Five Peeks of Pink

Everly

Everly

"Our drinks are ready!" Olivia announced to our scattered group of friends. She held up her phone, showing off the Starbucks notification.

The five of us followed our leader out of the department store.

"I'm so jealous you already found a dress," Jessica said to me. "My head is still spinning from all the options, and we've only hit up one store."

I smirked. "It's just the Winter Formal. It's not until after Thanksgiving. You don't have to be so picky."

"I know, I know. We've got a few more weeks," she groaned. Her shoulders rounded forward. "Maybe the latte will wake me up or something."

We stepped outside. A gust of late fall air knocked the chatter and giggles right out of us.Of course, the Starbucks on this side of the mall was exposed to the elements.

We hurried inside and grabbed our drinks. I tightened my coat and pulled on my gloves before joining the huddle outside. With hot drinks in hand and gossip in the air, the cold was manageable.

I sat on the edge of a marble planter and ignored the icy sting in my butt. These new boots were killing me. They were so tight I wondered if the leather would split.

Jessica passed a lit cigarette to me. I hesitated. If I went home smelling like smoke, I'd get in major trouble. The last thing I wanted was to be punished by my stepdad again. Warmth balled between my legs. I shoved the memory of that dirty day aside.

Two years ago, my "rebellion" had started off small. I'd bleached my hair a sandier shade of blond and had gotten involved in after-school art clubs. Then I'd started taking every opportunity to be a normal teenager. Skipping class, smoking, drinking, going to parties, and just living life.

Well, except skipping was now a thing of the past. I'd stopped doing that, like, a month ago.

But! But we weren't done shopping yet! I could just buy fresh clothes and change into them before going home. No one would question me coming home with new clothes. Least of all, my stepdad, Marino. I was a Mafia princess, and he was the family's boss. It'd be weirder if I came home with one shopping bag.

One shared cigarette quickly became two. My friends chatted and laughed until our cups ran dry and our cheeks had turned red.

"Anyone want to finish this, or should I put it out?" Luna asked, holding up cigarette number three. "My tits are about to freeze off."

"Ooh, ooh, me!" I said.

Luna passed me my prize before she skipped away with the others.

I took a long, slow drag and closed my eyes, savoring the smoke rolling over my tongue and the crisp silence.

Somewhere behind me, leaves crunched on the concrete. The sound of clipped, firm steps made me sit a little straighter. I opened my eyes as a large shadow approached on my right. I was too alone to let my guard down for too long.

The cigarette was plucked from my hand.

I jumped to my feet and away from whoever had--

Marino brought it to his lips and took a long, heavy breath, bringing the flame all the way down to the filter. My stepdad's cold, dark stare pinned me in place.

No, no, no! My heart pounded, trying to escape my chest. The soft, furry lining of my coat rubbed me all of the wrong ways. I'd been careful! We'd come to a mall two towns over to shop. Marino had no reason to be here or at any mall!

"Where did you come from?" I gasped. I stood still, but couldn't catch my breath. The fall air was too thin.

Marino dropped the spent cigarette into the ashtray. He closed the distance between us. I couldn't move. Running would only entice him.

He exhaled. Smoke covered half of his harsh, tan face and his expertly slicked back, black hair. The smoke failed to break his stare's hold on me. "Be grateful that I found you," Marino drawled. "All this smoke is too dirty for you, principessa. It never should have touched you."

Heat twirled down my spine. Since he'd punished me last month, he'd barely spoken to me. We'd gone back to politely existing under the same roof. Back to existing in each other's peripheral. Now, out of nowhere, he was here and paying extra-close attention.

"I'm eighteen," I said. "I'm only smoking when I'm out with my friends."

Marino crossed his arms over his chest. "You think your mother will care how old you are when she hears you smoke?"

I cringed. I didn't want to face whatever consequence he had in mind. But my mom's judgments were a whole other beast I didn't want to confront, either.

"No," I said.

"You look a lot like someone who forgot all our money comes from vices and picked one up for yourself," Marino said. "Notta good look for any of us."

A black Cadillac SUV pulled up to the curb. Despite its tinted windows, I knew one of Marino's security guys was behind the wheel. Marino didn't keep people waiting. He'd be gone any moment now.

Tension seeped from my body. I fought not to glance in the direction of the mall's entrance. I'd be free soon enough.

"I understand," I said, shuffling my feet.

"I'm sure you do," he said, and then rubbed his mouth. "That's why you're going to go home, change out of those disgusting clothes, and then wait in the living room for me."

My eyes went wide. They stung from the strain. "What? No," I said. My gaze darted from him to the SUV, and then to the mall. "My friends are expecting me. We're not done shopping."

"They'll survive," Marino said. "I have other business to attend to. I can't have you rebelling via addiction under my nose."

"I'm not done shopping, yet," I said, seeming incapable of saving myself from him.

"You already bought a dress, Everly," Marino said. "It's with the tailor."

I paled. He'd been following me that closely...?

He whistled under his breath. "You think I don't have notifications on for your credit card?"

A flush overtook my face. Oh my God, with every swing I took, I missed the obvious explanations! Maybe I did need to go home.

"Do I need to put you in the SUV?" Marino asked.

I shook my head and then quickly said, "No."

Marino kept a step behind me as I walked to the waiting Cadillac. He reached around me and opened the back passenger door.

"What are you going to do when you get home?" Marino asked, crowding the doorway as I buckled myself in.

"Change and then wait in the living room," I said. Each word tasted sandier than the last.

"Wait for what?"

"For you to come home."

Marino closed the door. The SUV took off. I texted my friends an apology, making sure to blame my jerk of a stepdad. I left out that he'd caught me smoking. And what dirty punishment could be awaiting me.

Maybe thiswasthe punishment, though. He wanted me to sit at home while my friends had fun without me. He wanted me to be bored all evening when I could be having fun. Punishment didn't mean he was going to want to see my underwear again. That time, he'd been on a power trip. He wouldn't do it again.

Heady, pressure pulsed behind my clit. The pleasure died before shame caught up to me. I squeezed my eyes closed and cursed myself. I didnotwant to be on display for him again. I had hallucinated him and my stepbrother's hungry expressions last time.

The drive passed quickly. When I got home, I went straight to my room to change. I started to pull on sweatpants and then paused. What if Marino decided to ask to see my underwear again...? Pants would only make doing that even more embarrassing.

Instead, I opted for a t-shirt dress and thigh-high socks to keep me warm. I grabbed my phone--he hadn't said anything about not being allowed to text or doomscrool--and went downstairs. I plopped on a couch in the center of the living room that gave me a clear view of the foyer.

An hour crawled by before the front door opened. Mom strolled in with bag-heavy arms. She headed for the stairs and then paused when she spotted me.

Her brows furrowed. "Everly, what are you doing home? I thought you were dress shopping? And why are you sitting in the living room alone?"

"Papà wants her to wait for him," said a deep male voice from behind her.

My brows knit together. Who had driven Mom home?

Mom's upper body sank. "Everly," she said with disappointment.

I shrank under the weight of my name.

"Well, it appears Marino has it all under control," Mom sighed before continuing upstairs.

In the foyer, in Mom's absence, stood my stepbrother Teo. He spoke so rarely that I'd forgotten what his voice sounded like. Plus, Teo was almost thirty. Wasn't he a bit old to be calling his dad Papà?

Teo finger-combed back his black hair as he entered the living room. His pants clung to his thighs as he took a seat on the couch across from me. I'd also forgotten how much broader and more muscular he was than his dad.

He retrieved his phone from his suit coat and shifted the heat of his stare to it. The knuckles of his right hand were split and scabbed over. I shuddered. If they hurt to type with, he didn't show it.

With every minute that ticked by, the room shrank an inch. Every time I shifted or twitched, Teo glanced at me with an indifferent stare.

The sun started setting. A maid came through and turned on the lamps. My nerves were too frayed for me to feel hunger and an urge to pee.

Finally, the garage door groaned open.

Teo put his phone away. He crossed his legs, ankle over knee, and stared over my shoulder at the back hall. My pulse whooshed in my ears. Marino strolled in, and best I knew, said nothing.

My stepdad settled on the couch beside his son. Both of them focused their cold brown eyes on me. Molten heat poured through me and thickened my blood.

"That was not the first time you've smoked," Marino said.

I rubbed my hands together over my lap and remained silent. Admitting he was right felt like admitting to everything bad I'd ever done.

"You sat there with your friends like you knew you'd get away with it," Marino said. "Then you had the audacity to argue with me."

"I'm sorry," I said. I wasn't in the slightest. I just wanted this over with.

"Stand up, Everly," Marino snapped.

My chest seized. I didn't move. Marino and Teo's eyes narrowed. I rose up on shaky legs.

Marino held his hand out. "Give me your panties."

I reached under my dress, shimmed the black cotton down my legs, and then crumpled them in my fist. I hadn't changed them earlier. I didn't want to know if the crotch was streaked with white.

Each step toward my stepdad built pressure between my legs. I dropped my underwear into his hand and then turned away.

"No, Everly," Marino said. "Stay. Facing us."

I swallowed and did as he'd said.

Marino passed my underwear to Teo. My stepbrother's eyes widened for a breath. He accepted them and then shoved them in his suitcoat pocket with a tiny smile on his long face. His gaze darkened.

"Lift up your dress, Everly," Marino said softly. His tone bordered on fondness, yet his words chafed me.

I sucked in air between my teeth and glanced at the windows. The curtains were drawn. But my mom was in the house. As were the staff and who knew who else. Anyone could walk in and see us. See me.

"Everly," Marino said. "Why do you make me repeat myself?"

I dipped my chin to my chest. With a snap of my waist, I grabbed the dress's hem and lifted it.

The Made Men's gazes settled between my legs.

Marino's Adam's apple bobbed. The lines around his eyes smoothed out.

Teo's nostrils flared as he inhaled. His eyes were focused but had a haze to them.

Pressure throbbed behind my clit, and my nipples hardened. I was seeing things again. All they could see was my tan, shaved skin, and maybe the hood of my clit or the curve of my puffy outer lips. They weren't adoring me; they were just staring.

"You're excused," Marino said after who knew how long.

I shoved my dress down as I darted away.

Back in the safety of my room, I replaced my underwear and pretended cool wetness wasn't smearing on them.

Being on display made me hot and bothered. My exhibition kink was undeniable. Which wasn't that weird of a kink. But my stepdad and stepbrother's involvements should have been major turn-offs!

I collapsed face-first into bed, no more curious about why my body reacted the way it did than deterred from misbehaving again.

For the third Thanksgiving in a row, Mom had managed to fit two tables for sixteen into the dining room. It was hard to tell if the house's stuffy vibe came from the overworking ovens or the number of red-blooded bodies wandering about.

All around me in the living room, people cheered, jeered, and laughed as if competing with each other. I felt as if I were seated inside a packed stadium.

Aunts, uncles, and cousins from my mom's side chatted loudly. All of their sounds clashed with those of Marino's many children. Even Teo was talking. He had one of his younger brothers in a headlock and was engaged in a conversation with another brother.

Shoot, what were their names? All of Marino's kids were older than me, right? There were too many stepsiblings for me to keep track of and count of. Until my mom had come along, for whatever reason, Marino had never married any of the mothers of his children.

What had Teo done with my underwear?

I quickly averted my gaze from my stepsiblings. Scanning the crowd, I spotted no one from my dad's side. That tracked. The last two years, I'd only seen them around Christmas time. I wasn't sure if that was Marino's or Mom's doing. I could have sworn all of Dad's men now reported to Marino, and that included several uncles and cousins of mine.

The boss himself strolled into the room. Marino took note of me, but he didn't pause his search. Until he spotted Teo. Marino glowered at his son and then freed the younger one from Teo's grip. Teo didn't react. He continued his conversation.

Nothing about today was abnormal or missing. Except for the underwear I'd given Teo. What had he done with them?

I crossed and uncrossed my legs. I couldn't ask Teo without putting a spotlight on myself.

I left the room and grabbed a cup of cold cider. The liquor bottles on the table called to me. They tempted me to spike my drink. Well, it would make the boredom go by faster.

A warm, muscular arm reached around me, and a large, very male body pressed against me. I stiffened.

"Yeah, yeah. You'll get me next year," Teo drawled behind me. "It's not like I beat you by double this year."

Something long and hard pressed against my ass. My breath caught in the back of my throat. Thatthingwas his dick. I'd never felt one before, but what else could be poking me there?

Teo's erection grew thicker as he topped off his whiskey glass and continued bickering with whomever. He stepped away, leaving my back exposed to sudden, bitter cold. I couldn't deny what I'd felt of Teo. I couldn't convince myself he'd rubbed on me on purpose.

He hadn't acknowledged me once. That had to have been him being annoyed that I was in his way and deciding to make his soreness my problem.

Dinner was announced. My stomach's excitement overruled my buzzing mind.

I loaded up my first plate and then found my seat next to Mom.

Teo sat down beside me. My mouth dried.

What did you do with my underwear?

Why was he sitting--oh. Right. His older siblings and their wives were here. They got to sit on Marino's right. Sucky for me, Teo was where he was supposed to be.

My skin prickled with heat. I shifted as I gulped down water. Awareness of a stare from my left made me slow down. I didn't check who was watching me.

If it were Teo, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of my paranoia. Instead, I focused on stuffing my face. The same thing he should have been doing.

The meal moved on, and the heated stare slowly withered away.