The Book of Firsts

Fifty-Two

Friday morning brought an icy cold wind, but by lunchtime the day had transformed to sun-touched warmth. We were definitely making a shift into spring. I appreciated the change, but my thoughts weren’t on the weather when I climbed the wall into the garden. The last few days had been full of rumours about Bran’s absence, with the forums rife with speculation about whether he’d run off with his new girlfriend, or done something to himself due to the failure of his romance. The gossip whipped into a storm thanks to Rin and Kyou’s tired and drawn faces, but knowing the true story didn’t help me. As encouraging as I’d tried to be, I hated that their plans had fallen into a heap.

The garden itself was empty, but I found Kyou sitting on the couch in the summer house, working with intent concentration on his laptop. He only glanced at me as I came in, his eyes red-rimmed and shadowed.

"Sorry, just finishing up. It won’t take five minutes."

"Any tea preference?" I asked, noting the scattering of empty cups. Had he been here all morning?

"Coffee."

I found the French press in the sink, cleaned it and brewed a fresh batch. He sipped, but then continued to work. Not able to decipher what he was doing, I simply started revising. It was more than half an hour later when Kyou sat back with a sigh, then firmly closed his laptop.

"Making a last-ditch effort?" I asked.

"In a way." His expression was savage. "Throwing all the remaining money we had into razing something to the ground."

I stared, then said: "So, ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner?"

"Possibly." He looked at his cup, rejected the contents, then said: "I’m going to go have a shower. Can you wait?"

I nodded, wondering if it’d be more sensible to postpone. His phone, forgotten on the table, kept buzzing furiously, but even without it Kyou’s mind would definitely not be on me.

"I’m surprised you went with the destruction option," I said, when he returned, hair damp and face a touch less weary. "You lost your temper that much?"

"I lost my temper very much," he agreed, pulling me to my feet. "But in truth I’m also gambling. They tried to hold hostages, so now I’m doing the same, with an upcoming project that is a massive clan investment, and which will cause an explosion across all our families if it falls through. I’ve spent the last week looking for a way to break it, and discovered a critical vulnerability which my father and aunt just failed to seal. If they don’t step back from our funds tonight, something a good deal larger falls tomorrow."

"The high-speed rail project?"

"No, but I have to thank you for the hint that it will likely be delayed. That was helpful as an added pressure point."

His phone was buzzing again. He glanced at it, then turned it off.

"A game of brinksmanship," he said, taking hold of the scarf I was wearing and unwinding it. "Would you like to distract me, Cheshire?"

"Sounds like a plan. I was thinking that the sleeping bag challenge came a little late—I would have greatly appreciated it on one of those icy and wet winter days."

He laughed, and pulled me to him. "I’ve been debating whether to try to undress inside or outside the bag. It would have been fun to see you shivering just so I could warm you up." His hands were already sliding beneath my tunic. "Oh, and a favour for the future—when we actually do reach the rough challenge, wear something you don’t care about, because I’m going to tear it off you."

His kiss was hungry, similar to the energy of the previous week, but without the lack of restraint. He broke away almost immediately, and began efficiently losing layers of clothing. I followed his lead, forgetting all assorted distractions.

The sleeping bag—a spacious type we’d have no trouble fitting into—had been draped over the back of the couch, and he simply spread it on the cushions, then slid in, and held the mouth wide so I could join him. He tickled me lightly as he helped me down, and then manoeuvred immediately on top of me and disappeared from sight, kissing and biting at my neck, my shoulders, my chest and then my breasts: quick little clasps with his teeth, like a cat showing affection. Constrained by the sleeping bag—Kyou was more or less crouching toward the bottom of it—I could do little more than tangle with his hair, or stroke his shoulders, but I didn’t object to simply experiencing this. I had definitely warmed up, and grew impatient very quickly, shifting and then pulling him so he moved upward.

"Go hard," I whispered.

Kyou caught his breath, paused, then slid his hands down and hooked them under my thighs, pulling my knees upward. The sleeping bag almost bound my legs in place, but the zip along the side parted under pressure and he was able to get me as he wanted, with my knees high and his weight braced on my legs. Then he did as I asked.

I’m not vocal during sex, and always make an effort to keep any kind of laughter or gasping to a minimum in the garden, but he drove several muffled cries out of me, and I came within the shortest of times. As I tried to catch my breath, he responded by increasing in intensity until the sound of us pounding together was a clearly audible smacking, and I clutched at his arms, my entire body lifting beneath him, a prolonged tightening shifting close to agony, until he groaned, spasmed, thrust two times more, then collapsed.

He let go of my legs—it felt like his fingers had left imprints on my thighs—and I straightened up, then wriggled a little to one side, prompting him to shift his weight off me. His arms slid around me and we just panted together for a while. My whole body felt fuzzed out, as if it couldn’t remember how to function properly.

"Hard enough?" he whispered at last, and I laughed into his throat, and then kissed his collarbone, and rubbed my cheek against his chest.

"Quite," I murmured, and lay there happily, listening to Kyou’s breathing grow less jagged. "This would be considered a successful distraction, I’m sure," I added.

A tiny snore was the only response.

I lifted myself onto one elbow to regard one exhausted boy, sleeping peacefully. I leaned forward and kissed the slight upward turn at the outward corner of one eye, then slipped out of the sleeping bag, quickly cleaned myself up, picked up my physics textbook and slid back in, doing up the zip. He’d earned a short rest.

Weight, pressing down. I stirred, blinking at blackness, found myself pressed by bare skin, and wriggled out from underneath. I tugged the edge of the sleeping bag down, winced, and pushed it back up again. Sunny midday had been replaced by frigid darkness, cold enough to make my nose sting. I peered more cautiously this time, keeping my lower face covered, and could barely make out the outlines of door and window. Full night. I could hear no sound at all, outside Kyou’s steady breathing.

Briefly, I considered waiting until morning, but the temperature might be even worse then, and the darkness at least would cover what was probably some necessary sneaking.

Wondering if he’d missed the proper moment to prevent the fall of his family’s financial empire, I stroked Kyou’s cheek, then gently shook his shoulder.

He woke almost immediately, and I enjoyed following him through the same little stages of confusion I’d gone through, down to the wincing withdrawal from the air outside the sleeping bag.

"Cheshire?" he said.

"You’re not sure?" I snuggled against him. "Kyou, has anyone told you that you’re a wonderful hot water bottle?"

"That’s definitely a first." He risked another peek outside the safety of the sleeping bag, then ducked down again. "Any idea what the time is?"

"It feels late. I can’t hear any traffic."

"Huh." He lay still for a while, then shrugged. "Well, it’s over now, one way or other. Master level distraction, Cheshire."

"Lack of sleep contributed more than I did, I think," I said. "What’s the night security on the school like?"

"A patrol, cameras. Don’t forget there’s dormitories over on the east side." His hand gently touched my hip, then slid to the small of my back. "How are you feeling, Cheshire?"

"Starving, and need to pee," I said with a chuckle and faint regret for my lack of midnight romantic urges. "I just can’t bear the thought of leaving the sleeping bag and finding my clothes. Dare we turn on a light?"

"I’ll wake my laptop."

He unzipped the sleeping bag, letting in knives of ice to stab our exposed flesh. He swore, groped, and took several long seconds to conjure light. I moved as soon as the glow of the laptop gave me better guidance, and pounced on the tangle of clothes draped on chair and coffee table, tossing a shirt to Kyou before hastily hauling on my underpants and trousers. My teeth were chattering by the time I found my tunic. I decided not to care about my bra, adding only my outer layers. Then Kyou draped his parka over the top.

"Keep the hood up," he said. "There are security cameras on the parking lot where my car is, and if anyone should ever review them, you’re the one who needs to be unidentifiable."

I didn’t argue, finding my scarf and then putting on my shoes, and tossing everything else in my backpack. Kyou rolled up the sleeping bag, and I rescued my textbook from the floor where I’d dropped it.

It was even colder outside the summer house, and our breath came in clouds. We walked briskly, not running, faces swathed in our scarves, hands in pockets. I had arranged my backpack under Kyou’s parka, and the fur-lined hood pulled so low I almost couldn’t see. Everything I was visibly wearing was standard school issue, so no-one would be able to identify me from camera footage, but even so we detoured out through the removable bars, and then walked into the school grounds from the teacher’s carpark, as if we’d come in from outside.

No-one met us, and I didn’t see any movement at all, thankfully. A single security guard or student could complicate my life enormously. Kyou’s car was a low-key but internally luxurious electric model, which he started as soon as we were inside. The dashboard told me it was 2.30 am.

"Check who went over the brink," I said, as he turned up the heater. "Or I’ll spend the weekend wondering."

He reached into his backpack, grabbed his laptop, and balanced it against the steering wheel. A few screens, and his change of posture told me everything I needed to know.

"Congratulations."

He started to smile, then paused, frowned, and began typing furiously, hands dancing over the keyboard. I decided not to interrupt, and instead picked up the phone he’d left on the console. Usually, I wouldn’t step over this line, but it was a night for forgetting boundaries.

There were more than thirty missed calls, and dozens of texts. The most recent was from Stormcrow, which I knew immediately would be Bran. The next most recent was from I Am The Very. The majority of other names were insults: Little Weed, Finger Wagger, Bully in Manolo Blahnik. I put the phone back without reading any more, and restrained the impulse to urge Kyou in the direction of a toilet, hot food, and a shower.

As soon as I put it down, Kyou’s phone buzzed, and the dashboard lit up with a call from I Am The Very.

"Answer," Kyou said, without pausing in his typing, and added: "Hey," when the call signal changed.

Twin sighs came over the car’s speakers, replete with a mix of relief and annoyance.

"We’re in your bedroom," an unfamiliar voice said, and it took me a moment to realise it must be Bran, with all the harsh edges smoothed off. "Where the hell are you?"

"Not stupid enough to be in my bedroom when my father is on the warpath. Get out of there."

"Why didn’t you call, idiot?" Rin said. "We were picturing you on a rooftop."

Kyou glanced up, then said: "I’d think you know I’m not the rooftop type. Anyway, we’re clear, they folded."

"They really folded?" Rin said, and there was a catch in his voice I’d never heard before. "Now I’m free to admit I’ve been sick to my stomach all week."

"Prepare for a celebration tomorrow. The cancellation of the takeover has created an opportunity. I’ve just sold all the shares in the subsidiary, and am grabbing everything I can in the main company while the price is still so low. The profit on this exercise will be high."

"Madman." Bran’s voice was full of affection. "Do you need anything? Should I clear room on the couch until your dad gives up on choking you? Or are you holed up in a hotel?"

Kyou chuckled, that beautiful, rich voice adding a note of gloating. "I’ll come to the office after I’ve finished making sure we get the most out of this, and have dropped Cheshire home."

Silence.

"Did—did you fall asleep in the summer house?" Rin asked. "Until now?"

"So cold," I murmured feebly. "So hungry."

Bran’s laughter filled the car. "Kyou, make money later."

"Getting there. I’ll see you in an hour or so." Kyou brushed the console touchscreen, then looked at me.

"Make money in the parking lot of the nearest fast-food joint," I said. "Presuming there are any open at this time of night."

"I know of a possibility," he said, and handed me his laptop before shifting the car into drive.

I wasn’t familiar with trading websites, but the charts on the screen and a small amount of mental arithmetic left me dizzy. Stupid of me to overlook what type of school this was. I’d been thinking in the realm of hundreds of thousands, but had forgotten the Three Kings came from Money. Kyou had been trading in British pounds, and the investment he’d rescued was currently in the region of thirty million.

Wondering how my parents would feel about three high schoolers with more money than they’d earned in their lives, I did a quick historical search on the former price of the hostage company’s shares, then decided not to think about it anymore.

There was a chicken restaurant only five minutes away. Kyou ordered while I went to the bathroom, and when the food came, I took it back to the car while he washed up. We were parked in a corner, and were undisturbed as I played with my phone and ate fries and Kyou munched absently as he continued to work. It was only another ten minutes before he closed the laptop with a snap and started on a sandwich.

"Don’t turn your head," he said. "Someone just took a picture of the car."

"So long as they don’t follow us home," I said, but then wiped my fingers and replaced the scarf over my face.

Kyou grinned. "I commend you for remembering to keep the hood up."

He wrapped the remainder of his food and restarted the car. "Address?"

"I’m surprised you don’t know it."

"I do. I’m pretending."

I laughed, and sat back as we made excellent time through the quiet streets, stopping in a no-parking zone outside my apartment block. "I’ll stay here until you’re inside."

Nodding, I slipped out, and was about to shut the door when I remembered borrowed clothing, and said: "Oh, your parka," my hand going to the zip.

"Keep it. I’ll daydream of you walking around in it and nothing else."

"Then I’ll do that some time. Goodnight, Kyou."

"See you soon, Cheshire. And…thank you."