Daughter's Home Check-Up

Laney Grey sits in her bedroom, waiting, listening. When the front door clicks open and her step-mom Serene Siren calls out, Laney springs into the sheets and draws the blanket to her chin, manufacturing a tired face. A minute later, Serene leans in wearing a lab coat and stethoscope. Laney claims she feels under the weather and asks for an exam. Still buttoned up in doctor mode, Serene keeps her tone even while Laney slips her top off, letting her mouth curve into a barely checked smile. Serene peers down her throat, then sweeps her hands over the rest of Laney's body, palpating skin, checking pulse, motion clinical. Laney soaks in every touch but bites back any signs of pleasure. Nothing. Serene pulls back, eyes narrowed, suspicious now. Laney drops the act, owns up, says she faked illness just to steal some time with a mother who'd been buried in work. Only one cure, she adds, her voice low: sex. For a beat Serene hesitates, then shifts, cups Laney's jaw, and kisses her with slow, unmistakable heat. Exactly the prescription Laney needed.