REND

I pointed to the side of the room. “Deen, do you know what that is?”

“What? The curtains? The window?”

“The window. Very good that you know what it is.”

“Erind, what are you—?”

“Do you know what a window is for?”

Deen placed her hands on her hips. “Okay, whatever. I’ll play along. A window gives you a view of the outside, or the outside a view of you if that’s your thing. It can also allow the light and air inside the room. What else?”

“It’s also for the easy disposal of a perverted best friend.”

“Erind,” she said exasperatedly.

“Deen,” I replied, mimicking her tone.

“It’s time for reckoning here—”

“Oh, so serious.”

“—so, answer me. Do you like it?” She raised a finger as I opened my mouth, approaching me with an annoyed expression. “And don’t play dumb. I’m referring to the sexual thing going on between us.”

“What sexual thing?” I wondered, as innocently as possible.

“I already said don’t play dumb.” Deen stood close to me, her breasts a micron away from my face. With stern eyes, she examined me from beyond the mountaintops. Then she gathered my hair off my shoulders, twisted them, and pulled them to one side.

She bent down to kiss my bare neck. I breathed sharply but didn’t say or do anything. Her tongue swirled for a second on my skin and then moved up past my jawline to my ear. She licked my ear, nibbling a bit on my earlobe, before drawing a line with her tongue across my cheek. Once she reached my mouth, she lightly kissed me.

Just a peck.

“Deen, stop—” I started to say.

She cut me off as she went for a deeper kiss. She held the back of my head, keeping me in place and pulling me in. Our lips got smooshed together. With one swoop, she scooped the small of my back with her other hand, cradling me off the floor. Treating me like a doll she could carry around was truly her fetish.

I parted my teeth and allowed her tongue inside, even lightly sucking on it. There was no point resisting. Might as well enjoy it. She didn’t need any more invitation as she drilled her tongue deep into my mouth like a worm escaping a bird. Pardon my sucky similes. I couldn’t really think much because I was busy with entangling my tongue with my best friend’s tongue.

Gone was my annoyance with Deen’s touch. Only hers. I pretty much hate contact with other people. If I considered Deen as my property, then there really was no issue. Or has she slowly conditioned me to get used to her with her non-stop touchy-feeliness?

Either way, I was having fun. Rare for me to have fun physically, just shutting off the brain, since my usual hobby was manipulating other people. Mental stuff.

“That sexual thing,” Deen said after surfacing from our kiss. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Oh…”

“Oh? Is that all you can say? Do you like it?”

I rested my chin on the top of her breasts that were squeezed up between us and looked up at her with a raised brow. “You already know the answer to that.”

“I want to hear it directly from you.”

“Put me down first.”

“No.” Deen moved her hands to my butt, lacing her fingers to form a sort of sling seat for me.

“Whatever…” I wrapped my hands around her neck so I wouldn’t fall out of balance. Then I wrapped my legs around her waist. I felt her heart pound faster. Or was that mine? “Sure, I like it,” I said as nonchalantly as I could.

She smiled. “I know. I like it too. We’re really best friends. So, why are you so hesitant to… to open up to me?”

“Is ‘opening up’ your term for masturbating in front of you? Is it because I’ll have to open up my legs?”

“I haven’t thought of it that way,” said Deen. “But, yes. I want us to be even.”

Here she was with her weird brand of justice again. Funny that it was bleeding off into her perverted side. “Deen, just pause for a moment to think,” I said. She raised a brow. I grabbed the sides of her head and looked deep into her eyes. “There are so many wrong things with this!”

“Hmmm? Like what? Specify your problem.”

That made me pause. Good question. What was my issue with this?

“Is it because we’re both girls?” Deen asked, squeezing my butt.

“I don’t think so,” I truthfully said. I never thought about being straight or not before Deen brought it up when we started doing this. Like last time, I had no answer to my sexuality.

Sexual orientation never mattered in my manipulative schemes. It just so happened that most people were straight, and most of the time I had to attract guys. When it came to girls, I usually just befriended them. What if I didn’t have a scheme in mind? As for actual attraction—I can’t believe I’m only thinking about this now—I realized I had no preference.

“Think about it,” said Deen. She bent down and let go of me. I unwrapped my legs and arms around her and hopped to the floor. “I’m going to freshen up for a bit.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “Freshen up for what?”

“For bed.”

“Huh? I thought we were going to…”

Deen mischievously smiled. “We were going to what? It’s super late and we should sleep.” She pointed at the clock.

Both of its hands pointed at ‘12’. Already midnight? Only then did a bout of sleepiness hit me. Took a long time for us to get home from the airport because of traffic, and Mom had a video conference, then we ate dinner. Yeah, maybe we should sleep.

“I’ll use the bathroom first,” said Deen. “While waiting for me, think about what’s really stopping you from… going through with this. Like going further than what we’ve done before? I’ve already decided on my part.”

“You want me to consider giving in to your perverted side?”

“I bet you’re more perverted than me,” she countered. “It’s always the quiet ones. Anyway, I won’t take long. Just think about it. You’re also welcome to join me.” She winked.

“No, thank you. I’ll just fix the cabinet here since we’re sharing it.”

While arranging my clothes—I took the left half, and Deen the right, plus another cabinet because she brought lots of clothes—my mind returned to the sexual thing. If sexuality wasn’t the concern, then what is?”

I have used relationships to gain advantage or exact revenge in the past. Nothing to avenge here, but there was plenty to gain with having Deen permanently attached to me. She got money. She could see the future, sort of, with her Core power—a way bigger benefit. Most importantly, she was fiercely loyal to me despite knowing I was an Adumbrae. And nothing could top that for an ally.

“Why can’t I just give her what she wants?” I mumbled to myself as I arranged my shoes on the rack. I placed Deen’s footwear on the top three tiers. I got the most bottom one.

And what did she want? A sex doll basically.

A sex doll she could bully.

That was a very small price to pay for the benefits I'd gain.

True to her word, Deen was out of the bathroom in a few minutes. She wrapped a towel around her torso, but her hair was dry. She tilted her head at me when she noticed my stare. "It's your turn. Or are you thinking of doing something else?"

"Nothing," I said.

As the warm water from the shower massaged my face, I pondered once again. I think I got it.

My issue with giving in to Deen was that it meant she'd win our little contest. I was no longer certain what contest this was about. How did it even start? But I couldn't get rid of the feeling of not wanting to lose. Which was stupid. For the small, small price of being Deen's sex doll, I'd gain a rich superhuman bodyguard with future sight. A no-brainer deal, really.

Oh, yeah—I get to enjoy myself too. There was no denying that I found Deen physically attractive. Not just in an objective way, but personally too. I did get aroused when we messed around with each other. And if I craved more enjoyment, I could sneak in emotionally abusing her once in a while.

But I wasn't going to completely give in. A hint of resistance would keep up the excitement. And the deeper this went, the more chains I'd wrap around Deen's heart. It had been a long time since I actively tried to get someone to love me. And it was a girl this time around. An exciting and interesting challenge.

Just don't forget to make Deen pay for my loss in this battle. Even though I couldn't recall the contest, I hated losing to her.

When I opened the bathroom door, I found Deen sitting on the end of the bed, looking at me. She was wearing a baggy shirt and pajama pants. She really was planning to go to sleep. Somehow, that disappointed me. I expected this to be the start of a new conquest for me.

But as I walked out of the bathroom, I noticed something different in the room. Right in front of Deen was a wall mirror propped up on a chair. The mirror was directly facing Deen and the bed.

“Did you get this from outside?” I asked. This was the mirror hanging by the living room door. I didn't have any large mirrors in my room except inside my bathroom. My study disk only had a small circular mirror for make-up if I needed it for the face I was wearing for the day.

“Yep,” she said, beaming at me. “Don't worry, your mom's in her room. I think she's already asleep because the light's out. She didn't notice me bringing that here.”

“And why is that here?”

“Because you're going to sit on my lap, and I want to watch you at the same time.”

‘Watch me do what exactly?”

“Play with yourself while sitting on my lap and wearing this.” From behind her back, Deen presented to me that stupid headband with doggy ears.

“You still haven't given up on that? It's even worse now.” Was my decision? Giving in to Deen was seeming to be a bad idea, but she could technically bully my timid Erind face into doing it. “I thought we were going to sleep?”

“I lied.” Deen wiggled the headband. “Wear this for me, pretty please.”

I took it from her and stared at it. “What makes you think I'll agree to this?”

“Because I already know you decided to.” She patted her lap. “Come, Erind. Sit here.”