Coercion (16 page)

“Maybe.” Valerie kicked her discarded underwear away and closed her eyes as he nipped at her neck with his lips. She clung to his shoulders, pressing her fingertips into the fabric of his coat.

As Michael’s hand crept up her skirt, he imagined Valerie’s neighbor taking a break during shoveling to adjust his scarf, looking casually at the house next door as he had done for years and seeing Valerie with her back pressed against her window, her panties torn from her legs as she writhed in pleasure. It was an intriguing thought.

“Just think,” Michael said in her ear as he placed a hand on her knee and raised her leg so it wrapped around his waist. “Good ol’ Krauss probably jerks off every night, imagining you standing naked in front of this window and fingering yourself, hoping he’d see.” He massaged her clit with his thumb as he slid one finger inside her. “I’m sure he’d give anything to be me right now, with my hand in your pussy.”

“I’m glad you’re you right now.” He hiked her skirt around her waist and her bare ass pressed against the window. She gasped. “The glass is freezing.”

Michael stifled a groan at the thought of the window breathing frosty air over her hot, aching cunt. “Are you thinking about him?” His hands left her pussy and moved to unbutton her white shirt. “Are you thinking of him watching us?”

“Yes,” she said as he finished undoing her buttons and opened the shirt to reveal her breasts, encumbered in a white bra.

“What do you want him to see next?” He bent his head to lick the bare skin above the lace, his tongue occasionally snaking beneath to flick her nipple.

“Whatever you want.” She closed her eyes. Somewhere in the house a telephone rang.

He pulled her hips toward his cock, still inside his jeans and already hard. “Tell me what you want.” He pushed himself against her pussy and rotated his pelvis.

Valerie let out a moan that abruptly ceased when they heard footsteps just outside her door. She looked at Michael with wide eyes and attempted to pull her skirt back down, but he silently dragged her to the bed, where she fell on her back atop her stuffed unicorn, her long legs dangling over the side of the mattress.

“Michael, what’re you doing?” she whispered as he pushed her skirt around her waist, revealing the dark triangle of hair between her legs. He growled in response.

There was a quick rap at the door. “Honey?”

“Just a minute!” Valerie called, staring with horror as Michael undid his belt and unzipped his jeans. She shook her head at him, but he simply grinned as he pulled out his cock.

“The phone’s for you,” her mother said on the other side of the door. “It’s Aunt Linda.”

“Okay! Be right there!” Valerie’s voice was borderline hysterical. She attempted to shove Michael away, but he simply grabbed her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the bed so her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Are you sure? You have company, and we’re going to eat soon,” Mrs. Mercer said. “I can tell her you’ll call her back later.”

“All right!” Valerie squeaked, trying to wriggle out of Michael’s grasp, but he stretched her leg up so her ankle rested on his shoulder and then slid into her in one smooth motion. She let out a high-pitched cry of both ecstasy and surprise, and immediately trembled as he pushed himself all the way inside her, the base of his cock brushing against her clit.

“Valerie?” her mother asked questioningly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just sneezed!” Valerie called back, gripping the edge of the bed. She squeezed her eyes shut as Michael continued to thrust inside her with fluid strokes, making sure his pelvis made plenty of contact with her clit.

“Nice save,” Michael whispered, tugging down her bra to leisurely lick her nipple.

“Oh. Bless you then.” Mrs. Mercer paused. “I think your father just walked in. You and Michael wash up and come down to dinner.”

“Find out what your aunt wanted,” Michael murmured to Valerie, turning his attention to her other nipple. His thrusts increased in speed as he pictured Mrs. Mercer lingering on the other side of the door, blissfully unaware, while he fucked her daughter with abandon.

“What does Aunt Linda want, Mom?” Valerie asked, her voice strangled.

“I don’t know, honey. Probably to talk about that trip to California she’s dying for you to make. I’ll just take a message.”

Michael’s face contorted with pleasure, and damp strands of his hair clung to his cheeks as he grabbed hold of her hips and pushed deep inside her. His breathing grew labored as he neared the point of no control.

His mouth dropped open when Valerie slid her index finger inside her mouth and then brought it to her clit, where she lightly rubbed. His complete surprise mingled with his arousal, and he hunched over her and buried his stifled moan in her hair at the same moment his cock withdrew from her. His body quaked as he came on her upper thigh.

Valerie remained frozen to the mattress. Still, she managed to choke out, “That’s okay, Mom. I’ll just call her back tonight.”

Neither of them moved until they heard Mrs. Mercer’s retreating footsteps.

“Oh my God,” Valerie murmured, her voice clearly worried. “I can’t believe what just happened.”

“Neither can I.” He grinned. “What the hell was that about?”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Michael popped his finger in his mouth and slid it back out, smirking. “Nice going. You’re obviously not as innocent as you look.”

Valerie’s face turned red, like she’d been dropped in boiling oil. “I just felt like it.” She attempted to run a hand through her knotted hair when suddenly she stiffened. “Oh God. We didn’t use a condom. What if—”

“Relax.” He suppressed a sigh. He never had to worry about this with Breeze. Why didn’t Valerie just go on the pill already? “You won’t get knocked up. I pulled out.” He grabbed a fistful of her bed sheets and smoothed it over the stickiness on her thighs. “Obviously.”

“Don’t do that! I just washed those.”

He rolled his eyes and climbed off her, zipping his pants as Valerie sat up and pulled her skirt back down. Her troubled gaze was fixed on the floor as she attempted to pull her bra over her breasts.

“I know why you’re mad.” Michael slipped a hand inside her bra and pinched her left nipple. “You didn’t get to come.”

She shook her head. “That’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.” He withdrew his hand. “But don’t worry. You will.” He gave her a wink as he buckled his belt, then he stood and clasped his hands together. “So where’s the bathroom? I think I heard someone say I have to wash up for dinner.”

“At the end of the hall.”

Before he left, Michael leaned down and grabbed her knee, squeezing it. “You think your mom noticed anything?”

Valerie’s cheeks turned pink. “It’s hard to say. I know most parents would be suspicious about their daughter being alone in her bedroom with a boy, but I don’t think my parents suspect anything of me.”

“Their first mistake.”

* * * *

As soon as Michael left the room and closed the door behind him, Valerie quickly buttoned her shirt and scooped her panties off the floor. She tugged them back on and glanced out the window. Mr. Krauss was nowhere to be found. She wondered if he’d seen them, if he would tell her mother, then wondered to what extent she even cared. It was as if Michael erased every taboo she had ever imagined.

She checked her appearance in the floor-length mirror hanging on the back of her door. Would her parents be able to tell she’d been having sex just minutes before dinner? It seemed almost perverted, and yet, somehow, deliciously exciting.

When Valerie exited her room, Michael was waiting for her at the top of the steps. They went downstairs to the dining room together, and she sat in her usual chair at the table, where her mother and father already sat.

“Have a seat, Michael.” Her mother gestured to the chair opposite Valerie. “Oh, and I hope you like spaghetti.”

“He’s a young man. I’m sure he’ll eat anything.” Valerie’s father grinned, his small blue eyes twinkling as he rubbed his short, dark beard.

Valerie watched as Michael smiled weakly in response and sat in the empty chair as if tacks covered its cushion.

“So you go to school with Valerie, Michael?” Her mother used a pair of tongs to put a giant pile of angel hair pasta on his plate. “You two have any of the same classes?”

“Just US History last semester.” Michael paused. “I think.”

“You think?” her father asked, looking confused as he buttered a piece of bread.

“Michael’s right,” Valerie said quickly. “It was just US History. You know how it is, Dad. It can be hard to remember every single thing from class, especially during senior year.”

“Well, I’m sure anyone would remember you, honey.” Her mother smiled at her and plunked a scoop of sauce atop Michael’s noodles.

Valerie blushed. “Mom.”

“It’s true,” her mother insisted.

“That’s right,” Michael said with a wink. Valerie felt his unlaced boot brush against her ankle under the table, and her blush intensified.

“So where’ve you been hiding, Michael?” Valerie’s father twisted some spaghetti around his fork. “Have you always gone to Kenton? Why are you just now coming out of the woodwork?”

“He didn’t come out of the woodwork, Dad,” Valerie said. “He’s not a termite.”

“I know that,” her father said. “I just want his life story, that’s all.” He gave Michael a grin. “No pressure.”

“Not much to say.” Michael shrugged. “I never knew my dad—he was a gambler who was shot in Georgia before I was born. Then my mom had me a few months later in the back of a Greyhound bus on Highway Forty-One.”

Her parents stared at him, bewildered, and Valerie arched an eyebrow. Shannon had played the record enough times to alert her that his “life story” sounded suspiciously like the song
Ramblin’
Man
. She gave him a warning look and subtle kick underneath the table.

Michael coughed, clearly fighting a smirk. “Sorry, just kidding.” His mischievous smile melted into a grimace as he poked his food. “I’ve been living in Kenton since the eighth grade,” he said in a tone as reluctant as he looked. “Before that, I lived in Ohio.”

Normally, Valerie’s attention would be riveted on Michael, soaking up as much information about the enigmatic and mysterious Vartanian boy as she could. However, she couldn’t help but concentrate on the fact that during his confession, he had kicked off his boot under the table and his foot now rubbed against her inner thigh.

“What was in Ohio?” Her mother took a dainty bite of her Italian bread.

“That’s just where my parents and I lived before my mom split on us,” Michael said.

“Divorce? How awful!” Her mother’s face fell and she put a hand to her heart.

Valerie’s father shook his head. “People don’t have the patience to stick it out with each other anymore. To some people, ‘until death do us part’ means just until the next commercial break.”

“It’s such a shame.” Her mother pursed her mouth sympathetically as she looked at her bread, embedded with teeth marks.

“Dad! Mom!” Valerie’s mouth fell open. “You’re making Michael feel bad.”

“Nah, it’s all right.” Michael spoke as if his toe weren’t inching toward the crotch of her panties. Valerie pleaded at him with her eyes to not continue, but he ignored her, pressing against her clit. She shuddered upon contact.

“Are you cold, honey?” her mother asked her.

“No, I’m fine, thank you.” In fact, Valerie’s whole body burned as Michael’s toe moved in circles over her clit.

“I’m sure Michael knows we weren’t trying to make him feel bad,” her father said. “We were just saying it must’ve been difficult living without a mother.”

“I’m sure there are worse things in this world,” Michael said, his voice emotionless.

“Do you get to see your mother often?” Valerie’s mother asked.

“Not since I was fourteen.” Michael spoke as if they chatted about something as dull as the weather as he twisted some pasta around his fork. “Now I don’t even know where she is.”

Her mother clucked her tongue. “Poor thing.”

Valerie struggled to follow the conversation, but the motions Michael performed on her clit made it hard to concentrate. She swallowed hard and tried to focus on buttering her bread without her hands shaking too much. He was driving her crazy. She was sure the toe of his sock was sopping wet with her juices by now.

She glanced at him across the table, but he was washing down his last bite with a gulp of Tab. As usual, he seemed completely unaffected, like he wasn’t slowly bringing her to orgasm right in front of her parents. She wasn’t sure whether to cry with embarrassment or come screaming right then and there.

“So what’re you doing after graduation?” her father asked Michael. He nodded and pointed at Valerie with his knife. “This girl already has a teaching job waiting for her in St. Louis.”

“Yes, we’re very proud of her.” Her mother smiled, but her happiness melted away when she looked at Valerie. “Honey, are you sure you’re okay? You look so tense.”

“I’m fine, I promise.” Valerie hoped she sounded natural. She took a bite of her bread, unable to taste a thing. Her need for Michael overruled her senses. She swallowed and tried to ignore her erect nipples, which only became more sensitive as they brushed against the fabric of her shirt and his toe continued to bring her closer to the edge.

She glanced at Michael and was startled to see him grinning at her. She let out a cough and quickly looked away, knowing full well she couldn’t even look at him anymore without thinking about fucking him, and she knew he knew it too.

“Well?” Her father looked expectantly at their dinner guest, who had his foot between Valerie’s thighs and caressed her with gentle urgency. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Michael nodded. “But I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Her father looked surprised. “But graduation is in just a few months.”

Michael shrugged. “For some people.”

Valerie’s father watched Michael for a moment. “You look familiar. What’s your last name again?”

“Vartanian.”

“As in Pastor Vartanian’s son?” Her father’s eyebrows darted up in surprise.

“That’s me,” Michael said with the enthusiasm of a stone.