Sweet Cry of Pleasure (4 page)

Chapter Two

Ares found Eris stretched out by the pond, throwing flower petals into the water. She looked pissed off, her face drawn and her eyes hard and unblinking.

“You okay?” he asked as he stretched out on the ground beside her.

“Just thinking.”

“Looks serious.”

She met his gaze. “It could be. It’s something that happened a long time ago.”

“You angry with someone?”

She hesitated, but then shook her head. “I was. Now I’m puzzled. I’ll tell you about it once we settle things.”

Ares knew not to push. If he needed to know, she’d tell him, and if she needed help, he’d be the first to know. He hoped.

“I gotta ask you something. I know you’re going to make fun of me, but I don’t care. I’m a little puzzled myself.”

That got Eris’ immediate attention. “What is it?”

“It’s Alala. Has she been seeing anyone lately?”

“Seeing anyone as in involved with anyone?”

“Yeah. Does she go for mortal guys? I’ve never seen her with anyone.”

“Why does it suddenly matter?”

He knew she’d ask lots of questions, so he’d prepared some answers. “She seems so lonely and withdrawn. She doesn’t talk about anyone. I was just wondering.”

“She doesn’t talk about many things, so are you really surprised she’d keep her personal life to herself?”

He’d thought about that, but he felt sure he’d know if she was seeing anyone. That wasn’t what he really wanted to know, of course, but he didn’t know any other way to introduce the subject without arousing suspicions from the beginning.

“No, but I’ve got a bit of a problem.”

Eris leaned forward. “What?”

His sister was looking at him so intently, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go on. “Why are you so interested?”

She rolled her eyes, but he felt he’d flustered her for a second there. “You came to me, remember?” A thought seemed to occur to her. “And I’m interested about you mentioning Alala in this way. I’ve always thought you two would be good together.”

He wanted to ask several questions, but he settled for, “Why?”

“I think she’s actually good enough for you.”

“Oh.” He’d always known his sister had high standards for him, and apparently every woman he’d ever been with had failed to meet them. But what had made her think of Alala at all? Had she seen or noticed something in the past that he hadn’t?

She poked him to bring him out of his reverie. “Tell me the problem.”

He gathered his thoughts. “It’s going to sound odd now, but here goes. Any woman I have ever wanted, I’ve gotten. If I want to fuck someone, I can.”

“Doesn’t sound like a problem.”

“But I can’t do that with her! She’s different.”

“You think you two can’t have sex? Why?”

“She’s like my ward or something. I’ve known her since the day she was born. We’ve always lived together. Something about that makes it feel wrong.”

Eris burst out in loud laughter.

He glared at her. “How is that funny?” He had no idea why she was laughing at all, let alone convulsing as if he’d just delivered the best punch line ever. “What? Come on.”

“Since when do you care about something like that?”

“I do have a few decent bones in my body, if you can believe it. I’ve fucked my share of married women, but that’s different. I wasn’t taking advantage of anyone.”

Eris shook her head. “You think Alala would allow herself to be taken advantage of?”

“No, but I think she’d do anything I told her to. As if it were an order.”

“You think so?”

“She practically told me so last night.”

Eris composed herself. “Did she? That doesn’t sound like her. How did such a subject come up?”

“We were talking about Aphrodite. It just came up, okay? I got a bit, well, aroused during her massage, and she thought I was thinking about Aphrodite. I told her I was thinking about her.”

“Have you ever done that before?”

“What?”

“While she was massaging you? Ever had dirty thoughts?”

“About other women, not about her.”

“Why not?”

Ares felt he wasn’t going to make any progress. “I already told you. I’ve never thought of her that way. Something about it feels wrong.”

“Wrong, or just different? You can’t tell me you’ve never looked at her and become aroused.”

“Can I just get to the point? I can’t stop thinking about her now. I spent all night thinking about having sex with her. I couldn’t stop it. The solution is usually a quick bang or two. I can’t do that with her.”

“Then why not have a relationship with her? Crazy concept, I know, but why not?”

“It would ruin everything. It would never work out, and I’d lose her.”

Eris touched his arm. “And if you lost her?”

He looked down into the pond. “My life would suck.”

“How eloquent.”

He groaned. “Fine. I would be bereft. I would be lost without her. She told me what the Fates said. It’s true. She calms me. She keeps me from being an angry, blood-thirsty monster.”

Eris giggled. “You’d never be a monster.”

“She’s tended every wound I’ve ever had. She nursed me when the Furies put a spell on me. No offense to you, but when it comes down to it, she’s my best friend.”

“Is she?”

He didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes.”

“Are you hers?”

His heart thudded offbeat for a moment. “What?”

Eris turned his chin to make him look at her. “Who else is she friends with besides me? Do you know? Is she a virgin? Do you know how many men she’s been with? Has she been with a god or a mortal or perhaps both?”

He didn’t know any of those things. Was she a virgin? The idea of being her first made his blood run hot. He thought about being the first to penetrate her, the first to taste her and give her pleasure. The possibility of another touching her made his blood warm too, but in a different way. He knew in an instant he wouldn’t like seeing her in another’s arms. It had never occurred to him because he’d never seen her with another man that way. She was over five thousand years old. She couldn’t be a virgin. She’d obviously had lovers, but not told him about them. The fact she had never confided anything like that to him hurt, but he wasn’t sure why.

“Do you know those things?” he asked quietly. “I’ve told her everything, but she has never told me anything. Not anything like that, at least.”

“Have you asked?”

He hadn’t, but he didn’t want to talk about that. “I’m wasting my time. She doesn’t want me. Do you know what I asked her? I asked her what she’d do if I kissed her. She said she’d
let
me. That’s it. She’d
let
me.”

Eris looked at him blankly when he didn’t say anything else. “What did you want her to say?”

“I don’t know, but not that.” He knew what he’d wanted her to say. He’d wanted to hear her say she’d like it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m obviously not the one to light her fire. She touches me all the time, but I’ve never felt anything from her.”

“Maybe she’s shy.”

He laughed. “No one is that shy.”

“Maybe she’s been hurt.”

He fixed Eris with an intense gaze until she lifted her eyes. “Has she?”

Eris seemed uncomfortable, as if she hadn’t wanted to say anything. “She had a relationship that didn’t work out. She was disappointed.”

His mind raced, wondering who it might have been. How could anyone hurt someone so kind and submissive? Not loving her would be one thing, but actually hurting her would be another thing completely.

“Tell me who.”

“She didn’t tell me.”

“You talked about it?”

Eris sighed and rolled over onto her back. “I asked her why she’s been alone so long. She told me she tried to love someone once, but they weren’t right for each other.”

That calmed him a bit. Eris was only guessing Alala had been hurt. She didn’t know for sure. However, he still felt a wave of jealousy wash over him. Who was it? A mortal? If she’d hoped to fall in love, wouldn’t it have been a god?

He pushed himself up and off the ground. “I want to continue this later.”

“Don’t go, please. You said you two wouldn’t work out. Why do you think that? You have no reason to.”

He ignored the question. “Not a word about this,” he called back over his shoulder. “I want to think.”

“You’re infuriating!”

He smiled, both wishing Alala would be so vocal and straightforward and suddenly appreciating anew how quiet and demure she was.

* * * *

Ares moaned as her tongue moved over the head of his cock. Her lips worked his shaft vigorously. Her hand ran over his balls, her fingers circling his anus before her hand moved down his thigh. He was so close to coming as she took him to the back of her throat and sucked harder.

He jolted awake. After a few moments, he realized he was alone, even though the warm cum on his thighs was real. He jumped out of bed and yanked the sheets off, tossing them down the laundry chute before going into the bathroom for a quick, cold shower.

He hadn’t seen her, but he knew he’d been dreaming of Alala. His body still tingled from his release, and he could still feel her soft lips and warm tongue on his cock. But it had only been a dream. He searched the house mentally. Alala was in her bedroom, playing with one of her cats. He didn’t know its name, and that bothered him. She leaned over to pick up one of its toys, and she was only wearing a t-shirt, so he caught a fleeting glimpse of her ass. He pulled away mentally, feeling guilty, but also feeling aroused again. She’d been wearing pink panties with black bows on them.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the image of her bending over for him. He imagined himself pulling the crotch of her panties to the side so he could taste her. He wanted to reach into them and finger her. He wanted to hear her sigh as he touched her.

He turned the water on full blast and got under the spray. He shivered under the icy water, but he needed it. His thoughts made him angry. He punched the wall several times, cursing loudly.

After several minutes, he got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked out into his bedroom.

Alala was putting clean sheets on his bed. Black, silk sheets. She was bending over the bed, straightening and smoothing them.

At least she’d put a pair of jeans on.

“How did you know I needed clean sheets?”

She turned to him, looking concerned. “I heard you pounding on the wall as I went down to get some water for Shadow. I thought something might be wrong. But then I saw you were in the shower, so I figured you were okay. I got Shadow some water, and then went to get fresh sheets.” She shrugged. “No big deal.”

He nodded, looking down. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m fine. Just a little frustrated.” He felt even more frustrated because she wasn’t wearing a bra under her light blue shirt. He could see her dark, erect nipples, and that only made it even harder for him to forget he knew the color of the panties she was wearing.

She moved closer. “You look like you’re in pain.”

He tried to smile as he focused on her face. “I’ve got a lot on my mind. I’m fine.”

She shook her head. “You are never ‘fine.’ You hate that word.”

How did she know that? How could she know him this well when he knew nothing about her? “I need some sleep.”

“Is there anything I can do? I could rub your shoulders. You look even more tense than you did last night.”

Had it really only been twenty-four hours since she’d started driving him wild with desire? Had he really been able to ignore such a desirable woman until only the night before?

“Please leave me, Alala. I want to be alone.”

She walked a little closer, her eyes searching his face. “If that’s what you want.” She turned without another word and left.

He felt a coldness wash over him as she walked away from him. Had he hurt her feelings? Was she upset about the night before? Did she think he was upset about it? Going after her was not an option because he had no idea what he wanted or needed to say. And he knew if he touched her he’d try to seduce her. Then she would be hurt, and so would he.

He sighed and threw the towel down. He sat on the bed, and something touched his ankle. He looked down to see a black paw reaching from under the bed. A black cat came out when he moved his foot.

“You must be Shadow.” He picked the cat up. “Why don’t you go find your mommy?” He walked over to the door and opened it to put the cat out.

Alala was standing there.

She smiled. “Sorry. I didn’t think he followed me.” She took the cat and walked away, but not before she gave him a quick once over and another smile.

He slammed the door, remembering he was naked. At least he hadn’t had an erection. She’d obviously been amused, but why? Did she think he wasn’t alone? Was she so used to his promiscuous behavior she expected it? She’d smiled, so maybe her feelings weren’t hurt. Was he so paranoid he’d imagined she was upset? What? What did she think of him?

He wanted to know that almost as much as he wanted to know what she would sound like when she came.