A Lost Daughter Ch. 15

It was one of the deepest and most restorative slumbers I had in months. As I blinked back into consciousness, I honestly could not remember waking up even once throughout the night, something that was very rare for me with my tendency to toss and turn. The extent to which I had been mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted had mostly gone unnoticed and now feeling so refreshed I could see it.

As I stretched and yawned, I scanned the bed for Amber, squinting through the light streaming in through the blinds and finding an empty bed. I peered over at my alarm clock through another yawn, and it read 6:45 a.m.—very early for Amber to have beaten me out of bed. Finally, I sat up and looked toward the bathroom—expecting to find it closed with a sliver of light shining at the base of the door—instead, finding it open and dark and empty.

Had she really gotten up, showered, and ready for the day while I remain sleeping in bed?

The thought seemed improbable, as I had always been a very light sleeper but at the moment, I had no other explanation.

I swung my feet out from under the blankets and onto the floor, releasing one final yawn before standing up and walking to the closet to retrieve my robe and a pair of boxers. I stepped into the boxers and slipped the robe on before heading to the bathroom. I completed my morning routine of urination and brushing my teeth and headed out to the rest of the house.

Upon opening the door and stepping into the hallway I could hear soft giggles coming from Sienna's room and after seeing that the couch was empty deduced that it was Kayla and Sienna. I could also detect the faint smell of marijuana in the house, which also explained the giggling.

What I was still unsure of was where my beloved Amber had scampered off to while I was asleep. I raised my hand to knock on Sienna's door when I heard the front door squeak ever-so-slightly as it opened and closed softly.

I waited at the mouth of the hallway to see who would appear and was relieved to see it was Amber. I looked at her with a puzzled face and she just smiled back at me deviously. I broke into a smile reactively and plodded over to her in my navy blue slippers.

As I approached, I noticed she had not showered yet, and she was wearing the same yoga pants and tank top that she had been wearing last night. Her dark hair was tousled and crazy and spun into a messy bun atop her head. She removed her black Coach purse from her shoulder and set it onto the kitchen table lightly, giving me 'the eyes' that intimated that she wanted me to join her in appreciating what was inside.

I remained silent as I stepped up next to her and looked into her purse, noticing a baggy of white power and another baggy of pills next to it. I resisted the urge to begin digging through her purse for more, as I of course suspected there was, and instead looked and met her eyes in glee.

"Kayla?" I asked quietly.

Amber nodded enthusiastically, and I suddenly realized that she had sped off first thing in the morning and picked up from Kevin probably because she couldn't wait to try and corrupt her. As excited as I was about the potential events around Kayla's future, I was pretty sure that Amber was even more excited—a somewhat terrifying thought. Her excitement was typically accompanied by intense motivation and utterly devious machinations. Now that I had relaxed my tolerance and objections to her process, I wondered what lengths she would pursue to achieve her goals—hopefully, I'd remain employed and at the very least I hoped to stay out of prison.

It was an exhilarating feeling to let go of my long-held restraints and free fall into the darkest depths of my cavernous depravities. Led along by the woman whom I had originally lured into my fantasies, I was now at her mercy and the reawakened debauchery of her mind. She was beautiful because of her amazing physical features, but my attraction to her extended to the compatibility of our kinks and sexual deviances. Thinking back to my high-school self I could not have imagined the insatiable appetite for debasement that I would be awakening inside of her. I did not believe in fate, but I could not imagine a stronger argument for its existence than my experience of having met Amber.

I could not help it, I needed to embrace this amazing woman.

Turning toward her, she was already preparing for my touch, leaning into me, and extending her arms. I welcomed her and pulled her close, laying my cheek on the top of her hair and being tickled by her bun. I breathed deeply of her scent—cigarettes, Chanel, and raspberry shampoo. Closing my eyes, I reveled in the combined feelings of gratefulness and contentment that filled me, enjoying the warmth of Amber's body as it pressed against me. It was an embrace devoid of lust or physical need, composed entirely of my love and appreciation for her as my eternal partner in crime and confidant. I failed to remember a time when I was more fulfilled.

After several more moments we broke our embrace mutually and stared at each other in loving appreciation of one-another.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked, wanting to be privy to the 'behind the scenes' information that I was customarily content in leaving to Amber.

Her eyebrows arched playfully in response, noticing a difference in my behavior, and offering a physical display of her surprise.

"Aren't you an eager beaver this morning..." she mused with a teasing tone and a beguiling smile.

I smiled and ran my hand through my tousled brown hair, a smirk etching onto my face involuntarily.

"Pretty excited to fuck this one, huh?" She mused.

I briefly remembered the jealousy I detected from Sienna the previous evening and wondered if I was treading on thin ice here. Was she using her playfulness to disarm me? I had never really expressed interest in any other woman—aside from Sienna obviously—and I wondered if my newfound sexual appetite would have any unintended negative consequences for my marriage. I squinted at her a moment, trying to glean her intentions before replying.

"It's not a trick question, hon, give me a bit more credit than that," she offered dryly.

I smiled wide but still held onto some measure of doubt as to her ultimate emotions around the subject. Even still, our relationship had been built upon a foundation of radical honesty and been maintained almost effortlessly for almost 2 decades and I did not intend to change that now.

"Let's just say 'I'm on board' with the plan," I replied slyly.

Amber shot me a begrudging smile, perhaps hoping for a more colorful declaration of my intentions but accepting my response, nonetheless.

"Okay, so, I wanted to have a couple of options in case she's more receptive than I'd anticipated. We know she is a little stoner and she's been kicked out of the house so I'm hoping her wild streak is just beginning. So, we have the Oxy," she said, removing the bag of pills from her bag, "and we have the coke," she continued, setting the baggy of white powder next to her other treasure on the table.

"My thinking is that Sienna can employ some good-old-fashioned peer pressure to get her started on the pills while hopefully dropping some breadcrumbs that'll lead to further experimentation. And who knows? Maybe this girl is already doing some of this stuff? Maybe it will be as easy as offering it to her and watching her go. The biggest challenge might just be keeping those two teenagers stocked up," Amber explained, presenting her process to me for the first time and allowing me to peek behind the curtains of her devious mind.

All in all, it was not too far off from what I would probably come up with, but I doubted I'd concoct such a concise plan of attack so quickly and employ it as efficiently. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I was perpetually hindered by my tendency to overthink things and worry about the many possible outcomes of my actions. This was a trait that had aided me in terms of my occupation many times but had ultimately represented an obstacle on the road to being free to pursue my sexual satiation. As usual, I was awash in appreciation for my incredible wife.

"I must say, you look really pleased with yourself," she remarked, another sly grin on her face.

I tried to analyze her interest in my affect and stuttered, unable to discern its origin.

"Does it bother you that I'm fantasizing about being with her?" I asked quietly, suddenly aware of the possibility of my voice carrying.

Amber tilted her head in a disapproving fashion, a pained smile on her face.

"Babe, do you honestly think I'm threatened by you fucking another woman after everything you have seen me do? We are not a normal married couple, and I am not a normal wife; I was pretty sure you understood that by now," she explained.

I reciprocated her pained smile and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah, I understand that, but I also know that we've never really treaded in these waters. Until recently, I had not slept with any other woman aside from you in my entire life and that only changed when it included our daughter. I mean, I've been 'keeping it in the family' for a long, long time now," I countered.

Amber sighed a bit but also seemed to resign herself to some measure of understanding.

"Okay, I see what you are worried about, but you really don't need to be. I am not at all bothered by your interest in screwing this girl, if I were, I wouldn't be actively trying to make it happen. I am here for you, and I am doing what I am doing because I want to and because it turns us both on. There is no woman on this planet that I think is better for you than me, and I know you know that. So, let us stop focusing on this silly 'married jealousy' stuff and get back to the fun part, okay?" she offered, clearly far more interested in enacting the next part of her plan instead of what in her mind must've been needless concern.

Truth be told, I was as eager as she was about getting this plan into action. I felt it was only right to at least give Amber an opportunity to express her thoughts and emotions around what was a new wrinkle in our relationship, but I was certainly pleased that there was nothing to worry about.

"Absolutely, just making sure we're okay because nothing is worth jeopardizing us and what we have," I replied honestly.

"I know sweetheart and I so love that you are always thinking about me and how I feel but you don't have to worry about that. If I have a problem with anything, I am not going to play games or conceal it from you I am going to come right out and say it. We have always been honest with each other and it is why we are able to explore all this together instead of hiding the darkest parts of ourselves in fear of being judged. Just trust that I will tell you if there is ever anything wrong, because I am not going anywhere, ever. If you want to get rid of me one of us is going to have to die," she smirked.

"Thanks darling," I said, punctuating my gratitude with a quick kiss.

"Okay, so now that all the worrying is out of the way, we can talk more about how and when this is going down," Amber continued, seeming to pick right up where she left off before I introduced the dreaded 'emotional discussion.'

"What're you proposing?" I queried, thinking we had covered the basics already.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like you've earned a sick day," Amber replied, another devious smile present on her beautiful face.

I brought my lips into a tight grin, already feeling my stomach knot at the prospect of 'calling in sick' to work. I recognized the irrational nature of my anxiety, but it remained, nonetheless. I simply did not call in sick. If there was an Ironman award for grocery store employees, I would have a trophy case full of them. I was the veritable Cal Ripken Jr. of retail. There was something about going against the grain of my personality that felt incredibly psychologically uncomfortable—like rubbing my hand across the carpet the wrong way.

"You haven't used a single sick day in how long? A decade? What is the point of having them if you never use them?" Amber reasoned, perhaps the first in a series of different approaches that she was planning to employ.

"I know, I know, it's just... I don't call in sick... it's one of my things," I countered, knowing how incredibly unconvincing I was being.

"Babe... it's one day. Is the store gonna burn to the ground if you don't show up for one single day?" she replied, switching to her second approach of sarcasm.

I sighed loudly, seeing clearly that I would not be getting out of this easily. In exasperation I decided to skip to the part where I begrudgingly agreed with her.

"Fine, you're right. One day won't kill me," I acquiesced, meeting her gaze.

Her eyes went wide a moment before she smiled at me.

"I was expecting a lot more resistance on that to be honest," she beamed, clearly impressed with herself.

"I saw the writing on the wall, and I knew you weren't going to take no for an answer," I admitted.

"You make me sound like a door-to-door insurance salesman," she replied in mock insult.

"More like a spider with a helpless fly caught in an inescapable web," I clarified playfully.

That earned me a punch to the arm, followed up with a hearty laugh.

"You're a shit sometimes," she teased lovingly.

"No, I'm a fly, we've been over this," I teased back, earning myself another punch to the arm.

"God, you're too much this morning," Amber said through another hearty laugh as she scooped up the baggies of drugs and put them back into her purse.

"Love ya," I said.

"Love you too," she replied, leaning up to kiss me before heading back to the bedroom.

"Showering, be out in a bit," she called before disappearing behind the door without waiting for a reply.

That left me standing in the kitchen alone in my bathrobe and boxers. I caught sight of myself in the reflection on the sliding glass door. I honestly did not look half-bad for rolling out of bed only minutes ago. My brown hair was piled in a messy heap atop my head but still looked intentional in the way it normally did after sleeping with the remnants of my pomade still holding it in place to some degree. My shirtless chest was visible through the lazy wraps of my old blue robe and the natural firmness of my pectorals was apparent even through the reflection due to my regular shaving.

I rarely worked out but still enjoyed long bike rides and a generally active lifestyle that included hiking and a pickup game of basketball every now and again. I had never been into sports as a kid but found it later as an adult when I had stopped playing music in my high-school garage band. It had been part of the transition that both Amber and I had undergone after the insanity of our last year of high-school and the resulting decision to rebuild a sense of normalcy in our lives.

As I peered at myself in the reflection my mind drifted to Kayla walking into the kitchen to find me mostly undressed. I imagined her surprise at seeing me without my work slacks and button-up for the first time and perhaps fueling an already present crush. I imagined her impossibly plump lips curving into a hungry grin as she looked me over and offer a playful giggle as she approached. My cock began to swell as I watched my mental self-image reach out to caress her cheek and beckon her ever closer.

A cigarette appeared in her hand in a moment of psychic editing and resulted in a powerful drag and deep inhalation, her perky tits rising in response. I waited until she began to purse her lips to exhale in a tight stream that angled down and to the left that was her style, before leaning down and interrupting her with a kiss. I imagined my greedy attempt at breathing her in and a series of successive kisses that pulled her lips into my mouth for suckling and slurping that would lead to her hand snaking down to the slit in my boxers.

I absentmindedly reached down to my crotch as the thought of her silky smooth hand wrapping itself around the aching base of my shaft filtered into my mind. Perhaps I did not hear it, or did not want to acknowledge it, but the sounds of movement began to arise from the guest room in the hall. I struggled to pull myself from the pleasantness of my daydream as the sound of the doorknob turning invaded my semi-consciousness. I sighed and removed my hand from where it had been heading and tried to let the deep breath bring me a sense of calm that represented anything but the truth of how I felt in that moment.

As the two teenage girls appeared from the hall, I did my best to nonchalantly step into the kitchen without acknowledging them.

"Hey dad, shouldn't you be in the shower?" Sienna chirped as she bounced into the living room.

"Your mom convinced me to take a sick day," I commented, stepping behind the counter to conceal the remnant of my budding erection.

"Playing hooky? I would've expected better from the boss," Kayla teased, the weed likely endowing her with a greater sense of familiarity and a looser tongue.

I just laughed jovially, trying my best to encourage her comfort and ease around me. If I could continue to cultivate the kind of familiar and easygoing atmosphere that would elicit joking and teasing, perhaps it would not be long before things progressed—at least that was my hope.

"You ladies been to bed yet?" I asked, somewhat dubious of their willingness to arise so early on their own.

"Yep, I knew I had to be up and at em' early this morning to impress my superior," Kayla winked playfully.

"I just smelled her wake and bake and joined in," Sienna shrugged with a grin.

That elicited a laugh from all of us.

"So, I guess I'll be heading into work alone today, huh?" Kayla queried, looking over to me quizzically.

"Come on dad, you can't call in sick all by yourself. There is something going around, right? Kayla got it too, didn't she?" Sienna joked, clearly intending on devising a 'no-way-out' scenario akin to her mother just minutes ago.

I would have groaned at the similarities if it had not been so cute and coming from the mouth of my beloved daughter.

"She's a big girl, if she doesn't feel up to going to work, who am I to say any different?" I offered in a comically impartial tone that was anything but.

"Nice," Sienna remarked winningly.

"I never knew my boss was such a rebel," Kayla joked with more than a hint of genuine surprise.

"Oh, you have no idea," Sienna commented slyly, making my heart skip a beat.

There were a laundry list of things I adored about how reckless and unpredictable the two loves of my life could be, but it also resulted in moments of pure terror—this was one of those moments.

"Oh, really?" Kayla asked, picking up on the not-so-subtle undertones of Sienna's comment immediately.

"Are you guys hungry?" I asked, desperately wanting this conversation to veer in a different direction.

"Wow, he's changing the subject and everything! You were not kidding! This must be really good," Kayla remarked, making it known that my attempts to divert the conversation had inadvertently blown up in my face.

"Apparently him and my mom were quite the wild kids when they were my age," Sienna alluded.

Kayla looked between Sienna and I a couple of times with a bemused grin on her face, clearly interested and impressed but wondering what she was brave enough to say about it.

"The rumor is that they haven't put all that rebellious behavior behind them too, but those are just the rumors," Sienna continued, treading awfully close to what I would consider 'dangerous territory.'

As much as I wanted Kayla to be welcomed into the fold of our debauchery, I was also keenly aware of the likelihood that she would have no interest. Having kept the 'circle of trust' tight was definitely a large component of what had kept Amber, and I insulated from outside suspicion. Now that incest had been included and everything was ramping up, introducing an outside element like Kayla was incredibly precarious for all involved. I wrestled with my tendency to worry and my intense desire to push the limits, weighing my options while remaining compromised by my libido.