“This is the level of intimacy we need with you, Alex,” Molly said quietly. “You know we want you, and you want us, and not just as a fling. Maybe it’ll turn out that way in the end, but I don’t think so.”
Her breath grew heavy, as did his. She put the smallest of kisses on his lips. He knew this was rapidly arousing her, too. “Is this part of what we need to do?” he asked, hoping she’d say yes.
“Not to fix your head, no,” Molly told him, warming to his touch. “This isn’t a magic thing. It’s not part of our beliefs. It’s just to make a point.”
“What point is that?” His voice was just as low as hers. Molly had his heart pounding in his chest.
“This will happen,” she said, pressing a bit on his hand to encourage his touch and, shamelessly, to heighten her own enjoyment. Molly gasped a bit as he moved his hand gently, palming her flesh with all the practice she’d hoped he would demonstrate. “We’re already on our way emotionally. It’s just timing. All three of us, naked, in bed together. No secrets, no barriers. No inhibitions. Wow, you feel good.”
“So do you,” he nodded. They breathed all the same air. “So this… is this how Practitioners bond?”
“It’s one way they can,” Molly winked. “There are lots of others, but this gets the job done if you open your heart along the way. We don’t want to be your live-in girlfriends. We do want to be intimate with you.”
“But we want you to have your head straight when it happens,” Onyx told him, stepping in close. “We want you without all this baggage weighing down your soul. You’re loaded with grief and anger and confusion. You’re scared of losing your identity. That’s not a healthy place to start.”
“Can you get there, Alex?” Molly asked him. “We can’t bring you there with magic. This has to be genuine. But can you accept that we’re already in a close, stable and sexual relationship? That we can share anything, including each other?”
“We have no problem with who you are, Alex,” said Onyx. “We’re not asking you to change. We’re asking you to open up to us.”
“Even if it involves other people? There’s stuff I’m just plain not supposed to tell anyone.”
“If it’s about you, then yeah. Even if it involves Lorelei or Rachel,” Molly nodded. She gently drew his hand out of her pants then, letting out a heavy breath as she cooled down.
“Do you think either of them have a problem with you talking to us about anything?” Onyx pressed. “They don’t seem terribly inhibited.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Right now? Nothing. Anything,” shrugged Molly. “Tell us ne of those things you’ve been carrying around that you’re afraid to talk about. Something about Lorelei’s money bothers you. Tell us.”
He knew she just wanted him to answer the question for himself. His eyes came to hers, and then to Onyx. “Depending how you look at it, it’s my money. It’s my apartment, and Lorelei’s driving my car.”
“What, you mean like it’s all legally in your name?” Molly asked.
“No,” Onyx answered quietly before Alex spoke. “No, it goes deeper than that, doesn’t it?”
“It’s been part of us since the beginning,” he shrugged. “I’m not even sure how to say it, ‘cause honestly, I’m kind of ashamed. More than kind of. I feel like I should object more or something, but Lorelei gets talking, and she’s always perfectly comfortable with it, but even so…” He looked at the floor, frowning and trying to come up with the right words. “This is one of those things I’m afraid will make you think I’m a total creep.”
Onyx smirked. “I didn’t think you were a creep when you told me you had a girlfriend who’s okay with you sleeping with other women. We both kind of figured things would only get weirder when we found out your girlfriend’s also a demon.”
“Yeah, but we’re not just boyfriend and girlfriend,” Alex said. “We’re master and servant. Or slave, if you want to get blunt.” He let it hang there for a moment, waiting for the pair to look at him in disgust. They did not.
“It’s not just the ritual bond,” he explained. “She says it’s part of being a demon. They’ve all got masters. And Lorelei loves it, at least with me. She doesn’t go there when other people are around, but when it’s just her and I-and Rachel, a lot of the time-she calls me ‘master.’ We go back and forth on this a lot, and she says she has all the freedom she could ever want with me. She’s… kind of built to get off on this, but she could never let go and enjoy that before now ‘cause everyone else she’s been with before me was complete scum. It used to be humiliating. It’s not with me.”
“Then why does it bother you?” Onyx wondered.
“Because it’s wrong, isn’t it? Shouldn’t I be trying to fix that somehow? Give her real freedom? I mean, I don’t treat her like a slave. I don’t order her around or humiliate her or anything like that, but it’s still there, and last night… last night we both got really into it. Truth is, I like it. And I know I shouldn’t.”
“Part of you is turned on just thinking about it right now, aren’t you?”
Alex nodded. He looked at the two again. “Like I said. Creepy.”
“Sounds like informed consent to me,” Molly shrugged. “Everyone has their kinks. I can appreciate that one.”
“We’re not gonna judge you on it,” said Onyx.
“How could you not?” asked Alex.
“Do you expect all your relationships to be like that?” nudged Molly.
“No, of course not.”
“Does Rachel have a problem with it?”
He snorted. “No, of course not.”
“And you never treat her like that around other people?”
“Never.”
“Then I think it’s pretty hot,” Molly grinned, “and I’d love to hear all about it. Slowly,” she teased.
Alex blanched. As he cooled down, he became increasingly aware of his surroundings again. “Not here?”
“No, not here,” Onyx said, poking Molly. “But are you willing to tell us?”
“It’s not even so much the knowing as the openness,” elaborated Molly. “Even if you don’t give us all the salacious details, it’ll make the same difference if you’re just genuinely willing to tell us.” Then she bit her lip, fighting a grin. “Although the best way to cross that bridge is to actually tell us.”
* * *
“I went into Jason’s apartment with him to make sure it was safe,” Amber told her team. They sat or stood around her in a semicircle while she leaned forward in a large plush chair. “I hung around a bit and we talked, but I told him I needed to go home and check on things. Then I came right back here.”
Silence hung over the group as they considered her words. Amber sat waiting for the hammer to fall. “And you don’t think they suspect you of being up to anything at all?” Hauser asked in a thoughtful tone.
“Oh, I think Lorelei suspects something,” Amber shrugged, “but I can’t tell exactly what. Jason still thinks I’m legit. Alex, too, I think. And I have no clue what Rachel thinks. She seems kind of removed from the group as a whole. I think she mostly only talks to Lorelei and Alex and keeps everyone else at arm’s length. Friendly, but distant, I guess.”
“And you’re sure you were sober and sound all night?” Colleen spoke up. She had her poker face on, betraying neither anger nor concern. “No chance anything was slipped into your drink?”
“I’m as sure as I can be. I can’t guarantee nobody used any sort of magic on me, ‘cause I wouldn’t know in the first place, right?” Amber looked to Doug Bridger.
Snapped from his thoughts, Doug shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t,” he said, “but I can’t find any residual energy on you. That doesn’t mean nothing happened. I’m already sure those two ‘witches’ you talked about are the real deal, and they’re better than I am. But as far as I can tell, you’re clean.”
“Right. So no guarantees,” Amber sighed. “No guarantee I’m not just ready for the loony bin, either.”
“Could all of that angel business have been faked with magic?” wondered Hauser. Like Colleen, his eyes turned to Doug.