Broken Kingdom Ch. 04

"How was the trip?" She had to readjust the covers as the strings from the edge were scratching her nose. After she pulled the covers down to her shoulders, Amanda scratched the itch with the back of her fingers before putting her arms around him.

"What trip?" Thane yawned as well, he couldn't remember the last time he felt this rested.

"You said Aaron was sending you somewhere to meet someone."

"What?" He tried to recall the incident but came up with nothing, the only thing Aaron made him do was work. "Na, I was at work what are you talking about?"

"Really? You told me you were going somewhere and wouldn't be back for a few days.I was surprised you came back last night." Thane was genuinely confused and it showed on his face. Amanda gave him a suspicious look and inquired further, "You didn't lie to me to see a girl did you?"

"What!? No!" That was one thing he was sure about. Why would a person sleep in a hotel when they already have a mansion?

Her expression quickly changed again, "I don't care if you have others you know, as long we share them. You can't fuck them alone, you have to fuck them with me." She gazed at him with lusty eyes while adorning a mischievous smile.

"I don't have...wait what?" The quick turn of events caught him off guard, his dick however was listening quite intently.

"Didn't you tell me before you needed links to get stronger? Thane acutely remembered Amanda enlightening on the topic of links but he was more than happy to take the credit. "I overheard you talking with Aaron when he was here and he said that you need links to get stronger. I heard him talk about his Veruca woman and how you made her your link by fucking her." Thane felt a twinge of guilt and found himself unable to make eye contact with the goddess.

"Yea...umm about that." He remembered that he had sex with Veruca but he wasn't sure if he made her a link, the entire memory was hazy at best.. Amanda wasn't wrong to think that Thane got his links by fucking, the only two links he got were achieved by such a process so the theory wasn't so far fetched. "I really don't know how I make links to be honest. I wasn't even..."

Thane stopped himself mid-sentence and pondered about the pros and cons about telling Amanda about his blackouts. After Aaron put him to work he couldn't remember a single instance where he blacked out. For all he knew, the blackouts could've been easily been his body adjusting to the changes. He didn't remember a single instance of Aaron telling him otherwise, all that he remembered Aaron telling him was that they would go away in time.

"You don't know how to make links? I did hear Aaron say something about you not remembering what happened."

"And how do you know Aaron?" Thane knew that she was Aaron's link before and entertained the possibility that she could be getting her memories back.

"I overheard you guys talking last time." Thane looked at her in a slightly suspicious manner, she somehow knew an awful lot more than he was comfortable with. "I got bored just waiting in the room and I was curious. I'm sorry."

Even though he wasn't the greatest reader of faces, Thane could see the guilt prominently displayed on her face. He wrapped his arm around her midsection and pulled her close before kissing the top of her head. Neither of them spoke for the next few minutes. Thane lost himself in his own thoughts while Amanda drew invisible pictures on his chest with her finger.

"You really think sex has anything to do with links for me?" Thane also spoke out of curiousity and in turn broke the brought upon silence.

"We won't know for certain without testing the theory out right?"

"And you're fine with this?" It was hard to believe one could even ask such a question, even stupider was expecting an answer. However, stranger things have happened.

"Yea, I mean it's not like you're giving your heart away. The kings of old had thousands of women at their disposal. You're going to eventually become a king, I just know it and I want to be the queen not just some link. So, I don't care about other links because that's all that they are."

Although her reasoning was extreme and twisted, he could sort of see where she was coming from. Thane didn't know why but he wasn't so blind that he couldn't see her position. As long she was part of the linking process she would always be something more than just a link. However, he knew there was always some fine print associated with everything. "What if my linking process does need sex, what then?"

"Like I said before, I don't care if you have sex with other women as long we share them. So you can't fuck some random girl when I'm not around."

"And what if I do?" There wasn't even a second of delay with his remark, not a second of thought either.

He just couldn't control the smart mouth of his, then again lessons learned hard are not easily forgotten. Amanda detached herself from his body and walked out the room, ignoring his pleas just added salt to the wounds. Once he realized she wasn't coming back to join him he followed her like a lost puppy. He wound up in the kitchen where she was about to pour herself some juice. Feeling guilty, he closed the distance between them and hugged her from behind before kissing her on the back of her neck. He apologized continuously as she ever so slowly poured the Vitamin D enriched orange nectar, despite his efforts she denied his atonement and drank the liquid without muttering a word.

Amanda didn't break away from the hug but she didn't respond either. Thane admitted that he was an idiot and should put a filter between his brain and mouth after apologizing numerous times. When nothing seemed to be working he ceased all efforts of talking and simply plopped his chin onto her shoulder and made himself comfortable. If she was determined to stand her ground, so was he.

"I'm not letting go you know." Once again he was met by silence as Amanda stared at everything but him. As his utterly subpar attempt at flirting failed, epically, he sighed and readjusted his arms. The hot breath caressing the body of her neck caused her to fidget slightly but their bodies moved in such a way that Thane ended up tickling her. She couldn't control herself as she let out a chuckle that she was trying so hard to push back down. "Somebody's ticklish." Thane stated in an evil tone, finally he was able to get a response from her.

"Don't tickle me." The statement that was supposed to be laced with anger got bombarded with chuckling, which only instigated him to push further.

"Okay." As he gave her the false sense of security he poked midsection as if pressing a button, the result was an uncontrollable laughter coupled with a failed attempt to escape. She was so busy with laughing that she didn't have the strength to break his grip, the more she tried to wriggle away the more he tickled her. He wasn't going to stop until she was the one on the begging end, fortunately he didn't have to wait long. She lasted a handful of seconds before begging him to stop.

"Please, Thane...Please" Each word was followed by seconds of mass laughter and although Thane loved exploiting her weakness, he wasn't that cruel. He gave in to the vixen's requests and assumed his previous position of simply hugging the woman. Although far less exciting it gave a certain warm feeling all around.

"I stopped, but you gotta drop the cold shoulder. I said I was sorry, I was-"

She didn't wait for him to finish his statement, "I don't like jokes like that." The anger was back and this time, laughter wasn't there to bail Thane out. "I know I'm your link but I thought I was special you know, being your first and everything."

He silenced her worries by tilting her chin towards him and kissing her passionately. He pulled her in closer than before and planted soft kisses on her cheek before making his way to her ear and whispering, "I don't even want to make links. You're more than enough for me."

All the while he was thinking about how this wasn't her true personality, he was intoxicated by the version of Amanda he made. The thoughts wouldn't stop and soon occupied his entire mind. Even though he had the beauty all to himself, he couldn't stop wondering of what she was originally like. Questions on morality came soon after as he debated whether it was okay for him to leave Amanda like this or if he should look for a cure of some sorts. All together, the useless thoughts ended up killing his boner. It was so dead that not even viagra could revive it. Thane had to settle for cuddling and kisses as his mind took him through an ethics lesson.

While he was busy figuring out his plans with Amanda the house phone rang, the first bell didn't register as he was practically in a trance but the second brought him up to speed. Unfortunately, he had his hands full and prioritized accordingly. Amanda's patience ran out after the third bell, the phone was right in front of them. She scoffed at his laziness and put the phone on speaker.

"Yea?" Thane's rather informal method of answering the phone didn't sit well with the person on other end, his aunt. Memories about their last encounter began to emerge into his conscious mind. He remembered, vaguely, about using his powers on her but wasn't exactly sure what happened or what he even did.

"You think you're get to blackmail me and get away with it!?"

She was clearly very displeased about something and after some active searching through his memory bank, Thane found out why. Although it was still hazy, he remembered blackmailing her into stripping but that was it. "Blackmail?" He knew the result but didn't know how or even what he blackmailed her with. This only angered her further.

"What now you're denying it!?"

There wasn't much he had to do to deny it, all he had was one extremely damaged memory about blackmailing his aunt somehow and then making her strip in her bedroom. He remembered more details from dreams than he did with the memory, everything pointed at the notion that it was just a fantasy. He was only able to see the memories of others so he could see why he would have a blackmail fantasy but he just didn't have the balls to carry it out.

"Aunt Jane, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. The last thing I remember is returning your glasses, how the hell would I blackmail you?" She was about to say something but forced it down, one could practically Jane doubt herself.

After an extended period of silence, there was a drastic change in her voice. It was much lower, sort of filled with a pinch of shame. "You didn't stay afterwards?"

Thane knew he could've told her what he remembered but then the rational portion of his mind awoke and guided him through the path opposite of stupidity. "No, I gave you your glasses and I left. Why would I blackmail you?" There were plenty of reasons but even he knew he was just handed the victim card and one does not merely waste a victim card.

"Oh I'm sorry, it...it must've been Nyquil messing with my meds. I'm, I'm so sorry Thane. It just seemed so real." She let out an awkward chuckle as preparation for an awful joke, "I guess that's why you have to show ID before you buy it."

He needed to use the victim card so he forced a chuckle of his own, it didn't matter that the joke flew well over his head. "Yea." Before he even got to play the card, his aunt hung up.

"No wonder you hate her." Amanda caressed his cheek before kissing the back of his palm, "Don't worry yourself too much."

Thane smiled and let out a soft chuckle under his breath after releasing his more than willing captive. "Seems like that's the only shit I do now and days."

Amanda was already one step ahead of him as she took a bottled water from the fridge and ushered him back into the bedroom. With her back leaned against the headboard, she motioned him to relax in her arms. The view alone was more than inviting. "Come on." She stated as she tapped the bed, instructing him specifically where she wanted him to sit. The cold shoulder had quickly faded as she adopted a more compassionate persona. "Tell me, what's on your mind."

Thane was willingly in her clutches, his upper back using her breasts as cushions while her legs wrapped around his providing an extra layer of comfort. With her free hand she stroked his hair and listened quietly to the youth vent out his worries. "It's nothing much, just work. God, it's like I fucking hate that job. It's the bane of my existence, like seriously fuck that job."

"So tell me what happened, what's wrong with it?" Never once did her tone portray anything but genuine intrigue.

"They're working me like a dog and for what? Minimum wage? Like I know I fucked up sometimes and I face up to it, I wasn't on my game all the time. Everything that I knew I did wrong I ate it but yo, there's a fucking limit."

"Mhmm." She used the universal method of asking to continue while remodelling his hair.

"The customers I don't mind, at all even. I know people hate working in retail because of customers but it don't really mean shit to me. it's just the fucking management. Everyday they gotta find someshit you did wrong, like hey I'm sorry that I can't unpack the and clean two isles after I was unloading the delivery truck for 6 fucking hours!."

"What are they telling you to do? I thought you were just working as stock?"

"Fucking when we get deliveries to the store, we unload the truck and then have to pack out the stuff and put it in the isles. There's also a shit load of overstock and seasonal items we get weeks before any god forsaken holiday and they come in by the fucking megafucktons. So the unloading people do the fucking overstock as soon as the truck is unloaded, that shit takes mad fucking time and after all that they have the fucking nerve to tell you, hey you didn't pack out your two isles. NO!? REALLY!? LIKE BITCH HOW BOUT YOU TRY AND DO THAT SHIT!"

"Bitch?" Her tone did a 180 within seconds, gone was the compassionate caregiver and in came the vengeful beastess. "Was she helping with the unloading? What was she doing while you were doing all that?"

"No, it was like three us unloading." She was keenly listening now as she put the water botlle on the dresser as well as removed her treasure hunting hand from his head. "She and her bestie were just packing out the fucking isles. They took the entire fucking night with their isles yet want me to finish mine within a fucking hour after I been lifting heavy ass boxes for 5 fucking hours. Get the fuck outta here son."

"Can't you talk to your manager? That's not fair. How can they even do that?"

"Who the fuck do I complain to? She's the manager and she rips me a new one. If I go to HR and complain then what is really going to happen like seriously? It's a fucking retail company, nobody gives a flying fuck. They want me to just know everything and be able to do everything without any fucking formal ass training. Oh and when it's not a truck day, the other manager says I don't do a good job at cleaning the store. Both of them just need to find some shit wrong with my motherfucking shift. Fuck that shit son, god man I wanna quit like right the fuck now."

"You should!" Neither of them noticed the water bottle calmly spilling it's contents on the floor, Amanda's gestures became a bit excessive. "Call them up right now and just quit! You don't need to put up with that!"

"I can't!" His answer received it's fair share of criticism as she demanded some reasoning for his decision. "Aaron's fucking orders. I can't quit."

"Can't you try talking to him? What's he really going to do?" A simple glance was all that was needed for Amanda to realize the absurdity of her questions. Her tone became almost comical as she grew more frustrated than him, she was fuming within moments almost like she had to endure the torment instead of Thane. "Why don't you use your powers on them? Nothing sexual and I'm not talking about making any of them a link. Just to scare them, you can see their memories right?"

The idea was tempting and Thane wished of nothing more than to see their faces coated in fear.. However, there was a small set back that kept the fantasy from becoming a reality. "I don't think I know how to use the power well enough to do anything, besides looking around their past I really can't do anything."

"Thane, baby come on. You have to meet me halfway here, you have all this power and you're letting people beneath you run your life?"

"Even though I have this power, it's like I can't do anything. Trust me, I would exploit the shit out of it if I had the chance but as things stand, I can't."

"What's stopping you? Aaron? You could easily take him."

"What happens after that Amanda?" The constant back and forth ended with Thane as the winning party. He managed to shed light on the fact that he was screwed six ways to sunday. "Until I figure out a way to actively use whatever the fuck I have, I got to play the role of his bitch."