Tapestry Ch. 03

"So how do you control all of this?" she asked, returning her attention to the home security system.

"There are touchscreen controls in the living room, the basement, the kitchen and each of the bedrooms," Bryan showed her the panel that flipped down from underneath one of the cabinets. The other screens were similarly hidden from plain view. "You can see all twelve cameras at once, or pick them individually. Every approach to the house is covered. There are four cameras which you can move with the controls here. Up, down, left, right. Zoom in, zoom out."

"Are there any cameras inside?"

"Not yet. We didn't want you to think that we're spying on you or anything," Bryan replied with a mischievous smile. "Jimmy wanted me to put a camera in your shower, but I told him to go to hell."

"Jimmy wanted? Or you wanted?" Vanessa pinched Bryan a couple of times for good measure, and rolled her eyes. "Perv."

"He likes big boobs more than I do," Bryan laughed. "More than a handful is a waste. And you are much more than a handful."

She assaulted him with a shower of friendly tickles.

"So that's why you're into petite Asian girls?"

"I guess," he shrugged again. Vanessa didn't pry, but she suspected that her roommate's interest in Asian girls probably had something to do with his sisters. After all, most men have some sort of latent Oedipal attraction to their mothers, and at least a passing curiosity towards their sisters.

As a result, men tend to be attracted to women who are like the women they grow up around. She really couldn't blame him; two of Bryan's sisters were gorgeous twin girls adopted from Vietnam, and she could tell from the way that he talked about them, Bryan adored the twins, more than his mothers or other five sisters.

Vanessa gave Bryan a big hug.

"Thank you for doing this for me," she said softly. "Thank you for everything."

He only smiled, and then returned to his room, satisfied that he had restored some peace of mind to his new friend.

*****************

Vanessa closed her eyes and moaned joyously.

She lay on her back, her legs spread wide. Jimmy's hands were cupped under her ass, as he lifted her pussy up to his mouth.

His tongue flicked her clit back and forth, eager to please her.

A small vibrator was nestled into her rear hole, buzzing softly. A larger vibrator was inside her pussy, overloading her senses.

Her hands cupped her breasts as her boyfriend lovingly performed oral sex on her. He seemed eager to explore her, and took his time.

"That feels so good," she gasped as he hit one of her sensitive spots.

He didn't reply, instead sucking on her labia.

Jimmy seemed eager to go down on her. Most guys Vanessa knew hated it. But then again, not a lot of men pay a prostitute just to eat her pussy.

There was one occasion, when Craig had paid Vanessa and another girl to show him some girl-on-girl action, and that was the first and only time she had ever been with another woman. It was okay, but all things being equal, Vanessa preferred men.

"I love it when you eat me," she whimpered, feeling her toes begin to tingle.

The first time he went down on her, it was a little awkward, but he was a fast learner, and she told him exactly what to do.

Now, she had no complaints, and she enjoyed it when he introduced something new to their sex life, whether it was the vibrators, a blindfold or some ice cubes.

Her body shuddered when he started moving the vibrator in and out of her pussy as he continued to use his tongue to toy with her clit.

"Oh, fuck!" Vanessa cried out. "Don't stop! Don't you dare fucking stop!"

Sure enough, he didn't let up until she howled with pleasure, the sensation of the two vibrators and Jimmy's talented tongue sending her over the edge.

Her hands grasped his hair as she bucked her pussy against his face.

She rode out the orgasm until she could barely move. The room was spinning and she could barely feel him remove the vibrators from her pussy and ass.

"I love feeling you inside me," she looked up into Jimmy's eyes as he mounted her. Her pussy clamped around his cock as he slowly began to piston in and out of her.

He gave her a couple of short, gentle thrusts, which gave way to harder and harder thrusts.

She spread her legs as wide as she could so all of his length would fit inside her. His hands clutched her backside as he pounded away.

Vanessa's fingernails dug into Jimmy's shoulders as another orgasm ripped through her body.

When he exploded inside her, she pulled his head back, so she could see the look of pure pleasure on his face. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were closed.

In that moment, he was the most handsome man in the world.

And he was all hers.

Their bodies melted into the bed and they held each other until they mustered up the strength to do it again. And again.

And again.

*****************

Her hands ran up and down his back. He was still inside her.

Both found that they liked to talk after—and in between—sex.

They discussed their future sex plans. They discussed what they liked and didn't like. They shared their deepest and darkest secrets and desires.

One subject which was off-limits was her prior sex life. That was something she wasn't ready to bring up with him. He would sometimes ask if she was happy with his cock size, or if he was as good as her past lovers, but she always changed the subject on him.

"You're perfect," she would tell him. "And you are way better than anyone I've ever had."

And that was that.

The semester was almost over and they were discussing their plans for the next year.

"I'm on track to graduate next December," he told her. "I had a lot of credits coming out of high school, and I think I'm going to start the mechanical engineering program."

"Where?" she dared to ask.

"I don't know," he said. "I've applied here a Duke, but I was also thinking of applying at MIT or Cal Tech."

Neither spoke the words, but both knew where this discussion was going. He was certainly smart enough to get into any program where he applied.

"How close are you to graduation?" he asked.

"Not as close as you," she said softly. "And I'm just going to be an X-ray tech. Not some rocket scientist."

"Don't start that," he admonished gently. Compared to Jimmy and his friends, she thought she had a lower maximum potential in life than the rest of them. "I need you to get a job and start working soon. My parents aren't loaded like Bryan's. You're going to put me through graduate school."

"Why are we talking about this?" Vanessa frowned at his attempt at a joke, mostly because it made her uncomfortable.

Jimmy looked her in the eyes. His hands cupped her face and he kissed her gently. "Because I love you."

The words hung in the air over them for a long moment. But then she realised that he was talking about the future. Their future.

Vanessa began to cry softly.

The first look on Jimmy's face was one of bewilderment, as if he had said something wrong. But they were tears of joy.

No one, not even her parents, had ever told her those words. And Vanessa knew he wasn't saying them just because he was inside her. Or because he had a fixation on her breasts.

He meant them. And that was good enough for her.

"I love you, too."

*****************

Despite their rabbit-like sexual behavior, both managed to finish up the semester with good grades. Jimmy because he could sleepwalk through his undergraduate degree and Vanessa because of her dogged determination not to fail out of school which was costing her a ton of money in student loans.

Everyone in the house was taking some summer classes. Emily was spending a lot of time over at the house with Bryan. Greg was in the "talking" phase of a relationship with a guy he had met through a campus-sponsored gaming group. Jimmy was taking extra classes to graduate early.

Things were going well until Craig re-appeared in her life. It seemed more accidental than intentional.

Vanessa was working a Saturday night shift at the Outback when he came in. She was assigned to a set of tables in the back and he got a seat at the bar. She didn't think he saw her at first, but there was no way she could avoid going to the bar to get drinks for her table.

She didn't look his way, and he seemed to ignore her.

Until she was on the way back to the kitchen and found herself face to face with him.

There was an evil glint in his eye. She tried to step around him, but he blocked her way.

"You owe me a fuck," he growled. "Whore."

"I don't owe you shit," she said softly. "Asshole."

He started to say something, but another server walked by and Vanessa turned and followed. Craig made no move, but she could feel his eyes on her. He didn't say anything to her again, but now he knew both where she lived and where she worked.

That made her blood boil with anger and tremble in fear at the same time.

*****************

"My parents want to meet you," Jimmy told her once final exams were over. She hadn't mentioned the encounter with Craig to any of her roommates, and hoped it was just a coincidence. He never showed up at the Outback again, but she was always watching over her shoulder.

"When?"

"Um, on Friday," he said sheepishly.

"That's in two days!"

"I, uh, didn't want you to worry through final exams."

And that was the start of their first fight.

Of course the make-up sex was extra-good.

Since she was occupying the room guests normally stayed in, Jimmy's parents got a hotel room. Vanessa offered to cook for them, but they insisted on taking her out for an end of the semester dinner.

Jimmy was the spitting image of his father. Both were thin and lanky. She could instantly tell where he got many of his mannerisms.

Timothy Burkhardt was serious and a bit intimidating. It took a while to figure out his dry sense of humour. Jimmy's mother, on the other hand, was a riot on two legs. Boisterous and jovial, Tanya Burkhardt was the complete opposite of her husband and son.

And Vanessa took an immediate liking to her, especially after the other woman stuck up for her.

"Stop acting like an ass, Tim," she said, loud enough for people three tables over to hear. "She's not a witness to be cross-examined. This is your son's girlfriend. At least pretend to like her so we have a shot at being grandparents."

Jimmy looked like he wanted to hide under the table, and Tim forced a smile, but he did lighten up a little.

Vanessa invited his parents back to the house after the meal, but they declined. They would be coming over the next afternoon to visit with Bryan and Greg, and then were heading back to Asheville.

They were walking back to the car, when Monica took Vanessa on her arm. "Is my boy taking good care of you?"

"Yes, he is," Vanessa blushed.

"Good, if he acts up, you call me and I'll set him straight," Monica laughed. "He's head over heels in love with you, and I can tell you feel the same way."

Vanessa was at a loss for words.

"Now go home and practice making me some grandbabies!" she winked.

Not much later, Vanessa was riding Jimmy's cock in the front seat of his car, never having made it out of the garage.

*****************

"We've got trouble," Bryan said, staring at the monitor. Jimmy and Greg were instantly on their feet. Vanessa clenched her jaw and felt her blood pressure rising. "Battlestations."

Craig had crashed his truck into the brick mailbox at the end of the driveway. He was approaching the house, an aluminum baseball bat in his hands.

The guys sprang into motion. Vanessa found a .40 Glock pushed in her hands. Bryan went to his room and retrieved a shotgun. Jimmy and Greg also produced large caliber handguns.

"Go down to the basement," Jimmy said softly, his eyes dark with anger. "Call 911."

"Are you going to be okay?" Bryan asked.

"Yes." Vanessa had never seen him like this. The closest had been when he beat up that guy in the burger joint. But she knew he wasn't going to kill that guy. His eyes were devoid of emotion. "Just like we discussed. Go out the back door if you need to run."

Bryan tugged at Vanessa's arm. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

Jimmy gave her a reassuring kiss. "I love you. Go."

Bryan led the way. Vanessa numbly followed, and Greg brought up the rear. They watched from the monitor in the basement as Craig pounded on the door. Bryan was on the phone with the 911 emergency operator, but from the half of the conversation Vanessa could hear, it didn't look like the police were going to get there soon enough.

Craig began to beat the wooden door frame with his bat, smashing the glass panels on the sides. He kicked at the deadbolt several times until it gave way.

Vanessa choked back sobs and resisted the urge to run up the stairs and confront Craig herself.

She heard shouting. Jimmy's voice.

A gunshot.

Then two.

There was a short pause.

Then six more shots in quick succession.

There was a loud thud.

Then silence.

The joists above her creaked as someone walked across the floor. The door to the basement opened.

Jimmy's voice sounded like that of an angel. An avenging angel. "Clear."

"Are you okay?" Greg asked.

"Yes," Jimmy replied wearily. "He's down."

"That's right," Bryan was saying into his phone. "Shots fired. The intruder is down . . . I don't know . . . Yes, we are armed . . ."

"Do not come up here," Jimmy warned. "Go outside and wait for the police in the driveway."

He closed the door. Vanessa choked back sobs as Bryan and Greg led her outside. Both were calling their parents to let them know what happened.

They unloaded their weapons and set them on the driveway.

The police arrived a few minutes later with their guns drawn. They emerged from the house a few minutes later, Jimmy's handgun in an evidence bag.

Their home was taped off as a crime scene and the spectacle of a wrecked car, police and an ambulance had drawn the attention of the neighbours.

No one was arrested, especially after the police saw the video feed of Craig forcibly entering the house with a baseball bat.

Bryan, Greg and Vanessa all gave statements to the police. Jimmy spoke only to ask for his father to be contacted.

Craig's body was removed from the house and transported to the morgue. Later toxicology showed his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit to be considered driving drunk. The activity around the house continued well into the next day. Jimmy's, Bryan's and Greg's parents all showed up before the sun rose.

Jimmy was released into his father's custody and his legal defense was begun. Very quickly, the sheriff and state prosecutor decided that charges would not be filed.

There was overwhelming evidence that Jimmy could invoke the "Castle doctrine" of self-defense, especially considering Craig's pattern of stalking and the fact that he had a baseball bat in his hands when he died.

"I fired two warning shots," Jimmy told the investigators, pointing to two bullet holes in the door frame well above anyone's head. The other six .45 ACP rounds were buried in the center of Craig's chest. "He kept coming, so I killed him."

Craig's father raised a little bit of a ruckus, but that was hushed very quickly, when more federal corruption charges were filed against him.

Once the shock of the incident faded, Vanessa took a long time to come to terms that her boyfriend had killed someone for her. She did not feel sorry for Craig, only that Jimmy had to be dragged in to her fight.

A part of her wished she had killed Craig herself.

*****************

The door was repaired and the carpet cleaned. There was some local furor in the news, but that quickly passed.

The foursome finished out the fall semester. Bryan and Greg still had a semester to go. Vanessa would graduate in two more terms if she went full time. Jimmy graduated and started in the mechanical engineering and materials science program at Duke.

They never discussed what happened that night.

Over the next couple of years, things happened quickly. Jimmy and Vanessa fell further and madly in love, their relationship strengthened by their shared trauma. They moved out of the house and into their own apartment; neither wanted to stay in the house where Craig had been killed.

Three years later, Jimmy graduated with his PhD and went to work for Neurodyne, a robotics company. The three guys remained friends, even as their lives split them up and sent them to different corners of the world.

Vanessa got a job at a hospital while Jimmy finished up his doctorate.

They were married on a warm Autumn day, with the enthusiastic blessing of Jimmy's parents. Her own family turned out for the wedding, probably to get a free meal, but also to let Vanessa know how proud they were of her.

She was embarrassed by them at first; compared to Jimmy's family and the friends who had stuck by her over the past few years, they seemed backwards and redneck, but they were still her family, and they loved her, even if they had funny ways of showing it.

On the first night of their honeymoon, James and Vanessa Burkhardt made love on the deck of a magnificent beach house at the Outer Banks. The moon hung over them, bathing them in its soft glow.

Vanessa leaned over and Jimmy took her nipples in his mouth. She purred softly. His hands roamed her body. The nearest neighbours were fifty yards away and the sound of the ocean crashing against the shore set a steady rhythm for the two lovers.

She never tired of how he played with her sensitive breasts.

His cock was tumescent inside her, and she knew he wasn't going to last very long. He never did when she was on top.

That was okay with her; a little while later, he would take her from behind and pull her hair just the way she liked it.

And if he played his cards right, his night would end with his cock buried in her ass while she toyed with her clit.

Vanessa started to grind her hips against her husband, his face buried in her cleavage.

She pulled him back for just a moment and looked into his eyes, which were glazed over with pleasure.

"Sweetheart," she caressed his cheek. "You know now that we're married . . . I can't be compelled to testify against you, right?"

Jimmy nodded, apparently distracted by the way she was squeezing his cock with her tight little pussy.

"I've been wondering about something for a few years . . ."

Vanessa lifted her hips and then sank back down on him.

"That night," she gently bit his ear in the way that made his skin crawl. "The night you shot Craig . . . were those 'warning shots' the first two you fired . . . or the last two?"