She's a clock. The most beautiful one you've ever seen

Jennifer woke up hours later. Nick was still beside her, holding her, meeting her gaze.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Did you sleep well?"

He considered lying, but she'd catch it in a heartbeat, so why bother.

"No."

"Are you okay?"

"You are — you're not tired anymore, and satisfied, but you're hungry."

"Because I smell like that."

"Exactly."

"This is incredible, it's like having the Sims mood bars."

"...Hadn't thought of it that way. Feels more like predator senses to me."

"Where's Eve?"

"Still upstairs. She's scared. Hungry too, but scared — smells like a lot of fear, it's... a bad smell, throws off my thinking."

"She has to go down and talk to her sister about everything."

"Yeah, figured. That's why I haven't gone to check on her."

"How do you know which smell means what?"

"No idea. I just know."

"Now I really do think you're an angel. Literally."

"You're just saying that so I don't spiral."

"You can't smell Helen."

"No."

"Then you're not a predator."

"Jen..."

"Tell me why you'd want to know where and how we're all doing at every moment if not to be our guardian angel."

He thought about it — couldn't come up with anything else, honestly. He visibly relaxed.

She noticed, smiled, proud of herself.

"I drank nine liters of assorted liquor. I should be dead."

"Mixing's never a good idea." She kept smiling — she gave him back his life a little bit at a time.

Jennifer continued: "Rasputin was famous for drinking the water out of flower vases. They couldn't poison him either, and he survived multiple point-blank gunshots to the chest."

"You know if he used to move half-ton beds too."

"Only when he was blind with lust watching his lover deflower a confused young woman."

That made him laugh — only she could pull the fear out of him and slip hope in its place.

"Okay. Fine."

"You're scared, I know. You always jump to the worst case, terrified of hurting me — but everything we keep discovering shows we can use it for good."

"Okay."

"That's it?"

"Only good things can come of it — a friend told me that. Also told me to trust you."

"Your friend is very perceptive. You should listen to her."

"I'm trying."

"We are not going to talk about the most incredible orgasm I've ever had."

"I don't know what to say — the smell connects me to you, I know it doesn't make sense, but that smell... I want to move in and live there. You have no idea what it's like, especially yours."

"That's so cool."

"Eve and Rose said the same thing."

"I think I transcended the boundaries of the known universe for a second there."

"And what's on the other side?"

"Uh... the unknown universe."

They cracked up laughing — how had he lived so many years without the light this woman gave off, it was a mystery.

They left the room, needing a shower, but first he went to check on Eve — still in bed, playing on her phone.

He took her chin and kissed her by surprise.

"Mmm, you always taste so good."

He ignored the compliment.

"I love you. We all love you. Your sister loves you. Everything's going to be fine. Nothing bad can happen within these walls — I wouldn't allow it. Now go meet your sister. Life's too short, and you're just one step away from having each other the way you've both dreamed. And if she still shuts you out, we're here to help you. Go."

She got up with renewed energy and sprinted out the door. Ran back in, gave him a hug, and left again — a whirlwind.

She smelled like... herself, and nothing else. Mission accomplished.

Jennifer watched him, walked over, and stroked his back.

"What?"

"Nothing. Thought I saw feathers for a second." She smiled.

He rolled his eyes.

Eve and Helen were hugging in the living room, crying rivers — mostly Helen, listing off every terrible thing she'd said or done instead of protecting her the way an older sister should have. Eve kept telling her she should have known, that she was her sister, that she should have made her feel safe enough to confess her secrets without fear, that she shouldn't have felt alone, that she'd failed her.

They took turns blaming themselves, for what felt like hours to everyone listening.

The others were in the next room, listening in.

When Nick arrived, he was about to call them all nosy and drag them out of there, but he wanted to hear it too, so he stayed — hearing them like this made him genuinely happy.

There wasn't much sex that day. He caught Alex making use of the maid in the bathroom, but not much beyond that — everyone dressed more modestly than usual, which disappointed Nick, who was used to his eyes bouncing constantly from body to body. But everyone wanted Helen to stay, and nobody wanted to push things — nobody said it out loud, but it was obviously the reason.

He found her in the kitchen, chugging water — badly dehydrated after the crying marathon. The others were celebrating at the pool. She wore a fitted dress, clearly her sister's, showing off some nice curves. She looked stunning.

He sat at the kitchen table and gestured for her to sit too, trying not to be... dominant, the way he was with the other girls — just trying to be kind. She watched him nervously; who knew what she thought of him.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"More than okay."

"Glad to hear it."

"I don't know if they invited you to stay, or if you want to, or..."

"Eve asked. I think... it's a lot, what she was telling me."

"What did she tell you?"

"A lot of things — how much sex you all have, sometimes all together, how much she loves you, how much you love her."

"A lot."

"But you have a wife. Jen's your wife."

"Yes." She clearly didn't understand.

"If you stay — and I'd like it if you did — you'll understand what she means. There are a lot of ways to love someone. Some involve physical contact, some don't, some are unique and deep enough that they become part of who you are for life. I think that's the most important thing she's taught me, out of about eight billion other things." He showed her his wedding ring.

"That's beautiful."

"Only beautiful things come out of here. Rose's words."

"God, Rose..."

"I know. I was cruel to her, before, when I was a different person. Lucky for me... well, she experiences things differently, she's happy this way, believe me, I've asked her many times, and the answer's always the same. Still weighs on me, always will. But I'm a different person now. I think you understand what I mean."

"Yeah." She wanted to cry again — clearly regretted plenty of things herself, same as him.

"I think I want to stay."

"You don't have to, honestly — you can come and go whenever you want."

"It's just... I don't want to lose Eve again... and I want..."

"It's okay, I get it. We all get it. No one judges anyone here. You saw that for yourself last night. You make the rules."

"But she..."

"Try it."

"But..."

"God, you think I'm saying this to embarrass you? Try it. That's kind of the whole point of this place — figure yourself out, what you like, and then figure out how you can help everyone else feel good too, sexually and otherwise. There are no rules here because they're not needed — rules are... limiting, unless rules are what you actually want, in which case we'll happily set up as many as you'd like. Catch my drift?"

"Yeah, okay, I get it... I'll talk to her... god, this is so embarrassing."

"It'll pass. Fast, too, you'll see."

"Um..."

"What, come on, out with it."

"I don't...like men."

"I know, you are saying it like there's some unbreakable law that says you have to sleep with me. You can do whatever you want with whoever you want, as long as they want it too — except Rose, she wants you to do whatever you want without her wanting anything at all. I know, don't look at me like that, it's complicated, you'll see."

"It's just — Jen asked me... to kiss you."

"What?"

He shrugged.

"She knows you're not into men. I don't think it's what you think, she's not trying to bisexualize you, if that's even a thing."

"Then what?"

"No idea. Gave up trying to keep up with her a long time ago, she runs at two hundred miles an hour. But you don't have to. Guaranteed."

"Well, a kiss... it's not that big a deal, really... I'm curious, if I'm honest, to see if it's really that different from..." She looked up, cheeks flushing. Adorable.

Nick got up and moved quickly — he knew if he let her set the pace, they'd be there until Judgment Day. He tilted her chin up gently and kissed her by surprise; there was a flicker of tension at first, but she kissed back, gentle, not pushy, a little clumsy on her end. She tasted like... Helen. There'd been a void in his senses in that room one moment, and the next, there she was — he could smell her, hunger and fear, faint, but there. That woman had the combined knowledge of the entire universe crammed into a Greek goddess's body.

"So?"

"Not bad..."

"But?"

"No 'but,' it was really good."

"Buuut."

"...but Jen's better. Much better..."

He burst out laughing. "Rough luck for you."

"Why?" She looked confused.

"The first pair of lips you tried are the best on the face of the earth, doesn't matter if you're into men or women — it's all downhill from here."

"Oh."

"Ah well, nothing to be done about it. I'm sure you'll find plenty of other things that won't disappoint you. Plus, she's right there — I don't think she'll ever tell you no, and if she does, it's because she's already got some insanely complex thirty-four-step plan that ends up better than whatever you asked for in the first place."

"That's cool."

"Hell yeah"

"The way you talk about her, I mean — and the way she talks about you."

"I wish it for all of you, honestly — I wish everyone could find someone like that. It's... indescribable, you have to live it. Even though I love all of them, all of them are incredible — Alex is pure lust above everything else, understands your buttons and pushes them, and your body just wants to push hers back, and along the way she teaches you things about yourself, and her generosity has no limits. Eve is pure joy, concentrated — you already know, not a shred of malice in her, she lights up any room she's in. Rose is... different. For her, love is caring for others taken to extreme levels — she understands sex and love on her own terms, and since she barely talks, it doesn't always show, but she's actually very sharp and have a keen eye, and she is great friend if you're lucky enough for her to open that door for you."

"And Jen?"

"Jen is... she's..." He paused — hard to describe her, honestly, ran out of vocabulary. "She's a clock. The most beautiful one you've ever seen — no one can look away. And if you open it up, there's a million pieces moving in perfect sync, beautiful on the inside too, pure gold in every part — but you're just a regular mortal, you can't understand how it actually works, you can only marvel at the complexity. But rest assured, it'll tell you the exact time, down to the millisecond, every single time, no exceptions. You're not going to understand it. You just have to have faith."

"Wow..."

Nick gave himself a mental pat on the back — pretty good analogy, for a regular mortal.

"I was scared this was going to be... just a brothel, or something worse."

"Understandable."

"But you talk about them and you haven't mentioned a single part of their bodies, or anything like that."

"Huh... true. Well have you seen them? I could get lost in every inch of skin on each of them, and I do, often, but that part goes without saying — they're a bunch of supermodels of every size and taste."

"HELL YEAH"

He'd made her laugh — genuinely nice, having someone around he knew there'd be no physical thing with, and who shared his taste in women.

"And I'm sure there's a lot worth loving in you too. I already like you. I know... there are things inside me, from who I used to be, that eat at me a lot — none of them get it, they've been good people their whole lives, whatever their own problems. Even my wife doesn't fully get it, I think... I have a feeling you might. Not that I want to dwell on it, but someday I'd like to see if we could... I don't know, help each other pull the poison out."

"That... yeah, I get what you mean. That'd be nice. It weighs a lot."

"A lot."

A silence.

"I don't have any money. Don't work."

"Doesn't matter."

"Eve says everyone contributes something."

"Because they want to. If you want to, and you can, that's on the table too. But there is no need."

"I'm studying to be a cop."

"Cool."

"I don't know if I want to keep at it. Feels like someone else's dream, not mine."

"I get that completely."

"And I don't want to be in..."

"Neither do I, and neither does my wife — and neither should you, unless it's genuinely what you want. You don't have to do anything, in that department or any other, really. Alex does it for everyone, no strings attached, and she loves it. Your sister goes on it because she likes it too. Jen manages all of it, and — well, if I tell you this house used to belong to Rose, you're going to lose it."

"Really? It was hers?"

"Gave it to me. Yeah, I know, I fought her on it from every angle, but she didn't want it — owning things gave her anxiety. Put it in my name."

"Damn."

"In my head it's still hers. If she ever changes her mind, it's hers again in a heartbeat. It's too much, I know, but that's just how she is."

"And you?"

"I felt bad about the same thing, a while back, and had the bright idea of announcing I wanted to get a job — that I wasn't going to just live off them, exploiting them. Wasn't going to accept anything else. Alex flat out refused — spent an entire day walking around the house naked, smacking my hands away if I tried anything. Jen was worse. Way worse."

"What'd she do?"

"Stopped looking at me. No smiles. Monosyllables. Sounds like no big deal, right? It's like having your heart ripped out of your chest while you drown in a pond at the same time. I begged for mercy like I was headed for the gallows. Learned real fast she's smarter than me in every possible way, and that if she says no, there's a reason. She made me understand that taking care of them is a full-time job, and she was right — and that was just for two of them. Never contradicted her again."

"That's so cool..."

"No, fuck no, it wasn't cool at all."

"No, it's cool — it's powerful...What a goddess!" She loved that the girls worshipped her the way he did — the color red came to his mind for some reason.

"She is. I thank whatever entity put her in my path. I know I don't deserve her — no human deserves her, least of all me... don't tell her I said that, she doesn't like hearing it, she thinks too highly of me and I... I want to believe it. I need to believe it, for her sake. But it's hard—" He caught himself veering into a difficult garden he wasn't ready to walk through yet.

"Don't worry about it." She knew guilt when she saw it; he was starting to genuinely like this girl.

A silence.

"Dan, her..." Helen hesitated a moment. "Boyfriend? He contributes money for Eve too, apparently."

"That's what she thinks."

"He doesn't?"

"I flat out refused. Doesn't matter to me if the guy's into that kind of relationship or not, I talked to him, told him he could take credit for it if he wanted, but I wasn't taking his money under any circumstances. Please don't tell her that."

"Okay. I can keep a secret."

"I believe you. I'm really sorry, genuinely — must've been a hell of a life, worse than I want to imagine. They have no idea how badly your compass can get thrown off — lucky for us they're incredible people, not an ounce of resentment in them, or you and I would both be royally screwed."

He was fighting not to break down crying.

"You're telling me." Tears started welling up.

"Why are you s—"

"NO. NO. Don't even think about it."

He'd genuinely startled her; she jumped back in her seat and everything.

"Fucking Rasputin, son of a—" He caught her staring at him, wide-eyed. "Uh... sorry, that question's starting to get under my skin."

She just raised an eyebrow now, confused.

"It's just... nobody should ever have to ask why we're good to each other, damn it. If anything, the opposite should be the question."

"Wow, this place does produces beautiful things... I kind of feel like drawing, for some reason. Haven't drawn since I was a kid."

"Cool."