As weird as it sounds, nobody had ever touched me like this. This simple loving caress of my neck and shoulders felt almost intimate after years of missing out on any physical closeness that was not intended as foreplay for sex.
Sure, Tess and I had cuddled and spooned. Though, when it came to caressing one another, she was the type who greatly enjoyed having her body played with, while she herself simply concentrated her efforts on my lower body parts when it came to returning the favor. I had no fucking idea I had sensitive areas on my body aside from my dick! So, what my mother and grandmother were doing to me at that moment was starting to feel too good, and even made me slightly uncomfortable.
With Claire still standing behind me, I had no way to see her face, but at least Granny did indeed notice my reaction to her touch. Though, I doubt she understood why my reaction was so intense, and simply took it as my acceptance of their advances. While she refrained from commenting about it, she displayed a satisfied smile as she continued her speech.
“I admire your acting responsibly, Pumpkin, but it’s just beer. And not that much for someone your size. But don’t take that as our approval of you drinking beer, young man! You’re still only seventeen!”
“Well, then I’ll better not tell you about all the times the guys at work took me to that strip club.” I told them with a resigned voice. “And no, not because of the beers. The opiates make me super sleepy, and ... weird. But I’m not done here yet.”
“How much longer do you think you’ll be?” Claire asked.
“Well ... the bar closes at midnight. Then he’ll have to shut everything down and lock up. Only then can I start copying files in earnest without the danger of anyone noticing the bandwidth usage. Until then I can at least look through their network. So ... probably an all-nighter.” I concluded. “At least I don’t have to worry about school for five more weeks. If I had known, I would’ve gotten myself stabbed a lot earlier.”
When I said that, I immediately felt Claire’s hands clamp down on my shoulder, and Granny stopped scratching my neck. Then I heard Claire’s whisper.
“Please don’t joke about that, Honey. It scared me senseless when I saw you lying on the ground after hearing the gunshot. And then I saw all the blood ... and the knife ... I never want to see something like that ever again. When they rolled you into surgery and I had to wait for any word on how you were doing ... I thought I’d lose you!”
“Since when do you care whether I’m around?” It was not a vindictive or even accusing tone I used. It was a simple statement, calmly telling her what I truly and honestly believed.
“Of course I care! I’m your mother!” she said, appalled at the notion of me believing anything else.
“You’ve been my mother for quite some time already, but still didn’t notice that I was gone for a week. Last year alone, I spent months at Tess’ place. Did you notice me missing then? As far as I could tell, none of you showed any concern for my wellbeing in years. The only reason you claim to care now, and are even here at all, is because your mother is standing next to you demanding you do your parental duty.” I told her, in an equally calm tone.
“Pumpkin, I know you’re angry. But she is still your mother. Mother’s care for their children, we can’t turn that off.” Granny protested.
“Are you going to tell me, you didn’t expressly send her up here to start fixing our relationship?” Hearing my comment, they both took a step back. I was tempted to turn around just to see what kind of expressions they were showing. “I’m not saying this to hurt you, or to get back at you. I need you to understand that, after four years of leaving me on my own, you shouldn’t throw claims like that around. Don’t tell me how much you care about me simply because you’re my mother. You’ve already disproven that claim.”
I had noticed that I felt better than I had in years after getting it all off my chest in that blowout at Uncle John’s. If, and that’s a big ‘if’, they really intended to work on this, they first needed to know exactly what my problem was and why I wasn’t going to give them the benefit of a doubt.
“Is that why you call her ‘Claire’ instead of ‘Mom’?” Granny asked.
“And why I call her husband Aaron. Yes.”
“Will you at least give us the chance to make this right?” Claire asked, sounding like she was crying again. “You won’t suddenly vanish, right?”
“I promised Tess to finish that damn high school, so I’ll at least stay in town ‘till I graduate. After that ... maybe longer. I like my apartment, and I owe Bill a lot.” I said.
“Then I have more than a year to be an actual Mom for you and make you want to stay.” Claire whispered, before squeezing my shoulders again and kissing me on the top of my head. When I turned my head to look at her as she left the room, I could see her shoulders jump a little every time she released a sob. Granny stayed though.
“Please, Pumpkin, give her a chance. She really wants to make this right.” she said.
“No, she doesn’t. She seemed perfectly fine with how things were before you showed up, and as far as I know, nothing changed. Same for you. You knew about the shit going on here for at least a year. You never told me what stopped you from helping. You told them to fix it and then went M.I.A. for a year. So, it seems to me, you were just as fine with the situation as they were. Why should I give anyone yet another chance?” I simply said.
She was taken aback by being put on the spot so unexpectedly and had to think for a moment.
“Maybe we just realized what we did wrong and want to fix it.” she tried after a few seconds.
“Or, maybe, the only thing your daughter cares about in a person is how fuckable they are, which would explain the difference in treatment between their Golden Boy, Princess, and me. Given how that’s the same values your son has imparted on your other granddaughter as well, I wonder who both of your children learned that from.” I offered.
“You can’t actually believe that!” Granny said angrily.
“Of course I do.” I replied casually, refusing to acknowledge her anger. “I spent the past three years trying to figure this shit out, and spent a lot of time reading up on this topic. Do you know what natures most effective safeguard against incest is?”
She just stared at me, so I continued.
“It’s a little tweak in our brains called ‘The Westermarck effect’. It’s the same reason marriages grow stagnant over time. Basically, the more intimately familiar you become with someone, the less interested you are in fucking them. It’s to ensure more offspring with genetic diversity or something. So, parents should be VERY intimately familiar with their children after spending more than a decade caring for them. Unless, of course, they never really cared for them in the first place, but were only waiting for them to start puberty and have sex. I mean, sure, if that was universally true, we wouldn’t need laws against incest. But then again, how did we get to this point in our non-existent relationship again?”
“That’s absurd!” she protested again.
“Save it, Granny. Claire admitted it herself the day I came back from the Hospital, though she didn’t know I was home and could hear them talk. She and Aaron were so consumed in fucking their other children, that the one they didn’t deem attractive enough completely fell off their radar. No sex for them meant no love for me. All the shit their Golden Boy and Princess did to me was never questioned, as long as they got to sneak into their beds at night. Parents of the year, right there. And the rest of you were so happy with what you had, you refused to look for flaws in that little arrangement beyond your own satisfaction. It would’ve meant a possible end to your fun times. So, trust me, as soon as this shit is settled, I’m gone for good!” I concluded.