Page 13 of Calico Descending

I try not to imagine my hands on Valdys that way, but I can’t help thinking, with a man that size, I’d never wrap my fingers around his girth, even if I tried what she’s suggesting. It’d be impossible.

Dropping my hand, I end her little demonstration and roll over in my bed.

“Did you feel how hard I squeezed? They like that. The harder the better.”

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

“Maybe, but in a good way, I guess. And they love their balls played with, too. And sucked.”

“Okay, I’m done with this conversation.” Clenching my eyes won’t erase the visuals of me trying to play with Valdys that way, and all I can imagine are those big palms grabbing me by the neck and slamming me against the wall for touching him. “Besides, we’re not supposed to touch them,” I add, as the fact comes to mind.

“You weren’t supposed say his name, either, right? Maybe this one likes a girl who breaks the rules.”

In the darkness, I mull over her words, and recall Doctor Ericsson telling me my meeting was the most successful, in spite of having broken a number of the rules. Maybe Roz is right. Maybe Valdys appreciates a rule-breaker. That’s why I’m assigned to him, after all. To keep him in line.

“I’m still not touching his cock,” I whisper back.

Chapter 7

Four years ago

Something jostles me out of dreams, and I jolt upright on a gasp.

Dina is standing over me, her finger pressed to her lips. “Shhh. Follow me.” She wakes Bryani up, as well, and the lingering darkness and chilly air reveals it’s the middle of the night.

“What’s going on?”

“You wanted a place to stay, right?” she whispers, nabbing a canteen that she straps across her chest.

“I thought we were going to ask about staying here?”

“They don’t want you here. Look, it’s nothing personal, kid. We just don’t have the resources. Two more mouths mean two less get fed.”

The news leaves a sick churning in my stomach, and I can’t even look at Bryani right now. “So, where are you taking us?”

“There’s a place. It’s safe. You’ll have food, water, shelter, everything you need.”

“Where? And why do we have to leave in the middle of the night?”

“It’s a half-day hike. C’mon, I’ll show you.”

She kept her sadistic boyfriend from feeding us to a mountain lion. Gave us her rations of meat. And let us sleep a few hours, by my estimates, in her own bed. We have no reason not to trust her. As disappointing as it is to leave, perhaps the next stop will have fewer creepy men staring at us. At the very least, fewer who would reap enjoyment from watching a lion tear us apart.

I push up from the bed and follow after her, out of the tent.

A half-day walk is comparably easier on a full belly. I tip the canteen back, taking a long swig of the water we collected from the tinaja before heading out. Dina returned our packs to us, so each one of us has water and small pieces of jerky Dina swindled from the food rations. I’ve hardly broken a sweat by the time we reach a shallow cavern in the side of the mountain, after just a few hours of hiking.

Sloughing her pack onto the ground, Dina directs us to settle on the soft bed of cool sand inside the cavern.

“This is the place?” I ask, frowning as I plop down onto the sand.

“Wait here. I have to talk to the leader of the hive, first. I don’t want him to know you’re with me.”

“Why?”

“In case he’s squirly, at all. Just looking out for you, okay?”

Tucking my knees up to my chest, I nod. “Okay.”

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