Page 5 of House of Malice
“Girl, I’ve known you for years, and I have never seen you strut around naked,” Andro said, his eyes wide. “Excuse us if we’re shocked to see you finally free yourself out of whatever issues were plaguing you before. ’Grats, bitch!”
Suddenly, Alecto was very conscious of her nakedness. The desire to cover herself in front of her friends was hard to resist. Andro was right, after all.
But instead of getting shy and uncomfortable, Alecto placed her hands on her hips and said, “Enjoy the sight while you can, fuckers.”
Andro and Jolene both howled with laughter, Blaze’s lips curled into a smile while his eyes devoured her naked flesh, and Val whistled.
“Our shy little witch has finally found her inner wilderness,” Val said, her eyes lazily making their way down Alecto’s body. “Does that also mean you’ll be finally participating in all the sex rituals?”
“I think not,” Alecto said. She walked over to her closet and opened the door. “That was a one-time thing.”
“EXCUSE ME?!” Andro waved his hands. “What does that—? Do—? Have you participated in a sex ritual? With whom? And when did this happen?”
“Why haven’t we heard about it?” Jolene asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
Alecto glanced at them over her shoulder while she pulled a pair of black pants and a black turtleneck out of her closet.
“I had to open my mom’s journal. For that we needed a sex ritual and malaka,” Alecto said.
From the chest of drawers, she fished out a pair of black satin panties. Then she started to dress.
“A sex ritual while on drugs?” Andro asked. “Ah, that’s my fucking favorite!”
“Who’swe?” Jolene asked, crossing her arms.
Alecto glanced at her bed where Blaze and Val were.
Jolene’s jaw dropped. “I cannot believe it. And you didn’t think to invite me or Andro!”
Alecto pulled her pants up and froze, unsure about what to say. She didn’t think it was such a big deal, and she was surprised to see Jolene and Andro upset about it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it,” Alecto said. “It happened so fast, and I was preoccupied with other things…”
“Fine, we’ll forgive you,” Andro said, dramatically tossing his locs over his shoulder. “But next time you wanna fuck while high to perform a spell, you better fucking invite us.”
Jolene nodded, pursing her lips.
Alecto huffed a laugh. “Fine. I’ll add you two to my list of people to invite if I ever want to perform a sex ritual.”
After Alecto got dressed, she quickly went into her bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she returned to her room, Val clapped her hands once and got on her feet.
“Alright, so here’s the thing,” Val said. “Tomorrow is Friday, and it’s our weekend to throw a party.”
They all nodded.
“Let’s make sure it’s a damned good one. I’ll talk about it with the rest of the House during our meeting,” Val said. She paused for a moment, looking at each of them before she continued. “This party is important because we’ll be introducing a new member of our House.”
“What?” Jolene, Andro, and Alecto asked.
“A new member?” Blaze asked, furrowing his brows. “Who the fuck is that?”
Val smirked. “Well, he’s not entirely new.”
Immediately, Alecto realized who Val had in mind. “No fucking way.”
Val’s smirk turned into a smile. “I hope you missed Rogue because he’s back.”
Andro and Jolene both had a lot to say. They talked over each other, and Val talked over them, and after a while, Alecto gave up on following the conversation. She went over to Blaze and sat down next to him.
Blaze took her hand, weaving their fingers together. Electric tingles spread over Alecto’s skin where his fingers touched.
