17
Jessica
I didn’t think I would be able to sleep that night. The unfamiliar room was full of strange shapes and smells, the house creaking and settling around me. I’d avoided even going near this house for so many years, and now I was lying in it.
Lying with a sore butt, throbbing clit, and more shame than I knew what to do with.
The door was shut, so unless Jason had cameras under his blankets, there was absolutely nothing to stop me from disobeying Manson’s orders and getting off. But I didn’t. I wasn’t even sure why, only that something stopped me every time my hand got close. I lay there, squirming uncomfortably, replaying what they’d done to me over and over until it became a filthy yet delicious loop in my head. Lucas spitting Manson’s cum into my mouth, the warmth of Jason’s tongue, the stinging smack of Vincent’s hand…
I briefly closed my aching eyes to rest them. The next thing I knew, the heavy curtain over the window was framed with light, and I could hear birdsong drifting in from outside.
It was morning.
I sat up, stretching my arms and rolling out my shoulders. I’d slept better than I had in a long time, but my ass stung every time I moved, like a bad sunburn on both cheeks. Having notshowered last night, I surely looked like a mess. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, surprised it still had any battery left.
There was a text from Danielle.Hey girl!!! You good? Sorry about bailing, babe, please tell me you’re not in jail or something!
She ended it with a laughing emoji. My fingers tightened around the phone until it was shaking in my hand, and I dropped it on the bed so I wouldn’t hurl it across the room. She’d known what they were up to all along and hadn’t mentioned a damn thing to me. Had theyplannedto leave me here? To let me take the fall for the whole thing?
I doubted they expected “taking the fall” to be quite like…that.
I shuffled out of bed and fixed it up, trying to leave the pillows and blankets exactly as I’d found them. Everything in here smelled like Jason, his scent saturated into every surface. His massive computer setup occupied more space than his bed, and he had stacks of books piled below his desk.Fundamentals of Software Architecture,Domain-Driven Design,Observability Engineering…and then stacks and stacks of manga and superhero comics.
He’d told me not to touch anything in here, but I couldn’t help my curiosity as I cracked open the closet and took a look inside. Sothatwas where the mess was; stacks of electronics boxes, loose cables, and clothing were packed inside in a precariously balanced heap. I decided it was better to shut the door again than risk it all tumbling down.
It didn’t sound like anyone else in the house was awake yet, or if they were, they certainly weren’t making any noise. I put on my shoes and opened the bedroom door, but almost slammed it again when I found their massive gray pit bull sitting in the hallway, waiting for me.
I stared at her, she stared at me. Last night, she’d sounded likeshe wanted to bite my ankles off, but this morning, she gave me one long look with her big brown eyes and then her tail began to thump on the floor.
“Aw, you’re not so vicious, are you?” I said, crouching down to scratch under her chin. She was definitely a cuddler and immediately moved closer, almost knocking me on my ass. “Oh, honey, you are not a lapdog, but you are so cute.”
Glancing down the hall as I gave her belly rubs, I spotted their other dog at the top of the stairway. He regarded me suspiciously, giving me an uncertain bark before he waddled back downstairs.
Oh, well. At least one of them wanted to be my friend — probably one of the only friends I had left after last night.
Slipping into the bathroom, I took one look at myself in the mirror and groaned. I gave my face a thorough wash with warm water, working some of the tangles out of my hair with my fingers. I still looked like a gremlin who’d crawled out of the woods, but whatever.
Before I left the bathroom, I tugged up my dress to get a look at my backside in the mirror. It didn’t only feel like a bad sunburn; it looked like it too. My skin was bright red and my fingers left pale imprints when I pressed them against my cheek. Damn, that stung. It also brought back memories of exactly what it felt like to bend through that window with my mouth full and my ass getting smacked, and a shiver ran over my entire body.
I wasn’t eager to take a spanking like that again. But the other parts, the parts that had me gasping with pleasure, I would gladly experience again.
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I needed to find Manson so I could get back to my car. The pit bull — was her name Jojo? — was still waiting for me in the hall when I came out and walked along with me as I wandered toward the stairs. There were two more rooms, one of which was right next to thebathroom.
The door was wide open, the room within coldly utilitarian. There was a bed, dresser, and clothes hamper in the corner, but nothing else. Perhaps a guest bedroom? There were a few things on top of the dresser, but as tempting as it was, maybe it was better not to push my luck with the snooping.
The next room, closest to the stairway, also had the door cracked open. I could only see a sliver of an open closet through the crack, but nothing more.
I stood outside the door, listening carefully. There were no voices or footsteps — either the boys were outside, or still asleep. I glanced down at Jojo and found her looking back, licking her chops excitedly.
“It’s not snooping if you open the door,” I whispered and pointed to the crack. “Wanna go in, girl?”
To my surprise, she nudged her nose against the door and trotted inside without any hesitation, hopping up on the bed. With one glance, I knew this room had to be Manson’s. I recognized the bull’s skull hanging on the wall above the bed, painted black with an intricate gold design. Everything was meticulously clean — from the shelves beside the closet covered in vinyl records, to the desk in the corner that held a laptop and an oil diffuser. It was switched on, filling the room with a citrusy floral scent.
So much for not snooping.
A record player sat on a table below the shelves, and I squinted my eyes to read the record sitting on it.Bauhaus.I’d never heard of them, but it was probably because the album had come out in 1980.
“Didn’t you get enough of going through our shit last night?”