Illustration Credit: AliceKuroCross on DeviantArt.

Chapter 20: Copper

Joan woke gradually as the sun glinted off the bay outside. Seto's arm encircled her, and she basked in the memories of the previous night. The last time she had participated in a threesome had been on Michael's birthday with his girlfriend Linda, and that had been a gift to him, not Joan. Last night had been a gift to her. Joan wasn't even sure how much Marc and Seto enjoyed the experience themselves. They each got something out of it, obviously, but Joan didn't know if it was enough to make them want another round. At least she could revel in Seto's touch a little longer before the day began.

When Seto woke, he leaned over Joan and drank from her lips. "Good morning, whore."

"Good morning indeed," Joan grinned up at him.

Joan's phone buzzed and she picked it up to check the message. It was from her mother: I think we should have lunch at the brewery. I want to see how Michael is doing too.

With Joan's weekends typically occupied by other men, Michael preferred weekend shifts. Anytime Joan's mother wanted to see the two of them on a Saturday or Sunday, Michael simply claimed that the brewery offered higher wages on weekends and Joan simply claimed that she was hanging out with friends, which was always true in a manner of speaking.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Joan said as she tapped out a response.

"What?" Seto leaned his head on her shoulder to read the message.

"Looks like you get to meet my mom and my husband today. Hey, is Mokuba coming?"

"I'll check." Seto grabbed his phone. He hadn't brought it up to Mokuba before now, but the last thing Seto wanted to do was face Joan's husband without at least one partner in crime.

They both took some time to settle logistics.

Official Summit activities had been put on hold for the weekend, so Seto ordered room service for breakfast. While they waited for the food to arrive, Joan dressed in a springy butterfly sundress that made her look much younger than her twenty-five years. Seto donned his usual hoard of belts. As they sat across from each other munching on eggs, Seto popped a question that had been plaguing him for years. "What's it like having a mother?"

For a second, Joan thought he had said something else. "What? Wait, oh . . . Having a mother is nice when you're a kid. You believe everything she believes and the world is a safe, magical place. But then you go to college and meet people, and the world is still a magical place, just in a different way than you were taught while growing up."

"Don't tell me you have a Millennium Item up your snatch."

"A what?" Joan remembered Pegasus mentioning his Millennium Eye, but she still had no idea what that meant.

"Some Ancient Egyptian lunatic wasted a lot of gold making obnoxious magical artifacts that drew their power from the Shadow Realm. Millennium Puzzle, Millennium Ring, Millennium Dildo."

It's copper, not gold, Joan giggled at the thought of her IUD. She couldn't tell if Seto was serious about the magical artifacts, but after Laura's warning about that Shadow Realm stuff being a trigger for him, Joan decided not to press the matter further. "No no, when I talk about magic, I'm talking about biology, chemistry, hormones. Anyway, magic is just science that we don't understand yet, or so Arthur C. Clarke says."

"Ooooh, smart whore!" Seto's cock twitched, but the urge to return to the mother topic overpowered his lust. "Honestly though, I've never had someone I could talk to about these things."

"Not even your other whores?"

"I've never had a whore I could trust before you."

Joan recalled the positive messages in her inbox. "I think you could have trusted some of them but never gave them the chance."

"None of that matters now." Seto lifted her hand and kissed it. "I trust you."

Breath left Joan's body as their eyes locked. She'd heard those words countless times from various people, but she knew they meant more coming from him. "What happened to your parents?" she whispered.

They went back to bed – not to fuck, but to cuddle. Seto told Joan the story of how his birth parents died and what little he remembered of them. Despite the faded details, his potent feelings persisted. Seto's adoptive father hadn't provided an ounce of consolation or emotional support, leaving his resentment towards the world to fester. Through Seto's stories, Joan came to understand why he'd jumped at the opportunity to meet her mother: to fill a void in his life. Mokuba probably hoped for the same benefit. However, Joan's reasons for allowing Seto to come in the first place clashed with what Seto hoped to accomplish.

Joan did not voice it in so many words, but she expected a long, drawn-out lecture from her mother. Joan's employment by the Kaiba brothers would serve as a convenient excuse to cut the conversation short, perhaps even provide physical comfort and release after the fact if the conversation went truly sour. "You might be disappointed," Joan warned.

"I don't see how the woman who pushed you out of her vagina could possibly disappoint me."

"Don't get any ideas."

"Why not? I thought you were into that kind of familial fornication," Seto teased.

Joan's face went deadpan. "I don't have a problem with it, but she would be deeply offended by the proposition."

"Hmph. Fine."

She glanced at the bedside clock. "We'd best get going."

Joan smoothed her dress and Seto donned his studded white trench coat. They left the suite with Roland and met up with Tamara in the hall. The four of them headed down the elevator, ignoring a few amateur reporters who hoped to squeeze a few more drops of juice out of a dying story.

They took their seats in the limo and dropped by Mokuba's high-rise condominium to pick him up before crossing the bay. Impressed by his impeccable taste in clothes and how perfectly his purple shirt and tie matched his eyes, Joan greeted him with an enthusiastic kiss. Mokuba's exotic cologne with cardamom and bergamot whetted her appetite, but the kiss itself left much to be desired.

Joan spent the ride instructing Mokuba and demonstrating kissing techniques. Seto demanded demonstrations as well, and she wound up switching back and forth between the two of them with little time to breathe in between. A little healthy competition drove them into longer and longer kisses with her until she finally called for a break.

As Joan sat back against the luxurious limo seat grinning, Roland took the opportunity to go over some logistics for her upcoming trip to Japan. Joan already had a passport, but Roland had to put in a rush order on Tamara's. He would handle all their other paperwork, arrange immunizations, and cover any incidentals. Joan doubted she would get to see many sights with Seto keeping her in bed all day, but all the same she looked forward to a change of pace.