Page 30 of Corrupt Obsession

“No!”

He put more of his weight on her, sinking her into the cushions.

“Fine, I promise!” she croaked.

He sat up and grinned down at her. “You’re so easy.”

She glowered and made a show of smelling herself, even though his scent wasn’t as repulsive as it should be. “I’m going to get you back for that.”

He climbed off her, stripped off his shirt, and draped it over his shoulder. “Looking forward to it.”

As he strolled away, she lay there for a second, before she gave herself a shake. She’d seen Jesse shirtless countless times during practice, while camping, exercising, or at the beach. There was no reason for the sight of his naked torso to make her stomach jitter.

She stored the leftovers in the fridge, cleaned the kitchen, and washed the dishes. By the time she entered her bedroom, Jesse was out of the shower. She grabbed her pajamas and did the double knock on the bathroom door to make sure the coast was clear. When she didn’t get an answer, she entered and eyed Jesse’s door as she stripped.

After her shower, she put on lotion before she brushed her teeth and re-entered her bedroom. She sat at her desk and worked on an essay that was due on Friday, before she double-checked her backpack to make sure she had all her homework assignments for tomorrow.

With just one month of school left, projects were coming to a close. There was a flurry of tests and then they would be on summer break. The year had passed in a blur. Next year she would be a junior. She couldn’t wait! This year she’d been Student Body Secretary. Maybe next year she could be Student Body President? Would her peers vote her in? There was only one way to find out. Dad hadn’t let her attend prom this year. Maybe Mom could talk him into letting her go next year?

My friends are convinced we’ve either drugged you two or we’re hiding some dark family secret.

Lynne’s voice echoed in her mind as she climbed in bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. From the outside looking in, she knew that they looked like the perfect blended family. They attended church every Sunday, Mom and Dad were happy and in love, and she and Jesse were as close as blood siblings. Jesse got a lot of attention for being a star athlete and was a great student on top of that. They both were. Everything was perfect. Or, it had been before she discovered Jesse’s nighttime habit.

By day, Jesse was an honorable Boy Scout. He never touched her inappropriately. He never even looked at her in a way that made her uncomfortable. He seemed as open and loving as he’dalways been. When she looked into his eyes, there was nothing deceptive, lecherous, or evil. She couldn’t make sense of it.

The visits were sporadic. Sometimes days would pass without incident, allowing her to believe it was a thing of the past, only to be roused in the middle of the night by the sound of him jerking off.

She tried to go to bed early, hoping she would be too deeply asleep to hear him come in. But the stress of wondering if tonight would be one of those nights kept her wide awake. She considered locking the bathroom door to bar him from her room, but then he’d know she knew. And, for some reason she couldn’t fathom, that was worse than enduring the deed.

The sounds of him masturbating were burned into her brain. She knew from the rhythm of his strokes and breathing patterns when he was close to climax. She catalogued every sigh, moan, or grunt. Some nights, he came immediately. During others, he struggled. Those were the worst because ten minutes felt like an hour when she was playing dead.

He was becoming bolder. He went from spilling on her sheets to now coming on her face. It took every ounce of control she possessed not to react. She was terrified that one day, she would flinch, open her eyes, or say something.

Initially, it seemed Jesse regulated himself to once or twice a week. Now, that amount had doubled. He was also becoming more impatient. One night, she’d barely been in bed for fifteen minutes before he came in. And he wasn’t as quiet as he used to be. She had always been a sound sleeper, but notthatsound. He couldn’t be trying to wake her, could he?

Even if she was truly ignorant to his nighttime shenanigans, at some point she would have questioned why she woke with stuff caked in her hair or had sticky, flaky patches on her skin. What if she’d naively asked Lynne about the stains on her bedsheets? She moaned into her pillow.

If only he would stop, then everything could go back to normal, and she wouldn’t feel… Her legs clamped together as her core pulsed. It was humiliating and revolting, but somewhere along the way, her body began to react to the nightly ritual. Most nights, after he left, she had to…

She balled her hands into fists as self-loathing swamped her. It was all his fault. Before this, she rarely thought about sex. She never explored her body or tried to figure out how things worked. Because of him, she now knew what a man’s penis looked like and what cum tasted like. One night, she’d gotten so aroused that she humped her stuffed longhorn. The next day, she washed him, but she didn’t look at him the same and suspected the feeling was mutual.

It was so confusing to feel one way and have her body react in another. To overcome the excruciating shame and guilt, she rationalized that what happened during these interludes didn’t count. That went for Jesse as well. The creeper who slipped into her room and did perverted, wicked things was a totally different person from her beloved brother. Once the sun rose, the dark, degenerate entity that possessed him at night evaporated and wiped the slate clean.

An hour passed. She lay on her stomach, a little rebellion on her part. When another hour crawled by, relief mixed with irritation. She wished he had a predictable schedule, but the times and days varied, so there was no way to predict anything. As another twenty minutes inched by, she concluded that Jesse had conquered his demons for the night, which left hers to deal with.

She flipped onto her back and slid her hand down her primed body. She rubbed herself through her pajama shorts and underwear. An image of his body that he’d casually revealed in the living room appeared in her mind, along with the memory ofhis weight pinning her to the couch. She bit back a moan as she arched her hips into her hand.

As pangs of conscience smothered her sexual desire, she tried to replace Jesse’s face with another boy, as if that would make it less sinful. But it was impossible to picture anyone else when Jesse had awakened her libido. Her passions now revolved around him.

All the things her friends found attractive about him, she found herself inspecting for herself. The lips they thought were perfect, she’d seen him bite during orgasm. His athletic build gave him a body that didn’t need to be covered up. She didn’t know why he insisted on wearing a shirt during his visits. She wanted to see his body in its entirety and hated how often she harped on that detail.

She was terrified her friends could read her dirty mind and sense that she’d changed. But, like their parents, her friends seemed oblivious to any undercurrents between them. But why should they pick up on anything when she couldn’t? Jesse treated her the same as he always had. There was no trace of the desperate hunger that brought him to her night after night. It was unsettling and made her question her sanity. She wished she could confide in someone about what was happening to her, but she didn’t dare.

As she approached the finish line, her toes curled. As she prepared for take-off, movement off to her left made her freeze. The bathroom door swung open, and Jesse’s familiar shadow appeared before she could retract her hand. She closed her eyes and hoped the comforter looked like it was merely bunched over her crotch so he wouldn’t realize what she’d been doing.

He stood over her for a moment before he leaned down and inhaled. This was another part of the ritual, but tonight it sent a streak of panic through her. He couldn’t smell her arousal,could he? She died a thousand deaths as he took another, longer inhale.Just get on with it, she silently screamed.

“Shit,” he whispered.

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