really. I'm sure there are worse...men you could have rolled over for.” Moira patted her shoulder.
“I can't think of any,” Aerin snarked, then winced at the dirty looks Moira and Claire shot her.
“Let me get you a drink,” Claire offered.
“No. No more drinks.” One Cardinal Sin was more than enough. Tierra lifted her head, wiped at her tears, and tried to get herself under control.
“Tea, I can make you some tea,” Moira suggested, her expression worried. “No angel blossoms, I swear.”
Tierra could feel Moira's overwhelming need to help fix her and attempted to reassure her, but the tears flowed faster with the concern and love her sisters directed her way. They'd fought a lot since they'd been reunited, adjusting to their new reality, but they cared for her. Tierra turned into a puddle as sobs escaped her and her shoulders shook.
“Well, shit, that didn't work,” Moira said. “One of you two do something. Make her stop all that weepin'.” Her voice hitched like she was going to join Tierra at any moment if she didn't end her blubbering.
“What happened?” Aerin asked, finding and handing Tierra a box of tissues. “Start from the beginning and tell us everything.”
Tierra did through her tears. She told them everything. Well, almost everything. There were some things she wouldn't be able to share even with her sisters. They were too personal.
Silence descended like a heavy blanket when she finished.
Moira was the first to speak. “I'll give you this, when you go for somethin', you do it with gusto.”
“I know this is morbid and all—sorry, that was a slip—but how was your first time?” Claire asked. “Are you…physically okay?”
Remembered pleasure flashed in her mind and regret that she'd never feel like that again settled in like a stone in her stomach. “I'm fine.” She would be. A long soak in the tub was definitely in order. She'd be sore from her activities tomorrow as she was feeling them now. “Forget that, how was he? Did you have la petite mort?” Aerin asked, and then snickered. “Sorry, totally out of line, but really this shit doesn't happen every day.”
Tierra snorted and grabbed at the steadying bits of humor Aerin offered. Tears were getting her nowhere. “I died over and over again in his arms,” she admitted.
They all dissolved into a fit of giggles.
“You had an orgasm your first time?” Moira exclaimed. “I sure as hell didn't. But I guess it wasn't like anyone was fixin' to get their rocks off with Skunk Hurley—”
“Wait,” Tierra interrupted. “You lost your virginity to a guy named Skunk?”
“Please tell me this wasn’t because of a hygiene issue,” Aerin said.
“Hell, no. They called him Skunk on account of his tail, but I didn’t know that 'til he got up to get a beer.”
“You slept with a guy with a tail?” Claire asked. “Is that like a bayou thing?”
“More like a his-ancestors-slept-with-one-too-many-cousins kind of thing,” Aerin joked.
“No, it ain't a bayou thing.” Moira ignored Aerin, addressing Claire. “What about you, Miss fire-in-your-pants? Did you give it away or make him work for it?”
“I waited. I know, big surprise with all my talk this morning. Tierra, I really hope what I said didn't push you to do something you weren't ready for.”
“Honestly, you might have lit a fire under me, so to speak, mainly because with everything happening around here—” she indicated the house in disrepair “—I didn't want to die a virgin, and then you went and mentioned the sexual power thing and I got curious. Kind of a problem for me, in case you haven't figured out that about me yet. And then I saw him in Sirens. He was so daring, dangerous, and bold.” He'd awakened her sexuality. “Believe me,” she continued. “I was ready for him, just not ready for, you know…him.” She had to take a moment.
“I thought Death would be…less sexy somehow,” Claire said.
“The rest of the Horsemen are smoking hot, why wouldn't he be?” Aerin pointed out.
They all nodded in agreement.
Tierra changed the subject. “Tell us, Claire, who was your first and how was it?” She'd never shared like this before. Never had close friends. She had Sunny, and Sunny would give her the moon if she asked her to, but there was also the employer/employee relationship she had to consider. Though that didn't seem to bother Sunny in the slightest.
“Like I said,” Claire started. “I waited, held out for love. But he couldn't handle my fire and my love ended up destroying him. Like literally destroying