We’re all quiet for a few minutes as we dig in. Once he’s eaten about half of his dinner, Jay says, “Christine shared something with me today. I wanted to let you all know that she has a health issue.”
My stomach goes heavy at his words, threatening to ruin my meal, but I tell myself there’s no reason for me to feel any type of way about this.
Three pairs of eyes quickly focus on me. I take a sip of my sweet tea as a distraction.
Jay’s looking at me too. I give him the smallest of nods once I’ve put my drink down. He was always good with signals.
“Christine has lupus,” he says.
There are several long seconds of silence before Corbin says, “I’m sorry to hear that, Christine.”
“How long have you had it?” Brendan asks.
“About ten years. Most of the time it’s not an issue.”
“Our aunt has lupus,” Corbin says.
“Really?” I know it’s not rare, but I haven’t met too many people with the disease. Then again, I don’t talk about it much, either.
Brendan nods, and I don’t look him or his brothers directly in the eye because I’m afraid of seeing sympathy or pity there. “Mine isn’t too bad, and I don’t want to be treated like I’m fragile,” I say, with a pointed look at Jay.
“Is your lupus sensitive to sun exposure?” Brendan asks.
“Sometimes.”
“I wish we’d known,” Jonathan says. “We didn’t need to go out on the boat.”
“I had plenty of sunscreen on,” I say, scooping up a forkful of cheesy noodles, “and I don’t want to affect how you spend your time here. You’re on vacation, and I loved being on the boat.”
“We can have all kinds of fun indoors,” Corbin says with an expression that tells me exactly what kind of fun he’s talking about.
“Will you tell us if you’re not feeling good?” Jonathan asks.
“I will.”
34
Indoor fun
We do have plenty of indoor fun that night, but first, after the giant dinner, and after the sun has long since set, Jay, Jonathan and I take a walk down to the water’s edge while Brendan and Corbin clean up in the kitchen.
Standing a few feet from the surf, gazing into the darkness, there’s a chill in the air, and when Jonathan sees me shiver, he wraps his arms around me. I glance over at Jay to see if he’s bothered, but he gives me a brief smile when he notices me looking at him.
“We’ll have to come back when it’s warm enough to swim,” Jonathan says, rubbing his hands over my arms to warm me.
“The island’s a different place in the summer,” I say, “but if you rent a house like this again, you’d probably have most of this big stretch of beach to yourself.”
“Mmm … sex on the beach could be fun,” Jonathan says.
“I don’t know if you’ll have that much privacy,” I say, laughing. “Also, in the summer, there are a lot of ghost crabs running around the sand at night.”
“Ouch!” Jonathan and Jay both flinch.
“Crab pincers and nudity don’t seem like a good combination,” Jay says.
The three of us are still laughing as we make our way back to the house.
The night brings more of the amazing experiences that I’ve come to expect from these four men. The highlight, among nearly nonstop highlights, is a sixty-nine encounter with Jonathan — his cock in my mouth and his mouth doing wonderful things to my clit — that turns into a one hundred and sixty-nine when Jay lies behind me and reaches around to play with my nipples.