Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 2

The Start of Something New

Based on a post by Break The Bar. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.

Grierson finally sat forward, meeting me energy-to-energy as he kept my gaze locked in. "And yet, here we are, Mr. Black. We can either come up with a deal, or I swear to Christ and all the Saints that the government will seize this land for eminent domain under the emergency provisions of the pandemic and you won't be able to do a fucking thing about it."

"Sell, or die," I said. "So you can build a 'resettlement camp?' Jesus Christ, yourself. If you know so much about my family history, you know building a fucking 'camp' of any sort on this land would be the absolute last thing I would bend over for."

"I didn't say 'camp.'" Grierson said. "No matter what your Native, and Japanese, forebears had to go through, listen to me; this is the farthest thing from that."

I was 1/32nd native from my father's side and 1/16th Japanese from my mother's side. Again, not the hardest thing to dig up, but while I had the black hair of both those ancestries, I mostly just looked like a tall white guy with a pretty generic last name. No one ever assumed I was anything else in passing.

"What does that even mean?" Erica asked.

"It means we aren't building concentration camps," Grierson said, glancing over at her. "We aren't building a reservation, or an internment camp, or any of the other shitty things our and other governments have done to people." He looked back at me again. "We're going to develop this land into a neighborhood. The God damned fanciest kind of gated community you can think of. Big houses, big properties, for people who do or did important work to settle in safety and stability as we try to survive this shit show virus."

"None of this answers why," I said. "Why should I agree to this? Why shouldn't I make it so fucking annoying that you go find a different patch of land and leave me alone?"

Grierson frowned, though I had the feeling he'd been planning this from the start. He wanted me to work to peel back the layers of information, to earn the answers because that would make me believe them more. It would tick off boxes in my psychology and experience. The fucking problem was even though I knew he was doing it, it was also working. "Because you'd be saving lives," Grierson answered. "Our pilot development down in California is called New Eden; the place is only two-thirds built to starting specs, and we're already out of room on the next five phases of development once it's opened. Now it's my job to set up the next locations and get them rolling because our current projections are that within the next six months, the death toll is only going to skyrocket. We can't even get a grasp on what the numbers might reasonably be because the range is so fucking staggering. Millions is the easy number, Mr. Black."

It was my turn to say it. "Fuck."

"Now, you're not going to hear that on the TV," Walters said. "You won't hear it from the CDC, or the other health agencies. The only reason we are cleared to tell you this is because folks in our circles have developed the preference to work with reasonable people when they are useful. And also, who would fucking believe you?"

"Here's our offer," Grierson said, pulling out a slip of folded paper from inside his suit jacket and putting it on the coffee table. "That's the hard cash number we've designated for this deal. No taxes. Straight transfer from us to you. There will also be other perks, including homes inside the settlement for you and Mr. Lacoste. Things are about to get really weird in the world. Have you heard anything about the Tier system?"

"Nothing," I said, but Leo spoke up.

"I saw some rumors. It's supposed to be some kind of a terrifying triage, right?" he asked. "Who's the most worthy kind of shit. People started protesting, but I thought it got debunked."

Grierson nodded. "Oh, we stopped the protests, but it's all too real. I won't hide it; I find the entire thing absolutely un-American. It's the kind of shit the Chinese government operates, but it is what it is."

Walters drained the last of his coffee and set the mug onto the coaster on the coffee table politely. "Suffice it to say, it's a sort of social karma system. The more important you are to society, the more protections and comforts you're afforded as we roll out our limited resources on quarantine defenses. There's 5 tiers, one being the lowest and five the highest. Most of society will land in the 1's and 2's, including all three of you. This development we'll be building is mostly going to house 3's and 4's. As part of the deal, we'll place Leo at tier 3 for resettlement purposes, and you Harrison would be placed at tier 4 despite your lack of qualification in the matter."

This entire conversation felt like I was running downhill trying to keep up with an avalanche. "That sounds an awful lot like a really great way to set up for corruption," I said. "A fucking caste society? Really?"

"It's already done," Grierson said. "Believe me, there were a lot of in-the-know people against the idea. But it's the only idea that works in this situation. We've gamed it out to the Nth degree. Leo, your description is pretty much the best that we were able to make internally. We're triaging society to make sure it stays together and can weather this hurricane."

"What would we tier at without this?" Leo asked.

"Leo Lacoste," Grierson said, talking as if he were reading directly off of a portfolio even though he rattled it off without referencing anything. "Positives: Early thirties age bracket, relatively fit and healthy. Low-to-Mid career path; carpentry skills of moderate qualification. No criminal record. Negatives: No community investment. Likely rating: Tier 1."

"Harrison Black," he continued. "Positives: Early thirties age bracket, relatively fit and healthy. Former military service including Military Police service, honorable discharge at the rank of MP Investigations Special Agent, no known psychological impacts. No criminal record. Negatives: No community investment, null-rank career; freelance artist. Likely rating: Tier 1."

"To be fair, there is a big question mark on your file that we couldn't fill," Walters said. "Your honorable discharge happened mid-tour, without any reported incidents or injuries. It's surprising you haven't been called back into at least reserve service with the Emergencies Acts. A decent answer would probably bump you up to tier two."

"I can't talk about it," I said.

Erica snorted and rolled her eyes, and both men looked at her.

"Erica," I warned her.

"What?" she demanded. "They just called you 'low tier,' Harri. If you're not going to tell them then I will."

"I can't talk about it," I said again.

"Harrison knocked out an Air Force bigwig when he was an MP and stationed in Germany," Leo cut in. "The guy was abusing and trying to blackmail a female subordinate into sex. The only reason we know is because she tracked Harri down a few years ago and we met her in a bar in Portland."

"The bigwig was politically protected and nothing happened in the end," Erica said. "At least, that's what she said. He got shuffled around, and Harrison got the boot."

"I got an honorable discharge instead of a court martial for striking a very superior officer of a different branch," I said. "And part of that deal was that I not talk about it."

"Well that explains some things," Grierson said. "It wouldn't change anything though. If you were doing something more useful with your life than painting little pictures, you might have made tier two or three without this offer."

"Says you," Erica scoffed. "Art is useful. And important!"

Grierson pursed his lips slightly. "Erica Lacoste. Not an official resident of the property, but I know enough. Positives: Early thirties age bracket, relatively fit and healthy. Negatives: Criminal record, including battery, two counts of public drunkenness, and public urination. No community investment. Null rank career; tattoo artist. Likely rating: Tier 1."

"Hey, fuck you too," Erica said, and pointed her middle finger at Grierson, along with a scowl to go with it. Honestly, none of that was surprising news about Erica for me except for the Battery charge, I definitely needed to get that story out of her.

"Okay, we get it," I said, interrupting what I had a feeling was about to become a degenerating path of conversation. "You know about us. You do realize this is all a little much, right? It comes across as insane."

"Of course it does," Grierson sighed. "But a year ago, only bored analysts tripping on LSD were asked to think about these kinds of situations. Now we're in it, right in the damned middle of the clusterfuck."

"You should really look at the offer," Walters said, gesturing to the folded paper I hadn't looked into yet. It sat on the coffee table like an accusing finger pointed at me by my father, and his father before him. How dare I even consider this?

"So it's a butt load of cash," I said, still not opening the paper. "And we get treated like what, royalty? And in exchange, I lose my family legacy."

"Royalty is a stretch; you're selling us land, not curing cancer. We'll take care of you like valued members of society. You'll also get early access to the vaccine," Grierson said.

"There's a vaccine?" Leo immediately asked. "Social media has been wild with rumors but,”

"It's still experimental," Walters said. "And undergoing trials. But it's functioning, with some unconventional side effects. They're still doing long-term tests down in California, but we're going to start rolling it out down there any day now once the doctors are happy with the plan. That's how bad we need it, FDA bullshit be damned."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Flipside, stick. If I don't cut a deal, you'll use the might of the US government to bend me over and rip my family legacy right out of my ass."

"You got it. But like I said, we prefer working with people. There's always a silver lining to making friends," Walters said.

"Fuck," I said again. Then I flipped one half of the paper open and looked at the number written on the inside. There were a damn lot of zeros. "I need to call my sister," I said. "But pending her approval, I'll lease it to you. All 560 acres, for a hundred years less a day; that's what people do, right? And Leo and I get to pick where our houses are built."

"That's not how this works," Walters said.

"It's my counter offer," I said.

"Hold on," Grierson said, raising a hand to his partner. He narrowed his eyes as he looked me over again. He was a man who made judgment calls on the fly, despite his ability to reel off memorized facts like he'd been living with them for years. I could practically see the rusty old gears turning behind his grizzled facade. "Fuck it," he finally said. "We need to survive the next six months, year, five years and decade before anyone will be worrying about next century. Make your call."

"You're really doing this?" Leo asked me as I stood up and fished in my pocket for my cell.

"My family has had to defend this land from everything and everyone except the federal government," I said. "Up until now, they might be the only people who haven't thought they had some claim to it. Obviously, this will all need to be in writing before I make a final agreement, but look at the news; everything they're saying makes some sort of terrible sense. And I'd rather get the carrot than a stick so far up my ass it's tickling my brain stem."

I went outside to the porch to make the call to Valerie, my older sister. It was quicker than I thought it would be; Val and her husband Brad were hearing horror stories from their nursing friends in the local hospitals, and she immediately understood the position we were in. We hadn't always gotten along the best growing up, but if Val had one thing it was a practical head on her shoulders. When I came back inside, I nodded to Grierson. "Add in another house for my sister and her family, and we've got a deal."

"In exchange for the Lease, and the extra house," Walters said, "We're going to need your help in identifying the landscape. I assume you know it fairly well; we'll want you to walk our surveyors through to show any odd landscape elements, seasonal issues like flood areas, that sort of thing."

"Done, as long as I can point out the shit they shouldn't fuck with and they actually listen," I said. "There are some pretty big old growth trees out there that would be a fucking shame to cut down."

"I understand your concerns, son," Grierson said, as he stood and offered his hand. "But believe me when I say this; we aren't looking to build any high rises or pave over the place. These developments are for people important to society for one reason or another, and that means we're making sure to give them the best we can. Landscape included."

One last deep breath and I reached out and hovered my own hand near his. "In writing before it's official."

"The contract will be done by this afternoon and we'll email it over. Our lawyers work on our timeline, not their own," he said and grasped my hand in his. We both had larger hands than most, but I could immediately tell he had the grip of a man made from the iron bones of a hard life. I'd like to think he felt the same in my grip, but I had a feeling he'd shaken hands with much harder and scarier people than me.

"When can we get vaccinated?" Leo asked. "If we're going to be working with surveyors and shit, shouldn't we all be as safe as we can?"

"We have a testing site opening up in Portland as we speak, so it can get done as soon as possible," Walters said. "Though, as I mentioned, things are a little bit unorthodox right now. Harrison and Leo, you'll need these codes. Get online this afternoon, go to the website and fill out the questionnaire. It's extremely important you are entirely truthful. Your answers will affect how your tier ranking will play out for you as we roll it out over the next few months across the west coast." He pulled out two business cards from a pocket, each with their names, an URL and a twenty-five-digit passcode, and handed them to Leo and me.

"What about me?" Erica asked.

"Vaccination side effects and implementation are different between men and women," Grierson said. "Just like the virus is overly affecting men, the vaccine has different effects. If you want your vaccine immediately, Miss Lacoste, you're going to need to fly with us back up to Portland and attend the information session this afternoon that some of our volunteer human guinea pigs are doing. Then, if you agree to the risks and side effects, we can have you immunized as soon as tomorrow morning."

Things moved quickly after that. Erica went to pack an overnight bag and put on her 'going out into the world' gear that she usually wore for grocery trips into town; she'd be put up in a quarantine hotel while in Portland for the night before she returned the next day. Within ten minutes she was ready to go and Walters was escorting her out, and the helicopter was warming up its rotors with a whining hum in the front yard.

"I'm glad you agreed to the deal," Grierson said, offering his hand to me again, which I shook. "You may not fully understand what you've agreed to yet, but when you do I expect a more enthusiastic thank you. I get that the cash wasn't the important factor with you, son. I grew up on a ranch in North Dakota, I know what family land means. This place is going to do a lot of good for people."

"Are you managing the development?" I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the rising thrum of the helicopter.

"Not a chance," he said. "It'll be managed by the Air Force, they've been spearheading with the CDC on all these efforts. I'm just the pre-show, but I'll be around to check in on the progress every once in a while, and do the problem solving other people can't handle."

"What does that look like?" I asked.

"Any way it needs to," he grinned, and I saw the look that all veteran soldiers had. An acceptance that violence could come easily into the life of a person, and that they knew how to handle it when it came. "And don't be alarmed, but we've already had a crew starting to widen your driveway down at the highway. They'll work through the night and probably make it up here by tomorrow morning."

"What's the rush?" I asked.

Grierson barked a laugh as he started backing away from me towards the open helicopter door. Sour-puss lady was leaning out, holding onto the door and looking like she was about to try and scold Grierson for keeping them waiting. "Kid, in two weeks' time there's going to be well over a thousand lumberjacks, construction workers, surveyors and architects up here. Government moves slow, but OGA were designed to do the opposite. Your life is about to get a little crazy, I'd strap in."

I had too many questions to even start one as Grierson hopped into the dark interior of the helicopter. The door slammed, the motor whined at a higher pitch, and it leapt into the sky and started heading north.

"Hey, does this questionnaire strike you as way too fucking personal?"

"Hmm?" I asked. I was sitting on the front porch with my laptop open, but I hadn't even keyed in the website URL. Instead, I'd been sitting there for over an hour just looking out at the trees, wondering if I'd just betrayed six generations of my family in under thirty minutes.

"These questions," Leo said, holding up his own laptop. He'd stepped out the front door and had a look of confusion plastered on his face. "It's like... sex stuff. Shit I wouldn't talk to you about, let alone the government."

"What?" I asked. "Are you sure you're on the right site? It's supposed to be about the tier thing."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Dot-Gov link and everything."

"Fucking OGA," I grimaced.

"You and that Agent dude kept saying that. What does it mean?"

I sighed. "Other Government Agency. It's kind of a military meme for when someone from the CIA doesn't want to say they are from the CIA. Or, if you're into conspiracies, it's completely separate from the CIA but they're so secretive they don't even have a name."

Leo just shook his head and sighed before sitting down in the other deck chair. He joined me in looking out at the forested hills that had surrounded us for the last five years.

"Did I fuck everything up?" I asked him.

"What? No," he said. "Well, I mean, it's hard to know. But no, I don't think so."

"This is all going to go away," I said, gesturing out to the wilds that had been my childhood, and our shared backyard. "My family has been on this land for over a hundred and fifty years, and I just agreed to let the government wipe it out."

"It's not like you had much of a choice, Harrison. Carrot and stick, like you said. And whether those guys were CIA or something else, they definitely seemed to have a really big fucking stick. They flew in on a damn helicopter."

"Still," I said. "I feel like I'm selling out my childhood."

We talked for a while, reminiscing. Leo let me tell some old family stories he'd already heard a half dozen times before. We joked about the shit we'd gotten up to, living out in our backwoods paradise.

"Maybe it's time for a change," I sighed. "This was never going to last forever."

"Felt like it though, didn't it?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, it did."

Poing! Leo's laptop, sitting forgotten, made a horrible noise. He glanced at it, "Ah, shit. I timed out. Now I gotta start all over again."

He started typing away, and I finally opened my own laptop. The first thing I did was open my emails, and sitting right at the top, already marked with an 'important' star, was the email with the contract.

Everything is as discussed. Print and sign, someone will be by tomorrow to collect. Make sure you fill out the questionnaire!; Walters.

"Jesus," I muttered. "They really are putting a lot of emphasis on this thing."

I opened up the website, starting by filling out all the basic information. Then, just like Leo said, it started to get weird. It was like filling out the most invasive and specific dating app ever.

"I feel like they're going to try and 3D Print me a girlfriend," Leo laughed at one point.

"Maybe it's cloning," I snickered.

"That's fair. I wonder if they can clone me an Angelina Jolie?"

"Gone in 60 Seconds Jolie, or Wanted Jolie?" I asked.

He snorted. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith Jolie will always be my peak. Or Tomb Raider."

"Ugh," I scoffed.

We went back and forth like that, laughing at the ridiculousness of the questions and suggestions. The list of kinks we were attracted to, or turned off by was immense. We had to help each other even figure out what some of them were. I found myself ticking off some that surprised me because I'd never considered them before but they sounded hot. Other stuff I down voted hard, and I couldn't believe someone would ever admit to the government that they were into them.

Hell, one of the suggested kinks was the government. Who the fuck got hot under the collar about bureaucracy and paperwork?

I mean, I guess someone would, somewhere, or it wouldn't have been on the list.

"What did you put for that last one?" Leo asked me as I was closing my laptop.

"The relationship style scale?" I asked.

"Yeah. I put a full 10, polyamory all the way. How hot would it be to be some sheikh with a harem of ladies?"

"I went for a 6," I said. "I'm not going to turn down a threesome or anything if that's what my girl wants, but I'm also not into the idea of sharing with another boner."

Leo shrugged, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair. "I don't know, my dude. The Agents did say the world is changing. Maybe the norm will be great big orgies next year, and we'll all be smashing like it's our jobs."

I snorted and smirked. "Yeah, sure. Society threatens to collapse and we all devolve into Eyes Wide Shut perverts."

"One can dream," Leo laughed.

We spent the evening starting to pack. It was tough, since we weren't really sure what the actual plan was. The contract fully outlined that we'd be getting new residences in the development, which was being called 'Valhalla,' but it wasn't exactly clear what the timeline was.

I pushed for Leo to get packing sooner than later. My days in the military had me trained to expect 'hurry up and wait' to never mean waiting on the little guy, and right now we were definitely the little guy.

We were woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of machinery, and we got dressed and rode the ATVs down the driveway. The gravel trail stretched about a half mile from the highway up to the house, but we only made it around a couple of bends before we came to the lights and action.

"Stop right there," someone with a megaphone called to us, and we pulled our rides to a halt and cut the engines. "Who the fuck are you?" the voice asked.

"Harrison Black. You're on my,” I had to stop myself. As of that evening, I'd signed the contract. It wasn't mine anymore. "We live here," I corrected.

"Oh, it's you," said the voice. One of the workers stepped forward. He had on a big, bright orange reflective vest, and had a clipboard in one hand and the megaphone in the other. "Keep working, boys!" he shouted, and the machinery ground into action again.

He approached us and stopped about ten feet away, despite needing to shout to be heard over the machinery. "Sorry about the noise. We've got orders to get this road done up to your house by tomorrow."

"We heard," Leo said.

"How does this all work?" I asked. "Shouldn't you guys be in quarantine gear or something?"

"We got tested twice over the last two days in preparation for the job," the guy said. "Everyone on the crew is clean, and we all damn well needed the work. Fastest turnaround and the highest pay I've ever seen. Still, we're supposed to keep our distance from anyone other than the team. You guys get tested?"

"No," I shouted back. "But the Government guys who set this up didn't seem to care."

"Yeah, they did that with us, too. Acted like they were immune. Hell, maybe they are," the worker said. "You hear about what that idiot in the White House said yesterday?"

We traded some stories we'd heard. It was strange, usually Leo and I were pretty private with strangers, but after so long in isolation with just each other and Erica, and the fucking weird encounter with the Agents, it was nice to just shoot the shit with someone new and normal. Even if it was shouting over the sound of machinery.

Williams was the foreman of the operation that was clearing the trees to either side of the road. Another crew was working behind them, and trucks were already dumping off heavy set gravel at the entrance to widen it into a three-lane road. By morning they expected to have all of the trees, stumps and all, ripped out and stacked up for processing, and the driveway would be graded and levelled by lunch.

The speed at which the crew worked was almost frightening. They were all experienced hands and did everything safely, but it was clear that they were motivated. While we were talking, Leo and I had to back up our ATVs twice to clear space for the crew to move ahead.

Eventually, we said good night to Williams and headed back up to the house. I went back to bed, wondering if I'd made a terrible mistake.

True to their words, by the time Leo and I woke up in the early morning, the clanging and crashing was just fifty yards from the front door. We made a couple big pots of coffee and brought it out to the guys, and one at a time they all walked over to the stump we used as a table and poured it into their thermoses while we stayed back. I had to make two more trips with more fresh coffee to cover everyone; in the dark it had been hard to tell how many people were working stretched out along the driveway. The clearing crew itself had to be thirty people, and a tired but thankful Williams said the gravel grading and levelling crew was probably just as big.

"I'm sure we'll see you around," Williams called as the workers started packing up their equipment and prepping their heavier machinery for transport. "Supposed to be lots more work to do up here, yeah?"

"Guess so," I called back. "Where are you guys headed now?"

"They set us up in a motel about 20 minutes south. We've got guys on the crew from all over; they recruited all of us to fly out for this work, all expenses paid. Gotta tell you, it felt like hitting the lottery after sitting around in quarantine with my savings siphoning away."

They left behind stacks of logs and stumps along the side of the now widened driveway area, and soon Leo and I were prepping a whole new serving of coffee as the morning wore on and the grading crew made its way up my old driveway. The guys on that crew were a little more hesitant to chat since they felt like they were running behind schedule, but they were happy enough to take the hot coffee after a whole night of work.

It was around noon when one of the grading crew came up and knocked on the front door of the house. I'd been busy cleaning out the attic; one of those jobs I'd always had on my list of things to do around the property but never got around to. If there was anything up there worth saving, I hadn't found it yet, but it was worth the look. I came down to the front door covered in dust.

The guy took one look at me from where he'd backed to 'social distance' and started laughing. I took one look at him, covered in gravel dust with rings of sweat from where he'd taken off his hard hat, and laughed right back.

"Sir," he finally said after a minute, "We just thought you should know that the crew down at the far end of the road said someone in a green pickup truck drove by real slow a few times. The third time they pulled over and asked what was going on, but the boys down there followed orders and didn't tell him anything, so he peeled out. Just figured we'd let you know."

"I appreciate that," I said, and sighed in the way that only old family history could make me sigh. Deep, long and aggravated. "And I think I know who it probably was. Thanks for letting me know."

He nodded and went back to work. I didn't even think to ask what all was going on down at the end of the new road they had installed until he was already at the other end of the yard.

"What's up?" Leo asked when I went to join him in the barn.

"One of the crew guys said they saw a green pickup doing drive-buys."

"Hah! Well, I guess that's not going to be your problem anymore, is it?" Leo laughed.

I smirked. "Not legally. I'm sure I'm still going to be on Kara's shit-list and get a fucking earful though."

I ended up spending the early afternoon helping Leo pack up a bunch of his woodworking equipment. The smaller stuff was fairly easy, but he needed the extra body for some of the larger presses and table-mounted saws. It felt like we'd barely made a dent when the double-honk of a car broke our concentration.

We both headed around the side of the barn to find Erica getting out of the passenger seat of a black town car that had eaten a whole lot of the fresh gravel dust and now looked like someone had dusted it with flour. Sour-puss Agent Maggie was getting out of the driver's seat.

"Hey, sis, how was it?" Leo asked.

"Umm-Hmm," Erica said, shaking her head and holding up a finger to keep him from hugging her. "I need to talk to both of you inside." She had nervous energy going on, bouncing her weight on one leg and chewing on the corner of her lower lip. "Give me twenty; no, give me thirty minutes."

"Is everything alright?" I asked. Erica was already moving quickly into the house. She'd had a look on her face like she was sick, and flushed with a fever or something. I turned to Agent Maggie. "Did something happen? She didn't catch the virus, did she?"

"No," sour-puss said, that permanent sneer never breaking. "She knows everything she needs to, and needs to talk. Just do what she says."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Leo had followed Erica inside to make sure she was Okay.

"Look, prick. Your little 'send her to the car' thing yesterday made me look bad, and now I'm stuck as a glorified cab driver while my boss and my partner are off to another shitty corner of the country like this one to bribe someone else into handing over their property to the government. Just fuck off inside and enjoy your new fucking world, you Mamoa-wannabe jerk." She got back in her car and slammed the door closed, then started to peel away and spin the car around before slamming the breaks and rolling down the window. "I'll be back again in a few hours with Lacosta's partner. He needs to be here waiting."

"What?" I asked.

She just flashed me her middle finger as she drove away.

God damn woman, I sighed, watching her kick up dust and loose stones as she drove way too fast down the brand new gravel road. I shook my head and went inside.

Erica was already upstairs and I could hear the shower running. Leo just shook his head and shrugged, "She wouldn't say anything. Just muttered about needing to get ready for something."

"This is weird," I said. "I'm really fucking hoping this whole thing isn't going to blow up in our faces."

"If it is, we might as well take it head on. Too late to do anything else," Leo said.

"That's too fucking true, my friend," I said.

Thirty-five minutes later Erica, dressed in a pair of her tight jeans with all the holes 'stylishly' cut into them down the legs and a black Metallica hoodie, strutted down the stairs and immediately began pacing and fidgeting with the strings of her sweater hood. She had done her full makeup, and seeing her like that was almost as shocking as the first time she'd gone without it; it had been a month since she had bothered with makeup at all, since even when she went out on grocery runs she was entirely covered up.

"Sit," she demanded when we joined her in the living room, pointing me to my usual chair and Leo to the couch. He furrowed his brow as he watched his sister's nervous energy, but I wasn't sure it was because he was worried or didn't like her ordering him around. Their whole twin thing had always been more bouncing off each other than working in parallel.

"Alright, alright," I said, hands up as I went to sit. "What's going on, E?"

She stopped pacing and looked at both of us, transferring her energy into tapping her foot. I'd only ever seen her like this once before, right before we'd had our big group conversation about her staying indefinitely through the quarantine. Later, she'd elaborated to me a little bit more as to why she'd been so nervous; beyond the pandemic dangers, and feeling alone if she left, Erica had been chipping in for groceries with us, but that was it; the woman couldn't work during the pandemic, and tattooing hadn't exactly fueled her savings accounts. Everything all piling on at once had turned her into a nervous wreck, the opposite of her usual self. So what was doing this to her now?

"Erica," Leo said, snapping her out of the train of thought she'd lost herself in staring at me. Her gaze was intense, only added to by her sexy post-punk look. It was like she'd erected a wall of armor around herself, or was taking on a persona that she'd let drop.

"Right, sorry, I'm just really fucking distracted," she said. "Look, there's no way to say this easily without sounding sort of crazy at first, Okay? So I'm just going to say it, and you both need to listen cause I'm only explaining it once, alright?"

Leo and I both nodded.

"Alright, so the vaccine isn't just like, a shot. Well, it is for women. I got it this morning, and I'm something like 97% immune to the virus. But for men it isn't a shot. I did that information session and they showed us a bunch of research I only half-understood thanks to my AP bio classes back in high school, but I definitely got the video. The vaccine is pretty much lethal for men, and it has some weird side effects for women. They couldn't remove those aspects, so they modified it in other ways to try and adjust."

"So how are we supposed to get vaccinated?" Leo asked.

Erica licked her lips, and I realized she was sweating slightly. She glared at her brother, then looked at me and her eyes softened, then hardened, and I couldn't tell if she was angry at me or what. Then she glared back at her brother again. "They basically turned the vaccine into an STD, and it's the only way for men to get vaccinated. It's not permanent and needs frequent upkeep in both men and women, and it turns women fucking horny as hell if they go without for too long."

"I'm sorry, what!?" Leo burst out. "And you took the shot?"

"Just shut up, Leo!" Erica tried to shout him down. "I heard all the evidence, I weighed my options, and I decided this was the best thing to do. The whole tier system thing? I did the same questionnaire as you guys did, and they gave me a list of good matches. People I could go become a partner of. Like, sexually, and maybe romantically. We'd live together in quarantine, screw each other into immunity, and be that way for the foreseeable future until they fix this vaccine."

"That's so fucked up," I said. "They wanted you to just shack up with someone you didn't know?"

"Yeah, except someone I did know was on my list," she said.

"Who?" Leo asked. "Are you moving back to Portland?"

Erica turned from her brother and looked right at me.

"Oh, no," Leo said. "No, no, no. You two are not becoming fuck buddies. We discussed this, Erica!"

"Wait, what?" I said. "You discussed,”

"Not important!" Leo shouted. "It's not important. It's not happening."

"It's too late, Leo," Erica said. Then she turned to me. "At least, it is if you're into it. Look, Harrison, you can say no. I can't make you do this. What’s-her-name will come back and get me, and I'll pick someone else on that list they gave me, and I'll go stay with them wherever they are. No hard feelings, you've done so much for me already that I can't even start to say thank you properly. But fuck I really want to fuck you. I've been getting off thinking about you almost exclusively for weeks, and the only reason I never asked you out in all these years is because I promised Leo back in high school I wouldn't ever date his friends."

"And this is better?!" Leo squawked.

"Shut up, Leo!" Erica shouted back at him.

"You're not seriously considering this, are you?" Leo asked me. "You can't; Why; Come on, dude. She's my twin sister, it would be like... ugh!" He threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

I rubbed my face with both hands and took in a deep breath before looking back at the siblings. "Alright," I said slowly. "First off, Erica, is this the vaccine talking? Just try and focus, cause this sounds an awful lot like some crazy date-rape drug and not a vaccine."

"God, fuck. Why do men have to make things so hard?" she said. "I've wanted to fuck you for ages, Harrison. You being on my compatibility list at the vaccine center just made the decision fucking convenient instead of a fantasy."

I turned to Leo. "Would you rather it be me, or some freak you know nothing about?"

"I'd rather it be no one!" Leo said.

"That's not an option anymore," Erica growled. "I've already got the shot. I'm just going to get hornier and hornier until I fucking snap, Leo. Then I'll fuck anything that fucking moves, that's the way it works. I need to bond with someone or I'll lose my goddamn mind. There are still a few days before I apparently go full-on bitch-in-heat feral, but I'm already feeling an itch all over and the only thing that I know, I know, is going to relieve that itch is cock."

"Jaysus," I muttered, sitting back.

Erica turned back to me, hugging herself. "Please, Harrison? Just; just tell me yes or no. Standing here without an answer is killing me, cause I don't know if I need to fight the feeling or I can give in."

"I; Erica, you are absolutely gorgeous. I always assumed you weren't interested in me, or just wanted a friend. Honestly, I sort of thought you were gay with the comments you make about the women you work on in your shop. You're always talking about perky tits and firm asses and stuff like that," I said.

"I'm Bi," she clarified. "And I work with people's bodies all day. I know what's hot and what's not for me, and Harri, you've fucking revved my engine since that first weekend Leo introduced us. I just want to rub my body all over,”

"Erica!" Leo interrupted her.

"Sorry, sorry, too much," she said. "I told you, this fucking vaccine is damn distracting right now. I need some relief here."

"I'll do it," I said. "I just; this feels like the drug or whatever talking, Erica. Are you absolutely sure?"

She was on me, straddling my lap and pressing her mouth to mine. Erica grabbed my head in her hands as she started forcefully making out with me, muttering 'Thank you' over and over into my lips. Her tongue pushed against mine, and then she grabbed my hands with hers and pulled them around to grab her ass. It was wonderfully firm, with a good amount of muscle that kept it looking full even if it wasn't particularly plump.

"At least go get a room," Leo growled loudly.

I pushed Erica back far enough that we could look each other in the eyes. Hers were bright, lucid, and silently pleading with me in a way that made her seem smaller and more vulnerable than the tough chick I'd come to know.

"Let's go upstairs," I said to her.

"I didn't mean literally get a room, right now," Leo said. "We need to talk this over! You made me a promise, Erica."

"Shut up, Leo," Erica said. "I'll make it up to you, this isn't the end of the world. Probably. I think." She grabbed my hand, scrambled out of my lap and started pulling me up out of my chair.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" Leo asked. "How am I getting vaccinated?"

"Whenever they find someone who actually wants to fuck you, dorkus," Erica told her brother.

"That lady agent said she'd be back in a few hours with your 'partner,'" I told him as I passed by, still getting pulled by Erica towards the stairs. "I didn't know what she meant at the time, but I guess;?"

"Is she hot?" Leo asked me. I was already getting pulled up the stairs.

"How am I supposed to know?" I yelled down to him.

It's funny how energy can rise and fall at the drop of a hat. Erica pulled me into the guest bedroom she'd been using as her bedroom, slammed the door shut and turned to me; and stopped.

She bit her lip, one leg bouncing at the knee as she shifted her weight.

"Second thoughts?" I asked.

"No, no," Erica said, shaking her head. "Definitely not. God, fuck, no. I didn't want to get into it in front of Leo like that, but you're also just being so you that I feel like I need to explain myself more."

"So tell me," I said, sitting down on the bed.

Erica started pacing again but stopped after one back-and-forth. "Okay, look. What I said down there is true. I would have asked you out years ago, after that first time we met at Burleson’s when Leo brought you around."

"The pub around the corner from your shop? That wasn't the first time we met," I said.

"I know," she replied. "That was when you were moving into Leo's apartment. We passed each other in the building lobby and I saw you glance at my tits. I thought you were just another fuckboy asshole."

"Wait, I don't remember that," I said. "Why didn't you ever tell me that happened? I thought the first time was when you gave Leo the fish tattoo on his side."

"That's the first time we actually spoke," Erica said. "And you had an uphill fucking battle to try and change my mind about my first impression of you. You only made it far enough that I didn't bitch about Leo bringing you to the pub a couple nights later. That was when I got to actually focus on talking to you instead of chatting while I was at work. I also remember being super fucking pissed at Leo that night, because I asked him if I could go back on our deal from high school and hook up with you, and he said no."

"Okay, whoa; we could have been having sex for seven years and you held to an agreement you made in high school? What was this fucking thing, a treaty ratified by the Pope?"

Erica snorted a laugh and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "No, it was stupid. And honestly, looking back, we probably would have had a lot better of a time if he and I had agreed on the opposite. But Leo was a jock, and I was a scene girl, and we made an agreement that we didn't want each other messing with our friend groups. So no dating, no crushing, no nothing if the other twin claimed them first. We wanted to guard what we had, instead of helping each other out."

I huffed a soft laugh. "Sounds like teenage bullshit to me."

"Yeah, well, I'll just claim twin loyalty, Okay?" Erica said. "But that's not the really fucked up thing about this. When you invited me down from the city to stay with you guys, Leo and I had a separate talk. Harrison, my brother fucking loves you. Not like in a sexual way, but you're the best friend he's ever had. Period. No doubt about it. And he may not have ever said it to you but he was really worried that I would screw up the dynamic you guys have; and now here I am doing it." Erica squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her face to the ceiling. "Shit, maybe this was a bad idea after all. Fuck, he's never going to forgive me, I,”

"Hey, hey," I said, standing and pulling her into a hug. Erica was a tall woman, easily 5'9 or a bit more, but I still towered over her with my 6'6". She clung to the sides of my shirt instead of hugging back, but buried her face into my chest. "I didn't know any of this, E. But we're all adults, we can handle this better than making promises we don't want to keep."

"I know," she mumbled into my shirt, and slowly let go of my sides and slid her arms around until she was hugging me back.

"You should know that I would have asked you out in a second if I thought you were interested," I said. "I'm still not exactly comfortable with the big picture on all of this, but this right here? I will definitely take this silver lining."

"God, you make me so hot, Harrison," Erica said, and she looked up into my eyes.

I kissed her as we held each other. Her considerable chest was pressing against my sternum, and as she shifted her arms up to wrap them around my neck and pull me closer to her, I lowered mine until I hooked my fingers into the belt loops of her jeans.

We held that for a while, eyes closed and enjoying the feeling like we were teenagers again. God, we're both over thirty, I laughed in my head. We should be a lot better at this by now.

"I want you," Erica said once our lips finally separated. "Really."

I stared down into her face from closer than I ever had before today. Life and stress showed just a touch of wear on her; even in the last seven years I'd known Erica, she'd developed the soft start of crow's feet at the corners of her eyes. She didn't have that bouncy sheen of youth that teens and twenty-somethings seemed to exude. Erica was all woman, full figured and usually so wonderfully sure of herself. I kissed her on the forehead and took her hands in mine, then sat back on the bed.

"I want you, too," I said. "If we're going to do this though, I want you to tell me what you want."

"I just told you,” Erica said, a little confused.

"No, I mean like... kinks or whatever. That questionnaire threw me for a bit of a loop, but if we 'matched' or whatever they're calling it, I want to know what you want."

Erica took a breath and then bit her lower lip as she furrowed her brow and looked at me. She started to speak once, then hesitated. She ended up stepping forward and straddling my waist, pressing her body against me as she sat with her legs outside of mine, knees on the bed. One firm, but short, kiss later and she was ready to talk. "I want someone who can love me," she said, "but fucks me like they don't. Don't treat me like I'm going to break, don't be shy about your own wants, and for fuck's sake just ask before you try to stick something in my ass."

I snorted and chuckled. "Noted," I said. I kissed her back now, firm and short. "Anything else? Anything more specific?"

"Right now?" she asked. "Right now my panties are fucking soaked from constantly thinking about crawling all over you ever since I got my shot. I want to be yours in a way I've never felt before, and I think that is the vaccine talking even if I agree with it. I'm so horny I want to do anything you want, Harri. I want you to fucking take me, make me yours. I know you've wanted me." She was panting lightly now, getting that hungry look in her eye. I could feel her breath on the tip of my nose, she was so close. "God, Harri. Do you know what I've been imagining? For two months, I've been daydreaming what it would be like to come out of the shower and stop at your door in just a towel, then pretend to accidentally let it drop. And you finally see my tits, and you're just overwhelmed and you take me. Will you do that, Harri? If I show you my tits will you lose control?"

"I'm already about to lose my mind, E," I said.

"Good," she said. She grabbed the bottom of her sweater and started pulling it over her head, and in one swift move and no delay, all at once, she was topless. She hadn't been wearing anything underneath, no undershirt or bra, and her big pale tits burst out from the bottom of the rising sweater. They were large, maybe even more than I had expected, weighty and wobbling delightfully with every move she made. Her areolas were pale pink, slightly oval from top to bottom, and her nipples were hard and stubby little nubs.

"Oh, gawd," I groaned, releasing her waist and running my hands up her bare sides until I was cupping each heavy tit from underneath. "You're amazing. They're amazing." I leaned forward and kissed her, palming both tits from below and slowly massaging them.

"Hmm, Harri," Erica groaned my name as I broke the kiss and lowered my lips, kissing down her neck to her chest, then lower into her cleavage. She arched her back and thrust out her chest to meet me, and I spent a long moment just tasting her before pushing lower. Her skin was warm and I wrapped my arms around her bare back, pressing my hands flat against her skin and pulling her in as my lips finally found the lower curve of her tit. Erica moaned again, this time into my ear, as I got my lips around one of her areolas and tongued her nipple. Her hair was falling around both of us, dancing against my ears.

I swapped tits, and she ran her fingers through my hair with one hand while the other dug down between us and began pawing at my waist, trying to find the button and fly for my jeans. I slid one of my own hands down her smooth back and into the back of her jeans, palming her ass through the thin, lacey panties I could feel she was wearing.

"Take me," Erica whispered. "God, Harri. I'm yours. Just take me."

I released her tit from my lips and raised them, meeting her in a kiss that lasted for a while. She gave up on my zipper and began pulling at my shirt. Our kiss stopped just long enough for her to pull my shirt over my head, and then we were back together again, this time her bare chest pressed against mine, sharing warmth back and forth.

Wanting to go further, and feeling the strain of pressure in my pants as my hard-on was trapped, I rolled us over on the bed so she was under me, her back to the sheets. I kissed the end of her nose, then her lips again, then down to her chin, then her upper chest. As I worked my way down her body, I got the button of her jeans undone, and as my lips reached the valley between her tits again and kissed the inner sides of those hills she watched me with dreamy eyes. I unzipped her pants.

Sliding to kneel on the floor in front of her, between her legs as she lay half on the bed, I kissed down the soft swell of her stomach, flicked my tongue around her belly button, and then travelled lower. She raised her hips, letting me slowly pull her tight jeans from her waist and down over her ass. Her panties came partway down her hips as well to reveal a fuzzy patch of light brown hair trimmed neatly into a teardrop, and just a few dots where I could tell there was some light razor burn from her shaving recently.

"I had to rush,” Erica started, but I cut her off by burying my face into her muff. "Oh! Fuck, Harri. Fuck, usually I'm waxed smooth. I'm usually so much more tidy down there."

"It's fine," I said, pulling away. She'd been right before, she was absolutely sodden and some of it had gotten up into her pubic hair. I'd gotten a lungful of her scent, horny as hell. "It's perfect. I'm just lucky to,”

Now it was her turn to cut me off. "No! Don't you fucking finish that sentence," Erica said. She sat up and took my head in her hands. "Harri, I'm lucky, not you. God, you still don't get it. You're a fucking catch, Harri. You're tall, dark and handsome, you've got a heart of god damned gold, a body like a champion boxer, and fuck, if what I felt in your pants is real then I'm going to hate myself for not doing this years ago." She hungrily kissed me before I could respond, and I knew she could taste herself on my lips. She practically growled in heat before separating. "Not to mention all your other great qualities. So don't you play fucking shy with me, don't try and be less than you are when you're in my bed. Humility isn't sexy in here, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said, raising my hands from her thighs in surrender.

"Now get naked so I can see that Monster can in your pants," she said.

We both scrambled to strip the rest of our clothes off. It took me less time than her despite her head start since she had to peel the tight jeans off of her lower legs. I helped in the end, kissing down her thighs and legs. I snorted as we finally got her pants off and she thrust her panties down her hips. They actually went splat against the hardwood of the floor. Before she could say anything I rose up and kissed her, slowly pushing her back to lay on the bed again. I palmed both of her big tits and she groped blindly until she wrapped a hand around my cock. She squeezed lightly, feeling around it, and I pulled in a breath through my nose as her fingers danced around my head.

"Fuck, it's real," she whispered as our kiss parted. "God, you're going to ruin me. I'm going to need some new dildos to keep up."

I rose from her, looking down at her hand; now hands; feeling around my cock. "Okay, get real."

"Big enough," Erica said. "More than big enough." She tried to wriggle herself lower on the bed, between my legs, clearly intending to start a blowjob.

"No, no, no," I said, pulling her back up with a hand under each of her armpits. She actually whined like a dog as she furrowed her brow and pouted, making me laugh. "I started something I intend to finish."

With that, I quickly shifted my weight and maneuvered us both until I was between her spread legs, staring down at her glistening twat. Her outer lips and puffy vulva were bare, swollen and slick with the arousal that had been plaguing her, and her clit was a hard little beacon asking for attention while her inner labia were slightly spread, begging for penetration.

I kissed her left inner thigh, then got closer and kissed her right inner thigh.

"Harri," she whined.

I kissed her left inner thigh again, right in the crook of her leg.

"Harri!"

I looked up at her from over her mound and between her tits, which were large enough that when she lay on her back they fell heavily off to the side.

"Yes?" I asked with a smirk.

"Harri, please?" she asked.

"As you wish," I said, quoting one of our shared favorite movies. Then I stuck out my tongue like a flat paddle and gave her a long, firm swipe up one lip, probed against her clit, and then down the other lip before diving in fully.

"Fuck! Harri, fuck!" Erica shouted. She was wet, and the taste of her was quickly all over my face as Erica writhed under my lips and tongue.

I wrapped my arms over her legs to keep them down and spread, my hands up on her hips holding her tightly. She was tangy and delicious. The feel of her soft labia between my lips, running my tongue along the puffy folds, was like heaven when joined with the delighted and overwhelmed squeals and gulps of air she was losing.

"Fuck, fuck," Erica groaned. "That's good like that. Oh fucksticks, yeah, use your tongue like that. Just. Like. Thah" She came, faster than I think I had ever had a woman come before. One moment she was writhing, the next she went shock still, her entire body tensing, then releasing, then tensing again, as three distinct waves of pleasure ran through her. "Eeh," she exhaled, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath.

I grinned at her from between her legs as she recovered. It took a moment, but not too long, for her eyes to focus on me again.

"Cock," she said.

"Now that's not a very nice thing to call me,” I started to joke, but she made grabby gestures with both hands.

"No, bring your cock up here," Erica said. "God, I want to taste it so badly. Feed me your cock, Harri. I want to fucking choke on it."

She urged me on, pulling me up to sit straddling her chest as she remained laying on the bed. My knees were tucked up under her armpits, and with just a tilt of her head, she could bring my cock within reach of her mouth when I sat up. Erica took a hold of it with one hand, sliding her fingers up and down the length. I was already leaking a spot of precum, so her thin feminine fingers danced slick and smooth as she applied just the right amount of pressure.

Erica looked up, her grey eyes desperate and sincere as she jacked off my cock and licked her lips. "You deserve this," she said suddenly, and squeezed my cock. "You're a good man, Harrison."

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Just don't freak out, Okay?" she asked.

"E; god, you're good at that -Erica, are you alright?" I stammered.

"I will be," she said. "Just remember I wanted this, yeah?"

My mind was entirely split between the pleasure of her touch and the thoughts and promises she'd been saying since we'd gotten up to her room. Both were clashing with my more rational brain trying desperately to make sense of the situation. Why was she talking this way? This wasn't usual pillow talk. This wasn't normal. Nothing about this situation was normal.

Erica tugged my cock down slightly, craned her neck up just a bit, and slid the head of my cock between her wonderful lips and ran her tongue across the tip. I involuntarily breathed in a sharp breath through my nose and closed my eyes at the delightful and almost overstimulating feeling.

She came. Hard.

Harder than when I had been eating her out. Erica started her orgasm by trying to curl inward, her legs pulling up and her arms squeezing my thighs as they straddled her chest, and her chin tucking down. She involuntarily tried to curl into a ball, which happened to slide my cock deeper into her mouth until I was brushing the back of her throat. I felt her entire mouth jolt as she gagged, then her body curling reversed directions and she flung her head back onto the bed, releasing my cock entirely. Her limbs shot out and she grabbed the sheets tightly between her fingers, while her legs pointed straight all the way down to her toes, then started shaking.

"Fuck!" she screamed. "Gawd, fuck, damn!" she cried, her neck muscles clenching tight. She arched her back and her tits, sat slightly under me from my position straddling her chest, pressed up and I could feel her nipples, as hard as I imagined they could get, rubbing against my ass.

All at once she collapsed, her body entirely loose. Then she jolted like she was having a tiny seizure. It happened three more times before she was still long enough to think her massive orgasm had finished.

"E?" I asked, taking her cheek in the palm of my hand. "Erica?"

I slid down in my positioning over her and leaned down to make sure she was alright. Erica was looking at me through half-closed, dreamy eyes and her lips twisted into a big grin. "Hey, babe," she hummed pleasantly.

"Hey yourself," I said. "What the hell was that?"

"Hmm," she hummed again. "The vaccine people warned me that would probably happen. It's the first step of the bonding process, and it comes with the best damn orgasm I've ever had."

A couple of things she said before clicked into place. Our conversations had been moving so quickly that I hadn't had a chance to get clarity on some of it yet. "The vaccine gave you an orgasm? And what does bonding mean?"

Erica licked her lips and craned her neck up, so I leaned down more and kissed her. What was I going to do, deny the naked woman?

She broke the kiss after a bit, and she used her hands to squish her heavy tits upwards and maneuvered my cock in between them while she kept her eyes on my face. "Well, you gave me the orgasm, Harri. The vaccine just facilitated it." She started slowly jacking me off with her tits, and my eyes had a hard time staying focused on her face rather than sliding lower to the soft, pillowy spectacle occurring around my crotch. "Part of the whole Vaccine-as-STD is that once we start the mutual immunization, we can't stop it. Can't swap partners. I don't know if it was a fluke or they designed it or what, but your cum; even your pre-cum; is an aphrodisiac for me now that I've tasted it, and my body is going to crave it more."

"Fuck," she suddenly groaned, writhing underneath me as her tits wobbled along my shaft. "I thought I was fucking horny before, but this? God, now that I've had a taste, I want you inside me so damn bad."

The consequences of what she was telling me about the vaccine seemed... radical wasn't the right word. Obscenely lewd? Out of this world? Pornographic?

The thing was, I was having a really hard time thinking through anything clearly.

"This feels amazing," I grunted, getting jacked off between two of the best tits I'd ever seen.

"Oh yeah?" Erica hummed, smiling to herself. "Do my tits feel good? Do you like it when I do all the work, or would you prefer to do some of it?" She pushed her tits together firmly but stopped her own motions. "Come on. Fuck me. Fuck my tits, Harri."

I thrust my hips, and my cock sliding through her cleavage was less about the feeling and more about the visual. It made me feel powerful, like an absolute king. Like Erica would do absolutely anything for me.

"Magic," I muttered to myself as I thrust between those two amazing tits.

"What?" Erica asked.

"Nothing, I; You're amazing. This feels God damned magical."

Erica grinned and shifted upwards, pressing her chest out a little more and squeezing her tits together more tightly. "Well, these magic tits are all yours. Only yours, from now on. If you want to stare at them, just tell me and I'll go topless. Or if you want to play with them, suck on them? Just grab me. You can have them whenever, Harrison. They're yours now. I'm yours. I'll tattoo your name on my chest if you want, so everyone else knows it."

"Please don't," I laughed. "The last thing I want is for you to ruin this amazing view with my name on you."

Erica was watching me hungrily as I fucked her tits. "So no tattoo? I want to do something to commemorate this when I can."

I shook my head. "No, don't tattoo your chest. God, I'm so happy you don't have those dumb heart tattoo's on your nipples some of the alt girls in porn have. It looks terrible."

"Kids do dumb shit sometimes," Erica groaned. "What about if I pierce my nipples? Studs, or rings?"

I watched her tits jostle with my thrusts for a moment, trying to picture them. "Studs," I finally said, slowing my thrusting. "Silver barbells."

"Done," she gasped. "As soon as I can. But babe, please. Whenever you're ready, I want to feel you inside me so fucking bad.."

I pulled my cock from her tits and moved upwards, sliding it towards her mouth again. She took it in without hesitation, sucking hard before bobbing her head a little awkwardly and really working the shaft with her lips while her tongue darted around the head. No massive orgasm this time, though she seemed to really be enjoying herself. I pulled away again and she gasped for air with a sexy quaver.

"That was a one-time thing," she said, reading the look on my face. "A kick start to the whole process. I'll have another one, bigger if the doctors are right, when you come inside me. Don't worry, my birth control is still effective."

I kissed her, and she moaned wordlessly into my mouth. My hands mauled her beautiful tits while hers ran down my body and groped at my cock again.

Erica changed our position. She moved around the bed, grabbing a pillow and sitting her ass on it, raising her hips slightly, before laying back and spreading her legs. She slowly ran the fingers of both her hands up and down her twat lips as she stared lasers at me. "Harrison," she said with a husky lilt. "If you won't let me get a tattoo with your name on me, you're going to need to come over here and fuck your name into me."

I'd always liked Erica. I'd even lusted after her, and in the last couple of months I'd come to love her like family; maybe like a hot favorite cousin or something. Never had I imagined her saying something like that. Not to me, not to anyone. She was an independent, strong woman. She was fierce, and steadfast, and could handle her shit.

"Own me," she said, teasing and taunting me as I knee-walked down the bed and between her legs. "Take my cunt. It's yours now, just like my tits. As soon as you slip inside, it belongs to you whenever you want. Just like my ass, whenever you want it, too. But right now I really need you to take me."

She put one leg up over my shoulder, her smooth tattooed calf pressed against my cheek, while she pulled her other leg back towards her chest, bent at the knee, opening herself up to me completely.

I rubbed the head of my cock against her, prodding her folds, then ground the underside against her clit as I humped against her for two thrusts. Leaning forward, bending her raised leg with me, I got my face closer to hers. "This is what you want, E? For me to do this?"

"God, yes," she groaned.

"I might want it a lot. I might want you all the time," I said.

"Promises, promises," she sighed, then bit her lower lip.

"Last time," I said. "Tell me what you want."

"I want you, Harri," she said. "I'm yours."

I slid inside her.

Erica's body quaked at my entry. She was wet and slick, but she hadn't been stretched out at all so her tensed body immediately started squeezing against my invasion, milking my cock as she had a mini orgasm right then and there. She exhaled heavily after I half-thrust my way to balls deep in her, and palmed her tits as she rolled her neck and then opened her eyes to look up at me fresh.

"You're mine, and I'm yours," I told her.

"Then fuck me like you own me," she said.

We started slow, but built up a rhythm quickly. We were still learning each other, and I managed to find a couple of tickle spots on her that I hadn't been expecting as I ran my hands across her body. The slap-slap of her thighs against mine was a little staggered, speeding up and slowing down. But throughout, she kept her eyes open in that half-dream state, panting through pursed lips as she writhed her hips and torso, fucking back at me.

"Fuck me, fuck me," she started to chant.

I stuck my thumb into her mouth and she sucked on it like a cock for a minute, before I pulled it away and strummed over her clit with it. Her body shook with another mini orgasm, but we kept pounding away. I buzzed her clit again, and then started a deeper massage motion on either side of it.

"Harri, baby," Erica panted. She didn't stop her movements, and neither did I.

"Yeah?" I asked. Slap-slap-slap-slap. I was picking up the pace bit by bit.

"Baby, I need you to come," she said. "You feel so good, stretching me out. You're an animal. Fuck, you're a beast! Everything I wanted. God, you're so fucking hot. I need you to come, Harri. I need it in me."

"Oh, fuck," I groaned.

"Do it," she said, then she pulled her leg from my shoulder and spread it wide and pulled me down by my shoulders until my chest was squishing her tits, and I was humping down into her as my chin rested on her shoulder. "Do it," she whispered into my ear. "Come inside me. It'll make me yours forever. Come, baby. Ugh, I'm so close, but I can't get there myself. Just come inside me."

"I love you," I said. I panicked for a moment; I didn't mean it. Not yet. Not in the way I thought she would take it. But it was so much more than 'I love this' or 'I love your body and what we're doing together.'

She laughed at the look on my face. "I know, I get it," she said. Then she quaked again, another precursor to an orgasm. "Harri, I need you to know, once I go off I'll probably be out for a while."

Slap slap slap-slap slap slap. I was fucking her in busts of three, my balls tapping against her ass cheeks.

"Just know you don't need to freak out, and I'll be Okay," she panted.

"I don't; oh, fuckballs," I started, then changed to a groan. "I'm close."

Erica kissed my ear, then whispered softly, "I love you, too."

I came. Seven heavy spurts, more than I may have ever come in my life to that point. I could feel it streaming through my cock and slamming into Erica. I could also feel her squeeze right back in a crushing grip. I thrust through both of our orgasms, pumping myself as deeply as I could into her. And I blacked out.

To be continued, Based on a post by Break The Bar for Literotica.