll go slowly. It was wrong of me to tackle you and take advantage. Ho
w about a kiss to the cheek?” Cort flashes me his patented grin.

“Okay,” I br
eathe.

Cortez kisses me on the cheek. His puckered lips brush the corner of my mouth. It’s sweet until Cort opens his mouth
and his breath billows up. His tongue dabs at my lip and I whimper. He’s deliciously pulsing between my legs, creating a hungry ache I don’t know how to satisfy.

“I like you,” he groans in my ear. “I like you
whole heluva lot. It would be scandalous if I told you all the things I want to do to your tiny body- things I fantasize about while I stroke myself- things I tell Ezra while I suck his cock. Are you okay with that?”

“Okay,” I breathlessly whimper, my body pulsing to meet his as
I imagine what he just whispered in my ear. A moan bubbles up my throat from the vision. I’ve never felt my body go crazy between my legs before; it’s flexing like a fist. “What about Ezra?” I ask, ignoring my body’s hunger. “Won’t he be angry?”

“It makes him hotter for some reason. If… when we do anything, you’ll h
ave to let Ezra watch or he’ll get jealous. If you’re comfortable…”

“Cort?” I ask what he means.

“You know exactly what I’m asking,” he huskily growls. “Just think about it. If the answer’s no, you don’t worry about it.” Cort stands, backing away from me towards the front of the house. I pout from how cold the absence of his body on mine makes me feel. His face is red and he keeps pulling at his pant leg. Cort’s demeanor changes from charming sex-god to a bashful teenage boy in a heartbeat.

H
e happily says, “We’re both your friends, and nothing will ever change it. You better get going or you’ll be late visiting those siblings.”

I crawl to my feet and stand on shaky legs. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I concentrate on smoothing my skirt down, refusing to meet his eyes.

“You’re not pissed, are you?” Cort sounds worried.

“Nah- we’re good. If I don’t give you an answer, it’s because I’m still thinking about it,” I call over my shoulder as I jog down the driveway. The busses stopped running an hour ago. I’ll have to call a taxi or hoof it to Wil’s apartment.

~Chapter Nine~

Three… two… one… My hand is poised to knock on Wil’s door. I hope to God that our watches are in sync. I already changed the three minute difference.

I draw in a deep breath as I knock. A breath that gets stuck in my throat the instant I see her standing on the other side.

“Hey, you must be Fate,” sleeping beauty cheerily greets me. Even though she looks tired, her mocha skin glows a pretty pink high in her cheeks. She grins at me like we share a secret. There’s no way in heck she knows my secret- or Wil’s.

I swallow back the terror
, heart fluttering manically beneath my breasts. I hope she was supposed to see me, because, if not, grab a toe tag and measure me for a coffin.

“Hi, you must be
Gretchen,” I unsurely mumble. She flashes me a wide grin, showing off her pearly whites.

“C’mon in- call me Greta,
” Gretchen calls as she walks away from the door, leaving it wide open. I hesitantly follow, eyes noticing everything in the apartment, and everything that isn’t. No Wil- anywhere. He’s not in the kitchen or the attached living room.

I’m dead. Pushing daisies from six feet under.

I gingerly sit in the chair Wil shoved me into on our second meeting. My tailbone still remembers how the hard wood bruised my ass when he pushed me into the seat. I figured this seat is my safest bet against pissing off Wil. I’ve already occupied this slice of wood before.

It’s been two weeks and three days
since I met Wil. Yes, I’m counting. It feels like centuries ago. I don’t feel like that same fifteen-year-old. I’m… not that Faith anymore, that’s for sure. Who am I? Heck if I know.

The apartment is spotless, no doubt Wil has OCD or
he just orders the apartment to clean itself and it obeys out of fear. Everything is new or well-maintained. Wil takes very good care of his little sister.

Gretchen
sits across the table from me, still flashing me that
we share a secret
smile. I wish I knew what she was thinking. There isn’t a secret I don’t like. I can tell she wants to talk, but I’ve turned mute. It’s what I always do. Best keep my trap shut. It’s safer that way. Gretchen gives up and starts in on her algebra homework. I want to ask her where Wil is, but some things are better left unsaid. If I say his name three times, he may manifest like a demon.

Gretchen
face is scrunched up in concentration as she deciphers on paper. She keeps grumbling under her breath as she roughly erases her marks. Other than a few facial features, Wil and his little sister aren’t alike. I bet Wil did his homework with a weird sense of calm. He probably just told his homework to complete itself.

“Don’t like math?” I try to use as few words as possible to hide my accent.

“I do. But I missed school this week, so now I’m lost.” Gretchen smashes her pencil on her notebook out of frustration. “I wish we hadn’t had to go away for Wil’s job.”

I don’t even want
to know what kind of work Wil has to do. Stalk? Torture? Extort? Kill? Yeah, I could see any of those things as a strong possibility.

“You jus
t have to multiply the numbers inside the brackets first. Do that, add five, and that’s your answer for x,” I point out the number on her notebook.

“Thank you so much,”
Gretchen cries in relief. “I haven’t eaten yet, so I’m barely functioning. We just got back a half hour ago. I had a huge stack of books waiting outside our door when we got home. Gotta love friends,” she sarcastically says. “I would’ve rather said I never got my homework assignments.”

“Don’t blame ya there,” I commiserate.
Me and the boys cheat. I do the math, Cort does the English, and Ezra does the history. Homework in a third of the time for the win. “Listen, I could get you something to eat while you catch up. I have to wait for Wil, anyway…” I trail off, hoping she’ll tell me where he is. I ought to strike him for being late. He’d have no issue hitting me for it.

“Please,”
Gretchen begs. Her pretty hazel eyes widen and she pouts her full lips. She’ll command armies with that pout. Men will do her bidding. “Anything you can scrounge up would be great.”

I stand up a
nd walk towards the kitchen as Gretchen calls, “Hey, I thought you were from across town. Wil said you were from Crestview Drive.” Her tone says
one of those rich people.

“Crest
view Drive by way of West Virginia,” I let my accent out to play, and then instantly reel it back in. “The rich still have to eat, right?”

I search their sparkling clean refrigerator and decide on making sleeping beauty a grilled cheese sandwich. She’s no tiny girl, so I know I won’t offend her with regular food. I
ain’t-
shit
- I’m not a salad and a
Tic Tac
kind of girl, either- my size isn’t from lack of appetite. I’ve often wondered what my birth mother looked like, but that can’t be right since Fate is dinky too.

It’s not hard to fi
nd all the fixings and cookware in their kitchen. Either Wil or Gretchen is a control freak- Wil, my bet is placed on Wil. The cabinets are organized alphabetically.
Wow.

“I thought you guys had cooks and maids for this kind of stuff?”
Gretchen asks while leafing through her history book. It’s the same book I had a few years ago. It would put her in junior high or the public schools around here aren’t as adequate as mine was back home. She must have just turned fourteen.

“
Long story… But where I grew up, you either cooked your own food or you didn’t eat. I didn’t mind none- I mean, I didn’t mind it,” I stammer over my mistake.

“What was th
at about?” She scrunches her brows, little dimples dent between her eyes.

“I’m trying to change with my environment. I can’t speak t
he way I do without drawing undue attention upon myself.” I flip her sandwich onto a plate when it’s golden-brown and tasty looking.

“I like how you talk- it’s different- sweet and cute.” I don’t like the worried expression on her face. Maybe I’m channeling Wil, but I don’t like her upset. I place the sandwich in front of her and pour her a glass of milk.

“Not everyone agrees with you. I’ve never heard sweet and cute- ignorant, moronic, and ear bleeding were some of the mutually agreed upon descriptions.”

“
Who would be so mean?” Gretchen hisses in outrage, her dark skin reddening with anger.

Best if I don’t speak the truth on that. “People can be cruel, but
they mean well.”

“Where’s your car?” Wil growls from the shadows of the living room. I hadn’t seen him move
, and I have no idea how long he’s been watching... and listening. He’s eyeing me funny. My mind furiously spins, trying to remember if I said anything that is related to Faith when I’m supposed to be Fate. I feel like I have multiple personalities.