Home Sweet Home ch.21 (Patreon)

Harry was furious but obedient. He was more or less dazed as he went downstairs to the laundry room with Daphne's dirty laundry in hand. His and Astoria's secret had been discovered after less than a weekend of illegal sex. Their worst fears had come true... or had they?

She was blackmailing him, but she hadn’t betrayed them. He loaded the washing machine and pondered this aspect of his situation. Daphne could be bluffing, but it was hard to be sure. It seemed like she wanted to force him into being her servant, and if she eventually went to their mother with the recording, she would lose her leverage.

Even so... it wasn’t a risk he could take. Not when both he and Astoria would suffer the consequences. He might not care much about his own reputation, but Astoria didn’t deserve to suffer just because she got caught up in the heat of the moment once or twice.

Daphne's accusation still echoed in his mind. Did he take advantage of Astoria? She escalated things just as much as he did, but ultimately, he was her older brother. It was his responsibility to be mature, to say "no," to set and maintain firm boundaries. He hadn't done that, and now...

Now he was washing Daphne's annoyingly sexy panties. He frowned and pulled out a lacy set that he suspected would require delicate handling. He supposed he could just do a poor job at all the chores, drag his feet, and hope Daphne reconsidered the situation. But he doubted that would lead to anything other than her finding a new way to torture him.

"Just in time," Daphne said as he came back up the stairs. "I'm thirsty. Make me a milkshake."

He sighed, feeling his anger but not giving in to it. "Alright."

"Two scoops of ice cream, and fill the rest of the glass with milk. Make sure it’s thoroughly blended."

Obeying her was mentally excruciating, but Harry forced himself to make her a normal, unblended milkshake. He was doing it for Astoria as much as for himself, and repeating that like a mantra helped a little. He exhaled as he brought the milkshake to the living room and set it in front of Daphne so she could inspect it.

"Add cookie dough ice cream to the shopping list for me," she said, examining the contents of the cup.

"Seriously? You're giving me a whole shopping list now?"

She just smiled at him, not even bothering to answer his question. "Unload the clean dishes from the dishwasher and load it with the stuff in the sink. Remember to rinse off anything that seems covered. Mom always notices if I don’t."

"This won’t last," he muttered.

"For your sake, you'd better hope it does," Daphne said.

He growled under his breath as he got to work washing the dishes. It wasn’t a particularly difficult task and didn’t take much time, but it still felt like rubbing salt in an open wound. What time it did take left him too much room to ponder and condemn his decisions from the past few days. He'd messed up. He'd messed up with Astoria.

The worst part was that the new load of shame and guilt he felt from Daphne's discovery only seemed to intensify his underlying desire. He wanted to protect Astoria from this, hold her in his arms, disappear with her under a damp blanket, pushing and arching into bliss. It was like when his mother told him he couldn’t have something as a child. He just wanted it, wanted her, so much more.

"It won't close if you don't put the big pot in the middle," Daphne whispered.

Harry flinched, too lost in his own thoughts to hear her approach. She was right behind him, and he felt her arm and left breast brush against his body as she reached beside him to show him what she meant. Did she realize how close she was standing to him? If so, she was playing with fire. If not... well, he could still hold the match.

"I think I understand what you mean." He stepped closer behind her, as if trying to look over her shoulder, close enough that there was no way she couldn’t feel his presence. "Does it fit here?"

He let his fingers brush her hip casually, gesturing with his free hand. Daphne stiffened, reacting a bit more than he suspected she normally might. There was no way she could have watched him and Astoria last night without venturing into dangerously imaginative territory. Though with Daphne, it was hard to predict whether those thoughts would intrigue her or disgust her.

"You can’t just shove it in," Daphne said with a slight purr in her tone. "You have to go slow. Unless... you want to do it more than once."

"I bet I could do it in one go," Harry said.

"Then hurry up and do it." Daphne coughed and moved away from him, crossing her arms over her ample chest. "You're my servant now, Harryy-kun. Don’t forget that."

"What a bitch."

"Excuse me? I think you should change your tone unless you want me to start assigning you meaningless tasks."

Harry clattered to the dishes and pretended he didn’t hear her. The girl grunted and left after a minute.

Daphne’s shopping list was relatively short, six items from the grocery store that seemed more like cravings than necessities. She smiled as he finished reading it and handed him a plastic bag.

"Are these... clothes?" he asked.

"Purchased at Randi's, the clothing store on Bard Street," Daphne said. "And these need to go to TJ Maxx. No receipts, but everything still has tags. If they insist on giving you store credit instead of cash, make sure it’s in my name."

"This is stupid," Harry muttered. "There are like ten items in each of these bags. This is going to take forever. And how am I supposed to carry all this on my bike?"

"That’s your problem, not mine," Daphne said. "Love you, bro."

She had the nerve to give him a peck on the cheek. Harry just barely resisted the urge to throw the bags of clothes on the lawn. He managed to stuff both bags under the cargo net on his bike.

Handling the clothing returns was annoying but not as time-consuming as he had expected. A cute young woman at Randi's gave him cash. An older woman at TJ Maxx insisted on store credit. He had enough time to buy everything on Daphne's shopping list except for the ice cream, which seemed to be melting, before going to pick up Astoria from school.

A church bus, not a school bus, was pulling out of the church driveway across from the school as Harry tried to cross the street. He waited a solid minute as the driver, the same priest he recognized from the previous day, tried to turn with minimal clearance.

Harry’s patience was already running thin. He rode onto the church's neatly manicured lawn, tearing it up a bit as he made what he considered a fitting detour.

"You pagan!" the priest yelled. "Have you no patience?"

"Not enough to watch you try to make a fifty-point turn, Father," Harry called back.

He spotted Astoria as he rode into the school pick-up lane. She seemed to have shaken off the morning's shock and hugged him immediately when he greeted her... then kissed him on the lips.

"Take it easy," he said.

She kissed him again, a hint of defiance in her expression. "Am I not allowed to kiss you anymore?"

"We need to talk," he said. "It's probably better if we do it somewhere other than home."

He stopped at a gas station that also had a deli and tables, so he could buy Daphne's ice cream but also have a place to sit with Astoria. Seeing his expression, she became more serious.

"Astoria," he said in a low voice. "Daphne has our recording. From last night."

"Oh." She blinked a few times. "Oh shit."

"Yeah. Exactly. She's using it to blackmail me into doing her chores."

"That bitch!"

Astoria slammed her fist on the table. Harry looked around, sensing a few people glancing their way. There was something much more tolerable about watching a cute teenage redhead slam a table in anger at a gas station than there might normally be.

"I'm pissed too," he said, grabbing her hands. "I'm still trying to figure out what we should do. We're screwed if anyone finds out, especially Mom. Which means she has all the power."

"She's still our sister," Astoria said. "I have an idea. Let's go home. We’ll want to confront her before Mom gets home."

"What are you thinking?"

"You'll see," Astoria said. She smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I love you, Harry. Even if we get caught, I won’t regret it."

Harry nodded but sighed, wondering if he truly felt the same way. Life would have been a thousand times simpler if he had just refused when she first asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend.