Chapter 4

This time, Cici interrupted. “Mamá… Mamá… Adiós, Mamá.“

The rant continued as she pushed the end call button.

“I should have done that before graduation,” she said, her tone bleak.

The phone rang again. She silenced it, then folded her arms. Without looking up at me, she said, “You should go home. I think I need to be alone.”

“I understand,” I said, though her words sliced into me. I stood, then tried to hug her before leaving, but she was a statue, so I kissed her forehead. “Te amo con todo mi corazón,” I said. Cici nodded once, then watched me leave through distant eyes.

I did check the webcam, though. Usually I’d find her working. I’d text her, and she’d smile and wave. Sometimes she’d call me instead, and we’d talk until she needed to head to bed.

One day in mid-September I logged into the Cici-spy-cam to find the view distorted and partially blocked.

Me: “What happened to the camera?”

I didn’t receive a text for several minutes, then Cici replied.

Cici: “I moved it. I’ll move the glass after I get changed.”

After a few minutes, I saw movement in the room. Occasionally I’d see Cici move past the edge of the object blocking the view, but since the camera was focused very close she was always blurred.

The camera had two-way audio for nannycam use. I’d listened but rarely used the speaker function. Now I clicked my microphone icon. “What’s going on?”

I heard Cici’s voice from my phone speakers. “Ten paciencia, mi cielo.“

A few minutes later, the object vanished and Cici, in her PJs, was carrying a glass out of her bedroom. Her bed was in the center of the frame.

She sat on the bed and smiled at the camera. “¿Me estás escuchando, cariño?“

“Am I listening? Yes.” I replied. I wondered where she was going with this, but I liked it.

“¿Me estás viendo también?“

“I’m watching you, yes,” I said. “I’m watching you very closely.”

She gave me a mischievous smile. Her fingers hovered over the buttons on her top. “¿Qué te gustaría que hiciera?“

“I would like you to undo those buttons,” I said, through the camera. I was getting wet just imagining it. “You know I would.”

She smiled again, gazing into the camera as she slowly unfastened every button. She let the front of the top fall open, only partially exposing her breasts.

“You’re so beautiful, Cici,” I told her.

She smiled, then slipped the pajama top down her arms, her firm, rounded breasts quivering free.

“God, I wish I could kiss your tits right now,” I said.

Cici ran her thumbs around her nipples. “¿Aquí?“

“Yes, aquí,” I said. “I mean ahí. Sí, ahí. God, Cici, you’re making it hard for me to think even in English.”

“You like to see me touching myself here?” she asked, having mercy on my poor language skills.

“Yes,” I said. “Very yes. See, I can’t even English. Can you picture my lips right there?”

She licked the fingers of her right hand and circled them around her right nipple. Even through the webcam I could see how hard her nipples were. “Sí,” she said. “Yes, I can imagine your face against me. The small ring in your lip, it is scratching, just a little, reminding me of your beautiful face against me.”

“¿Te estoy volviendo loca?“

“Cici, you wouldn’t believe how crazy my vuelves is right now.”

She snorted a laugh, then said, “It excites me to know how I excite you. I want to feel more of you.”

She folded the bedsheets down, then climbed into her bed. I pinched my phone screen to zoom in on her face and chest. Her nipples were hard, her areolae puffy. “I want you lying on top of me,” she said. “I can feel you against my… uh, between my legs.”

“So can I,” I groaned. I slipped off my shorts, leaving myself in tee and panties. Pinching my nipples, I felt the solid presence of the barbells. I was so turned on that tugging them made my belly twitch. I could feel how wet I was without needing to move my finger to my panties.

Cici cupped her breasts. I could see her hands squeezing both hard. “Sam…” she said, her voice rasping. “I wanted to do this for you, but ¡Dios! I was not expecting it to feel so good like this.”

“tt’s because you know what you’re doing to me,” I rasped. “My exhibitionist princess.”

“Only for you, Sam,” she said. “I can really feel you against me. I want to stroke the metal between your legs. I love what your face is like when I do that.”

She squirmed on the bed from only her arousal and her breast play. Then her right hand slipped down between the sheets. Zooming back, I saw her knees raised under the blankets, As I watched, her hips rose.

“Samara…” she moaned.

“Cee…” I replied. “I want you so much.”

“I can… hear it in your voice,” she said. “Even though the camera makes you sound like a robot! I can see your face in my mind. Your eyes are closed, and your jewelry is flashing in the light…”

My eyes were certainly not closed. They were taking in her body.

“Cici, your tits are so perfect. So full and sexy. I can see them shaking as you move. In my mind, I can feel them, so firm against my palm.” I panted for a moment. “I’m pressing my face against them, feeling how they move against my cheek when I part my lips.”

“Nggg!” groaned Cici. I could see her hips moving quickly. Her left hand left her breast for a moment to push back the blankets. Her chest had darkened with arousal or heat, and her belly was exposed.

“I’m going to lower my face to your pussy,” I said. “Is that okay?”

There wasn’t much point waiting for an answer, because Cici’s sounds weren’t coherent.

“God, Cici, I love the way you taste,” I said. “I can taste you now. You’re so wet. You’re so wet for me, my love. I’m licking you, and kissing your clit, and your taste is everywhere, and God, I think I’m going to come!”

“Aaah!” Cici moaned. “Let me hear you come, Samara!”

Somehow my hand was inside my panties. I didn’t recall moving it there. I flicked and pinched my clit, then curled a finger inside myself, the heel of my palm against my VCH. “God, Cici,” I yelped. “Ah! Christ! I can’t wait!”

“Don’t wait, mi cielo,” she said. “I want to feel you come while your mouth is on me.”

That was more than I could take. I cried out as the waves of passion overwhelmed my senses.

Cici must have recognized the sound. Her hips bounced a few times, then her back arched. She cried out, “Samara! ¡Dios mio! Your body… Your love… My love… Mi amor… This is… so good!”

I closed my eyes for a moment, but I didn’t want to miss any of the wondrous event, so I forced them back open. My sex was still pulsing wildly, gripping my finger, as I slowly withdrew it, while Cici’s head and chest rolled side to side on the video image.

As incredible as I felt now, I wished I was in her bed, so that I could press my lips to hers.

“Is this…” I gasped, “what you call… me making you feel safe… when I stalk you.”

“Eres mi maravillosa novia,” Cici managed to say. “Yes, I feel very safe right now. I feel very loved, and that makes me safe.”

“You are very loved, mi amor,” I said. “Te amo con todo mi corazón“

“I love you too, Samara,” she said, “with all of my heart.”

“Hey, everyone?” I raised my voice a little. “Could you hold whatever thought you have for ten seconds? We’re trying to find Inés’s phone.”

Conversations trailed off, and everyone watched expectantly as I called again.

“You brought the tamales in,” said Bel. “Did you leave your phone in my car?”

“Ah! Yes, I think so,” Inés replied. “Can I borrow your keys?”

Ysabel tossed her keys to Inés, who scampered out of the room. Conversations resumed.

After a couple of minutes, curious why Inés was taking so long, I left the apartment to hang over the railing and look for her. She was standing beside a car outside the next apartment block, her phone to her ear, and even from this distance I heard her yelling into the phone. The words were Spanish, but she was too far away for me to hear clearly. I moved back into the apartment and drew Cici aside. “Something’s going on,” I said.

“Inés?” Cici’s eyes were wide.

“Yeah. I don’t think we should intrude, but she might need support when she gets back.”

When the door opened a few minutes later, Inés entered carrying her phone and the keys. Her face was far too pale, and her makeup was smeared and showed tear tracks. Tara got to her even before Cici or me, and she and Grace wrapped their arms around her.

Tara moved her over to the couch and sat her down.

“Hey, sis?” she said, her voice rough. “Is it still okay if I move in?”

Tara stood to let Cici sit beside her sister. “Of course it is, Ine,” she said. “Was that Mamá?”

Inés nodded. “She’s been calling all day. There’s been a raid. She wanted to tell me to stay away, but I didn’t answer the phone. I told her I was going to Sara’s house, but she called Sara and I’m not there. I finally had to tell her I was with you so she’d know I was safe.”

“Did she kick you out?” asked Cici, her tone soft with sympathy.

Inés shook her head. “She said she was never letting me out of her sight again. I told her yes she was, I was an adult and I was going to college. So she started to shout at me, and I said I won’t be back.”

Brooke leaned down to kiss Inés on the forehead. “What a family,” she said.

Inés gave her a tentative smile.

“What about a raid?” Brooke asked.

“Oh. It was a house down the street,” Inés said. “I got that from Mamá before she started interrogating me. Probably gang-related. Wouldn’t be surprised. But the black SUVs came out of nowhere and they broke a door down and the SUVs are still driving around and there’s no one on the street. So having to find a place to stay because I don’t want to go home seems so petty.”

“It’s not petty, Ine,” Cici said. “There’s a lot of bad things going on, and Mamá being unbalanced is one of them. You need to stay safe.”

“And then I realized,” Inés added, “I was standing out in the parking lot screaming into my phone in Spanish. How… how fucking stupid am I to do that these days, you know?”

“You’ll be okay.” Cici was trying to sound reassuring. “I’m sure they have bigger targets to go after.”

“And I fucked up your party, too,” Inés said.

“¡Inés Jimena Moreno Reyes! ¡Vaya boquita! ¿Qué pensaría Lupita al escuchar tales palabras?” Her tone was sharp, but her eyes danced, giving the lie to her chastisement.

“Lupita is a doll, Cici,” said Inés, but there was the beginning of a smile on her face. She wrapped her arms around Cici, burying her face against her shoulder. “¡Te quiero!“

“A mi también,” Cici replied.

“That’d be great,” I said. “Elaine’s no more technical than me.”

Tara gave me a tight smile. “Maybe I’ll make a career of being the technical help, since my soap opera includes my career being eaten up by AI before I finish my first year of college. Meanwhile, you should report every fake review to Google. I can send you the link for that, too.”