Gift Wrapped in Tentacles, page 12
We were holding each other tightly, each wrapped up in each other’s arms and our own thoughts, when the door opened beside us. We were engulfed in chilly air and I instinctively went to step back, but mis-stepped.
With Sonny’s arms around me, I hadn’t needed my crutch for balance and I’d raised both my arms. It meant my crutch wasn’t ready when I stumbled and I had nothing there to support me.
I felt myself falling backwards, toppling over.
And then, out of nowhere, Erik was beside me. His strong arms were around me, and he hauled me upright and held me there until I had my leg and my crutch under me.
“Wow,” breathed Sonny. “You have fast reflexes.”
“Yes, I do. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Erik looked like he might leave again, or go and retreat to the bathroom again, but Sonny slammed the door and began tugging at Erik’s coat.
“You’re freezing, get this off and get that fire on.”
I took Erik’s coat and went to the cupboard to hang it up, dodged the cardboard box and closed the door on it quickly. Sonny had wrapped the colourful crocheted blanket around Erik and was rubbing his arms.
Erik stared into Sonny’s eyes for a moment and, in that moment, I saw something flicker across his face. Something sweet and tender, like longing.
He cleared his throat. “Is this your way of getting me to put the fire on so you can toast marshmallows?”
Sonny gasped, “There are marshmallows? Get that fire on!”
They smiled together, Erik kneeling down in front of the fireplace and starting to get the fire kindled, and Sonny adjusting the blanket around Erik’s shoulders.
My heart squeezed in my chest. They looked so good together. This was either going to end very badly, with all three of us hurt and licking our wounds, or – I crossed my fingers that by some miracle it would be this option – it was going to work out, just like Sonny had said.
Chapter 22
Erik
Sonny disappeared into the kitchen with the last of the dishes, having insisted that he do the washing up. The kitchen was so small that I’d had a choice of washing machine or dishwasher, and, well, I could live without a dishwasher.
I followed him in and asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course! It’s the least I can do after you made us dinner. Go and sit down and relax.”
He flapped his hands at me, shooing me back into the other room where Declan was sitting on the couch. Declan’s shoulders were tense, as was his jaw, and I recognised the way he was holding his body tightly, as though he could hold everything together with willpower alone if he just tried hard enough.
Before Sonny had left him there, he’d given Declan a meaningful look which I’d pretended not to notice, but it didn’t take a genius to work out what he wanted Declan to do.
I’d heard Sonny twice now, telling Declan that he should admit he loves me.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I wanted it to be true so badly, but Declan hadn’t said that and I was afraid of getting my hopes up. Inside me, my octopus longed to reach out and wind ourself around him completely.
Letting Sonny chase me out of the kitchen, I went to sit beside Declan on the couch and couldn’t help but remember the last time we’d been alone on that couch. The kiss we’d had.
I took a breath, hoping to calm my heart rate.
Behind us, Sonny clattered round the kitchen, washing the dishes and stacking them to dry, obviously trying to make as much noise as he could so that he couldn’t overhear what we were saying in here.
It made me wonder whether he really wanted Declan to do this.
Declan must have been wondering the same because he glanced over his shoulder and chewed on his bottom lip.
I waited.
At last, he worked up the courage to speak.
“Erik, I—”
He cut himself off, as usual. I waited again, as patient as I needed to be with this man. I’d wait forever if I had to.
“I wanted you to know that I—”
I met his eyes, and the sheer panic in them surprised me. He knew I wanted him, surely? Especially after the last couple of days.
Maybe I needed to take the lead. Whatever Sonny’s plan was – and I wasn’t entirely sure he actually had a plan, rather than just good intentions – it involved the three of us and maybe it was unfair to put the burden of truth on Declan.
“Declan, I told you—”
“So what Christmas film are we watching tonight, then?”
His voice was too loud and he turned his head away to look at the TV, breaking our eye contact and cutting off my attempt at telling him.
The disappointment hit me harder than I’d expected. I’d really thought he would say he wanted me. So far, it had only been Sonny who insisted Declan felt anything for me at all, other than lust. I kind of needed to know that it was true. I needed Declan to say it.
He was talking, though, about Christmas films.
“It’s a Wonderful Life is a classic but it’s a bit depressing and it makes Sonny cry. I don’t think it’s a good idea to watch it because Jimmy Stewart’s brother falls through the ice. Why don’t we watch something more cheerful?”
“Yeah, sure.” My voice didn’t come out as calm as I’d like but Declan didn’t notice, thankfully.
“Sonny’s favourite is Arthur Christmas. Can you get that?”
“I’ll see,” I said, and turned on the TV to investigate.
By the time Sonny joined us, it was all set up and ready to watch. I had the blanket ready and a Terry’s chocolate orange already broken into pieces.
Sonny had taken way too long washing up. He’d definitely thought Declan and I would be having a heart to heart, or maybe some make-out time. He was not the only one disappointed.
I moved over so that there was room in the middle of the couch, between me and Declan. He stood awkwardly for a moment. “Do you want…?”
He gestured at Declan, and I patted the seat beside me.
He slid in and I pulled the blanket over all three of us. I wasn’t trying to distance myself from Declan, I just didn’t want Sonny to feel he always had to be the other side of Declan from me. Or that he was going to have to share Declan. Because, at this rate, Declan was going to choose Sonny and Sonny alone.
“Ooh, Arthur Christmas,” he cried as he spotted the screen. “This is my favourite! Have you seen it?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“You’re in for a treat,” he assured me, and pulled the blanket higher up his chest, snuggling down. He reached over and picked up a piece of chocolate orange and popped it into his mouth before handing me one. I took it and pressed play, and the three of us watched, squashed together on my too-small couch.
By the time we went to bed, I’d mostly got over the gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach and I’d had to stay alert for the second half of the film, concentrating on controlling my limbs because my tentacles wanted to come out and wind around the two men beside me.
It meant I was actually pretty tired and I yawned, cracking my jaw.
Sonny stripped and jumped into the bed under the blankets. “It’s chilly out there!”
Declan sat down on the edge of the bed and I helped him remove his prosthetic, the same as yesterday, and then he was about to slide under the blankets when Sonny said, “Take your clothes off.”
Declan was sitting up in the bed, his legs already half-hidden beneath the blankets. I’d noticed that he tried to hide his limb difference from Sonny, as though if he couldn’t see it, Sonny wouldn’t notice.
“It’s nicer sleeping skin-to-skin. Besides, what if we wake up the same way we did yesterday? We can’t keep ruining all of Erik’s clothes.”
Sonny wiggled under the blankets and I tried not to get hot at the way he moved, longing to see all that creamy skin and mark it with the suckers on my tentacles.
Declan still hesitated. “My body has changed since you last saw it.”
Sonny gave him an unimpressed, “No shit, Sherlock.”
“No, not just that. I mean I’ve—”
Sonny was as used to Declan cutting himself off as I was because he waited for Declan to finish his sentence.
“I’ve lost a lot of muscle,” he said at last.
This time, the unimpressed look which Sonny gave him was outstanding.
“This might surprise you to know but I do actually like you for more than your muscles.”
Declan gave a weak chuckle. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”
Sonny wiggled again. “It’s fine, you don’t have to be naked if you don’t want to. Lay down and cuddle me.”
Declan sighed and began to strip off his t-shirt and shorts. I let him do it himself, because reaching to take his boxers off would have put my face too near his groin and I didn’t want my body to behave any more erratically than it already was.
He flung his clothes over the side of the bed and slid under the blankets beside Sonny, who looked over at me, his big eyes sincere.
“You’re not going to be the only one dressed, are you?”
I appreciated him including me in the nakedness, especially as I wasn’t sure what was going on with our relationship here. Was I really part of something or was I an extra?
I undressed quickly and slid into bed before either of them could see the semi I’d been sporting as they’d undressed.
Instinctively, it seemed, Declan lay on his back and held his arms out, and Sonny and I both rolled into him, our heads resting on his shoulders. It meant we stared at each other across Declan’s chest and Sonny gave me a smile before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
I woke to Sonny’s loud gasp and the jolt of Declan waking up at the same time as me.
It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to react. My brain wasn’t fast enough to wake up and the first I realised that I had released my tentacles in the night was when I felt the cool air hit them as Sonny threw back the blankets and looked down at his body which was long and lean and pale in the moonlight, wound around with my indigo tentacles curling up his thigh and over his chest.
I withdrew them as quickly as I could, pulling my octopus back inside me and squashing it down.
But it was too late. They had seen.
“What—?” asked Declan, still blinking awake, confused.
If it had only been Declan, I might have managed to persuade him that he was dreaming, that there hadn’t been anything slithering over him.
Not Sonny, though. His eyes were clear and wide with shock. I could see at a glance there was no way I’d be able to pretend nothing had happened. He knew.
Before he could speak, I jumped out of the bed and rushed to the door. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I needed to get away. I really, really needed to get away, to sink down into cool water and the silence to think and hide.
“Wait!”
Sonny was up and coming after me. I heard his footsteps as I grabbed the doorhandle and yanked. The door opened but a body hit me from behind, propelling me forward with his body weight and the door slammed shut again.
“Wait, where are you going? You can’t leave!”
Sonny pulled away just far enough for me to turn round. Declan was still scrambling out of bed, shoving the blankets back so he could swing his legs round and reach for his crutch.
I met Sonny’s eyes. He still looked shocked. But not… not repulsed.
That was what made me pause, trapped in that bedroom with these two humans who I cared about and wanted to accept me. My animal was hunkered down inside me, afraid and wary, but I managed to throw my shoulders back and stand tall. I’d never wished to be taller but both Sonny and Declan had half a foot on me, and it made me feel even more surrounded when Declan finally made his way over to us at the foot of the bed, by the door.
“What was that?” he asked.
I swallowed, trying to work out what I could say. Could I explain it to them?
“Were those—?”
He couldn’t even say it.
I lost the courage to tell him and slipped seamlessly into denial, the way I always had done when a human had glimpsed something they shouldn’t have.
“I don’t know what—”
Sonny cut me off. “Show me.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t be a dick. Stop gaslighting me. I know what I saw. I knew I’d felt them before. Show me.”
He was standing close, his face set with determination. He wouldn’t let this go.
My survival instinct was screaming at me to deny it, to tell them that they’d imagined it. But I’d spent days telling Declan that he needed to be honest with Sonny, and I’d heard Sonny finally open up to Declan about how he felt and I wanted them to do the same with me. I wanted to be included. To be part of this thing they were building.
And I couldn’t do that if I lied to them.
With a burst of courage, I released my tentacles from my side, fanning them out around me so they could see everything, the way the dark purple tentacles joined with my sides, the mottled skin becoming lighter as it rose up my sides and chest until it was just my pale human skin again.
My tentacles undulated in front of them for a moment and I had just enough time for a sharp stab of panic to pierce my gut that this had been a terrible, terrible idea, and then Sonny reached for them.
His hands closed around the nearest tentacle, encompassing its girth. His hands were warm, and his fingers stroked across the top of my indigo skin so lightly I could hardly feel it, as gently as if he were handling crystal.
His eyes were fixed on them, on the way the tentacle he held undulated and moved in his grasp. The wonder on his face made my breath catch. He was staring at me as though my tentacles were encrusted with the finest jewels.
Declan raised one hand tentatively and asked, “Can I touch?”
Sonny dropped my tentacle and snatched his hands back. “Oops. Sorry. I forgot to ask.”
“You—” My voice squeaked embarrassingly and I cleared my throat. “You can touch.”
They both reached for me, and their hands ran over my body. Sonny circled a finger around one of my suckers and it made me shiver with pleasure.
Declan asked, “You felt them before, Sonny?”
I wasn’t sure whether it was a good sign that he was still standing there, not screaming at me that I was a monster, or whether it was a bad sign that he was only talking to Sonny.
“Yeah, in the water. They wrapped around me.”
Declan clenched his jaw and I wanted to do something but he was still holding me, one hand resting on a tentacle while the other was holding him upright on his crutch.
I knew he was thinking, so I waited. And shivered again as Sonny played with that sucker again.
“I saw you. Under the water. You were—”
“It was the only way I could reach Sonny in time.”
“You saved me,” said Sonny. “I knew I’d felt them save me. And then I dreamed of them. Was that a dream?”
I hesitated and then admitted, “Not always. When I was alone with you, I sometimes… let them out.”
He ran a hand all the way up the tentacle and up the side of my chest.
When he turned to Declan, I had to resist the urge to slide a tentacle around his waist and anchor him to me.
“Do you mind?” he asked Declan.
Declan took a breath. “You didn’t tell us.”
“I was afraid you would hate them.”
“Now who’s making choices for somebody else. Maybe let us make up our own minds.”
I couldn’t help but give a flicker of a rueful smile at that. “And? What do you think?”
“I don’t know yet.” My tentacles contracted, drawing back, but Declan grasped it firmer and Sonny gasped and pulled his one closer to him. Instinctively it wound around his chest and he let out a breath just loudly enough that it was right on the edge of being a moan. His eyelids fluttered.
My tentacle slithered further around him, winding in circles down his waist and over his hip. The end of my tentacle stopped just above his groin and Sonny made an involuntary movement of his hips. I looked down and saw my deep purple tentacle standing out in stark contrast to his pale skin, and his flushed dick sticking out.
I saw Declan’s head drop as he looked, as well.
Sonny noticed and dropped his hands to his groin to cover his erection. He blushed. “Sorry. I can’t help it.”
“Don’t be sorry,” said Declan. He licked his lips, making them shine, and then stroked his hand along my tentacle. His grip was firm and strong, gliding down to the tip and back up. “They’re soft.”
“Yeah,” said Sonny, and took hold of one again. Stroking his fingers in time with Declan’s.
The way they touched my skin and stroked my body was stirring up my lust, making my body aware and my dick hard. I looked down at Sonny’s dick again and saw that Declan, standing right next to him, was getting hard, too.
“Let me watch you kiss,” I said suddenly. “Please.”
Declan didn’t look sure, always hesitant, but Sonny leaned into his space and tilted his head slightly, offering his lips to Declan. He couldn’t resist that. He kissed Sonny.
Sonny moaned and moved forward, pressing against Declan so that I could feel them either side of the tentacle I had wrapped around Sonny. I moved it, circling him again, extending my tentacle lower towards his groin and he kissed Declan deeper. Declan must have felt me move against the skin of his stomach, but he didn’t withdraw.
He still had one hand on a tentacle and his grip was firm, though he stopped stroking, his whole focus on Sonny’s mouth.
Sonny wrapped his arms around Declan’s waist, holding him close and keeping him steady, and I tentatively slid one tentacle along his back to wind around them both and hold them together.
Declan didn’t stop or cringe away. He let go of his crutch, which fell against the bed, and used that hand to grab Sonny’s head, tangling his fingers in Sonny’s fair hair.
The scorching passion of their kiss made my body light up with fire. Declan’s hand tightened in Sonny’s hair, tilting his head so Declan could possess his mouth. Sonny’s hips began to rock back and forth but my tentacle was still around him, separating him from Declan’s body just enough that he couldn’t get the friction he wanted.
