“On my ass. It’s especially sensitive where you put your thumb,” Zack emphasized and tilted his ass in the air, like waving a red flag. “More lotion would help,” he said in a gritty voice.
Understanding dawned. Ace knelt and pushed his underwear down to free his cock. He gripped himself tight and began masturbating.
“I’ll make sure it’s warm.” He grunted as he neared his climax, so ready he felt like he’d come forever.
“Warm is good.”
Ace held a finger just inside Zack’s ass and pulled his cheek away as he came hard, covering Zack’s hole with cum. “Oh, oh yeah.” He groaned as he spewed all over that ass. He rubbed his finger in his cum and used it to push inside. Much as he wanted his cock there, seeing his finger disappear inside Zack was its own reward.
“Shit, Ace. You’re killing me.” Zack arched up, pushing Ace’s finger deeper.
As they both caught their breath, Ace realized his friend was covered in his cum with a finger -- his finger -- up his ass. Instead of repulsing him, the sight stimulated him. But still, something was missing.
He gently pulled his finger away. “Hold still.” Ace left and returned with a warm, soapy washcloth and a towel. After cleaning the mess on Zack’s ass, he left the bed and helped his friend to his feet. Not able to meet his eyes, Ace continued to clean Zack, removing the cum that covered Zack’s cock, balls, and belly while Zack remained still.
“Ace?”
When Ace felt fingers beneath his chin, he glanced up. To his surprise, he couldn’t read a thing on Zack’s face.
“Thanks for the massage,” Zack said softly. He caressed Ace’s cheek, then left through the bathroom door and closed it behind him.
Sated, confused, and oddly content, Ace would have flopped back onto his bed were it not for the wet spot in the middle. He stared at it for several minutes, needing to change the sheets but loath to remove Zack’s scent from his room.
It was some time before he stripped his bed.
Chapter Three
After taking a day to recover from what had been an isolated incident, Kelly decided to ask Doc for help. The odd symptoms that had plagued her as a teenager had vanished, thanks to Doc’s miracle medicine. Though she had to increase the frequency of her doses, she’d never before needed another shot so quickly.
She normally only took her meds once a month. Considering she’d received her last shot two weeks ago, something was very wrong.
Now, sitting next to Doc in his private study, she prayed he could once again find something to help her over this hurdle. A minor obstacle, she could hear her mother whisper. A Malloy never quits. Get up and get moving.
“Kelly, we’ve known each other for how long?” Doc asked quietly.
Shit. That soft voice meant trouble. “Hell, Doc. Since I was a kid.”
“And in all that time, I’ve taken care of you. Will you trust me when I say I’m sorry?”
“Sorry for what?” Anxiety flared.
“For not telling you the full truth when this started.” Doc sighed and faced away from her. Kelly clutched the arms of her chair, scared at this turn of events. “A long time ago, your parents went through a rough spell. Your father didn’t like your mother working for Pearson Labs.”
She knew that. She remembered her parents arguing about it when she was younger, even after her mother had left the job.
“Shortly after you turned four, she quit. Your father moved you all far away. I hadn’t heard from them in years when your mother contacted me again. You were nine, and you’d gotten sick. They had no idea what was wrong with you.”
Nine? She hadn’t become ill until much later.
Doc fiddled with his glasses and turned around to face her again. “I was good friends with your parents, and they needed someone they could trust. They brought you to me for some tests. Your mother had her suspicions and didn’t want to take you to a civilian doctor.
She knew I’d never tell Elliot what I found. To our relief, you checked out to be perfectly normal. At least, until you turned thirteen.”
At thirteen, she’d gotten her first period. Not a joyous experience celebrating her entry into womanhood. Kelly’s first cycle had pushed her nearly to madness. PMS to the extreme.
Her joints had ached all the time. Her headaches had become migraines, sure to split her skull wide open, to say nothing of her out-of-control sensory experiences. Enhanced sight, smell, and hearing bombarded her with too much all at once.
“The injections I gave you took care of any discomfort. You graduated high school and attended college without any issues.”
“And then my symptoms reappeared. The yearly injections weren’t enough.” Too easily, she remembered the pain.
“Upping your dose worked. But it wasn’t until you surrounded yourself with Circs that you truly found some peace.”
“What?”
“Think about it, Kelly. After college, you could have gone anywhere, yet you moved near me, or more specifically, near Project Dawn. You worked hard for that law firm for years but left on a moment’s notice when Project Dawn broke up, and I moved north. While I’m pleased that you think of me as family, we both know you didn’t leave a great job just to work for me here.”
He had a point, now that she thought about it. She had done what her parents wanted and graduated college. She could have lived anywhere after school, but she chose to live on the coast of North Carolina. Near Doc. At the time, she’d reasoned that she liked living near the ocean. The secretarial job with a well-known law firm in town had been a godsend, but she would have done anything she could to stay near Doc.
“Spit it out, Doc.” She loved Doc. He’d always been there for her when she needed him, like an adopted uncle. Without those shots of his, she would have lived in a lot of pain. But when Doc talked around an issue, he drove her nuts.
“Kelly, the shot you receive suppresses the Circe serum from overtaking your blood.”
“What?”
“When you hit puberty, the serum began a quick takeover of your body. When you first took sick, I didn’t think to give you any blockers because you checked out normal. But after that first incident, your mother suspected what you were; as did I. Elliot Pearl did a lot of things he should regret. Infecting your mother was just the tip of the iceberg. She never knew how he’d infected her with the virus carrying the Circe formula. And by then it didn’t matter, because you carried the effects of the serum in your blood.”
“You and Mom knew.” Kelly was stunned.
He nodded.
“Dad?”
“She never told your father.”
Kelly didn’t know why she was so shocked. She knew what Doc did. Hell, she’d known him more than half her life. She’d worked for him for the past three years. Though she had little to do with his actual research and the operational aspects of his work, she knew the gist of what Circe’s Recruits were, what they’d done. And nobody, certainly not her, could ignore five larger-than-life, gorgeous men bound together under one roof.
Kelly wished her mother were alive to answer the many questions she now had. But Bridget Malloy had succumbed to cancer several years ago. Doc said her father didn’t know anything, so Kelly had no intention of broaching the subject to him. No, she had to deal with this on her own.
Doc stared at her, his expression patient and understanding. Then again, maybe she wasn’t so “on her own.” She’d always considered Doc and the others her family, but now she felt like a real member of the group, instead of the annoying younger sister on the fringes.
Kelly cleared her throat. “My being able to scent certain things, my attraction for Zack” -- and Ace, she almost added -- “it’s because of the serum?”