Kya
Our first five days in the city went by really fast. When I spoke to Christina, I was happy to tell her that the boys seemed impressed with what we had shown them in the Motherlands. The hotel pool was an especially big hit, and they went down there as often as they could.
Christina thought that made perfect sense: “They’ve probably never seen a pool, and I’ll bet it’s an upgrade from all the cold lakes they swim in back home.”
On Thursday morning, we flew two hours further south and checked in to a lovely beach hotel.
We were all excited to go down to the beach, but I needed something else first.
“Okay, listen up,” I said to the restless group of children. “I know you’re all eager to get in the water but I want you to remember the buddy system we talked about. Shelly, Finn, and Marco will take you now and you will listen to what they say, understood?”
The younger children bobbed their heads affirmatively while most of the older boys were impatiently shifting their weight from one foot to the other.
“Archer and I will see you later; we have some work to do to prepare for the afternoon lessons.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Marco shot Archer a look of pity. “But it’s the beach.”
“I know, but hopefully this won’t take long.” Archer sent a longing glance after the group.
Biting my tongue, I swallowed my disappointment. Why wasn’t he excited that we would have some alone time? And why hadn’t he made an effort to be alone with me for the last three days? And worst of all, why was I behaving so irrationally? It was like I couldn’t think of anything else but him. I was hyperaware of his presence and every time he came near me, my pulse exploded. I would listen in on his conversations just because I liked the deep rumble of his voice, and more than once I had laughed at his lame jokes.
“So, what do you need me for?” he asked.
“It’s been three days,” I said with slight irritation. “Isn’t it obvious what I need you for?”
Archer blinked and tilted his head. “Wait a minute, this is new.”
“Hardly; we’ve been together six times already.”
“I meant you taking the initiative,” he clarified with an almost boyish smile erupting on his face. “I’m flattered.”
“It’s probably just hormones or something,” I said flatly, because there was no way I would admit how addicted I’d become to our lovemaking.
Archer’s eyes lit up and he moved closer to me, taking my hands. “What do you mean by hormones? Kya, are you pregnant?”
“Nooo,” I exclaimed with a grimace and lowered my voice into a whisper. “Of course I’m not pregnant.”
“How can you know for sure? It’s been a month since we were together the first time and you haven’t had your period, have you?” He was squeezing my hands and speaking fast.
I pulled my hands back since we were in a public place. “No, but it’s just a little late, that’s all,” I mumbled.
“Right.” He had a satisfied smile on his face when he nodded for me to come with him.
Maybe my hormones really were out of balance, because once we were in his room, I couldn’t get enough of him. Kissing him wasn’t enough, I needed to taste him. Hungrily, I nibbled on his earlobe, bit his shoulder gently, only to move on to licking his nipples and finally sucking on lower parts of his body.
Every time, I had made love to Archer, I’d grown more curious and open-minded. Until now he had always been in control, but this time he lay back on the bed and allowed me to explore him. When I finally lowered myself on top of him, he closed his eyes and opened his mouth in a moan of pleasure. Straddling him, I slid down all the way and let him impale me, stretch me, and fill me to the hilt as I leaned backward and rotated my hips.
“Fucking hell – you’re killing me,” Archer groaned and lifted his hands to intertwine our fingers.
I liked being in control like this and let out all my pent-up sexual frustration on him.
“That’s right, babe, ride my cock all you want,” he said in a raspy voice, his hooded eyes staring at my bouncing breasts. “Come closer, I want to taste you.”
It was arousing to see his tongue circle around my hard nipple, and I made a small gasp when he gently bit it.
“I fucking love your tits.” His words were mumbled because of the way he was licking my breasts while massaging them. “I see you walk around with those perky tits of yours, and all I want to do is grab you and pull you behind a tree to make out with you.”
“Then why has it been three days?”
Archer stopped what he was doing and looked up at me with a small frown that quickly changed into a smile. “We were in the city, babe, there were no trees.”
“Excuses, excuses…” I shook my head.
“How could I know you’re becoming a little nymphomaniac?” he teased.
“Only in your dreams.”
We continued our lovemaking, changing positions and rumpling the sheets, before we returned to my riding him again.
“You like this position, don’t you?” he asked, slightly out of breath. “Is it because it gives you the illusion that you have control?”
“Don’t I?” Guiding his hands to my hips, I leaned forward, kissing him deeply, and lifted my butt just enough for him to intensify the pace.
“Ah, yes, Archer, it feels so good,” I moaned when he hammered inside me again and again.
“Good enough for you to finally admit that I’m your man?” Archer panted and locked those beautiful blue eyes onto mine.
“More, yes, yes, oh, Archer…” I leaned my head back, breaking eye contact, and feeling my insides start to convulse in sweet waves.
“Say it; say that you choose me,” he repeated and all I could do was lean down over him and stop his demands with more kissing.
Archer’s right hand slid up to the back of my head while the other wrapped around my waist, holding me in place while he made a last sprint of thrusts before he stilled inside me and moaned into the side of my neck. “Yeees. Fuck yes!”
I lay on top of him, out of breath, and weak-kneed from the intense lovemaking. When I tried to pull away, he tightened his grip around my waist, unwilling to let me go. “Just a little longer.”
“You shouldn’t have come inside me,” I said with disapproval. “I told you not to do that.”
When I got off the bed and started picking up my clothes from the floor, I repeated. “I mean it, Archer, don’t come in me again.”
He just smiled, but made no promises. Instead he said: “Let’s go to the beach! I think I’m in paradise. First I have amazing sex with you and then I get to go on a sandy beach with warm water.” He grinned. “Sex and the beach on the same day; ah, this is the life.”
He was too adorable to stay mad at, with him being in his paradise bubble, and I couldn’t help teasing him a little.
“Then imagine if we had sex on the beach.”
Archer sat up. “We can have sex on the beach?”
“Absolutely, because that’s what all people do when they want to hide that they’re having a sexual relationship.” I shook my head with a smile.
Archer threw his hands in the air. “I’m not trying to hide it, and I would definitely be up for sex on the beach.”
“But I am trying to hide it,” I said. “So if you want sex on the beach you’ll have to find someone else to have it with.”
“Don’t be stupid, you know I couldn’t do that. You promised to be faithful to me and obviously it goes both ways.”
I didn’t say anything, but secretly I was happy that he wasn’t flirting with all the women he came in contact with, the way Finn was.
“Why won’t you just admit that we’re good together?” he asked and lifted a hand to point a finger at me. “And just for the record: if you are pregnant, we are getting married.”
I lowered my brows. “As if you and I could ever agree on how to raise a child together.”
He got out of bed and walked naked to his bag, where he pulled out a pair of shorts. “We’ll figure it out.”
I shook my head. “I’m not pregnant, and you won’t come inside me anymore, understood?”
He nodded noncommittally.
As we walked to the beach, he said: “I should be offended that you’re embarrassed to be with me. I’m like your dirty little secret, aren’t I?”
“I never said you were.”
Two women came strolling in our direction. They had sunhats on and were carrying wet towels. At first they didn’t see us because they were deep in conversation, but then one of them looked up and stopped cold when she saw Archer in his shorts and tank top. She wasn’t the first to display a shocked reaction, but at least in the city the Nmen’s muscles had been covered by clothing. The tank top, however, did nothing to hide Archer’s muscled shoulders and arms.
Huddling closer, the women hooked their arms together as if Archer was in the market for kidnapping old middle-aged women.
“Hello, ladies,” Archer said politely, but that just made them hurry as far to the side of the path as possible.
“May peace surround you,” I greeted the two scared women as we passed them.
“It’s stupid that people are so frightened of us here,” Archer muttered low.
“It’s just because they don’t know you. Varna and Cindy overcame their fear pretty fast, didn’t they? From what I saw these past days, they’re having a great time with Finn.” I laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to seduce both of them before we leave.”
“I would give him extra bonus points if he seduces them at the same time,” Archer said.
“That’s probably a stretch, but my point is that my fellow Motlanders have been filled with horror stories that aren’t all true.”
He sighed. “It will take time to change that.”
I gave a shrug. “Maybe not as long as you think. I was never too frightened of you.”
His eyes softened in a grin. “Which is ironic. I mean if you knew all the things I want to do to you.”
For a moment, we stood an arm’s length apart and just smiled at each other. It was hard for me to understand how anyone could be afraid of this handsome man with his charming smile and warm eyes.
“Come on, I’ll race you to the water.” Archer took off with a happy howl that had me wonder about the contradiction of this man. How was it possible for him to be so boyish and playful with me in private, and at the same time be a strict disciplinarian with the kids? For some reason none of the Nboys seemed the least bit afraid of him, and that puzzled me since he was quick to punish them if he thought their behavior was unacceptable. At the same time, I had seen him play-wrestle with the boys, and he often made them laugh with his jokes.
Not finding an answer to my conundrum, I took in the beach, my eyes scanning for our group, which only took a second because they weren’t far away.
At least half of the children were in the water with Marco, Finn, Varna, and Cindy.
Nieall had ganged up with William and Sultan and were chasing some of the girls with seaweed hanging from their hands.
Mila and Paysey were playing in the sand and seemed in their own little friendship bubble while the rest lay soaking up the sun halfway up the beach.
“Hey,” I said and walked over to sit down next to Shelly. “Everything all right?”
“Everything is fine.” She smiled and I once again considered asking her if she wanted my help getting rid of her acne. Still, fifteen was a sensitive age and I didn’t want to make her more self-aware than she already was.
“Can I sit with you?” Raven asked and slid into my lap, where she cuddled up against my chest with a sad pout.
“What’s wrong?” I asked and caressed her arm.
“Plato is being mean again,” she complained loudly.
A splash of water hit me and I looked up to see Marco shaking his wet hair in our direction. “Who is being mean?” he asked and pulled Raven up from my lap and onto his shoulder. She was wincing from the cold water on his body. “Just tell me who I have to beat up,” he joked.
“Plato said that all girls are weak as jellyfish,” Raven whined.
“Hey, Plato,” Marco called out to the boy, who raised his head up from the towel where he was lying. “Are you being mean to the girls again?”
“They are being mean to me too,” he said sourly.
Marco sat Raven down on the sand again. “What happened exactly?” he asked.
“It was just a small misunderstanding,” Shelly quickly said. “We really don’t need to talk more about it.”
But Marco didn’t back off. “Tell me anyway.”
Raven didn’t need to be asked twice, and started giving Marco her full report. “First Plato said that girls are weak as jellyfish, and then Shelly asked him to apologize. Plato was being really disrespectful, saying that Shelly is just a child herself and that there is nothing she could do to him since Momsies don’t hit.”
Marco stopped Raven with a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t forget to breathe, sweetie.”
She frowned. “Okay, but the best part was when Shelly put Plato in his place.” She narrowed her eyes and looked over at Plato. “She made him look really stupid and he’s been sulking ever since.”
A smile tugged at Marco’s lips. “Now you have me curious – how did Shelly make a big boy like Plato sulk?”
“I’m not sulking and she only made herself look stupid,” Plato defended himself.
“Now you wait a minute,” Marco told Plato. “You and I are gonna have a conversation about respect. Shelly is a mentor assistant like me and you can’t talk back to her. Do you hear me?”
“Thank you,” Shelly interjected, “but I can fight my own battles.”
“You haven’t heard everything.” Raven pulled Marco’s attention back to her and licked her dried lips with eagerness before she continued. “The best part was when Shelly told Plato that the fact that jellyfish have survived without a brain for a million years gives hope for someone like him.”
“Huh.” Marco turned to Shelly, whose cheeks looked awfully red and who was busy drawing in the sand. “Did a nice girl like you really say that?”
“More or less,” she muttered. “Except that I want to point out that I did say the jellyfish have been around more than five hundred million years, not just a million.” She looked up at him. “Facts are important to me.”
“I see.” Marco ran his hands through his wet hair and drew in a long breath. “Plato, I would like us males to stick together and all, but I don’t know much about marine life. At least not enough to argue with a genius. However, I will say this: you were absolutely right about girls being weaker than boys.”
Raven squared her tiny shoulders and looked up at him. “That’s not true, I’m stronger than Nieall and Tommy.”
“I’ll bet you are, but they’re younger than you. I’m sorry, Raven, but it’s a fact of life that men are physically superior to women. It’s the natural order of things, since men are created to be protectors and hunters while women are created to be the caretakers.”
Shelly gaped at me, “Is he for real, Kya?” she asked.
I didn’t get a chance to answer before Marco carried on. “Yes, brainy, I’m for real and you can’t dispute that men are bigger and stronger than women.”
Shelly got up and brushed off sand from her behind. “I can’t listen to this, I’m going for a swim.”
“Really, Shelly?” he teased her. “I was expecting some genius comeback from you. That’s really disappointing.”
Shelly stopped and turned to look at him with disdain. “Just because I think doesn’t mean I’m obligated to share my thoughts. It’s a strategy I strongly suggest you start implementing.”
When she calmly walked away, I wanted to stand up and salute her. For a while now, I had been worried about her having a crush on Marco, so it made my day to see that at least one of us had the sense to move past that foolish notion. If only I could get Archer out of my system too.
Marco looked to me and split his sides in a fit of laughter. “I swear that nerd cracks me up. She says the craziest things.”
“She certainly has a temper,” I agreed and looked after Shelly in her one-piece bathing suit that revealed she hadn’t started developing into a woman yet. The contrast was clear when she walked past Rochelle and Willow, who might only be twelve and thirteen years old, but were already starting to fill out in the right places.
It wasn’t uncommon for siblings to develop differently since women in the Motherlands were typically inseminated with an anonymous donor. In Rochelle’s and Shelly’s case, it was pretty evident that Shelly’s father had to have been a small man in comparison to Rochelle’s father.
“Hey, Marco,” Willow called. “Can you teach us how to do a flip?”
Marco shielded his eyes from the sun with a hand to his eyebrows and looked at the two girls, who had been doing cartwheels. “Sure, just give me some time to dry, will you? His eyes swung to some of the older boys. “Hey, Oscar and Solo, go show the girls how to do flips.”
They rolled their eyes, but at least Oscar pushed up from the sand. “You coming?” he asked Solomon, but the oldest of the boys stayed firmly on his belly and looked away from Willow.
“Yeah, I just need a minute.”
Oscar nodded with a sympathetic glance and muttered “Oh, okay.” And then he jogged leisurely over to impress the girls with a long series of acrobatic flips, perfectly displaying his balance, strength, and body control.
“Marco, can you look after the kids while I take a dip?” I asked and got up.
“No problem, and you can tell Finn to get up here if you want to. He’s been in the water for almost an hour now.”
The men were playing some rough games with the children, throwing them and splashing water, so I chose to float next to Shelly instead.
“Are you excited about your mom coming tomorrow?” I asked her.
“Of course.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you if you like being my assistant,” I asked to make small talk.
Shelly didn’t even hesitate when she answered. “I do. It’s not very academically challenging of course, but I find it fascinating to study the Nmen and their culture.”
It was hard to hear what she was saying when I was floating with my ears under the water so I changed position and trod water.
“Did you say that you find the Nmen fascinating?”
She nodded.
“Tell me: what’s your impression of them so far?”
She angled her head and looked thoughtful. “They have some of the character traits that I was expecting such as being highly competitive, combative, aggressive, physically strong, and confrontational in their communication.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“That being said,” she continued matter-of-factly, “I rather appreciate their directness and logical thinking. What surprises me, though, is how unwilling they are to address their need for connection – both physically and spiritually. In fact, if you try to bring it up as a subject, they will either joke about it or change the subject.”
“Yes, they don’t like to talk about emotions much,” I agreed. “At least not in public.” I realized that I could stand on my tiptoes with the water covering my chest.
Shelly mirrored me, but because she was petite the water went all the way up to her chin. “Did you know that most of them are superstitious? Finn, for instance truly believes that he was cursed. And he’s a doctor.” She emphasized the last part with a shake of her head.
“I know.” I furrowed my brow. “It’s bizarre, isn’t it?”
“It’s like on one side they’re big brave men, and on the other side they’re small naïve boys willing to believe in myths and legends.”
“Why do you think that is?”
Shelly wrinkled her nose up. “My only logical conclusion is that they are trained to take orders and not ask too many critical questions. I suppose it comes with being conditioned from an early age.”
“Aren’t we all?”
She shrugged. “Some more than others, I guess.”
“And you don’t consider yourself conditioned?”
“We’re all products of the environment we grow up in, but I would like to think that I reflect on things more than the average person.”
“I would agree. You’re very astute,” I complimented her.
“It’s just how my brain works.”
Moving my hands in circles, I made small waves in the water, and took a minute to enjoy the calming sounds of the ocean and the heat of the sun on my scalp. “How does it feel to be a genius anyway?” I asked her.
A triangle formed between her eyebrows. “I don’t think of myself that way. There might be things that are easy for me, but believe me, other things can completely throw me off.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for one, I know nothing about fashion, nor do I want to. And I often bore people when I talk to them because I go into too many details and get hung up on the facts.”
“I don’t think it’s boring with details.”
“That’s because you’re fairly intelligent too,” Shelly said dryly before her eyes glazed over. “Sometimes I just wish that people would see past my brain. It’s like all they see is my intellect, and they all expect me to invent something revolutionary or cure a horrible disease because anything less would be a waste of my genius.” She sighed. “I wish I could come up with something outrageous and show everyone that there’s more to me than smarts.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“That’s the problem,” she said softly. “I’m not creative enough to come up with something outrageous.”
I pursed my lips upward. “I don’t know about that, Shelly. I would say that a fifteen-year-old Motlander teaching at a school in the Northlands is not only historic but outrageous too.”
A smile grew on Shelly’s mouth and it lit up her whole face, making her eyes sparkle with amusement. “You really think so?”
“Absolutely!” I gave her a hug. “Come on, you outrageous young woman, let’s get all these kids back to the hotel for some lunch and an afternoon full of exciting lessons.”