Chapter 68: Rachel gets frisky...

"So Augustine hears this call to take up a book and read, and he pulls out the first thing available to him. It's Paul's letter to the Romans. He reads, completely at random: 'Let us behave decently, as in daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.'"

Professor Lyons recited the whole thing from memory. No notes, no book in front of him. He just sat atop the desk at the front of the classroom. The small, older man in slacks and his button-down shirt smiled at the class. "This is a man who famously said, 'God, grant me chastity – but not yet.'" He paused for the inevitable chuckle from his class. "You'll appreciate the St. Augustine readings, I think. We're not really focusing on the issue of chastity here...that's for another philosophy class. But it's good to know where Augustine is coming from. You're reading the words of someone who was, in his time, a genuine party animal. I suspect more than a few of you could probably relate."

He glanced at the clock. "No real time for discussion today. See you all on Wednesday."

Students promptly got up and gathered their things. Alex remained in his desk toward the center of the classroom, still considering what had just been said. He had been a very, very happy young man all weekend. He wouldn't have traded his experiences for the world. Alex had a lover unlike anything he would have ever dreamt of, who eagerly catered to his every whim and then some. His financial situation had dramatically improved. He was running on two hours of sleep a night because the rest of his time in bed was taken up by amazing sex, yet he felt great. Physically, anyway.

As if all that weren't enough to completely blow his mind, there was Taylor. His longest-running crush had become so intimately close that he felt like calling her friend wasn't nearly enough, despite the stickiness of calling her a lover. He seemed to have really connected with Onyx, who seemed to have a very similar open relationship arrangement. And then there were the other flings along the way, which seemed likely to continue if he wasn't careful...

A hand appeared on his desk. A woman's hand. Alex looked up to see the cute Latina who normally sat in the back smiling at him as he walked away. Down where she had put her hand was a post-it note, which had a phone number and the name "Christina" written inside a heart. Alex picked up the note and blinked at it just as another appeared on the other side of his desk, this one left by a petite brunette in a short skirt and stockings. He really wasn't with it enough to catch sight of her face before she was gone. Apparently her name was Paula.

At this time last week, Alex was afraid he'd die a sixty year-old virgin. He could get a date on occasion, but he couldn't close the deal. No real romance, nor sex. Now the biggest question in his life was: how much of a good thing is too much?

He might have already hit that point. Alex felt very fortunate and very well-loved, both physically and emotionally. So many of his worries and feelings of inadequacy had been laid to rest, as if they had been left to burn in the Sacred Heart Cemetery chapel. Yet he couldn't shake the terrible feeling that it would all come crashing down on someone's head. If it were his own head, that would be bad enough. If it was someone else's...he couldn't live with that. How far could this go before he'd have to dial it back? How could you know when to slow down the party before it was too late? When does success spin out of control to become disaster?

He glanced up to see if Professor Lyons was still there. This might be the abstract question to ask a philosophy teacher about. There had to be books on it somewhere. But the professor was already moving out the door. Alex sighed. He threw on his leather jacket, picked up his helmet and books, and headed out to his next class.

Riding to school had been a good thing, he decided. He'd taken Lorelei's car home to retrieve it, since Taylor was perfectly happy to give Lorelei a ride home after "borrowing" her for the rest of the morning. The motorcycle wasn't as luxurious as Lorelei's Lexus, but that seemed to be the point. All she'd been showering him with luxury: money, fine food, honeymoon suites and gorgeous women. He realized it was really starting to make him feel uneasy. He couldn't figure out why, though, and wished he knew someone he could talk to about it.

Leaves crunched under his feet as he walked. He didn't even really think about it, but it was that time of year already. Sometime over the weekend, the groundskeepers had gathered all the leaves into large piles just off the sidewalks. Funny how so many leaves could change and fall in the course of a week.

Alex had an idle thought that it probably wasn't a good idea to have all these piles of leaves out where college students were bound to make a mess of them.

Money and luxury meant as much to Lorelei as dried leaves. She had said as much in the car.

"Hey, sexy thing!" someone called. Alex was still unaccustomed enough to the attention he'd been getting to think that the call was for someone else, but he looked up anyway.

Rachel came running at him, leaping upon Alex so fast that he barely had time to drop his books and hold his helmet out of the way. She had both legs up off the ground and her hands hooked onto his shoulders as he fell backward into the giant pile of leaves behind him.

He didn't really have time to regain his bearings before she was kissing him. The fall had hurt for a moment, but the kiss robbed him of any feeling of pain, or fear, or trepidation. Her touch and her kiss were overwhelming.

"Hi," Rachel grinned finally, still keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Wow. Um. Hi, Rachel," he said, unable to keep from grinning back. It wasn't as if he didn't want to see her, let alone have her this close. He'd never been tackled to the ground by a beautiful girl before, either. "How are you?"

"Better now." Her lips were on his again. The helmet fell out of his hands. He put his arms around her and held her tight. The nearness of her stirred as much desire as Alex had ever felt for anyone. She could clearly tell; as he stiffened, she pulled back from her kiss and beamed. "Much better to get a reception like this," she said, wiggling her groin against his unmistakable hardness.

Alex blinked. Her smile was breathtaking. It was hard to think of anything but the swell of affection and longing for her that overtook him and the absolutely amazing feeling of her touch. It was, he realized, a lot like Lorelei's hold over him, both wonderful and irresistible. That made him think of something concerning. He tried to concentrate. The last thing he wanted was for her to be hurt or resentful over some misunderstanding. "Rachel," he said, "things have...um..."

She put a hand on the side of his head to turn it and expose his neck. She kissed it, and then his ear, then his neck again. It left him gasping in wonder. "Wow," he breathed. "That's...oh wow. Rachel. Wait. I have to tell you. Lorelei and I."

She turned his head back to face her. Her smile was undiminished. In fact, it seemed to brighten. "I know," she said with barely-contained excitement. Then she turned his head the other way and started on this untouched ear and side of his neck.

Alex gasped again. "You know?"

Rachel giggled, releasing his head so he could turn to face her. "She loves you. You love her. You're in love together. Really in love. It's the most beautiful fucking thing I've ever seen. I've hardly taken my eyes off of you since Friday night."

It was then that Alex noticed. "You've got your wings back?" he blinked.

She kissed him again. There were sparks. Fireworks. He didn't really have a word for it, nor did he need one. Rachel's kiss was like nothing else. She hadn't even come off of his face when she whispered, still partly chewing on his lips, "Thanks to you. And her. Mostly you."

A shudder went through him. She was every bit as exciting as Lorelei. Beyond that, he couldn't possibly make comparisons. That was fine, though. Comparisons would inevitably be cheap. "How..." he gasped, "What'd I do?"

"The impossible," she said before she licked and ravenously kissed his lips again.

Alex kissed back. He couldn't get enough, either. His heart was pounding and his body was starting to tremble. Just a moment ago, he'd been thinking about how he'd been having too much of a good thing, but now...

...now there was another heart in the mix. One he cared about deeply. Rachel's kiss robbed him of worry, but not of concern. His fears were still there, but while she was with him, they were muted. He was at peace. But the thoughts were still there. "Rachel," he fought to say, "there are others. My life's a mess."

"Your life's awesome," Rachel countered, not letting up in her assault of kisses and licks and nibbles all over his face and neck. "I've seen everything."

"Everything?"

"I'm all better now. I can see you all the time," Rachel said. It should've been alarming to him, but it felt entirely good. This was his guardian angel. She was supposed to see. He understood that without even thinking about it. "I saw you with Onyx before Lorelei got back to you. After that...after the restaurant, I could see everything. I saw you together. I saw you with Jocelyn. With Taylor. I almost pulled you off of her yesterday when she said I should fuck you. You have no idea how hard it was to resist taking you for myself."

"I'm worried that this is all too much."

"I don't think you've had nearly enough. I see you. I know you. Your girlfriend and I have already talked. I know how you feel about me. You know Lorelei's okay with it. Don't you dare tell me you don't have room in your life for me," she whispered into his ear hungrily.

"I want to. So much. But I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not going to hurt me," Rachel grinned. "We're going to make each other very happy."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know you, Alex. Maybe better than you know yourself." Her eyes seemed a bit sad for a moment, full of longing for something. "I wish I could tell you everything I know, but I can't. All those things that mortals aren't meant to know. But if you can trust me," she said, running her fingers through his hair, "I promise you we are going to be very, very happy together."

Despite his troubles, he grinned back. "That's kinda creepy."

"I know. Can't be helped. I'm not staring at you while you sleep or anything, 'cause that's just retarded. Still, it's like Taylor said. I'm a total stalker," she admitted cheerfully. "But I'm the sexiest stalker ever, and you love it and you know it."

"That's even creepier," Alex chuckled. Then he blinked. "You heard Taylor say that?"

Rachel trailed kisses up and down his neck and the sides of his face as she spoke. "I saw everything and heard everything. I'll keep your secrets. I'll protect you. I'm your angel. Your devoted...vigilant...naughty...horny angel."