Don't Care Where We've Been 2/2
Click here for part one
As they were packing up the car Annie's friend (well, he looked kind of afraid of her, but she introduced him as a friend) gave them, Cassadee was glad that they were going to be back on the road, but she wished it didn't mean leaving The Like. She felt like she had known them for weeks instead of just a couple of days.
"You make sure to tell that Pete Wentz fellow that he has to share you," Tennessee told them sternly after all their stuff was packed up in the car.
"Yeah, write us letters or something, you have our address," Laena said, giving Cassadee a quick hug.
"Take care," Annie said, hugging Cassadee, and as Z and Tennessee both swooped in to hug Cassadee from both sides, she saw Annie hugging Alex and Jersey and telling them to "take care of her." Cassadee closed her eyes and hugged back.
"Thank you so much for everything."
"Including the sandwiches!" Jersey said, patting his backpack.
"Just take care of each other and for the love of fuck, be careful," Z said, leaning into Tennessee. "Don't take any rides from strangers if you break down somewhere, no one else is as cool as we are. And don't leave your drinks unattended. And don't--"
"Z," Laena said, linking her arm through Z's. "Let them go."
And so they said the last of their goodbyes and Alex and Jersey finally dragged Cassadee into the backseat of the car, locking the doors just in case she changed her mind and ran out to stay with The Like. It was breaking Cassadee's heart to drive away from the four girls, though, from where they were leaning up against their van and waving. Cassadee waved goodbye until she couldn't see them anymore and then turned around in her seat, fastening her seatbelt and sighing.
"So," Jersey said, clearing his throat while Alex tried to find a radio station to listen to. "Was it me or were they all doing each other?"
"Jersey!" Cassadee shrieked, but she couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth. "That's none of our business."
"But they only have one bed," Alex said.
"And I'm pretty sure I saw Annie's hand under Tennessee's skirt at one point--"
"Oh my god, stop it!" Cassadee gasped, but she was still smiling. The tension between the three of them from the last two days seemed to seep away, just like that, and as Cassadee hugged the guitar to her chest and fished around in her pocket for one of the picks Annie had slipped her, her sadness was replaced with something like hope.
-
The next few days went by in a blur of gas stations, truck-stops, and motel rooms. They didn't do a lot of sight-seeing while driving across the Midwest, but occasionally Cassadee would make them stop at a park to feed the ducks and swing on the swing set, and one time she found $20 in a gas station parking lot and they used it to go bowling. They tried their best not to take advantage of their new found freedom and to stay focused on getting to their destination, so they mostly spent their days cooped up in the car playing road games and teasing each other when that got boring.
"I am not in love with Z Berg!" Cassadee said with a groan, but she felt her face heat up anyway. "Didn't we already establish that they were all lesbians for each other anyway?"
Alex cleared his throat and moved on the bed to kneel behind Jersey, bringing Jersey's hands up so it looked like he was holding an invisible guitar. He leaned in and said in a low voice in Jersey's ear, "No, you have to hold it like this, Cassadee." He touched Jersey's fingers and Jersey pretended to swoon.
"But Z, I'm so inexperienced! Maybe if you could just teach me--"
Alex had his face pressed into Jersey's neck, his hand curled around Jersey's, and Cassadee felt flustered with anger and, despite trying to ignore it, jealousy. "Just shut the fuck up, assholes! It's not like I'm the only one with a crush around here, okay?" she snapped, grabbing her guitar and storming out to the car. She sat in there for a while until Alex and Jersey came out and apologized, convincing her that sleeping in the room and not the car was at least a little bit safer. Cassadee sighed and followed them back in, and thankfully there wasn't much teasing about Z after that.
Sharing motel room after motel room with two boys actually wasn't that bad (sometimes Jersey snored so loud it woke both Alex and Cassadee up, but then Alex would hit him with a pillow and he'd stop) and they always let Cassadee have her own bed, but there were a couple of shower incidents that weren't leaving Cassadee's brain any time soon. Like the time she thought Jersey was just brushing his teeth and she pushed open the door and yelled. He was brushing his teeth, but he was also completely naked. Cassadee never asked so she never did get an explanation for that. Alex was pretty shameless too, sitting around in a towel for a while after taking a shower instead of putting some boxers on. It wasn't really that different, Alex in a towel instead of his boxers, but sometimes the towel would slip down and there'd be all this hipbone and Cassadee's libido was starting to go a little crazy.
Which is why Cassadee finally decided to have what she mentally referred to as "me time" in the shower, locking the bathroom door before she undressed and stepped into the shower, just in case. They didn't have computers or even any raunchy romance novels with them, so Cassadee had to use her imagination to get herself in the mood. She had to be careful about her fantasizing, though, because the last time she let her mind wander, well--
"You're not going to make it," Jersey said from the opposite motel bed, laughing, and Cassadee couldn't help it, she was laughing too.
"You mean you're not going to catch it," she corrected, but she held up the jellybean and took aim anyway. She stared Jersey in the eye, determined to prove him wrong, and when she tossed the jellybean he leaned forward just in time to catch it in his mouth. He almost choked, unfortunately, but then Alex was slapping him on the back and laughing so hard that Jersey was laughing too, his eyes crinkling up in the corners and his tongue coming out to swipe at his lips, and Cassadee suddenly wished that she could kiss Jersey, could feel his tongue against her lips.
And just like that, Jersey was standing up, his smile faltering as confusion crossed his face and he walked toward Cassadee, and-- no, no, he wasn't-- Cassadee gasped and quickly closed her mind, feeling her powers give up the hold they had on Jersey's mind. Jersey froze, staring at Cassadee with wide eyes, and they both said, "Oh god," at the same time.
"Wait," Alex said, staring between the two of them. "What?"
--but Jersey hadn't said anything about it and Cassadee hadn't pried. If he didn't bring it up, she could still pretend, however unlikely, that Jersey had no idea what Cassadee had wanted him to do. What she still wanted him to do, if she was being honest with herself.
"But what they don't know won't hurt them, right?" Cassadee mumbled to herself a few minutes later, closing her eyes and reaching back to rinse the shampoo out of her hair. She slowed her fingers down and let her mind wander, and then suddenly, in her mind, it wasn't her fingers in her hair.
Alex was there, stepping into the shower with her, naked (god, Cassadee was such a virgin, but she shivered just thinking about it), pressing up behind her and sinking his fingers into her hair to rinse out the shampoo under the spray. Jersey was there, too - it was a tight fit for all three of them in one motel shower, but that just meant they had to be closer together, wet skin against wet skin as Alex pressed Cassadee into the wall of the shower, kissing her while Jersey fit himself in against her side.
Cassadee still had her eyes closed, shamelessly sliding her hand down her stomach, between her thighs, pretending it was Jersey's hand, his fingers rubbing at Cassadee and making the ache inside her throb. Alex was kissing her neck now, and Cassadee tilted her head to the side, trying to imagine the pressure from Alex's lips, the way it would make heat shoot straight down to her stomach, cause that pleasurable tugging feeling like when Cassadee was close.
And it wouldn't take much, not with both of them, not with Cassadee so worked up already. She spread her legs to give her fingers more room and pictured Alex sinking to his knees, kissing her bellybutton before trailing his mouth lower, and with her hand rubbing hard at her clit and her eyes squeezed shut, Cassadee came with a low moan, arching up against her hand to ride out her orgasm. She only dimly registered that the water had gone from warm to cool, but then Alex knocked on the door to ask if she was okay and Cassadee shrieked, grabbing the shower curtain and falling on her ass in the tub.
"Owww," Cassadee groaned, staring up at the hooks the stupid shower curtain shouldn't have come out of so easily.
"Uh, Cass? Do you need any help?"
"No!" Cassadee yelled quickly, her face flushing dark red in a way that she probably wouldn't be able to excuse from the steam. She reached up to turn the water off and stood up on shaky legs, holding onto the wall, and it was only when she looked down that she realized all the clothes she brought into the bathroom were soaking wet. Only the towel on the rack was still semi-dry.
Cassadee hated her luck a lot sometimes.
"Are you sure you're-- oh," Alex froze where he was standing right outside the door when Cassadee pushed it open, covering herself as well as she could with the tiny towel from the bathroom. Through her own embarrassment, she maybe got just a little bit of satisfaction from seeing both Alex and Jersey go pink and turn away.
"I just fell on my butt. It was-- slippery, so." Cassadee just stopped talking, her voice still weirdly scratchy from her orgasm. "I'm going to get dressed, so could you two, um, not--"
"Yeah, of course," Alex said, his voice a little hoarse too and Cassadee bit her lip as she ducked down behind the bed and started to quickly pull on the first clothes she grabbed out of her bag. She peeked and saw that Jersey and Alex were facing the wall, leaning in close and whispering to each other, and she felt a pang that had nothing to do with the dull ache in her poor, bruised ass.
"Okay," Cassadee said, standing up and clearing her throat. She was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and when the air in the room kicked on she shivered, thinking back to her soaked hoodie.
"Oh, hey," Jersey said, stepping forward and handing Cassadee a baggy sweatshirt from one of Alex's old schools. "Here you go. Until yours dries."
Cassadee's mouth quirked up in a smile. "This is Alex's."
"He let me wear it yesterday," Jersey said after Alex had gone into the bathroom. "And now I'm letting you borrow it."
"I think they call that re-gifting," Cassadee said, but she moved forward and gave Jersey a quick hug anyway. "Thanks, Jersey."
"Yeah, totally," Jersey said with a short laugh, walking past Cassadee to go through his own bag. Cassadee pulled the sweatshirt over her head, smiling to herself at how it was way too big for her. But it was warm and comfortable and, fuck all, it smelled like both of them. Cassadee closed her eyes for a second and breathed in, only opening them when Alex came out of the bathroom and picked her up by the waist, spinning her around until she yelled at him to stop, falling on the bed laughing.
-
"I'm not getting that back, am I?" Alex asked. Cassadee looked up.
"It's not your guitar, it's Z's."
"I meant the hoodie, Cass."
"Oh," Cassadee blushed a little but went back to trying to figure out the song they were just listening to on the radio. "Nope. It's mine now. And sometimes Jersey's."
"Fine, I'll just replace it with something of yours," Alex mumbled, grabbing Cassadee's bag and opening the zipper on the side. Cassadee started snickering into the neck of the guitar when Alex pulled out a pair of Cassadee's underwear. Jersey must've saw them in the mirror because he burst out laughing.
Alex wrinkled his eyebrows and shoved the underwear back into Cassadee's bag, his cheeks pink.
"What's wrong? Little pink cupcakes not your thing?" Cassadee teased.
"Those would never fit you, Pimpshaw," Jersey called back, and Alex rolled his eyes and sunk back into his seat.
"I hate you both."
"You love us," Cassadee and Jersey said at the same time. Alex groaned, but Cassadee could see him smiling when he went back to staring at maps.
They continued on the interstate highway they were on until it took them into Nevada, Alex waggling his eyebrows when he mentioned they would have to drive through Las Vegas.
"No way," Cassadee said, shaking her head. "No way am I using my powers in a casino, Pimpshaw. There's bound to be anti-mutant security to cover that anyway."
"But we at least have to stop by some place! When are we going to get the chance again--"
"Um, guys?" Jersey spoke up, and the shaky tone of his voice shut Cassadee and Alex up.
"What is it, Jersey?"
"I don't want to worry you, but. I think we have company."
Alex sat up straight, leaning forward behind Jersey's seat. "What do you mean?"
"Don't both look at once, but the black car behind us. There's two guys in black suits in there and they've been following us pretty close for a while now. I thought it was a coincidence, but now-- I think they might be after us."
"But we're just kids," Cassadee said, but her voice was shaky too. "Is there any way to lose them?
"Once we get to Las Vegas we could go south, try to cut through Arizona," Alex said, scanning the maps. "But we need to at least get to the city. Shit. Are they trying to drive us off the road, Jersey?"
"No, not yet." Cassadee noticed how his knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel and she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Just keep driving, Jersey. We'll be fine."
They weren't fine, though. They still had half an hour before they got to Vegas and they were all nervous as fuck. And poor Jersey, Cassadee thought, had to be feeling the worst of it. She knew when he got stressed out like this it was harder for him to suppress his powers.
"Okay," Cassadee said when they were finally nearing civilization, "that diner up ahead? Let's pull in there and see if the car follows us."
"And if it does?" Alex asked.
"Then we get the fuck back on the road," Cassadee said with a grimace.
"Here goes nothing," Jersey said, letting out a shaky breath and slowing down to pull into the diner. They turned into a parking spot and Cassadee and Alex spun around in their seats, staring out the back.
"They're gone," Cassadee said, jumping out of the car and squinting down the road. "And they're not slowing down or turning around. Fuck, I thought we were doomed," she groaned in relief, and Alex and Jersey got out of the car too.
"Thank god," Alex said, leaning back against the car, and Cassadee laughed and hugged him tightly, waiting about two seconds before surging forward and doing the same to Jersey. Her stomach did flip-flops but she ignored it, taking it to mean she was hungry instead.
"We might as well get something to eat while we're here," Cassadee said, walking toward the diner while Alex and Jersey got out the map to spread across the hood of the car and stare at. Maybe she would ask for directions while she was in there, too.
Cassadee was so relieved about not being stalked by secret agents that she almost missed the cop car at the end of the lot, squinting right at her and talking to his radio. Cassadee felt her stomach sink again.
"Fuck fuck fuck," Cassadee swore, running back to Alex and Jersey. "Fuck, you guys."
"Are they out of burgers?" Alex asked, his eyebrows raised, but his expression immediately turned into concern when he saw that Cassadee was shaking.
"The cop over there. He's staring right at us and he just called someone on his radio. Fuck!"
"Uh, now he's coming over here. Would it be too suspicious to get in the car and drive away really quick?"
"Shh," Cassadee hissed, turning around as the cop approached them.
"Can I see your licenses and some proof of insurance?"
"Did we do something wrong?" Cassadee asked.
"I intend to scan your license and find out, missy. You three look awful young to be traveling by yourselves."
Jersey stepped forward and took Cassadee's hand, squeezing. "I'm the only one driving. My license got lost, that-that's why we had to stop."
"Excuse me?" The cop was glaring at them now and Cassadee couldn't help it, she was terrified.
"Your car," Alex suddenly said. Everyone turned around to stare at him.
"What?"
"Sir, your car is getting away." Alex pointed and they all turned to watch the police car rolling out of the parking lot and toward the desert, next to the road. It was picking up speed too.
"Jesus, what the--" But then the cop took off, running after his car, and Cassadee let out a huge, shaky breath.
"Oh my god, that was way too close. We have to get out of here."
"But what. How?" Jersey looked to Alex, his eyes wide, but Alex was still staring at the car, unblinking.
"Wind. Hold on." Alex squinted and then his whole body jerked forward, the car already a speck in the distance. He was breathing hard and Cassadee reached out to squeeze his hand. Pushing an entire car that far away took a serious concentration of powers. Cassadee knew how hard that was.
"Alex, Alex, come on, back in the car, before he turns around and comes back--"
"You guys really don't have time for that," a voice said, and they all turned around to see an old Trans Am pull up next to them, two guys sitting in the front seat. "The cop has your car's plates and more are on the way. Hop in, we'll get you out of here."
"What?" Jersey asked.
"I've got superhuman hearing and my brother's hero complex, come on!"
"Who the hell are you?" Alex yelled, and Cassadee rolled her eyes at the way he and Jersey kind of situated themselves in front of her. Always the overprotective losers.
"Uncle Mikey's a mutant," a little girl's voice shouted, and they saw her crawl across the backseat and poke her head out the window. She couldn't have been more than twelve-years-old. "We're on the run from the bad guys too, we can help you out!" The guy who wasn't driving, with the big hair, said something to her that Cassadee couldn't hear, and then she added, "Oh, Uncle Ray says to tell you they didn't kidnap me. I'm just spending the weekend with them because mom said I could. My name's Grace!"
The boys weren't moving and it only took Cassadee a few seconds to decide what to do. What they had to do, because there were sirens getting closer (the cop must've called for backup) and there was nowhere else for them to go. She pushed past Alex and Jersey and walked up to the car.
"My name is Cassadee. You can get us away from here?"
"Of course we can!" Grace said, and Cassadee high-fived her before running back to their car and grabbing her backpack and guitar. Mikey popped the trunk for her so she could store her stuff back there.
"Cass--"
"Got any other ideas?" she yelled out to them as she crawled into the car, scooting over to give them room. They both got their stuff to throw in the trunk and got in the car as the sirens grew louder, and then the guy driving - Mikey - took off.
-
It turns out Mikey, Ray, Mikey's brother Gerard, and another friend of theirs, Frank, were all staying just north of Los Angeles, out toward the desert. They didn't live there, though.
"My brother is, uh." Mikey adjusted his sunglasses and put his blinker on to turn left. They were driving farther and farther away from civilization. "He's really committed to this LARP scenario he came up with."
"We just play along with him for fun, you know," Ray said.
"Uncle Gerard is awesome," Grace said. "He only goes by Party Poison in the desert. But they haven't thought of a codename for me yet."
"Now what's wrong with Grace?" Ray asked, turning around and reaching out to pat her helmet. "This is my niece, by the way. I'm not actually related to the other guys." Mikey coughed, and Ray grinned. "But they're like brothers to me."
"So you can get us to L.A.?" Cassadee asked, trying not to get her hopes up but totally failing.
"Of course we can, it won't even be a long drive. Where are you guys trying to get to?"
Cassadee exchanged a quick look with Jersey and Alex, where they were all still pressed close together in the backseat. They hadn't actually tried to do more research on this Pete Wentz guy, so Cassadee honestly didn't know where in L.A. he lived. And she told Ray as much.
"Wait, Pete Wentz? Short guy who can talk to animals?" Mikey spoke up.
"Uh, maybe? We were told he took in mutants--"
"No shit! I mean, yeah, he totally does. Me and Pete go way back, that's sweet. Yeah, I know where he lives. We can take you there as soon as we drop Gracie off."
"But I want to go with you!" Grace said.
"Your mom's picking you up tonight, remember? We'll meet you back at the house," Ray said. Grace looked disappointed, though, and Cassadee tried to distract her by asking about the bottle caps she was wearing.
"So," Jersey spoke up, "what exactly do you mean by LARP scenario?"
-
"Motorbabies! You're back!" a man with bright red hair and a blue jacket called out, walking up to the car. They were pulled up to what looked like a diner turned into a warehouse and everything had a kind of post-apocalyptic feel to it, all run-down and derelict. There was lots of junk lying around, car parts and helmets and boxes covered in sand, and the place was decorated with all sorts of posters and graffiti. It was actually pretty awesome.
"Party Poison!" Grace yelled, running over to hug him around the waist. He must've been Mikey's brother.
"Everything go okay, Kobra Kid? Jet Star?"
"We picked up some runaways who were getting harassed by a cop and we're gonna take them to Pete's," Mikey said, patting Gerard on the shoulder. Gerard walked over to the side of the car where Alex, Jersey, and Cassadee were just kind of awkwardly waiting. Cassadee felt weirdly intimidated, like he was sizing them up.
"You there," Gerard said, walking up to Jersey. "Shut up and let me see your jazz hands."
Jersey gave Alex and Cassadee a quick, desperate look that clearly said Help! before bringing his hands up and waving them around a little. Gerard's face broke out into a huge smile.
"Excellent work, Kobra Kid!" Gerard yelled. He turned to walk away and Cassadee laughed as Jersey let out a sigh of relief.
-
After being shown around the place and then sitting down and explaining their trip to Gerard, who listened with rapt attention and then took their picture because he wanted to remember their bravery, the three of them got back into the car with Mikey to head over to Pete's. The trip wasn't long but, piled together in the backseat while driving through the warm desert after an exhausting day, they all fell asleep on each other. Cassadee woke up to a mouthful of Alex's shirt and muttered an apology, shrugging Jersey off her shoulder so he'd wake up too.
"This is it," Mikey said a minute later, pulling slowly into a long driveway.
"The sign on the gate said The Fabulous Wentz Boarding School for Sweet Little Mutants," Alex read as they drove by it. And Cassadee could see how the place could be a boarding school - it wasn't just a house, it was a mansion.
"That sounds promising," Cassadee said, nudging Alex in the arm. She could see how big his eyes were as well as they took in the size of the place.
"That's Pete for you." Mikey parked the car and popped the trunk. They all got out and grabbed their stuff, and Cassadee gave Mikey a quick hug as he came back to help them.
"Thank you for all the help, seriously," she said, and Mikey blinked like he was surprised.
"Yeah, no problem," Mikey said, his cheeks turning a little pink. "I know what it's like to be a mutant and a teenager at the same time. It's hard enough when you aren't on the run," he said, smiling as he walked up to the front door. "Delivery for Pete Wentz!" Mikey said, knocking. There was a scrambling that was either an overexcited dog or an overexcited person, and then the door opened to reveal both.
"Mikeyway!" the guy at the door shouted, throwing his arm up around Mikey and hugging him tightly. "I haven't seen you in forever--"
"It's been three weeks, Pete," Mikey said with a grin. "I found some runaways that said they were looking for you."
"Mutants?" Pete asked, peering around Mikey. He was short and wearing all black but he had a huge smile that reached his eyes.
"Yeah, we are," Cassadee said, stepping forward.
"Sweet." Pete grabbed the bulldog to keep him in the house and opened the door the rest of the way. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"
-
"He changes the name of the place every couple of weeks," Ashlee, Pete's wife, explained to them as they all sat down in the living room. Or a living room, anyway - the house was seriously huge. "But our house has basically turned into a kind of safe house for mutants that have nowhere to go. You said you're all orphans?"
Cassadee nodded, scratching Hemingway behind his ears. Rigby, the smaller bulldog, had jumped into Alex's lap, but he didn't look too upset about it. "I didn't even really know if this place existed," Cassadee admitted, shrugging. "But we had nowhere else to go. We're just glad we ran into Mikey when we did, or we'd probably be on a plane back to Portland right now."
"Mikey's always been a good friend," Ashlee said. "There's only a handful of other kids living here now - a few orphans, like you, and some kids whose parents kicked them out. That's what made me and Pete want to start doing this."
"That's awful," Cassadee said. She couldn't imagine doing that to someone who couldn't help who they were, to your own child.
Ashlee smiled gently. "But I'm sure you won't have a problem making friends. We have good kids here." Pete came back into the room balancing three cans of soda and some crackers for them to snack on, handing them out to the three of them. "My husband being the biggest one," Ashlee continued fondly, and Pete just mumbled, "Hey," mock-offended, as he sat down on the arm of the chair Ashlee was sitting in.
Alex played with the tab of his can, and Cassadee could tell he was mulling something over before he actually spoke up. "So-- I don't mean to sound ungrateful, Mr. and Mrs. Wentz--"
"Pete and Ashlee is fine, sweetie," Ashlee interrupted, smiling.
"Right, sorry. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but... this isn't a scam? This isn't just a cover for, like, a mutant organ harvesting business? We get to stay here?"
Ashlee laughed and shook her head, and Pete set his own drink down so he could explain. "No, you definitely get to keep your organs. You get to stay here as long as you need to, and since Ashlee is from a wealthy family you never have to pay rent, but there are a few rules. This place is big and we don't have a maid, so everyone has to help out around the house and clean up after themselves. Ash, here--"
"Hi, I'm a telepath," Ashlee said, giving a small wave before letting Pete continue.
"--does lessons with everyone, to help you control your powers when you're angry or stressed, or just in general. She's great at teaching one-on-one--"
"Pete," Ashlee said sweetly, but Cassadee knew a warning when she heard one.
"--when her mind isn't in the gutter," Pete said. Ashlee punched his arm and Cassadee covered her mouth to hide her smile. "The other thing we require is that you either attend some kind of schooling or get a job. There's some great schools around here that we've looked into, mutant-friendly places, and we'll do everything we can to help you find a job that you want to do. Am I missing anything?"
"We just ask you guys be good to each other," Ashlee said, taking Pete's hand and linking her fingers with his. "No fighting, no cheating, no getting into trouble with the law. Be decent people and try your best and we'll help you any way that we can." She brought Pete's hand up to her lips and kissed it before letting go. "So! Any objections? Would you guys like a tour now?"
"Yeah, that sounds awesome," Alex said, and Cassadee reached across the couch and squeezed his hand.
Ashlee led the tour to show them around the house, letting them know who lived in what room and that they could use the kitchen and the pool any time they wanted. She stopped in the hallway on the second floor and turned around.
"Hey, you guys don't mind sharing a room, do you? We have to do some cleaning up before we have rooms for all of you. But we can get some sleeping bags set up for the boys--"
"We can share!" Cassadee interrupted, and she ignored the way her face heated up a little as she continued. "We got used to sharing a bed so it's no big deal for us."
Ashlee raised her eyebrows but thankfully didn't say anything, and Cassadee busied herself pretending she didn't notice Alex and Jersey looking at her as Ashlee lead them to the room. Whatever, it had been a hard week and a half and they could all use a nice bed to sleep in.
They dropped off their stuff in the room (it was small and cozy, with movie posters all over the walls, and the bed was a full size but looked way more comfortable than any of the motel beds they had stayed in) and Ashlee told Cassadee to follow her so they could get her some clothes. Cassadee didn't want to seem overeager or anything, but Ashlee had a huge walk-in closet that Cassadee kind of never wanted to leave.
"Oh my god," Cassadee whispered, running her fingers over the rack of dresses. Some were velvety and some were shimmery and some were lacy too and Cassadee hadn't owned a dress in forever.
Ashlee laughed, walking toward the back of the closet and starting to pull out some pants and shirts. "How long has it been since you've been shopping? I should take you out sometime and spoil you like I did with Sierra. I could go for some mall pretzels, mmm."
"Oh, but-- I could never," Cassadee said quickly, blushing. "I mean, that is really, really kind of you. But I don't want-- I can get by with what I have, really."
Ashlee smiled bright and not at all patronizing and it reminded Cassadee of Z, just a little bit. "Don't be silly, sweetie, I need an excuse to get away from my husband every now and then and you need pretty things to wear. He's the most generous person I've ever met, but last week I came home from grocery shopping and found him out back videotaping Blake twisting metal into dirty stick figures. I mean, honestly, you have super strength and you use it to make stick figures with boobs?" Ashlee sighed and tossed some t-shirts over her shoulder at Cassadee. The one she caught has Gizmo from Gremlins on it, and Cassadee grinned down at it while Ashlee continued to toss clothes around and rant.
"Like I said, when he's not being a great person he's being the biggest idiot in the world. But somehow I love him anyway. Trust me, a little shopping and hanging out with girls now and then is what keeps me sane. Now get back here and pick some stuff out - these are the clothes I never wear and I'm sure we can find something that will fit you."
Cassadee wanted to protest some more, but Ashlee held up some leopard print pajama pants and, well, Cassadee was only so strong.
-
"Holy crap, did you rob them?" Jersey asked when Cassadee got back to the room, barely able to see over the pile of clothes in her arms. She dumped them all in the corner but immediately started to pick stuff up and fold it, setting a t-shirt and some shorts aside for sleeping in later.
"Of course I didn't," Cassadee huffed. "Ashlee is so amazing, though. She said I could have all this and then she said she'd give me lessons on how to control my powers better."
"Is Ashlee your new girl-crush?" Jersey teased, and Cassadee rolled her eyes.
"This coming from the guy who said Pete Wentz was kind of dreamy?"
"Hey, that was a joke--" Jersey started, but he was kind of red. Cassadee felt vindicated.
"Hey you two, stop flirting and come get some food," Alex said, poking his head in the doorway, and Cassadee flicked him off.
-
After their first home-cooked meal (well, it was just soup and sandwiches, but it was still so much better than fast food) since they had stayed with The Like, they all headed back upstairs, Cassadee leaning on Alex and yawning into his shoulder.
"You're not tired, are you?" Alex asked dryly, and Cassadee punched his arm lightly.
"Shut up, it's just the turkey sandwich that's making me sleepy. Do you want to put my pajamas on for me?"
"I don't think they'll fit," Alex said, his voice quieter and a little hoarse, and Jersey snickered next to them. Cassadee sighed loudly and grabbed her pajamas, changing in the bathroom next to their room and coming back in to find Alex in his boxers on the bed.
"Jersey left to go find another bathroom."
"Mmhm," Cassadee replied, but the covers on the bed had been pulled back a little and Cassadee was pretty sure they were actually calling to her. She crawled into bed, ignoring Alex completely and snuggling in, claiming one of the pillows for herself. "Oh my god, this is so nice." She twisted around a little and Alex was staring at her in that unreadable way, his eyes dark and his shoulders really, really bare and really broad, and really good-looking. Cassadee was so doomed, but it wasn't like she could stop herself from noticing. It had been a long road trip.
"Is it time for bed already?" Jersey asked when he walked in, in shorts and a t-shirt like Cassadee, and Cassadee made a soft grunting noise while Alex got into bed on the opposite end.
"Awesome, I get middle," Jersey said, crawling into bed with them, and Cassadee tried to convince herself this was totally normal and she wasn't holding her breath while Jersey snuggled up behind her or anything. He was warm and he smelled like hand soap and toothpaste, and Cassadee ached a little with how much she wanted to be between them, between her boys. They were her friends but they were also so much more than that, and it was driving Cassadee crazy to lie to herself about it, now that they had settled in, now that the danger was behind them.
"Goodnight," she said softly, and Alex and Jersey mumbled it back. Five minutes went by and Cassadee was still trying to get herself to relax with Jersey pressed up behind her when Jersey groaned loudly and sat up, startling both Cassadee and Alex.
"I can't do this anymore!" Jersey yelled, and Cassadee and Alex exchanged a quick, confused look behind him.
"Um... do you want me to go grab you a sleeping bag, Jersey?" Cassadee asked carefully, but Jersey shook his head.
"No, it's not-- you guys have no idea what it's like, being around you all the time."
"Hey," Alex said, his voice kind of low and serious. "If you have a problem, fine, but leave Cass out of this--"
Jersey laughed, short and loud. "Don't you think I wish I could? But you two, with your stupid emotions and feelings! I can't turn it off around you all the time, and then it's just like being bombarded with it and seriously, do you know what it's like to feel how much someone wants someone else? It's confusing as fuck, first of all."
"Oh god," Cassadee said quietly, her eyes going wide with surprise. But Jersey couldn't-- could he? "Jersey--"
"And it's-- I'm not a mind-reader, I don't know who you're both so in love with, but it's not hard to guess and it's all the time, it's like being punched in the chest when I let my guard down, and--"
"Would you stop yelling already?" Alex said loudly, loud enough to interrupt Jersey, and before Jersey could retort or either of them could realize what Alex was doing, he grabbed Jersey's face with both hands and kissed him. Hard. And for what seemed like a really long time.
"Oh my god," Cassadee squeaked, her head dizzy as she watched them finally pull apart. Jersey was breathing really hard and Alex was staring intently, licking his lips before nudging Jersey over and. And, oh, oh.
"Mmph," Cassadee mumbled against Alex's mouth, but his hands were big on her face and resistance was kind of pointless now. She felt Jersey rest his hand on her knee and a shiver went down her spine, and then something inside her just kind of snapped - something tired and horny and so, so desperate to be touched like this, to be wanted. She kissed Alex back, surging forward and letting her lips slide sloppily against his until they both found a rhythm and then the kissing felt good. It felt real and frightening and far, far too good, and then Cassadee had to pull back to draw in a great, shaky breath.
"Is there anyone else you'd like to kiss?" Cassadee blurted out, only now realizing how warm her face was, and Alex snorted. He was a little red too, though.
"It's both of you. It's always been both of you. You asked, Jersey, so there you go."
Cassadee's head was swimming, and if the look on Jersey's face was any indication, so was his.
"You're not fucking with us, Alex?"
Alex grinned. "Not this time, nope."
"You're both so stupid," Cassadee groaned suddenly, and Jersey laughed and leaned forward, nudging Alex aside so he could move in and kiss Cassadee too. And now Cassadee kind of knew what she was doing, enough that it started out good and just got better, at least until Jersey almost toppled forward into her lap. Cassadee snorted, but her lips were still tingling a little.
"So let me get this straight," Jersey said after a minute, settling back down on the bed and staring at both of them, a smile still tugging at his lips. "While I've been driving myself crazy feeling you two pine and then pining for both of you and just, like, coming to terms with the fact it was both of you, you two were feeling the exact same thing?"
"I thought you were in love with Alex. And vice versa," Cassadee said softly, staring down at her hands when both Alex and Jersey stared at her. "That's why I tried to pretend I didn't want to bone both of you." Alex's eyebrows shot up and Jersey's eyes got wide and Cassadee gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth. "I didn't say that!"
"You totally did," Alex said, way too happy about it, and it was his turn to nudge Jersey out of the way so he could lean in to kiss Cassadee again.
"Wait, no! We were having a moment!" Cassadee squealed, pushing at Alex's chest. "And it's not like-- I'm glad we all, um, want each other," Cassadee tried to say, feeling her face go red, because seriously, when did she talk about feelings, "but how would we-- we can't all make out at the same time, I mean."
"Oh Cassadee," Alex said, and Cassadee's eyes flickered down just in time to catch Alex's hand resting on Jersey's thigh. The sight made something in her stomach twist, sharp and hot and altogether too pleasant. "Haven't you ever heard of a threesome?"
"Oh, kiss my ass, Pimpshaw, of course I know what a threesome is, but I don't go around-- Alex!" Cassadee gasped, because Alex grabbed her by the hips and pressed her down on the bed, leaning over her. "Shouldn't we, like--"
"Go on a date first? Do I have to take you both out to dinner?"
"Shut up," Cassadee groaned, tugging Alex down and kissing him hard on the mouth. She pushed him away after a few seconds, though, sitting up and reaching out for Jersey. Their fingers intertwined and she raised her eyebrows when she saw Jersey close his eyes, letting out a shaky breath. "Jersey? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, totally, it's just." Jersey took a deep breath, opening his eyes and grinning kind of sheepishly. His eyes were so dark, though, it made Cassadee feel like she was wearing far less clothing than she was. "You're both really turned on right now. It's harder to turn my powers off when-- when I am too."
Cassadee's eyebrows furrowed. "You could talk to Ashlee, maybe, she could help you with--"
"Now's really not the time for that," Jersey interrupted, laughing and tugging Cassadee forward so he could kiss her. "I'll live," he whispered against her lips, and Cassadee hummed and tilted her head as Jersey pressed his lips to hers. She felt Alex's hand at the small of her back, rubbing, and her skin felt electric everywhere they were touching her. Everything was so intense, so much and it was just making her want more.
Alex started to kiss at the side of Jersey's neck, pressed in close to both of them where they were still sitting up on the bed, and Cassadee pulled back when Jersey started to shiver, shaking where Cassadee was still holding his hand.
"Jersey, are you close?" Cassadee asked in a soft voice, and Jersey opened his eyes slowly, moaning softly when Alex's teeth scraped over his neck. "Do you want to get off?"
"No, I'm fine, it's just-- give me a second, I'll be fine."
"Are you seriously turning down an orgasm?" Alex asked, trailing his hand down to Jersey's lap, and Cassadee smiled when Jersey gasped, squeezing Cassadee's hand. "Because I'm pretty sure we're going to be at this long enough for you to get hard again."
"Yeah, Jersey, you're hurting his feelings," Cassadee added, leaning in to kiss Jersey again, biting at his bottom lip.
"I'm pained," Alex deadpanned, and Jersey choked out a laugh, pressing his face into Cassadee's neck.
"I hate you both," he said, his voice already hoarse, and Cassadee could feel Alex's hand between them, reaching into Jersey's shorts and making a fist around his dick. The low sound Jersey made right next to Cassadee's ear made heat rush to her stomach and she let go of his hand, putting her hands on his hips and pushing until he took the hint, lifting his arms up so she could pull his shirt off over his head.
"What about my--"
"Not necessary," Alex said, kissing Jersey's shoulder and moving his hand faster. Jersey groaned, his eyes sliding shut, and Cassadee looked down between them, where Jersey's dick was sliding through Alex's fist, his shorts pushed down a little.
"Does that feel good?" Cassadee asked, her hands settling on Jersey's thighs. She couldn't help asking because the noises he was making were getting high and desperate and she was so curious.
Jersey choked out another laugh, and Cassadee could feel how tense he was, still shaking. "It really does. Harder, Alex, please."
"Come on," Alex said, his voice all low and scratchy, and Cassadee just wanted to sit back and watch, they were so hot. She leaned in and kissed Jersey again, dragging his lip between her teeth and listening to Jersey's moans get louder, his kisses more frantic.
"Oh fuck," Jersey gasped, his whole body shuddering forward as he pressed his face into Cassadee's neck and started to come, his breath hitching until Alex finished stroking him through his orgasm. Jersey started to shudder a few seconds later, biting back a whine, and Alex finally let go, wiping his fingers off on Jersey's stomach.
"Hey," Jersey protested weakly, but Cassadee just laughed, scooting back so Alex could lean in and kiss Jersey.
"Sorry, dude, but it's your jizz."
"You're so romantic," Jersey mumbled, twisting on the bed so he could slide out of his shorts and underwear.
"Don't I get any credit for touching your dick and not freaking out?" Alex asked, but Cassadee could tell from the way he was staring at Jersey now that Alex was so, so far from having any kind of gay freak out.
"Shut up," Jersey said, crawling forward and leaning in so he could kiss Alex deeply. Cassadee stared at them and didn't care if it made her creepy, it was so hot watching their lips move and listening to the way they started breathing harder, the way Alex's hands slid down and held Jersey's hips like it was the most natural thing in the world. Jersey started to kiss down Alex's jaw, down to his neck, and Cassadee pressed the heel of her palm between her legs, biting her lip but unable to stop the soft noise from leaving her mouth.
Alex and Jersey both turned to look at her, their eyes dark and their lips all red and swollen from kissing. "Fuck, Cass," Alex groaned, staring down at her lap, and Cassadee looked down and felt her face heat up, moving her hand away.
"Sorry! I just-- and then you two went and-- with the kissing--"
Jersey laughed when he and Alex tried to move toward Cassadee at the same time and bumped into each other. "Yeah, you really don't have to be sorry."
Cassadee stayed where she was when Jersey moved to sit back by the pillows behind her, but then he was tugging at the back of her shirt, motioning for her to lean back against him.
"You're naked," Cassadee said simply, and Jersey rolled his eyes at her.
"Get back here if you want Alex to go down on you, dumbass."
"Oh." Cassadee finally leaned back against Jersey, fitting herself between his spread legs and feeling equal parts grateful and nervous when he leaned forward to kiss her neck. Alex crawled forward and pressed his lips to hers and, pressed between the both of them like that, Cassadee never wanted to do anything else.
"Hey, can I go down on you now?" Alex asked softly.
Except that.
"God, yes, please," Cassadee breathed, raising her arms when Jersey started lifting her t-shirt up over her head. Jersey helped her out of her sports bra too and then Alex was kissing down her neck, her chest, looping his arm around her and lifting her hips so he could help her out of her shorts and underwear. Cassadee laughed, ignoring the embarrassing feeling that she was blushing all over once she was finally naked, her skin in goosebumps and her back pressed against Jersey's bare skin.
"Hi," Alex said, flopping down onto his stomach on the bed. "This is going to be hard to do if you keep your legs closed."
"Oh fuck you," Cassadee said breathlessly, slowly easing her legs apart and tensing up when Jersey reached up with one hand to brush his thumb over Cassadee's nipple.
"Sorry," Jersey said in her ear, "I've been wanting to do that."
"It's okay," Cassadee replied, hoping that her voice wasn't shaking as bad as her thighs were right now. "I know you're both jealous of my boobs."
Jersey nipped at Cassadee's earlobe and she stared down at Alex as he leaned in and licked hesitantly over her, just quick, light brushes of his tongue. Cassadee made a noise that came out more frustrated than pleased and she flushed when Alex looked up at her.
"I've never done this before, so you'll have to--"
"No, it's fine, sorry. Just, um. Harder? When it's me-- when it's my fingers, I usually go pretty hard. I won't break."
"Fuck, Cassadee," Jersey breathed into her neck when Cassadee leaned back into him, and she arched her hips a little with Alex's mouth. Jersey slid his hand down Cassadee's stomach, stopping just before Alex's head.
Cassadee groaned appreciatively. "Yesss, just like that." Alex was sucking at her clit now, the pressure just sweet enough to keep the heat building low in her stomach, making everything warm and fuzzy and so fucking good. Alex pulled back for a second to add a finger, rubbing over Cassadee slowly before finally pressing it inside, and Cassadee moaned and grabbed at Jersey's arms, squeezing and arching again. "You can do three."
"Now? Shit, seriously?"
Cassadee smiled down at Alex, her stomach doing weird flips at seeing his chin all wet from her. "I really won't break. Please, Alex."
"Right," Alex said, pulling his finger out to rub at Cassadee and then press in three at once. It was a stretch - Alex's fingers just felt so different from Cassadee's, bigger and unfamiliar and angled differently - but it still felt good, gave Cassadee something to squeeze down around. When Alex leaned back in to lick at Cassadee, his tongue pressing right next to her clit, she shuddered and spread her legs apart wider, tilting her head so Jersey could kiss her neck. It was an onslaught of sensations her body wasn't used to and as Alex crooked his fingers a certain way, sucking at her clit, Cassadee gasped, her hips straining forward and her fingers digging into Jersey's skin as she started to come. It was intense in a way Cassadee had never felt before and it felt like it lasted forever, until finally she had to push at Alex's hair until he pulled off.
Cassadee was breathing hard and her legs were shaking, so she almost missed it when Alex slid his fingers out of her and reached up so Jersey could suck them into his mouth, licking them clean.
"Oh my god," Cassadee groaned. "Enough. Up, it's your turn."
Alex was smiling and licking his lips. "Yeah, it's really not going to take me long."
"Good, now c'mere." Cassadee pulled Alex in front of her and laid down on her side, spooning up behind him. "Help, please, Jersey?"
Jersey didn't answer, just sliding down and situating himself in front of Alex. Cassadee kissed the broad curve of Alex's freckled shoulder and reached down to tug at his boxers until she could get them off. His dick bumped into her wrist and Cassadee sucked in a sharp breath, the reality of the situation hitting her for a second, but then Jersey was grabbing Alex's dick to jerk him off and Alex was groaning, and Cassadee had much more important things to think about.
"Your mouth should be illegal, by the way," Cassadee said as she pressed wet kisses to Alex's neck, resisting the urge to giggle slightly hysterically.
"Yeah, and I could say the same about you and the noises you were making," Alex hissed back, and Cassadee threw her leg over his thigh, watching as Jersey leaned forward and kissed Alex, hard and messy and really, really hot.
"How are you doing, Jersey?" Cassadee asked, looking down to where his dick was swollen and hard against his stomach. Jersey snorted and touched Cassadee's thigh with his free hand, his other hand stilling on Alex's dick.
"Hold on a second," Jersey said when Alex groaned in protest, and Cassadee watched as Jersey closed his eyes and concentrated on something.
"What are you-- oh, oh," Cassadee gasped, feeling this rush of... of something hitting her like a tidal wave. She was still pressed behind Alex and Jersey was touching her thigh but suddenly it felt like more, like she was being touched everywhere, her skin prickly and hypersensitive and her mind dizzy with how much she wanted, how good everything felt.
"Fuck," Alex choked out. "Jersey, what are you--" But then Alex was going still and coming over Jersey's fist, and finally Jersey let go of Cassadee's thigh, stroking Alex through his orgasm. Cassadee felt him shiver in front of her and she kissed between his shoulder blades, let her lips trail up to the back of Alex's neck.
"Now you know how I feel," Jersey said hoarsely, closing his eyes when Alex moved forward to kiss him.
"All the time?" Cassadee asked, shocked and fighting the new twinge of arousal between her legs, leftover from Jersey's powers. "Jersey, how do you not just have orgasms all the time?"
Alex snorted in front of her and Jersey just shrugged. "I'm used to it. But yeah, that times ten is how it feels when I let my guard down."
"Dude," Alex said in awe, eventually getting over his post-orgasmic laziness and reaching forward to jerk Jersey's off. It didn't take Jersey long before he was curling in on himself and coming again, only this time Cassadee grabbed Alex's hand before he could wipe it off on Jersey's stomach, curious. She licked at the come on Alex's fingers and she must've made a pretty obvious face because Alex and Jersey were both laughing at her.
"I taste way better than that," Cassadee mumbled, sucking Alex's finger hard past her lips anyway before letting go of his hand, and she noticed they weren't laughing anymore when she opened her eyes.
"I'm not gonna argue with that." Alex rolled over onto his back and Cassadee settled in next to him, grinning to herself as Jersey did the same. It was like the first time they had huddled together for warmth in that abandoned building, except now they were naked and covered in jizz. All things considered, though, it wasn't so bad.
"Let's go again," Cassadee said, throwing her leg back over Alex's, and both boys groaned. "What? It's sex, you can't turn down more sex."
"Let's nap first," Jersey suggested, and Cassadee felt something warm spread out in her chest when she saw him snuggle closer into Alex's side.
"We're going to regret not showering," Cassadee pointed out, but Jersey had his eyes closed and Alex had his head tilted back as he yawned.
"Showering can wait."
"It can definitely wait."
Cassadee rolled her eyes and sat up so she could pull the sheet over them. When she was settled back into Alex's side she reached across his chest and brushed her fingers over Jersey's, waiting until Jersey slowly took her hand.
"'Night, you two," Cassadee said softly, and her boys both echoed it back to her before falling asleep.
As they were packing up the car Annie's friend (well, he looked kind of afraid of her, but she introduced him as a friend) gave them, Cassadee was glad that they were going to be back on the road, but she wished it didn't mean leaving The Like. She felt like she had known them for weeks instead of just a couple of days.
"You make sure to tell that Pete Wentz fellow that he has to share you," Tennessee told them sternly after all their stuff was packed up in the car.
"Yeah, write us letters or something, you have our address," Laena said, giving Cassadee a quick hug.
"Take care," Annie said, hugging Cassadee, and as Z and Tennessee both swooped in to hug Cassadee from both sides, she saw Annie hugging Alex and Jersey and telling them to "take care of her." Cassadee closed her eyes and hugged back.
"Thank you so much for everything."
"Including the sandwiches!" Jersey said, patting his backpack.
"Just take care of each other and for the love of fuck, be careful," Z said, leaning into Tennessee. "Don't take any rides from strangers if you break down somewhere, no one else is as cool as we are. And don't leave your drinks unattended. And don't--"
"Z," Laena said, linking her arm through Z's. "Let them go."
And so they said the last of their goodbyes and Alex and Jersey finally dragged Cassadee into the backseat of the car, locking the doors just in case she changed her mind and ran out to stay with The Like. It was breaking Cassadee's heart to drive away from the four girls, though, from where they were leaning up against their van and waving. Cassadee waved goodbye until she couldn't see them anymore and then turned around in her seat, fastening her seatbelt and sighing.
"So," Jersey said, clearing his throat while Alex tried to find a radio station to listen to. "Was it me or were they all doing each other?"
"Jersey!" Cassadee shrieked, but she couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth. "That's none of our business."
"But they only have one bed," Alex said.
"And I'm pretty sure I saw Annie's hand under Tennessee's skirt at one point--"
"Oh my god, stop it!" Cassadee gasped, but she was still smiling. The tension between the three of them from the last two days seemed to seep away, just like that, and as Cassadee hugged the guitar to her chest and fished around in her pocket for one of the picks Annie had slipped her, her sadness was replaced with something like hope.
-
The next few days went by in a blur of gas stations, truck-stops, and motel rooms. They didn't do a lot of sight-seeing while driving across the Midwest, but occasionally Cassadee would make them stop at a park to feed the ducks and swing on the swing set, and one time she found $20 in a gas station parking lot and they used it to go bowling. They tried their best not to take advantage of their new found freedom and to stay focused on getting to their destination, so they mostly spent their days cooped up in the car playing road games and teasing each other when that got boring.
"I am not in love with Z Berg!" Cassadee said with a groan, but she felt her face heat up anyway. "Didn't we already establish that they were all lesbians for each other anyway?"
Alex cleared his throat and moved on the bed to kneel behind Jersey, bringing Jersey's hands up so it looked like he was holding an invisible guitar. He leaned in and said in a low voice in Jersey's ear, "No, you have to hold it like this, Cassadee." He touched Jersey's fingers and Jersey pretended to swoon.
"But Z, I'm so inexperienced! Maybe if you could just teach me--"
Alex had his face pressed into Jersey's neck, his hand curled around Jersey's, and Cassadee felt flustered with anger and, despite trying to ignore it, jealousy. "Just shut the fuck up, assholes! It's not like I'm the only one with a crush around here, okay?" she snapped, grabbing her guitar and storming out to the car. She sat in there for a while until Alex and Jersey came out and apologized, convincing her that sleeping in the room and not the car was at least a little bit safer. Cassadee sighed and followed them back in, and thankfully there wasn't much teasing about Z after that.
Sharing motel room after motel room with two boys actually wasn't that bad (sometimes Jersey snored so loud it woke both Alex and Cassadee up, but then Alex would hit him with a pillow and he'd stop) and they always let Cassadee have her own bed, but there were a couple of shower incidents that weren't leaving Cassadee's brain any time soon. Like the time she thought Jersey was just brushing his teeth and she pushed open the door and yelled. He was brushing his teeth, but he was also completely naked. Cassadee never asked so she never did get an explanation for that. Alex was pretty shameless too, sitting around in a towel for a while after taking a shower instead of putting some boxers on. It wasn't really that different, Alex in a towel instead of his boxers, but sometimes the towel would slip down and there'd be all this hipbone and Cassadee's libido was starting to go a little crazy.
Which is why Cassadee finally decided to have what she mentally referred to as "me time" in the shower, locking the bathroom door before she undressed and stepped into the shower, just in case. They didn't have computers or even any raunchy romance novels with them, so Cassadee had to use her imagination to get herself in the mood. She had to be careful about her fantasizing, though, because the last time she let her mind wander, well--
"You're not going to make it," Jersey said from the opposite motel bed, laughing, and Cassadee couldn't help it, she was laughing too.
"You mean you're not going to catch it," she corrected, but she held up the jellybean and took aim anyway. She stared Jersey in the eye, determined to prove him wrong, and when she tossed the jellybean he leaned forward just in time to catch it in his mouth. He almost choked, unfortunately, but then Alex was slapping him on the back and laughing so hard that Jersey was laughing too, his eyes crinkling up in the corners and his tongue coming out to swipe at his lips, and Cassadee suddenly wished that she could kiss Jersey, could feel his tongue against her lips.
And just like that, Jersey was standing up, his smile faltering as confusion crossed his face and he walked toward Cassadee, and-- no, no, he wasn't-- Cassadee gasped and quickly closed her mind, feeling her powers give up the hold they had on Jersey's mind. Jersey froze, staring at Cassadee with wide eyes, and they both said, "Oh god," at the same time.
"Wait," Alex said, staring between the two of them. "What?"
--but Jersey hadn't said anything about it and Cassadee hadn't pried. If he didn't bring it up, she could still pretend, however unlikely, that Jersey had no idea what Cassadee had wanted him to do. What she still wanted him to do, if she was being honest with herself.
"But what they don't know won't hurt them, right?" Cassadee mumbled to herself a few minutes later, closing her eyes and reaching back to rinse the shampoo out of her hair. She slowed her fingers down and let her mind wander, and then suddenly, in her mind, it wasn't her fingers in her hair.
Alex was there, stepping into the shower with her, naked (god, Cassadee was such a virgin, but she shivered just thinking about it), pressing up behind her and sinking his fingers into her hair to rinse out the shampoo under the spray. Jersey was there, too - it was a tight fit for all three of them in one motel shower, but that just meant they had to be closer together, wet skin against wet skin as Alex pressed Cassadee into the wall of the shower, kissing her while Jersey fit himself in against her side.
Cassadee still had her eyes closed, shamelessly sliding her hand down her stomach, between her thighs, pretending it was Jersey's hand, his fingers rubbing at Cassadee and making the ache inside her throb. Alex was kissing her neck now, and Cassadee tilted her head to the side, trying to imagine the pressure from Alex's lips, the way it would make heat shoot straight down to her stomach, cause that pleasurable tugging feeling like when Cassadee was close.
And it wouldn't take much, not with both of them, not with Cassadee so worked up already. She spread her legs to give her fingers more room and pictured Alex sinking to his knees, kissing her bellybutton before trailing his mouth lower, and with her hand rubbing hard at her clit and her eyes squeezed shut, Cassadee came with a low moan, arching up against her hand to ride out her orgasm. She only dimly registered that the water had gone from warm to cool, but then Alex knocked on the door to ask if she was okay and Cassadee shrieked, grabbing the shower curtain and falling on her ass in the tub.
"Owww," Cassadee groaned, staring up at the hooks the stupid shower curtain shouldn't have come out of so easily.
"Uh, Cass? Do you need any help?"
"No!" Cassadee yelled quickly, her face flushing dark red in a way that she probably wouldn't be able to excuse from the steam. She reached up to turn the water off and stood up on shaky legs, holding onto the wall, and it was only when she looked down that she realized all the clothes she brought into the bathroom were soaking wet. Only the towel on the rack was still semi-dry.
Cassadee hated her luck a lot sometimes.
"Are you sure you're-- oh," Alex froze where he was standing right outside the door when Cassadee pushed it open, covering herself as well as she could with the tiny towel from the bathroom. Through her own embarrassment, she maybe got just a little bit of satisfaction from seeing both Alex and Jersey go pink and turn away.
"I just fell on my butt. It was-- slippery, so." Cassadee just stopped talking, her voice still weirdly scratchy from her orgasm. "I'm going to get dressed, so could you two, um, not--"
"Yeah, of course," Alex said, his voice a little hoarse too and Cassadee bit her lip as she ducked down behind the bed and started to quickly pull on the first clothes she grabbed out of her bag. She peeked and saw that Jersey and Alex were facing the wall, leaning in close and whispering to each other, and she felt a pang that had nothing to do with the dull ache in her poor, bruised ass.
"Okay," Cassadee said, standing up and clearing her throat. She was just wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and when the air in the room kicked on she shivered, thinking back to her soaked hoodie.
"Oh, hey," Jersey said, stepping forward and handing Cassadee a baggy sweatshirt from one of Alex's old schools. "Here you go. Until yours dries."
Cassadee's mouth quirked up in a smile. "This is Alex's."
"He let me wear it yesterday," Jersey said after Alex had gone into the bathroom. "And now I'm letting you borrow it."
"I think they call that re-gifting," Cassadee said, but she moved forward and gave Jersey a quick hug anyway. "Thanks, Jersey."
"Yeah, totally," Jersey said with a short laugh, walking past Cassadee to go through his own bag. Cassadee pulled the sweatshirt over her head, smiling to herself at how it was way too big for her. But it was warm and comfortable and, fuck all, it smelled like both of them. Cassadee closed her eyes for a second and breathed in, only opening them when Alex came out of the bathroom and picked her up by the waist, spinning her around until she yelled at him to stop, falling on the bed laughing.
-
"I'm not getting that back, am I?" Alex asked. Cassadee looked up.
"It's not your guitar, it's Z's."
"I meant the hoodie, Cass."
"Oh," Cassadee blushed a little but went back to trying to figure out the song they were just listening to on the radio. "Nope. It's mine now. And sometimes Jersey's."
"Fine, I'll just replace it with something of yours," Alex mumbled, grabbing Cassadee's bag and opening the zipper on the side. Cassadee started snickering into the neck of the guitar when Alex pulled out a pair of Cassadee's underwear. Jersey must've saw them in the mirror because he burst out laughing.
Alex wrinkled his eyebrows and shoved the underwear back into Cassadee's bag, his cheeks pink.
"What's wrong? Little pink cupcakes not your thing?" Cassadee teased.
"Those would never fit you, Pimpshaw," Jersey called back, and Alex rolled his eyes and sunk back into his seat.
"I hate you both."
"You love us," Cassadee and Jersey said at the same time. Alex groaned, but Cassadee could see him smiling when he went back to staring at maps.
They continued on the interstate highway they were on until it took them into Nevada, Alex waggling his eyebrows when he mentioned they would have to drive through Las Vegas.
"No way," Cassadee said, shaking her head. "No way am I using my powers in a casino, Pimpshaw. There's bound to be anti-mutant security to cover that anyway."
"But we at least have to stop by some place! When are we going to get the chance again--"
"Um, guys?" Jersey spoke up, and the shaky tone of his voice shut Cassadee and Alex up.
"What is it, Jersey?"
"I don't want to worry you, but. I think we have company."
Alex sat up straight, leaning forward behind Jersey's seat. "What do you mean?"
"Don't both look at once, but the black car behind us. There's two guys in black suits in there and they've been following us pretty close for a while now. I thought it was a coincidence, but now-- I think they might be after us."
"But we're just kids," Cassadee said, but her voice was shaky too. "Is there any way to lose them?
"Once we get to Las Vegas we could go south, try to cut through Arizona," Alex said, scanning the maps. "But we need to at least get to the city. Shit. Are they trying to drive us off the road, Jersey?"
"No, not yet." Cassadee noticed how his knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel and she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Just keep driving, Jersey. We'll be fine."
They weren't fine, though. They still had half an hour before they got to Vegas and they were all nervous as fuck. And poor Jersey, Cassadee thought, had to be feeling the worst of it. She knew when he got stressed out like this it was harder for him to suppress his powers.
"Okay," Cassadee said when they were finally nearing civilization, "that diner up ahead? Let's pull in there and see if the car follows us."
"And if it does?" Alex asked.
"Then we get the fuck back on the road," Cassadee said with a grimace.
"Here goes nothing," Jersey said, letting out a shaky breath and slowing down to pull into the diner. They turned into a parking spot and Cassadee and Alex spun around in their seats, staring out the back.
"They're gone," Cassadee said, jumping out of the car and squinting down the road. "And they're not slowing down or turning around. Fuck, I thought we were doomed," she groaned in relief, and Alex and Jersey got out of the car too.
"Thank god," Alex said, leaning back against the car, and Cassadee laughed and hugged him tightly, waiting about two seconds before surging forward and doing the same to Jersey. Her stomach did flip-flops but she ignored it, taking it to mean she was hungry instead.
"We might as well get something to eat while we're here," Cassadee said, walking toward the diner while Alex and Jersey got out the map to spread across the hood of the car and stare at. Maybe she would ask for directions while she was in there, too.
Cassadee was so relieved about not being stalked by secret agents that she almost missed the cop car at the end of the lot, squinting right at her and talking to his radio. Cassadee felt her stomach sink again.
"Fuck fuck fuck," Cassadee swore, running back to Alex and Jersey. "Fuck, you guys."
"Are they out of burgers?" Alex asked, his eyebrows raised, but his expression immediately turned into concern when he saw that Cassadee was shaking.
"The cop over there. He's staring right at us and he just called someone on his radio. Fuck!"
"Uh, now he's coming over here. Would it be too suspicious to get in the car and drive away really quick?"
"Shh," Cassadee hissed, turning around as the cop approached them.
"Can I see your licenses and some proof of insurance?"
"Did we do something wrong?" Cassadee asked.
"I intend to scan your license and find out, missy. You three look awful young to be traveling by yourselves."
Jersey stepped forward and took Cassadee's hand, squeezing. "I'm the only one driving. My license got lost, that-that's why we had to stop."
"Excuse me?" The cop was glaring at them now and Cassadee couldn't help it, she was terrified.
"Your car," Alex suddenly said. Everyone turned around to stare at him.
"What?"
"Sir, your car is getting away." Alex pointed and they all turned to watch the police car rolling out of the parking lot and toward the desert, next to the road. It was picking up speed too.
"Jesus, what the--" But then the cop took off, running after his car, and Cassadee let out a huge, shaky breath.
"Oh my god, that was way too close. We have to get out of here."
"But what. How?" Jersey looked to Alex, his eyes wide, but Alex was still staring at the car, unblinking.
"Wind. Hold on." Alex squinted and then his whole body jerked forward, the car already a speck in the distance. He was breathing hard and Cassadee reached out to squeeze his hand. Pushing an entire car that far away took a serious concentration of powers. Cassadee knew how hard that was.
"Alex, Alex, come on, back in the car, before he turns around and comes back--"
"You guys really don't have time for that," a voice said, and they all turned around to see an old Trans Am pull up next to them, two guys sitting in the front seat. "The cop has your car's plates and more are on the way. Hop in, we'll get you out of here."
"What?" Jersey asked.
"I've got superhuman hearing and my brother's hero complex, come on!"
"Who the hell are you?" Alex yelled, and Cassadee rolled her eyes at the way he and Jersey kind of situated themselves in front of her. Always the overprotective losers.
"Uncle Mikey's a mutant," a little girl's voice shouted, and they saw her crawl across the backseat and poke her head out the window. She couldn't have been more than twelve-years-old. "We're on the run from the bad guys too, we can help you out!" The guy who wasn't driving, with the big hair, said something to her that Cassadee couldn't hear, and then she added, "Oh, Uncle Ray says to tell you they didn't kidnap me. I'm just spending the weekend with them because mom said I could. My name's Grace!"
The boys weren't moving and it only took Cassadee a few seconds to decide what to do. What they had to do, because there were sirens getting closer (the cop must've called for backup) and there was nowhere else for them to go. She pushed past Alex and Jersey and walked up to the car.
"My name is Cassadee. You can get us away from here?"
"Of course we can!" Grace said, and Cassadee high-fived her before running back to their car and grabbing her backpack and guitar. Mikey popped the trunk for her so she could store her stuff back there.
"Cass--"
"Got any other ideas?" she yelled out to them as she crawled into the car, scooting over to give them room. They both got their stuff to throw in the trunk and got in the car as the sirens grew louder, and then the guy driving - Mikey - took off.
-
It turns out Mikey, Ray, Mikey's brother Gerard, and another friend of theirs, Frank, were all staying just north of Los Angeles, out toward the desert. They didn't live there, though.
"My brother is, uh." Mikey adjusted his sunglasses and put his blinker on to turn left. They were driving farther and farther away from civilization. "He's really committed to this LARP scenario he came up with."
"We just play along with him for fun, you know," Ray said.
"Uncle Gerard is awesome," Grace said. "He only goes by Party Poison in the desert. But they haven't thought of a codename for me yet."
"Now what's wrong with Grace?" Ray asked, turning around and reaching out to pat her helmet. "This is my niece, by the way. I'm not actually related to the other guys." Mikey coughed, and Ray grinned. "But they're like brothers to me."
"So you can get us to L.A.?" Cassadee asked, trying not to get her hopes up but totally failing.
"Of course we can, it won't even be a long drive. Where are you guys trying to get to?"
Cassadee exchanged a quick look with Jersey and Alex, where they were all still pressed close together in the backseat. They hadn't actually tried to do more research on this Pete Wentz guy, so Cassadee honestly didn't know where in L.A. he lived. And she told Ray as much.
"Wait, Pete Wentz? Short guy who can talk to animals?" Mikey spoke up.
"Uh, maybe? We were told he took in mutants--"
"No shit! I mean, yeah, he totally does. Me and Pete go way back, that's sweet. Yeah, I know where he lives. We can take you there as soon as we drop Gracie off."
"But I want to go with you!" Grace said.
"Your mom's picking you up tonight, remember? We'll meet you back at the house," Ray said. Grace looked disappointed, though, and Cassadee tried to distract her by asking about the bottle caps she was wearing.
"So," Jersey spoke up, "what exactly do you mean by LARP scenario?"
-
"Motorbabies! You're back!" a man with bright red hair and a blue jacket called out, walking up to the car. They were pulled up to what looked like a diner turned into a warehouse and everything had a kind of post-apocalyptic feel to it, all run-down and derelict. There was lots of junk lying around, car parts and helmets and boxes covered in sand, and the place was decorated with all sorts of posters and graffiti. It was actually pretty awesome.
"Party Poison!" Grace yelled, running over to hug him around the waist. He must've been Mikey's brother.
"Everything go okay, Kobra Kid? Jet Star?"
"We picked up some runaways who were getting harassed by a cop and we're gonna take them to Pete's," Mikey said, patting Gerard on the shoulder. Gerard walked over to the side of the car where Alex, Jersey, and Cassadee were just kind of awkwardly waiting. Cassadee felt weirdly intimidated, like he was sizing them up.
"You there," Gerard said, walking up to Jersey. "Shut up and let me see your jazz hands."
Jersey gave Alex and Cassadee a quick, desperate look that clearly said Help! before bringing his hands up and waving them around a little. Gerard's face broke out into a huge smile.
"Excellent work, Kobra Kid!" Gerard yelled. He turned to walk away and Cassadee laughed as Jersey let out a sigh of relief.
-
After being shown around the place and then sitting down and explaining their trip to Gerard, who listened with rapt attention and then took their picture because he wanted to remember their bravery, the three of them got back into the car with Mikey to head over to Pete's. The trip wasn't long but, piled together in the backseat while driving through the warm desert after an exhausting day, they all fell asleep on each other. Cassadee woke up to a mouthful of Alex's shirt and muttered an apology, shrugging Jersey off her shoulder so he'd wake up too.
"This is it," Mikey said a minute later, pulling slowly into a long driveway.
"The sign on the gate said The Fabulous Wentz Boarding School for Sweet Little Mutants," Alex read as they drove by it. And Cassadee could see how the place could be a boarding school - it wasn't just a house, it was a mansion.
"That sounds promising," Cassadee said, nudging Alex in the arm. She could see how big his eyes were as well as they took in the size of the place.
"That's Pete for you." Mikey parked the car and popped the trunk. They all got out and grabbed their stuff, and Cassadee gave Mikey a quick hug as he came back to help them.
"Thank you for all the help, seriously," she said, and Mikey blinked like he was surprised.
"Yeah, no problem," Mikey said, his cheeks turning a little pink. "I know what it's like to be a mutant and a teenager at the same time. It's hard enough when you aren't on the run," he said, smiling as he walked up to the front door. "Delivery for Pete Wentz!" Mikey said, knocking. There was a scrambling that was either an overexcited dog or an overexcited person, and then the door opened to reveal both.
"Mikeyway!" the guy at the door shouted, throwing his arm up around Mikey and hugging him tightly. "I haven't seen you in forever--"
"It's been three weeks, Pete," Mikey said with a grin. "I found some runaways that said they were looking for you."
"Mutants?" Pete asked, peering around Mikey. He was short and wearing all black but he had a huge smile that reached his eyes.
"Yeah, we are," Cassadee said, stepping forward.
"Sweet." Pete grabbed the bulldog to keep him in the house and opened the door the rest of the way. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"
-
"He changes the name of the place every couple of weeks," Ashlee, Pete's wife, explained to them as they all sat down in the living room. Or a living room, anyway - the house was seriously huge. "But our house has basically turned into a kind of safe house for mutants that have nowhere to go. You said you're all orphans?"
Cassadee nodded, scratching Hemingway behind his ears. Rigby, the smaller bulldog, had jumped into Alex's lap, but he didn't look too upset about it. "I didn't even really know if this place existed," Cassadee admitted, shrugging. "But we had nowhere else to go. We're just glad we ran into Mikey when we did, or we'd probably be on a plane back to Portland right now."
"Mikey's always been a good friend," Ashlee said. "There's only a handful of other kids living here now - a few orphans, like you, and some kids whose parents kicked them out. That's what made me and Pete want to start doing this."
"That's awful," Cassadee said. She couldn't imagine doing that to someone who couldn't help who they were, to your own child.
Ashlee smiled gently. "But I'm sure you won't have a problem making friends. We have good kids here." Pete came back into the room balancing three cans of soda and some crackers for them to snack on, handing them out to the three of them. "My husband being the biggest one," Ashlee continued fondly, and Pete just mumbled, "Hey," mock-offended, as he sat down on the arm of the chair Ashlee was sitting in.
Alex played with the tab of his can, and Cassadee could tell he was mulling something over before he actually spoke up. "So-- I don't mean to sound ungrateful, Mr. and Mrs. Wentz--"
"Pete and Ashlee is fine, sweetie," Ashlee interrupted, smiling.
"Right, sorry. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but... this isn't a scam? This isn't just a cover for, like, a mutant organ harvesting business? We get to stay here?"
Ashlee laughed and shook her head, and Pete set his own drink down so he could explain. "No, you definitely get to keep your organs. You get to stay here as long as you need to, and since Ashlee is from a wealthy family you never have to pay rent, but there are a few rules. This place is big and we don't have a maid, so everyone has to help out around the house and clean up after themselves. Ash, here--"
"Hi, I'm a telepath," Ashlee said, giving a small wave before letting Pete continue.
"--does lessons with everyone, to help you control your powers when you're angry or stressed, or just in general. She's great at teaching one-on-one--"
"Pete," Ashlee said sweetly, but Cassadee knew a warning when she heard one.
"--when her mind isn't in the gutter," Pete said. Ashlee punched his arm and Cassadee covered her mouth to hide her smile. "The other thing we require is that you either attend some kind of schooling or get a job. There's some great schools around here that we've looked into, mutant-friendly places, and we'll do everything we can to help you find a job that you want to do. Am I missing anything?"
"We just ask you guys be good to each other," Ashlee said, taking Pete's hand and linking her fingers with his. "No fighting, no cheating, no getting into trouble with the law. Be decent people and try your best and we'll help you any way that we can." She brought Pete's hand up to her lips and kissed it before letting go. "So! Any objections? Would you guys like a tour now?"
"Yeah, that sounds awesome," Alex said, and Cassadee reached across the couch and squeezed his hand.
Ashlee led the tour to show them around the house, letting them know who lived in what room and that they could use the kitchen and the pool any time they wanted. She stopped in the hallway on the second floor and turned around.
"Hey, you guys don't mind sharing a room, do you? We have to do some cleaning up before we have rooms for all of you. But we can get some sleeping bags set up for the boys--"
"We can share!" Cassadee interrupted, and she ignored the way her face heated up a little as she continued. "We got used to sharing a bed so it's no big deal for us."
Ashlee raised her eyebrows but thankfully didn't say anything, and Cassadee busied herself pretending she didn't notice Alex and Jersey looking at her as Ashlee lead them to the room. Whatever, it had been a hard week and a half and they could all use a nice bed to sleep in.
They dropped off their stuff in the room (it was small and cozy, with movie posters all over the walls, and the bed was a full size but looked way more comfortable than any of the motel beds they had stayed in) and Ashlee told Cassadee to follow her so they could get her some clothes. Cassadee didn't want to seem overeager or anything, but Ashlee had a huge walk-in closet that Cassadee kind of never wanted to leave.
"Oh my god," Cassadee whispered, running her fingers over the rack of dresses. Some were velvety and some were shimmery and some were lacy too and Cassadee hadn't owned a dress in forever.
Ashlee laughed, walking toward the back of the closet and starting to pull out some pants and shirts. "How long has it been since you've been shopping? I should take you out sometime and spoil you like I did with Sierra. I could go for some mall pretzels, mmm."
"Oh, but-- I could never," Cassadee said quickly, blushing. "I mean, that is really, really kind of you. But I don't want-- I can get by with what I have, really."
Ashlee smiled bright and not at all patronizing and it reminded Cassadee of Z, just a little bit. "Don't be silly, sweetie, I need an excuse to get away from my husband every now and then and you need pretty things to wear. He's the most generous person I've ever met, but last week I came home from grocery shopping and found him out back videotaping Blake twisting metal into dirty stick figures. I mean, honestly, you have super strength and you use it to make stick figures with boobs?" Ashlee sighed and tossed some t-shirts over her shoulder at Cassadee. The one she caught has Gizmo from Gremlins on it, and Cassadee grinned down at it while Ashlee continued to toss clothes around and rant.
"Like I said, when he's not being a great person he's being the biggest idiot in the world. But somehow I love him anyway. Trust me, a little shopping and hanging out with girls now and then is what keeps me sane. Now get back here and pick some stuff out - these are the clothes I never wear and I'm sure we can find something that will fit you."
Cassadee wanted to protest some more, but Ashlee held up some leopard print pajama pants and, well, Cassadee was only so strong.
-
"Holy crap, did you rob them?" Jersey asked when Cassadee got back to the room, barely able to see over the pile of clothes in her arms. She dumped them all in the corner but immediately started to pick stuff up and fold it, setting a t-shirt and some shorts aside for sleeping in later.
"Of course I didn't," Cassadee huffed. "Ashlee is so amazing, though. She said I could have all this and then she said she'd give me lessons on how to control my powers better."
"Is Ashlee your new girl-crush?" Jersey teased, and Cassadee rolled her eyes.
"This coming from the guy who said Pete Wentz was kind of dreamy?"
"Hey, that was a joke--" Jersey started, but he was kind of red. Cassadee felt vindicated.
"Hey you two, stop flirting and come get some food," Alex said, poking his head in the doorway, and Cassadee flicked him off.
-
After their first home-cooked meal (well, it was just soup and sandwiches, but it was still so much better than fast food) since they had stayed with The Like, they all headed back upstairs, Cassadee leaning on Alex and yawning into his shoulder.
"You're not tired, are you?" Alex asked dryly, and Cassadee punched his arm lightly.
"Shut up, it's just the turkey sandwich that's making me sleepy. Do you want to put my pajamas on for me?"
"I don't think they'll fit," Alex said, his voice quieter and a little hoarse, and Jersey snickered next to them. Cassadee sighed loudly and grabbed her pajamas, changing in the bathroom next to their room and coming back in to find Alex in his boxers on the bed.
"Jersey left to go find another bathroom."
"Mmhm," Cassadee replied, but the covers on the bed had been pulled back a little and Cassadee was pretty sure they were actually calling to her. She crawled into bed, ignoring Alex completely and snuggling in, claiming one of the pillows for herself. "Oh my god, this is so nice." She twisted around a little and Alex was staring at her in that unreadable way, his eyes dark and his shoulders really, really bare and really broad, and really good-looking. Cassadee was so doomed, but it wasn't like she could stop herself from noticing. It had been a long road trip.
"Is it time for bed already?" Jersey asked when he walked in, in shorts and a t-shirt like Cassadee, and Cassadee made a soft grunting noise while Alex got into bed on the opposite end.
"Awesome, I get middle," Jersey said, crawling into bed with them, and Cassadee tried to convince herself this was totally normal and she wasn't holding her breath while Jersey snuggled up behind her or anything. He was warm and he smelled like hand soap and toothpaste, and Cassadee ached a little with how much she wanted to be between them, between her boys. They were her friends but they were also so much more than that, and it was driving Cassadee crazy to lie to herself about it, now that they had settled in, now that the danger was behind them.
"Goodnight," she said softly, and Alex and Jersey mumbled it back. Five minutes went by and Cassadee was still trying to get herself to relax with Jersey pressed up behind her when Jersey groaned loudly and sat up, startling both Cassadee and Alex.
"I can't do this anymore!" Jersey yelled, and Cassadee and Alex exchanged a quick, confused look behind him.
"Um... do you want me to go grab you a sleeping bag, Jersey?" Cassadee asked carefully, but Jersey shook his head.
"No, it's not-- you guys have no idea what it's like, being around you all the time."
"Hey," Alex said, his voice kind of low and serious. "If you have a problem, fine, but leave Cass out of this--"
Jersey laughed, short and loud. "Don't you think I wish I could? But you two, with your stupid emotions and feelings! I can't turn it off around you all the time, and then it's just like being bombarded with it and seriously, do you know what it's like to feel how much someone wants someone else? It's confusing as fuck, first of all."
"Oh god," Cassadee said quietly, her eyes going wide with surprise. But Jersey couldn't-- could he? "Jersey--"
"And it's-- I'm not a mind-reader, I don't know who you're both so in love with, but it's not hard to guess and it's all the time, it's like being punched in the chest when I let my guard down, and--"
"Would you stop yelling already?" Alex said loudly, loud enough to interrupt Jersey, and before Jersey could retort or either of them could realize what Alex was doing, he grabbed Jersey's face with both hands and kissed him. Hard. And for what seemed like a really long time.
"Oh my god," Cassadee squeaked, her head dizzy as she watched them finally pull apart. Jersey was breathing really hard and Alex was staring intently, licking his lips before nudging Jersey over and. And, oh, oh.
"Mmph," Cassadee mumbled against Alex's mouth, but his hands were big on her face and resistance was kind of pointless now. She felt Jersey rest his hand on her knee and a shiver went down her spine, and then something inside her just kind of snapped - something tired and horny and so, so desperate to be touched like this, to be wanted. She kissed Alex back, surging forward and letting her lips slide sloppily against his until they both found a rhythm and then the kissing felt good. It felt real and frightening and far, far too good, and then Cassadee had to pull back to draw in a great, shaky breath.
"Is there anyone else you'd like to kiss?" Cassadee blurted out, only now realizing how warm her face was, and Alex snorted. He was a little red too, though.
"It's both of you. It's always been both of you. You asked, Jersey, so there you go."
Cassadee's head was swimming, and if the look on Jersey's face was any indication, so was his.
"You're not fucking with us, Alex?"
Alex grinned. "Not this time, nope."
"You're both so stupid," Cassadee groaned suddenly, and Jersey laughed and leaned forward, nudging Alex aside so he could move in and kiss Cassadee too. And now Cassadee kind of knew what she was doing, enough that it started out good and just got better, at least until Jersey almost toppled forward into her lap. Cassadee snorted, but her lips were still tingling a little.
"So let me get this straight," Jersey said after a minute, settling back down on the bed and staring at both of them, a smile still tugging at his lips. "While I've been driving myself crazy feeling you two pine and then pining for both of you and just, like, coming to terms with the fact it was both of you, you two were feeling the exact same thing?"
"I thought you were in love with Alex. And vice versa," Cassadee said softly, staring down at her hands when both Alex and Jersey stared at her. "That's why I tried to pretend I didn't want to bone both of you." Alex's eyebrows shot up and Jersey's eyes got wide and Cassadee gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth. "I didn't say that!"
"You totally did," Alex said, way too happy about it, and it was his turn to nudge Jersey out of the way so he could lean in to kiss Cassadee again.
"Wait, no! We were having a moment!" Cassadee squealed, pushing at Alex's chest. "And it's not like-- I'm glad we all, um, want each other," Cassadee tried to say, feeling her face go red, because seriously, when did she talk about feelings, "but how would we-- we can't all make out at the same time, I mean."
"Oh Cassadee," Alex said, and Cassadee's eyes flickered down just in time to catch Alex's hand resting on Jersey's thigh. The sight made something in her stomach twist, sharp and hot and altogether too pleasant. "Haven't you ever heard of a threesome?"
"Oh, kiss my ass, Pimpshaw, of course I know what a threesome is, but I don't go around-- Alex!" Cassadee gasped, because Alex grabbed her by the hips and pressed her down on the bed, leaning over her. "Shouldn't we, like--"
"Go on a date first? Do I have to take you both out to dinner?"
"Shut up," Cassadee groaned, tugging Alex down and kissing him hard on the mouth. She pushed him away after a few seconds, though, sitting up and reaching out for Jersey. Their fingers intertwined and she raised her eyebrows when she saw Jersey close his eyes, letting out a shaky breath. "Jersey? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, totally, it's just." Jersey took a deep breath, opening his eyes and grinning kind of sheepishly. His eyes were so dark, though, it made Cassadee feel like she was wearing far less clothing than she was. "You're both really turned on right now. It's harder to turn my powers off when-- when I am too."
Cassadee's eyebrows furrowed. "You could talk to Ashlee, maybe, she could help you with--"
"Now's really not the time for that," Jersey interrupted, laughing and tugging Cassadee forward so he could kiss her. "I'll live," he whispered against her lips, and Cassadee hummed and tilted her head as Jersey pressed his lips to hers. She felt Alex's hand at the small of her back, rubbing, and her skin felt electric everywhere they were touching her. Everything was so intense, so much and it was just making her want more.
Alex started to kiss at the side of Jersey's neck, pressed in close to both of them where they were still sitting up on the bed, and Cassadee pulled back when Jersey started to shiver, shaking where Cassadee was still holding his hand.
"Jersey, are you close?" Cassadee asked in a soft voice, and Jersey opened his eyes slowly, moaning softly when Alex's teeth scraped over his neck. "Do you want to get off?"
"No, I'm fine, it's just-- give me a second, I'll be fine."
"Are you seriously turning down an orgasm?" Alex asked, trailing his hand down to Jersey's lap, and Cassadee smiled when Jersey gasped, squeezing Cassadee's hand. "Because I'm pretty sure we're going to be at this long enough for you to get hard again."
"Yeah, Jersey, you're hurting his feelings," Cassadee added, leaning in to kiss Jersey again, biting at his bottom lip.
"I'm pained," Alex deadpanned, and Jersey choked out a laugh, pressing his face into Cassadee's neck.
"I hate you both," he said, his voice already hoarse, and Cassadee could feel Alex's hand between them, reaching into Jersey's shorts and making a fist around his dick. The low sound Jersey made right next to Cassadee's ear made heat rush to her stomach and she let go of his hand, putting her hands on his hips and pushing until he took the hint, lifting his arms up so she could pull his shirt off over his head.
"What about my--"
"Not necessary," Alex said, kissing Jersey's shoulder and moving his hand faster. Jersey groaned, his eyes sliding shut, and Cassadee looked down between them, where Jersey's dick was sliding through Alex's fist, his shorts pushed down a little.
"Does that feel good?" Cassadee asked, her hands settling on Jersey's thighs. She couldn't help asking because the noises he was making were getting high and desperate and she was so curious.
Jersey choked out another laugh, and Cassadee could feel how tense he was, still shaking. "It really does. Harder, Alex, please."
"Come on," Alex said, his voice all low and scratchy, and Cassadee just wanted to sit back and watch, they were so hot. She leaned in and kissed Jersey again, dragging his lip between her teeth and listening to Jersey's moans get louder, his kisses more frantic.
"Oh fuck," Jersey gasped, his whole body shuddering forward as he pressed his face into Cassadee's neck and started to come, his breath hitching until Alex finished stroking him through his orgasm. Jersey started to shudder a few seconds later, biting back a whine, and Alex finally let go, wiping his fingers off on Jersey's stomach.
"Hey," Jersey protested weakly, but Cassadee just laughed, scooting back so Alex could lean in and kiss Jersey.
"Sorry, dude, but it's your jizz."
"You're so romantic," Jersey mumbled, twisting on the bed so he could slide out of his shorts and underwear.
"Don't I get any credit for touching your dick and not freaking out?" Alex asked, but Cassadee could tell from the way he was staring at Jersey now that Alex was so, so far from having any kind of gay freak out.
"Shut up," Jersey said, crawling forward and leaning in so he could kiss Alex deeply. Cassadee stared at them and didn't care if it made her creepy, it was so hot watching their lips move and listening to the way they started breathing harder, the way Alex's hands slid down and held Jersey's hips like it was the most natural thing in the world. Jersey started to kiss down Alex's jaw, down to his neck, and Cassadee pressed the heel of her palm between her legs, biting her lip but unable to stop the soft noise from leaving her mouth.
Alex and Jersey both turned to look at her, their eyes dark and their lips all red and swollen from kissing. "Fuck, Cass," Alex groaned, staring down at her lap, and Cassadee looked down and felt her face heat up, moving her hand away.
"Sorry! I just-- and then you two went and-- with the kissing--"
Jersey laughed when he and Alex tried to move toward Cassadee at the same time and bumped into each other. "Yeah, you really don't have to be sorry."
Cassadee stayed where she was when Jersey moved to sit back by the pillows behind her, but then he was tugging at the back of her shirt, motioning for her to lean back against him.
"You're naked," Cassadee said simply, and Jersey rolled his eyes at her.
"Get back here if you want Alex to go down on you, dumbass."
"Oh." Cassadee finally leaned back against Jersey, fitting herself between his spread legs and feeling equal parts grateful and nervous when he leaned forward to kiss her neck. Alex crawled forward and pressed his lips to hers and, pressed between the both of them like that, Cassadee never wanted to do anything else.
"Hey, can I go down on you now?" Alex asked softly.
Except that.
"God, yes, please," Cassadee breathed, raising her arms when Jersey started lifting her t-shirt up over her head. Jersey helped her out of her sports bra too and then Alex was kissing down her neck, her chest, looping his arm around her and lifting her hips so he could help her out of her shorts and underwear. Cassadee laughed, ignoring the embarrassing feeling that she was blushing all over once she was finally naked, her skin in goosebumps and her back pressed against Jersey's bare skin.
"Hi," Alex said, flopping down onto his stomach on the bed. "This is going to be hard to do if you keep your legs closed."
"Oh fuck you," Cassadee said breathlessly, slowly easing her legs apart and tensing up when Jersey reached up with one hand to brush his thumb over Cassadee's nipple.
"Sorry," Jersey said in her ear, "I've been wanting to do that."
"It's okay," Cassadee replied, hoping that her voice wasn't shaking as bad as her thighs were right now. "I know you're both jealous of my boobs."
Jersey nipped at Cassadee's earlobe and she stared down at Alex as he leaned in and licked hesitantly over her, just quick, light brushes of his tongue. Cassadee made a noise that came out more frustrated than pleased and she flushed when Alex looked up at her.
"I've never done this before, so you'll have to--"
"No, it's fine, sorry. Just, um. Harder? When it's me-- when it's my fingers, I usually go pretty hard. I won't break."
"Fuck, Cassadee," Jersey breathed into her neck when Cassadee leaned back into him, and she arched her hips a little with Alex's mouth. Jersey slid his hand down Cassadee's stomach, stopping just before Alex's head.
Cassadee groaned appreciatively. "Yesss, just like that." Alex was sucking at her clit now, the pressure just sweet enough to keep the heat building low in her stomach, making everything warm and fuzzy and so fucking good. Alex pulled back for a second to add a finger, rubbing over Cassadee slowly before finally pressing it inside, and Cassadee moaned and grabbed at Jersey's arms, squeezing and arching again. "You can do three."
"Now? Shit, seriously?"
Cassadee smiled down at Alex, her stomach doing weird flips at seeing his chin all wet from her. "I really won't break. Please, Alex."
"Right," Alex said, pulling his finger out to rub at Cassadee and then press in three at once. It was a stretch - Alex's fingers just felt so different from Cassadee's, bigger and unfamiliar and angled differently - but it still felt good, gave Cassadee something to squeeze down around. When Alex leaned back in to lick at Cassadee, his tongue pressing right next to her clit, she shuddered and spread her legs apart wider, tilting her head so Jersey could kiss her neck. It was an onslaught of sensations her body wasn't used to and as Alex crooked his fingers a certain way, sucking at her clit, Cassadee gasped, her hips straining forward and her fingers digging into Jersey's skin as she started to come. It was intense in a way Cassadee had never felt before and it felt like it lasted forever, until finally she had to push at Alex's hair until he pulled off.
Cassadee was breathing hard and her legs were shaking, so she almost missed it when Alex slid his fingers out of her and reached up so Jersey could suck them into his mouth, licking them clean.
"Oh my god," Cassadee groaned. "Enough. Up, it's your turn."
Alex was smiling and licking his lips. "Yeah, it's really not going to take me long."
"Good, now c'mere." Cassadee pulled Alex in front of her and laid down on her side, spooning up behind him. "Help, please, Jersey?"
Jersey didn't answer, just sliding down and situating himself in front of Alex. Cassadee kissed the broad curve of Alex's freckled shoulder and reached down to tug at his boxers until she could get them off. His dick bumped into her wrist and Cassadee sucked in a sharp breath, the reality of the situation hitting her for a second, but then Jersey was grabbing Alex's dick to jerk him off and Alex was groaning, and Cassadee had much more important things to think about.
"Your mouth should be illegal, by the way," Cassadee said as she pressed wet kisses to Alex's neck, resisting the urge to giggle slightly hysterically.
"Yeah, and I could say the same about you and the noises you were making," Alex hissed back, and Cassadee threw her leg over his thigh, watching as Jersey leaned forward and kissed Alex, hard and messy and really, really hot.
"How are you doing, Jersey?" Cassadee asked, looking down to where his dick was swollen and hard against his stomach. Jersey snorted and touched Cassadee's thigh with his free hand, his other hand stilling on Alex's dick.
"Hold on a second," Jersey said when Alex groaned in protest, and Cassadee watched as Jersey closed his eyes and concentrated on something.
"What are you-- oh, oh," Cassadee gasped, feeling this rush of... of something hitting her like a tidal wave. She was still pressed behind Alex and Jersey was touching her thigh but suddenly it felt like more, like she was being touched everywhere, her skin prickly and hypersensitive and her mind dizzy with how much she wanted, how good everything felt.
"Fuck," Alex choked out. "Jersey, what are you--" But then Alex was going still and coming over Jersey's fist, and finally Jersey let go of Cassadee's thigh, stroking Alex through his orgasm. Cassadee felt him shiver in front of her and she kissed between his shoulder blades, let her lips trail up to the back of Alex's neck.
"Now you know how I feel," Jersey said hoarsely, closing his eyes when Alex moved forward to kiss him.
"All the time?" Cassadee asked, shocked and fighting the new twinge of arousal between her legs, leftover from Jersey's powers. "Jersey, how do you not just have orgasms all the time?"
Alex snorted in front of her and Jersey just shrugged. "I'm used to it. But yeah, that times ten is how it feels when I let my guard down."
"Dude," Alex said in awe, eventually getting over his post-orgasmic laziness and reaching forward to jerk Jersey's off. It didn't take Jersey long before he was curling in on himself and coming again, only this time Cassadee grabbed Alex's hand before he could wipe it off on Jersey's stomach, curious. She licked at the come on Alex's fingers and she must've made a pretty obvious face because Alex and Jersey were both laughing at her.
"I taste way better than that," Cassadee mumbled, sucking Alex's finger hard past her lips anyway before letting go of his hand, and she noticed they weren't laughing anymore when she opened her eyes.
"I'm not gonna argue with that." Alex rolled over onto his back and Cassadee settled in next to him, grinning to herself as Jersey did the same. It was like the first time they had huddled together for warmth in that abandoned building, except now they were naked and covered in jizz. All things considered, though, it wasn't so bad.
"Let's go again," Cassadee said, throwing her leg back over Alex's, and both boys groaned. "What? It's sex, you can't turn down more sex."
"Let's nap first," Jersey suggested, and Cassadee felt something warm spread out in her chest when she saw him snuggle closer into Alex's side.
"We're going to regret not showering," Cassadee pointed out, but Jersey had his eyes closed and Alex had his head tilted back as he yawned.
"Showering can wait."
"It can definitely wait."
Cassadee rolled her eyes and sat up so she could pull the sheet over them. When she was settled back into Alex's side she reached across his chest and brushed her fingers over Jersey's, waiting until Jersey slowly took her hand.
"'Night, you two," Cassadee said softly, and her boys both echoed it back to her before falling asleep.