Total pages in book: 175
Estimated words: 166095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 830(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 166095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 830(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
If I wasn’t so keffing aroused at the moment, I’d have probably laughed in her face. As it is, I can barely control myself. “New…limbs?” I clutch the arms of my chair, and when she rocks against me again, I buck my hips, trying to drive into her. “And…then what?”
For a moment, Bethiah looks distracted. She releases my jaw, her hand sliding to my shoulder, and she leans in close to my face again as if she wants to kiss me once more. “What do you mean?”
“What happens after you make her strong and fierce?” My fingers itch to touch Bethiah, to pull down the enticing fastener that bobs at her throat. But Dora’s future is important, too, and I feel like we all need to figure out what the kef we want before anyone does any touching. Bethiah isn’t mine if she’s hers, after all.
Bethiah gives her head a little shake. “Whatever she wants?”
“I thought it was clear that she wants you.”
A look of pleasure spreads over her face. “You think so? My goodness, it’s so hard to be so appealing. What am I going to do with all these people that have crushes on me?” She taps the tip of my nose. “Any ideas?”
“Kef them so hard you get it out of your system?” I rasp.
She laughs with delight and tilts her head, as if considering. “Maybe so.”
It’s what I’d do if I was her. Grab the object of my affections and use them until I no longer feel as if I’m going to lose my mind if we don’t get some sort of release. I’d keffing love it if she’d decide what she wanted to do with me—and make it about me. But I know that if she mounts me on this bridge, in this chair, it’s because she’s thinking about Dora. I’ve waited this long for Bethiah to come back to me.
Perhaps I need her to toy with the human for a bit, get it out of her system, and then come back to me once more.
And if I don’t lose my mind from sheer jealousy, maybe she’ll be waiting for me when she’s tired of the human.
But Bethiah continues to sit atop my lap, her expression going from fierce and in control to a hint of vulnerability. “Do you know, for the first time in a long time, I don’t know what to do? If I take you as my lover, it’s going to hurt her. And if I take her as my lover…” She sighs and shakes her head at me. “Unless you wanted to watch, of course?”
There’s a hopeful note in her voice. “Kef off,” I growl. “I’m not going to watch.”
Even if the idea is…enticing.
Twenty-Six
DORA
I pace in the hall, worried as Jamef and Bethiah are on the bridge. Together. This is the moment it all turns, I realize. Now that they’re together as a couple, it doesn’t matter if I’m flirty with Bethiah. It doesn’t matter that Jamef is my friend. They won’t need me around. I’m the third wheel no one asked for, and that means my time here is limited.
Bethiah’s throaty laughter drifts from the bridge, and it makes me want to cry…or punch something. I could be happy as Bethiah’s friend and flirt-partner. I could be happy as Jamef’s friend and buddy. I’m comfortable with both of them. But when I put the two of them together…it feels like there’s no room for me any longer.
And that hurts. It feels as if I’m a convenient stand-in and not a true person to them. Because I hear them laughing and I know they’re probably kissing and doing whatever weird flirting-slash-attacking-each-other thing they do to get their rocks off, and it makes me realize I’ve never been more than a speed bump in the long-term plan. Bethiah’s goal has always been to get rid of me.
I just…don’t know what to do. If they leave me behind somewhere, I’m screwed. Hot desperation crawls up the back of my neck. I have to figure out a way to get them to keep me around, then. Some sort of ploy to stall things, to get Bethiah or Jamef to realize that I need more guidance. Maybe I’ll get something small switched out if Bethiah really wants it. A couple of fingers or a hand, or a knee or something. I can trade a knee for ongoing security. I—
My tongue glues to the roof of my mouth as Bethiah stalks off the bridge. She spots me, frozen in place in the hall, and then narrows her eyes in my direction. With a toss of her head, she heads in the opposite direction, toward the private quarters.
I follow after her, a moth to flame. Sure enough, when I turn the corner to follow her, I see her open the door to the bedroom. “Everything all right, Bethiah?”