Blizzard Ch. 27

I knew what she had wanted. She had wanted to sneak in, get naked, and wake up the three of us by jumping into bed. The wind helped her open the door. Her winter boots thundered up the stairs. Her jacket knocked three vibrators off the top of the toy shelf.

"Oh, you're up." Alex's nose scrunched and her frown twisted.

"Yeah," I said, with my head beginning to throb. "What time is it?"

"Almost 10!" Alex answered. I don't know if she was yelling but my brain felt like she had a bullhorn. Where were their hangovers?

Max sat up and swung her legs off the side of the bed. Sam snuggled in against my back. She massaged my cock and I knew I needed to pee.

"You don't have to take all your clothes off," Max was telling Alex.

"Why not? I missed out on sex last night!" Alex said.

"Cuddling and a shared handjob," Max said, then kissed her friend's cheek and started to make breakfast.

"What?" Alex scanned the room. Max had pushed down the covers. Sam's tits were out. Her hand and my cock tented the blanket. Max's ass bounced happily in the kitchenette. Alex met my eyes.

She had thrown off her jacket, mittens, and earmuffs. She dropped her sweater on her scarf. Her boots were discarded in a cross at the top of the stairs. She unhooked her pale green bra and her tits jiggled with relieved pressure.

"No, I'm getting naked," Alex said. "And I'm going to do the work I trusted you two to do last night."

" 'Work'?" I finally couldn't fight it. I pulled up Sam's hand and kissed her knuckles. I slid my legs out of bed.

"It's not 'work'," Alex said hurriedly. "It's not OK, though. Why didn't you get to have sex last night?"

"Everyone was wiped out from the weather and party." I kissed Alex as I walked by her. "Don't judge them too harshly. Where's your bag?"

"Under my jacket," Alex pointed. "I would've fucked him when you guys weren't able to!"

I left them alone with a smile on my face. I closed my bathroom door and unloaded a wine-assisted full bladder. I splashed water on my face and rubbed it through my hair. I grabbed the Richardson's bottle of ibuprofen and swallowed two pills. I was feeling better when I walked out of the bathroom.

Alex was naked. She had her hands on her hips like Superman, or I suppose I mean like Supergirl. My heart warmed.

"It's not that simple. We're never going to cheat on you," Max assured Alex.

"You only cheat on me if you fuck someone who isn't one of us," Alex lectured. "Which isn't going to happen. Ever."

"There's no need to be angry." I walked up and hugged her from behind. "No work. No school. What do you guys want to do today?"

"I still have chem and calculus assignments, actually, and Alex has homework. Sam, what about-"

"Boo! Boo-oo!" Alex shouted through a hand megaphone.

"Boo," Sam agreed.

"Oh," Max frowned, her eyes downcast. "What do you guys want to do?"

"I have an idea," Alex said, and immediately began grinding her ass into my cock. I kissed the top of her head.

"An excellent suggestion, but I'm going to need energy. Didn't you start breakfast?" I asked Max.

" 'Start' being the operative word," she said.

"Do you want to put the boots on?" I asked.

Max stepped back from the counter and looked over at Sam. Sam was sitting on the bed looking pensively at her phone.

"There's one thing I have to do first," Max said, and looked at Sam.

Sam looked up. Her eyes widened in trepidation. "Oh crap. Oh crap. Max? Max, what are-"

Max walked across the room straight to Sam. Sam looked over at us uncertainly, but I didn't know what Max intended either. Alex looked over her shoulder and up at me. She stopped gyrating her butt.

"Sam, last night, I lost control." Max reached out. Sam laid both of her hands on Max's. Sam was pulled, her legs swinging off the edge of the bed. Max squatted down so she was looking up at Sam. "I taunted you for who you are. I said things just to make you hurt. I love you. Every part of you. You, Alex, Gene, you're my heart. I'm sorry."

Alex leaned back and met my gaze. She teared up. Sam teared up. I manfully and stoically wiped away the dust in my eyes. Pesky dust.

"I mean it," Max continued. "Me. Not the boots. I wanted to say it last night but I had to wait until I knew that I was saying sorry because I loved you, I hurt you, and I regretted it. I love you, for all the right reasons," she said.

"Thank you!" Sam rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes.

"Don't just stop there! Kiss and make up!" Alex cheered.

"You don't have to," Sam shook her head. "I know that-"

Max rose slightly to capture Sam's lips in a passionate kiss. Sam leaned in to embrace Max awkwardly by the shoulders. After several seconds, Sam got sloppy and Max couldn't keep up, and then Sam's grip slipped and Max fell down on her ass.

"I love making the people I love happy," Max declared with a rueful smile.

Alex was grinding on me again. I was smiling. I hugged Alex close to me.

"Do you have another big makeup kiss in you?" Sam asked. She opened her knees and inched her butt to the edge of the bed.

"For you? Of course I do," Max said, sinking down before Sam with a wide smile.

"Wait," I said. Three pairs of eyes looked at me. "She said that from the bottom of her heart. Let's put the boots on her."

"Yeah," Sam nodded. She pulled Max up. They duelled their tongues, clashing, riposting, and lunging as Max was dragged to her feet.

Alex twisted. She snapped her arms around the back of my neck. She jumped and wrapped her legs around my hips. I made sure it was my closet behind me and not the flimsy railing over the staircase. Safe, I reached forward and grabbed Alex's asscheek. I wasn't going to let her fall.

"Hurry up," Alex said over her shoulder. "Because right now I'm doing the work of three women."

She was unable to capture my cock in her pussy with just her hips. I kissed her and kissed her nose. I kicked Alex's bag across the floor. It slid to a stop on Sam's toes.

"Calm down, Alex," I said. "This is important."

"You're right," Alex said. "It'll be quick though, right? I'm ready."

"I can feel that," I said as she kissed me. "And soon Max'll be too."

Max was a breathtaking redheaded woman, wearing nothing but over-the-knee leather high-heeled boots. I knew the kind of pictures I wanted to decorate my walls with. Then the only people I could have over were these three. I smiled at that.

Sam knelt behind Max. She grabbed the zippers and pulled them up the back of Max's calves. The apartment rattled the moment the boots were on. Max danced happily. I suppose it wasn't just singing: Alex was also the dancer. Still, I would've watched Max forever.

"OK," I said. I put Alex down. "More of last night, huh?"

The weather was extreme but we had four walls, closed windows, working radiators, and all the body heat we'd need to the end of time. Alex put her feet on the floor. She bounced the tip of my cock with her fingertip.

"How do you feel?" I took Max's hands in mine.

"So good," she smiled.

"Alright, Newton's Law time," I said.

"Force equals the gravitational constant by the multiple of the two masses over the square of the radius between them?" Max smirked.

"One of my favorites, but no," I said. "Take the boots off."

"Should we do that?" Sam worried.

"I don't throw unknown chemicals together just to see what the reaction will be," I said.

"You heard the man. Our man." Alex slapped my butt and zigzagged behind Max to pull down a zipper. Sam grabbed the other one. Max jumped.

"What?"

"Alex just kissed my butt," Max laughed. She squealed and pushed back Sam's face. "So did Sam!"

"Really?" I got Max to shriek as I lifted her. Sam and Alex pulled the boots off of Max's airborne feet. I spun her. She caught the arm of my chair and pushed back gleefully. She landed on the tips of her toes, and I pushed down her shoulder. She giggled when I kissed her butt.

"Awesome," I said with a smile. A little push, and Max stepped around the chair. "None of that?"

"None of what?" she asked.

"Dodging," Alex nodded.

"Dodging what?" Max frowned.

"Get in the chair," Sam patted the cushion of my armchair.

"Oh, I couldn't do that. That's for Ge-" She squealed, giggling. I may have swept up her legs by clotheslining the back of her knees. I caught her shoulder.

"Make sure she doesn't squirm out of the way," I told Sam and Alex. They rushed around and grabbed Max's arms.

The only reason Max stopped kicking was because she had hit me in the shoulder. She apologized, giving me my opportunity. I kissed her. She kissed me back eagerly. She smiled blissfully with bright eyes as I broke off from the kiss. Her ass bounced off the cushion. Alex held her breath, as did the wind outside. Sam grabbed my hand and I squeezed it as we watched.

"Hm," Max said. She grabbed the chair's arms and wiggled her butt on the cushion a few times. "Who wants coffee!" she said, and stood up.

"Did it work on her?" I worried. No wind. Were we free? "Wait! Max? Coffee?"

"Yeah, if I'm going to keep up with Alex, I need caffeine," she said, pulling a coffeemaker box out from under my sink.

"When did that get there?" I asked.

"Peter and Alex bought it," Sam said. "We already have a kettle. What about tea?"

"Coffee gets me going, tea relaxes me," Max said.

"Getting a coffeemaker was my idea, but let Max handle it. Now, what do you want?" Alex asked, rubbing her hand up my back.

I kissed Alex with a smile and walked over to Max. She was reading the instructions. I started lifting styrofoam and the parts of the unassembled machine from the box.

"Leaving it unassembled was Dad's idea," Alex said with a soft shake of her head.

My stomach rumbled. I picked the sleep from my eyes.

"Do you guys wanna go to Tara's?" I asked, as the apartment rocked in the wind. There was no sense in facing a wizard chick on an empty stomach.

"I can do this," Max said. "Shouldn't take more than an hour."

"I know how we can spend the hour!" Alex said. She circled her fingertips on her clit and sucked them clean, then slumped her shoulders. "I suppose I want you to have energy."

Sam pushed Alex's shoulder. "You absolute nymph!"

"That's a cute insult," Alex giggled.

"I'm not trying to insult you," Sam said. "We need a word for a girl who really loves to fuck. 'Slut' and the rest I know are all mean. 'Nymph', OK?"

"I think 'Alex' covers what you want, Sam," Max said.

"Thank you, Max. You're an absolute Alex."

"You're pretty Alex yourself," Max giggled.

"Yeah, no, that's going to get confusing," I said. "You can use 'nymph', but I'm not going to be calling all of you 'Alexes'."

"I like 'nymph'," Alex said, swaying slowly, like a hippie in a warm, imaginary breeze.

"Fine," Max blew a raspberry out through a smile. She put down the instructions and looked at the pieces I had laid out on the counter. "I can't assemble this paradox without caffeine and I can't... I need coffee. Let's go to Tara's."

________________

We didn't see Gretchen until long after we were sitting at a different waitress's table. She didn't look twice at me. She had warned me. Perhaps I'd never see the psychic demon again? Although she was way too friendly to be a demon. Maybe the snow was done for the year.

Sitting in the booth, shovelling in breakfast, poking, laughing, and maybe groping a little bit, I felt better than I ever had. I talked engineering with Max. I was told what books I just had to read by Sam. I stopped Alex from ordering a dozen more games off of Amazon.

"Another refill?" asked the waitress. I pushed my cup to her and smiled. She smiled back. "How was your omelette?"

"Everything tastes great in this company," I sighed happily.

"I'm sure," the waitress said, looking a little askance at the 31-year-old man and his teenaged harem.

"Thank you," I said.

"No worries." She earned her tip and left us alone.

"The food here is always great. Thank you for taking us!" Sam beamed. She didn't even let me say "You're welcome" before she continued. "But if you only eat eggs and bacon - all that fat and cholesterol? We're gonna have to worry about you."

"You should eat healthier. Have a fruit cup or something," Max suggested.

"Oh my god!" Alex shoved a whipped-cream-chocolate-chip pancake chunk into my mouth. "It's so-oo good!"

"Alex!" Max pouted.

"You too?" Alex put on her shark smile and thrust her fork towards Max. Sam dove in and ate off of it.

"Nice," I said. Max gave me a little frown. Alex put the next forkful into the redhead's mouth.

"I'll be a few minutes," I told them, and rubbed Alex's shoulders as I headed to the bathroom. I smiled at Gretchen on the way back. She was only human. I grabbed my coat and laid out cash on the table. "C'mon, girls. We got the whole day."

"Let's go back to bed!" Alex stopped short of shouting it to the restaurant. Max's cheeks tinged red. Sam's lips broadened in a giddy smile.

"Really?" I asked, holding the door. "You guys don't have anything you'd like to do? We haven't really done the date thing."

"Sure we did. Chinese food," Max said.

"Coffee dates and stuff," Alex added.

Sam frowned at Alex. "Maybe we'll each get an individual date soon?"

"Sure," I agreed. "But today, I have you all!"

I laughed maniacally, and snatched up Max and Sam by their hips. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out. The sidewalks weren't icy. The wind hardly tickled our faces.

"You're really sunny," Alex was walking backwards a step ahead of us. Max held Alex's mitten and directed her away from collisions with other pedestrians. "What's got you smiling?"

"It feels like spring," I said.

"It's 1 degrees," Max said.

"1 degree."

"Yes. I was just saying it's cold, Sam," Max sighed.

"Well, sorry for getting it right," Sam said.

"Are you girls OK?"

"I feel great!" Alex said. "Everyone's here."

"You're no barometer," Sam frowned.

"Why? How do you feel?" Alex worried.

"I feel like... these are my own feelings." Sam shook her head. "I feel like you're not going to make me feel something else." She looked down at her feet and kicked snow off of her boots. "What about you, Max?"

"I ate too much," she answered thoughtfully. "Want to go up to the Commons and go ice skating?"

"Yeah!" Alex beamed.

"I don't know how to skate," Sam said.

"I don't own skates," I frowned.

"Oh, it was a bad idea," Max murmured.

"No, it was a great idea. We need more of those." I rubbed my cheek on her toque.

"The movies, maybe?" Alex asked.

"Nothing's playing for a few hours," Max countered.

"Do you guys like pool?" I asked.

"I guess," Sam said, looking off towards the library, towards her dorm.

"I'll kick your ass!" Alex cheered.

"No, you won't," Max pointed out. "You never learned."

"Girls?" I asked again. The wind blew softly over our necks. I readjusted my collar and frowned.

"Gene?" Sam asked. She looked troubled.

I stopped. Max pulled Alex into us.

"Max, what's wrong?" I asked.

"What?" Sam said. "Why ask her?"

"She's got a handle on this," I said.

"Yeah, until she blows up and says nasty shit."

"I said I was sorry."

"Maybe I need more than a sorry."

"Yeah, of course." Max stopped herself with a long breath. "Yeah, that's what we do. I'll be happy to-"

"Don't lie," Sam said.

"What's going on?" Alex worried.

"Girls," I said. "Take a deep breath, OK?"

"It's easy for you," Sam said. "You get everything."

"I get love or I get hurt," I said. "It's never been easy. You're worth the hard."

"Yeah, you are!" Alex pumped her fist sexually. "Real hard."

"I need to talk to someone. I'm going to call my mom," Sam said.

"You're OK?" I asked. "You can talk to us. Or just me."

"I-I'm gonna go," she said. She pulled out from under my arm and took two steps. "Keep Max for today?"

"What?" Max worried. Alex frowned. Sam hurried off through the crowd.

"Oh, I love her," Alex said.

"Then go after her," Max said. "She only said to keep me away."

"Do you think she'd want that?" Alex frowned harder.

"I think she wanted to get her-" I cut myself off as the wind began picking up. Max and Alex looked at me. I had to gather my thoughts. I had to push down my gut response. I had to- I forgot what I was saying.

"If Sam's out, we should go buy you skates," Max suggested. "Though I'm pretty sure they have loan-outs, like shoes at bowling alleys."

"You can't just let her go," Alex said.

"You gotta let her have her space," Max countered.

"No, I don't," and Alex took off at a run.

"Alex!" I called out. She turned back, waved, and turned away again.

"At least she's watching where she's going now," Max said. I nodded.

"Alright, but-"

The wind hit us like an oncoming truck. I blocked my face and pulled Max in to protect her. Her hair whipped wildly.

"You just let them go," Max said coldly.

"Max, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling like Sam was right," Max said. "That you win."

"If you three don't win with me, I lose."

Max shook her head. "Go home. I'll check in with Alex."

"But-"

I grabbed Max's hand to keep her from walking off. She shook her head. I let go. I didn't know what to think.

The wind died. It felt like it had died laughing. I clenched my jaw. I balled my fists. I marched home.

________________

Die on the vine. Burn it down. Salt the earth. What was the right play? What could I do? Start at the beginning: what couldn't I do? Violence? All I knew for sure was that murder would disappoint Alex, and make everything else much much worse.

Sam had just needed a minute. Alex was just concerned for a friend. Max couldn't just do what Sam had asked her to. All I had to do was say something. Max, give her room to breathe. Max, stay with me. Max, wait. I wouldn't have been alone. I wouldn't have been terrified. I wouldn't have been ready to do something stupid.

I banged on Winter's door.

The door led into her living room. The bedroom was at most twelve paces from the front door. There was no answer. I took a long deep angry breath. I banged harder.

I was standing on the porch, frozen in the near freezing, waiting for something to happen. I knocked again. Insistently. Politely. Feebly. I was waiting for nothing to happen.

"She might not be home." Mrs Rabinovich, the old woman from apartment Four, smiled at me. She was carrying grocery bags as she walked slowly behind me. "Thank you so much for keeping the step clear all winter."

"Happy to help," I said and took her bags. I sidestepped around the tiny old woman as she unlocked her door.

"Thank you so much," she said. I set her bags on the counter, exchanged waves, and closed the door behind me. I walked back to apartment One and almost knocked one last time. I pulled out my phone.

The longest I'd ever waited for a return text from Alex had been four minutes. Fifteen minutes passed. Nothing from any of the three. A slight breeze ran over my shoulders. I scowled at door number One. Winter wasn't home. Nothing to be done. I went in my apartment.

I knew something was off the moment I had my door open.

"Hello! Alex! Sam! Max!" But the door hadn't been locked. It was only ever unlocked when they weren't here. I smelled tea.

I clenched my teeth as I stomped up my stairs. She smiled at me, one bare leg crossed over the other knee. Winter was wearing no more than a lace robe and a silk nightgown. She sipped from my chipped ugly black mug. She waggled her bare toes.

"What the hell are you doing in my home?" I demanded.

"Your home?" she laughed. "You borrow this apartment in exchange for money. It isn't yours. No, a man's home is his property, his sanctuary, his castle."

"Get the fuck out," I seethed, and pointed to the stairs. "I hope you freeze to death."