Read Online Corben's Thirst: The Thirst Within Part 1.5 by Johi Jenkins - Free Book Online Page A

her eyes closed and her mouth opened, her face twisted with desire as Charlotte worked her magic. I followed the trail of Charlotte’s fingers down until they disappeared amongst Sara’s dark curly hairs. Sara gasped and moaned.
    “You want me,” Charlotte whispered, I’m not sure if to Sara or to myself. But her dark eyes were fixed on me. “You want both of us.”
    Yes, I did. I was as much under a spell as was Sara. And I was undeniably aroused.
    “This is wrong,” I repeated, in a weak attempt at protesting what she was doing.
    “This is right.”
    “Charlotte, what do you want from me?”
    She smiled wickedly and leaned into me, her hands still working Sara. She kissed me briefly and whispered over my lips, “I want your child, mon coeur .”
    I looked at her, alarmed, then at Sara, and I finally understood.
    “Sara will give me one,” she said. “Will you not, my dear?”
    “It would be… my honor, Madam,” Sara gasped, moaning. “Master… please.”
    Charlotte gently pressed her down on the bed beside me. She leaned into her and kissed her lips. The sight alone was enough to make me forget my inhibitions. But Charlotte wasn’t done. She looked up at me with pleading eyes.
    “Please, my love. I want this. I need this.”
    I pretended to think about it for another second, and then I readily yielded.
     
    ***
     
    It was… an interesting night.
    I wish I could say I put up more resistance than I did, but I had always been a fool for my wife and her every wish. And she knew that she was everything to me, that I loved only her; there was no question in her mind. And she really wanted a child.
    They must have carefully planned the scheme, because Sara became pregnant from that one time we lay together. I never touched her again. And she never acted differently around me; I never caught her looking away embarrassed, she never even looked like she remembered our night together with Charlotte. Even as her belly grew and grew—it was as though she had forgotten how the baby had gotten there in the first place. But she was never unhappy. And Charlotte was ridiculously happy.
    From the very beginning Charlotte envisioned herself as the baby’s mother. The two of them had an agreement, in which Sara acted as a surrogate and received substantial compensation from her mistress in return for her child. When was this arrangement reached, and what were the exact terms, I never knew; yet it seemed to work for both of them. And Charlotte did take good care of her maid, not just financially. She moved Sara to Charlotte’s own bedroom next to ours. She invited her to eat at our table every night, kissed her belly, tended to her every discomfort. And nine months later, when the day came, Charlotte delivered the baby—a beautiful girl—and even named her: Alexandra, like our lost child.
    Again Charlotte was whole. She kept Sara near for nursing the baby, but she would not let anyone else near her. She was incredibly overprotective, and I guessed it was because she had lost one baby before and refused to let anything happen to this one. Her life had a new purpose, to take care of the infant.
    My daughter.
     

8.             The Beginning of the End
     
    I was hardly allowed to hold the baby. Charlotte barely put her down; she was in love with Alexandra as though it was her own child. Only Sara was allowed to hold her when Charlotte slept during the day—she wouldn’t trust anyone else to take care of her baby. And while Sara loved the child, she acted like a nanny, or an affectionate aunt, rather than a birth mother. To her, Charlotte was the mother. We told everyone we had adopted a baby, and no one even questioned who the birth parents were. We were an odd family but we were happy.
    But in my household, happiness never stuck around for long.
    It all started when my mother fell ill. She had caught what we all thought was a bad cold. It didn’t occur to me at first to ask Charlotte if she could heal