Love in the Time of Curiosity

Just a quick note, this chapter is a little longer than the other two but there's a lot to get through here.

Also this is (possible) the penultimate chapter of the Curiosity series, there may be one or two more but the end is near. Enjoy.

I start off this chapter with a new motto of mine that I will use from now on; Story first, sex second.

*

JANUARY

First Carol, then Craig, now her mother. I will never understand how Mands survives any of this, so many bad things happen in her life and she keeps going, it's times like these that I admire Amanda's spirit. As soon as we got the call Amanda and I drove to the hospital, I took the wheel of Amanda's car, she was crying too much to drive anything. When we reached the hospital Amanda didn't even wait for me to fully park before bursting out and running inside, I followed her immediately. I feared I would lose her in the hospital but thankfully she was still in the reception area having run into Thomas Freeman, the male doctor from her attack months ago, Mands had her face on his shoulder, crying her eyes out.

'Miss Richards.' Thomas spoke up over Amanda. 'Nice to see you and Miss Townsend again, I only wish it was under better circumstances.'

'You know about her mum's death.'

'Yeah.' Thomas looked at the floor, a sad look on his face. 'Yeah I was the one who pronounced her death, when I saw the surname I feared the worst. Would you like to see her?'

Amanda looked up at Thomas; she spoke in a soft whisper. 'Yes please.'

Thomas led us to the room where Amanda's mum was, Thomas explained he left her there for Amanda. Thomas and I stayed out the room while we watched Amanda go in and look over her dead mum. She cried and said a few words but I didn't hear what she said.

'It's a damn shame.' Thomas spoke up. 'First she was attacked then her mother dies so soon afterwards.'

'This isn't the first time, her twin sister died when she was 12, hit by a car.'

'Fuck. Sorry.'

'It's alright. How'd she die?'

'Hypothermia. She'd obviously passed out due to alcohol and ended up in the snow, the cold weather and alcohol in her bloodstream was just too much. Given the temperature she was probably out in the snow for two to three hours.'

Amanda came out; the tears in her eyes were obvious. 'Hezz, c, can we go, go home now please.'

'Of course Mands. We'll deal with this all in the morning.

'You want me to phone your father?' Thomas asked. 'Or do you want to do that yourself?'

'Please do that, I can't talk to that bastard.'

'I will.'

We got back in the car and drove back home, much like our last trip back from the hospital Mands was silent, only this time I didn't mind, she had every reason not to talk. When we got back to the apartment Mands seemed almost in a dream-like state, she simply drifted through the hallways and up the stairs, saying barely two words to anyone offering condolences. Everyone from our New Year's party had left; the only ones left were Rachel and James.

'We stayed behind.' Said Rachel getting up off the sofa. 'Made sure nobody stole anything and we didn't know if you had your keys.'

'Thanks.' I looked over Rachel's shoulder and saw Amanda float into the bedroom. Rachel turned round and saw what I was looking at.

'How's she taking it?' Asked James.

'I don't know, she seemed pretty bad at the hospital but for the past half hour she looks, dead inside.'

Rachel put her hand on my shoulder 'Look after her ok, I know what it's like to lose your mother and I was lucky enough to have my sister with me. You're like a sister to Amanda, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid.'

'Thanks Rach.'

Rachel and James left, I headed for the bedroom to find Amanda. She was lying on her side on the bed, softly crying to herself, I lay down beside her and placed my arm over her stomach.

'I didn't even say goodbye.' Amanda spoke quietly through her tears. 'The last thing I said to her was "Drink yourself to death you alkie bitch." She did Hezz, I told her to and now she'd dead.'

'Hey hey, this is in no way your fault. You did nothing wrong, if you start blaming yourself you'll only end up harming yourself and others around you.'

I kissed her cheek and snuggled in close to her, I felt her hand lock fingers with mine across her stomach. Not knowing what else to do I tenderly sung to her.

'Would you love me tomorrow? Like you say you love me now. Would you love me, would you love me tomorrow? Like you say you love me now. When the flames of our flesh have stopped burning, and the fire of our love has cooled down.'

I don't know if it helped any but Amanda stayed quiet the rest of the night, she fell asleep first, I followed not long after.

About a week later Billie came by to see how Amanda was, she apologised for not coming earlier but there was a bunch of shit with Vincent's death and Caleb's brain problems had a big jolt; he was fine but they'd had a scare. While at ours I noticed Billie had her hand on her stomach and went to the toilet a fair few times, when I questioned her on it she passed it off as a virus but I wasn't convinced.

FEBRUARY

Thomas stayed true to his word and phoned Amanda's father, because he had a steady income he arranged the funeral with a few of his ex-wife's siblings. Amanda had by now gotten over her mother's death, it still hurt her but she was able to put on a brave face. I accompanied her to the funeral, for moral support more than anything but also to pay my respects, before she fell to the demon drink I was on good terms with Amanda's mother and I was sad to see her go. The choice for the body was cremation, after the ceremony and a few words had been said -- Amanda almost got up but sadness and anger stopped her -- everyone in the church watched the casket go slowly into the furnace, all except Amanda who looked at the floor the entire time, avoiding eye-contact with anyone.

A few hours later almost everyone was at Amanda's dad's house for the wake, there was general chatter and conversation; a few people gave their sympathies to Amanda. But then the one person who we both wanted to avoid found us, Amanda's father.

'Hello dear, how've you been?'

'Fine.' Amanda didn't even look at her father.

'Hello Heather.'

'Hello Peter.'

Peter returned to his daughter 'Any big news, any changes in your life.'

'Yes.'

'You going to tell me what they are?'

'No.'

As much as an asshole as he was Peter knew when to let something go. 'Well I hope you're well.'

'Why do you care?'

'Amanda please, you're still my daughter and I still love you.'

'Not enough obviously.'

He ignored her and continued talking. 'There's someone I want you to meet.'

Peter waved over to someone, a few seconds later a young woman -- in her early 30s -- holding a blanketed bundle came over to us. Instantly Amanda and I both feared the worst. Peter put his arm around the young women.

'You remember Stephanie don't you Amanda?'

'Yeah, the gold-digging, home-wrecking slut.'

Stephanie opened her mouth to protest but Peter stopped her. 'What you may think of Stephanie doesn't matter, all that matters is this little girl.'

Peter moved the blanket to show the face of a baby, she was clearly very young, possible only a few months. Amanda took one short look at the baby and turned away.

'This is Rose. Amanda this is your sister.'

Peter had just said what Amanda already knew but to hear that she had a new sister brought it all crashing down on her. I could see in her eyes the memories of Carol rushing through her head, Peter was oblivious to this.

'Do you want to hold her?'

'No.' Amanda didn't even think about it. 'I don't.'

Peter was noticeably shocked at her answer. 'Why not?'

'Because if I get close to her she's going to know who I am and I'm going to hate her. She'll have done nothing wrong but every time I'd see her I'll be reminded of you leaving my mother and the state you left her in. That little thing is completely innocent and doesn't deserve any hate I'd give her but I won't be able to help myself. Come on Hezz let's get out of here.'

I followed Amanda out to the car; she got in the driver's seat for a change and stormed away from the house. I felt terrified as Amanda belted down the motorway to home.

'Mands, you might want to slow down. Mands, will you slow down.'

She was deaf to my pleas. 'Amanda stop the car.' I yelled at her.

The car came to a screeching halt on a lay-by; the entire motorway was empty so thankfully we never hit anything. I opened my mouth to tell Amanda off but she pounced on me, kissing me ferociously, taking me by surprise.

'Shut up Hezz and fuck me.'

I said nothing; I couldn't say anything to her like this. Amanda skilfully climbed over the gear stick and knelt on top of me. She started taking off her top and I copied her, Amanda's top was already off and on the floor by the time I was only half-way unbuttoning mine. I could tell Mands' was impatient as she grabbed my top and ripped it off me. I looked over Amanda, her fantastic breasts spilling out of her black, lacy bra; I wasted no time in burying my head in her cleavage, licking, kissing and sucking any piece of flesh I could find. But Amanda had no time for my slow, tender love; she pushed me back down on the chair, yanked my own bra down and went to work on my already hard nipples. The sensitivity I normally have felt tripled today as Amanda kissed and sucked me, one of her hands slipped into my trousers and passed my panties, she fingered me, fast and hard, my juices coating the crotch of my trousers and some spilling out to the seat. I was dangerously close to climax.

Then Amanda bit my nipple. It came out of nowhere and freaked me out. 'Ow Mands what was that?'

No answer, another bite, harder this time. 'Ow, Mands watch it.'

A third bite, the hardest of them all. Scared, I threw Amanda off me and back to her side; she fell over the gear stick and landed awkwardly on her side. I look at her and all I see is anger, but not at me. Fury poured over Amanda and she started hitting the steering wheel and dashboard.

'That bastard, that motherfucking bastard. How the fuck could he do that, how the fuck could he fucking leave my mum when she needed him then turn up to her funeral, not a fucking care about her, and show me that fucking baby he had with that cunt. The slutty cunt that ruined my family, the cunt baby they have and my cunt father at the cunty head of the whole cunt family. THOSE FUCKING CUNTS KILLED MY MUM.'

I could do nothing but watch as Amanda let out this verbal abuse to the people that were essentially her family, it was then I realised that even though Mands hated her mum she was still her family, her dad wasn't, she had no-one now. I covered myself first then put a coat over Amanda and let her cry in the lay-by.

Billie stopped by my apartment a couple of days after the funeral, Amanda had gone to the shops for a few things so I was alone when Billie arrived.

'Hey Hezz.'

'Hey B.' We hugged each other. 'How you been?'

'Good, good, Caleb stopped seeing Doctor Freeman so he's got some more free time.'

'Caleb was seeing Thomas?'

'No Gordon, his father I think. What about Mands, how's she doing?'

'A little better, obviously she's still hurt by her mum; she also met her dad at the funeral, his trophy wife and their daughter.'

'Daughter, no way, Mands' got a sister. I bet she hated that.'

'Yeah, didn't even go near the baby for fear of hating it. We left early and she almost killed us on the way home, then she took it all out on me.'

'She took it out on you? What like blamed you for her mum's death?'

'No she... she bit me.'

'Bit you? Do I want to know how that came about?'

'I managed to get her to stop the car on the way home and she jumped me, we got a little heated...'

'It still sounds weird to hear that.'

'And then out of nowhere she bites my uh, well me.'

'Jeez, why'd she do that?'

'Anger, frustration, she wasn't thinking I don't know. All I know is that she was furious at everyone.'

'God.' Suddenly Billie grabbed her stomach and covered her mouth. She rushed to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, now I was really suspicious.

When she came out she had a wet cloth over her mouth. 'Sorry about that Hezz, I'll put this in the washing.'

'What the hell is wrong with you B?'

'It's nothing, just a virus, it'll pass. Anyway I'd better get going, don't want to throw up on you carpet. I'll see you around.'

As quickly as she'd arrived Billie was gone. I didn't believe her, no-one has a stomach virus for that long and even if they do it doesn't come and go like that. I kept a close eye on Billie and I noticed her stomach grow slightly, unnoticeable to a casual onlooker but I knew Billie too well and I could tell, she was lying to me and I bet her mystery lover who took her virginity has something to do with it.

MARCH

Once satisfied Billie couldn't hide anything from me I went to confront her. I stormed to her house alone and banged on the door.

'Billie open up I want to talk to you.'

I didn't even wait for Billie to open the door fully before bursting in. 'Billie what the hell is going on?'

'What do you mean Hezz?'

'You know damn well what I mean, that thing in your stomach.' I pointed at her bump. 'Don't tell me your smuggling pillows. I can see right through you Billie, no-one else can but I can. So just tell me the truth.'

Billie took a deep breath. 'Sit down Hezz; you know you're my best friend right.'

'Yeah.' I sat down on the sofa, Billie did the same.

'Well, you're right. I'm pregnant.'

'I knew it, God Billie why didn't you tell me, who's the father?'

'The father's the reason I didn't tell you. He's someone I love, someone I care about deeply. Make me a promise Hezz; promise me that what I tell you now remains a secret.'

I was a little nervous about where this was going but I was still intrigued. 'I promise. So who is he?'

'Caleb.'

'Caleb? Cal... Caleb! Billie please tell me it isn't who I think it is.'

'It is.'

'Jesus Christ. Billie what were you thinking, getting knocked up by your brother that's sick. I, I gotta get out of here.'

'Hezz please, look at this from my view. I love my brother but I'm going to lose him and I haven't been able to accept that. Remember what happened with Carol?'

'What's Carol's death got to do with this?'

'You were there, we both were. We watched Carol get hit by that car we watched her die, and that terrified me, I've never been able to get over that fear. I get the same fear whenever I think about losing Cay.'

I couldn't believe it, my oldest friend, the one I'd known nearly my entire life had admitted sleeping with her brother and was trying to make it sound right. 'That still doesn't justify this.'

'Let me finish, I wanted to show Caleb how much I loved him, I wanted to be with him in the closest way possible. Think about it Hezz you know how long I've been in love with him.'

Actually looking back she had a point, Billie and Caleb had been closer than most siblings, even as kids they never wanted to leave each other's side. This was still wrong but I was willing to listen now. 'Ok, what's with the baby though?'

A male voice behind me scared the hell out of me. 'That was our idea, we both wanted it. The engagement however was mine.'

'Fuck Cay, I'm already on edge with this news. Did you say engagement?'

'Yes, we found a way and we're going through with it. I hope you won't judge us too harshly.'

This was all too much to take, I couldn't believe I was listening to these two people whom I loved and respected talk about marriage and kids. Billie could see the shock on my face and took my hand.

'Hezz, I love you and I hope you won't think less of us for this. If you can't accept this I won't stop you leaving, but if you can find it in your heart to acknowledge our relationship then I would love for you to be at our wedding as my maid of honour.'

That sealed it for me, everything about an incestuous relationships was gone and now there was only a deep love for Billie, she wanted me by her side on the most important day of her life, no way was I going to deny her that.

'Damn it Billie I love you too much to hate you. Of course I'll be there.'

I hugged Billie tightly, letting her know I was serious, after that I got up and walked over to Caleb. 'This is totally weird but thinking about it I'm surprised you two didn't do this sooner. Look after her won't you.'

'Of course.'

That was all the conformation I needed, I just wanted to make sure he wasn't taking my friend for a ride. I hugged Caleb as well, I think he was more surprised than I was but I needed to thank him somehow. I said my goodbyes and left them, the entire walk home I kept thinking of them as a couple and not siblings; maybe they were supposed to end up together.

I told Amanda about Caleb and Billie that night, I didn't want to but Mands could read me like a book, she knew I knew a secret and she got it out off me. The two of us were lying naked on the bed, Amanda on her stomach with me on my side stroking her back.

'Billie? Pregnant? Brother? Married? Jeez Hezz these are words that shouldn't be in the same sentence.'

'You're not going to hold it against her are you, Billie's loved her brother a long time and they're good together.'

'You seem to have consented this quite quickly.'

'I'm not agreeing with it I'm just saying I understand where's she's coming from.'

'I guess I do to, I'm not going to cast Billie off now after everything she's done for me since Carol. But come on this is fucked up, B was the last of us to lose her cherry and now she's knocked up by her brother.'

'Do I hint a tone of jealousy Mands?'

'I'm not jealous Hezz, ok maybe a little. I've been wanting a kid for a while and I guess I envy the fact Billie's got one already.'

I sat up straight and got closer to Amanda. 'You've never said anything about this before, what brought this on?'

'It started with Craig, I assumed he'd be the one I'd marry and have kids with until he fucked that up. I've never said anything to you because I love you and I didn't want you worrying about me. These are my own problems Hezz and I can get over them, besides it'll be years before I actually consider kids.'

This was a new side to Amanda, it never even crossed my mind she wanted a family. 'Wow, I never knew.'

'I never told you.' At that Amanda snuggled in closer to me, subconscious or otherwise I don't know but I liked it, my hand kept softly stroking the small of her back, moving up to the bottom of her spine and down to the top of her ass. I noticed that every time my hand neared her ass Mands would give a little shiver, feeling bold I started caressing a little lower each time. Mands soon caught onto what I was doing and opened her legs slightly; from there I could feel the heat radiating from her pussy. I slipped my hand down to the inside of her thigh and continued rubbing Mands, my fingers just touching her cunt, I could hear Mands' breathy whimper by my ear. With both of us ready for this to go somewhere Amanda spun round so she was on her back and I crawled down, her pussy was already glistening when I slowly began to lick her. As I had become accustomed to Mands moaned softly, I bored my tongue in deeper than I'd ever gone before, the angle made it so my nose was rubbing up against her clit, I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity like that. I shook my head from side-to-side getting both my tongue and nose to move quickly against Mands pussy; it drove her wild.

'Oh god Hezz, don't, don't stop.'

I felt Mands grab my head and push me in closer.

'Fuck, god, oh fuck god GOD FUCK FUCK.'

Amanda let out an almighty scream as she came, my mouth flooded with her juices, I drank them all down. A few seconds later there was a knock on the door, Amanda was still reeling in from her orgasm so I put on a dressing gown and answered it. It was James, he was standing half-asleep and completely naked I turned away quickly at his unashamed nudity. He handed me a £20 note he had in his hand.