The First Timers Club Pt. 09

Chapter 38 - The Blowup

The smell of burning hog fat woke me. I found myself alone in bed. Kayla and Brittney's panicked voices carried from the kitchen, along with the clattering of pots and pans. I checked the clock to find that I'd slept almost till noon.

"You're burning it!" yelled Brittney as the smoke alarm blared its warning.

"Well, I don't know how to cook!" Kayla replied. "Can you reach it?"

"Yeah. How do you turn it off?"

"I don't know! Try blowing on it!"

I walked into the kitchen, still naked, and scratched my head. "Take the battery out," I said and they both turned.

"Oh, hey!" Brittney said, sheepishly. "Sorry about the noise!"

She managed to remove the nine volt while I crossed behind her to move the pan of charred bacon off the burner and flicked on the range hood to clear the smoke. Gluey, overcooked scrambled eggs and some kind of hash that looked as if it had already been eaten filled other pans.

"We figured out what we're going to do!" Kayla reported when I turned to face them. They'd both put their clothes back on to cook breakfast and I wished they hadn't.

"About what?" I asked. I reached into the cabinet for a mug and filled it with cold coffee from the previous day.

"About Ash's mom."

"Didn't we already agree you weren't getting involved," I said between sips.

Kayla stepped forward to give me a kiss and my cock a quick fondle. "It's cute that you think that," she said. "But I already told you, we're not going to let you go through this alone."

I lifted my eyes and sighed. No point arguing with her about it. "So, what's this plan of yours?"

"A sting operation," Brittney said excitedly.

I coughed and spit coffee back into my mug. "A what?"

"We're going to get a recording of her admitting that she attacked you and tried to blackmail you," Kayla explained.

"And how the hell are you going to do that?" I asked, taking a seat at the island.

"We're not. You are," she said, and hurried to continue when she saw the look on my face. "You're going to hide your phone and have it recording, then you're going to confront Erin about what she did. When she admits to it all, we'll have her!"

I shook my head and moved from the island to the sofa, the burnished leather cool against my warm skin. They followed and stood nearby.

"It'll work!" Brittney insisted, but I gave her a skeptical look and rolled my eyes.

"I appreciate the thought, ladies, but I don't think so," I said, much to Brittney's disappointment.

"Why not?" Kayla asked, crossing her arms. She didn't appreciate her idea being so easily shot down.

"Because, she'd never fall for it," I said. "She's too fucking smart for that. Besides, I don't ever want to see her again and I never want to go back to that house."

"She'll talk. I promise," Kayla insisted.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because, you're going to give her some of this!" Brittney said.

I stared at the empty sugar packet in her hand from last night and blinked a couple times but didn't respond. Could that work?

"We realized the ecstasy made us super chatty and...touchy," Brittney said with a smirk and a sideways glance at Kayla. "I said and did a lot of things last night I don't think I'd ever have done otherwise."

Although they hadn't quite had sex with each other, they'd come damned close, with Kayla even sticking her fingers into Brittney's ass while she sucked me off each time I pulled out. Brittney also told us the full truth of her encounter with the girl in the bathroom at the band competition, which had involved a lot more than just kissing. Still, impassioned experimentation with a close friend and secrets confessed during the throes of sex with people you deeply trusted didn't equate to Erin giving up the goods to someone who despised her.

I huffed. "This is the exact same trick she used on me, remember? She'd see it coming a mile away, and she'd definitely taste it if I put it in her drink."

"I don't think you'll have to trick her," Kayla reasoned. "You said yourself that she loves to do drugs, and she loves doing them with you even more, apparently, so just offer it to her. She'll take it if you do. Then all you have to do is get her comfortable and let the ecstasy do its thing."

I looked at the packet again and shook my head. Why was I even considering this ridiculous plan of theirs? The whole thing read like some childish caper from a teen movie. It would never work unless...

"I'd have to have sex with her," I said. "She'd demand it."

"So what? Do it, then!" Kayla shouted, irritated by my hesitation. "If that's what you need to do to get her off your back for good, then just do it."

"Easy for you to say. She's disgusting," I said. Kayla regarded me for a long beat, and I could tell she had something to say. "What?" I asked.

She shook her head and said, "Never mind."

"Ugh! You know I hate when you do that. Out with it!"

"Did you have sex with her?"

Why had I pushed? For a split second, I considered lying, but I knew she'd know it if I did, even if she wouldn't call me out on it. I paused and then nodded.

Brittney's face fell. "What?" she gasped.

"How many times?" Kayla asked, her tone cautious.

I sighed. "Twice," I said and a small cry escaped Brittney's lips.

Kayla thought for a moment. "That first night, when you disappeared with her into the den," she said, stating it as a fact and not a question.

"Yeah."

Brittney covered her mouth. "Oh my god."

After some additional consideration, Kayla said, "And the next day in the pool house, when you said you had to go inside to talk to her. You had this far away stare when you came back and you just seemed off."

I nodded again.

"You lied to us," Brittney said quietly. "Why? Why would you do that? We asked you to tell us everything. Why don't you ever trust us enough to tell us the truth?"

I put my head in my hands and groaned. "I didn't want to tell you because I felt disgusted with myself and I didn't want you to think any worse of me than you already do."

Brittney's face reddened. "That's not fair!" she cried. "We've never judged you like that, and the only times I've ever thought bad of you is when you treated me like shit or lied to me, which seems to be happening a lot these days."

"I know," I said, too ashamed to look at her. "You're right. I should have told you guys last night. I'm sorry."

"No, you should have told us when it happened," Kayla snapped.

I didn't necessarily agree with her about that, and considered saying so, but a message alert on my phone distracted me. Kayla and Brittney's phones alerted a moment later. Brittney checked hers.

"Oh shit," she said when she'd read the message.

I picked up my phone as another message came in from Courtney to the group.

Shit's going down! Ash and her mom are having a huge fight!!!

OMG, this is so bad!! Where the fuck are U? Call me!

Brittney already had her on the line.

"Court! Court...slow down! I can't understand- WHAT?" She held her phone to her chest. "Oh my god, I can hear them screaming at each other in the background!"

"Speaker!" Kayla shouted, and Brittney tapped the button. The sounds of Ashley and Erin screaming over each other poured from the speaker while Courtney continued her play by play.

"...and they're both up in her room right now and I can hear them throwing shit all over the place!" Courtney shouted.

"Court, it's Kayla. You're on speaker."

"Kiki! Where the fuck are you guys?"

"We stayed over last night. What the fuck is going on over there?"

"Oh fuck, shit's crazy," Courtney said. "Ash confronted her mom about the camera, and at first the bitch denied it, but then she just lost it and started screaming and calling Ash a loser and a pick me and an ugly slut and all kinds of terrible things like that!"

Brittney covered her mouth. "Oh my god!"

The screaming match between Ashley and Erin grew increasingly heated, until it became possible to hear them over the phone.

"Fuck you, you psycho bitch!" Ashley screamed, immediately followed by a loud slap that I felt through the phone, and then a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass. A brief silence followed. Then we heard Ashley scream.

"Why did you do that? Why?" Ashley wailed and then sobbed loudly.

A door slammed shut.

"Get out of here, Courtney! Go home!" Erin yelled, and then another door slammed a few seconds later. Courtney sounded out of breath as she rushed somewhere and opened a door.

"Holy shit..." she said. "Ash, are you okay?"

"Courtney, what happened?" I shouted into the phone over the sound of Ashley's sobbing.

"Dude, you guys need to get here. Quick."

We worked out the details of our plan to entrap Erin on the way to the Mitchell's home. Brittney drove the three of us in her sporty little Jetta like a ginger Danica Patrick, weaving through traffic and tailgating drivers camped in the fast lane. A few times, Kayla and I gripped the seats when Brittney shot a gap I felt certain we'd never fit through, until Kayla finally begged her to slow down.

Courtney met us in the driveway. "Jesus, what took you so long?" she snapped.

"We got here as quick as we could," Kayla said, ignoring the impatient tone in Courtney's voice.

"Fuck, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out. She hasn't stopped crying since you guys called. Come on."

She led us inside and we climbed the stairs to Ashley's room. It looked like a very localized tornado had struck. Legos and boardgame pieces laid strewn everywhere, and her big screen television displayed colorful, abstract patterns because of a smashed LED matrix. In the corner of the room, Ashley's curio case had been tipped over, shattering the glass doors in the process, and her lovely hand painted figurines had been violently ejected from their shelves.

Ashley laid curled in her bed crying with the broken pieces of what appeared to be an android with rabbit-like antenna ears arranged on the comforter beside her. The three girls rushed to her side to offer their support.

"Ash!" Brittney cried. "Oh no, Briareos! Oh Ash, I'm so sorry."

Kayla crawled onto the bed beside Ashley to spoon with her, wrapping her arm around her friend's waist. Ashley tucked into a tight ball and cried even harder. I got Brittney's attention and pulled her off to the side.

"This is bad," I said. "I don't think she's in any condition to go anywhere."

Our plan called for the four girls to leave together for a few hours to give me time alone with Erin. I didn't see how that could work now.

"We'll get her out of the house," Brittney assured me. "Just give us a minute." She surveyed the mess and motioned to the curio. "Give me a hand. Let's get some of this cleaned up.

We righted the cabinet and then she and Courtney recovered her unbroken figurines and put them randomly back on the shelves while I carefully sifted through glass shards to pick up her Legos. Then the three of us painstakingly returned the game pieces to their appropriate boxes and put them back in the bookcase. After twenty minutes, we had restored her room to a far less chaotic state and discovered that the damage had not been as extensive as it had first seemed. Most of her figurines had survived unscathed, save a few of the more delicate ones. Her television, however, would never display another video game again.

We gathered around Ashley after the cleanup. Her cheek still bore the red welt where Erin had slapped her and looking at it caused my jaw to flex and my hand to close into a fist. Ashley gave me the details of her fight with her mother.

"She was drunk or wasted on something, I think," Ashley said, keeping her voice low. "First she denied putting the camera in there, but then said she only did it to protect us from you."

"From me?" I asked.

"I tried to defend you and told her how wonderful you've been, and that's when she lost it. She said you were a predator who was taking advantage of us because we were too dumb and naïve to know any better and that we'd all been acting like stupid little sluts, begging you for sex."

"What the fuck?" Kayla breathed.

"Oh my god, she went off on you and Brit the most," Ashley said to Kayla.

"What do you mean?" asked Brittney, her tone cautious.

"It was so awful, Brit. I don't think I can say."

"Tell me," Brittney said through gritted teeth.

"She said you and Kay were...," she began, then shook her head, not willing to say it.

"That we were what?" Brittney insisted, her voice rising.

Ashley squirmed and then rushed through it as quickly as she could. "That you're ugly, desperate losers, throwing yourselves at him and spreading your legs every time he snaps his fingers, even though you don't really want it, but you do it for him anyway because you know that no other man would ever want to touch you."

"The fuck?" Kayla said, more shocked than angry.

Brittney's face reddened and compressed into an enraged scowl and she began to rise, but I grabbed her wrist and shook my head.

"Don't," I said, then added under my breath, "Stick to the plan."

Brittney flared her nostrils and stared in the general direction of Erin's bedroom with hate filled eyes, but slowly descended back onto the bed. When her eyes moved to mine, she nodded, but her infuriated expression remained.

"Go on," I said to Ashley.

"That was the worst of it, honestly. After that, she called me a loser and a childish nerd and a bunch of other mean names and said I had a huge ugly ass no man could ever love. Then I said fuck you and called her a psycho bitch and she slapped me and knocked my display case over."

"Jesus fucking Christ," I muttered, and wondered if maybe I should just say fuck it and take Brittney with me to throw Erin the beating of a lifetime. Kayla got my attention and we exchanged a look.

"Come on, Ash," Kayla said, getting to her feet. "Let's get the hell out of here. This place is way too toxic right now."

"I don't think I'm up to go anywhere right now," Ashley said, sounding more tired than I'd ever heard her sound before. "You guys should go."

Brittney and I looked at each other and she got up, reaching for Ashley's hand. "No way, sister. We're not leaving you alone. Let's go to Game Castle and see if we can find some replacements for your case. Also, isn't Stormhaven supposed to ship next week? Let's put a preorder down on your mom's card."

Ashley perked up at that last suggestion. "Actually, a shopping spree sounds like a pretty good idea right now. She owes me."

I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Brittney dug into her pocket for her car keys and handed them to me.

"Here," she said.

"You're not coming with us?" Ashley asked, disappointed.

"I have a few things to take care of today. Maybe we can meet up later, okay?"

I followed them downstairs and waited by Brittney's car as they pulled out of the garage in Ashley's SUV, waving to them as they drove off the property. When they'd driven out of view, I pocketed the keys and walked back inside through the garage before the door came down, pausing briefly to look up at the security camera watching over the front of the house.

Chapter 39 - Breaking Waves

Once inside the house, I made my way to the den to pour myself a huge glass of whiskey and gulped down half of it before sitting on the sofa, in the same spot Erin had sat the day she drugged me. My heart pounded in my chest as I checked the time on my phone. Kayla and Brittney would keep Ashley away until I texted them to return. Before returning the phone to my pocket, I pressed the record button on the audio recording app and settled in to wait.

I didn't wait long. I heard Erin's bedroom door open, and she called down from the second floor.

"I'll be right down!"

She sounded almost cheerful. I rearranged myself on the sofa, spreading my arms out over the seatback, then crossed and recrossed my legs, before settling on a one arm on the seatback, whiskey in the other hand resting on a crossed knee pose. Erin appeared at the doorway.

"Make yourself at home," she said. Her eyes flitted around the room before she entered.

I regarded her briefly, then looked away to stare straight ahead, affecting a bored expression. Erin edged to the bar cart and selected a bottle of Pellegrino instead of liquor.

"Is this your hard ass, white knight routine?" she asked with an obnoxious laugh, taking a seat across from me. She glanced down at my wrists and shook her head, softly clucking her tongue.

She'd prepared herself for this meeting. She'd done her hair and makeup, and wore a sleeveless, knee length dress that looked entirely out of place inside a rural home on a weekday afternoon. The sparkling water fizzed in her hand as she waited for me to respond. Somewhere in the hallway, a clock tick-tocked, and the dishwasher kicked on for a new spray cycle.

Our duel had begun. Neither would speak until the other did first.

Minutes of silence passed, each watching the other closely. Then a quick movement to lift my glass caused her to flinch. I finished my whiskey in a gulp and rose from the couch. When I did, Erin shot up from her seat, still wary of my intentions. I scoffed silently and returned to the bar cart to refill my glass. I didn't want to drink, but I needed to calm my nerves. I already felt hopelessly outgunned in this battle of wits, so I kept it modest. Just a shot.

When Erin saw that I didn't intend to attack her, she sat back down. On the way to my seat, I tossed a sugar packet onto the coffee table before sitting down. Erin examined it from afar but didn't dare touch it.

"Ketamine?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Ecstasy."

"Oh."

She crossed her legs and bobbed her foot, but I ignored it to watch her breathing instead. She appeared calm as a tranquil pond on a still day and it unnerved me. The woman was unflappable. My eyes met hers and I inhaled a deep breath through my nose. She lifted her eyebrows ever so slightly and shifted her posture, prepared for anything I might do or say. Then I exhaled and played my hand.

"I've thought a lot about what you said," I began, and I could tell by her expression that I'd surprised her. "More than a lot. It's kept me up at night."

Erin didn't reply or respond in any way except to shift her eyebrows ever so slightly, lifting first one, then the other.

"How would it work?" I asked, hoping to lure her out into the open, but she refused to take the bait.

"Why don't you tell me why you're here."

"I'm here to fuck you."

She managed to keep her facial expression under control, but her bobbing foot stuttered and I caught a tiny change in her posture from a quick inhalation of breath. She recovered almost instantly, however, and I wondered if I'd imagined it.

"Is that so?" she asked.

"It is."

Our staring contest resumed, but I sensed a subtle shift in her demeanor. Though nothing about her outward appearance or expression had changed, she had a different energy about her. Whereas before, she'd acted wary and defensive, she now seemed more assured. In control. She put the bottle of water on the table and went to fix herself a drink. Whiskey, poured into the same type of glass as mine. When she returned to her seat, she took a sip and lifted the corner of her lip into the tiniest of smiles.

I set my whiskey down and stood again, but this time she retained her seat, though she still flinched. In a mental battle, she may have had the upper hand, but she'd stand no chance if things turned physical and she knew it. I picked up the sugar packet and held it between my fingers, flicking it.

"I thought we could make it interesting," I said.

Erin lifted her chin in a little laugh. "You really expect me to take that?"

I shrugged. "It makes me fuck like a beast. Thought it might do the same for you. Maybe not, though."