Rachel's Love Potion Pt. 03

"Jo..."

"That you and I hang out more," she said quickly. "That's all. I've barely seen you this year, and I hate it. I just want to spend more time with my best friend. Ineed to. And if that means sharing you with this Knox guy, then sure. But don't push me away any more, OK?"

I broke out in a broad grin. "OK. I can definitely get behind that."

"Yeah?"

"Heck yeah. Now I gotta finish up my pruning here, but tomorrow, you and me, spa day. OK? We gotta get you looking like you again."

"I got work. Besides, I'm sure you and Knox are going to be hanging out, or whatever."

"I said, spa day." Knox was out of town at some kind of warlock convention for the rest of the week, otherwise I'd have had to check with him first.

"Cool. I'll call in sick."

"Awesome. Now c'mere, you."

And I pulled her in for the biggest bestest hug I'd had since Knox squeezed the crap out of me while he was fucking me from behind in the shower that morning.

Like that, things were back to normal. Joanna and I hung out the entire following day, and she came over again after work each of the next three nights. When we weren't hanging out, she was constantly texting me from work, so much so that I had to remind her not to get herself fired. Ian joined us one night, but I think he saw were enjoying our girl time so much that he quickly lost his appetite for it. Besides, his girlfriend had to keep nudging him when his eyes strayed too far. It was really thoughtful of her. I felt really weird dressing like that around my friend's boyfriend, but luckily Joanna didn't issue a single word of complaint. Not even when Ian's eyes nearly popped out of his head when, I'm pretty sure, he saw right up my mini skirt and realized I wasn't wearing panties. That was nice of her. Even I felt a little bad about that one, and I'd gotten pretty used to having people see my privates that I didn't want seeing my privates.

"So, you're cool dressing like that around Knox?" she asked the following evening, glancing down to my choice of attire. I'd worn one of my most modest outfits, a blouse that ended halfway down my stomach and was big enough to let me barely do up the bottom two buttons. It coupled well with a skirt that was like the bottom of a summer dress, except short enough that it threatened to flash my bare butt and pussy if I pivoted too quickly.

"I am," I said evenly. She'd avoided even mentioning his name the past few days. I was willing to see where she was going with this before I got too defensive.

"He must... enjoy the view." She took an oh-so-casual bite of her salad.

"Well duh." I giggled. "I mean, he's a guy, isn't he?"

"And is that as far as it's gone? Him... enjoying the view?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Do you really want to know?"

"So you're saying there's something to know," she said knowingly.

I laughed, and like that, the dam was broken, and I felt free to talk about things. There were some subjects I knew Knox wouldn't appreciate me telling anyone - the whole warlock thing, for example - and I might have soft-pedaled some of our physicality so Joanna didn't freak out. It was too funny - I'd always been the shy and demure one, and now here I was hiding details of my sex life to keep from offending her! I simply acknowledged that yes, Knox was attracted to me, but that was only a physical thing. Ian was no doubt attracted to me, too, I pointed out. But neither of them had any interest in anything romantic.

"So when do you think the three of us will hang out again? Kinda curious what our dynamic is gonna be," she speculated after a while. I didn't miss it in her voice that she wasn't looking forward to it, but she at least tried to hide it.

"He gets back from his business trip tomorrow. I know he'll want to see me-" (I couldn't wait!) "-but I'm not sure how he'll feel about making it the three of us. I know he always misses me a lot when we're apart for a while."

Was that ever an understatement! He'd had to go home for his grandma's funeral a couple months ago, and when he'd come back, we basically didn't leave the bedroom for almost a week. My sheets had had so many cum stains I'd had to throw them out. Knox had actually had to make an alchemical suppository to heal my ho-hum because he'd fucked my butt so much that I couldn't...

Well, believe me when I say the guy misses me when we're apart, same as I miss him. It had been awful, these past few days without him, and even Joanna's constant companionship couldn't help me miss my bestie any less.

"Sure, sure. I get that. I, um... I dunno. I guess just, whenever you guys are done, or if he thinks he can handle the two of us, call me. OK?"

I gave her hand a squeeze to show her I appreciated her making an effort. It was all I could ask.

Sure enough, Knox came straight over to my house the minute he got back. He'd texted ahead to ask me to be naked and ready, and so of course I was. He had his belt off before opening the door, and his pants off before he'd left the entry rug. I was actually a little horny myself, having gone more days without being penetrated than I had in months, so having him wordlessly shove his cock inside me was actually pretty welcome for once. I laughed to myself at the thought that maybe one day, I'd be the one jumping him! It seemed absurd, but never say never.

"So hey, I patched things up with my friend Joanna. And, um, I was wondering if it was cool if she came over today," I said, hoping I wasn't distracting too much from his thrusting.

For a while there, Knox seemed not to hear me, but eventually he saw the question lingering in my eyes and acknowledged I'd spoken. "That cunt friend of yours again? I swear, you're obsessed with her lately. And no, I'm gonna be here allllll day, until your sweet little puss has milked me dry. And with the potion I drank on the way over, that is going to be quite a little while. Viagra doesn't have shit on actual sorcery."

"Yeah, that's kind of what I told her you'd say, but I thought I'd ask. She's been kind of clingy this past week, honestly, so maybe that's for the best."

And that was all the more I'd intended to say on the subject. Only, as the morning went on...

Bzz bzz.

Bzz bzz.

Bzz bzz.

My phone was on the end table, right where I'd left it when I'd stripped and juiced up my pussy in preparation for Knox's arrival. Joanna was as relentless with her barrage of texts as Knox was at drilling my pussy with his alchemically augmented penis. After the third or fourth time he'd come, another text arrived during his post-orgasmic breather. Knox finally lost his temper.

"OK, that is just about e-goddamn-nough of that," he grumbled, snatching my phone. "Fucking hell! That bitch has texted you seven times already this morning! This is ridiculous."

"Really? Nothing's actually wrong, is there?"

He rolled his eyes, swiping my phone on and scanning the texts. "No. No, it's pretty fucking far from an emergency. She asked if she could come over, and is now pinging you at intervals to get a response. Fucking hell."

"Oh gosh. Here, I'll tell her to chill." I reached for my phone.

"I got it," he said. I frowned; I definitely was not a fan of other people impersonating me on my phone. I'd had a huge fight with Jim about that when he did that once as a joke. Still, Knox had already made my day by how eager he'd been to see me, so maybe I needed to let the little things go.

"What'd you tell her?" I asked when he was done.

He grinned held the screen up so I could see it. Sure enough, there was Joanna,PING,PING,PING. Underneath it was "my" response.

Come on over - we're sitting around fucking like jackrabbits, he'd sent.

"Knox! You are such a rascal!" I reached for the phone. But he held it back, pinning me beneath him with his cock in my pussy.

"Oh, whatever. That's some thick-ass sarcasm. Why, you want me to send her a pic and prove it?"

"No!" Oh my gosh, that would be so embarrassing!

"You're sure?"

I rolled my eyes at his antics and grabbed his buttocks, pulling him all the way inside me. Aside from not wanting to explain to Joanna the truth behind his prank, I was actually still kind of horny, and Knox been inside me so much that morning I had almost gotten off. "Oh, just shut up and get back to fucking me already! If she decides to come over, I wanna be done and have the sex smell cleaned up before she gets here."

"It smells like sex in here," said Joanna, wrinkling her nose.

"Does it? I don't smell anything," replied Knox, grinning at me when her back was turned. Such a practical joker! I'd only just finished wiping down the sofa and lighting a scented candle when he surprised me by slamming my face down on his cock again and having me suck him until he came - this time, all over my boobs. By then, Joanna was already coming in the front door, so all I could do was snatch my top off the floor and throw it on while she made her way to the living room. I wiped the stuff still visible on my cleavage off with a finger and sucked it clean; the rest was still drying on my chest.

"Leave it to you to always have sex on your brain, Jo," I said hoping I didn't sound as awkward as I felt. I was totally used to Knox and his proclivities, but it was a whole other thing to have it seen by the world. It was like biting my fingernails - no big deal in the privacy of my home, but not something you wanted the world to see.

"Well with you dressed likethat, it's a short mental path," she said dryly.

"I know, right?" Knoxtsk-tsked at me as he emerged from where he'd quickly dressed himself in the bathroom. "I don't know where she gets off, dressing like such a total skank all the time."

Joanna's eyes narrowed; I could see the conflict in her at hearing her opinion put in his terms. Still, I was the one he was calling a skank! "Knox!You're the one who picked this out for me, remember?"

"Who, me? I mean, I'm happy to look over your shoulder while you're browsing, make a recommendation about what'd look good, but let's not go blaming your flare for the skankalicious on me."

My jaw dropped, but I was smiling beneath it. Leave it to Knox to dress me in this top with its hole cut out to show cleavage (what little I had) and this teensy denim skirt and then blameme for picking it out. I was sure that to Joanna it'd sound more believable that I'd started dressing like this to attract a guy than that I'd suddenly let a guy make these kinds of decisions for me. Such a scamp!

Jo smirked at my discomfort. "It's not her first skank phase. Remember in high school, when you had that huge crush on Harris Richters? Oh my gosh, she tried every cliché in the book."

"I did not!"

"Rachel, the woman at the makeup counter at the mall had to cut you off, you started wearing so much. I was starting to worry you were going to join a death metal band."

"I might have if I'd had a crush onyou, ya goth queen."

"At least my wardrobe was an aesthetic, and not bought from the wish list of horny teenage boys everywhere."

Knox laughed. Joanna laughed. After a brief glare, I let myself laugh too. Mostly, I was glad to see everybody getting along. I don't know why, because Knox is so clearly awesome and I love Joanna to death, but I'd actually been pretty paranoid that they wouldn't get along. But I could read them both really well. Joanna still didn't love that he was here, but she'd committed to making an effort. As for Knox, I could tell he'd much rather still be in a sweaty tangle on the couch, but he was content to have my hot busty friend here to leer at.

Good enough, for now.

We plopped ourselves down in the living room and tried to act like friends, or at least act friendly. I mostly kept quiet, letting the two of them talk. Knox told her he was a researcher specializing in the paranormal, which was sort of true, and Joanna tried not to get too incredulous about it. She'd been an outspoken atheist since I'd known her and was a skeptic of anything remotely supernatural; I could only imagine what she'd say if I ever told her I'd try to dose her with a love potion. Then Knox tried not to look too bored while Joanna talked about her job, about Ian, and basic get-to-know-you stuff.

After an hour, I decided it was time. "Say, who's hungry? I'm gonna make us some lunch."

Both of them agreed; Joanna even offered to give me a hand, though I was pretty sure it was to avoid being left alone with Knox. I refused, of course; the whole point of my making lunch was to see if they could play nice together without me. She still poked a hole in my plan by excusing herself to the bathroom, and so Knox followed me into the kitchen anyway.

"I really can handle this, you know," I assured him as I started grabbing ingredients.

"I know. And I really can handlethis." He flipped up my skirt and squeezed one butt cheek with each hand.

"Knox!" I squealed, giggling.

"Oh, whatever. We still got a few minutes before she gets back. Just be glad I haven't bent you over right in front of her yet. That boner juice I drank this morning isn't making it easy. Your friend's amazing titties aren't either."

I nodded, being very careful with my knife as his groping grew more intense. "Yeah, she's a cutie, for sure. Too bad my love potion didn't work out, huh? Clingy as she's been the past couple weeks, I wouldn't have minded her having you to take her off my hands."

"Clingy, eh?" he said, slipping a finger up inside me. I'd gotten pretty good at cooking amidst such distractions. "She doesn't strike me as a needy sort."

"She's usually not, but ever since we had that little fight, she's been... ugh. Guilty conscience, I guess."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that, didn't you. Huh. What was the fight about, again?"

"She got upset, about you and me and how close we were, and I told her not to tell me who I can and can't be friends with. Then she just... man. She was unrelenting trying to get me to forgive her."

"Really..." He withdrew his finger, stroking his chin pensively. Then he realized he was smearing my pussy juice on his face and winced, wiping it off on my hair. Ew! Boys could be so gross.

"Yep. I really thought she'd be too proud to back down - one time she didn't talk to me for like two weeks because I made fun of this song she liked, no joke - but nope. She folded like a house of cards."

"Is that right."

"Yep. Promised she'd never complain about the two of us again as long as I took her back in."

"And that's unlike her?"

"Oh my gosh,so unlike her. You have no idea. Thank goodness, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said, though he was clearly lost in thought. It was pretty unlike him to wax pensive while my bare bottom was exposed. Before I could ask, though, he popped me a question that caught me totally by surprise. "Rachel, when you tried your simple best to make that potion... did you do anything unusual? Swap out an ingredient, blend instead of press, forget to take an herb out of the moonlight in the specified timeframe... anything like that?"

"What? No! No, I followed the directions to the letter!" I insisted. I know he'd had a dim view of my dabbling in his area of expertise, and while I'd been rather intimidated by some of it, it hadn't beenthathard. A few parts had been confusing, like what the difference was between combining and stirring, or why a lot of the original text referred separately to "the imbiber," "the brewer," and "the object of adoration" when all of Knox's notes suggested the second two could be used interchangeably.

"Huh. For a minute there, I almost-"

"Well," I interjected after a moment's consideration, "I did up the dose a bit. You know. To make sure."

He froze. "Up the dose?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Man, if it had actually worked right... I did triple the amount it said to. Could you imagine? She would've probably been, like,obsessed with you!" I laughed.

"Triple." He took a slow breath. "You're telling me youtripled the ingredients."

I shook my head at my own hubris, grabbing my apple corer from the utility drawer. "I know, right? Thank goodness you dispelled it, or who knows what could have gone wrong."

"But..." Suddenly, Knox broke out in grins. "Yeah. Thank goodness I had my simple, regular, baseline dispel charm on hand." He chuckled, evidently pleased with his foresight. Heck knows I was!

"Hey, I think I heard a flush. I'm gonna head back in there and entertain your guest, get to know her a little better. You take your time in here, OK? We'll play nice. I... I think she's going to make a great addition to our duo."

I beamed. "Thank you, Knox." He knew what a load off that offer was for me. The perfect best friend. As he rejoined Joanna in the living room, I allowed myself a moment for a brief happy cry. My new best friend, committing to take in my old best friend. It was the happiest I'd felt since that whole awful fight started. I gave them a good twenty minutes, even taking time to check my email and touch up my makeup post-cry.

By the time we finished a delightfully stress-free lunch, everyone's patience for idle chit-chat was expended, and it was time to actually make plans.

"So, I was thinking of heading back to my place and getting caught up on the last couple episodes ofWalking Dead. Who's in?" suggested Knox.

For some reason that made Joanna smile. Almost smirk? "I dunno, I was thinking of bingingThe Bachelorette. Wanna come?"

This was not a difficult choice. As Joanna well knew, I absolutely adored all things Bachelor and Bachelorette; likewise, as Knox well knew, that zombie show absolutely grossed me the fudge out. It was one of the few times where I was actually kind of glad when he'd have me spend our TV time sucking his cock, just so I didn't have to see all the ick.

"Yeah, I think I gotta go with Jo on this one, buddy." I gave Knox a playful punch on the arm.

"You're sure? You'd really rather watch that mindless dreck than see animated corpses annihilate the last vestiges of civilization?"

I laughed. "I'm sure. I mean, no offense, right?" I turned to Joanna, quick to make sure I wasn't bruising his ego. "Knox knows everything there is to know about zombies, though. It's crazy how much information is out there about them that's not in the pop culture depictions."

"Oh, I wouldn't say I know 'everything,'" he said, waving off my compliment. "I was a B+ student at best at the necromantic arts. Not my primary field of study."

Joanna rolled her eyes. "Sure. So yeah, wanna get going? If we hurry, we can get there before Ian gets home from work and tries to stake out the big TV."

"You got it babe. Have fun with your corpses, hon." I have Knox a quick hug and followed Joanna to the door, looking for a suitable pair of shoes. Joanna, weirdly was still wearing that smirk, and it was definitely pointed at him. Had I missed something?

But Knox was still perched on the couch, not seeming to notice her. "Please, Rachel?"

I paused. Had Knox just said "please"? Henever said please. Well, not unless he was telling me what he wanted me to do; pleasing him was kind of our most frequent funtivity.

Joanna saw me hesitating, and grabbed my shoulder. The smirk had vanished. "Come on, you don't wanna watch the macho crap. I got five seasons DVRed, ripe for over-consumption."

"Well..."

"It'd mean a lot to me, Rach. I've missed you." Knox regarded me earnestly.

My heart was melting. Did I mention he was the sweetest guy in the whole world? Practically the brother I never had! (Aside from all the sex stuff.) "I... I mean, I can..."

"Rachel, he lives down the street. You guys can literally hang out any time on two minutes' notice. You blew me off all summer for him."

I withdrew my arm from her grip, frowning a bit. When I spoke, it was in a low voice. "Hey now, you're getting awfully close to that line again."