CHAPTER 60 - PLAGIARISM AND EARS GIVE CLARITY AND CHOICE
RENWICK
George drums his fingers, leans forward, then back all while looking nervously at Reva.
“What?!” She growls.
“We could, um, use you as bait, not bait! Focus, get him to focus.”
“What?” Grace frowns.
Reva’s expression goes from fury to fiendish. “Oh yes! That is perfect. Mom, it’s fine, let go.” She pulls out her iPad. “I don’t suppose you remember anything about this comic thing he wanted to do?”
“No.” His relieved expression makes me smile. “But I guess I could ask him for it, if I absolutely have to.”
“You don’t.” Gus chuckles. “Mom has it.”
“Ooh one second!” She opens her laptop and is soon whopping with joy. “Have you guys seen this great masterpiece?”
We all crowd around, but instead of laughter there’s stunned silence. “He wrote this?” Jewel frowns.
“Yeah. I’ve actually never read it, the way he wanked on and on…” George quails under Grace’s glare.
“Wanked on, please mother may we?” Pearl looks at Mel.
“Wanged not wanked.” Mel grins.
“Good enough!” Jenny beams.
“How come you never read it though?” Gus asks.
“Anytime he brought it up, I found something else for us to do.” George grimaces. A few people shudder when that sets in. “How come he never did any of that to me?!”
“I would say it's because he’s your brother, but we know how that went.” Debs drawls.
“I mean he was a selfish and terrible bedmate; this is a constant refrain. Why write instead of do?!”
“Because he didn’t.” Hunter declares. “I thought that sounded familiar…” He pulls out his Kindle. “...this is basically Hero by Perry Moore; he’s made the person older and added sex scenes from various films. The one…can you scroll up. Yeah, this one, that’s from Weekend.”
“And that one is from Handmaiden.” Mel leans closer. “Yes, definitely, ever seen it?” She nudges Jewel. “Like Korean films?”
“Love them, my favourite is The Host, and although not Korean, Kung Fu Hustle.”
“Finally, someone to share my passion with!” Mel grins.
“We heard you sharing when you last stayed over.” Emmett titters, making them both blush.
“Back to this!” I chide with a smile. “Reva call him; he’s sent this to you before, right?”
“Hmm, but because of the read receipt, he knows I’ve not looked at it. It would be odd for me to be doing that now, though right?”
“Yea; however...” Emmett begins. “...he likes to claim things that aren’t his, doesn’t he. So how about we put this somewhere that he would see it...but where?”
“Diamond Stores magazine.” Ben laughs at our incredulity. “He does the brain teasers every issue, takes a while.”
“Blue, I know you can recreate that as a cartoon strip; so our main problem is timing. When’s the next issue, Ems?”
“In a month, it’s at the printers. How long would that take you, Justin?”
“Three hours tops.” He scoffs then gasps. “Storm, we need to go talk trains.”
“Why?” He starts to open the wine.
“Because of the caboose.”
“Caboose?” Brian hands him a glass, which he exchanges for his phone. After a few seconds, a flush starts to creep up Brian’s neck.
“Seriously, trains?!” Reva grumbles, peering over Brian’s shoulder. “Oh my goodness, where did you find that?!”
“Link at the bottom.” Justin replies. “Speaking of bottom…” Brian silences him with a kiss that has us turning back to the screen, some embarrassed, some amused but all very happy for them.
It’s only when we hear the click of the door that we realise that they’ve gone.
BRITIN BATHROOM, FORTY MINUTES LATER
JUSTIN
He’s thundering up the stairs. “Doors are locked, landline unplugged, you better be ready!”
“Am nude and wet!” I giggle at his happy horniness. “Who’s fault was the delay?” I tease as he starts to rip off his clothes.
“No point scoring!” He kvetches as his top gets caught around his ears. “Help!”
As I try to stop him moving; I realise how utterly fuckable and…and currently at my mercy.
“Blue!” He gasps as I tweak his nipple, it soon stands proud and he is still, so I repeat on the other. I kiss down to his belt buckle, he leans against the wall and toes off his shoes. His growl of frustration whilst I admire the view makes me snigger. “I'm sweating like a pig!” He grumbles. I use his top to mop his face and step back, his frown melts away.
“Standing still so you can have at me.” I reach for his belt, as it opens his eyes close.
Inch by very frustrating, for him, inch I slide them to the floor, his cock starts to fill, it’s half mast and twitching when I toss them aside. “What did you say?” I look up.
“You say nude not naked.”
“Sounds nicer to me.” I fondle his balls, then use them to pull him closer. “Turn around.” I draw my nails down his spine, he rests his forehead against the wall, by the time I get to his quivering cheeks, he has goosebumps. I drop back to my knees, slowly I part them and take my time lathing his hole, almost but not quite entering him. After a couple of minutes he’s threatening to edge me every day for a month if I don’t tongue fuck him now! “As you wish.” I murmur, the squall he lets out as I enter his warmth is music to my ears.
BRIAN
The coolness of the tiles is a stark contrast to the heat of his tongue! When his fingers come into play, I reach across to the box. As they stroke my balls before doing a foxtrot stroke on my head - quick-quick-slow, quick-slow-quick - I fumble the lid, when I get it open I can’t believe it. “I forgot them?!”
He whirls me around. “Them had better not be condoms!” I wince. “Storm! You had one job!”
“In my defence…”
“What possible defence can you have for forgetting the one thing we frigging need to make love?!” He glowers cock deflating. “And why are you still like that?!”
“Because I…” I mirror his stance and slowly exhale. “…was thinking of doing without them.” His cock catches on a beat before his brain. “That means maybe?”
“This means definitely absolutely, ducking, fucking, bloody hell yes!” His kiss is fierce, I cup his butt, he wraps his legs around my waist, for long minutes we suck lips and tongues, grinding against each other.
I slow us down to a stop, his mouth is even plumper. “Sorry about the caboose.” He shrugs; I walk us to the bedroom and lay him down.
He tucks my hair behind one ear. “You were nervous I’d say no?” My lip twists. “Why?”
“Because it’s a big commitment and…”
“I only want to be loved that way by you.”
“Why do you only tuck behind my right?”
“Because you do when you’re nervous.” He smiles at my astonishment. “It was Daph, she noticed, not me. Like when you’re angry or trying to suppress you rub your scar. So she suggested my response is to kinda mirror you. Said that could be my way of saying, it’s all good and relax.” He raises an eyebrow. “What?”
“I loved the idea of being with you before I met you…”
“And you didn’t want reality to intrude, when I hinted?” I frown at his relieved expression. It deepens when he blushes. “I thought you were thinking I was a troll when you weren’t responding to that. The vanilla comment didn’t help.” I chortle as I turn us on our sides, he pulls up the blanket. “When you had the flu the first time we realised who we were, I almost blurted it out then. I love you more when you’re vulnerable because only I get to see that.” He turns and rests on his elbow then strokes my scar. “Ever thought of covering it up?”
I blink a couple of times as that’s never occurred to me. “I want your mouth.”
“Let me get my pencils, we’ll do it together.”
LINDSEY'S HOME - A WEEK LATER
LOUNGE
MICHAEL
I bring in my coffee; Lindsay is sifting through the post and Matthew is reading the newspaper. “Can I have Delicious Food, please?”
“You’re not going to cook, are you?” He quips, tossing it my way. “Lindz, we need to stock up on antacids.”
“Mattie, don’t be mean, he can cook!”
“A bowl of cereal or setting two minutes on the microwave doesn’t count.” He returns, they both snicker.
“Mattie? Lindz? How cosy you two are, what will it be next, dating?” I turn to the brain teasers and start to work them out. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”
“Michael, don't start...”
“How can I not?!” I throw the magazine down and start to pace. “How did this happen?!”
“How do you think?!” Lindsay snipes.
“Of course! Mel, well there’s no way! I will fight this, I have proof!”
“What proof and why would she care?!” Matthew declares. “She’s with J…”
“I can’t believe you’re not as outraged as me after all the hard work I put into it!” I glare at them. “I’m going to sue her to the ground!”
“You can’t sue her for that!” Lindsay snarls. “It has nothing to do with her, with or without your blessing this is happening and it ends when we say!”
“You say?!” I stop pacing. “How could you do this to me?! I thought you were my friend and as my father, well I just don’t have the words!”
“Get over it!” Matthew snaps.
“She most probably gave it to that psycho. How do you expect me to get over that?!” They look at each other then me. “Well?!”
“Exactly what are you complaining about?” Lindsay folds the newspaper.
“My comic has been turned into this travesty!” I thrust the magazine into their faces. “Nothing will ever come close to the devastation and betrayal I feel over this, Nothing.”
“That has nothing to do with us. I thought you were acting out because Lindz and I are dating. Like I said, don’t start; if you can’t be happy for us then you need to leave.”