“That’d be awesome,” I said as they filed out. I turned to dark haired guy and said, “I’m Julie, and you are?”
“Darren, Brett and Monster.”
“Monster? He’s a big bloke, but why….” and then it occurred to me why he had that name. I looked down at my plate, studying the other half of my sandwich with rapt attention.
“Don’t worry about it,” Monster rumbled. “Most girls want to know if I’m big all over.”
“Right, well, your mother didn’t name you Monster. What’s your real name?” I asked, wanting to change the subject to something, anything else.
“Peter,” he said, almost shyly.
“Right, well, Pete, what do you do around here?”
“Well…” Darren said with a smile.
“Seriously, what’s your job.”
“Some construction, some mine work,” he said.
“Mining? The place behind the fence?”
“It’s the cash cow that keeps all this ticking along,” Brett said. “No mine, no Sanctuary.”
“So, what do you two do?”
“Drive trucks, haul out the ore and take it to the export site. So has Kelly had the chat with you?”
“Yep, and it was seriously awkward, and then I walked in on my colleagues making out in the storeroom of the shed. So if we could get off the sex topic, that’d be great.”
“Nerida huh?” Darren said. "She on with Sonny now?” I nodded. “She likes her variety, does Ms Nerida. We had a bit of fun with her there for a while.”
My eyes flicked to Pete, who was eating from his full plate with gusto, to a smirking Darren, to Brett who was watching me closely for my reaction. “What?” I asked, knowing I didn’t want to know the answer, but unable to stop myself from asking, “All three of you?”
Brett nodded slowly, his light hazel eyes, a weird mix of green and amber, held mine. “See we grew up together here. Been mates since we were little kids. Girls, they think they want the Monster there, but when push comes to shove…” Darren grinned at the clumsy joke. “They need us if they want to climb the Mountain, or they will be very sad and sorry for themselves the day after. We help to…broaden their horizons, in preparation.”
“So what? This is like Goldilocks and the three bears? This one is too small…” I pointed to the grinning Darren, whose smile was wiped away. “This one is too big and will rupture my cervix.” I pointed to Pete. “But this one is what? Just right?”
“You cheeky bitch…” Darren muttered, but Brett held up a hand, silencing him.
“Only one way to find out,” Brett said.
I looked sideways at Pete to see his fork had been put down, and he watched me as well with hooded chocolate brown eyes. Now, I’m not too prissy to admit I was in some ways curious. I lived in the age of the internet, so I’d seen a bunch of monster dicks going into places it seemed physically impossible to fit them, and seen girls moaning like it was the greatest fuck they’d ever had. Finding a partner similarly blessed and looking forward to a long life of painful sex and possible prolapse didn’t seem like the most awesome thing in the world, but as a once off… He was like the sexual equivalent of bungee jumping or parasailing. I looked back into Pete’s eyes and then said, “So you’ve been quiet during all of this. Is every sexual encounter you have a foursome? Do you like always sharing with your mates?”
His eyes dropped to his plate, then flicked to Brett and Darren before coming back to me, meeting them head on. “A lot of girls, when they’re horny, think it's gonna be the greatest thing in the world, so the expectations are sky high. But when it comes down to it… Hearing a girl yelp in pain doesn’t do it for me, not even a little bit. Watching them freak out and pull away, trying to put as much distance between you and them…” He turned back to his food and picked up his fork, methodically putting food in his mouth and chewing.
Don’t look at his pants, don’t look at his pants, I told myself over and over. The part of me that wasn’t an arsehole recognised that his story made me sad. I couldn’t imagine the majority of my sexual relationships ending with my partner shrinking away in horror. The other part wondered just how big was big.
"OK, I get that I asked, but seriously, enough. You call him Monster?” I shook my head. “Look you guys, you all talk amongst yourselves, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you can circulate something for me. I had a chat with a couple of the married guys here, and they’re going to ask if I can get permission to take meals over in their mess.”
“Fuck, you wouldn’t,” Darren said.
“Yes, I will disappear into the married quarters. Fuck, I’ll ask for my accommodation to be over there if needs be.”
“Or…” Brett said, jaw flexed tight.