Page 17 of Forging Chaos

“Thora. Do I look like the kind of person who says shit I don’t mean?” I cross my arms over my chest as she laughs and nods, reaching for her bag.

“Okay, okay. What time?”

I tell her to grab me at nine, and then she’s gone, shoving my keys in her pocket like they belong there. I realize too late that she’s forgotten the book, so I pick up where I left off, glancing through the chapter to read about Linus watching Sally whack off in the ferns. And then he can’t help himselfand has to touch his own turgid member, which reminds me again of the first boner I’ve sprung in two weeks.

I look at my bed, where the blue cock ring sits on my pillow like a kinky hotel treat. I adjust my body to my usual side of the bed, which now smells like Thora, and move the ring to my nightstand. I finish reading the chapter growing harder than before.

I slide my hand down my shorts and give my cock a squeeze, remembering how Thora looked in my bed, touching herself, pinching that tiny nipple. Fuck, she just let herself go all the way to oh-town while I watched. I give myself one more hard tug, remembering the shape of her mouth as she came, and I’m erupting all over my shirt.

I shiver with the force of my release, warm cum spurting everywhere like it’s been pressurized for a month, and someone opened the faucet. That would be Thora, I guess. I yank off my shirt and use it to half-assedly clean myself up, dabbing at the white gunk on my stomach, and I realize I got jizz all over Thora’s book. “Shit,” I mutter, trying to mop it up with the shirt, but the ink smears, and the pages are already starting to wrinkle. “Fuck it,” I mutter, reaching to turn off my light. Before I fall asleep, I vow to grab her a new copy of the book while she’s out running errands in the morning.

CHAPTER 13

THORA

Dad gruntsat me from the couch as I walk in the front door on shaky legs. I’m a tiny bit nervous Odin’s car will get sideswiped while parked on my street overnight, but he parks it on the street at his place, so he’s probably got fancy collision insurance.

I wasnotexpecting tonight to happen. I had the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had with another person…by myself. I’m not exactly sure what happened, to be honest. But it was hot as fuck. I give my father a tip of my chin on my way through the living room. I need to get into my room where I can breathe and call Fern.

But Dad grabs my arm on the way past. “Grab your old man a cold one while you’re up?”

I press my lips together. I hate enabling him. His ankle monitor certainly doesn’t impede him from walking to the kitchen, and I seriously doubt he left the couch today to move his body, look for work, or do anything at all helpful to our family. Mom has been working doubles at Ritter’s since Dad got arrested, plus picking up serving shifts with Fern and me at the sports stadiums on weekends.

I sigh. I’ll be out of here soon, and once I finish my fellowship,I’m not moving back into this house, no matter what. I’ll have better financial prospects by then. “Sure, Dad,” I mutter, hurrying to the fridge and grabbing a can of Milwaukee’s Best Lite from the door, where it’s crammed in among the expired mayonnaise and barbecue sauce.

I toss it to my father as I walk to the stairs, and he hollers. “You’re gonna shake it up, Thora. What the hell are you doing that for?” I shake my head and hear the fizz as he opens the can regardless. I don’t look back as he slurps at the foaming beer. I’m already dialing my best friend’s number as I dart into my room, where I immediately spray myself with air freshener. I spend way too much on this stuff, but it’s worth it to me not to have to walk around campus smelling like an ashtray. At least, I hope I can mask the stench.

Fern picks up, voice groggy. “‘Lo? Thora?”

“Oh my god, you won’t believe what happened,” I blurt, recapping my evening with Odin.

“Wait,” she interrupts. “I thought you were just going over there to work on your project?”

“Oh, we worked on it.” I sink onto my bed and kick off my shoes. “And then…we did the other thing.”

I hear her suck in a slow breath and whistle. “So, he didn’t join in? He just watched?”

“He fucking told me what to do and sat there watching. Then I left, and I’ll pick him up for PT in the morning. I have his car.”

“Huh.” Fern yawns, then says, “I had no idea Odin had all that in him. He usually just jokes around and plays video games when I’m over at Wyatt’s.”

I unhook my bra and get ready for bed. “I think maybe his injury has fucked with his head. He’s different in class, too. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Fern tells me the whole Stag family has been worried about Odin, how he is ignoring calls from the university, and his father is worried about his mental health. It feels like aviolation to hear this third hand from Odin’s cousin’s girlfriend. “I guess it’s none of my business.”

“Sorry. So, it was good? You don’t usually…finish with guys.”

I smile. She’s right. I enjoy sex. I have a lot of it when I want to. Sometimes, I can boss a guy around and convince him to work my vibrator into the action, but more often, they get all huffy about the suggestion and leave me on the precipice to finish up later, on my own. “He seemed really into it. But what does it mean?”

“Does it have to mean anything?” Fern asks this as if she’s some sort of expert rather than an intellectual currently enjoying her first-ever relationship.

“I have no actual idea,” I tell her. While I’m not really one for repeats with guys, I also don’t sleep with dudes I’m going to see again unless they happen to stroll back into the bar, in which case I just sort of ignore them until they go away. I sigh. “I need to try to sleep before I spend the day tomorrow with the guy.”

Fern giggles. “Update me when you’re back. Oh, are you getting your visa and stuff tomorrow?”

I shake my head, even though she can’t see that. “Tomorrow is professional attire at the thrift shop. Maybe multiple shops since I have free transportation.” We hang up the phone with me promising to share outfit photos and her promising to come with me to the post office to get my passport as soon as I have the money.

In the morning, I drive Odin’s beast of a car back to retrieve him, enjoying the heated seats even if the SUV is too big to comfortably make tight turns in Pittsburgh’s narrow streets. I shouldn’t have tried to wend my way through Bloomfield back to his place, but it’s too late now as I sing along to theradio while gingerly navigating the Belgian Block side roads.

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