In the upstairs bedroom, which belonged to their mother, Michael and Katie were just concluding another round of hard, sweaty sex. It was late Sunday morning and they had decided to get in one more fling before their mother, Julie, returned home from visiting her sister.
"Fuck that was good!" panted Katie.
She rolled off her brother and lay limp on the bed beside him, trying to catch her breath. Michael lay on his back taking long deep breaths, staring at the ceiling with a satisfied smile on his face.
"What time is it?" he said, drawing circles around his sister's nipple with his finger.
Katie looked at the clock on the night stand. It was 10:42. Their mother was supposed to be home sometime between three and five. That meant there was still time to get in one more good fuck before she got home.
"About a quarter 'til eleven," she said, her breathing a little more controlled. "We've still got plenty of time."
"Now might be a good time to change the sheets though; we can hit it again in my bed later," Michael said, sitting up.
They both rolled out of the bed and pulled off the sex stained sheets. During the process of putting down new covers, Michael couldn't resist grabbing his sister's ass several times and giving her little squeezes, making her squeal with laughter.
"Mike!" she laughed. "C'mon, let's go shower."
"Right behind ya; giving it to you, that is."
Katie went and started the shower while Michael disposed of the dirty sheets in the laundry room. He happened to glance at the phone and saw the message light blinking.
Huh, I don't remember hearing the phone
he thought.
Well of course I wouldn't have heard it we were upstairs; God she's got some lungs on her.
He hit the play button.
*Beep* "Hi kids, this is your mother calling. Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be coming back a few hours early, so make sure to clean up any party messes before I get there! I'm leaving at eight tomorrow morning so I should be home by ten or so. Love you! See you then! *Beep* End of message."
Michael's heart froze. It was now 10:50.
Ten? Oh shit. Oh SHIT. Please, PLEASE let her have been late.
He ran upstairs, his stomach filling with guilt. At the end of the hall, Katie was standing naked, waiting for her brother to join her in the shower. She noticed the look of panic in Michael's eyes.
"Mike," she said worriedly, "what's wrong?"
"Fuck, Katie. We may be in deep shit. Mom left a message, said she was coming home early. Thought she would be here around ten."
Katie felt her stomach drop and panic started to spread.
"Ten? Fuck, oh no, shit; Mike, you don't think she heard us?"
"Well Christ, if she did come home, there's no way she could have stepped foot in the door without hearing us. We always left the door open, remember? And we made no attempt to be quiet."
"Shit. Shit! Well is her car out there? Maybe she's running late," she whimpered.
"It's not, I already checked. Either she's not home yet, God I
hope
that's the case, or she's SERIOUSLY pissed and is on the rampage somewhere."
"Fuck. Well what should we do?" she asked, her voice raising with panic.
"If she heard us then all we can do is wait for her to get back and accept the consequences," he said with a shaky voice, feeling he might vomit at any second. Then remembering that his sister was also just as afraid, he tried to play the courageous big brother and added, "Unless you wanna make a run for the border or something, my car could probably make it."
She appreciated his attempt to soothe her. If they got out of this alive, she planned on giving him a very special 'thank you'.
They both got dressed and went downstairs to wait, either for their mother's second return and the inevitable fury, or for her to return from their aunt's, oblivious to their activities.
There was no discussion between them as they waited. Each was lost in their own thoughts, imagining what terrible fate might await them if their mother had discovered that her children had been fucking the living shit out of each other in her bed. Michael feared his mother would return accompanied by the police, who would then haul him off to jail on charges of abuse. Katie was thinking about which of her girlfriends she could call to stay with after her mother disowned her and threw her out.
At length, they heard a car pull up into the driveway.
"Shit. I think I'm going to be sick," Michael said in a low wavering voice, staring at the floor. His normal calmness had utterly abandoned him at the prospect of having been caught with his sister; not just caught with his
sister
, but caught by his
mother.
The air was still, like the silence before some terrible storm that was just on the brink of exploding forth with all its fury. The shadow of their mother passed by the living room window. The knob turned slowly; Katie could have sworn that it was turning in slow motion, drawing out the moment before their inevitable doom.
It opened and Julie came in carrying her suitcase in one hand and her duffle bag slung over the other shoulder.
"Hi kids!" she said smiling. Noticing the fearful look in Katie's eyes, she quickly added, "Katie! What's wrong? Are you okay? Where's Michael, is he okay?"
Katie, with a surge of relief washing over her, tried to answer her mother in a casual tone.
"Hi Mom, everything's fine. Michael's right there on the sofa," she pointed to where her brother was sitting, now slouched so low that she could only see the very top of his head.