VALENTINE
Iglanced up at my rearview mirror, noting the now-familiar square headlights behind me. My heart raced as I saw them, but I kept myself under control. At first, I’d tried to dismiss the familiar, vividly bright headlights as a driver going home from work at the same time as me. But then, I’d noticed that no matter what time I left the club at night, those headlights quickly appeared behind me. I’d even delayed leaving by an hour a few times, yet those headlights would be behind me every time.
I took a deep breath, reminded myself that the car would drive on after I pulled off, and tried not to think the word stalker again. Despite that, my foot pressed a little harder down on the gas pedal. I didn’t need another speeding ticket, but those headlights freaked me out and if it meant those headlights would disappear, I might take the hit to my pocket another ticket would cost me. Cops were people I usually tried to avoid, but I’d take one tonight, if it meant I’d be safe from whoever it was in that car.
My gut said it was a man. I’d never had an affair with a man who was taken, and I didn’t interact with anyone enough to have haters, so that left me with the belief that it was a man. I don’t know why those headlights frightened me so much, but they did.
I’d called the cops once and been dismissed as a frightened, hysterical woman living on her own. I’d wanted to punch the male and female cops that showed up when they rolled their eyes at me after a fist beating against my bedroom wall woke me up.
“Are you sure it wasn’t a nightmare?” the female cop had asked, her middle-aged face a mask of derision as she looked me over, obviously judging me for my choice of nightwear. I’d had on a skimpy black silk nightgown, no robe. I didn’t own one at the time, but I do now, partly from the way she’d looked at me.
That had been enough to teach me not to rely on them.
I pulled into my driveway at last, sitting in the car long enough to make sure the car went by. For all I knew he drove to the end of the street and parked, but that didn’t matter once he was gone. I grabbed up my bag and ran onto the porch, unlocking the door quickly before I turned around to lock it right back.
My heart pounded in my chest, a thump that was almost painful, but not enough to stop me as I slid the chain into place and turned the deadbolts. I ran to the kitchen door, checked those locks, then went into my bedroom to sit on my bed.
I was getting tired of this, tired of being afraid, but somehow I’d ended up isolated, alone, with the feeling that I had nobody to turn to. If I called my dad, he’d insist it was because I was a dancer and that I needed to quit and get a ‘real’ job.
I hadn’t been the best student in school, but I wasn’t stupid. If I wanted out of this small town, I’d have to work my ass off. I couldn’t make the kind of money I made as a waitress or working in some store. I checked under my pillow, felt the reassuring weight of the gun, and stood up to strip down and put on my pajamas.
I’d calmed down by the time I got into bed. I’d put my money in the wall-safe in the morning, for now, I needed to relax. I flicked on my TV, found a movie to watch, and drifted off to sleep surprisingly quick.
* * *
Derek, Diesel, and Mr. Thomas waited for me in the dressing room at the club, all promising smiles and long looks.
“What’s up, fellas?” I asked, confused that Derek had allowed the other two to come back to the dressing room. Normally, even he didn’t come back here, even if he owned the place. He respected his dancers and that was one of the reasons I’d stuck with the job in those early days when I’d considered quitting.
Instead of answering, Derek strolled up to me with that smirk he always had on his face firmly in place, and took me in his arms. “You’re too beautiful for you own good, do you know that?”
I stared up at him stunned to hear his words, and then looked over at the other men, my eyes narrowing as my heart started to beat a thunderous pace in my chest. “What is this?”
“It’s time you show us what you’ve been wanting to show us for all these years, don’t you think, Val?” Diesel asked, pulling me into his arms, taking me from the warm safety of Derek’s embrace.
Still, I felt my worries melting away, the fears that plagued me night and day simply disappeared as I looked up at my stepbrother uncertainly. “You knew?”
“We’ve always known, Val. And we’ve wanted you too, baby.” Mr. Thomas didn’t pull me away from Diesel, he just pulled my face towards his. For a second, I’d been afraid that he’d look at me in disgust as my stepbrother spoke, but I didn’t see any of that on his face. I saw…acceptance mixed with desire. My lips parted as hunger bloomed inside of me, a hunger that only these men could satisfy.
Mr. Thomas closed the distance between us, devouring my lips with a hungry kiss that blew all other thoughts away. His hands were on my face, twisting it as he moved his mouth on me, his slick tongue dancing along mine until he tilted his head to suck at my lips, at my tongue, stoking that fire inside of me until I thought I’d burst into flames.
I heard a groan behind me and turned, finding myself in Derek’s arms. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”
He whispered the words just as he brought his mouth to mine, my hands clutching at him to hold myself up. My knees were too weak now to hold my body up, but then I felt strange but familiar hands on me, clutching at my waist to hold me steady.
“I’ve got you, sis and I’m never going to let you go. I’ll never let you fall,” Diesel whispered into my ear with such promise that my head came back, baring my neck for his touch. I felt that touch as a breath before it became firmer, his lips moving below my ear, searching until he found the place that made me groan.
“She’s so beautiful,” I heard Mr. Thomas say and opened my eyes, holding my hands out to him.
“Touch me. I’ve wanted to know what it feels like for so long,” I breathed out and both men came to me while my stepbrother held me up, his lips still moving on my neck.
“Val, I’ve wanted you for so long,” Diesel groaned against my neck, his hands going down the tiny denim shorts I’d worn to work. “I need to know if you’re wet for me.”
I felt the glide of his fingers as something strange, new, but so achingly erotic that I didn’t push his hand away. I’d wanted this for too long to act coy now. I was going to take what I could get from these three and deal with the consequences later.
Derek unbuttoned my shorts and slid them down my leg while Mr. Thomas pulled my shirt and my bra off, releasing my breasts into Derek’s waiting hands. Derek’s grip on my nipples combined with the stroke of Diesel’s middle finger over my clit to send pulses of pleasure through me, making me gasp and groan with so much heat it burned my throat. I writhed between them, uncaring that someone could walk in at any minute, could catch us in the very dirty act of giving into desires we’d all had for way too long.