The Artifact of Foex (45 page)

Journey took his hand. “I’m sorry, sweetie.
Didn’t mean to open a can of worms for you.”

“It’s not your fault.” Chet straightened
indignantly, gazing at him fiercely. He squeezed Journey’s hand.
“Don’t ever apologize for being yourself.”

His mouth quirked up, then down. He looked
away, his expression abstract. Sad.

Rory looked from Chet to Journey and back
again. “Are you two in love?” she whispered.

Chet blinked at her, then back to Journey,
almost aghast. Journey was gazing at him with a similar expression.
It should have made him feel bad, but it was actually comforting.
“No,” they said at the same time, dropping hands. Then they smiled
at one another.
Consensus achieved!
Chet thought, a grin
slowly spreading over his face.

“Well.” Rory took a deep breath and let it
out in a puff. “
That’s
okay, then. Go ahead, Chet. This
isn’t something we’re going to be worked out tonight. But... you
know, I guess we’ll figure something out, some kind of compromise.
If
I decide to take you back—and that’s a big if.”

Journey barked a laugh. “There’s the old Eich
Che spirit.”

“You’d better believe it.” She grinned at him
and yawned. “Come on, let’s do something. I’ll fall asleep if we
keep sitting still.”

Chet’s heart lightened until he was almost
floating with happiness.“Could you, um, do me a favor, Rory? Grab
Journey’s dick and enjoy him in the front while I take him from the
rear?”

“Oh. Okay,” she said, eyes wide.

“You have it all worked out, I see.”
Journey’s tone was ironic, but he smirked as he scrambled upright.
He resumed his position at the edge of the bed.

Chet’s cock was so hard it quivered, like a
cynodict following an exciting scent. He grabbed Journey and rubbed
up and down his ass crack. He glanced around to find that Rory had
her hands full. Journey groaned, his breath catching at her touch.
At
their
touch.

Chet fingered his ass. Abyss, Journey was
wet; the smell of ichor filled the room. There was no need to wait.
Chet pushed his cock inside with an audible sucking noise. Journey
let loose a small mewl, shuddering. Chet thrust all the way in,
loving how tight he was, then drew all the way out, his dick coming
loose. All the way in, all the way out of Journey’s muscular ass.
Journey squirmed, occupied at both ends.

“That’s right, slut,” Chet murmured. He
didn’t want to sound like Fenimore, but Journey was too hot to just
fuck in silence. “You want it, don’t you? Tell me how much you want
it.”

“Oh, Pantheon, I want it. Fuck me, Chet.”

“I didn’t hear you. What was that again?”

“Fuck me! I need to be fucked!
Hard
.”

“Really? You want it hard?” Chet pushed
himself inside to the hilt and held still. “Hmm?”

“Oh, please. Please.” Journey was gasping
like a fish. He cried out and Chet peeked over his shoulder,
frowning. Had Journey come? No, Rory was licking his dick. Trying
something new, was she? Just like an ice-cream cone, only
saltier.

Chet upped the pace, fucking Journey with
precise blows. He loved this. Journey took it, took everything he
had. Doyen Quor and Fenimore—not to mention Journey himself—had
taught him how to time a good fucking. Chet varied his speed: he
slowed down before upping his pace, then slowed down again. He
didn’t want to come, he wanted to fuck. Journey’s ass muscles
clenched hard as he came, squirting ichor-tinged semen across the
bedspread. Rory jerked back as if uncertain how to deal with the
event. Chet grinned and began fucking him again.

“Wow, Chet. You’ve got him good," Rory
murmured, wide eyed. She repositioned herself at the edge of the
bed, watching the show from a different angle. “Now
that’s
hot.”

Chet smirked at her, feeling like the
luckiest man in the world. He loved that she wasn’t horrified,
witnessing the act. Her hand had disappeared into her
bathrobe—between her legs—and she rocked in place.

Chet turned back to Journey, who was sprawled
under him, taking it. Chet pummeled him harder with his hips, and
Journey gasped. Then Chet snarled and fucked him so hard they fell
to the bed together, legs waving unsupported in the air. Chet was
on the verge of coming... he was coming... he held very still until
the moment passed. He was still hard, his semen as yet
unspilled.

“Oh,” Journey moaned. “Oh, Chet. Oh, oh
Chet
.”

If he wanted to keep fucking, he’d need
better traction. “Journey, you and I are going to crawl to the
center of the bed, so I can continue enjoying you. Go slowly and
don’t let me slip out of you.”

Moving like conjoined insects, they reached a
spot where their legs were firmly secure on the mattress. Chet
settled over Journey like an inofe eating its prey. He felt a hand
on his back and glanced over his shoulder. Rory, of course. Her
eyes were sparkling with ambition, the same drive that had taken
Fenimore down. She climbed on top of him and lay on his back,
spooning him. Journey groaned, pressed under two bodies.

Chet paused. “You okay down there?”

“Keep going!”

He did. It felt wonderful to be sandwiched,
to have Journey flattened under him and Rory writhing on top.

“I kind of wish I had a dick,” she said into
his ear, giggling. “Then we’d be a complete circuit.”

“You’ll lose all your hair if you went to
fire.” He grinned at her over his shoulder.

“I don’t want a dick
that
much,
thank you kindly.”

Journey’s hands were balling up the bedding.
He yelled—orgasming again, Chet decided. After the spasm ended,
Journey went limp. “Pantheon. Chet, are you ever going to come up
there?”

“Do you want me to come, Journey?” he purred
in his ear. “I thought you were disappointed when I came too soon,
last time.”

“There’s some kind of turnabout-is-fair-play
action going on here, isn’t there?”

“Be careful what you ask for," Chet said in a
sing-song tone. “I like being inside you, Journey. You’re so warm,
wet and tight. You feel
way
too good for me to back
off.”

“That’s what I get for being hospitable.”

“If you really feel that way, I guess I can
speed up.” Chet did, electing more groans from beneath him.

“You two are cute.” Rory had responded to the
change of pace by rolling down Chet’s body until she was humping
his upper thighs. She slapped Chet’s ass, and he groaned, back
arching.

“Do that again, Rory!” Journey cried out.

She spanked him harder this time. The pain
felt like the deepest pleasure he’d ever felt. Chet screamed,
arcing like an electrical current as he came.

He slumped, and Journey crawled out from
under him. They were dripping with sweat, Chet realized. Journey
left faint purple marks on the bedspread wherever his body had
touched the fabric.

Chet rolled onto his back and let loose a
satisfied sigh. “That was good.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” Journey kissed him on
the brow. “You gave me precisely what I needed.”

“My pleasure.”

Rory looked a little disappointed. “That was
it?
”

Chet groaned, sore and exhausted, but Journey
grinned and crooked his finger. “Come here, Rory.”

She crawled over, her bathrobe gaping open.
Chet enjoyed the view from his reclined position. Despite
everything, her expression was troubled. “Um, no offense, but I
don’t think I want to lose my virginity tonight.”

“I wasn’t planning on going there, not with
matters so unsettled between you and Chet.”

“What, then?” She pouted, looking like a
schoolgirl hoping for a treat.

Journey slid his hand under her bathrobe, and
she gasped at the touch. Chet watched, holding his breath, as
Journey’s hand disappeared into her nether regions. She lay down on
her back, her legs open for his perusal. Journey maneuvered himself
between them until his face was at the same level as her cunt.
Grinning, he sank between her legs. Rory yelped, thrashing.

Chet wasn’t sure how to feel, but Rory
decided for him.

“Chet, get over here!” she gasped.

He cuddled closer, uncertain what she wanted
from him. She grabbed hold of him and held on tight—tight!—making
little needy sounds as she writhed.

Journey paused to look at him. “Chet, suckle
her tits,” he ordered, then disappeared once again.

It was what he’d always dreamed of doing.
Chet opened her bathrobe all the way and regarded her breasts,
jiggling before him. Rory gazed up at his face as if nervous.

“Am I... am I okay?”

“You’re
perfect
,” he said, sinking
upon her.

He took one tit in his mouth, rolling it
around with his tongue while gently pinching the other. Her breasts
were firm and moved under him in the most alluring fashion. Rory
was screaming, her head flung back. Her body snapped like a rubber
band. Had she come? Journey didn’t stop, so neither did Chet. She
snapped again, then again, still screaming.

Finally, she pulled away from Chet and pushed
Journey out from between her legs. “Enough,” she gasped.

“How many was that, Chet? I didn’t count.”
Journey looked smug.

“I didn’t, either,” he said, thinking about
what her reactions had meant. “She jerked in place maybe three or
four times. Rory, how many times did you come?”

“I don’t... I’ve never felt anything like
that. I didn’t know it was
possible
.”

“You mean you’ve never orgasmed?” Journey
crawled up the bed to lie beside her, curling into her body.

They looked so comfortable. For a moment,
Chet felt another spark of jealousy, except he was comfortable,
too, nestled up against Rory. Chet snuggled closer, and she put her
arms around both their shoulders.

“Is that what it’s called?” she said. “It
felt astronomical.”

“Huh. I’d have gone easier on you if I’d
known you were pre-orgasmic. Sorry about that.”

She shook her head. “No problem. No problem
at
all
.”

Chet gazed at both of them, secure and
replete. He frowned, freed for the moment to think about what would
happen next. Well, Journey would probably go back to his own life
in Eich Che. Rory would undoubtedly return to Semaphore to complete
her degree, now that the Raptus was destroyed. What about himself?
Though he’d been struggling with the question all week, the answer
was suddenly simple.

Chet cleared his throat. “Tomorrow morning
I’m going to call my father and apologize. Then I’ll tell him I’m
pledging myself to Philapo as a Literati. Philapo doesn’t have the
same intensity of Foex, but you know, I think I’d do well under
him.”

“Fantastic.” Journey reached over and
squeezed his hand. “Knife and I noticed your, ah, Literati-like
qualities in our travels. I’m glad you’ve made peace with
yourself.”

“Yeah. I’d love to return to Semaphore and
complete my degree if I can work it out with my dad. I mean, unless
I’m going to prison for the high jinks and murders.”

Rory shook her head. “We recorded everything
said in that cave. Fenimore’s confession will stand in a court of
law if necessary. The Cluster is going to Plainsdaugheau to speak
to the police there, then to Semaphore to discuss both Tibbets and
Clementina with officials and the university administration. My mom
has already contacted Professor Espies to work out a deal for both
of our returns. Espies was her thesis chair when
she
earned her Ph.D. at Semaphore, so she has some pull with him.”

“Oh.” Chet blinked. “I—that’s wonderful.”

Journey added, “Don’t forget to remind me to
pay you back, Chet. I can draw upon Knife’s funds to replace what
we stole from your father.”

Chet nodded, miserable at the thought of
Knife.

As if feeling the change in mood, Journey sat
up. “I’m hungry. Let’s call for take-out!”

After they’d ordered in food from a nearby
restaurant and ate it with hearty appetites, Journey sighed and
folded his napkin. Rory was washing dishes in the kitchen; though
no one had asked her to do so, she seemed to feel obliged to lend a
respectful hand in Knife’s house.

Chet studied Journey, not sure what to make
of his expression. “Are you okay?”

“I was just thinking I’d best take care of
the body before I go to bed. Can’t do it in the morning because of
the neighbors, and it’ll start getting manky if I wait too
long.”

Chet stiffened. He’d assumed the Shadow
Dancers had taken Knife’s body from the third floor. “You mean...
you mean while we were showering and talking and eating and, and
fucking, Knife’s been up there the whole time,
dead?
”

“Yes. Knife is very clear about her wishes in
this matter.”

Chet blanched, recalling the tombs. “You’re
not going to—I mean, all those skeletons underground. They aren’t
all...”