Grief, Lust, and Consequences Ch. 01

Katy nodded and her face turned red. She was thankful that she could blame it on the cold air.

"I suppose it wouldn't be entirely surprising that we would react in similar ways," he said as started walking again. "But just because I'm married doesn't mean my wife wants to fuck me whenever I need to take my mind off what's happened."

"Oh, I see..." Katy said, having her curiosity about the previous night confirmed. "So that's why she's out of sorts this morning because you woke her up at two in the morning wanting to fuck!" She jabbed her elbow into Jeff's side through his coat and cackled out a laugh.

"Oh god... we woke you didn't we?" Jeff covered his mouth with his gloved hand in embarrassment. "Fuck I'm sorry!" He looked down at the snow at his feet before continuing. "I thought you were awake! You'd completely changed positions when I came out of the toilet."

Katy grinned sheepishly, "Yeah neither of you were very quiet."

"Ugh... this is so embarrassing..." he muttered back to her.

Katy gave him another playful jab with her elbow before going on. "Ah, don't dwell on it. I'm not your baby sister anymore. Besides, from what I could hear she should be thanking you for a good time!" Katy kept laughing at her big brother's embarrassment.

At that comment, Jeff's face was red enough that Katy could make it out even through his beard. "Well, she doesn't feel the same. To be honest we've been a bit mismatched in that area anyway. All this just makes it worse."

"It's okay, no need to explain! I get it!" Katy paused before adding, "So... what did you think about?"

Jeff looked at her, still red in the face from more than the cold air. "Yeah not sure I'm ready to divulge that," and followed it with an embarrassed and nervous chuckle.

Katy was curious at his hesitancy to own up to that information. Her own mind was filling in the blanks with all kinds of ideas of her own. Katy's curious and horny imagination offered up the passing thought that her brother may have featured herself in his imagination. The thought shocked her, but also warmed her body in a way that made her feel as embarrassed as he was. Her curiosity aside, she decided to not continue pressing the issue and risk putting him off.

The siblings approached a downed tree across the path that had fallen in a storm earlier that summer. Jeff stopped and extended his hand to help her climb over it.

"Up and over, Shortcake!"

Shortcake was a playful nickname that Jeff had started calling her when she stopped growing and it became apparent that he was going to tower over a foot above her for the rest of her life. Katy gave him a joking snarl and took his hand and climbed over the log. When Jeff followed, she stopped short and spoke.

"All messing aside, I meant what I said earlier. She's lucky to have you. You take care of everything for her, even in bed!" At the latter end of the statement she grinned and looked downward before following up. "Some of us aren't so lucky."

Jeff reached out and pulled his sister in for a hug with both arms. "You're the sweetest and crudest little sister in the world." He chuckled again as they continued on.

"Can I ask something?" Katy said, slipping her arm back inside her brother's. "And feel free to tell me to mind my own business if you'd rather not answer."

"Go on then!" Jeff said, starting to sniffle in the frigid air.

"What did dad think of her?"

"Ah, well he was always openly supportive. Never really sat me down and said anything poor about her. Though looking back I think there were times when he may have thought she could have been too much like mum." Jeff paused a moment before continuing. "I may be imagining that, but I swear sometimes he would have that look like he was worried about something and wouldn't say."

"Yeah I know that look." Katy responded. "He gave me that look when he saw the bikini I was packing before going to university." Katy gave another hearty cackle and was joined by her red-faced brother in laughing over it. "It's almost like he was saying 'be careful' with his eyes." Jeff nodded in agreement before she continued. "You've got that same look sometimes."

"Yeah I supposed I inherited that honestly."

Jeff went on, "I guess when his son showed up with someone that resembled his awful ex-wife so much he had reason to be concerned... I suppose it's true, that whole 'guys look for a type like their mother' thing."

Katy held back her initial thought that Bethany seemed to have more in common with their mother than just her appearance. She was taken aback at how her distaste for her sister-in-law seemed to be broiling inside her during their trip. She paused before finally quipping back, "Well I resemble her even more closely! I always wondered if that was hard for dad or not."

"Oh god, don't think like that! You got all her good qualities and managed to dodge all the bad ones!"

Katy smiled at the sweet comment. "All except the artsy-creative stuff. That she gave to her dorky, lanky firstborn!"

They made their way around the last bend of the lake and the cabin came back into view. Katy knew her quality time with her brother was coming to an end and tugged his arm close to her again.

Jeff stopped in the snow as if he was hesitant to go back inside. After a brief moment he smiled and spoke.

"Thanks for suggesting this walk and making me talk things out. You've helped so much in all of this and I'm lucky to have you as my sister."

"We're lucky we have each other and leave it at that!" she responded through chattering teeth. "We're just two siblings trying to fuck their way through their grief!"

They both laughed again as they made their way up to the front porch and quickly dusted off the snow from their boots and hurried inside to get warmed up by the fire. Bethany paid neither of them much mind and stayed planted on the sofa as the siblings shed their coats and boots and sprawled out on the floor in front of the fireplace. One thing all three of them could all agree on was watching Friends reruns on the streaming service and the trio melted away a large chunk of the day away reliving the drama of the sitcom. The absence of Katy and Jeff's father was made apparent in that he had always found something for them all to do to pass the time that didn't involve being stationary in front of the television during daylight hours. In fact, the television and satellite service were recent additions to the cabin. Prior to that there was no TV signal and all films were shown in the home theater. But for this particularly emotional trip, sitting mindless at the television in front of a fire was just the relaxation that they both needed.

Katy continued to wrestle with her mixed feelings of shame, arousal, and closeness to her brother throughout the day. The more the thoughts rolled through her mind, the more disdain she harbored for her sister-in-law. The information divulged by her brother on their walk did nothing but add to the resentment that had been building for Bethany. She was more convinced than ever that her brother deserved better.

Beyond that, she was stuck on something he said about "guys looking for a type like their mother" and began to contemplate whether the same applied to her as well. Her brother and her father were a carbon copy in so many ways both physically and in personality, though Jeff was a couple inches taller. Her brother had already moved out and was married by the time she started bringing boys around. Katy thought back to her boyfriends and started to see that she also may have a certain type even if she wasn't consciously aware of it. After all, she had often joked that her brother was a second father to her. She knew him to be the most caring and good-natured guy in her life, but was now contemplating how he may have subconsciously influenced what she found attractive in a sexual way. An equally pervasive thought was that her brother already seemed to be aware of this fact in himself by remarking how much Bethany resembled their mother, and by extension, Katy.

The winter day wore on and Katy's deepening thoughts began to be coloured by her need for physical release. Thinking about her father, and her brother's undeniable similarities to him made her quite emotional and her body was craving a reprieve from her heavy thoughts. Slowly, but surely, an idea crept out of the shadows of her mind. She was dying for a hot physical session of release, and by his own admission, so was Jeff. Also by admission, the two seemed to fit each other's preferred type. She tried to break her runaway thoughts before they fully crossed into scandalous incestuous territory. It was wrong, and beyond that, her brother was married and his wife was in close quarters with them. She attempted to calm herself by reasoning that the only explanation for why she was even thinking this way was due to her attempts to drown her grief. Although she had the foreknowledge that her lack of opportunity for sexual release during their stay would be a bit of an annoyance, she was not prepared to be wrestling with such conflicting and scandalous thoughts.

Just when Katy was sure that her thoughts were about to become completely unhinged, her brother looked up at her from his lying position on the floor in front of the fire and nudged her before speaking.

"Time for some lunch?"

Katy glanced at her watch in disbelief at the number of hours that had passed since breakfast. She wasn't exactly hungry at this point, but welcomed any distraction from her train of thought that so violently oscillated between sad and wildly inappropriate.

"Yeah I could go for some!" she replied cheerfully.

Jeff craned his neck to look back at his wife still perched on the sofa in her own world before continuing.

"Fancy a sandwich, Beth?"

After a moment or two of silence and Bethany keeping her gaze fixed on her phone she responded with a short and distracted, "Mhmm"

Jeff hopped up from the floor and headed back into the kitchen to get the light meal together. Katy sat up on the floor and looked over at him. For a moment she caught herself looking at him in a way she had never dared to before... with desire. She could feel the warmth in her body begin to rise while watching him do something as benign as making sandwiches. Just as she stopped herself, she caught Bethany's brown-eyed glare from the corner of her vision. She began to speak to try and distract both herself and her brother's wife from the starry-eyed look she was giving him.

"So..." she began a bit timidly, "what all did you have in mind for today?"

Jeff answered from his to-and-fro motions in the kitchen.

"Honestly, hadn't planned much. I was thinking of a rousing round or two of UNO after lunch, hot tub after dinner, then maybe a film in the theater. Then sleep in late and head back down the mountain tomorrow."

Katy thought to herself for a moment before deciding to bring up her next question.

"You sleeping by the fire with me tonight?" Everyone stopped and Katy could feel the tension thickening between her brother and his wife. For an instant, she regretted even mentioning it. She followed up her question timidly, " For old time's sake?"

Bethany twitched in her seat on the sofa and tried to suppress another stern, disappointed look. Jeff looked up at her from his sandwich assembly as if pleading for his wife to be reasonable.

"It is a bit of a family tradition..." he added.

Bethany looked at Jeff and then back to Katy before giving an annoyed, monotone response. "That's fine... I suppose..." Her eyes then resumed focusing on her phone before mumbling under her breath, "at least I'll get some sleep that way".

As excited as Katy was to have paved the way for their traditional faux camp-out session, she felt that she may have aggravated the rift between Jeff and Bethany, a rift that she had guessed at before but was confirmed by her brother during their winter walk. A tinge of guilt washed over her but she reminded herself that her brother's wife didn't seem to have much of an interest in having her husband in her bed anyway. As that indignant thought floated through her mind, she was shocked at herself and again tried to reconcile how she arrived at these feelings over her brother in the first place. She shook her head as if to get her thoughts on track, but her feelings were undeniably still present.

The trio met again at the table for lunch. Katy ate primarily to preoccupy herself. More than once she raised her eyes from her plate and caught the last instant of what appeared to be a sideways glare from her sister-in-law. It reminded Katy of the same look she got when she danced with Jeff at his wedding.

UNO was another family tradition. Many heated and competitive games were had by Katy, Jeff, and their father at that very table. As the game got underway, Katy threw herself into it with gusto. Jeff enjoyed the game as well, as he always did, but didn't possess the killer instinct that Katy always brought to such affairs. Bethany didn't mind the game, but was still half in her own world and not nearly as invested as either of the siblings.

After a good many rounds, most of which were won by Katy, Bethany announced that she was going back to the sofa to continue the binge-watching of Friends. Jeff donned his coat and went outside quickly to bring in more wood for the fire leaving the girls to spend a few awkward moments alone together. Bethany had poured herself a glass of afternoon wine and sat back on the sofa alternating her attention between the show and her phone.

Katy sat down in her usual arm chair and retrieved the book she had started the previous night. Occasionally she would look up at Bethany half-expecting to catch another of her scowls that she did such a good job hiding from her husband. Katy's mind was working on her again and she scanned Bethany in a critically observant way. Again noting the resemblance that Bethany had to Katy herself, but her indignant mind was offering up such thoughts as, I would fill out those jeans so much better, and you don't deserve to have my big brother in your life, especially making you cum with his mouth. More than once Katy had to consciously force her attention back to her book and nearly gasped and audible sigh of relief when her brother reappeared with an armload of firewood.

"Was thinking of pizza and chips tonight," he said as he stacked the wood on the stone ledge next to the fireplace.

Katy quipped back from her reading, "you won't hear me complain about that!"

The three lounged in the living room for several more episodes of their sitcom then Jeff and Katy prepared the pizza and chips while the light in the windows started to take on the faint glow of evening. This was their last night in the cabin so there was a generous amount of libation enjoyed with the meal that seemed to soften Bethany's stoic and dissatisfied manner as well as relax Jeff from feeling obligated to see to everything. For Katy, it was just fuel on the fire of her already smoldering thoughts.

"Before I have much more, I'm going to make sure the hot tub is good to go!" Jeff said before getting up to go to the back porch.

He didn't take his coat with him though the porch was the same temperature as the outdoors. That fact gave Katy a passing thought he must be feeling really good and may perhaps be more receptive to... advances.

Bethany got up and retreated to the bathroom with her bag to get ready for the dip in the hot tub which left Katy in the kitchen by herself waiting for the bathroom to be vacated.

Jeff popped back in the door and started up the stairs to get his trunks as Bethany came waltzing out of the bathroom wearing a thick robe over her swimsuit and went ahead out to the porch. Katy lingered on purpose to ensure that she would be the last one to get into the hot tub. She could hear her brother jostling around getting dressed, hidden from view behind the chimney as it rose upward into the loft. She picked up her bag from behind the sofa and strode into the bathroom.

The air felt somewhat warmer this night than the last. Whether that was from virtue of the fire going all day, her tipsy state, or the warmth of her own libido, Katy could not tell. But this night as she stripped naked in front of the mirror, the cold wasn't the primary reason for her nipples to be standing erect. She dove her hand into her bag and pulled out her bikini, the very same that her father had given her the admonishing look for taking to university, and laid the bottoms on the sink while she tied the top around her. She grinned smugly seeing how her erect nipples dimpled the fabric. She then plucked the bottoms up with her right hand as her left, operating with a mind of its own, slipped between her legs to fondle her smooth-shaven lips. She was already wet and she could see her pupils widen in the mirror as she played. She was tempted to stay there and make herself cum, but she heard her brother's low voice calling out from the back porch.

"Did you get lost in there, Shortcake?"

Katy pulled the bottoms up over her hips and wet lips and pulled her hair back into a ponytail before slipping into her own robe and walking out to the porch. She walked through the door and gave her brother an annoyed look.

"I had to wee! Stop rushing me!" she said with a grin.

The tub was big enough to sit four people in relative comfort. Jeff and Bethany were already seated at the far side. Katy walked toward the table on the porch and faced away from them while she slipped off her robe and draped it over the edge of the table. She paused long enough to give an ample view of her curvy backside then turned around to see her brother's eyes fixed on her just as she had hoped. Katy tempered her smile as she stepped into the warm water.

The troup relaxed in the tub, sipping their drinks and laughing the night away. Bethany seemed to finally be acting like she wasn't miserable for the first time during their stay. The tub had built-in lighting, and the steam from the water created a blue haze around them all.

Katy spoke up after taking a sip of her wine, "So be honest, how many times have you two fucked in this tub?"

Jeff started laughing and even Bethany began to blush and turned away before Jeff responded. "Um... a couple times!" he replied.

Bethany slapped Jeff on the arm, "Jeff! What the fuck?"

Katy grinned, knowing that she was pushing Bethany's frigid buttons, and added, "Yeah? And when was the last?"

Bethany scowled and recovered her face in her hands while Jeff eventually answered. "Last summer, why do you ask?"

Katy took another sip of wine before answering in a very satisfied tone, "Oh just wanted to be sure that I was the last one to have sex in this tub," before cackling out in laughter.

Bethany finally piped up, "Oh god Katy! Aren't you a bit young to be bringing guys up here to have sex?"

As annoyed as Katy was at her notion, she played it off with humor. "A girl has needs!"

Bethany covered her face again. Katy was quite enjoying making her uncomfortable. She was hoping it may be having the opposite effect on her brother, who could hardly keep his eyes off her.

"I think it's my turn to take a wee," Bethany said as she stood up out of the water and immediately wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm. "We should probably start the film soon, yeah?"

"Be right in after I finish this drink," Jeff replied.

As Bethany tiptoed back into the cabin, Katy noticed her brother's eyes looking her up and down as she soaked.

"So is that the bikini that dad gave you 'the look' about?" he asked.

"It might be..." Katy responded coyly.

"I think he may have been right about it." Jeff said before taking another sip of his rum.

"Was he now?" Katy said with a grin.