Behind the Mask Ch. 05

All characters are at least 18 years old.

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Finally, no more school. At least, not for the rest of the summer. I think I found school more boring than the average student. At least college would be more interesting. Perhaps I'd finally learn something useful.

Drew sighed as he dropped himself on the couch, causing Cherry to bounce up a bit. My friends were all over at my house. Brie was nestled in Stef's arms, and I was draped over my favorite armchair.

"You guys all got your gowns for tomorrow?" Cherry asked. Everybody nodded, and there were a couple of wistful smiles.

"I'm surprised they had one your size," Drew said with a smirk. Cherry scowled and pulled her legs up to kick at Drew, who laughed and batted her feet away.

"I can't stand you," she growled. "I swear, living together is a bad idea."

"Whoa, whoa, wait, what?" Stef interrupted, sitting up. Brie had to cling to his neck to keep from being thrown from his lap, and I smiled at how intimate it was. They were just so casual with each other now, and I loved it.

"Oh shit, we haven't told you yet." Drew ran his fingers through his hair, then turned to Cherry with an expression that asked, Do you want to tell them, or should I? Cherry shrugged, and Drew turned back to the rest of us. "Our parents are thinking of moving in together."

"Oh my God," the twins said concurrently.

"As a smokescreen?" I ventured. I'd already known. Coco had run the idea by me during one of our coffee meetings. She and Leon would pretend to enter a relationship to throw any suspicion that they were having sex with their children.

Cherry nodded. "Just in case anybody is starting to get ideas about us, y'know?"

"Can't imagine you're very happy about it," Stef remarked.

"Yeah, I still remember that period where you guys thought they were legit dating," Brie added. "And... Let's just say you guys need to chill out, okay?"

"Says the most jealous and protective couple I've ever seen," Drew rebuffed. Brie twisted her lips in annoyance, while Stef could only chuckle and nod in agreement.

"Ooh," I crooned, and Drew and Cherry eyed me warily. "That means that if they follow through with the smokescreen and eventually get married... you two will become step-siblings." I grinned, and they both groaned. Stef began guffawing, and Brie slapped his chest with a reprimanding glare.

"That doesn't mean we'll start fucking," Cherry pointed out, irritated.

"No, but you could," I teased with a wink. They glanced at each other with varying levels of disgust before both shaking their head. I could safely joke about them having sex with each other. Had it been anybody else, I could have gone a step further and suggest their parents could take advantage of sharing a bedroom and start having lots of sex with each other. But in this case, at best it would ruin the mood, with the potential of causing them to have second thoughts about living together.

And we couldn't jeopardize a possible family orgy house, now could we?

"No offense, Cherry, but no thanks," Drew said.

"Likewise," she muttered in reply.

Stef groaned, an inscrutable expression on his face. "Oof, can you imagine? Drew and Cherry together? He'd split her open."

"Ew. Ew!" Cherry squealed, shuffling away from Drew on the couch.

Brie smacked Stef hard on the chest as he laughed. "Stefan, you're fucking disgusting."

"I have heard good things from Coco," I added, and it contributed to the chaos nicely. Drew leaned back, placing his hands behind his head in a boastful position.

"Y'know, just because you're tall doesn't mean you have a big... y'know," Cherry pointed out, and Drew nodded.

"That's true for some people," he admitted. "But, uh, not for this guy."

"Fucking nice," Stef piped up. Drew held his hand up for a high five, but Stef was too busy fending off another reprimanding attack from Brie, and ended up leaving him hanging. I had to keep from laughing too hard at the whole situation.

"Don't mind them, Cherry," Brie huff dismissively once we'd all settled down. "Especially anything Lex says. All she cares about is maximum perversity."

"Very true," I agreed. "But you can't say I haven't had your interests at heart either."

Cherry glanced at me before grudgingly nodding. My relationship with Cherry was an interesting one. During the time I was hooking her up with her dad, I'd had to act quite questionably in her eyes. Put simply, I'd manipulated her into action, into taking the next step of her own volition rather than instruction. She'd had mixed feelings about it once she figured out my play, to say the least. However, both before and after that incident, sometimes she gave the impression that she viewed me as a paragon. She'd never known her mother and was an only child, so maybe there was some kind of big sister thing going on there. Likewise, Coco would occasionally fill that maternal role as well. As long as neither of us threatened to steal Cherry's dad away from her, she silently welcomed our bonds with her.

"I've actually..." Drew trailed off, probably rethinking what he was about to say.

We waited a beat before Stef prompted, "What, dude?"

Drew took a deep breath. "I can trust you guys, right?"

I actually snorted. "Drew, baby, if you can't trust us, you can't trust anybody."

He nodded and took another deep breath before speaking. "Mom insists she's not getting any younger. So we've been thinking..."

My heart kicked into high gear, my eyes widening in excitement. This was it. My CRISPR gene editor that I was keeping on retainer was finally going to start earning his keep. I'd told all three couples that if they wanted to have cute little incest babies, they could come to me to edit out harmful genes caused by inbreeding. The odds of having said genes with only one generation were low, but you could never be too careful, especially since two of the couples were parent-child pairs. But I had a feeling Drew was about to disappoint me.

"Oh shit," Cherry breathed. "Are you gonna make her pregnant?"

"No way," Stef said in awe.

"No no no." Drew waved his hands to dispel any more excitement before he could finish. "We're just thinking of putting some of her eggs on ice, in case down the line--"

I groaned and threw myself back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. "Seriously?! That is the most boring thing I've ever heard!"

"C'mon, Lexi, are you out of your fucking mind? You think I'm just gonna knock my mom up?"

"That's exactly what I thought."

"Lex," Brie chided. "Maybe we should just let them be."

"Oh please. As if thinking about cumming into his mom's unprotected pussy doesn't have him as hard as a guy can get right this second." I looked at Drew with a raised eyebrow, and he gulped and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, that's part of why I wanna change the subject," Brie said flatly.

I chuckled. "You're not going to ice your mom's eggs. What, you're gonna use a surrogate? You're gonna miss out on watching your mom's belly swell with your baby? You're gonna give up watching her boobs grow full with that milk you love so much?"

Drew swallowed, avoiding eye contact. "Shut up," he muttered. The others were quiet, simply bystanders to the exchange.

"Is that your thing?" I dropped my voice low, turning the seductiveness up. God, I loved watching him squirm. "Your mom all nice and pregnant? Making her cum on your cock while both her kids are inside her? Breeding the woman that raised you?"

Drew was sweating now, wetting his lips and gripping his jeans tightly in a desperate attempt at self-control. Finally, Cherry couldn't hold it anymore, and she burst out laughing. Stef followed, and even Brie let out a small giggle. I crossed my legs and grinned, relishing his lust.

"Fuck you guys," he snapped, trying to hide a smirk. "I open up to you and this is how you react?"

"Dude, Lexi played you like a fiddle," Stef hooted. "I get it now. I get why you do that shit, Lex. Teach me, master."

"Trade secrets," I replied with a wink. The doorbell rang, and I stood. "I'll get it." As the others poked fun at Drew and his true desires, my mind shifted gears. I wasn't expecting anybody else. Leon and Coco were at work. My stomach coiled at the thought of Charles crashing this little pre-graduation party. "Who is it?" I called a few steps away from the door.

"It's August."

I stopped in my tracks. Well, that had caught me off guard. With a sigh, I opened the door to be greeted by August's annoyingly handsome face.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think tracking me down with FBI files is a misuse of resources," I quipped.

"Thing is, you don't know better. We've met exactly once before, so unless you've been stalking me, you don't know me well enough to make an informed opinion like that." His smile was of the disarming variety, I noted. No, that wasn't it. I could tell it wouldn't have been everybody's cup of tea. It was just working on me. Ugh, this wasn't fair. But I'd won against worse odds.

"You're really gonna accuse me of stalking?" I returned, and he chuckled.

"What? I'm just visiting my fiancée." He pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind him and offered them to me.

"Gerbera and baby's breath?" I said, taking the bouquet. "I think you have the wrong girl."

"Pretty sure I don't," he said with confidence. I eyed him skeptically. This bitch thought he was clever, huh? "May I come in?"

"I have company," I explained curtly. God damn it, he was on the offensive. Alain was handing me a more detailed background check on him tonight. Now I was stuck in an awkward situation, and I couldn't let the others know. Vain as it was, I didn't want them seeing how I was with August.

"Friends?" His eyes flickered past me for a moment before focusing back on me.

"Lex, who is it?" From behind me, Brie pulled the door open for a better look. "Oh."

"Pleased to meet you," August said smoothly. "I'm August. Friend of Lexi's."

Very tactful of him to only introduce himself as a friend. He could have exposed me, had he wanted to. At least he had some decency.

"A friend?" Brie looked at me, and to my horror, realization dawned on her face. "Ahh." She extended her hand toward August. "I'm Brie. Did you wanna come in?" No. Stop it, Brie.

"That'd be lovely," August said with that boy scout smile of his. Brie held the door open for him, and on his way past me, he gave me a wink.

Oh my God, fuck this guy.

We rejoined the others, who were surprised somebody new was joining us. That put an end to all the incest talk, I thought glumly. Brie sat back down next to Stef, opting not to entwine herself with him due to mixed company. August took the chair next to me.

"Guys, this is one of Lexi's friends," Brie announced. "August."

"Hey." He gave a small wave. "Sorry to intrude." No you're not, you fucker.

I noticed Stef shifting slightly to put himself more between August and Brie, and that cheered me up a little. He had nothing to worry about -- Brie was completely in love with him -- but it was cute that he still got his hackles up around perceived rivals.

"We were just talking about what we like," Drew said casually. "What about you, August? What's your type?"

"Drew, what the hell," Cherry said with a scowl. She got a shrug in response.

"Girls?" August clarified, and Drew nodded. "Hm." He glanced at me for a split second, then smirked. "Brunettes. Chubby ones."

"God, that's not how you bring somebody into a conversation," Cherry sighed, before addressing August. "How do you guys know each other?"

He turned to me, mock contemplation on his face. "Huh. How did we meet?" He snapped his fingers, feigning remembering a memory that didn't exist. "I remember now. Summer vacation. You were still in middle school. Arkansas, remember?"

I smiled and nodded. So we were gonna fake a whole history together, huh? That was always a lot of fun. I wanted to see if he could keep up with me.

"That's right. They had that place where you could dig up diamonds."

"Yeah, yeah. She wanted my spot, said she had a feeling it was-- What'd you call it?"

"'The Jackpot Spot,'" I supplied, squinting slightly.

August laughed. "Just using our hands to fling dirt at each other. Her dad was so pissed. Her clothes were expensive, I guess."

"Only my dad would make me wear Ralph Lauren to go digging," I noted sourly, my eyes never wavering from August.

"Well it turns out it really was the Jackpot Spot, because I actually found a diamond!"

"How big?" Drew asked.

August frowned. "Half carat, maybe? Decent color too, considering there are a lot of yellow and brown ones there."

"Damn, not bad. Did it reach E or F, at least?"

"We were too young. We had no idea about diamond grades." He looked at me again. "I let her keep it. Made a joke about being the first boy to give her a diamond." The others chuckled, and Brie looked at me coyly. "Lost contact for a bit, but found each other again over social media. So."

"Damn, it's so easy to find people on the Internet now," Stef commented. "That's pretty cool, especially after so long."

"Do you still have the diamond, Lexi?" Cherry asked.

"Huh? Uh, yeah." Shit, what was going on? Now I was put on the spot.

"Do you have it here? Go get it!" Drew urged.

Stiffly, I stood up and went to my room. August watched me go in amazement, doing his best to hide it in front of the others. Inside my jewelry box, near the very back, was a tiny little diamond ring. The rock was so small that a lot of it was obscured by the claw holding it in place. I brought it back out for the others to study, and it was good that they were so distracted by the subject of the story. I was trembling, racking my brain.

August was looking oddly at me. Was he wondering how I had a diamond ready? But based on what he said...

The others handed the ring back, and I stared at it in my hand. "Well, it's getting late," Brie noted. "The four of us were going out for dinner. Did you guys wanna stay and catch up?" she said to me and August.

"Sure. It was great meeting you guys," August said.

Brie led the others out, leaving the two of us alone. August turned on me, scrutinizing me silently yet intensely.

"You played along really well," he said slowly, still squinting at me.

"'Played along'? What the hell, August. I actually went on a family vacation like that!" My mind felt like it was unraveling. "Did Charles put you up to this?"

"Charles? Who's Charles?"

"My father. The guy who I'm pretty sure is your mysterious benefactor," I said fiercely. I was done playing games with this guy. Now I was mad. "What else did he brief you on? He even told you stuff as obscure as our Arkansas trip?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he insisted. "I don't know the benefactor's name. Sometimes I wonder if even my mom knows. It's just... you really freaked me out just now." He sat forward, solemn as the grave. "You just... had a diamond ready?"

"This isn't my only diamond, genius. This is the one from that trip you just described! Charles told you about it, and now you're using it as the story for how we met." I stood quickly and folded my arms. "Get the hell out of my house. There's no way Charles is gonna rope me in with some stupid mind games and a map of my heart or some shit. Just leave."

"Lexi, I swear to you, I've never met this Charles guy in my life. No phone calls, no texts, nothing."

"Quit bullshitting me," I snapped. "What else could it be? The simplest explanation is the most likely. So just quit lying and get outta here."

"You seriously think I'm lying about this?" His eyes were narrowed, and I felt like I could catch a glimpse of what he must have looked like as a soldier in action.

"Look, whether you lie to me or not is up to you. And whether I believe you or not is up to me. Frankly, either way, I don't have to deal with this. I'll talk to Charles myself. This marriage thing was a joke anyway."

August walked close to me, and for a second I thought he was trying to intimidate me. Instead, he leaned down toward me, staring into my eyes. "I'm pretty sure you can read people," he said. "Probably even tell when they're lying. So let me say this: I've never made any kind of contact with a Charles, nor my benefactor. And... I'm pretty sure I've been on that Arkansas trip too." His eyes clouded with confusion before refocusing on me. "So tell me, am I lying?"

He'd been on that trip too? I studied him, looking for any tells. He's just a good liar. Any tells at all. Then why is he as freaked out as I am?

I looked at him. Really looked at him. He remained steadfast, waiting for my verdict that he was lying. It was impossible. If nobody told him about it, he couldn't have known. What.

What the fuck.