MIZSPELRED TIE TOE

Reggy heard the words and although he was perfectly capable of understanding each word, somehow the overall meaning of the sentence was beyond his grasp.

"Wait." he said in disbelief. "This is a joke, right?"

Even as he was inquiring as to the seriousness of what he'd been told, his mind was starting to put together the sequence of events. He'd never met his father or any of this grandparents. For most of his childhood it was just his mom, Lori, busting her ass to take care of Reggy and his sister Sue. Social services had wanted his mother to name their father when they'd each been born and because she wouldn't she was ineligible for any government assistance. This also made his mother unemployable by most companies offering steady work because of how the health care law worked. So she went from project to project, often with either dead time or overlap. She made a little money here, and then there, but it was never enough and it was always a one time payment.

Reggy was ten when his mother finally started an enterprise that would actually stay in business and suddenly their family went from always barely getting by to being rather well off. It was after the money came in that Reggy met his uncle Clark. He decided to move his family near his sister so he could help his sister out once she no longer needed any help of course. As Reggy became a teenager he saw right through his uncle and at times tried to warn his mother but she let him know that she knew perfectly well what was really going on. She had told Reggy that she would tolerate it because family is family. They all had to stick together and she was willing to let her brother take advantage of her so long as he was in her life.

So as teenagers, Reggy, his sister Sue, and their cousin Laura all spent a lot of time together. Reggy was the oldest, with Sue and Laura both being almost the same age. When Reggy's uncle first moved to town, there were a lot of times when it seemed the girls had their own secret world with each other and Reggy was the odd man out. However, as they all got older, it was Reggy and Laura who became the closest of friends while Sue often spent most of her time with other friends or her constant on and off boyfriend.

Reggy was very happy to hear that Laura had been admitted to the same university that he attended. Sue was planning on going to a school in the north east so she wouldn't be around as often as Reggy once she started college life.

It was once said that a utopia would be so boring that no one living in it would ever write a thing. For Reggy, that was a lot like what his life sounded like. Sure, money can't buy happiness but it can sure buy a lot of solutions to common problems so you don't have to deal with them. And it wasn't like their family was super rich by any means but they were comfortable.

So being used to that kind of environment, it was very odd when Reggy heard his uncle and his mother arguing over something. They each clamped up the moment Reggy came into the room but from what he could tell his mother wanted to do something and Uncle Clark was against it.

Later that week, in the middle of a summer barbecue behind the house, the argument exploded again and Uncle Clark loudly declared that he was leaving, demanded his wife and daughter leave with him and in the future there would be no more contact between Laura and Reggy.

Everyone was just looking at him and thinking that perhaps he had drunk too much. Laura immediately challenged her father by stating she was over 18 and thus could stay if she wanted. That lasted for all of about thirty seconds until the girl bent to her father's will. They all left and Reggy was confused at what the hell had just happened.

Reggy's mother dodged questions about the incident and when Reggy texted Laura, even at home she still didn't know anything and told Reggy she wasn't allowed to talk to him anymore. This was getting too weird.

Once all the guests had left, the catering staff had finished cleaning up, and the house was mostly back to normal, Reggy and Sue went to their mother to demand an answer.

The answer she offered them was to give them each a glass of wine. Reggy and Sue looked at each other, not sure if they should drink or not. They were both over 18 but neither was 21 yet so that was weird.

"Oh, you can have a drink if I give it to you." their mother said. Reggy wasn't sure if Sue was drinking hers of not but he only pretended to take a sip and then he put it down. He'd been given a beer at a party by some frat boys who were trying to recruit him for their fraternity. Reggy had not liked the taste of alcohol and he didn't think his mind would change on that just because it was his mother who was giving it to him now.

"There. Let it make you feel warm." their mother said.

"You're honestly not trying to tell us you and Uncle Clark were arguing over the drinking age." Sue said.

"No, of course not. I just thought you both might need a little something to help you handle the truth."

"What truth?" Reggy asked.

"Now, this is sort of a secret so don't go repeating any of this."

"Any of what?" Sue asked.

"I mean it when I say secret. If any of this got out any more than it already is we'd be ruined."

"Then maybe I don't want to know." Sue responded.

"That's your choice. Reggy? How about you?"

"I don't want to be nosy or anything but I would like to know what's going on if this is going to affect my life."

"It might at that." his mother said.

There was a moment when Reggy and his mother waited for Sue to leave if she actually felt like leaving but then Sue gestured to let them know that she wasn't going anywhere.

"Ok. So the big thing is this. My father got me pregnant and Reggy, that's how you came into the world."

There was silence. The ticks of the clock seemed to echo through the room.

"Wait." Reggy said in disbelief. "This is a joke, right?"

His mother grimaced. "No. Not a joke. Nothing even close to a joke."

Sue started to realize what this could possibly mean and she started to look back and forth between mother and son. "Holy shit."

"So, like, he was your step dad? Someone your mom was just married to or something?"

"No, honey. He was my father just as he is your father."

Reggy felt his bones turn to gelatin and he almost started to gag. "No."

"So, mom," added Sue, "That means you're like ... our sister. What?"

"His half sister."

Reggy felt dizzy. The world was spinning around him.

"Baby, are you ok?" his mother asked.

"Ok? Ok? You dare ask me if I'm ok."

"I just thought you were old enough now to ..."

"What the hell? Are you fucking kidding me? And Uncle Clark knows?"

"No. He doesn't know about you."

"Then what the hell was all that crap you were arguing about?"

"It was about Sue."

"What about me?" Sue asked.

"Well, let's just say that your cousin Laura is also your sister."

Reggy started to sneer at his mother. "That is so fucked up on so many levels."

"You're telling me Uncle Clark is my dad?" Sue asked when she could finally get words out. "He never even talks to me."

"Yes. He didn't want me to tell you but you're old enough now. You need to know."

"Is this why I have to use an inhaler?" Reggy accused.

"What? No. That's just ..."

"And Sue has to wear glasses."

"A lot of people wear glasses., son."

"What the hell were you thinking? You just ... What? ... spread your legs for everyone in the family? Huh? You didn't care that it could cause like, birth defects or ..."

"Reg, you've been checked. Sue has been checked. You're both ..."

"I'm a mutant." Reggy said.

"That's ridiculous."

"Reg, mom's right. If ..."

"You're taking her side!"

"There's no side, Reg."

"How the hell do you have sex with your own father?"

"You just do because ... he's amazing."

"Yeah, so amazing that I've never even met the asshole."

"Well, he was against having any more children and then when my mom found out what we were doing ..."

"I don't care! I really, REALLY, don't fucking give a damn. Fucking Hell mom! This is fucked. This is so fucking beyond ... you know ... something."

Reggy stormed out and wouldn't listen to anything his mother was saying. He locked himself into his room and very loudly told them all to go away.

"You can judge me all you want but you weren't there. You don't understand."

"Leave me alone!"

Sue went up to her mother and put her hand on her shoulder. "Maybe he needs some time."

"Well, he better get over his hang ups because feeling bad about it isn't going to change anything."

"I have some questions though. Is that ok?"

"Ask anything you want?" Lori responded as they walked back to the sitting room.

"Did they ... make you?"

"What? No."

"They didn't like, force you or anything?"

"No. Absolutely not. My father was the strongest man to ever live but he never forced me to do anything. I loved him and I thought he needed me."

"But mom, you're talking about your own father. I mean, how did that even happen?"

"He was so great. And my mother, you know, she couldn't keep up with him. I know they say that a man starts to lose his sexual appetite when he gets older but not your grandfather. He wanted it more and more often and my mother either wouldn't or couldn't give it to him. They got into arguments about it all the time. And then my mom caught my dad talking to some younger woman. Of course my father said that they were just talking and" laughing, "he even brought up freedom of speech and all that. Oh, but my mother was furious and what little sex my father was getting before; he was getting practically none after that."

"Mom. That's ... that's all about him. How did you decide to ... sleep with ... you know?"

"It wasn't a difficult thing to do. He was so tall, and muscular. I'm getting goosebumps just remembering. I mean, I could tell you that it was all about my mother not meeting his needs anymore or that I wanted to keep my parents from getting divorce but really, none of that is true. I mean, it is true but really, deep down, I wanted him. I mean, why would I ever want to date or have sex with any of the little sissies who went to high school with me when I had a real man at home."

"Ok, I guess. But then what about me?"

"You mean your uncle Clark?"

"Um ... yeah."

"Oh, I don't know. I mean, after I got pregnant there was a lot of yelling but my brother didn't know about any of it. My mom wanted me to get an abortion but ... well, how could I? I'm not going to kill my baby. What mother does that? That was when any love I had for my father died. Even if there were birth defects, and thank God that there weren't, but even if there had been, I'd want you two alive and I'd never let anyone hurt you."

"Yeah, but mom, how do you go from sleeping with your father to ... your brother?"

"Well, after that I was alone. My parents wouldn't help me at all but you know that. Clark thought that was really unfair so he said I could come live with him."

"Because he didn't know."

"It was a secret."

"Ok but then who's idea was it to ..."

"It was mine."

"But didn't you ever think, you know, 'hey this is incest and maybe I shouldn't be doing this.' Did it ever cross your mind?"

"No. I mean, sure as a thought it was there but not as an emotion. Once I eased Clark into it ..."

"What do you mean, ease him into it?"

"Well, he wasn't really all on board at first. He was dating Becky and they were talking about getting married but then they broke up."

"Becky?"

"Just some girl. And so I sort of dropped the idea in his head that he could marry me. He'd been there for me and I wanted to be there for him. It was just an innocent kiss at first but then he was confused for a few days and so I gave him a blow job one morning to help him understand what I was really talking about."

"Ew, could you leave out the specific sex details?"

"Well, he understood after that but it took a few more days before he'd let me do that again and it was a week before he was comfortable enough to do things to me. But then once he started he went from sucking my nipples to fucking me lightning fast. I think what finally convinced him was when I said that he couldn't get me pregnant so it didn't matter if we had sex or not."

"Wait. Why couldn't you get pregnant?"

"I was already pregnant ... with Reggy."

"You were still pregnant!"

"Yeah. Clark and I, we sort of worked it out between us that he was going to be Reggy's dad and we were going to be together as a couple and we were talking like that for a few months."

"Weird. So what happened?"

"He started dating Stacy again. He'd dated her before but left her when he found out she was married already. She came and told him her divorce was final and they got back together."

"She was married before?"

"Yeah. She got her hooks into him and he started going on this religious thing and not long after Reggy was born we were out of the house."

"He couldn't just stop and let you stay there?"

"He tried that at first but by then we'd been sexual with each other so much that just having me near meant we were going to have sex. But then he proposed to Stacy and my parents got involved with planning the wedding and it was everyone against just me so I had to leave. I wasn't even invited to the wedding. In fact they sort of threatened to have me arrested if I even showed up."

"That's awful."

"But I did see Clark about a week after the honeymoon. He came to where I was staying to make sure that I wasn't homeless or anything. And that's when it happened. That was our last time together and that's when you were conceived. I kept you a secret from all of them at first because I didn't want to have to hear them ask me to kill my baby again. I never gave Clark that chance to ruin how I felt for him. Because they asked me to kill Reggy I'll never forgive my parents. I'll never help them. I'll never go see them. Clark is different. He never asked me to do that."

"Ok, that's enough. I understand now."

"I'm glad. So you understand why I was willing to let your uncle back into our lives."

"He's my father. That's weird. But ... you haven't been ... sleeping with him recently, have you?"

"Oh. No, honey. He's not the man he once was and I don't feel that way about him anymore. That's not to say rekindling would be impossible but no, nothing like that has been going on."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Nothing. You don't have to do anything."

"Um ... Uncle Clark ... is pretty mad."

"He'll get over it or he won't. If not then he can leave just like back then. I don't need his help."

"What if he tells?"

"And damage his relationship with his wife by admitting he cheated on her after being married only a couple of weeks? With his sister no less? And had a child of that? No. He's going to keep his mouth shut the same as he's always done."

"But what if?"

"If he tells anyone, it'll be his wife first. Luckily for us, I happen to know about a certain something to keep her in check as well so even if your uncle can't keep quiet on his own accord, I can press Stacy to persuade him."

"And what about Reggy?"

"We'll give him some time tonight. Maybe he'll need the weekend but he'll eventually calm down."

"And what if he doesn't?"

"Then he knows where the door is. No one is making him stay."

The house was very quiet after that. Lori sat drinking wine in her very large living room with her very expensive furniture. Sue was sitting in the dining room but the walls were such that she could see through to the living room and the kitchen with just a turn of her head.

Sue opened up her laptop and started to look through all the family photos that were stored in the cloud. There were all kinds of pictures of things but what Sue was mostly interested in was Uncle Clark. The idea that he was her father, her real father, was just so strange. He usually never had more than two words for her at a time. It wasn't that he was unfriendly to her but there just never seemed to be a time when he ever had a real conversation with her.

As she looked through the pictures a very weird pattern started to emerge. He was never standing next to her. In the very few pictures that featured her and her uncle, there were usually several people between them. That brought to memory the kinds of gifts he would give her for her birthday or for Christmas. They were always generic greeting cards that he couldn't even be bothered to sign. Sue never really considered it before since she always just assumed the gifts she'd gotten from her aunt were also from her uncle. But he'd made a point of also giving her those cards. Why?

Then there were all those times when Laura had wanted Sue to come over for a sleep over or for dinner or just to hang out and her uncle had been against it. There was always some creative excuse and he tried to make sure that everyone understood that Sue would theoretically be welcome. But the fact was, she wasn't welcome. The only time she'd ever had dinner at their house was when Laura invited Reggy over and her brother asked Sue to accompany him.

Uncle Clark had never done anything to ever hint that he was her father. In fact, he'd kept her at arm's length away from him. And Sue never really mined or felt slighted. Her aunt was always doting on her anyway. But it shouldn't have been her aunt doting on her. It should have been her father. But Uncle Clark had never once done anything that a father should do for her. If anything, he quietly took pains to avoid her. And that was really all the proof that Sue needed to know that what her mother had said was true.

She had been scrolling through the pictures but rested on one where they were at an amusement park as a family. Right before the picture had been taken she and Laura had huddled together to make silly faces. They happened to be right in front of her uncle. She'd looked at that picture perhaps dozens of times over the years but only then did she notice the expression on her uncle's face. He was disgusted by her. He knew what she was and he wanted nothing to do with her.

She felt a sick feeling start to grow in her stomach. Just then she was remembering a conversation with Laura about who would walk her down the aisle when she got married. The only real choice seemed to be her uncle. But in that moment she suddenly knew that he would never agree to that. He'd rejected her.

She closed the lid and for a few moments just sat there. She'd never before thought of herself as ugly or unattractive but knowing that her own father wanted nothing to do with her made her start to question it. She felt her face and wondered if he could see something that she couldn't. Did the fact that he knew how she came into the world give him insight to see something was wrong with her that others couldn't?

She didn't know what to do about this. She didn't know what to think about this. At first it didn't seem like a problem but something about her uncle was bothering her. She felt a chill and then she was suddenly aware of the hard angles of the table. The stiff metal frame of the chair offered no comfort for her and she found herself moving from the dining room to her mother.

Sue sat on the sofa next to her mother and almost instantly she felt like she wanted to curl up next to her. The soft white leather gave away under her and molded itself to her while her mother put her free arm around her. Sue started to cry but couldn't put words as to why.

"What's wrong?" her mother asked.

Sue didn't respond. She just sobbed.

...

Reggy woke up the next morning still wearing the clothes from the night before. His room was hot and his face felt oily. He looked at his phone and checked to see if Laura had texted him back. Nope. Damn.He didn't feel very hungry which was a surprise. Then again, he had eaten quite a bit the night before and just feeling the gagging reflex didn't mean you actually puked.

As he was going to the shower he noticed that the house seemed empty. He was still unsure of what to make of all he'd been told. A part of him thought his mother was a liar. There was no way that story could be true. Incest babies weren't supposed to live past infancy or something like that. Right? And his mother having sex with both her father and her brother; ridiculous. His mom was just drunk or something.

After his shower he went to his computer to watch videos but one of the first ones on the front page was a video talking about incest in a popular tv show set in a medieval time period. Ok, no. No internet. No tv. Something else. He went to the dvd collection and as he looked at the titles he realized that his mother owned just about every film that had incest in it ever made. Oh, damn. He looked over at the bookshelf and while he hadn't read even a quarter of the titles on display he did know that a large number of those books also had incest in them.

Wait. Ok. He saw what was going on. His mother had like ... an incest fantasy. She hadn't really had sex with her father. His father and grandfather couldn't possibly be the same person. His mother just had a quirky sexual fantasy and she was drunk and she made up a story. That's all. Reggy would not believe that he was the product of incest. NO. That was not who he was. He was still the same Reggy he'd always been. Nothing had changed. He would not be that other person and his mother owed him an apology for making him doubt himself.

Then he thought about Laura. Maybe his mother was getting the wrong idea about how close Reggy and Laura were and she was trying to say that she'd be ok with it if they turned romantic. But that was stupid. He didn't feel that way about Laura. No. He didn't. Of course not. And she would never feel that way about Reggy even if ... whatever ... But of course he didn't feel that way about her in the first place so there.

Or ... what if his mother saw Laura as competition. What if is mother really had sexual feelings towards Reggy and she thought Laura was taking him away from her. Was that why she was always watching movies or reading books about incest? Was that why she was always dressing sexy when it was just them in the house? It seemed far fetched but if she had this incest fantasy then who's she going to act on it with if not Reggy.

If that were so, he'd have to be the strong one and for once be the one to tell her no. She was still a very attractive woman and she could easily get a date or a boyfriend or even finally get married if that's what she wanted. Even young guys would go for her if she were poor and the fact that she was getting to be rather rich would turn them on even more. She could have her pick of any man she wanted. Maybe all Reggy needed to do was let her know he'd be ok with her getting married and she be off on dates with men she was not related to in no time.

Reggy went over to the piano and started playing. He knew lots of songs and at first he was just playing something to help him mellow out and get his mind off of things. But then for some reason he found himself transitioning into the third movement of the Moonlight sonata. This was part of a game he played on others usually. He'd tell them that he knew the Moonlight sonata by heart, which he did, and they'd ask him to play it but instead of the solemn and sentimental first movement, he'd launch into the anger and frustration of the third. It wasn't Reggy's fault that they didn't know there were more parts to it. Many times he'd inevitably have to prove that what he was playing was actually part of the Moonlight and almost always they'd ask him to play the first movement and stop messing with them.

As he was coming to the end and his fingers started to hurt from pounding the keys much harder than he really should have been, somehow he found a way to transition to a piano version of Riders of Doom and then that carried him on to keep playing. Eventually he wasn't playing anything that he really recognized. The music was just streaming out of him in furious waves of anguish. All the injustice he knew of in the world he piped through his fingers and pushed down into the keys.

He couldn't exactly say he felt better when he finally really was finished but at least he didn't have the energy left to carry on being angry. He went to the kitchen and made himself some leftovers. He was looking at his phone, waiting for Laura to text him back, when his mother and sister came back into the house. They were talking and laughing about something. Reggy was too drained to really get into it with them when they found him.

"Feeling better, son?"

He just shrugged. "As well as can be expected."

Sue laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever." He wasn't going to argue.

"I think you're being too hard on mom."

"I said whatever. Ok. I'm cool. Drop it."

"Reggy," Lori began, "we're going to play golf with Steven later today. Did you want to come or did you already have plans?"

"I had plans with Laura. Now I guess I don't."

"I'm sorry, honey. But she's a grown woman and she's going to have to decide for herself whether or not ..."

"How can she decide anything if she doesn't know what's really going on?"

"She doesn't need to know and she's not apart of ..."

"Sue is her sister. Ok. And I'm like her ... Um ... whatchacallit."

"You're her cousin. And yes on some level Sue is her sister but more than that, they're cousins. And sure, technically, you could argue that you're my brother but really, you're my son. I gave birth to you. That trumps everything else. That's how we've come to know each other. And Sue is your sister, not your niece because I know when you look at her you see your sister. There's no need to do word soup with trying to relabel relationships. We are still who we always were."

"She won't answer my calls. She won't ..."

"That's her choice. If she wanted to choose us over her father then she's welcome here. If her father wants to be part of our lives, then he's welcome too. But if not, then they're free to leave."

"It's not right. I ... I ..."

"What?" asked Sue.

"I just, you know, ... we had plans."

"What plans?"

"Just going to the movies and stuff. Nothing big but we ... had plans. And no, not like that. Nothing like that. Just, ... how can she just go away?"

"Let me talk to your uncle." Lori said. "He's had the night to think things over. Maybe I can reach him now."

"He's not my uncle. He's my ..."

"He's your uncle. He will always be your uncle."

"Actually, I kind of don't want you to ... talk to him."

"Why not?" his mother asked with a tilted eyebrow.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't ... um ... be alone with ..."

"Reggy, get your head out of your ass and be an adult. I only told you about all of that because I thought you were old enough to handle the truth."

"I am. I just don't think ..."

"There's nothing going on with Clark. There hasn't been for years now. And even if there were, so what?"

"He's ... married is what. He's Laura's father is what."

"Relax, son. You're letting your imagination run too fast."

Everyone was silent for a moment and the only sound that could be heard was faint wheezing. Then Reggy spoke in a quiet tone. "Fix it. This is bullshit and we all know it. We were happy. Fix it."

"I'll do what I can but sometimes in life, things change." Lori left it at that and walked away. Sue looked over at her mother and wondered if she should follow but then looked back over at Reggy.

"Hey." she whispered. "You know, we don't need them.

"What?" Reggy said loudly.

Whispering again, Sue replied "They don't like us. They never have."

Reggy stood there thinking for a moment, unsure what she was talking about. "They're family." he finally said.

"You were right. You were always right. Uncle Clark was just after mom's money. He didn't want anything to do with us unless he could get paid for it."

"But that's not Laura's fault."

Sue reached for Reggy's hand and then kissed it. "Come and play golf with us. You can do that. And Steven's daughter Cindy is coming to play with us. She's very nice. She has blond hair and ..."

"I've met her."

"Well, she's not seeing anyone and maybe you two could hit it off."

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I said. You need to get your mind off of all this and maybe a nice romance would be just the thing ... "

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"No. Just No. No way."

"You don't like her?"

Reggy didn't answer. He shook his head and walked away.

An hour went by and then Lori started calling for her children to get ready for golf. The plan was to have lunch at the club with one of their mother's business associates and his family. However, it started to look like Lori was going to have to go alone. Reggy wouldn't go and Sue said she wanted to stay with him, just in case.

"Let him stew if he wants to." Lori said. "It's not going to change anything. He needs to get out of the house more often."

"Mom, you know he doesn't like it when we go places and you make him rest while the rest of us participate."

"He can ride the golf cart if he gets too tired to walk."

"He doesn't want people to see him that way. You know that."

"The male ego is so self destructive."

"I'll stay and keep him company. You go and have a good time."

"Steven is bringing his family. I need someone there with me."

Sue bent to her mother and decided to go.

"You were originally supposed to go with Uncle Clark, I take it." Sue said as she got into her mom's car.

"Well, he's not here and we have to make due. Keep your ears open while we talk and you might learn a few things."

...

Reggy watched as the car left and then he grabbed his own keys and left the house. He drove out to the river and then followed the road down a little ways past the bridge. He was still pretty good friends with his ex-girlfriend's brother. He figured he'd find Donny in the garage and sure enough, there he was with a guitar hanging from his shoulders and his ridiculously big headphones on.

Also in the garage were Ben and his girlfriend Jamie. Those two were playing checkers at the little round table by the wall.

When Reggy pulled up and parked, Donny jumped with excitement and quickly got rid of his guitar and all so he could come to the car before Reggy was even out.

"Dude, big news." Donny said.

"Hey, don't go repeating that filth." Jamie yelled out to him.

"Dude, you're never going to believe this." Donny giggled.

"What?" Reggy asked.

"Come on, man. We said we weren't going to talk about it." Ben added.

"You two decided you didn't want to talk about it. I think it's fricken awesome."

"Awesome?" Reggy was incredulous as they went back under the shade of the garage.

"Yeah man. Sandy was saying that she saw ..."

"Seriously, don't go telling that story." Jamie warned. "She's probably just lying because he broke up with her. Pics or it didn't happen."

"True enough." Ben added.

"Oh, come on. Let me tell him and see if Reggy thinks it's a lie or not."

"Tell me what?"

"Sandy saw Tim having sex with his sister." Donny relayed with a happy glee in his eyes.

Reggy looked at him for a moment and then looked over at the other two. "Tim?'

"Premature ejaculation guy."

"Oh. Well, nah, she's lying."

"What do you mean? She says ..."

"She went and told everyone that he had a problem keeping it up but now allegedly he's doing that? No. It's a lie."

"See. He agrees with us. The story is just too wild to be believed." Jamie said.

"Come on, Reg. If anyone is going to believe it, it's you."

Reggy was put on guard. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Samantha says you and your cousin are really close."

"Not like that we're not."

"Not cool, man." Ben said.

"Just think about it." Donny pressed. "Have you ever known some fucked up thing like that to happen in real life?"

The other three all looked away from him and no one offered an answer to the question.

"You guys are prudes." Donny said.

"Don, how would you like it if someone was talking about you and your sister like that?" Jamie demanded.

"What? I didn't ..."

"Everyone who knows Tim will tell you the same thing." Ben said. "He's not the kind of guy to do that. And besides, even if there was any truth to what Sandy said, we ought to at least respect their privacy."

"I can't just not talk about it." Donny said. "I mean, come on. This is the most exciting thing since Tony broke his leg."

"How can you call someone getting hurt exciting?" Reggy asked.

"He was sneaking out of ..."

Jamie was shaking her head. "Jill is on vacation with John right now."

"Guys, can we talk about something else please?" Reggy asked.

"Like what? This summer has been so boring."

Just then, Samantha opened the door into the house. Reggy looked away from her as she offered the others drinks. When she offered the same to Reggy, he politely declined while still keeping his eyes in another direction.

He continued to look away when she came over and presented him with the drink and let the cold glass touch his arms that were folded over his chest.

"I made it just the way you like." she said.

Reggy looked down at it and then nodded. He accepted the drink and she smiled at him. In that smile he remembered again why they'd broken up. It seemed so long ago now. It seemed like it shouldn't really bother Reggy anymore. And in truth it didn't. But they were still broken up. Her smile couldn't change that. Whatever they had had was over. He'd told her that he wouldn't let her change her mind later. He wasn't going to suffer that kind of insult and then just let her take it back easily. She'd said the words and he was going to hold her to them.

"No regrets." he'd told her at the time and she had agreed with anger in her voice. There was no anger in his heart or in her voice now but even the passing of years did not negate the insult she'd served him.

After Samantha had left, the four in the garage started to talk about the new soccer stadium that was supposed to be being built. The theme of the conversation seemed to be that none of them thought anyone would ever pay to watch a soccer game. However, Donny blindsided them again.

"Hey, Reg, I'll make a deal with you."

"What deal?"

"I can get you back together with my sister if you hook me up with your mom."

Donny probably thought he was being funny. No one was laughing but him.

...

Lori was calm and collected as she drove down the highway to her exit.

"Does that kind of think happen to you a lot?" Sue asked.

"It's just part of doing business."

"Well, it shouldn't be. Do men do that kind of thing a lot?"

"Some are more subtle about it than others."

What had been a plan for lunch and afternoon golf it seemed had really been a plan for Steven to get Lori alone and turn it into a date. Sue had been puzzled when his wife and daughter had not accompanied him. Then she saw the annoyance on his face when Sue was going to be joining them for their afternoon together. Sue didn't pick up on it at first but eventually she figured out that Steven had come not to talk business or even golf. He'd come hoping to get a chance to cheat on his wife.

"Well, I hope this one knows better for next time." Sue said.

Lori just shook her head. "No. He'll try to make his hint even bigger next time."

"And that's what my uncle's job used to be? Keeping you safe."

"Not really. I usually handle these kinds of things alone. When I did bring your uncle it was for the same reason I brought you."

"To learn?"

"I discovered that being a business owner is not much different than any other job. There are a set of skills you have to learn and practice. It's a distinct and vital job in the company just the same as a chef has to study how to cook and an engineer has to study how to do ... whatever it is they do."

They drove on to the house and spotted Reggy getting out of his car and going into the house. "I wonder where he's been." Sue said.

"I just hope he had fun." Lori said as she pulled the car up to the driveway but didn't pull in.

Sue looked just a bit confused but then her mother let her know she had one more meeting to go to that day.

"Did you want me to come along?" Sue inquired.

"Not this one. This guy is kind of funny and I haven't figured out what his angle is yet."

"What if he doesn't have one?"

"We all have one. If I'm going to go into business with him I need to know what it is he really wants. If I don't know then I can't know how to help him."

"Help him?"

"Business is all about helping people. You find out what they need and you supply it to them. If they need food you open a restaurant. If they need advice you open a consulting firm. If a man needs something, he'll happily give you his money in exchange for it. If we take his money without giving him what he needs, than we're nothing but thieves."

"Do you have any guesses what he wants?"

"For Nemo Holdings. Not a one. The company is so diversified. Usually someone will have their own area of expertise. That isn't to say they won't dabble in other kinds of ventures but for the most part 90% of their income will come from one sector of the economy. Not Nemo. It's unlike any other animal I've ever seen. He's got his hands in everything and there doesn't seem to be any logic or planning behind it."

"Maybe he's just a rich guy wasting his money."

"Oh, he's rich but he's not wasting money. My first impression was that this was money laundering but the more I look for the true source of his income the more it eludes me."

"Then why go meet with him? He sounds dangerous."

"There's money to be made. Granted, if I find out there's anything illegal I'll pull out of course but if it's legit then there is a lot of money to be made."

"Now I'm really curious. Can I go with you?"

"No. I need him to myself just now. I'll be home later."

Sue was still thinking about the mystery man her mother was going to see and secretly she also wondered if that was all just a story to disguise a date.

When Sue went into the house she saw Reggy sitting in the living room. Instead of watching the tv, he had his phone on a little stand on the coffee table and he was watching a video on the much smaller screen. She laughed. He knew perfectly well that the phone could connect to the tv through the wifi so he wouldn't have to watch whatever that was on such a small screen. In fact, he was the one to first show the rest of them. But he almost always seemed to forget to actually use it.

She sat adjacent to him on the other sofa and he silently waved to her. She found herself looking at him. They had both always assumed that they had the same father. It was strange to now know that not to be true. But in a lot of ways it did makes sense. They were so different from each other. They both had black hair but while hers had body and a hint of curl, his was flat to his head. The four or five white hairs he had were impossible to miss that way. While Sue was always full of energy, her brother was always tired. She'd get annoyed after just a few pages from any story but he could spend all day looking at a book.

While she was looking over at him she noticed that the seam of his pants was starting to tear in the crotch area. It figured. He'd owned those pants for forever. He never wanted to buy anything new. He insisted on having their mother mend his clothes long after they should have been thrown out. It didn't matter that they had money now. He wouldn't part with his things. When he did ride a bicycle, it was still the same one from when he was 12 that he meticulously cared for. Unlike Sue, who had been overjoyed to get an expensive new car as a graduation gift, Reggy had asked for a used car to save money. It, like his bike, was some kind of passion project of maintenance.She thought he was so silly. He actually still had all of his action figures from when he was a little kid. Most of them looked like they'd never even been played with. But for Reggy, it didn't matter if the toy was still in prime condition or if it were scratched and broken. He'd keep all of them as if he were curating a museum of his childhood. He absolutely refused to throw anything away. "Those are my things." he would say. "That's all I have in the entire world."

Somehow he just didn't understand that they had money now. He could replace everything he owned just with the amount their mother gave him in a month. But he would just put the money in the bank like it wasn't real or something. He wouldn't even throw away the things that were clearly junk. He seemed to be making a collection of empty inhalers and would not get rid of any of them even though he would say he hated them. One time, Sue threw one of them away just to make the point that he wouldn't miss one and therefore wouldn't miss the lot and should put them in the garbage. Well, he did miss that one and he tore the entire house apart looking for it. He never found it but even years later Sue would catch him moving furniture to look behind or lifting sofa cushions to search underneath.

"What are you looking at?" he asked her. She blinked a few times and then she suddenly felt embarrassed.

"Your pants are ripping."

He looked down at himself. "What are you doing looking at my dick?"

"I wasn't. I was ..."

"You were staring."

"I was just thinking."

"I'm not even going to ask. You've been spending too much time with mom."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Take it however you want."

"Cop out." She looked away from him but then called out to him while he was leaving. "I'll sew those up for you if you want."

"I'll get mom to do it."

"Well ... which one of us would you rather have sewing your pants, me or mom?"

"Mom. You don't know how to sew."

"Yes, I do."

"Your idea of sewing is going to the department store and buying a new one."

"Now, that's a wonderful idea."

"No."

"Come on. Those pants are too short for you now anyway."

"They still fit."

"Yeah, if you feel like showing off your ankles and lower leg to everyone."

"They still fit around the waist."

"Reggy, you're too tall for them now."

She followed him up to this room and waited outside his door as he changed. When he was done, he didn't come back out. Instead he was just laying on his bed looking at his phone. She came in and let herself drop to his covers.

"Do anything fun today?" she asked.

"No. How was golf?"

"It sucked actually. That guy Steven ..."

"He was just trying to get into mom's pants."

"I wouldn't put it like that but essentially, yeah."

"Do you know that girl Sandy?"

"Who?"

"The one who said her boyfriend couldn't keep it up."

"Oh. Yeah. She's pretty. You should take her out if she's not with him anymore."

Reggy let out a scoff. "Now she's saying the guy was having sex with his sister."

"Really? That's sick."

"It's a lie. Has to be a lie."

"Well, you don't know that."

"Mom tells us about her thing and this. I can't believe it."

"Why not. Maybe brothers and sisters getting it on occasionally is more common than we realize."

"I don't even want to think about it."

"You know, we don't know what kind of secrets the people around us have? I never would have guessed that Uncle Clark was my father."

"I'm actually still not sure I even believe that."

"Why would mom lie?"

"Too much to drink, maybe. Or a cautionary tale. If it did happen then maybe she was telling us so we wouldn't repeat the same mistake. You saw how Uncle Clark blew up at her."

"Donny and Samantha. Didn't you ever get the feeling like maybe ..."

"No. If I did I never would have dated her."

"You're not dating her now. Why not? Didn't you like her?"

"She broke up with me."

"And ever since then she's been trying to get back together with you."

"I don't want to talk about her and I DON't want to talk about her and Donny."

"So there is something."

"No. Ok, fine. What about Jerry. Huh? Is he fucking his sister?"

"He doesn't have a sister."

"Ok. Um ... his mom."

"She's old and ... ugly."

"So only pretty people have incest?"

"I don't know but Jerry would never ..."

"Jerry's fucking his mom. Jerry's fucking his mom."

"Stop it."

"Jerry's cheating on you with his mother."

"I'm not even seeing him right now."

"Because he's fucking his mama."

She swung her hand towards him to hit him but he caught it. She got up onto her knees on his bed and then tried to hit him with the other hand. He caught that one too and then she lost her balance and fell on top of him.

"Let me go." she demanded.

"You have to say uncle."

"No. I'm never saying that again."

"Then you're not getting up."

Sue struggled against her brother but he wouldn't release her. It wasn't fair. Why was he stronger than her? He was a weakling who never exercised. But she knew of other ways to get him to loosen his hold on her. She put her face by his shoulder and then she kissed him on the neck.

"Hey! What the hell?"

She sprang up and away from him. "Ha."

"Go do that crap with Jerry."

"I told you, I'm not seeing him right now."

He ignored her and went back to looking at his phone. He sighed and then put his phone on the charger.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"That doesn't look like nothing."

"Nothing you can help so don't worry about it."

"I'll try to help if I can."

"Don't you think mom should have not told us?"

"What?"

"About our fathers. Maybe she should have done like Uncle Clark asked."

"So he could keep ignoring his other daughter? No."

"He's ignoring you now."

"Him not being around is different than him being here and pretending like I don't exist."

"He doesn't do that."

"Not to you. He hates me. Didn't you ever notice?"

"No. He doesn't ..."

"You're blind."

"You're the one with glasses."

"And yet, I can see what's as clear as day while obviously you can't."

She ran out of his room and headed for her own. She was aware of him coming behind her and she tried to slam the door in his face. That didn't really work out so she was standing there with her finger pointed at him and she was searching for the right words to tell him off.

"Alright. Alright." he said. "I'm sorry."

She came all the way back to the door and put her finger right into his chest. He responded by hugging her. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to hurt him. But she couldn't. As soon as his arms were around her, she melted and started crying.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't answer. She just kept crying.

...

Monday morning, the first words that Reggy heard were from his sister. He'd waited until his mother left for the day to come down. He was checking his phone as he came into the kitchen and Sue was there.

Reggy just made himself some toast and orange juice and when he started to take the first bite his sister spoke.

"I never cared about him before."

"Who?"

"My father. I just thought he was trying to mooch off our money."

"Well, he was."

"I know. But ... now I feel bad."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did. I ignored him just as much as he ignored me. I made it easy for him. I picked up on the fact that he didn't like me and I avoided him."

"You didn't know. He did."

"And now I know. Have I called him? Have I gone to see him?"

"He did that to himself. He's the one who blew up at mom and stormed out."

"Because he doesn't want me. He left because he doesn't want me."

"Don't worry about him. He's shallow and not really the smartest guy in the world besides."

"But he's still my father."

Sue had her arms around her brother as she waited for the next thing he'd say. He was silent as he held her. Why would incest cause her father to hate her? She didn't understand. What was it he saw when he looked at her? She wanted to know. She wanted to see. She looked up at her brother and she wondered what her father must have felt when he had sex with their mother. There was one way to find out. Not that she was thinking about it seriously but there was one way to find out. Could she do that? With Reggy? Maybe just one time. Just to see. Just to try and understand.

She started to tremble and she reconciled herself to the idea. Could she have sex with her brother? She was having some kind of emotion about it but it defied any label she might have wanted to put on it. She pressed her head into his chest and swallowed.

Only one time, she told herself. She could do it. She could endure that. Just so they could both understand. And Reggy was only her half brother anyway. It would be ok. They wouldn't get hurt if it was only one time.

"Did mom say what time she was coming home?" Reggy asked.

She heard the question and her mind immediately started to ask why he wanted to know. Was he thinking the same thing she was thinking. She didn't know why but she started to feel a kind of excitement just thinking it. He was going to ask her. Oh wow. What should she say?

"Um, lunch time I think." she replied hopeful.

"Ok. I'm going to go try and get something done."

"What?"

"Mom's not going to fix it so I'll have to go see what I can do."

"You're going?"

"Yeah. I think it has to be me. But don't worry. I'll fix it."

"Do you have to do it today?"

"Sooner is better than later."

"Don't go see him. Not today. Not now."

"I'm not going to go see him. I have another way."

"How?"

"Just trust me and let me try."

...

Sue spent most of the morning alone, silently berating herself for how she'd acted and for what she'd been thinking. When their mother got home, it seemed that she'd already eaten lunch. Sue was debating with herself on whether she should tell her mother that Reggy was off trying to do something or not. She watched as Lori got out of her clothes and put on her very revealing two piece to go swimming.

Lori wasn't so much swimming in the pool as just relaxing when Sue came out in her own swimsuit. She swam around a bit and left her mother alone but she had questions in her mind nagging her. She felt all up in the air like she couldn't settle. Sue swam over to her mother.

"Did it feel different from normal sex?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Being with family. Was it different? What was it like?"

"Well, I don't know what you mean by normal sex. If there is a difference I wouldn't know."

"So, it's not different then?"

"Well, I've only ever been with my father and my brother. Those two were certainly different from each other but I don't ..."

"Mom, you've never had a normal relationship?"

"I went on a few dates but I never felt the need to sleep with anyone."

"But then, how do you, you know, take care of ... stuff?"

"I masturbate a lot."

"Why? Mom, you are gorgeous and I'm sure ..."

"A lot of guys would be interested. I know. But who are they to me? You have to trust someone before you lay with them and allow yourself to be put under their power."

"Sex doesn't have to be like that. You can have sex as the dominant one or as an equal."

Lori had a disapproving look and shook her head. "No, I have no desire to be with a man who's nothing more than a boy. I'd rather be with a strong woman than a weak man. When you're with a man he has to conquer you." Her eyes flashed something passionate. "He has to control you and make you submit to him. That's a real man."

"But mom, you don't let anyone do that to you and now you're alone."

"I don't mind being alone. Who says I need a man in my life to be happy?"

"I guess I just don't understand."

"You know that boy you keep going up and down with. Jerry?"

"Jerry."

"You want him to be a man but he's been brainwashed by all the psycho-babble nonsense you kids believe in nowadays to think that he has to be a wimp. The world has told him that he has to act like a little girl for fear of offending women and now he wonders why you two aren't able to stay together."

"He's not like that."

"Yes, he is, sweetie. I've seen you two together. I've seen how he acts. He's walking on eggshells around you and then he wonders why you don't want him."

"You know, he's a nice guy. He's popular and good looking."

"And he might as well have a vagina between his legs for all the good it's going to do him."

"Mom!"

"Come on, Susan. You're a woman now and you need a man. A real man."

"Well, who says I need to be with a man to be happy?"

"Or you could go that way. That's also a good choice, too."

After they were finished swimming and laying in the sun, the two of them each took a shower. Sue went looking for her mother and found her laid out on her bed on top of the covers. That was the usual way after a long time in the pool. Swimming had a way of exhausting her that golf or running didn't.

"Hey, mom." Sue asked as she climbed onto the bed next to her mother's body.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Do you think that maybe it might be different somehow?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know. Incest."

"I guess I wouldn't be the one to ask."

"Well. You know I had sex with Jerry that one time."

"I know."

"It was just, not a good experience, you know."

"I know."

"And lately I've been thinking about your story and all and I was sort of wondering about things."

"Like what?"

"Was it special? I know that sounds dumb but I can't think of a better way to ask."

"Special? Oh, yes. It was that and more."

"Like what?"

"Why are you asking me? Go break Reggy out of his shell and find out for yourself."

Gasp. "Mom!"

"What? It's not like I'd have any room to say anything if you two wanted to get it on."

"Now, that's funny because Reggy was saying the exact opposite the other day."

"What's he got in his head now?"

"He was just saying that maybe you told us about your incest as a warning. Who better to discourage something than someone who did it and got hurt."

"Hurt? I wasn't hurt. I was happy. The hurt came when it had to end. If I was going to discourage anything it would be that."

"So you'd really be ok with it?"

"If you both wanted to. What's the harm? It would be beautiful."

"Well, I don't know. I don't really see him that way." she lied.

"My father didn't see me that way either until I convinced him. But once he was on board he went all the way. If you are going to be with Reggy, don't hold back."

"Actually, you know, I was just curious. I'm not asking about a serious thing."

"You want to know what incest feels like?"

"Not really. I was just wondering if you could tell me. I'm not going to actually do anything."

"Close your eyes?"

"What? Why?"

"Listen and imagine. Ok? Close your eyes."

Sue did as her mother asked and then Lori began to speak. "Imagine there's someone in your life that you love. There's no thought that they would ever reject you. You are part of them and they are part of you. You don't have to decide to make a fake family stitched together with them. They are already family. You can trust them completely."

Sue imagined the father she never knew but then tried to imagine Uncle Clark as her father but that didn't sit well with her. She didn't see him as her father. She didn't really trust him. Honestly, she didn't even really know him at all.

"Now, imagine what it's like to have a secret. If anyone knew it would be the worst thing ever. Imagine you can be with your family and know something that no one else knows. Imagine being with someone in the dark with the thrill of possibly getting caught."

Then Sue felt a light kiss on her neck. She opened her eyes and saw her mother looking down at her.

"That is incest. That little flutter there where you say that you can't do this because it's wrong but you know you must anyway because it's right."

Sue's mouth hung open as she felt her mother put a hand on one of Sue's breasts.

"I'm not gay, mom."

"I'm not gay either."

"But ..."

"This isn't about being gay. This is about what you asked."

Sue was sort of confused but then Lori kissed her on the lips. Sue was startled but the kiss went on for so long that she started to get used to it. Then she started to get into it.

"We're having incest?" she asked when she finally got air.

Her mother looked at her with lust. "Yes, baby. We're having incest. Does it feel special?"

Sue nodded. It did indeed feel special. It was certainly a lot more special than whatever it was that pathetic Jerry had tried to do with her. She felt accepted. She smiled.

It was odd since neither of them were lesbians and neither had ever been with a woman. They had to spend time exploring and discovering what felt good to another woman. At first they were just making out and only briefly touching each other's bodies. Then, as the hormones in them started to amp up, they both got a lot more into it and they began to giggle to the presence of each other.

Lori was the more confident one. She took the lead and got out of the few articles of clothing she had on. She encouraged Sue to suck her breasts and Lori was grinding her wet pussy onto her daughter's thigh as Sue complied.

...

Reggy pulled up to the fast food place where Laura worked. If anyone was going to listen to reason it would be her. He looked at his phone and she still had not texted him back or called him back. But it was ok. He could just talk to her. He'd always been able to just talk to her. She was his way to get to his uncle and patch the family back together.

He checked himself in the car before getting out. He had to be clear. He had to be certain. He couldn't let himself be confused. His cousin was his friend. He didn't think anything more of it than that. She was family and there was no reason for this stupid shit. That was all. There were no other thoughts, especially not sexual thoughts, in there. His mom had sort of twisted his thinking with all her incest backstory crap but he was clear now.

He walked up to the counter and there she was with her dirty blond hair that was almost brown and her green eyes.

"Reg. Hi. What can I get you?"

"Chicken sandwich."

"You want the meal?"

"Um ... Yeah."

"And what to drink?"

"Just a ginger ale. Say, is your dad still all pissed off?"

She smiled and looked down. "Not so much anymore. He was talking about coming over to see you guys this morning."

"Why haven't you called me or anything?"

"I don't know. I've been spending a lot of time with my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Reggy felt ice water run through his veins as she said it.

"Damion. I think you'd like him."

"Well, ... I look forward to meeting him."

"Oh, that'll be five fifty seven."

...

This was the moment of truth. If anything was the point of no return, this was it. Sue had her legs spread and her naked vagina was glistening as Lori slowly brought her face down to it. Sue took in a deep breath and braced herself for that first touch of her mother's tongue.

"Ah." she gasped when she felt it. This was so real. It wasn't bad at all. This was magical. It was a lot better than stupid fucking Jerry. This was what she'd been wanting from sex. This was the level of intensity she'd been hoping to get. This was how you fuck.

Then she felt her mother put her fingers in her. It was one at first and then a second. In and out the fingers went as her mother's tongue pleasured her clitoris.

And to think, it was her mother doing this to her. Her wonderful, beautiful mother who would rather masturbate than fuck. Why would she ever do that when she could be having this.

And then there was a cramp. She felt muscles in her lower abdomen tighten. Her spine took on a mind of its own. She squealed in delight and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. It was the most powerful orgasm of her life and she was safe at home with her mom. How could there be anything wrong with this?Besides, she wasn't going to get pregnant from it.

"Baby, are you ok?" her mother asked.

Sue lazily opened her eyes. "Ha, ha, ha. Yes. YES!"

...

Boyfriend!

Reggy tossed the ball at the hoop in the rec center again.

Swish.

He was fine. He was ok. The world was still going the way it was supposed to. There was nothing to be angry about. Of course not. He went to get the ball and then went back to the three point line. He did a couple of dribbles and then chambered the ball on his fingers. Toss.

Swish.

Not that there was anything to think about but just to again confirm to himself that he was clear, he did not feel anything for Laura. She had a ... boyfriend, which was good. And besides, she'd never look at him that way, which was also good. And he'd never look at her that way. Of course not. And even if for whatever reason either one of them was stupid enough to act too much like his mother, it would never work out. They were family and Reggy was already inbred. He probably couldn't even have children as it was.

When girls like Samantha showed interest in him they had no idea what kind of fire they were playing with. He was damaged. He could feel it.

Swish.

Strawberry hemophilia was just what was shown on the surface. Who knew what was lurking underneath. He knew about the heart murmur, the anemia, and the thing with his liver but there could be all kinds of other things that would come to light and affect him as he got older. Laura was probably ... better off without him.

He went to get the ball again and, as he told himself internally that if he loved Laura he had to avoid her and never see her again, suddenly his chest tightened. His head became dizzy. He tried to gasp for air and none came. He tried to push the little bit of air that was already in his lungs out but it was trapped in there. He tried to cough but all that happened was he fell to the court clutching his chest.

Someone ran over to him but Reggy wasn't in a position to see who it was. He tried to look over or point towards his bag by the wall which contained his inhaler.

Pain.

Why did this have to hurt so much every single time?

...

"Are you sure you want to?" Lori asked as Sue got into position.

"Well, I'm not pulling out now."

"Do you remember what I did to you?"

"I got this, mom. Just lay back and let me do it."

"We can wait until another time if ..."

Sue stopped listening. She forced her mother's thighs apart and dove in.

"Careful, honey." her mother said.

Sue tasted the tangy pussy from which she was born and her mother moaned. Sue was determined to do a good job. She didn't want her mother to have to masturbate to get off. She'd be there for her. She remembered about the fingers and started to get one of them into her mom. That got a very positive reaction and she kept going.

It was funny how doing this was making herself horny again like she wanted to be fucked all over again. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad to let Uncle Clark fuck her. But as soon as the thought was there she had to dismiss it immediately. She didn't feel that way about him. She really wasn't that close to him. She could do this with mom because she was close to mom. It was ok. It was their secret thing that was amazing. Uncle Clark just wasn't part of the group. Not really.

"Oh, baby. Yes, baby. Don't stop."

Don't worry, mom. I won't.

...

"There you go. Just like that. Relax. Breathe in and out. Good job."

Reggy was leaning against the wall in the rec center taking slow deep breaths while some coach looking guy knelt next to him with his hand on Reggy's shoulder. Reggy sort of had the feeling to tell the guy to bugger off. He'd had asthma attacks his whole life and he knew what to do. He didn't need to be told.

"Hem, hum, hem" Reggy sounded as he cleared his airway. "Thanks," he said with a raspy voice.

"You'll be alright. Here's some water."

Water wasn't what he needed in that exact moment but sure. It was ok. He drank it down and thanked the man. When Reggy started to get to his feet there were a handful of other assholes there trying to help him.

"You're pretty good at the three point line." the coach said. "I was watching."

"I've had a lot of practice." Reggy looked at the man and thought he saw something else that he might have wanted to say. But the coach held it in and just helped Reggy with his bag and watched as Reggy departed for his car.

That was always the way. Anything that caused too much stress or was too active and it could never really be part of Reggy's life. Well, at least he had roller coasters. He loved defying the signs that said people with asthma couldn't ride. To date nothing at an amusement part had ever triggered him. Neither had haunted houses that put up those signs saying people with heart conditions had to stay out. It gave him a huge confidence boost to make it through one of those things when some 'normal' person would get so scared that they'd panic and run to the exit.

He got into his car and rolled down the windows to let all the hot air out. This wasn't him. This wasn't the way. He was never like this. He never wallowed in self pity over his medical issues before. Sure he'd wanted to be able to play more sports than he did but there were so many other possibilities in the world. He used to never even think about all that medical stuff.

Recently, however, it was always on his mind. Everyday, he'd wake up and wonder why he had to be this way. Why did there have to be things wrong with him? But he knew why and she lived in the other room. What kind of life was this?

...

Mother and daughter were both naked cuddling next to each other. Sue ran the tips of her fingers along the side of her mother's body. Lori was so sexy. Sue smiled. Mom had been right. It wasn't about being a lesbian. It was about being with family and it was wonderful. Her mother had completely replaced Reggy in her thoughts of incest. Doing this with her mother made her completely forget about her father and his rejection of her. She didn't even care about his opinion anymore. He was wrong. He should have loved Lori and he was an idiot to walk away from her.

Their legs were all tangled together and when Sue shifted her frame to be able to kiss her mother again, she found her groin in just the right position to press against her mother's. Sliding pussy against pussy, they began to kiss passionately again.

...

Reggy came into the house and looked around. Figures. Nobody home. Just as well. He really felt like being alone.

His legs were shaky as he climbed the steps so he took them slow and steady. His heart was pounding like he'd just drunk an entire pitcher of coffee. That usually meant that his guts were going to hurt later.

But he was breathing. He wasn't going to be able to eat until after he'd had a good night's sleep but he was breathing. He couldn't fault the medicine for doing what it was meant to do.

Ah, but why was it that he needed the inhaler in the first place? Huh? Huh?

And just as he was thinking that he was getting high enough on the steps to be able to peer out into the hall and he froze.

His mother and his sister were standing there at the other end, both nearly naked. What? Were they kissing? What the hell? His mother had her hands on each side of Sue's face and Sue was reaching over and feeling their mother's ass. Huh? No. Can't be. This is one of those things that if you see it you just know that it's drugs talking and can't be real. Did he maybe have a fever he didn't know about? Was this like that time he hallucinated some monster thing sitting on his chest keeping him immobile as he slept. This had to be something like that. This was some surreal bullshit that could not possibly be true.

Twitch. His dick noticed and even if this was his mother and sister, it was two women making out and that was hot.

Reggy took the next few steps to the top of the stairs and then the women noticed him. They pulled away from each other and Sue started to try and play it off.

"No, honey. Don't do that." his mother said to Sue. "He already saw us. There's no use pretending or trying to hide it. Lift your head up."

While they were not looking at him, Reggy just went to his room and closed the door. Maybe in the morning he'd remember what he'd really seen. In and out; the air passed into and out of his lungs. The whistle he had to carry with him, and most times only he could hear, would be gone until the morning.

"Don't let me die." he said. "Let me wake up tomorrow."

...

Reggy woke up the next morning with a shiver. His room was extra cold and he hadn't gotten under the covers the night before. Blood started to flow to his head and his eyes popped open and as his heart rate increased he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.

He looked at his phone and the little green flashing light that let him know he had some kind of notification. He'd done everything he could to try and tell the phone that he didn't want all these random messages from every single app on the thing. He'd cut most of them off but some of those damn apps just ignored his settings and tried to bother him anyway.

He thought he probably looked like a high school girl, his phone being the first thing he looked at in the morning. He was disgusted with himself.

Laura - You wanted to talk? What's up?

Oh. Well, that was something. He was about to quickly type in a response but then his memory was warning him. She had a boyfriend. But he was her cousin and, if memory served, also her best friend. No. Stop lying to yourself. He knew why he wanted to talk to her. Deep down, he knew. It didn't matter if he didn't admit it to himself or put words to it. He knew.

How long had he known? How long had that been there? He wasn't sure but he knew damn well it was there the day she'd said she couldn't see him or talk to him anymore.

He took a nice, long, hot shower and for some reason felt weird when he looked at his mother's door on the way back to his room. Yeah, well, what else was new?

When he went down to the kitchen to get breakfast, he found his mother and his sister quietly conversing with each other. They stopped the moment that Reggy entered the room and then they both followed him with their eyes as he started to make toast. Reggy looked over his shoulder at the two of them and then turned all the way around to confront them.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you feeling ok?" his mother asked.

"I'm fine."

"You seemed upset yesterday."

"I had an asthma attack at the gym."

His mother rushed over to him and put her hands on him. "Are you ok?"

"Yes. Obviously I got home alright. See. I'm fine."

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing."

"You were at the gym?" she accused.

"Just shooting basketball. That's all."

"You know you're not supposed to overexert yourself."

"I know. I know." Reggy rolled his eyes. "No mountain climbing. No marathons."

"Which inhaler did you use?"

"The really strong one."

"How many times?" she asked as she went to the cabinet by the door to the living room. She pulled out the folder where she kept track of all his medical documents and found the place where she recorded information about his asthma.

"It doesn't matter. I'm fine now."

"How many times?"

"Once. That was enough."

"I don't want you going there anymore. You know they don't clean out those air filters as often as they're supposed to."

"They weren't running the aircon, mom. All the doors and windows were open."

"I don't want you going there. That's final."

"You're trying to make this my fault again."

"No, I'm trying to keep you from ..."

"Well, this isn't my fault. It's yours."

"Mine?"

"All this time I've been sick like this and you knew why. You knew why I was sick."

"You've got the same thing that millions of other kids have. It has nothing to do with who your father was. I checked. Of course I checked. I'm not an idiot. I knew the risks and I had the doctors check. You don't have anything that someone can get from incest. Nothing."

"I'm not a kid."

"Hey, mom." Sue interjected. "Didn't you say they needed some help down at the ice cream shop?"

"They can wait." Lori responded.

"You said you had to sign some contracts before they started construction." Sue reminded.

"That's not at the ice cream shop."

"Well, then it sounds like you're really busy today. Leave Reg to me. I'll take care of him while you're gone."

"I'm right fucking here." Reggy said. "And I don't need a fucking baby sitter, least of all my little sister niece or whatever you are."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Man, fuck this. I'm out." Reggy didn't even get his toast. He just grabbed his car keys and refused to listen to either of them as they asked him to stay. As he pulled out onto the street headed off to where, he did not know. What he did know was that he could not wait for the next school semester to start again. And this time he was going to get a dorm room. He was sick and fucking tired of his mom's bullshit.

And fucking Sue trying to act like a baby sitter. What the fuck was that?

...

"Why does he have to be so angry about everything now?" Sue asked.

"I don't get it. He's had asthma for years with hardly a word of complaint." Lori added. "And I don't know what he wants me to do besides what I've already done."

Lori was still standing there looking at the door where her son had exited when she felt a hand come around her waist. Sue's body came close and then Sue asked if Lori had to leave right away or if perhaps they could spend a few moments now that they were alone.

Lori shook her head in the negative. It was part of the price of ownership. It was less often recently than before but there were still lots of things that only she as the owner could do.

Sue was left alone in the house which didn't sit well with her. She made a plan in her head to go shopping or something fun but ended up wasting the entire morning and some of the afternoon hanging with her friends on social media. She dropped the hint that there was a new, well, love in her life. There were lots of questions from people asking who it was.

While Sue was avoiding answering, without thinking about it, she used the pronoun 'they' in reference to the person she had hooked up with. A friend of hers named Gabrielle started to get really aggressive after this point, but not in asking Sue about her new fling but in telling everyone else in the chat to back off. The chat turned to another topic and once everyone had moved on Gabrielle sent Sue a private message.

Gabrielle - Welcome to our team. Don't worry. I'll keep the secret until you're ready to tell. I hope your new hon makes you happy. I can't wait to meet her.

Sue looked at the text in confusion for a moment. How did she know it was a woman? What else did she know? Oh, shit. She read over the chat going back to the start of the morning and tried to see what she'd said that let it slip. She started to get scared and so she just closed out the app and then turned her phone off.

She was still freaking out a bit when Reggy came home at about the same time Ms. Martinez, the cook who prepared dinners for them four days a week, did. The cook greeted Sue and then went into the kitchen but Reggy seemed to just completely ignore her and carried something up to his room.

In the privacy of her own bedroom, Sue cautiously turned her phone back on and waited for it to boot up. Then she went back into the chat and saw that the conversation had gone very far from her love life or anyone's love life in general. That was good. But there was still that message from Gabrielle. That worried her. She wanted to respond to it and almost started to type in the reply when she figured she'd best wait until her mother got home and they could talk about what was best to do.

It was pushing five in the afternoon when Lori did get home. However, instead of spending a moment to talk, she took a shower right off. Sue thought maybe there was a chance for some physical contact in that but her mother just insisted it had to be later.

"I need to speak to Reggy."

"Great. Time for another round." Sue said.

"Stay here, while I go talk to him."

"He's just going to yell at you again. Let me talk to him."

"If he wants to yell then I'll let him. Better he know I'm listening than shutting him out." Lori checked herself in the mirror on the wall before heading down the hall to speak with her son.

Reggy's door was a bit ajar and Lori's light tap caused it to swing open a bit more. Reggy was in the room doing curls with a dumbbell that he'd purchased that day. The box was still torn and scattered on his floor.

"What's all that?" she asked.

"What do you want?" he responded without looking at her.

"I was thinking about it and I wanted you to know that I think maybe you might be right."

"About what?" he asked as he turned to her.

"Well, I'm not a doctor."

"Fuck! This again?"

"Reg, could you please stop all the bad language?"

"Gee, mom, could you please stop all the incest? Oh, wait. Too late."

"Reg, you're upset. Ok. I get it. I mean, it's not easy for you and maybe part of that really is my fault. I don't know. I can only tell you what the doctors told me."

Reggy put the weights down and stood there with his arms crossed. "Ok. Let's think about it. Which is more likely? A: the doctors actually had a test to see if I was an incest baby or B: they told you what you wanted to hear to put you at ease because there was nothing they could do to help me."

"They did all kinds of test checking for all kinds of stuff. I'll show you the records."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter."

"No, it does. You're upset so it does matter. I just never knew you were so angry about it before."

"I wasn't angry about it before."

"Then what changed? Does it really make a difference if maybe part of it is my fault or not?"

"Laura has a boyfriend."

Lori thought about that for a moment. "Ok. Good for her."

"No. Not good for her. I looked into the guy. He's scum."

"And, why were you looking into him?"

"Well, let me see. A: Laura's my cousin. B: I'm supposed to be her best friend. And C: For absolutely no other reason so don't even suggest it. Don't even think it."

"I wasn't ... um ... Ok. So tell her. If you found out something about the guy you should tell her."

"No. It's her life."

"But you said you were her best friend. If she's in some kind of trouble with this guy you have to tell her."

"To what end? Maybe she already knows."

"Knows what?"

"The guy went and had a baby with some other girl and now she's going after him for child support."

"Well, that's not all that uncommon in this day and age. I've got several employees who ..."

"The dude is trailer trash who won't take care of his responsibilities. And you want your niece dating that?"

"Son, nowadays people have complicated lives. It's actually become rather rare to find someone who's life isn't all messed up in some way."

"It just makes me think that maybe we've all got it all wrong. All the freedom and everything maybe isn't a good thing. I don't want Laura with that guy. I don't. He doesn't deserve her. Maybe life was better back when people waited until they were married to fuck around and have kids. Maybe life was better when you couldn't get divorced and had to work things out with the person you were already with. This all just goes to show you that if you let people loose with no rules or structure that they'll all go and ruin their lives. And even the ones who don't ruin their lives will have to tolerate the ones who do because they've become the new majority."

"I have news for you son, there was never a time when most people didn't go and ruin their lives one way or another."