First night: Sofia’s perspective
(Slow, sensuous, measured—written like a personal letter she’ll never send)
I arrived late on purpose.
Not to make an entrance, but to make space.
There’s a rhythm to these things. Kaori knows how to stir the pot. June sets it on fire. Chen guides the dance. Me? I wait. I feel. I watch for the moment someone’s body asks me silently to come closer.
That night, it was Ashley.
I saw her before I even stepped through the door—framed by the golden light of the living room, glass in hand, blouse slipping off one shoulder. Her laughter was nervous, but her eyes kept drifting.
Toward Kaori. Toward Chen. Toward possibility.
When I stepped inside, her breath caught. She smiled—relieved. As if my presence gave her permission.
“Am I interrupting something?” I asked.
They all laughed, but I saw it—the way Ashley’s fingers relaxed, the way Riley leaned in just a little closer to Kaori’s leg, the way Chen’s shoulders softened. I brought gravity with me. A kind of permission that didn’t need to be spoken.
I kissed Alisha’s cheek. Chen’s lips. Whispered hello into Riley’s hair as I brushed past them on the floor. Then I circled behind Chen, knelt, and placed my hands on their shoulders.
Grounding. Always start with grounding. Chen sighed—like they’d been holding their breath for hours. I felt them lean back into me, their body already humming.
Kaori caught my eye. Her smile told me she’d been waiting for this moment too.
When June exploded into the room—loud, proud, glorious—I didn’t flinch. I adored the chaos of her. The noise was never a threat. It was color. Flavor.
But what made my breath hitch… was the way Ashley reached up and pulled her in.
The kiss was deep. Messy. Sincere. It changed the air.
It broke the seal.
Later, I followed them to the bedroom—quietly, like a shadow with purpose.
Kaori was already undressing Ashley with her teeth. Chen was stroking Riley’s thigh with reverence. June stripped without a care, daring someone—anyone—to come take her.
I watched. Not to wait my turn—but to listen. To bodies. To breath. To consent as it sang in the air like music.
Then I chose.
I crossed to Ashley, still laid bare beneath Kaori’s worship. Her hands trembled. Her eyes were glassy. She needed someone to hold her.
I knelt beside the bed, took her hand, and kissed her palm.
“You’re doing beautifully. You’re not alone.”
She turned to me like a child to warmth. She whispered, “I didn’t think I’d want this so much.”
“That’s not shame,” I told her. “That’s freedom. Let it in.”
She cried when she came. Not from pain. From relief.
I held her until her body stopped shaking.
Later, June knelt before me, bratty and gorgeous.
“You’re gonna break me, aren’t you?” She grinned.
“Only if you beg for it.” I said with a smile.
She did. She always does.
I tied her wrists with a silk scarf and kissed her until she was trembling, pupils blown wide. No one had ever held her that way before—not with control, not with calm, not with devotion.
Not like she mattered.
She mattered so much.
When the bodies blurred together, I stayed tethered.
Holding. Whispering. Re-centering.
Kaori between Riley’s legs, gasping. Chen’s head buried in thighs, moaning like a hymn. Ashley’s fingers locked in mine as Kaori made her come again and again.
June on her knees, cheeks flushed, whimpering with her wrists tied behind her back as I pressed her to the bed and praised her over and over again.
And after?
The pile. The sacred tangle.
Chen’s head on Ashley’s stomach. Kaori curled like a cat with Riley’s arm draped over her. June half on top of me, still tied, but purring in her sleep.
I kissed her hair. I kissed them all.
I didn’t need to be the center. I was the gravity. The quiet heartbeat behind it all.
I stayed awake the longest.
Watching. Breathing. Letting the night settle in my bones.
And just before sleep took me, I whispered—not out loud, but from soul to soul:
“I will keep this safe. I will hold you all. I promise.”
And I still do.