Page 13

Chapter Thirteen

T he days pass much quicker now that I have someone to spend time with. Timble isn’t shy at all, which is perfect for me. She’s funny and bright, and even makes a few dirty jokes. She lives alone, but that’s by choice.

“I’m just not interested,” she says with a shrug when I ask whether she’s considered marriage herself. “I like having my space, and I don’t really need, you know…” She winks. “Sex isn’t something I care about, and I’ve never been much of a romantic, either.”

In this way, we are polar opposites, and it’s fascinating. She’s dated a few times, but finds she prefers spending her time in the company of close friends. One day, we meet up for coffee with one of these friends: a very tall, very clawed harpy with a loud voice. She’s a little much for me, but it’s clear Timble adores her, and I love how dedicated the troll is to those she cares about.

But as one week turns into two, and I still can’t be with Egorr in the way I want, my mood takes a turn. Giving him blowjobs every day, and getting eaten out in return, sates a need in me, sure—but it doesn’t take care of all of them, and I’ve come to detest sitting in the warm water every day just waiting to heal. I try to keep smiling when Egorr is home, but even I can’t keep the disappointment off my face when we agree that we shouldn’t try out the forging class yet. It’ll be too strenuous an activity.

“I’m sorry,” Egorr says, bending down low to look into my eyes as they get wet with tears. “I know it’s hard.” He hugs me tight, but I still feel like he deserves more than I can give him.

Timble has opened up to me a lot since we started spending time together, but I’m still hesitant to tell anyone about my injury. Eventually, though, she notices I haven’t spoken much on our walk.

“Are you all right?” Timble asks in that low, soothing voice of hers. “Usually you’re all energy.”

I bite the inside of my mouth. “I’m fine. Just tired, I guess.”

We cross the street, heading toward the park, while Timble crosses her arms behind her back and hums.

“You know, if there’s something you want to talk about, you can talk about it with me.”

I think it’s the first time I’ve heard her inner therapist peek out.

“Talking won’t help,” I say with a sigh. “I just have to wait. And I hate waiting.”

“What are you waiting for?”

I take a deep breath, because I’ve been dreading this. “I’m… waiting until Egorr and I can try having sex again.”

Timble lowers her head to peer into my face. “Try again? Wait, back up. What do you mean?”

I knew this was coming, and now I have no choice but to tell her the whole story.

Keeping back the gory details, I give an overview—how I rushed us into it, then Egorr took me to the doctor, and now there’s still two or more weeks to go until I’m cleared for any funny business.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Maddie.” Timble shoots me a sympathetic look. “That sounds difficult. And painful, too.”

I shrug. “It’s not as bad now as it was at first. I think the stupid warm water baths are working.” As much as I hate to admit it. “But it sucks that it’s stalled everything. We were doing so well!” I kick a rock.

“What do you mean? Are you and Egorr not doing well now?” Timble frowns. “I would have expected better of him.”

“No, no.” I wave my hands to dispel whatever bad thing she’s thinking. “I think I’m more upset about it than he is.”

Timble looks relieved. “Egorr’s a good ogre.”

“He really is.” I sigh. “Which is why this blows so much. I want to show him how much I like him, but I can’t.” My face heats as I add, “Outside of giving him tons of blowjobs, I guess.”

I love Timble’s gravelly laugh. “I imagine he gets the picture.”

But does he? No matter how much Egorr assures me that he likes me, that he cares about me with or without sex, I still wonder. I wonder if it’s enough for him, if he’s going to lose interest before I’m better again.

And even then…

“Maddie?” Timble’s giving me a concerned look as we pass under the tree branches, which are now almost bare. The sky is clear but it’s chilly out, and I’m glad I brought my thicker coat today.

“It’s just that, you know, even when I do heal, we’re just going to have the same problem again. Isn’t that going to be awkward?” I bunch up my shoulders, trying to keep warm. “I guess I haven’t really gotten over what happened at the pub.”

Egorr wouldn’t have this problem with that ogress we met.

“The pub?” Timble shakes her head. “What happened at the pub?”

I’m still embarrassed by how irrationally I behaved over something so silly, how I put myself in danger and then got so angry at Egorr.

“It’s okay,” Timble says. “You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready.”

I shake my head. “It’s not that. I was just… stupid. And I don’t like to think about it.” And yet I can’t stop thinking about it. I still worry that one day, Egorr is going to change his mind and send me home, and the likelihood of that happening feels like it’s increasing every day that I’m still injured.

Timble frowns and lets out a hmph . “Stupid? I don’t like it when you’re mean to yourself, Maddie. You’re my friend, and nobody gets to be mean to my friends.”

I laugh because it’s a very Timble thing to say.

“But it’s true. I got really jealous of this ogress who was hitting on Egorr, and that’s ugly.” I’m ashamed of myself and how possessive I felt over Egorr. I regret that I ran off.

Timble just smiles at me. “You’re in a new relationship, so give yourself some grace. I think you don’t fully trust him yet, and that’s getting in the way.”

It hits me like a truck.

“Maybe I don’t.” I hate how it sounds. “But it’s not about him. It’s about me.”

But Timble just nods in understanding. “Trust is something that has to be built over time. It doesn’t appear by magic.” She offers me an encouraging smile. “And you and Egorr are building that together, right now. But trust is also a risk.” We stop where the path ends and becomes a city street again, then turn around and head back the way we came. “You were afraid of me when you first saw me. But you took a risk to come and say hello.”

That’s true. I had to believe she was telling me the truth when she said she knew Egorr. I decided to risk it.

“And now we trust each other more, right?” she asks.

I nod agreeably. I know Timble would never hurt me, and she would make sure no one else did, either.

“Maybe you and Egorr could do some trust building together while you’re healing, so when you’re ready, you’ll have a better foundation.”

“You want us to do trust falls?” I say, a little skeptically. “He’s too big.”

Timble snorts. “No. But there are lots of intimate ways to do it.” She waggles her eyebrows. “You could blindfold each other. Explore yourselves and one another in all kinds of new ways.”

The idea of blindfolds is like a key in a lock. I turn it, and the door opens, revealing an entire array of activities I’d never considered. I wonder what Egorr would do if I couldn’t see him. What would I do if he couldn’t see me?

“Do you want to go visit Dame Yemi?” Timble asks.

I blink at her. “Dame who?”

“It’s a store. They sell all sorts of things like that. You could probably find a dilator or a training kit there, too.”

My eyes go huge. “Are you talking about a sex store?”

She chuckles. “You could call it that. Maybe go with Egorr and browse. You might get some other ideas, too.”

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Yes. That’s what I want. It would be a fun adventure for us, and maybe it would add some excitement, too, while we’re waiting for me to heal.

I can’t wait to see Egorr’s face when I ask him.

* * *

As I expected, Egorr turns a dark, dark shade of green when I explain that Timble told me all about Dame Yemi—and I want to go check it out.

“Really?” he says hoarsely. “I’ve never been inside.”

“Well, now’s your chance!” I tackled him the moment he came in the door, and he hasn’t even had a chance to hang up his keys yet. “Can we go?”

“Sure, all right. We can get something to eat while we’re out. But first…” Egorr leans down and curls his hand around my back, his lips widening. “I want to greet you properly.”

I’ll never get tired of Egorr’s kisses. I run a hand up his tusk as he tantalizes my lips, then tugs me closer as our tongues test each other. Soon I’m letting out little noises against him as he crushes me to his body, cupping my ass. My toes leave the floor.

Finally, he sets me back down and pulls away, still blushing.

“I’m kind of excited,” Egorr says as we head out to the car. “I’ve always wondered what’s in there.”

It’s a pleasant drive to the city, and we stop at a burger joint on the way. Egorr has three, and even packs away some fries, too.

Dame Yemi’s is a shockingly pink building on a street corner in the city. We have to drive around a while to find a parking spot, then we walk toward it hand in hand. As usual, monsters who notice me stare as we walk by, surprised by the human in their midst.

The store has a bright facade with a glowing sign on it in curly-cue letters. A mannequin in full dominatrix attire stands in the window beside the door, and I pause to stare at it before we step inside.

There’s just as much color on the interior of Dame Yemi’s as there is black leather. If it’s not black, it’s rainbow, and I’m immediately enamored with everything. There are wigs, leather harnesses, collars and whips. I pause in the doorway, and I must be staring like a total tourist because somebody laughs behind the counter.

It’s a rather large cyclops wearing a leather vest and tight vinyl pants, which allow me a solid eyeful of his butt as he steps out from behind the counter.

“First time?” he asks with a wink.

I grin from ear to ear, but Egorr already looks somewhat mortified.

“Sure is,” I say, bouncing forward on my toes.

The cyclops spins an impulse buy stand covered in dildo-shaped keychains. “I don’t have much that’s human-sized… well, very little, actually. But what are you in the market for?”

“Blindfolds!” I answer immediately. “My therapist friend suggested them.”

The cyclops blinks. “Therapist?”

“That’s what we’re here for?” Egorr rubs his bald head. “I didn’t realize there was an agenda.”

I grab his arm and pull him into the shop. “It’s just one item on the agenda. The rest is whatever we want it to be.”

The cyclops snorts as he leads us around the counter toward the hangers of clothing on the wall. There are leather thongs covered in metal studs, bras and jockstraps. Just past them, the cyclops pauses at a rack of masks.

“Here you are.” He gestures at a row of blindfolds that come in all sorts of colors. “Your choice.”

I let out an ooh as I pick through the different colors. Part of me is leaning toward the traditional black, though, so I grab one and hold it up. “Got it.”

“I’ll take it up to the front for you,” the cyclops says, and I hand it over. He leans forward conspiratorially, so I lean forward, too. “Feel free to look around. Take your time. But be sure to check out the back room.” With another wink, he points off toward the rear of the store, then returns to the cash register to help the next monster who comes in.

I keep my eye on that back room as Egorr and I browse. The cyclops is right in that most everything is too big for me—but it’s not too big for Egorr. I size him up in his work shirt and slacks, imagining him with nothing on save for a leather jockstrap and a collar.

Yeah, I think I’d really, really like that.

Preparing my speech, I gesture to the row of various cups and speedos. But Egorr is already taking one off the rack, arching an eyebrow at me.

“First blindfolds, now these, hmm?” His lip pulls up on one side. “What do you have planned, little Maddie?”

I lick my lips. “Well, I thought it would be fun to try some new things.” I pull down one of the collars, too, and boldly hold it up to Egorr’s thick neck, as if I’m showing him in a mirror what he’d look like in it.

His good-natured grin turns knowing and smug as he takes the collar and the jockstrap, then leaves them both on the counter for the cyclops to pick up.

I’m still eyeing that back room, so I tug on Egorr’s shirt sleeve. “Can we go back there now?” I point toward the open doorway.

“Whatever you want.” He loops our arms together. “Let’s go explore.”