BTC: Chapter 12 (Posting Version)

I’ve added an all-new conversation scene between Matty and Alice that wasn’t in the rough draft, for those who are deciding whether or not to read the posting versions.

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-- CHAPTER 12: Fit In --

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Alice wasn’t waiting for me with a fist bump at the parking lot Monday morning. I still had Belle with me, of course, and she stayed with me right up until we had to split up to go to our separate first periods. Once I got to class, Sam took one look at me, got up, and walked around to give me a hug. I wondered just how bad I looked for her to feel the need to do that.

Alice didn’t join us during the recess between second and third periods, either. I knew I shouldn’t have expected her to, but some part of me still hoped she had merely been late to school and therefore missed seeing me in the parking lot. I’d hoped everything was just a simple misunderstanding that would blow over and she’d rejoin the club like nothing had happened.

Zofi and I shared our third period, and the lissome brunette held my hand (as usual) as we walked to class. Fifty feet from the classroom door, we suddenly came to a dead stop as Alice crossed our paths. Alice stopped as well and gave us a weird look that somehow made Zofi drop my hand as if it had spontaneously caught on fire.

Alice didn’t join us for lunch, either. That’s when I gave up hope and started to get really depressed.

Sam and Mari came over to Belle’s place Monday afternoon to study and do homework, per usual. For the first time in a long time, we didn’t have a single “study break”. I mean, we took breaks from studying, but there were no makeout sessions or blowjobs or anything like that. Sam kept eyeing me with a sad look on her face, like some maternal instinct had kicked in and she wanted to take care of me, but I wasn’t in the mood and radiated “leave me alone” messages that kept her and the others at bay. Not even Belle could get through to me.

Tuesday was more of the same. I finished my lunch early and went wandering around the school, trying to figure out where Alice was spending her time nowadays. In hindsight, I should’ve asked the girls if they knew first, because the girls always knew everything. When I returned and finally asked Naimh, she immediately replied, “She’s hanging out with Lucia and Seo-yeon.”

Tuesday afternoons used to be Neevie and Alice days, but when I asked Naimh if she was still coming over, she sighed, shook her head, and asked if it would be alright for her to skip it. She just wasn’t in the mood. I didn’t go over to Belle’s place to join her and Mari, either, electing to go home alone and wallow in my own misery. I wasted about an hour just staring at the wall, thinking about all the fun things I’d done with Alice since grade school, before I finally opened my books and got my work done. Belle didn’t seem happy about it when she found out I’d spent the afternoon alone. She’d thought Naimh would’ve still come over, and figured we might even find solace in each other’s arms. But I told her that being with Naimh made me think of Alice and vice versa, and neither of us really wanted to deal with that.

Wednesday was more of the same, but better in one important way. Alice at least talked to me when we passed each other in the hall. I asked how she was doing, she said she missed me but she wasn’t coming back to the BTC, and then she had to get off to class. It was a fifteen second conversation, but it made me feel a lot better, and the other girls noticed. I still wasn’t in the mood to mess around when Sam and Zofi started flirting, but I felt better.

Thursday afternoons had always been Belle and Mari afternoons. The first time Mari ever got carried away during a “study break” was on a Thursday when she’d shoved her hands into my shorts, fed me her nipples, and jacked me off all over my own belly. It had also been a Thursday when Belle orchestrated events so that Mari would catch us in the act mid-blowjob. That afternoon had ended with me giving the luscious Latina her first oral orgasm, and she performing her first blowjob.

Belle and Sam had gotten nowhere with me over the past few days trying to entice me into one sexual activity or another. Sam had played the seductress, shaking her tits in my face, running her hands up my inner thighs, and generally trying to distract me with some of her old teasing behaviors, to which I’d politely ask her to stop. Belle had been a little more direct when we were alone together, once resorting to just grabbing my pants and yanking them down while telling me a blowjob would make me feel better. She was probably right, but I’d twisted away and asked her to stop, saying I wasn’t in the mood and I’d rather she didn’t force the issue.

Mari somehow got through to me where the others had failed. An hour into our study session, she reclined back across the bed and asked sweetly, “Matty? I know you’re not in the mood for fooling around, but can I just get a hug?”

Well, I couldn’t turn down a simple hug, right? So I ended up lying down on my left side while Mari spooned herself against my chest. She stuck her juicy booty into my crotch and pulled my arm around her midsection, and we cuddled like that for a while. Mari sighed in contentment at the feeling of my embrace, and I had to admit I felt better in that moment than I had in days. Her breathing slowed as she lazily stroked my forearm with her fingertips. I felt my own breathing slowing down as well. My shoulder muscles, which had been stress-knotted for days, started to relax. Mari truly had a body built for comfort, and it felt like nature’s design for me to mold my body around hers as if she were a warm, life-sized teddy bear. And after a few minutes, I actually started nodding off from the release of tension.

I didn’t quite fall asleep, though. My consciousness was getting fuzzy when I felt Mari mold her hand over mine. I didn’t resist as she pulled my hand beneath her sweater, up past her belly and into her cleavage. The next thing I knew, I had a big round titty in my hand with a hard nipple pressing into my palm.

I must’ve made a noise of surprise, because Mari started giggling. She didn’t otherwise react, however, and we remained spooned together like that for another few minutes with nothing else happening. After that, though, she started rubbing her ass back against my crotch. And as I started to feel little sparks of pleasure trickling into my brain, I instinctively started rubbing the massive mammary in my right mitt.

Eventually, I found myself using the grip on her boob to tug her body against my chest and allow me to dry-hump her ass with a little more pressure. I was panting softly in her ear, dimly conscious of the fact that I hadn’t cum since that first ‘proper’ threesome with Belle and Naimh on Saturday morning. The intervening six days were the longest period I’d gone without an ejaculation since before I’d learned to masturbate. And once I started seriously hot-dogging her buns, Mari must’ve realized I wasn’t going to push her away like I’d been doing with Sam and Belle, and she rolled over to face me, started working my pants down, and swiftly crammed half of my cock into her mouth.

I groaned at the welcome sensation of warm wetness surrounding my shaft, and she added a little vibration when she hummed happily. I stared down at the lovely Latina smiling up at me with a face full of man-meat, her long, luxurious locks of dark brown hair cascading down each side of her face.

Salma Hayek, eat your heart out.

Shy little Mari actually winked right before she swallowed me to the root in a single lunge. She held herself at full depth, closing her throat muscles and opening them in a rippling, massaging motion for a few seconds before pulling all the way off, catching her breath, and then slamming her face all the way back down to do it again. Who ever thought shy wallflower Mari would turn out to be the natural-born cocksucker? I actually started laughing at the incredible sensations she was able to instill in me, shaking my head as I exclaimed, “Holy crap, Angel!”

Mari grinned at me, winking again while her puffy ruby-red lips were still wrapped around the base of my dick.

“Now you’re just showing off,” Belle drawled from the desk chair.

Mari giggled, but fortunately she’d withdrawn high enough so that only my head was still in her mouth, and she didn’t choke. Swallowing and pulling off to catch her breath, she asked coquettishly, “Want me to do it again?”

“Oh, hell yeah,” I replied enthusiastically.

Mari winked and went back to work.

She didn’t only deep-throat me, either. She sucked on my knob, teased the underside of my mushroom cap with her tongue, and used her hand to stroke me expertly. She bobbed her head up and down, she stayed at the top just licking the tip, and she face-fucked herself, plunging my dick deep into her throat with every plunge.

My Angel was on FIRE.

And she had me ready explode.

“Mari… Angel…” I grunted, clenching my Kegels to stem the tide. “I’m gonna cum.”

I assumed she would pull me out of her mouth and wrap her tig ol’ bitties around my dick and let me blow in her cleavage, the way she usually did. I thought she might even hand me off to Belle and let my cumslut “little sister” swallow every drop. But Mari was still wearing her sweater and bra, and Belle wasn’t moving from the desk chair. My angel with the dark eyes and bee-stung lips just kept on going, eyebrows furrowed in focus as she sucked me hard, sucked me powerfully…

… and started swallowing sperm straight into her stomach.

“Nnngggaaahhhh!!!” I grunted, feeling my balls evacuate as I fired away, blasting cumwads directly into Mari’s gullet. She swallowed reflexively, taking each heavy spurt with the same expertise she’d already displayed taking my thick dick down her throat. Over and over again I erupted, gushing what felt like a never-ending deluge of semen that Mari drank and drank and drank.

Five years later, I let my head fall back as I sagged back into the mattress, completely wiped out.

“Shit, Matty,” Belle observed. “You must’ve had a TON backed up.”

I merely groaned in response.

Mari nursed my prick for an extra few seconds before picking her head up, and abruptly let out a loud <BRAAAAP>.

Mari’s eyes went WIDE in embarrassment at the burp, and Belle started shrieking with laughter as she exclaimed, “Ohmigawd! It even smells like cum!”

That got me laughing, and soon all three of us were wiping tears from our eyes we were guffawing so hard.

In the end, I crooked both hands to Mari, saying, “C’mere, Angel.”

Mari’s face softened, and all of a sudden I couldn’t even imagine her winking at me with a throat full of cock. The sexy vamp that would’ve put Salma Hayek to shame was gone, and only my shy, sweet angel remained.

She blushed cutely, and hesitated once more. But when I insisted and reached my arms to her again, she fell on top of me and pressed our lips together for a tender, sincere kiss.

****

Friday morning I was feeling MUCH better, thanks to Mari uncorking me the previous afternoon. Belle said the bags under my eyes were gone, and she wasn’t the only one to notice.

Belle and I left the house a little early in the morning and we wound up arriving right around the same time as Alice. She wasn’t waiting for us at the parking lot, but we happened to see each other right after Belle and I parked. And rather than go out of her way to avoid us or just put her head down and pretend she didn’t see us, Alice waited on the curb and extended her fist out to me.

I grinned and gave her a fist bump. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“It’s going,” she replied with a shrug before glancing at Belle and adding a casual, “Hey, B.”

“Hey Alice,” Belle greeted cordially, but something wordless passed between the two girls, and the next thing I knew, Belle was jerking her thumb over and saying, “Well, I’ll catch you guys later.”

I blinked in surprise, and the next thing I knew Belle was scurrying forward towards the school gate like her pants were on fire. I arched an eyebrow at Alice, who sort of stared off after Belle with a mysterious smile before turning her attention back to me.

“You’re looking pretty chipper right now,” she commented. “Did you bang one of our friends this morning or something?”

I frowned. “Can’t I just be happy to see you again?”

Alice shrugged. “You looked pretty haggard on Wednesday, but you’ve got that ‘I recently ejaculated’ glow about you right now. And before you start fumbling through some stupid apology – as if you somehow need to say sorry for having a sex life – don’t. I’m cool with it. In fact, I’m rather glad you’re looking better again. This whole week, every time I saw you, you looked like… like…”

“Like my best friend died?”

“Well, I wasn’t gonna say died.” Alice smirked and started walking. I fell into step alongside her.

“How have you been?” I asked. “Still hanging out with Lucia and Seo-yeon?”

“Yeah. They’re nice girls, and we’ve always been cool. I’ve got more in common with them than the BTC anyway.”

“More in common?”

“They’re studious, they like to read, and…” Alice flashed me a smirk while scanning the area to make sure no one was within eavesdropping range, “and they’re virgins who aren’t obsessed with playing with their best friend’s junk…”

I arched an eyebrow. “I thought you LIKED playing with my junk.”

“I did, I did.” Alice averted her gaze. “Because I always felt safe with you. I always knew you’d never ask me to go any further than I was comfortable with.”

“I still would never ask you to go any further than you were comfortable with.”

“I know, I know, but that’s not the point and you know it.”

I sighed. “It’s about the other girls pushing past boundaries you’re not ready for.”

“Exactly.”

“Which is why you feel like you have more in common with Lucia and Seo-yeon.”

“Exactly,” she repeated.

I shook my head. “More in common with them or not, you know the BTC girls would never push you to go further than you were comfortable with.”

“Wouldn’t they? Tell me you’ve never heard Sam say, ‘Hey Alice, look at the way Matty’s cock throbs! Here, come wrap your hand around it! You can actually feel it pulsing!’”

“Of course Sam would invite you to join her. But if you ever said ‘no’ to something, you have to believe neither she nor anybody else would push you. I mean, look at Zofi. She hasn’t shown any inclination to test any boundaries and you don’t see anybody pushing her.”

“But she’s also not torn about what’s happening, either. Let’s face it, Matty: I don’t fit in with those girls anymore.”

“Of COURSE you fit in. You’ve ALWAYS fit in.”

“Please. I NEVER fit in.” Alice stopped and backed up against the wall, out of the flow of traffic, and I followed her. Shaking her head, she gestured in the vague direction of the school, muttering, “Perfect 10s, every one of them: Sam the popular, busty blonde. Zofi the elegantly beautiful brunette. Belle the petite but stacked little hottie. Mari with that incredible hourglass figure. And don’t get me started on the way you look at Neevie. But me?”

“You’re amazing, Alice,” I insisted.

“And you’re biased. You’re just saying that to butter up your best friend.”

“You’re Alice the athletically-toned, fit babe with an incredible rack.”

“I want to believe you, but even if that’s what you truly think of me, I still don’t fit in. The five of them think about sex twenty-four/seven. It’s all they talk about anymore.”

“Nonsense. Everyone has their own interests, and they’re every bit as studious as Lucia and Seo-yeon.”

“Please…” Shaking her head, Alice muttered, “Our afternoon study sessions have become more about the study breaks and getting your dick into their mouths or in-between their tits more than the actual studying.”

“You gonna tell me you didn’t enjoy your own study breaks with me?”

“Of course I did, and if all I ever had to worry about was you slithering your amazingly agile tongue up my twat, I’d be perfectly happy to continue. But can you honestly tell me – now that sex is on the menu – that you’re not gonna end up porking a pussy or two every afternoon?”

“I haven’t porked a pussy in a week.”

Alice blinked. “Really?”

I shook my head. “Not since you walked out.”

“Really?”

“Couldn’t you tell? The whole ‘Matty looked pretty haggard on Wednesday’ thing?”

Alice shrugged. “I genuinely thought you were just torn up about being estranged from me. Now I understand it was just because you weren’t getting laid.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t getting laid BECAUSE I was torn up about being estranged from you. The girls have flirted a bit, but I’ve been the one who wasn’t in the mood.”

“Huh.” Alice mused on that. “I mean, I knew you and Neevie haven’t been porking. I keep asking her but she always says ‘not yet’. I tell her not to hold herself back out of guilt for me. Still, I’d just assumed Sam or Belle would still… you know.”

I shook my head and repeated, “I haven’t been in the mood.”

Alice frowned. “But then of course, you WERE glowing this morning.”

I shrugged. “Mari eventually got to me yesterday afternoon. Showing off her deep-throat skills. I won’t lie - I felt better afterwards. But in all honesty, the fact that you’re talking to me right now means more to me than just getting off.”

Alice smiled at that. “I do miss hanging out with you, but at the same time, I’m serious about not coming back.”

I sighed. “If that’s the way you really feel.”

“It is.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and nodded. “I always swore I’d never push you, and trying to get you to come back to the BTC is probably as close as I’m ever gonna get. If your mind is truly made up about this, I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want.”

“It is.” Alice shook her head. “I don’t fit in anymore.”

“Fine, fine.” I rubbed my forehead, tired of going around in circles on this.

Alice checked her watch, I nodded, and we started walking again. Although Belle and I had left earlier than usual this morning, this conversation had eaten up that extra buffer and we’d need to hurry a little to get to class on time.

“I’m worried about Neevie, though,” Alice said out of the blue.

We were still walking fast, but I glanced over. “Worried?”

Alice sighed. “She still looks like her best friend died.”

I nodded. “She misses you as much as I miss you.”

“I’d like to think that. But then again, maybe it’s just because you haven’t porked her pussy in a week.” Alice stopped walking for a moment and gave me a serious look. “Neevie’s feelings for you are real, I hope you understand that.”

“I do.”

“I meant what I said: I’m glad for her. I’m glad for you. I know how long you both have wanted each other, and now you finally can. Please don’t let guilt over me leaving be the thing that keeps you apart.”

“Come back and we won’t have to feel guilty over you anymore.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Because it just isn’t.” Alice sighed and started walking again. “You’re my friend, Matty. Neevie’s my friend too. Look, I’m not gonna avoid you, alright? I see you in the parking lot, I’ll say ‘hey’ and give you a fist bump. You bump into me in the hallways holding Zofi’s hand, don’t get all weird and drop your hands like you got caught doing something naughty when you didn’t. Give me some time and some space, and eventually we’ll figure out how to stay friends, good enough?”

I nodded and gave her a warm smile, feeling relieved. “Yeah, good enough.”

“Good.” She extended a fist to me, and as I bumped it I felt as if a great weight had slid off my shoulders.

And then to my surprise, Alice leaned forward and actually hugged me.

“Catch you later,” she said. And then she turned and ran off to class.

****

I felt much better after that encounter, because even though I realized things might never again be the same between us, I no longer feared that Alice would cut herself out of my life completely.

Naimh, on the other hand…

The whole BTC always came over to my house Friday afternoons, and this day would be no different. Naimh actually beat me to the house, with her car parked on the curb when I pulled the minivan into the garage. Belle said hi before walking over to her house to drop off her backpack and change before returning, and I met Naimh in the driveway with a hug.

“How are you doing?” I asked, still holding her close.

Immediately, moisture formed in Naimh’s eyes and I regretted the question, but she sighed and kept herself from crying. “I saw Alice today, actually,” she mumbled softly.

“Cool, me too. We had a pretty nice chat, and in the end she hugged me, so that’s a good sign. She did say she was worried about you, though.”

Naimh sighed again.

I wrapped my arm around her lower back and led her into the house through the garage. “Based on the way you’re holding back tears, I’m guessing your conversation didn’t go quite so well.”

Naimh exhaled slowly and shook her head. “No, it was fine, actually. She said she was glad to see me and offered to meet up more often. Just… not with the other girls. She’s made up her mind about not coming back to the BTC, and we all know how stubborn that girl can be when she’s made up her mind about something.”

I winced and nodded. “In seventh grade she was so sure she was going to win a game of Magic that she literally bet the shirt on her back. That is, she’d wear that t-shirt to school for the rest of the week without washing it. I lucked out, she lost, and good lord did she start to smell by Friday, especially since we were still playing basketball during recess in those days. I insisted I didn’t care about the bet and pleaded with her to change clothes, but she’d made up her mind. Wanna beer?”

Naimh gave me a wistful look as she continued on into the family room while I peeled off in the kitchen and went to the fridge. “Yes on the beer. And I don’t think you’ve ever told me that story.”

I chuckled. “You can ask her about it sometime, or maybe I will. I can’t remember the name of the band on the shirt…” My voice trailed off as I handed her the beer.

Naimh accepted the beer and sat down on the couch. She took a swig, grimaced, and started rubbing her neck.

“Ooh! There’s something I can do to help,” I announced brightly, setting my own beer down on the side table and gesturing for Naimh to move. “Slide forward so I can get behind you.”

“Huh?”

I held up my hands. “You look like you could really use a Matty backrub.”

“Oh, do I ever,” the redhead agreed with a genuine smile. She shifted forward on the couch so that her butt was right at the edge, collecting her brilliant mane of red hair and pulling it all to the front of her shoulders.

I kicked a leg over and slotted myself between her back and the couch’s backrest. I reached up and started in on her shoulders, but Naimh wore some kind of polyester sweater that bunched up and made my fingers slip. So I leaned forward and asked, “Mind taking off the sweater?”

Naimh glanced back at me with a smile. “It’s not like you haven’t seen it all before.” She quickly removed the sweater, reached back to unclasp her bra, and pulled the straps down to her upper arms, although she trapped the cups against her breasts.

I did the honors of brushing her hair out of the way again and resumed my rubbing, this time with my fingers on bare skin. And within two minutes, the Irish lass had her head pitched forward, her eyes closed, and her body infinitely more relaxed than it had been before while she moaned in sync with my rhythmic hand motions.

“Fuuuuck, I needed this,” Naimh murmured softly when I switched to long strokes up and down the full length of her back, really kneading out her tight muscles.

“Then I’m glad you came first.”

“Mmm, not yet I haven’t,” she muttered back automatically. It took me a second to realize she’d made a sex joke, like in the old days.

Belatedly, I chuckled and leaned forward to gently kiss the back of her neck. Naimh shivered at the touch, glanced back as if she were going to make a flirtatious comment, but then suddenly stopped herself. And all of a sudden, her shoulders were tense again.

I stopped my massage and muttered, “Hey… I’m sorry.”

“Why the fuck are you apologizing, Matty?”

I blinked, thought about it, and tried to say lightly, “For being so irresistibly sexy that you couldn’t help yourself wanting to fuck me and starting this whole chain reaction that ended up with Alice walking away leaving you feeling like you’re being forced to choose between two sets of friends?”

Naimh snorted and shook her head. “That’s a lot more accurate than I… Okay well bollocks, that’s totally accurate. So yeah, it’s all your fault.”

I chuckled. “I know. I’m like… such a babe.” I waved my hand out to the side like a valley girl.

“I’m serious,” Naimh said quietly. “I’ve been attracted to you since I first met you.”

I frowned and realized she WAS serious, but that didn’t make sense. “I’d like to think I’m not unattractive, but I know I’m no Brad Pitt, either.”

Turning slightly, enough that she could face me, Naimh gave me a little smile. “I didn't fall in love at first sight or anything, or even lust at first sight. When I first saw you, I thought you were kinda cute but nothing that got my panties wet right away. I was, however, quite curious to find what was so special about you that made five other girls include you in their club. And an hour later, I knew.”

I blinked in surprise and asked, “What was it that made me so special?”

Her smile widened. “I can’t put it into words. You were just so… so Matty. You were so confident with the others, and confidence IS sexy. But you were restrained at the same time, so in control. I watched the way Sam teased you, how FAR she teased you, and any other guy would have broken down and grabbed her boob or something. But you had that self-control, and yeah, self-control is sexy too. You were so masculine in a sea of hot teenage girls, and… well… I could see in your eyes the way you looked at ME. Kinda like the way you’re looking at me now. Even with all the other beautiful girls around you all the time, when you looked at me there was this… hunger… in your eyes. Raw desire. And that made ME feel incredibly sexy too.”

“You ARE incredibly sexy, Neevie. You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

The Irish beauty snorted and shook her head, looking away from me and blushing a little at the compliment. “You’ve already had me. No need to butter me up.”

“I’m not buttering; it’s the truth.” I took a deep breath, kicked my leg over, and moved myself out from behind Naimh so I could sit beside her on the couch instead. Looking her straight in those amazing emerald eyes, I stated honestly, “Before you came along, Sam and those massive tits of hers were my most common wanking fantasies. But you became my number one the day you arrived. You say you didn’t fall in lust at first sight for me, but I actually DID. I’m being dead serious. You are… and have always been… the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

Now Naimh REALLY blushed, and with her fair complexion her face didn’t just turn pink, but her face, ears, and neck all went crimson. “Ohmigawd, Matty…”

“That I couldn’t have you felt like the sickest joke at first. I remember praying you WOULDN’T join the BTC so I could ask you out on a date. I hadn’t been on a date since the beginning of the year, having decided no one else was worthy of me spending time away from the club. But then you showed up and I prayed so fervently I’d get the chance to ask you out.”

Naimh shook her head and buried her face in one hand. That actually meant she was now only using one hand to trap her bra against her breasts, and the right cup hung down, exposing an erect pink nipple. I glanced at it for a moment and felt myself starting to harden, but quickly returned my gaze back to her lovely face.

“That didn’t happen, obviously,” I continued. “You became part of the club, and The Rule was always The Rule. I got to know you more, and my desire for you only got even stronger. We’ve always flirted. We’ve always lusted for each other. To be perfectly honest, I always wanted to figure out if there could be room for romance and love as well. But I learned to accept that because of The Rule, you could never be more than my friend and never my… well… never be my girlfriend.”

Naimh looked incredibly sad for a moment. “You know, I always asked myself if I hadn’t made the biggest mistake of my life joining the BTC. At first, you were actually the REASON I joined. I didn’t join for Sam; I joined for YOU. Sam was very nice and welcoming of course, but after I met you, I knew I needed to spend as much time with you as I possibly could.”

“Really?”

“I didn’t really understand The Rule at first. I mean, Sam always said that if you fell in love with one of us, of course you’d be allowed to find your own happiness. So I figured that if the two of us really clicked, we could eventually be together. But as time went on and I realized just how much the others had invested in you, I knew I could never betray the girls by taking you away from them. But at the same time, I realized that what I felt for you was more than just a casual infatuation. So we ended up in this cat and mouse give and take, offer and chase, without ever quite being allowed to catch each other. And so many times I asked myself if I shouldn’t leave and become an outsider… like Holly… just so I could be allowed to actually have you.”

I shook my head. “As much as I wanted you, I would never have been able to do that to the girls.”

“I know. At least, that’s what I always said to convince myself to stay.”

“Well…” I gave her a rueful grin. “We finally got each other last Friday.”

“Annnd Alice promptly left.” Naimh’s shoulders fell as she started shaking her head. “I always had in the back of my head that me fucking you would break up the BTC, and it turns out I was right.”

“Alice would have eventually left whether or not you and I slept together. The writing was already on the wall when Sam and Belle got to me first.” I blinked and gave Naimh a wary look. “Does that bother you, by the way? That Sam and Belle had sex with me first?”

“Yes and no,” Naimh sighed. “On the one hand, absolutely yes I wanted to be your first – the special one you’d remember for the rest of your life. On the other hand, my conscience would never have been able to handle it if I had taken your virginity. As much as the romantic in me might have liked the idea of being your first, the two of them crossing the line got ME off the hook. They wiped away the one and only objection anyone could truly have to me FINALLY getting to be with you the way I’d always dreamed. I only wish they had done it sooner. Then you and I could’ve been fucking for months already!”

I wanted to smile, but her words only reminded me that we hadn’t been fucking for the past week, and why. With a frown, I said, “You told Alice we haven’t had sex since that day.”

Naimh sighed and nodded. “She keeps asking, actually. We first talked on Monday and she wanted to know how many times you nailed me over the weekend. I told her we hadn’t at all. She acted surprised and tried to say she wouldn’t have wanted us staying apart because of her, but I could tell she was secretly pleased.”

I frowned. “Secretly pleased? That’s not the Alice I knew. She doesn’t say one thing but deep-down mean something different. No offense, the rest of you girls do that ALL the time, but not Alice. It’s one of the things I love best about her: if she says something, she means it.”

“You weren’t there. I could read it in her eyes. Like she was… gloating.”

“You sure you weren’t just projecting your own guilt onto her?” I turned Naimh to look ME in the eyes. “And you said she keeps asking. Why do you think that is?”

“Because every time she gets confirmation that we’re not and sees the look on my face, she gets a triumphant little thrill of victory.”

I scowled. “Relishing her friend’s unhappiness? Schadenfreude is NOT an emotion I would associate with Alice.”

“It is what it is.”

“No way. I told her the same thing this morning and she seemed genuinely sad about it. You think she secretly revels in the idea that we’re holding out for her sake? I’m telling you, that’s not the Alice I know.”

“Clearly, you don’t know her as well as you think, or the Alice you know wouldn’t have left the BTC.”

“Actually, that’s EXACTLY the Alice I know. I told you, she doesn’t hide her feelings very well. And when she got to her breaking point, she didn’t bury her feelings and suck it up. No, she got mad, said how she felt, and walked away. Classic Alice.”

“I know it is, I just…” Naimh rubbed her forehead with both hands, no longer caring if the bra dropped (which it did). “Okay, maybe I AM projecting my own guilt.” She look up at me with a familiar look of longing, the same kind of expression she had on her face when she really WANTED to cross a line and start something while knowing full well The Rule prevented her from doing so. Only this time it wasn’t The Rule preventing her anymore, it was Naimh’s own guilt.

“Alice DID say she was happy for you,” I began, “and that she wanted you to enjoy this. She wanted you to enjoy ME. We both know that as angry as she was at the time, she meant every word of that.”

“You’ve felt just as guilty as I have,” Naimh countered, “which is why you haven’t been screwing around with the other girls for the past week. Sam certainly bitches about it often enough.”

“I did, but maybe it’s time we both got past that guilt. Am I sad that Alice has chosen to walk away from the BTC? Yes, absolutely. But I’ve had time to come to terms with that. She’s doing alright, she doesn’t hold a grudge against either of us, and in plain simple fact, I still desperately want you.” I reached up to brush the backs of my fingers along Naimh’s cheek, and even with tears in her eyes she was still the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen.

“Matty… I want you, too. I just…” She hesitated and gave me a painful look. “I’m just not sure I can--”

“I know you can’t,” I interrupted. “Your sense of guilt won’t let you. That’s why I now know the answer to that hypothetical over what you might’ve done had you been in Sam’s situation after the wedding date: alone with me, all dressed up and feeling like a princess: You would never have betrayed the BTC. No way. It was only after Sam and Belle crossed the line that you allowed yourself to let go. And now, even as much as you want to be with me, your sense of guilt over Alice won’t let you. So what do we need? A notarized affidavit from Alice telling you it’s okay to be with me? C’mon. She’s already told you she’s okay with it and wants you to be happy! She already said, right there next to that armchair, that she knows how you REALLY feel about me. She’s already given you… given US… her blessing. What else is it going to take?”

“I don’t know!”

I came to a realization just then. For once in my life, I couldn’t wait for the girl to give me explicit permission. For once in my life, I had to cross the line she couldn’t cross herself. If I kept on waiting for Naimh to come to terms with her own sense of guilt, we’d never be together again.

So for once in my life, I took charge.

“She’s still my friend,” Naimh was blubbering, “Knowing how things ended, I can’t be the one to--”

Her voice cut off when I kissed her. She inhaled sharply in surprise, unresisting but not fully kissing me back, either.

Pushing her back against the couch, I reached for the waistband of her jeans, unbuttoned them and pulled down the zipper. She whimpered into my mouth and gripped my shoulders, neither helping me nor stopping me, either. Finally, I broke our lip-lock, kissed my way down her neck and chest, stopping of course to suckle at her freckled tits, nibbled down her belly, and wound up kneeling on the floor before her.

Naimh stared at me, mixed lust and anxiety in her eyes. I yanked down on her jeans hard enough that she pressed herself against the backrest and lifted her ass off the couch just enough for me to get the offending material off. And the most gorgeous thing I’d ever met was now completely naked before my eyes.

I split her knees, dove my head, and feasted.

Naimh never gave me permission to take her clothes off. She didn’t initiate the kiss, or tell me she wanted me, or do any of the other things the girls had always done to communicate their desires. If anything, Naimh had repeatedly told me she couldn’t do this, that as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t betray Alice.

So I’d taken the decision out of her hands. It wasn’t her fault this way. SHE wasn’t crossing the line. I was simply… taking her.

Two minutes later, I was literally “taking” her, as I slotted my dick and started pushing inside. It was the first time I’d ever put my dick somewhere without clear permission to do so, and even now I could see the indecision in Naimh’s eyes. She whimpered and clutched my upper arms, on the verge of tears as I hit bottom and bent to kiss her.

“Be with me, Neevie. Please?” I asked softly and started to slowly pump my hips.

“Matty…” she whined, still torn.

“You can let go of the guilt. You started saying you can’t be the one to betray Alice, and you didn’t. I made this decision for both of us, and you need to realize it’s not a betrayal at all. Alice already gave us both permission to enjoy this, to enjoy each other. She said she knows how you really feel about me. Now why don’t YOU tell me how you really feel about me?”

“Matty…” she whined again, her expression full of angst.

I smiled, realizing once again she couldn’t bring herself to say it. So I went ahead and said it for her. “You’re in love with me, aren’t you? That’s what Alice meant when she said she knew how you really felt about me.”

I immediately saw the confirmation in her eyes. Her eyebrows crinkled, and she was suddenly hyperventilating beneath my body, her chest rising and falling too rapidly to be quite healthy. I wasn’t even pumping anymore, just keeping myself at full depth and undulating my hips side-to-side a little.

“It’s okay. I’ve always loved you too,” I replied.

Naimh blinked, “You have?”

“Of course.” I smiled and kissed her.

For the first time since we’d started, Naimh kissed me back just as fervently as I was kissing her, but she broke away just as quickly. “Wait-wait-wait. What about Sam and Belle?”

I raised my eyebrows, realizing just then how often I’d been using the L-word lately. “I’m quite affectionate for Sam, and I love all of the BTC girls in their own way, but I’m not in love with Sam. What we’ve had is purely physical. As for Belle…”

Naimh’s eyebrows rose when I hesitated, and she gave me a somewhat expectant look.

I blushed and said honestly, “The 12-year-old inside me has always been in love with my Annabelle. 18-year-old me is still sorting out my feelings for 18-year-old Belle, though. I’ve spent such a long time categorizing her in my mind as my little sister and feeling a deep-rooted love for her in that way. And after everything we’ve talked about, I don’t think a romance will ever be in our future. There’s too much sibling-love.”

“Fair enough,” Naimh granted.

“You, on the other hand…” I pecked her nose again. “You are the one girl who I always wanted to break The Rule. I’m not going to say I’ve been in love with you all this time, because that would be the kind of lie a guy says to butter up a girl when he’s trying to get into her pussy.”

“No need to butter me up. You’re already in my pussy,” Naimh pointed out with a giggle, clenching her inner muscles around me for emphasis.

“Exactly.” I chuckled and said, “But I did say that I’ve loved all the BTC girls in their own way. And with you… well…”

Naimh’s eyebrows rose expectantly when my voice trailed off, recognizing I was about to say something pretty serious.

“Naimh O’Brien,” I began, scarcely believing I was about to ask what I was about to ask. “Will you go out with me?”