Being Their Baby (8 page)

“Yeah, makes them like cookies,” Charlie said, and added some to one of her pancakes just to illustrate.

She got up on her tiptoes and watched what he was doing with large owl eyes. “Whoa.”

His annoyance over Sophie’s tone dissipated with the childlike fascination she was displaying, Charlie squinted over at Liz in an accusatory
you-did-this-you-witch!
look.

Liz merely returned his glare with a look of a cat that got the cream. She patted her lap. “Come here, baby,” she called to Sophie. “Get out of Charlie’s path if you don’t want a pancake to land on your head.”

Sophie chewed her lip slightly when she was called “baby,” but she eventually walked over to Liz and let her guide her onto her lap.

“You guys don’t need to see my license. I mean, I won’t tell anybody about your relationship,” she told Josh, yet her voice was loud enough for Charlie to hear. “I mean, I wouldn’t want Miss Button to get in trouble—I know how this might look if, like, the news found out. Liz is kinda a celebrity.”

“And so is Charlie. Hence his paranoia,” Josh added with a wink.

She lifted an eyebrow and looked over at Charlie. “A celebrity of
what
?”

Charlie’s shoulders stiffened; Liz knew that he wished he was a little more well-known to the non-football crowd. “We’ll talk to you about everything, promise,” Liz said in her ear, giving her an adoring squeeze.

“Well, I wouldn’t tell anyone about everything. This house is like Vegas—what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Sophie announced to the room, straightening.

Josh gave a small laugh and Liz rewarded Sophie with a kiss on the cheek, then a pat on the thigh when Sophie squirmed over to the seat next to her. The chair had padding on it, but Sophie didn’t seem too impressed with its ability to make her bottom feel any better.

“That’s very mature of you,” Josh said. “Thank you.”

Charlie came over, delivering a plate of pancakes in front of her with a tall glass of orange juice. Sophie stared at the orange juice like it was an uninvited pest. “Do you want milk instead?” Charlie asked after shaking his head at Sophie’s apparent pickiness.

“Do you have any orange soda?” Sophie asked hopefully.

“For breakfast? Or in the fridge?” Charlie replied crisply.

“Uh… either? Er… both, I guess,” she answered hesitantly.

“No,” he told her firmly, as if requesting such a thing was a ridiculous thing to do. “Soda’s bad for you, young lady; there is absolutely nothing good about it, especially before noon.” He tapped her plate. “Now eat before it gets cold.”

She turned her head to glare at Charlie as he poured coffee into a couple of mugs, grabbed the syrup bottle by her hand, and then literally drowned her pancakes with it. When he turned back toward the table and seemed shocked by the pool of sugar, she looked up at him with newfound bravery as if to say, “
Take that, Health Nazi!
”

Josh came over and sat down next to her before Charlie could respond to it. Josh nabbed the syrup bottle out of Sophie’s hand like it was a loaded gun and set it out of her reach, saying, “Whoa! Would you like some pancakes to eat with all that syrup? Sheesh, bunny! We’re gonna have to peel you off the walls in another half hour!”

Charlie put the coffee in front of Liz and grumbled as he sat down at the table.

“So… You gonna ask any questions, or can I start?” Josh asked as he leaned on the table, crossing his arms in front of him.

Sophie was slicing into her pancakes, but stopped to raise an eyebrow. For a second, she looked confused, but then she turned to Charlie. “You’re a celebrity? Like, you can’t be very famous though, right?”

Charlie frowned, looking taken aback. “I’m a commentator for ESPN,” he replied defensively.

“Charlie used to be this big football hotshot before he blew out his shoulder,” Josh explained casually. “Or rather, blew out his shoulder about
five
times
. How his arm’s still attached to his body, I don’t quite understand. If I were his shoulder, I would have gotten up and left by now.” He stole a grape from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table. “He used to be a quarterback in the big leagues for nine years, but now he just quarterbacks on Monday mornings. He got this big TV deal going on. They pay him just for yammering on like an idiot while drawing all over other coaches’ plays like he knows any better.”

“Thanks, Josh,” Charlie said tersely.

“I’m just explaining why you act crazy and all secretive anytime someone new walks through the front door. I can probably claim plausible deniability because I just reside in the pool house.” He pointed to the back yard.

Sophie followed his finger. “Why do you live in the pool house?”

“So chicks don’t know about the steady girlfriend I share with my brother when I bring them over,” he answered easily.

“Josh has sex with everything that moves,” Elizabeth added with a grin in Josh’s direction.

“So, like, all of us can go and have sex with anyone whenever we want?” Sophie asked, looking unsure.

“No,” the men immediately answered before Liz could even open her mouth.

“Well,” Liz hedged, “you can have sex with someone other than me, honey, but not
just anyone
.” She gave Charlie and Josh a chiding glance before she continued. “It’s just that we have a circle of trust. I’m only having sex with Josh and Charlie. Charlie’s girlfriend recently left us, but Charlie and I used to share her,” she admitted. “But Charlie only has sex with his steady girlfriend or with me. And Josh… Well, Josh makes sure he uses protection and gets tested very regularly. You see; if one of us gets a problem, we all get a problem, so we have to be careful. Right, Josh?” She turned toward Josh, eyeing him for support.

Josh snorted defensively. “Oh, come on. I’m
still
getting crap about that? It was eight years ago, okay? It was Vegas, I was young, and it was only crabs. Let it go.”

Sophie shuddered with disgust.

“Never feel pressured to have sex with any of us,” Liz said, reaching over and entwining her fingers through Sophie’s. “If it happens, fine. If not, that’s fine, too. I plan to get much more out of this relationship than just sex, sweetie. I can use Charlie or Josh if I’m in the mood.”

“And I
love
being used in her moods,” Josh assured. “Liz is my lobster dinner when it comes to sex. Nobody’s better than Liz, nobody. Not possible. That being said,” he added, “even though she’s my fine dining, I like to have a cheeseburger every now and then.”

Sophie poked at her mushy pancake before asking something else. “So do you guys… you know…” She blushed slightly. “… at the same time?”

Liz rolled her eyes. “No,” she declared firmly. After a second, she added, “Well,
once
…”

Josh put up three fingers and mouthed to Sophie, “
Three times
,” with a proud and mischievous air about him.

Liz sighed at Josh. “It doesn’t really work for me to get taken by two men at once.”

Josh leaned toward Sophie. “Our girl’s pretty dominant, in case you haven’t noticed,” Josh reminded Sophie, and she immediately perked up when Josh included her, like dating Liz made her part of a special club. Josh went on, “I guess it’s apparently a challenge to be in control when you’ve got two cocks to please at once. So, really, it only happened when we were
all
crazy-ass drunk, which you won’t see often. There’s not a single beer in
this
house, as you’ll learn, because Charlie’s a big wet blanket.”

Sophie smirked at that.

Charlie gave Josh a short-lived glare before he added, “Liz prefers one of us and one of— well,
you
—in her threesomes,” he clarified.

“Oh,” Sophie said, sounding small. She wasn’t pink this time; her cheeks were beginning to flush white. She sunk slowly down into her seat, staring distantly into her syrup puddle.

“Sophie, you don’t have to do anything,” Charlie added. “I want you to think of Josh and me like family. We’re here to protect you from doing anything you don’t want to do, and we’ll do nothing but defend your every wish. So don’t worry yourself. We don’t expect anything from you.” Charlie might have soothed her with that monologue, but then he continued, “Except that you behave yourself, keep your room clean, follow rules, and that you make good, healthy, responsible choices—and it goes without saying that a healthy and good choice is to always speak to us respectfully and do what we tell you to.”

Sophie gave Charlie a rueful look. Apparently, she wasn’t as interested in doing everything that Charlie wanted as she was when Liz had asked it of her.

Charlie caught her look and furrowed his eyebrows. “What? You’re eighteen; we’re not just going to let you run amuck around here. That’s nothing personal, it’s just that I remember myself at eighteen and I needed a good kick in the ass. So did everyone I know, especially Josh. So, we’ll watch you like a hawk to make sure you keep your nose clean. Just be a good girl in return and we’ll get along great.”

“Well, aren’t I relieved?” Sophie wasn’t teasing, her cheeks were flushed, and it brought a tense air to what everyone thought was a light conversation. She pushed her plate away and stood up.

“Sweetheart,” Liz protested. “You should eat some—”

“No,” Sophie decreed. “These pancakes are gross, and it’s definitely not because of the syrup!” With that, she spun on her heel and marched upstairs without another word.

There was now silence at the breakfast nook. Like always, Josh broke the awkward silence. “Remember when Dad used to take us fishing when we were kids, and then he’d let you reel the fish onto the boat right at the end? And then somehow you’d lose it?” he asked Charlie, pulling over Sophie’s nearly full plate and picking up her fork. “Well, that’s what happened here. We were getting close, we were expanding that little sexual part of her mind, getting her curious and asking questions, and you just
had
to impose your dominance. Next time, just bite her on the back of her neck when she comes into the kitchen and then take her in the ass. It’d be just as obvious, only then she might have a better opinion of you.” He took a bite of her pancakes. “She’s wrong, though. It’s definitely the syrup that’s making them soggy and gross.”

Charlie sat back in his chair and sighed, drumming his fingers on the table. Liz could feel his frustration radiating out of him; she gave him a kiss on his cheek and snuggled up to him supportively.

“It’s easier getting a girlfriend from the Internet,” Charlie said. “You can tell them everything up front, and if they don’t like it, they don’t respond to your ad.”

“Wow, bro. You should write love sonnets,” Josh said with a laugh.

* * *

When Sophie woke up from her nap, she didn’t really feel like the sleep had done her much good. A knot of worry still clenched in her tummy, making it hard to breathe or swallow. Coupled with actual hunger, she was actually beginning to feel a little sick.

Sophie wasn’t sure what she’d landed in the middle of, but she had a feeling that she wasn’t done falling down this rabbit hole.

Charlie was the worst; the man had easily gotten under her skin. She’d had enough with rotten men telling her what to do all the time. It was different when Elizabeth did it. Sure, Elizabeth’s dominance made Sophie’s stomach clench with worry and even now she couldn’t help but notice that she was lying on her stomach, but she did believe that Elizabeth loved her.

Even if Elizabeth
didn’t
love her, she loved Elizabeth. Besides, Elizabeth seemed to understand that Sophie could walk out the door at any time, that she was still an adult with her own life. It didn’t seem like Charlie understood that.

As for Josh—Josh was actually okay. She liked him, but only because she had a feeling that he didn’t have a filter. His lack of not holding anything back made him seem trustworthy, at least.

As Sophie lay there, Elizabeth eventually quietly entered into the room and slowly, gently lay down next to her. She pulled Sophie up against her body, then petted Sophie’s thigh with her long fingers.

She began to explain things a little more, with a very clear, gentle voice, immediately bringing up Charlie.

Charlie, Elizabeth tried to explain, was supposedly just “dominant in nature” and he tried to control everyone, not just Sophie. Elizabeth kissed Sophie’s shoulder and said, “To him, you’re just a little girl that he wants to play daddy to. That’s the only part he knows how to play.”

Elizabeth found the edge of Sophie’s skirt and slowly began to push it up her thigh. Sophie took in quiet, measured breathes as she continued to let Elizabeth talk and pet her, feeling her hands pressing her skirt higher and higher, until Elizabeth stopped talking. She felt Elizabeth kiss her shoulder again, and then Elizabeth’s hand crept toward the inside of Sophie’s thighs.

Sophie closed her eyes, savoring the touch and the way it made her whole body tingle. Slowly, she opened her thighs to Elizabeth’s hand until the woman brushed against the cloth of her panties, her knuckles rubbing across her vagina.

Elizabeth pulled Sophie from her side and onto her back then, and kissed her mouth. A tingling and burning heat began to quickly build in Sophie’s loins, and she kissed back hungrily, lapping at Elizabeth’s tongue and letting her direct every move of the kiss. Elizabeth pushed at Sophie’s thighs until she was spread wider, and then she slipped her hand around the edge of her panties. She ran her hand over her mound and then cupped her. “My, my,” Elizabeth finally teased, her voice low and sultry. “We’re just sopping wet, aren’t we, baby girl?” Elizabeth nibbled on Sophie’s upper ear, then kissed her again.

Sophie’s heart had nearly stopped beating when Elizabeth said, “Do you want Mommy to take these wet panties off, baby?”

Sophie’s clit pulsed violently at the words, making her thighs twitch. She took an excited breath; she couldn’t help it, but she felt something built within her that made her feel like she was going to bust. All she could do was nod and murmur, “Uh huh…”