Hellacious Hospitality Ch. 08

Luna absently fumbled for the switch, only to belatedly realize that the lights were already on. Her eyes raised away from her phone, almost instantly snapping to meet his. A deep pink color rapidly expanded across her cheeks. Gaze turning downward reflexively in embarrassment, it found itself instead transfixed by the semi-hard organ he had clutched in his hand, and soft pink shifted to brilliant crimson.

Mortified, he stood there, unable to move or cover up until the pissing stopped. And then even when he did, he remained frozen for an uncomfortable amount of time, dick stiffening to full length in hand. He should have averted his eyes, but he was currently entranced by the mix of emotions that twisted across her features. Finally regaining some level of situational awareness, he shook himself out and hastily pulled his boxers back over his hardened member, the loose fabric doing nothing to hide his size through the obvious tent hanging over it.

Oh fuck, oh fuck! For all the awkward moments trying to dodge Luna's unabashed forwardness, and he'd somehow walked headfirst into something far worse. What do I do? What do I say? How does one diffuse such a cliche sitcom moment? Things always go from bad to worse in these dumb scenarios on TV. His mind was a complete blank.

But real life didn't adhere to the contrivances of comedy or the forced outcome of a porno.

Luna slowly placed her phone on the counter, lowered her arms stiffly to her sides, and wordlessly brushed past him to stand in the shower, where she immediately crouched down in the basin and pulled the curtain shut.

"Luna, I'm sorry, I..."

"Don't. Don't say a word, or I might die of embarrassment. I'm going turn the water on, and I'm going to take a shower, and for the next ten minutes or so, we just pretend that neither of us saw anything. Deal?"

She couldn't see his silent nod, as he just washed his hands and left the room entirely, closing the door shut behind him with a loud click that could be heard over the sound of the streaming water. He hung his head while pinching his nose, before running his hand roughly down his face, stretching it out in his own embarrassment and frustration.

Fuck. I just fucked this whole thing up, didn't I? All he wanted was to give Luna a safe place to stay, but now he'd gone and compromised that for her. Because now every time he looked at her, thoughts of her nubile, teenaged body wouldn't be far behind. He paced the room irritably, pulling on the rest of his clothes between laps, futilely trying to think of a way he could just undo the last ten minutes and return things back to "normal".

The sound of running water stopped, and after toweling off, her soft footfalls could be heard returning to the bedroom, where she stayed for some time. Much longer than the ten minutes she had previously ascribed.

There came a knock from the other side of the door. "Mr. L, you decent out there? I'm coming out now." Tentatively, the door opened. Just a crack. He heard a deep breath, and she flung the door wide open and strode straight up to him.

She'd done her make-up to appear perfect and pretty for him. But otherwise, she wore nothing but her damp towel, wrapped tightly around her shapely frame, revealing every curve of her trim waist. Barely long enough to cover, brief flashes of her pussy lips peeked out each time she lifted her legs to step forward.

He wanted to avert his gaze, but a troubled look in her eyes drew his attention.

She struggled to hold her arms at her sides, hands trembling. Her eyes stared directly into his, but her lips quivered, and her breathing was sharp and heavy. A blush spread all the way from her cheeks down her neck, to the top of her gently bouncing chest.

She didn't stop until she was mere inches from his slack-jawed face. Another half step forward and her soft bosom would be pressed to his chest

He held his hands up, and silently backed away to signal he had no interest in her amorous advances. She continued to step forward to meet him, preserving that much-too-close distance between them. He repeated, she followed, until he found himself pushed right against his front door. With nowhere to go, she forcefully grabbed his wrists, and pulled his hands down against her chest.

"You want me, don't you? I saw the way you looked at me, stared at me, stroking your cock and getting all hard. Well, what are you waiting for? All that's standing in the way is this wet towel. Just peel it off me, and this young, naked body is all yours." Her gaze drifted aside as she spoke, lacking sincerety.

It was only then he found his voice, however meek. "Luna...we can't..." He struggled to spit out the words against the boldness of her actions, completely dumbfounded.

"Why not? Isn't this the way it's supposed to be? It's obvious you find me attractive, so what's stopping you? Look, it's not even difficult. Let me show you." She pushed his hands aside, so that the towel began to part, the sumptuous valley of her cleavage sliding into view.

Suddenly finding his conviction, he slapped her hands down and quickly re-gathered the towel for her, wrapping her tightly again.

Her eyes quivered, tears beginning to form. "Why? Aren't I good enough for you?"

"Luna, please, this isn't how this should be - "

Before he could get any further words in, there came shouting from the main hallway.

"Luna! Luna!! Open up! I know you're in there!" More shouting followed, plus violent pounding on the door down the hall.

Her own protestations stopped, replaced by a distraught shivering, as her hand absently brushed along her bruised cheek. An errant squeak escaped her lips and she started to hyperventilate in loud, gasping breaths. Benson clapped his hand over her mouth to quiet her, before pulling her tight to his chest, to hug her comfortingly. With back to the door, he turned his head sideways to spy through his peephole, hoping to catch a glimpse of the source of the disturbance.

A younger man. A boy, really. With Luna's beach-girl looks, he was sort of expecting either a beach bum or maybe a biker bad-boy sort of guy. Instead, from what he could tell through the distorting gaze of the fish-eye lens, he was a well put-together, preppy sort. Sharply dressed, neatly coifed. Even more dangerous. The rich-boy type that probably knew how to lay on the charm when it suited him, but how to dodge consequences when it really mattered to him.

"Luna! Open the fuck up!"

"Shut the fuck up before I call the cops! Do you know what fucking time it is!?" More shouting, this time from neighbors. One last enraged punch thrown at Luna's door, and the young man stomped off.

Luna pushed her way out of his arms, tripping over her feet to fall backwards onto the floor. A hand immediately slapped down on the floor in front of her, over her crotch, when she realized she had landed with legs spread wide open, and she blushed, with eyes down-turned. "I'm sorry. I think I'm too much drama for you. Thanks for letting me stay the night, but I'll see if I can find somewhere else to stay until this all blows over."

"Hold that thought." He went to the kitchen, and rooted around in his junk drawer, eventually procuring a key. He returned to Luna's side, and offered a hand to help her off the floor. When she took it, he pulled her up, and then turned her palm over to place the key in it.

"What's this?"

"My spare. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to."

"Oh, no. No, I couldn't..."

"I'd worry if you were out there by yourself. You think this is just going to end quietly, but I've seen his type before. He's not accustomed to not getting his way. It's not a matter of getting over you. It'll be a blow to his pride and ego if he doesn't get you back. The only way your relationship ends is on his terms. He's dangerous."

Luna clapped her empty hand over her mouth, speechless. She started to lean in to him, about to give him a hug, before stopping herself. "I'm sorry, I'll get dressed, now."

"I'll make us some breakfast. Are you good with eggs, at least?"

"Y'know what? Fuck the diet. At least this once. After that whole mess, I want a big, dirty plate of food to bury my feelings in. Sausages, bacon, the works. Whatever you want to feed me, I'll take it. You really are the best, Mr. L!"

As she turned to walk away, all the stress and tension immediately seemed to lift away from her girlish frame. The bounce in her step returned. Which caused the lower edge of her towel wrap to fly up behind her, giving him a gratuitous look at her gorgeous, honey-browned butt-cheeks.

Benson snarled inwardly at his newfound way with beautiful girls. So much trouble. Yet, a wry smile crept its way upon his cheeks. Damnit, Caeli. Any aspirations he may have had as to a quiet and peaceful life were surely dashed by this point.

*****

Luna wolfed down breakfast with gusto. That gesture emptied his refrigerator far more than he would have normally allowed for, but the unbridled smile upon her face was worth that cost. Frozen meats could easily be replaced. Her happiness couldn't.

For the sake of a clean break, there were no mentions of her forced, clumsy attempts at seduction. She quickly checked her make-up before leaving for the morning. They exchanged phone numbers, she gave him a quick hug, and she was gone.

Finally alone with Lily, he called out to her. He stripped off completely and headed for the shower himself, horny faerie in tow.

*****

Benson's own plans for the weekend were pretty straightforward. With Lily accompanying him, they simply wandered the city. Practically everywhere he had been with Elena, and even further beyond, just hunting for any signs of rogue magic out to hunt them. The more they searched, though, the more that nothing turned up, and he started to hope that Caeli's best-case scenario for them was in fact the truth, and that all that had happened was merely a one-off incident.

Late in the day he got a text from Luna, telling him that dinner was on her that night. He came home to a box of take-out chow mein and a couple of crispy egg rolls laid out on the kitchen table. The girl herself was already fast asleep, rolled up with a contented expression on her face, in a futon she had placed behind the couch. He was careful not to disturb her while he ate, and went over more of his plans with Lily.

The next morning went off far smoother, with multiple knocks on the bathroom door to make sure of the others' whereabouts and general state of decency. Friendly banter was exchanged over a much more reserved breakfast, before they each went their separate ways again. More of the same for the day, but even more leisurely and relaxed. He hoped the girls were managing their own tasks with an equal degree of success - which was, to say, with little-to-no resistance. Although with Elena's tendency to push herself, he somehow doubted that was the case. His thoughts turned back to Caeli, feeling the slightest bit sorry for her, leaving her to deal with his boss's eccentricities on top of her own responsibilities.

He came home in the afternoon to find Luna cleaning his place. She was in the middle of meticulously scrubbing his windows with a bucketful of soapy water.

Perhaps even more surprising than her ethic, though, was her decidedly more modest dress sense. Still maintaining her general sporty-casual look, she'd opted for loose boy-shorts and a full-length pullover. She had a bandanna tied around her forehead to catch her sweat and keep her bangs out of her eyes.

Noticing him enter, she turned and gave him a wide, glowing smile.

"Welcome home, Mr. L!"

"What's all this about, now? You really don't have to go through all this trouble. You're my guest here."

"Nah, let me do this. This is the least I can do to repay your hospitality. I had a lot to think about after what happened yesterday. I thought maybe it was, like, a wake-up call. While it's sweet you think of me like a little sister, maybe that's the problem. I still act like I'm a little girl, sometimes, and maybe that's where I look like an easy mark, to be taken advantage of. So, first step to being an adult: being a responsible roommate!" She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, full of vivacious braggadocio, as if she were a superhero.

Benson just walked over to her, pulled the bandanna off her head, and gave her loose curls a playful tousle. "I like the sentiment, but don't be too quick to grow up. Going from little sister to housewife is just a bit too big a leap. And a bit too Alabama." He smirked.

She pouted indignantly. "Hey, I was being serious, here!"

"Not that I don't appreciate that you're trying, but don't be in such a hurry to grow up, either. I'm just offering you room and board for a bit. I'm not here to be your parent. I like my 'little sister' just the way she is."

"What if little sister likes to dance around in the buff?"

His face grew beet red and he coughed into his fist, conspicuously.

"Ha! Your face! Sorry, I guess that was inappropriate. I pushed things too far. Thanks, for not taking advantage. I dunno, maybe that's why I did it in the first place, because you don't treat me like other guys do. I think maybe I was trying to test your limits, because my perspective's all kinds of screwed up as of late. That was wrong of me."

"Don't sweat it. Water under the bridge. The way you're going at it with the chores, are you saying that you really still want to room here?"

"I do. I dunno. It's only been, like, a day, but already, being across the hall all by myself feels lonely. So if you really don't mind..."

"Sure thing. Take as long as you need, until you feel safe. I'm here for you."

"Thanks, Mr. L! You really saved me."

With the drama now behind them, they continued to chat and laugh freely, about nothing in particular, simply enjoying each others' company without pretense or pressure.

*****

The atmosphere in the office was strange. Benson had worried about Elena's strategy to explain her impromptu absence, but it seemed the plan had evolved beyond his reckoning, to the point that even he was intrigued.

Checking his e-mails as he got in, he found the message they had all worked on together. Elena had excused herself on stress leave, perhaps understandable after the last week's whirlwind events, but he had worried that the action would expose her to criticism over inability to handle the job. Her car had been moved out of the office some time over the weekend to help sell the lie.

That worry was instead replaced by another, with another message relaying the lifting of the high-security protocols for the office, with an attached police report identifying Crenshaw's remains in a car wreck off the highway. He wondered what magic she, likely along with Caeli, had worked to pull off that bit of subterfuge.

The three-hit combo came with the buzzing activity in the building. Workmen were in-and-out at all hours, toiling away at some unseen project in both Elena's office, and Crenshaw's now unoccupied one.

Between the triplicate of goings-on all at once, there was no shortage of idle chatter. The stage was perfectly set, as it gave him the opportunity to pick his coworkers' brains over their reception to Elena's new, take-charge attitude, without seeming too forward and suspicious.

Nobody had anything bad to say, even against his more discerning eye that he had begun to hone over the last week. Lily had come with him again, to back him up and sniff out any signs of magic, but all was quiet on her front as well.

In fact, of all things, the bratty faerie turned out to be the biggest source of his woes all day. She seemed to actively rebel against his more doting attitude. Perhaps she grew tired of being smothered against him, under his jacket all the time, because she refused to stay hidden at his side any longer. He winced and cringed every time it seemed she would be spotted, but she made it clear she knew how to take care of herself.

She proved her point most effectively in the elevator. At one point, trying to hold her still, she escaped his grasp. Even as the confined space filled with four other people, and with nowhere to hide with the mirrored walls surrounding, she flew freely and no others made even passing remarks hinting at her presence. It was in fact he who made a spectacle of himself, as his initial instinct was to grab at her. Which, of course, his coworkers noticed and eyed him suspiciously. He pretended he was swatting at flies. Lily stuck her tongue out at him, teasingly.

It was only when he stopped actively chasing after her that she settled down, finally getting her point across. She snuggled into her favored spot at his shoulder while he did his own work at his desk, and sprung into action dutifully with each new face he interacted with. She turned out to be a loyal companion indeed.

Benson had worried she would turn out to be rather unruly, especially after her sex-crazed state he had awoken to on Saturday morning. Luna had at least given him the privacy of his own room back, so there was less chance of getting caught in the open like that. But after that incident, things had cooled down. The faerie daringly snuck meals behind his young roommate's back, but that was the extent of her mischief back home.

Over the next few days, he didn't see quite as much of the girl. Luna awoke much earlier than him on the weekdays in order to transit to school, but they shared in dinner and household chores, exchanging friendly banter and small-talk all the while.

Feelings of ease began to settle. All of Caeli's fears seemed to be for naught, the worst of things truly behind them.

*****

The text message came from "Helen" late Wednesday afternoon. Upon seeing the name pop up on his screen, he fumbled his new phone, almost letting it smash on the ground, if it weren't for Lily, quick on the recovery.

"How's it going lover-boy? Miss us?" It read.

His thumbs raced over the screen to give a reply. He was eager for any sort of news on their front, but dodged the leading question so as not to sound desperate. "How're things on your end? All clear and normal here. Outside of whatever it is you've been scheming. You sure know how to lay bait."

"So the plan's working, is it? I was wondering. Wish I could see things go down myself, but it means I get to come back to a bit of a pleasant surprise as well. So that'll be fun. As for 'what', that'll be my secret. You'll just have to find out with everyone else." Elena then added a little ":p" emoji, to punctuate her playfulness.

"Any progress with your 'condition'?"

"Oh, that little thing? No worries. I appreciate the concern, but I think our friend was more paranoid than she needed to be. Not that I blame her, given the circumstances. She's been pushing herself harder than I have on that matter. I'm sort of in awe at her tenacity."

"I guess that's good, then. Be seeing you soon?"

"Since you ask, you have an plans for tomorrow evening? Nothing fancy. Just thought maybe you'd like a running buddy again. Still have some things to take care of in the morning."

Didn't really matter if he had plans or not. He would've dropped everything to talk to her again, in person. He was relieved that things were going smoothly for them as well. He exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, as he enthusiastically typed his reply.

"It's a date!"

":D" came the reply.

*****

Thursday afternoon, Benson raced out the building at the stroke of five. He scanned the front plaza and sidewalk for signs of that familiar golden-blonde ponytail, but there were no signs of anyone with that characteristic waiting for him.