Berries and Greed

She made her way over and stood with her back to the room, studying some of the artificial gems in the wall. I dropped the blanket and ground the heel of my palm into the base of my erection, mentally screaming at it to deflate.

After shifting back to my humanoid form and getting dressed, I tugged my sweater down as far as I could and crossed the room to join her. “Okay, ready.”

She smiled up at me, then reached over and tangled her fingers through mine. I swallowed thickly, squeezing her hand and pulling the door open.

“Thanks for showing me your deeproom and your true form,” she said as I led her up the dark, winding staircase. “Both are beautiful.”

My face spikes twitched with pleasure as I cleared my throat. “That’s okay. Thanks.”

“Does your whole family have green colouring like you? I noticed your mom and Kiti did.”

“No, some of my siblings inherited my dad’s colouring. Blue. And then a couple of them got a mix.”

“Ooh, I bet that’s pretty. What are your siblings like? Are they all like Kiti?”

“What, assholes?” I said dryly. “Yeah.”

She snorted. “She wasn’t an asshole.”

“Was,” I muttered, then admitted, “They’re not really assholes, I guess. Just picked on me a lot when we were kids because I was the smallest. Stuff like that stays with you even if they didn’t mean to be cruel.”

I immediately felt my ears flutter from the admission. At least it was dark so Beryl couldn’t see.

She squeezed my hand. “I bet it was tough. You were so cute as a baby. Tiny compared to the others.”

I grunted. “Yeah. The runt. Grew up tall enough to fight Nuni off when he held me down to hock up loogies on my face, though.”

She tutted. “I wasn’t around other kids much, but it sounds like they can be assholes.”

“Yeah.” I paused. “Did you not, um, go to school before your dad—before Violet took you in?”

“Sporadically. Dad didn’t care if I went or not. I liked it, though. Violet worked herself into the ground educating me at the compound, but I still feel… I don’t know. Not ignorant, but naïve. Being book-smart is one thing. I’m catching up with everyone else for the rest.”

I glanced over my shoulder to give her a tiny smile as we reached the basement. “You’re super smart, Beryl.”

She grinned, tugging on my hand while going up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “Thanks, Greid.”

“’S’okay,” I mumbled, flexing my fingers around hers as we made our way across the basement. She didn’t let go of my hand. “So, um, what are you doing for the rest of the day?”

“Just going to chill out. Might work out later before dinner.” She glanced up at me as we began to ascend the stairs. “Are you going back to work?”

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. They felt better after spending time in my true form, but the thought of putting those fucking goggles on and hunching over that damn headpiece again until my neck and back ached made me tired.

“Yeah, guess I should.” I perked up when we reached the first floor and the smell of whatever Beryl had put in the slow cooker reached my nose. “Hey, is the thing ready yet? In the slow cooker?”

She laughed. “It’s chicken stew. And no. It’s for dinner.”

I grunted. “Didn’t even know I had a slow cooker.”

“I found it in your Room of Shame.” Beryl was still holding my hand, making my palm sweat a little as she led me to the kitchen. “Want me to heat up your coffee for you?”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it.” I reluctantly released her hand to reach for the Deep Brew takeout cup on the counter. “You go relax.”

“Okay.” She hesitated, then stepped closer and reached up to cup my jaw. When she gave my head a gentle tug, I ducked down eagerly, my eyes sliding shut in bliss as her soft lips pressed to mine.

It was a sweet kiss, not deep or filthy, but fire still raced through my veins as she let go of my face and smiled up at me. I stared down at her, my hearts pounding, my prick waking back up.

“I don’t want to go back to work,” I heard myself blurt. Beryl chuckled.

“Well, the sooner you do, the sooner you can finish for the day. And then we can have stew and watch Gloom Falls. Or maybe a movie? Ooh, or wrestling.”

“No, Beryl, I mean…” I swallowed, wordlessly opening and closing my mouth a few times before blurting, “Do you want to hang out in my room?”

I immediately winced. God, what was I, fifteen? Should I ask if I could touch her boobs to really round off the embarrassing question?

Beryl blinked in surprise, before something that made my insides squirm with anticipation heated her gaze. I heard her breath catch as her eyes darted to the side, down the hall to my bedroom door.

“Sure,” she said slowly. “We can do that. If you really don’t have to get back to work.”

“I got a lot done this morning, so it’s fine.” I set down the coffee cup, then picked it back up, then set it down again. “I’ll have that later.”

I cringed again, worried she thought I was assuming… stuff would happen.

God, I hope stuff happens.

“You don’t have to,” I burst out. “We can just hang out in the living room. I wasn’t—I’m not trying to—”