Party of Five

Author's Note

: Okay, I know this one took a while, and, unfortunately, it looks like the next one will too. But they're the longest chapters yet so hopefully that will keep people satisfied. Once again, a

huge

thanks to

everyone

who has left a comment, voted or sent me an e-mail. To say I'm overwhelmed by the reaction to the story would be an enormous understatement. I'm extremely grateful for all the feedback though, so keep it coming. Also grateful to

MaginMan

for the editing. So, enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 17

Josh had had plenty of 'quickies' with Dawn over the last few months, but never any with Jacquie. Until, that is, one Wednesday afternoon when he found himself, of all places, inside the pantry, clutching Jacquie's shadowy form and trying to find her opening. As she had been quick to remind him, Alice would be home in less than twenty minutes, and as she had also been quick to remind him, she was

extremely

horny. Of course, that wasn't a problem for Josh, as he could slip into a horny mood like a wetsuit. Apparently, the 'Dawn' genes were currently activated in Jacquie's body; she had suggested they do the deed in the pantry, because it was the closest room with a door, and it would be, as she said, quite naughty.

So now they were down among the packets of food, squinting in the darkness and trying to lock their bodies together desperately. For some reason, Jacquie was muffling an inordinate amount of giggles, and Josh, who found them contagious, was laughing along with her. He tried to make his voice serious.

"Jacquie!" he chided her softly, grinning at her darkened face.

"Come on, hurry up," she laughed.

"I'm

trying

," said Josh. "I can't find your pussy."

"Here," Jacquie said. She grabbed Josh's cock and guided it to her opening, where it slotted inside perfectly, wet as she was. She giggled like mad and clutched him tightly while he quickly started to fuck her.

"Would you stop

laughing

," Josh said, though he was laughing himself.

"Shh!" Jacquie reproached him. "Alice will be back any minute."

"Where am I going to cum?" Josh asked her.

"In the spaghetti packet?" Jacquie ventured, then dissolved into giggles again.

"Bloody hell," said Josh. "I can't see a thing."

"You don't need to see," Jacquie said. "Just use the force." And again, more laughter.

Josh groaned in frustration. "You're not helping."

"Not trying to."

"Well, then maybe I shouldn't help you."

Jacquie gasped and tightened her grip on his arms. "Don't you dare," she said. "You're not leaving until I cum."

"Well, maybe if you'd set a better mood..."

"What mood would you like? Should I do my Barry White impersonation?"

"Please, God, no."

Jacquie giggled insanely. To stop her, Josh reached out blindly with his lips, where he thought her mouth might be, and once he found it, sealed it with his own. Jacquie laughed harder than ever, but at least it was muffled by Josh's mouth. She was shaking against him, which was producing a curious sensation in his cock. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep his mouth on hers for long, as the position was somewhat awkward and he couldn't concentrate with the building pleasure in his balls.

"I should have just given you head," he said.

"Cock now, head later," Jacquie replied.

"Are you sure you didn't knock back a bottle of whisky this afternoon?"

Jacquie's only reply was to laugh again.

She's insane

, Josh thought, not for the first time. The laughter eventually died away though and was replaced by several long and euphoric moans. Now Jacquie's grip on his back was hard and possessive, and her hips were moving up against him, pulling him further inside her. "Yes, Josh," she whispered. "Oh, God, fuck me." She continued to whisper erotic encouragement into his ear as he climbed the hills of orgasm.

Luckily, Jacquie came first, and Josh was able to grit his teeth and hold on until she was finished. "Oh, my God, Josh, that was fantastic." She kissed him several times on his face. "Oh, I love you so much."

"Ah...little help here," he choked out.

"Oh, right," said Jacquie. "The cum. Here – do it in my hands."

"In your

hands

!?"

"Well, there's nowhere else. I'll just carry it to the bathroom."

"That's not going to work."

"Yes, it will," Jacquie assured him. "I can just...oh, no, wait...here," she reached out for something on the floor, "do it in my panties."

"Your panties!?"

"Yeah, I can wash them."

Josh had neither the energy nor the time to ask any more questions, so he grabbed Jacquie's panties, draped them over the end of his cock and mashed it against her pussy. She ran her fingertips gently up and down his arms and whispered soft words to him while he came. And he came quite a lot, considering the two encounters he'd had only last week.

When he was finished, he let Jacquie take her panties and rose to his feet to pull on his clothes. Then he held the panties for her while she donned her own. He pushed the door open to allow a sliver of light inside, so that Jacquie could see. He also checked to make sure none of his cum had dripped onto the floor. Once Jacquie was fully clothed, he peered around the door, announced that the coast was clear and slipped outside, Jacquie following close behind.

No sooner had they shut the door than they heard a "Hi" from the other end of the room and saw Alice coming into the kitchen. Josh's heart missed several beats and then thumped extra fast to make up for them. Beside him, Jacquie's eyes went wide, and she quickly stuffed her cum-soaked panties into her pocket. As soon as she did, she cringed. She'd be washing more than just the panties now.

"Hi!" Jacquie said loudly, to cover up the guilt, Josh supposed. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Alice replied. She was looking at them curiously, and Josh was quite sure she knew what she'd just walked in on.

"That's good," said Jacquie. "I was...uh...just going to do some washing. I should get to it."

Alice smiled as Jacquie hurried out of the room, hand over her pocket. Josh attempted to bore holes through her back with his eyes; she had just run out and left him here alone. What if Alice asked questions? What would he say? Alice had watched Jacquie leave too, and now she turned back to Josh with a smile.

"Did I...um...interrupt anything?"

Josh was overcome by a very horrible sinking feeling. "No. No, of course not. We were just...um...we were cleaning up the pantry. Organising some stuff, sweeping, that kind of thing."

"Oh," said Alice, still smiling. Josh was almost positive she didn't believe him. She chose not to pursue it though. "Well, I'm going to take a shower," she said, and walked upstairs. Josh heaved a sigh of relief and then started off towards the laundry, where he would find and kill Jacquie.

* * *

The task of hiding his incestuous antics from his sisters and his mother, was taking its toll on Josh. It was a difficult job in the first place, but once you factored in Dawn's unwavering sexual zeal, it became close to impossible. Did she care that the phone was ringing behind Josh while she impaled herself on his cock? Or that their mother was waving at him from the driveway while, in his room, Dawn was on her knees sucking his cock beneath the window? No, of course she didn't. Consequences weren't worth Dawn's attention apparently.

Although Alice knew of Josh's activities with both Jacquie and Dawn, he still didn't feel comfortable talking about them with her or giving her any sort of hints that she'd just walked in on them. That was why he was hiding in his room on a Saturday evening, avoiding the first floor of the house like a smelly, disgusting, poisonous fungus.

Dawn had left for the night and most likely wouldn't return until early in the morning; and Jacquie and Laura had left in the afternoon for Aunt Beth's house to see her new baby. Alice was working tomorrow, so she had remained behind, and Josh didn't particularly want to spend two and a half hours in the car with Jacquie and his mother. A few months ago he would have eschewed the idea of spending it even with Jacquie only, though now he would have jumped at the chance. As it was though, he was alone, with Alice, and in need of a Valium or something.

He knew he would have to go downstairs soon, but he was putting it off for as long as he could. If it had been Jacquie or Dawn that had stayed home with him, he'd be down there in a flash and tearing their clothes off in another flash. But he was apprehensive about spending the night alone with Alice, with no one else to draw his attention or engage her in conversation. There was no Jacquie to poke fun at now and no Dawn to chase around the living room. He was on his own...and he was terrified.

When he finally did muster up the courage (which took a little over an hour), he descended the stairs like a man walking to his execution. He rather thought he'd prefer a hanging or a quick beheading to what he was being faced with now. Dawn would have done that for him.

He found Alice in the living room, which was lit only by the blue light from the television. She was sitting with one of her legs pulled up to her chest, the other lying underneath her. She was resting her chin on her knee, arms wrapped around her leg. Josh's heart leapt inside his chest as he approached. He felt like he was intruding; walking into the garden of one of those Greek goddesses who no mortal was supposed to lay eyes on. She looked the part too; skin glowing like pale ivory in the half-light, eyes flickering with the images on the television. Josh's stomach was doing some sort of crazy dance inside his chest, which succeeded only in tying itself into knots.

He took another step forward and Alice looked up. She smiled warmly at him. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Josh replied, his voice breaking. Alice either didn't notice or chose to spare his feelings.

"I thought you might have fallen asleep," she said. Josh smiled in reply and settled down on one of the armchairs. "Are you hungry?" Alice asked him. "There's some soup there if you want it."

"No, thanks," Josh replied. He turned his attention towards the television, though what was on it he had no idea. They settled into an anxious silence, though Josh hoped it was only he that felt that way, and that Alice was quite comfortable. He observed her out of the corner of his eye and smiled to himself when he saw the little curve to her lips. Even when she was doing something as mundane as watching TV, she still smiled. She was like Valerie in that way – once Josh caught sight of her smile, he felt as though everything would be all right.

Soon, Josh was feeling incredibly stupid for sitting so far away from Alice. He felt as though she was aware of it and began pumping himself up to move. It took him a while, but eventually he stood up as casually as he could and sat down on the other end of the three-seater that she was on. Alice merely looked up and smiled, then turned back to the TV.

Josh's heart rate was climbing steadily now, his hands sweating to an insane degree. They seemed to be jettisoning as much weight as they could so that they could forget about Josh's scruples and float up around Alice's waist. Josh realised suddenly that that's what he was thinking and gave his brain the mental equivalent of fifty lashings.

It was not just the show on the television that he had tuned out now, but the rest of the world; now it was only a small sofa in the middle of nowhere with he and Alice sitting on it. He chanced a look sideways and felt his heart swell up like a balloon. She was so

beautiful

! Amazingly, stunningly, extraordinarily beautiful. Josh had never,

ever

seen anything so pretty in his life. She was like a jewel, like a songbird, like a flower-filled meadow that he could gaze at all day and night. If Josh's conscience had eyes, it would have rolled them.

He was more aware of her presence than he'd ever been of anyone's in his life. The soft curve of her jaw, the honey-coloured ponytail that hung down her back, the dim line of her calf. She was like an engraving, etched in shadow and marble and a faint blue light. He would never have taken his eyes off her were it not for the advertisement on TV. His eyes were drawn to the writhing and twisting women, all of who seemed to want Josh to call them, call them

now

. Alice was moving beside him. "Oops," she said, reaching out for the remote, "I think I'd better change the channel."

"No, no," said Josh. "This is fine."

Alice giggled and picked up the remote from the coffee table, so Josh pounced. Okay, so he didn't have to pounce, exactly, but what was the point of doing something if you were only going to do it halfway? His hands were drawn to her sides like a moth to a flame, and his brain told him he'd suffer the same fate if he touched her. He was already burning up as it was.

That didn't stop him though. Alice saw him coming at her and squealed with laughter. "No, Josh, please. Please, no." She twisted away from him and held the remote out behind her. Josh seized her, though, and started tickling her sides without mercy. She squealed even louder and twisted and squirmed and wriggled in an attempt to free herself.

Josh's heart was thumping in his chest, beating a loud tattoo against his ribs. And his stomach was so

warm

. He felt like he had swallowed hot syrup. He grinned down at Alice as she broke into peals of unrestrained laughter and screwed her eyes up tight. She arched her back and then slid down the couch, effectively putting Josh...

on top of her

, he realised with dread. He had stopped tickling her now, and it took Alice a moment to realise that he had. She finally stopped laughing and opened her eyes, which were glowing brilliantly in the semi-darkness. She looked up at Josh with a smile, which he was unable to return.

He was staring down at her – and he was staring – as though he couldn't quite believe she was there. He couldn't take his eyes off her; even threatened with torture or maiming or live fire ants he wouldn't have been able to take them away. Alice was looking back at him with a small smile, searching his face with her eyes.

"Josh," she said softly. "You can get off me now."

Josh opened his mouth and struggled to find his voice. "Do I have to?"

Oh, God

, he thought immediately.

Oh, God. I didn't say that. I did

not

say that.

A thousand different thoughts rushed through his brain, all of them bad, most of them terrible. How could he have said that? What would she think of him? The agony he felt was beyond description, but then, so was the relief when Alice finally smiled at him.

"No," she whispered.

And that one word sent sparks of shock and pleasure through Josh's nervous system. He wasn't sure he'd heard right. He was dreaming. He was having some stupid dream, and in reality, he was really lying next to Dawn or Jacquie or an empty space and this wasn't happening. Alice was still smiling at him though, a small, timid smile but a smile nonetheless.

"No?" Josh asked incredulously.

Alice shook her head. "No."

She shifted her position so that Josh could lie down behind her, both of them facing the television. He was intensely hard, but for the first time ever, he wasn't aware of it at all. The blood supply was there but the hormones didn't seem to be. Or, if they were, he was ignoring them. He looked down at Alice with his jaw hanging open, then slowly lay down beside her.

Alice took one of his arms and pulled it over the top of her waist, and Josh, abandoning all reason and guilt, slid his other arm beneath her so that he was holding her around the waist. Alice settled back against him and pillowed her head on her hands to watch the television. Only she was watching it though – Josh still couldn't take his eyes off her.

There was a current of joy and fear and love running through his body and it shook him from head to toe. He quivered slightly against Alice, but she seemed not to notice. She was watching the TV still, smiling slightly and resting delicately in Josh's arms.

They spent close to half an hour lying like that, and not once did Josh take his eyes off her. He could have watched her for years and never gotten bored of the sight. Eventually, Alice adjusted her position and took one of Josh's hands in her own. She held it to her chest like a child might hold a favourite toy, then closed her eyes and fell asleep. Josh, though, stayed awake all night.

* * *

Watching Jacquie and Dawn wake up had been wonderful, but watching Alice wake up was like being accosted by an army of fluffy pink bunnies, each of them dipped in honey and sugar and everything sweet. She made soft little noises as she stirred and then finally her eyes fluttered open. She looked around for a moment and then turned her head around to see Josh. His heart flipped over, then flipped over again, then had a series of crazy spasms.

For a long while she just looked at him, her eyes searching his face and her lips slightly parted. At length, she smiled, and lowered her gaze shyly. Josh smiled back and moved a strand of hair away from her face.

"Hi," Alice said.

"Hi."

She looked down at Josh's arms and then back up, apparently with nothing to say. So she turned back around instead and closed her eyes again, smiling this time. Josh sighed pleasantly and settled his head against her shoulder, closing his own eyes at last.

* * *

He woke some time later with the sun streaming in through the kitchen. It was warm, but not unbearably so. Alice had turned around to face him and was smiling at him, her face extraordinarily close to his.

"We should get up," she said.

"Mm-hmm," Josh replied, and held her tighter.

She giggled softly and snuggled closer to him. Another half-hour passed before Alice decided that it was really time to get up. She eased herself away from Josh and stood up, smoothing her dress down.

"I...um...I'm going to take a shower," she said and then left the room.

Josh fell onto his back and stared at the ceiling, his arms feeling strangely empty and cold. He wasn't sure what to make of this just yet; all he knew was that last night was as pleasant as anything he'd ever done with Jacquie or Dawn. He raised himself into a sitting position and leant on his arms as though he was about to get up, though he stayed like that until Alice returned. She had changed into another dress and brushed her hair and now she was smiling nervously at Josh. This was how he'd seen her in public, with other people.

"Um...are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Josh replied.

Alice's smile widened. "Okay," she said. "Well, I'll make breakfast." She went into the kitchen and a moment later Josh was climbing the stairs, walking slowly and blissfully. He showered for a long while, his limbs and muscles feeling looser than they ever had. Every part of him felt looser – his mind, his body, his knotted stomach. He couldn't have felt better if he'd just received a shiatsu massage.

When he returned downstairs, Alice was setting two plates of bacon and eggs on the table. Josh took a seat and inhaled the mouth-watering aroma. Alice finished at the stove and sat down opposite him. They looked at each other nervously and then ate in silence.

Alice had to work in the morning, so after she'd finished breakfast she collected her things and left Josh alone in the house, though not before she asked him if he was okay again.

"I'm all right," he said. "Really. I'm great."

Alice smiled at him and – to Josh's immense pleasure – kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I'll see you this afternoon," she said, and left.

Josh almost collapsed with joy right there, but he managed to drag himself to his bedroom first and collapse there instead. He fell onto his bed like a starfish and looked at the ceiling, which acted like a canvas on which the images of last night were displayed over and over. He saw Alice's sleeping form, her soft cheek pale in the blue light as he stroked it gently. He'd never felt anything so soft before. He'd made sure, though, that he kept absolutely still so that he wouldn't wake her. She had slept so peacefully.