The Black Lace Clue

"...and then she begged me to impregnate her."

Peyton removed her hand from her brow and motioned for Sean to stop his story. The older sister had alternated the time spent listening to her brother's dream tale by gaping at the brother she thought she knew, rubbing her brow in consternation, forcing herself not to rub her thighs together, and wishing that she'd had a little sister rather than a brother. Teenage boys and their desires are...

"Okay, stop, STOP!" Peyton ordered as Sean started to go back to a detail revolving around a cheerleader that he just recalled.

"Sorry. It's hard to remember everything and in what order. You know how dreams are," Sean sheepishly shrugged. He scooted up further on the bed after noticing that his dick had turned to steel again. Fuck! Why won't it go down?

"I know how dreams are supposed to go. But yours...that's messed up, Sean. Just messed up." The older sibling rubbed her temples. "Please tell me that you don't have dreams like that often. I want to believe it's because of the medication."

"It's totally because of the medication, Pey! My dreams have gone wacko crazy since I got hurt. I don't normally have them like this," Sean insisted until his mouth twisted in remembrance. "Uh, well, actually, my dreams started to get weirder after we got to this cabin. The first night I dreamed that Beyza and Ramsey started fighting over me in the hot tub before we started, uh, messing around. Then, next thing I know, they turned into Aunt Gabby and Mrs. Strat--"

"Enough!" his sister screeched.

Sean cringed in embarrassment at the pale face of his sister. Peyton usually came across as calm, collected, and non-judgmental of him. Now, she looked at him as if she had a pervert for a younger brother. It probably didn't help his cause that he kept forgetting about his erection and lowering his knees. The less severe cuts and bruises to his leg felt better stretched out, but that also revealed the excitement that no sister wanted to see.

"I'm sorry, Pey. I know this all sounds bad. I swear I'm not some sicko that thinks about stuff like that all the time," Sean attempted to assure her while sounding utterly remorseful.

Seeing how terrible her brother felt caused Peyton to feel guilt over how she reacted. Dammit, he's gone through a lot these last few days. Show him a little compassion. Reaching out from where she sat on the edge of the bed, Peyton rubbed her brother's messy hair as only a big sister could do.

"It's alright; don't feel so bad. You've gone through hell these last few days," the blonde reassured with a smile. "It's only that you're my baby brother--" Peyton immediately regretted that word choice after the babymaking aspect of the dream. "--I mean, my little brother, and I don't think either of us is comfortable talking about sex or dreams like that with each other. You wouldn't want to hear about my sex-filled dreams, would you?" she forced a laugh.

"You have sex dreams?" Sean questioned in surprise. Deep down, he knew he shouldn't be surprised as everyone has those dreams, but Peyton seemed to counter Lana's hypersexual attitude by repressing hers.

"Sean, that is none of your business!"

"Whoa! I wasn't asking for details!"

"I hope not," Peyton snapped. Feeling on edge after the events since last night, if not the last few days, she stopped and took several deep breaths. "Alright, I'm sorry. I know you didn't ask for details. You got to understand that this is uncomfortable for me. I almost feel as if I'm having the birds and the bees talk with my kid."

"Are you going to get ultra-technical with a two-minute rundown as Dad did for me?" Sean chuckled.

"I'm definitely not getting as graphic as Mom did for me," Peyton recalled, cringing her face.

"Mom got graphic?"

"Maybe I should go get Finn," Peyton suggested, ignoring his question about their mother's sex talk.

"No!" Sean practically screamed. "Finn's awesome, but I don't want anyone else knowing about whatever happened. Or my dreams. You gotta help me, Pey!" the younger brother pleaded.

"I'm trying!" Peyton responded by practically yelling back. "This is all--look, I can get the part with the cheerleaders. I'm sure that's typical for teenage boys. But the part about the moms...that's freaky."

"I don't usually dream about people's moms!"

"I hope not. Those are Mom's friends," the older sibling shook her head again. She knew she needed to change the subject away from the dreams' content. "Let's drop that for now. We don't need to worry about who you dreamed about unless they were in the cabin last night."

"Right, right," Sean nodded.

"Alright, by my count, we have eight women besides Mom and myself," Peyton stated, raising her hand with two fingers extended. "Of those eight, we can remove two right away in Mrs. Stratton and Aunt Gabby. They're both old friends of Mom's and married."

"Um..."

"What?"

"Uh, nothing," Sean replied, his eyes darting around the room at everything except his sister's face. No way am I telling her that I had sex with Aunt Gabby in the bathroom the other night! She's definitely a suspect.

"Now, Mrs. Luff--sorry, Ms. Goose," Peyton corrected, her voice dripping with disdain. "I think she's a strong suspect."

"You do?" Sean responded. Immediately, he worried that she'd heard something about his dealings with their mother's soon-be-divorced frenemy.

"Sean, I know you see the good in people, so this might come as a surprise to you. Ms. Goose is not a good person." Sean's face flinched at his sister's comment. "I know that she was close friends to Aunt Cassie, but Kimberly has changed. Uh, I'm pretty sure that Mr. Lufflutz doesn't know, but she's had numerous affairs. It's common knowledge in certain circles at school. Um, she even made a pass at Finn."

"At Finn?!"

"Hey, don't think that Finn would do something like that. He turned her down hard," Peyton hurriedly explained while shaking her head. "What kind of a person would sleep with their mother's married friend?"

"Yeah, what kind of..." Sean mumbled. Kimberly wasn't my fault! She practically attacked me in the cave. And it was only a blowjob! I couldn't really stop her, or people would know that I spied on Mr. Singer and Skye. And Aunt Gabby wasn't my fault either!

"What's wrong? Has Ms. Goose done anything?" Peyton inquired in concern.

"Yeah, a little."

"What did she do?!"

"She's made some comments about us...you know," Sean fudged. I probably need to give Peyton something so that she doesn't pry too much. "It was the day before you came, at the hot springs. But Whitney interrupted, stopping it."

"Why that slut! I should slap the shit out of her!" Peyton growled, clenching her fists.

"Please don't, Pey. I don't want to make a big deal out of it. Or have Mom find out."

"Well, if it turns out that she raped you, then that blonde bitch is going down," Peyton warned, holding one fist in her other hand.

"Uh, you know, I don't think it was rape," Sean remarked before muttering. "I'm pretty sure I helped and liked it."

"I don't know if that makes me feel any better," Peyton responded, fighting an urge to roll her eyes. Teenage boys. Of course, he liked it.

"So who else?" Sean queried, wanting to change the subject from the platinum blonde.

"Lacey and Ramsey are out," Peyton declared firmly.

"I would guess so," Sean replied, but entirely sure. Something about the dream felt almost apologetic and sweet.

"No! They didn't do it!" Peyton insisted forcefully. Her brother's curious face caused her to think of a lie that might cover for their lesbian encounter. "Uh, they were both exhausted and sleeping when I went into our room."

"Couldn't they have woken up later?"

"No, I would've heard them. Now, who else can we rule out?"

Sean paused before answering. Peyton seems awfully sure, but she's a deep sleeper. Sean recalled all the family jokes about what his sister could sleep through. Her ability to fall asleep inside a moving car in minutes was well known amongst her friends and family.

"Sean, you have anyone?"

"Oh, sorry. Well, JoJo's not a suspect," Sean said dismissively.

"I don't know about that."

"C'mon, Pey, Jo's my best friend. She's like one of the guys," the younger sibling shot down the absurd idea.

"Look, I know that you don't even see JoJo as a girl, but she is one," Peyton bit her lip in hesitation before continuing. "A few days ago, I would've completely agreed with you. JoJo lost her virginity--"

"Pey! I don't want to hear about that!"

"It happened, Sean. Your best friend is a girl and had sex. You need to deal with it."

"Well, I don't need to talk about it."

"You better prepare yourself to talk about guys and sex with her." Sean's face scrunched up in disgust, forcing his sister to push on. "Jared is not going to be around in a few days. JoJo's experiencing new feelings and desires. She's almost certainly going to want to date a guy in town. So as her best friend, she'll want your advice. That's what best friends do for each other. I bet you talked to her about Ramsey, right?"

"Right," Sean admitted in defeat. Jo's going to want to talk about sex?! And it will have to be with me. Newt acts like he sees a ghost when a girl is near him. So that--well, maybe Iona could help. "But that doesn't mean it was her last night."

"Look, I'm not saying Jo came into the room planning to have sex. If it was her, she likely came to check on you," Peyton paused, attempting to imagine the possible scenario. That made her feel uncomfortable in many ways. "JoJo has a much dirtier mind than anyone of us knew. Maybe she has a nurse fantasy, and seeing you in bed triggered it. I don't know!"

Peyton's exasperated response at the end came from the way Sean stared at her in confusion. Only his face had nothing to do with her words. As the morning sun rose, light filled the room, bathing his sister in a ray of sunshine. The way the light shone on Peyton caught Sean's eye, leading him to scrutinize his older sister further. First, he noticed the fluffy white robe. Strange, Pey usually wears her black robe. She hates wearing thick robes as they make her too warm. As his eyes traveled downward, his sister turned slightly, causing the robe's top to loosen further. What the hell? Is that...a bikini?

"Sean? Hey, is everything okay? Sean? SEAN!" Peyton shrieked, clutching the robe to her chest. "Oh, my gawd!"

"Huh?" Sean's eyes shot up to his sister's horrified face.

"Don't stare at my boobs!"

"Boobs, what?" Confused, Sean's brain struggled to understand his sister's accusation. Then it hit him. "Whoa! I wasn't staring there, Peyton. Geez, I would never...you know me...I'm not..."

"Then what were you staring at?" the blonde demanded.

"Are you wearing a bikini?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, I am," Peyton sheepishly admitted, glancing down at her chest. Crap! I can't have Sean suspect why I slept in my bikini. Anything suspicious, and he'll think it's a mystery to solve. "Lana got me drunk last night in the hot tub. I left when she and Skye started to get wild. I sat down on the couch out by the fireplace and fell asleep all night."

"Oh, okay," Sean nodded. The explanation made sense, yet it didn't. Something from earlier nagged at the back of his mind. Wait, if Pey slept--

"Skye!" Peyton nearly shouted., startling her brother. "Those panties could be hers!"

"I don't know. Skye's a nice woman, but I'm way younger than her," Sean initially doubted. That doubt immediately started to crumble as images from the hot spring flashed around in his head. The photoshoot with Whitney and Skye that started to get steamy until the ranger broke it up. Skye knew that Sean watched her have sex with Mr. Singer in the cavern. Son of a bitch!! If I screwed a hot model like her and don't remember it, I'm going to kill someone!

"No, I don't mean that she had sex with you. You might not know this, but Skye slept in the den two nights ago. You were pretty doped up when we brought you back here yesterday. Skye rushed to grab her stuff and move them back downstairs. She might have forgotten a pair of panties," Peyton speculated. "I mean, I doubt that Chastity left them behind."

Sean glanced over at the pair of lacy black panties sitting on the nightstand. Reaching over, he picked them up. "You could be right, but except for one thing."

"What's that?"

"These feel damp."

"Eww!" Peyton's face scrunched up in disgust. "I'm so happy that I only touched the edge."

"That eliminates Skye," Sean declared.

"Not so fast. I wouldn't rule her out yet. She was drinking a lot too and might have forgotten which room she was in last night. And she was talking about you..."

"Really? What did she say?"

"Uh, just that you were a hero, and that...whatever, it doesn't matter."

"Oh. So I guess that's everyone, but..."

"Lana," Peyton said her BFF's name with a heavy sigh.

"I'm sure we can rule her out. She would never--"

"Lana did it."

"Wha-what?!" Sean sputtered out.

"I don't know that she did it for sure, but I know that she could do it," Peyton revealed. The blonde gazed at the bedcovers before her, evaluating the odds that her best friend did it. I've told her time and time again not to tease Sean. Lana knows that Sean had that crush on her. He's too sweet a kid to get his hopes up and dashed. If she did this, I'm going to strangle her!

"C'mon, Pey, Lana having sex with me is even more absurd than Skye. It's almost as crazy as if it was Mrs. Stratton."

"Sean, I love Lana dearly. She's like a sister to me. But I know her, and I know what she's capable of when she gets drunk and horny. Last night Lana wanted to loosen me up. She wanted me to let go and act like her, but I can't, so I left. So it's not inconceivable at all that she looked in here to check up on you and decided to loosen up my brother instead."

"I hope not!"

Peyton studied her brother in surprise. She figured he'd be thrilled if his old crush screwed him. Arching an eyebrow, she prepared to ask that very question until he beat her to it.

"Oh, my gawd! If Lana Stratton fucked me and I don't remember it, I'm going to lose my mind!"

"Sean, I don't think--"

"No, you don't get it, Pey! Lana is sex on two legs. Everyone wants to do her!"

"Hey, don't talk about my friend like--"

KNOCK KNOCK

Both Tarver siblings swung their heads toward the door in fear. The knob turned slowly and opened. The face of a very familiar blonde peered into the room, her smile brightening up as she saw the two occupants. Wearing a black robe similar but smaller to the one that Peyton usually favored, Bridget Tarver stepped into the room.

"Isn't this sweet! I come to check on my little boy, only to find his sister already doing that," Bridget grinned. She failed to notice the piece of black fabric that Sean crumpled up in his hand and hid under the sheets.

"Morning, Mom," both siblings greeted.

"What are you two talking about? It sounded pretty loud in here," Bridget said, appearing curious.