BOOK ONE ⢠PART ZERO
Author's Note:
This story took me a long time to write. It's not pure incest and it won't always be easy for the characters involved. What it offers is an adventure that starts with two people ā two cousins ā and takes us around the world as our protagonist meets glamorous and dangerous women, gets to know his own heart, repairs the fractures in his family, and fights against a myriad of unseen threats.
I would like to thank the wonderful Sextified for taking the time to read early drafts and make valuable insights. He is an immensely qualified author and his feedback on particularly these early parts was critical to helping me complete the story.
All sexual activity is between characters that are 18 or older. This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real persons, places or events is purely coincidental. The below is not intended to serve as a guide for real life sexual encounters or relationships. Stay safe, happy and healthy! :-)
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01 ⢠Christmas in January
It was about midnight as I tasted the bitter-cold air of winter. The New Year's rush had come and gone. I had room to pace, practising an old habit while on the phone with my sisters.
The girls are twins, a few months past eighteen but ten-times older in their souls. While they slowly settled into their own lives, we were still as close as ever. You see, fate had forged our bond and nothing would ever come between us. Still, right there and right then, it felt like I was a million miles away.
They were home in Toronto. I was across the ocean in a city I knew almost as well.
"How's London?" Elle inquired. She was the steady one of the two; often the leader and always the voice of reason... Well, not always, but most of the time.
With our other sister, Tecla, chiming in from the background, I fielded dozens of questions. Thinking about the day I'd had, every answer started with a sigh as I complained about being so far away.
"Aww, do you miss us
that
much?"
I smiled and made a guarantee, "Of course I miss you
that
much! If someone offered me a choice between a billion dollars and being back home, I'd take the latter."
The girls giggled happily and for a few seconds our call descended into a sibling love-fest. We were a sentimental bunch; no doubt about it. Since our dad died, we have been all about love and togetherness. It irritated some people around us, but they can shove it. I made no excuses for being attached to the girls.
"By the way, how's our mother?" I asked, knowing the answer would upset me.
"Our mother? You make it sound like she's... Never mind," Elle trailed off.
Tecla picked up where our sister left off. "She's in her room ā having one of her bad weeks ā but it's okay. I mean, she's been eating and stuff."
All I could muster in reply was a resigned silence. Poor mom and poor girls. Left alone with a parent who didn't know how to interact with the world.
It wasn't Mom's fault, of course. It's all still about the death of her husband and our father, even 14 years down the line. Truth be told, it had gotten to the stage where it was hard to forgive our remaining parent for her absences. But, that's a story for another day...
The girls were busy getting ready for bed, and I was beginning to rattle in the cold night air. We said love you and goodbye and I made my way back inside.
Shivering or not, I like how the cold air gets straight to my heart. It cuts through the skin, making my soul shiver and forcing life into my bones. But, then, in that transition from the frost to the warm belly of a beautiful building, you're reborn.
Melodramatic? Sure. That's me.
The bouncer gave me a nod as I stepped back into the jazz club where I'd been spending the evening. Feeling the shift from cold to warm, I got closer and closer to the music. Even muffled by the walls between me and the band, it sounded incredible.
The joint ā and I say joint 'cause I wanna sound hip and cool ā was called Laverna: The goddess of thieves. It was the kind of place I loved more than any other kind of place. Its soft lights and the band created an astonishing atmosphere. The kid on the drums was a juvenile genius ā his generation's Mozart ā in a dimly lit bar where he can't even order a drink. Not a strong one, at least. Nah, he was fuelled by Diet Coke and a passion for the beat, the rhythm, the jam... He directed the rest of the band with cool and calm.
In every jazz club, on every city night, a man needs a beautiful woman in beautiful clothes and with an air of danger about her. To me, that beautiful woman was Natasha, my cousin, and someone who I love like a sister. As a lawyer in Toronto, I didn't see much of her, a young nurse living an ocean away. After my father passed, I got posted to his family in the UK. We only lived together for a year or two, but we'd been best friends since. It hurt when I moved on to Switzerland, and I still remember the day I left her and her mom.
I was 12 and she was nine.
We cried.
Reunited, I walked to her and watched as she swirled her drink and swayed to the music. A strand of her caramel brown hair fell over her face as her body moved. Tucking the stray strands away, she saw me. As her eyes turned, I read her dark pupils and saw the love I'd been so sad to leave behind all those years ago.
"How are your girlfriends?" Tash asked fiendishly.
I shook my head. "Is it really such a sin to be close to your siblings?"
"Oh, darling cousin, I just want to figure out your type."
Without thinking, I shot back, "You're my type."
Tash blushed. It was like her cheeks had been dabbed by a subtle redness and her eyes turned a shade brighter. "Why do you say things that you know will make me feel funny?"
"Funny? I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Iā"
"No. Not that. You know... I guess I deserve it for teasing you about your sisters," my cousin conceded.
My relationship with my sisters was a bright red target that attracted much attention from anyone who wanted to tease. It was our closeness that came across as intimate, if not romantic. It wasn't, of course...
People don't feel that way about their siblings unless they're crazy, right?
I pushed myself to graduate high school early to get out of Europe and back to my sisters. While I was globetrotting, they were at bottom of the rung schools. It wasn't fair ā wasn't right ā and I never understood why they couldn't also attend top boarding schools. Sure, we didn't have money, yet somehow I was allowed the best education in the world. Part of me wondered if my sisters resented me for it. They were smarter, after all, but never got the same access.
I sighed wistfully. No... I sighed longingly. Still, it wasn't all heartbreak and sadness on that cold London night. Looking at Tash, I remembered the joy that my 'third sister' brought to my life.
My cousin continued to dig into me. It was our way of communicating, and I wouldn't change it for the world. The successive jabs targeted the older women I'd dated back home. She had every right to make fun of that, even though she made it sound like they were ancient.
"Mommy issues," she diagnosed.
"The oldest was 30ā"
"Hold on," Tash interrupted. Her attention shifted from our conversation and fixed on something behind me. Turning my head, I snuck a peek and immediately understood why she was staring.
The club's lights cast shadows so black that they seemed to swallow space. My eyes followed the contours of the darkness until I saw the half-lit face of a stunning brunette. She held a heavy silver pen with which she wrote what I imagined was poetry.
She looked like the type ā the poet-type ā the type that took my breath away. Even in the claustrophobic conditions of our little music box, smoke box, dark box... Even in the middle of the beat, rhythm and dance, her attitude struck a chord louder than most.
The woman wore a gold sequin blazer with nothing underneath. No, nothing to shield her modesty or protect her from January frost. It was a party look ā she was alone. It was a summer outfit ā in the coldest part of the year.
Contradictions are alluring and contrast is enticing. So, I was spellbound at the sight of this creature of contradiction.
"You should go talk to her," Natasha encouraged.
At first, I protested, "I don't want to be
that
guy."
"C'mon," my cousin pressed. "You've had a rough day at work. You have a hotel room. You can't have me because I'm your cousin..."
"Jeez! That's quite something to say," I grimaced.
Tash shrugged. "I don't mean you want to sleep with me. I'm just saying that we won't be sleeping together."
"Well, if you put it that way..."
I took one more look at the woman behind me, downed my drink, and got to my feet...
I'm no fool, but it's usually fools who stumble into a lion's den. The instant I turned around, I knew that
she
was dangerous.
She