Page 12 of Nine Inch Nasty (Hemlock Academy #9)

Adam

“Oh my gods, Delaney. Shut the fuck up already and kiss me.” I yank Cory by the collar too, making sure they know not to go anywhere as well, wrapping one arm around their waist and the other around Delaney.

“Not sure how many fucking days I was away from you two, but it was way too damn many. That was so stupid. Whatever needs to happen, so that that never happens again, we're doing.” And like the romantic I am, I shove my tongue down the lady’s throat first, then Cory’s, and then we take part in an epic three-way that’s honestly probably disgusting from the outside looking in, but that tastes like petrichor.

Which is odd, considering there's no dirt here for the rain to stir up ozone from.

Delaney starts trembling, all the adrenaline from whatever her and Cory just went through clearly hitting her. But she clings onto me and Cory, letting us support her when she's too weak to stand on their own. And we are her mates, so this is our job.

“You were so fucking beautiful, telling that goddess off like that. Made me so hard.”

She laughs at that, wiping one of her eyes off. “Yeah?”

I look around at my environment fully, now that I don't have the threat of somebody burning to death nearby, trying to piece together what the hell I'm seeing. Doesn't make any sense. “What kind of a party were you guys throwing here anyway?”

“Let's just see if we can find our way back to the hotel, and we can talk about it there. I'm hoping Saladriel is just going to go there. I just need to find somebody who can help me get there…”

The stadium is disintegrating, the clouds dispersing, revealing houses and neighborhoods, but unfortunately there are no clear streets or directions. But I have faith in my girl, she'll figure it out.

We get to what looks like a small town area, me in the middle of Delaney and Cory, as she looks around, trying to find any sort of clue to help her out. That's when one of the unicorns we saved from being burnt prances up to us, flicking their sparkly pink mane.

I don't know if I’ll ever think it's not weird to hear unicorn people talk while standing on two legs. I don't approve. “I didn't want to draw any attention to myself before, but I rather think you did us a favor back there. I would like to say thank you, for furthering our life expectancy.”

This unicorn, like all the others, seems a bit shy, soft spoken even. They keep flicking their eyes to Delaney’s arm, the one marked for her unicorn mates. “Forgive me if this is presumptuous at all, but are those the mates Fairygoddess gave you? For us?”

Delaney looks down at her right arm, and I notice there are probably a few less marks than there was last time I looked at them.

“That's what she told me,” Delaney says with a slight smile.

Then, she seems to realize she needs to add more to that.

“I'm trying to figure out a way to get you guys out of it.

So far, it seems as if every time I find one of my true goddess blessed mates, one of the marks from your goddess disappears from the other arm.

I think they were only meant to be more permanent if I wasn't able to figure out how to save my mates on my own.

So don't worry, all should be right soon.”

The pink unicorn offers a slight bow to us, hand over where their heart presumably is. Either that, or they have sudden gas pains. “I'm Tuna Sandwich, my lady. Friends call me Jackknife. I'm sorry your stay in our realm isn't what you were hoping for.”

Delaney blinks at them, shaking her head. “Can I ask something that's likely going to be insensitive? What is up with the names here? Saladriel said he goes by Salad, I met somebody named Turtle, and now you? Is everybody here named such strange things for a reason?”

They tilt their head to the side and blink innocently. “What mean you?”

Realizing this just must be the norm here, that their goddess must have a sick sense of humor, Delaney shakes her head once more. “Never mind. Well, Jackknife, it was lovely to meet you. But I really must be off. I need to find my mates.”

We’ve only taken a few steps away, when they call out to us, “You don't want to be going that way. Nothing down there but the wild ones. Come, I can take you to where you need to go.”

“Wild ones?” I ask. I feel like it deserves to be explained.

Jackknife nods seriously and whispers, clearly not wanting anybody else to hear him talk about this.

“They do something called music there. It is truly terrifying.

Also, they eat strange foods and make funny noises in their throat when they are happy.

You do not want to be corrupted by them; there's something wrong with them.”

Suddenly, Delaney’s much more interested in that direction.

She seems torn between going there to ask questions and going to where she meant to be going, but as always, finding her mates wins out.

“Trope Inn,” she offers up. “That's where my mates were staying. I just wish I knew whether or not Saladriel was still at his place or whether he came back to the Inn when I disappeared.”

“Oh, we can get a message to him. Hold on.” He gracefully falls to the cloud floor, curling up into a little ball and shoving his face into it.

He proceeds to have a one-sided conversation with said cloud, then a little arc of light shoots through it, branching out in search of what I'm assuming will be Saladriel.

Then they stand up. “If he's in Glittertopia, that message will find him. Now, Trope Inn, you say?”

Delaney nods, looking at the ground uncertainly. “Yes, thank you. Oh, before we go any further, this is Adam, this is Cory. Two of my mates.”

Damn I love hearing my name with Cory’s.

Jackknife smiles at each of us, offering another small bow. “Merry afternoon.”

It's awkward as we travel. All I really want to do is be alone with the two most important people to me, but it seems you must be responsible adults in order to… be responsible. Even if it's not our mess to clean up, it has become our mess, apparently.

After a while, after leaping between clouds and even zip lining at one point, Jackknife spins to us with questions.

“If things were different, I must know, would you have welcomed us unicorns as your mates? If you felt tied to us as you do your own mates, would you have been more excited to see us? To be here with us?”

There is a bit of a wobble to his voice, which of course Delaney picks up on.

She lets go of me and Cory, stepping closer.

I know this is hard for her, whether or not the bond that their goddess put upon her shoulders is true or not, and whether I'm comfortable with it or not, whether I even like it or not, she is somehow tied to this unicorn.

There's something inside of her, however small, that just wants to be comforted by this person she doesn't even know.

Who wants him to look at her and accept her and welcome her, to be happy to be with her as well.

She never got that with Saladriel, but she is a conduit. Begrudgingly, I must admit she was raised well by her parents. She knows this poly lifestyle inside and out, what it takes to sustain it, and how important it is to be honest with everybody you're involved with.

So, it doesn't surprise me much when Delaney grabs Jackknife’s hoof hands, and then reaches up slowly, giving them ample opportunity to back away, placing a palm on his cheek.

“Nothing that's happened between me and your goddess has any bearing on you.

This is very confusing for me as well, and I've been making assumptions that perhaps I shouldn't have been.

“Saladriel doesn't want to be with me, and then my mates from Fairygoddess began disappearing, and I haven't exactly been sought out by anybody here.

The goddess gave me only vague hints about meeting the unicorns that I've been tied to, but then the only interaction I've had with them is that show back there, where she wanted to burn you guys for entertainment purposes.

“I'm out of my depth here. You have a choice in this though. I do have a lot of mates, that's true. And even if the bonds between us are different than the ones between me and my mates from home, I don't know how you're experiencing it.”

He steps up slowly, closing the gap between him and Delaney. I can tell he’s nervous and likely feels awkward having this conversation right in front of me and Cory, but we're not backing down. Anything to do with this woman is our business, so we're going to be here for her no matter what.

“It's... odd, I suppose. My mind and my heart seemed to know when you got to the stadium today.

Even though I was dangling from that rope, bound to the others, enjoying the bliss of martyrdom, part of me also wanted to gather you close and just see if your hair and your skin are as soft as they look.

I've never so wanted to have somebody ride upon me before, to braid my mane and feed me undercooked vegetables. It's very disconcerting.”

Delaney looks so torn, so confused. “Seeing how this involves you, you should know that the point of what I'm doing is not to erase the bonds with you guys, it's merely to recover the ones I've already lost. The mates I have are very important to me, and it might be crowded, but if you wanted to spend some time together, then you deserve that.

Saladriel has gotten that, I just assumed nobody else wanted to. I don't feel very welcome here.”

He shakes his head. “I would not want to disrespect your other lovers. If what I have is indeed a false bond, then it's not fair to them if I monopolize your time.”

Fine, time to be selfless again. “We don't know anything about what's going to happen after this,” I tell him.

“As of now, technically you're one of her mates; we won't stand in the way of Delaney’s mates.

As of now, you have just as much right to be next to her as we do.

I would never wish to make someone tied to her feel as if they're not allowed to explore anything with her.

I'm not a god. I'm merely a boy in love with a woman he can never have to himself.”

Maybe I sound like a little bitch, but this is my reality. This is why I fought so hard, for so long, against being with Delaney. Why I refused for so long to even consider it, because I don't particularly like sharing.

I look to Cory, who looks worried, and they squeeze my hand to let me know that this is something we're going to keep talking about later, but for now, I'll make sure Delaney has my blessing to ride this unicorn.

And I mean that in a completely nonsexual way.

He better keep his horse dick away from her for the time being.