Havermouth, Five Years BeforeAislen woke with Cameron snoring in her ear. He lay over half on top of her, his knee between her thighs, his face in the curve of her neck and shoulder, and his hand cupping her shoulder. Rhett lay on his side facing her, and Heath curled against his back, his arm slung over Rhett’s waist and their hands joined. Heath’s face was pressed into Rhett’s hair, his eyes closed and his breath heavy with sleep, but Rhett’s eyes were open when she turned her head. “They’re huggers,” he whispered. “When they sleep, they’ll chase you across the bed, following your scent and warmth. I often make them sleep next to each other, so that they hug each other, as if I’m between them, I get too hot. If we’re careful we can sneak out and I’ll make coffee…”“After sex,” Cameron muttered into Aislen’s hair. “Not before sex.”“You and your morning sex,” Rhett snorted. “The rest of us like to avoid morning breath and pee first.”“Morning breath is the best,” Cameron replied hi
Havermouth, Present TimeThey returned to Rhett’s car in a heavy, grieving silence, with Cameron carrying Aislen. Heath opened the back passenger door so that Cameron could set her on the seat. “Sit in the front,” he said to Cameron who opened his mouth to protest. Heath shook his head. “You know that if you sit with her, you will end up saying something that you shouldn’t…”“F-k,” Cameron complained and got into the front passenger seat. Heath slid into the back seat and closed the door. “Sit in the middle, Aislen,” he said softly. “Lean on me.”Aislen knew that it was contradictory and confusing of her to want to be close to him after going to such lengths to escape, and yet it felt like an ending and as much as her logic told her that what the Triquetra had done was wrong, that what they had started in the river house couldn’t ever go anywhere good, actually saying goodbye to them… was so final. Just the thought of it made her heart race and her stomach feel uneasy. She crawled
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeThrough the bedroom window, Aislen could see that Rhett had the fire going again and that Cameron was lighting the barbeque. They laughed between them as they made coffee and began to cook bacon and eggs. Heath passed the window on his way to join them and made a lewd gesture that Aislen was in no doubt referred to her. She swallowed hard, a raw feeling of shame lodged in her esophagus leaving a bitter taste in her mouth and looked down at her painting of Rhett and art supplies. She wanted to tear it into pieces, a rage building within her so fierce that it wanted physical expression. Instead, she dressed and sat down to continue working on it, ignoring her hunger and her craving for coffee, and instead opening one of the bottles of water in the room and drinking that. She didn’t want to go out with the Triquetra. She continued to add shading and details to the painting, slowly building dimension to Rhett’s hair, the expression in his eyes, the charming
Havermouth, Present TimeRhett stood apart, watching her turn and drive away, and she hoped that it wasn’t the start of a separation of the Triquetra “Because you need to feel guilty, as well as traumatized, not,” she muttered to herself as she pulled out onto the main street. She found enough coin in the center console to buy a meal at the local drive-through, but as she contemplated what to eat, she found that her hunger had gone, smothered beneath the pain and wrongness that she was feeling. “Keep it together, Aislen,” she told herself. “Don’t touch the bad candy.”She ordered all the unhealthiest things on the menu in a deliberate effort to prove to herself that she was okay, and stuffed some fries into her mouth, chewing stubbornly as she drove to her father’s house, trying to convince herself that they tasted better than sawdust. She pulled up, and eased her way out of the car, her feet letting her know that she’d given them a terrible time. Her whole body ached, the skin tha
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeDesire won over outrage, and Aislen turned into Rhett, feeling the press of his piercing against her lip as he deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking against hers. His c-ck was warm in her palm. She tightened her fingers around it, holding him tight like she had seen the Triquetra do to each other. His groan was accompanied by a mental flood of pleasure. (Taming the tigress…)He wriggled free of his jeans without breaking the kiss, before digging his hands into Aislen’s hair. She felt Cameron part her thighs and Rhett lowered her back onto the mattress, going with her, leaning over her at an angle as Cameron kissed along her lower stomach and then dragged his tongue over her clit. “Oh god,” she moaned into Rhett’s mouth as Cameron lathed her with enthusiasm. His tongue circled her clit, teasing her with the lightest of touches and then he sucked ferociously so that she wailed, her hips arching. “She likes that,” Heath commented. Aislen’s hand left Rhe
Havermouth, Present Time“I… I can’t,” Aislen edged towards the door. “I’m really sorry about Guy, I am. He was a bit of a creep in high school, and the two of them were just plain stupid to try what they did, but neither deserved what happened to them, and I am really, really sorry…”“But not sorry enough to help,” June replied miserably. “Everyone is always sorry, but they won’t help.”“I’ve got my own troubles, believe me,” Aislen told her. Some of them were really stinging too, she added trying to resist the urge to rub her breasts. “More than I can handle, without taking on anyone else’s. I’m actually just going to eat and sleep, and then, in the morning, I’ll be gone never to return.”June nodded and turned with a sigh. She took a step down and paused. “I’m glad you’re leaving,” she said over her shoulder. “This town has a nasty habit of contaminating people. It’s like a disease. You stay here too long, and you start to rot from the inside out.”“She’s a disease on your bond, an
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeCameron’s Ute was an experience to drive, Aislen thought ruefully as she worked her way into the traffic of the town center. The handbrake was in the wrong place, and it was much bigger than any of the driving instructor’s cars or Tiffany’s little hatch. The traffic was heavier than normal, with cars diverting out of side street. Flashing blue and red lights drew their eyes to where police cars and an ambulance parked outside a small house, and people gathered on the paving, but Aislen could not look too closely as she had to watch for a gap to move forward in, the traffic banking up behind her.She moved forwards, shifting through the gears with a grimace. “I prefer automatics,” she told him.“It’s good to be able to drive both,” he replied. Cameron was relaxed but uncompromising as a supervising driver, giving her no opportunity to take the easy way out of things. “There’s a park,” he pointed.“That’s a reverse parallel park,” she replied. “Between two
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen’s alarm buzzed at the unbearable hour of five, and she grumbled as she turned it off and rolled out of her childhood bed, testing her feet on the floor. The pain was not as raw as it had been, more of a bruised feeling. She showered and rubbed ointment over the tattoos that she could reach and her three piercings, handling them gingerly, slightly disgusted by them, their movement within her flesh making her stomach queasy. Would they just heal if she took them out? She wondered. She’d have to search it on the internet and try to work it out. “F-king Triquetra,” she muttered under her breath as she realized that she couldn’t wear any of her corsets or bras as they’d rub against the tattoos. “F-king f-k f-kers,” she muttered as she pulled on a camisole and then tore open the costume packaging, shaking out the velvet dress. “Alright, that’s sort of cute,” she held it up against herself. She wriggled it on and pulled on a suspender belt and stockings, gr