Our Own Way 6, page 29
“Here.”
“Oh shit, right,” she muttered, taking it and tearing off the paper. “Oh! A physical copy of Recovery. Nice. Thank you.”
“Turn it over.”
She turned it over, frowned, squinted, then her eyes widened. “Holy shit! It’s fucking signed?” She laughed and hugged him, then kissed him. “Believe me, I am thanking you for this tonight.”
“I kinda feel like you thanked me for it last night, but I won’t say no to a second round,” Gabe replied.
She laughed again, kissed him once more, then let him give Abby her own gift.
“Okay,” he muttered, working his phone for a moment and then sending an email he’d already had ready. “I’ve sent something to your email. You mentioned you’ve been struggling with boredom and wanted to try new things. I hunted through a whole bunch of places that might interest you and bought you a one lesson trial to three different things. A book club, archery, and a guitar lesson.”
Emily gasped. “Oh my God, it would be so hot and awesome if you learned archery or guitar.”
“Jesus, thanks, Gabe,” Abby replied. “That’s...a pretty thoughtful gift.”
“Yeah, just crush my toes, why don’t you?” Emily added.
“You give just fine thoughtful gifts, my love. You and I have the reality of being a married couple. I think it’s easier for Gabe to show up with something amazing like this. I mean, shit, how’d you even get that?”
“I...oh wait, have I not mentioned this? Fuck, I have way too much going on in my life. I can’t remember who knows what. Chloe and I met with the founder of the indie studio that made Recovery. Chloe had asked her for permission to stream early access for Recovery Two, and the founder happened to be flying across the country and was going to have a layover nearby. She offered to meet us somewhere. We talked, she was cool.”
“That’s so fucking awesome,” Emily whispered.
He almost told them about his own development there, but he hadn’t actually signed the contract yet. Soon.
A lot was going to happen soon.
“It was pretty cool,” he agreed.
“Thank you, Gabe. I have to admit, I’ve been interested in archery for a while. This is a great excuse.” She checked her phone again. “Okay, we should probably start heading over now.”
Emily laughed. “Man, you are going to shit when you see what we’ve got planned for you.”
…
Gabe knew that Emily and Abby would have to prepare, but by the time they arrived, the others weren’t actually ready yet.
He also saw Sadie’s car. And Kim’s.
Abby and Emily seemed excited.
“Okay, so, for this part, we need you to go straight up to your office, close the door, and do not open it until we say,” Emily said.
“...all right. Can I get an energy drink at least?”
“I will get it for you,” Emily replied firmly. “Go. To. Your. Office.”
He laughed. “Okay! Okay. I’ll go.”
“Good boy.”
He walked inside. The house seemed empty and silent, but there was a sense of expectation on the air. It wasn’t unlike the energy on the air of a surprise party. Like everyone was just out of sight, ready to surprise him.
He supposed, in a way, that’s what was happening.
Gabe took off his shoes and coat, then headed straight to his office. He closed the door. He had just turned on his laptop when he heard someone approach, then knock.
“Gabe?” It was Ellen.
“Hey, babe. What’s up?” he replied.
It was a little weird talking through the closed door, but he supposed they’d done it often enough at this point. He spent enough time in his office with the door closed.
“Are you feeling okay?” She sounded anxious. “Emily said you had a pretty bad nightmare.”
“I did, but I can’t remember what it was about. I’m doing okay right now.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. Just so you know, we’re all going somewhere together in about...half an hour.” She paused as he heard someone shout something. Emily, he thought. Ellen sighed. “Okay, probably closer to an hour. Emily takes fucking forever to do anything.”
“Eat me!”
Well, he heard that one clearly enough.
Ellen snorted. “So, you gonna be okay in there?”
“I am.”
“Okay. Oh, wait, here. Abby just got here with your drink.” A pause. “I’m going to open the door and place it on the floor, then close the door. Do not look. Seriously.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. We are of the same mind in this.”
“Okay.” Another pause. “Sorry, so used to people who just have to know.”
She put the energy drink on the floor, closed the door, then walked away with Abby. Gabe grabbed it and drank a quarter of it, then set to work on checking on his socials. He’d been sorely neglecting them during this whole thing.
He was surprised by the amount of emails he had. Three. Legit emails, not just spam. Fan letters. He had been told that was more common in erotica, because people didn’t like to leave reviews. It made enough sense.
Gabe answered the emails. And the private messages on his socials. Then he read a handful of reviews he’d managed to garner during all this. Then he checked his numbers.
“Holy fuck me,” he whispered.
He hadn’t actually looked for the past six or so days. It was almost the end of the month. Tomorrow was the rare leap-year February 29th, then it would be March. In October, he’d made about seven hundred bucks. January had seen just over twenty six hundred. Clearly, he was on an upwards trend.
It was looking like he was going to breach thirty five hundred dollars this month. There had been a surge of sales about four days ago. It had peaked, but it was still going at a higher than usual rate. The first episode of My Tall Blonde was selling better than any other title he’d put out so far. He wouldn’t call it stellar, but it was clearly hitting traction.
And a hundred people had pre-ordered My Tall Blonde Two.
Holy crap.
And about half that many had gone on to pre-order at least two of the sequels.
Holy shit.
Thirty one people had pre-ordered the entire series.
Holy fuck.
He felt a strange kind of elation, one he hadn’t exactly felt before, as he studied the numbers. It took him a few minutes to realize what it was: this was actually working. That’s what it was. Or, not, not quite. This writing thing was actually working, and he believed it was working. That’s what the feeling was.
It felt intensely good, powerful, and vaguely anxious.
Before he could think much more about it, there was a knock at his door. It was Ellen. “All right, babe! We’re ready to show you!”
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
“You better keep your eyes closed,” Ellen said as he opened the door.
“I will.”
She laughed softly, then put her hand firmly over his eyes as he came out. She got him positioned in front of her, then, a hand on his shoulder, she began leading him down the hall.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall,” she murmured.
“I trust you completely,” he replied.
“That makes me very happy.”
She led him into the master bedroom, and positioned him about halfway between the doorway and the foot of the bed.
“Okay, stand right here. Keep your eyes closed! We worked hard to coordinate all this. Because we really appreciate you, and everything you’ve done for us. Not just this past week and a half, but, you know, since you’ve entered our lives.”
“Well...I appreciate it,” he replied. Now he was feeling awkward.
Ellen released him and he remained still as a statue. He could hear sounds of several others. He imagined they had dressed up nice for him. Or maybe they were all naked or in lingerie, and he was about to have an orgy.
That would be pretty awesome.
But he was sure they were going somewhere today.
“All right, open your eyes.”
Gabe opened his eyes.
All thoughts but one were immediately evacuated from his head as he saw what they had wanted him to see.
Ellen, Holly, Chloe, Krystal, Liz, Emily, Abby, Kim, and Sadie all stood in a staggered line, roughly a V shape, with Ellen at the center. They all looked immensely pleased with themselves, and they had every reason to.
They weren’t simply all dressed up, looking sharp and amazingly sexy…
Every last one of them had gone goth.
“I think we broke his brain,” Sadie murmured, making several of them giggle.
“Yep,” he managed. “Just…” He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came.
They were so beautiful. So arousing. They all looked so different.
Liz did indeed look amazing as a goth girl. She had spiked her hair into a crazy, chaotic confusion. She was wearing a black tanktop and black jogging shorts, both of which really emphasized her muscles.
Holly and Krystal and Emily all looked about as he’d expected they would gothed out. (He had thought about this particular potential a great deal.)
Ellen looked...spectacular.
She was wearing a long black dress that showed off her immense cleavage, and black platform shoes that granted her about two inches. Once again, she was transformed in a six foot seven giantess. Her face was very pale, her eyes ringed with darkness, her lips painted with black lipstick, her nails done with black nail polish. Her hair was flat and smooth. It seemed to glow in contrast to all the darkness around her.
Kim looked a little crazy. She had an almost maniacal smile on her painted face, and fuck did she look good in a black choker. Like Liz, she had on a black tanktop, though she had on jeans that looked like they belonged on a skater girl. Ripped and a little baggy and faded in some places. It was actually a good fit for the overall aesthetic, and looked really good on her. Her hair was similar to Liz’s: short and messy. Her eyes seemed to glow.
Abby brought a presence with her. She always did, but now it was obvious. She had on what looked to be a black corset and a knee-length black skirt. Her blonde hair was smooth and curved out at the bottom.
And Sadie…
He never actually thought he’d see her in a goth getup. But here she was, and she was rocking it, as he’d expected.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever actually seen a goth cougar.
She wore a simple yet elegant black dress, black sneakers (interesting, he noted, they had to be going somewhere not fancy, or maybe outdoors, Sadie would have surely worn something nicer otherwise...not that he minded), and a black choker collar.
All of them had on makeup, leggings, and fishnet along their arms.
“Well?” Holly asked.
“You broke my brain. This has got to be the coolest, hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he replied finally.
They all laughed.
“Yes, well, that will only remain true until tonight, dear,” Ellen replied.
“What happens tonight?” As if he didn’t know by now.
“You’ll see. Now, if you want to change, do so now. We’re going somewhere outdoors, and it’s uncharacteristically warm right now, but we’ll be there into nighttime. So dress with that in mind. We’ll be out until...oh, I don’t know, six at the earliest. We’ll be playing it by ear. Whenever you want to go home, we’ll go home.”
“All right.” Gabe looked down at himself. He should probably change. He was still wearing his clothes from yesterday. “I’ll get changed.”
“Most of us will start heading out,” Liz replied.
“Ooh, wait,” Emily said. “Gabe’s gotta do the thing.”
“What thing?” he asked.
“Right. Come here, love,” Ellen said, waving him over as the rest of the women in his household began filtering out.
Gabe walked over to her, and to Sadie, Kim, Abby, and Emily.
Ellen took his hand and pressed a black marker into it.
“They want to be marked,” she said, and then tapped the medallion she was wearing.
Her GABE’S GIRL choker collar medallion.
“Oh,” he said. He looked at Abby and Emily. “You both want this?”
“Yes,” Abby replied, and Emily nodded.
“I’m not complaining, but you two aren’t exactly my girls.”
“You got me pregnant, Gabe,” Abby replied, and Emily laughed. “And tonight, we are your girls. You’ve certainly done enough to earn it.”
“Like I said, no complaining,” he murmured, stepping up to Sadie and pulling the cap off the marker. “You look fucking amazing.”
Sadie blushed slightly. “Thank you. I’m definitely going to want one of these.”
“You’ll have it. So will you,” he said as he finished drawing his...logo, for want of a better term, then moved onto Kim.
“Looking forward to it,” she replied, then squealed and squirmed a little as he wrote on her.
“Hold still,” he muttered.
“It tickles!”
“Just don’t sock him in the face,” Ellen said, “not sure he’d survive it from you.”
“Liz is definitely stronger than me.”
“Yeah, but you actually know how to hit,” Gabe replied, finishing up.
He drew the symbol on Emily and Abby as well, and then they left, and he was alone in the bedroom with Ellen. He started changing. It felt strangely quiet now.
“So, what do you think?” she asked, sitting on the bed, watching him.
“I think it’s obvious what I think,” he replied, digging through his clothes.
“Yeah, but I want to hear what you think.”
“Very fair. I think you all look fucking amazing, and I am extremely appreciative of this gift. I’ve thought about all of you gothed out for a long time now, and seeing all of you like this at once...it’s more than overwhelming.”
“You’ve had a hard-on since you walked into the room,” she murmured playfully.
“Yeah. Hopefully it doesn’t last all night. Although...I wouldn’t mind some relief,” he murmured.
“Gabe,” she said, crossing her arms and smirking at him, “I know Emily or Abby must have told you about my rule for the day.”
He sighed. “Yeah, Em did. Figured I’d ask anyway.”
“You are such a horny pervert.”
“So are you. I mean, we all are.”
“Which is part of the reason this works so well...okay, come on, don’t dawdle. I would like to get there while there’s still a couple of hours of daylight left.”
“All right, I’m going, I’m going,” he muttered.
“Don’t pout.”
He chuckled and picked up the pace.
…
“Any particular reason we’re going alone?” he asked.
“Sometimes, I want you all to myself,” Ellen replied, driving them along through the city.
“I do know that feeling.”
She chuckled. “I’m glad.”
For a bit, they drove in silence. It was the second to last day of February. The city looked like it was just beginning to really thaw from winter. It would be an early spring, he thought. A mixed blessing. He liked aspects of winter, but only during the first month or so. Then it wore out its welcome. He missed warmer times. Rainfall instead of snowfall.
On the other hand, it was just another little reminder that they were fucking the climate up.
He turned away from that thought. Enough dark days were coming in the future. He wanted today to be good.
Except something was lingering, in his head.
A hint of darkness that had leaked into his skull last night.
“There was...one thing I wanted to ask you about, to talk about,” Ellen said, and the cautious note in her voice made him tense slightly.
“What?”
“Your father. Calling you. Are you...okay? You told me some pretty seriously fucked up stuff so far, all of it relating to him. Well, not all of it, I guess, but more than half...I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. I just feel like I’m not doing my due diligence by not at least asking.”
“I do appreciate it.” He paused, really thinking about it. Another thing he didn’t want to think about, but Ellen deserved at least some semblance of an answer. Then another thought came to him. “Oh.”
“What?”
“Just remembered what my nightmare was about. And...now I don’t want to tell you.”
“Why?”
“It might spoil the mood.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“All right. Remember the thing I told you about how he once drove me out to some abandoned factory and told me he was leaving me there?”
She shuddered. “Yes. Fuck.”
“I was having a nightmare about that. Except...it was you driving.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered finally.
“It’s all right. And please don’t take it the wrong way. I don’t harbor some secret fear that you’re on the verge of leaving me or abandoning me. It’s just that you all are the ones I love the most, the most significant aspect of my life. Losing you all is what I fear the most.”
“That makes sense,” she murmured. She seemed to struggle for a moment. “God, I’m so fucking pissed at your parents. But that’s nothing new...how do you want to handle this?”
“For now, I want to ignore it. I know that’s not a good policy, but it’s only temporary. I want to enjoy this thing you’ve all organized for me, then rest and recover for a little bit, maybe a week at the most, and then we can discuss it. I...need to figure out if I even want to answer him and, if I do, if I even want to give him a chance. But in a broader sense? I need therapy. If I was on the outside looking in, it would be painfully obvious.”
“That...is so reasonable,” she muttered. “I’m so glad you’re as reasonable as you are. I feel like we say it a lot, but there are just so many examples out there of relationships that blew up over fucking nothing. And the amount of fights...I’m just grateful. And I will help you as much as I can. Anything you need or want, just let me know.”
