Quaranteam: Piper's Prelude (Ch. 05)

You gave Covington a hard time, a hard enough time that I could sense his frustration over you and used that to flare his temper even more and make him reckless with his gambling. You got under the man's skin, and I don't think he's used to women having such an impact on his self-image. For that reason alone, you must be an incredible woman, one that any man would be insanely lucky to have in his life. I don't know that you and I can make each other happy, but if you want to try, I would consider it a magnificent honor.

If you're unhappy here, however, I will make it my personal mission to keep tabs on all the research in regards to unassigning a woman to a man, or even reassigning them to another, and as soon as it's proven low-risk, I will make sure your name is at the top of the list for it. I fully believe in a woman's right to choose her own destiny, and refuse to be part of the long line of men who have habitually tried to stamp out women's rights.

You didn't have a choice in this life, you didn't have any choice in any of this, and I can't tell you how angry that makes me on your behalf, and I want to do everything within my power to make it right, to set the scales back to even, to give you the happy ending your story so desperately deserves. I've only been around Covington a brief while, but even in that short expanse of time, he made my skin crawl, and I'm what he considers a peer. When I first met him, he wouldn't let the woman with him even speak in public. I can only imagine the horror he subjected you to, and for that, I am so sorry.

I'm not Covington. I promise you that. I know it's hard to believe me, especially after what I image you've been through. I could be anyone, and I can only imagine how frightening that is. So believe me when I tell you that if you find you don't like it here, we will do everything within our power to get you out of here and to someplace more to your liking as soon as we are physically able to do that.

Whatever you want, I won't just respect it, I will make it happen.

That also includes if you want to stay here. I like to say that I'm no catch, but I know my first partner Aisling would chide me for being unnecessarily self-effacing so I'll simply say that I strive to make sure everyone I'm partnered with is living their best life within the realm of my meager abilities. We haven't had many real arguments, and those we've had generally blow over quickly enough. I have been insanely lucky to be bonded with some of the most unforgettable women alive, and even more so that I make them at least nearly as happy as they do me.

As I've said multiple times over the course of this letter, you strike me as a very remarkable woman - intelligent, charming, gorgeous and in the best possible shape. If you want to remain here, I'd be honored to have you as my partner, and would do my best to enhance your life as much as you would feel comfortable letting me.

It's a very weird new world we find ourselves in, and while I can't promise I won't make mistakes, I can promise that I will spend my entire life trying to make sure everyone in it is as happy as I can make them, placing their needs above my own as much as I'm allowed to.

(It's probably important for me to stress that the physical health of all my partners is dependent on my own, a monumental responsibility that I cannot afford to take lightly, so I still need to make sure I'm not being so selfless that I'm accidentally putting everyone at risk.)

None of this is a decision you have to make right now, and whatever decision you make, you can obviously change your mind again at any time. Whatever you choose, I will back you 100% and will make sure the rest of the house does as well.

While you're thinking it all over, just be open about your needs and wants, and we'll make sure we're doing our best to accommodate them. If you want faceless detached sexual encounters just to ensure you're not biologically losing your self-control, we will do that. If you want romantic, intimate sexual encounters with an emotional connection, well, we can try and do that as well. I can't promise an immediate emotional bond, but I'd like the opportunity to try and make you happy, which is all anyone can ask of me.

Different partners have different sexual tastes, and I like to think of myself as at least somewhat adaptable to come close to satisfying those needs. Aisling loves dirty talk. Lauren loves intensity. Niko loves variety and novelty. Taylor loves being submissive and forced.

I like to think of myself as a man of all seasons, and pretty flexible sexually. (I suppose you could be into pegging or scatophilia, as unlikely as that is, both of which I'm going to take a hard pass on, on the off-chance that you are, but just about anything else we can probably make work.)

Take some time and consider your options. Call your family and friends and let them know where you are, and that you're okay. Do this immediately, if you haven't already done so. I just lost my only brother, so you never know how much time you have left. You will only regret not calling them the longer you wait. Think about what you want from here, from me. Whenever you're ready, explore the house. Meet the people here. See what you think.

I don't even recognize the world we live in anymore, so I'm just doing my best to survive and take care of my new, weird and wonderful family. Decide if and how you want to be a part of that, and we'll welcome you with open arms however you want us to.

The town you're in is called New Eden, and it's just west of San Ramon, up in the wooded hills. It probably won't be on any maps, because it literally didn't exist a year ago. Once you're comfortable and settled a little bit, I'll happily give you the grand tour, and we can reach out to the Air Force about getting the rest of your stuff delivered here.

I hope all of this helps. I probably didn't think of something, and for that, I'm sorry. I haven't been through what you've been through - I doubt almost anyone has - but whatever you need, I want to give that to you.

All I want to do is make you happy.

I hope I'll be able to do that.

Your humble servant,

Andy Rook

I didn't just read that letter once. I've read it pretty much two or three times a day since I got it, so that's, what, at least thirty or forty times over the last two weeks, since I got here. I had read it at least three or four times before Andy came into my room that morning.

It was strange, but I remember around the third time I was reading the letter that morning, a scent that had been lingering in the back of my nostrils. It was warm, like vanilla, but also a little bit rough, like worn leather. There was something marvelous about it, but I didn't know what it was, just that I sort of knew that I loved the smell of it, whatever it was. And I realized it was starting to get closer, and I think around that point, I knew it was a man.

I knew it was my man.

"I didn't want you just to awaken in a strange home without some idea of what was going on," Andy said to me, waiting in the doorframe, like he didn't want to impose on me by walking into the room. "You were so out of it that-"

I remember charging at him, and I know I was crying, but I wasn't sad or angry. I was thankful that he'd saved me, taken me out of that nightmare I'd been trapped in for over a week. "Thank you for rescuing me from that bastard," I remember telling him. "I woke up a couple of hours ago and have mostly just been reading and rereading this letter you left me."

"I'm sorry we had to meet this way, but here we are," Andy told me. He looked so taken aback, so nervous that I was going to be angry at him. I realized, as he'd said in his letter, he didn't know what I was thinking or feeling, so I decided to put him at ease.

I leaned down and kissed him, holding his head in my hands so he'd know it wasn't being done out of pity, but out of affection. Just from his letter, I knew Andy was a good man. I mean, he'd even said in his letter that if I didn't want to be here, he'd do everything possible to get me to where I wanted to go. That was a whole lot to commit to for a person he'd never even spoken to. The weight of that was still hanging on me when I tried to speak again. "It's... it's all a lot to take in," I told him. "I don't have to make a decision now, do I?"

He was nothing but compassionate with me, and offered me a warm, comforting smile that quickly put me more at ease. "You've got plenty of time to figure out what you want to do here, and how you want to engage with me and the rest of the household. How are you feeling? People aren't supposed to wait that long to get imprinted, so we were a little worried there might be unforeseen complications."

"Not that I noticed?" I said quietly to him. "Although there's one thing..."

"If there's a problem, definitely let me know and I can call my friend at the base. We can have some of the doctors check you out."

"It's not a problem so much as just a weird thing..." I told him. He was right next to me now, and he was that weird intoxicating blend of vanilla and leather. It was him that had that luscious scent. "I could... I could smell you? Coming down the hall? Like, I knew it was you, because the smell made me feel warm and tingly inside. Like, a little buzzed, in a good way. But it kinda makes it hard to think clearly? Maybe it'll pass. But I feel a definite connection to you, like I'm safe around you? I don't even know you, but I feel safe. How weird is that?"

He shrugged a bit at me, I think trying to put my nerves at rest. I could smell that he was nervous and more than a little turned on. It was cute. "It might just be some part of the imprinting process that's functioning on a deeper level because of what you went through. I don't know. One of the doctors who's responsible for developing the process is now the partner of a friend of mine, so we'll have her check you out."

"Is it okay if we wait a few days before we fuck again?" I asked. I wanted to do him right then and there, but I somehow felt like I needed to get my bearings, to get my feet firmly back on the ground. "I know I have to do it regularly, but I want a few days to clear my head, if that's cool."

Andy reached up and tilted my head down so he could kiss me on the forehead. It was weird, but I think he meant it to be comforting and to show he wasn't going to push me to do anything, which was odd, considering I'd just kissed him on my own. "You have at least a week before you'll feel any real need for my cum, and if you're still not ready by then, you can just blow me, or have one of the girls jerk me off into your mouth. Whatever's easiest for you."

"Oh, I'm ready to fuck you right now," I told him. I needed him to know I wasn't thinking about leaving. I wanted to strip off those clothes and have a go at him right then and there, but I needed to make sure it wasn't something that would be fleeting. "Maybe it's just the process, but I was ready to fuck you the second I smelled you walking down the hallway, but I want a few more days so I'm not in so much of a daze the first time we fuck. Well, the first time that we fuck that I remember. Your letter makes me sound like I was quite a handful the night you rescued me."

I swear to you, he turned bright red and couldn't look me in the eye. It was adorable, and that confirmed everything his letter had told me. This was a good man, and in the face of an impossible decision, he'd just rolled up his sleeves and did the best that he could to survive and prosper against staggering odds. "Yeah, you can ask Niko about it, but you basically just pinned me down, climbed on top of me and rode me like I was an oversized sex toy."

I'm pretty sure I blushed myself when I giggled, trying to imagine it. He didn't make it sound like a bad thing, but I had to focus my head and not start imagining it, otherwise I wasn't going to let him out of the room. I'm telling you, Fi, I wanted to throw him over my shoulder, put him on his back on the bed, rip his clothes off him and just bounce on him like a pogo stick. "Well, I'm sorry about that, I guess, but, not gonna lie, it also sounds fucking hot. I'll talk to Niko about it. So is this my room for good then?"

"If you want it to be, or you can move into the master bedroom as well, if you want. And you don't have to do just one or the other. You can have this as your personal room, but sleep in the main bedroom any time you want."

Even with Andy giving me the option, I sort of knew that I wasn't going to be in this room long. Whatever Covington had planned for me, it hadn't been me ending up with someone like Andy, someone who was doing everything in his power to give me all the power in the situation, to put me at ease. Andy wanted me to know how in control I was, as if he could sense how important it was for me to reclaim a sense of that in that moment. After a week where everything had gone wrong, Andy did everything right. "Okay, I'll sleep here for the next few days while I'm sorting my head out. I need to call my friends and family and explain what's happened and where I'm at. Is that okay?"

He hugged me again then pulled away, even though I didn't want him to. I think I could've just folded those arms around me and crawled into bed again, feeling safe and protected. "Absolutely. Do whatever you need to. The letter included a list of everyone who's in the house right now and a short description of them. If you need help finding something, feel free to ask Nicolette. If you're hungry, just tell Jenny what you want and she'll whip something up for you."

I was torn because I could feel my stomach rumbling, but I also needed to call my Mom and Dad, let them know what had happened. I remember deciding that I would make up my mind once Andy had left the room, because his very presence made it a little hard to think about anything other than sex. "Thank you again, Andy. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot in my life moving forward."

"Call your family. We can talk more later."

As much as I wanted to get something to eat, I needed to tell my folks and my big sister I was okay. The same with my teammates. So for the next couple of hours, I was on the phone, letting everyone in my life know where I'd landed, but after about two hours, I just had to eat, so I went and got some food from the kitchen, which Jenny prepared for me, despite me offering to just make stuff myself.

While she was cooking, I got a chance to talk to her without anyone else around, and asked her if Andy really was the kind of man he seemed to be. "How does he seem to be?" she asked me, a soft smile on her face while she was stirring the pasta in the water. She'd decided I needed carbs to recover some of my lost energy, so she was making me chicken fettuccine alfredo.

"He seems too good to be true," I told her, sitting on a stool. "You're not his partner, so give me the God's honest truth."

"Oh, he is too good to be true, but as far as I can tell, he's true as a man can get," she said with a knowing look. "Let me tell you this. When we got here, my partner Katie and I were both pretending to be bisexual, even though she's a strict lesbian. We both thought Andy was going to flip, but he was so relentlessly understanding that Katie and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, to find out what horrible dark secret this seemingly nice and kind man was hiding. It took a while, but we found it out eventually, what his weakness is."

I remember being a little nervous at that, but decided to follow up. "Which is?"

"He's too nice," Jenny laughed. "He's too trusting, too naive and maybe too optimistic about what people are capable of. He's always looking to find the best in people. I think that's why it's good he's got Niko in his life, making sure he doesn't get in over his head."

"He was really cool with Katie not being attracted to him?" I remember asking.

"He actually seemed bothered by the fact that he couldn't just let us be with each other exclusively, but he's done as much as humanly possible to make it work for us, all the while being respectful of our feelings. And despite the fact that we've tried to insist upon a level of removal, so that the household thinks of us as servants rather than family, he's made sure that we never get lost amid the shuffle, and that if something's going to affect the house, he checks with us," she said, an amused exasperation to her voice. "We're going to keep trying to make sure he doesn't get too emotionally attached to us, but I think it's a lost cause, and I suppose we'll just have to make peace with it. To be honest, I've never had a boss like him before ever in my life."

Just as she was putting the pasta on the plate, Niko walked into the room, a big grin on her face before she even noticed me, but once she did, she offered me a little wave. She reminded me immediately of one of my teammates in that she just exuded confidence and swagger. I knew I liked her on sight. "Hey Piper, I'm Niko," she said to me. "You probably don't remember us meeting, since you seemed pretty in the grip of the serum's siren call, but it's nice to see you up and about. Feeling more like yourself?"

I ran over and hugged her hard, and I remember her squeaking a little when I did, the whole gesture catching her off guard. "Thank you so much for getting me out of that bastard's house," I told her, trying not to cry again. "I know you didn't make Andy enter the game to get me out specifically, but if you hadn't done that, I would've probably been with some other asshole who didn't give a shit about me. That means I owe you, so you and me, we're going to be good friends, okay?"

"Okay?" Niko laughed. "If it means you'll stop crushing me?"

I started laughing a little bit, wiping moisture from my eyes as I let her go. "Just for now," I told her. "Because you and me share a man now, so I want to be sure we're cool."

"Relax," Niko giggled. "We're cool. Welcome to the family!"

* * * * *

"Since then, the last two weeks have been one rollercoaster ride after another," Piper told Fiona, stretching her arms out over her head. "It's been wild. I hadn't even realized that just before he wrote me that letter, Andy had learned his brother had died. He mentioned that his brother had just died, but I had assumed he'd found out, like, weeks or months ago, not, literally, a few hours earlier. Even with all that grief overwhelming him, he still wanted to make sure I was okay first and foremost. He really does need us to look after him as much as he does us. Anyway, a couple of days after that, Andy went through a process where he let us all pitch women to bring into the house, and while he didn't add my friend Brooke to the house here, he still found a way to get her nearby, so I'm going to have my bestie just a few minutes drive away."

"That's Andy for you," Fiona replied, a knowing smile on her face. "Hopefully you've learned in that time that Andy really is who he seems to be - a good, if somewhat too trusting man with one of the most noble of hearts, willing to fight off the armies of Heaven and Hell to keep those he loves safe, no matter the cost to himself."

"You think he loves me?" Piper asked her.

"I do," Fiona said with a confidence that seemed unshakable. "I heard you and he and Sarah had a bit of fun last night."

Piper giggled, suddenly holding her hands up to her face, blushing feverishly, shaking her head in embarrassment. "OhmyfuckingGAWD, who else knows in the house?"