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eruden-writes · 24 days ago

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Strictly Pleasure - Part 27 (Jek x Heidi)

orc x human age gap paranormal romance 27 of ?

Summary: An awkward fresh-out-of-a-relationship woman and an orc that owns a sex store enter an adult theater together. She, intent on pushing her own boundaries. He, just looking to give her some sense of safety. Well, that and he wouldn’t complain about having a bit of fun himself.

After they inevitably get interrupted, Jek deals with the problem while Heidi flees. Resigned, he believes he’ll never see her again.

Thus begins Jek and Heidi’s sporadic interactions until, eventually, they find themselves fumbling around each other daily at the very place it started: Strictly Pleasure.

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Part 1 - Master List - Part 26

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When Heidi got home, she realized she couldn’t handle being alone. Her mind latched onto the memory, replaying the refreshed recollection over and over. This time, she examined not just the past but the present, too. Jek being right there next to her, watching what she watched, added a new facet to everything.

Her mind spun, nearly out of control. A distraction was needed or else her brain felt like it was going to fry itself.

She called the only two people she could think to call: Periphoia and Gnadi.

When the two arrived, she unloaded the experiences of the day onto them. Well, the parts that were appropriate to share. They didn’t need to know all the heated details, despite Peri waggling her eyebrows and needling for such things.

Heidi was just getting the three of them some bottles of soda from the fridge when Malachai came home. She turned sharply, looking at the time on the stove clock, surprised to find it was the usual time he got home. Where had the time gone?

“Hey sweetheart,” she called to Malachai as he stomped in, kicking his shoes off on the linoleum by the front door.

“Hey,” he answered, words sewn with a dismal mien.

Setting the three drinks onto the counter after closing the fridge, she shot her son a worried look. Behind his glasses, his eyes seemed a little red-rimmed. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he answered, not meeting her eyes. “It’s dumb.”

“I still want to hear you out, in case I can help.” Heidi stepped from the kitchen into the small hall that acted as a foyer from front door to the rest of the apartment.

Malachai heaved a heavy sigh, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms while his backpack still hugged to one shoulder. For a half-beat, he didn’t seem like he’d continue. Likely weighing the inevitability of eventually spilling the beans against his own desire for privacy. The former won out. “I told you how the school is having a dance, like during the school day, and I asked Vhlai if they wanted to come with me and they said yes.”

“Uh-huh,” Heidi nodded, leaning her hip against the wall, crossing her arms.

“Well, today was the dance and I dressed all nice for it,” Malachai waved to himself, indicating the new pair of jeans and freshly-washed polo shirt he deemed as ‘nice’ for a middle-school dance. He’d even tamed his hair, Heidi thought, as she eyed the low and short ponytail. “But just before it all happened, Vhlai told me they were actually going to go with Issac because he’d asked them out and they were dating now.”

Oof, Heidi winced as her son retold the events of the day, noting how his tone bitterer. “I’m sorry, that sucks. At least dancing was fun?”

“I sat in the corner the whole time. It was loud and stuffy and smelly.” His nose wrinkled as his gaze flicked to his mom, as if direct eye contact would cement the awfulness of the day to her. Something in Heidi’s expression made his shoulders slump a little. “I just thought Vhlai was the one, y’know?”

“At thirteen?” Heidi couldn’t help the wry half-smile that pulled at her lips. This was important to her kid, but – at the same time – she knew just how unlikely it was to find One’s True Love in middle school. Hells, even high school relationships crashed and burned.

Malachai didn’t answer, his lips just pursing tighter behind his tusks. Though his cheeks darkened in embarrassment as his eyes flicked away from his mother. Consequently, Heidi realized as she followed his gaze, that meant he saw Periphoia and Gnadi sitting at the kitchen table. To their credit, neither guest turned toward him nor waved, despite likely being able to hear the whole conversation.

His shoulders hunched again, the color darkening further on his cheeks. “I don’t know. I just really like being around them.”

“I promise you, there will be others,” Heidi soothed as she moved to pull her son into a hug.

“Mom, please,” the boy groaned, not relaxing under her embrace. When she didn’t get the hint, he pulled out of her grasp, tilting a hard expression toward her. “I just want to be alone right now.”

Trying not to visibly wither under his gaze, she softly assured, “I’m only trying to help.”

“I know, I just want to be left alone right now.” Shaking his head, he took a few steps toward his room, gaining distance between himself and his mother. Motioning with his hand toward the kitchen table, which was now obscured by the wall, he added, “Hang out with your friends or whatever you’re doing.”

Right, Periphoia and Gnadi were here. Outsiders being present tilted the scales unfavorably for her son to unload the emotions he felt. Heidi squeezed her hands together in front of her, fighting down the urge to keep talking about the predicament. “Okay. Well, I’ll be out here if you need me.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Malachai brusquely shut the door and Heidi soon heard the grating sounds of heavy metal music playing from her son’s computer. After a moment of staring at her son’s door, fighting down feelings of inadequacy, Heidi turned to retrieve the sodas and return to her guests.

“Just let him marinate in his feelings for a while. Orcs are like that,” Gnadi said as they accepted the drink while jerking a shoulder toward the teenage boy’s room. Guilt flickered through Heidi, the set of sweats that the faun wore reminding her that they usually worked overnight. She was infringing on their personal time.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Next to Gnadi, Periphoia sat straighter, her eyes flashing with something akin to danger. Unlike the sleep-deprived faun, the nymph was dressed to seize the day in a form-fitting fractcal-esque patterned dress paired with a cardigan and dark blue ankle boots. Her makeup was immaculate, as it always was, and her hair fell in gentle waves around her shoulders.

If Gnadi noticed the potential danger in Periphoia’s posture, they gave no indication. They twisted the bottle cap off, shrugging as their ears flicked. “This isn’t some anti-orc thing. It’s common that many cultures across varying peoples try to, like, stifle emotions, but in many orc cultures they let themselves feel or act on their feelings. That’s why a lot of orc cultures have fighting pits.”

“When I first had Malachai, I read up on orc cultures and stuff.” Heidi moved to her seat after she set a second bottle by Periphoia, who seemed to ease a little at Gnadi’s explanation. Lowering herself into her own chair, she couldn’t help the sigh that bubbled up. “I’ve tried to fill in the stuff Artu– his father should have, but I’m obviously going to miss out on some things. I just feel so lacking when things like this come up.”

Besides the fact she wasn’t an orc, she also wasn’t a guy. There were different societal rules – perceived, assumed, learned – that everyone consciously or unconsciously followed. Though it was a somewhat flawed way of thinking, since she should be enough for Malachai, the familiar ache for something missing in their lives bubbled up in her chest. That feeling, inevitably, led to thoughts of Jek.

“Speaking of Malachai’s father,” Periphoia latched onto the segue, unaware she dallied close to Heidi’s own thoughts. “What are you going to do?”

“I… I don’t know.” Focusing on the scrape of her thumb running along the ridges of the bottle cap, Heidi didn’t look up at Gnadi or Periphoia. Her throat started to tighten the longer she spoke, her words becoming quieter, “I like Jek, I really do, but…”

Words failed her as she trailed off, fresh feelings and half-formed thoughts fighting for focus.

“But?” Periphoia mirrored Heidi’s softening tone as she leaned closer.

“He thought I left afterwards because I thought it all was a mistake.” Heidi winced, looking up to the nymph and faun, gauging how well they both understood the heaviness of situation. “He’s lived with thinking that for over thirteen years and that’s probably going to color how he feels about me now.”

Despite the way her own stomach lurched, the expression on Periphoia’s and Gnadi’s faces were not dire. Periphoia sat back in her chair, a look of consternation making her eyebrows furrow and lips purse in thought, while Gnadi casually finished a swig of their drink.

“It was a while ago and he does enjoy spending time with you both now and, if I were to wager, back then,” the faun finally said, setting their drink down on the table. Absently, Periphoia nodded to Gnadi’s words as she, too, took a drink.

“Seeing his expression when that part of the memory played, it… I could see how much it hurt him. It was like something in him crumpled.” Tears swelled at Heidi’s eyes, knowing she was the reason Jek felt so terribly, but she fought them down. It was easy enough, considering how much she had already cried. There just wasn’t enough hydration in her for more tears.

“Jek’s a grown orc. He can manage his own feelings and I can guarantee he holds no grudges against you.” Heidi looked up at Gnadi as they spoke and she squirmed as their attention zeroed intently in on her face. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know.” She flinched, realizing she repeated herself again. Taking a quick breath, Heidi tried to organize her bouncing thoughts as she continued to talk, “Exploring things with Jek was fun and fine, there were no risks. But now with this revelation, I don’t know how to feel. It feels so complicated now.”

Silence fell around the table as her guests mentally gnawed on Heidi’s words. The whole thing was a mess and she felt too old to be going through such drama. Gnadi and Periphoia probably shared the sentiment, hissed a voice at the back of her thoughts. But Heidi mentally grasped that voice and shoved it further away, noticing how it felt like a mingling of sentiments planted by her mother and the former lovers in her life.

How much of her life had been controlled by that insidious, nasty little voice? It not only hurt her, but Jek and, ultimately, Malachai.

Whatever they had that night had been like a taste of ambrosia. What would her life be like if she hadn’t run away that morning? What would Malachai’s life be like? These questions plagued her thoughts since watching the memory.

Her brain fed her bittersweet imaginings. Jek being by her side while she was pregnant, being an active partner through parenthood, starkly contrasted against the lonely reality she suffered. Malachai having a clan mark, likely the across-the-nose scar Jek wore.

“Well, give it time.” Periphoia’s words saved Heidi from the building guilt that swam in her gut. “And if you still don’t know how you feel about him, maybe that’s your answer.”

Heidi gave a snort, slowly sliding her gaze to the nymph as her lips formed a wry half-smile. The wet heat in her eyes betrayed the fact she was forcing down tears. “What good does that do me?”

“It just means you need more time or maybe you don’t want anything more than sex with him.” Periphoia shrugged, but Heidi got the feeling even the nymph wasn’t even sure of her own words.

“Isn’t that counter to me being demisexual?” Narrowing her eyes, Heidi tried to join the concept of her newfound sexuality against the nymph’s words. At face value, it made sense. Maybe she didn’t want anything more than physicality with Jek, but that didn’t feel right to her.

But was that her feelings? Or what society has told her how to feel?

“Not necessarily,” Gnadi began slowly, their tone making it clear they were still considering her situation as they spoke. “Sexuality is a gradient and there’s probably sometimes where someone that’s demisexual just physically clicks with someone.” They gave a hasty shrug and shook their head, their ears flickering again. “I’m no expert and I think that’s only something someone can determine for themselves.”

Silence fell around the kitchen table again, muffled screamo music coming from Malachai’s room. Heidi stared down at her unopened bottle of soda, lips pursed as she considered what the other two had said. Perhaps she just needed more time to think.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she shifted to her initial reason for calling on her guests: Distraction.

“What’s new in your lives?” Heidi offered the two a watery smile as they glanced up at her. She twisted the cap off her soda, the hiss of the carbonation mimicking the still riled emotions swarming her head, before taking a sip. As Periphoia relayed on her most recent disastership with a minotaur man and Gnadi groused about their college classes, the constant throb of urgency in Heidi’s brain softened.

Another bittersweet thought settled in her mind. No matter what would happen, however this situation between herself and Jek settled, life would march forward. She had to be prepared for that.

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I have no Part 28 to advertise here, but The Peril of Magic has a part 2 on Patreon now! :)