Wilderwood Ch. 08

Morgan gets back on topic. "We're fortunate that the folklore of Wilderwood is less problematic. The town has a rich history that goes all the way back to colonial times, but there's nothing that would play badly to an informed modern audience. There were no witch trials around here so Magic the Cat, the new town mascot, can reference the spooky side of New England without any suggestion that we're trivialising real events."

"The town already has a mascot," Emma points out. "The Wilderwood Devil."

Dad gives her his most placating smile. "We're looking to shift the focus away from him. There's a feeling that the Devil is not the image we want to project to the world."

It's true that the town has been distancing itself from the Wilderwood Devil ever since a couple of news networks decided it was a catchy name for a serial killer after a body was discovered in Wilderwood Forest. That was twenty years ago though, and they don't use that name anymore. he's called the Hook Man now. All the same I'm wondering how our great-uncle feels about this, since when we were kids he'd tell us ghost stories about the family fiend. He doesn't seem to mind about this either though.

Emma does. "There's nothing wrong with Wildy."

Morgan's smile is so patronising I'm almost surprised she doesn't lean across the table and pat my sister gently on the head. "Of course not, Emma, but we feel that Magic the Cat works better as the face of the new Wilderwood. He's not so edgy."

Emma's dark eyebrows go down into a scowl over her green eyes and she bites her lip.

"Part of the strategy involves raising the online profile of the town," adds Dad, "and you know cats are really popular on the internet."

Morgan smiles brightly and does air quotes. "Hashtag magicofwilderwood."

Emma rolls her eyes and Pete, who's sitting next to her, winks at her. "Everyone loves a pussy." My sister looks at him like she's about to stab him with her fork.

"This is all fascinating," says Uncle Nathan, "but I do have to offer up one small correction. The witch trials did reach out this far." He gives Morgan a mild, friendly smile. "A clergyman came to Wilderwood, not long after the events at Salem, and attempted to whip the townsfolk up into a suitable frenzy."

Morgan looks worried, like she's wondering how much of a rewrite will be needed on the 'History of...' section of magicofwilderwood.com.

"You needn't worry though," Uncle Nathan continues in the same mild, conversational tone. "He made the mistake of making an accusation of witchcraft against the then Lady Wilderwood, as we were styled in those days. She took exception to that and shot him dead with a flintlock pistol on the steps of the church at Trinity Cross. That rather conclusively put an end to any talk of witch hunting in these parts."

Emma grins. "Awesome."

Mom sniffs. "Of course you would be on the side of the witches."

"They weren't witches, Mom. They were free thinking women persecuted by patriarchal bigots."

Dad forces out a chuckle as he tries to intervene before my mom and my sister can start going at each other. "Emma got very woke during her first year at college."

"No wonder she doesn't have a boyfriend," mutters Mom.

Pete smirks. "She's quite a handful."

Emma gives him a quick look of utter contempt and I try to catch her eye before she really loses her cool. "It sounds like he deserved it," I say. Emma looks over to me and I see her shoulders relax. A fast smile flits across her lips.

"Most assuredly he did," Uncle Nathan says, "and the Wilderwoods have always felt an obligation to rid the town of unwelcome outsiders."

He looks across at Pete, and smiles.

* * * * *

There's a break after dinner, before the presentation, and everyone gets up to stretch their legs, to circulate or to go outside for some fresh air. I see Dad walking over to a group that includes a couple of the men that Uncle Nathan was talking to earlier, and when he joins them there's a lot of wrenching handshakes and back slapping and loud laughter. He looks like he's enjoying their company more than Uncle Nathan did.

Penny Knight swoops in and leads Mom off to another group. I make eye contact with Emma and follow her out of the ballroom, through a side door and up some stairs. We've met up at the hotel a few times since Emma started working here, but it was longer ago than that when we were last up here.

The top of the Wilderwood Hotel is as overbuilt as the rest of the place, and rises up at the front into a columned arch that gives the building something of the look of a giant stone jukebox. The arch continues all the way to the back and there's another that runs the length of the roof so that from above it looks like a giant stone cross. The effect of this is to split the roof up into four open squares, like raised courtyards, each entirely blocked off from the others. It's one of those squares that we come up to now.

We discovered this place five years ago when we went exploring during a really dull society event that was being held downstairs. It's not like there's anything much up here except ventilation units and pipework but we thought it was cool, and leaned on the low walls around the open space and looked out at the forest beyond the back of the hotel as if we were walking the battlements of a medieval castle.

Emma was quicker to get here than me and by the time I walk out onto the roof she's already leaning against the low stone wall that runs along the edge of the space. It's coming to the end of summer and up here the night air is fresh and cool.

"I wanted to call Lauren," she says as I walk over and lean back against the wall alongside her. "She's going to love that our parents think you're dating her. I don't have my phone with me though."

"You don't?"

"Yeah. My wicked brother distracted me while I was getting ready."

I laugh and look over the wall. There's nothing behind us except the parking lot at the rear of the hotel, three floors below, and beyond that there's just the road that runs along the north edge of the town, with Wilderwood Forest on the far side.

Emma grins. "Do you remember the last time we were up here?"

"I remember you walking along the top of this wall."

"You thought I was going to fall off."

"Yeah, I did. I'd have got the blame if you had."

"Is that all you were worried about?"

I shrug, teasing. "Hey, Mom and Dad would have been really pissed with me."

Emma punches me softly on the arm.

"Ow!"

My sister laughs and then leans against me, resting her head on my shoulder. It's one of her favorite things to do when we're together, and one of mine since it lets me feel the soft black cloud of her hair against my face.

"I've missed this," she says quietly. "Sneaking away from boring parties together and finding secret places to explore. Just the two of us. We had a lot of fun, didn't we? Here, and up at the Hall." She sighs. "When did we stop doing that?"

"I guess we grew out of it when you went to high school."

Emma had done well in high school. She had been popular, and had lots of friends. Kind of like Jennifer. I was a year below my sister, and not like that at all.

"You were my best friend back then," Emma murmurs.

"You were mine too."

She tilts her head and leans up into a kiss. I'm already shrugging out of my jacket and laying it down under us as Emma pushes me down.

We've been doing this for most of the summer now, but our feelings for each other are as strong as ever. Stronger. There's no sense that our increasing familiarity with each other's bodies is doing anything to lessen our need to be together. Every time is like the first, only better because we're so in tune with one another now. We don't even speak as Emma slips her panties off and follows me down. She straddles me, my back up against the wall, with her dress up around her hips and unzips my pants. I'm as ready for her as she always is for me and she gives a soft little groan as she lowers herself onto my cock.

"Fuck, that feels so good."

Emma holds onto my shoulders to steady herself as she sinks down, taking my full length deep inside her. I stroke her hips as she starts to ride me at her own pace, so slowly she's barely moving at all, but she does amazing things with just the slightest flexes of her pussy around my cock.

"Hey, remember that story Uncle Nathan told at dinner about Lady Wilderwood?"

I gasp as my sister raises herself up on her knees and then lets herself slide all the way down again, only faster this time, then grinds her hips against me.

"Oh fuck... I mean... yeah... sure..."

"I wonder if that was Emma Wilderwood."

I'm kind of distracted right now, in the best possible way, so it takes me a second to see where she's going with this. Emma told me recently about a book she had read back when she was really into romance novels. The Master of Wilderwood Hall, it was called, and the main characters had the same names as us.

"That was just a story... right?"

"We don't know for sure." Emma rocks back and forth and I groan at the sensations she's giving me. Her hands slide down from my shoulders to my chest and she pushes me back against the wall as she leans in for a hungry, open mouthed kiss that has us both moaning. All the time she's doing this the slow, deliberate movements of her pussy have me feeling like my cock is about to explode. It's fantastically frustrating that she's going so slow and yet I wouldn't dream of trying to force the pace. Right now my big sister is in absolute control of me.

So I'm not inclined to debate whether or not the James and Emma of the story were real or not. Not when my Emma is doing what she's doing right now.

"It doesn't say they were brother and sister," she continues after breaking the kiss, and if I was actually wearing my tie right now I'd be gasping for breath. "I still wondered... like the first time James kisses Emma she's all like 'Oh no, James, we must not do this! It is forbidden!'"

We lose our rhythm for a moment because I start laughing at my sister's attempt at the kind of posh English accent they speak with in period dramas. Emma grins and sticks her tongue out and leans over to share a playful kiss with me before sitting back up and resuming her ride.

"They all talk like that in those books, Sis."

Emma ignores my attempt at literary criticism, and another slight flex gets my full attention again.

"James just gives a wicked laugh and tells Emma he will use his riding crop on her if that's what it will take for her to submit to him."

"Wow... This is what you used to read, huh?"

"It's actually very romantic, and Emma is totally up for it." My sister moans again, her breath hot on my face as she leans into another kiss. "She needs him to make her his."

I wonder if there's anywhere in town that sells riding crops. If there isn't I'll have to look online.

Emma gives another low moan and pushes herself down harder onto me. She moves her hands up again and her fingers tense on my shoulders as she rocks back and forth, faster now. I move my hands up over the soft fabric of her dress to the less yielding leather wrapped tight around her waist and hold onto her tight as she shudders and squeezes around me, and that's all it takes for me to cum inside my sister for the second time that day.

"Oh fuck, Jamie..."

She keeps riding me for a moment longer, only slowly coming down from a dazed high. I'm kind of breathless myself.

"So what happens, in the story?"

"He kisses her again and she swoons in his strong, masterful arms."

"Swoons?"

Emma nods. "The heroines in those books never actually fuck, but they do a lot of swooning. It's kind of the same thing."

We straighten up our clothing and my sister sits down beside me and cuddles up.

"We should probably go back downstairs."

"Yeah."

Neither of us make any attempt to move. After the story Emma just told me there's something I can't help but wondering.

"It's been a while you used to read that book, right?"

"Years and years."

"So when you were reading it back then, you didn't think of James and Emma as us... did you?"

My sister shrugs against me and doesn't answer right away. As open as we are with each other now we've both got a habit of backing off from talking about some things and I feel like she's going to do that here.

"I did," she says finally, "at college."

"Okay," I say. I'm not sure what else I can say. The idea that my sister was, on some level, thinking about us in a romantic sense even before she came home from college is something I hadn't even considered until right now.

"I spent a lot of time with Lauren after I broke up with Greg," she tells me in a quiet, thoughtful voice. "We'd hang out and talk and listen to music and fool around."

"Fool around?"

Emma perks up a bit. "Yeah, and I know what you're thinking."

I don't even try to hide it. Ever since she told me that they were roommates at college my sister has liked teasing me with hints that she and Lauren were more than just friends. Not that I need any prompting to come up with mental images of the two of them together. I don't even know if she's bisexual, but it's a hot image and she plays up to it a bit because she knows how easy it is to tease me with the idea. Emma was talking about telling Lauren about us before anyone else knew, so they are really close, but she's never actually confirmed it.

"So, you and Lauren...?"

"We'd go through our closets and try on each other's clothes." Emma smirks. "Okay, it was mostly me trying on Lauren's gear." She sighs softly and leans into me more. "When I saw myself in the mirror, wearing one of her corsets and mini-skirts, with a biker jacket and boots, all in black... The leather felt so smooth, so good on me, and I looked and looked and it was like I was seeing who I really was for the first time ever." My sister pauses for a moment before she finishing. "You know what I was thinking? I was thinking about how much my brother would like seeing me dressed up like this."

She's dodged my question about her and Lauren yet again, but that's the last thing on my mind right now.

"Wow, Sis, I had no idea..."

Emma sits up and looks over at me, looking into my eyes. "I didn't plan all this, Jamie. I thought about it some and I even fantasised about something happening between us, but when it actually did I felt so guilty."

"So did I."

She gives a little half laugh. "You did make the first move."

"Did I?"

Emma smirks. "It took you long enough, little brother."

"You think?"

"I think If you'd come into my room the first night I was home and kissed me I'd have melted on the spot."

I laugh, knowing I'd never have dared do that. "Like in the books, huh?"

Emma laughs too.

"Oh yeah," she says. "I'd have swooned. Totally."

The wind has picked up a bit, though the night is still warm. We get to our feet and dust ourselves down since we're not kids anymore and can't really go back into the event looking all scuffed up. My jacket isn't in the best of shape but I guess it'll do.

"This is such a weird night," Emma says.

"All our nights are weird, Sis." I smile. "The good ones anyway."

She laughs.

"What happened when you got dragged off by Penny Knight?"

"Oh yeah. She took me to meet all of these women who were all like Mom's age and they've all got sons or nephews that they want me to meet. It's like Mom when I was dating Greg Jackson all over again."

"You're the most eligible single girl in town, Sis. Get used to it."

"I'm not single. I've already got a boyfriend." She nudges me. "How about you? Are all the girls throwing themselves at you now?"

"They did sit me next to Jennifer at dinner."

Emma laughs again. "Oh yeah. Holy shit, they don't waste any time, do they?"

"Nope."

"If you started dating Jennifer everybody would think you were on the rebound after being dumped by Lauren."

"Hey, I thought I dumped her?"

"Yeah, you two should get your story straight about why you broke up." Emma thinks about that for a moment, then adds, "I mean after you tell her that you've been dating, obviously."

"Yeah, we should probably do that first."

The idiocy of this conversation hits us at the same time and we both dissolve into fits of laughter. I hug my sister close and she turns in my arms and kisses me softly one more time, her tongue flicking lightly over my lips.

Emma sighs. "We really should get back downstairs before we're missed."

"Yeah."

We've stayed up here as long as we could, but it feels like no time at all.

* * * * *

People are starting to return to their tables as we walk back into the ballroom. There's a lot of activity up on the stage, with a video screen and a podium being set up. Morgan is standing talking to a guy who's holding what looks a lot like a cat carrier.

When we get back to our table it's Emma that asks Dad, "Is that an actual cat up there?"

He smirks. "Morgan thought it would be cute. Luckily we were able to find a black cat at the shelter."

"Does he smile?"

Mom gives me a look. "Cat's don't smile, Jamie. They just stare and shed their fur and claw the furniture."

"So," Emma says, "we've got a cat now."

Mom glares at her. "No we do not. He's going back to the shelter as soon as this is over. I won't have that animal in my house, and you're going back to college in less than two weeks so let's not make a thing out of this."

I guess it's not the best time to bring this up but I edge into the conversation anyway. "Yeah, about that. We've been talking and..."

And what? Emma has decided that if I can't go upstate with her then she'll transfer back to Wilderwood, and we've become so used to thinking of ourselves as a couple that it's only as I'm speaking that I realise I probably shouldn't be the one telling our parents about my sister's change of plans... which makes the ending of this sentence kind of tricky to get to. It's probably for the best that the bleep of a phone interrupts me.

Mom immediately assumes it's Emma's phone, of course. "You can't even leave your phone off for one night?"

"It's not mine. I don't even have my phone with me!" My sister glances over at me and I'm sure I look guilty as hell. I definitely do when there's another bleep and I realise it's coming from inside my jacket.

"So what were you saying about college?" Dad asks, completely ignoring the latest round of Emma vs Mom.

"It'll wait," I say hurriedly. Mom rolls her eyes at me as I take my phone out. I have two new messages. Both from... Lauren?

> Is Emma there? She isn't answering?

Followed by

> Nevermind. Call me NOW!

"Who is it?" Dad asks.

I give a vague shrug. After that scene earlier I'm definitely not telling him it's Lauren. "I need to make a call."

Dad looks put out. "Morgan's about to start."

Everyone at the table is staring at me now and I hesitate for a moment, until Uncle Nathan says "I'm looking forward to the presentation," and everyone's attention shifts back to him. "Especially the part with the cat."

I get up and backpedal away from the table toward the nearest exit, wondering what it is that's so urgent.

* * * * *

"Hey, Lauren. It's me. Emma left her phone at home."

I've slipped out to the back of the hotel. With everyone inside at the event it's quiet out here.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we were fooling around before we came out and..."

"Wow, you two just can't keep your hands off each other, can you?"

It's probably not the right time to think it, but damn, Lauren has such a sexy voice. Just something about it that makes everything sound hot and dirty.

"What's up?"

Lauren takes a deep breath. "Alex Trowley just put a new video up. It's about you."

Oh fuck.

"No, wait, not like that," Lauren adds quickly before I have time to panic. "I mean it's about the Wilderwoods. Your family. Not you and Emma. Your dad actually."