Sera Ch. 07

"I mean, I'm not just sorry you caught us, I... Ummm..."

"Yeah, I get it," I said. "She's uhh... She's quite something."

Kitten nodded at this, but looked away to do it.

"Well, she liked you from the moment she met you," I told her.

Looking back, she put me in mind of Marie when she carefully admitted, "I liked her right away, too. And, umm... what I said in the kitchen about having your, uh... babies... Well, I don't... That was just weird," she judged, then giggled nervously.

And I couldn't help but laugh a little. She forced it out of me with her funny little way.

"It's a pretty weird family," I said, excusing her.

"A horny family, that's for sure."

"Yeah..."

There was an uncomfortable pause on that note where she seemed to shift in her seat before saying, "Well, what I was really worried about was how you're feeling about me and your mummy. I was hoping it wasn't too much of a shock, seeing her like that and especially with her niece. And I was afraid of what you must be thinking of me after seeing... that."

"Well... it's really none of my business."

She seemed just a little put out by this statement and asked, "Isn't it?"

"What you and Mum do is out of my control."

"But... I'm your business."

These were Ashleigh's words and I suddenly wondered if I was looking at another one of her agents, both of us being played against, or into one another. It's what I would've done in her position.

"You can't deny it," she softly insisted while I took a drink of my beer.

"No. No, I can't. I'd like to in order to save the complication it adds, but you're right; I can't deny it."

"Um, that's kind of insulting."

"I don't mean it to be. It's just... Everything seems so up in the air," I sighed in a curious moment of openness with her. "So much has happened in the last few months, there's been so many major changes and surprises along the way... And it just keeps happening. Every day, it seems there's something new for me to deal with, or accept and adjust to, and the hits just keep on comin', y'know?"

"I'm not sure," she said, looking at me curiously.

I took my eyes from her, shook my head in dismissal and took another drink.

"You seem older than eighteen."

"You seem younger than that."

She smiled and nodded, offering after a slight pause, "Are you attracted to her? Sheila, I mean. Because I know you're attracted to me and we do look exactly alike in so many ways, so I wondered..."

Now, there was a sticky question.

"Since you two are so much alike and since I'm physically attracted to you, I can hardly help being physically attracted to her, too."

She didn't seem to know what to do with this and I was beginning to get a greater feel of her personality. I started to relax, but I shouldn't have.

"Please tell me you haven't had sex with her."

"Wh- no. No, I haven't had sex with her," I scoffed. (Not really)

Kitten actually sighed in relief and I couldn't help but watch her chest as she did. She was starting to get to me again, this young woman who I believed was crazy and made Sheila seem second rate. I had to get some control over myself. A proper detective/agent has control, full erection or no.

"(Ahem) Okay," I said, jumping back in, "so, let me ask you the same question: How far have things gone between you and Mum?"

"Well, we, uhh... pretty much like you saw. We've fingered each other and played with each other's clits and stuff, but we like to suck each other's pussies a lot. We really get along well."

"Yeah... sounds it. Uh, so you two hang out a lot?"

"Yeah, since we've been here. You and Sheila?"

"I've run into her a few times," I said truthfully, then hopped away from that with, "In any case, it doesn't matter as long as you and Mum are... you know. Cause anything between you and I with that going on would be..."

"Y- ... So, you're saying... So, it wouldn't bother you that we're cousins, but it would if your mummy and me still played with each other while I was with you?"

I took another drink, shifting in my seat while I stalled, seeing that this child mentality could hold her own.

"You're the one who's supposed to have my babies."

" ... I don't think it's very nice to throw that in my face," she said, hurt feelings fueling her put out expression. "I don't know why I said that and it was embarrassing. I only came over here to apologize and to talk to you, how would you like to be treated like that for just trying to be friendly?"

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry," I admitted.

"You don't seem very sorry."

Once again, I was struck by how much like Marie she was. She had the same way of trying to fix her eyes on mine and her temperament was pure Grammie. It was so fucked.

"I'm sorr- Look, I don't mean to be rude, it's just... Normally, the fact that you're my cousin would bother me, but I've learned in the last few months that life is fuckin' strange and the word 'normal' is open to definition at the best of times."

She regarded me closely, the offense gone from her perfect features, a studious expression there instead before saying a few long moments later, "I can relate to that."

I couldn't help smiling a little and so did she.

"I'll try not to be an asshole," I promised.

"I'll try not to harp about Sheila, but I hope you listen to what me and your mummy say about her, 'cause it's all true. Both of us oughta know."

I nodded, giving her the correct, placating smile while I fought to keep my eyes off her body.

"And, umm... Even though we look the same, there are some... physical differences."

"I know. Kitten, don't worry about it. To me, she looks like you, you don't look like her."

After a moment thinking this over, she smiled, her beautiful lips parting to show her white teeth. Oh my god, she was so perfect.

"Wanna see something?"

It was mostly Mum's other son who grinned in reply, finally checking her out with my eyes to her obvious approval.

Kitten

"I've seen it," he said.

"Oh, I replied, looking at the cinderblock garage and then back to him. "But, have you been inside?"

"Yup."

"Wanna go in anyway?"

"Sure."

Several minutes later, we were poking around some of Auntie Ashleigh's storage, a lot of it looking as old as the house, when I found something.

"Holy shit, look at this, Stevie."

He turned, the ghost of a smile on his face, and smiled wider. I was holding up an armless statue of a woman whose long, flowing robe was only half draped across her body. One voluptuous hip and breast were exposed in a detail and style that spoke way more of pornography than of classic art.

"Pretty hot stuff," he judged, looking more at me than the statue.

I giggled, getting even hornier than I already was, and put the statue down carefully, saying, "Too bad about the arms. But, if they're in this mess somewhere, maybe it can be fixed."

"Maybe," he agreed, checking out an old, double bitted axe.

"That's cool," I said, coming closer. "You ever split wood before?"

"No, we had electric heat."

"It's therapeutic. Can I see?"

He handed me the axe and I tested the edges with my thumb, feeling its weight and balance with one hand on the handle, vacantly asking aloud, "I wonder if there's an old stove around?"

"Why?"

"It'd be cool. Um, I know why you didn't tuck your shirt in," I told him with a playful smile. "Your cock is all big and hard for me. Isn't it?"

" ... So what?" he asked with a sheepish smile. "You made yourself pretty clear, too."

"I couldn't help it," I said.

"Neither can I. Whenever I'm around you, it just..."

"Yeah... I'm pretty horny at the best of times."

"Me too."

"Um, do you like porn?"

" ... Yeah," he admitted. "You?"

"Uh huh. I like all kinds of filthy things."

I couldn't help my great big smile just then, but was rewarded by quite a reaction to it from him. He seemed surprised or something. As for myself, I'd had my fair share of vodka that morning and I was suddenly afraid I'd pushed things too far. I couldn't read this moral center that seemed to be holding him back like I could when I seduced Daddy.

"We all like filthy stuff," he almost stammered. "We Burchells, I mean."

I nodded.

"What do you think of that?" he asked.

"I dunno. Sometimes stuff runs in families."

"Every one of us," he said clearly, as though he felt the need to clarify. "Even our Grandmother. I take it you've never met her?"

"No, but your mummy told me about her."

"Yeah, she told me about her too, but it didn't do justice to meeting her, I'll tell you that."

"You met her?"

"Yup," he confirmed, moving away from me.

" ... What was she...?" I trailed off as I followed to stand in the wide doorway with him.

"What was she like?" he clarified for me. "Let's just say that you're fortunate to have not met the crazy old fuck."

"That bad?"

"You couldn't imagine," he said, glancing sidelong at me. "And I'm telling you right now, you don't want to... but..."

"What?" I asked, sensing that he was driving at something he'd rather not go near.

"That sex drive, the 'Burchell drive' as Ashleigh calls it?"

"Yes."

"Well, Marie had it too."

"What do you mean? How do you know?"

"I mean she jumped me."

"No way."

"Yes way. And y'know what else?"

"What?"

"Like your face is exactly like Sheila's, her face was exactly like Mum's. It was Mum's face, but thinner and older."

" ... Really?" I breathed, finding that very interesting and strange, but what he said next really got my attention.

"Not just that, she had Sheila's body and your... demeanor. Sorta."

I didn't answer to this, but only stared as he refused to look at my face. I wouldn't have known how to answer to something like that anyway and, for a few seconds, I'd decided he was bullshitting me. But I somehow knew he wasn't.

"But, how can... how can that be?" I finally managed. "Me and Sheila, that's an acceptable freak of nature, but... and what do you mean, she has my demeanor?"

"Not exactly that, but your... your particular charm. Your way. Look, I know how this sounds, but have you noticed how me and Mum don't look alike, yet Ashleigh and I do quite a bit?"

"Yes."

"That's Walton, our grandfather. Apparently, I look exactly like him in face and body, save for my eye colour which is pure Grammie. I've even been stopped on the street and told that by someone who apparently knew him."

"Who was he?"

"I dunno, just some old fuck I had the bad luck of running into just then, but I'll tell you, he remembered Marie, too. Told me I had her eyes and he didn't seem very impressed with me."

"I've had that happen to me. People whose lives Sheila ruined who took one look at me and... well, you know how some people are."

He looked at me with an odd expression, nodding his agreement but saying, "This was different, believe me. My point is that there's a lot more than a strong sex drive that we Burchells have in common."

"Apparently," I said, very thoughtful of the baffling information he'd shared with me. "Stevie?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened in Saint John?"

This seemed to take him by surprise and it was immediately obvious that this was definitely something he'd rather not go near. After a pause, he spoke dismissively.

"It's a long story."

"I got time," I tried, encouraging him with a friendly smile.

I was curious about exactly what amount of 'propriety', as Auntie Kathleen had put it, had been 'sacrificed', as she'd also put it, while they were forced to share a bed. Plus, this stuff about my Grandmother really had my ears up and I was certain there was some more to that than he was saying.

"It's also a very bizarre story, and one that I don't come out looking so good in. I'd rather not talk about it."

He was very direct on that, but not mean. I stopped pushing, thinking of ways he could come out looking bad where he and his mummy were concerned and getting even wetter. I was just beginning to debate a suggestion that we each take our pants off, but he suddenly moved out into the sun, hands in his pants pockets and looking like everything I've ever loved and lusted after.

"I gotta go," he said. "It was nice talking to you."

"Oh... Okay. Hey, Stevie?"

"Yeah?" he asked, having already started across the cobbled yard, but turning.

"We should hang out. Sometimes, y'know?"

"Yeah."

"You know which apartment is mine, right?"

"Yeah," he repeated, smiling despite himself.

I watched his form walking up the path that led to the house and wondered who would be helping me to get off. I groaned, partly at that thought and partly due to my hysterical horny. In order to get my mind off it, I took a walk out to the other part of the garage and lifted one of the doors to let the sunshiny warmth and fresh garden air in. After taking a moment for personal inspection, I found my embarrassing suspicion to be correct. The wet spot between my legs was just big enough, just dark enough that he'd probably seen it.

"Oh, shit," I sighed, blushing again before approaching the old Dodge in the recessed shadows of the rear wall, but I had to laugh a bit at how slutty I must have looked to him.

I was able to find some peace with the familiar sound of the heels of my ball breakers moving across concrete, and the vodka helped push guilty feelings about Daddy to unseen corners, much like the corner in which the coupe in front of me had been relegated some untold number of years ago.

I'd discovered it before, when I came down from the second story window ledge to explore the rest of the garage before leaving. Taking a look then, I found her to be quite solid overall, the flathead I viewed as a mixed blessing.

I popped the hood again and propped it, bracing my hands on the ancient radiator support and leaning in for a closer look.

"Sure to be seized," I toned aloud.

I sighed again, half thinking about how badly the rings may have scarred the cylinder walls and about what I was doing with Stevie. What was I doing? Playing with Auntie Kathleen was one thing, but he was a whole other thing altogether. He was a man and required a level of commitment that I wasn't in a position to even offer, not only because of Daddy, but because of my mistake with Rob and Jack.

Leaning over and reaching below the fan for the crank pulley, I was only just able to get a decent grip on the edges with the length of my arms but, after the mightiest try I could manage... it turned! Just a little, but it actually did!

"Huh!" I commented in complete surprise.

Somebody must have poured diesel fuel or whatever down the cylinders before they stored it there, and I wanted to have a closer look before I turned it any further just yet.

I'd straightened up and was looking down at the miracle of Detroit with a smile of delight on my face until I remembered Gina. She'd gone back to her own apartment the night before and I hadn't seen her that morning because I didn't feel like dealing with her. Also, I had wanted to talk to Stevie and I didn't want her around for that. The reasons I wanted to talk to Stevie were many, but my best one was to make him think of me instead of Sheila if he wanted someone to hang around with. That would keep him out of Sheila's emotionally challenged hands, save him from trouble with his mummy and, of course, leave only me for him to think about.

"Only to eventually tell him that I already have a man before going back home to him," I imparted to the flathead.

I sighed again and let the hood down, liking the feel of the old thing, the satisfying, heavy contact of the hood to the front clip. Moving around to the driver's side, I opened the door, taking it slow on the stiff old hinges while I thought again about what I was doing. It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to talk with Auntie Ashleigh about it, but I tended to shy away from any conversation that included my 'boyfriend back home'.

"I have to stop this. If Stevie gets messed up with Sheila, that's his life. He's been warned and... and I have a life back home. This isn't even reality, this is..."

But it was reality. That was the thing and it was inescapable as the unlikelihood of that flathead's crank budging. It plausibly shouldn't have been, should've been some crazy situation in a story I might have written, but it was real and I was involved. It was my other reality. Could I be the same person in my Montreal home as I was at home in Langley?

I shut the door of the old car, another satisfying sound. Walking to the front of the garage, I closed down the bay door and wandered towards the man-door to the other section, looking back at the old Wayfarer one last time before leaving.

The yard was nice and sunny warm, but it didn't help lift my spirits much. You see, it wasn't the question of whether or not I could be the person I was at home while in Montreal that weighed on my mind. No, it was the fact that I couldn't be who I was at my Montreal home when I was at my Langley home. I mean, I had my own apartment, a full staff to grant my every wish but, more importantly, I felt a unique sense of belonging as a person that I'd never felt before.

In any case, it was becoming more and more apparent that I'd have to deal with Gina somehow because, while I really didn't feel that she was in my way, I wanted to keep it that way. It riled me all of a sudden, having to deal with her at all. And what was wrong with her anyway? My family gives her the creeps? My family had been nothing but nice to her, Auntie Ashleigh extending every courtesy while everyone else treated her with nothing but respect, even Sheila. Who was she to say something like that? What in hell was wrong with her?

I'd gained entry to the house and was strolling down the main hall, irritatedly wondering what I could do to keep Gina on an even keel for two weeks when that voice that could make everything okay hailed from above me.

"Are you even wearing a bra, you saucy little creature?"

"(Giggle!) Auntie!"

The owner of the house beamed down at me in a mid thigh length, red dress, her nails standing out in the same colour as she held the second level railing.

"'C'mon up, sweetie pie."

"Um, I really need to go change."

"Oh? ... Oh, I see. Miffy's soaked, isn't she?"

"Uh huh. I was talking to Stevie," I said as I resumed my way to the staircase.

"So, how'd that go?"

"Alright. It was the first time we really spoke to each other."

"What do you think?"

"I already liked him," I admitted with a smile, wanting to get off really bad now. "I was kinda biased."

She chuckled and moved to meet me at the head of the staircase where I looked up at her awesomely beautiful eyes. They sparkled just for me, like they often did, and I could only giggle a bit.

"Oh, Kitten. You're so much more than I'd imagined," she said, looking at me with pride and lust. "Did you two...?"

"No," I grinned.

"Did you want to?"

"Yeah. He did, too."

"I'll bet he did," Ashleigh assured.

"Uhh-h," I softly gasped, a little amazed to find my hand between my legs and squeezing miffy.

"Where's Gina?"

"Sh- um, she's in her apar- partment. I think. Mmm."

She looked at me with the nicest smile then grabbed my boobie and squeezed, making me moan.

"Wanna come see my apartments, sweetie pie? We'll do some talking and... other imaginative things. Hmm?"

And that answered my earlier question of who was going to help get me off.